412 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



plentiful in the South Pacific. In Fiji it is called Vuga; 

 in Tahiti Pua-rata; in New Zealand it is known by the 

 Maori names Rata and Pohutu-kawa. Its great vari- 

 ability has been a source of much confusion and vexation 

 to taxonomists as is manifest by the large number of 

 names under which it has been described. A thorough taxo- 

 nomic study of the species will undoubtedly reveal series of 

 variations along well-defin- 

 ed lines, and probably also 

 extensive hybridization. 



The lehua is the most 

 abundant and widely dis- 

 persed tree in the Hawaiian 

 Archipelago. It occurs on 

 all the islands, on both 

 windward and leeward 

 slopes, and at all elevations 

 from sea-level to nearly ten 

 thousand feet. It occupies 

 a wide variety of ecologic 

 habitats, lowlands, valley 

 floors and slopes, summit 

 and lateral ridges, preci- 

 pices, peaks, summit bogs, 

 lava flows both new and 

 ancient, cinder and tufa 

 cones, pit craters, almost 

 every type of station, from 

 extremely hygrephytic to 

 extremely xerophytic, that 

 the islands afford. How- 

 ever, it is never strictly lit- 

 toral, nor does it thrive in 

 exposed windy places. The 

 finest and largest forests 

 occur in the rain-forest belt 

 along the windward slopes 

 of the island of Hawaii, the 

 flanks of the great volcanic 

 mountains Kea, Loa, and 

 Kilauea. Many of the 

 primitive Hawaiian songs 

 contain references to reg- 

 ions famous for their lehua 

 groves. The Puna and Olaa 

 districts, on Hawaii, for ex- 

 ample, have magnificent forests composed mainly of this 

 species. The following selections are typical : 



"The voice of Puna's sea resounds 

 Through the echoing hala groves ; 

 The lehua trees cast their bloom." 



This and all the other excerpts contained in this paper 

 have been selected and re-arranged from the scholarly 

 translations of Dr. N. B. Emerson, whose researches in 

 Hawaiian songs and folk-lore have been monumental, 

 and of the highest accuracy. Today there are exceed- 

 ingly few persons, either white or native, who know 

 the ancient Hawaiian language. The modern language is 



degenerate, and most of the old lore is forgotten, 

 original of the above lines is 



"O Puna kai kuwa i ka hala; 

 Pae ka leo o ke kai; 

 Ke lu, la, i na pua lehua." 



The 



Olaa and Hilo, adjacent 



HOLDING THEIR POSITION AGAINST ODDS 

 Lehua trees clinging to a steep slope where they are being gradually 



undermined by erosion, 

 markable 



The tenacity and endurance of this tree is re 



to Puna, were also heavi- 

 ly forested with lehua. 



"A woman strings lehua- 

 garlahds in Olaa." "He 

 wahine kui lei lehua i uka 

 o Olaa." 



"At Hilo I rendevouzed 

 with the lehua." "A Hilo 

 au e, hoolulu ka lehua." 

 The following lines refer 

 to a difficult passage 

 through the dense lehua 

 forests of Hilo, and to the 

 making of a temporary 

 shelter in the woods : 



"Ohi'as thick-set must be 

 brushed aside, 



To tear one's way, like a 

 covey of fowl. 



In the wilds of Pa-ie-ie 



Lehua growths mine- 

 heart of Mokaulele. 



A breaking, a weaving of 

 boughs, to shield from 

 rain." 



"Ka lae ohi'a e kope-kope, 

 Me he aha moa la, kapale 



pa laau, 

 Ka nahele o Pa-ie-ie, 

 Ku'u po'e lehua iwaeua 



konu o M o-kau-lele . 

 Me ka ha'i laau i pu- 



kaula hala'i i ka ua." 



Pa-ie-ie is a well-wooded 

 part of Hilo, once a favor- 

 ite resort of the bird hun- 

 ters, and celebrated in Ha- 

 waiian song. Mo-kau-lele 

 is a wild jungle-cov- 

 interior of the Hilo district, 

 the Hamakua coast, are the 



ered region in the 



North of Hilo, along 

 famous groves of Pana-ewa: 



"Pana-ewa's rain beats down the lehuas, 

 A rain by the sea smites the halas of Puna." 



"He ua kui lehua ko Pana-ewa; 

 He ua ma kai kui hala ko Puna, e!" 



Hala is the native name for the Pandanus. On the 

 island of Kauai, the wilderness back of Hanalei Valley, 

 was a famous region, where the lehua abounds, known 

 as Hanalei-lehua : "Perilous, steep, is the climb to 

 Hanalei woods, "Ku piliki'i Hanalei-lehua, la." 



