74 
Mr. F. B. McStocker, under the dates, respectively, of October 
ii, 1906, and October 18, 1906. It is based on a personal ex- 
amination of the locality made by me during a visit to Kona in 
September, 1907. 
The Waiaha Lots consist of a roughly triangular remnant of 
Government land lying between the privately owned lands of 
Kahului 2 and Puaa 1, between the elevations of 2300 and 3000 
feet, and containing a little less than 200 acres. Waiaha is sepa- 
rated from other Government land, the nearest being Honuaula, 
the next land but one on the north, a section of the upper part of 
which has been set apart as the Honuaula Forest Reserve. To 
the south there is no other Government land for a long way. 
The Waiaha Lots were surveyed and laid out in September, 
1906, with the expectation of selling them as homesteads. But 
when the map was ready it developed that there was a water hole 
on the land and that some of the rest of it, being swampy was 
perhaps water-bearing. The advice of this Board was according- 
ly requested by the Commissioner of Public Lands as to the best 
disposition of the area. After several unavoidable delays, I was 
able to visit the land in September last and have now to report 
on it. 
Before discussing in detail this particular water hole it may be 
well briefly to consider the general subject of the water supply of 
North Kona. In this statement the term "spring'' will be used 
to mean a source of constantly flowing water; "water hole," a 
place where water collects, more or less intermittently, from sur- 
face drainage, from seepage, or from the percolation of ground 
water from sources near by or remote. 
With the exception of a few scattered springs and a few more 
water holes, the Kona District has no regular natural supply of 
continually available water. There are, in fact, no permanently 
running streams around the south and west sides of Hawaii from 
Hilo to Kohala. The few stream-beds that do exist in Kona — 
hardly more than a half dozen all told — only carry water for a 
few hours during times of rain. At such times, however, they run 
full, often doing damage where they are crossed bv roads or 
where they pass through cultivated fields. From a few of the 
springs pipes lead the water down to the Government Road, where 
it is used" for domestic supply, stock watering, etc. Most of the 
water for domestic supply in Kona is, however, rain water, caught 
on roofs and held in cisterns. 
With so limited a supply it is evident that what natural sources 
of water there are ought to be carefully safeguarded and made to 
do their full duty. To this end I believe that all the known 
springs and water holes in Kona should be set apart as water re- 
serves, preferably surrounded in each instance by a block of forest 
of such size as may be needed adequately to protect the water 
head'. Particularly is this the case where a water hole is supplied 
in part, or altogether, from surface drainage and in places where 
