FOWKE] AECHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION'S 177 



from the well or spring of a neighbor. There is no steady water sup- 

 ply within miles of the " paved trail." 



Clearly, extensive changes have taken place in recent times in 

 climate and perhaps in topography. Fifty years ago forests of large 

 trees grew over hundreds of square miles on the southern slopes of 

 Molokai where at the present time there is only grass, or where al- 

 garoba trees, similar to the mesquite of the southwestern United 

 States, are now spreading. This deforestation is still going on ; dead 

 or dying trees fringe the timber still standing. The cause of this 

 progressive barrenness has not, so far, been fully ascertained ; there 

 is undoubtedly a connection between it and the diminished water sup- 

 ply, though which is cause and which is effect, or whether both are 

 due in common to some atmospheric phenomenon, is unknown. One 

 result, however, is apparent. The roots of the forest trees do not ex- 

 tend deep into the earth, but spread out over the surface like those of 

 pine trees. Thus much of the rainfall was prevented from escaping 

 rapidly and such as was not absorbed by the roots made its way into 

 the ground beneath the upper soil, whence it percolated downward to 

 feed the springs. Now the greater part of the water runs off and is 

 lost. For this reason large areas once well populated are no longer 

 habitable. 



Molokai, like other islands of the group, contains no stone except 

 of volcanic or coral formation. There is no chert or similar mate- 

 rial from which chipped implements can be made; nor, as would 

 naturally be expected, is there any obsidian suitable for such manu- 

 facture. It may occasionally be seen on the sites of villages, but al- 

 ways in small angular fragments seldom more than half an inch in 

 any dimension, always coarse-grained, even porous, and never of a 

 quality which can be flaked into definite forms. No doubt its only use 

 was as an abrasive, after being pounded fine. Rarely, quartz or chal- 

 cedony is found; it resembles the deposit around hot springs or in 

 fissures, and, like the obsidian, is in fragments too small to be utilized 

 except as a grinding or polishing material for smoothing wrought 

 objects. 



Manufactured stone specimens are confined principally to three 

 general classes : Adzes, for working in wood ; pestles, for pounding 

 the taro root; and discoids, for games. The last are exactly simi- 

 lar to the chunkey stones so abundant in the States, except that none 

 of them have concave or hollowed faces, and they are used in the same 

 way. There were three forms of the game : To hurl or roll a disk 

 farther than an opponent ; to strike a pole or other mark set up ; and 

 to test the inherent magical powers of the stones by rolling them in 

 such a way that they would collide, the object in this case being to see 

 which one might prove victorious by breaking the other or forcing 

 it out of its course. A suitable arena for the contest was prepared by 

 70341°— 22 12 



