It is a soft tranquil beauty, and a tolerable road
which owes little enough to art, increases the likeness to the sweet
home scenery of England. In this part of the island the ground
seems devoid of stones, and the grass is as fine and smooth as a
race course.
The latest traces of volcanic action are found here. From the Koloa
Ridge to, and into the sea, a barren uneven surface of pahoehoe
extends, often bulged up in immense bubbles, some of which have
partially burst, leaving caverns, one of which, near the shore, is
paved with the ancient coral reef!
The valleys of Kauai are long, and widen to the sea, and their dark
rich soil is often ten feet deep. On the windward side the rivers
are very numerous and picturesque. Between the strong winds and the
lightness of the soil, I should think that like some parts of the
Highlands, "it would take a shower every day." The leeward side,
quite close to the sea, is flushed and nearly barren, but there is
very little of this desert region. Kauai is less legible in its
formation than the other islands. Its mountains, from their
impenetrable forests, dangerous breaks, and swampiness, are
difficult of access, and its ridges are said to be more utterly
irregular, its lavas more decomposed, and its natural sections more
completely smothered under a profuse vegetation than those of any
other island in the tropical Pacific.
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