The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-06-18
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SKETCHES OF
gife in tbe gauaiiau ISLANDS. --YO. 2.
Wait tn ..The Palace of the Sum- :

Sun.) on East Maui, as a pleasure trip, amply
repays ones time and trouble, and well deserves
the most graphic description ever given it. Now
that the rich strawberries and ohelos, which grow
in exhaustless abundance on the mountains sides
are ripening, let the inhabitants of Honolulu
forsake its dusty streets, and take a peep into this
magnificent crater. Would that we had here a
s'Porte Crayon'' with his nimble and fair cousins,
to give it one of his racy sketches.
At four o'clock the other morning we started
off from Makawao, three of us, Sufficient innum-
Der for an editorial ,ce) with an excellent native
guide. The face of the mountain was cloudless
and the air calm. The distance from our start
ing place to the nearest brink of the crater was
sixteen or eighteen miles. For the first mile or
two we experienced no discomfort, but soon after,
q half numb, half singing sensation about our
limbs brought forcibly to our acquaintance our
former but nearly forgotten friend, old Boreas.
As we inhaled the mountain air 80 pure and pun
gent, we could almost imagine it a New England
March morning, and Mr.. NJ, the Oldest OF our
party, was affected to tears by the food of remi-
niscences with which our old friend overwhelmed
his susceptible heart.
Water. clear as crystal and painfully cold, is
plenty as far as within one or two miles of the
summit. On our progress upward no exciting
event occurred, excepting the flight OF a turkey
hen from her nest and the discovery of the nest
by Mr.. f. 1t contained eight eggs which we were
tempted to take with US, but having a suspicious
look as # incubation had considerably advanced,
we humanely left them to the further care OF the
f~uttering mother, despite the entreaties of our
guide G1aahanui, Esq to break one and test it.
With .}oor oopaoionooc Ura pr0oonNod and attn hOTIt
four miles from the top arrived at the zone of the
silver sword. This beautiful Alpine plant we
found growing on the highest point to which we
attained. 1t is an annual, four or five feet high,
and may be found at all times in all stages of
growth. The leaf is twelve to sixteen inches in
length, and three or four lines in width, a single
plant numbering several hundred leaves. The
flower is of a dark red, but of no striking beauty.
The leaf is coated with a thick down of a splen-
did silvery hue. At the first appearance of the
flower stalk, the plant is in its glory. Its shape
is convex and it may be seen at several miles dis
lance, glistening in the sun. A g%lutinous sub
stance on the calyx of the flower attracts flies and
other insects which destroy the seed, making it
near'y or quite impossible to obtain any that will
terminate.
The road is pretty good to within four or five
miles of the summit, but above this it is SO stony
that horses often give out before reaching the top.
After about five hours ride we reached the brow
of the crater, and dismounting from our tired
horses, fastened them on a spot where a little
vegetation was found. The view here being linn
tied, we proceeded On foot, stumblinga along a nom
descriIt path, Astounding with diabolical frag-
ments CT lava and atrocious jumping-of places,
for more than three miles along the crater edge,
and succeeded in reaching an elevated spur of
rocks where sheer exhaustion forced us to halt.
But what a sight! Perched on this lofty sum-
NIT, ten thousand feet above the sea, a sight
opened on US, that beggars description. We were
four thousand feet above the level of the clouds,
which were now gathering around the brow of
the mountain to veil it from the meridian sun.
The atmosphere was clear, and the view extended
at least a hundred miles in each direction. To
the westward lay the mountains of West Maui,
and beyond them Molokai, while far to the
northwest the Island of Oahu was indicated by
thick clouds lowering over it. To the south
could be seen the blue SUBMITS of Mauna Kea and
Mauna Loa on Hawaii, while all around, the ocean
stretched OFF a hundred miles or more.
Before us lay the most wonderful crater known,
which, though for ages quiescent, affords a view
of tne marvellous which no lover of nature should
fail to obtain. Without actually seeing it. the
Imagination can hardly conceive of its s., : which
is ten miles in diameter, and over thirty Lies in
circumference. From the edge of the crater
where we were, TO the bottom of the bowl, is g
depth of over $500 feet, or half a mile.
Among the first objects 70 attract the gaze are
the smaller craters in the bottom of the large
basin, of which we counted about a dozen. SOM
of these are probably of the size of s'Punchbowl,
but appear like common sized houses in compar
ison with the large crater. Two black strips o
lava, each perhaps two miles in width, proceed
from. about the center and find their exit through
the two great clefts in the mountain at Hamaku;
and Kaupo. Through the latter from our plac
of arrival is a path practicable for horses acros
the bottom of tire crater to the Hama district
The abruptness with which this vast abyss meet
the eye is really one of its most striking features
u The absence of familiar objects to relieve the vie,
o and give g relative size to other objects, is emba1
j, raising to one who would attempt to describ
them. In fact a descent into and at least a day'
travel through the crater is necessary to even
tc4erable acquaintance with many of its wonders