338 NOTES ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
tectural works ; others yield spontaneously abundant harvests of de- 
licious fruit, only waiting for hands to gather them; while again a 
considerable number bear tubers and corms, which contain a quantity 
of farinaceous substance, enabling the natives to prepare not only their 
own food, but also Arrow-root for exportation. 
Some of the islands, especially Maui and Hawai, produce several 
species of beautiful fancy wood. In 1850 King Kamehameha II. 
presented to Her Britannic Majesty a circular table, solely composed 
of these. In its centre were inlaid the royal arms, well developed with 
the different woods, but the greater part of the table consisted of the 
Koa (Acacia heterophylla, Willd.), the light yellow tint and feathery 
appearance of which render it an elegant material for every kind of 
ornamental furniture, while its toughness and durability equally qualify 
it for the construction of the native canoes*. The Ohiaai (Jambosa 
Malaccensis, De Cand.) and the Kou (Cordia subcordata, Lam.) also 
have a wood used by cabinet-makers and carpenters. That of the 
Ohiaai was considered sacred in the time of paganism, and served for 
carving idols. The Oahu Sandal-wood (Santalum paniculatum, Hook. 
et Arn.) the Iliahi, or Laau-ala (fragrant wood) of the Hawaiians, 
is now to be found in only one place, called Kuaohe. Of the splendid 
groves, with the produce of which formerly so many ships were laden, 
but a few isolated bushes remain, and these would probably have dis- 
appeared had they not been protected by the law, and thus escaped 
being converted into fuel. The specimens now to be seen do not ex- < 
ceed three feet in height, and an inch in diameter; they are growing 
on the slopes of hills, close to the sea. 
Numerous plants are used as articles of food. The root of the Ki 
(Dracæna terminalis, Linn.), which has a sweetish-bitter taste, is baked 
_ between heated stones, and eaten; formerly an intoxicating beverage 
. was extracted from it. The stem of the plant, it may be added, is 
used for hedges, and the leaves for thatching, and wrapping up bundles 
. Of food, fish, charcoal, ete. The leaves serve also among the native 
. women as a medium of communicating ideas, which appears to be some- 
what similar to the Quipos of the ancient Peruvians ; the leaves are re- 
reduced to narrow shreds, and by making in them certain folds and knots 
the object is effected. The unexpanded fronds of the Kikawaiko, a fern, 
__ * The statement of a recent traveller, that the can f iians are made 
of the trunk of the Cocoa-nut Palm, is erroneous. — Em 
