Ii8 tCilauea and Mauna Loa. 



America, and drove an oceanic wave to the shores of New Zealand and these islands. 

 Bnt although this was decidedlj^ a foreign volcanic or seismic demonstration, the vibra- 

 tions of the land of Hawaii have not ceased, and it is not at all improbable that the 

 reservoirs of lava are emptying themselves beneath the sea ; certainl}- the lava is in 

 motion. The destrudlion of life and property- on Hawaii was comparativel}- small, 

 owing to the nature of the district affected. The losses in Kau were as follows : 



Houses ilestroj'ed b}' land-slide lo Deaths, 31 



Houses destroyed bj' sea-wave 108 Deaths, 46 



Houses destrO}-ed by earthquake 46 Deaths, o 



Houses destroyed by lava-stream 37 Deaths, o 



Totals 201 77 



One life was lost in Puna b}- the sea-wave, and one in Hilo b}- a falling cliff. 

 A shock of no greater violence in the city of Boston would probably have killed fifty 

 thousand people, and laid most of the cit}- in ruins. 



The data for determining the direction and force of the vibrations are quite 

 different from those used b}' Mallet in his remarkable investigation of the Calabrian 

 earthquake of 1857. The houses are mostl}' of wood and grass, and stone walls are 

 built of angular blocks of lava, often without any cement ; a brick wall or wall of hewn 

 stone, is not to be found in Kaii. On the other hand the rocks which form the upper 

 crust are of uniform composition, the diredlion of the strata is well known, and there 

 are no strata of sedimentary' rock to mislead by reflection of earth waves. On the 

 whole, Hawaii offers many advantages for the study of seismic as well as volcanic 

 phenomena. (Published March, 1869.) 



Fort}' years have passed and I have little to add to the careful record of these 

 observers, nearly all of whom have passed from earth. Neither have I much to correct 

 in mv own observations on the record. Many times I have passed through the coun- 

 tr}- so terribly shaken, and ever}- time I have cause to wonder, not at the rapidity 

 of the destrudlive force of the earthquakes and lava streams, but at the rapid healing 

 in the skin of Mother Earth in this climate. The great cones, the wide chasms are 

 there, but how changed ! Quiet and peaceful, they add so much to the grandeur 

 if not to the beaut}' of the scene. The avalanche of earth, stone and water that was 

 so much more fatal to life than the volcanic outbreak, has now disappeared beneath 

 vegetation, and while I could trace it easil}' in 1880, when I passed that way a few 

 months ago I could not point it out to my companions. 



The seismic studies are not much advanced here, although the island of Oahu 

 boasts a seismometer. No scientific body has built an observator}- on the brink of 

 Kilauea, and no competent observer has established himself in our midst.*''' 



°' Since the above was written two of the Professors of the Massachusetts I nstitute of Technology, Messrs. Jaggar 

 and Daly have visited Kilauea with a view to determine the desirability of establishing an observatory there under 

 the control of that institution. [496] 



