THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
167 
beach. A few small craters lift their conical mounds above the nearly smooth surface of the 
immense incline, the summit of which is hidden in clouds. But further to the southward, 
time has deepened these water-courses, and the increased volume of water has straightened 
them, and thus have they been transformed into a series of glens and valleys, increasing in 
depth as they approach the shore. The undermining action of the sea has simultaneously 
created a range of stupendous cliffs, over which the streams which have carved out the valleys 
fall in magnificent cascades. As many as five or six of the latter, of an average height of 
several hundred feet, could be seen at one and the same time. Had our course been nearer to 
the shore, we might — 
have enjoyed a better 
view of this wonderful 
spectacle, probably 
without a rival of its 
EAST COAST OF THE ISLAND OF HAWAII. 
kind in the known world. The above sketch represents this portion of the coast as 
seen from the ship at a distance of about five miles. During the night, while we were 
cruising off the coast, the western sky was lighted up by the reflected glare of the burning 
crater of Mauna Loa. H.M.S. “Challenger” entered the Bay of Hilo on the morning of the 
14th. We found here the U.S.S. “Pensacola,” bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Almy. 
H.M.S. “ Repulse,” with Admiral Cochrane on board, whom we had expected to meet here, 
had left for Honolulu shortly before our arrival. 
The town of Hilo, or Waiakea, is situated at the southern end of the bay, its church 
and cottages hidden behind the trees. Above it rises Green Hill, a. small extinct volcano , 
and on the right a wooden suspension bridge 
spans a creek, the favourite bathing-place of 
the natives. A short distance above the 
bridge is the waterfall of Waianuenue. The 
river descends into a deep chasm surrounded 
by inaccessible rocks, and in front of a wide 
cave, which seems to be the mouth of one 
of those tunnels frequently formed by the 
lava as it flows down towards the sea. The 
surface of the burning stream cools in contact 
with the air, and forms a natural roof, 
beneath which the lava continues to run. 
When the volcano ceases to pour forth its 
torrents of molten rock, the tunnels thus 
formed remain, and may serve as outlets 
to the lava-streams of a future eruption. 
The island of Hawaii is said to be undermined in all directions by these subterranean 
channels. In the present case the roof of the tunnel forms the bed of the river, while its 
falls of waianuenue, NEAR HILO. 
