GEOLOGICAL FACTS
Note: The following articles pertaining to the geological formation of
the Hawaiian Islands were written by the author at different times for
the various local periodicals in Honolulu and will be found interesting
by those who wish to increase their knowledge of volcanology.
I
THE CRACK IN THE FLOOR OF THE PACIFIC
A geological or earthquake map of the Pacific shows that the ocean is
bordered by ranges of volcanic mountains on the American side, and by a
long chain of volcanic islands, such as the Aleutian, Japanese, and
Formosa islands along the coast of Asia. It is also clear that between
America and Asia connected islands built up by volcanic action follow
what appear to be cracks in the floor of the Pacific.
It is interesting to note the fact that all along the western coast of
North and South America there is only a comparatively narrow strip of
land between the mountain ranges and the sea, and that from the edge of
this narrow seacoast there is a rapid descent in the ocean bed until it
becomes one of the most profound oceanic depressions on the globe. The
depth of the floor of the ocean is greater than the enormous elevation
of the mountain ranges along its edge. “The Challenger” surveyors give
the average depth of the Pacific Ocean as about 2,400 fathoms, while
between the Caroline and Ladrone groups of islands lies a valley whose
ooze-carpeted floor can be reached only by a sounding line about 25,000
feet long, and near Japan about 30,000 feet of line is needed to reach
the bottom of one of the deepest pits on the globe.
The German survey ship “Planet” has made the deepest sounding thus far
taken. About forty sea miles off the north coast of Mindanao, the
largest and most southerly of the important islands of the Philippines,
the “Planet” found a depth of 32,078 feet. In other words, the Pacific
Ocean where the sounding was taken has a depth of 6.07 miles, exceeding
by 482 feet the greatest depth hitherto known.
In 1901 the United States survey ship “Nero,” while studying out a
route for a cable line to the Philippines, made a sounding some
distance to the southeast of the island of Guam of 31,596 feet, which
beat the world’s record for sea depth up to that time. This is a depth
of 5.98 miles, and is known as the “Nero” deep. The surpassing sea
depth now discovered may appropriately be named the “Planet” deep.
Out of these awful ocean depths have come the chains and groups of
islands which form Polynesia. It seems absolutely necessary to
recognize the cracks in the floor of the ocean through which the vast
floods of lava were forced for the upbuilding of these islands. Even
the coral polyps had to have the edge of a crater to work on while
building the innumerable coral reefs of the Pacific.
No one knows what mighty conflicts were fought between the two eternal
enemies, fire and water; nor does anyone know how long they fought
while these islands were being built into mountains, but there must
have been ages when the skies were filled with rolling masses of clouds
of steam sent up through boiling, turbulent waters with awful
explosions of escaping gases before the dry land appeared on the face
of the deep. It has been the modern story of creation. There were
boiling seas and skies always covered with vast masses of steam clouds,
then ages of mountain building at the hands of chaotic fire-rock, and
the subsequent ages of the disintegration of lava, forming soil for the
coming of plant and animal life.
The building of these islands has been a most stupendous task, and the
chains of islands resulting from the tremendous volcanic energy still
exhibit immense activity. The volcanic outbreaks and earthquakes of the
Japanese islands from Nippon to Formosa are so frequent as to afford an
excellent field for study. The New Zealand islands have a volcanic
region around Roturua which is visited by numbers of tourists every
year.
Islands appear and disappear in the Western Pacific. None of the
islands have so good a tradition of these turbulent times as the
Hawaiian group, and they have only a statement made by William Ellis in
his book, “A Tour through Hawaii,” published in 1826. He says that
while on this tour around the island Hawaii, he stopped with John
Young, who is now stated to have been an American sailor and a close
friend of the great king Kamehameha I. “Mr. Young said that among many
traditionary accounts of the origin of the island, one was that in
former times, when there was nothing but sea, an immense bird settled
on the water and laid an egg which soon bursting produced the island
Hawaii.”
It must be remembered that the Hawaiians also have the pulling up of
the islands with a fish-hook by the demi-god Maui, who fished up many
islands in Polynesia.
It has been nearly a hundred years since Ellis made the brief reference
to the production of an island by the explosion of the egg, and now it
is impossible to secure any enlargement of the legend. The story stands
as an ancient memory of volcanic activity so mighty and so extensive as
to produce islands in the time of human experience.
II
HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES
Each island has its extinct craters from which extend the limited
ranges of mountains and plains which make the island surface. These
large craters are from a few hundred to over thirteen thousand feet in
altitude. They seem to have had mighty explosions after they had been
built into mountains, and one side of the crater has usually been blown
out or has slid down into the ocean, leaving very high, steep side
walls around irregularly shaped valleys opening toward the sea.
In these craters and between them and the sea are many small craters
which mark the most recent eruptions on the various islands. There are
no legends of the origin of any of these large craters, whether extinct
or active. There are very interesting stories connected with many of
them, and there are legends of the origin of some of the small extinct
craters which lie at the bases of the mountain ranges. These usually
are ascribed to the fire-goddess Pele, who came to the Hawaiian group
ages after the islands were built, and who only succeeded in starting
eruptions of no great importance until she found her present home in
the volcano Kilauea. These small extinct craters marked the progress of
Pele’s journey through the islands.
The large mountains of all the islands, except Hawaii, have no hot
springs and no outlets for steam or hot air which would indicate any
remnant of living fire still abiding in them. Nor are there any very
noticeable earthquake shocks in these other islands, even at the time
when the island Hawaii is pouring floods of lava down its mountain
sides and is shaking its inhabitants with great force.
Open volcanic activity is confined to the mountains of Hawaii. The
mountains of Maui, especially Hale-a-ka-la, are called active because
of historic eruptions and signs of hidden fire.
The extinct craters are very interesting. They have their broken-down
side wall, through which the last great effort of volcanic life was
poured out. They also have crater cones and sometimes lava flows of
small extent on the floor left by the great eruption. These were the
picturesque last throbs of life as a volcano died. Occasional spasmodic
efforts were made in both earthquake and lava flow until the fire
cooled in the submarine chambers.
From the summits of all these mountains, peculiarly fine cloud views
can be enjoyed. There is not only the gathering of cloud masses rolling
beneath the lover of the sublime,—this can be seen on all the large
mountains of the world,—but here in the Hawaiian Islands the march of
cloud armies sweeping over an ocean and spreading in ceaseless motion
for miles over the lowlands receives an added element of majesty and
awe when tossing, whirling cloud mountains roll into the extinct
craters and slowly fill the bowl of the gods from rim to rim as the
morning sun delicately touches the crater edges above the clouds with
all the colors of the dawn.
