Hawaii the past, present, and future of its island-kingdom ; an historical account of the Sandwich Islands (Polynesia)

Front matter

This volume was donated to LLMC to enrich its on-line offerings and for purposes of long-term preservation by

Hawali State Archives ibn.

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CHAPTER II. Purystoat, FeattREs AND PHENOMENA—VOLCANOES . . 12

* CHAPTER III.

CITAPTER IV.

Over Roxat Crry oF Iloxonvne ‘ , a ; . 46

CHAPTER V.

CITAPTER VI.

Tun Tragepy my Kearaxraxva Bay ~ . ‘ i ~ 95

XxiV CONTENTS, CHAPTER VIIL Tae Seaver oF Coon’s DEata—Svpsegvent Visits » Lit

CHAPTER IX.

Hisrorrean Skerca—‘A Dust or Systems’—* Tae LonELY ONE’ : : * “ a ‘ ‘ ‘ . . 137

CHAPTER X.

Hisrorrean Sxercen—KaméinaMena tHe ConquEror—In- EPINESS FOR THE LYRE . ; ‘ F : é . il

CHAPTER XI.

Tisroricar Sketce—KAMERAMEHA Tre Kine—Its Dratea — I come To BURY CSAR, and TO PRAISE HIM’ . . 163

CHAPTER XII.

LIgIon oF JpOLATRY a - ‘i e F : . 180°

CHAPTER XIII. -

Tistortcat SxrtcH—ARRIVAL OF AMERICAN MISSIONARIES —Tur Visit or THR Kine and QvEEN To ENGLAND, -AND THEIR DEAT... F > - - . . 194

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

Historical Sxetcn—Tuox Srream pecomms a River— Reren oF Kawfuaméena UD. is and ht a 2296

CHAPTER XVI.

CONTENTS. XXV

CHAPTER XVIL

PAGE HisroricaL Sxetcn-—Essays iN CONSTITUTION-MAKING . 259

CHAPTER XVII

Isrorrcan Sxetcn—Tne Carysrort AFFAIR. 7 . 280

CHAPTER XIX.

Tistorrcan Sxeton—Tae Envoys ExrraorDInaARy—TuE Benelaxn ConTRAct. : y : : ‘ ‘ . 298 - CHAPTER XX.

Tsrorzcan Sxercnp—Tnoe TRRATIES oF CoMMERCE AND FRIENDSHIP, AND coNSEQUENT Hostinrrms . . . 812 CHAPTER XXI.

CILIAPTER XXTl.

Hawarran CHARACTERISTICS =. < ; ; : . 848

CITAPTER XXin.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Missionary ACHIEVEMENT AND Farnurn . : ‘ . sel

CHAPTER XXYV.

Gianons ar tam Past anp Guesses at me Furor . 3899 CHAPTER XXXVI

Kanerxo-na-naxt— Tue Frrerr oF THE CHIEF’ . . 420 b

XXVL CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVII.

BRoKEN-HEARTED . ‘ = ;:

CHAPTER XXVIIL

Tne Winp OLIVE-TREE . : * 3

CHAPTER XXEX.

Accession of Kaménawéna V.—Tue ‘Coup D’Erar’

CHAPTER XXX.

Ropert Cricxton WYLLIE. .

* . . *

Appendix

Corat Isnanps . ; , .

. 476

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

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Cascapn in rae Waratva Vaniny (Vignette in Title-page) W. J. Linton (Drawn on Wood by Miss C. Lane.)

Crarsr or Kiavea . (G. Pearson) . To face page 12

Proposep Cuvrem ar Wonoxnune (G. Pearson). - page 347 (Designed by W. Slater.)

Diauonp Huan, Honoreta . (G. Pearson) . To face page 380 ee ibe ae 158 BT ~ __ = : a: ; ba as ar c : | : : | 4 i .

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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS,

CHAPTER I.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND ORIGIN——HARBOURS.

O the imagination of the ancient Greek or Roman

the pillars of Hercules formed the entrance into.a dark and mysterious sea; yet, somewhere in its unknown waters, towards the sétting of the sun, lay, in his belief, the Fortunate Islands, under a clearer sky and in a happier climate than any known in the world of men, This dream of a land, of which they spoke sometimes as an Elysium for departed spirits, sometimes almost as a region which might be reached by the living, was not altogether without an influence for good. It kept awake a longing curiosity, which might one day give birth to active enterprise; it prevented the mind from accepting the bounds of one or two inland seas as the limits of the habitable world.

