300 Dr Gairdner^s Observations during a voyage from 



Roah. By a second operation, the altitude of Monna Keah 

 came out 12,651 feet. I regretted exceedingly that the short- 

 ness of the ship's stay at Oaho, the seat of government, prevent- 

 ed my visiting the largest and most interesting of this group, the 

 island of O whyhee. This regret was rendered the more painful, by 

 the interesting description of the island which I obtained from 

 the American Missionaries at Oaho, who have traversed most 

 of the island. From them I learned that the gigantic crater of 

 Kiranea is progressively filUng up, the mass of Hquid lava now 

 reaching as high as the " wide horizontal ledge of solid black 

 lava,'' mentioned by Ellis in Polynesian Researches, iv. 238. 

 Monna Roah, from an ancient, has now become an active vol- 

 cano, which you will easily connect, with the above mentioned 

 diminution in Kiranea. Dr Judd, medical-officer to the Ameri- 

 can mission in Oaho, who was in Owhyhee in Nov. 1832, in- 

 formed me of a large volcano having broken out near the sum- 

 mit of the mountain. From the accounts the Rev. Mr Bingham 

 had from the Rev. Mr Goodrich, who has been at or near its edge, 

 it far exceeds in magnitude and depth that of Kiranea. Mr 

 Rooke, surgeon in Oaho, who. was in Owhyhee in August 1832, 

 ■when at sea in July, on his passage thither, saw the flames issu- 

 ing from this new volcano to an immense height, but, when he 

 reached the island, the eruption had apparently ceased. Rooke, 

 who has been on the mountain as far as the snow line, says, 

 that its ascent is very easy, and you may ride on horseback to 

 the very top. 



Our arrival at Oaho was at an interesting juncture, in conse- 

 quence of the recent death of the queen regent, Kaabawana. The 

 islands were in a state approaching to complete anarchy, for the 

 young king, Kaniekeouli, although acknowledged as sovereign of 

 the whole group, had not promulgated the laws by which he meant 

 to rule, and no efficient executive was in existence. The pro- 

 perty and lives of the European residents (now about 200) were, 

 consequently, entirely at the mercy of the rabble, who, however, 

 conducted themselves in general with great propriety towards 

 the whites, who had suffered no loss except one robbery, which 

 was by the servant of the person robbed. All the artificial re- 

 straints imposed by the late regent being removed by her death, 



