78 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



On the 7th of November, 1837, during fine weather, 

 and in the absence of any perceptible shock of earth- 

 quake, the sea was all at once moved in an extraor- 

 dinary manner. First, it retired so great a distance 

 from the shore as to leave the reef which surrounds 

 the island (Maui) dry. The inhabitants, fearing no 

 harm, collected on the reef to gather up the fish 

 which the sea had left on retiring, and were men'ily 

 engaged in this occupation when, after some moments 

 of repose, the sea suddenly returned with extreme 

 rapidity, and, advancing like a wall, engulfed every 

 living being. The phenomenon was not everywhere 

 accompanied by events so tragic. Even at Honolulu, 

 where Dr. Kooke himself observed it, the movement 

 of the sea was not nearly so considerable : neverthe- 

 less, all the time that it lasted the mean level of the 

 sea was everywhere about five feet lower than 

 ordinary. The conclusion is that the island itself 

 was lifted, bodily, five feet above the position it habit- 

 ually occupied, and to which it returned. 



While the sea, and as we suppose the land, were 

 thus strangely moved, the volcano of Mauna-Kea, in 

 the island of Maui, gave manifest signs of increased 

 activity. At this very time also the inhabitants of Aca- 

 pulco, situated to the east under the same parallel, were 

 kept in perpetual fear by undulating movements of 

 the earth, which came from the direction of the west. 