Such dreams were doomed to be dispelled, when, eighteen centuries later, the march of geographical discovery began; but in their place was left the fact, that the earth was larger than antiquity had taken it to be; tnd the belief gradually grew up that even another

B

2 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

I continent lay interposed in the untraversed sea between Europe and the Indian land. The conviction was justified by the discoveries of Columbus, and his successors.

One of the latest results of geographical research may be thus stated :_—_All the continents stretch downwards from the northern pole of our planet, and terminate in points; as if its waters, receding to the south, had left bare at the lower extremities of the land the central ridges only. In the Southern hemisphere, islands form a partial equipoise to these continental masses of land, and declare themselves, by several indications, to be peaks of land, once elevated but afterwards submerged by the increased depth of ocean. Islands elevated by voleanic action constitute exceptions to this general formula.

Lieutenant Julien, of the French navy, gives, as a farther fruit of his own investigation, that in proceeding from the North to the South Pole, the ratio of land to water diminishes regularly with every parallel of latitude.:

Islands, comparatively few in number above the Tropic of Cancer, stud the southern waters of the world in countless abundance. Group after group spreads onwards like the constellations of the firmament. In size, they vary from the vast mass of Australia, and of Borneo, with its fifty millions of inhabitants,* to little pulos and low lagoon-islands, rising but a few feet above the sea-level.

The whole of this tropical and southern realm of waters has been named Oceanica, and has been divided hydrographically, for convenience of reference, into five districts—as the stars have been mapped out into ima-

* Its population is so reported by the bishop of Labuan.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. 3 ginary figures with corresponding names. The divisions of the Ocean World are the following :—To the eastward, PotynestdA; comprising the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Harvey, Friendly, New Zealand, and Samoan groups. To the south, MzLanesta—inhabited by black races; it includes the Figt (or Feejee), New Hebrides and Solomon Archipelagoes, and New Guinea. Still more south, AusTRALAstA—comprehending the great land of Australia, and its dependencies. Westward, Mataista—embracing the East India Islands, and inhabited principally by the Malay races. These islands, six thousand in number, contain the largest in the world, with the exception of Australia. Lastly, situated somewhat centrally with respect to the other groups, a region of small isles and islets, fitly named Micronzsts.

‘It is proposed in the following pages to give an. account of the most northerly cluster of the Polynesian Archipelago, viz. the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands. And if on close inspection we find reason to remove the place of the Islands of the Blest still onward with the tetreating horizon, and discover that, amidst natural charms and delicious climate, vice and death and sorrow hold their place, we only confirm the poet’s discovery that—

‘things which to the world belong, So false doth sad experience find, She learns betimes among the throng, To bound the kingdom to the mind.’

But we shall be made acquainted with a very interesting

people, evincing an extraordinary aptitude for European

Civilisation, and possessing a ‘ government which, youth-

ful as it is, will bear comparison with those of the best B2 ruled states in Europe.* These islands, have, moreover, a special interest to our countrymen at the present moment, inasmuch as, at the invitation of their: sovereion, the English Episcopal Church has been planted for the first time on their shores; not merely, it is hoped, to enlighten that immediate spot, but to. shed its light across the waters to other island-homes. | The importance of the Sandwich Islands, politically and commercially, arises from their particularly central situation. They lie in a diagonal position from south-| east to north-west, in a parallelogram rather exceeding one formed by the 19th and 22nd degrees of north latitude, and the 155th and 160th meridians of west’ longitude; and it will be seen, by reference to a map, that the group is nearly equidistant from the coasts of America and Japan, and that a radius from its centre would touch in succession the shores of central America, the north-west States, the Russian territory, the Aleu-. tian Archipelago, Japan, the Philippine Islands, Torres’ Straits, New Zealand, and the Feejee Islands. And, whilst Australia is just beyond the ambit, California) and Vancouver’s Island are within a shorter distance of the Hawaiian Islands.

