Hawaii [antikvár]

i'"!)' i ' Ji VV i'; líi'i', i'"''' HAWAII Eons ago, Hawaii emerged from the ocean depths. Moiten lava erupted from volcanoes to build mountainous islands. Today it is a cornucopia of nature, culture, and contrast whose fruits are scattered over a small area of the North Pacific. It is literally (and otherwise) a steppingstone linking East to West. Here Polynesian sensuality, American pragmatism, and Oriental exoticism weave a tapestry of cultural extremes. According to one legend. The Big Island was first discovered by Hawaii-loa, who bumped into it while sailing towards the planet Jupiter in a sea shell. Anthropologists tell us that the first Polynesians came to the Islands some twelve to fifteen hundred years ago, searching the seas as we search outer space today These early settlers brought the life sustaining plants of sugar cane, bananas, coconuts, yams, taro and breadfruit. Their culture included music, dance and sacred ceremony range of nearly fourteen thousand feet, and Hilo (the southernmost city in the States) are just part of what make The Big Island, Hawaii, a land of startling contrasts. Across the Alenuihaha Channel lies The Valley Island, Maui, a cosmopolitan isle with thirty three miles of heavenly beachfront, glamourous sun splashed resorts, lush valleys and "The House of the Sun"~Haleakala. Lanai, The Pineapple Island, is for the most part privately owned by Castle & Cook, Inc., parent to Dole Pineapple. Across the water from the reef-shrouded north coast of Lanai is Molokai, The Friendly Island, so named for the amicability of its native inhabitants. Its western neighbor, Ohau, The Gathering Place holds eighty percent ot Hawaii's residents, most of whom live in Honolulu. Kauai, The Garden Isle, claims the wettest spot on earth as well as a barren desert within its boundries, and brims with beauty in between. Next is Niihau, a privately owned cattle and sheep ranch, employing nearly all the two hundred pureblood Hawaiians who live there. The remote Hawaiian Islands were one of the last places to be discovered by western explorers. British Captain James Cook came upon them in 1778. Forty years later, by dint of American missionary influence, they became a primary source of sugar cane and pineapples for a world market. Labor was imported first from China, then Portugal, Japan, and the Phillipines. Today Hawaii is a true ethnic melting pot with a multitude of possible racial/national blends. To experience all that is Hawaii is to take an excursion into paradise. The beauty and variety of these islands, as represented by the following photographs, offer themselves to everyone who comes ashore. And the spirit of Aloha is sure to linger, like the scent of the fragrant plumería lei, long after your departure. Its temperate climate, warm surrounding waters, and palm-studded beaches lure millions of visitors each year Present too are dramatic volcanoes and varied bouquets of a thousand flowers. Though only a speck in the giant Pacific, each of the islands has its own special allure. Consider the populated islands from southeast to northwest. Two live volcanoes, pan/o/os and cattle ranches, an altitude