FLORA VITIENSIS. 213 
or red. Botanists have described four species of Santalum from this group (viz. S. Freycinetianum, 
paniculatum, ellipticum, and pyrularium), but S. ellipticum and paniculatum are held to be mere varieties 
of the first-named, so that two species only remain, agreeing with the native classification. They are 
spread over Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai, where they occupy stony, well-drained places. Of the 
magnificent groves that formerly covered parts of the islands, only a few isolated specimens now remain, 
and these would long ago have been converted into fuel had not the law thrown its protecting shield over 
them. When in 1849 I visited Oahu I saw merely a few bushes, not exceeding three feet in height, at a 
place called Kuaohe ;* but towards the end of last century and the beginning of this, the infant kingdom 
of Hawaii, then under the able government of the first Kamehameha, exported vast quantities of the wood ; 
and without this profitable trade that king would probably not have succeeded in leading his people, in 
one generation, from extreme barbarism to nascent civilization. The sandal-wood was to these isiauders 
the start in life, without which few nations or individuals ever succeed in pushing their way in the world. 
From 1790-1820 numerous vessels called for sandal-wood, bringing all sorts of good things in exchange ; 
and about 1810 Kamehameha I. and his people began to accumulate considerable wealth. In one year 
near 400,000 dollars were realized. Kamehameha, hearing of the great profits derived from the sales in 
China, determined to send a ship of his own to Canton laden with the produce. Extravagant port charges 
and the misconduct of the English captain and native supercargo led to the commercial failure of this 
enterprise. The king found himself 3000 dollars out of pocket by it; nevertheless he had the satisfaction 
of seeing for the first time his flag displayed in a foreign port, whilst the charges for pilotage, anchorage, 
and custom dues suggested to him the idea of raising a revenue from the same sources, and thus per- 
manently benefit his dominions. Under the reign of his successor (Liholiho) the sandal-wood began to 
be exhausted, though in 1820 we still hear of 80,000 dollars’ worth of. the wood being paid for the barge 
of the ‘ Cleopatra, and in 1822 of a voyage to Kauai to collect the annual tribute of the wood in that 
island. But the produce became every day more difficult to procure, and could no longer be demanded in 
payment of taxes. True, quantities were now and then brought together, but they were insufficient to 
fill whole vessels as in times gone by. Nor did the discovery of a substitute, Myoporum Sandwichense, 
A. Gray (M. tenuifolium, Hook. et Arn., non Forst.), a tree from fifteen to twenty feet in height, with 
small leaves and white flowers, and a scented wood, revive the trade—the spurious sandal proving useful 
only for planes. A new chance, however, seemed to present itself, and of this both chiefs and people 
eagerly availed themselves. In November, 1829, a vessel arrived at the Sandwich Islands, from which it 
was learnt that in the South Pacific an island full of saudal-wood had been discovered. Its situation was 
confidentially communicated to Boki, the governor of Oahu, who, delighted with a chance of retrieving his 
ruined credit, accepted the proposal to fit out an expedition for taking permanent possession of it. Two 
men-of-war brigs, the ‘Kamehameha’ and the ‘ Becket,’ were selected for the pow and well provided 
with ammunition, arms, and stores for colonization. Nearly 500 people, including ten foreigners, em- 
barked ın these small vessels. All were going to make their fortune ; and so great was the general in- 
fatuation that, in spite of the earnest remonstrances of the foreign residents, the expedition started. It 
first touched at Rotuma, north of Fiji, where discontent, from the hardships of the voyage, began to show 
itself, and where a number of the aborigines were pressed into the service of the already overcrowded 
vessels. The destination now turned out to be the island of Eromanga, and the * Kamehameha,’ having 
completed her preparations, sailed ten days in advance of her consort; but she was never heard of again. 
The ‘ Becket’ reached Eromanga in safety, and remained for some weeks, committing outrages on the 
natives, which led to frequent hostilities, and completely frustrated the object of the expedition. The 
‘Kamehameha’ not arriving, and a distemper breaking out, which carried off many of the company, 
including the commanding chief, the * Becket’ resolved to return home. A scene of horror now ensued 
which baffles description. Crowded with the sick, the dying, and the dead, the vessel, slowly making her 
way through the sultry regions of the tropies, became a floating charnel-house. The sufferings of the sur- 
vivors were aggravated by the want of water, food, and medicines. The course of the brig was tracked by 
corpses; and out of two hundred and twenty-six souls that comprised her company on leaving Rotuma, 
only twenty, eight of whom were white men, returned home. When, on the 3rd of August, 1830, she 
arrived at Oahu, weeping and wailing was heard night and day. The loss of so many active and fine men 
was felt as a national calamity, and formed a sad conclusion of the sandal-wood trade of the Sandwich 
Islands.t : 
Eromanga, after this time, was constantly visited by similar expeditions, got up by either Polynesians 
t 
* Seemann, ‘ Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald,’ vol. ii. p. 83. London, 1853. 
+ J. J. Jarves, ‘History of the Hawaiian Islands,’ pp. 80, 102, 104, 118, 118, 144. Honolulu, 1847. 
lf my memory serves me right, I fancy that I have read about twenty years ago some information about 
the Hawaiian Sandal-wood trade in Jarves’ ‘Scenes and Scenery in the Sandwich Islands,’ a book I have 
not been able to consult in England. 
[PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1, 1867.] 2r 
