432 THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



the examination of long series of crania and skeletons, as here. 

 Other burials occur in caves inland, where the bodies are found 

 in a dried mummy-like condition. 



All the bodies at Waimanalo were buried in a doubled-up 

 posture. One, which was exhumed with care in situ, was 

 buried with the knees bent up to the chest and the head bent 

 forwards, and was placed resting horizontally on the back. 

 Chips and fragments of basalt were found around all the graves, 

 but no implements of stone. 



The ship moved to Hilo, in the island of Hawaii, in order 

 that a visit might be paid to the crater of Kilauea. A Petrel, 

 possibly Procellaria rostrata which occurs at Tahiti, and a 

 Stormy Petrel {Oceanitis), were seen about the ship between 

 the two islands. These birds do not seem to be included in 

 lists of the avi-fauna of the group. The appearance of the 

 great volcano of Mauna Loa is most remarkable. The slope 

 of the mountain, as seen from the sea, is so gradual that it 

 seems impossible to believe that it rises to a height of nearly 

 14,000 feet above sea level. The cause of the peculiar form 

 is the extreme fluidity of the lava, of successive flows of which 

 the mountain is composed. It has run out almost like water. 



Kilauea is a secondary crater on the side of the Mauna Loa, 

 at a height of about 4,000 feet. The island of Hawaii is much 

 more fully clothed with verdure than Oahu, and has none of 

 the desert appearance of the latter. The journey to Kilauea 

 is a tedious and monotonous ride. The ascent is so gradual 

 that it is hardly perceived. 



The track leads first through a fine belt of forest near the 

 shore, and then emerges on a weary expanse of open country, 

 entirely devoid of any fine trees, and mostly covered with a 

 scanty, low, moorland-looking growth, with Screw-pine trees 

 here and there. The track is scarcely marked on the bare 

 surfaces of the lava flows, which look almost as fresh as if the 

 lava had only set the day before. These surfaces are covered 

 in every direction by ropy projections, curved lines of flow, 

 and small rounded ledges showing where one part of the flow 

 has run over another. 



The whole looks as if a vast quantity of melted pitch had 

 been turned out of a pot suddenly, and allowed to run and set 

 hard. 



It was getting dark before the hotel on the verge of Kilauea 

 was reached. During the ascent a globular cloud was seen 

 hanging in the air in the distance, and we were told by the 

 guide that it hung over the summit of Mauna Loa itself, but we 

 could not have told this, for the gradient was so gradual that 

 there was no appearance of any mountain at all As nhj\\i fell, 



