beautifully contrasted from the red, yellow and black colored walls of cinder. 

 (See plate XVIII.) 



The crater itself showed no activity. Two small cones of reddish-yellow 

 cinder mark the outbreak of 1907. The temperature at nine o'clock in the 

 morning on the upper lava flows was 92 Fahr. at an elevation of about 8500 

 feet. At the summit the temperature was at 60 Fahr. about noon, and sank 

 during the night to 35 at an elevation of 7000 feet. A most peculiar fact is 

 the presence of millions of flies at the summit of the mountain, which make a 

 stay of even a few minutes most disagreeable. Besides these flies, only another 

 small insect, similar to an Ichneumon, was found, covering the patches of snow 

 thickly. Only a few hundred feet lower, remarkable to say, not a single fly 

 could be detected. They evidently had been blown up by the wind. 



HUALALAI AND PUUWAAWAA, NORTH KONA. 



From Kealakekua toward North Kona the forest is very uniform and of a 

 similar nature to that between Kapua, South Kona, and Napoopoo. At the lower 

 levels Kukui forms the main tree growth, together with introduced shrubs, such 

 as lantana and guava. Coffee is extensively cultivated, also sisal, and in cer- 

 tain localities sugar cane. The vegetation begins to become interesting at 

 Huehu, near the lava flows on the northern flanks of Hualalai, and reaches 

 its culminating point at Puuwaawaa, the richest floral section of any in the 

 whole Territory. 



It is only as recently as 1909 that this region was botanically explored. The 

 whole country was until ten years ago a wilderness of lava fields, and only since 

 the opening of the country through the government road, ten years ago, was 

 this beautiful floral region made accessible. 



MT. HUALALAI AND ITS FLORAL ASPECTS. 



Mt. Hualalai, which is the smallest volcano on Hawaii, has an elevation of 

 8273 feet. Its last eruption was in the year 1801, not from the summit, how- 

 ever, but at an elevation of about 1800 feet, where huge lava masses poured 

 forth which changed the coast line of the region about Huehue for twenty-five 

 miles from a bay to a headland. This lava flow is still bare of vegetation, with 

 the exception of a few ferns and weeds. 



The lowland belt is extremely arid, rainfall being exceedingly scarce. Opun- 

 tia tuna grows gregariously and is associated with many other introduced plants, 

 such as Leucaena glauca. Datura stramonium, Waltheria americana, Nicotiana 

 tabacum, Acacia farnesiana, and many others. 



The interesting native vegetation, w r hich is of a similar nature to that of 

 Kapua in South Kona, begins at Huehue proper. Aleurites moluccana is still 

 the principal tree, though as one advances toward Puuwaawaa it becomes more 

 scarce. Antidesma platypliyllum and Antidesma pulvinatum, besides Dracaena 

 aurea (Ilalapepe), Maba, and their usual associates are predominant. In this 



49 



