76 JBA W All AN G TJIDE B OK. 



near this village contributes much to its prosperity, as 

 a great share of the cost of maintaining these jalanta- 

 tions is expended among the native and foreign popula- 

 tion. The periodical arrival of a cargo of lumber also 

 facilitates the erection of frame dwellings, which are 

 everywhere in this neighborhood superseding thatch 

 huts, and thus contributing toward the health and com- 

 fort of the people. There are here four churches, capa- 

 ble of seating over one thousand persons^ one seminary 

 with fifty students, several excellent schools for both 

 native and foreign children, a photograph gallery, tan- 

 nery, two bakeries, several blacksmith and cabinet 

 shops, and ten or twelve stores. 



The four sugar plantations are located near the shore 

 to the north of the village, and extend a distance of 

 several miles, that of Messrs. Afong & Achuck, at Kau- 

 pakxiea, being the farthest out, about ten miles from 

 the village. Planters in the vicinity of Hilo have 

 always labored under disadvantages, among which 

 are bad roads, (interrupted by frequent and deep ra- 

 vines), poor harbors, and excessively wet weather, which 

 causes rank vegetation of weeds to contend with, and 

 in various ways adds to the expense of sugar manufac- 

 ture. Tet, with all these drawbacks, this industry pros- 

 pers, and has proved a large benefit to the common peo- 

 ple and to mechanics. By the introduction of water 

 flames, constructed on the same principle as mining 

 flumes in California, a great reduction in the cost has 

 been made. In these flumes all the sugar cane and 

 wood are now floated down to the mills, for a distance 

 often of four or five miles. By this simple device, the 

 heavy cost of carts, teams and men, formerly em- 



