The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-11-29
IS IT WORTH WHILE TO GO
ON A VISIT TO VOLCANO?
How the Trip lmpresses Man for the First
Undergraduates En- Route and
at PeIe'S Crater.

~ GENERALLY speaking people who
" live in a country see less OF It's
~ natural beauties and wonders, if
they are at all difficult of approach,
than do casual tourists. A Yosemite
Commissioner once said that less than
two per cent OF the visitors to the great
valley were Californians. New York
does better by Niagara but not much,
for it is the common thing in a we'll
tb-dO interior village Of that State to
4stopped orr at the Falls. The fame of
the Yellowstone. OF Pixies Peak. of the
Mammoth Cave and of the Natural
Bridge of Virginia rests on the testi-
1t not so, in some degree. with our spe-
cial wonder. the crater of Kilauea?
Have the people of Hawaii risen to their
opportunities and gone in anything like
representative numbers to the majestic
laboratory where the work of world
building is either in the throe or in the
preparation II so the records do not
show it
There is a feeling here that the trip
is not worth while. You hear that the
Kinau's service is bad. that the sea
is always rough. that the ride from
Hiio to the crater is exhausting, that
the Volcano House is poorly run, and
that IL the volcano is inactive it is
all these conclusions. Past experience
on small vessels in many seas convinces
me that the Kinau is much better than
the average boat of her tonnage. In
the first place she is either safe or
lucky. seeing how many years she has
piled her trade unscathed: again she is
comfortable even If not so clean as a
man-of-war. and the meals are gener-
Gus and wholesome. She is well-officer-
ed and manned. Going from here my
trip was rough owing to the storm
Fhich prevailed beyond Molokai; but
dhe majority OF the passengers ate three,
meals a day and slept well. The only
disagreeable feature was the waiting at
island ports; but these enabled US to
go ashore and see many interesting
things. They took time but the time
was mainly well spent.
a stay at Hilo is not at all bad un-
The day / left, the roads were a bit
dusty. One can do many more unpleas-
ant things than to settle down there
for a while in Bob SCOTS roomy hotel
and eat OF his good fare, part of which
comes in the form of crisp vegetables
from the Volcano House. And the viii
lage itself is as pretty as it's people are
hospitabIe.
Just now sightseers are being scared
away from the volcano road by tales.
manufactured to induce another money
spending session of the Legislature. of
its ruin by the severe rainfall of fort |
night ago. I went up the road after
the rain and came down it the day I
following that on which it had been
looked over by officials So far as could
be seen the storm had done no harm
that three hundred dollars would not !
fix. In truth the fixing had been al !
ready done. on one little reach of the !
highway logs and other debris had just
been removed From Olaa where pas
sengers change cars for the stage to the !
Volcano House. the stage made its Gus
tomary time. and no one was shaken up !
at the worst places much more than he !
would be in "a rubberless carriage on
Nuuanu street between Kukui and
Judd. In point OF fact the journey was
made over a good country road. better !
than a California grade and dozen !
times better than the streets in Kaka- |
ako. One may doubt whether there is |
another highway in the world. leading /
IL the crater OF a volcano. which is in ,
such good shape While 1 was at the I
Volcano House ladies rode up from Olaa
in the stage-and pretty tough stage 7
II was-and at once took the six mile I
round trip on horseback. to the crater. !
sitting up late in the evening 10 pop
corn They were not tired enough to
notice it.
Rain does not hurt the Volcano road
much, no matter how great the fall
The surrounding country is as porous