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 7 s
 
 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC; 
 
 a Baoft of 
 
 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND FACTS 
 
 THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
 
 BY WILLIAM R. BLISS. 
 
 " Mariner, mariner, furl your sails, 
 For here are the blissful downs and dales, 
 And merrily, merrily carol the gales, 
 And the spangle dances in bight and bay, 
 And the rainbow forms and fTies on the land, 
 Over the islands free. 
 
 Oh ! hither, come hither and furl your sails, 
 And sweet shall your welcome be." 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 SHELDON AND COMPANY, 
 
 No. 677 BROADWAY. 
 1873-
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, 
 
 BY WILLIAM R. BLISS, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 Boston : 
 Rand, A very, <5r> Co., Stereotypers and Printers.
 
 164 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 /. Cruising in the Tropics .... Pa s* g 
 
 II. An Outpost of Paradise ... 24 
 
 ///. For Honolulu Direct .... 29 
 
 IV. First Impressions of the Paradise . 35 
 
 V. The Hawaiian Kings .... 43 
 
 VI. The Hawaiian Kingdom ... 54 
 
 VII. Events and Circumstances . . . 61 
 
 VIII. Moral Life of the Natives ... 69 
 
 IX. Physical Life of the Natives . . . 8 1 
 
 X. The Lepers' Village . . . . 92 
 
 XL Mauna Loa ; Volcanic Eruptions and 
 
 Ruins 98 
 
 XII. A Political Election . . . .124 
 
 XIII. The Gala Day in Hojiolitln . . .130 
 
 XIV. The Hawaiian Civilization . . .140 
 
 XV. Society in Honolulu . . . . 161 
 
 XVI. Sounds and Sights in Honolulu . . 172 
 
 XVII. The Climate of Honolulu . . .184 
 
 XVI II. Honolulu an Days 193
 
 THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
 
 SAILED to the tropics to escape from a 
 Northern winter, not knowing in what 
 port I should finally anchor. I moored 
 at Honolulu, in the Sandwich or Ha- 
 waiian Islands ; and this book is a result of my 
 sojourn there. 
 
 The book is small ; but so is the country and so 
 are the people of which it treats, while it is really 
 larger than the importance of that country to 
 any possible future of commerce or civilization. 
 The Hawaiian Islands have occasionally at- 
 tracted the attention of the American people 
 on account of a political value which they are 
 supposed to possess by their position. They 
 have had the reputation of lying directly in the 
 path of every thing that sails on the Pacific
 
 6 THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
 
 Ocean. This reputation they have not de- 
 served ; for they actually lie remote from the 
 track of all commercial ships, except those car- 
 rying coals from Australia to California ; and 
 these rarely pass within sight of the group. 
 
 Their geographical relation to the line of 
 commerce between our Pacific coast and Asia 
 is analogous to the relation of the Bermuda 
 Islands to the commerce between England and 
 New York, merely a possible place of refuge. 
 They are a long distance south of the great circle 
 courses steered by steamers between San Fran- 
 cisco and Japan, and by ships sailing east from 
 China to our Western coast. 
 
 But they offer a delightful exile and a peace- 
 ful life to Hawaiianized Americans, whether 
 invalidated in health, purse, or otherwise. 
 Here I found the true Castle of Indolence, 
 
 " Where labor only was- to pass the time ; 
 And labor sore it was, and weary woe." 
 
 Here men and women are unadorned, skies 
 and seas are charming, the daily newspaper is 
 unknown, and it is folly to be wise. And I von-
 
 TI1K AUTHOR TO THE READER. 7 
 
 ture to think that my book, small as it is, con- 
 tains all that the reader can desire to know of 
 the people and things in that curious pin-head 
 kingdom of the Pacific, and in its very pleasant 
 capital city of Honolulu. 
 
 As a record of TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND 
 FACTS IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, I hope the 
 book may be useful to those who journey 
 thither, as well as interesting to that larger 
 number of travelers who must always remain 
 at home, and look at foreign scenes through 
 another's eyes.
 
 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 CRUISING IN THE TROPICS. 
 
 , 
 
 (r 
 
 HIS is the Caribbean Sea. Our ship, 
 urged by the north-east trade-wind, 
 i s hurrying rapidly to the south. 
 It is difficult to describe the softness of 
 the air, or the beauty of the scenery, sur- 
 rounding me this brilliant November noon. 
 Rising and falling on the billows of this blue 
 sea float small meadows of the golden-col- 
 ored Sargasso grass. The blue waves, the 
 golden grass, the white crests broken by 
 the trade-wind, all o-litterino; in the sunlight, 
 
 O O i-j f 
 
 are so captivating to my eye, that, although
 
 10 PAR AD ISP: IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 I detest the treacherous sea, I cannot help 
 uttering Coleridge's invocation, 
 
 " God be with thee, gladsome ocean ! " 
 
 Heaped on a line above the horizon lie 
 fleecy banks of white clouds, folding them- 
 selves into quaint shapes, then dissolving 
 into other clouds of grayer hue, from which, 
 at intervals, I can see thin blue streams of 
 rain descending upon spots below the verge. 
 Overhead the sky is cloudless. In the far 
 distance before us loom the mountain-lands 
 of Jamaica. As evening comes on, the 
 smooth sea, the soft air, the fair wind, and 
 a bright moon, keep us late on deck. Music 
 and song add a tone of enchantment to the 
 scene ; and our voyage to the tropics seems 
 to have become a pleasure-cruise. 
 
 All night we lay off and on the island. 
 Early the next morning, a pilot as black as 
 an ink-bottle came on board, and steered us 
 into Kingston harbor.
 
 KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 11 
 
 A thin mist hangs low over the plain on 
 which the town stands. As the sun rises, 
 the mist steals away to the mountains. 
 There is not a breath in the air, nor a ripple 
 on the water ; our flags hang listless at the 
 mast-head; the, city is silent; the quiet 
 power of the tropical heat has suppressed 
 all life, except that of the ugly pelicans 
 swooping over the sea in search of a break- 
 fast, as the buzzards are swooping over the 
 land. 
 
 By ten o'clock the trade-wind struck the 
 island, and the aspect of every thing was im- 
 mediately changed. The flags stream out 
 their colors furiously, the town is in a bustle, 
 market-boats swarm at the wharves, don- 
 key-carts loaded with oranges block the 
 streets, and a crowd of jabbering and ges- 
 ticulating negroes scrambles to our decks, 
 and proposes to take charge of our affairs. 
 
 It resembles other tropical towns in the 
 West Indies, with its low, brick houses,
 
 12 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 peaked roofs, verandas faced with blinds, 
 and irregular streets. In the suburbs are 
 hard white roads, lined with cactus-hedges, 
 shaded lanes, gardens, and lawns nicely kept. 
 These appearances of refinement and com- 
 fort show the predominating influence of 
 the English people, who rule the island of 
 Jamaica. 
 
 At noon the thermometer, hanging in a 
 veranda, marked ninety degrees of heat; 
 yet the sea-breeze was so fresh, that this 
 heat was not oppressive, except under a 
 lee. High upon the mountains, the trade- 
 wind clouds were gathering for the daily 
 shower which refreshes those altitudes, but 
 rarely visits the plain below. On the sides 
 of the mountains are small settlements, the 
 resorts of invalids; and there, in sight of 
 the town and the sea, the white troops of 
 the garrison are barracked, while the black 
 troops air their feathers in the hot sun of 
 the plain.
 
 FROM COLON TO PANAMA. 13 
 
 We sailed away at sunset for Colon, five 
 hundred and fifty miles south by west from 
 Kingston ; running the distance rapidly 
 before the steady trade-wind. 
 
 At Colon there is nothing to attract at- 
 tention, except tl*e bronze statue of Colum- 
 bus, which testifies his right to the name 
 of the port. As I am eager to escape from 
 its mouldy houses, flat lands, and malarious 
 marshes, I think nothing of the sultry heat 
 at eight o'clock in the morning, when I 
 take the railroad-train for Panama, to cross, 
 in three hours, from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
 cific Ocean ; thus doubling Cape Horn, and 
 making the Arctic passage at the same 
 time. 
 
 An impenetrable jungle hedges each 
 side of the railway: in its edge, pine- 
 apples, bananas, plantains, alligator pears, 
 and enormous lemons are growing. Flow- 
 ering vines, which appear to be a species 
 of the morning-glory-vine, cover the
 
 14 PARADISE IN TIIK PACIFIC. 
 
 larger trees. There is the marvel of Peru, 
 with stems as large as my wrist, its ten- 
 drils hanging in festoons from the lofty 
 cottonwood trees that rise above the level 
 of the forest, bearing bell-shaped flowers 
 in various colors. The ipomea, gay with 
 flowers of solferino, creeps over the edges 
 of the thicket. The blossoms of the acacia- 
 tree, and the bright red and salmon flow- 
 ers of the ricinus, or castor-oil-bean, make 
 lines of colors on my eye as the train 
 rushes past them. 
 
 Between the rails, and on the clearing 
 at either side of the track, grows the sen- 
 sitive-plant, covering the ground as densely 
 as the early English primrose, and bearing 
 a pink blossom, which, in size and shape, 
 but more feathery, resembles the primrose 
 flower. It was a new sensation that I 
 experienced in walking through long fields 
 of it, pausing to watch the sensitive 
 leaves shrink away upon their stems at the
 
 TROPICAL FAMILIES. 15 
 
 approach of my foot, leaving my steps as 
 plainly marked upon the foliage-bed as if 
 they had been impressed upon the wet 
 sand of the seashore. Along the road are 
 several watering-stations for the trains. 
 Here are clusters of bamboo huts, thatched 
 with palm-leaves, in which live the yellow 
 natives of the land, filthy and indolent. 
 Their household gods consist of naked 
 babies, pigs, puppies, and game-cocks, lying 
 in common fraternity about the doors. 
 They have little use for dry-goods. Their 
 clothing, what there is of it, is mostly 
 u honored in the breach." But, when pas- 
 senger-trains pass, the women have been 
 taught to appear in their best attire, 
 which, if they have one, consists of a 
 trailing muslin gown, and nothing more, 
 either above, below, or beneath. 
 
 One yellow belle who came down from 
 the bamboos to see us was more aristo- 
 cratic than her kindred ; for, in addition to
 
 16 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 her white wrapper, she sheltered her com- 
 plexion under a brown silk umbrella, in 
 which her pride as well as her purse was 
 invested. Near these clusters of huts rise 
 the neat white houses of the station-mas- 
 ters, two stories high, with broad veran- 
 das, and lattices of vines. Here, with his 
 heels on a rail, sits, smoking a cigar, the 
 Yankee lord and master of the settle- 
 ment. The yard of the house, enclosed 
 by a white picket-fence, is shaded by 
 cocoannt-palms, oleanders, altheas, and 
 other flower-bearing trees. These civilized 
 spots, blooming out at intervals along the 
 road, make a wonderful contrast to the 
 huddle of dirty huts lying on their out- 
 skirts. 
 
 The railroad frequently touches and 
 turns away from the Chagres River, and 
 finally crosses it by a long iron bridge. 
 There is no life on this muddy stream, 
 once swarming with adventurers seeking
 
 THE CITY OF PANAMA. 17 
 
 fortunes on the Pacific coast. A bunch of 
 curlew was skimming over it, and white 
 cranes stood dozing on its sandy shore, as 
 we passed by. Soon after crossing the 
 river, the road reaches its summit grade, 
 not high enough to open any distant land- 
 scapes, and then descends rapidly towards 
 the Pacific, winding between the high- 
 lands that form the backbone of the isth- 
 mus, and running out upon the beach of 
 Panama before we are aware of the prox- 
 imity of the sea. 
 
 I find little in the city of Panama to in- 
 terest a stranger. It is a warm, mouldy 
 town, on a rocky peninsula, built of stone 
 two hundred years ago. Vegetation has 
 long since taken root on the crumbling 
 \valls erected for its protection against buc- 
 caneers, and on the decayed churches and 
 convents which once attested the piety of 
 its Spanish founders. Its natives are a 
 mongrel race, whose yellow r skin and coarse 
 
 2*
 
 18 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 black hair tell that Indian blood predomi- 
 nates in them They speak a language as 
 mixed as their blood, bat showing a Span- 
 ish origin. The city has some trade be- 
 cause it is a free port. Linens, umbrellas, 
 cigars, French wines, and muslins are sold 
 cheap. Most of the shops are kept by the 
 family of Isaacs and Nathans ; and their 
 thrift gives some life to the streets. 
 
 As the city has no harbor, all vessels lie 
 remote in the bay, in which the ordinary 
 tides rise and fall eighteen feet, and the 
 spring tides twenty-two feet. When the 
 tide ebbs, it uncovers coral reefs and sandy 
 flats in front of the walls, setting the town 
 inland ; then lazy natives may be seen 
 scratching the sands in search of coins and 
 trinkets believed to have been lost in the 
 early days, when there were more jewels 
 and gold in Panama than now. The na- 
 tives are adapted to this business; for 
 scratching becomes a natural propensity in
 
 FIRST SIGHT OF THE OCEAN. 19 
 
 these old and unwashed countries, where 
 fleas abound. 
 
 On this shore Europeans first saw the 
 Pacific Ocean. That was in 1513, when 
 the young Spaniard, Balboa, with his com- 
 panions, came up the Chagres River from 
 the Atlantic coast, and marched westward 
 in search of new dominions for the King of 
 Spain. The story says, that, after toiling 
 for many days through the forest, his 
 Indian guide assured Balboa, that from the 
 top of the next hill he would see an ocean. 
 Leaving his companions, he went up alone, 
 with the devoutness of a priest and the en- 
 thusiasm of a warrior, and beheld the South 
 Sea stretching in endless prospect before 
 him. When he reached its shore, he 
 marched into the water with \\u armor on, 
 declaring that he took possession of this 
 ocean in the name of the King of Spain, 
 whose right to it he would defend against 
 all enemies.
 
 20 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 His followers founded the city of Pana- 
 ma ; not the present city, but another of 
 the same name, whose ruins are on the 
 shore three miles below. This city grew 
 rich by traffic in slaves, and gold and silver 
 from the South ; becoming one of the most 
 opulent cities of Spanish America. It had 
 existed one hundred and fifty-two years, 
 when Henry Morgan, the English freebooter 
 from Jamaica, having heard of its wealth, 
 crossed the isthmus with twelve hundred 
 men for the purpose of plundering it. 
 
 At that time the old city contained seven 
 thousand houses built of native woods, of 
 which two thousand were elegantly fur- 
 nished : their walls were adorned with 
 paintings; their balconies and verandas 
 with costly draperies. The city, being the 
 see of a bishop, and capital of the Span- 
 ish province, was the residence of a multi- 
 tude of ecclesiastical and military officers. 
 Above its wall arose the towers of ei^ht
 
 THE ENGLISH BUCCANEERS. 21 
 
 monasteries and two cathedrals, whose 
 altars were adorned with gold and silver. 
 There were luxurious stables for the ani- 
 mals that transported the king's treasure 
 across the isthmus to Portobello by a 
 paved road, of which remains are yet visi- 
 ble. Its merchants had a trade with Quito 
 and Peru, and gave employment to many 
 artisans and mechanics. Fortifications pro- 
 tected the land sides of the city, and the 
 ebb-tide left it beyond the reach of attack 
 from the sea. Plantations and gardens 
 surrounded it. Here Pizarro built his ships, 
 and recruited his army, for the conquest of 
 Peru ; and many of its citizens were the 
 descendants of those men who had explored 
 the Pacific Ocean, conquered Mexico, and 
 added the Indian empires of South America 
 to the dominion of Spain. 
 
