GEOLOGY AND TOPOCHAIMI Y OF HAWAII. 91 



tains were visible; all else was covered by the iiiiyrhty deluge. As time went 

 on, the water receded to the present level, and thus it was that the sea was 

 bronght to Ilawaii-nei.' 



From her coming' until now, i'elc has conl iuueil In dwell in llii' Hawaiian 

 Islands. According to the legend, Iht Iminc was lirst on Kauai — one oi 

 the northern islands of the group. From Hierr she moved to Alolokai and settled 

 in the ei'ater Kauhako, Later she removed to Maui and established herself in 

 the crater hill of Punlaina, near Lahaina. After a time she moved again to 

 llaleakala. where she hollowed oi;t that mighty crater. Finally, as a last resort, 

 sh(» settled in the great crater of Kilauea, on Hawaii, where she has even since 

 made her al)ode. 



In this way Pele came to be the presiding goddess of Kilauea and to rule 

 over its tiery Hood, and from those ancient days to the present, she has been 

 respected as the ranking goddess of all volcanoes, with power at her command 

 to litt islands from the sea, to rend tnwfi-ing inouut.iin peaks, to make the very 

 eai'tli ti'emlile at her command, to ol scure the sun with stitiing siiKike. to cause 

 risers ot molten rock to tlnw down the mountains like water, and above all to 

 keep the lires foi'ever burning in lii'r subterranean abode. 



'Phis iiitel'esting legend should be regai'ded as a sincere (^iVort of the Ha- 

 waiian ndnd to iiccount for the presen<'e in the isl.-inds of the primeval power 

 they siiw in the volcano and tn ex]ilain certain fundamental ]ihenciniena of 

 ualui'e which surrounded them on evei'y han<!. Here were the islands, here 

 w<Te the burning mountains, here was the great sea, here were the people, the 

 animals and tla- plants. Whence came they all, and how tlid they come to be'.' 



Legend and Scie.xck AiajEE. 

 With all our boasted science, we are still gro]iing. as were the ancient lia- 

 waiians, seeking an exphuiation (d' the beginning of the isbiiuis, and of the m:ir- 

 velons variety of life which they support. In the seandi, science has snb- 

 stiluted theory for legend, and ob.servation foi' myth, but when we eomp:ire tic 

 iegeiidaiy course of Pele as she moved her home, fi'oin the oldest island, !\auai. 

 to the young island, Hawaii, with the theoi'v that geologists have worked out 

 to aceount loi' certain liasie facts in the e\'oluti(Ui of the grou]). we are sur- 

 ])i'ised to tiiul that legend so closely accords with the )iiodern accepted tlieor.v 

 of the succession in time ol the e\tinction of the volciinic tires that marked 

 the completion of one island after another, until Haxiaii alone can bo.-isl ol' the 

 possession of the eternal fires. 



1. Midway Island; loolsing from sand islet towards green islet, showing the eharacteristie 

 vegetation. 2. Showing the cable station on Midway Island. Note the growth of sand grass 

 (Cijiuxloii dactyjon) in the foreground. .S. View on Ocean Island showing the formation of 

 sand liills under the protection of the low bushes (Scirrohi Koiiiitiii), 4. Hut built on green 

 islet by Japanese bird poachers. 5. Midway Island lionie of ('apt. Walker and family, who 

 were shipwrecked on the island in 1887 and spent fourtci'M months there before being rescued. 

 (The hut has since been burned). 



