20 FORESTS OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



CUTTING. 



The forest has been considerably reduced by cutting. Destructive 

 cutting began by the removal of the sandal wood in the early part of 

 the nineteenth century, and has continued intermittently till the present 

 time. Except the sandalwood and koa, the main uses of the native 

 timber have been for fuel and poles. Large quantities of native tim- 

 ber have been used for fuel in the past, but the demand is now \ <; y 

 largely supplied by the algaroba. Most of the sugar mills, which 

 have been large consumers of native wood, have now turned to other 

 kinds of fuel. Some use coal, some oil, and some the tailings of the 

 cane (bagasse). In southern Hamakua and Hilo, in Hawaii, a few of 

 the mills are still consuming a large amount of native wood, and two 

 or three, with surprising lack of foresight, are cutting away the 

 timber which lies just above their plantations and upon which prob- 

 ablv their water supply largely depends. 



THE CRUCIAL QUESTION ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII. 



At the present time a good deal of land is being cleared for the 

 extension of cane fields and for the establishment of homesteads in 

 Hamakua, Hilo, and Puna. The wisdom of the removal of these 

 forests is a grave question, and there is emphatic difference of opinion 

 concerning it. 



The whole northeast coast of Hawaii receives a variable but heavy 

 rainfall, and was originally forested to the shore of the ocean. Years 

 ago this region was found to be adapted to the growth of sugar cane 

 without irrigation. Plantations sprang up rapidly, and soon formed a 

 continuous chain from the north point of Kohala to several miles south 

 of the town of Hilo, with the exception of the country between Hono- 

 kane and Waipio, where the mountains break off squarely into the 

 sea, leaving no cultivable land. As the land near the sea is all occu- 

 pied, the only direction in which the plantations can extend is up the 

 mountains; and this, many of them have continually striven to do. 

 Already the land has been cleared to an elevation of from 1,400 to 

 2,500 feet. In Hamakua there remains above the plantations a strip 

 of forest varying from 1 to 4 miles wide. It is into this remaining 

 strip that some of the plantations wish to extend. 



The sugar companies do not own very much of this land. It is 

 owned principally by the Territorial government, which leases it to 

 the sugar companies and gives them permits to clear it. Several 

 requests are pending now for permits to clear land above the present 

 limit. 



Now, it is recognized by sugar planters, landowners, and govern- 

 ment that a limit exists above which clearing means ultimate disaster 



