Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-24
\ MOUNTAIN THAT SINGS
Musical Performa N bf One Of the Peaks of
.:Hwiaii.
Said to be the Gsse.tly shrieks of
Dead Warriors, who Plunged
From a Pfecislc e Near By.
Written for The EvsaSiing Star.

Written for The EvsAAing Star.
If Hawaii is annexed to this country.
the United States wilb, possess mountain
that sings. Remarkable as this statement
may seem, it is literally a fact Mt. Tan
talus just outside OF Honolulu, can be
made to sing any song or run any score in
the whole musical repertoire. The natives
attribute 1t all to the ghosts of departed
warriors said to inhabit the Businesses
round about, but science has found the
real explanation. Nevertheless, the native
attribution is interesting, and well worth
consideration before the more prosaic ex-
PLANTATION forces itself upon one.
Six miles out, Of Honolulu the precip-
ftous cliffs Of Mt. Pail rise 2,OOO feet above
the sea. About 200 feet up is a ledge which
gives clear drop Of more than ] 900 feet
FROM this comes the, name of Pail. or
preclpice. Here, in ancient Hawaiian his
tory, the great lighting chief. Kamehameha
l, penned In. the, vanquished forces of his
arch enemies, Kananipule. and Kaiana.
after forcing them from field to field and
crag to crag In terrible mountain fight.
Standing upon this fatal crag. the rem
nants Of the defeated bands. finding that
no quarter would be given. and seeing no
means Of escape. leaped oyer the precfpice.
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
Tantalus. The top of It Is voiced like
dreamland. and even the most staid nature
Will thrill and be mystified by its sweetness
and melancholy. 1t Is at nighttime only
when the plaintive and strange sounds are
heard which fall upon the startled senses
like lamentations in the wind" strange
screams of DEATH" At times they are loud
an. boisterous. like midnight reveis. and
again they soften into complete wall.
These voices which moan and scream and
sob about in the night winds are believed
by superstftious natives to be the spirits of
the warriors whose mangied bodies lay at
the foot of Pail after that dreadful leap,
and whose names are still unappeased.
Where 1t All Comes From.
To destroy this pretty Illusion is almost
barbarous. Still, these sounds so reverent-
ly listened to by the Oahu natives IAN be
caused by nothing more than the ocean
breakers beating on the windward shore,
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 of the presence
OF human spirits about you cannot be
shaken of. and the weird song of terror
as Of human voices cannot be hushed nor
translated into their sounds by even a
strong mind On dark night sensitive
and superstitious mind could not endure
with comfort the hideous forebodings of
the scene.
Now. II two persons whose voices chord
should sing from one of the heights 1t will
be found that the mountain will catch up
the song and take it from cliff to cliff
carrying it off into the distance in one
direction and bringing 1T back in another.
until perfect round is obtained. Then, If
the two singers suddenly cease their feed
ing song, the mountains will go sing
ing it for quite a long time. The same
song is being repeated In all directions, the
first part making complete circle and be-
ing followed by the middle and the last
part, which come around later. IT might
be few seconds, 1t might be a few min
utes, for the singer forgets TO count the
ticks as the chant of this weird air, cut
loose from human lungs. reverberates alone
through the broken chasms and, ,riven
rocks as Of spirits ,carolins their way
among the glades and crags of this sing
ing mountain. It,. is a long and tedious
climb to Tantalus, but once there. the
lingering visitor will never regret or forget
its romance and the: melancholy cadence
of it's winds. f-a, zH.
This spot abounds in curiosities. Not far
away is a large and strange salt lake. 1t
is completely shut In from the ocean by a
circle of hills about 100 feet high, which
girdle 1t. The tide rises and falls in the
lake as 1t does in the big ocean miles
away. Though there is no perceptible tun-
mel or other connection with the ocean,
these, tidal conditions indicate a subter-
ranean channel underneath the mountains
to the sea. Great quantities Of salt were
once made at this lake. That industry Is