 In January, 1671, Morgan's army, after a 
 march of nine days from Chagres, emerged 
 from the forest, and saw below them the
 
 22 PAIiADlSE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 sea, and the steeples and gardens of Pana- 
 ma. This panorama of mountain, forest, 
 city, and sea, surprised them, as it surprises 
 a stranger now, to whom it unfolds many 
 of the same enchantments it possessed two 
 hundred years ago. It is said when Mor- 
 gan's men first saw it, they were so capti- 
 vated by the scene that they hesitated to 
 pitch their camp and prepare for an attack 
 on the city. When the attack was made, 
 six thousand Spaniards were slain : the city 
 was plundered and burned. Those who 
 escaped from the buccaneers founded the 
 present city of Panama, two years after- 
 ward, and built all the houses of stone to 
 prevent another destruction by fire. The 
 ruins of the old city still exist. From our 
 anchorage in the bay. I can see the square 
 tower of ono of its cathedrals, standing 
 alone ; and, going clown to its site in a boat, 
 I saw the remains of .walls, bridges, pave- 
 ments, and cisterns, now overgrown by
 
 SPAN ISTI DECAY. 
 
 23 
 
 pepper-bushes and flowering vines, and 
 haunted by noxious insects and reptiles; 
 ruins which symbolize the complete decay 
 of that commercial and political power of 
 Spain which formerly ruled upon this coast. 
 We tripped our anchors, and sailed from 
 Panama for San Francisco, searching for a 
 paradise in the Pacific.
 
 AN OUTPOST OF PARADISE. 
 
 Y paradise is in Honolulu; and San 
 Francisco is its nearest outpost. 
 Here travelers assemble and put the 
 world behind them when they embark for 
 that city in the sea, which is two thou- 
 sand one hundred and twenty-five miles 
 south-west from the Golden Gate. Hither 
 come Honolulu sugar, wool, and bananas 
 for a market ; here is a Honolulu consul, 
 and people who have visited Honolulu, re- 
 turned alive, and are now doing business in 
 Honolulu accounts. But neither steamers 
 nor ships, barks, brigs, nor schooners, sail 
 every day for that paradise. Even the mail- 
 steamer runs thither only once a month. 
 She had just gone when I landed. I
 
 THE FERTILIZING SllOWKHS. 2o 
 
 went to the Occidental Hotel to wait for 
 her to come back ; studying conundrums 
 in the city newspapers, and watching the 
 December rains. 
 
 How it rained ! If passing time may be 
 estimated by falling water, it rained forty 
 days and forty nights in three weeks. The 
 gushing manner of the rain appears on the 
 steep slopes of the hills, whose streets are 
 canals, convoying the fertilizing showers in 
 angry torrents upon the lower city, chok- 
 ing the drains, bursting the pavement into 
 hummocks, washing the feet of the poor, 
 and delighting the heart of the rich. 
 Twenty inches of rain, or rain-water 
 twenty inches deep ! It creams and man- 
 tles in these lower streets ; it rises slowly 
 above the curbstones; it flows over the 
 door-sills ; it pours into the cellars. From 
 this cellar it is pumped into the neigh- 
 bor's ; the neighbor pumps it into the next 
 cellar beyond ; and thus the blessed rain-
 
 26 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 water is freely passed along, until the man 
 in the last cellar pumps it into the bay, 
 where it washes the blue out of the briny 
 deep. 
 
 The rain is the angel which " develops 
 the resources ; " and, when I desire to com- 
 pliment my friends, I find that the proper 
 thing to say is, " I hope it will rain im- 
 mediately ! " While it rained, I saw the 
 pioneers, the veteran leaders of society. 
 Society is mixed, like the leads of the 
 Comstock ledge, on which much of it is 
 founded, making a comstockracy, rather 
 than an aristocracy, born with silver in 
 the veins. Under its upper crust there is 
 a good deal of pure ore to be found, and 
 some rich sulphurets. 
 
 These pioneers are not pioneers of the 
 Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett style, 
 hunting in buckskin suits and long rifles. 
 They are merely the oldest inhabitants, 
 who, having become tired of the trammels
 
 THE PIONEERH. 27 
 
 of civilization at the east, came here at the 
 beginning of all things, saw every thing 
 starter!, and foresaw all that has occurred. 
 The eulogies which I read in the journals, 
 while waiting for that steamer to come back 
 from Honolulu, show how brightly shines 
 the glory of the press when a pioneer dies. 
 For example : 
 
 EULOGY. He landed upon these shores in 1849, 
 when Frisco was an infant, and breathed his last 
 breatli at fifteen minutes past seven, A.M., yesterday. 
 
 In all his habits he was temperate ; in all his man- 
 ifold relations he was scrupulously upright. 
 
 The hungry never went away from his door ; nor 
 did he ever look upon the naked without pity. 
 
 With abilities for, and opportunities to, amass great 
 wealth, he would have become one of the money-kings 
 of the Pacific slope, had fortune favored the brave. 
 
 His good works are his most enduring monu- 
 ments ; /or which those who find them, of whatever 
 name or nation, will rise up and call him blessed. 
 
 So fades a summer cloud away, 
 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er, 
 
 So gently shuts the eye of day, 
 SoVlies a wave aloivj; the shore.
 
 28 P-ARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 The residents of this city tell me that 
 they wear the same clothing all the year 
 round, Wealth and the weather have 
 something to do with the longevity 
 of garments ; and this is, perhaps, the 
 reason that San Francisco is not a well- 
 dressed city. But the people have a posi- 
 tiveness of character pleasant to meet. 
 They do not waste eloquent words on 
 General Washington, nor on those pilgrim 
 fathers who flourished long ago in the Orient. 
 Their chronology of the world begins in 
 u '49 or '50 ; " and the belief is, that on this 
 remote shore, where the setting sun sinks 
 into the Pacific Ocean, the star of empire is 
 to indicate a new Bethlehem of civiliza- 
 tion. So may it be !
 
 FOR HONOLULU DIRECT. 
 
 T last the steamer came back from 
 Honolulu, was turned around, and 
 advertised lo go to sea again. I 
 know that going to sea is a serious busi- 
 ness. All the romance of it is in books. 
 It is well to talk about the beautiful sen, the 
 majestic sea, and other styles of adorable 
 sea, when looking at it in safety from the 
 piazzas and bluffs of the land ; but, when- 
 ever I go clown to the sea in a ship, 1 have 
 a different opinion of it altogether. The 
 visible and theoretical elements of its 
 beauty vanish in the first " deep and dark- 
 blue ocean-roll." There is much going 
 down then, a terrible sinking sensation 
 that is far ftom poetical. 
 
 3* 29
 
 30 PAR A DISK IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 And yet no traveler can appreciate the 
 richness of that description foretelling a 
 time when " there shall be no more sea," 
 until he has sailed over it, and experienced 
 those agonizing moments, when, casting his 
 bread upon the waters, he declares that it 
 is better for him to die than to go to sea 
 any more. 
 
 The passage from San Francisco to Hono- 
 lulu is tedious and melancholy. It is over 
 a boisterous, sailless ocean, on which rains 
 prevail about half the year. And this 
 United-States mail-steamer, which carries 
 me, is paddled on the extremest principles 
 of economy, economy in every thing 
 except time. Eleven or twelve days to 
 steam over the twenty-one hundred miles ! 
 a salt water eternity, making the invalid 
 passenger as uncomfortable as the three 
 wise men of Gotham probably were when 
 they went to sea in a bowl. 
 
 It was on a cloudy ninth-of- January
 
 DISSOLVING VIEWS. 31 
 
 morning, 1872, that we sailed. As we left 
 the Faralleone Islands astern, we encoun- 
 tered the usual southerly gale and heavy 
 sea, which made three days of misery for 
 all on board. Passengers climbed on 
 to their narrow shelves, expressing regrets 
 that they had left the shore, and fears that 
 the old steamer might never reach the 
 land. Above the incessant creaking and 
 cracking of the cabins arose a chorus for 
 the stewards, as if they were the divini- 
 ties of our salvation. This was occasion- 
 ally broken by an ominous silence, when 
 we all felt that alarming tremor of the 
 ship, as she jumped down into the sea to 
 be tossed back again by the gale. 
 
 If there was any repose of body, or 
 peace of mind, or comfort of soul, to be 
 had under such circumstances, then going 
 to sea is a pleasure indeed. 
 
 After a gale we can quickly forget what 
 has made us uncomfortable. But we
 
 32 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 found more discomfort in the long, heavy 
 swells, and in the drizzling rains following 
 the gale, when dampness filled our cabins 
 so completely, that " a wet sheet and a flow- 
 ing sea " were facts, not merely words set 
 to music. 
 
 On the sixth day out our captain caught 
 the sun. and found that we were in lati- 
 tude 30, 10' north, longitude 139, 40' 
 west, a thousand miles from San Fran- 
 cisco. The temperature of the air was 
 sixty-five degrees. 
 
 This mild air calls the passengers on 
 deck, where, arm in arm, they reel fore 
 and aft in what they suppose to be health- 
 ful promenades. She who has the cap- 
 tain's arm is the f.ivored lady of our party. 
 Among the passengers are some of those 
 semi-English people inhabiting New Zea- 
 land and Australia, going home. I have 
 discovered their peculiarity. It is a desire 
 to close all the cabin ventilators at night.
 
 COMPANIONS AT SEA. 33 
 
 Their idea of a night's sleep seems to be a 
 condition of warm stew. The ideas of my 
 associates being- altogether different, it 
 devolves upon me to turn out of my berth 
 nightly, before asphyxia ensues, and open 
 the ventilators as often as the colonists 
 succeed in closing them. 
 
 All the passengers who are bound to 
 Honolulu, except myself, have been there 
 before, and know where they are going. 
 Here is the consul, going to see what has 
 become of the kingdom. Here is a lady 
 with her children, from California, going as 
 an invalid to spend a second winter in 
 Honolulu. Here is the son of a mission- 
 ary, now a lordly sugar-planter on the 
 Island of Maui. Here is a Honolulu mer- 
 chant returning, full of news, from a 
 recreation voyage to the coast. And there 
 are some who are going to condole with 
 friends in their lifelong imprisonment on 
 the islands of paradise.
 
 34 
 
 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Thus I find myself in a pleasant Hono- 
 lulu community, whose members enliven 
 these eleven days of slow sailing by cap- 
 tivating stories of that paradise in the 
 Pacific, to which I am going.
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 ARLY on the morning of the elev- 
 enth day from San Francisco, we 
 saw land. It was the Island of 
 Maui, fifty miles south of us, distinguish- 
 able by its volcanic mountain Haleakala, 
 rising to ten thousand two hundred feet 
 above the sea. Later in the morning we 
 saw the Island of Molokai, west of Maui, 
 then the Island of Oahu, on whose south- 
 ern side is Honolulu. 
 
 By noon this island was under our 
 lee, when we ran along its eastern 
 shore near enough to discover a wild 
 and grotesque landscape. From coral 
 and volcanic crags, as white as cream, 
 
 35
 
 36 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 into which the sea had drilled great fis- 
 sures, hills, colored and ridged by volcanic 
 scars, sloped up into peaks above the 
 clouds. Between the sharp folds of these 
 hills, green valleys came down, opening 
 upon the ocean, where smooth beaches 
 broke the surf. Turning the south-eastern 
 point of the island, and steering westward, 
 we discovered groves of cocoanut-palms, 
 fringing a white shore, and deeper and 
 greener valleys ; then a long coral reef, 
 breaking the swell of the ocean ; behind 
 it a quiet harbor with ships ; beyond that 
 a broad plain backed by mountains, and 
 covered by trees, above whose green 
 foliage arise the flagstafFs and spires of 
 Honolulu. 
 
 As we sailed into the quiet harbor, we 
 discovered a throng of people on the 
 wharf. They had heard that a steamer is 
 signaled, and had jumped up from lounges, 
 easy-chairs, dinner-tables, and desks, and
 
 THE WELCOME. 37 
 
 hurried down to welcome us. There they 
 patiently stood, male and female, white 
 and yellow, on foot and on horseback, full 
 of curiosity, waiting for us to land. 
 
 It was Saturday afternoon. Going 
 ashore, I followed a hand-cart to my first 
 lodgings in the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 The next morning came with all the 
 beauty of a summer day. Church-bells of 
 Protestants and Papists ushered in the sab- 
 bath. We thought we had reached a 
 delightful haven, until Monday morning 
 brought an unexpected change : then the 
 wind blew in hurricanes from the south, the 
 rain fell in torrents, the limbs of the al- 
 garobns cracked, the thermometer sank 
 from eighty to sixty degrees, and the ocean 
 broke upon the harbor reef with groans 
 that rose above the roar of the wind, mak- 
 ing a dismal welcome to the kingdom. 
 
 But such storms are exceptional here ; 
 and I forget them while the sun shines as it
 
 38 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 does now, day after day, and the air is 
 balmy as when 
 
 " North-east winds blow 
 Sabean odors from the spicy shore 
 Of Araby the blest." 
 
 I am housed in an upper corner of the 
 government hotel. The doors of my room 
 open upon spacious verandas above the 
 tree-tops. I can look north upon valleys 
 and mountains, and east upon the sea, 
 where the line of the shore is marked by 
 cocoa-nut-palms and by the bold promon- 
 tory called Diamond Head. At noon the 
 thermometer marks eighty degrees in the 
 veranda. Here I lounge, while a breeze 
 comes down the valley-gorges, and blows 
 upon me, then runs out over the surf, and 
 wrinkles the sea for miles away. I watch 
 the trade-wind clouds playing with shadows 
 on the hills all day ; now dashing down 
 sudden showers on the green slopes, then 
 rillinir the valleys with rainbows. Over all
 
 THE STHKKTS AND TREKS. 39 
 
 is a blue summer sky. And this is the 
 month of January, in which I am picking 
 strawberries and roses, in defiance of all 
 the established facts of an orthodox life. 
 
 The streets of the city are hard with 
 coral and lava, and are shaded by trees 
 transplanted from various parts of the trop- 
 ical world. There are pines from Norfolk 
 Island ; the papaia, karnani, and bread-fruit 
 trees from Tahiti ; the tamarind, mango, 
 and monkey-pod from India ; the algaroba 
 from Mexico ; the rubber-tree from South 
 America; the china-rose-tree, whose crim- 
 son flowers are in bloom all the year 
 round. There are peach-trees rosy with 
 blossoms on one side, and ripening fruit on 
 the other ; the oleander, banana, guava, 
 orange, citron ; the koa, as hard as mahoga- 
 ny, on which leaves of different form and 
 species grow out of the same stem, and out 
 of each other. 
 
