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March 18, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kilauea 1921

“In March of 1921, the big steamer Hawkeye State made her first Baltimore to Hawaii trip, bringing a large list of eastern passengers to visit the volcanic marvel.”

“The campaign of publicity which landed them at Hilo had been based more than all else upon the prayer that the fire goddess might be in wrathful mood.”

“As the Hawkeye State neared port, there was a disheartening lack of glow upon the side of Mauna Loa. The hopes of the promoters were faint when the hotels at Kilauea were reached, and grumbling arose at the insufficient accommodation and lethargic aspect of Halemaumau in the distance.” (Charmian London)

“This continued until the procession of motors was well on its way through the forest, bound for the pit.”

“And then it happened.” (Charmian London)

“The eruption started just as a group of the members of the Chicago Athletic Club arrived here from San Francisco on the steamer Hawkeye State.” (Richmond Times, March 20, 1921)

“‘It’s a Niagara of fire.’  This description of the lava outburst at Kilauea Volcano. The fire pit of which overflowed on Thursday night and early yesterday morning was given today by Fred J Halton, who returned this morning on the Hawkey State from Hilo.” (Star Bulletin, March 19, 1921)

“Abruptly, as if ordered for their benefit, Pele broke loose upon the starry night; arid by the time the excited scores had reached the verge of her dwelling, the ponderous surge, urged from beneath, was lashing tremendously against the battlements.”

“These capitulated to the onslaught, and crashed into the molten mass, driving the tourists hastily to their cars and the safety and sight-seeing vantage of the bluffs around the main crater. I quote from an eye-witness:”

“‘The lake broke through crevices and rushed with express speed out over the old lava surface, where flowing lava had not been known for forty years. A river formed on the side toward the Volcano House, plunged down the incline, covered the old horse corral where Professor Jaggar’s instruments were stored, sealing them forever.’”

“‘On and on the river spread until it stopped at the foot of the cliffs just below the Volcano House. All night and on St. Patrick’s day, which was also the birthday of Kamehameha III, the lava found new openings. It poured like a Niagara over the south side.”

“A new fountain formed near the bluff southwest of Halemaumau and sent incandescent rockets into the air. Another fountain formed over toward the Kau road.’”   (Charmian London)

“Pele has played fast and loose the past several years; and no man can count upon his pilgrimage being rewarded by her most spectacular performances. Although I continue to maintain that her serenest vaporings are worth the voyage….”

“The goddess was surely working for the promotion committee; and a new hotel and enlargement of all present facilities, both there and in Hilo, were promptly on the way. To say nothing of improvements on the volcano highway….”  (Charmian London)

“In July 1921, 250 people standing near the rim of Halema‘uma‘u officially dedicate Hawai‘i National Park. It’s actually named the 11th national park on Aug. 1, 1916, about three weeks before the National Park Service is established, and its 74,935 acres includes Haleakalā on Maui, and Mauna Loa and Kīlauea on the Big Island.” (Honolulu Magazine)

“‘We amply endorse the statement made by Mr. Horace M. Albright, assistant to Director Mather, that the Hawaii National Park has no peer. ‘I was amazed,’ said Mr. Albright, ‘by the wonders of the Kilauea section of the park. Its central feature of course is the great pit of living fire, Halemaumau.’”

 “‘This pit is in the center of the main Kilauea crater, which is a great depression in a dome mountain 4,000 feet high, appearing to be a part of the eastern slope of Mauna Loa. It is impossible to describe this active lake of fire.’”

“‘It is the most awe-inspiring thing that I have ever observed, far surpassing the geysers of the Yellowstone, the waterfalls of the Yosemite, and the big trees of Sequoia Park.’”

“‘I have no hesitation in predicting that when once the people of the United States realize what a remarkable thing this volcano really is it will become the objective of thousands and thousands of visitors.’” (Honolulu Magazine)

“‘But,’ continued Mr. Albright, ‘the volcano is only one of the many sights of a wide district. There are many other steaming and dead craters, great forests of primeval tree ferns, many with fronds thirty feet in length which arch overhead, forests of koa and ohia, lava trees and wonderful tree molds.’”

