The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-12-14

lSSS SlHS. hSBolN'ihS VIC pidoiOlluS
on which they stand as their true
bases. the cones themselves and all
the lavas which have cmanated from
them never approach the magnitude
Of Mauna Loa. 1Gtna and all its
adjuncts are far inferior, while
Shasta, Hood, and Raincr, if they
were melted down and run together,
would fall much below the volume
of the Island volcano. We do not
know at what level the base of
Mauna Loa is situated. We only
know that it is below sea level, and
probably far below it. But, on the
other hand, it may not be so low rs
the adjoining depths of the Pacific,
for, as will appear in subsequent
chapters, there is evidence that its
platform has been hoisted, and to a
considerable amount, during the
progress of its eruptions." Mauna
Kea-" the white mountain " =" is
also colossus among Volcanoes"
the only one besides its neighbor
comparable to it being Mount st.
Elias. Although Mauna Kea's sum-
nit is a trihe higher than Mauna
Loa's, its slopes are sleeper and its
base therefore much smaller. "The
magnitude of Mauna Loa is due
chiefly to the great area of its base,
which is nearly elliptical in shape,
with major diameter of "A miles
and minor of SO miles, measured
at sea-level.
Mauna Loa's supremacy in the
aggregate of its eruptions is next
noted, one of it's moderate erup-
tions representing more material
than Vesuvius has emitted since the
days of Pompeii. "The great flow
of 1855 would nearly have built
Vesuvius, and those of 1859 and
1881 are not greatly Inferior
''Mauna Loa and Kilauea are in
many important respects abnormal
volcanoes. The quiet character
of their eruptions, unaccompanied
as they have mostly been with
earthquakes or subterranean rumb-
lings. is notable in this respect.
"The lava wells forth like water
from n hot, bubbling spring." and
the observer may stand so near the
source that the heat will make the
face tingle, yet without danger,
while the inhabitants, appraised of
the event first by the glow of the
sky from the playing of the fire foun-
tains, "display almost as much
eagerness to approach the scene of
an eruption as the people of other
countries show to get away from
one" In consequence of this mild
behavior, there is an absence of
those fragmental products that con-
stitute so large a portion of the out
put of other volcanoes. The eiecta
are almost nothing else but massive
lavas, which accounts for the flat
profiles of these volcanoes. Earth
quakes, though common in the is
lands, with their centers of dis
turbance around Mauna LOa and
Kilauea, only occur on startling
and destructive scale at intervals
of many years.
The author makes q reference tt
the sculpture of nature in these is
lands expressive of his great delight
therein. He makes favorable com
parison of the grand carving of the
elements on the cliffs of Oahu ant
Molokai, with the most magnificent
features of the Colorado Valley
son the weather sides of Hawai-
and Maui the gentle slopes of thu
mountains terminate upon the ocean
in walls few hundred feet high
while the platforms are gashed will
canon valleys which are marvels o
beauty. Over all is spread tn
mantle of tropical vegetation s.
rich and splendid that it makes tn
pomp of emperors Ridiculous -
Remark is made of the strange fac
that such sharp outlines produced
by erosion are found in this humi'
climate as pronounced as in the ari'