NOTES ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 337 
ginning of March to the end of November, the sun’s rays are moderated 
by the trade-winds, which sweep with more or less force over the island, 
and oceasion a considerable reduction of temperature. In the rainy 
season, the three months that the trade-wind does not blow, the sun 
has travelled too far to the south to cause an oppressive degree of heat ; 
the thermometer never rising above 80° Fahr., nor falling below 50°. 
In summer the air is pure and refreshing, the sky of an azure blue, 
and the sun brilliant. No wonder that in such a climate little sickness 
prevails, that epidemics are almost unknown, and that contagious dis- 
eases, except those of a cutaneous nature, have not yet extended their 
influence to these shores. 
The flora is neither strictly tropical, nor does it exhibit the features 
common in the temperate zone, rather a mixture of both. This re- 
mark, however, only applies to the aspect; in analysing the vegetation 
more closely we find that the greater number of its components are 
derived from the eastern parts of Asia, and that Polynesia, the shores 
of Australia, and the continent of America, have contributed their 
share. To the philosopher who attempts to account for the geography 
of plants, the Hawaiian flora presents a problem difficult to solve. 
That the greater part of the vegetation, like the branch of the human 
family which inhabits the groupe, should originally have come from a 
direction contrary to that of the trade-wind, must ever excite speculation, 
and suggest the idea that in the distribution of organized beings Nature 
probably employed other means than merely those afforded by the cur- _ 
rents of the atmosphere, the waves of the ocean, or the caprice of man. 
A considerable portion of the vegetation, nearly one-third, consists of 
Ferns, those graceful forms which engage the attention of every observer. - 
Of Palms only a single species, the Cocoa-nut, is found in Oahu, 
but two kinds of Livistonia in the other islands of this groupe; the à 
rest of the flora is principally composed of Myrtles, Grasses, Sedges, E 
Mimosee, and Arums. It is strange that there are so few plants pe- 
culiar to the groupe, and there is reason to suppose that when the sur- 
rounding countries have been thoroughly examined, the number will be 
- still less. ; 
But whatever may be the component parts of the Hawaiian flora, or 
from whatever quarters it may have been derived, it presents a great 
variety of useful plants. Some afford the choicest wood, equally 
adapted for ornamental furniture, and the construction of coarser archi- 
: | 2x 
VOL. IV. 
