

OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 3G7 



Near Haiku on East Maui the soil is deep and productive. Many acres are covered with 

 kukui-trees of large size, and on the cultivated ground sugar-cane yields good crops. Several 

 of the broken-down tufa-cones produce good crops of cane, and as the rain-fall is frequent, 

 the absence of all permanent streams is to some degree compensated. The shore is a cliff 

 nearly perpendicular, washed by the surf. Where the rain-streams have broken through at 

 Maliko, the section is as represented in the margin. There are three distinct layers, each 

 twenty or thirty feet thick, of tufaceous lava, the top of each layer being 

 burned red by the stream above it, and rendered prismatic for nearly a foot in 

 depth, indicating great and uniform heat, as each stream is similar to the 

 preceding one both in size and composition. The lower portion of each 

 stratum is composed of loose rounded masses that are gradually forming a agns&ggs^^ 

 conglomerate. To the west of Haiku is a large tract of land of many I 

 hundred acres, formed by the wash of Haleakala, and capable of producing J 

 a large amount of cane, but wholly destitute of water. Should enterprise ,'"""*' """ '?*? *** v 



O J ' I'ig. 24. Section of a 



and capital ever unite in building an aqueduct from the streams of Han a cliff at Maliko. 

 to this dry plain, few places on the Hawaiian Islands would produce larger crops. Fur- 

 ther up the mountain at Haliimaila the rain-fall is sufficient to water large fields of 

 cane. 



On the western slope the soil is light, and at Ulupalakua the dust in dry seasons is often 

 a foot deep. Cane grows well here, although from the great elevation of the arable land, 

 four years are sometimes required to ripen it. Below Ulupalakua is the most recent lava- 

 flow on Maui. Large fields of a-a, as fresh as if ejected but yesterday, line the coast for nearly 

 a mile, while tufa-cones, some of considerable size, abound, indicating this as a line of exten- 

 sive eruption ; and it seems highly probable that Molokini belongs to this series. 



The low plain which connects East and West Maui is but a few feet above the sea, and 

 several vessels have sailed upon the land not doubting the existence of a passage. On the 

 windward shore the coral-sand is piled up in ridges nearly a hundred feet above the sea ; 

 shifting with the wind which sometimes drives columns of sand miles along the beach. As 

 on Kauai the large proportion of lime contained in this coral-sand, has a tendency to form a 

 concrete; and perpendicular rods, often a foot in length and several inches in diameter, are 

 found on the slopes of the more permanent hills near Wailuku. 



KAHOOLAWE. 



Kahoolawe is twelve miles long and about four broad, with an area of about forty square 

 miles, and its elevation is nearly six hundred feet above the sea. The surface is compar- 

 atively level, not broken by ravines, owing to its slight elevation and its situation on the lee 

 of East Maui. It possesses no streams nor fresh water, except in several pools of small 

 extent. Grass and a few euphorbiaceous plants constitute the entire vegetation, and afford 

 pasturage for a large flock of sheep. It is said that a crater exists on the summit, and that 

 the strata have a slight dip from the centre of the island ; but an examination from a vessel 

 at a distance of a mile seemed to show a dip from the cliffs on the leeward side of the island, 

 which are two hundred feet high, towards the centre. These high, and nearly perpendicular 

 cliffs are highest on the south-west side, but extend nearly around the island, leaving few 

 landing places. 



