1840.] Honolulu. 385 



pastures, in readiness to supply the vessels touching at the 

 island. Goats, hogs and poultry, are raised in considerable 

 numbers on all the larger islands. 



Mosquitoes, fleas, scorpions, and centipedes, are very 

 abundant, and excessively annoying. The natives insist that 

 the musquitoes were first introduced there by stranger vessels ; 

 and they stoutly affirm, also, that the flea is a foreign impor- 

 tation. The tradition in regard to the advent of the latter 

 on their shores is as follows : — Many years ago a woman from 

 Waimea went out to a ship to see her lover, and as she was 

 about to return, he gave her a bottle, saying that there was 

 very valuable property (waiwai) contained in it, but that she 

 must not open it, on any account, until she reached the shore. 

 As soon as she gained the beach, she eagerly uncorked the 

 bottle to examine her treasure, but nothing was to be dis- 

 covered, — the fleas hopped out, and " they have gone on hop- 

 ping and biting ever since." 



(7.) Honolulu on the southern coast of Oahu is the 

 seat of government, and the most important town in the 

 group. It contains about ten thousand inhabitants, one fifth 

 of whom are foreigners. It is prettily situated on a plain 

 sloping gently down to the beach, and has a very good harbor, 

 formed by a barrier reef of coral with a single opening, which 

 is capable of accommodating from sixty to seventy vessels of 

 five hundred tons burden. Groves of tall cocoas border the 

 beach, and a few years ago they were the only shade trees to 

 be seen, but now many of the streets are well ornamented 

 with them. Its principal thoroughfare is called Main Street, 

 and most of the houses on this street, or within two or three 

 squares, are situated within neat inclosures, surrounded by 

 adobe walls, and around them are well cultivated gardens, 

 stocked with fruit trees, plants, shrubbery, and vegetables, 

 that impart to them a cheerful rural aspect. On the out- 

 skirts of the town are the grass-thatched habitations of the 

 natives. At the distance of half a mile in the rear of the 

 town is the Puahi, or Punch-bowl Hill, an extinct crater 

 rising by a steep ascent to the height of five or six hundred 



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