20 The Botanical Gazette. (January, 
Beside visiting the isle of Oahu, I made short trips to the 
islands of Hawaii and Kauai. The former, the largest of the 
group, and the only one where volcanic action is still going 
on, is reached by steamer in about thirty-six hours from Hon- 
olulu. On the way, the islands of Molokai, Lanai, and Maui _ 
are passed. The first, a barren looking and forbidding spot, 
is the location of the leper settlement, to which all persons — 
afflicted with leprosy are sent as soon as their condition be- 
comes known. 
Maui, the largest of the islands next to Hawaii, consists of 
two portions connected by a narrow isthmus. The whole 
eastern half is nothing more nor less than the body of an im- 
mense extinct volcano, ten thousand feet high, and with a 
crater nearly ten miles across. The other end of the island is 
an older formation. This island is said to be very interesting 
botanically; but, unfortunately, my time did not permit me to 
visit it. a 
Very soon after sighting Maui, the three great mountain — 
masses of Hawaii began to loom up. The day was clear, and 
the whole formation of the island became visible. It consists 
of three great volcanic cones, of which only one is now active. 
The highest summit, Mauna Kea, is nearly 14,000 feet above 
the level of the sea; the next, Mauna Loa, lacks but a few 
hundred feet of this; yet so great is the breadth of these — 
masses that one fails to realize their immense height. Our 
first landing was at Mahukona, on the leeward side of the 
island, a most forlorn expanse of bare lava with scarcely a — 
trace of vegetation, except a few unhappy lookingalgaroba trees — 
planted about the straggling buildings that constituted the : 
hamlet. ; a3 
We lay all day at this inhospitable station, not getting — 
away until evening. <A beautiful sunset and a fine glimpse of — 
the peak of Mauna Kea glowing with the last rays of the sum, 
form my most pleasant recollections of this desolate place. 
What a change the next morning! On awakening we found — 
ourselves entering the harbor of Hilo. Here everything iS 
as green as can be imagined, and luxuriant vegetation comes | 
down to the very ocean's edge. The town is built on a bay 
fringed with cocoanut trees and embowered in a wealth of | 
tropical vegetation. i a 
(about 180 inches), as well as to the fact that Hawaii is the 
most southerly of the j 