 Under the shade of this evergreen foli-
 
 40 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 age are pleasant cottages, built of coral 
 blocks, or of wood, surrounded by veran- 
 das and flowering vines. The doors are 
 always open ; the welcome is always 
 hearty. Water from mountain springs 
 flows through the cottages, stopping in 
 baths, escaping in fountains, fertilizing 
 the grass and flowers everywhere. Ice is 
 made to order, and wines are offered from 
 all the vineyards of the world. 
 
 The great event is the arrival of the 
 monthly mail from the continent. Then 
 there is a bubbling on the surface of the 
 town, and a swarming about the handsome 
 post-office building. Merchants put on 
 airs of importance as they stride to their 
 counting-rooms with a handful of letters, 
 and ride galloping home in the afternoon 
 with a bundle of newspapers, to stretch 
 themselves on Chinese lounges, and read, 
 with listless interest, what the world has 
 been doing since last they heard from it. At
 
 HOSPITABLE CliniOSITY. 41 
 
 the book-store, picture and story papers 
 are sold as fast as they can be unpacked. 
 While the steamer remains in port, all the 
 white people write letters. If she delays 
 her departure beyond the appointed time, 
 they write more letters ; and, when she 
 sails, they go down to the wharf to see her 
 safely off with the letter-bags. 
 
 After she has gone, the news she 
 brought is picked over, magnified, in- 
 verted, as it goes about. The travelers 
 she left, whose names have been posted 
 and read by everbody, are inquired for. 
 Who are their friends? Where are they 
 stopping-? What are they going to do? 
 Strange faces look at me in the street, 
 saying, " That is he ! " and gossip begins 
 to nibble gently upon the new material 
 thrown into society. 
 
 When this occupation flags, a soft list- 
 lessness sifts over the town. Carriages, 
 carrying ladies and children, roll leisurely 
 
 4*
 
 42 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 up the valley-road on afternoons, or creep 
 across the plain to the sea-beach, returning 
 to hospitable gatherings in the evening. 
 There is no hurry, and no dyspeptic care. 
 All the days are so much alike, that it is 
 difficult to take a note of time even by its 
 loss. 
 
 The population of the city is about 
 thirteen thousand, of which nearly twenty- 
 five hundred are white people. Here they 
 control all the capital and commerce of the 
 islands. They have made here the center 
 and the circumference of the kingdom. 
 They export sugar, rice, coffee, hides, 
 tallow, wool, cotton, fungus, peanuts. They 
 have just completed a comfortable hotel 
 for strangers, and I have the honor to be 
 its first guest, So the pleasantry of the 
 town is, that the new hotel in paradise 
 has been opened with bliss.
 
 THE HAWAIIAN KINGS. 
 
 HE Hawaiian dynasty is a polluted 
 stream, originating with Kameha- 
 meha I., a polygamous chief, who 
 was born about the year 1736, and before 
 he died, in 1819, conquered and united 
 the other islands under his autocratic 
 rule. 
 
 There exist many romances about the 
 accomplishments of this lustful savage, 
 not only as a warrior, but as a statesman; 
 although he lived in a time when states- 
 manship was a craft unknown to the barba- 
 rians of the Pacific. Rosy historians have 
 described him as an Alexander, a Napo- 
 leon, or something greater than either. 
 Tradition celebrates him for daring feats 
 
 43
 
 44 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC 
 
 of strength and physical skill, which his 
 people considered to be indications of great 
 mental powers. He seems to have been, 
 literally, the father of his subjects. His 
 hut was the harem of Hawaii. He seems, 
 also, to have been the leading acrobat of 
 Polynesia. He could catch flying spears 
 and knives, even in his old age, more dex- 
 terously than any other man; and, if he 
 had lived in the present day, he would 
 have acquired fame and fortune in a gym- 
 nastic circus. 
 
 Kamehameha II., who succeeded him. 
 was born in 1797, the eldest son of one of 
 the chief's concubines. 
 
 The dynasty is afterward warranted in 
 a woman named Kinau, who was the fa- 
 vorite daughter of another concubine of the 
 chief, and a half-sister of this second king. 
 Kinau became, in time, the concubine of 
 her own father, and, after his death, the 
 mother of two kings.
 
 WOMAN'S RIGHTS. 45 
 
 Kamehameha II. took for one of his 
 concubines Kekauluohi, a half-sister of 
 Kinau. She was not only a step-daugh- 
 ter of his father, but had been, also, his 
 father's concubine. Both these women 
 played important parts in the dynastic 
 comedy. 
 
 The first act of this king was to abolish 
 idolatry throughout the islands, which he 
 did, before the American missionaries ar- 
 rived in 1820, in order to get rid of the 
 power of his priests, and to free himself 
 from the restraint of those superstitious 
 customs which prevented him from enjoy- 
 ing fish and poi with as many women as his 
 father had. But his right to the throne 
 was disputed by several of the bereaved 
 concubines, who, professing to be widows, 
 claimed royal rights under the feudal laws 
 of the islands. 
 
 The oldest, heaviest, and most resolute 
 of these was Kahurnanu, born about 1768,
 
 46 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 who, finding herself without power, became 
 jealous and troublesome ; claiming the 
 throne. She was a woman of very large 
 size and very little clothing ; wearing only 
 a fan and a short skirt, if the pictures of 
 her are authentic. She treated the mission- 
 aries, at first, with disdain ; but, after ob- 
 taining possession of the throne, she em- 
 braced them, and became their ardent sup- 
 porter. They called her the good Ka- 
 humanu, named a street after her, and rec- 
 ognized her as the lawful ruler of the king- 
 dom. Others said that she was an usurping 
 old woman, which she probably was. She 
 died in 1-832. 
 
 As Kahumanu filled the royal chair full, 
 the young king was disgusted, and, taking 
 a queen with him, sailed, in 1823, for Lon- 
 don, to visit his royal brother George the 
 Fourth. There he and she ignominiously 
 died of the measles. 
 
 The next king in the line was Kame-
 
 HAWAIIAN QUEENS. 47 
 
 hameha III., born in 1814, another son of 
 the libidinous chief, by Keopuolani, a 
 daughter of one of his allies. 
 
 On ascending the throne, in 1833, the 
 king made Kinau his executive officer ; a 
 position which she held until 1838, when 
 she died, and was succeeded in office by 
 Kekauluohi, who died in 1845 ; having, by 
 a plebeian, become the mother of Lunalilo ; 
 titled the Prince William, by reason of 
 her relation to the concubine Kinau. 
 
 On a public occasion, this king said that 
 the prosperity of the country lies in doing 
 right, " Ua man Tee ea o ka aina i ka 
 pono;" which words were adopted as the 
 national motto. 
 
 He died in 1854. His queen Kalama 
 survived him, squatting on a mat, eating 
 with her fingers, sleeping on the floor, and 
 wearing a few clothes, until 1871 ; when 
 she died, and was buried with heathenish 
 customs.
 
 48 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Kamehameha IV., a son of Kinau, and a 
 grandson of the original chief, was born in 
 1834, about one hundred years after his 
 reputed grandfather first saw the light of 
 day. In 1856 he married Emma Rooke, 
 daughter, by an Hawaiian chief, of Fanny 
 Young, who was a daughter of John 
 Young, the pilgrim father of the country, 
 who landed on a rock on the shore of Ha- 
 waii, in 1790, an English sailor in search 
 of freedom. He made friendship with the 
 sire of the dynasty, became the companion, 
 philosopher, chaplain, and, finally, the lieu- 
 tenant-general of his patron. In the mean 
 time he also became the father of a numer- 
 ous race of half-castes, who still say, " Peace 
 to his ashes ! " 
 
 This king died in 1863. His lawful wife, 
 Emma, is the only Hawaiian queen who 
 has merited and enjoyed the reputation of 
 a lady. 
 
 Kamehameha V., the last king of the
 
 THE LAST KAMEI1AMEIIA. 49 
 
 dynasty, was born in 1830, a son of Kinan. 
 He died at Honolulu, unmarried and with- 
 out an heir, in December, 1872. 
 
 This was the most kingly monarch that 
 has occupied the Hawaiian throne. He 
 believed in royalty ; was manly, dignified, 
 sensible, and physically great, character- 
 istics which distinguished him from his 
 subjects, and gave him much influence 
 over them. He was an easy liver, a boon 
 companion ; but he gave attention to all 
 public matters, was friendly to Americans, 
 and favored every measure that tended to 
 increase the commercial life of his country, 
 and to make the capital city of Honolulu 
 attractive to foreigners. His first act, on 
 assuming the royal power, was to refuse to 
 take oath to the existing constitution of 
 the kingdom. 
 
 Previous to 1840, the government had 
 been an absolute monarchy, dispensed by a 
 king and a council of chiefs. In that year
 
 50 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 . 
 
 the American missionaries induced Kame- 
 hameha III. to sign a bill of rights of the 
 people and the chiefs, and to approve of a 
 constitution by which the absolute rule and 
 irresponsible authority of the throne was to 
 be exchanged for a iiovernrnent of which 
 
 o c_> 
 
 the legislative power was vested in a king, 
 a house of nobles, and a house of repre- 
 sentatives elected by the people. In 1852, 
 the same king assented to a constitution of 
 a more democratic character, which gave 
 to each branch of the government a check 
 upon the other, and granted suffrage to all 
 men who had attained twenty years. 
 
 Kamehameha V. disbelieved in the 
 theory that all men are born free and 
 equal. He understood the nature of his own 
 people better than many who had theorized 
 for them. He wished to give to his office 
 more importance in the administration of 
 the government, and to limit the popular 
 suffrage by a qualification of personal in-
 
 THE MONARCHY. 51 
 
 come, property, and certain intellectual ac- 
 quirements, to be possessed by the elector 
 and by the representative. He therefore 
 refused to take the oath when he came to 
 the throne, but called a convention to alter 
 the constitution. 
 
 The convention made a spirited and de- 
 termined opposition to his wishes. After 
 five weeks of discussion, the king lost his 
 patience, and made known his intentions 
 in the following address : 
 
 " I arn very sorry that we do not agree. It is clear 
 to me, that, if universal suffrage is permitted, this gov- 
 ernment will soon lose its monarchical character. As 
 we do not agree, it is useless to prolong the session. 
 And as, at the time his Majesty Kamehameha III. 
 gave the constitution of the year 1852, he reserved to 
 himself the power of taking it away if it was not for 
 the interest of his people ; and as it is clear to me 
 that that king left the revision of the constitution 
 to my predecessor and myself: therefore, as I sit in 
 his seat, on the part of the sovereignty of the Hawai- 
 ian Islands, I make known to-day that the constitu-
 
 52 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 tion of 1852 is abrogated. I will give you a 
 constitution." 
 
 The convention was dissolved. Within 
 a week, the king announced a new con- 
 stitution, which has remained the funda- 
 mental law of the land. " The kingdom is 
 his," is its language and spirit. It central- 
 izes all political power into the hands of 
 the king ; makes his person sacred, his 
 ministers responsible ; ignores the theory 
 of " free and equal" birthright; and pre- 
 scribes property and certain educational 
 accomplishments as qualifications for a 
 voter and for a member of the legislature. 
 It attempts to purify the dynasty by strin- 
 gent restrictions upon royal marriages; and 
 it also provides for a new stock for a royal 
 family, should the Kamehameha dynasty 
 become extinct. 
 
 To the reign of Kamehameha V. the 
 city of Honolulu is indebted for its best 
 public improvements, for the post-office
 
 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT'S. 53 
 
 building, the parliament house, the Hawai- 
 ian Hotel, the harbor light-house, and the 
 capacious wharves which fringe the es- 
 planade. His government was animated 
 by a spirit of enterprise befitting a larger 
 sphere and a more intelligent people. 
 
 6*
 
 THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM. 
 
 HE kingdom comprises eight inhabited 
 islands, lying just within the Tropic 
 of Cancer, stretching on a curve about 
 three hundred miles long, from 160 west 
 longitude, 22 north latitude, down to lon- 
 gitude 155 west, and latitude 19 north. 
 The.se islands are called Hawaii, Maui, 
 Molokai, Lanai, Oahu, Kaui, Niihau, Ka- 
 hoolawe. They are occupied by a decreas- 
 ing population of natives, and an increas- 
 ing population of foreigners. The kingdom 
 also claims a little island called Palmyra, 
 in latitude 6 north, longitude 162 west. 
 
 The development of the Hawaiian Is- 
 lands into a constitutional kingdom does 
 not appear to have been the work of mis- 
 
 54
 
 MISSIONARIES AND MERCHANTS. 55 
 
 sionary labor alone. Missionary labor in a 
 heathen community, such as this was for- 
 merly, tends only to a fixed point of im- 
 provement. After the Christian religion 
 has supplanted idolatry, and the forces of 
 education have been put in motion, the 
 work of the missionary remains stationary 
 for a while, or until those influences which 
 follow an intercourse with civilized people 
 through many years can complete the 
 structure whose foundation the missionary 
 has laid. 
 
 After years of persistent toil, the Ameri- 
 can missionaries gained that fixed point of 
 improvement in these islands, when the 
 commercial civilization of the white people 
 succeeded to the position thus acquired. 
 And, in reviewing its history, he is short- 
 sighted who does not see, that, but for such 
 merchants as Hunnewell, Brewer. Pierce, 
 and Peck, whose capital, honor, and indus- 
 try gave life to the early commerce of the
 
 56 PARADISE IN TIIK PACIFIC. 
 
 islands, and but for such statesmen as 
 Lee, Robertson, Wyllie, and Allen, whose 
 skill arranged and controlled the conflicting 
 interests of foreigners and natives, so that 
 all have been made to dwell together in 
 harmony, this kingdom might have been, 
 up to the present time, merely a mission- 
 ary station, instead of a commercial centre. 
 But what is to be the fate of the native 
 islanders, over whom this surf of civiliza- 
 tion is rolling? Are they to be swept 
 away, like the American Indians, and give 
 place to another race ? They have been 
 dying fast since first they saw the white 
 man. In 1823 the population of all the 
 islands was estimated at 142,000. In 
 1832 a census was taken, and the number 
 found to be 130,300; in 1836 a census 
 gave 108,500 ; in 1850 only 82,400 ; in 
 1853 the number had fallen to 73,100 ; in 
 1860, to 69,700; in 1866, to 63,000; in 
 1872 the entire population does not exceed
 
 DECAY OF THE RACE. 57 
 
 57,000. During the six years preceding 
 the census of 1866, the number of deaths 
 exceeded the births by 1,123 annually. 
 
 In 1867, 1868, and 1869, the annual 
 excess of deaths over births was 1,155 ; 
 in 1870 and 1871, it was 1,175. The 
 flood of death rises higher every year, 
 threatening the race with annihilation. 
 
 Marriages between the natives are not 
 prolific, even when the married are in 
 comfortable circumstances nnd of indus- 
 trious habits. Offspring are regarded as a 
 calamity. Settlements are vanishing; cot- 
 tages are vacated and destroyed; and we 
 ride for miles in parts of the country 
 which were once populous, without seeing 
 a new hut, or hearing the voices of chil- 
 dren, or meeting a human being. 
 
