Proceedings of the Polytechnic Association. 771 



ous shocks tliat would send crockery, cliairs, lamps, etc., spinning 

 around in not a very pleasant way. Mr. J. Porter, the proprietor of 

 the Volcano House, says he endured this for several days, as long as 

 he could, till one night about eleven o'clock Pele sent one of Tiod- 

 mau's twenty-inch shot, with a well directed aim, that struck the 

 ground directly under his bed; when he jumped and ran, where or 

 how he hardly knew, but he found himself after a while in the woods, 

 safe and sound. 



One can readily imagine the state of nervous excitement produced 

 by the continual swaying of the ground, with an occasional shock 

 like that produced by a heavy rock striking the crust beneath him. 

 A lady who spent two weeks in tiiis shaky region says that she j^ut 

 her ear down to the earth during one of the " ground swells," and 

 could distinctly liear the rushing and roaring of the lava waves 

 beneath the snrfoce like the surging of waves in a storm. It W'^s 

 such a scene as unstrung the firmest nerves. Residents of Kau 

 inform us that over 2,000 distinct shocks occurred there betv/een the 

 28tli of March and the 11th of April, averaging over 1-10 a day for 

 two weeks. 



The earthquakes continued to increase in severity from March 28 

 till April 2, when about four o'clock in the afternoon one took place 

 that shook down every ston.e wall, and nearly every stone, frame and 

 thatch house throughout Kau, and did more or less damage on every 

 part of Hawaii, while it was felt very sensibly at Maui, Moiokai, 

 Oahu and Kauai, the latter island three hundred miles distant from 

 the crater. Every church in the district named was destroyed, with 

 perhaps a single exception. The shock was so severe that it threw 

 persons from their feet, and even horses and animals were served in 

 the same way. A gentleman riding on horseback in Kau found his 

 horse lying flat under him before he could think of the cause. The 

 effect of the shock was instantaneous. Before a person could think, 

 he found himself prostrate on the ground. The large stone cliurch of 

 "Waiohinu went down in the same way ; a sudden jerk, the walls 

 crumbled in and the roof fell flat, all the work of ten seconds. 

 •K-** * -x- * *** 



Respecting the course or direction of the shocks we have made 

 many inquiries. Those felt here on Oahu have mostly been undulating, 

 wuth a wave-like motion. On Hawaii they had three disthict charac- 

 teristics : the undulating, with the motion generally from the north- 



