368 



W. T. BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



LANAI. 



Lanai is eighteen miles north of west of Kahoolawe and but eight miles from the south- 

 west shores of JVLlui. Its length is twenty miles, breadth eight, and its area about one 

 hundred and fifty square miles. It is much higher at the south-eastern end where a moun- 

 tain rises to a height of nearly two thousand feet, sloping gradually to the north-west, 

 where its dry, almost barren declivities, terminate in a cliff a hundred feet high. On the 

 leeward side the shore is a steep rock-wall three or four hundred feet high, exhibiting thick 

 strata dipping from the centre of the island, while on the opposite side the mountain slopes 

 nearly to the sea. 



Fig. 25. Lanai from Molokal. 



Many valleys intersect the south-eastern end, and one of them is doubtless the remains of 

 an ancient crater. There are no streams on the island, and it is difficult to account for the 

 formation of the valleys on the supposition that they are wholly the result of wearing waters. 

 While these valleys radiate from the highest point, which is near the south-eastern end of 

 Lanai, the opposite end has hardly a gully, and presents an unbroken surface of gentle in- 

 clination towards the sea. The soil is red and the vegetation appears stunted. 



Kahoolawe and Lanai are the only two islands that present high cliffs to the lee shore, 

 and gentle slopes to the windward. On all the other islands the reverse is the case, and the 

 rocky barriers are placed as it were to oppose the surf driven in by the prevailing winds. 



MOLOKAL 



Molokai is about nine miles distant both from Maui and Lanai. It is a long and narrow 

 island, and closely resembles the eastern mountain-range of Oahu. Its length is thirty-five 

 miles, its breadth averages seven, and its area two hundred and twenty square miles. It 

 presents from the north the appearance of a wall with ragged edge and varying height, 

 rising nearly perpendicularly from a narrow level plain, and cut towards the western end, 



Fig. 26. Molokai from the North, distant fifteen miles. 



where its height is least, by a low isthmus like that of Maui. The eastern end is far the 

 higher, and Mauna Olokiii attains an elevation of nearly three thousand feet, while the west- 

 ern portion is a mere hill of about a fifth of that height. 



