Phillips. — Oji the Volcanoes of the Pacific. 205 



the one pipe. Extinct volcanic areas may therefore be re- 

 garded as practically done and finished with, having performed 

 their part in the economy of the planet. 



The earth, perhaps, does not require so many safety-valves 

 now as formerly, and volcanoes will gradually lessen in num- 

 ber. From their present number (270 to 300) it will take, I 

 should think, many million years for their activity to cease ; 

 for it is evident that, as it has taken so long a period of time 

 for the extinct volcanoes to assist in the formation of the fixed 

 continents, a similar period may be granted to the present 

 active cones to perform their work and die. Sea-water is 

 doubtless the primary cause of volcanic activity, but there 

 has also to be taken into account the slight annual shrinking 

 of the planet itself, forcing to the surface a small amount of 

 inner material in the form of lava, dust, pumice, and volcanic 

 ash. 



Appendix A. 



The Sandtvich Islands Phenomena. 



The largest and most important burning mountains at 

 present in a state of activity in the Polynesian Islands are 

 those which occur in the Sandwich Group. One of these, the 

 volcano of Kirauea (Kilauea), in the Island of Hawaii, is 

 especially worthy of notice. Indeed, the whole island, cover- 

 ing a space of four thousand square miles, from the summits 

 of its lofty and snow-clad mountains, some 14,000 ft. above 

 the sea, down to the beach, is, according to the observations 

 of geologists, one complete mass of lava and other volcano 

 substances in different stages of decomposition. Perforated 

 with innumerable apertures in the shape of craters, the island 

 forms a hollow cone over one vast furnace, situated in the 

 heart of a stupendous submarine mountain, rising from the 

 bottom of the sea. 



The great volcano of Kirauea, or Kireueanui (Kilauea) as 

 it is called by the Sandwich Islanders, is situated about 

 twenty-five miles inland from the south-east coast of Hawaii, 

 and nearly equidistant between the two grea,t mountains 

 called Mauna Kea and Mauna Eoa, the elevation of the former 

 of which is estimated to be 13,645 ft., whilst that of the latter 

 exceeds 14,000 ft. This crater was first visited and described 

 by the Eev. W. Ellis, who made the ascent in 1823. In his 

 graphic and interesting narrative he thus describes the scene 

 presented to his view on reaching the edge of the great 

 crater, after a toilsome ascent through regions of lava and 

 volcanic sand : " About 2 p.m. the crater of Kirauea suddenly 

 burst upon our view. We expected to have seen a mountain 

 with a broad base and rough indented sides, composed of 