Here and there in the decaying volcanic ash and disintegrating lava can
sometimes be found beautiful, small, star-rayed zeolite, or the pale
green olivine, or coarse black augite crystals. These are of no value,
save as they show some of the forms taken by cooling lava, and are of
interest chiefly to the scientist.
On the island Hawaii are three great mountains from 8,200 to 13,600
feet above the ocean, which smashes its mighty tides and surf waves
against the coast below. One of these, Mauna Kea (White Mountain), is
an extinct volcano with a lake of water in its crater. Hualalai is
dormant, although from it there was a great eruption a little over a
hundred years ago, and even now possibilities of activity are talked
about by those who cultivate sugar-cane and coffee on its lower slopes.
Mauna Loa (Great or long mountain) has a most interesting active crater
on its summit, Mokuaweoweo (Blood-red island), from which enormous
rivers of lava are hurled down to the waiting ocean many miles below.
What is said to be the most active crater in the world, Kilauea, lies
on an eastern spur of Mauna Loa at an elevation of 4,000 feet above the
sea. This crater is a great caldron or pit crater, and has been known
among the Hawaiians for centuries as Ka-Lua Pele (The Pit of Pele).
Below Kilauea are a number of craters of similar character, great
sunken holes or pits in a country of almost even surface.
Kilauea is a surprise to the tourist. Ki-lau-ea means “the rising up or
living leaf of the ti-plant.” Ea means “to rise up” and also “to live.”
Ki-lau means “ti-leaf.” A gradual ascent by rail and motor-car for
about thirty miles brings the visitor to a flat region miles in extent
and sparsely covered with giant ferns [23] and shrubs and gray-leaved
trees with fringed red balls of flowers. Here and there small clouds of
steam come from crevices around a hotel where the traveller finds his
resting-place.
In front of this hotel, and not seen until the motor-car stops, is the
crater whose edges are almost level with the surrounding plain. It is a
precipice-walled bowl, three miles across, with a multitude of steam
jets breaking through its vast floor and a great cloud of smoke rising
from a pit in a black border-land of frozen lava. Kilauea looks like a
congealed lake whose glossy black hard waves had hardened while rolling
and struggling with each other under some fierce tempest. It is,
however, a cone ascending gradually to the fire-pit from these
precipitous edges of the bowl.
Under the smoke cloud of the pit lies the always active lake of fire,
Ka-Lua Pele (The Pit of Pele), the traditional home of the goddess
Pele, now called Halemaumau (House fixed or continuing).
From this volcano Kilauea, and the crater Mokuaweoweo, which lies like
an island in the top of Mauna Loa, nearly 10,000 feet higher, come
enormous and sometimes destructive lava flows. They are called rivers
of lava, but a lava river, unlike a stream of water, flows underneath a
continually cooling and hardening crumpled surface, pushing its way
from under and at last leaving long tunnels. Sometimes new lava melts
through the walls of these caves and pours along the path left ages
before, frequently finding an outlet even under the waves of the sea.
The natives say, “Pele has gone to the sea by the ala huna [the hidden
path].”
There are two kinds of lava which these rivers carry down. One in
cooling becomes very smooth and hard. Its surface shines like black
satin. Professor C. H. Hitchcock, the eminent geologist, says: “The
name pa-hoe-hoe signifies having the aspect of satin or having a
shining smooth surface. It is quite hummocky and shows a wrinkled ropy
structure.” The glossy part is real volcanic glass shining on the
surface because the silica which is used in making glass rises to the
top of the cooling lava. It is lighter than the other ingredients. This
pa-hoe-hoe lava is abundant in the lava fields around Mexico City.
The name a-a, which signifies “torn up by roots,” is the name given to
another kind of lava. An a-a flow is lava changed into bristling,
ragged rocks, with innumerable fine sharp edges cutting like fragments
of broken glass. It appears very much like slag from iron furnaces,
only infinitely worse to handle.
These two Hawaiian names are now the accepted scientific names for
these classes of lava the world over.
In 1911 the first successful attempt to secure the temperature of the
boiling lava in the lake of fire was made scientifically. Professor F.
G. Perret came from his observatory by Vesuvius and Professor E. G.
Shepherd from the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution at
Washington, to study Kilauea, following the beginning of such
observations already established by Professor Jaggar of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
They stretched a wire cable 1,500 feet long from wall to wall over the
lake of fire. They ran wires through pulleys along this cable and
dropped the best instruments they had with them straight down. Some of
these were broken before registration could be secured. The last
thermometer registered 1850° Fahrenheit, remaining steadily at that
point until the thermometer was withdrawn. Later it was again lowered,
but, according to Professor Shepherd, “Pele arose in her wrath, grasped
the thermometer, flung hot lava on the supporting wires, thereby
weakening them, and then with a final jerk broke the thermometer from
its supports and swallowed it. Pele seems to like ironware for diet.”
The record of from 1800° to 2000° Fahrenheit seems to be the normal
heat of the lake of fire, sometimes, of course, rising much higher
under special conditions. The scientific observers when speaking of
lava heat usually say it is 1850° Fahrenheit.
III
VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
In a little note-book in Hilo is a record which from time to time has
been studied and copied frequently by visiting scientists. The
missionary mother who put down the facts therein recorded never dreamed
of being scientific. She simply kept a record. In 1832 Mrs. Sarah J.
Lyman came to Hilo, where her husband founded the Hilo Boys’ Boarding
School, a school, by the way, after which the great Hampton Institute
of Virginia was patterned. On October 3, 1833, she was tossed around in
her home in a way somewhat alarming. She opened her little note-book
and wrote, “Two earthquakes, one of them heavy.”
She had a little curiosity to see how frequently these earthquakes
disturbed her home. Thus the record went on from month to month and
year to year: “Earthquake, motion up and down,” “Heavy shake, stone
walls down, cream shaken off the milk,” “4 A.M., all the family
aroused,” “Jar and a noise like distant cannon,” “Tremendous shock,
brace ourselves to stand up,” “Kai-mimiki” (sea shaken by an
earthquake), “All motions combined, earth like the sea.” At one time
the record ran: “Frequent jars, severe, so many I have ceased to
count.”
Interspersed through this concise and interesting story of earthquakes
told in a few word pictures are many references to other volcanic
phenomena. “Activity great in Mokuaweoweo. Mountain clear for several
days, the smoke is marked, light brilliant at night, snow extensive on
both mountains.”
The year 1868 has been marked as the volcano year of Hawaiian history.
