Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-09-26
DR.. Sinclair Describes His Trip And Gives
Many Valuable Suggestions To Others
Who May Take This Very Interesting
Journey


the tracks lead into Intervals of loose
soil, where the ground Is too dusty tc
form tracks.
One is between the devil and the
deep sea in good earnest, while ira
versing both these varieties Of an i'm.
itation road. Anyone who has been
over them will certainly agree tina,
those twelve miles are the worst
stretch of road God ever made; and
the hand Of man has been called into
requisition to spoil whatever virtues,
possessed.
In navigating the ridges one Is be-
tween Scylla and Charybdis. The
wheels sink fully six inches into the
dust OF the tracks are chosen. so
that at the first chuck-hole the diff
ferential glides onto a ridge and the
hind wheels revolve in the empty
air. The car, not being a flying ma
chine, remains stationary. The oc-
Cupants get out and tug at the front
wheels. Fortunately the ground is
soft, and the differential is without
great difficulty drawn through the
obstruction. The car does not suf-
fer much injury in these mishaps
since the rate OF speed Is necessarily
slow and the hummocks are soft.
The next stretch of worse road is
naturally attempted by running on
the ridges, but this proves a worse
method than the other. The ridges
possess no cohesion, to speak of, and
very soon the hind wheels slip into
one set of grooves. and the front
wheels into another. causing the car
to advance sideways like n crab. till
the front wheels are engineered into
the same ruts as the back ones.
Then comes a stretch where there
are no ridges, which Is welcomed
with sigh of relief, but disillusion
soon occurs. The absence OF the
ridges is simply because the ground
is so loose and Weakened 1t cannot
support them. The car founders
through dust up to the hubs, In
places. where chuck-holes have at
one time existed, but which have
been concealed from view by fill-
ing of loose earth. to trap the un-
wary, by well-meaning gang OF
road-workers, who firmly believe
they are fixing the road.
No Exaggeration
This is not an exaggerated de-
scription of our experience. Our ad-
vance was necessarily slow, mostly
by means of the low gear, so that
after few miles the water in the
radiator was boiling merrily, a good
imitation of a steam-car being per-
formed in an admirable manner. Wa
ter, to replenish that lost, was next
a source Of anxiety. A stream was
hoped for, but the country was as
arid as the Sahara desert. Two bot
ties of beer. the only beverage pro-
durable at Waimea, were looked upon
as doomed to an ignoble fate. But a
tent and three barrels were deserted
at some distance from the road. In
vestigation revealed the fact that II
belonged to the gang of men who
were fixing ("fiXing" has two mean
ings) the road for travellers. Find
ing the water was carted all the way
from Waimea, and fearing some de-
murrer might meet request, hall
dollar was offered to the boy In
charge for a bucketful. A delighted
expression of countenance, and a
ready If not anxious desire to carry
the water to the car resulted. Some
empty bottles, picked up on the road
and possessing no corks, were used ia
carry a reserve supply, and once
again we started upon our uneven
way.
Twelve Miles-Three Hours
The road grew worse instead OF
better. Between getting out Of the
car every few minutes. to pick out a
course of travel and sitting I'm the