The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-07-10

tlnlt. Dut tulS iuOfc rcccHt hoW, upoh
which the forest was not yet started,
was by so much better than the old
ones where the trees were breaking ur
the pahoehoe that we could at leas;
| observe the caves and cracks and crew
ices, and would have met our death, II
We were doomed to meet it, with seeing
eyes. If l am destined to fall into q
bottomless pit, there is certain dark
satisfaction in seeing the place OF
death.
PRETTY HARD GOING.
can conceive of nothing more diff.
cult to travel upon than an old flow
of pahoehoe, not yet transformed into
soil, upon which lehue forest has
started. The trees and the rock seem
to combine against the traveler-the
one to drag him from his saddle, the
other to trip his horse and hurl him to
his death on the black and merciless
rock. And the wear and tear of the
horses gait, and the strain upon the
nerves of man, and the racking of
his muscles, combine to put the tray
eler little closer to the contemplation
of the possibilities to follow an III
spent life than may be altogether pleas
ant. This did not trouble me, of course,
but we had politicians in the party.
The flow of 1859, in many of its as
poets, is unique. You probably know
all about that, if you know anything of
lava flows. And, if you do not, you are
not going to get the knowledge of them
from me. All know of them is that
they are hard to ride overland the
flow of 1859, because that we rode
along upon it instead of crossing it
directly, seemed something harder to
ride over than the rest.
1t came to an end, after it had
seemed to extend for miles and miles
and miles-but not until | had noticed
at places in it some peculiar brownish
spots, which seemed to be made by a
kind of smooth clay coating the black
rock, these brown spots invariably hid
ing caverus in the lava.
A STRANGE COVERING.
This brownisb stuff was soft, and
about half an inch in thickness. / do
not know what it was. Maybe lava
expert can tell. Nor do / understand
why it should lie in spots in certain
parts of the flow, and be altogether alb
sent in other parts.
We reached the end of this hard road,
at last, and came out upon the sand
plain that forms the table-land be-
tween Mauna Loa and Hualalai-a
tableland that is covered with forest
growth but in which there is not one
drop of water. Here the Secretary and
Rawhide Ben and Thimbleberry Jim
went galloping off, after crossing that
lava flow, in chase of wild pigs-which
they did not get. AS to the rest of us,
We icstcu- lhdt WIS Jne HlOsl cOHNeui-
ent thing to do, and the easiest. I have
found in myself great capacity for
resting, and Jimmie has noted the same
thing of himself.
The Secretary and the guide came
back again, presently, without a pig,
and after we had logged for a very
little distance across the sand plain,
we struck into wide trail, running
straightaway toward Kona, built up
of small rocks put together almost as
firmly as masonry, and the Secretary
shouted:
''The Judd road!"
ON THE JUDD ROAD.
And it was true. This was the road
that DR.. Judd, the grandfather of
Julds and Carriers and Wilders of this
generation, and himself great states
man in his time, would have built
from Kona in straight line across
the Island of Hawaii. 1t was
meant, of course, as a road for horse.
men and pack animals In the genera
ton of DIR. Judd it was a great work,
and the manner of its building showed
that he meant it to be monument to
him for all time.
1t had progressed, when the flow of
1859 came down and crossed it, to the
point at which it stops now, from the
coast little above Kailua. At this
point the red.hot lava boiled over il,
and all the power and prestige of DR..
Judd, backed by the power Of the
kings, could not get the natives to
work upon il again. The god IS were
angry and no man must build road
across there. So DIR. Judd had to come
TO n halt Some day, however, there
will be a read through th"Ie lthoul h
1t will hardly follow the line that DR..
in ID took. In these days Of wheeled
vehicles, men cannot make Their fonds
MS the crow hies, regardless Of topog.
raphy. DR.. Judd eould-and, so far ~
his road went I'D do that thing.
ROOM FOR A BATTLE.