Mr. F. S. Lyman, now living in Hilo, wrote a journal letter, which was
quoted in full. He writes as follows about the earthquake:
“March 27–31, 1868. A sudden eruption from Mauna Loa, no forewarning, a
spray of red lava thrown high in the air, followed by a great stream of
smoke rising up thousands of feet. In Kau we had quite a sprinkling of
Pele’s hair, peculiar earthquakes—first hard shakes, then a swaying
motion, as if the whole island were swaying back and forth and we with
it. March 31—From about 10 P.M. to 2 A.M. the shaking was incessant.
Thursday, April 2nd. We experienced the most fearful of earthquakes.
The earth swayed north, south, east, west, round and round, up and
down, and in every imaginable direction, everything crashing around us,
trees thrashing as if torn by a mighty wind, impossible to stand. We
had to sit on the ground, bracing with hands and feet, to keep from
rolling over.”
Mr. H. M. Whitney, editor of the Advertiser, says that “the number of
shocks which occurred at Waiohinu from March 29 to April 10 was
estimated at upwards of two thousand. The heaviest shock, that of April
2d, destroyed every church and nearly every dwelling in the whole
district. This earthquake was felt very sensibly in Honolulu. Following
the earthquake came a great tidal wave at Punaluu. It rolled in over
the tops of coconut trees, probably sixty feet high at least, driving
all floating rubbish inland about a quarter of a mile—taking with it,
when it returned to the sea, houses, men, and women and everything
movable.”
Mr. Lyman wrote: “We could see the shore. All along the seashore from
directly below us to Punaluu about three or four miles the sea was
boiling and foaming furiously, all red.”
Two remarkable eruptions accompanied this earthquake. The lava,
starting from the slope of Mauna Loa, sank into some great channel but
“burst forth with a heavy roar several miles farther down. The lava
stream became a river of fire, flowing rapidly toward and around some
farmhouses. The inmates had barely time to escape. The path by which
they fled was covered with lava within ten minutes after they passed
over it. Animals and even human beings perished. The number of deaths
were between eighty and one hundred. This eruption flowed ten miles in
two hours, and continued five days, destroying many thousands of acres
of good lands.” The second remarkable eruption was nearer the crater
Kilauea and has been known as “The Great Mud Flow of 1868.” It is in
the region covered by the Pahala plantation.
Mr. Lyman writes: “In the midst of the great earthquake we saw burst
out from the top of the pali about a mile and a half north of us, what
we supposed to be an immense river of molten lava (which afterward
proved to be red earth), which rushed down in headlong course and
across the plain below, apparently bursting from the ground and
swallowing up everything in its way—trees, houses, cattle, horses, men,
in an instant as it were. It went three miles in not more than three
minutes’ time and then stopped. After the hard shaking had ceased we
went right over to a hill with the children and our natives expecting
every moment to be swallowed up by the lava from beneath, for it
sounded as if it were surging and washing under our feet all the time.
Outside of Punaluu we saw a long black point of lava slowly pushing out
to sea. An island about four hundred feet high rose out of the sea at
the south point. The lava river has extended the shore to this island
one mile at least.”
Mrs. Lyman wrote: “Jan. 30, 1875. Light exceedingly brilliant.
Perpendicular column of smoke over 1,000 feet high on the summit crater
spreading out at top like an expanding flower.” This august glow was
described by members of the “Challenger” expedition as “a globular
cloud perpetually reformed by condensation, having a brilliant orange
glow at night as if a fire were raging in the distance.”
This display from the summit of Mauna Loa continued about eighteen
months.
Isabella Bird Bishop, author of “Six Months in the Sandwich Islands,”
visited this active crater in 1874, and wrote about the crater itself.
“Nearly opposite us a fountain of pure yellow fire, unlike the gory
gleam of Kilauea, was throwing up its glorious incandescence. The
sunset gold was not purer than the living fire. The roar of this
surging lava sea was a glorious sound, the roar of an ocean at dispeace
mingled with the hollow murmur of surf echoing in sea caves, booming
on, rising and falling like the thunder music of windward Hawaii. The
area below us was over two miles long and a mile and a half wide with
precipitous sides and a broad second shelf about 300 feet below the one
we occupied with a fire fountain three-quarters of a mile away. On the
way up the mountain there was a fearful internal throbbing and
rumbling, rocks and masses of soil were dislodged, the earth reeled,
then rocked again with such violence that I felt as if the horse and
myself had gone over.”
During these months of 1874–1875 there were magnificent exhibitions of
clouds reflecting volcanic fires caused by the upburst of lava
fountains.
The summit crater of Mauna Loa is about 13,000 feet altitude. Snow has
frequently covered the top of the mountain, lying in deep banks around
the edge of the crater. The cold has acted quickly upon the lake of
fire, congealing a large part of the surface into a hard floor of lava.
Gases, steam, and smoke lift this floor and break through it with great
violence, escaping from the melted lava in pillars of cloud against
which the fires beneath mirror themselves in glorious displays of
color. These outbursts were frequently called eruptions. The modern
name is more correct. They are “glows,” reflecting wonderful fires
beneath.
Mrs. Lyman mentions another eruption from the summit of Mauna Loa.
“1877. Feb. 14. Eruption seen on the mountain. Ten days extinct then
broke out lower down the mountain and reached the sea in a few days,
near Kaawaloa, Kealakekua Bay.”
Dana says, “The columns of illuminated steam rose with fearful speed to
a height of 14,000 to 17,000 feet and then spread out into a vast fiery
cloud looking at night as if the heavens were on fire.”
After this, there was an underground eruption to the sea marked by a
fissure down the mountain side through which clouds of steam and smoke
were forced. The lava at last found its place for escape under the sea.
H. M. Whitney, the editor of the Hawaiian Gazette, was a witness of
this submarine eruption. In the issue of Feb. 28, 1877, he wrote: “As
the steamer Kilauea came toward the bay, the passengers saw some canoes
rowing about over boiling water. The natives reported that about three
o’clock in the morning of Feb. 24, they had seen innumerable red, blue,
and green lights dancing in the waters. Morning disclosed a new volcano
in the sea. The southern shore of the bay has been known as Keei point.
The eruption appeared to be in a straight line out from this point.
Three boats from the steamer went out, cruising over the most active
part of the boiling waters, appearing as if passing over rapids. Blocks
of lava two feet across were thrown up from beneath, striking the boats
and jarring them. The lava was quite soft and no harm was done. Six
stones hit the boat in one minute. Several hundred pieces of these
stones were floating on the sea at one time. Nearly all the pieces on
reaching the surface were red hot, emitting steam and gas strongly
sulphurous. Several were taken into the boats, perfectly incandescent
and so molten in the interior that the lava could be stirred with a
stick, the water having penetrated only about an inch. When these
stones cooled and became water soaked they sank rapidly. The specimens
taken from the water were of the a-a variety and very light. Probably
only the lightest came to the surface. Some of the lava consisted of
Pele’s hair, red hot, yet preserving its peculiar characteristics.”
