The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-28

oroer one ike II, walked 10 the gate ana
| sad: The gate; walked through ii,
| stopped, looked back at the house and NUT
tered:
We'll, I'll be dumfuzzled"'
Hawaiin Mountain That Sings
| If Hawaii is annexed to this country, the
United States Will possess mountain that
sings. Remarkable as this statement may
| seem. it is literally a fact Nj. Tanalas,
| ust outside of Honolulu, can be made to
sing any song or run any score in the
| whole musical repertoire. The natives at
tribute it TO the ghosts of departed war
riors said TO inhabit the Businesses round
about, but sciences has found the real ex-
PLANTATION. Nevertheless. the native at
tribution is interesting, and well worth con-
s,deration before the more prosaic expia-
nation forces itself upon one.
Six miles out OF Honolulu the precipitous
cliffs of ST. Pail rise 300 feet above the sea.
About 800 feet up is a ledge which gives
clear drop of home than 1000 feee. From
this comes the name of PaE, or precicipe.
Here in ancient Hawaiian history the great
fighting chief, Kamehameha I, penned IN
| the vanquished forces of his arch enemies,
Kanaripule and Kalana, after forcing them
| from field to field and craig TO craig in
| terrible mountain fight. Standing upon
| this fatal craig, the remnants of the de-
feated bands finding that no quarter would
be given. and seeing no means Of escape.
| ieaped over the precicipe. They were
dashed to pieces on the rocks and debris
| below. Hundreds lay in that terrible heap
OF death.
To the east of Pail is the mountain called
Tanalus. The top Of 1t Is voiced like a
| dreamland, and even the most staid nature
will thrill and be mystified by its sweet
ness and melancholy. 1t is at night time
only when the plaintive and strange sounds
are heard which fall upon the startled
senses Ike lamentations in the wind"
strange screams of DEATH At times they
are loud and boisterous like midnight revels
and again they soften into a complete wall.
These voices which moan and scream and
soD about in the night are believed by
superstitions natives to be the spirits OF
the warriors whose mangled bodies lay at
the foot of Pail after that dreadful leap,
and whose names are still unappeased.
To destroy this pretty illusion is almost
barbarous. Still, these sounds so rever-
emily listened to by the Oahn natives. can
be caused by nothing more than the ocean
breakers beating On the windward shores,
and the plaintive cadence of the calmer
surf below, alternating with the angry and
wilder scolding Of the storm above, echo
ing among the dales and crags of the lofty
mountain. The feeling as CT the presence
of human spirits about you can not be
shaken off, and the wierd song of terror as
of human voices can not be hushed nor.
translated into their sounds by even
strong mind. On drag night sensitive
and superstit.ous wind could not endure
with comfort the hideous forebodings Of
the scene.
Now, If two persons whose voices chord,
should sing from one of the heights, it will
be wound that the mountain will catch UP
the song and take it from cliff TO cliff. car
Iying it off into the distance in one direc-
ton and bringing 1t back in another. until
a perfect round is obtained. Then If the
two singers suddenly cease their feeding"
song, the mountains will go on singing It
for quite long time. The same song Is
being repeated in all directions. the first
part making a complete circle and being
followed by the middle and the last part.
which come around later; IL might be
few seconds. it might be few minutes. for
the singer forgets TO count the ticks of the
chant OF this weird air. cut loose from
human lungs, reverberates alone through
the broken chasm and riven rocks as OF
spirits caroiing their way among the glades
and crags of this singing mountain. 1t Is
a long and tedious climb to Tantalus. but
once there, the lingering visitor will never
regret or forget its romance and the melan-
choly cadence Of its winds.
This spot abounds in curios!t.es. Not far
away is large and strange salt lake II
is completely shut in from the ocean by
circle of hills about 100 feet high which
grdle il. The tide rises and falls in the
lake as IL does in the ocean miles away.
Though there is no precept:ble tunnel or
other connection with the ocean, these tidal
conditions indicate a subterranean channel
underneath the mountains to the sea. Great
quantities of salt were once made at this
lake. That industry is dead now. Among
the low nat rich lands Of the Eva, thous-
ards Of native Hawaians used to live The
native IS gone and the lands are now IN
Tested by herds OF Chinese. The native
trao patches have given way TO Chinese
rice fields. Once some foolish fellow i'm
ported little birds into those watered plots
10 eat UP imaginary insects which ne fan
cied would destroy coming harvests. Now.
unless the firing of guns and the beating OF
rongs IL kept up continuously. millions OF
these little birds clean out the crops IN
stead. An equally energetic farmer intro !
duCed an anti-bug snake, but the populace |
promptly killed them before they secured a |
grip upon the multiplication table. AS a |
pleasing result Hawaii resembles ireland |
in that there is not snake on the islands. |