OAHU. 235 
The streams of the mountains occasionally become subterranean, 
and several appear again at the shores, gushing up in copious springs 
or fountains. One spring of this kind near Ewa has sufficient force 
in its waters to turn a mill. 
In the farther account of Oahu we may speak separately of the two 
divisions, the eastern and western, and afterward take up the subject 
of the coral reefs and reef rocks. 
2. EASTERN DIVISION. 
The ridge which forms the backbone of the eastern division of 
Oahu has a jagged outline, presenting many angular peaks, and some 
towering summits. It commences rather abruptly at the east point of 
the island, called Makapuu, and seesaws along at an elevation of one 
thousand to two thousand five hundred feet, till near its centre, where 
it rises into the two massy elevations Konahtanti and Waolani, be- 
tween which there is the deep break which forms the head of the 
valley of Nuuanu. This wide valley commences on the south near 
Honolulu, and at the precipice at its head—the Pah of the natives— 
the ridge is but twelve hundred feet in height, or nearly three thou- 
sand feet lower than the lofty peaks that overlook the pass. 
The opposite declivities of this range are totally unlike. In a view 
from the southward, we observe that the land rises gently from a shore 
plain to the summit, and the declivities are cut through by a great 
number of valleys leading toward the shores. These valleys are 
large and extensive, so that the whole country, as shown on the map 
of the island, is a succession of narrow ridges and deep gorges, which 
widen as they open towards the sea. This is the prevailing character 
of the surface on this side from Makapuu to the dividing plain; and 
further west and north the features are still the same, except that the 
slopes decline into this plain and the valleys take the same course. 
But in a northern view, a long mural precipice is presented, extend- 
ing the whole distance from Makapuu to the west cape of Kaneohe, 
twenty miles. It is nearly vertical throughout, and the crest of the 
range is the brink of this precipice. The height is, therefore, from 
one to four thousand feet. 
The general features are exhibited in the following sketch, taken 
near Kaneohe. It includes the peak Konahuanui, and a portion of the 
wall either side, with the Nuuanu pass or Pali, near the middle of the 
