The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-11-17

A,Trip 10 Kau, Hawaii
The district Of Kau, on Hawaii, has heretofore been
a sort of terra incognita. Situated on the southeast
extremity of the group, with its back as it were turn
ed to the rest Of the world. and looking out on the
broad Pacific which stretches far to the south; diff
cult too. of access, over roads which even here in
Hawaii nNi are a proverb Of dificulty.-Kau is not
inaptIy termed ..the last place. in the Sandwich
Islands. Yet, when once there. the visitor is con-
strained to admit that it contains some OF the finest
lands and is blest with one of the most salubrious
climates in the group. have recently returned from
a trip thither, and will jot down a few observations
thereon.
First, as to the road-and here despair of doing
;usti6 the subject. For a number of years past,
in successive parliament, an item will be noticed
as having passed in the appropriation bill of two or
three thousand dollars for the ..road from Kona to
Kau.', The different sums thus formally voted
might. however, Just as we'll have been set apart for
internal improvements in the moon. Successive road
supervisors have failed to squeeze any money ont Of
the public bag, and the road to-day is fully as bad-as
eight years ago, when l first Travelled over it. The
route lays along the sea shore, and from kealakekua
to the farther point of Kona, Milorii, q more desoiate
tract of country cannot be imagined. 1t seems as
though Pele had done her ~prettiest to forever exclude
humanity from this region. For miles, not q green
thing is seen, but a constant succession Of scoria,
scattered about and piled up in every conceivable
shape of impassableness, fills the horizon. Over
these climpers a sort of track has been beaten down,
and for some miles large round stones from the beach
have been placed on which to step. These however.
only add to the difficulty of the road for horses. as
they are constantly making vain attempts to escape
the sharp climpers by walking on the stepping stones.
And So, under the broiling sun and languid breeze Of
south Kona, we 60 crunch, crunch, slip, stumble,
over thirty miles of government road with the
constant impression that your horse, which has tasted
since you last left grass two days ago, is suffering a
good deal, which impression is intentionally con-
frmed when you come to dismount and ind his fet-
locks dripping with blood. ga merciful man is
merciful to his BEAST - and the fellow who would not
feel for his horse under such circumstances ought to
be barred from sitting on a jury. But the worst part
of the road was that which in other volcanic districts
I have found the easiest-the pahoehoe. In south
Kona there are three veins or streams of pahoehoe
which intersect the ordinary aa or ~climpers. From
the extraordinary tumble in which Pele has left these
evidences of her handiwork, 1 incline to the opinion
that while cooling, an earthquake was introduced and
gave the whole affair a grand shaking up. l cannot
otherwise account for the many dangerous assures.
abrupt p~recipices and the generally uneven nature of
the mass. At Kihipahoehoe. standing in the sea
about fifty yards from a ~precipice two hundred feet
high, are three singular looking rocks, which have
evidently at one time been attached to the main land.
They are square at the base, about fifty feet in diane
ter and a hundred and fifty in height. One leans
against another, touching at top and leaving a wide
passage at the base, through which I am told the
fishing canoes often pass. On the main land just OPP
posite these rocks and at the foot Of the p~recipice,
tbara vas in old times a conious snriuO of fresh wafer
but either it has disappeared or the modernsA have
not sufficient energy to find it. May not the exis-
tence of this spring have had some connection with
the process which isolated those rocks, All through
this region, the only drinking water is "wai kai.
more or less brackish, which oOzes out at these a side.
In spite of the dreadfully uninviting nature of the
country here, every little spot where there is sufficient
sand washed up from the sea to support a cocoanut
tree, has its two or three native houses. The people
| found were contented and even attached to their
desolate wastes, and talked bravely about their
land though l was not a little puzzled to know
where it was situated. They say, however, that on
the summit of the ridge. among the obia woods, taro
and potatoes grow well, with but a very small modi-
of soil. A good deal of frewood comes from this
ridge. of that long straight .'Kona wood" which sells
20 readily in Honolulu. You will perhaps have
noticed the notches cut in this wood. This is done
6r the purpose of totoing the sticks. The native
wood cutter transports his wood to the beach with
line and patience, consuming months in collecting a
pile for which he gets SO or $40. Taking one
on his shoulder, he toDs another on the ground
With a rope tied to the notch. Shod with ti-leaf SAN
he may be seen slowly picking his way down
he steep sides of the volcanic hills. carrying one stick
md dragging another behind him, to add to his
lowly growing "pile.' By and bye, Capt. Mar
Of tho RoLo,,Juobs oovao o1opr ord NAME, liz
IS or $40, and takes his pile. measuring six feet
very way. Retailing this at Honolulu at S15 a
cord, l imagine pays very fairly in these
ines. A cord contains,-or ought to contain-12S
ubic feet. The Kona 'spile'' contains PIG cubic feet.
At Milorii, a sand beach and cocoanut grove, the
Dad turns mp the hill side towards Manuka, the first
and in Kau. Here is a fair grazing country, though
suffering from drought just now. Pass
,g Manuka, we come to a long stretch Of climpers
bout ten miles across, and reaching nearly to Ka-
uku. After this s'bit of bad road'' is over, comes
long stretch-ffteeno or twenty miles-of beautiful
bling country, spreading out from the base Of
[auna Loa to the sea, and presenting a fine area for
operations.
Waiohinu, the mission station, is delightfully."- loca-
d at the foot of the base hills of the mountains Just
here a SMALL stream energies from the high land '
ear this place are the wheat fields, and while 1 was
the business of threshing was going on vigor-
isly. l found that the quantity of wheat grown this
ar had been much exaggerated in Honolulu, and
at the 5000 bushels which l had heard talked about
ould not probably amount to over 1000. The :
heat, however. was informed by good judges is
perior to that grown at Makawao, and will weigh
ere by ten pounds to the bushel. Mr.. Samuel Laa- ].
Ii. one of the principal native farmers. informed me
at himself and partners intended putting in 100
res in wheat this winter Thar oea o,ox ~o-. .
which has been shipped to Honolulu. amounts to =
70 bushels. In regard to the yield per acre, he had
thered as high as seventy bushels, though often as
" as thirty. and he considered the fair average to
innate would be, fifty bushels to the acre. Perhaps
Is NAV be an oxeresfimate hpt xon xhoa fa~;l:.-