The House of the Sun
Lucky me – I’ve really escaped this weekend, and for the next week I’ll be hanging out with a few of my nearest and dearest in the tropical paradise that is Haiku, Maui. We are staying in a little cottage with enormous views – sweeping from the peak of Haleakala to the Pacific Ocean some 12,000 feet below.
Haleakala in Cloud
I am told that counted from its roots at the seabed, Haleakala is actually 30,000 ft – if it were plonked in the Himalayas it would be taller than Everest. Anyway, we get to watch the play of cloud and sun across the slopes all day – here’s what a real writer, Jack London, had to say about it in “The Cruise of the Snark”:
Every day and every day this unending battle goes on. Ukiukiu is the name of the trade-wind that comes raging down out of the north- east and hurls itself upon Haleakala. Now Haleakala is so bulky and tall that it turns the north-east trade-wind aside on either hand, so that in the lee of Haleakala no trade-wind blows at all. On the contrary, the wind blows in the counter direction, in the teeth of the north-east trade. This wind is called Naulu. And day and night and always Ukiukiu and Naulu strive with each other, advancing, retreating, flanking, curving, curling, and turning and twisting, the conflict made visible by the cloud-masses plucked from the heavens and hurled back and forth in squadrons, battalions, armies, and great mountain ranges.
Haleakala Rainbow
Haleakala translates as “House of the Sun” – it’s easy to see where that name comes from, even without myths of demi-gods. Here’s the legend, in the words of Jack London again:
It is told that long ago, one Maui, the son of Hina, lived on what is now known as West Maui. His mother, Hina, employed her time in the making of kapas. She must have made them at night, for her days were occupied in trying to dry the kapas. Each morning, and all morning, she toiled at spreading them out in the sun. But no sooner were they out, than she began taking them in, in order to have them all under shelter for the night. For know that the days were shorter then than now. Maui watched his mother’s futile toil and felt sorry for her. He decided to do something–oh, no, not to help her hang out and take in the kapas. He was too clever for that. His idea was to make the sun go slower. Perhaps he was the first Hawaiian astronomer. At any rate, he took a series of observations of the sun from various parts of the island. His conclusion was that the sun’s path was directly across Haleakala. Unlike Joshua, he stood in no need of divine assistance. He gathered a huge quantity of coconuts, from the fibre of which he braided a stout cord, and in one end of which he made a noose, even as the cow-boys of Haleakala do to this day. Next he climbed into the House of the Sun and laid in wait. When the sun came tearing along the path, bent on completing its journey in the shortest time possible, the valiant youth threw his lariat around one of the sun’s largest and strongest beams. He made the sun slow down some; also, he broke the beam short off. And he kept on roping and breaking off beams till the sun said it was willing to listen to reason. Maui set forth his terms of peace, which the sun accepted, agreeing to go more slowly thereafter. Wherefore Hina had ample time in which to dry her kapas, and the days are longer than they used to be, which last is quite in accord with the teachings of modern astronomy.
The myths of Maui’s creation always seem less dramatic than the scientific explanation to me. Who could invent the idea of a chain of volcanic islands forming in the middle of the world’s largest ocean, and the huge diversity of flora and fauna that could develop only from the seeds and animals that managed to blow, fly, drift, or swim to get there? That is truly mind-blowing.
Photos by me, “Cruise of the Snark” quotes from The Lahaina Sun
Thanks Joseph – I’ve never read that one, it’s on my list. I was reading yesterday about spiders “ballooning” on bits of web on the trade winds to arrive in Hawaii. Amazing.
Actually, James Michener, using only scientific facts and his own writing abilities, created a wonderful explanation of how Hawaii came to be in the opening pages of his novel “Hawaii.”