HAWAII. 243 



Fortunately, an English whaler, the Admiral Cockburn, of which 

 James Lawrence was commander, was lying in the bay at the time. 

 He in a most praiseworthy manner lowered his boats, and kept them 

 cruising about the bay, in search of the natives, many of whom were 

 picked up, wearied and exhausted, and by this timely aid their lives 

 were preserved. Not a canoe was left on the shore to assist in this 

 work. 



The master of the Admiral Cockburn affirms that the water ran 

 past his ship at the rate of eight knots an hour, and that the sound- 

 ings were reduced from five to three and a half fathoms, which left a 

 great part of the bay dry. 



At Oahu this phenomenon was likewise noted by Dr. Rooke, who 

 has given an account of it in the Hawaiian Spectator, Vol. I., Ja- 

 nuary, 1838. The time of its occurrence, as given by him, was six 

 o'clock, p. M., and the sea continued to vibrate until the next day at 

 noon. The time of commencement at Oahu preceded that at Hilo by 

 half an hour. 



It appears, from the facts that have been stated relative to a like 

 phenomenon at Tutuila, that although the two were not coincident, 

 yet they were so closely allied in point of tiiBe, as to leave no doubt 

 of the same cause having produced both. It is certain that the phe- 

 nomenon took place first at the Samoan Group, and supposing that the 

 two watches by which it was noted were both correct, as the difference 

 of longitude is thirteen degrees, the elapsed time from the first wave at 

 Tutuila to that of the observations at Oahu, allowing for the difference 

 of longitude, was two hours, thirty minutes. The actual distance is 

 two thousand two hundred and fifty miles, on a course N. 20° E., which 

 would prove that the wave must have proceeded from south to north 

 at the rate of nine hundred miles an hour. It would also go to prove 

 that the wave which was felt at Hilo, and on the north side of Maui, 

 was a returning wave, the difference of time having been an hour ; 

 and what is remarkable, its extent seems to have been confined to a 

 very small belt, as it does not appear to have been felt at Kauai. 

 There was no recoil or return wave on the north side of Tutuila. Its 

 breadth, therefore, would seem not to have extended beyond one 

 hundred miles. 



By comparing the velocity of its rise and fall, we find that at Tu- 

 tuila it exceeded that at Oahu. At the former place the rise and fall 

 was nine and a half feet in two minutes, while at the latter it was 



