164 HAWATIAN ISLANDS. 
they strewed dried grass. We had good evidence in the wear and 
tear of leather, that the naked feet, even of the natives, could not long 
stand this clinker travelling. On reaching such districts, they usually 
put on sandals, made of grass or hide. 
From Kailiki to Waiohinu, and beyond to Honuapo, the country 
bore evidence of having been longer exempt from eruptions than any 
portion elsewhere seen in the southern part of the island. A good 
growth of grass, with occasional forests and shrubbery, covered the 
hills. Yet notwithstanding the Inxuriance, there was but a small 
depth of soil. It seldom exceeded a foot; and along the path we 
followed, which was worn down two or three inches, the rocks were 
generally exposed, and presented the characters of the smooth lava 
fields just described. At Waiohinu there is the only constant stream 
on the southern side of the island; the small valley it waters is 
green with taro beds and groves of banana. ‘This part of the island 
is in a line with the southern point or cape, lying between this cape 
and the summit of Mount Loa; and it appears that the same eruptions 
which lengthened out the cape gave an elevation to the country back; 
as a consequence, subsequent lavas have flowed either side, and left 
this region to form soil and become covered with vegetation. Hence 
it is that this part of the country differs so widely from others, either 
to the east or west. 
Between Honuapo and Punaluu, a distance of four miles, the sea- 
shore plains embrace both smooth lava fields and clinker districts, the 
former roped out and in plaited folds, ike the beds before passed, 
and both regions as desolate as if from the fires of yesterday. The 
ridge that hes back of this plain is covered with verdure, and betokens 
a longer respite from deluges of lava than the plain below. The 
eruption must have taken place on the plain itself, or at the foot of 
the declivities. The clinker field intersected the smooth lava stream 
near its middle, and was elevated twenty feet above it. It was three- 
fourths of a mile wide, and lay nearly at right angles with the coast. 
At Punaluu, situated south-southeast of the summit of Mount Loa, 
we left the coast, and travelled inland to the north-northeast, passing 
over tolerably good pasture land for twelve or fifteen miles, much re- 
sembling the region between Waiohinu and Honuapo. ‘The grass was 
generally high, but the soil was seldom over a few inches in depth. 
The plains and slopes towards the seashore to the south of us were 
mostly black with the barren lavas: some slight variation in shade 
indicated a difference of age in the eruptions. 
