“(A)t early morning, March 30th (1820), to the joy of our expecting little company, the long looked for Hawaii appeared in the West. The lofty Mauna Kea lifted its snow crowned summit above the dark and heavy clouds that begirt its waist.”
“As we approached, we had a fine view of about sixty miles of the NE coast of the island – the districts of Hilo, Hāmākua, and part of Kohala; and as the sun shining in his strength dissipated the clouds, we had a more impressive view of the stupendous pyramidal Mauna Kea …”
“… having a base of some thirty miles, and a height of nearly three miles. Its several terminal peaks rise so near each other, as scarcely to be distinguished at a distance.”
“These, resting on the shoulders of this vast Atlas of the Pacific, prove their great elevation by having their bases environed with ice, and their summits covered with snow, in this tropical region, and heighten the grandeur and beauty of the scene …”
“… by exhibiting in miniature, a northern winter, in contrast with the perpetual summer of the temperate and torrid zones below the snow and ice.” (Bingham)
Such was the first impression of Hiram Bingham as the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries first approached and landed in the Islands. He later (September, 1830) visited the summit region with Kauikeaouli, King Kamehameha III.
“(T)he king set out with a party of more than a hundred, for an excursion further into the heart of the island, and an ascent to the summit of Mauna Kea. To watch over and instruct my young pupil, and to benefit my health, I accompanied him.”
“(C)rossing over to Kawaihae with my family, we ascended at evening to the new inland station. When we had escaped from the oppressive heat on the shore, and reached the height of about 2000 feet, we were met by a slight rain and a chilly wind, which made our muscles shiver, though covered with a cloak, as we came within some twenty-five miles of the snows of the mountain.”
“The rain and clouds passed away as we approached the place of the sojourn of Mr. Ruggles and Dr. Judd. The full-orbed moon looked serenely down from her zenith upon the hoary head of Mauna Kea, and the ample and diversified scenery around.”
“The babbling brook, the sound of a small cataract in a glen, the rustling in the tops of the trees, at a little distance, the scattered huts of the natives in the settlement, while their occupants were hushed at midnight …”
“… and the hospitable light of a fire and lamp, beaming from a glass window of the missionary cottage pitched near the north side of the plain, over against Mauna Kea, which appeared in its grandeur …”
“… all contributed to awaken peculiar emotions, and called forth the aspiration, ‘May the Gospel and the Spirit of God dwell here, and the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for them.’”
“The excursion occupied nearly five days, though it might have been accomplished much sooner. Crossing in a southerly direction the plain of Waimea, some on horseback and some on foot, the party ascended a small part of the elevation of the mountain, and being in the afternoon enveloped in dense fog, they halted and encamped for the night.”
“The next day they passed over the western slope of the mountain to the southern side thence eastward along a nearly level plain, some seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, to a point south of the summit, and encamped out again, in the mild open air.”
“In the course of this day’s journey, the youthful king on horseback, pursued, ran down, and caught a yearling wild bullock, for amusement and for a luncheon for his attendants. A foreigner lassoed and killed a wild cow.”
“The next day was occupied chiefly in ascending in a northerly direction, very moderately. Our horses climbed slowly, and by taking a winding and zigzag course, were able, much of the way, to carry a rider.”
“Having gained an elevation of about ten thousand feet, we halted and encamped for the night, in the dreary solitudes of rocks and clouds. When the night spread her dark, damp mantle over us, we found ourselves in the chilly autumnal atmosphere of the temperate zone of this most stupendous Polynesian mountain.”
“Below us, towards Mauna Loa, was spread out a sea of dense fog, above which the tops of the two mountains appeared like islands.”
“We found it a pretty cold lodging place. … In the morning we proceeded slowly upwards till about noon, when we came to banks of snow, and a pond of water partly covered with ice.”
“In his first contact with a snow bank, the juvenile king seemed highly delighted. He bounded and tumbled on it, grasped and handled and hastily examined pieces of it, then ran and offered a fragment of it in vain to his horse.”
“He assisted in cutting out blocks of it, which were wrapped up and sent down as curiosities to the regent and other chiefs, at Waimea, some twenty-eight miles distant.”
“These specimens of snow and ice, like what are found in the colder regions of the earth, excited their interest and gratified their curiosity, and pleased them much; not only by their novelty, but by the evidence thus given of a pleasant remembrance by the youthful king.”
“After refreshing and amusing ourselves at this cold mountain lake, we proceeded a little west of north, and soon reached the lofty area which is surmounted by the ‘seven pillars’ which wisdom had hewed out and based upon it, or the several terminal peaks near each other, resting on what would otherwise be a somewhat irregular table land, or plain of some twelve miles circumference.
“Ere we had reach’d the base of the highest peak, the sun was fast declining and the atmosphere growing cold. The king and nearly all the company declined the attempt to scale the summit, and passing on to the north-west crossed over, not at the highest point, and hastily descended towards Waimea.” (Hiram Bingham)
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