W ATKINS VOLCANOES OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 2T, 



VOLCANOES OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



BY C. S. WATKINS. 

 Read before the Academy, May 2St/t, iSSb. 



The newspapers announce that the lake of lava at the volcano of 

 Kilauea, Island of Hawaii, Sandwich Island group, has recently disap- 

 peared, leaving only a bottomless pit, where formerly, even in its quiet 

 times, a pool of liquid, molten, almost boiling lava, about seven hun- 

 dred yards in width, has been. 



As I visited those regions in 1854, and noted some facts that seem 

 to bear upon this subject, and that I have never seen stated or referred 

 to by other visitors, it has occurred to me that, just now, a report of my 

 observations may not be out of place. 



Preliminary. — The entire Sandwich Island group is very evidently 

 of volcanic origin, and of regular succession in order of creation. From 

 the extreme north-western end of the group to and including Hawaii 

 — the last of the cluster — a distance, in an almost straight line, of 

 about four hundred miles, in a nearly south-easterly direction, each suc- 

 cessive island is larger, the intervening distance between the centres is 

 greater, and the volcanic remains evidently of more recent origin than 

 at its immediate predecessor. In this rough statement the three or 

 four smaller islands near Maui are regarded as merely detached por- 

 tions of the main island. 



The group begins at the north-western end with a nameless, uninhab- 

 ited, and almost submerged, nearly level island, the composition of 

 which is evidently the usual lava and cinder scoria resulting from 

 volcanic fires. In size the visible portion of this is scarcely a mile 

 in diameter. About ten miles south-east from this point is Nihau, 

 twelve miles in diameter, hilly, with lava rocks, but no traceable 

 volcanic cones or mounds. Twenty miles south-east, or nearly so, 

 is Katii, the first inhabited island. Kaui is twenty miles long, ten 

 miles wide, and the hills and rocks testify very plainly to their volcanic 

 origin. Thirty-five miles from Kaui, in the same continuous line, is 

 Oahu, twenty-five miles in diameter, and with unmistakable evidences 

 of much more recent creation. Honolulu, the capital city of the Ha- 

 waian kingdom, is on this island. Within a radius of five miles from 

 the city are at least seven volcanic mounts, one or two hundred feet 

 high, and with clearly defined craters in good preservation. Next, at 

 a distance of about fifty miles, is the island of Maui, on which is the 



