The plain lying between the mountains of Hawaii is many square miles in extent, and is intersected by lava streams which have issued from the three nearest volcanoes. The rocks forming the north point of Kealakeakua bay, where Captain Cook was killed, are part of a flow which maybe traced up the steep ascent and over a precipice where it must have fallen like a cascade, the surface being curiously marked with waves and curves as if the molten stone had been solidified instantaneously. A sheet of copper with an inscription, attached to the stump of a cocoa-nut palm, for many years served as the only memorial of Captain Cook’s death; but in 1874 a monument was erected at the spot by the residents of Honolulu. The east coast of Hawaii from Hilo to Laupahoehoe, a distance of 30 miles, is very remarkable for the streams, 85 in number, running at the bottom of ravines 1800 or 2000 feet in depth which are cut into the side of Mauna Kea, and render travelling along this coast a work of extreme labour. The ridges between the ravines terminate at the sea in precipices from 100 to 500 feet high, so that the road is obliged to run inland into and across the ravines.
Hilo (population 4200), the residence of the governor, is a straggling village half hidden in sugar-cane and other vegetation on the east coast. It lies in a bay that is little more than an open roadstead, but is partly protected from heavy seas by a sunken coral reef.
Maui, lying 25 miles N.W. of Hawaii, is composed of two mountains connected by a sandy isthmus 7 or 8 miles long by 6 miles across, and so low that the depression of a few feet would convert Maui into two islands. Haleakala, the mountain to the N.W., has a height of 10,032 feet, and forms a great dome-like mass with a circumference at the base of 90 miles, and with regular slopes of only 8° or 9°, so that travellers may ride to the top on horseback. The extinct crater on its summit, the largest in the world, has a length from E. to W. of 7 miles, and a width of 2 miles, with an area of about 16 square miles. The circuit of the walls, which are composed of a hard grey clinkstone much fissured, is from 18 to 20 miles. The depth, measured from the highest point of the rim, is 2720 feet. At the bottom are 16 cones 500 or 600 feet high, formed long after the top of the great crater had been destroyed, perhaps by explosions. On the east and north are two great gaps in the walls from 1 to 3 miles wide, through each of which has poured a copious flood of lava which nearly reached the sea. These streams, though of unknown date are comparatively modern, for they have blocked up several ravines in their progress. A little impure sulphur is found in the crater, but there is not the least sign of igneous activity at present on the island. Eeka, the mountain at the south-east of Maui, is 5820 feet high. Volcanic action appears to have ceased here at a much earlier period than on Haleakala, there being no craters on the summit or sides, whilst the slopes have been denuded into deep valleys separated by narrow sharp ridges.
Lahaina (population 3000), on the north-west shore, is the residence of the governor. It is a decaying place situated in a grove of cocoa-nut and other tropical trees. The roadstead is roomy and sheltered, and there is regular steam communication with Honolulu, about 72 miles distant. A native Hawaiian college in the neighbourhood is supported by Government. Foreigners reside at Lahaina, as well as at Wailuku (population 4000), a town on the east shore of the island. They are principally employed in the cultivation of sugar.
Lanai is another small island on the west of Maui, from which it is 9 miles distant. At the south-east end there is a mountain 3000 feet high without a crater. Vegetation is stunted on the exposed slopes, but the ravines contain a rich growth of trees and shrubs. Sheep in large numbers are pastured here. Lanai and Kahulawi are remarkable for presenting high cliffs to the leeward and gentle slopes to the windward, the reverse being the case in all the other islands.
Molokai is a long narrow island 9 miles distant from the north-west end of Maui. A ridge of hill forms its backbone and throws off lateral spurs enclosing ravines. At the west end are some lofty broken peaks, the highest of which is about 3500 feet above the sea. Deer are wild on the hills, the descendants of tame animals that belonged to a former king. The leper settlement of Molokai has been already mentioned.
Oahu, 23 miles N.W. of Molokai and 67 miles S.E. of Kauai, has an irregular quadrangular form. It is traversed from S.E. to N.W. by two parallel ranges of hills separated by a low plain. The highest point in the island is Kaula, 4060 feet, in the western range; but the eastern range is much longer than the other, and its ridge is very broken: on the land side there are many ravines formed by lateral spurs, but for 30 miles on the other side it presents to the sea a nearly vertical wall without a break. The valleys are remarkable for beautiful scenery,—peaks, cliffs, lateral ravines, cascades, and tropical vegetation combining to charm the eye. There are few craters on the loftier heights, volcanic activity appearing to have long ceased, but on the coast there are several groups of small cones with craters, some of lava, others of tuff. The greater part of the coast is surrounded by a coral reef, often half a mile wide. In several localities an old reef has been upheaved, sometimes to the height of 100 feet, and now forms part of the land. By such an upheaval a bay of the sea a mile wide and two miles long has been converted into a plain some 25 feet above the level of the ocean, and upon this plain stands Honolulu, the capital of the kingdom, noticed above.
