Geologists suppose, from the
degradation of its ridges, and the absence of any recent volcanic
products, that it is the oldest of the group, but so far as I have
read, none of them venture to conjecture how many ages it has taken
to convert its hard basalt into the rich soil which now sustains
trees of enormous size. If this theory be correct, the volcanoes
must have gone on dying out from west to east, from north to south,
till only Kilauea remains, and its energies appear to be declining.
The central mountain of this island is built of a heavy ferruginous
basalt, but the shore ridges contain less iron, are more porous, and
vary in their structure from a compact phonolite, to a ponderous
basalt.
The population of Kauai is a widely scattered one of 4,900, and as
it is an out of the world region the people are probably better, and
less sophisticated. They are accounted rustics, or "pagans," in the
classical sense, elsewhere. Horses are good and very cheap, and the
natives of both sexes are most expert riders. Among their feats,
are picking up small coins from the ground while going at full
gallop, or while riding at the same speed wringing off the heads of
unfortunate fowls, whose bodies are buried in the earth.
Pages:
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347