The Hawaiian gazette., 1885-09-16
A VISIT TO MoLoKAI!

III a
make me comfortable on the top OF the little
csbjn, Whatever may be the discomtorts OF our
| present interisland travel, they are as nothing
compared with the hardship and suffering OF Voy-
aging in the little vretched schooners OF former
DAYS Crowded with miscellaneous live stock and
freight, il would frequently take four days 10 SO
from Honolulu TO Molokli. Now steam makes
the voyage with promptness and regulaIlty only
seven hours long though our two-masted propel-
Iers of about 1UU tons burthen and horse power
have no Injurious accommodations for tastidlous
| passengers. IL was the hour when the long nght
of the western sun throws such glamour over
the landscape. Waikiki's fringing groves OF
cocoa palms waving high their leafy fronds, LIE
ahi's furrOwed sides, brown and bare. Waialae
low lying sandy plains, were quickly passed. bu,
the chOpping waves OF the haiwi channel excited
such disturbance in my inner man, as wind with
water strove that MI the glOries OF Oahu scenery
vanished from sight in the necessity laid upon me
of attending to my personal equilibrium in the
war of the elements believe have national
reputation for bein. the sickest man ever on board
Hawaiian vessel. For the benefit OF other sui,
ferers / would say that have found most relief
| it not entire immunity, by drinking tumbler OF
water III which have been stirred two teaspoontuls
of acid phosphate, one of extract OF ginger, ana
one Of sugar.
| Dor ON Moiokai 70 miles from Honolulu, at mid
night: Afier sending our passengers and freight
ashore. the stiffness Of heavenly peace settled down
upon the vessel. All on board slept till . am
| Then few hours run brought US to hamalo, and
| in another hour we reached PukoO. Aiolokal
| is an island about 40 miles long. On the map 1t
resembles shoe the heel or ives. part being about
| Is miles broad between the two western eXtTenIi
| ties Lac o ka Llau Lac o ka lilo. In the hollow
| of the foot between haunakRkal and halae, is a
| breadth of about 10 miles. The Leper Settlement
on the northern shore, Is aproiection, correspond
| ing to the rise of the iustep To complete the
| resemblance the coast line turns up ut the toe or
eastern extremity ut Halawa, to width OF only
! two miles. The prevailing trade winds have been
the principal agent seemingly IN giving the lslah9
1 rI,p TONS q
northeast particularly, sloping down and downfor
long stretch of reddish treees5 land on the west
| and southwest. The western half, for two miles
| is such a low lying slope, showing some grassy
| greenness on its height 1t was once the property
| of Kamehameha V, now of Hon. G. X. Bishop. IL
| is valuable as stock ranch, and Is under the
management OF Mr. X. w. Meyer, who has MS
home on the hillside about miles from haunn-
| kakai and miles from the edge of the pail,
which ovetlooks the Leper Settlement. resident
| of the island since 1858, Mr.. Meyer Is in fact If
not in title, the supreme official authority Tor the
whole island. He is magistrate and sqperintend-
| ent of the Leper Settlement, with which he has
| constant communication by telephones. For his
| integrity, fidelity. and good management, he Is
| deseryedly respected, honorcd and trusted by all.
| He has n small sugar plantation of some 30 acres
| with a small ono-ton mill. At kamalo where MI.
| j. NJ. Colgan is agent for another sugar planta-
| ton, company of 81 Hawaiians are also raising
sugar on shares Wong Leong g. Co. have the
third plantation at Moanui, near Pukoo, but the
| general impression seems to be that while the
| Chinese can make money III cutlyatlng rice, they
have not yet learned the art of making sugar pro-
The whole area of Molokai is go square miles,
but of its 100000 acres, the same fact IS true as
| stated by President Dwight in regard to some New
| England mountain land, it is like selfnghteous-
| ness; the more man has of it, so much the worse
| of is he Search has been made in vain for any
stream, that could be turhed to irrgate the soil on
| southerly slopes. For narrow strip along the
shore, and especially near the three harbors, are
fertile spots, where from springs Of water or
| streams from the mountain, taru and sugar cane
can be cultivated. and algeroba trees, with their
LIGHT green foliage afford welcome relief to the
general look of desoation, as though the soil had
been burned and baked. cracked and scanned by
| fiery heat
Reachine Pukoo about a. m, Tuesday, the
boat was soon lowered, and after pull for mile
over the shallow friuging reef, into bay OF which
| the steamer lad made its way to the anchorage,
| we were run up on the beach. II Is astonishing
how readily and unconcarnedly Hawaiian sailors
respond any call for any service at any hour OF
day or night, how steadily they pull, how deity
they guide their boats alike III darkness and Storm
or by daylight with q smooth sea. With their
usual clothing, merinO undershlrt and denim
pants they are u the water or i'll the boat without
thought or care of possible danger from wet gar
ments. And the captains of our inter-lsland ves-I
sells with their multifariOus duties and nundescript
cargoes the tedious delays and utter lack OF con-
venences for landing are men to whom the conn
munity owes more consideration than they get.
