The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-04
HAwAIrs SINGING MOUNTAIN
Remarkable Effects of Crags Near inc
City of Honolulu.
(From the Denver Republican,

(From the Denver Republican,
If Hawaii is annexed to this country
the United States will possess mouh'ain
that sings. Remarkable as this staDehi0iio
may seem it is literally iac'. 4A0
Tantalus, 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 inc shos'e
of departed warriors said to 1nhaplo 'no
Businesses round about, but SCHEMES
has found the real explanation. NEVER
theless, the native attributlon Is inooi
esting and well worth consideration oo-
fore the more prosaic explanation forces
itself upon one
Six miles out of Honolulu the preclpltous
cliffs of Mount Pail rise two hundred ieee
above the sea- About two hundred 1eet
up is ledge which gives clear crop VI
more than one thousand feet From thiS
comes the name of Pail, or:preciploe. here,
in ancient. Hawaiian history, the great
lighting chief Kamehameha l. penneo III
the vanquished forces of his arch enemies
kanan1pule and Kaiana, after iorcins
.1ASiiA Aioiu uolQ W uolll duti OA~9r :,
In terrible mountain fight. otaneei Ilg
upon this fatal crag, the remnants OF tne
defeated bands, finding that no quarter
would be given, and seeing no means ms VI
escape, leaped over the preclplce; lney
We're dashed to pieces on the rocks anu
debris below. Hundreds lay IN thai ter-
| rlble heap of death.
| To the east of Pail is the mountain
called Tantalus. The top Of 1t is Volce4
| like dreamland and even the most staiu
nature will thrill and be mysti1ied by us
sweetness and melancholy 1t is at nlgn1
| time only when the plaintive and strange
sounds are heard which fall upon tne
startled senses like lamentations IN inc
| wind" strange screams OF death. Az
times they are loud and boisterous, like
midnight reyels, and again they soIten
into complete wall These voices when
| moan and scream and sob about IN tne
night are believed by superstitlous naulves
| to be the spirits of the warriors whose
mangled bodies lay at the foot OF Pall al
ter that dreadful leap, and whose names
| are still unappeased.
| To destroy this pretty illusion is almost
barbarpus. Still, these sounds SO rever-
emily listened to by the Oahu natives can
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
| duo WlluOI nCOlhih3 VI wiz soO-A~A =,
echoing among the dales and gs OF the
lofty mountain. The feeling as OF the
presence 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 strong mind. On dark night
a sensitive and superstitious mind could
not endure with comfort the hideous fore
bodings of the scene.
| Now, if 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 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 COM
plete circle and being followed by the
middle and the last part, which. come
around later; it might be a few seconds,
| it might be few minutes, 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 chasm and riven rocks as Of
spirits caroling their way among the
! grades and crags of this singing noun
tain. 1t is long and tedious climb to
Tantalus, but once there the lingering
| visitor will never regret or forget its
romance and the melancholy of its winds.