Mrs. Lyman has the record of a terrible tidal wave which struck Hilo
harbor in May of that same year: “1877, May 10. A heavy tidal wave at 5
A.M., destroying 34 houses on the Waiakea side of the harbor, also the
bridge and twelve houses between Waialama and Aiko’s old store. One
hundred and sixty people homeless, some bruised, bones broken, five
dead. Wave was thirteen and a half feet above high water mark at
Waiakea, swept inland forty rods, accurate measurement.” Following this
on May 31, came the record “severe shake, things thrown down.”
Dana says: “A destructive earthquake wave was felt at the Hawaiian
Islands on May 10, 1877, which rose at Hilo to a height of 36 feet. But
it was of South American origin, where there were heavy earth-shocks,
and not of Hawaiian.”
One of the eruptions from Mokuaweoweo tried to take possession of a
river-bed, but the waters chilled one side of the lava and built it
into a wall. On one side was flowing fire and on the other the swift
rapids of a river. The antagonistic elements sought the sea side by
side.
A native account of Kilauea in “Ka Hae Hawaii [The Hawaiian Flag]” was
published in Honolulu in March, 1859. In it is a very interesting
native account of eruptions on the island Hawaii. The sketch is in the
quaint Hawaiian tongue and is valuable throughout, but only a few
extracts from the translation can be used at present. The story as told
by the Hawaiian runs as follows:
“In the very ancient time Mauna Kea threw out vast Pele fires, but long
ago these eruptions have been imprisoned. The earth has covered them in
on all sides and the abundant soil, large trees, and green things of
many kinds are multiplying. But not so Mauna Loa and Hualalai, other
mountains of this island Hawaii. Pele fires have burst forth from them
even up to recent times.
“Mauna Loa is the greatest of all the mountains, opening doors for the
Pele fires from all its sides. Kilauea and Mokuaweoweo are the very
wonderful Pele pits (craters) discharging fire from the very depths of
the mountains.
“In the year 1822, or 1823 perhaps, there was an eruption from Kilauea
pouring down into the Kau district very close to the Puna line. From
the depths of Kilauea was this bursting forth. The a-a (broken lava) of
this eruption in its journey to the sea spread about eight miles. In
the year 1832 the pit of Kilauea was full of burning a-a. It broke into
some ancient tunnel connected with Kilauea and flowed away. The place
where the a-a reached the sea is not known. It is supposed to have gone
into the sea underground.
“In the year 1840, the people of Puna and Hilo districts saw a great
fire inland. They thought that the forest wilderness was burning. That
day was the Sabbath. The people assembled together and looked toward
the place where the fire was very great and the air was heavy with
smoke. Then they saw that this was not an ordinary forest fire but a
Pele (an eruption). They could not see any a-a breaking out on the
mountain, and therefore were greatly afraid that it was very near and
would destroy their lands. Volumes of smoke rolled, curling upward,
while the strong steam burst forth with reports like the firing of
cannon. On the 4th day of June that eruption poured down into the sea.
Narrow was the flow in steep places and spread out widely in others.
When it came to the sea mighty was the stormy rage and the boiling of
the sea, the steam rising in clouds to the sky. There were built up on
the beach two hills of black sand, about 400 feet in height. Only on
the side from which the wind blew could any one come near. On the other
side the smoke was very strong, offensive and sickening like a volcano.
Then there were burning ashes destroying every green thing for many
miles. The lands of the people of Nanawale were quickly made a desolate
wilderness by the heat and the overflowing lava. Some animals were
caught by the lava and burned to death. None of the people were
destroyed. They escaped with poverty.”
A curious and interesting statement is made by the Hawaiian fishermen
of Waikiki concerning a peculiar disturbance of the sea simultaneous
with all seasons of volcanic agitation. One of the older and more
intelligent fishermen says that from his boyhood he has known a pushing
up and down, backward and forward, of the waters every time that Mauna
Loa has shown activity in either of its great craters. Fishnets are so
tossed about that it is almost impossible to retain any fish in them.
Hooks are so rapidly moved by the commotion in the waters that fishing
with hook and line is not very successful.
The Hawaiians call the ocean at such times kai-mimiki (the rushing
sea). Mimiki is defined as a meeting of a returning wave with another
advancing, and is sometimes used to express the confusion of advancing
and returning tidal waves. Sometimes mimiki is used to denote the
choppy waters which follow a storm. The inherent idea of the word seems
to be quick, independent action of waves, bringing them into conflict
with each other and destroying the quiet, regular motion.
IV
CHANGES IN KILAUEA CRATER
There have been two entirely distinct modifications in Kilauea. One
belongs to the centuries and the mountain which the crater has been
trying to build. The other relates to the fire-pit and the fire-lake
therein.
Kilauea is a mountain a little over 4,000 feet in altitude, closely
connected with Mauna Loa, which is about 13,000 feet in altitude. It
has been stated that there is some connection which affects the action
of two lakes of lava in the two craters.
Kilauea is a great bowl sunken in a plain which seems level but which
slopes decidedly toward the large mountain on the one side and the
ocean on the other. Above the present fire-pit rise great plateaus and
a summit 500 feet above the edges of the present crater, and about one
mile east of it. This elevation shows that at one time the lake of fire
had its real crater rim extending far back of the site of the Volcano
Hotel and very much higher than at present, and that great floods of
lava were poured out over the surrounding country at a height
impossible for the new crater to attain. After these eruptions the
fire-pit sank away, leaving great precipitous walls and wide cracks out
of which even now pour clouds of steam of such intense heat and such
powerful sulphur fumes that animals falling in are killed instantly.
There are several terraces showing how the precipices, cracks, and
plateaus followed each other step by step down to the bed of Kilauea
itself. There are hints of these changes in the traditions of the
Hawaiians, but it is impossible to know exactly what is meant. Rev.
William Ellis, author of “Polynesian Researches,” and a deputation of
the American missionaries studying the opportunities for missionary
labor, while making a tour around Hawaii in 1823, visited Kilauea and
wrote the following description of the volcano. In this report,
afterward incorporated in “Polynesian Researches” as Volume IV, the
following account is given of ancient Kilauea. “We asked the natives
with us to tell us what they knew of the history of this volcano. From
them we learned that it had been burning from time immemorial, or to
use their own words ‘mai ka po mai’ (from chaos until now) and had
inundated some part of the country during the reign of every king that
had governed Hawaii. In earlier ages it used to boil up, overflow its
banks, and inundate the adjacent country; but for many kings’ reigns
past it had kept below the level of the surrounding plain, continually
extending its surface and increasing its depth, and occasionally
throwing up with violent explosions huge rocks and red hot stones.