Kauai, 67 miles N.W. of Maui and 23 miles from Molokai, has an irregularly circular form; and at the centre is the basaltic mountain Waialeale, 5000 feet high, which has a swampy top and sides deeply furrowed by ravines, showing that volcanic action has been long extinct. To the west of the mountain is a tableland with an elevation of 4000 feet and an area of 40 square miles, terminating at the sea in a precipice of 2000 feet. The valleys are numerous, deep, and very picturesque with wood and waterfalls. The soil is fertile, the lavas of nearly the whole island being much decomposed. In some places, however, are cones, which have preserved their craters. Numerous dykes are exposed in the valleys, and there are large caverns in several localities which are thought to have been great bubbles in the lava. In one place near the shore is a bank of calcareous sand which on being set in motion gives out a curious noise. When the grains were examined with the microscope they were found to contain cavities, and it is supposed that these minute hollows are the cause of the resonance, for when the sand is wet the noise is not heard. A district on the north side of the island is considered to be the best watered and most fertile in the entire group; it contains several sugar plantations. In this part the rainy season extends over nine months. The chief town is Waimea (population 1200), which affords the best anchorage in Kauai; it is situated at the mouth of a stream navigable by boats for three quarters of a mile.
Niihau, the most westerly island of the group, is 15 miles west of Kauai. Two-thirds of it consist of a low plain composed of an uplifted coral reef and matter washed down from the mountains. The hilly portion is destitute of cones, craters, peaks, and ridges. The coast on the side towards Kauai is formed of high cliffs, and from the similarity of the structure of the rocks on the two sides of the strait it is thought that the islands were once united. The soil of Niihau is dry, yet fertile. The island is the property of a foreigner who pastures about 75,000 sheep upon it. The uninhabited islets of Kaula and Lehua, close to Niihau, have each of them a tufa cone.
See G. Mortimer, Observations during a Voyage to the . . . Sandwich Islands, &c., Lond., 1791; G. F. Mathison, Narr. of a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, 1825; W. Ellis, Narrative . . . with Remarks on the Sandwich Islands, 1826; Voy. of H.M.S. Blonde to the Sandwich Islands, 1824–25, Lond., 1826; J. Jarves, Hist. of the Sandwich Islands, Boston, U.S., 1843; H. T. Cheever, Life on the Sandwich Islands, 1851; W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 1853; S. S. Hill, Travels in the Sandwich Islands, 1856; Ch. Wilkes, U.S.N., Narrative of Exploring Exped. round the World, 1838–42, New York, 1856; T. Williams, The Sandwich Islands, Lond., 1858; Hopkins, Hawaii Past, Present, and Future, Lond., 1866; Jules Remy, Récits d’un vieux sauvage, pour servir a l’histoire ancienne du Hawaii, Châlons sur Marne, 1859; Id., Ka Mooolelo Hawaii, histoire de l’archipel hawaiien (text and translation), Paris, 1862; H. Mann, Flora of the Hawaiian Islands (Boston, 1868), and his papers in Mem. Boston Soc., 1869, and in Proc. of Amer. Acad., vol. vii., 1868; Brigham, “Notes on Hawaiian Volcanoes,” in Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. (Boston, 1868–69), and his papers in the Globus, 1876, and the Ausland, 1876; Hann, “Klima der Sandwich Inseln,” in Zeitschrift der Oesttrr. Ges. für Meteor., viii., 1873; W. R. Bliss, Paradise in the Pacific, New York, 1873; Nordhoff, Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands, London, 1874; C. de Varigny, Quatorze ans aux îles Sandwich, Paris, 1874; H. M. Whitney, The Hawaiian Guidebook, Honolulu, 1875; Thrum, Havaiian Almanac for 1875, Honolulu, 1875; Ferreiro, “Las islas de Sandwich descubiertas por los Españoles,” in Boletin de la Soc. Geogr. de Madrid, 1877. For further bibliographical details see Hawaiian Club Papers, Boston, 1868, and W. Martin, Cat. d’ouvrages relatifs aux îles Hawaii, Paris, 1867. A map of Hawaii is given in Petermann’s Mittheil., 1876, and one of the other islands, ibid., 1878.
HAWARDEN, a market-town of Flintshire, North Wales, 8 miles S.W. of Chester, is a clean and tolerably well-built place, situated on an eminence commanding an extensive prospect. It lies in the midst of a coal district, and near it are valuable clay-beds. Coarse earthenware, draining-tiles, and fire-clay bricks form the chief manufactures of the district. The family of Maude derive the title of viscount from the town. Population (1871) of the township, 6782; of the parish (including Saltney), 8683. In the neighbourhood is Hawarden Castle, built in 1752, and added to and altered in the Gothic style in 1814; it stands near the ruins of the old castle of that name which was granted by the Conqueror to his nephew Hugh Lupus, and which after many vicissitudes came into the possession of Serjeant Glynne, lord chief-justice of England under Cromwell. On the death in 1874 of Sir Stephen R. Glynne, the last of a line of baronets, the castle passed to his brother-in-law the eminent statesman Mr W. E. Gladstone.
