The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-25

|
| the not so very dim past, a volunteer
CORRESPONDENT of the Hawaiian Gazette,
on Christmas night, poised himself IN
a balloon elevated some hundreds, per-
| haps some thousand feet above the Ka-
paan court house, provided with A-ray
abled him to observe and chronicle the
| goings-on at various points of moment
ary interest in the district on that an
| niyersary night The idea was quite
novel and so successful withal, that 1t
might well be repeated. But for the
| rarity with which a balloon finds It's
way to this district and the expense
which may be presumed to attend the
TRANSPORTATION or the making of so
bulky a contrivance; and even more,
but for the sluggish mentality of some
of the-reputed to be-wealthy sugar
planters of Kohala, to whom the idea
came only as an afterthought, Sol.
Sheridan might have poised over this
island on velvet and feathers, behind
specially luau, viewing at ease
all the ceremonies of opening the big
ditch, and been spared later the trying
experiences that incidentally attended
the hammering out of those deep con-
volutions and corrugations in his liver.
Howsomever, not to weary your read
ers with too long a prelude, let us come
to the initial incentive to this scribble.
Taking easy observations from an
elevated point of view, is, of course, all
very agreeable and interesting, but
there are other modes of observation
that may be quite as interesting from
their novelty, albeit they may be more
devious and tedious in the pursuing.
1t probably never occurred to the
sleepy denizens OF Kohala, as Sol. calls
them-who, however, to their credit be
it said, keep steadily and quietly about
their own business, and have learned to
ride a saddle without losing any cuticle
from inconvenient spots-it probably
never occurred to these people that
while the big ditch people were delving
and boring for water, some of the little
brownies in their employ and ostensibly
bent on the same laudable purpose,
were secretly carrying on a little
private scheme of their own. However,
having a little nudge that made us sit
up alert and listen and soon proceed to
action, let your correspondent proceed
to tell of the surprising discoveries.
1t seems that one of the little brown
les before alluded TO, while laboriously
boring with drill and pick and powder,
had thought out and secretly con- |
structed during his off hours, remark t
able little apparatus based in principle |
on the excavating apparatus of some
beetle or other living thing that had
attracted his attention. Electrified, |
thrilled with enthusiasm over the re-
suits of some preliminary trials of this
apparatus, he took friend into his con-
so absorbed in what proved to be a /
very interesting pastime, that they !
never realized the extent to which they t
were carrying on their secret opera
tions- Selecting as initial points for
their burrows, dark cavities within the t
various tunnels that were incide ntally I
produced in the ordinary operations of |
boring these tunnels along the line of t
the big ditch, where their own en-
frances would not be liable to attract
notice, they excavated, more correctly
speaking bored, with remarkable speed,
small galleries in every direction; but
with what special purpose in many
lines, cannot very well be surmised.
Their operations, however, were
varied occasionally by the excavation
of considerable galleries wherein they
might stand upright and take breath
as it were, somewhat after the manner
of diver. And these more spacious
galleries, be it noted, whether by
chance or otherwise, are usually found
beneath the centers of other activities.
Let US then follow our guide into some
OF these weird passages, but brace up
well for 1t, mind you, for be assured we
shall not be rushed at ease on uphol-
stored springs, nor be landed in front
of luau or presidential banquet 1t
the noon or night hour, nor be met at
the door by kid-gloved dignitaries who
shall usher Us into the electric lighted
and fascinating spread. All this may
come later. Indeed we are assured that
plans are already in course of elabora-
tion, whereby these underground pas I
sages shall be made sourceGof delight
to even such of the delicately nurtured
and the wealthy as may be disposed to
these trips for the novelty of
the thing. But at present they are only
in what may be termed the pioneer