The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-08-27
A uLdIed Niles il the Saddle
Through Puaa.
A TRAVELLERS IMPRESSIONS OF
THE UNEXPLoEED DISTRICT.
Pit Craters and Volcanic Cracks
COcoanufs and Coffee Planfa-
tions-On the Line of the
New Road.

ous-pit craters, volcanic assures,
underground springs, sea caves, relics
of ancient Hawaii and rich virgin
soil. But it is terra incognita, I'M
surveyed, uninhabited, unexplored.
It's richness and its interest have
been known to but few. Towards
this Hawaiian wonderland l turned
my horses head from the Volcano
one bright sunny afternoon.
The road to Keauhou is very
comfortable carriage drive, and winds
through beautiful woods. About six
miles from the Volcano, just opposite
a rustic letter box, goat-track trail
branches to the left. Into this trail
[ pushed my steed, and found my
self in Puna-Puna, the classic land
OF the cocoanut, the Lala, the pine
apple and the little braying donkey.
For a good many miles the trail
leads through forest, over land of an
uncertain character and value, though
it must be arableTfor some purposes.
The descent is steady, and becomes
rapid, until two or three miles above
Peas the brink of the upland is
reached, and the sea CLEANS blue and
misty through the trees, its line of
meeting with the sky at first quite
indistinguishable. This end of Puma
consists of an upland which falls
suddenly to the plain, the latter being
doubtless land won from the sea by
successive lava flows. From Peas,
which lies just below the boundary
of forest, the road descends rapidly
through a country of rough, aged
pahoehoe, in most places covered by
a growth of long, fine grass. About
eighteen miles from the Volcano l
was delighted to see the head of Mr..
Loebenstein, for whom [ had been
anxiously looking, project above the
lofty steeple- ears of his little mule.
Mr.. Loebenstein is surveying in the
district, and it was my singular good
fortune to accompany him to the
scene of his work along the projected
line of the proposed new road.
Pushing forward, the level plain was
soon reached, and here we turned
aside to a cocoanut grove, and l
soon had the pleasure of seeing my
companion, whose agility almost
suggested reversion to an ancestral
type surveying" the country from
the top of a tree. Puma is a land of
cocoanut groves, and the whole coast
line wears their pale green tinge,
through which one sees the white
surf break. It is q unique pleasure
to lie on the grass while others climb
trees and drink the sweet milk in
such quantities as almost suffice to
transform one into a cocoanut. AS
one passes along the wild donkeys
send our animals, or us ~ a frat
erDal greeting across the pahoehoe.
The land across this lower stretch of
country is of little value, except for
grazing purposes, though a rich up
land reveals itself mauka. We pass
the village of Kalapana, situated on
the large and fertile government
land of the same name, and reach
Kaimu at nightfall, where we are re-
ceived with old fashioned Hawaiian
hospitality at the home of Judge
Kauila. A native brings us an obla
ton consisting of sack full of pine
apples. How can one show ones
gratitude unless he sits down on the
steps and devours unaided, a couple
of the juicy fruit. We we're grateful,
and that is just what we did. Then
follows the usual superb chicken
hot from the pot, delicious sweet
potatoes and poi. From the supper
table it is a short journey to
bed, where tired eyelids speed
lily close on tired eyes,-as the
poet feelingly observes,-and the
first day IN Puma is ended.
Kalapana and Kaimu are on the sea
shore, and the road continues to skirt
this for miles, passing cocoanut ano
hala groves and ancient breadfruit
trees which are now fast disappear
ing, as the natives live by the dill
gence of their ancestors, and plant
nothing. The aa crops out here and
there, and grows steadily more plen
tiful; yet almost everything will
grow In it. The most magnificent
sweet potatoes flourish, fine manages
attain goodly proportions, and faro
as Mr.. Rycroft informed me, will
maintain itself, if only man takes the
trouble to stick the hull into a cleft
of the rock. Put the plant there, anc
sun, rain and rock will work tine
miracle of growth. Yet at Opihikao
the natives are said to be suffering
for food. Whose fault is it? There
is hardly white man in Puma tc
modest or trouble the Hawaiian, YET
the decay which is upon them is as
visible here as anywhere. They
have lost their grip" as Mr.. Rycroft
truly says. The grass house, so rare
elsewhere, one still sees in these soil
tudes of Puma, bat it too is disap-
pearing with the race which built it
On the aa one sees round, fiat stones
from the sea shore, traces of the
ancient trails now abandoned, and
hollows which indicate a cultivation
long past. One still meets the Ha
waiians of the early type, gentlemen
of the old school, gracious and ami
able, with the hospitality which
makes the race SO lovable, but they
pass and leave no successors, and the
young men growing up are charac
terized by sullen hatred of the
haole.
The whole coast in the neighbor
hood of Kaimu is said to have beer
steadily sinking since 1868, anc
one passes cocOanut and hall