 The commercial condition of the kingdom 
 is not promising. There is no activity or 
 prosperity in any department of labor or 
 business. Decreasing population, dimin-
 
 58 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 ishing production, lack of enterprise, with- 
 drawal of capital, increasing taxation, and 
 increasing expenses of living, foretell a dis- 
 mal -future. The American whaling-fleet, 
 which has always been one of the chief 
 sources of its prosperity, and is now 
 smaller than it ever has been, is making its 
 rendezvous at other ports ; and before 
 many years it may entirely abandon Hono- 
 lulu. But capital could build up a domes- 
 tic whaling-business here, if there were 
 men and enterprise enough to undertake 
 it ; for the best whaling-grounds are near 
 by, in the North and South Pacific and 
 Arctic Oceans. 
 
 That " Pacific highway " to Asia, of 
 which Honolulu has been described as the 
 natural halfway station, is only a route of 
 the imagination. The kingdom is a thou- 
 sand miles south of the steamship courses 
 between San Francisco and Japan, or 
 China ; and the coral bar at the entrance
 
 COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS. 59 
 
 of Honolulu harbor shuts out the large 
 ships of modern commerce. 
 
 The sugar- plantations, also, are not 
 profitable, nor increasing in number. It 
 is difficult to obtain labor. The plan of 
 stocking them with coolies, and of bring- 
 ing into the islands a foreign popula- 
 tion, is yet unaccomplished ; and the 
 Hawaiian who has simple food and shelter 
 is not eager to work for any thing more. 
 His ancestors did not trouble themselves 
 about cultivating sugar, rice, or cotton, and 
 he sees no reason why he should toil in the 
 sun on plantations ; nor has he energy to 
 do so successfully, even if he had the dis- 
 position. 
 
 Those who have studied the subject 
 most, believe that the native race is des- 
 tined to disappear soon, and give place to 
 the Anglo-Saxons and Chinese, the two 
 people representing the civilizations of the 
 East and of the West, who parted on the
 
 t)0 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 plains of Asia four thousand years ago, 
 and, pursuing opposite directions around 
 the world, have been, until recently, sepa- 
 rated from each other by the Pacific Ocean. 
 There are about two thousand industrious 
 Chinamen on the islands. It is thought 
 that the taro-patches of the Hawaiians are 
 to become the rice-fields of the Chinese, 
 for which they are exactly adapted ; and 
 that, eventually, the Asiatics will be the 
 only cultivators of the soil of the Hawaiian 
 kingdom, aided by the capital of white 
 men. Doubtless, the future prosperity of 
 the country lies in that result.
 
 EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 is believed that the Hawaiian 
 Islands were first discovered by the 
 
 , : ^ Spaniards, and were often seen by 
 the Spanish galleons on their yearly pas- 
 sages between Acapulco and Manilla, in 
 the sixteenth century. According to tra- 
 dition, two Spanish -vessels from Mexico 
 were wrecked on the Island of Hawaii 
 about the year 1525. Their crews mixed 
 with the native race, whose descendants, it 
 is said, can even now be distinguished by 
 their complexion. 
 
 The Spanish charts of the Pacific Ocean, 
 dated in the sixteenth century, give the 
 position of the islands with some accuracy,
 
 62 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 and call them by names describing the 
 appearance which each island presented to 
 the Spanish navigators when seen from 
 their vessels. These charts were known in 
 England when Captain Cook sailed on his 
 voyages of discovery ; and as the London 
 charts of 1777, the year before Cook first 
 visited the islands, record their existence, 
 this English navigator can not be considered 
 as their discoverer. 
 
 About the year 1740, according to tradi- 
 tion, a ship landed a crew of white men 
 on the Island of Oahu. The natives knew 
 the value and uses of iron before Cook 
 arrived. They stole his boat, and broke 
 it up to get the iron from it, in Kealakekua 
 Bay, where his ships anchored in January, 
 1779, and where he was killed in a combat 
 with the natives, on the 14th of February, 
 while negotiating, on the shore, for the 
 return of his boat. 
 
 The French navigator, La Perouse, who
 
 EARLY VISITORS. 63 
 
 also was killed by Pacific savages, visited 
 the islands in 1786. In 1790 the first 
 trading-ship arrived, the American ship 
 "Eleanor." The English explorer, Vancou- 
 ver, arrived in 1792, and brought from Cali- 
 fornia the first cattle that the islanders had 
 seen. In 1793 the harbor of Honolulu 
 was discovered and entered by a trading- 
 vessel from the west coast of America. In 
 1820 the first whaler arrived, the ship 
 " Mary " from Nantucket. The lighthouse 
 of Honolulu was first lighted in 1869. 
 
 The first Protestant missionaries arrived 
 at the islands in April, 1820, by the brig 
 u Thaddeus," which sailed from Boston 
 in October, 1819. The company consist- 
 ed of Asa Thurston and Hiram Bingham, 
 clergymen; Thomas Hoi man, physician; 
 Daniel Chamberlain, i'armer ; Samuel Rug- 
 gles, teacher ; Samuel Whitney, mechanic ; 
 Elisha Loomis, printer; and their wives. 
 They were well received by the islanders.
 
 64 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 who were superstitious idolaters, living 
 under the tyranny of their chiefs and priests. 
 Since 1820 the American churches have 
 sent nearly one hundred and fifty men and 
 women as missionaries to these islands, and 
 have spent a million of dollars for their 
 evangelical civilization. One result of this 
 investment is the controlling influence of 
 Americans (now naturalized Hawaiian sub- 
 jects) in all departments of the kingdom. 
 If this influence were withdrawn, it is pro- 
 bable that the islanders would gradually 
 relapse toward their original condition ; 
 and, as they are dying faster than they are 
 born, the islands must eventually become a 
 legacy to the inhabitants of white blood. 
 These increase slowly, by birth and immi- 
 gration. In 1870 and 1871, one hundred 
 foreigners took the oath of allegiance and 
 
 O o 
 
 became Hawaiian subjects, of which 8 were 
 born in Great Britain, 16 in the United 
 States, 40 in Germany, 23 in China.
 
 ItKLlGIOUS SECTS. 65 
 
 In July, 1827, the first Roman-Catholic 
 missionaries arrived at Honolulu from 
 France. In 1829 the government of the 
 islands, having discovered that the papal 
 faith was extending among the natives, 
 directed the Roman priests to close their 
 chapels, and the people to forsake this new 
 religion. The edict was followed by perse- 
 cution ; and some stubborn proselytes were 
 confined in irons. Roman-Catholic mis- 
 sionaries arriving afterward were not 
 allowed to land on the islands. But in 
 1839 the French Government compelled 
 the Hawaiian king to declare the Roman- 
 Catholic worship free to all, and to give the 
 church a plot of land in Honolulu on 
 which to erect a Roman cathedral. The 
 believers among the natives, in the Roman 
 and in the Protestant faith, are about equal 
 in number at the present time. 
 
 The first code of laws put into practice 
 on the islands was the Ten Command-
 
 66 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC 
 
 ments, in 1825. From that date legal 
 enactments were varied, contradictory, and 
 confused : nominally issued by the king, 
 they were executed in the old despotic 
 style, according to the fancy of local govern 
 ors and chiefs. , In 1843 the islands, having 
 adopted a written constitution for a civil- 
 ized form of government, were formally 
 acknowledged by Great Britain, France, 
 and the United States, as an independent 
 nation, capable of managing its own affairs. 
 The constitution was changed in 1852, and 
 was again entirely reconstructed in 1864. 
 
 The Hawaiian alphabet, which was 
 formed by the American missionaries, con- 
 tains only twelve letters ; each letter being 
 an articulate sound. They are a, e, i, o, u, 
 h, k, 1, m, n, p, w ; pronounced ah, a, e, o, 
 oo, hay, kay, lah, moo, noo, pe, way. It is 
 not difficult to comprehend the oral lan- 
 guage. 
 
 In 1856, 1867, 1869, unsuccessful at-
 
 CIVILIZED COXVKN1ENCKS. 07 
 
 tempts were made by the Hawaiian Govern- 
 ment to form a reciprocity treaty with the 
 United States, by which products of the 
 two countries should enter the ports of 
 either free of duty. The gain to the is- 
 lands would be a favorable market for their 
 sugar, of which the production varies be- 
 tween twenty and thirty million pounds 
 annually. 
 
 The conveniences for travel on the islands 
 are few. The principal carriage-roads are 
 in the vicinity of Honolulu. Elsewhere 
 journeys must be made on horseback, over 
 rough bridle - paths. Communication be- 
 tween the islands is made regularly by a 
 steam-propeller, owned by the government, 
 which leaves Honolulu weekly, calling at 
 several points, going and returning. Her 
 regular passengers are natives, Chinamen, 
 and dogs, on deck, going to and from the 
 sugar-plantations. 
 
 Honolulu is the source of every co miner-
 
 68 PARAD1SK IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 cial, political, and religious interest in the 
 islands. Here is the palace, the parliament- 
 house, the treasury, the supreme court, the 
 general post-office, and the only hotel in 
 the kingdom. Here are two x\merican 
 churches, the Seamen's Bethel Church, es- 
 tablished in 1833, and the Fort-street Church, 
 established in 1852; an English Church, 
 called St. Andrew's, established in 1862, a Ro- 
 man-Catholic, and two native churches. Here 
 is a bank, American gold coin being the 
 standard currency, and five-franc pieces 
 current for a dollar, a livery-stable, two 
 weekly newspapers, a theater, many shops, 
 billiard-rooms, drinking-saloons, and more 
 physicians than any visitor can require.
 
 MORAL LIFE OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 HE delightful condition of the white 
 people, living in pretty cottages un- 
 der the shade -trees of Honolulu, 
 eating the lotus and dancing the polka 
 through a perennial summer, is a pleasant 
 picture always noticed by the stranger. 
 But there is a contrast to it in the life of 
 the native population of the islands, in 
 their moral character, their social condition, 
 their dress, food, amusements, habits, and 
 occupations. 
 
 The Hawaiians are full of superstitions. 
 Christianity has not succeeded in eradicat- 
 ing that reverence for omens and sorceries, 
 and that ingrained belief in fatality, which
 
 70 PAKADISE Itf THE PACIFIC. 
 
 possesses all classes of this people. Even 
 the late king, who, although a pure native, 
 was an educated man, trained early in the 
 American mission-school, shared in all the 
 superstitious feelings of his race. In his 
 household lived Kamaipuupaa, a sorceress, 
 doctress, and priestess; a nervous, magnetic 
 woman, shrewd, intelligent, and adept to a 
 wonderful degree. 
 
 As a royal dignity, her position was recog- 
 nized by a full purse and a retinue of ser- 
 vants. Many statements were current about 
 her influence over the late king, which it 
 is difficult to credit. She doubtless held 
 some control over his personal movements ; 
 and when he visited his sheep-farm on the 
 Island of Molokai, or his seaside cottage at 
 Waikiki, it was on the days designated by 
 her as fortunate for the trip. The story is 
 that this sorceress declared that the earth- 
 quake of February, 1871, occurred because a 
 favorite saddle-horse of the king had been
 
 SUPERSTITIONS. . 71 
 
 ridden by a foreigner. The spirit of a 
 former Hawaiian chief, having taken free 
 lodgings in the horse, was indignant at this 
 desecration, and gave the island a shake to 
 pay for it. To pi-event more shakes, the 
 horse must not be saddled again : he must 
 also be led through all the streets of Hono- 
 lulu. Since this promenade was made, 
 there have been no earthquakes. 
 
 The families descended from chiefs form 
 an aristocracy in the native community; and 
 a distinction between these and the common 
 people is acknowledged, although not with 
 the same respect as in ancient times. If a 
 large school of alaua (a small white fish, 
 that, dying, takes a red color) runs into 
 the shore, the natives believe that it fore- 
 tells the death of a chief. When a chief 
 or chiefess, or one of their children, dies, 
 the people expect a compensating death to 
 occur in their own community ; and they 
 are careful to keep themselves and their
 
 72 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 children within doors, after dark, lest one 
 be taken suddenly away by the evil 
 spirit, which is supposed to be wandering 
 about in the night-time, searching for a vic- 
 tim. 
 
 This superstition seems to be a relic of 
 one of the original religious beliefs of the 
 islanders. They believed that the soul, after 
 death, lingered around the body, haunted 
 dark and solitary places, occasionally ap- 
 pearing to annoy its enemies. It finally went 
 to the paradise of Wakea, the traditional 
 progenitor of the Hawaiian people. There 
 it remained through ages of comfort and 
 pleasure, if it had been a religious soul be- 
 fore death ; but if not, if it had failed to ob- 
 serve all the commandments of the priests, 
 it entered this paradise only to leap from 
 it, down a great precipice, into a plnce 
 of misery called Milu. 
 
 A house in which a sudden death has oc- 
 curred is dreaded by the natives. I met a
 
 THE SORCERERS. 73 
 
 respectable native woman, the wife of an 
 American, who was obliged to sojourn in 
 such a house; but she would not do so until 
 she had obtained a piece of sugar-cane over 
 which a sorcerer had made incantations, 
 and placed it above the door to avert the 
 misfortune which she believed the house to 
 possess. 
 
 These sorcerers do a great deal of mis- 
 chief. As the law punishes them if caught 
 in their sorceries, they practice in secret, 
 encouraged by the natural superstition of 
 the people. Their most dangerous power 
 is that of praying persons to death. This 
 power is believed to be hereditary ; and the 
 sorcerer who has it is called kakuna- 
 anaana, a praying priest. His prayers and 
 ceremonies work so effectually upon the 
 superstitious feelings of the victim, that 
 the latter gives up to despair, anticipating 
 an early death, which sometimes takes 
 place. Members of native churches have 
 died under the influence of this sorcery.
 
 74 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 When natives engage in a lawsuit, they 
 sometimes seek the services of a kahuna, 
 as well as of a lawyer ; thus employing 
 both civilized and heathen arts to work 
 out their ends. To secure the prayers of this 
 sorcerer, the native not only pays him 
 money, but offers him three things before 
 he will commence his work. These are 
 puaahiva, a yellow pig, moalava, a white 
 cock, and awa^ a narcotic drink, articles 
 which are to be obtained with difficulty. 
 
 These people, like all Polynesians, are 
 prone to theft. If you have been robbed, 
 and suspect the actual thief, let him know 
 that you have engaged a kahuna, and the 
 stolen property will be returned. I was 
 out with a party of herdsmen, and, night 
 coining on, slept on a mat in a grass-hut, 
 the natives lying about us both inside and 
 outside of the shelter. In the morning I 
 discovered that six half-dollars had been 
 taken from my coat-pocket. I immedi-
 
 SORCERY TRICKS. 75 
 
 ately called for a white boy, arid putting 
 some money in his hand, told him to mount 
 his horse, go and find the necessary offer- 
 ings, take them to a kahuna, and bring him 
 here. Every man heard these directions ; 
 but I told the boy privately, that he was to 
 be away for the day, and that he was not 
 to spend any money for a kahuna. On 
 going into the hut soon after, I saw my 
 money piled in the doorway. 
 
