The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-16
BOOSTING HI[O'S
TOURIST TRADE
Distributing Pithy Write-Up of
the Beauties of the
Big Island.

Secretary Wood, of the Hawaii Pro-
motion Committee, is one of the best
friends the town of Hilo has in Homo
lulu and he is in a position to do a
lot of boosting for Hilo and Hawaii in
general. Just now he is sending out
with his correspondence a lot of cir
culars setting forth the advantages of
the Big Island and the beauties of the
Hilo district from tourist point Of
view. The matter, prepared at the
instance of a HiIo business firm and
endorsed by the Promotion Committee,
is short and pithy and to the point
The circular reads in part:
HILO AND DISTRICT
The town of Hilo has much that will
interest the tourist. Here it is that
the Federal government has decided
to build a great breakwater which will
transform the now open roadstead in
to one of the most magnificent harbors
in the werld. The town is on a cres-
cent-shaped bay and the climate is
one of the best in the Territory. 1t is
the shipping place for nearly all of the
sugar produced on the Island of Ha-
wall. A short drive in either direc-
tion, north and south. brings one to
lava flows which years agone inspired
the prophets of Hawaii to build myths.
The hotel accommodations are good.
Just little way to the north is
Rainbow Falls, a bit of nature that
has served as theme for poets and a
subject for artists. One of the Hawa-
ian myths concerns a beautiful maid
en- who took refuge in the cave back
of the falls to escape the attentions of
too ardent lover. The water falls
over a pali eighty feet high and in
a way that the sun strikes the mist
which f1ses from the lava at the base
and sheds back a rainbow Of glorious
colors There is a miniature park at
the falls and visitors may SIT and en-
Joy the scene at their leisure. The
country between hotel and the falls
is interesting. the road passing many
of the homes of the thrifty Portu-
guese whose interests are in cane.
A side trip involving but little ex-
penditure of time or money is the ride
to Onomea. This gives one a knowl-
edge of cane cultivation in this island,
for the entire distance is along fields
one of natures curious formations
which rivals the Natural Bridge of
Virginia. This arch of Onomea rises
from a fertile valley, or gulch, which
begins far up the mountain side and
ends in the sea. The arch Is formed
by separation of a tremendous lava
flow centuries ago. At one time canoes
could pass between the cliffs which
form the sides of the arch, but the
space has been filled by the ever-fall-
ing mass of dirt and rocks. The lands
of the Onomea plantation are here and
the cane for miles around belongs to
this company.
1t is astonishing how few of the many
who eat sugar know anything of its
production. Here in Hilo you have
ample opportunity to study the process
while you wait" mile either way
on land from your hotel is a sugar mill
at the edge of the plantation to which
it belongs. Tourists who have seen the
luxuriant cane in the fields may here
see how it is mascerated so that the
juice is extracted. He may see it de-
posted in the boiling kettles, and after
cooking drawn into the centrifugals
and made into good brown sugar. He
may see the little brown mem bag
ging and the little brown women sew
ing the bags prior to shipment. 1t is
watching the bees making
the sugar, and no visitor should leave
without seeing it.