The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-05-11
FIRE THROWING
SPORT ON kauai

Last Saturdays Garden Island
contains the following report of a
remarkable performance on Kauai in
the shape of an exhibition of fire.
throwing from the top of mountain:
Mrs Mahi Puulei, the wife of the
genial police officer of the Hanalei po-
lice force, who keeps watchful guard
over Haena, had birthday or Fri
day of last week, the 10Th of April,
and her husband gave a celebration
in honor of it which consisted of one
of the famous exhibitions of firebrand
throwing from the top of Mauna Ma.
kama, at Haena, on Saturday evening.
Those exhibitions are seldom given,
the peak, over 1000 feet high and with
almost sheer cliffs on all it's four
sides, being very difficult of access,
and it is hard to find men, often, who
care to make the perilous climb over
the steep trail. When they are found,
however, the display is worth going
many miles to see, especially when
the weather conditions are perfect,
as they were last Saturday. The or
binary trade wind weather is the best
to insure these conditions.
This time the four carriers had been
up on otner days of the week also,
and had carried to the top three or
four hundred of the dry "hau" tree
sticks, nine or ten feet long, and two
or three inches in diameter, which
gave good supply of ammunition
when the day of the celebration came.
Eight o'clock was the time set for the
fire-throwing to begin, and by that
time a large crowd had assembled on
the Haena fiat lying below the peak,
arriving by horseback, carriages and
automobiles. The fiat here is nearly
half a mile across, and where the
spectators stood was among the sand
hills near the beach just opposite the
two large water caves which are in
the base of the peak.
Then the fire throwing commenced
and a beautiful display was seen. A
few of the burning brands failed to be
caught by the currents of air, and fell
on the cliff or below, but a large num-
Der of them were borne out and up
ward by the strong draughts which
prevail here during the trade wind
season, and were carried far out over
the ocean, blazing brightly where they
could finally be seen dropping down,
beyond the breakers and reefs into
the deep waters.
An unlocked TOR diversion was soon
created by the brands which fell
short. for the whole side of the noun
tain here was covered with dry bunch
grass and shrubbery, which soon
caught fire and in short time the
flames were roaring over the whole
Of the seaward slope. This. made a
grand sight, which had not been bar
gained for by the spectators, and they
certainly appreciated the addition to
the already magnificent spectacle.
The four men on the peak were
kept busy throwing the burning sticks
down, until half past ten, by which
time the supply was exhausted, and
they wendell their perilous way down
to the fiat again.
The host and hostess were ready
to greet the visitors before they re-
turned to their homes and a stump
tuous "luau" had been prepared at
their residence on Haena Flat, for
the hungry travellers, who soon crowd.
ed into the yard, and by midnight the
feast was in the full sway, some of
the visitors not getting back to their
homes until the dawn had begun to
appear family in the east
This fire-throwing from the Haena
peak is an ancient and time honored
custom that takes place once every
few years and it is always sure to at
tract large numbers of people from
all over the Island who are eager to
witness the interesting spectacle. II
is said to have been originally an old
religious rite.