Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-13
FROM HONOLULU.
Notable scenery-A Great Precipice-Fis-
toric Reminiscence-Lofty Seats.

kouas, with their invariably debil;tatiug
not to say malarial breath, whose effects
few have escaped, the trades have set in
making it luxury to live. To those coming
from less equitable climate, Honolulu
seems perfection but to islanders who live
at few hundred feet elevation, Honolulu's
noon is suitry, while Oahu, the island it.
self, is regarded by dwellers upon the 9TH
ers as poverty stricken in natural scenery,
though it has several points of interest and
great beauty. chief of which is Pail, his.
toric spot some six miles directly beyond
the city from its ral-girded bay, that by
moonlight is Venetian. The Pail meanf
and is precipice, to whose summit, in the
mountains forming coast range along the
northerly side, has been run a tolerable
road, of gradual inclination, at nearly the
natural slope of a narrow ravine widening
toward the sea, till at its mouth it hatten:
out and makes the site upon which is ouI
National Capital. Visitors are always
shown the Pail, and woe to him who does
not pronounce it
THE GRANDEST SPECTACLE
His eyes ever fell upon. My last trip was
made on foot with an Californian physician,
who undertook the walk as though il
had been sixty instead of six miles. He
thought that in order to preserve our
strength we should walk but little. Like
many another and more important human
resolution, this one seemed made to break,
for he frequently burst fol tn dilating upon
the varying vistas Of beauty encountered
as we journeyed up the pass, or turning
viewed the Capitol wrapped in sea OF
undulating foliage through which it lifted
up tower, cupola and belfry, suggesting
mermaid's heads and arms exposed in
aquatic glee upon Puna's green lakes in
bay lay a goodly fleet of sugar.seeking
craft like bees about bonanza-yielding
honey. flower or bouquet. Beyond rolled
the combing surf, white as the folds of an
angels robe, and bordering the oceans
deepening blue streaked here and there
with feathery foam till in the bazy distance
sky and sea were blended into one. As we
pushed forward the converging precipices
of festooned verdure and ever-varying play
of bright light, shade and shadow closed in
upon us, revealing the more clearly the
threads of diamond drops that fell like q
gathered veil from their sky piercing nights.
On reaching the Pail its beauty was duly
admired by the doctor, who threw himself
upon the grass to relax and rest while |
recalled the sentiments reused by my first
visit one bright summer morning when
started up Muanu avenue without other
object than short walk. Admiration was
first kindled by beautiful residences and
their artistically arranged surroundings of
flower beds, lawns, shrubbery and trees,
from Norway pine-so chill and out of
place-to the broad-leaved banana, royal
palm and Pride of India. Later were seen
wild guava, koa, lauhala, with the convo-
Ions delicate pink bells of great size, be.
side water lemon and other vines, ferns
innumerable, MOSES and lichen. A few
rather ragged grass huts by the wayside,
while emblematic of the degenerate condi-
ton of the aboriginal race, recalled their
pristine simplicity and Eden innocence till
the white-skinned serpent fed them with
the fruit of the tree of knowledge so that
to-day they die, despite the best efforts of
the Great Physicians ministers. Suddenly
a gust of wind came with a violence that
nearly threw me, and | had hardly time
to recall what had been told about the
winds phenomenal violence at the Pail,
and wonder could l be there, when the
wild grandeur of the place burst upon me
in all its rugged glory.
THE BUFFETING RECEPTION
Called to mind the rude but hearty greet
ing of unpublished but good-natured souls.
1t was as though tropic Boreas with his
gentle t?) kinswomen the Zephyrs had sud-
denly rushed upon their visitors with Wig
orous patting and shaking to emphasize
the cordislity of their welcome, saying
"Well, well, dear me, and here you are at
last Thought you'd never come. Never
mind, here you are. And how are you
You're looking well how did you leave
the folks at home +? Are they coming to
see us Why, what's the matter? Asth-
matte Oh, see. You'll soon get used
to our rough ways. We mean first rate,
you know. The girls are playful and apt
to indulge in pranks on visitors. l houted
a warning when saw them rush at you,
but you didn't hear. You weren't vexed
because they tried to take your clothes off
as we'll rs your hat? OF course not. A
few years ago our visitors were only robed
in the brown, close fitting garb woven by a
tropic sun, and the girls delight in show
ing the inconvenience of modern gar
ments.
The scene from the Pali's brow is that oi
vast amphitheater attaining in its upper
nights nearly 1000 feet, with the ocean
for a stage, at whose left entrance rises the
morning sun. After visiting the variour
islands and noting their topographic char.
acteristics, a glance is sufficient to account
for this conformation. Here In remote
ages lowered vast volcano, the lower and
weaker side of whichlgiving way, was pre-.
cipitated into the sea, leaving the floor oi
the crater little above high water. Like
openings in the side OF extinct volcanoes
may be frequently noticed. times ef.
facing fingers have produced esthetic
touches by crumbling the rugged lava's
chaotic heaps and draping them in verdure.
Bordering the distant ocean is a sandy
shore, lovely bay, rocky islets and head
lands laved by its dazzling white and
curling surf, whose low, fond murniur
barely reaches the ear like the dream of a
summer song. Nearer is spread fertile
plain, and bright cane fields dot it in the
distance. At our feet-down, down dozens
of dizzy fathoms groves of kukiD, tt,
koa and omnipresent fern. On the vertical
cliffs above are the same, their faces re-
sembling an embellished wall, while the
more distant suggest fortifcation so long
idle and deserted that it has become a
house for moss and ivy. Some towering
peaks Immediately overhead are perpetu-
ally capped with cloud wreaths, and &C
striking is their resemblance to fingers in a
calabash of poi that / wonder Hawaiian
mythology has not revolved thought Of
that kind. We are informed that the
Pail was the scene OF
A MEMORABLE BATTLE
The closing tableau in the country's an
cient history. Here ignominiously ter
minated the final struggle for independence
in 1895, whence dates the consolidation o.
the islands under one King Kamehameha
l. The doughty Kalanikupulc, King o.
t is leland, fed before the conquering hero
Kamshameha Of Hawaii, with his dusky
leqions, up the valley we have Just tTay'
ersed, to this brink OF a frightful death
from which but few escaped, while hun
dreds were driven headlong into the abyss
X Kalanikupule concealed himself in the
| Jungle, where he led an errant and precari
Gus existence for few months, but beinl
captured, was killed and sacrificed to tbs
I