HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



389 



The Hawaiian Constitution is modeled large- 

 ly after that of the United States. It guaran- 

 tees liberty of the press, of worship, free in- 

 struction, trial by jury, and habeas corpus. 

 The entire, native population, above the age ot 

 childhood, are acquainted with reading, writ- 

 ing, and other branches of elementary educa- 

 tion. Of the whole school population, 57 per 

 cent, are boys and 43 per cent, are girls. 



Honolulu, the capital, is a place of about 

 18,000 inhabitants ; it is much resorted to for 

 the attractions of its climate, and for the beau- 

 tiful surrounding scenery. Its harbor is excel- 

 lent. Hilo, on the island of Hawaii, has also 

 a line bay ; it is the second place in size and 

 importance in the group, a growing town of 

 5,000 or 6,000 people, and the center of a con- 

 siderable agricultural interest. For remarkable 

 tropical beauty, Hilo is unsurpassed in these 

 islands, or perhaps in the world. 



Volcanoes. The islands are entirely of vol- 

 canic origin ; but coral reefs are frequent, and 

 form some of the best harbors. The greatest 

 continually active volcano in the world, Kila- 

 uea, lies upon the southeastern flank of Ha- 

 waii, 4,040 feet above sea-level ; it is a pit or 

 sunken lava-plain, about three miles long, two 

 broad, and a thousand feet deep. In the 

 northwestern part of this immense crater a 

 lake' of liquid lava is constantly burning. It 

 varies in its dimensions and in the fury of its 

 activity, at times approaching quiescence, and 

 ag;iin overflowing or melting away its barriers 

 of congealed lava, and spreading over the floor 

 of the great crater, a sea of raging fire, or 

 forcing its way for miles underground, to burst 

 forth in a destructive torrent on the mountain- 

 side, and flow downward to the sea. The 

 summit crater, Mokuaweoweo, is situated on 

 the top of Mauna Loa (13,600 feet). Prof. 

 James D. Dana computes the mass of the 

 mountain to be 1,300 times greater than that 

 of Vesuvius. From this mountain eruptions 

 of the greatest splendor burst forth every few 

 years. The outbreak of the torrents of lava is 

 generally preceded by earthquakes ; these, how- 

 ever, have been destructive only in the case of 

 two recorded eruptions, one in the eighteenth 

 century, and another in the year 1868; and 

 they cease when the fusion has forced its way 

 to the surface, either at the summit crater, or 

 at some point high up on Mauna Loa. There 

 the fountain of fire plays, sometimes for wetks, 

 in the air, illuminating the whole horizon to a 

 distance of one hundred and fifty miles in 

 every direction, and so intensely that the 

 writer of this has read fine print at a distance 

 of forty miles by the light of the white-hot 

 column. This lava, completely fused, is ex- 

 tremely fluid. It is thrown to a height of 

 many hundred feet, from clefts in the lava- 

 rock that are sometimes hundreds of feet in 

 length, and, falling upon the slope, it flows 

 with immense rapidity down the flanks of the 

 mountain, either forthright seaward, or spread- 

 ing out over the upland wilderness between 



the bases of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, de- 

 stroying the forests, filling up the valleys, ob- 

 literating streams, and forming vast lakes or 

 reservoirs of melted lava. The Rev. Titus Coan 

 gives, in his "Life in Hawaii," a description of 

 the mechanism of the lava flows: 



a The average slope of Mauna Loa is seven 

 degrees; but this is made up of secondary 

 slopes, varying from one to twenty degrees. 

 As the lava first rushes down the steeper in- 

 clinations, it flows uncovered ; but its surface 

 soon hardens, forming a firm, thick crust like 

 ice on a river. Under this crust the torrent 

 runs highly fluid, and retaining nearly all its 

 heat. In. this pyroduct, if I may so call it, the 

 lava-stream may pour down the mountain- side 

 for a year or more, flowing unseen, except 

 where openings in the roof of its covered way 

 reveal it. When the molten river reaches the 

 highlands at the base of the mountain, it some- 

 times spreads into lakes miles in diameter. 

 The surface of it soon hardens; the lavas be- 

 low are sealed within a rigid crust that con- 

 fines them on every side. Their onward prog- 

 ress is thus checked for hours or days. But 

 as the tremendous pressure of the stream be- 

 hind increases, the crust is rent, and the liquid 

 lava bursts out and gushes forward or later- 

 ally for a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand 

 feet or more. The surface of this extended 

 mass cools and stiffens in time, again confining 

 the living lava; then with the pressure from 

 behind there is a fresh rupture in the confin- 

 ing shell. While the lava is held in check as 

 I have described, the uninitiated visitor will 

 pronounce the flow to have ceased. But it is 

 only accumulating its forces. Suddenly the 

 hardened crust is ruptured with a crash, the 

 lava moves forward again, and a new joint is 

 added to the covered way. Thus the fusion 

 may flow at white heat for thirty or forty 

 miles, and reach the sea at a distance of more 

 than fifty miles from the mountain-source." 

 By virtue of this confining crust, the red-hot 

 lava, growing viscid as it loses heat, may even 

 be propelled up-hill for a certain distance, if 

 the outbursting rush of lava be directed upon 

 an upward slope. 



The eruption of 1855-1856 continued for 

 fifteen -months, the lava making steady prog- 

 ress seaward all this time, though after the 

 first few days the progress was extremely slow. 

 Within the present centurv, the lava-flows of 

 1801, 1823, 1840, 1859, and 1868, reached the 

 sea at different points on the coast; the north- 

 eastern part of the island being the only one 

 that is not subject to volcanic outbreaks. 

 These, however, have only twice, within his- 

 toric times, been destructive to life; and the 

 greatest eruptions can generally be visited with 

 safety, even during the time of their highest 

 activity. 



Climate. The climate is sub-tropical. The 

 usual temperature at sea-level is from 70 to 

 80 Fahr., with extremes of 57 and 90. De- 

 pressing heat is unknown, and white labor 



