The District of Puna. 



99 



low-water level. No mineral waters are found here, nor is there an3'where on the 

 Hawaiian Islands even a carbonated or sulphur spring. The ground is niostl\- covered 

 with aa through the whole district of Puna, and all the rain that is not held by this 

 sponge-like form of lava sinks to the sea level and issues from clefts on the shore. 

 As there is hardly any soil, it might be supposed that Puna would be a barren region, 

 but the reverse is the case. Groves of coconut trees extend for miles, growing more 

 thriftily than elsewhere on these islands, and the natives have no difficult}' in raising 



FIG. 66. THK grp;kn i..\ki... 



pines, bananas and other fruits. The aa is often so rough that unshod horses cannot 

 stand on it outside the beaten road, without a carpet of pandanus leaves or seaweed. 



The slopes of Kilauea are quite regular in this district, and many eruptions 

 have flowed down this wa}- ; at least twenty may be counted in thirty miles. Tradition 

 declares that formerly Puna was a fertile region surpassing in the produdliveness of its 

 soil any district of Hawaii, and that during the absence of the chief, Pele, the goddess 

 of the volcano, left her abode in Kilauea to pay him a visit. From the appearance of 

 the streams of lava it is not impossible that many of them were synchronous, and that 

 the larger portion of Puna was overwhelmed by the same eruption of Kilauea. None of 

 the lavas of Mauna Loa have flowed this way. The pandanus flourishes greatlj' in this 

 region, and innumerable caves found in the streams of ancient lava afforded the weavers 

 cool and damp shelters well adapted to mat-making. Other caves whose roofs have not 



fallen have, from early times been a favorite depositary for the remains of the dead. 



[477] 



