Feb. 25, 1875] 



NATURE 



323 



of the terrible possibilities that may at any moment 

 happen. Natives and foreign residents appear to resign 

 themselves unreservedly to the perpetual " afternoon ' 

 influence of the land, where there seems to be little need 

 of " taking thought for the morrow." 



Miss Bird gives us many glimpses of the luxuriant 

 vegetation which is to be found almost everywhere on tlie 

 Xoiicr slopes of the islands ; a mere list of the various 

 trees to be met with would occupy more space than wc 

 can afford. Almost all the roots and fruits of the torrid 

 and temperate zones can be grown on the islands, though 

 Xhcjlora is far scantier than that of the .South .Sea groups. 

 The indigenous fauna is small, consisting only of hogs, 

 dogs, goats, and an anomalous bat that flies by day. 

 There are few insects except such as have been imported, 

 and there is no great variety of bird-life. 



j In Hawaii, as well as in others of the islan<ls, the coast 



] line is everywhere broken by deep " gulches " or ravines, 



often from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in depth, running for miles 



into the interior, clothed from top to bottom of their 



' nearly perpendicular sides with almost impenetr.ible 



I vegetation, and having the narrow valleys below raked 



j by torrent-like rivers, which are often [swollen to many 



hundred yards in breadth. 



No doubt the principal attraction to the scientific reader 

 in Miss Bird's narrative will be her account of the visits 

 which she was brave and determined enough to make to 

 the volcanoes, active and extinct, on Hawaii and Mauai. 

 All the principal islands of the group, being of volcanic 

 origin, are more or less mountainous, ranging in extreme 

 height from 4XX) ft. in Kahoolawc to close on 14,000 in 

 Hawaii, the loftiest island in Oceania. As our reader;;, 



no doubt, know, there are on the island of Hawaii two 

 active and at least two extinct volcanoes ; indeed, almost 

 everywhere in the interior evidence of former volcanic 

 action is to be met with. " To the south of the Waimea 

 plains violent volcanic action is everywhere apparent, not 

 only in tufa cones, but in tracts of ashes, scoria;, and 

 volcanic sand." 



Mauna I.oa, somewhat to the south of the centre of the 

 island of Hawaii, is the highest active volcano in the 

 world, rising to a height of 13,760 feet. The whole of the 

 south side of Hawaii, down to and below the water's 

 edge, is composed of its slopes, its base being 180 miles 

 in circumference. " Its whole bulk above a height of 

 8,000 feet is one frightful desert," though vegetation, in 

 the form of grey lichens, a little withered grass, and a 

 hardy asplenium, extends 2,000 feet further up. During 

 Miss Birds visit to the summit, the thermometer regis- 



tered 1 1" of frost. The crater Mokuaweoweo, is six miles 

 in circumference, it,ooo feet long, 8,000 feet wide, with 

 precipitous sides 800 feej deep. The crater appears to be 

 in a state of constant activity, and at times overflows, 

 carrying destruction to the lowest levels of the island. 

 Miss Bird tells us that since white men inhabited the 

 islands there have been ten eruptions from Mauna Loa. 

 Of the condition of the crater, the following description, 

 by Miss Bird, of what she saw on her visit, accomplished 

 amid hardships that few men would care to undergo, will 

 give the reader a vivid idea : — 



" When the sun had set, and the brief red glow of the 

 tro|;ics had vanished, a new world came into being, and 

 wonder after wonder flashed forth from the previously 

 lifeless crater. Everywhere through its vast expanse 

 appeared glints of fire— fires bright and steady, burning 

 in rows like blast furnaces ; fires lone and isolated, un- 



