The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-16
SINGING MOUNTAIN.
Hawaiian Curiosity About Which
There Is u Pretty Superstition.

A1a"al1ah curiosity About Which
There Is n Pretty Superstition.
If Hawaii is annexed to this country,
the United States will possess a noun
tain that sings, says the Washington
Star Remarkable as this statement
may seem. it is literally fact Mount
Iantalus, just outside of Honolulu, can
be made to sing any song, or run any
score in the whole musical repertoire
The natives attribute it all to thu
ghosts of departed warriors, said to Inc
hab1t the Businesses around about, but
science has found the real explanation.
Nevertheless, the native attribution is
interesting, and we'll worth considera-
ton before the more prosaic explana-
ton forces itself upon one
Six miles out Of Honolulu the pre-
clp1tous cliffs of Mount Pail rise 1000
feet above the sea. About 200 feet I'D
is ledge which gives a clear drop of
more than !, 200 feet. From this comes
the name of Pail, or precipice Here.
in ancient Hawaiian history, the great
hght1ng 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 a terrible mountain
fight. Standing upon this fatal crag.
the remnants of the defeated bands,
finding that no quarter would be Civ
en-, and seeing no means of escape,
leaped over the precipice They were
dashed to pieces on the rocks and de-
br1s below. Hundreds lay in that ter
rible heap of death.
To the east Of Pail is the mountain
called Tantalus. The top of it is voiced
like a dreamland and even the most
staid nature will thrill and be mystified
by Its sweetness and melancholy. It is
at nighttime only when the plaintive
and strange sounds are heard which
fall upon the startled senses like lam
entations in the wind" strange
screams of DEATH" At times they are
loud and boisterous, like midnight rev.
els, and again they soften into COM
plete wall. These voices which moan
and scream and sob about in the night
winds are believed by superstitious ma
t1ves 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 al
most barbarous. Still these sounds 81
reverently listened to by the Oahu ma
tives can be caused by nothing more
than the ocean breakers beating on
the WindWard shore, and the plaintiye
cadence of the calmer surf below, alter
mating with the angry and wilder
scolding of the storm above, echoing
among the .dales and crags of the lofty
mountain. The feeling as of the pres
ence OF human spirits about you can
not be shaken off, and the weird song
of terror as of human voices cannot
be hushed nor translated into their
sounds by even a strong mind. On q
dark night a sensitive and superstitious
mind 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 1t will be found that the noun
tain will catch UP the song and take
it from cliff to cliff, carrying it off into
the distance in one direction and bring
ing it 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
1T for quite a 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 comes around
later 1t might be a few seconds. it
might be a few minutes, for the sing
er 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 caroling 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 it's romance and the
melancholy cadence of its winds.