OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



353 



breaks or passes, one to the south of Kaala, only fourteen hundred feet high, while the 

 other near the southern end is sixteen hundred. 



Between the mountains and the shore is a narrow, desolate, stony region called Waianae, 

 above which Kaala towers with abrupt precipices strengthened by narrow buttresses, and 

 generally inaccessible. In various parts of Waianae are detached hills composed of a hard 

 lava of various colors, some of it quite similar to the clinkstone found on Hawaii, while most 

 of it is peculiar to this place, becoming white on decomposition, and so soft as to serve for 

 chalk. This white formation is quite distinct from the decomposed coral reef which is 

 sometimes found near by. The whole appearance of this barren, desolate district, without 

 streams, and almost without vegetation, hedged in towards the land with dark red cliffs two 

 thousand feet high, bending on either hand towards the shore, is that of a vast crater broken 

 down towards the sea. 



The pass near Kaala exhibits several fine dykes, in one place eleven occurring within 

 fifty yards, some projecting from the softer wall of the precipice, while others have broken 

 out leaving narrow slits in the rock. A conglomerate is very common near by, as are also 

 the small boulders with concentric coatings mentioned in the description of Kauai. 



Towards the centre of the island the slopes of the Kaala mountains are less abrupt 

 although still quite steep, the valleys are deep, although of small extent, and the ridges 

 so sharp in many places as to render walking decidedly dangerous in wet weather. 

 The rocks are mostly of gray basalt alternating with a red cellular lava. They are often 

 porphyritic, containing small tabular crj'stals of feldspar. 



These mountains completely cut off the trade wind, and are much dreaded on this 

 account by mariners on their voyages to and from Kauai. At Barber's Point (Lael6a) the 

 sand extends some distance from shore, forming a rather dangerous shoal. 



Fig. 5. Eastern end of OAhu. From the north, distant fifteen miles. 



North-east Bange. — The mountains of the Konahuanui range are higher and much more 

 extensive than those of Waianae. Commencing at the northern end of the island near 

 Kahuku, the mountains rise gradually with a slope of less than eight degrees for nearly ten 

 miles ; then the summit becomes broken and jagged, valleys of increasing size cut the 

 mountain to its core on either side, until it culminates in the two peaks of Waiolani and 

 Konahuanui, four thousand feet above the sea, and which seem rent asunder to form the 

 valley of Nuuanu. Beyond this towards the east the valleys decrease in size on the leeward 

 side, while on the N. E. an almost perpendicular wall extends for thirty miles unbroken by 

 any valley, ending at last abruptly at Makapuu Point. The range is simply a midrib some 

 thirty miles long with a complete series of lateral ridges or pinna? on the S. W., but without 

 these for two thirds its length on the N.E. 



The valleys are of exceeding beauty, and many travellers have pronounced the scenery 



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



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