Beaufort country. It is fertile, and productive of wheat and hemp, while the forests merely crown the summits of the cultivated slopes. The cows are small but pretty, and the sheep yield a good fleece.

E. of Hauteluce, the right slope of the valley is named Montagne de la Ruelle, and the left slope Combe du Revers. The small river Dorinet is formed in the Combe à Dran, a barren gorge at the feet of the Aiguille Rousellette, the Fenêtre, and the Plan de l'Estace. It forms a waterfall where it leaves the Combe to enter the valley of Hauteluce, and it receives at the same place, through a more beautiful fall, the waters from the lake of La Girotta. I surveyed the lake. It is very picturesque, nearly surrounded by sloping pastures, with a few châlets, partly inclosed by dark, rocky cliffs, which give its clear waters dark-green, violet, and even black hues, according to the nature and depth of the bottom. I found the lake to be 1713 mètres above sea; the temperature of the waters 56° Fahr., that of the air being 50°, on the 15th Sept. 1853, at half-past 10 A.M.

The only vestige of feudal times in these valleys is the ruins of a few towers on a hill N.W. of St. Maxime. According to the oldest memorials, the Beaufort country was a dependency of the archbishops of the Tarentaise. The feudal homage was due to them, when the princes of the House of Geneva acquired several tenures there; and a deed dated July 31, 1220, recites that the Count of Geneva bound himself to render the yearly tribute of two large trout. There were, however, at the same time Lords of Beaufort, who, on the calends of April, 1271, sold most of their rights to Beatrice, the last Baroness of Faucigny. She erected the country into a Barony, which she united to her own, and both have since partaken of the same fortunes. In 1355 they were ceded to the Count of Savoy, Amadeus VI., by Charles, then Dauphin, and afterwards King Charles V. of France. When Henry IV. invaded Savoy, he came to St. Maxime de Beaufort with a body of troops on the 10th of October, and quartered in the castle. On the 11th he marched up to the pass of Cormet, to prevent Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy from entering the country from Piedmont over the Lesser St. Bernard; but he returned on seeing that all the passes were impracticable, being already blocked up with snow, and he left Beaufort on the 12th.

Agriculture affords but a limited resource to the inhabitants of these valleys. Saw-mills are numerous, especially at St. Maxime. The breeding of cattle and fine mules is the chief occupation. Cheese is also made on a large scale, and either sold to Piedmontese or bartered for rice and salt.

The inhabitants are healthy, active, hard-working, and abstemious. Their features bespeak intelligence. The women are not

destitute of beauty, and they are remarkable for an elegant headdress.

The preservation of their roads demands their constant exertion, owing to frequent floods; but they are never in a satisfactory

state.

There is a tolerable inn kept by Henry Martin at St. Maxime; those at Arèche and Hauteluce are very indifferent. The cot of Cyril Freyzon, at La Gîte, can shelter the traveller bent on crossing the passes of La Perrière, La Sauce, and the Plan de l'Estace; but Lavocat's châlet should be avoided.

XII. On the Volcanic Mountains of Hawaii, Sandwich Islands. By J. G. SAWKINS, Esq.

Communicated by SIR ROD. I. MURCHISON.

Read, June 25, 1855.

THERE are four volcanic mountains in the island of Hawaii, viz., Kohala, Muna Kea, Hualalai, and Muna Loa. The decomposed state of the rock being greater on Kohala than on any other, and the total absence of black lava, lead me to believe that it is the oldest of the four. I also think that Muna Kea is next in age, and that Hualalai and Muna Loa are the most recent and of the same period.

The height of these mountains above the sea is estimated as follows:

I landed on the western side of the island at a place called Kawaihai, and crossed over to the eastern coast. This gave me an excellent opportunity of seeing the decomposing effects of the moist atmosphere on the old lavas of the more northern and older volcanoes, which are no doubt co-existent with the formation of the island.

The most remarkable features on the N.E. portion of the island are the immense cliffs of compact lava, separated by ravines, varying in depth from 200 to 2000 feet, over the sides of which a series of cascades fall between Niulii and Hilo (or Byron's Bay). To the S. of that bay the lava assumes quite a different appearance; the colour is black, and its structure like the slag of a furnace, having no definite form, though its cleavage is vertical.

This black or recent lava extends itself into the ocean, forming a shelf, as though it had spread out horizontally from the coast.

Occasionally holes of various dimensions appear, through which the sea is frequently seen to force itself.

There are many landslips on the south-western part of the island, like that at Hukena, but they have fallen so steep that anchorage is only obtained within a few yards of the shore; others are on the N.E., where the shore is so abrupt and precipitous that a landing cannot be effected except in a calm.

One side of this island presents an extraordinary difference from the other, and affords instructive evidence of the cause of the decomposition of the lava. The W. and S. W. sides are arid, barren, and desolate; while the N.E. and E. are moist and covered with the most luxuriant vegetation, with numerous water-courses.

It is on the latter sides where decomposition takes place. The moisture arises from the condensation of the clouds brought by the trade winds, which accumulate at an elevation of 8,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea, beyond which height their density seems to prevent their rising, until a portion of their watery contents is discharged.

Proceeding from Hilo to the crater of Kiluea, through Ooloa, are, at two miles to the west, two small craters, a few hundred feet above the sea. The lavas of these have been decomposed into fine red soil, the general characteristic of the Kohala deposits, which are covered with dense forests. But five miles farther on the whole aspect of the country changes, and bears evidence of the devastating effect of a more recent_overflow from some of the upper craters, which encircle Muna Loa. Instead of the stately and dense forest which doubtless once existed here, there exist now only grass and ferns, which derive their nourishment from accumulated decomposed particles of lava, that fill the interstices of the yet undecomposed rock. These streams of lava on the mountain slope intersect the forests, and are so conspicuous that their courses can easily be traced to their origin, and give proof of their age, as compared with the modern lavas, until we rise to an elevation where vegetation disappears from other causes.

Ascending 32 miles on, with the gentle rise of 124 feet to the mile, we reach the crater of Kiluea (3970 feet), the mighty work of recent natural operations. The basalt or solidified lava forming the rim of the crater is more than three miles in diameter. Then there is a descent of about 70 feet to a plain covered with grey ashes; again a descent with occasional fissures on the slope to a lower level, then a still further descent on earth of a light brown and yellow colour, and at last we arrive at a lake-like mass of hard blackish lava (992 feet), which, a short time previously, was in a state of fusion. On its surface there are many inequalities arising from shrinkage. It also exhibits diminutive volcanoes, from which bits of molten lava are thrown up, which cool on drop