Thus they form an oasis in the ocean desert—a step-' ping-stone between two worlds; and they afford a place of refreshment of the utmost value for merchantmen and the large fleet of whalers in the northern Pacific. Commerce is establishing for itself a new road from east to west, and from west to east, across the ocean; and. we still wait in expectation to see an opening forced: through the Isthmus of Panama, by which ships may: sail from sea to sea; carrying on the interchange of

* OC. St. Julian.—‘ Report on Central Polynesia’

“IMPORTANCE OF THEIR SITUATION. 5 human labour and natural production, without the necessity of a protracted voyage round the South American Continent, and consequent exposure in the inclement: and dangerous latitudes of Cape Horn.* Should the Darien Ship Canal be constructed, the Hawaiian Islands will assume a far greater importance than they have yet had, for they lie in the very path which navigation would then take. Even now, says a recent visitor, ‘the islands, on account of their position and the extent of cultivable land they contain, enjoy advantages above any other of the riumerous groups which lie scattered over the Pacific Ocean.’+

Humboldt, writing before the year 1822, says—‘ The Sandwich Islanders are excellent sailors... .. They have attempted to build schooners, and even armed vessels, with which they project distant expeditions. +. They have profited more from their communi-. cation with Europeans than all the other South Sea islanders. The sphere of their ideas has been extended ; wants have been communicated to them which they Were ignorant of; and within these twenty years they have made a considerable progress towards that social State which we very improperly designate by the word “civilisation.” . . . Perhaps this people will one day be as formidable on the Great Ocean as the privateers and pirates of the Bermudas and Bahama Islands and Barbary who are dreaded in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean.’t ;

The origin of the islands is clearly volcanic. This

_* On the globe of John Schoner, made in 1520, and preserved in the Hbrary of Nuremberg, a passage through the Isthmus of Panama is laid down an interesting anachronism.

T Till—Tyavels in the Sandwich and Society Islands.’ London, 1856. { ‘Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain’ 1822.

tremendous agency, by which they were elevated from | the depths of the sea, and which has tossed up moun-— tain peaks in Hawaii 14,000 feet above the water-level, appears to have taken a direction from South-east to | North-west; the first exertion of force having been greatest, and diminishing in intensity as it proceeded. | Thus Hawaii, the most Southerly island, has an area of 4000 out of 6000 square miles, the whole super-| ficial contents of the group; and it possesses also the highest elevation ; the two mountains Mauna Kea and | Mauna Loa being of nearly equal altitude, viz. 14,000 | feet. On the side of the latter mountain is situated the | great volcanic crater Kilauea. Next in position to! Hawaii, is the island of Maui, with an area of 620 miles, and having in its neighbourhodd the smaller ; islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe. To the north-west of | Maui lies Molokai, a long narrow island extending east. and west, formed by a mountain ridge, which runs its. whole length. Next comes Oahu, with an area of 530; miles, Nearly two degrees beyond Oahu is situated Kauai, 500 miles in extent. Last in order of the greater islands is Niihau; and farther westward Kaula rises, which, with one or two islets and uninhabited rocks, shews itself the expiring effort of Plutonic energy.

The observations of Mr. Hill led him to an opposite conclusion with regard to the direction and order in which the islands were projected. Heis of opinion that Niihau was the first thrown up, and that the volcanic action advanced towards the south-east, and increased in energy till it culminated in Hawaii, the last and largest link ofthe chain. As the grounds of this opinion, he gives the more or less advanced state of the soil, the progress of vegetation, and the cessation or diminutiot of eruptions and earthquakes. Upon all these data he

THEIR ORIGIN. 7 decided Kaui to possess the greatest antiquity, and Hawaii the least. He feels his opinion fortified by the volcanic activity existing in Hawaii, and by the fact that in 1837 an extraordinary retreat of the sea took place from the shores of that island, followed by a returning wave, indicating great disturbance, and giving rise to the impression that another island was about to rise to the south-east of Hawaii. The phenomena do not appear quite conclusive in establishing the relative dates of the islands. The oldest lava in Hawaii may be, and probably is, overlaid by newer deposits and thus concealed; and the present volcanic activity may only shew that the original seat of energy remains unchanged ; and that the action, greatest at Hawaii, expanded itself in a north-west direction,—its last result being the rudimentary island of Niihau, and the rock called Bird Island.*

The volcanic, though it is the primary, is not the sole origin of the group. From the flanks of the submerged mountains the coral insect builds upwards its wonderful structure, till it emerges from the waves as a reef, more or less distant from the shore. The antiquity of the islands is shewn by their coralline formations, Which could only have attained their present elevation by the incessant labours of an infinitude of insects, acting through vast periods of time. In some places there is a double reef; the outer line indicating, perhaps, the slow upheaving of the base of the mountains from the sea-bottom subsequently to its first projection, until it approached sufficiently near the surface of the water to fulfil the conditions necessary to insect