 A kahuna will pick out the thief from a 
 number of persons, if he be one of them, 
 by an artful ceremony called waihaalulu, 
 or ruffled water. A calabash on the 
 ground is filled with water, over which the 
 kahuna acts pantomimes, and then compels 
 every one to squat around, and hold hands 
 in it, while he, standing, and reciting en- 
 chantments, watches the hands in the 
 water. As the thief believes that he must 
 be found out under the eyes of the sor- 
 cerer, his hands tremble, the water is 
 ruffled, and his guilt is apparent.
 
 76 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 When the natives are ill, they are unwill- 
 ing to enter the public hospitals where 
 white physicians furnish medical aid ; pre- 
 ferring their kauka, or native doctor, whom 
 they consult on the slightest cause. The 
 medicines which this charlatan administers 
 are derived from the roots of indigenous 
 plants, and are either drastic purges and 
 emetics, or are entirely inert, relieving the 
 patient, if relieved at all. by the force of 
 imagination only. 
 
 The prevailing diseases of the people in 
 the rural districts are dysentery, fevers, 
 marasmus, and consumption ; all of which 
 are induced by their poor food and careless 
 habits of life. But back of these diseases 
 lies their original sin ; the iniquity of the 
 parents visited upon the children, even to 
 the third and fourth generation. The 
 blood of the people has been contaminated 
 with the syphilitic poison, either by inher- 
 itance or by contn^ion. Its forms nre seen 
 
 / o *
 
 HEATHENISMS. 77 
 
 in both town and country. Even children 
 suffer from it ; and its ravages are so uni- 
 versal, that it may be accounted the princi- 
 pal cause of the rapid decay of the Hawai- 
 ian race. 
 
 The Hawaiians have not abandoned all 
 heathenisms. They treat their dead, 
 before burial, as their ancestors did, follow- 
 ing the custom of all primitive nations. 
 
 The saturnalia of the natives, which al- 
 ways follows the death of a chief or person 
 of rank, is characterized by many of those 
 barbarous and licentious rites which pre- 
 vailed with their ancestors. These events 
 seem to throw the people back into pagan- 
 ism. Disregarding the better influences 
 which surround them, they now eagerly 
 transform themselves into a savage state, 
 whose developments are a shook to all 
 theories respecting the power of Christian 
 teachings. 
 
 With these saturnalia they celebrated
 
 78 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 the death of Queen Kalama in 1871. And 
 when the last of the Kamehamehas died, 
 in 1872, while the body lay in the palace, 
 the surrounding grounds were occupied 
 by thousands of native wailers, sorcerers, 
 minstrels, and contortionists, who, protected 
 by the native guard of the late king, made 
 day and night shameful with licentiousness 
 and riot. Half-naked women swung rattling 
 calabashes, while they swayed their bodies 
 in lascivious dances ; sorcerers screamed 
 their incantations ; men rushed at each 
 other in feigned contests ; professional wail- 
 ers rocked and wailed for the dead king; 
 and minstrels recited his physical power 
 and licentious exploits with endless repeti- 
 tion. It was like the funeral saturnalia of 
 the first Kamehameha, fifty -three years 
 before. 
 
 When an untitlcd native dies, the body 
 is laid upon a mat, surrounded by mourners, 
 who wail over it for a Ion"; time. The
 
 MORAL OBLIQUITIES. 79 
 
 wail is a constant repetition, in a loud 
 minor key, of the word aue (o-a), meaning, 
 "alas !" This monotonous cry, drawled and 
 prolonged by a multitude of voices in the 
 same mournful tone, produces a peculiar 
 effect upon the mind of the listener. I 
 have heard its dismal note for days in suc- 
 cession, coming from a native's cottage in 
 view from my window. But the mourners 
 are not always as much distressed as they 
 appear to be. A joke will vary their sor- 
 row ; and a laugh often serves as an inter- 
 lude to these tedious wailings. The day 
 after burial, they tell me that their friend is 
 dead, with the same animation that they 
 would use in speaking of a good fortune. 
 
 The islanders have no strong natural 
 affections. They have never learned to 
 express personal attachments with a kiss ; 
 a rubbing-together of noses being their 
 only token. They live in the present, 
 taking little thought of the morrow ;
 
 80 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 retaining many of the moral obliquities 
 that the races of Polynesia have, always 
 possessed. The women are not paragons 
 of virtue ; nor are the men noted for their 
 fidelity to the marriage-vow. So little 
 appreciation have they of the pleasurable 
 emotions, that their language contains no 
 word for gratitude, not even a " thank 
 you," and no terms that can express con- 
 nubial happiness ; while it abounds in terms 
 which express every shade of vice. Their 
 most attractive trait is an easy and listless 
 good nature, pleasant to see, but of no 
 value in an emergency. Although a few 
 have become good mechanics, coasting sea- 
 men, and agricultors, and will engage in 
 daily work for a consideration, the most 
 of them appear to me to be natural slug- 
 gards, who would rather lie on their bellies, 
 and play cards all day, than stand upon 
 their feet, and earn a livelihood.
 
 PHYSICAL LIFE OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 : 
 
 UROPEAN styles of clothing are as 
 G'lll i r k some to these islanders as they 
 
 ^ are to other natives of the tropics. 
 Their natural preferences of dress and food 
 do not differ from those of their ancestors. 
 
 The state dress of Kamehameha I., which 
 he wore when, with his chiefs, he boarded 
 merchant-ships coming to Honolulu to 
 trade rum for sandal-wood, w r as a red 
 jacket, a frilled shirt, and a inalo. The 
 malo is a strip of cloth passed between the 
 legs, and around the hips. At that time, it 
 formed the entire dress of the people. 1 
 have seen many with nothing else on them. 
 In the city, being compelled to cover them- 
 
 81
 
 82 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 selves, the men wear a shirt and trowsers, 
 and the women a fall, beltless gown, called 
 a holuku. Men and women are generally 
 barefooted ; shoes and stockings being worn 
 only on occasions. Dress is so unnatural, 
 that some will strip themselves of it en- 
 tirely, as soon as they gain the shelter of 
 their houses ; thus hastening to escape into 
 their original condition of happy barbar- 
 ism. In the country, these city fashions 
 disappear. Trowsers are scarce, and some- 
 times shirts also ; leaving only the malo, 
 in which costume the men, when seen 
 remote, remind me of antique figures in 
 bronze. 
 
 The women in the country cover them- 
 selves with a calico hohiku, the bottom of 
 which they gather up into a malo when 
 they go into the water. Both sexes are 
 fond of the water, and will bathe in a 
 muddy stream as readily as in a clean 
 pool, for amusement, and to cool them-
 
 PREVAILING FASHIONS. 83 
 
 selves if they have a fever. They bathe 
 themselves standing in their door-yards, 
 while a fresh north-east wind is blowing 
 upon their naked bodies. Daring moonlit 
 nights they sit and sleep upon the dewy 
 grass. After a shower, they lounge upon 
 the wet ground around the fire on which 
 their repast is cooking. Thus they invite 
 disease of the lungs ; and the dismal 
 coughs which I hear on every side lead me 
 to conclude that the whole nation is 
 affected with consumption. A large busi- 
 ness in one of the back-streets of Hono- 
 lulu is the manufacture of plain coffins. 
 
 The principal food of the natives is fish 
 and taro. I see them every day, along the 
 shores and on the reefs, swimming and div- 
 ing in the sea for shell-fish, weeds, and any 
 marine esculent on which they can make a 
 meal. Men and women fish in companies, 
 Jay fastening to a long cord a fringe of co- 
 coanut-leaves, reeds, and fibrous bark, which
 
 84 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 they carry out, by wilding, to a distance 
 from the shore, and, returning, draw it 
 after them like a seine. On nearing the 
 beach, they bring it to a circle to secure 
 the inclosed fishes, which are divided among 
 the party. 
 
 Taro is their staple food. It is a solid, 
 viscous species of potato, sweet and nutri- 
 tious; grows as a root, only in wet soil ; and 
 is a year in ripening. It has a bluish color 
 when cooked. Mashed in water, it makes 
 a paste called poi. This looks like putty, 
 can be kept in store, and is esteemed best 
 for food when in a fermented state. In 
 many places the people have nothing to 
 eat but a little poi, or a sweet-potato, with 
 a kukui-nut and salt to give some relish to 
 this insipid food. 
 
 The mountain-ranges running through 
 the center of the islands being either cool 
 or inaccessible, all the country people live 
 near the shore, or in the adjacent vnlleys,
 
 FOOD AND OCCUPATIONS. 85 
 
 where they are within sight and reach of 
 the sea. Their geographical ideas are 
 limited by these natural boundaries; every 
 locality and direction being to them either 
 makai, toward the sea, or mauka, toward 
 the mountains. 
 
 Here they occupy themselves in idling, 
 fishing, repairing their canoes, cultivating 
 taro or bananas, making poi, and playing 
 cards. 
 
 In all these things the women imitate 
 the men. A few make tapa, a thin cloth 
 hammered from the bark of the mamaki- 
 tree, or of the wanti, which is our paper 
 mulberry-shrub. This cloth they orna- 
 ment with blocks and stripes of gaudy 
 vegetable colors. It is sold as a curiosity 
 to strangers. The making of lais furnishes 
 some with money. These are flower-blos- 
 soms strung on a thread, like beads,, worn 
 around the head or neck, on holidays, by 
 both sexes ; blossoms of the fragrant cape-
 
 86 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 jessamine, the mimosa, and the lobelia, be- 
 ing the favorites. A more valuable indus- 
 
 o 
 
 try is the braiding of mats from rushes, 
 Some of these mats are of fine texture ; 
 some are large enough to cover a chamber- 
 floor of ordinary size. Placed in layers, 
 they are used as a bed, sometimes by an 
 entire family, even by the aristocracy; and 
 they are generally as full of fleas as cir- 
 cumstances will permit. 
 
 The amusements of the natives in old 
 times were games and dances of an im- 
 moral character, which the government 
 now allows them to engage in on certain 
 festive occasions only. The present gener- 
 ation has learned all the games and dances 
 of the white people. During any still 
 night in Honolulu, I can hear at my win- 
 dows the twang of fiddles and the shuffle 
 of quadrilles, coming from cottages where 
 yellow belles are enjoying a dance w y ith 
 white and vellow beaux.
 
 AMUSEMENTS. 87 
 
 Gambling with cards, racing their unshod 
 fillies, the women riding astraddle, are 
 the pastimes of both sexes. In wandering 
 about the country, I have often seen an 
 entire family lying on the grass, playing 
 cards, surrounded by their dozing cats and 
 dogs. The cats, dogs, and chickens came 
 with civilization. When the missionaries 
 brought their cats ashore, and, stroking 
 their backs, said, " Poor pussy," the natives 
 looking on said, " Popoki" which became 
 the Hawaiian word for cat. 
 
 In a native church I saw an audience, 
 on Sunday evening, listening to a native 
 preacher; while along the central aisle sat 
 seven serious dogs, heads up, listening to 
 the Hawaiian tongue with a gravity that 
 was too ludicrous for the place. The dog is 
 the friend and companion of the -Hawaiian. 
 
 " To be, contents his natural desire ; 
 He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire, 
 But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
 His faithful dog shall bear him company."
 
 88 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 The government takes advantage of this 
 affinity, and taxes every dog. The favor- 
 ites are mean-looking mongrels with bandy 
 legs ; feeding, like their owners, on vege- 
 tables, and never having the hydrophobia. 
 Their favorite cats are destitute of tails ; 
 and their favorite cocks never cease vain 
 endeavors to crow in a respectable style. 
 But island life has demoralized them, as it 
 has other foreigners. 
 
 The Hawaiians, like all Polynesians, have 
 their alcoholic drinks, which they distill from 
 bananas and from the sweet root of the ti 
 shrub roasted. From the shrub called awa, 
 they extract a liquid producing the same 
 effects as opium. The use of this narcotic 
 is general with all classes. They have also 
 learned the use of opium from the Chinese, 
 with whom they come more in contact 
 every year. Young natives, as well as the 
 old, of both sexes, smoke the opium-pipe. 
 
 The law which forbids the selling of
 
 DRINKS AND WOMEN. 89 
 
 spirituous liquors to natives is not strictly 
 enforced. For a long time it was evaded 
 by cologne-water, perfumes, and patent- 
 medicines, largely infused with alcohol, 
 which the natives drank eagerly. About 
 one-fourth of the annual customs receipts 
 at Honolulu are for imported wines and 
 spirits; and twenty thousand empty bottles 
 are sent to California monthly. 
 
 The Hawaiian women are not beautiful. 
 There is some beauty in the women of 
 mixed blood, but none in the native 
 women, if the first element of beauty is 
 cleanliness. A mild and cheerful ex- 
 pression runs over all the young faces, 
 which merges into serious wrinkles at 
 thirty. There is no individuality in their 
 countenances, and but little variety. 
 
 The hair, eyes, and mouths of all, are 
 alike, thick black hair, which might be 
 handsome, were it not universally common ; 
 dark eyes, which might be attractive, if
 
 90 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 they united that sense and sweetness which 
 comes from intelligence and affection. 
 
 Docile people, as these are. lacking cour- 
 age and self-reliance, fail to attain greatness 
 in any thing. Even as musicians, they are 
 not successful ; for they have no natural 
 ideas of time or harmony. Their church 
 choirs can sing through a hymn when they 
 have an organ or a leader to support them; 
 but without this support, although they 
 start with courage, they are sure to sur- 
 render and sit down before getting far into 
 " Greenland's Icy Mountains." When this 
 catastrophe occurs, I have seen the 
 preacher go on with the services as if he 
 had expected that result. 
 
 The government has a band of native 
 musicians, which often furnishes music at 
 the public balls that vary the long mono- 
 tone of Honolulu. As soon as these players 
 are stirred by the sound of their instru- 
 ments, they invariably rush the dance into
 
 SINGERS AND PLAYERS 91 
 
 a confusion, out of which the inevitable 
 base-drum will be the last survivor. 
 
 At these gatherings a stranger is un- 
 pleasantly impressed by the miscegenera- 
 tion of the white and colored races ; which, 
 more frequent formerly than now, has 
 occurred by the marriage of white men to 
 native women, but never by the marriage 
 of a white woman to a native man. Re- 
 flecting upon this unnatural alliance between 
 a superior and an inferior race, which tends 
 to sink the white man into the mire of an 
 indolent and unnoticed life, I can not help 
 thinking of Tennyson's words : 
 
 "Cursed be the social wants that sin against the 
 
 strength of youth ! 
 Cuvsed be the social lies that warp us from the living 
 
 truth ! " 

 
 THE LEPERS' VILLAGE. 
 
 ERE is leprosy in the Hawaiian 
 e)t blood ; but none of it is to be seen 
 ^ in Honolulu, as those who are found 
 
 C.9^ 
 
 to be afflicted with it are sent to the 
 lepers' village, on the island of Molokai. 
 
 The leprosy is contagious and incurable. 
 Yet the natives are heedless of the danger 
 which threatens them from association and 
 contact with it. Rather than allow their 
 leper relatives to be taken away, they se- 
 crete them from the searching officers by 
 hiding them in the valleys and cane-fields. 
 And, instead of accepting civilized medical 
 skill, they prefer to confide the lepers to 
 their native doctors, who pretend to cure 
 
 92
 
 A DESERTED ISLAND. 93 
 
 
 
 the leprosy with black-cat-broth and dried 
 centipedes. 
 
