AFRO-INDIAN REGIONS. 



383 



current were now adverse ; so that only on the 23d, could we get near 

 the land; the Leeward side of'Oahu, which seemed a mountainous 

 Desert, almost like Peru. Contrary to all our previous associations 

 with Polynesia, the soil was in great part bare of vegetation. But 

 the tops of the mountain-ridges were tinged with green, and in the 

 middle of each dry ravine, a slender line of verdure usually extended 

 some distance downwards. — On the 24th, the Vincennes anchored out- 

 side of Honolulu harbor. 



Climate. The trade-winds of the Northern Hemisphere coming 

 from the Northeast, the Leeward side of the Hawaiian Group faces 

 the Leeward side of the Southern Polynesian groups. The difference 

 also between the two sides, Leeward and Windward, is much more 

 striking than at the Southern groups ; the greater aridity aud greater 

 humidity seeming to some extent attributable to the increased eleva- 

 tion of the land-surface. 



Instead of one general all-pervading climate, there is a microcosm of 

 local climates at the Hawaiian Islands ; too local, often, to correspond 

 altogether to the limits and distribution of the plants. The iumie- 

 diate environs of Honolulu are Desert; "adobes" or sun-dried bricks 

 being in use for building : yet one end of the town, exposed to a 

 gorge through the mountains where the trade-wind is not entirely 

 shut off, receives showers that do not extend over the remaining por- 

 tion. Immediately around Honolulu, cultivation can only be carried 

 on by artificial irrigation ; three miles up the valley, this is no longer 

 necessary ; and three miles farther, with an increase of only a few 

 hundred feet in elevation, the superabundant humidity is a subject of 

 complaint. Also in regard to the temperature : the cold on the lofty 

 Hawaiian mountains proved more severe than I have experienced on 

 other mountain-summits between the Tropics, or anywhere in the 

 Southern Hemisphere. 



In the mountain-gorge leading back from Honolulu, after a strong 

 breeze for two days with the nights cool ; the wind on the 1st of 

 December came from the Southward, bringing towards evening a 

 thunder-storm, announced by several distinct peals. I heard tJnmder 

 for the second time on the ensuing 25th of February, at the elevation 

 of 5500 feet on Mauna Haleakala ; and for the third time, at Honolulu, 

 I think in the evening of the 28th of March. Rev. Mr. Andrews 

 informed me, that thunder takes place "only during the winter; and 

 at Lahaina," on Maui, "about four times in each winter; but more 



