of wool last year. {223} Mr. S--- has
also 1000 head of cattle and 50 horses.
The industry of Waimea is cattle raising, and some feeble attempts
are being made to improve the degenerate island breed by the
importation of a few short-horn cows from New Zealand. These plains
afford magnificent pasturage as well as galloping ground. They are
a very great thoroughfare. The island, which is an equilateral
triangle, about 300 miles in "circuit," can only be crossed here.
Elsewhere, an impenetrable forest belt, and an impassable volcanic
wilderness, compel travellers to take the burning track of adamant
which snakes round the southern coast, when they are minded to go
from one side of Hawaii to the other. Waimea also has the singular
distinction of a road from the beach, which is traversed on great
occasions by two or three oxen and mule teams, and very rarely by a
more ambitious conveyance. There are few hours of day or night in
which the tremulous thud of shoeless horses galloping on grass is
not heard in Waimea.
The altitude of this great table-land is 2500 feet, and the air is
never too hot, the temperature averaging 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
There is mist or rain on most days of the year for a short time, and
the mornings and evenings are clear and cool.
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