KAUAI AND OAHU. f;7 



The extensive sugar plantations, with a few neat cottages, with ve- 

 randas and thatched roofs, and the rows of small cabins for the labour- 

 ers, give the place the aspect of the tropical plantations of European 

 nations. 



Messrs. Peale and Rich, being furnished with horses and a guide by 

 the kindness of Mr. Burnham, took the eastern route to Halelea 

 through a fine level country, cultivated in sugar-cane and affording 

 good pasturage. The natives here use the plough, and it was said at 

 Koloa that there was an instance of two of them having netted one 

 hundred and forty dollars by their crop of sugar the last year. 



The principal trees were acacias (koa), pandanus, the tutui (Ale- 

 urites). The latter is the largest and most conspicuous, from its 

 white leaves resembling blossoms at a distance. The plain over 

 which they passed was two hundred and fifty feet above the level 

 of the sea. There are in it many gullies, formed by the small streams 

 that run down from the mountains ; all of these are, however, blocked 

 up by sand-bars, through which the water filtrates, forming quick- 

 sands, which it is somewhat dangerous to pass over. The immediate 

 shore along this route is rocky and susceptible of little cultivation, 

 except near the mouths of the rivers, where taro-patches are to be 

 found. 



At noon they reached Lihui, a settlement lately undertaken by the 

 Rev. Mr. Lafon, for the purpose of inducing the natives to remove 

 from the sea-coast, thus abandoning their poor lands to cultivate the 

 rich plains above. Mr. Lafon has the charge of the mission district 

 lying between those of Koloa and Waioli. This district was a short 

 time ago formed out of the other two. 



The principal village is Nawiliwili, ten miles east of Koloa. This 

 district contains about forty square miles, being twenty miles long by 

 two broad. The soil is rich : it produces sugar-cane, taro, sweet-pota- 

 toes, beans, &c. The only market is that of Koloa. The cane suffers 

 somewhat from the high winds on the plains. 



Mr. and Mrs. Lafon are very industrious with their large school, to 

 which some of the children come a distance of five miles. Our gen- 

 tlemen were much pleased with what they saw, and were satisfied that 

 good w r ould be effected by their manner of treating the natives. 



The temperature of Lihui has much the same range as that of Koloa, 

 and the climate is pleasant: the trade-winds sweep over it uninter- 

 ruptedly, and sufficient rain falls to keep the vegetation green through- 

 out the yea \ 



As yet there is little appearance of increase in industry, or im- 

 provement in the dwellings of the natives. There are no more than 



