534 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL 
generally described as having been first discovered by Cap¬ 
tain Cook, but there is no doubt that they were previously 
known to the Spaniards. They will always be connected 
with the name of the great navigator, however, as the 
place of his murder by the natives, on the 13th February 
1779; the scene of the tragedy being Kealakeakua Bay 
on the west side of the island of Hawaii. 
The Sandwich Islands are pre-eminently volcanic. 
Here, in Hawaii, rise three of the highest mountains in 
Polynesia—Mauna Kea, about 13,800 feet; Mauna Loa, 
hardly 200 feet less in elevation ; and Mauna Hualalai, 
about 8000 feet, the two last active volcanoes. On the 
eastern slope of Mauna Loa is Kilauea, a remarkable 
volcano in constant activity, scarcely elsewhere surpassed 
in the awe-inspiring grandeur of its cauldron of seething 
lava, when contemplated on a moonless night. Its crater, 
of comparatively easy access, forms a vast irregular abyss, 
in which there is usually visible a glowing lake of lava, 
rising and falling independently of the action of other 
volcanoes. After a silence of eleven years, Mauna Loa was 
the scene of a terrific eruption on the 14th February, 1877. 
Fiery clouds of smoke and vapour were at first vomited 
with astounding velocity to a height of more than 15,000 
feet, covering the heavens for a space of 10 0 square miles, 
and emitting such a strong glare that the whole island 
was lit up as vividly as by the mid-day sun, the light 
being clearly visible on the distant Maui. Ten days 
afterwards there occurred a fresh and most remarkable 
eruption, from a submarine volcano in the Bay of Keala¬ 
keakua. Countless red, blue, and green flames flickered 
over the surface of the waters, and huge glowing masses 
of lava emitting large volumes of steam, and diffusing 
dense sulphureous exhalations, were hurled into the air. 
This was accompanied by a loud rumbling noise, while the 
