Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1933-02-02

Dear Uncle Ray:-Everything il
SO new and different here that
scarcely know just where to start
However, first think L'll describe
our Hilo home to you.
We were about four. miles from
the business section of town, right
down on the beach. We were out
on point, with about SIX or eight
other homes built right in this Sec
tion. 1t isn't nice sandy beach as
one might expect. The entire coast
line in this locality is made up OF
lava rock. The lava flow that came
down where we lived was in the lat
ter part of the last century, and
there is a deposit Of the lava rock
every place. When the tide was
low we could walk way out on these
rocks, but during high tide they
were almost covered. Near our
house the rocks were formed in
such way that we had nice puka
(hole) where we went swimming.
At night we have made many in
teresting trips out over these rocks.
be water standing in shallow pools
and in the cracks of these rocks.
We would take f1ashlight and a
spear and go searching for peculiar
sea life. We have seen red, white
and blue shrimp. Then there is
what is called the sea cucumber. 1t
is an irregular shaped mass, and
when stabbed with the spear would
emit fluid resembling ink which
forms protection for the cucum-
ber. The water would become inky,
and then the animal or whatever
was attacking the cucumber could
not see it in this mucky water. We
have found any number of octopus
(squid). Some of them would be
quite large. The Hawalians eat the
squid, and it is interesting to watch
them catch them. They dive down
in the water and catch them in
their mouths. Then there is the
YUMA or sea urchin. These sea
nrchins are very sharp and re-
semble pin cushion filled with
pins. The spears or points are very
sharp and brittle, and when one
steps On the YUMA these spears break
off in the foot causing lot of pain.
Therefore we wore shoes in the wa
ter all the time. hagine, all these
little animals were in the very puka
where we would swim. However,
during the day none of them were
visible but the YUMA. They all SEEM
ed to be among the rocks and only
made their appearance at night.
We had planned on going moon
light bathing in our puka, but after
making one excursion out to that
swimming hole at night | vetoed
that suggestion, at once.
Each Sunday and sometimes dur
ing the week, we would have whole
japanese families, consisting Of
mother and father and about twelve
children, down on the beach fishing
and swimming. The Japanese and
Eawaiians go barefooted all the
time, and Just scramble over the
rocks i enjoyed watching the
Hawaiians fish. They wear only
trunks, and their brown bodies
would just glisten in the sun. They
wear goggles, in the water, ana
carry spears sometimes They dive
into the water when they see fish
and spear it. have also seen them
use bows and arrows under the wa
ter. Actually the Hawaiians are in
the water so much that they are al
most like fish. They eat so much or
the fish that they catch. raw, too.
We had very comfortable little
cottage, and it was quite attractive
ly furnished. The furniture was
Chinese stick reed, and we had
number of cretonne cushions that
frightened the room.
sThe island of Hawaii, where Hllo
is located; is probably the most in
teresting island. 1t is the largest Of
the group, and it is distance or
2S2 miles around the entire island
There are two large mountains on
this island, Mauna Loa which is
1865, and Mauna Kea which is
little higher. These mountains are
very beautiful, and no matter how
many times one looks toward them,
the scene is always different. Some
times the clouds are hanging SO low
that one cannot see the peaks.
remember one morning, when the
sun was rising, there was reHec-
ton on Mauna Kea. The mountain
looked like it was on fire, and II
was beautiful sight. Since we
have left Hilo, I understand that
the peaks of both Mauna Loa and
Mauna Kea are covered with snow.
We made several very interesting
trips to the Hawaii National Park.
This park comes under the National
Park Service Of the Department OF
the Interior, and there are rangers
here just like in our National parks
over on the mainland. This park is
quite large, covering an area OF 219
square miles In this park is the
Kilauea crater which has been near
ly continuously active, with a lake
or lakes of molten lava, for CEN
tury. Mauna Loa rs the largest ac-
tive volcano and mountain mass in
the world, with eruptions about
once in decade. and has poured
out more lava during the last GEN.
tury than any other volcano on the
globe.
Within Kilauea crater there Is q
vast pit. known as Halemaumau