These eruptions, they said, were always accompanied by dreadful
earthquakes, loud claps of thunder and vivid and quick succeeding
lightning. No great explosion, they added, had taken place since the
days of Keoua (a part of whose army was destroyed by a shower of ashes
and foul gases in 1790), but many places near the sea had since been
overflowed, on which occasions Pele went by a road underground from her
house in the crater to the shore.”
Concerning Pele the natives said, “Kirauea had been burning ever since
the islands had emerged from night, but it was not inhabited till after
the ‘Tai a ka Hina rii,’ the sea or deluge of Hina the chief.” Shortly
after this flood they say the present volcanic family came from Tahiti,
meaning some foreign country, to Hawaii.
When the crater was “boiling up, overflowing its banks, and inundating
the adjacent territory,” as the natives said, it poured out lava which
became solid rock. As it went westward, the character of its overflow
changed, becoming explosive, hurling out cinders and ashes instead of
boiling lava, so that all the land, especially toward the south and
west, is covered with volcanic ash. For more than a hundred years there
has been no uplift of lava or ashes over the outside crater rim.
During this century there has been no marked change in the great edge
of the bowl, but the interior has been kaleidoscopic. The bowl is
flat-bottomed with a surface creased and cracked and rough, with
twisted piles of dead lava. In innumerable spots any cool morning
welcomes rising clouds of steam and in the western part is the
Lua-Pele, a pit filled with living fire. This outer crater is about
three and a half miles across.
A hundred years ago the floor of this crater was the scene of continual
activity. Around the entire rim was a black ledge or balcony against
which fountains of lava hurled their repeated drops, falling on the
black ledge. Now, the fire-pit is but a little over a quarter of a mile
in diameter, and yet it has the same form of black ledge which had been
built up in the great crater so many years before.
When first visited by the missionaries, there were many hilly islands,
fountain cones, and hissing blowholes. Later, the great floor began to
cool and lakes appeared in different sections.
In 1890, when the writer first saw the home of the fire-goddess, there
were three lakes through which eruptive gases burst with explosions
like the continual rattle of artillery, and there were two great rivers
of lava flowing across the wide, black floor of the vast crater. Now
there is only one lake of fire. Ka Lua Pele, the “Pit of Pele,” is at
present on a small scale what the crater of Kilauea was in its
magnitude in 1823 and for many years thereafter.
The brief mention of shifting fires, flowing rivers, raging lakes, deep
pits, falling walls, and frozen uneven lava surfaces must suffice to
make evident the stupendous forces of nature which have terrified the
Hawaiians for centuries and have made them build up legends in and
around these terrors and have created the demand for a special
fire-goddess to take rank with the other gods worshipped.
V.
FOUNDATION OF THE OBSERVATORY
Excerpts from the Report of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Jan.–Mch.,
1912.—Published by the Society of Arts of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Boston.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, now in operation for five years from
July 1, 1912, under the direction of the Department of Geology of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the result and culmination of
a succession of investigations, constructions, appointments, and
expeditions, mostly under that institution, which began in 1898 with
the building of a small geodetic observatory in Boston. The work has
been concerned with geodesy, astronomy, magnetism, and geology, and has
been partly under the direction of officers of the Department of Civil
Engineering and partly under professors of geology. The result of this
activity that had the most direct bearing on the establishment of the
volcano observatory was its influence on the trustees of the Whitney
estates, who, on July 1, 1909, gave to the Institute the sum of
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) as a memorial of Edward and
Caroline Rogers Whitney of Boston, for the conduct of research or
teaching in geophysics to include investigations in seismology,
conducted with a view to the protection of human life and property,
present preference being that some investigations in geophysics be
undertaken in Hawaii.
The purpose of the science of geophysics is to investigate all the
physical and chemical processes going on in the earth. Recent disasters
such as Messina and San Francisco have shown how defective, for humane
and practical purposes, our knowledge of these processes is. Before the
intervention of the Whitney trustees, it had been the desire of the
Institute to secure a volcanic site in order to observe the local
activities of a particular volcano, as well as the waves which pass
through the earth from distant earthquakes. Professor Jaggar had, for
some time past, been investigating and considering this subject.
After mature deliberation Professor Jaggar concluded that Kilauea
affords the best point for the location of the proposed observatory
among those places in the world which have come to his knowledge, for
the following reasons:
“1. At other volcanoes the eruptions are more explosive and an
observatory located close enough to the centre of activity is in some
danger. Kilauea, while displaying great and varied activity, is
relatively safe.
“2. Other volcanoes are more or less connected in chains, making many
stations necessary in order to determine the relations of the different
craters to each other. Kilauea and Mauna Loa form an isolated centre of
activity, over 2,000 miles from the nearest active vent, so that the
phenomena of these two vents can be recorded without complications
occasioned by other near-by centres.
“3. Kilauea is very accessible. The near-by harbor at Hilo is only
thirty-one miles distant; it may be reached by railroad and a good
drive-way, and Honolulu, a centre of traffic and science, is easily
reached in a day.
“4. The Central Pacific position is unique, and is of advantage for
recording distant earthquakes through the uninterrupted sea floor which
lies between Hawaii and many earthquake places such as South America,
Mexico, and Japan. For expeditions in case of disaster or otherwise, a
relatively short route is assured, with abundant means of
transportation to Pacific and East Indian ports. For the study of the
deep sea floor, Hawaii is obviously favorable.
“5. The climate is uniform and the air clear for astronomical work.
“6. There are frequent small earthquakes, which are of great interest
for technical reasons.
“7. The remarkable distribution of both hot and cold underground waters
in Hawaii needs careful study, and this has an important bearing on
agriculture as well as upon science.
“8. The territory is American, and these volcanoes are famous in the
history of science for their remarkably liquid lavas and nearly
continuous activity.”
Professor Jaggar consequently advised those interested:
“1. To erect buildings on the brink of the Volcano of Kilauea, in which
to house the instruments, library, and offices for working up and
tabulating the statistics, records, and information obtained.
“2. To set apart a room for a local museum, to exhibit to visitors
instruments, plans, diagrams, maps, and photographs. This will be of
value in exciting interest with a view to securing an endowment.
“3. To welcome advanced students from either the Institute or other
institutions for special work in the laboratory.
“4. To erect subordinate instrument stations, with self-recording
instruments, and to employ voluntary observers, at various points
hereafter to be determined. It is hoped that eventually some work will
be done by the staff of the observatory in the study of tides,
soundings, earthquake waves, and the movements of the coast line of the
island.
“5. To send expeditions to other volcanic and earthquake belts for
comparative studies.