 To visit the settlement on Molokai, 
 which is about thirty miles east of Hono- 
 lulu, we embark on a clipper schooner 
 bound to windward to bring down a cargo 
 
 o c 
 
 of sugar from Lahaina, a town on , the 
 Island of Maui, where lepers may be seen 
 in its one broad street. After rolling to 
 starboard, and rolling to larboard, all night 
 long, the schooner heaves to at sunrise, off 
 the southern coast of the island, and we are 
 set ashore from a small boat in the little 
 harbor of Kaunakaki. 
 
 The island is green with vegetat.'on, but 
 deserted like a solitude. There are less 
 than 1,500 people on it, although it con- 
 tains 170 square miles. As we ride on 
 horseback away from the shore up the 
 ascending plains in a north-eastern direc- 
 tion, we pass deserted garden-patches, 
 fallen walls, and ruins of native huts, on
 
 94 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 which knots of long grass are waving like 
 signals of distress. Crossing a succession 
 of green hills, we come suddenly to the 
 brink of the precipice of Kalaupapa, which 
 looks north to the ocean, and is 2,000 feet 
 high. 
 
 Below, from the foot of the precipice, 
 stretches a plain, diversified with hills and 
 vales, and reaching to the distant shore, 
 where it curves, like a scythe, into the sea, 
 turning up a white swath against the trade- 
 wind. The plain is covered with luxuriant 
 vegetation ; but we can see no life on it. 
 Here and there a few brown huts catch the 
 eye. Far on the right are dots of white 
 houses. That is the leper village. 
 
 A steep bridle-path zigzags down the 
 front of the precipice, and we must de- 
 scend it. Under wreathing vines, white 
 blossoms, and swinging trailers, which 
 adorn and obstruct the descent into this 
 valley of death, the horses step carefully
 
 THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 95 
 
 and tediously. In an hour they reach the 
 plain, when a gallop of two miles brings us 
 to the settlement. 
 
 It consists of detached houses, inclosed 
 by stone walls or picket-fences, standing in 
 open pasture-land and sweet-potato-fields. 
 Papaia, puhala, banana trees, and a winding 
 brook, give a picturesque appearance to 
 the village. Its horizon is bounded on one 
 side by the flower-covered precipice, which 
 shuts oft' the world, and on the other side 
 by the ocean. 
 
 " Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile." 
 
 Every person in this community is a 
 leper. Of those who have not lost hands 
 or feet, the men till the ground, and the 
 women braid mats. Those who can not 
 take care of themselves are nursed in hos- 
 pitals by leper nurses. The boys and girls 
 go to school to leper teachers, learning the 
 branches of a simple education, which none
 
 96 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 of them can probably live long enough to 
 appreciate. They leave the school with 
 frolicsome shouts : they romp across the 
 green fields, enjoying the air and sunshine 
 like children in other lands, unconscious 
 of their misfortune. 
 
 In a grassy field near the sea-shore 
 stands a little church, visited all day by 
 the sun and sea-breeze. Here a native 
 minister, a leper, leads religious services 
 on Sunday for his miserable fellows. 
 
 These poor people seem to be contented. 
 A ration of five pounds of fresh meat and 
 twenty pounds of vegetables is issued to 
 each person weekly, in addition to what 
 each one cultivates with his own labor. 
 This support is so much better than any 
 Hawaiian ever has at home, that natives 
 living on other parts of the island have 
 desired to make themselves lepers in order 
 to be taken care of in this village of death. 
 
 As we turn away for our homeward jour-
 
 THE CURSE OF ELISI1A. 97 
 
 ney, it is natural to wish, for the sake of 
 humanity, that there might be in this 
 beautiful valley a River Jordan into which 
 these miserable people may dip and be 
 cleansed. But the curse of Elisha upon 
 his corrupt servant seems to be irrevoca- 
 bly fixed upon them : " The leprosy of 
 Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto 
 thy seed for ever."
 
 MAUNA LOA. 
 
 THE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS AND RUINS. 
 
 HE Hawaiian Islands are the most 
 conspicuous objects in the Pacific 
 
 ,-=, Ocean. They are all mountainous 
 (2? . ; . 
 
 and of volcanic origin ; the peaks on the 
 
 smallest of them rising to 500 feet above the 
 sea, and on the largest to the line of per- 
 petual frost. From their highest summits, 
 down to the lowest depth to which excava- 
 tions have been made, the soil is found to 
 be lava in various stages of decomposition 
 It nowhere discloses stratified rocks, but ' 
 everywhere melted earth, fused in vol- 
 canic furnaces, which has been poured out 
 in vast masses, forming the lava mountains
 
 THE MOUNTAINS. 99 
 
 of Konahuanui, 3,1< feet high on the 
 Island of Oahu ; Waialeale, 8,000 feet high 
 on the Island of Kauai ; Haleakala, 10,200 
 feet high on the Island of Mani ; and on 
 the Island of Hawaii, Hualali, 9.000 feet, 
 Mauna Loa, 13,760 feet, and Mauna Kea, 
 15,9-50 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 The volcanic action has ceased long 
 ago on all the islands except Hawaii, 
 the largest and southernmost of the 
 group, where the crater called Kilauea is 
 now smoking, 4,000 feet above the sea, and 
 thirty miles, by a tedious bridle-path, from 
 the pretty seaport of Ililo. This crater, 
 which is about nine miles in circumference, 
 is known to have been in an active state 
 for one hundred years past, during which 
 time the lava has been continually bub- 
 bling and boiling in its caldrons. It lies 
 on a plain on the southern slope of Mauna 
 Loa, one-third of the distance up ; and, 
 although grand and terrific in its fiery
 
 100 PAR AD ISP: IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 activity, it is, perhaps, less impressive than 
 that vast and desolate crater which crowns 
 the frozen summit above, from which, in 
 the centuries past, there was poured out the 
 fused material to form this magnificent 
 dome, sixty miles in diameter, and nearly 
 three miles in hight. 
 
 The crater called Monaweoweo, on the 
 summit of Mauna Loa, is enormous ; its up- 
 per circumference being estimated as twenty 
 miles in circuit. From its brink, rugged 
 and precipitous walls descend to a depth 
 of 1,200 feet. On the floor of this great pit 
 rise conical hills of lava; and wide chasms 
 open down into the roots of the mountain, 
 so black, that the light of a noonday sun fails 
 to illumine them, and so deep, that a stone 
 thrown in sends back its decreasing echoes 
 for minutes, as it boim.ls from side\ to side 
 in its descent to the bottom. 
 
 Eruptions of lava have occurred in 
 this crater at intervals of several years : the
 
 ASCKNT OF MA UN A LOA. 101 
 
 last was in August, 1872. But there is 
 no record or tradition of the time when 
 any part of the lava-remains now covering 
 the summit of the mountain were ejected 
 from it. 
 
 Mauna Loa may be ascended from Hilo. 
 by way of Kilauea ; but a shorter ascent 
 leads from another point. For this, we 
 embark at Honolulu, and, sailing along the 
 islands, land in the small cove of Kaalualu, 
 on the southern point of Hawaii. Here we 
 hire horses, and ride seven miles to the 
 native village of Waiohinu ; which is pleas- 
 antly situated 1,000 feet above the sea, in 
 a little valley on the southern slope of the 
 great mountain, sheltered under a forest of 
 kukui, orange, fig, and guava trees. It has 
 about two hundred inhabitants, who sup- 
 port themselves by trade in pulu - moss, 
 goat-skins, and fruit. This is the orange 
 district of the island. 
 
 The people are glad to supply horses,
 
 102 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 pack-mules, guides, and servants for a jour- 
 ney up the mountain. 
 
 Leaving this village, two bridle-paths 
 stretch away, ono along the shore, the 
 other directly up the slopes. In wet 
 weather, the shore-road i.3 more passable 
 than the other; but on a dry, sunny day, 
 the upper road is cooler, and the many 
 landscapes which it opens to view are 
 charming. There is always in sight the 
 Pacific Ocean ; its surface flashing like a 
 mirror, away to the distant horizon; its 
 white surf fringing the edge of the shore 
 below. Dry lava-plains, black and red, 
 spotted with green cactus-bushes, belted by 
 groves of koa and kukui trees, lie between 
 the rolling hills over which we ride ; while 
 above us rises the mountain, ridge nfter 
 ridge, until it is lost in the white clouds 
 which conceal the summit. 
 
 The first halt on the journey up the 
 mountain is made at Kapapala 2,000 feet
 
 THE WA Y STA TIOXS. 103 
 
 above the sea, twenty-four miles from Waio- 
 hinu, where Mr. Richardson, a white farmer, 
 offeis hospitality to travelers. Here a new 
 guide is needed ; and he can generally be 
 found among the native laborers on the farm. 
 The man who is best qualified for a guide 
 is a bullock-hunter: in this pursuit he be- 
 comes familiar with every trail which the 
 wild cattle follow, roaming on the moun- 
 tain above. Seven miles riding from Kapa- 
 pala, over an ascending path covered with 
 weeds, brings us to a cottage and cattle- 
 station, on the edge of the forest, in the 
 region of frost. This is the farm of Captain 
 Ellis, the highest dsveller on the mountain. 
 From this station, the irpward path winds 
 through a succession of koa and ohia 
 groves. After a ride of nine miles, we 
 reach a level clearing; the half-way rest, 
 7,000 feet above the sea, which is in sight 
 below us. Here is no shelter ; but v here it 
 is well to disencumber ourselves of all su-
 
 104 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 perfluous luggage, leave it, and take it up 
 on our return from the summit. 
 
 Now there is neither path nor trail for us 
 to follow, and we rely upon the intelligence 
 of our guide to lead us over the remaining 
 ten miles of the journey. After leaving 
 the half-way, we ride through bushes and 
 stunted scrubs of vegetation, which gradu- 
 ally verge into universal barrenness. 
 
 The riding becomes tedious and perilous. 
 The mountain is covered with blocks and 
 shafts of lava stone, rising in ridges and 
 hummocks, and heaped in masses of confu- 
 sion. We cross dry, crispy plains, whose 
 surface is split into a thousand crevices ; 
 we descend into slagffy vales ; we follow 
 
 OO*/ / 
 
 the edges of deep fissures; we stumble 
 across solid lava streams whose top is petri- 
 fied in eddies and billows ; we climb over 
 piles of glossy cinders; and we surmount 
 lava hills and terraces, only to toil up and 
 down others which rise in succession be-
 
 THE LAVA DESERT. 105 
 
 yond. Is there a drearier scene of desola- 
 tion on the face of the earth ? Before us, 
 behind us, and all around us, stretches this 
 gloomy desert of ruins, showing no trail 
 of travel, nor a green blade, nor a leaf, to 
 refresh our wearied eyes. 
 
 Sometimes a chilling cloud swoops down 
 upon us, shutting off this awful scene ; 
 then the wind dispels it, and we can dis- 
 cover the ocean, nearly three miles below 
 us, whose surface seems to rise up to an 
 horizon half-way between the zenith and 
 the foot of the mountain. The tempera- 
 ture of the air is below the freezing-point. 
 Our pulses beat a hundred pulsations each 
 minute, as we sit in the saddles. Our 
 breath comes only by long inhalations. 
 Some complain of headaches, and tin- 
 gling in the ears ; some of nausea. Cold, 
 exhausted, and uncomfortable as we are, 
 we can all join in hearty cheers as we 
 reach, at last, the crown of this loftiest 
 volcano rising out of t-he Pacific Ocean.
 
 108 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Descriptions of volcanic eruptions are 
 unsatisfactory. Those who have attempted 
 to make them have generally concluded 
 that language was not intended for that 
 purpose. All the fire- works of a Fourth 
 of July, exploding simultaneously, and 
 without design, accompanied by discharges 
 of cannons, showers of bomb-shells, explo- 
 sions of gas, blue-lights, smoke, steam, sul- 
 phureous smells, and illuminated fountains 
 of any imaginable night and volume, are 
 the confused elements which compose the 
 scene ; to be looked upon, in safety, from a 
 distance. 
 
 The cause of volcanic eruptions has not 
 been satisfactorily accounted for, although 
 the theories in regard to it are numerous. 
 The latest theory, which promises to take 
 the place of all others, is very simple in 
 principle. The earth is gradually parting 
 with its heat. As it cools, it contracts. In 
 the process of cooling, the interior con-
 
 THE THEORY OF ERUPTIONS. 107 
 
 tracts more rapidly than the crust; and 
 consequently the crust must shrink, and 
 crush its way down toward the center. 
 This sinking, or shrinkage, of the crust of 
 the earth, is sufficient to cause all the 
 known phenomena of volcanic action. In 
 the creative period of the earth, this 
 shrinkage produced the irregularities on its 
 surface, which appear in the elevations of 
 the land, and the depressions of the ocean- 
 bed. Subsequently, as the thickened crust 
 shrank, it formed corrugations, the 
 mountain-ranges and table-lands of the 
 earth. At last, as the globe gradually lost 
 its high temperature, the continued shrink- 
 ing of the crust no longer produced ridges, 
 but dislocations of material ; a crushing- 
 down from the surface to the interior. 
 This process is still going on, being the cause 
 of all changes of level, of earthquakes, 
 and of volcanic heat. As the solid crust 
 sinks upon the shrinking interior, the force
 
 108 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 expended in the dislocation is transformed 
 into heat, by which, at the places where 
 this force acts with greatest energy, the 
 material of the crushed rock, and of that 
 adjacent to it, is heated to fusion. The 
 access of water to this melted rock pro- 
 duces volcanic eruption. 
 
 Mr. Mallet, a European seisjnologist, is 
 the author of this theory. Having 
 weighed and measured the forces of which 
 he speaks, he tells precisely what propor- 
 tion of the contracting force, developed by 
 the sinking of the earth's crust, is neces- 
 sary to produce the volcanic power. A 
 superficial opinion would be, that the con- 
 traction of the earth is too slow to cause 
 such stupendous effects as are recognized 
 in the volcano and the earthquake. But 
 he shows, by calculations indisputable, that 
 less than one-fourth of the heat now annu- 
 ally lost by the earth is sufficient to 
 account for the whole annual volcanic 
 action.
 
 EXPLOSION OF THE 'OLD THEORY. 109 
 
 It will be noticed that Mr. Mallet's 
 theory is entirely opposed to the ordinary 
 ideas respecting earthquakes and volcanoes. 
 We have been accustomed to believe that 
 these phenomena are caused by an erup- 
 tive, outburgting power residing in the 
 earth's interior. We shall now have 
 to consider them as due to the sink- 
 ing and shrinkage of the earth's exte- 
 rior. The shriveled skin of a withered 
 apple affords an apt representation of 
 the corrugated surface of our earth ; and, 
 according to the new theory, the shriv- 
 eling of such a skin is precisely analo- 
 gous to the process at work upon the earth 
 when the mountain-ranges were forming. 
 Mountains have not been pushed up ; but 
 valleys have sunk. 
 