The president of the Kaluaaha Y. NJ. o. A. met
me at the landing and putting me ON n horse and
my saddleb bags on another told the boy IN waiting
to take me at once to the parsonage. Rev. II.
| Manase is the pastor, born very near his present
residence. After II years service as pastor and
teacher on Hawaii, he had come back to be minis
ter where he once was child aud scholar at the old
mission station Of KaIuaaha. His house was the
former home of Rev. a. o. Forbes, when he was
pastor here from 1858 TO 1868. But shnuld think
that with Hawaiian thriftlessness nothing had
been done to the house in the way of repairs for
20 years. | was entertained III Hawaiian fashion
ypith chicken and /
served also with butter and pilot bread, in red
lined crockery, with the one knife and fork, kept
for the haoie visitor: while tea was made for me
IN the communion hagon, and the table linen was
evidently also the cloth used in the communion
service.
had much to ask aud hear about the old times,
when Rev. II. II. Hitchcock came in the fifth COM
pany of missionaries to live i'll grass hut, and
TO begin his work where he continued with great
success and without intermission till 1865. Then
failing health made necessary u visit of two years
to the home land. He returned to Molokai, only
to die there Aug 10Th, 1855, just five months after
his return. When ho was building the Church,
and lims failed for mortar, the want was made a
subject of special prayer The very next day u
furious storm broke up the coral reef, and brought
huge pieces ashore, sufficient TO burn all the lime
that was needed. Of course the superstltous
natives at once thought he had mana, supernatural
influence. But they had reverential love as we'll
as superstitious fear. They contributed the funds
for the erection of u marble monument procured
for them by Mr.. Jones, who has cattle ranch IN
and land owner on Molokai. In those old times,
Mr. Hitchcock had congregations of 500 or 900 but
the population then was GOO reduced now to 2Gli.
OF the 22J0 Hawaians, 1886 are reported as Pro-
testaut There are ESQ Catholics. There are l6l
Chinese on tho island, and l03 other foreigners.
Mr. Hitchcock reported 1880 scholars in 10 schools,
where now 233 are enrolled in schools.
The Y. NJ. G. A. Convention brought toge ther
an assembly of $50 people. Only four or five de-
legates came from Maui. Most of the audience
were men in middle life, LINUS, or deacons of the
three churches: but there was 4 good proportion
of young men aud of children. The Convention
passed off pleasantly and prOftably with reports
from delegates, reading of essays, singing, and
addresses. There was more than the usual sense.
less wTangling techncalities, for the Mookai
people are notorious for hard medicines in pull
) ling each their own way in church affairs. Much
of the success of the Convention was due TO the
tact and ability of Charles kahae, the government
teacher at kauaaha, and his wife, who are living
, in the old Hitchcock house.
Leaving Pukoo Wednesday morning at sunrise
in the steamer, which in the meanwhile had been
to Lahaina aud returned, we were soon round the
l east point of the island, stopping to land some
lumber on the rocky shore, where was no sign Of
r human habitation. Ouf next stopping place was
at the the mouth of Halawa valley, half-mile
? wide and three miles deep. But the zig-zag out
lines of the iutting ridges prevented any tull view
of the size and beauty of the valley shut III within
mountain walls $500 feet high 1t has church OF
200 members with Paulo, 4 brother of Menasse, as
its pastor. The north side OF the island, along
which we were sailing seemed to have been lifted
g bodily from the depths OF the sea. Layers OF
/, lava are seen piled up lying level top of eacl
3 other, cut sharply of the whole distance, in somC
places capped with conical top also cut sheer off
and towering up $500 feet above the level of the
, sea- In some places the layers OF stone were
black. as though freshly broken; in some gray. as
e dashed with salt spray in some, green with
: | growth of velyety moss, or waving ginger, Of
frightened with the light groensii gray foliage
3 the k7lRi or candlenut tree. The shore hne was
Il row of gravel, sometimes growth of hald or pan
!, dauus trees. Every once i'll while water fal
! of milky whieness, like silver hair among rayeI
tresses dashed from some cliff in the dizzy height
above, broke into spray, gathered itself again In
o line of foam, poured or leaped or bounded dow
& the precptous mountain sides sometimes straigh
u down sometimes flowing an incline, sometime
a jumping from ledge to ledge into basins whenc
it took its course anew or disappeared altogether
sometimes lost in spray before it could reach tn
sea. The dark blue water along the shore Shove
how deep the was close 10 the base of thes
II perpendicular and towering heights. The Who'll
J. shore line in its sublime yet simple niagnihcenc
IS reminded me of the two famous promOntorios
Cape Eternity and Cape Trinity, that once passe
in in a voyage mp the river Saguenay in Canada,
n Rounding point that struck out INTO the sc
N like the ridge of extinct crater the steamt
IN lay to in the shelter 1t afforded, while the boat wa
to sent ashore at Waiau. On the gravel beach wa
at a row of or 10 houses, the homes of few peop
m that have acres of fertile taro land in the mario
rs valley lying IN a rift of this rocky side. The SUI
1t was high and the tatai III lis bundle OF
ne leaves, had to be 1oated off, twenty punches or s.
&C on either side of a piece of scantling. Sometime
I'd the surf is so high at the Leper Settlement, th