348 w - T. BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



West of this lava region are many round smooth grassy hills of no considerable elevation, 

 composed of red earth, and destitute of any depression on the top. The intervals between 

 these hills are generally swampy, or the beds of winding sluggish streams. Beyond these 

 the land becomes dry and barren near the shore, owing to the slight amount of rainfall on 

 the lee side of the mountains. A few streams find their way down from the heights above, 

 and the Wahiawa runs over a stony bed several miles in extent, from a very beautiful cas- 

 cade in the mountains. 



On the southern side of Kauai opposite to Hanalei is the valley of the Hanapepe, — a 

 type of a certain class of canons common on the Hawaiian Islands. 



For two or three miles from the sea the river is several hundred feet wide, ten feet deep 

 in some places, with an even bottom, and winds through a nearly level valley bounded on 

 either side by cliffs two hundred feet high. These cliffs are nearly perpendicular, much 

 grooved vertically, and present fine layers of basaltic conglomerate and gray basalt. This 

 plain produces the kalo and bananas which supply the neighboring country, and is thickly 

 dotted with the grass houses of the natives. It is a mile wide and four miles long. Beyond 

 this the bed of the river becomes steeper, and the mountain walls close in upon the stream, 

 forming a canon a thousand feet deep. The walls are by no means even and unbroken, but 

 here and there steep ravines and arched recesses, Gothic clustered columns and broken 

 buttresses, astonish and delight the explorer, while the solemn stillness, broken only by the 

 ripple of the stream over its rocky bed, completes the illusion of some vast aisle of an 

 ancient temple. 



The stream of cold clear water winds from side to side, constantly cutting off the path- 

 way, and receiving from the heights above a tributary waterfall. The walls rise generally 

 clear from the bottom of the valley ; the agent that formed the gorge has removed all 

 debris ; even the little ravines that open on either side do not accumulate any wash in the 

 main bed. This is doubtless owing to the force of the Hanapepe which, during the rains, 

 often fills its channel from wall to wall, moving stones of considerable weight w r ith its 

 impetuous current. 



After a ride of four miles through this canon, the fall is reached, and horses can go no 

 further. The pali on the right curves round and closes the chasm with an abrupt wall over 

 which the stream pours from a height of three hundred and twenty-six feet. Two high, 

 sharp, and somewhat inclining peaks stand on the left, forming a colossal gateway for a 

 small stream which enters from a broader valley beyond. All around the circus of the falls 

 small white cascades dart out among the dense foliage, sometimes spreading like fingers 

 over the black rock they in vain endeavor to conceal, or side by side in a large company, 

 like the burnished pipes of some vast organ, warble forth an accompaniment to the diapason 

 of the fall. The effect of the light, sunny-green foliage of the kukui, contrasted with the 

 dark green of the orange and coffee overhanging the stream, is very pleasant in a place 

 where only the noonday sun penetrates. 



A curved fracture is quite evident behind the fall, although the columnar structure is no 

 longer so evident as when Dana visited the place. Several large dykes occur two miles 

 below the fall, extending through the whole height of the cliff on the right bank of the 

 stream, although their existence is concealed by dense foliage on the left. They seem to 

 proceed, like those in the Wailvia valley, from the mountain towards the sea. Where the 

 gorge opens upon the plain a beautiful example of prismatic structure was observed. 



