1890. J NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 29 



majority, having on the hmd side the appearance of a broadened 

 truncated cone. The sands on the top and on the hind ward 

 slope of this dune (being about 100 yards from the sea) possess 

 remarkable acoustic properties, likened to the bark of a dog. 

 The dune has a maximum height of 108 feet, but the slope of 

 sonorous sand is only 60 feet above the level field on which it is 

 encroaching. At its steepest part, the angle being quite uni- 

 formly 31°, the sand has a notable mobility when perfectly dry, 

 and on disturbing its equilibrium it rolls in wavelets down the 

 incline, emitting at the same time a deep bass note of a tremu- 

 lous character. My companion thought the sound resembled 

 the hum of a buzz-saw in a planing mill. A vibration is some- 

 times perceived in the hands or feet of the person moving the 

 sand. The magnitude of the sound is dependent on the quan- 

 tity of sand moved, and probably to a certain extent upon the 

 temperature. The drier the sand the greater the amount pos- 

 sessing mobility and the louder the sound. At the time of my 

 visit the sand was dry to the depth of four or five inclies ; its 

 tempei'ature three inches beneath the surface was 87° Fahren- 

 heit, that of the air being 83° in the shade (4:30 p.m.). 



When a large mass of sand was moved downward I heard the 

 sound at a distance of 105 feet from the base, a light wind blow- 

 ing at right angles to the direction. On one occasion horses 

 standing close to the base were disturbed by the rumbling sound. 

 When the sand is clapped between the hands a slight, hoot-like 

 sound is heard ; but a louder sound is produced by confining it 

 in a bag, dividing the contents into two parts, and bringing 

 them together violently. This I had found to be the best way 

 of testing sea-shore sand as to its sonorousness. The sand on 

 the top of the dune is wind-furrowed and generally coarser than 

 that of the slope of 31°, but this also yielded a sound of unmis- 

 takable character when so tested. A bagful of sand will pre- 

 serve its power for some time, especially if not too frequently 

 manipulated. A creeping vine with a blue or purple blossom 

 {kolokolo) thrives on these dunes and interrupts the sounding 

 slope. I found the main slope 120 feet long at its base, but the 

 places not covered by this vine gave sounds at intervals 160 

 paces westward. At 94 paces further the sand was non-sonorous. 



The native Hawaiians call this place Nohili, a word of no 

 specific meaning, and attribute the sound caused by the sand to 

 the spirits of the dead, uliane, who grumble at being disturbed; 

 sand-dunes being commonly used for burial places, especially 

 in early times, as bleached skeletons and well-preserved skulls 

 at several places abundantly show. 



Sand of similar properties is reported to occur at Haula, 



