Sandalwood in Hawaii — St. John 
15 
from the lower region, with its huts and taro 
patches, to the thick woods. He stated: 
We found a great variety of ferns and other plants 
among which the ginger plant was very prominent. 
We saw several of that beautiful tree the Eugenia 
malaccensis, or Malacca apple, in full bloom with 
its bright scarlet flowers, the dooe dooe, or oil nut 
[now called kukui. Aleurites moluccana ] was very 
common. We could not find one sandalwood tree, 
all had probably been cut down about here for 
the purpose of barter. 
This passage testifies to the early despolia¬ 
tion of the stands of sandalwood. 
Still in search of records in the region 
behind Honolulu, the writer made inquiry 
of malacologists. The terrestrial and arbo¬ 
real snails on the Hawaiian Islands are num¬ 
erous, large, and of beautiful form and col¬ 
oring. For more than a century they have 
been sought both by amateur nature lover 
and professional naturalist. As collections 
have accumulated it has become evident that 
many of the numerous species and subspecies 
have very restricted ranges, such as a single 
valley, or part of a valley, or even a single 
clump of trees. The land shell collectors be¬ 
come well acquainted with these localities 
and the species of trees favored by the snails. 
Thus, many of the collectors have an exten¬ 
sive and accurate knowledge of the native 
flora. Dr. C. M. Cooke, Jr., of the Bishop 
Museum, Honolulu, remembers seeing from 
1890 to 1892 several sandalwood trees on 
the Kapalama-Waiolani ridge, just south¬ 
west of Napuumaia (in Nuuanu) at about 
1,600 feet altitude. This was one of his best 
collecting localities, and he clearly remem¬ 
bers several sandalwood trees with their 
bright red, young leaves. George S. Water- 
house likewise remembers seeing sandal¬ 
wood trees in the same locality between 1903 
and 1906. He cut and carried down a good- 
sized log of the wood, which he kept for 
many years. He visited the locality fre¬ 
quently, for his brother, Fred Waterhouse, 
had a mountain cabin on the ridge at Na¬ 
puumaia. This site is at 1,870 feet elevation 
on the west ridge of Nuuanu (see Kaneohe 
Quadrangle, Advance Sheet, surveyed in 
1928). These two reports are considered 
fully trustworthy, and indicate that S. Frey- 
cinetianum persisted in Nuuanu as late as 
the beginning of the present century. 
Finally, the writer was delighted on Jan¬ 
uary 9, 1944, to find a single tree, 27 feet 
high and 10 inches in diameter, on the 
Kahauiki-Kalihi Ridge at 1,400 feet alti¬ 
tude. It was a vigorous, healthy tree, near 
the crest of the ridge in the Koa Zone. This 
collection, filed as H. St. John no. 20,444, 
fills in the gap and allows the conclusion 
that the sandalwood originally extended the 
length of the mountains and occurred on all 
the ridges behind Honolulu. Its scarcity or 
absence there now seems due to extermina¬ 
tion. To supply the sandalwood trade, the 
large population of Honolulu would natur¬ 
ally seek the trees on the nearest accessible 
ridges, which were those behind the city. 
The resulting destruction of the trees by 
cutting as well as by heavy and destructive 
grazing by cattle nearly exterminated the 
sandalwood in these areas. 
The former territorial superintendent of 
forestry, Charles S. Judd (1927: 43), in 
giving a detailed account of the sandalwood, 
stated: 
It is not likely, however, that sandalwood will 
soon, if ever, become much of a factor as a natural 
resource in the Territory because of the fact that 
it is of very slow growth, and before it can be 
artificially propagated with success, much more 
must be learned of its alleged parasitic habit of 
growth. 
The sandalwood is widespread and occa¬ 
sional in the Waianae Mountains. In the 
Koolau Range (except behind Honolulu) it 
occurs on the lee side on nearly every sec¬ 
ondary ridge, and is actually common at the 
lower edge of the forest in the Koa Zone 
and occasional up into the forest. Young 
trees are numerous, but so, too, are old trees. 
No data have been published as to the 
rate of growth of this tree. At Kalauao 
