SANDWICH. 



SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



420 



> of th borooch in 1851 ww 2066. The living! we in the 

 wMT and diocese of Canterbury. 



Sandwich was rarly pUoe of importance, and is an origins! 

 member of the Cinque Port*. It probably ro out of the decay of 

 the Roman Kituw. [KEjrr.l The name Sondwio occurs M early as 

 65. Canute landed here in 1018 and in 1029. In the time of 

 Hrory II L the town wa burnt by the French. In the reign of 

 Henry VI. the French took and plundered the town three times. In 

 ooone of time the harbour became choked up with Band, and the 

 town declined. In the reign of Elizabeth it revived by the settle- 

 ment of Flamiah refugee*, who introduced the manufacture of baiie 

 and other woollens, and cultivated the neighbouring lands for 

 vegetable*, flax, and carury-wd. Sandwich has returned two members 

 toI"arliamentainoethe42ndEdwar<lIIL 



The town stands in tin- marsh lands which border on the 

 Thanet, about two miles from IVgwell Bay, into which the Stour 

 ducaargrs italf. It is paved, lighted with gas, and supplied with 

 water. A part of the town wall, and one of the gates, called Fisher- 

 < T OQ u, e north side of the town are still standing. The Stour u 

 W Mossed by a stone-bridge, which has in the middle a swing-bridge 

 to allow the passage of vessels. St. Clement's church is a massive 

 building, mmrtttfng of a nave and two aisles, a chixncel, and a. tower 

 riling above the centre of the church. The tower is of Norman 

 architecture, supported by four semicircular arches with massive piers, 

 and is built of Caen stone. There are two other churches of the 

 ettabluhment, and chapels for Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, 

 ltd Baptist*. A Grammar school, founded in Elizabeth's reign, has 

 two exhibitions at Lincoln college, Oxford, which however are not 

 claimed, and the school is at present without scholars. There are 

 National schools for boys and girls. The hospital of St. Bartholomew 

 U an ancient aluishouse, with an income of 8002. for 16 inmates, who 

 must be decayed tradesmen of the town, or the widows of such. It 

 has a small chapel of early English date, with lancet windows. There 

 are two other almahouaes, or hospitals. The Guildhall was built in 

 the time of Elizabeth. The jail is a well built and commodious 

 modern building. There are assembly-rooms and a custom-house. 

 The port extends from the North Foreland southward to Saudown 

 Castle, and seaward as far as the line of Goodwin Sands, having 

 iurudiction as a Cinque Port over Fordwich, Sarre, Ramsgate, Deal, 

 Walmer, and Stonar. Only small vessels can come up to the town. 

 There is a considerable import of timber, iron, and coal ; and corn, flour, 

 malt, seeds, hops, fruit, bark, leather, ashes, and wood, are exported, 

 chi-fly to London. Ship-building, tanning, and wool-sorting are 

 carried on. A corn-market is held every Wednesday, a cattle-market 

 on alternate Mondays, a pleasure fair on December 4th. A county- 

 court is held. Near Sandwich are the remains of a Roman amphi- 

 theatre, 210 feet in diameter. 



SANDWICH. [CAHADA.] 



SANDWICH ISLANDS are a group of islands situated in the 

 northern part of the Pacific, between 18 55' and 22 20' N. lat., 

 164 60' and 160 40' W. lone. They extend within these limits in a 

 slightly curved line from south-east to north-west, and are thirteen in 

 number; eight of them are of moderate size, and the other five small 

 The lancer islands are Hawaii, Maul, Tahaurawe, Ranai, Morokai, 

 Oabu, Tauai, and Nihau. 



2/atean, formerly called Ovshyhtc, the most south-eastern island, is 

 the largeat of the whole group, and indeed twice as large as all the 

 rest together. In form it approaches to a triangle, and is nearly 100 

 miles long from south to north, and about 80 miles wide in the 

 broadest part. The surface is probably about 5000 square miles. The 

 interior in occupied by a table-land 8000 feet above the sea-level, and 

 almont entirely unknown, there being no road over it from one side of 

 the inland to the other. According to the scanty information collected 

 from the natives by Ellis, it is chiefly covered with lava and ashes, 

 but in some places overgrown with wanti-trees, or paper-mulberry- 

 trees. The edge of this table-land toward the east is about 25 miles 

 from the sea, but on the west and south it approaches somewhat nearer 

 the shore. Near these edges are situated three volcanoes, of which 

 the highest, Mouna Kea, is near the eastern declivity of the table-land. 

 lu summit attains an elevation of 13,687 feet above the sea-level, but 

 it is extinct. Near the pouth-westeru corner of the table-land is the 

 Mouna Rom, whose summit is 13,175 feet above the sea. No eruption 

 of this mountain U recorded, but it does not appear to be extinct. 

 The present crater has a circumference of about six miles and a 

 quarter, and the anci-nt orifice is not lew than 24 miles round. On 

 the western edge of the table-land is the volcano called Mouna 

 Hiiararal, whose elevation is estimated at 10,000 feet. It is still 

 actire, the last eruption having t >ken place in 1800. On the table- 

 land there are many other conical peak*, which are evidently extinct 

 volcano**. But the most remarkable volcano is that of Kirauea, 

 which is at no great distance from the eastern declivity of Mouna 

 Roa, but properly on the southern declivity of the table-land. This 

 volcano is not, like other volcanoes, a conical mountain, but a depres- 

 sion below tho general surface of tde slope, of somewhat irregular 

 shape, with almost pcr|*ndiculnr i<le. The elevation of the slope 

 whr this vast pit occurs, is 8878 feet above the sea-level The 

 surfao* of the volcanic lake* is about 850 feet below the upper surface. 

