KAUAI AND OAHU. 



85 



any persons of distinction residing in the district; the people are 

 labourers or Kanakas, and the landholders reside near the king at 

 Lahaina, or at Honolulu. The taxes and occasional levies without any 

 outlay have hitherto kept them poor. 



In this district is a large inlet of the sea, into which the river Ewa 

 empties J at the entrance of this inlet is the village of Laeloa: the 

 whole is known by the name of Pearl River or harbour, from the cir- 

 cumstance that the pearl oyster is found here ; and it is the only place 

 in these islands where it occurs. 



The inlet has somewhat the appearance of a lagoon that has been 

 partly filled up by alluvial deposits. At the request of the king, we 

 made a survey of it : the depth of water at its mouth was found to 

 be only fifteen feet ; but after passing this coral bar, which is four 

 hundred feet wide, the depth of water becomes ample for large ships, 

 and the basin is sufficiently extensive to accommodate any number of 

 vessels. If the water upon the bar should be deepened, which I 

 doubt not can be effected, it would afford the best and most capacious 

 harbour in the Pacific. As yet there is no necessity for such an opera- 

 tion, for the port of Honolulu is sufficient for all the present wants of 

 the islands, and the trade that frequents them. 



Pearl-River Harbour affords an abundant supply of fine fish. Two 

 species of clams are procured here, called by the natives okupe 

 and olepe. Mr. Drayton, who went to Pearl River for the purpose 

 of examining its shores, and obtaining shells, reported that he found 

 a large bed of fossil oyster-shells, extending into the bank in a 

 bed from one to four feet wide, and half a mile in length: they 

 were found cemented together with soft limestone and a reddish 

 sand, and were so numerous that there was scarcely enough of the 

 cement between to hold them together. The dredging was unsuc- 

 cessful, a small spotted venus being the only shell that was obtained, 

 although it was the general behef among both the foreign and native 

 inhabitants, that it would have produced an abundant reward for the 

 trouble. 



In Mrs. Bishop's garden was seen the Agati grandifiora, (which 

 is a beautiful native plant, producing very large flowers in clusters, of 

 a deep orange, with a bright scarlet tint,) in full flower. Seeds of 

 this plant were obtained, and Mr. Brackenridge has succeeded in 

 raising plants of it in the conservatory at Washington. It will 

 prove a valuable and highly ornamental addition to our green-houses. 



This district, unlike others of the island, is watered by copious and 

 VOL. IV. 22 



