Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-03-11
Special Correspondence Herald and Tribune
HAWAII, THE "PEARL OF
THE PACIFIC"
A JOurneyltO the Great yOlcanO.-A Mys.
teriOus Plantation Owner.
Copyright 1895, by Funk & Wagnalls Com
pany, New York.

OF course, no visitor to the Hawaiian
Islands fails to see the great volcano Kill
auea The journey to this volcano can
now be made very comfortably. The
Wilder Steamship Company runs line
of steamers from Honolulu to Hilo which
there connect with stage. This stage
takes one to the Volcano House, about
three miles from the crater.
On December TO- | boarded the Kinau,
steamer of the Wilder line, for Hilo.
The next morning we were at one of the
| ports on the northern part of tho island
called Wahumacoua, where there was
large sugar plantation for which our
ship was bringing some heavy machin
cry. AS the vessel was anchored half
mile from shore, the transportation of
that ponderous machinery to land was
an interesting sight Two of the boats
were lowered and lashed together with
ropes and heavy beams of timber. Then
the great iron rollers and cylinders were
let down by means Of steam derrick
and placed on the two boats, which were
then rowed ashore by the native sailors.
The water in this bay is so clear that
we could see pebbles on the bottom al
the depth Of forty or fifty feet Schools
of fish, some weighing twenty to thirty
pounds, could be seen swimming about
the ship. The natives on board cast over
hooks and caught one fine large fellow.
When the cargo for this port had been
all taken ashore, we continued our voy-
age down the coast Of the great island
which, with its miles of stone fences and
brown earth, seemed barren waste But
as weproceeded the scene changed. Huts
and mills in abundance, with pastures,
cane fields, and forests succeeded barren
wastes. Then soon, as we steamed along
the shore, the snow capped peak of Mauna
kea arose before our vision, in strong
contrast with the tropical sun and sum-
mer breeze that famed our cheeks.
During the afternoon we passed the
landing called Panilo, where Minister
Stevens daughter, an estimable young
lady, was drowned. Miss Stevens had
been visiting some friends at this place,
and was taking the vessel for Honolulu
when the boat which was conveying her
to the ship was overturned by the surf
and she was drowned in fifty feet of
water. A native sailor afterward dived
to the bottom and recovered her body.
We arrived at Hilo at about eight in
the evening, and going ashore was
taken in hack to the Hilo Hotel kept
by a Portuguese named Joseph Vierra.
From here to the Volcano House one
goes over fairly good road through the
Puma district in a stage, which makes
the trip every other day.
On the morning of December IA, we
boarded the steamer and left Hilo. In
the suburbs we halted to pick up Japa-
nese who was going up the road, and at
the bridge beyond Hilo we took native
man and an empty goods box on board.
Then the four horses with the stage
swept down the road, through lane
with rich cane fields on either side.
After few miles the cane fields dis
appeared, and we plunged into vast
forests of AHA wood mingled with which
wild coffee was growing. Occasionally
we crossed n narrow path leading into
the dense Jungle, and whenever one
glanced down it, the shanty of Japa-
nese might have been seen snugly hid
den away like ground birds nest.
The stage carried the mail, and was
surprised at the manner in which this
was distributed by the driver. At every
path along the way he gave a blast on
his stage horn, and threw off letter or
paper. Sometimes there was post box
at the roadside, and as he whirled by the
stage driver deftly dropped into it the
mail for the owner Of the plantation.
One practice in Hawaii might teach a
valuable lesson to the United States, and
that is the employment of convict labor
on public roads Hawaii has some of the
best and some of the worst roads in the
world. Some of her broad turnpikes
! over the mountains are due to conyicts
working out their fines or years of penal
servitude, whichis certainly more profit
able than hiring them out to corpora
ton. If man violates the laws, it makes
no difference whether he commits mis-
demeanor or felony, he must serve the
spunky little republic by digging on
the road.
At four o'clock the Volcano House,
Peter Lee, proprietor, was reached. One
has all the evidences of the near proX-
unity of volcano on approaching the
house. Steam was issuing from the seams
in the lava crusted earth along the road.
side, and when we gained the higher
ground we could see for miles about us.
There were thousand fissures in the
earth from which hot steam and smoke
were issuing, while far off to the west
the smoke from the eternal fires of Ki.
lauea gave it the appearance of Dore's
paintings of Dante's Inferno. Below the
the Volcano House, not three hundred
PAGES away, are vast sulphur banks
from which issues vapor in a continuous
stream. Mr.. Lee, the proprietor, has
built bath house, and conveys the sui.
phur vapor to it, the healing properties
of which he declares are unequaled.
The Volcano House is large commo.
dious country inn, with Accommodations
equal to such places in the United
States 1t is great pleasure resort, and
patronized extensively by invalids
Altho it would seem that one could al
most stand on its porch and throw a
stone into the crater, it is three miles
away.
My guide, whose name was Albert
was a strange mixture of nationalities
He was born in Japan, his mother was a
native Of the Gilbert Islands, and his