392 

 4. Expedition Into the Kona Forests. 



Attempted Ascent of Mauna Loa 

 by John Ledyard and Party. 



Inasmuch as Cook met his death at this place, the official ac- 

 count of the events that transpired here is very full. The only 

 feature of botanical interest was the attempt made by John Led- 

 yard and a party of sailors to ascend Mauna Loa. This is the 

 first recorded expedition into the interior of a Hawaiian island. 



Ledyard was born in Connecticut and was educated at Dart- 

 mouth College for missionary work among the Indians. Upon 

 finding this type of work distasteful, he became a wanderer, 

 ("The American Traveller"). Among many other adventures 

 he visited England, joined the British navy and chanced to obtain 

 a position in Cook's last expedition. Selections from Ledyard's 

 journals and correspondence form the basis for a biography by 

 Jared Sparks, published by Hilliar and Brown, Cambridge, 1828. 

 Ledyard had been stationed on shore at Kealakekua, with a com- 

 pany of marines to protect the tents and astronomical equipment. 

 He "formed the design of ascending the high peak. . . .called by 

 the natives Mouna Roa . . . . " From his station at the tents, Led- 

 yard sent a note on board the Resolution to Captain Cook, asking 

 permission to make this journey, for the double purpose of ex- 

 ploring the interior, and, if possible, climbing to the top of the 

 mountain. The request was granted. The botanist, David Nel- 

 son, and the gunner of the Resolution, were deputed by the com- 

 mander to accompany him. "Natives were also engaged to carry 

 the bag-gage, and serve as guides through the woods.... On 

 first leaving the town, their route lay through enclosed plantations 

 of sweet potatoes. . . . Now and then a patch of sugar cane was 

 seen. Next came the open plantations, consisting chiefly of 

 breadfruit trees, and the land iDegan to ascend more rapidly." 



"We continued up the ascent/' he writes, "to the distance of a 

 mile and a half further, and found the land thick covered with 

 wild fern, among which our botanist found a new species. It 

 was now near sunset, and being upon the skirts of these woods, 

 that so remarkably surrounded this island at a uniform distance 

 of four or five miles from the shore, we concluded to halt, espe- 

 cially as there was a hut hard by, that would afford us a better 

 retreat during the night, than what we might expect if we pro- 

 ceeded. When we reached that hut, we found it inhabited by an 



elderly man, his wife and daughter They were somewhat 



discomposed at our appearance and equipment, and would have 

 left their house through fear, had not the Indians (Hawaiians 



— ed.) who accompanied us, persuaded them We sat down 



together before the doon and from the height of the situation we 

 had a complete retrospective view of our route, of the town, of 

 part of the bay, and one of our ships, besides an extensive pros- 



