Indigenous to the Sandwich Islands is a species of Myóporum, (_M. tenuifòlium_,) the heart of which is fragrant; and, from having been mistaken for sandal-wood, has received the name of spurious sandal-wood from Europeans, and is called Naiho, or Naihio, by the natives. The heart contains a quantity of essential oil; but the fragrance is not so agreeable as that derived from the sandal-wood, and for that reason it is not esteemed in the Chinese market; the heart is also surrounded by a lighter wood, termed the sap, as in the sandal-wood tree. An instance of the resemblance this bears to the sandal-wood, so as to deceive a common observer, occurred during my visit to the island of Oahu, (Sandwich Islands,) in December, 1829. Two large pieces of the Naiho, deprived of the sap, were collected for me, and had been placed in the yard of a mercantile gentleman previously to my taking them on board. At this time there was some sandal-wood, of small size, weighing in the yard, to be sent on board an American ship about to sail for Canton. The supercargo, who was superintending the weighing, seeing these pieces, mistook them for sandal-wood; and, anxious to secure two such large pieces among the small kind which he had purchased, placed them in the scales, and they were sent on board with the rest, the person engaged in weighing being also ignorant of the difference. This circumstance was not discovered until some time after the ship had sailed: engaged in other pursuits, I had for some time forgotten my wood; but on inquiring for it, its disappearance was accounted for, after some time, by the cause just related. I was informed that a cargo of this wood was taken by an American ship to Canton; and, on its arrival there, it was only considered fit for fire-wood.