THE SUBSIDENCE OF HAWAII.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 457, 26 January 1869, Page 3

THE SUBSIDENCE OF HAWAII.

The Honolulu correspondent of the York Tribune, writing on the 19th of August last, before he could have known of the earthquakes in South America, from the 13th to the 16th of that month, says "It is believed that Hawaii is sinking in the ocean. Ever since June last unusually high tides have prevailed along the southern and eastern shores, and it is now evident that the island has sunk a few feet on its sonthern and western shores, and a few inches on the east and north. At Hawaii there has been noticed a continued succession of volcanic waves which cannot be accounted for. The first of these waves was observed at Honolulu on the night of the 13th of August, and at almost the same moment it was noticed 500 miles to the south-east. They were more powerful at those parts of Hawaii which are nearest to the South American coast. They rolled in at the rate of three or four per hour for f .ur days. They were not like the sweep of the furious breakers that lashed the shores during the April eruptions, but appeared to be the effects of some gigantic oscillation across the Pacific. The speed of tidal movements through earthquakes is very great. The earthquake wave of the 20th of April was transmitted from Hawaii to Mexico, California and Oregan, a distance of from 3000 to 5000 miles, in five hours. On the 23rd December, 1854, a similar wave was transmitted across the entire breadth of the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to California, in 12 hours and 38 minutes. These facts convey a very impressive idea of the tremendous power required to disturb the whole body of an ocean for 10,000 miles by a movement distinct from the tidal swing."