The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-06-25
TOUR THROUGH
THE CANE FIELDS
Continued from Page II

| Continued from Page II
rying bundles of seed cane trot nimbly
off to the fields. The deep gulches into
which the road winds are rich with |
their profusion of tropical foliage, wild
bananas, kukui and breadfruit trees, |
and musical with running water dash |
| ing down their steep declfvities. Out |
in the fields the ripening cane mods In |
the fields that have been cut the great |
steam plows are dragged forward and |
back, biting into the rich soil. or some |
small Portuguese boy shouts shrilly to |
four strong mules that he drives to a |
cultivator because they are powerful |
brutes and he is q SON of man. And |
beyond the cane fields. running down
ward the blue sea throws back the |
shadows of the white clouds of the
trades.
All the way from Honokaa TO Lau-
pahoehoe, which is known as zap
Town" in the vernacular of the coun-
tryside, the scene changes always and
is always more beautiful. I do not
choose, having seen it from the land
side, to modify my old opinion that
Jap Town" is a dangerous landing.
But I do say that it is a landing that
is worth making. It is one of the most
beautiful places along that beautiful
coast
BEAUTIFUL IN SLEEP
Laupahoehoe is not to all appear !
ances, particularly thriving. There is /
one store, and one hotel. and there are
iC ale
complement of Japanese. But the place /
lies, that part of it not on the main I
road, upon a rocky peninsula that
marks where, in the long ago, the red .
hot lava ran down from Mauna Kea to /
| leap kissing into the sea and make the /
reef that makes Jap Town" a bad i
| landing.
But although it is not thriving it is /
extremely picturesque. There are the
old stone walls that seem to mark the |
former habitations of numerous ma
tive population, stone walls now en-
closing vacant lots; and a group of .
ragged cocoanut trees set against the |
sea in wide grassed lot; and few |
natives and native, dogs asleep in the
sun down by the boat landing, while /
a fussy little steamer tug, restlessly |
at her mornings as her native boat |
crews sleepily work her boats in and |
out through the surf, discharging car |
go.
Laupahoehoe is something of a trade |
| center says Mr.. Barnard, the postmas- |
| ter and storekeeper and general head |
man of the place, and. 1t is pretty i
enough to be attractive without that. |
| Seen from the road cut into the sheer
face OF the pail as one leaves it with !
the little, fussy steamer in the offing and |
the lazy boats going in and out, IL is |
| a picture that will be kept in the mind |
of a man through one lifetime.
PLANTER'S IDEAL HOME.
And, beyond Laupahoehoe there are
still cane fields and more cane fields, |
with all their processes shown over and !
| over again, to the splendid gulch of
Hakalau, with the mill set in it close |
| to the water. and beyond, on the up
| land, another beautiful plantation
home. He has his troubles, has Man
ager John Ross of Hakalau. but also
he has his, compensation. One thorn
in his side that pricks sharply, odd /
times, is the thorn of the Portuguese
Settlement Associations. That is a tale
that will be told otherwhere. One of
many compensations is the pleasant
home life that is his-a home life which
the weary wayfarer fortunate enough
to share will find ideal in all it's as
poets. 1t is a real plantation home at
Hakalau-the managers life sweeten-
ed by the charming presence of the lady
of the manor house And the house
at Hakalau is one of the most slightly
on the coast-a house of broad lanais
and open doors and cool rooms. How
little of necessity there is in elegance,
and yet how comforting it is and how
we'll calculated to prolong mans life.
AN AERIAL FLIGHT.
AT Hakalau it is that the Inter-Island
steamers lie at the foot of the cliff and
receive sugar, twenty sacks at time,
sent down upon long wire that reach
es a thousand feet from ship to shore.
The Secretary of this Territory made
one trip over the abyss on that wire.
and L never had more adventurous
few minutes in my life. But my en-
thusiasm did not run the length of
making the trip myself, when my turn
came. I am a modest man, content to
shine in reflected glory.
From Hakalau to Hilo again through
the managerial ability of a plantation
man Mr.. Ross to wit, and through the
courtesy of Mr.. Ronald Kennedy, our
method of travel changed once more,
and we We're whizZed over the roads to
this sleepy and sleepily attractive old
town in a new Winton auto that seemed
as much out of place here as it would
have seemed in a town of the Hawaii
of fifty years ago, Yet HilQ, though it
has more of the old Hawaiian atmos-
phere than Honolulu. is still not really
old Hawaiian. 1t has merely gone to
sleep-and lies dreaming now, beauti-
full in its rest peaceful. somrolent
waiting for the magic touch that will
come. one day, surely 70 awaken it to
hustling life-to awaken it to a moment
to wonder why it has slept so long be-
fore it swings busily into the march of {
progress. ,