The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-05
OLD HAWAIIAN QUARRY.

Up and still upward we rode, our
horses feeling the great elevation SEEM
ingIy as little as we did ourselves, on
their backs. Now the formation
changed. and from riding UP cinder
cones we began a sleeper climb along
a ridge marked by an old lava flow
broken by the action of frost and snow
into jagged boulders. There was no
snow. here, but traces of its action
were very apparent on all parts of the
mountain above II, 000 feet elevation.
Presently there appeared, far ahead
of, and stin a long distance above. US,
what seemed in the distance dump
pile from an abandoned mine.
There" said Rawhide Ben, lis where
the natives used to come in the old
days to chip out the rude forms of their
stone AIDES from the hard rock of the
mountains. carrying the implements
down into the 1owlands to perfect and
polish them afterwards"
We rode on still climbing. and pres
emily took off our hats to the shades
OF the men of the Stone Age. Here
they had lived and wrought in time
that is fading very fast into the past;
that is, the past OF our own race L is
not MANY centuries ago that these men
of Hawaii We're at the stage that our
own forbears reached. and passed TO-
600 wears ago Here were the caves in
which they dwelt, with rude stone walls
built up in front to shelter them from
the cold winds of the mountain Here
were the lodges of hard, black, basaltic
rock which was the material most
priced in the making of their nipple
ments-of war. of fishing, of agricul-
ture. for the service of the gods and
the chiefs Here covering several
acres in different places, We're piles OF
sharp chips from the tough stone.
beaten off through many weary day
IF patient labor Here, where each
workman had sat in the quarry. there
was a little depression around which
he had slowly built up his own pile OF .
hips How long. oh Lord how long. /
To climb to this height, to delve and
Zig and chip ar hard stone through !
he long days. to carry down the
masses of stone for the polisher and 10
AIRY up food and wood and even, II ]
night be. water to the quarrymen, TO 1
i've and even TO die. as some must nave
led there above the clouds While the
warm rains were marching across the
sunny isles far below and lazy plenty
waited on the happy jewellers by the
ra grant beaches! Surely that was a
ate that was filled with bitter pain
WORKED BY SLAVES.
It is said that slaves, taken in war,
worked these quarries. Let US hope
hat il was So A slave taken in war,
-ould have felt something in his life,
I least. when the hot lust of battle
an in his brain. and the sun shone red
through the red blood of the foes of his
ate. And he could still beat in the
kuIl of his enemy while he beat out
is own life upon the black basalt. A
lave taken in battle has had his:
nance.
The old quarries are at an elevation
f 500 feet From here the highest
oint OF the mountain comes plainly
ITO view. rising beside a cone that is /
n absolutely perfect circular crater s
I looks, this little crater. rs though II | Z
light have shot OUT its vOnit Of Gin
ers and red ash but yesterday. before
Ding TO sleep. II is sleeping most /
rofourdIy now, and a little dot of white
now nestled at its feet feels none Of
1a heat that must have radiated from z
in its waking days.
From the quarries il looks an easy
de TO the highest summit through a !
emile valley that seems to lead right