What at first looks like sand on a leaf, reveals itself to be a Kohala ranch hillside dotted with brown, black, and white cattle.
A good write up of the introduction of cows to Hawaii from HawaiiHistory.org explains how cattle were first brought to the islands as a gift to King Kamehameha I in 1793 by Captain George Vancouver. Then, he delivered more again the following year.
King Kamehameha ordered that the cows be left alone to multiply. This ordered was not lifted for 36 years–plenty of time for herds to grow from a gift into a thriving problem.
After hunting and wrangling efforts, the herds were brought down to reasonable numbers and the Paniolo–Hawaiian cowboy–was introduced to maintain. Today, Hawaii has a few large ranches and cows are still common in upcountry areas.
