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Published: March 6th 2009
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Susan in lively lecture mode
She explained the "menehene" here Waimea Canyon is the "Spectacular Beauty" we are to see today. And it is something we are anticipating. But Susan surprises us with a stop in one of the many valleys of Kaua'i.
Like on the other older islands, deep valleys reach from inland extinct volcanoes down to the ocean. Through them run rivers of fresh water, rain that gathers in the rain forest areas near the peaks.
In this particular valley is a huge fresh fish pond, carefully crafted with lava rock to provide a large reservoir to grow fish for the builders. From the way the river runs, the builders appear to have taken advantage of a big "ox bow" of the river that had switched back on itself.
From Susan's telling, this fish pond may have been built by the Marquessans, the earliest settlers of Hawai'i. She told of the legends surrounding the "menehene," a short leprechaun sort of people who did their work at night and then went back into hiding in the forests during the day.
From my anthropological training at the University of Wisconsin, I know it is not uncommon for physically shorter tribes to have been pushed out of the
Fresh fish pond
This may have been built by Marquessan settlers hundreds (thousands?) of years ago best agricultural and hunting lands and fishing places. The Hmong in southeast Asia, Pygmies in Africa, and tribes in Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America are such examples. The legends could be based on that phenomenon. The Tahitian and other immigrants from other South Seas islands came in waves and were all taller and stronger and more aggressive cultures.
I can see the immigrants from the Marquessas disappearing upstream into the rain forests and surviving because the land is so productive with many native food plants and animals. And if they had done the fish pond Susan was talking about, it is very possible they did their fishing after dark!
Susan said there are problems with the river at the present. She said pollution from the farms up river is pretty bad. Hawai'i faces the same problems Wisconsin and most other states have.
Even paradise is in danger.
We drove on to Waimea to pick up our lunch. We wended our way through small towns and past a rusting sugar plant. Susan said that Hawai'i has dropped out of the world market because other countries can raise the sugar cheaper. The buildings in
Rusting sugar plant
Closing of the sugar plantations has changed the economy the towns reflected that major economic shift.
We drove up into the Forest Preserve where the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" lies.
Susan described how one of the small islands off the coast of Kaua'i was run by an authoritarian character, practically enslaving the workers he had enticed to the island.
When we got to the great valley, all of a sudden, just as I was about to get some of the same great pictures Marty has in her T-blog at
http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-374930.html
the curse of the camera reared its ugly head. I got one picture. The light was much better, as Marty's and John's pictures show, and that was it for the rest of the day. I forgot to recharge the camera with my new wall plug rig.
The day did not end, as you can see from Marty's blog. We were able to get back into Koke'e Park because the yellow school bus could make it through the narrow and rough roads back there. Being high up, the clouds closed in to some extent and cooled our lunch site. But it did not bother the hundred wild chickens who joined us and dozens
A "downtowm"
Sugar plant closing hurt this little town. of other folks having lunch on the grounds.
The roosters had gorgeous coloring, some feathers being gold. Even the hens had nice plumage. Maybe living in the woods up in the mountains really works for them. If the Marquessans still had to live in the mountains, I wonder if the flocks would be that large.
We saw many of the plants and trees that were crucial to the immigrant islanders that initially settled the islands. The park had a great nature path which contains many of the endemic plants needed.
Hawai'i is so receptive to plants that nearly everything we normally see in Hawai'i have been introduced from somewhere else.
The trip back was long but we had a couple hours to relax before supper. Since we had an early start the next day, we were in bed petty fast.
Update: Susan gave us our first hula lesson after supper. It will be described as an O'ahu event one of the first nights we were there.
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Marty
non-member comment
don't ya hate it when that happens?
Forgetting to charge your camera with the new wall plug ? ACH! What a disappointment at Waimea Canyon! I can say that I've had some mishap with my camera at various times and then had to sit through the event going on, and not be able to take pictures. How frustrating!! So you're not alone.