HONOLULU AND ISLAND OF OAHU 
First in importance, though third in size, Oahu 
Island, with an area of 598 square miles, contains 
two principal mountain ranges. The Koolau 
range extends practically the whole length along 
the northeastern or windward side. The Waianae 
range is on the southwestern side. Between the 
two ranges rises a fertile tableland. The island 
is about 46 miles in length by about 26 in breadth. 
Covered for the most part with a dense but low 
forest growth, the rugged mountains average be¬ 
tween 2,000 and 3,000 feet, the highest, Kaala, 
being a little over 4,000 feet above sea level. The 
greater part of the III miles of coast line is 
fringed with coral reefs, in some places a mile or 
more from shore, and in others very close in. At 
low tide these reefs are partially exposed. 
The population of the Island of Oahu (123,- 
496) is nearly half the population of the entire 
Territory (255,912), and the actual city of Ho¬ 
nolulu accounts for two-thirds of the island’s 
people. The rest of Oahu, politically a part of 
the city and county of Honolulu, and altogether 
a wonderland of industry and beauty, is practi¬ 
cally the suburbs of the territorial capital and 
mid-Pacific crossroads. 
FIRST VIEW OF HONOLULU 
Perhaps the most striking feature of Oahu’s 
southern coast line, or the feature that first im¬ 
presses the arriving ocean voyager, is Diamond 
Head, an extinct crater forming a bold and rug¬ 
ged promontory. Leahi, as the Hawaii a ns name 
Oahu’s most southern tip, may be termed the 
eastern wall of Honolulu city. 
West of the great cone’s buttressed shell lie 
spreading Kapiolani park and the world-famous 
Waikiki beach with its modern hotels, palm- 
bordered approaches, sea-view mansions, tropical 
bungalows, broad boulevard, outrigger canoes, 
surfboards and all-the-year-round bathing. 
Behind and within the crater are formidable 
military works. Fort Huger’s heavy coast de¬ 
fense guns occasionally thunder in practice. Ever 
and anon an observation balloon rises above 
Leahi. Aeroplanes, singly, in pairs, in squadrons, 
fly over sea and shore, mountain and valley, city 
and beach resort. 
Arriving from or sailing for San Francisco, 
the traveler rounds picturesque Diamond Head. 
Ever it remains in his memory, like the strains 
of Hawaii’s deeply emotional farewell song, 
“Aloha Oe,” composed by the late Liliuokalani, 
one-time queen. 
Coming upon Honolulu from around Diamond 
Head, the city breaks upon the vision of the pas¬ 
senger like the withdrawing of a curtain from be¬ 
fore an immense canvas depicting some master 
artist’s dream of a city beautiful. He sees the 
well-foliaged metropolis extending far between 
shore and hills, climbing the hills or slopes 
that lead to the greater heights, and reaching into 
the seemingly numberless valleys where abounds a 
luxuriance of vegetation. 
Punchbowl Hill, an ancient spatter-cone, or 
more commonly referred to as an extinct crater, 
rises to a height of almost 500 feet back of central 
Honolulu. Far to the left stretch the sugar 
lands, Pearl Harbor and Pearl City, high table¬ 
lands, peninsulas, dead craters, and the Waianae 
range terminating in Barber’s Point, in which 
general direction the Honolulan looks to behold 
sunsets of a magnificence known in few other 
places on earth. 
SUBURBS IN THE VALLEYS 
Beyond and above Punchbowl—Puuowaina is 
the Hawaiian name-—looms Mount Tantalus, one 
of the guardians of the Ann ami Pali, the 1,200- 
foot precipitous mountain pass that is the scenic 
gateway between windward Oahu and the Ho¬ 
nolulu side of the island. 
From the summit of Tantalus, easily accessible, 
may be obtained a view as comprehensive as it is 
entrancing. The valleys of Kalihi, Ah loann, 
Pauoa, Manoa, and Palolo are all immediate 
- suburbs of Honolulu, while their uttermost re¬ 
cesses forever attract the hiking enthusiast and 
the exploring tourist. At the head of Palolo is a 
great crater, hidden to all except the mountain 
climber. Manoa and A unarm are noted for their 
beautiful residences, tropical groves, delightful 
vistas. 
There are sections of the city that are not 
altogether lovely, but Honolulu is a young-old 
city and, like all growing centers, especially where 
cosmopolitanism is a very considerable factor, 
it has its rough spots, interesting as they may be 
to the sociologist. This, of course, is not evident 
from the deck of a steamship entering the chan¬ 
nel between coral reefs to land the passenger in 
an up-to-date, bustling American mid-sea cos- 
mopolis where every comfort, convenience, luxury 
and delight await him, together with unaccus¬ 
tomed inspirations and experiences to enrich his 
life forever. 
BEWILDERING IMPRESSIONS 
Ashore in Honolulu, the stranger is at once 
more or less bewildered by a variety of impres¬ 
sions, some clear as noonday and some uitangible 
and therefore put aside for future leisurely analy¬ 
sis. If he goes to the Alexander Young hotel, 
for example, he may at first be inclined to think it 
too big for the city—it is so continental, so much 
after the fashion of a huge caravansary of the At¬ 
lantic seaboard. Later he comes to realize that 
Honolulu is kept busy accommodating world trav¬ 
elers, permanent as well as transient, and that 
building operations have a close race with increas¬ 
ing demands. 
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