J 
Tourists! 
whyPay ,c-p 
$7.50 . / JA) 
When You Can /? B 
Get a Better ^ 
Around the 
Island Trip 
lor only 
$3.00 
Sight-Seeing Trips 
Priced per hour 
$2.50 
Telephone 
2424 I <> M 
or wire reservation from the 
boat and a private car will 
meet you at the dock 
Lewis’ 
Hawaiian 
Tours 
King and Bethel Sts. 
Owners and Operators of 
the Yellow Cab Company 
THEO. H. DAVIES 
COMPANY, Ltd. 
HONOLULU 
Cable Address “DRACO” 
# 
SUGAR FACTORS. 
GENERAL IMPORTERS 
AND 
COMMISSION 
MERCHANTS 
& 
jrtii l^iuxiu oi nawai 
Continued from Page 31 
On June 29. 1S91, Captain F. D. 
Walker visited Lisianski in the schooner 
KdfilokfiL He reports in his entertaining 
“Log” (published in 1909) that much 
of the island was covered with low scrub 
brush, behind a beautiful sand beach 
about 100 feet wide. Seals were sleep¬ 
ing on the beach, large mullet swam in 
shoals everywhere, and bird life was 
plentiful. ** 1 he island is a little para¬ 
dise. or could be made one, at a moderate 
cost.” he writes. He estimated that a 
thousand tons of good guano remained 
in the dry lagoon. Contrast the ac¬ 
counts given above with conditions a 
quarter of a century later. 
I lie island was leased bv the Hawaii¬ 
an kingdom to the North Pacific Phos¬ 
phate and Fertilizer Co. for 20 vears 
from March 29. 1890. Carl Kischner, 
w ho visited the island in 1915. reported 
that Mime guano had been shipped from 
the island, hut only the best, much partly 
phosphatized sand and soil remaining in 
the depressed area. 
At some time prior to Klschner’s visit 
rabbits had been introduced, probably 
from Laysan. whence they had been 
brought by Max Schlemmer. Left to 
themselves and w ithout enemies, the rab¬ 
bits had thrived for a time, multiplying 
in geometric proportion, as rabbits can. 
Soon the food supply began to he inad¬ 
equate for the huge population. Lorrin 
A. 1 hurston. in the Honolulu Advertiser 
lor June 1, 1923, presents a vivid pic¬ 
ture of what must have taken place. 
I here was a frantic search tor food; 
then the rabbits became cannibals, the 
old devouring the young. He depicts 
the grewsome scene of a last newborn, 
skinny rabbit being devoured by the last 
starving mother rabbit. 
Kischner saw the island at about its 
worst. Dreary and desolate, he called 
it, with its single tobacco patch, the rem¬ 
nant of that set out by Max Schlemmer, 
and two poorly looking specimens of 
Ipomoea, the only vegetation. With no 
plants to hold the sand, the birds were 
threatened with extinction. No fresh 
water was obtainable, shallow wells 
yielding only brackish water. 
It may have been this, or a similar ac¬ 
count. which finally prompted the U. S. 
Biological Survey, custodian of the bird 
reservation, to “do something about it.” 
1 hey cooperated with Bernice P. Bishop 
Museum and other local scientific insti¬ 
tutions, in sending an expedition to the 
What We Can Do For 
You in Hawaii 
1. Transportation and Island Tours. 
(Cars with or without drivers.) 
2. Exclusive Rentals and Sales. 
1 Property Management. 
4. Business and Financial Agents. 
Earl Thacker & Co. 
Dillingham Bldg. 
Telephone 6299 
We do . . . 
PRINTING 
RULING AND 
BOOK 
BINDING 
. . . as it should be done 
Manufacturers of 
LOOSE LEAF SHEETS 
AND BINDERS 
PIONEERS IN 
PROCESS COLOR PRINTING 
AND 
PLATE MAKING 
Place your next order with us and 
be pleaecd with the results 
your entire satisfaction guaranteed. 
No order too large or too small 
Paradise of the Pacific 
Press 
r i - 
PostofTice Cox No. 80 
Telephone 4797 Honolulu, T. H* 
