TOLCANIC ASH 



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Nearer the sea the ash is 6 feet under 4 feet of soil. At Thomas square, 

 6 feet under 6 feet of soil ; at the pumping works the ash is 10 feet ; at 

 the Government (Palace) yard, 4 feet under 4 feet of soil ; at J. B. Ather- 

 ton's, King street, 12 feet of ash; at the Queen's hospital, 10 feet. On 

 Vineyard street an excavation shows 10 feet of ash over a marine deposit. 

 On Hotel street, next the Library, about 4 feet of ash have been revealed 

 by recent excavations. Many other localities have been noted in recent 

 excavations between the turn from King street to Waikiki to Nuuanu 

 stream. 



Much may be learned by studying the phenomena presented about 

 Punchbowl. First, however, it must be stated that this material is used 

 much for grading and filling holes in the roads, and about buildings. 

 Soon after its application it becomes rusty", and in a year or two the color 

 has completely changed, so that it is not recognizable. The reddish 

 color of the road and the sidewalks all over the city indicates its pres- 

 ence to those who understand what the black ash may become, and its 

 pulverization gives rise to the dust so freely blown by the trade winds 

 into one's face all over the city. A very prolific source of it is from the 

 slopes of Punchbowl, where it may be seen in abundance, both in the 

 original and altered conditions. At the " Battery,'' on the summit of 

 the road, this ash occurs in connection with scoria, lapilli, and basalt. 

 It is apparently the throat through which there have been copious dis- 

 charges. The greater part of the inside of the bowl is covered by it, and 

 those who believe the whole material came from Tantalus would say it 

 had rained down into the bowl from the sky. Nearly opposite the 

 lowest point in the rim of the bowl there is a hill (197 feet) known as 

 the " Powder Magazine," entirely composed of this sand, said by some 

 to have been blown out there from Punchbowl. While this may be true, 

 it is not necessarily so because of excavations of the ravine between the 

 Magazine and the Bowl by running water. Near the upper end of this 

 ravine there is a great ledge of these ashes compacted together and 

 sloping downward as much as 35 degrees. There is an appearance of 

 sliding over tuff in this ledge. Lower down the ravine the sand is over- 

 laid by a thick deposit of pebbles and cobbles. Other locations of the 

 sand superimposed on the tuff may be seen between the powder mag- 

 azine and the reservoir (120 feet). Just below, at the quarry, the several 

 beds are well shown. There is first the tuff at the base, with its surface 

 decomposed, the result of a long exposure to the elements. A soil was 

 thus formed. Above this soil appears the black sand, fully 25 feet thick, 

 and the surface of this substance has changed its color by weathering 

 and allows the growth of existing vegetation on it. In the sand there 

 are often columnar and root-like concretions, sometimes mistaken for 

 vegetation. 



