HAWATI. 
The former rises with a scarcely perceptible inclination, 
(see annexed cut,) without a break in the surface appa- 
rent in the distant view; then gradually rounds over, and 
declines on the opposite side with the same gentle declivity. 
The eye following along, up and down the sides of Mount 
Kea, meets with the same slopes, and only few traces of in- 
dentations. Mount Loa isa flat dome. Mount Kea rises 
to the same altitude, and differs only in having the summit 
somewhat pointed. The two stand side by side, bathed be- 
low in the ocean, and usually mantled above with clouds. 
In winter they are both covered at top with snow; but in 
summer Kea is mostly bare, and Loa, owing probably to its 
fires within, is wholly without snow. 
From these descriptions the statement will be appreciated 
that the heights of Hawaii are not peaks in a mountain range, 
but three isolated domes or low cones, united by a confluence 
of lavas at base. ‘The surface of the island is not a mass 
of broken mountains, but the simple slopes of these eleva- 
tions. Yet on an actual scramble over the sides, there are 
found occasional ravines and ridges of lava which impede 
the progress; and numerous craters form large hills, as 
they are usually between three and nine hundred feet in 
height. ‘There are also deep gorges on the eastern and 
northern foot of Kea, which extend from the sea half-way up 
the mountain, and are from three hundred to a thousand feet 
indepth. ‘The Kohala range on the north, which is the only 
part not conformable to this system, faces the interior of the 
island with a nearly vertical front, while northward the slopes 
are less abrupt and are profoundly intersected by valleys. 
“Upon the eastern or windward declivities of the island, 
where rains abound, there is some soil, and in many parts 
dense vegetation. With the first trace of earth, proceeding 
from the decomposition of the lavas, some kinds of shrubbery 
spring up, and flourish well amid the dreariest lavas. But 
“CUVALSVG IHL WOUd ‘IIVAVH dO MAZIA ANITLNO 
‘voy Lune 
‘voy wun, 
159 
over the leeward sides, (the southern and western,) where rains are 
unfrequent, a black desert of rocks everywhere prevails, and there is, 
with rare exceptions, only an alternation between the smoother fields 
of cooled lava and the rougher districts of scoria. Yet over the barest 
fields there is a sprinkling of verdure, growing from the many crevices 
