The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1867-11-23
Our Island Correspondence
SKETCHES OF HAWAII,
Trip TO the Hawaiian Hades.

VOLCANO HousE, KuAuEA, September, 1867.
Light clouds were driving up from the east
ward and heavy banks were overhanging Aiauna
Kea and Nauna Loa, strong, fleet chargers
we e7tlloped out of Hilo at A. NJ. on our route
to Kilauea We passed out ON Volcano street by
the comfortable cottages quietly nestled in ver'iant
groves, and entered on the green ascending plain
beyond. IL spread to the bases OF the great
mountains and extended east To the ocean and far
south in Puma and Kau, till Ioet in the distance.
IL was variegated with grassy lawn-Iike glades
and scattered trees and shrubbery. Among the
trees were the cocoa palm, the screw palm or lau-
hnla, and the brcadfruit. The feathery and fan
like fern leaf was playing in the breeze with the
Wild banana. The soil was rich, deep and finely
situated for sugar plantations, but there WIS no
cultivation. IL was the crown land of Waiakea,
inalienabIe by law, not leased to advantage, and
consequently unproduetive- Four miles and n
half brought US to deep and tangled tropical
fores., where the vegetation luxuriant as
in Brazil Golden and harnc-like flowers glitter
ed in the woodland from the parasitic ia-id, that
climbed and twined around the tall ohia trees,
like n garland gemmed with the most gorgeous
blossoms. These parasites were 80 luxuriant IN
their foliage, that the trunks of the trees were
hidden and they appeared like lofty emerald
columns, r.rOse-wreathed Obelisks in some ideal
Eden. The undergrowth Of shrubbery was thick
and matted with many beautiful flowers, and con-
spieuOus in the fora of the woods were the vel
low and the crimson flowers of the ohia. The
forest resounded with the melOdious songs Of the
birds, and the whole earth teemed with life and
Joyousness- We passed the woods in two miles
and half, and upon the farther verge was n
grove Of eOcoanut and some orange trees We
gathered some of the golden fruit, and refreshed
ourselves with the delicious juices. There had
hEmeriy been residence and cultivation here,
but all Was abandoned; everything grew unaided
by the hand Of man in tropical luxuriance.
Beyond the woodland extended plain covered
with the "a plant, or dracdeHa, that looked like n
vast eane-feld. This growth il Indicative of the
best cane lands and. indeed, it is strange that
the effort to extract sugar from the "a plant has
not been tried. IL yields n large quantity of sac
eharine matter, il more hardy than the sugar
cane, requires less cultivation, and we believe is
lar superior TO the beet for the production OF SUI
gar We could not repress the thought of the
vast amount of material in sight for distillng the
- okoishao" I" or gun barrel tea" the clandes-
tire production Of which curses these Islands
Our route lay over this immense ii field, through
muddy road, in n soil Of soft, yellow unetious
clay for several miles, when we passed out OF
the good land and the growth Of the ii plant on
10 the Pahoeh0s, or lava flow. Here commenced 4
different growth; hardy shrubs and scattered
trees, with scant grass took the place OF the dTG-
eaeHa, but occasional groves Of larger growth