THE SANDALWOOD TREE IN HAWAII 



BY 

 C. S. JUDD 



T F any tree has ever been grossly 

 maltreated it is the sandalwood 

 tree in H'awaii. Of no especial value 

 at first to the natives of the islands it 

 grew naturally and abundantly in 

 splendid mountain groves, but today 

 only a few survivors are found in 

 isolated parts of the country. The 

 same avarice and human lack of fore- 

 sight which swept away the American 

 buffalo by the thousands has also been 

 active in almost completely extirpat- 

 ing this tree in the Hawaiian Islands. 

 Of the three species of the sandal- 

 wood and about four varieties which 

 grow in the islands, those most com- 

 cercially important were the Santalum 

 freycinetianum and Santalum pyrul- 

 arinm. These were straight, hand- 

 some trees attaining an average height 

 of twenty-five feet and a thickness of 

 one foot at the base. Another variety 

 is reported to attain the height of 

 eighty feet with a trunk three feet in 

 diameter, while still other varieties 

 were mere bushes growing along the 

 rocky shore or in the inaccessible high- 

 lands. The wood of each species was 

 compact, fine-grained, and of a yel- 

 lowish color. On account of its re- 

 markable fragrance it was called by 

 the natives laau ala (odoriferous 

 wood), while the name of the tree 

 itself is iliahi (fire bark). In China 

 it was purchased by the picul of 133^2 

 pounds, the price varying from eight 

 to ten dollars for the picul. Today 

 genuine sandalwood is worth in China 

 from $60 to $190 a ton. In that coun- 

 try there was a great demand for the 

 wood where it was and is still used 

 for ornamental carving, framework 

 for fans, for perfumes and as incense 

 in Buddhist temples. It is especially 

 valuable for cabinet work for insects 

 are repelled by the spicy odor of the 

 wood. 



The traffic in sandalwood marked 

 the first commercial period in the his- 

 tory of the Hawaiian Islands. In 

 some way the presence of the tree was 

 suddenly discovered by early voy- 

 agers who knew its value and it seems 

 to have been American ships that in- 

 stituted the trade, for in 1792 two 

 men were left from a Boston brig on 

 the island of Kauai to contract for 

 several cargoes of sandalwood for the 

 China trade. The chiefs sent their 

 serfs into the forests to fell the trees, 

 clean the wood and bring it down by 

 shiploads to the sea. At first all com- 

 merce was carried on by barter and in 

 return for large cargoes of this wood 

 the chiefs received, in less value, 

 trinkets, guns, ammunition, liquor, 

 boats, silks and other Chinese goods. 

 Great quantities of the costly goods, 

 however, were never used but, being 

 stowed away in unsuitable and inse- 

 cure store-houses, were allowed to de- 

 cay. In their greed for gain the chiefs, 

 who had complete control over the 

 common people, oppressed them sore- 

 ly, compelling them to remain for 

 months at a time in the mountains 

 felling trees and bringing them down 

 on their backs to the royal store- 

 houses situated on the shore. 



About the year 1810 Kamehameha 

 I, king of Hawa'ii, is said to have re- 

 ceived annually $400,000 for sandal- 

 wood and during the closing years 

 of his reign and until 1825, the trade 

 in this valuable wood was at its height. 

 In 1829 the wood was becoming 

 scarce and in 1835, the annual export 

 had fallen off to $30,000. In the years 

 from 1836 to 1841, it amounted to only 

 $65,000, and soon after the trade in 

 sandalwood seems to have come to a 

 complete stop. 



The cause of this rapid decrease and 

 final termination was due to the un- 