 The crater contains two lakes, the smaller of which is nearly of a 



circular form, and 319 yards across; the larger is 1190 yards long, 

 and in one part about 700 yards wide. These lakes are vast caldrons 

 of lava in a state of furious ebullition, sometimes spouting up to the 

 height of 20 and even 70 feet. The fiery waves run with a steady 

 current at the rate of nearly three miles and a quarter per hour south- 

 ward, enter a wide abyss, and fall into the sea in 19 11' 51" N. lat. 

 All the country round this volcano is covered with lava. The volcano 

 of Kirauea has from time immemorial been prodigiously active. In 

 1787 it overflowed, when a dreadful eruption took place, and lasted 

 seven days. 



From the edges of the table-land, which are about 8000 or 9000 

 feet high, the country has a gradual slope to the sea. The higher 

 part of this slope, from the table-land to the distance of about four 

 miles from the shore, where it sinks down to 1500 feet, is covered 

 with dense forests, consisting chiefly of several species of acacia, 

 which attain a great size, and of which the canoes of the natives are 

 made. The underwood is tree-fern, from four to forty feet high, and 

 clothed to the top with an almost endless variety of climbing plants. 

 The soil on which these woods grow lies on lava, which frequently 

 rises above it The tract which lies west of Byron's Bay, or Waiakea, 

 and extends towards the base of the volcano of Mouna Kea, is thickly 

 inhabited and well cultivated; but nearly contiguous to it on the 

 south, and adjacent to the volcano of Kirauea, is a desert of rugged 

 lava, extending 40 miles along the shores, where no cultivation occurs, 

 and which is only inhabited by fishermen. The north-eastern coast is 

 bold and steep ; on the western side the land rises with a gentle slope 

 from the shore. 



Byron Bay, on the eastern shore, is a spacious harbour, which lies 

 south and north : it is protected from the north-east wind by a coral 

 reef, half a mile wide, which leaves a channel three-quarters of a mile 

 wide, and from ten to eleven fathoms deep. It is the best harbour 

 belonging to the island, and the only one on the eastern shore. On 

 the western coast aro the harbours of Towaihic and Karakakoa. In 

 Karakakoa harbour Captain Cook was killed, in 1779. 



Maul, or Mowee, is situated north-west of Hawaii, and separated 

 from it by a strait 24 miles wide. Its length is 48 miles, and its 

 breadth, in the widest part, 29 miles. It is composed of two masses 

 of rock, surrounded by a narrow tract of low land, and united 

 by a low and sandy isthmus which is nine miles in width. The 

 larger mountain mass, which occupies the eastern portion of the island, 

 is supposed to rise nearly 10,000 feet above the sea, but it contains 

 only a small portion of low and cultivable land. The smaller moun- 

 tain mass or peninsula has a fine tract of level land along the south- 

 western coast. At the back of it there are well-wooded slopes, with 

 broad valleys, which terminate, towards the summit of the mountains, 

 in deep ravines. The mountains, which rise to about 5000 feet, are 

 also well wooded. The harbour of Laheina nearly in the centre of 

 the plain, is formed by two low projecting rocks, two miles distant 

 from each other. 



Tahaurawe lies south-west of the larger peninsula of Maul. It is 

 about 11 miles long from east to west, and 8 miles wide in the broadest 

 part The surface hardly exceeds 60 square miles. Like the other 

 islands, it is composed of lava, which however rises only to a moderate 

 elevation. The soil is thin, and covered with a species of coarse gross. 



Ranai, which lies west of the smaller peninsula of Maui, is separated 

 from that island by a strait nine or ten miles wide. It is 17 miles 

 long and about nine miles wide. It is a moss of volcanic rocks, but 

 does not rise to a great elevation. A great part of it is barren, and 

 the remainder is only of moderate fertility. 



Morokai, or Moroto'i, lies north-west of Mau'i and north of Ranai ; it 

 extends 40 miles from east to west, and 7 miles from south to north. 

 It consists of one mass of rocks, the most elevated portion of which 

 rises about 5000 feet above the sea, and the sides are furrowed by 

 deep ravines full of trees. Level tracts of small extent occur along 

 the shores, and many of them are fertile. 



Oahu, or Woaltoo, lies north-west from Morokai, and extends 46 

 miles from south-east to north-west, and is 23 miles across in the 

 widest part It is the seat of government for the islands, and the 

 place in which the foreign commerce is concentrated. It contains a 

 larger proportion of cultivated land than the other islands of the 

 Sandwich group. 



A mountain range traverses the island : it begins at the north- 

 eastern point, called Mocapu, and runs first southward and afterwards 

 inclines to the south-west, terminating, at Diamond Point, the south- 

 western cape of the island, in a hill about 400 feet high. This range 

 is more than 3000 feet above the sea-level, and, with the valleys by 

 which it is intersected, covers about half the surface of the island. 

 Another mountain mass occupies the north-western part, but it is not 

 connected with the chain, being separated from it by a plain extending 

 from the mouth of Pearl River to Waiarua on the northern coast, a 

 distance of nearly 20 miles. It is called the Plain of Eva, and is 

 fertile and well wooded, but not much cultivated. Tho soil consists 

 of a deep mould resting on lava. The plain of Honolulu, on the 

 south side of the island, extends about ten miles along the shore, with 

 a width varying from two to three miles, has a very rich alluvial coil, 

 and is carefully cultivated. Several wide valleys, which extend north- 

 ward into the mountain range, open into this plain, and are also 

 cultivated to the distance of six or seven miles from the shore, where 



