176 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 76 



(really a large mouse), which came in with the early natives, were 

 unknown prior to the advent of the whites. There were no land 

 reptiles and few indigenous noxious insects; although mosquitoes, 

 not to mention certain domestic pests, abound in a few places, and 

 there are some scorpions and centipedes; but these, like measles, 

 smallpox, tuberculosis, and worse diseases, are adjuncts of an en- 

 forced civilization. The mongoose, brought in to destroy rats, and 

 the myna bird, to devour insects, are themselves now beginning to 

 be detrimental. 



Along the coasts, on the headlands and lower hills, and to a less 

 extent farther inland, are village sites, foundations of temples and 

 houses, garden patches inclosed by stone walls, and long rows of 

 stones, some of which are borders of roads or trails, others being 

 for purposes which are undetermined. Among these, taro beds and 

 sweet potato patches may still be traced. 



The most remarkable among the remains are the great temple site 

 on Senator Cooke's ranch, toward the east end of the island, and the 

 " paved trail " 10 miles down the coast from Kaunakakai, the prin- 

 cipal village and harbor. The former is rectangular in outline, built 

 on irregular ground, of stones large and small, to form a level plat- 

 form on which a thousand persons could assemble without being 

 hampered for lack of room. The outer faces of the walls vary from 

 3 to 20 feet in height ; and except at the lowest parts there are ter- 

 races or steps all around, about 5 feet in height and of differing 

 width. Surrounding this platform, extending for half a mile up the 

 little valley of which it marks the entrance, on the slopes to either 

 side, and on the nearly level area reaching down to the sea in front, 

 are all the indications of a populous settlement. 



It is said that the ruins were formerly much more numerous and 

 extensive, the larger part of them being swept out of existence by a 

 great rush of water from the mountains " a long time ago." 



The " paved trail " is a causeway of large stones. Some parts of it 

 are obliterated by slides and encroaching ravines; other parts pre- 

 serve the original condition and appearance. The width is not quite 

 uniform, as the stones are of different sizes, but it departs very little 

 either way from 6 feet. So far as can be judged in its present over- 

 grown state, it extends in a straight line for about 2 miles, from the 

 beach to a point on the hill at an altitude of fully 1,000 feet. To what 

 it led, or why it was built, are questions awaiting an answer. 



All of these places are now abandoned except a few villages along 

 the coast. The people are not here to occupy them, and even if they 

 were the conditions have become so changed that residence about 

 them is no longer feasible. At the temple site, for example, the ex- 

 tent of the old taro beds predicates an abundance of water ; at pres- 

 ent, the one family living near by must carry it in a dry season 