 And, in another respect, this new theory 
 tends to modify opinions which have been 
 recentlv entertained. Eminent ideologists 
 
 * o o 
 
 have taught that the earth's internal forces
 
 110 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 may be as active now as they were in the 
 epoch when these mountain-ranges were 
 formed. Bat this new theory tends to 
 show that the volcanic energy of the earth 
 is a declining force. Its chief action had 
 already been exerted when mountains 
 began to be formed : what remains now is 
 but the minutest fraction of the volcanic 
 energy of the mountain-forming era ; and 
 each year, as the earth parts with more and 
 more of its internal heat, the sources of 
 subterranean energy are more and more 
 exhausted. 
 
 The great, dead volcanoes of the Hawaiian 
 Islands Waialeale, Haleakala, Hualali, 
 Mauna Kea corroborate this theory. 
 Even the spasmodic crater of Mauna Loa 
 adds confirmation to it. 
 
 Eruptions from the craters of Mauna 
 Loa have occasionally extended the cir- 
 cumference of the Island of Hawaii. 
 
 This occurred in 1840, when, for three
 
 GREAT ERUPTIONS. Ill 
 
 weeks, a flood of lava poured out of the 
 mountain, and running forty miles, sweep- 
 ing away forests and plantations, leaped 
 into the sea over precipices fifty feet high. 
 The coast was pushed out a quarter of a 
 mile, a sand - beach and new cape were 
 made, and sand-hills two hundred feet high 
 erected near the shore. During several 
 months in 1855, the mountain poured out 
 lava, which, shaping itself into an impetuous 
 river, seventy miles long, from one to five 
 miles wide, from ten to one hundred feet 
 deep, plunged into the sea as before. In 
 1859, the mountain again threw out streams 
 of lava, which uniting, and cutting a deep 
 canal through the soil more than fifty feet 
 wide, ran nearly sixty miles in three days, 
 and debouched into the sea. And again, in 
 1868, after a long succession of earthquakes, 
 and ejections of mud and hot water, the lava 
 burst forth, and flowing upon the graziug- 
 plains below, consuming houses, trees, and
 
 112 PARADISE IN 111K PACIFIC. 
 
 cattle, ran into the sea, where it pushed up 
 a conical island, nearly a mile from the 
 shore, which it joined to the mainland. 
 
 Nine lesser eruptions have occurred on 
 Hawaii since these islands have been occu- 
 pied by white people, all but one coming 
 from the craters of Mauna Loa, namely ; 
 1789, an eruption from the crater Kilauea, 
 discharging ashes and stones ; 1801, an 
 eruption from Hualali, from a crater now 
 visible on the western side of the mountain, 
 
 about six miles from the shore ; 1823, an 
 
 
 
 overflow of lava from Kilauea, running 
 twelve miles into the sea ; 1832, an erup- 
 tion in Kilauea, and also in the summit 
 crater Monaweoweo ; 1840, an overflow of 
 lava from Kilauea, running down to the 
 sea ; 1843, a small eruption near the sum- 
 mit of Mauna Loa, running a few miles, 
 when it ceased ; 1852, another eruption 
 from near the same source as in 1843, con- 
 tinuing only twenty-four hours. But two
 
 TIDAL WAVES. 113 
 
 days after this, a large eruption of lava 
 burst forth from the side of the mountain 
 opposite Hilo, at a point 10,000 feet above 
 the sea, and flowed during thirty days over 
 a distance of thirty miles, but did not 
 reach the sea. 1872, an eruption within 
 the crater Monaweoweo. 
 
 Simultaneously with the eruption in 
 August, 1872, the sea receded, and returned 
 in a "tidal wave" all along the islands. In 
 Honolulu harbor, at noon, August 23d, the 
 sudden receding of the sea left the harbor 
 reef bare, frightening the natives, fishing, 
 and driving them, in alarm, to the shore. 
 In ten minutes, the sea returned to its full 
 hight. From noon to half-past one o'clock, 
 five distinct waves entered and left the 
 harbor, each less in hight than the previous, 
 but showing a range, by the tide register, 
 of twelve to fifteen inches. The same 
 phenomena occurred at the same hour in 
 
 other harbors of the group. 
 
 10*
 
 114 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 These tidal waves usually accompany 
 volcanic action in Mauna Loa. Two were 
 observed at Honolulu in April, 1868, when 
 the earthquake and eruption at Kau 
 occurred. These waves at that time ran 
 with great force upon the entire coast of 
 Hawaii. On the south-eastern shore, the 
 sea rose ten or twelve feet, then receded 
 eighteen feet below low-water mark, then 
 suddenly returned in a tremendous wave 
 which swept over the tops of cocoanut- 
 trees, destroying houses, trees, cattle, and 
 lives. The sea rose and fell eight times, 
 each following wave having diminished 
 force. 
 
 An enthusiastic Polish traveler, frequent- 
 ly quoted, visited the craters of Mauna Loa 
 in 1838, and printed the following opinion: 
 
 " It is only to those millions of vents all around 
 the crater of Kilauea, through which the superabun- 
 dance of steam escapes, to the millions of fissures 
 through which the sulphurous and sulphuric acids
 
 AN OLD OPINION. 115 
 
 liberate themselves from beneath, that the preserva- 
 tion of Hawaii from utter destruction, by the expan- 
 sive force of steam and gases, can be ascribed." 
 
 The theory was once held by astrono- 
 mers, that, by volcanic force, the earth 
 might, at some time, explode like a bomb- 
 shell, and the scattered fragments form a 
 ring of meteoric bodies, resembling the 
 zone of asteroids through which the earth 
 passes on its orbit around the sun. The 
 traveler I have quoted evidently held that 
 opinion. If there ever was any probability 
 of such an ignominious collapse of creation, 
 it has long since passed away ; and the 
 Island of Hawaii will continue to lift up its 
 head 14,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, 
 long after those " millions of vents " and 
 " millions of fissures " have become closed 
 by the gradual exhaustion of the earth's 
 volcanic power. 
 
 Probably no other part of the world 
 presents such interesting remains of volcan-
 
 116 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 ic action as are to be seen on the Hawaiian 
 islands. The theory of creation held by the 
 ancient islanders taught that all things ori- 
 ginated in a state of night. They believed 
 that their islands had been subject to vol- 
 canic fires through all time, from that crea- 
 tive period ; for they described them as 
 burning "mai ke po mai," from the state 
 of night until now. It may therefore be 
 supposed that the volcanic fires were blaz- 
 ing long before any human beings existed 
 here. Their unmistakable remains now 
 meet the traveler's eye everywhere. 
 
 The Island of Oahu seems to be the 
 oldest of the group in its formation, as it 
 is the oldest in the perfection of 
 its civilized conveniencies. It is the only 
 island on which the traveler finds good 
 carriages to travel in, and good roads to 
 travel upon. Whichever way these roads 
 tend, whether along the shore of the 
 sea, or into the green valleys ; over bleak,
 
 VOLCANIC RUINS. 117 
 
 cactus-covered fields, or through shady 
 dingles, where a mountain-stream is sing- 
 ing its quiet tune, many evidences are 
 to be seen of a terrible volcanic power, 
 long since exhausted. By the roadside 
 and in the fields, there are walls piled 
 with brown, porous stones which have 
 been flecked by fire. These stones cover 
 the red commons, from which winds have 
 stripped the sods. Some of them are gray 
 with age ; some have been split by the 
 sun and rain ; all show that they have 
 passed through the furnace. Between 
 them flowering nettles are growing, and 
 thorny bushes; bearing yellow blossoms. 
 Fused volcanic rocks shoulder up in solid 
 precipices out of rich green slopes, on 
 which cattle are now grazing. They peep 
 up in ridges under the ferns, on the hill- 
 sides. The road we are traveling is under- 
 laid with them, and has been so hardened 
 by pulverized lava, that our wheels leave 
 only a faint track on ii.
 
 118 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 A pleasant road leads north from Hono- 
 lulu, up the Nuanu Valley, which, near 
 the town, is lined by cottages and gardens. 
 Three miles out, a brawling stream comes 
 down a little ravine, abounding in ferns and 
 mosses, and, gathering itself into a clear 
 pool, once the bathing-place of an Hawai- 
 ian queen, slides, like a silver ribbon, 
 over a volcanic cliff one hundred feet high. 
 Here the volcanic mountains are close 
 around us, their sides covered with woods, 
 their sharp summits inaccessible. The road 
 now rises to steeper ascents, and, three 
 miles farther on, terminates suddenly at 
 the brink of a volcanic precipice called the 
 Pali, 1,200 feet above the sea-level, where 
 we are surprised by a wonderful landscape. 
 
 From this elevation we look around 
 upon a large amphitheater of black cliffs 
 and green mountains, and down upon a 
 bright circular plain, covered with ver- 
 dure, extending from the foot of the preci-
 
 THE PALI OF NUANU. 119 
 
 pice across to the distant sea. The white 
 houses of sugar-plantations are in the view, 
 and scattered cottages, and cane-fields dis- 
 tinguishable by their shades of green, and 
 ruins of thatched huts (the native owners 
 dead), and clumps of trees, and herds of 
 cattle, like moving spots, and brown roads 
 and bridle-paths, winding hither and thither. 
 On the distant seashore are salt-banks, 
 and rocky, cone-shaped islets, once volcanic 
 craters, and white shoals, that break the 
 surf which the northern wind rolls in. 
 
 While we are looking down upon this 
 broad, enchanting landscape, clouds run 
 their shadows across it ; or passing showers 
 span it with rainbows; and gray mists fall 
 upon it, only to be folded away by. the 
 brisk trade-wind. All this peaceful valley 
 shows marks of its volcanic origin, not only 
 in these mountainous walls of lava-rock 
 which surround it, but in those conical hills 
 that rise everywhere out of it, once serv-
 
 120 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 ing as chimneys to subterranean fires. 
 Probably, in the ancient days it was the 
 bed of a great volcano, melted down, and 
 flowing into the sea. 
 
 In other places the road we are follow- 
 ing enters directly into an old crater, or 
 within the foundation-walls of a fused vol- 
 cano, now covered with verdure. We can 
 not be deceived about it; for these volcanic 
 remains are more complete and distinct 
 than the vestiges of any architectural ruin 
 that ever interested an antiquarian. The 
 road winds down to the floor of the crater, 
 or climbs half-way up, and along its inner 
 slopes ; while, from above, the wrinkled 
 walls of volcanic stone frown upon us. And 
 we look upon those walls with the belief 
 that there was an epoch when they stood 
 there hissing, crackling, and exploding in a 
 red-heat. Time has not yet been able to 
 abrade the grotesque scars of fire that 
 cover them all over.
 
 ANQIENT CRATERS. 121 
 
 My favorite ride has been, with a com- 
 panion, to one of these irregular craters, 
 which we strayed into, about five miles 
 west of Honolulu, where we have found a 
 pleasure in studying the contrast between 
 the scene that now is and that once was 
 presented here. Through its bottom, for a 
 mile or so, runs a little stream. It is 
 hedged here and there by bushes, and on 
 rainy days becomes an ambitious torrent. 
 On the edge of a rising embankment, 
 above the stream, is the carriage-road ; 
 which, in places, is shaded from the early 
 sun by the steep walls of the crater that 
 rise behind grassy banks. As the road 
 ascends and curves, it opens to view an ex- 
 panse of the crater floor ; and there, below 
 us, as we ride along, is a cattle-farm. 
 Horses and cows are wandering over the 
 slopes and in the ravines, searching for 
 pasture ; or, standing in the pools of the 
 brook, they stare up at our strange car-
 
 122 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 riage. Sleepy oxen are lying under a 
 large algaroba-tree, near Yankee-looking 
 ox -carts. Cocoanut- trees, man go -trees, 
 cattle-yards, lazy natives, straggling fences, 
 a white cottage with verandas and many 
 outhouses, a distant view of fields and 
 herds through ah opening, make a pleasing 
 picture of quiet life in the bottom of a dead 
 volcano. 
 
 The road continues to rise until all this 
 picturesque scene lies far below us. At 
 last it turns over the edge of the crater, 
 and, extending down a long declivity, 
 crosses a plain, on which we discover the 
 settlement of Halawa, and the white chim- 
 ney and walls of a sugar-mill. Thence it 
 stretches its winding way over the hills, be- 
 yond our sight, toward Wai me a. 
 
 Turning about now on the summit, we 
 have before us a commanding view of Hono- 
 lulu, six miles away. It is a beautiful pano- 
 rama ; and the refreshing breeze which is
 
 THE RIDE TO HAL AW A. 123 
 
 always crossing this summit makes us tarry 
 long to enjoy it. We can see the towers 
 and steeples of the town, rising above the 
 embowering trees. We can see the skele- 
 ton masts of its shipping, and the long- 
 curving lines of surf breaking on the har- 
 bor reefs, and that broad, blue expanse of 
 ocean, on which it is never tiresome to 
 gaze. We can see the volcanic mountains 
 that rise behind the town, and the plains 
 stretching beyond it, and, more conspicu- 
 ous than all, those two solemn craters for 
 ever looking down upon it, carrying our 
 imagination back to that primeval night, 
 when these islands arose from the ocean, 
 smoking with volcanic fires.
 
 A POLITICAL ELECTION. 
 
 > 
 
 [NCE in two years, in the month of 
 February, the voters of Honolulu 
 have the privilege of electing four 
 men to represent them in the parliament, 
 which meets in April. 
 
 According to the constitution, the parlia- 
 ment consists of a house of nobles, not 
 exceeding twenty in number, appointed by 
 the king for life, and of a house of repre- 
 sentatives elected by the people ; the num- 
 ber being apportioned according to the 
 population, by census, but not less than 
 twenty, nor more than forty. 
 
 A representative must not be insane ; 
 must be twenty-one years old ; must know 
 
 124
 
 THE BURDEN-BEAKER. 125 
 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic ; must have 
 resided within the kingdom three years ; 
 must be worth five hundred dollars in un- 
 incumbered real estate, or be possessed of 
 an annual income of two hundred and fifty 
 dollars, derived from property or lawful 
 employment. 
 
 A voter must take the oath of allegiance, 
 must know how to read and to write, must 
 pay his taxes, and must have an income of 
 seventy-five dollars a year. But it is very 
 doubtful if all the Hawaiians who cast bal- 
 lots on election day can read and write, or 
 have a cash revenue of seventy-five dollars 
 annually. 
 
 Formerly the natives were interested in 
 the election. They called their represen- 
 tative, luna wehe pilikia, or the burden- 
 bearer ; considering his duty to be to lift 
 from them the burden of their taxes. It 
 was their duty to supply him with endless 
 petitions praying that their dogs and their 
 
 11*
 
 126 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 horses may be taxed no more ; that they 
 may be discharged from the road-tax, the 
 school-tax, the poll-tax, and every other 
 tax which the necessities of government 
 imposed upon them. Laziness favors free 
 living. 
 
