The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-09-04
SILVER SWORD OF HALEAKALA.

so many new sensations. The heavy
rains of preceding Jays had made the
walking bad and my progress was
slow. 1 had made pack of the things
1 considered necessary for the outing,
and it's thirty-six pounds proved too
much for me, once I was on that steep
road. 1 lightened it by throwing away
sixteen pounds and the remainder,
ed me in any way I had a fine tramp
up through cane fields and then above
them, until l reached Makawao, where
1 made my first stop to see w. c..
Crook. where 1 found to my delight an
old fashioned garden with all the ia
vorite California blossoms.
"One thing there is worthy of men
ton for I found a remarkable speci-
men of the camphor tree. This, a ma
tive of China and Japan, is said there
to attain height of forty feet, but the
specimen 1 saw is fully fifty feet high,
with an equal spread of branches.
am sure this is a remarkable tree for
and other temperate zone fruits and al
together there was a fine showing
The road to the summit still stretch
ed away and 1 tarried only a short
time. The road is lined with acacias
and blue gums, which were sturdy and
fine. Passing away beyond the last
panel of fence the range opens and the
view below stretches off in pano-
raj mo nf OF Of hn
isthmus between the ranges of noun
tains which traverse the island. But
from above, where the head of the
great mountain is enshrouded in mist,
comes down a cold and chilling damp
which warns me to hasten to reach
Olinda or spend bad night upon the
sides of the mountain. 1 abandon my
intention to reach Craigalea and am
most Hospitality received by Mr.. D. D.
Baldwin, who was spending some time
at the summer home.
Thursday morning found me up and
away very early, for 1 had much to
accomplish. An hour before 1 reached
the summit 1 was overtaken by a party
on horseback, and with them Travelled
to the top of the mountain. It was
three O'Clock in the afternoon when
the crest was reached With a start 1
found myself upon the crest of a prec-
ipice, beneath stretching away gulf,
desolate, dark, awe-inspiring, vast and
Impressive.
Two thousand feet below it is yet
seemingly unapproachable, for the cliff
appears to be impossible. No words
can convey the impressions which fill
one as he stands for the first time up
on that brink and looks down into
what must have been the battle ground
of the greatest forces of nature. Dot
ting the floor of the crater there are
many cones which have been in the
past the seats of activity and looking
away ten miles to the southeastern
rim of the great pit there are more
than eight in sight. After an hour
spent in contemplation of the views
and sketching some of the wonderful
color effects, 1 prepared for the descent.
for l was determined to make the trip
across as much as possible during the
night. After descending to the floor of
the crater 1 was filled with interest in
all that was around me. 1 assembled to
the top of one of the cones and after
a climb of 100 feet was able to look
down into the pit which was probably
1000 feet deep. I could realize that
once a man or animal had fallen into
that pit the walls of cinder would give
way beneath his feet and he would
find it impossible to make an ascent
Finally the sun went down. The
scene was of indescribable beauty.
There. upon a great plain, many color
ed rocks and lava with the absence Of
vegetation except the silver sword. all
were flaming in the slanting rays of the
sun. To describe the effects Is impos-
sible. I did make a hard climb to get
two specimens of the silver sword, and