Monday, September 6, 1999
Mysterious palm
trees, Part 2
The Wat Dat focusing on palm trees mysteriously growing outside of their usual habitat on Hawaii's steep mountain slopes provoked a flurry of possible explanations. Which ones are accurate -- and it could be more than one -- which ones are wishful thinking and which ones are crackpot, we daren't say. You decide:
One caller insisted they are covertly planted mooring posts for visiting UFOs. "The government knows all about it and secretly waters the trees."
Another had it on good authority (a helicopter pilot) that ancient Hawaiians planted the palms to mark secret trails up the precipices. "You'll generally see them in pairs. Hawaiians know that plants like to have their own kind around."
Another heard from her uncle-in-law, an army engineer, that Army Air Corps biplanes in the 1920s aerially seeded Oahu's deep valleys. They used "a variety of palm seeds including date, coconut, fan palm nuts. This was done in an attempt to help prevent erosion and landslides."
More than one respondent had heard that the palms marked each site where a famous mainland hunter had killed a wild pig. One noted that the hunters would skin the pig and place the entrails in a hole, along with palm seeds.
And yet another said that the palms represent a deep Hawaiian secret that is unknowable to anyone but those of Hawaiian ancestry.
So there.
By Burl Burlingame<P>
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