The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-09-01

OF the earth WOULD cause tnem 10 top
pie over and disappear beneath the
ocean. This seems amusing as a the
DRY.
Now. In relation to the development
OF some of these Islands, ! would call
special attention to Oahu. | find not
| less than sixteen stages OF growth In
| considering it. | will explain my rea-
sons for giving that number of stages.
First of all we suppose that the west
ern part of Oahu Is the Oldest: the
Island Is divided into two different
ranges; the space between Is low
| tableland rising to not more than 800
| feet; my doctrine Is that the western
part. beyond Eva, Is the Oldest; that
the Island took its start at the bottom
| of the sea-an igneous outflow from
| the bottom of the ocean. rising higher
| and higher till the surface of the wa
| ter Is attained: then the land Is con-
| tinued to be built up until nature Is
tired out and the volcanoes become ex-
| tinct: the process of erosion took 1t In
hand, and. as the material eroded from
| the eastward side of the range, or what
| was then the Island, the matter filed
| in toward what Is now the eastern
side of the Island. Now the question
| arises as to the origin of the next
range, or Koolau. This. too, arose, no
| doubt, in the same manner as the
western range. and the erosive action
| swept the waste toward the tableland,
filling up the gap completely between
the two and forming but one island;
the channels of these streams are com
paratively small; the natural conclu-
| sion from the topography would be
| that the flow came from the east and
covered up the space between the two
| mountains until the material was ex-
| hausted, and therefore the material Of
| the east must be newer than that on
the west side. That is the reason why
we believe the west range Is the older;
the erosion from the western range
went on for a long period before the
| other range came up and in eroding
covered 1t up. Dana calls attention to
the fact that most authorities agree
that the material came from the COW
ering up of the west. On the east side
of the Islands, where the traditions are
more recent. more erosion took place
than on the western. We determine
the age by the amount of erosion; II
there is no erosion, or only a small
amount, the country Is young; II the
amount of erosion is large, the coun-
try 10 old
let me compare Oahu with Hawaii.
There you have the most modern form
of an island: 1t Is the dome shape.
You will find there are no canyons
there as in Oahu; only when you get
down toward HilO you begin to find
some channels, and in Kohala and all
through that district there are great
many channels. The point that l wish
, to emphasize is that Mauna Loa rep
resents the first stage of development
, and on Mauna Kea you will find the
valleys are more developed; therefore
= Mauna Kea is more ancient that Maui
ma Loa.
1 ION the Island of Maui we come to
' a time intermediate in development,
between Hawaii and Oahu; west Maui
y has been very largely erOded; on the
. east side there Is scarcely any erosion
S you will notice on the south side there
= are quite large number of canyon:
: eroded to about 1000 feet in depth
e this represents phase more developed
d than Mauna Loa. On the very east ent
vi tHIS VIC hhu INV
S does it happen? Apply our principle.
: Of age, and we find that there has beer
first an eruption on the west side O
a the island, then on the east side, ant
! there has been no time for them t.
e develop. There is bulging out OF the
island on the east side, showing {
1 growth has been formed since thes,
d canyons were formed.
d The next point must have been the
e development of the coral reefs; thes,
d easily show in various parts of the isl
t and, especially in the reef portion O
$ the Pearl River lochs; they also ex
n tend all around the island, and from &
geological standpoint, the most inter.
e esting feature is that they have beer
n more extensive In the past than now
o The only question is whether this lime
e stone may not have extended above
e forty feet above the level of the sea
: but l must say that by judging from
= points like Kahuku the limestone ex.
tends 300 feet above the level Of the
sea.
e The lime is just as marked on the
:. bluffs there as these two books which
I | hold together; so we feel satisfied
D that the upper portion of the limestone
| is formed from what has been blown
9 there by the winds. The wind takes
Q the material from the shore and trans
ports it to the interior; SO we say In
general that the coral reef has eX.
tended about forty feet above the leve
of the sea.
Il pass direct to the next feature, ba'
a salts; We come upon this at the Pail
J, the Pail is beautiful place to get g
0 successive study of these groups; al
e you go down the hill, about 100 feet
e you will find another material; a rec
Q sort of q sand or clinker, which Is very
! common, and stands at quite an angle
it Is different material from the ba
4 salt. Then there is a material which
I lis a volcanic ash with pebbles imbed
$ ded in 1t; as they have been washed
s out of the original rock they have be
q come imbedded in the ash; these arr
], three distinct points which We find II
$ the Pail: We find that the latest one II