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ered  with  dead  and  dying  trees.  Farther  up  towards  the  head 
of  the  canon  the  forest  is  more  dense,  and  the  undergrowth 
thicker,  probably  because  of  the  heavier  rains  and  more 
precipitous  walls  which  keep  the  goats  from  climbing  about 
and  nibbling. 
The  ravages  of  the  goats  show  very  plainly  on  the  outer 
canon,  where  there  are  many  trees  skinned  or  scarred,  and 
injured,  so  that  they  are  fast  dying;  while  all  the  undergrowth 
and  young  trees  are  entirely  destroyed.  While  walking  along 
this  ridge  above  the  dead  trees  we  counted  a flock  of  a hundred 
goats  climbing  down  the  steep  trail  towards  the  bottom.  There 
is  no  forest  on  the  walls  or  in  Waimea  canon  or  at  the  head  of 
the  gorge ; and  the  slopes  above  are  thinly  forested.  This  is 
partly  due  to  the  hundreds  of  goats  which  are  in  the  upper 
canon.  Wild  cattle  and  goats  have  destroyed  nearly  all  of 
the  young  sandal  wood  and  kauwila,  much  of  the  koa,  lehua 
and  other  trees  and  shrubs  all  through  the  upper  canons  and 
on  the  higher  plateau.  Of  course,  the  Waimea  side  is  drier, 
so  naturally  it  would  have  less  forest ; but  it  would  certainly 
have  more,  if  the  goats  and  cattle  were  exterminated.  Prob- 
ably the  wild  pigs  also  destroy  some  of  the  young  trees  and 
undergrowth,  as  we  noticed  large  areas  where  they  had  up- 
rooted all  the  undergrowth.  On  our  tramps  we  noticed  many 
koas  much  eaten  by  insects,  and  others  attacked  by  borers, 
while  still  others  seemed  badly  blighted  by  some  fungus  dis- 
ease. No  doubt  the  injured  and  weakened  trees  are  the  ones 
usually  attacked  by  insect  enemies  and  disease ; so  that  the 
cattle  and  goats  are  probably  largely  responsible  for  most  of 
the  damage.  However,  investigation  of  the  insects  that  are 
injurious  to  our  native  forests  ought  to  be  carefully  made; 
(and  also  the  tree  diseases  should  be  studied),  so  that  if  possi- 
ble some  practical  remedies  might  be  applied. 
What  is  true  of  Kauai  is  true  also  of  Oahu,  Molokai,  Maui 
and  Hawaii.  There  are  hundreds  of  fine  old  dead  koas  on  the 
slopes  of  Haleakala  and  on  the  sides  of  Hualalai  and  Mauna 
Kea.  Most  of  them  have  been  killed  by  cattle,  or  by  sheep  and 
goats.  The  sandal  wood  and  kauwila  are  rapidly  disappearing 
from  every  island  where  cattle  range  through  the  forests. 
Now,  what  can  be  done  to  prevent  this  destruction? 
Naturally,  the  goats  and  wild  cattle  must  be  exterminated 
from  the  upper  forests  at  the  head  of  the  water  supply  and 
these  regions  should  be  fenced  away  from  cattle  and  sheep 
ranges  just  as  soon  as  possible;  and  very  soon  the  govern- 
ment should  make  large  forest  reserves  about  the  head  of 
every  stream  that  is  a water  supply.  All  of  these  things  have 
been  recommended  for  some  time  by  our  able  forester,  Mr. 
Hosmer,  and  much  has  been  done ; yet  very  much  more  needs 
to  be  done,  and  as  soon  as  possible.  Mr.  Knudsen  has  been 
doing  the  work  of  forester  without  salary  for  some  years 
