GEOLOGY AND TOPO(^.KArTlY OF TTAWAIT. 151 



it is an extinct volcano it is of especial inlci-cst and has the disl iiidioti dl' hcing 

 the highest island monntain in the world, tlioiigli il is \)y no means sn bulky 

 and imposing as its neighbor Manna Loa. The Mauna Lun summit is only loU 

 feet below that of Mauna Kea, and were it not for the cinder cones that cap 

 the summit of the latter the former would be given its pi-opcr rank as first 

 among the island mountains of the world. 



]\Iauna Kea has probably been extinct for centuries, but iioi Ioiil; cuouuh 

 for the abundant rains which fall on its northeast side to furrow out ils slopes 

 more than half way to its summit. Its lower slopes, lio\v( nci-. arc cut up into 

 many gulches from which the water pours into the ocean from the liaiiLiiuu val- 

 leys that notch the vertical sea clitt's all along the Hamakua and llilo coast. 



As is usual with the higher mountains of the group, its southwestern slopes 

 show little signs of erosion, and owing to the comparatively small amount of rain 

 that reaches that side it is almost bare of vegetation. The effect of rainfall 

 may be very clearly seen here, since the windM'ard side has the upper limit of 

 its important vegetation at about ten thousand feet, whereas the dr^' or southern 

 side has little if any vegetation on its slopes above seven thousand feet. 



The top of this mountain, like its neighbor JNlauna Loa, is often covered 

 with snow that sometimes forms a glistening v.-hite cap as far down as two 

 thousand feet or more from the summit. Unlike Mauna Loa its sky line does 

 not end in a single crater. Its elliptical summit is rather thickly sprinkled 

 with a num])er of cinder cones; about two dozen l)eing above the 12.500-feet 

 contour line. One of these is occupied by a pond'' forty feet deep and several 

 acres in extent. The pond is filled with water from the melting snow and on 

 several occasions has been found frozen over solid enough to bear the weiglit of 

 adventurous mountaineers. 



Lower dov/n there are a large number of small cones, as many as seventy- 

 five having been enumerated above the 6,500-foot coidoui' on the survey maps, 

 while the outline of the lower flanks of the mountain is also relieved by tlicin. 

 At about twelve thousand feet elevation there still remains the evidence of an 

 old adze quarry" from which the old-time Hawaiians secured much of the solid 

 clinkstone used by them in the manufacture of th(=ir stone iniphMuents. 



The Ascent of Mauna Kea. 



]\Iauna Kea may be ascended from Waimea by way of the llumuula sheep 

 station on the southwest, and on the east side from ilihi by way t)f Ship- 

 man's ranch. Horses may be I'itUU'u to the summit i)lati'au. The rise of the 

 mountain is gradual, averaging about four hundred feet elexatiou to the mile. 

 From the plateau at the summit a spU'udid view of the adjacent mountain is 

 secured. To the southwest the outline of the sunuuit crater of Mauna Loa can 

 be tiviced, the summits being about t \\-enty-fi \'e miles apart. The northerly shipe 

 of ]\launa Loa is nnich distigui'ed by recent eruptions, the llows of 1845, 1852. 



"Lake Wiiinu. ' Keaiiakakoi. 



