The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-07-06
BY Sol. Y. sheridan.

1
is so long stretch, that / seem in
some way to have become indued with
horsev characteristics / smell Of horses,
or my garments do / talk horse, and
dream of horses when | sleep-and, at
the close of each long day of riding,
seem TO be glued to the back of my
horse. especially about the knees OF
me, and 1t becomes more and more
difficult for me to detach myself from
the saddle. Otherwise, riding on horse
back no longer makes me sore, and all
the creases that / ever had in my liver
have been hattened out. i am abso-
llutely certain Of this.
Tomorrow / shall to horse again. and
ride to the summit of Mauna Kea. be-
tween 1000 and 5000 feet above this
place, and in very plain view. II I
come safely through that ride, there
will be nothing left TO do with horses.
For, unless the good red roam that
have ridden over from the Volcano
House shall put on wings, do not see
how / am to get to the summit.
But I had meant to start this letter
from Hilo, not from this place at which
II arrived last night and now
/ must go back and begin all over
again. / left Hlo, through the cour-
tesy of Superintendent Metzger of the
Hilo railway, in a special train for
} Puma. Mr.. Metzger apologized for the
equipment but as "A matter of fact, IL
seemed to leave nothing to be desired.
1t is true that / am not judge OF
special trains. / have ridden in few,
and that was the first one l ever had
that ! could call my own. l was not,
therefore. inclined to be hypercritical.
Still, IL seemed to me and still seems
to me that an engine and clean and
comfortable coach, speeding over a
: track cleared for 1t to run as it pleased,
left nothing at all to be desired.
At all events, 1t suited me. The run
down through Olaa and the fields of
Puma to Pahoa, at the end of the short
er branch of the railway INTO Puma,
was made very quickly. The road runs,
for long distance, through a country
that is not yet far advanced in the
= formative stage. Much, very much of
the Island of Hawaii is like this. The
land is so new that the raw edges are
i still upon ii. In Puma, as In all the
I new parts. lava flow succeeds lava
t flow, from the mountain to the sea.
Some of the flows are old, grown thick
i with tree fern and lauhala and lehua
o trees Some are new, the a-a sticking
II !up its jagged points to the sun and the
u pahoehoe lying, smooth and shining as
y satin in fold upon fold. Between the flows
are pockets of rich soil, in which sugar
cane attains perfections hardly exceed
q ed in the rich and highly cultivated
lands of Eva, Oahu.
v ABANDONED CANE.
RI They say that much of this cane ha'
o been abandoned That some of it ha!
T. been taken in hand by Japs and Ha'
J. waians. who cultivate 1t and sell 1t Il
u Olaa Mill making good profit. | know
Ie that Henry Lyman who lives down II
Puma, has cane fields out of which III
Is makes money. There are no surfac
81 streams in Puma, and they do not irri
Is gate the cane-but the rains ar
e. abundant and generally dependable
e the soil is rich and the cane of III
best.
y Yet Puma has been virtually aban
ie loned, as a plantation. Why? l do nc
:, know. 1t is said that Olaa controls i
\ and does not want to raise cane so IA
from its mill-nor to build anothe
-, mill. 1t is said that 1t is intended
no a mere feeder for Olaa-and that, whe
nd Olaa is put on a paying basis, Pun
n will be rehabilitated. Concerning a
A. these things know nothing.
~ At Pahoa | found a white man an
N a white woman, very pathetic of fac
no who lived but in the hope that, son
he day, good times would come back
,k Puma, and the plantation would
Ioi running again. The man was static
he agent, postmaster, everything. Mayl
ng ne had 80 bags of ava root stored
the station for shipment to New Yoi
and Germany. A little later, 1t mig
be in day or two, or week or NV
q he would ship this Then a mail can
\ and went twice a week. There WI
" nothing else, and his wife and hir
self We're the only white people The
en- were some Japs. and a few Hawaiia
out in the brush somewhere, and I
Pake store. Altogether 9 man cou
get through the time-and wait.
was not a hard life, Some day I
zy. plantation would be operated aga
Then things would get better.
While the man had spoken, patient
pathetically. the woman had gone aw
from the station somewhere aud CON
II. ed her hair. That was all. But II "
II the most pathetic touch Then she h
come back and demanded, with SIN
feminine aggressiyeness. when the p'
ed. pie In authority at Honolulu were goi
Mt to restore the pay Of the public sch
teachers. she was teacher, II appe'
MT ed and her credentials entitled her
my more than she was getting
She seemed dashed when told u
st., n was the people, not the governme
10 who must restore the salaries ana u
60 she must make her own nght with
.ses voters in the legislative election.
hat she was only dashed Tor "a moment
ear declared hrr purpose tu begin az al
rec md get ton men pledged io vote
ad- nn candidate VINO would not raise
W. aulurIrs nf teachers, ana ! venture
ftef uay thlt shr VIII du it " ihht Won
we'd. un plu ono man. ls che hos she
Nas Viu uur hundred. N0u watch hrr
w. WuNpERFrL WATER
ipcs Frm ranua back tu thr main
mat ~ thr puma ralINny ANA rp lUNI
sins mo- ,nd Hf inr nlai b. rol srfAi
hl uu,r % faemri indeed all ln1 sh
, "a Nhrn nnr F rUlHl ms nurf nrri