The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-07-02

less than under the action OF direct
solar rays" The zone of high rainfall
x,D the mountains has a lower temper
ature. the latter decreasing with the
increase of altitude, the low tempera-
ture is the first cause of precipitation
The lower temperature not only causes
the precipitation OF rain, it also causes
a veil OF clouds, which is never quite
absent. and during the greater part OF
most days in the year, overspreads the
rain zone. thus reducing the possible
TRANSPORTATION by a vast measure
This cIoudiness indicates high hu-
mfdity of the air, and concerning the
action OF humidity on Transportation we
have absolute data: Risler found that
plants growing in soil containing only
10 per cent. of water, with ali air tenn
perature OF 80 degrees, W1ited down Ill
rectIy when the humidity in the air was
only So degrees But with humidity
of 70 degrees the plants stood up fresh,
showing that the greater moisture IN
the air stopped largely the loss of water
from the plants. Evaporation is pro-
portional to the temperature and the
humidity of the air. Then, with the
lower temperature of the mountain at
titude and the air so unprecedented
with moisture that it is most frequently
raining, il is seen that during a great
part OF the time the condensation not
only balances the evaporation, during
which time no moisture is being lost,
but the GOODNESS of the mountains takes
the water from the winds as they are
passing over, the great body of which
must find it's way through the rock
crevices to the lower strata. Direct
evaporation from the earth even ag-
gravated by the high winds, is reduced
to a minimum by reason of the dense
foliage which covers the ground. Dur
ing the portion of days when the sun
is unclouded it must be borne in mind,
however, that Transportation is very rap
i'd The ground is saturated with mois-
ture, a condition that allows all the
water to pass direct to the lower strata
whilst rain is falling, but when the air
is clear il allows evaporation to pro-
coed more rapidly, which has been
proved by our own experiments. And
when trees and plants are in active
Transportation they dissipate huge guam
titles of water. Haberlandt has shown
that All acre of oats during its growth
drew from the ground $40 tons of wa
ter; of wheat, 489 tons; of rye, 1874
tons Further, Hohnel found, in ex-
periments with very young trees, dur
ing half a year, from June to Novem-
Der, that for each pound of dry weight
of an elm tree 81 ,987 pounds of water
were given off; of pine tree only 3,207
pounds; the algeroba probably gives
off still less. Illustrations of argu-
ment could be given without number,
but space will not allow. In view, |
however, of the main factors, VIZ, that
the great body of rain falls during the |
cool season of the year, at the alti- |
tudes of lowest temperature, and upon |
surfaces Of earth and rock enormously |
porous and absorptive; and bearing |
also in mind that this rainfall occurs /
mostly under conditions of the sky and |
humidity of the air most unfavorable |
to evaporation, Notwithstanding the |
cited examples of the enormous ca
pacity of vocation to- draw moisture |
from the ground and give it to the air. |
it does not appear possible to evade the /
that the greater part of the /
water falling within the zone of high
est precipitation enters the under
ground and is discharged at levels near
and under the sea level.
Then, by means of such considera-
whilst the lower lands have small
small amount of which is
lost by surface drainage, a smaller
amount of it by underground perco-
lation, the vastly greater part return
ing directly to the air, and the noun
tain lands receiving the greatest body
Of the total rainfall, of which probably
less than one-half escapes by surface
drainage and evaporation, the remain
der sinking to the underground, we
have been led to venture an account of
the discharge and waste of the water
falling upon Oahu, excluding details of
as follows:
Surface Drainage 10
Pr CT to % Pr Ct. 15pre't 1856, oil, 42s
CT to 90 pr ct -. 45p'r ct as2.ss5 es4 2s5
35p'r otto IS Pr ct 4Op'r CT 249.24S ss7. IA
Total Rainfall ---.... so. 6s4. 742, s57
The greatest interest attaches to the
discharge. How much of
It can be approximately accounted for?
A given volume can be fairly closely ap-
proximated as the output of the arte-
sian well system in use; and further
volume more accurately estimated by
actual "cubic-second'' measurements
hat have been made of certain springs
and streams (nothing is better calcu-
lated to show the utter useIessness of
casual observation than the COMPARE
son Of the amount of water discharged
even by big stream with the total
.ainfalD.
Gallons.
Total underground
how: .-....:...... 249 24s. s97. IA