73 



exposed usually to heavy surf. Sometimes it grows in quiet coves or 

 behind the great lava rocks alongshore in less exposed places, but 

 never in shallow water. 



NATIVE METHODS OF CULTIVATING LIMTJS. 



The writer was much surprised to learn that a rude kind of cultiva- 

 tion of the much-prized limu kohu was practiced at Moloaa, on Kauai. 

 Here limu kohu grows very luxuriantly over the entire reef, and is 

 the finest in color and flavor found on this group of islands. 



There is a small cove just beyond Moloaa Bay to the northward, 

 which is partly' protected from the heav}^ trade winds and southerly 

 storms by bold, rocky bluffs or headlands. The coral reef extends 

 from the shore out perhaps a half mile and beyond the headlands, so 

 that the whole cove has rather shallow water. The coral rock, the 

 usual haunt of the limu kohu, is in this place somewhat protected from 

 storms, so the natives can gather this limu almost any time of the 

 year, when the tide is low, without danger from heavy breakers. 



The Hawaiians living at Moloaa gather limu kohu for the Honolulu 

 market regularly, making a nice little income from its sale, as they 

 furnish the larger share of the supply. It is here that these limu 

 gatherers have attempted to increase their sales by caring for their sea- 

 weed to the extent of weeding out all the other algae, and thus, no doubt, 

 increasing the quality and quantity' of limu kohu, which here is so much 

 finer and more luxuriant than in any other place. This is the only 

 place of which the writer has heard where the limu is actually weeded 

 and cared for as a garden. There are, however, several places where 

 a certain favorite limu has been transplanted from other islands and 

 guarded carefully until it could get established. Limu pakaeleawaa 

 was transplanted from Hawaii to Molokai by an old chief, who planted 

 it on the inner edge of his fish pond, where it is now growing luxuri- 

 antly. This same limu has also been transplanted to the beach in 

 front of the residence of ex-Queen Liliuokalani, near Diamond Head, 

 and also in front of her Waikiki place. It is thriving in both places, 

 so the writer has been told. This last summer, when collecting on the 

 north side of Oahu, in Kaneohe Bay, the writer was much surprised 

 to find limu pakaeleawaa growing luxuriantly on the rocks near shore. 

 The native fishermen said that it had been planted there many years 

 before by a chief, who brought it from Hawaii. In all these instances 

 there is an attempt to aid nature, and so a crude kind of limu culture 

 is practiced in Hawaii, though, of course, it is not so extensive or 

 systematic as that in Japan. There may have been more attempts at 

 cultivating or transplanting seaweeds by the natives of the past, for 

 no doubt when a chief moved from one island to another he brought 

 with him his best taro and yam plants for his lands; why not his 

 favorite limus to his fish ponds or beach ? 



