J. S. Emerson —Some Characteristics of Kau, 439 



series of distinct strata, each of which represents a consider- 

 able interval of time, shows that thej must have occurred 

 at a period verv recent in the growth of the island. On the 

 other hand, the entire absence of any tradition relating to them 

 and the occurrence in several places of aa and possibly j^aAo^Ac*^ 

 flows from Mauna Loa of limited extent and of uncertain age 

 superimposed on this formation, make it probable that the stu- 

 pendous convulsions of !N'ature which gave birth to this crown- 

 ing feature of the district and prepared it for the support of 

 man in an advanced stage of civilization, occurred many cen- 

 turies ago, probably before the advent to these shores of its 

 first Polynesian inhabitants. 



