Evening star., 1939-03-16
BY G. A. LYON,
Associate Editor Of The Star, who 10
vacatfoninp in HaVau


"s-shaped" entrance. Rolling seas
crash against the outer wall to throw
their spray high oversize, even when
the ocean beyond is superflcially
smooth. The Pacific has a tre-
mendous power beneath an appar-
emily calm surface.
The port is merely q long ware
house and perhaps score of houses,
with two or three stores or shops
It is little more than a fishing viii
lage. on its own. But as a depot
for the transit of sugar and pines
pineapples are invariably so called
In Hawaii-it Is commercially i'm
portant and occasionally quite lively.
Lihue, the capital and metropolis,
with its population of perhaps 1000
am guessing on this point for there
seems to be no available census fg-
ure-lies about mile and half or
two miles inland, and several hum
dred feet uphill. It has one hotel,
consisting mostly of detached cot
tages grouped around a very at
tractive central building with a
lovely garden in the rear. This is
the usual large-town hotel plan in
Hawaii and in this climate it is a
comfortable and altogether practical
arrangement.
No Coast Circuit Road.
Thanks to the foresight of Mr..
Tillett, who is c. G.. C. director in
Hawaii and who accompanied me on
this trip to Kauai. as he did on the
trip down to the big island" of
Hawaii, an accommodation for my
"look-see" of Kauai had been effect
ed and Mr.. Albert w. Duvel, Federal
forester in charge of Kauai, was
awaiting our arrival with q station
wagon, in which, after checking in
at the Lihue hotel, we were taken
for drive nearly half way around
the island.
1t is impossible to drive all the
way around Kauai since, even as on
Oahu, the mountain ridges prevent
q circuit coast highway. On Kauai,
on the northwest coast, there is a
gap of nearly 10 miles in the feas-
ible stretch of road making, the
Napan Cliffs, in places half a mile
In height, coming sheer down to
the sea. A highway along that
stretch would be one of the cost
Hest as well the most spectacularly
scenic roads in the world.
AS it is, this halfway around
route is in itself worth crossing the
Pacific to follow. On one side, with
few Interruptions of the view, is
the sea, its rollers flattened some
what in the perpendicular perspec-
tive, its color subtly changing with
the drift of clouds across the sun,
Its surface unmarked by any token
Of human transit or use.
A strangely barren sea, the Pa
cific, in this part of the world. From
these island heights one gets a sense
. OF the magnitude of this vast body
OF water and of the hardihood of
those early settlers, the Polynesians
who, according to the accepted ver-
sion OF Hawaiian history, made their
way northward from the far remote
islands of the great southern ar
chipelago unknown centuries ago in
one OF the most courageous adven-
lures in the history of man.
On the island side spread cane
plantations and pine" fields, with
the mountain heights beyond, chief
1y long ranges of sharply serrated
hills. the skeletons of volcanoes that
IN the ages agone spouted forth la
va and ashes to make this lovely
land-the garden island of the
Hawaiian group.
Oldest Of the Islands.
There are no active volcanoes on
Kauai now. Science has determined
that this is the oldest island of the
group, geologically. Hence it is
sometimes styled the First Island, !"
. designation which is apt to be re-
sented by residents of the larger
members of the little archipelago. It
might, indeed, be also called the
Beach Island" for 106 miles of its
entire coast line are golden strands
which lure the bathers.
Whether known as garden island.
or first island, or beach island,
Kauai Is lovely and dramatic and
fascinating. Its mountain ranges
are imposing in their masses and
their contours. Here and there
they present unique spectacular fea-
lures, which have been given ro-
mantically descriptive names-such
as the sleeping Giant" quite read
lily susceptible Of recognition as such
by an imaginative beholder; or
Queen Victoria's Head" crowned
summit before which a sharp lower
spine suggests an admonitory digit
emphasizing a royal command; or
the n-the-mountain," veri-
table piercing of the mountain wall
several hundred feet up from the
plain and a short distance below
the crest, attributed to the prowess
of an early Hawaiian king who
threw his spear so vigorously and
accurately from the plain below that
1t pierced the cliff and decimated
an enemy's army on the other side.
AS for the hole, it may be seen to-
day from the highway, about q
thousand feet above the plain and
4 few score feet below the top.
Mr.. Duvel told me that he had
scaled the mountain side and gone
through the hole in the wall. It
was about SO feet in height and 200
feet in length. A more efficient and
delightful guide to the wonders and
beauties of Kauai could not be found
than this quiet, yet enthusiastic
forester, a native of Kauai and
deeply versed in its history and ro-
mantle lore. He is soon to make
his first visit to the mainland,
partly to see If it has anything on
Kauai for variety and splendor of
scene.
Barking Sands" Doubted.