“‘There is also the Bird Park, a beautiful natural park, surrounded by ancient lava flows and filled with native trees and beautiful native birds. There is also the seven-craters area traversed by the Cockett Trail. Several of these craters are almost as remarkable as the active volcano itself.’” (Honolulu Magazine)

“The picturesque [dedication] exercises included the recitation by a lineal descendant of a priest of Pete, of a prayer to the fire goddess.”

“This invocation, delivered in the full-toned chant of the old Hawaiians, was succeeded by an impressive recitation of the first Christian prayer delivered at the same brink by the spirited Kapiolani in olden days.”

“In connection with this National Park a road is to be built to the crater Mokuaweoweo at the summit of Mauna Loa. Owners of the land required for this highway are willing to donate the property.”

“The possibilities of this road are set astir in one’s imagination by the popular watchword, ‘From Surfing to Ski-ing.’”  (Charmian London, Our Hawaii)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Volcano, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii National Park

March 16, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tree of Life

“If a man plant ten breadfruit trees in his life, which he can do in about an hour, he would completely fulfil his duty to his own as well as future generations.” (Joseph Banks, 1769)

Banks had been on the Endeavour with Captain Cook on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768-1771.  William Bligh was part of the Cook’s crew on its third voyage when it made contact with Hawaiʻi in 1778.

Bligh later captained the Bounty on a voyage to gather breadfruit trees from Tahiti and take them to Jamaica in the Caribbean. There, the trees would be planted to provide food for slaves.

Bligh didn’t make it back on the Bounty, his crew mutinied (April 28, 1789;) one reason for the mutiny was that the crew believed Bligh cared more about the breadfruit than them (he cut water rationing to the crew in favor of providing water for the breadfruit plants.)  Bligh’s tombstone, in part, reads he was the “first (who) transplanted the bread fruit tree.”

For thousands of years, Ulu (Breadfruit) was a staple food in Oceania.  It is believed to have originated in New Guinea and the Indo-Malay region and was spread throughout the vast Pacific by voyaging islanders.

According to a legend, the chief Kahai brought the breadfruit tree to Hawaiʻi from Samoa in the twelfth century and first planted it at Kualoa, Oʻahu. Only one variety was known in Hawaiʻi, while more than 24 were distinguished by native names in the South Seas.  (CTAHR)

It was a canoe crop – one of around 30 plants brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians when they first arrived in Hawaiʻi.

“This tree, whose fruit is so useful, if not necessary, to the inhabitants of most of the islands of the South Seas, has been chiefly celebrated as a production of the Sandwich Islands; it is not confined to these alone, but is also found in all the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.”  (Book of Trees, 1837)

Known as ‘Ulu’ in Hawaiʻi and Samoa, ‘Uru’ is the Tahitian word for the tree, ‘Kuru’ in the Cook Islands, and ‘Mei’ in the Marquesas, Tonga and Gambier Islands, scientifically, it’s known as Artocarpus altilis.

William Dampier, claims credit for giving the fruit its English name, breadfruit. His description of it, from his 1688 Voyage Round the World, notes:

“The Bread-fruit (as we call it) grows on a large Tree, as big and high as our largest Apple trees. It hath a spreading head full of branches, and dark leaves. …”

“When the fruit is ripe it is yellow and soft; and the taste is sweet and pleasant. The Natives of this Island use it for bread: they gather it when full grown, while it is green and hard; then they bake it in an Oven, which scorcheth the rind and makes it black:”

“but they scrape off the outside black crust, and there remains a tender thin crust, and the inside is soft, tender and white like the crumb of a Penny Loaf.”

“There is neither seed nor stone in the inside, but it is all of a pure substance like Bread; it must be eaten new; for if its kept above 24 hours, it becomes dry, and eats harsh and choaky; but ’tis very pleasant before it is too stale. The fruit lasts in season 8 months in the year, during which time the Natives eat no other sort of food of Bread kind.”  (Smith)

The breadfruit is multipurpose, it may be eaten ripe as a fruit or under-ripe as a vegetable – it is roasted, baked, boiled, fried, pickled, fermented, frozen, mashed into a puree, and dried and ground into meal or flour.

The Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawai‘i, is engaged in a Global Hunger Initiative to expand plantings of good quality breadfruit varieties in tropical regions.

Click here for a link to the NTBG Breadfruit Institute.

More than 80% of the world’s hungry live in tropical and subtropical regions – this is where breadfruit thrives.  The trees require little attention or care, producing an abundance of fruit with minimal inputs of labor or materials.

Trees begin to bear fruit in three to five years, producing for many decades.  Crop yields are superior to other starchy staples. An average-sized tree will readily produce 100-200 fruit per year.

The Breadfruit Institute manages the world’s largest collection of breadfruit, conserving over 120 varieties. The Institute has developed effective methods to propagate and distribute millions of plants of productive nutrient-rich varieties.

This initiative aims to disseminate breadfruit plants to alleviate hunger and support sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and reforestation in the tropics.

The same can hold true, here at home.

Centuries ago, the Hawaiians recognized breadfruit’s benefit and brought it with them to Hawaiʻi – we can learn from that.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, General Tagged With: Hawaii, Captain Cook, Ulu, Kualoa, NTBG, Breadfruit Institute, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Bligh, Breadfruit

March 15, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pearl Lochs

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within a moku.)

‘Ewa was divided into 12-ahupua‘a, consisting of (from east to west): Hālawa, ‘Aiea, Kalauao, Waimalu, Waiau, Waimano, Mānana, Waiʻawa, Waipi‘o, Waikele, Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli.

‘Ewa was at one time the political center for O‘ahu chiefs. This was probably due to its abundant resources that supported the households of the chiefs, particularly the many fishponds. (Cultural Surveys) ʻEwa was the second most productive taro cultivation area on Oʻahu (just behind Waikīkī.)  (Laimana)

The salient feature of ‘Ewa, and perhaps its most notable point of difference, is its spacious coastal plain, surrounding the deep bays (“lochs”) of Pearl Harbor, which are actually the drowned seaward valleys of ‘Ewa’s main streams, Waikele and VVaipi’o.

The Hawaiian name for Pearl Harbor was Ke-awa-lau-o-Pu‘uloa, The-many (lau)-harbors (awa)-of-Pu‘uloa. Pu‘uloa was the rounded area projecting into the sea at the long narrow entrance of the harbor.  Another and more poetic name was Awawa-lei, Garland (lei)-of-harbors.

The English name ‘Pearl’ was given to it because of the prevalence of pearl oysters (pipi) in the deep harbor waters.  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

In Hawaiian traditions, Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) consists of three distinct awalau, or lochs, including Kaihuopala‘ai (West Loch), Wai‘awa (Middle Loch) and Komoawa (East Loch).  (Nohopapa, KSBE)  For some time, Pearl Harbor was also known as Pearl Lochs and Pearl River.

These bays offered the most favorable locality in all the Hawaiian Islands for the building of fishponds and fish traps into which deep-sea fish came on the inflow of tidal waters. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

In Hawaiian traditions, Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) consists of three distinct awalau, or lochs, including Kaihuopala‘ai (West Loch), Wai‘awa (Middle Loch) and Komoawa (East Loch).  (Nohopapa, KSBE) 

‘Loch’ is a Scottish and/or Irish term that refers to a lake or bay that is nearly landlocked. So, when and why did the term ‘loch’ come in as names these awalau?

Let’s look back …

Liholiho was the son of Kamehameha I.  Upon his father’s death Liholiho became Kamehameha II. Liholiho’s reign was also noted for his efforts to ensure the lasting independence of the Hawaiian kingdom.

In 1823, Liholiho and his favorite wife, Kamāmalu, sailed to England to meet with King George IV, the first Ali‘i to travel to England.  King George IV scheduled a meeting for June 21, but it had to be delayed; Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill.  The Hawaiian court had caught measles, to which they had no immunity.

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School).

Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers’ children. On the 8th of July the Queen died, a few days later, King Liholiho died.  His reign was approximately 5-years.

In 1824, Great Britain sent the bodies of Kamehameha II and his Queen back to Hawai‘i on the HMS Blonde, under the command of Lord Byron.

The British Government took advantage of this opportunity to acquire more detailed information concerning the islands; and to that end, included in the personnel of the ship a party of scientists.

