SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.

The regions of fertility lie at the bases of the mountains and in the valleys, where abrasion and disintegration have proceeded for untold years, and rich deposits of vegetable mould have accumulated. Such a valley runs up from the capital, Honolulu, among the hills; and from the beautiful views it affords, -its grassy slopes, its bridged rivulets, its villas, and especially its air, which becomes more invigorating as the road winds upward,-the Nuuanu Valley is one of the favourite rides of the residents of Honolulu.

The soil is generally thin and poor, but this is not universally the case; and it affords fine pasturage. On the lands,' or grazing farms, are raised large herds, which supply meat for the whalers and merchant-shipping, and thus find a ready market. Vast numbers of horses also subsist on the islands, mostly of an inferior kind; and it would be an advantage to the kingdom if four-fifths of them were destroyed. They unnecessarily consume the grass, and break the fences; but horseriding is a passion with the natives of both sexes.

Some of the islands are well supplied with rivers and streams, particularly Hawaii and Kauai. Along the shore of Hilo, a district of that island, sixty permanent streams of various sizes fall into the sea; whilst their numerous branches and feeders thread the country, and give unrivalled facilities for irrigation.

Large forests abound, very dense, and broken with chasms, ravines, and extinct craters. In making the ascent of the two great mountains in Hawaii, twelve miles of forest have to be passed through.

The great harbour of the group is Honolulu, situated on the south side of Oahu. It is formed by an indentation of the coast, protected by a broad coral reef. The channel through the reef has only twenty-two and

a half feet water at its shallowest part; so that though the harbour is commodious, vessels drawing more than twenty feet are excluded, and lie in the roadstead outside, where there is excellent anchorage, except during a Souther, or 'Kona.' For shipping of less draught, pilots are in attendance, and the vessels either run through the channel on a wind, or, more generally, are towed in. Ships go out of harbour under sail, as for nine months in the year the trade wind is blowing seaward.

Within the harbour there is plenty of space and every convenience. On the right hand a battery, seated on Punch-bowl Hill, commands the port. There are wharves and warehouses, conveniences for heaving ships. down for repairs, and pipes for supplying fresh water. A steam-dredging machine is at work deepening and cleaning the harbour. The inhabitants of Honolulu speak with pride of 150 sail of shipping having been seen in their port at one time.

*

During the year 1859, Honolulu was visited by two British, one French, one American, and one Russian ships of war: 109 merchantmen and 170 whalers entered the harbour; whilst 19 merchant-ships and 79 whalers remained outside.

Eight miles westward, at Ewa, on the same island, is an inland basin, in which the entire commerce of the Pacific might lie; but this great harbour is almost useless, from there being only twelve feet water on the bar at low tide.

The next place of importance, as regards commerce, is Lahaina, on the south-west or leeward side of Maui. Five merchantmen and 116 whalers entered this road

*This number includes second and third visits of some of the vessels.

stead in 1859. On the north-west side of Hawaii, in Byron's Bay, is the harbour of Hilo; spacious, and with a good entrance through the wide coral reef. This port is on the windward face of the island, and is not now much frequented. Only two merchant-ships entered it in 1859, and forty-nine whalers. Formerly it appears to have been a place of greater resort. In 1846, four men-of-war, sixty-seven whalers, and thirty-four trading schooners arrived there. Three or four other harbours are accessible; and other parts of the coast possess undeveloped potentialities. The estuary of Pearl River (Oahu), for example, is a port, safe, large, and deep enough to contain all the shipping of that ocean; but its shallow channel will only permit small vessels to

enter.

Independent of the harbours, ships can lie at anchor with safety in many of the roadsteads; which, though they are exposed, have good holding ground, have no dangers from hidden reefs or rocks, and the winds prevailing for nine or ten months in the year are more or less favourable, according to the bearing of the Trades and Konas upon the coasts.

CHAPTER II.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND PHENOMENA-VOLCANOES.

ON approaching the group from certain directions the

first objects which meet the sight are the two lofty peaks on Hawaii, each 14,000 feet in height,-two miles and a half, one of them capped with perpetual snow, which contrasts with the deep blue of the tropical sky above, and with the darkness of the lava forming the sides of the mountains. A rude and irregular outline of high lands then presents itself; and on the north side are seen, on a nearer view, the dark forests which clothe the lower region of the mountains; whilst giddy precipices front the sea, of from 1000 to 3000 feet in perpendicular height, against whose walls the waves beat and surge and thunder through the caverns which they have hollowed for themselves in their ceaseless war. In some places, streams which have united their waters on their way, rush together over one of these palis, or precipices, into the ocean. Still nearer, the white foam is seen pouring in sheets over coral reefs, of which there is sometimes an outer and inner ridge. The islands are generally lofty; the small isle of Lehua, near Niihau, having an elevation of 1000 feet. The upland region of Kauai has an uniform height above the sea of 4000 feet. Once through the reefs, or anchored in a leeward roadstead, scenes of gentler beauty