The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1899-07-05
RACE UP A MOUNTAIN
A kANAkA RUNNER DlSTANCED HALF
A DOZEN HORSES.

~ CSGCN flCNOGOs
1T Was Terrific Test OF Endurance,
and the sturdy Subject Of IxaIakaua
Won Easily, Though Two of the
Horses Dropped Dead.
did any of you ever hear of Il 80
mile steeplechase for man and beastf"
inquired one of the California men in
Il party OF turf followers when stories
OF queer bets and long shots were GO
Ing around. "Well, there was an af-
fair of that kind down in the Hawai-
Ian bunch in the fall of 1888, when
that genial chile concarne proposition,
kalakaua, was king of the islands
There were no telephones joining the
islands then, and state messages and
mandates were carried by the inter
island steamers and delivered by IA
naka runners. These runners could
gallop all day, like American Indians
in retreat or on the TRAIL and they
didn't know what getting wlnded or
tired meant.
these runners of his. He always main
tanned that they could go faster and
farther than horses over the rough
Hawaiian country. In this he was dis
puted by number of the white at
taehes of his court. Kalakaun wager
ed So, 900 In gobs of 81 900 with 1--WE of
them that he would pick out runner
l. x,fhotI
from Hllo to the top Of the burning
lake Of Kilauea, distance OF 30 miles,
quicker than any horse and any rider
could do the trip. They snapped the
king up at even money. II looked as
II they had the good end of It, The
king and big party from Honolulu
sailed IN one of the interisland steam
wall, TO see the finish.
1.-THE king picked out huge, 1.-the,
sinewy Kanaka, n man about 30 years
old, who had been employed as n run
ner on the ISLAND of Maui for num-
Der of years, to try the trick for him.
Eight Kanakas made the start
a-horseback, on native ponies, bred
strong, sure footed nlppy tempered lit
tie demons, thoroughly used to the bad
roads and the climbing The King and
his party had gone UP to the Volcano
House, mt the top of Kilauea, in coach
es the day before to be on hand To
greet the winner
Nov, / understand that that road
from lilo up to the burning lake of
Kilauea has been improved since the
time I'm speaking of, but 1t surely was
II bad trail then. 1t was only Wide
enough for one wagon, and 1t was
about 40 degree affair In the climb
all the way up. The palms that lined
the road used to get blown across the
trail by the score In big wndstorms,
and the coach drivers counted 1t part
of their business to jump from their
seats every time they came to these
distractions and shoulder them out
Of the way Ihis . A. 's,l.IAeep
attended to carefully however, In adj
vance of the race by order of Kala
kaua, and Il iolted like pipe for the
cayuses, MI OF which had made the
run NJ many II time.
"Kalakaua didn't ask for any handl-
cap allowance for his man The run
ner tocd the scratch with the horses,
of the gun. The horses distanced the
runner from the jump, and he let them
distance him. He was dressed IN a
g string, and he just took up n steady
lope and let the cnynses get out Of his
sight. For ten miles the eayuSes were
so far above him on the trail that he
couldn't even see them. but this Kama
ka knew how to walt The horses be-
gan to come back to the runner long
before the Half Way House was reach
ed, and the Kanaka was Just galloping
along mt the beginning of the third
hour with the same big stride he had
started In with, his arms up and shoot
Ing out In front of him like soldiers on
the double time drill There wasn't n
pant In him when hc fetched up ut the
Half Way House He stopped down
there to II spring beside the rond and
took II couple mouthfuls of water. The
cayuses We're up ahead II bit blowing
their heads off, for they had been go
ing at clip that they had never been
pushed TO before.
"Thc Kauaka headed the bunch Il
mile beyond the Half Way House, and
It was II big romp for him the rest Of
the distance. He tool, n position for
the remaining II miles Of the journey
about city block ahead of the with
Ing and painting horses, and he Just
stuck to his lope like "A man wound up.
He never let 'em get nearer than a
block 10 him for the remaining three
hours OF the trip. looking back Mt them
with a grin once in awhile. When only
three miles yet remained before the
Volcano House was to be reached, the
Kanakn took another drink out of u
spring and began TO draw away. The
Kanaka riders whipped and spurrod
their horses, but 1t was no good. The
Kanaka runner disappeared out Of
their sight on the tortuous trail, and
when six of the cayuses pulled up at
the hotel veranda about tlrec-quarters
OF an hour later the runner was sitting
ON the steps. tanning himself and
drinking saki. Two OF the horses had
dropped dead In their final effort.
1.-THE Kanaka made the 81 mile trip
over sticks and stones on n mlry road
In hours and 40 minutes and he look.
ed ut to run for his life when he got
through. When | was reading about
the young fellows who did the long
distance running IN those Olymplan
games III Greece some years ago, 1t
struck me that any one of Dave Kala-
Eaua's runners could have made the
whole bunch look like aluminium dol
lars" Washington Post.
When you are particularly busy Ii
the hour to expect call from the man
Irhn uaea ten xvnrda whore nna NvnIlld