Among these was a Lieut. Charles Malden, a surveyor, who during the stay of the ship, made a comprehensive and extensive survey of several harbors and roadsteads (offshore ship mooring areas).

One of these surveys was a fairly complete charting of the whole of Pearl Harbor, with soundings taken throughout the entrance channel and the three main lochs. The chart resulting from this survey was printed in 1841 by the British Hydrographic Office. (Navy)

Today, that map is also identified as Registered Map #437, Honolulu Harbor, South Coast of O‘ahu. (A copy of it is included in the album associated with this post.) It seems others replicated the names of the lochs of that 1825 map in what we now refer to as Pearl Harbor.

The answer to the previous question of when and why the awalau were called ‘lochs’ comes from the Diary of James Macrae, who was aboard the Blonde and sailed with Malden.  Macrae wrote,

“Pearl River is about seven miles west of Hanarura, and is improperly called a river, being rather inlets from the sea, branching off in different directions.  There are three chief branches, named by the surveyors, the East, Middle and West Lochs.” (Macrae)

While we are familiar with the East, Middle and West Lochs, there were other areas within Pearl Harbor that were also referred to as lochs: Southeast Loch, West Loch Branch and, later, Magazine Loch, Quarry Loch and Merry Loch.

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Military, Place Names, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy Tagged With: Charles Malden, Awalau, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, Pearl River, Pearl Lochs, Lochs

March 14, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Founders

Founding Fathers. Founders. Fathers. Signers. Framers. Patriots. The list of terms to describe the individuals who ‘founded’ the United States of America can go on and on. (Harvard)

Warren G. Harding popularized ‘Founding Father’ a little over a century ago, in his keynote address at the 1916 Republican National Convention.  Harding was a senator from Ohio at the time, and chairman of the convention, which nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes (who ultimately lost to Woodrow Wilson).

As reported by the Richmond Virginian on June 8, 1916, Harding said,

“No political party ever has builded or even can build permanently except in conscientious devotion to abiding principles. Time never alters a fundamental truth.”

“Conditions do change, popular interest is self-assertive, and ‘paramounting’ has its perils, as the Democratic party will bear witness, but the essentials of constructive government and attending progress are abiding and unchanging.”

“For example, we ought to be as genuinely American today as when the founding fathers flung their immortal defiance in the face of old-world oppressions and dedicated a new republic to liberty and justice.”

“We ought to be as prepared for defense as Washington urged amid the anxieties of our national beginning, and Grant confirmed amid the calm reflections of union restored.”  This wasn’t the only time Harding used the term.

In 1859, George William Curtis, a popular lecturer and writer of his day, referred to the men who created the Declaration of Independence as ‘fathers,’ when he said,

“Our fathers did not say it, because they did not mean it. They were men who meant what they said, and who said what they meant, and meaning all men, they said all men. They were patriots asserting a principle and ready to die for it, not politicians pettifogging for the presidency”

A few years later (on November 19, 1863) on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania came perhaps the most famous use of the term ‘fathers,’

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

(“Four score and seven” equals eighty-seven, so President Abraham Lincoln (speaking in 1863, at the time of the American Civil War) was referring to 1776.  Likewise, his reference to “all men are created equal” takes us to the Declaration of Independence that states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”)

Dictionaries don’t necessarily help in narrowing a list on who a Founding Father is:

Merriam-Webster

founding father (n): 1. an originator of an institution or movement; 2. often capitalized both Fs: a leading figure in the founding of the United States; specifically a member of the American Constitutional Convention of 1787

Oxford English Dictionary

founding (adj): Associated with or marking the establishment of (something specified); that originated or created. Spec. founding father (freq. with capital initials), an American statesman of the Revolutionary period, esp. a member of the American Constitutional Convention of 1787

Safire’s Political Dictionary (1968, 2008)

Founding Fathers: A group of revolutionaries who took their changes on treason to pursue the course of independency, who are today viewed reverently as sage signers of the documents of U.S. freedom.

Some say the term has been applied to the first English settlers in North America, to participants in the Continental Congresses and Constitutional Convention or the “founding generation” that led the United States from the Declaration of Independence onward.

