The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-09-25

have to be run another mile to tap
what is though to be the company S
best ohia land, although everything in
the way of ohia along the route for
half a mile in strip will be torn down
and utilized by the company in some
shape, ties, lumber or frewood, the land
having to be cleared for cane.
Exploring the Netherlands.
In addition to the properly now be-
ing worked under timber lease, the
company is exploring a hitherto un-
known part of the Puma district with
a view of extending its operation in the
government districts, if the timber
rights can be secured, and on private
lands under a stumpage basis. The
government map of Puma is marked in
the interior with the words, covering
an immense area, government lands,
unsurveyed. - Unsurveyed, indeed,
they are. In this tract of country,
| iungle-covered and painless, which
| the company officers intend to carry
on some exploration work, and already
| there are Hawaiians at work cutting
trails across country.
In all, one hundred miles of trails
will be cut or ancient trails cleared out
in order that the wealth of the land,
if there be any there, may be spied out.
In some places in this district trails
used in former days by the native pop
ulation are to be found, but it requires
careful searching to locate them, and
when located they have to be cleared
of the years growth of staghorn fern
and hihi vine before they can be tray
! eled.
One such trail extends from the Pa
nau district, by the sea, to the volcano
road, coming out at Twentyfour Miles.
This trail is now being cleared by n
native, one of the very few who knew
where it was, who used to travel it
thirty years ago, and who had not used
it for the past fifteen years. From
this trail bisectng trails will be run
through the government lands and into
the Kahauaea and Keaau lands
Il H. A. Thurston, r. S. Hosmer and w
w. Harris made short trip into this
uneXplored territory short time ago
leaving the government road to kala
pana near Pahoa and branching of
through the jungle as far as the Hei
heiahulu hill, the most prominent land
mark in the Puma country, and point
on which in the memory of the native
guides only four other white men had
even stood to survey the country. This
hill is only three miles off the main
travelled thoroughfare, which fact
shows how little inclination any one
has shown so far to penetrate the Puma
jungle. From the summit of this hill
which is 1850 feet above the sea. Q
magnificent panoramic view of the
country can he obtained. although the
view shows that in the immediat,
neighborhood of the point there is littlt
of value, the country being lava flow
covered with scrub lehua and ulihi
The hill itself is an extinct crater. tn,
inside walls of which are precipitou
to degree.
Cave Dwellers' Home.
On this strip the party of explorer
! discovered lava cave which sho,ves
signs of having been at some time il
the past used as habitation. lh
. cave itself is a large one. the moutl
being about thirty feet wide and tn
distance of the dome from the floor
near the entrance, being thirty feet
extended back for a considerable
lance, some two or three hundre,
feet, further than any of the explorer
cared to go without torches. The foo
was made of hand-laid smooth rocks
The guide, a kamaaina, had neye