534 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL 



generally described as having been first discovered by Cap- 

 tain Cook, but there is no doubt that they were previously 

 known to the Spaniards. They will always be connected 

 with the name of the great navigator, however, as the 

 place of his murder by the natives, on the loth February 

 1779; the scene of the tragedy being Kealakeakua Bay 

 on the west side of the island of Hawaii. 



The Sandwich Islands are pre-eminently volcanic. 

 Here, in Hawaii, rise three of the highest mountains in 

 Polynesia — Mauna Kea, about 13,800 feet; Mauna Loa, 

 hardly 200 feet less in elevation ; and Mauna Hualalai, 

 about 8000 feet, the two last active volcanoes. On the 

 eastern slope of Mauna Loa is Kilauea, a remarkable 

 volcano in constant activity, scarcely elsewhere surpassed 

 in the awe-inspiring grandeur of its cauldron of seething 

 lava, when contemplated on a moonless night. Its crater, 

 of comparatively easy access, forms a vast irregular abyss, 

 in which there is usually visible a glowing lake of lava, 

 rising and falling independently of the action of other 

 volcanoes. After a silence of eleven years, Mauna Loa was 

 the scene of a terrific eruption on the 14th February, 1877. 

 Fiery clouds of smoke and vapour were at first vomited 

 with astounding velocity to a height of more than 15,000 

 feet, covering the heavens for a space of 1 square miles, 

 and emitting such a strong glare that the whole island 

 was lit up as vividly as by the mid-day sun, the light 

 being clearly visible on the distant Maui. Ten days 

 afterwards there occurred a fresh and most remarkable 

 eruption, from a submarine volcano in the Bay of Keala- 

 keakua. Countless red, blue, and green flames flickered 

 over the surface of the waters, and huge glowing masses 

 of lava emitting large volumes of steam, and diffusing 

 dense sulphureous exhalations, were hurled into the air. 

 This was accompanied by a loud rumbling noise, while the 