To some, a Founding Father is, more specifically, a signer of the Declaration of Independence (there were 56 signers – who “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”)

In addition, some suggest the framers and/or signers of the US Constitution are the Founding Fathers.

The ‘Founders’ is Not a Gender-based Group

An obvious omission in finding the ‘Founding Fathers’ is that it suggests only men helped found this country.  That, of course, is simply not true.

We are reminded of Abigail Adams, wife of the 2nd President of the US, John Adams, and mother of the 6th President of the US, John Quincy Adams.  She reminds us of the saying, “Behind every great man is a great woman.”

As she says, “Remember the Ladies.”  Abigail Adams signs her letter, “I am your ever faithfull friend”.

In addition, if one were to suggest Paul Revere is a ‘Founding Father’ because of his midnight ride to Lexington, Massachusetts, with the news that British soldiers stationed in Boston were about to march into the countryside northwest of the town, then we would also need to include Sybil Ludington as a ‘Founder;’ she, too, rode a midnight ride to warn Patriots of the coming of the British.

The Founders Were Not Perfect (Neither Are We)

None of the ‘Founders’ were perfect; and, neither are any of us.

For some of the Founders, their deeds were not consistent with their words.  For example, many of the Founders were slave owners. While this is abhorrent, the Founders established a system of government that, after much struggle and the violence of the Civil War and the civil rights movement, did lead to legal freedom for all Americans and movement toward equality. (Smithsonian)

Nowadays it seems it is easy and often that others will blame everyone else for everything.  And, one fault of character becomes the focus of the judgment of the whole person.

If we continue to judge people of the past by their respective actions or inactions based on the norms of our society today versus theirs, I am confident future generations will look upon all of us and laugh and wonder, ‘What were they thinking?’

Wouldn’t it be nice if, “I just want to say – you know – can we, can we all get along? Can we, can we get along?” (Rodney King, May 1, 1992)

Broad Expression of the Founders

A challenge of making a list is that lists invariably leave someone out.

And, who makes the list of Founders depends on who you talk to, or what criteria you suggest you use in making your own list.  And, unfortunately, views tend to change, as political or social views/issues of the present interfere with the context and commitment of nearly 250-years ago.

More broadly, it may be appropriate to suggest a Founder is anyone who helped bring on the American Revolution, win the war that secured independence, and helped establish the American Republic.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Founders:

Click to access Founders.pdf

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: American Revolution, General Tagged With: American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Fathers, America250

March 8, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Twain and Maui

Mark Twain wrote books about some of his travels (that included a visit to Hawai‘i) … one such, Roughing It.  Here are some of his comments about Maui.

We “thence sailed to the island of Maui, and spent several weeks there very pleasantly.”

“I still remember, with a sense of indolent luxury, a picnicing excursion up a romantic gorge there, called the Iao Valley.  The trail lay along the edge of a brawling stream in the bottom of the gorge–a shady route, for it was well roofed with the verdant domes of forest trees.”

“Through openings in the foliage we glimpsed picturesque scenery that revealed ceaseless changes and new charms with every step of our progress.”

“Perpendicular walls from one to three thousand feet high guarded the way, and were sumptuously plumed with varied foliage, in places, and in places swathed in waving ferns.”

“Passing shreds of cloud trailed their shadows across these shining fronts, mottling them with blots; billowy masses of white vapor hid the turreted summits, and far above the vapor swelled a background of gleaming green crags and cones that came and went, through the veiling mists, like islands drifting in a fog …”

“… sometimes the cloudy curtain descended till half the canon wall was hidden, then shredded gradually away till only airy glimpses of the ferny front appeared through it—then swept aloft and left it glorified in the sun again.”

“Now and then, as our position changed, rocky bastions swung out from the wall, a mimic ruin of castellated ramparts and crumbling towers clothed with mosses and hung with garlands of swaying vines, and as we moved on they swung back again and hid themselves once more in the foliage.”

“Presently a verdure-clad needle of stone, a thousand feet high, stepped out from behind a corner, and mounted guard over the mysteries of the valley.”

“It seemed to me that if Captain Cook needed a monument, here was one ready made – therefore, why not put up his sign here, and sell out the venerable cocoanut stump?”

