574 w - T - BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



two miles long has sunk nearly fifty feet, leaving the surface not more than two feet above 

 high water. A precipice fifty feet high bounds this sunken area on the south, having a fosse 

 at its base partly filled with blocks of lava. 1 A raised coral reef extends along the shore 

 half a mile, forming an embankment against the sea, and would seem to indicate another 

 change of level in more ancient times. The mountain meets the sea in a long, high ridge- 

 and there is no marked break between this and the plain so far as examined. The lava, 

 strata exposed in the wall near the shore are thin, seldom exceeding three feet, and of a 

 compact dark basalt on the surface, while below phonolitic lava is the common kind. All the 

 coast in the district of Puna is rocky, and destitute of landing-places, except near Kalapanu, 

 where there is a sand-beach. Here the sea often beats with great violence on the loose 

 volcanic sand, and the natives enjoy their remarkable pastime of riding on the surf. The sea 

 is evidently advancing on the shore, as the stumps of cocoa-nuts are standing in the water 

 half buried in the black sand which forms quite a steep slope above them. This place is 

 interesting as exhibiting the effect of a heavy surf on volcanic cliffs and lava-beds where not 

 protected by a fringing coral-reef. Prof. Dana seems to doubt that the ocean has played an 

 important part in the formation of the bays of these islands, and adopts what is doubtless 

 the general rule, that the sea tends to obliterate bays by the removal of projecting head- 

 lands. Here is, however, an example of the excavation of a bay by the surf. 



Near Kapdho are many cones, and they seem to extend in several nearly parallel lines 

 towards the mountains. One group much broken down contains a pool of stagnant water 

 about twenty feet deep and of a green color. Nothing remarkable was observed in its 

 neighborhood, although the natives believe that its waters become yellow and then black 

 during an eruption of Kilauea. The water is not warmer than might be expected from its 

 exposure to the sun, and is perfectly sweet. Another cone half a mile from this is about 

 two hundred and fifty feet high, and crowned with an ancient heiau or temple, and a clump 

 of cocoa-nut trees. This cone is largely composed of lava, and is doubtless of great age, as 

 the soil upon it is several feet deep in some places. At its base is a large cleft in the rock 

 some three hundred feet long and sixty wide, in which is a remarkably clear pool of warm 

 water, twenty or thirty feet deep and of a temperature of 90°. The Avater is perfectly fresh 

 and sweet to the taste, but owing probably to its temperature, the dark-colored bodies of 

 the natives bathing in it seem almost white, and a white man resembles marble. The sound 

 of water trickling down within the cliff is distinctly audible after a rain. 



Three quarters of a mile from this is a deep narrow cavern into which one may climb, 

 guided by the natives with their bambu torches. It is nearly fifty feet deep to a pool of 

 very warm water which is said to extend more than half a mile under ground. 2 All along 

 the shore for twenty miles, warm springs are common near low-water level. No mineral 

 waters however are found here, nor is there anywhere on the Hawaiian Islands even a car- 

 bonated or sulphur spring. The ground is mostly covered with a-a through the whole district 

 of Puna, and of course it cannot retain pools of water. All the rain which is not absorbed by 

 the porous a-a, sinks at once to the sea-level and issues in the clefts on the shore. As there 

 is hardly any soil, it might be supposed that Puna would be a barren region, but the reverse 

 is the case. Groves of cocoa-nut trees extend for miles, growing more thriftily than any- 



1 This formation is quite similar to that of the valley of holding their torches clear of the steaming water, and the 

 ThingvelJir in Iceland, but unlike that sunken plain, Kala- indistinct view thus obtained of the cavern, led to the conclu- 

 parni has but one bounding gja or rift. sion that it was a deep crack, over which a subsequent lava 



2 The writer saw several natives swim nearly that distance flow had formed a roof. 



