128 



HAWAIIAN VEGETATION. 



Among other trees, useful or ornamental, which 

 grow in greater or less profusion on the different 

 islands, may be mentioned the bread-fruit, with its 

 golden spheres, the alligator pear, the pride of 

 India, the tamarind, the curious banyan, the kukui 

 or candle-nut, the iron-wood, the monkey-pod, the 

 sweet-scented sandal-wood, which is gradually di- 

 minishing in the forests, the traveler's-tree, the 

 olive, the paper-mulberry, from the inner bark of 

 which the Kanakas manufacture a parchment-like 

 cloth called tapa, used for mats or clothing ; and 

 the kou, koa, and other timber trees, which furnish 

 a handsome wood, much used in the construction 

 of choice furniture. 



Large plantations of fine bananas are an ordinary 

 sight in this favored land. Where the American 

 householder places, in pantry or hall-way, a box of 

 red-cheeked Baldwins, the head of the house in 

 Hawaii hangs a cluster of this wax-like fruit. At 

 certain seasons of the year, a generous bunch may 

 be purchased for the trifling sum of 25 cents, and 

 not seldom they are given away entirely. Other 

 native fruits which, to a greater or less extent, may 

 be had for the gathering, are the ohia, or moun- 

 tain apple ; the pomegranate, the artichoke, the pine- 

 apple, the guava, the rose-apple, the papaya, the 

 custard apple, the mandarin orange, the ohelo, or 

 huckleberry, the mango, the lime and the lemon. 

 Some fruits of the temperate zone have been culti- 

 vated with success ; but, as a rule, they do not take 

 kindly to the foreign soil, the peach, for example, 

 being small and slightly bitter. Grapes are raised 

 with sedulous care, but are often stolen before reach- 

 ing perfection by the nimble-fingered Portuguese. 



Sugar-cane, being the staple product of the 

 islands, is abundant everywhere ; but on the great 

 sugar plantations one is fairly bewildered at the 

 outlook over the broad acres of rustling, saccharine 

 stalks, each tipped with a delicate nodding tassel. 

 The fields are very fertile, producing three or even 

 four different crops. Irrigation being necessary 

 for its best development, the cane is grown mostly 

 on plateaus or on the level ground. The puffing 

 smoke-stack of the sugar-mill, in the midst of a 

 large cane-field, suggests an ocean steamer home- 

 ward bound over billows of living green. 



The face of the open country is cut up into 

 numerous taro patches and rice fields, the water 

 in both cases being confined by solid banks of 

 grass. The taro, of which there are many varie- 

 ties, much resembles the calla. From its root is 

 made that singular compound, poi, which is the 



"staff of hfe" of the native Hawaiian. The 

 young leaves are sometimes cooked like spinach 

 ^nd are very palatable. 



The prickly pear cactus abounds on every rocky 

 hillside, and the quaint and beautiful night-bloom- 

 ing cereus well nigh conceals the stone walls in- 

 closing the premises of Oahu college in the suburbs 

 of Honolulu. As we roll leisurely along through 

 quiet, shady streets, on one side we behold jungles 

 of the tall and graceful bamboo, or the dwarf 

 rattan, and on the other the bright scarlet berries 

 of the coffee-tree, or the asparagus-like stalk of 

 the century plant. Truly this is the land of flow- 

 ers ! The oleanders are one large bouquet, and 

 load the air with their fragrance. The bougain- 

 viUia, a hardy vine of a deep crimson, runs riot 

 over fences, houses and palm trees in a mad 

 luxuriance of bloom, and the hibiscus, or celestial 

 rose, with its flame-colored bell and golden tongue, 

 is a prominent feature in many gardens. Wide- 

 spreading passion vines are trained over verandas 

 and carriage drives, as screens from the heat of the 

 tropical sun and the glare of the ocean. Among 

 other flowering plants are the Cape jessamine, the 

 stephanotis, the tuberose, the ginger and the Indian 

 shot, besides our own familiar geraniums, helio- 

 tropes and roses, which flourish amicably with 

 their foreign neighbors. 



Vegetables are raised by the industrious Chinese, 

 sweet potatoes, yams, lettuce, cabbage, musk and 

 watermelons being cultivated the most extensively. 

 Peanuts and tobacco are also grown, and small, 

 sweet strawberries are obtainable at any time of 

 the year. 



Of ferns there are about 150 varieties, the larg- 

 est being the tree-fern, the bird's-nest fern, the 

 pulu, the scented fern, and the mammoth Austra- 

 lian maiden-hair. They hide in the dark romantic 

 forests ; uncurl their fronds on the banks of rapid 

 streams, or in the deep ravines of cloud-capped 

 mountains, or clothe the sides of frowning preci- 

 pices over which dash sparkling waterfalls. Ferns, 

 flowers, seeds, beans and vines, especially the 

 gHssy maile-vine, a species of smilax, are all em- 

 ployed in the construction of "leis,"or garlands, 

 worn by native women and men alike on every 

 possible occasion, and which are thrown, by well- 

 wishing friends, over the head of the traveler as he 

 reluctantly bids aloha to the verdant isles of 

 Hawaii Nei. 



Bertha F. Herrick. 



Alameda Comity, Cal. 



