Ni'ihau is the smallest of the populated Hawaiian Islands. It is also privately owned: Offered for sale by King Kamehameha IV in 1863, the island was purchased by Elizabeth Sinclair for $10,000. Sinclair reportedly chose to buy the island over other choice pieces of real estate such as Waikiki, Pearl Harbor and the island of Lana'i. Mrs. Sinclair and her adult offspring turned the entire island into a cattle and sheep ranch before moving back to Kaua'i. As such, the island has remained virtually immune to the influences of the outside world: The Hawaiian language is spoken almost exclusively here, and residents have no electricity, cars, roads, hotels or restaurants. Each family tends its own garden to supplement the beef and mutton that are still raised on the ranch. Meanwhile, the pristine beaches of Ni'ihau yield one of the most prized possessions in the Islands the extremely rare Ni'ihau shell islanders fashion into lei worth hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars.