The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-04-02

Mr.. Leigh Irvine, when he re-
turned from visiting the two great
wonders of the islands-Kilauea
and Haleakala-remarked that he
considered the latter of much more
interest than the former. His ac-
count of his visit to the palace of
the Sum-" which appears below,
will be read with much interest:
In the old legends of India the first
men ate of the earth and found 1t de-
licious. They were thrilled by sun
and moon and stars, and in the dia-
mond- clear mornings and halcyOn
sunsets they saw the symbol of God.
There is not so much simple faith and
poetry in the busy world of shams
today, but if q man would be thrilled
with wonder and inspired with
thoughts of the eternal; if he would
forget the narrow, artificial and cur
tailed life of cities and become a part
Of the elemental world, let nim go TO
the island of Maui and climb 10000
feet above the level of the sea to the
Palace of the Sun, which is slumber-
ing volcano into which Americas
metropolis might be dropped without
inconvenience.
The sovereign mountain wherein
Haleakala sleeps like dead giant-its
every rent and mound and conforma-
ton a. history of tremendous energy
is about twenty miles from Spreckels-
vile, the largest plantation In the
world; but when one climbs gradu-
ally up the mountain side until he has
reached the rugged home Of wild goats
and aboriginal cattle, the 10000 acres
of sugar cane surrounding Spreckels-
Vile do not look much larger than q
town lot; and before the apex of the
mountain is reached the land and
ocean in the back ground are OBJ
structed by great banks OF clouds,
which lie far beneath the observer.
There is on the way delightful
summer residence known as Olinda, a
quiet and picturesque rest for the
weary, which nestles on the sloplng
mountain, about four miles below the
spot from which tourists view the
ancient prison wherein the god Maui
chained the sun until he promised
to give the Hawaiian Islands their
bountiful light and heat. The four
miles from Olinda TO the crest of this
great mountain are the longest four
miles in the Hawaiian Islands; for the
| road is continually washed away by
mountain torrents, the air is thin and
unsubstantial as the fabric of a
| dream, and the solitude has greater
pressure to the square inch than any
| barometer can measure.
/ have ridden and climbed afOOt
over many weary miles in my time
amid Kansas cyclones, about n ag-
| ara in winter, and through the Jesse
James country at night but the most
| weird and oppressively Lonesome
| Journey / ever made was last week 5
| moonlight ride from Olinda to the
| Palace of the Sun. The trip must be
made at night. because elves of the
valley and wraiths OF the mysterious
mountain vanish at the first peep OF
morning, and the fairies that people
| the marvellous crater, where once the
orb of day dwelt a prisoner, depart
| soon after the appearance OF dawn.
| The latch string at Olinda hangs
within reach of presentable people,
! though no one lives in the house. It's
| dread silence is IN Keeping with the
| solitude OF the SOmbre mountain.
| Within are many evidences OF pros
| perity, culture and uuequaled hospi
| taIity-as seen i'm neat furniture, bed
! clothing, books and signs suspended
| from chandeliers, saying: Please
make yourself at nome, DuG ne cdteluI
| about matches !"
| But when one leaves Olinda he
! bids farewell to familiar scenes and
| enters a realm more fantastic than
| any Midsummer Nights Dream of
| akespeare-prOvided he has sure
! footed horse tits awkward to have a
! stumbling animal break ones reveries,
and possibly ribs, by sudden miss steps
| over the burrows and bOwiders, whlcn
| are called trail OUT of courtesy, and
! by a supreme effort of the imagina-
| ton. In the thin air of the rare alti-
| tude extending from Oiinda to the
/ mountain top the stars look double
/ their normal size, while the moon
| bursts into q sheen of glory and bur-
! nishes the clouds in strange and
| charming tints. These spectacles need
! not alarm anyone, however. They are
not freaks of Haleakala, or omlnOus
! signs, bur merely the everyday dress
/ of nature, the normal phases of her
| phenomena in this neighbOrhood.
| There is nothing in the appearance
| of the wild cattle, or in the solid
! masses of rock and earth which sur
| round one in all directions, to suggest
| that this vast mountain once had the
| misfortune of losing its bowels; that
/ a convulsion OF nature, or volcanic
! eruption in ancient times, robbed 1t OF
| as much land as would make II county
and that this prehistO ic loss was
| nothing less than the disappearance