* Two slight earthquakes have been experienced since the commencement of the present year (1862) at Honolulu. On both occasions the motion was from east to west, existence. The coral reefs of the Hawaiian islands are, however, of much smaller extent than those of more southern groups, and only appear on some of the coasts. —

As might be supposed from the igneous origin of the — islands, no metals are found on them,* Scoris, decom- , posed lava, with sand, &c., are the materials of the soil; | but ledges of compact limestone are found at consi- | derable elevations above the sea; portions of the bottom | of the ocean, probably forced upwards by the great submarine eruptions which have produced the lofty eraters which abound, There is also found on the shore a species of white stone, which, from the description received of it, would seem to be analogous to the English | *clunch,’ used in the restorations of Ely Cathedral; | which, from the ease with which it is worked, is very | valuable for carved tracery. This stone, found in the | districts of Ewa and Waianae, island of Oahu, is soft whilst lying in the water or under the sand, and easily cut; but hardens by exposure to the sun. For building purposes there are basalt, compact lava, coral rock and sandstone.

* Ellis remarks a fact which appears an exception to the absence of metals stated above. In journcying from the village of Keapuana, in ‘Hawaii to the foot of Mauna Loa, he crossed a waste or desert of fine sparkling sand, into which the feet sank at every step. It was of a dark olive colour, and adhered readily to the magnet. Unless meteoric, | it is difficult to account for its presence ; and it recalls the tracts of steel or ferruginous sand abundant on some of the shores of New Zealand. |

Mr. Goodrich, one of Mr. Ellis’s fellow missionaries, remarked ‘also, that when ascending the great mountain Mauna Kea, the compass, which pointed true North whilst held in the hand, was deflected between two and three degrees to the eastward when placed on the blocks of lava which abounded; and he attributed this effect to iron contained inthe mountain, May not the mass of the mountain in proximity alone have produced the deflection ?

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 9

The regions of fertility lie at the bases of the mountains and in the valleys, where abrasion and disintegration have proceeded for untold years, and rich deposits of vegetable mould have accumulated. Such a valley tuns wp from the capital, Honolulu, among the hills; and from the beautiful views it affords,—its grassy slopes, its bridged rivulets, its villas, and especially its air, which becomes more invigorating as the road winds upward,—the Nuuanu Valley is one of the favourite rides of the residents of Honolulu.

The soil is generally thin and poor, but this is not universally the case; and it affords fine pasturage. On the ‘lands,’ or grazing farms, are raised large herds, which supply meat for the whalers and merchant-shipping, and thus find a ready market. Vast numbers of horses also subsist on the islands, mostly of an inferior kind; and it would be an advantage to the kingdom if four-fifths of them were destroyed. » They unnecessarily consume the grass, and break the fences; but horseriding is a passion with the natives of both sexes.

Some of the islands are’ well supplied with rivers and streams, particularly Hawaii and Kauai. Along the shore of Hilo, a district of that island, sixty permanent streams of various sizes fall into the sea; whilst their numerous branches and feeders thread the county, and give unrivalled facilities for irrigation.

Large forests abound, very dense, and broken with chasms, ravines, and extinct craters. Jn making the ascent of the two great mountains in Hawaii, twelve miles of forest have to be passed through.

The great harbour of the group is Honolulu, situated on the south side of Oahu. It is formed by an indentation of the coast, protected by a broad coral reef. The channel through the reef has only twenty-two and a half feet water at its shallowest part; so that though the harbour is commodious, vessels drawing more than twenty feet are excluded, and lie in the roadstead outside, where there is excellent anchorage, except during a Souther, or ‘Kona.’ For shipping of less draught, — pilots are in attendance, and the vessels either run through the channel on a wind, or, more generally, | are towed in. Ships go out of harbour under sail, as for nine months in the year the trade wind is blowing seaward.

Within the harbour there is plenty of space and every — convenience. On the right hand a battery, seated on —

Punch-bowl Hill, commands the port. There are wharves and warehouses, conveniences for heaving ships down for repairs, and pipes for supplying fresh water. A steam-dredging machine is at work deepening and cleaning the harbour. The inhabitants of Honolulu speak with pride of 150 sail of shipping having been seen in their port at one time.

