The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1922-07-28

reckoning. Their forage was the
tough gray pill grass rooted between
the rocks of which the island is COM
posed up to a certain altitude. With
no need of water and with nothing to
check their increase the goats had a
veritable paradise. After an unusually
wet winter a touch of green would
tinge the scarlet of the island, but the
hardy marauders speedily ob%literated
1t and with the summer trades the
dust once more streamed off.
Kahoolawe had NO chance.
Occasionally a wandering hunter or
two landed for a few days to enjoy
the abundance Of game. More often
opium smugglers took advantage of
the security its isolation afforded. A
white sail to the south, a smoke by
day, the ruby CLEAN of a fire by night,
then solitude again for the sombre
beast that is the outline of Kahoolawe
a swoon in the many-hued sea-.
At length came its rescuer
An optimistic visionary from the
West sensed its possibilities. He
looked it over carefully; he saw It's
repeated struggles to come back"
struggles that were hopeless without
intelligent assistance. The triply use
full kiawe, retainer, was creeping
tenaciously up the valleys. Pill grass
still existed in spite of the goats that
swarmed increasingly. With inter
~vention the island might be reclaimed,
but never until the goats were des-
troyed.
And then began drives that were a
distinct feature in the history OF
Hawaii.
The number of the animals was var1-
cusly estimated. Preparations were be
gun. The tumble-down ranch houses
of the past were made habitable;
mules and horses were imported and
the man with his family and Kanaka
. cowboys moved over. A sampan was
purchased to facilitate transportation
!, between Kahoolawe and Kihei, which
is the most convenient port of an ad-
!, iacent island. Arrangements were
made with plantation butcher shops
: for the disposal of the goats. The1r
= sale was to pay for the first two
years lease, running expenses and the
improvements necessary to make dew
elopmant possible.
Y Fences were constructed as LEADS
; TO corrals where the goats could be
i run in with a minimum oil trouble
But they proved difficult. Men OF
/ mules, horses and a-foot--Ior man!
were eager to participate in the move
sport-spread fanwise across the Is
land. Light and nimble, the goats
afforded magnificent sport n MANY
opportunities for eXhilaratmg gallop'
across the hard-packed crimson miles
Whips, guns, dogs, shouting human be
ings, intelligent cattle horses drove
them toward the pens, but ten tnheI
as many got away as were corfaleo
Thousands of goats would swarm Xxx
lice Upon Kahoolawe's bumped back
the seething mass would be driven al
most to the pens, then would oreal
back for the wild reaches o. the Daf
rem island, and nothing could stoI
y them.
Again and again the manoenVre
- were repeated with the improvement
= of method that came from experience
The goats were as the SANDS OF IN
sea. The boat made u~ncounted trips
b~ourgeoning with its living freight.
Hundreds were secured, the hui
dreds grew into thousands and sill
the slaughter COnllllueu. hhl q SA"'
ual improvement in the vegetatio
became apparent. Salt bush we
planted, the pill improved, the kiaw
increased, but still on quiet days
the intervals between the drives on
could see far inland, slender thread
of dust where goats wound away ]
their self-made caravans.
Kahoolawe is an eerie Island cor
pounded on the windward side I
mighty coasts and ~stupendous ravine
which provided formidable ~fastnesse
for the goats. At the base of the tho'
sand-foot cliffs the tradewind-drive
sea smokes in indigo and silver surge
Long after the pill grass lands we
rid of the tiny hoofs that continual
Clipped away the hardpan of the
SH soil, the cliffs and gulches swarme
= with the little animals. Hardy liver
- they subsisted on the scant growth
weed between the rocks, with an occ
sionally sally, under cover of nigh
for heartier meals on their old feedir
grounds.
With every known make of 81
they were hunted down and the shi
ments continued, but hundreds
spoiled ~carcasses bore mute testimol
to the "incessant warfare being wage