The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-03-26
PUMA AND KONA.

ing the two districts OF puna ana
North Kona, the results are most strik-
ing. Hamakua, which is also going to
be an important coffee district, the
most important, its residents claim,
does not show such an increase in pop
ulation because it has been a prolific
sugar district for so long. The thrush
of cultivators has consequently not
been so great, those already resident
in the district being the chief pioneers
in the new industry.
But taking Puma in the first place. as
the example of most rapid progress, it
will be found that during the past six
years the population of that district
has risen from S34 in 1890 to 174S in
1896, a gain of 914, or 1925 per cent.
Of course this means great prosperity
to the distributing point, which in this
case is Hilo. The population which
coffee growing district brings together
is eminently a good one. In most
cases the holdings are small, not over
one hundred acres, and averaging
about thirty or forty acres actually
under cultivation. Though using Asia
tic labor, the Anglo Saxon owners do
a great deal of the labor themselves,
there are plantations where the whole
work has been done without the as
sistance of Asiatic labor.
Such a population is naturally
great user of European and American
goods. First there was the demand
for lumber, great quantities of which,
several millions of feet, have been i'm
ported direct to Hilo during the past
three years. These have been used for
putting up buildings which are seat
tered along the volcano road, through
out what is known as the Olaa section,
and also through the forest section of
Puma, to the south of Olaa. Then this
population has to be fed and is uses up
considerable quantities of groceries
and other imported goods. The con-
sequence is that not only are the large
firms in Hilo charging their business
stock, but stores are springing up in
the back country, and these stores will
gradually become more and more i'm
portant as prosperity comes to the cof-
fee planter.
For Hilo's present great boom she is
really dependent upon the Puma dis
trict. The Hilo district iself is mainly
a sugar growing district, and though
there are now some very promising
plantations in the Hilo district, still
the main coffee estates will be in Pun.
Hilo will for years, and probably as
long as coffee is cultivated, remain the
outlet for these estates. 1t must be
for the Olaa section, and the coast of
Puma presents no opportunity for
good harbor. The best landing is at
Pohoiki, but at times that becomes
quite dangerous. Along the whole
coast the swell of the ocean thunders
in an almost ceaseless surf. Thus Hilo's
future prosperity is assured if the cot
fee industry only turns out as well as
it promises.
In North Kona the advance has been
almost as remarkable. In 1890 the pop
ulation of the district was 1853, and in
1896 the population was 3061, a gain of
1908 inhabitants, or 74.5 per cent. This
has meant the taking up and putting
under cultivation thousands of acres
of land, over which the vegetation was
running wild few years ago. 1t has
meant the opening up of roads and the
introduction of wheeled vehicles. Ten
years ago, with the exception of a
heavy wagon belonging to the late H.
y. Greenwell, which brought his goods
from Kealakekua to his store at Kali
naliu, there was not wheeled vehicle
from the extreme south point of South
Kona up to Kawaihae Bay, of South
Kohala, a distance of from 1870 to 40
miles. Coffee has changed all this.
The crack of the whip and the creak-
ing of wheels now break the silence
of Kona, and there is constant busy
hum of industry.
Kailua is the main port of North
Kona, but the coast has many good
landings and, though Kailua will nat
urally be a distributing point, and has
grown marvelouslly in the past two
years, it will never have the monopoly
of the trade of the district, because
each group of coffee plantations can
readily find an outlet to the sea in al
most direct line. Thus the bay near
Pahoehoe and Keauhou will both be
used and the villages around their