“But the chief pride of Maui is her dead volcano of Haleakala – which means, translated, ‘the house of the sun.’”

“We climbed a thousand feet up the side of this isolated colossus one afternoon; then camped, and next day climbed the remaining nine thousand feet, and anchored on the summit, where we built a fire and froze and roasted by turns, all night.”

“With the first pallor of dawn we got up and saw things that were new to us.  Mounted on a commanding pinnacle, we watched Nature work her silent wonders.”

“The sea was spread abroad on every hand, its tumbled surface seeming only wrinkled and dimpled in the distance.  A broad valley below appeared like an ample checker-board, its velvety green sugar plantations alternating with dun squares of barrenness and groves of trees diminished to mossy tufts.”

“Beyond the valley were mountains picturesquely grouped together; but bear in mind, we fancied that we were looking up at these things – not down.”

“We seemed to sit in the bottom of a symmetrical bowl ten thousand feet deep, with the valley and the skirting sea lifted away into the sky above us!”

“It was curious; and not only curious, but aggravating; for it was having our trouble all for nothing, to climb ten thousand feet toward heaven and then have to look up at our scenery.”

“However, we had to be content with it and make the best of it; for, all we could do we could not coax our landscape down out of the clouds.”

“Formerly, when I had read an article in which Poe treated of this singular fraud perpetrated upon the eye by isolated great altitudes, I had looked upon the matter as an invention of his own fancy.”

“I have spoken of the outside view–but we had an inside one, too.  That was the yawning dead crater, into which we now and then tumbled rocks, half as large as a barrel, from our perch, and saw them go careering down the almost perpendicular sides, bounding three hundred feet at a jump …”

“…kicking up cast-clouds wherever they struck; diminishing to our view as they sped farther into distance; growing invisible, finally, and only betraying their course by faint little puffs of dust; and coming to a halt at last in the bottom of the abyss, two thousand five hundred feet down from where they started!”

“It was magnificent sport.  We wore ourselves out at it.”

“The crater of Vesuvius, … is a modest pit about a thousand feet deep and three thousand in circumference; that of Kilauea is somewhat deeper, and ten miles in circumference.”

“But what are either of them compared to the vacant stomach of Haleakala?”

“I will not offer any figures of my own, but give official ones–those of Commander Wilkes, U.S.N., who surveyed it and testifies that it is twenty-seven miles in circumference!”

“If it had a level bottom it would make a fine site for a city like London.”

“It must have afforded a spectacle worth contemplating in the old days when its furnaces gave full rein to their anger.”

“Presently vagrant white clouds came drifting along, high over the sea and the valley; then they came in couples and groups; then in imposing squadrons; gradually joining their forces, they banked themselves solidly together, a thousand feet under us, and totally shut out land and ocean …”

“…-not a vestige of anything was left in view but just a little of the rim of the crater, circling away from the pinnacle whereon we sat (for a ghostly procession of wanderers from the filmy hosts without had drifted through a chasm in the crater wall and filed round and round, and gathered and sunk and blended together till the abyss was stored to the brim with a fleecy fog).”

“Thus banked, motion ceased, and silence reigned.  Clear to the horizon, league on league, the snowy floor stretched without a break–not level, but in rounded folds, with shallow creases between …”

“… and with here and there stately piles of vapory architecture lifting themselves aloft out of the common plain–some near at hand, some in the middle distances, and others relieving the monotony of the remote solitudes.”

“There was little conversation, for the impressive scene overawed speech.”

“I felt like the Last Man, neglected of the judgment, and left pinnacled in mid-heaven, a forgotten relic of a vanished world.”

“While the hush yet brooded, the messengers of the coming resurrection appeared in the East.  A growing warmth suffused the horizon, and soon the sun emerged and looked out over the cloud-waste …”

“… flinging bars of ruddy light across it, staining its folds and billow-caps with blushes, purpling the shaded troughs between, and glorifying the massy vapor-palaces and cathedrals with a wasteful splendor of all blendings and combinations of rich coloring.”

“It was the sublimest spectacle I ever witnessed, and I think the memory of it will remain with me always.”

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Place Names, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Maui, Mark Twain

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Copyright © 2012-2024 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC

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