The road which connects Honolulu with the eastern side of the island ascends the 
picturesque valley of Nuuanu, and crosses the main range of Oahu through a gap hemmed in 
by stupendous rocks, which the natives call the “ Pali.” Travellers who visit the islands 
situated in the track of the trade-winds are struck with the extraordinary contrast, as regards 
climate and vegetation, which exists between the leeward and the windward sides, as well as 
between the coast districts and the more elevated regions of these islands. While the latter 
are covered with a rich carpet of vegetation, thanks to the abundant moisture distilled by the 
trade-wind, the former often present the aspect of absolute desert, nothing but sand and stones 
reflecting the fierce rays of the noonday sun. The valley of Nuuanu exhibits a similar contrast 
THE VALLEY OF NUUANU. 
within the short distance of six miles, and its effect is further heightened by the abrupt change 
of scenery which accompanies the transition from one climate to another. Having left the dusty 
roads and tropical groves of Honolulu behind us, we found ourselves, after an hour's walk, as 
if by magic, in the midst of an Alpine valley—green meadows, cattle grazing, a mountain- 
stream turning a mill, a few scattered farm-houses, on both sides of the valley the steep slopes 
of the mountain covered with verdure, and above them tall vertical cliffs, over which the water 
trickled in silvery streams. Only a few hours ago exposed to the hot rays of an unclouded 
tropical sky, we were now surrounded by the mist which the trade-wind swept down upon us 
from the summit of the pass, occasional showers filling the air with delicious moisture. 
When we had arrived at the highest point of the valley, under the shadow of the Pali, the 
eastern side of the island suddenly burst into view. Here, from the brink of a precipice 
many hundred feet high, the eye surveys a magnificent panorama—a wide undulating plain, 
bounded in front by the blue sea, and towards the north by a chaotic mass of mountains— 
the ruins, as it were, of the great volcano which in the remote past rose from the bed of 
the sea and formed the island of Oahu. On each side of the pass extends a stupendous 
rocky wall over a thousand feet above the plain, and the pass of the Pali is for many miles 
the only practicable opening whereby the two sides of the island can communicate. The 
plain below is divided into patches of wood, green fields, and red sand hills, and in the 
distance the chimney of a sugar plantation may be discerned. The cultivation of sugar is one 
o 
