948 The American Naturalist. [October, 
sounds at intervals 160 paces westward. At 94 paces further the sand 
was non-sonorous. 
The native Hawaiians call this place Nohili, a word of no specific 
meaning, and attribute the sound caused by the sand to the spirits of 
the dead (uhane), who grumble at being disturbed ; sand-dunes being 
commonly used for burial-places, especially in early times, as bleached 
skeletons and well-preserved skulls at several places abundantly show. 
Sand of similar properties is reported to occur at Haula, about three 
miles east of Koloa, Kauai; this I did not visit, but, prompted by in- 
formation communicated by Hon. Vladimar Knudsen, of Waiawa, I 
crossed the channel to the little-visited island of Niihau. On the 
western coast of this inlet, at a place called Kaluakahua, sonorous 
sand occurs on the land side of a dune about roo feet high, and at 
several points from 600 to 800 feet along the coast. On the chief 
slope, thirty-six feet high, the sand has the same mobility, lies at the 
same angle, and gives when disturbed the same note as the sand of 
Kauai, but less strong, the slope being so much lower. This locality 
has been known to the residents of the island for many years, but has 
never been before announced in print. This range of dunes, driven 
before the high winds, is advancing southward, and has already covered 
the road formerly skirting the coast. 
The observations made at these places are of especial interest because 
they confirm views already advanced by Dr. Julien and myself with 
regard to the identity of the phenomena on sea-beaches and on hill- 
sides in arid regions (Jebel Nagous, Rigii-Rawan, etc.). The sand of 
the Hawaiian Islands possesses the acoustic properties of both classes of 
places ; it gives out the same note as that of Jebel Nagous when rolling 
down the slope, and it yields a peculiar, hoot-like sound when struck 
together in a bag like the sands of Eigg, Manchester, Mass., and other 
sea-beaches,—a property that the sand of Jebel Nagous fails to possess. 
These Hawaiian sands also show how completely independent of ma- 
terial is the acoustic quality, for they are wholly carbonate of lime, 
whereas sonorous sands of all other localities known to us (now over 
one hundred in number) are silicious, being either pure selex or a mix- 
ture of the same with silicates, as feldspar. 
The theory proposed by Dr. Julien and myself to explain the 
sonorousness has been published elsewhere, but may properly be briefly 
stated in this connection. We believe the sonorousness in sands of 
sea-beaches and of deserts to be connected with thin pellicles or films 
of air, or of gases thence derived, deposited and condensed upon the 
surface of the sand-grains during gradual evaporation after wetting by 
