172 
OLD  FOREST  LINES. 
The  forests  of  old,  the  forest  line  of  the  time  before  the 
cattle  began  their  depredations,  came  far  down  the  mountain. 
In  fact,  all  the  upper  cane  fields  of  Hanalei,  Kilauea,  Kealia, 
Lihue,  Koloa,  McBryde  and  Makawcli  plantations  on  Kauai 
and  also  the  upper  fields  of  Waialua,  Oahu,  and  Honolulu 
plantations  on  Oahu,  lie  within  the  old  forest  areas.  In  the 
wetter  districts  it  came  nearer  the  sea  level.  In  the  drier 
districts  it  receded  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  500-foot  level. 
All  the  pastures  and  open  lands,  now  called  the  Pineapple 
Lands,  that  lie  between  the  cane  and  the  forests  that  are  now 
standing  were  formerly  primeval  forest,  not  perhaps  continu- 
ous, but  all  lhat  nature  could  devise.  Soil  conditions,  cul- 
tivated areas  would  make  a gap  here  or  there,  but  in  general 
it  was  a close  and  dense,  if  not  very  high,  growth  of  trees, 
shrubs  and  creepers.  Many  varieties  of  these  are  now  almost 
extinct. 
The  whole  of  the  valleys  back  of  Honolulu  were  wooded 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  treeless  tracts  on  the  Koolau  side 
of  Oahu  as  well.  The  forest  is  now  but  a remnant  of  what  it 
used  to  be,  as  can  be  seen  today  on  the  slopes  of  Nuuanu  and 
Manoa  valleys.  The  same  can  be  said  of  Maui,  and  to  some 
extent  of  Hawaii.  Hawaii,  having  large  areas  in  which  no 
stream  has  yet  come  to  life,  has  a distinct  problem  from  that 
on  the  other  islands. 
Now  the  forests  are  driven  back  to  their  last  strongholds. 
Only  where  it  is  too  steep  for  cattle  and  only  where  the  goats 
have  not  yet  come  in  is  there  any  primeval  forest.  The  goat 
hates  the  wet  districts,  so  he  began  in  the  dryest  parts.  By 
clearing  out  everything  he  seems  to  be  pushing  the  wet  district 
back.  When  he  gets  to  the  point  of  starvation  he  runs  over 
the  top  of  the  mountain  or  down  to  the  valley  bottom  and 
carries  his  depredation  into  the  domain  of  the  cattle,  be  they 
tame  or  wild. 
Goats  now  can  be  found  on  Kauai  in  the  forests  back  of 
Kapaa  and  Wailua,  at  the  head  of  Hanapepe,  all  round  the 
Waimea  system  from  Olokele  to  the  western  side  of  the  can- 
yon, and  in  every  valley  from  Kekaha  to  Kalalau  of  the  west 
coast  and  Napali  region. 
In  every  one  of  these  watersheds  there  are  more  or  less  cat- 
tle, of  no  value  to  anyone,  doing  their  best  to  make  their  ideal 
of  an  open  treeless  tract  to  live  in.  There  are  few  people  who 
know  how  much  land  one  cow  will  keep  bare  of  trees,  for  they 
are  not  able  to  observe  and  study  the  matter. 
FRESENT  POLICIES. 
Somewhere  between  the  agriculture  on  the  one  side  and  the 
inaccessible  mountains  on  the  other  lies  the  happy  medium, 