“6. To carry on research, as may seem expedient, in terrestrial
gravitation, magnetism, and variation of latitude.
“7. To make a geological survey of the Island of Hawaii. It is hoped
that this will lead to a thorough survey of the whole territory by the
United States Geological Survey.”
He added that the main object of all the work should be
humanitarian—earthquake prediction and methods of protecting life and
property on the basis of sound scientific achievement.
“Results obtained in connection with all subjects of investigation
should be promptly published in the form of bulletins and memoirs.”
In pursuit of these ideas, Professor Jaggar proceeded to enlist support
from the Chamber of Commerce and the leading citizens of Honolulu. A
generous response came from a number of organizations, including the
Bishop Museum and individuals.
The total amount promised was $3,450 per year for a period of five
years. This sum was not sufficient to do the work satisfactorily and
the development of the plan was halted in consequence.
—The subscription of the Bishop Museum was made upon the condition that
the Institute shall furnish the trustees without expense except for
transportation, samples of all museum specimens collected, properly
described, also copies of all published maps, surveys, and literature
made by the Institute in connection with Hawaiian interests.—
In the course of a journey to Japan Mr. Jaggar visited the volcano
Kilauea in Hawaii twice, in March and in July, 1909. Professor Daly
spent the summer in the Hawaiian Islands, making careful study of
Kilauea and the result of his work has since been published in vol. 47,
no. 3, of the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
under the title, “The Nature of Volcanic Action.” Both of these
expeditions were at private expense.
In 1910 the first available income of the Whitney fund was used in the
construction of special resistance thermometers made by Leeds and
Northrup at Baltimore under the direction of Drs. A. L. Day and E. S.
Shepherd of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington. Dr. Day, director of this laboratory, in correspondence
with Professors Daly and Jaggar during the winter of 1909–10 agreed to
send Dr. Shepherd to Kilauea and provide travelling expenses if the
Institute of Technology would provide instruments and living expenses
during a stay at the Volcano House devoted to measurement of the
temperature of liquid lava. Dr. Shepherd is a chemist and a specialist
in pyrometric work. With the aid of Institute engineers a cableway was
designed for spanning the inner pit of Halemaumau wherewith by a wire
trolley system pyrometric apparatus might be lowered into the lava.
During 1909 and 1910 three seismographs, in addition to the Bosch-Omori
instruments already obtained with Whitney funds, were constructed for
the Institute in Tokyo under Dr. Omori’s direction, and shipped to
Honolulu.
For two years in succession, 1910 and 1911, it was impossible for any
of the professors of geology at the Institute to go to Hawaii, so
arrangements were made with Mr. F. A. Perret of Springfield, Mass., and
Naples, Italy, to take Professor Jaggar’s place in an expedition to
Kilauea for the measurement of temperatures as agreed with the Carnegie
Geophysical Laboratory. The sum of $2,100 from the Whitney and other
geological research funds of the Institute was expended on this
expedition. The Institute is indebted to the Carnegie Geophysical
Laboratory for co-operation and for the thermo-element which was used
in the final test, and to the Volcanic Research Society of Springfield,
Mass., for the loan of the services of Mr. Perret, his salary being
continued by that society during his Hawaiian journey. Mr. Perret built
a wooden camp on the edge of the pit Halemaumau which he called the
Technology Station and where he lived.
It will appear from the foregoing that the work bearing on a proposed
volcano observatory in Hawaii up to 1912 was instituted and carried
forward by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That institution
was materially aided in the conduct of this work by voluntary
subscription among citizens of Honolulu.
Some $6,100, in addition to salaries, was spent by the Institute of
Technology for its officers for work in Hawaii prior to 1912, and after
Mr. Perret’s departure in November, 1911, an appropriation of $1,700
for Professor Jaggar’s work in Hawaii in the winter of 1912 was made
from Technology funds.
The subscription fund provided for in Honolulu in 1909 was revived on
October 5, 1911, at a luncheon at the University Club, given for the
organization of a Hawaiian Volcano Research Association.
The net result of this meeting was to establish an association in
Honolulu for the subscription of money to volcano research. The
committee representative of this association determined to name the
organization “Hawaiian Volcano Research Association.” Funds for the
running expense of an observatory on Hawaii to the amount of $5,000
annually for five years from January 1, 1912, exclusive of the funds
furnished by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were subscribed,
the full amount in the event of failure on the part of individual
subscribers being guaranteed by Mr. Clarence H. Cooke, treasurer,
through the generosity of Mr. Cooke and his associates of the estate of
C. M. Cooke, Ltd.
The Institute was prepared to co-operate with the Hawaiian Volcano
Research Association by becoming its largest subscriber for the five
years, through the income of the Whitney fund and the current payment
to its Seismological fund.
On January 19 a subscription was started in the town of Hilo to provide
funds wherewith to build a laboratory near the Volcano House for the
use of the representative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
engaged in volcanic research. This proposal met a most hearty response
and within a few days $1,785 was subscribed.
The land for the Observatory, a tract of about three acres, was
obtained on a sub-lease for fifteen years to October 1, 1927, from the
Volcano House Company with the consent of the trustees of the Bishop
Estate, the owners of the land. This tract is on the edge of the cliff
directly opposite the grounds of the Volcano House on the south side of
the Puna-Kau road. The observatory is built of Oregon pine and is
equipped with two laboratories, the director’s room, photographic dark
room, and storeroom on the main floor. A veranda extending along two
sides commands extensive views of the three volcanoes, Kilauea, Mauna
Loa, and Mauna Kea. In front there is a concrete post for geodetic and
photographic experiments. The furniture includes large cases of
drawers, for storage of specimens, maps, or photographs, and there are
work and drafting tables.
The Whitney Laboratory of Seismology, eighteen feet square, is a
basement room of concrete floored on the solid ledge of basalt. This is
the rock of the uppermost layer of the cliff which here borders the
greater crater of Kilauea. The cellar was dug through 5½ feet of ash
and pumice which make the surface soil. The piers for seismographs were
designed for a set of instruments built in Tokyo in 1910 under the
direction of Professor Omori and purchased with the income of the
Whitney fund.
On January 24, 1912, Mr. F. B. Dodge of Honolulu arrived at the volcano
to become assistant to the director and during the ensuing weeks
arrangements were completed and trigonometric stations installed
whereby a daily survey of the active lava pool could be made.
The Territorial Government loaned the services of a part of the prison
gang which does the road work for the Territory of Hawaii, to clear the
land, dig the cellar, and build the roadway of the Observatory.
An additional hut constructed wholly without iron for possible magnetic
work was built on the verge of Halemaumau for direct instrumental
observations of the lava, under shelter.
