OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 369 



Kaluaiiha is the principal landing on the southern coast, and the mountain rises directly 

 back of this, leaving but a narrow strip of cultivable land, except in the mountain valleys. 

 The slopes are generally steeper than those of Eastern Oahu, and are covered with grass 

 and small shrubs to the top, while in the valleys and ravines trees of large size are found. 

 From Kaunakakai, seven miles west of Kaluaaha, the ascent is quite easy on horseback, 

 although the surface is much broken by ravines. The soil is stony and of little depth, 

 owing to the comparative infrequency of rain on the leeward side ; but on the summit, where 

 the trade-wind clouds settle, there is abundant moisture, and the trees and shrubs form a 

 thick jungle in the numerous depressions. Olokui is not flat like Mauna Loa nor so narrow 

 as Konahuanui, but is exceedingly uneven on the toj:>, and abounds in large irregular de- 

 pressions between the summit peaks. Whether these are the remains of craters it is difficult 

 to determine, they are so completely overgrown with a dense jungle. It is said that near 

 the eastern end there is a large crater, but none of the inhabitants seem to possess any 

 definite information regarding it. 



The rock of the mountain summit much resembles hardened blue clay, and is of light 

 specific gravity compared to the lavas of the side, and base. It is porous and splits to pieces 

 with loud detonations when exposed to fire. 1 On the north the mountain ends in a 

 high wall extending nearly its whole length, with a rough barren plain at its base contain- 

 ing many craters and lava bubbles : one of the craters is filled with sea-water and is quite 

 deep. The appearance of this plain of Koolaupapa from the sea, is of a region flooded with 

 lava-streams of a more recent elate than any others on Molokai, and these streams have issued 

 from the small craters on the plain or from the very base of the precipice. There are but 

 few places on the northern side where valleys afford the natives an opportunity of raising 

 kalo and potatoes, and much of their food is brought from the eastern end. The low 

 western point is white and sandy, and quite barren. Eastward of Kaluaaha the scenery 

 is beautiful and romantic. Deep, narrow valleys open towards the coast, and often con- 

 tain plantations of oranges and bread-fruit. The head of these valleys is frequently a per- 

 pendicular precipice, before which the gorge divides and smaller ravines open to the right 

 and left. Mapulehu is the largest, and is subject to torrents of water after severe southerly 

 storrns. The sides are very steep, and the stones at the bottom are much worn. Moaniii 

 Valley contains several large caves in the side ridges, in one of which, now quite concealed, 

 the ancient kings of Molokai were buried. The eastern end of the island is a high bluff of 

 smooth grass-land, and at the extremity the fine valley of Halawa cuts through the strata for 

 five hundred feet in depth, exposing a series of thin, almost horizontal layers of ochreous 

 earth. The slope to the mountain from this place is less than ten degrees, while on the 

 south it is nearly fifteen. 



HAWAII. 



The last and largest of the Hawaiian group is Hawaii itself. All the other islands exhibit 

 only the effects of the volcanoes of ancient times, long since extinct ; even sulphur-beds, 

 solfataras, or hot-springs, which so often mark the expiring efforts of internal heat, are not 

 found, nor does tradition notice their existence. The other members of the group are in- 

 teresting, from the traces of former volcanic action, and for the effects of time on the igneous 



l The author was obliged to remove a camp-fire which had been built on this rock, as the fragments were thrown several feet 

 by the explosion. 



MEMOIRS BOST. SOC. NAT. HIST. Vol. I. Pt. 3. 94 



