GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF TTAAVATT. 103 



by the waves fashion a ereseent-shnpcd island oponino- to tlio winds and surges 

 upon the northeast side." 



Kauai — The Garden Island. 



Kauai, next to the smallest of the five large islands, seems to agree with Niihau 

 in age of formation. In fact, it is suggested tliat some great force has lorn the 

 smaller island away from the larger one without disturbing the strata of either. 

 It is nearly circular and at the same time roughly quadrangular in form. 

 Excepting the ]Mana tiats, whicli seem to be uplifted coral reefs, the island 

 could all be included within a circle, with a radius of fifteen miles, using 

 Waialeale, the highest point, as the pivot. It is a beautiful, rich, well-watered 

 island clothed with varied and luxuriant verdure and as such is often spoken 

 of as the "Garden Island" of the group. Disintegration of the lava has pro- 

 ceeded farther here than on the other islands, a fact, taken in connection with 

 other data, as indicating that the volcanic fires died out first at this end of the 

 chain. 



The coast is singularly regular in outline, there being no extensive ba\s or 

 pronounced points or headlands. Except along the northwest side of the island, 

 at Napali, where there are fifteen miles or more of picturesque sea cliffs, the 

 coast lands are comparatively low and flat. The shore-line is free from coral 

 reefs, presumably owing to the depth of water near the shore. In general the 

 main contour of the island slopes rather gradually from Ihc summit of Wai- 

 aleale, at an elevation of 5250 feet, down to the sea, though ridges and correspond- 

 ing vallej^s radiate spoke-like in all directions. 



The eastern and northern side of the island, as is the case with all the 

 islands, has been drenched by tropical rains for countless centuries with the 

 result that erosion by wind and rain is most marked on that side of the island. 

 The original slopes on the windward side of Kauai have been almost entirely 

 eroded, leaving only a few short spur-like ridges. On the opposite or leeward 

 side; however, the erosion is not so marked nor so far advanced, as the deep 

 gorges with wide level spaces between them indicate. These gorges are deep and 

 canon-like, inland, but, as they near the sea-coast, their sides become less 

 precipitous and finally loose their character as the valley reaches the coastal 

 plain. 



Waialeale Mountain. 



Geologists agree that the central dome of Waialeale must liaNc Ix'cii much 

 higher than now, and that the disintegrated lava has been washed from its 

 summit to form the rich soil that makes up tlie coastal plain. The effects of 

 erosion have been considered as perhaps the best evidence of the age of the Ha- 

 waiian mountains, and this great mountain worn to the core with its oiic-tiiin' 

 lofty central crater eaten down to form a slimy bog on its siuninil. points to the 

 great antiquity of the island under consideration. The gnawing action of wind 

 and rain leaves only the more resistant ridges, as the old mountain is thus slowly 



