The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-14

Surf boating is a sport at Honolulu
INDUCED in by hundreds. Surf board
ing is the delight of thousands of all
ages. nationalities, and color, for even
the Japs try to learn to ride the Ha
waiian surf board, although, truth to
tell, 1 have never known one to ac-
complish the art. Perhaps it is that
his legs are too short for the steering
necessary.
| began to learn to surf-board. At
the end of a week 1 had not caught
wave, and the next day my boat was
to leave for Fiji. [ let it leave. [
might not soon find so comfortable
hotel; so, instead of remaining at
Honolulu eight days, [ remained more
than as many weeks. 1t was at the
end of the second week that /, ''alone
and unassisted, - caught my first wave.
Slowly at first, felt my board rise
on the crest of the billow, then shoot
forward-down, down to the hollow,
ten feet below. but l held on; and now
there was a mad race for the beach.
1t was kings sport. Again and again
1 tried, and in another week was mas
ter of the art of catching the waves.
But / had yet to learn to stand. After
two months of daily practice six
hours a day. did at last learn to
stand on the crest of the waves with
but tiny bit of board beneath my
feet-and I was proudl Only once did
I break into my surf-board exercise.
A score of American Congressman and
Senators came to cruise amongst the
Islands, and I joined them.
I am not going to say much about
the hotels of Hawaii outside of Homo
lulu Those Americans who have ex-
perienced them merely warn their
friends-that is all.
We visited Kauai, the garden island
of the group, and it was beautiful.
We passed Molokai and its leper set
Element by night, and We're satisfied.
The island of Maui doomed up, with
its peaks two miles above US, and we
were entranced. From the landing
at Wailuku there is a railway a few
miles, to the base of Haleakala, whence
it is plain riding up a gentle slope to
the crest of the mountain. There were
nearly a hundred prominent citizens
bent on camping on the summit of
Haleakala; but, alas! the commissariat
department fell downfall is, the
mules bearing the edible provisions
stumbled over the edges of steep hills
or rolled down into gullies, so that,
with the scant provender that did ar
rive at the crest of Haleakala, it was
necessary for the Acting Governor to
deal most cautiously. The Hon. Sena-
tors and Congressman of the great
United States were therefore put in a
bread line. and each received his ra
tions as he fled by the Acting Gov
ernor. One tent did for all who could
find room under it; the others sat by
campfire of twigs and dried grass to
wait for sunrise, none of US knowing
that hundred PAGES farther on were
the remains of a stone house erected
for the accommodation of just such
wanderers as ourselves. Mr. C. c. Bald
win, public spirited citizen and many
times millionaire. had trail cut up
the mountain, put sign-posts at every
tan4h Of 10 nd arpcta5 cbalfpF
at the summit Tourists came, borrow
ed his horses. and, after using them to
ride up and down the mountain, turned
them loose without a word of thanks.
Mr.. Baldwin no longer lends horses to
strangers; but there are guides, who
will take you from the boat to the
crest of Haleakala and provide you
with a night s lodging, at the Rest
House, for fifteen dollars-and it s
worth it.
| am not going to describe the beau
ties of Haleakala blouse of the Sun
God)--no pen can adequately do that.
l merely state that fifteen or twenty
miles from the sea, up a steady slope,
you come suddenly, at a height of ten
thousand feet, to the edge of an ex-
tinct crater seven miles across and two
thirds of a mile deep. Cones there are,
rising far below you from the floor of
the crater-ant-hills they appear, yet
they are seven hundred feet in height.
This is earth s largest extinct crater
you are looking into. 1 watched it
first at dawn; then the sun rose, and
from the sea drove an ocean of clouds
through rift in the side of the crater.
Soon the volcanic cones were sub
merged, and the cloud waves rolled a
thousand feet below I have seen
many of earth's greatest scenic offer
ings-I was so fortunate as to be upon
the side Of Vesuvius during her last
eruption-but as l close my eyes they
all fade away, and majectic Haleakala
remains queen of the earth the fair