The fundamental idea expressed at the time of the formation of the
Hawaiian Volcano Research Association was to the effect that the crater
observations should be continuous and permanent. From the point of view
of the educator, however, there is another equally vital work to be
accomplished by such an experiment station as the Hawaiian Volcano
Observatory, namely, provision for scientific hospitality. The study of
geophysics and geochemistry in the field is so extensive and inclusive
a department of science that no resident staff could hope to cover the
whole field without large expense and a very large working force.
Moreover the spirit of generous exchange of opportunity and of ideas in
science, with a liberal welcome to serious students of all schools, is
modern and novel, and should promote the most rapid progress.
Accordingly it is proposed in the Hawaiian Observatory to combine two
objects, record of facts of volcanology and seismology by the permanent
staff, and surveys in the field of special topics by expert specialists
invited to come from other institutions.
APPENDIX
PARTIAL LIST HAWAIIAN TERMS USED
Aa, 175, 184, 186.
Ahua, 40–43.
aikane, 93, 110.
Ailaau, 1–3, 89.
Aiwohikupua, 57, 58.
Akanikolea, 46, 47.
alahuna, 175.
Alapai, 161.
aloha, 21, 110.
Aloipauaa, 39, 43.
amama, 114.
Aukelenuiaku, 8, 71.
aumakua, 12, 13, 16, 33, 63.
awa, 99.
eepa, 97.
Haehae, 76.
Haena, 75, 78, 82, 83, 86, 94, 127.
hala, 32, 73, 110.
Halaauola, 77.
Halawa, 131.
Haleakala, 11, 56, 171.
Halemaumau, 23, 44, 200, 204.
Hamakua, 57, 60.
Hapakuela, 71.
Haumea, 4, 8, 64, 68, 69.
Hawaii, 1–203.
Hea, 131.
heeholua, 37.
heenalu, 37.
Hiiaka, 5–9, 69, 72, 83–138.
Hilo, 28, 36, 53, 66, 74, 108, 109, 110, 136, 139, 140, 144, 151, 158.
Hina, 6, 64, 191.
Hoaika, 124.
Hoaiku, 103, 124.
holua, 22, 23, 38–42, 60.
Honolulu, 10.
Honuaiakea, 9.
Hopoe, 28, 87–95, 109, 110, 234.
Hualalai, 57, 146, 172, 185.
Huehue, 147, 148.
hula, 74, 79, 86, 88.
Hulihia, 73, 84.
humuhumu, 45, 105.
hunahuna, 82.
ikoi, 16.
Iku, 9, 51.
ipuholoholona, 112.
Ka, 105.
Kaahumanu, 149, 150.
Kaakaauea, 44.
Kaeaniuaula, 44.
Kaelehuluhulu, 148.
Kahanai, 14.
Kahawali, 37–44.
Kahikinui, 11.
kahili, 73.
Kahoupokane, 57.
kahu, 97.
Kahuku, 22–25.
kahuna, 44.
Kailua, 153.
Kaimimiki, 177, 188.
Kalakaua, 65, 66.
Kalakeenui-o-Kane, 9.
Kalalau, 15.
Kalaniopuu, 139.
Kaliu, 91.
Kalua, 174, 193.
Kamaka-a-ke-akua, 148, 157.
Kamakau, 140.
Kamapuaa, 45–54, 71, 105.
Kamehameha, 139–157, 168.
Kamohoalii, 5, 9, 63, 68, 72.
Kanakawahine, 39.
Kanaloa, 64, 137.
Kane, 64, 81, 114.
Kaneakalau, 31.
Kanehekili, 69.
Kanehoalani, 7, 48, 64.
Kanehunamoku, 5.
Kanepuahiohio, 5.
Kapiolani, 139, 152–163.
Kapo, 70.
Kapoho, 28, 39.
Kapueuli, 44.
Kau, 14–16, 186.
Kauai, 10–16, 58, 71, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 85, 135.
Kauanohunohu, 44.
Kauila, 37.
Kaunu, 127.
Kauwilanui, 69.
Kawaihae, 141.
Keaau, 73, 74, 93, 94.
Keahialaka, 3.
Kealakekua, 182.
Kealiamanu, 10.
Kealiapaakai, 10.
Kealohilani, 133.
Keauka, 5.
Keaumiki, 5.
Keawemauhili, 139, 152.
Keei, 183.
Keliikuku, 31.
Keoua, 139–145, 191.
kihei, 42.
Kilauea, 2–7, 18–36, 50–66, 86–89, 113, 114, 124, 135, 139, 140–153,
173–203.
Kilinoe, 79, 81.
kiluai, 111.
Kinoohu, 100.
Kiwalao, 139, 152.
Koa, 14, 15.
Koahi, 5.
Koai, 39.
Kohala, 53, 105, 122.
Kolea, 106.
kolonahe, 82.
Kona, 153, 156.
Ku, 64, 68, 105, 137.
Kuaihelani, 14, 71.
Kukaepuaa, 52.
Kukii, 42.
kumawaho, 51.
Kumukahi, 27–29, 46.
Kuokoa, 7, 140, 147.
kupilikia, 111.
kupua, 14, 45, 97, 117.
Kuwahailo, 8, 64, 65, 68.
Laieikawai, 57.
Laka, 7, 74.
Lanahiku, 93.
Laupahoehoe, 62.
Leahi, 10.
leho, 46.
lehua, 75, 81, 91, 109.
lei, 12, 110.
Liholiho, 153.
Lilinoe, 56.
Lohiau, 6, 71–96, 125–138.
Lono, 80, 85.
Lonomakua, 51, 52, 137, 138.
Mahiki, 119, 120, 122.
Mahuike, 67.
maile, 75.
Makaukiu, 118–122.
mana, 14, 92.
Maui, 58, 59, 66, 67, 139, 140, 171.
Mauliola, 77.
Mauna Kea, 55–60, 140, 141, 171, 178, 185, 203.
Mauna Loa, 12, 61, 62, 77, 141, 173, 178–203.
Menehune, 7.
Moanalua, 10.
Moemoeaoulii, 4.
Mokuaweoweo, 173, 174, 178, 185.
Mokuola, 28.
Mona, 141.
moo, 97.
Moolau, 122, 124.
Naihe, 152, 153, 155, 156.
Namakaokahai, 8–11, 14, 63, 64, 68.
Nanahuki, 109.
Naue, 85.
Niihau, 5, 6, 80, 81, 85.
Noho, 120, 121.
Nuuhiwa, 67.
Nuumealani, 9–12.
Oahu, 10, 31, 43–50.
Oalalaua, 157.
ohelo, 154.
ohia, 32, 36, 88, 100.
Onomea, 62.
opelu, 48.
pahoehoe, 175.
Palaau, 77.
