the waters of Iao were made incarnadine awe-stricken soul takes in the edge of the with her blood.” mountains of Iao. The circumference of Beyond the Needle and up a narrow, this immense basin is about twenty to winding path a plateau is reached, after twenty-five miles, and there is no possible a climb of several hundred feet. This is ascent of the sides except at one or two the table land of Kaalaholo, and it is al- places. From the tops of these mist ridden most entirely surrounded by a stream of saw-toothed magnificences spurt myriads pure crystal mountain water. When the of waterfalls, and in and out of the mists top of this table land is at length reached, fly thousands upon thousands of sea-birde the eye is entranced with a view that for which from your point of observation seem magnificence is not to be duplicated any- as fluttering bits of paper impelled along The native boys of Honolulu are the best swimmers in the harbor. They will not dive for coppers where except probably in New Zealand and by erratic air currents, ever returning to in Scotland. "You are now standing as it some resting place in the inner edge of were on a raised center of a huge platform, the rocky coronet to this valley of mysprobably from four to six miles wide and teries. of irregular shape, and from here your Scott might have written one of his majestic poems in this spot, or Wagner have composed a Parsifal that would have paled his masterpiece into utter insignificance. The walls of this great cup tower above you for five thousand feet, and it seems as though you were looking from some vantage ground upward to the gates of heaven, guarded by a fluttering host. What a picture for the pencil of a Dore! The summits of these mountains have been properly and poetically named Palilele-o. Koae—the home of the sea-bird. It is of interest to chronicle in these pages the fact that at this time there is probably no guide with hardihood and nerve enough to lead the traveler over these precipitous mountains, but they have in the past been conquered by the hardy Hawaiians, and white men, too, have penetrated the fastnesses now no longer trodden by foot of man. In early days the natives used the lao Valley and the passes over these mountains as a regular highway, if so it may be called, between there and Lahaina. Princess Nahienaena, the sister of Kamehameha III, was carried over these mountains to Lahaina in the thirties on the shoulders of a native bearer. Others who have made the trip in a later day are Mrs. Laura P. Judd, Mr. H. P. Baldwin, Mr. D. D. Baldwin, and Mr. S. F. Alexander. Kapela is the highest of all the peaks of the Lihau range. It overlooks Olowalu and is probably the most interesting mountain in Iao. Again I borrow from the legendary lore gathered by Mr. J. N. Keola of Wailuku: “Among its dark recesses is the cave containing the bones of the kings and chiefs of Maui. In this cave were supposed to have been hidden the bones of Kahekili, king of Maui and Kalanikupule, his son, and other royal personages of Maui. There is no doubt that this cave, known as Kapela-kapu-o-na-lii, contains treasures of untold value. Not only bones of high chiefs or chiefesses were hidden for fear of being made into fish hooks, etc., but feather cloaks or royal ahuulas belonging to King Kahekili and other Maui rulers may be there still. Lehua trees abound in this vicinity. The indigent birds have almost disappeared, for the once familiar notes of the ao, iiwi, 0-u, amakihi, amao and other songsters of the dale are silenced forever. While lao Valley is full of historic interest, yet the one event that made it famous above all others was the battle of the Paniwai, fought about 1790, between the sons of the King of Maui and Kamehameha the Great, with Young and Davis as gunners. Kamehameha marched overland from Hana. His army is said to have contained 16,000 men. Nelson's famous exhortation to his men at Trafalgar (1805) fifteen years later was: 'England expects every man this day to do his duty, but Kamehameha's command to his battlescarred veterans was: 'Imua e na pokii a inu i ka wai awaawa' (onward brothers until you taste the bitter waters of death.) “Kamehameha ordered his army to advance by way of Waikani and Puuohala on the north side of the Iao stream. There the Maui army met the invaders, but the Maui defenders were so powerless in the face of musketry that they retreated up the valley with the Kamehameha army following them. The Maui army made their last stand on the present site of ‘Kapaniwai,' and here they were slaughtered by the attacking army. The bodies of the slain so choked up the stream that the battle was called the 'Paniwai-o-lao,' or the Damming of the Waters of lao, and the pure crystal-like waters were turned into red by the blood of those slain, and the people living below were compelled to go to a spring above to get their drinking water. The Paniwai battle is one of the most important of Kamehameha's battles, and it was the beginning of the turning point in Hawaiian history, for shortly afterwards the battle of Nuuanu, Oahu, was fought, and then followed the conciliation between Kamehameha and Kaumualii, King of Kauai and the Hawaiian group was united into one Kingdom.” Maui is undoubtedly one of the notably picturesque of the island group, and it is not a subject of wonder that the ancient alliis or nobility adopted it as an abiding place, the home of kings. It is called the Valley Isle and Wailuku, its principal town, is understood at a glance as the gateway to the valleys of pleasure beyond. The House of the Sun, as it has been poetically named by the natives, Hale 9 Picturesque Views Taken on an Hawai ian Sugar Plantation The cut cane being loaded on train for the mill The growing cane in kala, is visible from Wailuku, and it rears and there is no improvement in the view its snow capped summit in broad spread from the rim. The view from Haleakala majesty. Halealakala is an extinct vol- is remarkable for its great expanse. cano and the largest of these the seems as though one were standing on the islands. It is ten thousand and thirty-two very tip of the world. The view of the feet in height, and it may be easily clouds when they gather in and out of the reached by rail, carriage and saddle horse. crater is one that, once seen, is never for From its summit one may get a view of gotten, and the sight of the mists imprisHawaii, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe. oned within the crater of Halealakala is The trip is often made by tourists who awe-inspiring. wish to view the magnificent sunrise and sunset from this altitude. The crater it- Mr. Charles Rhodes fortunate self is one of the most interesting of the enough to witness an active eruption of many in these islands, for it is from Kilauea, and he has described it to t] e seven and a half to two and half best of his ability, but it must be admitted miles wide, and the floor of the crater is that were he possessed of the art of Kip. about two hundred feet below the rim. ling or the poetry of Poe, he could no more * was a The Honolulu Floral Parade, Washington's Birthday, and the decorated car of the Promotion Committee There are a large number of cones rising limn the grandeur of Kilauea or the Pit out of the floor of the crater, and these Halemaumau than attempt the refinement rise to a height of from two to eight hun- of gold or gild the lily. The observation is dred feet-blow-outs in the last great trite, but fits the case perfectly, for words — struggle before the spirit of the moun- fail when one tries to describe the wonders tain was conquered and made quiescent. of nature in revolt. The highest one of these is that known as “The lava has now risen so near the "The Hill of Sand," and this is the last top of Halemaumau that the impressiveexpired from the caverns of fire, now ness of the activities presented is not sealed over. On its summit it has a cone blurred or minimized by the lack of perprobably two hundred feet across at its spective. It is now so near that the actual top and about two hundred feet deep. The flow and play of the lava may be seen climb to its summit is a very difficult one, clearly. Its spread from the center of In 1889 Robert Louis Stevenson lived in a little cottage in a gorge in the Nuuanu Valley, and it was here that the lines quoted below were penned. Mr. Stevenson has not in all his works more beautiful lines han these, inspired by the rush of winds blowing from the heights of the Pali, down the Valley of Nuuanu. |
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