The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-05-17
LETTER FROM HILO.
Beauties of Hawaii's Arcadian Viii
lage-l8 Miles of Carriage
Real Finished FingaPs
Gave.

various pleasing eVlu0uCeS Vi pTOS-
ress in this ideal tropical town.
Many pretty new homes have been
built and the streets have been i'm
proved. a fine two-story public
school has lately been finished, which
| believe is the best in the islands.
The pleasing outlines of the build
ing, the neat yard, substantial fence,
pretty gate and smooth, solid con
crete walks make it an ornament to
the town. It's worthy and able prin
cipal, Mr., Lord, together with his
efficient teachers, the Misses Deyo,
Mcleod, West, Hitchcock and Kelly,
are giving the school an enviable
reputation. The scholars are re-
ceiving especially good training in
music through the "Tonic Sol Fa"
system, which is every year recon
mending itself more and more by it's
remarkable results. l never heard
native children speak English more
perfectly than they do in this school.
Miss III. Coan is the head of another
excellent school, supported in part
by Government and in part by tut
ton fees.
The Roman Catholics have put up
a large school house, somewhat in
the style of the public school.
The Hilo First Foreign Church
have added to their meeting house a
pretty Sunday School room, prayer
meeting room and ladies' pa=lor, all
in one chapel in the rear of the main
building.
The new Protestant Portuguese
Church, which was dedicated last
winter, is a decided addition to the
beauty of the place. We are glad to
hear that it is prospecting, its congre-
cations averaging about a hundred.
Its prayer meeting last Wednesday
numbered fifty-three.
One of the last and greatest i'm
provements is the bringing of pure
fountain water into town in pipes.
The supply is abundant and of the
best quality; it has a head of 200
feet, which gives force enough for
running sewing machines in the
homes of the people.
The Volcano road is now advanc-
ing through the woods more rapidly
than at any time since the work was
resumed by the present Government.
The temporary railway and iron cars
greatly facilitate the bringing of the
stone. There is now a delightful
carriage road completed up to the
eighteenth mile post from Hilo. It
is to be hoped that this work will be
pushed steadily forward till car
riages can go through to the Vol
cano. Only six miles of difficult
ground remain to be conquered.
The road should be all ready for the
$4,000 tourists" from the Colonies
next year, besides all that are to
come from America and Europe.
The ride through the woods is de-
lightful and can easily be made
much more so.
I would suggest that the Govern
ment detail one or two intelligent
and faithful men for six months or
year to plant fruit trees in the rich
pockets on each side of the road and
to protect them for the first year.
After that they would take care of
themselves and grow luxuriantly.
The greater portion of the road
could in this way, at trifing ex-
pense, be lined and over arched with
mangoes, alligator pears, oranges,
lines, lemons, ohias, etc. There is
no place in the world in which these
fruits will grow more easily or luxu-
riantly or produce more abundantly.
A sprinkling of cocoanuts might be
put in near the sea, and of royal
and other palms further inland.
There need be no fear of spelling
the primeval forest by such fruit and
shade trees near the road. The
original forest will take care Of itself
and hold its own if not deliberately
cut or burnt down. The wind is cut
off by the woods which makes that
portion of the road hot. The shade
of fine fruit trees like alligator pears,
oranges and mangoes would be
doubly grateful.
1t is pity that most visitors and
tourists fail to see Pope Falls and
the wonderful Boiling Potts." about
three miles up the Waikiki river.
A short distance below the falls
the river disappears first under one
and then under another arch of
basaltic rocks very similar to those
of FingaPs Cave. The great pen
tagonal rock-crystals have been
broken squarely off by the centuries
of floods that have swept over the
tops of these arches in times of
freshets; but the floods have never
been strong enough to tear away the
mighty arches themselves. The COM
pact crystals of which the arches are
formed give the surface the appear
ance of great mosaic or tessellated
pavement put together /" by art and
mans device" in some Cyclopean
age. Below each arch the deep, blue
water boils up into a cauldron of
solid rock, looking like an unfathom-
able spring. There are seven sue
cessive caldrons, one below the other,
which have been scooped out of the
living rock by the torrents and grind
ing boulders.
Those who have not visited Hon.
ID. ii. Hitchcock's mountain retreat.
Boogainville," on the edge of the
woods, do not know one of the chief
delights which the beautiful environs
of Hilo can afford. Here, only four