The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-09-19

ed by the broken pieces hurled out, |
seen typieally at the Pail, and over
very wide areas red ash, clinkers and |
lava were spread out such as are seen |
in the Laeloa and Tantalus craters. |
This kind of activity went on at diff !.
ferent times finally forming tuff or ash !
eraters, typical cinder cones such as
Punchbowl. Diamond Head and Koko |
Head. The matter which formed them !
was blown through assures, even !
through the coral reefs, so as to bury
some of the reefs. Meanwhile the /
land was enlarging, and new reefs |
We're formed, all decomposing to form |
soils: discharge of ashes and showers |
of stones became dominant over the |
lava flows, SO that. the latter had to |
content themselves with filing assures |
underground which have since been |
revealed by erosion. Great warnings
of the earth IS crust produced a depres- |
sion of the land beneath the sea to the |
extent of some $50 feet followed by
elevation to the present level. The |
last stage in the history of the Oahu
is the erosion by wind and rain at the |
present day and the accumulation of |
sand dunes.
Biologists may differ, as to detail, |
from Professor Hitchcock, but this his |
tory of Oahu probably typifes the his
tory of the whole group of Islands |
and is a valuable and detailed study !
The History of Mauna Loa.
The history of Mauna Loa, the great |
est active volcano in the world, shows
a succession of recorded events from
1880 to 1907 inclusive. Like all such
histories, the records prior to the mid
die of the 10Th century were very
scanty. Since that time they are in
creasingly full, so that it is difficult to
base on them any quantitative general
izations as to frequency or intensity
of eruptions DR.. Hitchcock summarizes
as follows the mechanism of develop
ment of the typical Hawaiian volcano:
+" At first there is a small crater dis
charging lava from the summit of the
dome, Rwfl
Secondly, the lava is not produced
in sufficient quantity to flow over the
margin, the opening is sealed and then
the outermost crust breaks up. The
crust is too vast to be absorbed. Blocks
of it will be elevated; other sections
will be absorbed and the outer wall on
the makai (sea) side may give way.
There will be discharges on the lower
side. This may be the Mohokea stage
tThirdly. all the segments of the
crust fall into the reservoir beneath. ,
Vertical walls encire1e the pit. This is
the stage of Kilauea and Mokua- |
weoweo
sEFourthly, the caldera with encir-
cling walls is formed but the lower
walls give way. Great rivers of lava
flow to the sea-. As the fires die down
several craters are developed on the
principal floor This is Haleakala
"Fifthly, the eruption Of the smaller
craters multiply and the whole pit is
filed. The caldera is smothered, the
smaller craters continue to be developed
until the internal reservoir is exhausted.
This is the Mauna Kea stage
This description of the sequence of
events is somewhat too concise and the
reviewer believes that DR.. Hitchcock
has not laid stress enough on the
growth of explosive activity in the
Haleakala and Mauna Kea stages. This
was probably an oversight rather than
a deliberate omission for I have no
doubt that the author recognizes the
explosive character of the cinder cones
of these two volcanoes
j Volcanic Folk Lore
If the reader of this review imagines
that the book is wholly devoted to dry
geological detail and theorizing, let
him turn to page IT'S where he will find
a most instructive description of the
folk lore which deals with the goddess
Pele Tennyson IS "Kapiolani'' is re-
produced in full, and we are told that
the following is true story of the fire
goddess, recovered by King Kalakaua.
A family of five brothers and nine sis
ters emgrated from Tahiti about 1175
{ A. D. The names of four of the broth.
ers when translated from the native
tongue have picturesque meanings such
as "the explosion, y train of night, I"
the husband of thunder,'' ttthe fire
thrusting child of war y The sisters
were "Peie, - fiery canoe break
err, Stheaven rending cloud holder"
'heaven dwelling cloud holder"
''quick glancing cloud holder,s "the
cloud holder embracing the bosom of
Pele, - t'the red hot mountain holding
clouds, 'Ethe weather garland encir
eled cloud holder and the styoung
cloud holder. This family with many
others settled near Kilauea. Kama.
puaa, coarse, black, bristly man who
was called "half hog'' in derision,
made proposals to become the suitor of
the amazon Pele Pele rejected his
proposals with contempt and combat
ensued wherein Pele S family was
worsted and forced to retreat into
lava tunnel. Kamapuaa finally discov-
cred the retreat and upon attempting to
dig into it was driven away by flow
of lava Because of this timely erup-
ton. it was believed that Pele had the
power of calling up the fire and so she
became the goddess of the volcano.
Volcanic Activity at Kilauea.
Next after Mauna Loa, Kilauea is
treated Historically and we find that
the tabulated statements of the con-
d;tion of the lava lake in Halemau-
mau give us thirty-seven records of
change between 1925 and 1907. The
question of fuctuation in position Of
the lake of lava brings up an amusing
query as to the boundary of the Bishop
estate. 1t appears that the Bishop title
is tied to the center of the lake and
if the lake changes its position the