The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-30
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

and plants would grow from it; to
make long story short, that is the
way vegetation has started in these
Islands, and, in fact, all islands; take
catalogue of the island plants, and
you Will see they come from the con-
tinental islands that are adjacent and
those that will resist the action of
salt water for long while; that gives
an illustration of how vegetation has
come here and how it has spread: the
plants derived thus have developed,
perhaps, most on Kauai and on this
Island, Oahu. more so than upon Ha-
waii.
''One other point in general upon
these Islands as a group; we under
stand that these Islands extend down
ward very much like needles to the
bottom of the sea; take Oahu for in
stance; We find that the mean depth
on all sides of the Island is about 16,-
900 feet; the mountains rise, perhaps,
about 900 feet; add these two sets OF
figures together, and it makes a needle
about 10000 feet in height, which is
the proper height of the Island from
the bottom of the sea; Hawaii is, Of
course, the longest, which would give
a needle rising up to something like
80, 900 feet.
Il once made a remark about these
Islands being called needles and
suggested that a steamer would leave
San Francisco some day and would
fail to find the Islands or a harbOr In
the usual place, and would cause con-
siderable embarrassment; l meant by
that that the needles were so long and
sharp, that some day a terrific shaking
of the earth would cause them to 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, 1 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 q low
tableland rising to not more than 500
feet; my doctrine is that the western
part, beyond Eva, is the oldest; that
the Island took it's 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 it in
hand, and, as the material eroded from
the eastward side of the range, or what
was then the Island, the matter filled
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 long period before the
other range came up and in erOding
covered it 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; if
there is no erosion, or only a small
amount, the country is young; if the
amount of erosion is large, the coun-
try is old.
Let me compare Oahu with Hawaii.
There you have the most modern form
of an island; it is the dome shape.
there as in Oahu; only when you get
down toward Hilo you begin to find
some channels, and in Kohala and all
that district there are a great
many channels. The point that 1 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
IA Loa.
con the Island of Maui We come to
a time intermediate in development
between Hawaii and Oahu; west Maui
has been very largely eroded; on the
east side there is scarcely any erosion;
you will notice on the south side there
ire quite a large number of canyons
eroded to about 1000 feet in depth;
his represents phase more developed