Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-05-20
OLAA COFFEE DISTRICT.
WILDERNESS MADE TO BLOSSOM
LIKE THE ROSE.
reeming Industry on n Tourist Tho
rougbfsre-PIanters object TO
Forest Reservation.

HllO to the active crater OF Nj |
lauea was advocated, argument in
its favor was not confined to its
desirability for tourist travel.
One Of the principal reasons adj
vanced for its construction was
that it would open up large tract
Of land, capable Of producing
variety of marketable crops and
affording especial advantages for
the cultivation Of coffee. While
the road of the best in the
country-has been a great boon
to tourists, as well as to islanders,
making the worlds wonder as we
call it easily and comfortably
accessible from the chief port of
this island, it is well fulfilling
its other important promise of
aiding very extensively in the
much desired development of the
latent resources of the group.
1t is but six years since, taking
a drive over the half of the road
then built, l saw only one clear
ing in the forest for coffee. To-
day the road is bordered on both
sides for a distance of about
fifteen miles with coffee
farms whose paintings are
of a bearing age. And the
trees, both those having inter-
spersing shade and those having
none, seem to be in most healthy
condition.
The coffee border on either side
of the road is not continuous, for
there are some holders who came
in after the Government had pre-
scribed a reservation of the wild
forest, to a depth of $50 feet, next
the road. Yet even the paintings
visible and invisible on the line
Of the road do not tell the whole
story of the growth of the coffee
industry in Olaa, as the district
now described is prettily called.
At intervals along the way trans
verse roads are laid out, which
lead to other belts of coffee lands
that have been taken up. Figures
are not at hand as this is written,
but it is certain that, in this dis
trict alone, there are thousands of
acres either planted with or being
prepared for coffee.
The coffee farms along the Vol
cano road have features of great in
terest for travellers on that avenue
of thirty-one miles. One does not
need to see thefarmers to Judge that
they are intelligent yeomanry. The
amount of letter mail that the
driver Of the stage leaves at and
takes away from their gates is one
evidence of this fact, but more
than written correspondence
large quantity of both
home and foreign prints de-
livered there indicates the char
acter Of the community. Illiterate
communities the world over are
noted for the small custom they
give the post Office. At every gate
and every crossroad in Olaa you
will see box for the receipt and
delivery of mail matter. The re-
ceptacles are big enough to re-
ceive, also, such articles as rolls
of butter, pieces of meat, packages
of groceries, etc. When the driver
of the stage approaches house or
crossroad he blows his horn as
signal to the people to come out
with or for articles as the case may
be. Sometimes the lord of the
manor comes out to the road him
self in response, to swap news
with the driver or passengers of
his acquaintance, but often
healthy-looking child is sent out
to do the necessary business.
Catholic and Salvation Army
chapels and two-roomed public
school are other evidences of civil
lization.
In the matter of refinement and
good taste the homes of the farm
ers are in direct evidence, making
it unnecessary to establish the
fact by differences such as those
whereby the Intelligence of the
settlement is presumed. Always
neat-looking and often pretty in
design, the cottages in general
have their home,like aspects en-
hanced by the accessories ofvelvety
green lawns, sometimes broken into
terraces, beautifully designed and
richly blooming gardens, smooth
paths and fences in keeping. The