436 J. 8. Emerson — Some Characteristics of Kau. 



tradition the whole plane of Pakini at its base, on the Kona 

 side, was formerly a rich Held, cultivated with sugar cane and 

 sweet potatoes. Since that time, however, various flows, among- 

 which are those of 1868 and 1887, have converted this garden 

 into an uninhabited waste of aa ^ud jyaJioehoe. 



If, however, we examined the earth in the vicinity of the 

 supposed center of eruption, we find a considerable admixture in 

 places of stones, for example the so called Mud Flow of 1868 

 covered several hundred acres of good land to a depth of from 

 ten to thirty feet with a heavy, red, clayey earth, abounding in 

 stones, wholly unfit for cultivation, and producing a grass of 

 such inferior character that even the cattle and horses shun it. 

 This mud flow was simply a land slide. Kaapao pali was full 

 of water and the great earthquake of April, 1868 loosened the 

 superficial mass of earth and lubricated the rocky bed on 

 which it rested. Gravity acting on a steeply inclined plane 

 did the rest. Mr. Walton, the energetic and wide-awake man- 

 ager of the Pahala plantation, has used his wits to good advan- 

 tage in the search for water on the Kaapao pali and neighboring 

 hillsides, and during the past few months has found enough, as 

 I am informed, to irrigate five hundred acres of cane. 



There are no traditions, so far as the writer can learn, 

 relating to these great explosive eruptions. The only occur- 

 rence of the sort of which we have any historical information 

 took place in 1790 at the volcano of Kilauea, which destroyed, 

 as Dibble tells us, about 400 of the warriors of Keoua's army^ 

 one entire division. The sand, ashes, pumice and stones 

 ejected at this time cover the country about the volcano for 

 miles, and have been fully described by Dana and others. 



The extensive area about Pun o Keokeo already alluded to 

 is covered with material very similar to that of the Kau 

 Desert. The " Alanui Umi," built early in the 16th century 

 by King Umi, traverses this mountain desert from north ta 

 south. This road was made necessary by Umi's occupation 

 with his court and warriors of the barren waste between 

 Mauna Loa and Hualalai. When the political and military 

 necessity for Umi's occupation of this strategic position ceased^ 

 he sought a more agreeable home, and spent the last years of 

 his life at Kaawaloa, by the sea. The Umi road seems to have 

 been little used since those days, save by tbe race of bird 

 catchers and perhaps by the sandal-wood cutters of a later day. 



Its \QYy existence, however, is scarcely known to most of the 

 dwellers on Hawaii. This ancient road is chiefly interesting to 

 us at this moment as an evidence that no great explosive erup- 

 tion has probably taken place in that portion of Hawaii for 

 the past 350 years. It is pretty much in the condition in which 

 Umi left it. 