During the year 1859, Honolulu was visited by two British, one French, one American, and one Russian ships of war: 109 merchantmen* and 170 whalers entered the harbour; whilst 19 merchant-ships and 79 7 whalers remained outside.

Eight miles westward, at Ewa, on the same island, is an inland basin, in which the entire commerce of | the Pacific might lie; but this great harbour is almost useless, from there being only twelve feet water on the bar at low tide.

The next place of importance, as regards commerce, is Lahaina, on the south-west or leeward side of Maui. Five merchantmen and 116 whalers entered this road-

* This number includes second and third visits of some of the vessels.

HARBOURS. it stead in 1859. On the north-west side of Hawaii, in Byron’s Bay, is the harbour of Hilo; spacious, and with a good entrance through the wide coral reef. This port is on the windward face of the island, and is not now much frequented. Only two merchant-ships entered it in 1859, and forty-nine whalers. Formerly it appears to have been a place of greater resort. In 1846, four men-of-war, sixty-seven whalers, and thirty-four trading schooners arrived there. Three or four other harbours are accessible; and other parts of the coast possess undeveloped potentialities. The estuary of Pearl River (Oahu), for example, is a port, safe, large, and deep enough to contain all the shipping of that ocean; but its shallow channel will only permit small vessels to enter,

Independent of the harbours, ships can lie at anchor with safety in many of the roadsteads; which, though. they are exposed, have good holding ground, have no dangers from hidden reefs or rocks, and the winds pre~ vailing for nine or ten months in the year are more or less favourable, according to the bearing of the Trades and Konas upon the coasts.

CHAPTER II.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND PHENOMENA—VOLCANOES.

N approaching the group from certain directions the first objects which meet the sight are the two lofty peaks on Hawaii, each 14,000 feet in height,—two miles and a half,—one of them capped with perpetual snow, which contrasts with the deep blue of the tropical sky above, and with the darkness of the lava forming the sides of the mountains. A rude and irregular outline of high lands then presents itself; and on “the north side are seen, on a nearer view, the dark forests which clothe the lower region of the mountains; whilst giddy precipices front the sea, of from 1000 to 3000 feet in perpendicular height, against whose walls the waves beat and surge and thunder through the caverns which they have hollowed for themselves in their ceaseless war. In some places, streams which have united their waters on their way, rush together over one of these palis, or precipices, into the ocean. Still nearer, the white foam is seen pouring in sheets over coral reefs, of which there is sometimes an outer and inner ridge. The islands are generally lofty; the small isle of Lehua, near Niihau, having an elevation of 1000 feet. The upland tegion of Kauai has an uniform height above the sea of 4000 feet. Once through the reefs, or anchored in a leeward roadstead, scenes of gentler beauty

PHYSICAL CONFORMATION. 13 are discovered,—pleasant bays, with sandy shores, a native village, often with its small chapel, and generally with its school, sheltered by groves of palins and coker-nut, and the deeper green of the bread-fruit tree; rivers running to the sea, down some of whose cascades the native girls and youths cast themselves with langhter, and take a bath which must exceed any douche ever experienced at the severest of our water-cure establishments, At the mountain-foot grassy plains meet the forest, roamed over by herds of cattle, which in many instances have become wild. Coffee plantations and sugar-cane give their verdure to the cultivated districts.

The construction of the islands being essentially volcanic, the character of the scenery depends on that condition. Indeed, it is probable that they are but domes concealing the vast internal fires, and the crust which separates living nature from this great agent of destruction seems in places to be thin enough. Not that it is to be supposed there is any want of permanence in their existence ; forests have grown old, and a hundred generations of men have trod the hills and valleys in security. During the late great eruption of Mauna Loa, one of the newspapers published in Honolulu spoke of the volcano as a national institution, of which the inhabitants of the islands were proud, and to which they were, perhaps, almost attached.

