The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-20
SHORES oF MoLoKAI.

AS our steamer glides rapidly along.
there may bee seen on the plateau above
the village of Kaunakakai, field OF sugar
ane, some COO acres in extent, apparently
IS green and thrifty as any cane grow
ng In other localities. 1t is some six or
seven months old. and as viewed from the
leck of the steamer appears in good con-
1tion, kept so apparently by the light
sun showers that daily give it a few
iprinklngs, and by the deep rich soil on
which IL is planted Yet the absence OF
reliable rains and mountain springs and
treams so far as is known at present
.reates conditions of risk from which
.imid capital shrinks. Still, as ii rains
'requently on the eastern half of this isl
md. the time may come when this abund
mt rainfall may be captured and con
eyed forty or fifty miles with profit Il
/ is western ha.. for agricultural purposes
| instead of emptying into the sea. as
| PRESENT Stranger things have happened
/ n other countries, and Ii may yet b
( .ound a matter only of dollars and cents
/ backed by Yankee pluck, TO secure thi
wasting flood, and turning what is now
/ total loss into permanent and abundan
supply for irrigation on this desert tract
/ Reaching Lahaina after short stop o
I thirty minutes, nothing worth noting
/ seen in this ancient and now dilapicate
ecome an extensive sugar plantation
! with cane fields stretching for miles alon
the shore from Kaanapali to Olowalu
I The steamers that pass Lahaina stop onl
to leave or take off the few passenger
and freight awaiting transportation. TIL
same may be said of the landings of Maa
.aea, Kihei and Makena, between Eas
and West Maui. Our steam packet the
glides on swiftly and in smooth wate
around the lofty mountain of Haleakal;
the ancient House of the SUM-" runnin
closely along the coal-black lava shore
the sea abreast of which is almost III
fashionable, except with deep sea line.
BAY OF KAILUA.
At daybreak the good steamer is clio.
under the shadow of the extinct crater
! Mount Haleakala, and little later droI
her anchor ia the placid bay of Kailu
where she remains several hours dischari
ing or taking on freight. This place, +;
well as the entire district as far as II
south point of Hawaii. has at presei
very few attractions for tourists. On Il
: mountain slopes, back of Kailua may
seen the ever green cane fields of I'll
Kona Sugar Company, which is this sc;
son harvesting its first crop, about
tons of sugar. to be increased during Il
next two years to four and five thousar
tons annually. A few fields of coffee ms
be seen scattered among the green folia,
on the mountain slope. but from all a
counts this industry does not prosper
il might, were the price of coffee mo
remunerative than it is at present.
long as Brazil can raise this staple pro
uct and dispose of 1t in the leading ma
kets of Europe and America at seven a.
eight cents pound, there is little or
inducement to engage in its cultivate
as profitable industry in any other cou
J; try.
In the early dawn of the second day o
, the steamer rounds Kalae Point, the e
, treme southern cape of Hawaii-a local.
. noted for the wreckage and drift logs {
casionally thrown ashore, and which oft
line the beach for miles, consisting most
of timber and trunks Of trees and occ
s.onally wreckage of vessels. 1t was he
that the writer visited the spot a
sketched one of the masts of the Unit
States sloop-of-war Levant, which "
lost in the winter of 1860, while on {
passage from Hilo to the Mainland. AT
leaving Hilo the ship was never hea
from. The spar that drifted ashore W
the fore or main mast, and had a ra
for guns still remaining on it. The
mansions of the spar were carefully me: