Evening star., 1896-07-02

or eight feet in diameter in which 1t swift
ly shoots on its downward course toward
the end Of the flow. whsre it breaks out and
divides in all directions
Such ducts or caves are found every
where. Many Of them have been made
burial places, where the natives anciently
concealed the bodies OF their dead, to pre-
serve the bones from violation by persons
leg bones of a noted fisherman would be in
great demand as material for fish hooks.
Other bones would be wanted, especially of
high chiefs. for use as charms by sorcerers.
trated one Of these caves to a great dis
tance, and procured iarge number of an
cient skulls for scientific purposes. His
successful robbery Of the dead SO aroused
the ghostly fears of his guides that he had
to find his way back alone to the dwellings
of the living. sh
Once on the slope Of Mauna Loa, about
5000 feet above the sea. left the trail
duct seeking fresh water. We first braided
some dry grass to use for torches. We
round the cave nearly straight, about sew
en- ieet high, and ten feet wide. 1t was
peculiarly uniform in transverse section, as
II mold or shield had been drawn
through 1t. The sides were quite smooth,
vitrihed by the intensely hot stream shoot
ing thrrough 1t when formed. A sort of
shelI IKE the transom of q cabin lay uni
Iormiy along the bottom of one side. About
5U 1eet from the entrance we found the
inequalities of the floor filled with pure,
clear water. with which we filled our
gouro bottles 1t was water condensed
from the outer atmosphere.
Vegetation In Lava.
The cold night of the high uplands re-
duced the interior temperature of the cave
to about 30 degrees. During the day time,
wind poured up from the sea at Is or 80
degrees. loaded with moisture. Entering
the cave and coming In contact with the
Geld rock, it deposited thereon its moisture,
which trickled down to the floor All
through the arid districts the natives used
TO resort to these natural stills of sweet
water. brewed from the ocean winds. A
curious thing in this cave was that the roof
was hung with thick festoons of what ap-
peared to be spiders webs On examina-
ton, these proved to be the slender, lace
IKE; ramified fibers of tree roots. The
wild eugenia or ohia trees growing upon
the cl1nkers overhead had sent down their
roots through the roof of the cave in
search of moisture
This illustrates and explains the rapidity
with which vegetation and even culttya ton
will occupy the surface of the clinker or
"a variety Of lava stream. The surface
for several feet in depth Is composed of
broken. jagged stone, extremely porous
and rather fragile in texture. ANYTHING
taking root in the interstices of such a sur.
race Will most readily send it's roots down
through the crevices to any depth, finding
Dotn moisture below, and abundancs of nu-
trit1ous mineral matter both potash and
phosphates, as well as slick and alumina
In the comminuted surfaces of the porous
rocks. On the pahoehoe or smooth lava
the compact surfaces yield but slowly to
dislntegratlng influences, and may keen a
district barren for centuries. But on the
cllnkers cultivation may commence early.
In OLD times sweet potatoes formed a large
portion OF native diet. 1t was common to
see them planted on recently formed clink-
ers, py opening a small hole in the stones
10 receive the young vine stem or slip and
then nliilng up pile of small clinkers
around II. In few months that stone
neap would be full of luscious, mealy
tubers. -e'
When Cook discovered the Sandwich
Islands, a population Of at least 400 900 ma :
tlves were living in rude abundance. Half
oi o,, shem m were % on the great island of Ha-
wall wan (or o, Whyzt1ea. as Capt. Adams
wrote 1t III ls4s). They lived on sweet no
tatoes, taro, some yams and a good deal Of
nsh, with little bread fruit, pig ana der
nled'' ana some sugar cane and bananas az
luAuIles. Ihat great population fell Off
one-half In thirty years, victims to the vices
ana az, diseases of civilization, or rather syph-
nlzatlon, to borrow a Ehastly pun They
now number 10000, with 10000 more Of
e" oiooo- kAMEHAMEHA