The. crater of Kilauea is the largest active one in the world. Other volcanoes, of great size, exist in a state ~ of partial or entire quiescence. The crater on Mauna Haleakala (House of the Sun), on Maui, has not been active within the traditions of the people. Its dimensions exceed those of any crater known, being nine miles in diameter, and 2000 feet in depth. Extinct voleanoes are very common. They are of every age, size, and shape; at some places crowning the summits of lofty hills and mountains; elsewhere rising precipitously from plains, or projecting into the ocean they form prominent landmarks for navigators. The singular promontory, near Honolulu, called Diamond Head, is a well-known instance. One uninhabited island of the group, Molokini, is an extinct crater, crescent-shaped, of slight elevation, with one side open to the sea,

The very remarkable salt lake, named Aliapaakat, situated four miles from Honolulu, and one mile inland from the sea, is probably the remains of a volcanic crater. Its form is oval, being about a mile in circuit; its elevation above the ocean is only a few feet, and its general depth but eighteen inches. It is a natural evaporating pan for the production of salt, which forms abundantly on its surface at certain seasons, even to bearing a man’s weight_on the deposit. The level of the pool is slightly affected by the tides, which appear to act through a hole which exists in its centre, and to which it is said no bottom has been found. If asyphonlike connection is maintained, however, with the sea, it is difficult to understand how the waters of the lake are supported above the general hydrostatic level.

Deep conical pits are met with in the dense forests, which have probably also been craters. These are very dangerous in traversing the woods, their mouths being often concealed by trailing and orchidaceous plants. One member of an expedition which ascended Mauna Loa, in February 1859, to observe the great eruption, - lost his life by falling into a cavity of this kind. He was recovered from the pit, but his spine was injured, and he died a few days afterwards. Chasms and ravines also interrupt the forest, the scars of former cosmic convulsion.

In such a volcanic region earthquakes are not un-

VOLCANIC PHENOMENA. 15 common; but they are severe only in Hawaii. At Hilo, in that island, in the year 1838, the earth continued in a state of agitation for two days and nights, causing the plants to tremble, and producing in human beings a sensation of nausea. Forty or fifty shocks occurred in the space of eight days. In 1841, an earthquake more severe was experienced; throwing down large portions of rock from one of the palis of sheer cliffs, but not destroying either house or life. Slight shocks in all the islands are not uncommon.

In the Pacific there are various indications of the submarine voleanic action. Ships occasionally feel a blow from beneath, when traversing the deep sea, as if they had struck on ground. Nearer the coast of South America marine geysers occur. From a small circular space vapour-is seen ascending, and on entering the circle the water is found to be of scalding heat. The great wave, or rising of the sea which occasionally takes place, and sometimes with lamentable results, is in all probability due to an earthquake below the depths of ocean, producing unusually deep oscillation of the waters. In December 1860, during fine weather with very little wind, the sea gradually rose in the harbour of Kahului, Island of Maui, eight or ten feet above its ordinary high-water level, spreading over the beach, destroying several fences, but doing no further damage, The next morning the sea, though still very full, had greatly subsided in height, but throughout the day the bay was full of rip-tides, and the water boiled as in a kettle. At Maliko, on the same island, the sea ran inland up a little valley, and washed away a small hamlet of ten or twelve native houses, leaving only one standing. As the rising was gradual, the people received warning, and no lives were lost.

In 1746, the town of Callao, Peru, was destroyed by a great wave; and during the present century risings of the sea have occurred three: or four times in the Hawaiian Islands. The first, mentioned by Mr. Jarvis, happened in Honolulu harbour, in the year 1809; but that was caused by the bursting of a water-spout. It caused the sea to rise three feet on the beach. In 1819, another oscillation took place, but unattended with any fatal consequences. On the 7th of November, 1837, the sea was observed, at 5 pat, to be suddenly and rapidly retiring in the harbour of Honolulu. The barometer had not indicated any atmospheric change. The fall was eight feet, and the reefs were left entirely dry. Hundreds of the natives, who are as much at their ease in water as they are on the land, pursued the retreating wave, gathering up fish which were left stranded. The sea then returned, and in about half an hour, had reached the mark of its highest spring-tides. - On receding again, it fell six and a half feet. Thesé marine vibrations continued for about twenty hours, gradually diminishing, and then ceased. Their effects in the other islands were more disastrous than at Oahu. On the windward side the phenomena were increased by the trade wind and the tides, which act on the north side of the group with greater force. On Maui, the sea, having retired about twenty fathoms, returned with great speed in one great: wave, sweeping before it canoes, houses, trees, and human beings. At Kahului, the inhabitants followed the retreating waters, full of delight; but suddenly they rose like a steep wall, and, returning to the shore, rushed forward, burying the natives in foam, and deatroying the whole hamlet. Nevertheless, so perfect is” the islander’s swimming science that only two persons Jost their lives. In Byron’s Bay, Hawaii, far more