HA WAIIA JV G UIDE BOOK. 113 



paratively easy to lease land, it is difficult to pur- 

 chase. The four million acres of land which form our 

 group are owned by less than six thousand free-holders ; 

 and of this total, probably three and half millions are 

 held by less than one hundred parties, including the 

 government, the " crown land estate," and the native 

 chiefs. The policy of the large landholders is not to 

 sell but to lease. The value of land varies here very 

 much as it does in other countries. Whenever it is in 

 the market for sale, large tracts may be had for from 

 fifty cents to two dollars an acre. No stranger should 

 buy or lease land until he has had an opportunity to 

 visit the various islands, and examine personally any 

 properties offered to him, and make full inquiries about 

 the locality. Government lands are now almost all 

 leased, but their boundaries, in many cases, are indefi- 

 nite. They are being surveyed as rapidly as possible ; 

 but it is a work of years. 



5. — Are the islands tcell adapted to raising cane, 

 rice, coffee and tobacco f 



They are most admirably, not , only as regards climate 

 but soil. For sugar cane each of the four principal 

 islands has been fairly tested, and we say, without any 

 fear of contradiction, that there is no country in the 

 world where a finer climate for sugar exists, or a richer 

 soil. Of course some localities are better adajoted to it 

 than others, and the yield per acre varies accordingly. 

 While our group is, to a remarkable degree, exempt 

 from those hurricanes which sweep with such destruc- 

 tion over the West and East Indies and the South Pa- 

 cific ; while our crops are free from the blighting frosts 

 that frequently visit Louisiana, Texas and other S outb- 

 id* 



