HAWAII. 215 



single year, and when this became known to the government, it inter- 

 dicted the hunting of the animal. I heard no estimate of the number 

 of the wild cattle, but they are believed to be very considerable, and 

 all from the stock left by Vancouver in 1795. 



From these natives they procured some jerked beef, and were told 

 that ice had formed there the night before. The effects of frost on 

 the foliage was evident, and yet the elevation did not exceed five 

 thousand feet. 



They encamped at night in an open space in the woods, near some 

 shallow pools called the Duck-Ponds, from the quantity of these birds 

 frequenting them. The ground was chiefly covered with tufts of a 

 small Carex. The trees now began to appear gnarled and covered 

 with moss, resembling oaks in habit. The ground had become much 

 drier, and the brushwood was gradually disappearing. 



On the 12th, they started at sunrise, and by eleven o'clock found 

 they had cleared the forest. Their altitude was about six thousand 

 feet. The woods had become for some time previously much scat- 

 tered. They passed also a distinct lava stream, of no great size. 

 The ground was frozen, and the pools of water were covered with a 

 thin ice. 



This upper part of the forest afforded a greater variety of trees, 

 though of smaller dimensions : here they met with the false sandal- 

 wood (Myoporum) ; the koa was, however, still the principal tree. 



To the forest succeed the plains ; but why this region should be 

 so termed, our gentlemen were at a loss to conceive, for there is an 

 ascent, although gradual, towards the base of the higher peaks ; and 

 there are, besides, numerous conical hills, varying in height from two 

 to eight hundred feet: even between these, the surface is undulating, 

 and cut up by ravines. 



This district is famous, according to report, for the number of wild 

 cattle found in it, and from that circumstance would be supposed to 

 produce fine pasturage ; but this is far from being the case, for there 

 is nothing but a few scattered tufts of grass, and a species of ranun- 

 culus, which is of so acrid a nature that the cattle will not eat it. 

 The prevailing feature of the country is aridity, and concealed rocks 

 cover a great part of it. Shrubs seem to be almost absent, but the 

 scattered mamanee trees are every whei'e conspicuous. 



It was now evident that their guide had taken them a wrong 

 route, having pursued that leading across the island ; they therefore 

 changed their course, and took a direction to the northwest, crossing 



