186 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
namauna, and shortly after left Kona, and entered 
Kali. 
Kona is the most populous of the six great 
divisions of Hawaii, and, being situated on the 
leeward side, would probably have been the most 
fertile and beautiful part of the island, had it not 
been overflowed by floods of lava. It is joined to 
Kohala , a short distance to the southward of To- 
waihae bay, and extends along the western shore 
between seventy and eighty miles, including the 
irregularities of the coast. The northern part, 
including Kairua, Kearake’kua, and Honaunau, 
contains a dense population ; and the sides of the 
mountains are cultivated to a considerable extent; 
but the south part presents a most inhospitable 
aspect. The population is thin, consisting prin¬ 
cipally of fishermen, who cultivate but little land, 
and that at the distance of from five to seven miles 
from the shore. 
The division of Kail commences at Kaulana- 
mauna, runs down to the south point of the island, 
and stretches about forty miles along the south¬ 
east shore. On entering it, the same gloomy and 
cheerless desert of rugged lava spread itself in 
every direction from the shore to the mountains. 
Here and there, at distant intervals, they passed a 
lonely house, or a few wandering fishermen’s huts, 
with a solitary shrub, or species of thistle, strug¬ 
gling for existence among the crevices in the blocks 
of scoriae and lava. All besides was “ one vast 
desert, dreary, bleak, and wild.” 
In many places all traces of a path entirely dis¬ 
appeared ; for miles together they clambered over 
huge pieces of vitreous scoriae, or rugged piles 
of lava, which, like several of the tracts they 
had passed in Kona, had been tossed in its 
