The Nevada journal., 1858-04-16


sides being low and formed of little more
than naked lava, while the toe of this
giant horseshoe is tipt with cliff of be-
tween four and five hundred feet of per-
pendicular height. There is plenty of
water and you can anchor where you
please. On your tight, as you look to-
wards the cliff, lies the irregular village
of Kealakeakua, where there is no need
to dig for foundation and the paths re-
quire no paving. 1t is here that Cap
tain Cummings carries ON business, and
supplies such whaleships as recruit there.
| heard a good deal of talk about the
road thence into the district of Kau,
where goats do much abound, and where
now, influenced ty the advice and ex-
ample of the resident Protestant mis-
sionaries and Roman Catholic priests,
the inhabitants are beginning to plant
wheat, and otherwise to court the favors
of old mother Earth. A good road, or
a road as good as the nature Of the coun-
try will admit of, and so laid out as to
suit the general convenience, would be
an additional stimulus to their activity
by opening up market; for the coast
of Kan is barren and inhospitable, and
it is only now and then that schooners
can take in cargo in that neighborhood,
whereas Kealakeakua is fine place for
the purpose believe that the Appro-
priation Bill for the last three or four
years, at least, has granted sum of
money for this purpose, bu; it appears
that the Treasury has never been able
to honor the demand, nor is this to be
wondered at so long as the Minister OF
Finance is ordered to pay out twice as
much money, at least, as he has any ex-
pectation of receiving. But learnt in
Hilo that such a thing may happen as an
appropriation being paid to very little
purpose (of which more anon,) and l
would very humbly recommend to those
high functionaries who are necessitated
to razee the inflated bills of proposed ex-
penditure that are squeezed through the
Lower House, not only to consider which
works are most necessary, but to satisfy
themselves before hand whether the
money will be so applied on the spot as
to meet the particular necessity. A
member who can talk and lobby may
get the appropriation demanded by his
constituents, but it does not follow that
his constituents made their demand wise
ly, or that the money will te wisely ap-
piled to the object proposed, even if tha
object be really a desirable one.
On the left side of the bay is Kaawa-
loa, Cook's death place. 1t is bleak
volcanic spot, and in approaching it you
have to steer your boat between the
masses of lava that lie, according to the
state of the tide, more OF less hidden by
the water. Standing on one Of these the
great navigator is said to have received
the wound that killed him. A e. eat part
of that particular rock has been Clipped
off by those visitors who wished to car
ry away with them a relic of the scene.
On shore there are few scattered grass
houses, some of them surrounded by
walls of lava, and one close by the wa
ter's edge is said to occupy the site of a
former house where, during the scuffle,
the people held up mats to screen them
selves from the musket balls. Near by
is little grove of cocoa-nut trees, i'll the
trunk of one of which some of the mis-
siles lodged. There are only few feet
of it now standing, and this fragment is
covered with plates of ships copper on
which are rudely recorded the visits OF
the men-of- war that have from time to
time been attracted to the spot. Capt
Mecham caused to be attached to it a
| 10. Of nd ta L.
ed much of the propriety of erecting a
more lasting monument in granite OF
metal upon the very identical place
where Cook fell. His idea was that the
base of column could easily be let into
the rock, and so preserve. against all but
such eruptions as first made it, the spot
where great navigator met his death
at the hands of those who shortly before
had wished to do him homage as long
absent god come home to them accord
ing to prediction. On the high land oil
plateau above the Bay is another monu.
ment marking the place to " hich Cook s
body is said to have been carried and
where he was buried. 1t was rather
amusing to visit the scene of Cook s
| death with gentleman OF educatlon and
one who has travelled, to whom that Ian
guage is most familiar of which the use
of ten words, had his forefathers only
known them, might have prevented the
catastrophe by simple explanation
and with him one who, like the discover
er, was the Captain of British ship OF
war, not repressing the worship due to a
heather deity, but on his part entertain
ing and honoring with the most marked
as we'll as the minutest sign of courtesy
the enlightened sovereign of an inde-
pendent nation How few the interve-
nient years, how great the change!
The country above Kaawaloa is very
fne-indeed, some of the strangers from
the ship who visited it declared that it
would be beautiful in any part of the
world. 1t maintains the same charac-
ter all the way back to Kailua, which
distance includes the justly celebrated
kona district. The climate is compar-
atively temperate and such as to make
me who has been shut nm in Honolulu