Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-11-08
NaltIi


exists, simply because il is not filled up with A
mountain. That igneous lsye..cake, which
is this part Of Oahu, has been enaved into by
the rains Of centuries running down from the
mountains around. and the tooth.marks are
Makiki
Seen from the plains below, 1t Is simply a
three pronged ravine considerably smaller and
with less Of level floor than It's neghbors Pauoa
and Manoa, walled in its lower point with
treaeherously smooth and grassy slopes. and
hnally changing from depression to mountain
on the western flank Of Tantalus. In the
mouth Of the valley, on the last fiat before the
sloping begins, stand group Of haf.whitened
native houses, like the lonesome teeth in the
mouth Of hag But Makiki will not be found
an ugly old woman, but like many another Of
indefinite age, will prove delightful and beauti.
ful
Come then, o newly arrived, before the in
sidious, lotus. eating climate, which makes
even the impecunious Chinaman hire an es.
press, teach you how not TO walk Come yc
also Of ten years residence who still tell to the
children around the glowing mosquito. powder,
the hearth.hre Of Hawaii, how you walked
twenty miles in New England Come, nerve
yourself for tenth as many
fence or two to. climb, a bit Of sloping
field to cross and we are beside the native
houses. That vanishing CLEAN Of color is the
trailing robe Of the lady Of the house. This
gentle savage in overalls is the proprietor, a
ver,able hesh.and. blood cannibal Islander.
This indoen; fellows grandfather may have
been Of that band which measured the Pail
under the ins,igation Of Kamehameha's spears.
men; his grandfather's grandfather, perhaps,
struck down Captain Cook. He Is descend.
ant, further back, Of one Of that not impossible
canoe.load, which drifting away from home
and friends, naked, dying Of thirst, starved,
though they be feeding on the lean ribs Of a
eomrade 1--WE AngloSaxons do that when we
really get hungry saw the over couded is.
lands resting on the limitless ocean plain.
Perhaps the ancestor Of this man was the one
who first Of that famished boat load made out
the mountains dim blue robe below the cloudy
sky-foor-saw with uneouth cries OF Joy, as the
long swclls bore him on, the fringing cocoa.
nuts, the green valleys, the water, and las, and
bes, Of all felt the firm ground 'once more
under his feet.
But here What are these , A pig, dilap-
dated dog, another, goat, chickens, dirty
baby-and all gazing at the strangers except the
dogs, which, with true dog democracy, bark at
all men alike.
Now we are by them all, and dipping down
steeply cross the dry bed Of the creek, near lit.
tie cement reservoir. Then turning to the right,
we make our way among lantanas and over
black volcanic sand which slips over shoe.,ops
and engenders lively sympathy for those poor
fellows whose penance it was to walk with peas
in their shoes. The thorny bushes the volcan-
c debris, the discomfort, suggest Purga,ory we'll
enough; and what could better stand for our
own mistakes, than those same lantanas,
brought in as beautiful flowers, now to be rooted
out with aching back and bleeding fingers.
A hundred yards or so Of this, then another
native house and more dogs and little space
Of rough hillside covered with grass, and we
are at the lower end of the Hume. This used
to bring down water to the reservoir, but is nov
unused, except as sidewalk by those who fre.
quent the place. 1t hugs the ives, wall and
holds its unvarYing incline up the western fork
Of the valley almos, to the fall. Sometimes it
seems to rest on the top Of the grass-bunches
and coarse ferns, or it crosses stone wall where
blue morning glories rest like great foam feeks
cast up from the sloping waves ofgrass on either
side, or, skir,ing bare rock face, it carries
one for dozen yards at time twenty or thir.
ty feet above ground. Across the valley, as
we ascend, may be seen couple Of decrepit
bread fruit trees-perhaps Kanaka Bauis
and Philemon, turned into trees in their old age
for Hospitality furnishing Pele with fish and poi.
In front are the sunny upper slopes Of the val
ley but the backward view is much the finer.
Over the alearobaso Of the plain you see the feath.
cry leaves OF the cocoanu,s, and beyond, the
ocean, at FIRST but narrow band, but widen
ing as you go up, always bordered by the rib
bon Of green water on the reef and this itself
frnged with surf Even from here you can see
the long lines of water rise and darken, and the
crest begin to comb and the spot Of white leng.
then till the whole is one line Of cottony foam,
Further seaward in the midst Of the 'innumer-
able laughter Of the waves" you perhaps will
see the sails OF some Hawaiian schooner darken
and tighten as she tacks, or the black hull and
square sails Of some whaler whose prudent cap.
tain dares not trus, his slippery crew in the har.
Dor, or it may be that one Of the inter island
steamers under both sail and steam will glide
into the picture and you will be thankful you
are not on board; or, II the day Of the month
serve, you may see the prouder formof an ocean
steamer, like uou, among the minnows.
practical,a tribe Of wasps has taken possession
Of section OF the Aume and discretion for.
bids US to interfere. We shall have to descend
and try navigating in our sea Of grass Think
drops were strung on wires and the wire all
tangled together. do not hesitate to say,
that, had Leander been obliged to swim mile
Of sea like this to see his Hero. the romance
would have been nipped in the bud and Lean.
der would have lived to green old age on his
own side Of the Hellespont Once more upon
the path and few moments will bring US 10
the little dam which used to turn the water
into the hume. Here you may see wild taro
and water crosses and with them. little
blue.aowered, water-loving plant ,ha, on the
coast belongs to the tender, aristocrscy Of the
hanging. basket, but here contends limo unequal
battle for its share oflight and water.
Edging along the bank, above the little
pool, you cross the stream again, and seram.
bling, slipping and sliding over twenty rods Of
rough, wet. overgrown creek bottom. under
ohia trees, and among tall grass and ferns. you