cocoanut cream, was partaken of with much
relish at a native hut. The dish was new to us, and was rendered still
more acceptable by a cup of native coffee, which had not been
adulterated by the cunning trader's art.

On the way to the valley, and indeed all about the environs of the city,
one passes large patches, measuring an acre more or less, of submerged
land, where is grown the Hawaiian staff of life,--the _taro_, a root
which is cultivated in mud, and mostly under water, recalling the
rice-fields as we have seen them in Japan and China. The article thus
produced, when baked and pounded to a paste, forms a nutritious sort of
dough, like uncooked flour, which is called _poi_, constituting the
principal article of food with the natives, as potatoes do with the
Irish or macaroni with the Italians. The baked taro is powdered and
mixed with water, after which it is left to ferment; and when this
process has taken place it is ready for eating. It is then placed in a
large bowl about which the natives squat on their hams, and thrusting
their fingers into the blue liquid mass they adroitly convey a mouthful
at a time to their lips and rapidly swallow it. It is served in various
degrees of thickness; if very thin, it is called two-finger poi, because
in order to convey sufficient for a mouthful to the lips two fingers
must be used; but if thick, it is one-finger poi. As the lazzaroni of
Naples pride themselves upon their expertness in conveying the cooked
macaroni to their mouths and down their throats, so the Kanakas become
experts in the transmission of poi to satisfy their hunger. These
Sandwich Island natives eat a small species of fish resembling our
smelts, quite raw, with their poi.

The environs of the city in any direction are composed of well-irrigated
gardens, plantations of bananas, clusters of cocoanuts, figs, mangoes,
melons, and various tropical fruits. The cocoanut-grove of Waikiki,
about four miles from Honolulu, contains many of these prolific trees,
and well repays a visit. Single cocoanut-trees are always graceful and
interesting, with their tall wrinkled stems, but a small forest of them
is a sight worth going miles to behold. The weight of the nutritious
fruit supported in the branches can only be computed by the hundreds of
tons.

Palolo Valley is some ten miles from Honolulu, and is best reached on
horseback. Here the crater of an extinct volcano forms the principal
object of interest. Leaving the