Aboriginal Sweet Potato Farming in the Hawaiian Dry Forest

Abstract

Geography and Geology

forms the western part of O'ahu Island. It is the deeply erod­ ed, subaerial portion of a typical mid-Pacific oceanic shield volcano. Kea'au is an older, headward eroded amphitheater­ like valley located southeast of Ka'ena Point at 21° 30'N lati­ tude and 158° 15'W longitude on the leeward side of the Wai'anae Range. The valley has a maximum length of about 4 km (E-W), is a little more than 3.2 km wide along the coastal portion (N-S), and covers an area of approximately 775 ha.