76 KAUAIANDOAHU. 



Some of the leaves of the multicaulis are of the enormous size of 

 fifteen inches in length by twelve in breadth. Mr. Titcomb has a 

 large plantation of both kinds, and an extensive cocoonery in opera- 

 tion. He has succeeded in making silk of excellent quality, both for 

 the loom and sewing. He gives his personal attention to this business, 

 and began in a small way. I understood that he had succeeded in it. 

 His greatest difficulty is the unsteady labour of the natives, and he 

 also experiences, at times, difficulty in preserving the worms. The silk 

 is procured from the American worm and a cross-breed between the 

 Chinese and American. The yield of the latter is fine and of a pale 

 yellow or orange silk ; of the former, the colour is white, and much 

 coarser. 



Indigo is produced in the valley of Halelea, and grows well. Mr. 

 Alexander had some growing, but his plants, from being allowed to 

 get too high, have become woody and scraggy, and produce very in- 

 different foliage. The manufacture of indio^o is not understood in the 

 Sandwich Islands, although the plant flourishes so well there that it 

 has run wild, and with proper knowledge and attention, in the opinion 

 of our botanists, might produce a profitable crop. 



The tutui-nut tree (Aleurites triloba) is very abundant, several 

 thousand acres being covered with forests of it. The island abounds 

 in very many excellent woods for the cabinet-maker, joiner, and ship- 

 builder ; of which I received a large number of specimens, presented 

 to the Expedition by Mr. Ladd, of Oahu, who was kind enough to 

 order the collection to be made by his partner at Koloa. 



The rivers, as well as sea, abound in excellent fish, and afford a 

 plentiful harvest to the fisherman. 



Goats, hogs, and poultry of all kinds are raised, but there is no 

 market nearer than Koloa or Oahu for their sale ; these, whenever 

 possible, are resorted to. 



The climate, as to temperature, is about three degrees cooler than 

 the other side of the island : the range of the thermometer, from 

 January to May, was from 56° to 82° ; sometimes it has been known 

 to fall as low as 52°, and rise as high as 87°. The inhabitants never 

 suff'er from heat, and the rains are so frequent as to clothe the country 

 in perpetual green. It rains nearly nine months in the year, and, 

 from the rainbows formed by these passing showers, it has obtained 

 its name, which signifies the land or place of rainbows, Halelea. A 

 few days of dry weather are quite unusual. During three months. 



