The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-04-03

which project from the floor of the
crater; mountains within mountains,
craters within the great crater,
mimic world henmed in by circle
of towering peaks ten thousand feet
above the foaming sea.
Whatsoever things endure for ages
while the temples and habitations Of
men crumhle away and return to
original dust, impress the mind with
awe. Here are professions of clouds
from away out yonder on the surging
ocean, pouring through a great gap in
the mountain side which was once a
flood gate for lava. Through that
chasm the clouds have been rushing
for thousands of years, until their
mists and storms have worn away
gigantic powders and polished the
mountains, which suddenly glisten
like dark rubies when struck by the
rising sun. Over yonder are dancing
rainbows and purple clouds whose
beauties have formed and dissolved
for countless ages. Probably that gall
lery of swift forming pictures in the
air was rich with fantastic forms and
colOrs before the life of man on earth
began. Nature here shifts the scenes
and changes the tones forever, with
out noise or monotony; for the sun is
always on time, mists eternally rise
from the billowy main, and the air
watts changing clouds on wings that
never grow weary. Just as the winds
blow, just as the earth rolls, the
myriad beauties of Haleakala form
each day beneath Maui's great trop-
zeal mountain.
At midnight and early morn alike
the palace of the sun is a place for
meditation. Its sublime silence be-
meath the quiet stars and ripe moon
is poem that awakens the noblest
impulses of the human mind, and one
stands entranced as he views the vast
area embraced within the ancient GRAFT
er-an area once covered with surging
pillows of melted lava, but now silent
as the sky-as if the spirit of Fire had
painted it all in immortal colOrs that
sunshine and storm can never wash
away. And rising above all is the
eternal mystery of the dead abyss-its
history forever hidden within its SUBJ
lime and speechless depths!
There are many echo canyons in
the Palace of the Sun-places where
the voice plays fantastic pranks, as if
TO make one think he held communion
with beings hidden in secret caverUs,
or that shadow musicians sang from
the clouds. Musical sounds are repro
duced more readily than any others
by the spirits that dwell in the cav
ems and cliffs of this weird mountain.
Let the voice roll forth clearly in some
round, full. musical tone, and the can.
yons will sing back the tune again
a I'd again to the fifth echo-the last as
if from the rose tinted clouds, or from
the blue peaks of distant mountains,
so that the effect among the rainbows
and purple cOlors is altogether charm
ing.
Over the dead volcano three spirits
ever hOver-Beauty, Silence and Des-
OlatiOn. The enchanting scenes every
where Astounding and forever chang
ing are wholly new to the eye, as if
majestic Eden of mystery had sud
denly come to light in the hush of
Maui's imposing wonderland. Through
rising waves of morning air the
mountains within the crater lift their
dreamy peaks as if refreshed by the
night winds; and the clouds are
whirled into banks, shoals, peaks and
fantastic cathedrals as they rush
through the historic gap that leads to
the ocean. Every form is kissed by
the tropical sun of early morn. Some
of these children of the sky nave
peach-blow tints, while here and
there bars of gold or pillows of pearl
appear. These temples of the air
grow richer every moment from the
birth of dawn until the ruddy light of
day dissolves them in its glistening
sheen. Dawn is the poets hour at
Haleakala, for every object of nature
is then silvered or purpled in the
growing light, according to its eleva-
ton and capacity for absorbing colors.
The sublime in nature is seen here as
much as at Niagara or in the Alps,
but the chiseled mountains aud
changing lights have been wrought on
a larger masterpiece in Haleakala,
and amid more desOlate wastes of
silence and grandeur than in any
land known to man. In some phases
the aspect of Maui's wonderful sun
palace suggests the moon, whose
empty oceans and towering noun
tains have siumbered in solitude for
ages, unbroken by the sounu of voices
or the throb of busy life.
LEIGH H. IRVINE.
Honolulu, March 80, 1894.