The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-09-16
PART i.

mOulu Vi NAoAS
to Molokai as a pleasure trip. What
ever vessel you may select out Of the
inter-island fleet of steamers there is
the Kaiwi channel to be crossed only
twenty-three miles between Oahu
and Molokai but it is rough with head
winds and choppy waves. And when
the painful sensations of seasickness
are ended, the transfer from steamer
to shore is by no means the delightful
way of escape with which a delusive
hopefulness would buoy up the sink
ing soul of the seasick traveller. III IT
be midnight and the captain be afraid
to approach too near the mile wide
reef that stretches out from the coast
of Molokai, the prospect of being
dropped into an open boat away out
from the land and then borne forward
in the darkness to a faint Pickering
light is anything but exhilarating !!
Fortunately for me it was daylight
and q smooth sea. Captain Sinner
son, in charge of the w. @. Hall, was
very accommodating, and stopped the
steamer close by boat sent out from
Kaunakakai. The four oarsmen took
but twenty minutes to row from ship
TO shore; but the last one hundred yards
proved to be such shallow water, that
the men laid aside their oars, stepped
forward until it touched the sandy
beach and stepped out on the solid
land. Near by, q double row OF stones
marked the failure of an experiment
tried some years ago to give Molokai
q Government wharf. The enterpris-
ing Chinaman, who cuts firewood
from the algaroba thicket that lines
the shore for miles at this point, has
built small pier on which he has a
railway to expedite the loading of
wood on board his little schooner. He
is proposing to dig an artesian well
and in case he finds water will pro-
coed to put the land into shape for rice
fields. 1t must be rich soil for il has
had the wash of the hills for ages.
1t would seem as il in some great
CONFUSION Molokai has been tipped
ND from the earthward side and the
northern part of it tipped into the
abysmal depths of the ocean. Besides
that, there is apparently going on a
gradual elevation of the southern
coast. Where once the tide came up
there is now dry land. This is the
work OF great tellurial forces. But
there is a no less interesting opera
ton OF similar forces acting now in
conjunction with local conditions.
The island slopes from east to west,
the highest portion being the eastern
end. But there has also been, at
some time, q break in the western
slope. The whole land of Kaluakoi,
about eight miles square, has been
lifted up at the eastern extremity 500
feet. The adjoining land of Palaau
was also elevated somewhat, on the
other side of the assure. Consequent
~ it slopes gradually two ways-east-
erIy and southerly. 1t Is the ideal
land for q sugar plantation. There
are vast plains of red earth uncut by
gu!lies, in every way well adapted for
irrigation. The soil is rich and deep
and beneath it is a stratum of pdpdG-
Eed, forming q natural drainage as
we'll as a mine of fertiliZing material.
But there Is no water on all these
thousands of acres. Toward the south
ern shore the land descends quite rap
idly and the surface is strewn with
stones, and without vegetation, save
few withered weeds here and there.
On the northern shore line where the
ocean winds unload their burden of
water vapor, the D1dntenie grass grows
luxuriaatly. 1t is in fact so rapid in
growth that the cattle pastured on the
land cannot keep it down and the
rank growth gets high and dry and
old.
If in the fissure between two lands,
KaluIakoi and Palaau, artesian wells
could strike q water bearing stratum
and brIug water to the surface, the
land that is not worth more than ten
cents would be worth a hundred dol
lars an acre. That such project Is
feasible and might be successful
would seem to be indicated by the
fact that at the northern end of the
assure is a spring beneath tide level.
dir lrfncr NO 20
there when occupying the spot tenn
poraffiy as q fishing station.
Near this Moomomi fishing station
the land projects into the sea, forming
a cove. But q canoe could not be
managed easily on the turbulent
waters amid the rocks that protrude
above the waves. The natives fish
with a net, but manage il by swim
ming hither and yon. That fatal ac-
cidents are incident to this hazardous
plan of fishing would seem to be indi-
Gated by the many skeletons that the
winds are continually excavating
from the sandy point near by, which
was apparently 2 burying ground in
the olden times.
Ascending from Moomomi to the
ledge that forms the eastern boundary
of the land of Kaluakoi, the traveller
comes upon what the Hawaiians call
"Ka laina wawae." On what was
once a sea beach, now hardened into
solid rock, are human footsteps or
some of natures wonderful simula-
lions of human forms. a slab or two
might be removed and kept at the
Bishop Museum, for exhibition or
scientific investigation.
About halfway across the land OF
Kaluakoi, from north to south, rises q
bill, Kahalelani, and from its top
the eastern end of the plateau lies
spread out, all good grazing land.
West of this hill, across the land from
north to south, stretches line of vel
low, shifting tand, Ke one lele. The
clouds OF sand, as the sun strikes
them, have the appearance of flames
Of fire. Beyond this point did not
20. 1t would have taken me all day
TO ride to the extreme west end Of the