200 HAWAII. 



which was thought by our gentlemen to be a fine one ; it consisted 

 altogether of two kinds of trees, the ohea (Callistemon), and koa 

 (Acacia) ; they also met with several species of the tree-fern, which 

 seem to vie with each other in beauty. Many of these were of genera 

 and species that had not before been met with, one of which afforded the 

 silky down before spoken of, and another, the edible fern, a drawing 

 of which will be seen at the end of this chapter. On reaching the bed 

 of the stream, which is one of tbe routes through the wood, the guides 

 led them upon it. As they proceeded, they overtook one of the boys 

 who had preceded them, endeavouring to catch a large bird. He 

 had armed with bird-lime one of the pendent branches of a small ohea 

 tree that overhung the stream and was in full flower. As they were 

 passing, the bird was seen hovering about, while the boy was slily 

 watching its movements. When they had passed it a short distance 

 they heard the scream of the captured bird, but by some mishap it 

 afterwards escaped. 



Their encampment was under an ohea tree, where the natives built 

 a hut for them with boughs and the fronds of ferns. From the preva- 

 lence of heavy rain they found all the wood wet, and could not suc- 

 ceed in making a fire: they consequently passed a miserable night ; for 

 in almost any climate, when encamped in the open air at night, a fire 

 seems to be necessary for comfort, particularly when the weather is wet. 



Conglomerates were the most frequent rock in the bed of the stream. 

 This rock had not been met with on the trip to Mauna Loa ; and on 

 diverging from the stream, the compact rock of that mountain seemed 

 to prevail. 



Their guide, Dawson, during the morning showed much alarm at 

 their starting some young cattle, lest the old cows should be near, 

 who he thought might be troublesome: the cattle, however, were 

 discovered afterwards to be tame. At the forks of the stream they 

 took the left branch, and after a walk of two miles, came to some huts 

 occupied by natives who had been bullock-hunting. In this illegal 

 practice they seem to have been extensively engaged, judging from the 

 quantities of jerked meat they had on hand. 



The cattle have been tabooed for five years, from the year 1840, in 

 consequence of the slaughter that had been made among them. Up- 

 wards of five thousand hides, I was told, had been procured in a single 

 year, and when this became known to the government, it interdicted 

 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 



