Word: maui
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Long, long ago, legend has it, the demigod Maui became incensed with the sun. It passed too swiftly over his Hawaiian island, leaving little time for fruits to ripen or womenfolk to dry their tapa cloth. So, with a web of 16 ropes, Maui lassoed the sun. "Give me my life," pleaded Sol. "I will," replied the demigod, "if you promise to move more slowly across our sky." The sun consented, and to this day, islanders swear, its arc is longer, its rays more generous than anywhere else on earth. And ever since, Maui's mighty volcano has been...
...Maui's magic is as potent as ever, except that today he casts his net at the malihinis, the strangers from all over who swarm to his Valley Island by the thousands, bearing millions. They do not come to Maui for the Don Ho-hula-grass skirt-sarong-muumuu-mai tai-lei-and-luau scenario that, in mainlanders' eyes at least, has become to Hawaii what Mickey Mouse is to Disney World or the one-armed bandit to Las Vegas. They come for some of the world's most spectacular scenery and a variety of activities unmatched...
...Maui, a tiny Rorschach splotch in the North Pacific, is pounded by breakers, caressed by potpourri-fragrant trade winds, usually blessed in some parts by 350 days a year of that still obedient sun. Maui is a microcosm of the world's landscapes and climates. Temperatures range from subarctic to subtropic; rainfall from 3 in. to 400 in. (but this whiter the whole island was drenched with a near record rainfall); the terrain from soaring peaks, impenetrable jungles and black lava promontories to viridian uplands, gossamer falls and beaches of bleached sand...
...same 20° N. latitude line as Hong Kong, Mecca, Mexico City and Calcutta, Maui (pop. 54,000) is the second biggest, second youngest (some 15 million years old) of the 132 islands of the 50th and southernmost state. Maui County attracts more visitors than any other of the islands (1,414,867 in 1978, up 12.5% over the previous year). Oahu (Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor) is seriously overbuilt and overcrowded; Hawaii ("the Big Island") is famed for its volcanoes and rugged natural beauty but has few beaches and little action for the tourist; Kauai has great, uncrowded, golden beaches...
...Maui, with its rain forests and high volcanic range, boasts some 1,300 of the higher plants that exist only in the Hawaiian Islands. Indigenous birds include the black-necked stilt, the claw-footed nene, the short-eared owl and the blue-faced booby, and there are such unique fauna as the monk seal, the hoary bat and the predacious caterpillar. (There are no snakes on the islands.) Maui's waters teem with more than 700 species of fish, perhaps 20% of which are to be found only in Hawaii. The island's most faithful visitor...