Panaewa, 98–103.
Paoa, 6–11, 51.
Papa, 4, 64.
Papalauahi, 29, 30, 109.
pau, 91, 123.
Pauopalae, 97, 125, 130, 132.
Pele, 3–205.
Pii, 14–17.
Pikeha, 49.
Pili, 120, 121.
Poliahu, 55–62.
Pueo, 17.
Puna, 27, 29, 35, 66, 72, 73, 80, 86, 94, 157.
Punaluu, 179, 180.
Puu-o-Pele, 10.
tabu, 47, 72, 115.
ti, 72, 85, 128, 173.
uhiuha, 84.
Ululani, 150.
Uwekahuna, 44.
Wahieloa, 71.
Wahineomao, 104–138.
Waiakea, 184.
Waialama, 184.
Waiau, 56, 57.
Waikiki, 187.
Wailuku, 120.
Waimea, 140.
Waipio, 122.
POLYNESIAN LANGUAGE
“A few words should be added on the peculiar genius and structure of
the Polynesian language in general and of the Hawaiian dialect in
particular.
It is the law of all Polynesian languages that every word and syllable
must end in a vowel, so that no two consonants are ever heard without a
vowel sound between them.
Most of the radical words are dissyllables, and the accent is generally
on the penult. The Polynesian ear is as nice in marking the slightest
variations in vowel sound as it is dull in distinguishing consonants.
The vocabulary of the Hawaiian is probably richer than that of most
other Polynesian tongues. Its child-like and primitive character is
shown by the absence of abstract words and general terms.
As has been well observed by M. Gaussin, there are three classes of
words, corresponding to as many different stages of language: first,
those that express sensations; second, images; third, abstract ideas.
Not only are names wanting for the more general abstractions, such as
space, nature, fate, etc., but there are very few generic terms. For
example there is no generic term for animal, expressing the whole class
of living creatures or for insects or for colors. At the same time it
abounds in specific names and in nice distinctions.
So in the Hawaiian everything that relates to their every-day life or
to the natural objects with which they are conversant is expressed with
a vivacity, a minuteness and nicety of coloring which cannot be
reproduced in a foreign tongue. Thus the Hawaiian was very rich in
terms for every variety of cloud. It has names for every species of
plant on the mountains or fish in the sea, and is peculiarly copious in
terms relating to the ocean, the surf and waves.
For whatever belonged to their religions, their handicrafts or their
amusements, their vocabulary was most copious and minute. Almost every
stick in a native house had its appropriate name. Hence it abounds in
synonyms which are such only in appearance, i.e., “to be broken” as a
stick is ‘haki,’ as a string is ‘moku,’ as a dish ‘naha,’ as a wall
‘hina.’
Besides the language of every-day life, there was a style appropriate
to oratory and another to religion and poetry.
The above-mentioned characteristics make it a pictorial and expressive
language. It still has the freshness of childhood. Its words are
pictures rather than colorless and abstract symbols of ideas, and are
redolent of the mountain, the forest and the surf.
However it has been and is successfully used to express the
abstractions of mathematics, of English law, and of theology.”
“The Hawaiian is but a dialect of the great Polynesian language,
which is spoken with extraordinary uniformity over all the numerous
islands of the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Hawaii. Again,
the Polynesian language is but one member of that wide-spread
family of languages, known as the Malayo-Polynesian or Oceanic
family, which extends from Madagascar to the Hawaiian Islands and
from New Zealand to Formosa. The Hawaiian dialect is peculiarly
interesting to the philologist from its isolated position, being
the most remote of the family from its primeval seat in
Southeastern Asia, and leading the van with the Malagasy in the
rear. We believe the Hawaiian to be the most copious and
expressive, as well as the richest in native traditional history
and poetry. Dr. Reinhold Forster, the celebrated naturalist of
Captain Cook’s second voyage, drew up a table containing 47 words
taken from 11 Oceanic dialects and the corresponding terms in
Malay, Mexican, Peruvian and Chilian. From this table he inferred
that the Polynesian languages afford many analogies with the Malay
while they present no point of contact with the American.”
Baron William von Humboldt, the distinguished statesman and
scholar, showed that the Tagala, the leading language of the
Philippine Islands, is by far the richest and most perfect of these
languages. “It possesses,” he says, “all the forms collectively of
which particular ones are found singly in other dialects; and it
has preserved them all with very trifling exceptions unbroken and
in entire harmony and symmetry.”
The languages of the Oceanic region have been divided into six
great groups; i.e., the Polynesian; the Micronesian; the Melanesian
or Papuan; the Australian; the Malaysian; the Malagasy. Many
examples might be given if they were needed to illustrate the
connection of these languages. The Polynesian is an ancient and
primitive member of the Malay family. The New Zealand dialect is
the most primitive and entire in its forms. The Hawaiians,
Marquesans and Tahitians form a closely related group by
themselves. For example, the Marquesan converts are using Hawaiian
books and the people of the Austral Islands read the Tahitian
Bible.”
The above was written by W. D. Alexander in Honolulu in 1865, author of
the “History of the Hawaiian Islands” as preface to Andrew’s
Dictionary.
NOTES
[1] Hale-a-ka-la must be classed as an active volcano from evidences of
prehistoric fires although long extinct, but the author gives these
stories in another book, “Legends of Maui.”
[2] These are the lava stumps easily visited by any lover of the
curious who journeys to Kilauea.
[3] Ohia ha or Paihi = Syzygium. Ohia-lehua = Metrosideros polymorpha
sandwicense.
[4] Hala or Lahala = Pandanus adoratissimus.
[5] Metrosideros polymorpha.
[6] Columbrina oppositifolia.
[7] Pule anana.
[8] See “Home of the Ancestors,” Part II., Legends of Ghosts and
Ghost-Gods.
[9] Cordyline terminalis.
[10] Same as Lahala or Puhala, Pandanus adoratissimus.
[11] See Appendix, “Hula.”
[12] Alyxia olivœformis.
[13] Cordyline terminalis.
[14] Ohia ai = Jambosa Malacrensis. Ohia Ha = Syzygium Sandwicense.
[15] Piper methysticum.
[16] One ohia tree is supposed to bear apples, another flowers only,
the flowers being called lehua. There is much confusion in regard to
these two trees even among botanists.
[17] Smilax Sandwicensis.
[18] Ti or ki or lauki, Cordyline terminalis.
[19] Native ulu = Artocarpus incisa.
[20] Cocos nucifera.
[21] Vaccinium penduliformis—var. reticulatum.
[22] Plants used for kapa were wauke, olona, mamaki, poulu, akala, hau,
maaloa, and the mulberry.
[23] Tree fern—Cibotium Menziesii.