OAHU. 259 
the distance from the summit to the base. When entire, the moun- 
tain may have been six or eight thousand feet in height, with a dia- 
meter at base of twenty to thirty miles. Konahuanui and Waiolani 
are, therefore, but fragments of the once lofty mountain. The por- 
tion of the great volcano cut off at the rupture has disappeared be- 
neath the ocean. 
A similar train of facts and comparisons guide us to a like conclu- 
sion for the western mountains, although the data afford less satisfac- 
tory grounds for definite computation. It is important to observe that 
the lines of the Waianae or western coast and mountains are exactly 
parallel with those of the Koolau coast and the adjacent mountains. 
Catastrophes of the grandeur and extent here supposed, though be- 
yond the comprehension of the uninformed mind, have been of frequent 
occurrence in the history of our globe. ‘The observer of nature is 
early taught that the forces employed by creative power are not to be 
measured by the ordinary experience of man any more than the extent 
of their influence is limited by the field of bis vision; the universe 1s 
the vast arena, where the majesty and wisdom of God’s operations 
are displayed, and the agencies are commensurate with this extent. 
Evidences of many facts of the kind above described, have been 
brought to light by recent investigation ; and occurrences at the pre- 
sent time evince that the same forces are still at work. We need not 
look for examples beyond the islands described in the preceding pages. 
The recent rending of Mount Loa for a distance of twenty-five or 
thirty miles, with the ejection of streams of lava, has been mentioned, 
and what is most remarkable, it happened quietly, with none of the 
terrific signs of violence often attending such phenomena. It was 
simple, irresistible force, without noise. The rupture of the summit 
of Maui at its last eruption, as explained, cut from the mountain a 
segment ten thousand feet in elevation: and although the segment 
was not dislodged from its place, it opened valleys one to two miles 
wide, poured out floods of lavas, and left precipices of one to two 
thousand feet. Such are occurrences attending the action of single 
volcanoes ; and if thus great, where shall we limit the disrupting forces 
of the globe, by which continents are made to vibrate? The views 
here presented are familiar to the geologist; but there are many 
general readers who shrink from unfamiliar facts, and measure what 
may be, by what they themselves know, and for such we have added 
these remarks.* 
* Lisiansky, in his Voyage Round the World, states that a lofty precipice near [hack, 
island of Kodiak, is said to have been formed during an earthquake that tumbled part 
