Gibraltar of the Pacific.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13991, 28 August 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

Gibraltar of the Pacific.

(By Edward P. Irwin.)

Many- .c/>iituries. .ago, so runs llm oldl lawaiian legend,- l'elc; goodess of lire, having <|uurri.llcd witu her lather arid brothers, left her old homo mid came to Hawaii in wonrch of a pluco where she might make a homo for herself. She tried tho island of Kauai firsfci and threw up tliero several volcanoes, hut 110110 of, the new inhabitants suited her, so she left that island and crossed tlie • channel to Oahu, On this island .she built herself a number-of new houses, living in each for. 11 while. Among them was the house • named by -her "Leidii," situated on the sou th-enstern. extremity of Qahy.i

lint Polo, was-young, unsettled, and of a roving disposition, and once more she. exercised the feminine privilege of changing her mind. So she moved on to the southward, and on the island of Maui erected the great house of Haleakala, now known as the largest extinct volcano in the world. Centuries Inters she abandoned tliir, too, and now lives on the island of Hawaii, where she has two dwelling places, tho volcanoes of Kilauea and Alauna Loa.

It has been a long, long time since Pole put out the fires of her Oahu home and went away; so long that Time with kindly hand has been, able to coyer up the ashes and cinders for the most part with green grass, lantana and glue/bushes. • But the old volcano, though the smoke of its long extinct fires, no longer ascends to the heavens, and the fierce explosions that once rocked the mountain to its foundations when angry Pele stamped her petulant foot have long since died away, yet looms over the plain thnt lies at its base, and is one of the first landmarks which the traveller to Hawaii sees when bis vessel raises tho island above the western horizon. And now once more, after the Inpso of all the .centuries. Diamond Head, as the volcano is called by the white man, is charged with latent fire, which' some- day it may belch forth with fierce bellowings, dimming the heavens with smoke and, rocking the island to its base with the.'violence of its explosions.

For Diamond-Head is now a fortress, and its rupged sides bristle with orneealed batteries, capable of blowing off the face of-tho-waters the most powerful vessels- that have over been built.' •.,'■ *:■■:■ :\ . ' '.;

A Iter proerastinnting- for years, tho United States Government finally awakened to-- the... importance of Hawaii fi'om a- strnte^ieV standpoint, and after Consrress . bad: discussed tho matter Rpasmoclieally ,, :'"at(.':.'y.irioii» .sessions, iti was decided • to fortify tbe island of Oaliu, nutin,lAvliicli 'Honolulu is situated, and to . riia're -rjfr • the Oibraltnr rf the Pacific. When'tbo plans now being carried cut are consummated, the whole islaiid will virtually bp a hiigp fdrtross. eapiiblo of resistinp: tho attack of tho strongest navies of tho world. ■'■'"•,•'■•'! ;

Tlie first -worlt done in/ this scheme of inakinir t'nited States supreme in the western. oeea.'n. was tbe fortification of.\Dianioud Head. . Situated as it. is at the lower extremity of tho island, with its northern slope forming'port of the City of Honolulu, it commands the reaward approach from ah directions to the city, and the fire of its Runs, combined ..with, the cross Ore of the Pearl Harbour fortifte«tions seven miles away on tbe other s-hio of -Honolulu, is sufficient to render the town safe from attack. The crater- itself is comparatively .shallow, being-only a couple.of hui> dred feet deep. But the' walls at steep' awl' rugped. and '.I woiild -bv..., praclieallv impossililo, for a ship at ■•■•> a. to-'d'ror> a- pboll into the rayity. This is being taken advantage of to form a safe .-belter for the gunners who are to man the battery. The guns, themselves, each P2-ino.li mortars of the newest and most pow- ■• erful type, are not located in the crater itself, but are mounted on tho Le'ahi slope, toward Kaimuki, behind the mountain. Should there be oecasioir to use' them in time of war, the gunners would see the vessel at which thev. were firirur, and would direct thei'r aim according to tbe telephoned instructions of the rangefmders stationed at various points on tho circumference of the crater's Such is modern gunnery, a matter or mathematics' rather than of accuracy .of vision.' But to such a degree of perfection has the modern science- of minnerv attained, that tbe crews of tb" Diamond Head battery would be able to drop on to the deck of a battleship miles distant and complete v ovtof their range of vision, p projectile which would sink the vessel before ever it had a chance to use. its own less powerful puns. Through the thick rock walls of the volcano's crater grimy workmen, under the direction of • United States military engineers, are driving a tun- ,

ml 'This' is to form a passageway to ' and from the batteries for the officers and ranpefindors,V,iud should occasion over nrise, for the crews ot Ux> mortar battery. It is extremely improbable that any en-my could ever succeed in landing a on the island, but should such a thin" occur, the crater of the vol-c-.mo would afford practically an impregnable > stronghold for \he besietred. f«rees of the TJnited States. Ihe sides iif the volcano are very steep and cannot be scaled except' in a few places where narrow paths lead up the precipitous heights. A' few rilemon and .n'nehine suns could easily defend these passes against a. force, niaiiv times their number. About the only way the voonnic fortress could be captured would be by starving the defenders out. Water would be the' most, difficult .thms for -i defending force to obtain, but it wiU be no insuperable task to provide a plentiful supply. Already, during the rainv season of the year, there is n small like in the centre of the crater This usually dries up during the summer, hut by cementing tho bottom a reservoir holding a supp v sufficient to last many months could be created. Of course, there is not one -hanee in a thousand that tins would ever be needed, but in no case of war, or the possibility of war, it is not wise to take unnecessary chances. So the tunnel is being bored throu<.h the side of the crater. VI hen this is finished Hawaii .will have tho most novel and, at the r.ame time, one of the strongest fortresses m t«° world—a fortified volcano.