EARTHQUAKES IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 710, 19 August 1869, Page 3

EARTHQUAKES IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

[communicated.] As these Islands are subject to frequent shocks of earthquake, and as, according to Native accounts, this has been"the case from time immemorial, it may not be uninteresting to your readers to give an account of shocks which have occurred in the Sandwich Islands. In these Islands, wrich are wholly of volcanic formation, earth quakes are of very fre quent occurrence, though generally not sufficiently strong to do much injury. Frequently trees are thrown down, and rocks split, by the shocks. So frequent are they at Hilo, a seaport on the north side of the island of Hawaii, that from forty to fifty shock. 1 - have been felt in eight days. In November, 1838, twelve distinct shocks were counted in one night, and for two days and nights the earth wab in a state of continual agitation, the very plants and flowers trembling like frightened animals. In some cases the motion was like the pitching of a ship at anchor, attended by frightful noises, and producing sensations similar to sea- •• • i sickness ; at other times it was sidelong, easy, and undulating, unaccom panied by any sound. In April, 1841, more shocks were felt at the same place, one of which was very severe. The houses were shaken with violence, and had they not been formed of yielding material, would, no doubt, have been thrown down j as it was, those which were plastered had the plaster destroyed, and stone walls were overthrown in many places. The shocks generally caused frightful commotion in the bays and harbors, occasionally causing a wave similar to the late one on the coast °f South America.

The following is an account of one ftat happened at Honolulu on Nov. 1% 1837, as narrated by an eyewitness :—At 4 o'clock in the morallng the sea was observed to ebb with frightful rapidity, to the great alarm °f the residents, especially the European population, who feaied that it *°uld return upon them like a wave "*hidh, a century before, had burst 'Ponthe Spanish Kea-port of Callao, *hich it utterly destroyed. Many of the natives recklessly followed the receding s ea> shouting, and picking 1

up die fish which it left behind, but others were terrified beyond measure, and ran about, uttering dismal cries. The leefs outside the harbor were

left quite dry, and wore covered with fish, the shipping in the deepest * ater grounded, but the sea quickly returned, and in 20 minutes reached the height of the highest tides ; it then fell, and continued to rise and fall throughout that night and the following day. At many of the islands of the same group the same wave was observed, but it was at Hilo that it caused the greatest destruction of life and property. The village was crowded with natives, who had congregated to attend a religious meeting, when, at half-pant 5 a.m., or thereabouts, the sea retired at the rate of five miles an hour, leaving a great portion of the harbor dry, and reducing the depth of water in other parts from 30 to 19 feet. The wondering natives rushed to the beach to witness the extraordinary sight, when an enormous wave came roaring towards them, at the rate of from seven to nine miles an hour, and dashed upon the shore with a noise like thunder, rising 25 feet above high-water mark. The people were engulphed in its midst, and houses, canoes, animals, and property of all kinds were buried in one common ruin. The sea presented an awful spectacle,—men, women, and children struggling in the water among the debris of their houses and property, while cries of distress were heaid far and wide from their triends and relations, who were bewailing the dreadful calamity, unable to render any assistance to the unfortunates entangled in the wreck. The wave had, in its passage, dashed over the deck of an English whaler, at anchor in the bay; and as soon as the crew recovered from the shock, they lowered their boats, and by their exertions saved many lives. Not a canoe had escappd, and numbers of the unfortunate inhabitants, stunned and insensible, were floating rapidly to sea. The destruction of property was universal, even the crops which had jusc been harvested were swept to sea. In two villages alone 70 houses were destroyed, and 13 lives lost. Other portions of the coast of the islands suffered in like manner. At this time there was no earthquake felt, but the burning mountain of Kilanae was seen to vomit forth fire and lava, and in other places volcanic fires which had slumbered for years burst out afresh with renewed fury, and continued to burn for some months. The above was narrated to the writer by an old settler of these Islands. Some account of the same phenomena may be found in the "Maori Messenger" of 1849, and the thought struck me that, living as we do between the two active volcanoes, Tongariro and Wakari, and feeling a constant recurrence of earthquakes, it might interest your readers. R. G. H.