OAHU. Q47 
dently due to currents in the water produced by the winds, as they 
point to leeward. They were quite pure, and had no nucleus, ex- 
cepting a few granules of dirt along the centre. ‘There were nar- 
row fissures through the crust, forming a kind of network over the 
pond, and showing the muddy bottom of the lake below; the edges of 
them were somewhat turned up, and the crystals were here larger 
than elsewhere. A cane penetrated four feet into the mud, without 
meeting with any resistance. The water of the lake was extremely 
dense, and had an oily feeling.* Over the flats, on the south side of 
the lake, the earth or mud was strongly impregnated with the brine, 
and the salt crystallizing, raised the hardened surface in small blisters, 
one to three inches in diameter, apparently owing to a fibrous crys- 
tallization, radiating from a centre. There were also thin seams of 
salt intersecting the soil. 
In the rainy season, the lake is said by the natives to rise four 
feet above the above-mentioned level, making in all a depth of five or 
six feet: and it is then simply a pond of salt water, navigable, and 
often navigated, by canoes. 
At the centre of the lake there is said to be a deep hole, through 
which the salt water of the ocean, with which it is supposed to com- 
municate, boils up. The object of the author, in crossing the lake, 
was to examine this salt-water fountain. But, although the spot was 
found, and the hole seen, there was no flow of water. My native guide 
said that it did not operate much in dry weather, but when the rains 
set in, the water boiled up in large volumes. ‘The statement shows 
some connexion with the streams of the mountains; and this is pro- 
bably one of those springs that are so frequent along the coasts of the 
Pacific islands,—a place of exit of some subterranean torrent from 
the adjoining mountains. Such springs become most copious during 
the rains, and often entirely fail in dry weather. Along the eastern 
shores of the lake basin, there are several fresh-water springs, opening 
at the surface, from one of which I drank; and I have no where found 
purer water: besides, on the same side, there is a large taro patch, 
a collection of shallow fresh-water ponds covering several acres, 
* To protect the feet from the sharp crystals, while wading across the lake, I put on a 
pair of moccasins, forgetting the action that might be expected from brine. They soon 
began to tighten on the feet, and before half way over, they became so painful from con- 
traction, that I was compelled to cut them off, when they immediately shrunk to three or 
four inches in length. . 
