| Arts & Culture
HALEAKALA BASIN?
Ask anyone. What's the one, most awe-inspiring, lump-in-the-throat, uniquely Maui sight there is? Chances are the answer will come back, "Haleakala Crater." Volumes have been written about the many wonders of this place. Likely to be enumerated and described are the Crater's ancient, desolate beauty; its sheer, majestic immensity; the plants and animals that grow in this amazing place; the spectacular vistas; and its long and varied history.
But, even as late as the early 1900's, very few tourists made the trek up the mountain to the summit. The journey was much too rugged for all but the most intrepid adventurers, requiring long hours on horseback over miles of extraordinarily rough terrain. Upon reaching their destination, the primitive accommodations were only a little better than the caves that sheltered 19th-century travelers. In 1914, for example, perhaps two or three tourists a month (at most) even attempted it.
The Crater as a tourist destination had its beginnings when Haleakala summit was declared a National Park back in 1921. In 1935, when the Haleakala Highway opened, 1,600 people inaugurated the winding road on the first day. In the second year of its existence, ten times that  number drove to the top of the mountain. The flow of visitors never stopped after that.
The guidebooks would have us believing that Haleakala sunrises have become a modern legend, something every visitor to Maui has to experience at least once. (For those who cannot get up before the sun or who shudder at an early morning trek up to heights where the average high temperature in August is 66 degrees Fahrenheit and the average low is 47 degrees, Haleakala sunsets are a viable alternative.) Visitors are advised to call 871-5054 for a weather forecast and times for sunrises (and sunsets).
Most of the publications do an obligatory nod to the ancient Polynesian legend about how Maui-tinihanga, Maui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks, Captured the Sun. There are as many versions of that tale as there are storytellers. One version, which appears in Robert Wenkam's Maui, The Last Hawaiian Place (1970), is less sanitized than most of the variations told today.
Wenkam begins, "When Maui lived on the island that bears his name he brought off his greatest Hawaiian exploit.
"The days were short on Maui Island. The gathering of bark and pounding of tapa required all day, and there was insufficient time for it to dry before the sun dipped below the mountain rim. No time remained for the people to cook their food before dark and bring in the fishing nets they had laid out before dawn."
As in the other versions, Maui decides to snare the sun and stop it from racing across the sky. But in this one, the demi-god weaves a cord from his sister's pubic hair. He twists the hair cord into throw-lengths, which he carries over his shoulder as he climbs up to the summit of the eastern mountain and waits for the light to appear over the rim. As he climbs, Maui also carries with him a "magic jawbone" as big as a club.
When the sun stands full against the eastern sky, Maui lassoes him between the legs (a fighting technique that later Polynesian warriors apparently used to great effect against their enemies). The trickster beats on the sun with his magic jawbone, permanently crippling the god. And that is why, the story concludes, the sun now moves haltingly across the sky, giving the people time to do what they must in order to live.
It is amazing to realize that one of the world's most famous "volcanic craters" is technically neither volcanic in origin, nor is it a crater. Unlike the real volcanic craters on the Big Island, say, the one at the summit of Haleakala was not built up and scooped out by succeeding lava flows.
Haleakala, the mountain that is east Maui, stands just over 10,000 feet above sea level. Geologists say it used to rise 15,000 feet from sea level. At the time (if you counted the bulk of the mountain that was submerged under water), Haleakala was the tallest mountain in the world, at over 32,000 feet when measured from its base. This major hunk of rock has been slowly sinking back into the sea from which it arose ever since it stopped building itself up. Its own weight crushes it as the elements continue to wear it down. One day, many thousands of years hence, it will be under water, they say.
Scientists say Hawaiian volcanoes tend to go dormant for a few hundred thousand years after they have built themselves up. As Haleakala slept, two great canyons formed on either side of the mountain due to erosion. These valleys cut into the core of the volcano, descending to depths of 5,000 feet or more. They worked their way up the slopes until they met at the summit, back to back, separating the east and west sides with only a thin ridge between them.
The last time Haleakala awoke was around 1790. The eruption at the summit filled the enormous canyons with lava and raised the summit floor to its current level. The Crater is actually an "erosion crater" that is partially filled with lava from the last flow as well as gravel from the crumbling sides of the canyon walls.
The people at the National Park like to call it a "basin", "valley" or "wilderness area." Somehow, though, "Haleakala Basin" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
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| Spotlight On…
Keanae 
Keanae village sits at just about midpoint between Paia and Hana, beneath the Koolau Gap in Haleakala Crater and in the upper reaches, the rainfall averages 150 inches a year.
The peninsula where the village sits, amid taro patches fed by Keanae Stream, was formed by a later eruption of Haleakala which flowed through the Koolau Gap down Keanae Valley. It juts out into the sea, surrounded by black jaggedy rocks.
Time seems to have stopped here. Ohana, family, is still the most important thing. The lo'i, taro patches, still have to be tended. Kalo, taro roots, are still pounded into poi for the table and for sale outside the valley. Opihi can still be harvested and throw nets are cast by fishermen for the schools of reef fish along the black rocky coast. Hunters still go "up mountain" to get meat for the table. And everybody shares.
There is an old saying that with a poi pounder and a throw-net (and a lot of hard work) a man can provide food for his family. It is still true in Keanae.
Land ownership in both Keanae and neighboring Wailuanui varies significantly from other parts of Hawaii. Numerous royal patent grants (the sale of crown land to individuals and groups or associations) were awarded for sizeable parcels of land duringhe fifty years after the Mahele. These lands generally were used primarily as pasturage for mules and cattle and have played a significant role in sustaining the Hawaiian community in the area.
Beginning in the latter part of the 19th cntury Chinese immigrants began leasing taro lands for rice farming from Hawaiians in Keanae and Wailua. Crop destruction by birds caused the rice farming to die out and taro farming continues in these ares on a smaller scale.
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