Economic Woods of Hawaii 709 



overlooking the sea. These exhibitions were very spectacular in 

 character and, before the introduction of gun powder, were the 

 Hawaiian's nearest approach to fireworks. 



The nene-leau or Hawaiian sumach, is a small, tough-wooded tree, 

 formerly much used by the planters in the construction of their 

 primitive ox-plows. In later years these have been almost wholly 

 supplanted by imported implements. The wood is soft, coarse 

 grained, and of grayish yellow color. The trunk is eight to 

 twelve inches in diameter, and ten to fifteen feet high. The 

 leaves are pinnate, and bright green; the flowers small, yellowish, in 

 showy dense terminal panicles, which are clad with rusty tomen- 

 tvmi. This svunach (Rhus semi-alata Murray var. sandwicensis 

 Engler) is endemic; it grows in the lowlands and lower forests, up 

 to two thousand feet elevation, in isolated clumps. Its numerous 

 root-sprouts sometimes form very dense clumps. 



A soft, white wood, occasionally used by the natives for making 

 saddle frames, is obtained from the kawau, Ilex sandwicensis 

 (Endl.) Loes. This is a beautiful tree of twenty to forty feet, 

 with a bole of ten to twelve inches. It chiefly inhabits the rain- 

 forests. The dark green coriaceous foliage is quite handsome; 

 the small white flowers occur in axillary cymose panicles. There 

 are a ntmiber of other tree species, some of them attaining con- 

 siderable size, that are all characterized by soft, weak, white or 

 yellowish wood, which have not been used by the natives or for- 

 eigners. Among these may be specified the poola, Claoxylon 

 sandwicense Mull.-Arg. ; T^/ra^/a^anJra w^'aM^mHillebd. Harms.; 

 ohe, Reynoldsia sandwicensis Gray ; ohe-ohe, Pterotropia, three spec- 

 ies; Cheirodendron, two species; aiea, Nothocestrum breviflorum 

 Gray, and N. latifolium Gray. This list is sufficient to indicate 

 that the tropical and subtropical forests contain many soft-wooded 

 trees, in addition to the more commonly known hardwood species. 



Two Hawaiian trees were known as kauila, and their exceedingly 

 hard, heavy wood was extensively used by the natives for their 

 spears, war clubs, beaters, and similar implements. One, Colu- 

 brina oppositifolia Brongn., is endemic, and confined to the Kona 

 district of Hawaii. Its height is twenty-five to thirty-five feet, 

 with a trunk of ten to fourteen inches. The wood is fine grained, 

 tough, and dark red. The other species, with somewhat softer 

 wood, Alphitonia excelsa Reiss, is a taU tree, often eighty feet in 

 height, and with a trunk of eighteen to twenty-four inches dia- 