 Long before sunrise, on election morn- 
 ing, it is evident that a public excitement 
 is at hand. Cascades of Chinese fire- 
 crackers are rattling in the streets, arous- 
 ing the dogs of the kingdom, who imme- 
 diately commence barking a jubilee over- 
 ture to the day. Twenty-one candidates 
 are running for the four offices. Horse- 
 men are galloping away from the printing- 
 shop, with ballots and posters, to rally the 
 Democracy to struggle for their rights, 
 which consist in resolutions to reduce the 
 king's salary, to expel the king's ministers, 
 to abolish the taxes, and to take the offices 
 of government for themselves and their 
 friends. Bands of music parade the streets
 
 ELECTION SPEECHES. 127 
 
 in lumbering wagons ; and important an- 
 nouncements are frequently pasted upon 
 the corners. All the ballots are deposited 
 in one box, at the court-house. Here 
 stump-speeches are made without cessation. 
 A nervous Hawaiian orator implores his 
 kindred to vote for the government candi- 
 dates. 
 
 "No!" says an opposition orator, who 
 follows, " that man is hoopilimeaai, a syco- 
 phant, a time-server, a parasite ! He has 
 got some lumber to sell to the govern- 
 ment. What has this government done for 
 you ? It builds hotels for strangers with 
 your money ; but it never reduces your 
 taxes. Besides, did he not propose once, 
 that each representative should be fur- 
 nished with a pocket-knife out of the 
 treasury ? " 
 
 Now a neutral patriot harangues the 
 voters. He beseeches all candidates to 
 vote for a law prohibiting the Huwaiians
 
 128 PARADISK IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 from selling their kuleana, their homestead 
 lands, to the whites for twenty years to 
 come. He says, 
 
 " The white men are buying all our lands. 
 When our lands are gone, where will the 
 kanaka go ? To the sun ? to the moon ? 
 Get out ! That man says the law will be 
 unconstitutional. I say any law is constitu- 
 tional. What is our constitution? It is full 
 of holes, just like that sieve at the reser- 
 voir, where the water monies through. One 
 man made it : one man can break it." 
 
 Then one of the candidates mounts the 
 rostrum. He gives his name, and an- 
 nounces himself to be " the lion of the 
 East, come to this Babylon to relieve the 
 burdens of the people. Elect me to your 
 legislature ! Your taxes shall be reduced. 
 If they are not reduced, you shall give 
 me a thrashing ! " 
 
 He states his intention, if elected, to 
 vote to reduce the salaries of ministers.
 
 ELECTION SPEECHES. 129 
 
 judges, and all other officers ; to sell the 
 government lands to natives only ; to abol- 
 ish the tax on dogs ; to have no bank-notes, 
 unless they are printed on pig-skins, which 
 will not wear out ; to permit natives to use 
 intoxicating drinks in public, or else to for- 
 bid the white people from doing so ; to 
 abolish the coolie system of slavery on the 
 sugar-plantations ; to prevent the cabinet 
 ministers from spending the public money 
 without authority. 
 
 And his platform comprises all that there 
 is of politics in this little kingdom. It is 
 much ado about nothing, a tempest in a 
 teapot.
 
 THE GALA DAY IN HONOLULU. 
 
 HE parliament of paradise meets in 
 Honolulu, on the last day of April 
 in each alternate year. Its meeting 
 is an event which astonishes the 
 natives, and gives the white people an 
 opportunity to air their well-preserved 
 fashions in the splendor of a royal court. 
 
 A stranger can see that something un- 
 usual is at hand, from the street-sights. 
 National, consular, and society flags are 
 flying from the hundred flag-staffs which 
 adorn the city. Natives dressed in clean 
 cottons, their hair sleek with cocoanut-oil, 
 their heads adorned with strings of yellow 
 mimosa-blossoms, are shuffling along the 
 sidewalks, and, mounted on shying ponies, 
 
 130
 
 THE SPECTATORS. 131 
 
 are loping through the streets. I encounter 
 men in uniforms rushing furiously toward 
 the palace. Sauntering along the street, 
 under an umbrella, to shield me from the 
 tropical sun, I meet white women in black 
 silks, and yellow women in white mus- 
 lins, wending their way to the court- 
 house, a large, square, coral building on 
 Fort Street. Its second story is the legis- 
 lative hall until new parliament buildings 
 are completed. At other times, it is the 
 chamber of the supreme court of the 
 kingdom : its northern windows, admitting 
 the trade-wind, and its southern windows, 
 looking off upon the sea, make a place for 
 cool reflections. 
 
 Spectators, admitted by tickets, occupy 
 seats in the center of the hall, the whites 
 in front, the natives in rear. In this 
 throng I recognize the oldest missionary, 
 and the latest invalid, from the States ; and 
 between these extremes, I see represented
 
 132 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 all the gossip and fashion of Honolulu. In 
 front are seated the nobles and representa- 
 tives comprising the legislature, a curious 
 mixture of Hawaiian and Anglo-Saxon 
 men, of which the Hawaiians are decid- 
 edly the best looking. On the right of the 
 rostrum are seated the " ladies of the 
 court/' most of them Yankee girls once. 
 On the left sits the black-clothed minister 
 of the United States, the British and 
 French Commissioners, the officers of the 
 British frigate " Scout," now in port, 
 and the consular corps, all in gold lace, gilt 
 buttons, swords, and whatever else adds 
 pomp and circumstance to the occasion. 
 There is an apothecary, consul for Aus- 
 tria, a whalemen's agent, consul for Italy, 
 an auctioneer, consul for Chili, who, al- 
 though a Protestant Yankee, shuts his 
 shop, and sets his consular flag at half- 
 mast, on Good Friday. 
 
 At twelve o'clock exactly, the king
 
 THE PROCESSION. 133 
 
 leaves the lolani Palace on King Street ; 
 and a salute is commenced at the battery 
 on Punchbowl Hill. In company with his 
 chamberlain, a white man, he enters 
 a barouche drawn by four horses, and is 
 escorted by his staff on horseback, and 
 by the Hawaiian army, which consists of 
 two companies of natives with a company 
 of whites sandwiched between them. 
 
 Now the procession has turned from 
 King Street into Fort Street ; for we who 
 are waiting in the hall can hear the band 
 playing its favorite air, " Ten thousand 
 miles away," which has aroused the 
 town from sleep many a morning lately. 
 Soon we hear the strains of " God save the 
 King," expressed with an extra quantity 
 of base-drum, and we know that the king 
 is alighting from his carriage in front of 
 the court-house. 
 
 In a few minutes the marshal of the 
 kingdom enters, and throws over the 
 
 o 
 
 12
 
 134 PARADISE IN THK PACIFIC. 
 
 chair of state the royal mantle, or mamo. 
 This is one of the treasures of the crown. 
 It was the war-cloak of Kamehameha I., 
 made of bright yellow feathers taken from 
 a bird called the mamo, which was found 
 only in the mountains. As each bird fur- 
 nished but two feathers for it, one from un- 
 der each wing, the birds required to supply 
 the material were innumerable. It is four 
 feet long, and spreads eleven and a half 
 feet at the bottom. Nine generations of 
 chiefs were occupied in making it. Of 
 course, everybody looks at this historical 
 mantle with interest ; but not long ; for 
 now there enter four native men, in dark 
 broadcloth over- coats and capes, and black 
 silk hats of stovepipe style, bearing the 
 royal kalihis, emblems of the royal 
 presence. These are long staffs, whose 
 upper part, for two or three feet from the 
 top, is covered with brilliant bird-feathers 
 of various colors, fixed at right angles to it,
 
 THE STAFF. 135 
 
 looking like a gay chimney-sweep's brush, 
 or a costly swab for a large spout. These 
 four men, hats on, kalihis erect, stand at 
 the four corners of the rostrum ; when now 
 enters the chancellor, head of the Supreme 
 Court of the kingdom (a New-England 
 born gentleman) ; then the king, Kame- 
 harneha V. ; then, at a respectful inter- 
 val, the ministers and staff officers, all 
 white men in brilliant uniforms. 
 
 I can not repress a smile at the appear- 
 ance of these civilized men, caparisoned 
 with barbaric glory ! There is our Amer- 
 ican-born banker, a scarlet ribbon around 
 his neck, from which hangs the sparkling 
 insignia of Hawaiian knighthood. There 
 is the little minister of finance, an excel- 
 lent American-born dentist. There is the 
 tall, scheming minister of foreign affairs, 
 also minister of the navy that is yet to 
 be, and of war not yet declared, once an 
 American lawyer. There is the dignified
 
 136 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 minister of the interior, general manager 
 and police supervisor of the kingdom, once 
 a crusty Scotch physician. There is the 
 attorney-general of the crown, who recently 
 went to New England, and married a wife. 
 All these are in cocked hats and blue 
 broadcloth, brilliant with gilt bands, laces, 
 and decorations ; their rapiers buckled at 
 their sides, and they themselves appearing 
 to be very uncomfortable ! 
 
 When the king enters the hall, the audi- 
 ence rises, and every eye is turned upon 
 him. He looks like a king ; large, tall, 
 broad-shouldered, dignified, portly, self-pos- 
 sessed. He is faultlessly attired in a blue 
 dress-coat with gilt buttons, black trowsers, 
 white vest, and white kid gloves. He walks 
 deliberately to the chair, like a man who 
 understands what is expected of him. After 
 a prayer in Hawaiian, by the archdeacon of 
 the Episcopal church, the assembly rises to 
 its feet while the king stands up, and reads
 
 THE KING'S SPEECH. 137 
 
 from a page, in a velvet folio, his speech to 
 the legislature, in the Hawaiian tongue. 
 Then he turns the page, and reads the 
 same in English. When he opens his 
 mouth and speaks, my illusion of royalty 
 vanishes. So it is often with a stranger, 
 who, before speaking, has made a favor- 
 able impression. The first word uttered 
 reveals something that either confirms 
 or dispels the favorable opinion. The 
 king's voice is small, scanty, indistinct, 
 not at all the voice of the king he ap- 
 pears to be. 
 
 He congratulates the legislature on the 
 permanent establishment of steam com- 
 munication between the islands and Cali- 
 fornia, and the Australian colonies, consid- 
 ering the money devoted to that object as 
 wisely expended. He says that agricul- 
 ture is the life of the nation, and has re- 
 paid those who have pursued it during the 
 past two years ; that, since their adjourn- 
 
 12*
 
 138 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 ment, he has signed a treaty of amity and 
 commerce with the Emperor of Japan ; 
 that the proposed treaty of reciprocity with 
 the United States has not been ratified. 
 He informs them cf the death of Queen 
 Kalama, wife of Kamehameha III., and 
 with the customary generalities about edu- 
 cation, justice, peace, and prosperity, he 
 concludes with the words, " We do now 
 declare the legislature of the kingdom 
 opened," " Ke kukala ia ku nei ua 
 weheia keia Ahaolelo Kau Kanawai o ke 
 Aupuni." 
 
 Then he retires to an adjoining room, 
 where he receives the congratulations of 
 those who have a right to give them. En- 
 tering his carriage, he is driven at full speed 
 to the palace ; the natives crowding along 
 the sidewalks after him, saying to each 
 other, u Ka moi! ka moi!" "The king, 
 the king ! " and his four kalihi-besirers run- 
 ning by the side of the carriage, each one
 
 ADJOURNMENT OF THE LEGISLATURE. 139 
 
 trying to keep his place by the. wheel. 
 The staff-officers gallop pell-mell after him ; 
 the immense army marches leisurely back 
 to its quarters, following the noisy band ; 
 and the legislature adjourns until the mor- 
 row.
 
 THE HAWAIIAN CIVILIZATION. 
 
 u 
 
 HETHER the Hawaiians are civilized 
 or not are questions of fact which 
 are not answered by any histories 
 that relate the progress of mission- 
 ary or commercial enterprises in the islands. 
 That religious teachings, and intercourse 
 with the white people, have generally im- 
 proved the Hawaiian race, no one will deny 
 But the moral and physical condition of the 
 natives, which I have already portrayed, 
 shows that there is yet great room for their 
 improvement. 
 
 If we now turn to the Hawaiian parlia- 
 ment, we shall receive more knowledge on 
 this question. This parliament is a very 
 
 140
 
 THE PARLIAMENT. 141 
 
 busy body, meeting biennially, at an ex- 
 pense of fifteen thousand dollars to the 
 country, and sometimes demanding of its 
 members three months' labor for two hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars' pay. The business 
 is that which engrosses decaying fami- 
 lies all the world over, trying to make both 
 ends meet ; for royalty is an expensive 
 luxury in this kingdom, whose entire in- 
 come during the past two years was only 
 nine hundred and twelve thousand dollars, 
 or four hundred and fifty-six thousand dol- 
 lars a year; while its annual expenditure 
 was four hundred and eighty-five thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 This body is now (1872) composed of 
 twenty - eight representatives (of which 
 seven are whites) and fourteen nobles (of 
 which six are whites). Both classes sit, dis- 
 cuss, and vote together ; making the politi- 
 cal anomaly of two houses in one. 
 
 The nobles are naturally a unit in their
 
 142 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 opinions. From the native representatives, 
 they can influence a number sufficient to 
 make a majority on questions in which the 
 government is interested. They are aristo- 
 cratic in their tendencies, since they receive 
 all their favors from the king. 
 
 This system of government is constructed 
 like the coral archipelagoes of the neighbor- 
 ing ocean ; and, if the constructing power 
 were as inexhaustible as the coral insects 
 are, it would endure as long. 
 
 There is a central island encircled by a 
 quiet lagoon, in whose clear waters can be 
 seen beautiful shells, white and pink coral 
 shrubs, and a brilliant world of marine life, 
 
 " A coral grove, 
 
 Where the purple mullet and goldfish rove, 
 Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue, 
 That never were wet with falling dew." 
 
 Around this lagoon stretches a barrier-reef, 
 with one opening through which the tides 
 ebb and flow ; while outside of all heaves
 
 DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS. 143 
 
 the long swell and restless surge of the Pa- 
 cific Ocean. On this central island, fnnned 
 by the plumy tufts of cocoanut-palrns, stands 
 the royal throne of Hawaii. The nobles 
 are the barrier-reef; on one side enjoying 
 the beauties and luxuries of the lagoon, 
 on the other side breaking the democratic 
 surge which rolls against it, and occasion- 
 ally rises high enough to plunge over the 
 barrier, run across the lagoon, and dash the 
 spray upon his Majesty. 
 
 Let us enter into parliament. The presi- 
 dent is one of the nobles, a dignified, 
 gray-haired Hawaiian, who is entitled to be 
 called u his Excellency." The vice-presi- 
 dent is of American descent : so is the inter- 
 preter, the sergeant-at-arms, and the mes- 
 senger ; also that man sitting in front, and 
 below the president, dressed in broadcloth, 
 with short gray hair, and a shirt-collar 
 like a picket-fence, who is the perennial 
 secretary of parliament, and well known as
 
 144 PARADISE IV THE PACIFIC. 
 
 a rapid pedestrian, even in this warm cli- 
 mate. Yonder is a fine-looking native, 
 large, tall, with a Roman nose, and an intel- 
 ligent expression of countenance. It is his 
 Highness, Prince William C. Lunalilo, heir 
 to the throne. Native members are con- 
 stantly hitting him by offering resolutions 
 declaring that no one who gets drunk shall 
 hold a government office, or that no mem- 
 ber of the legislature who drinks rum shall 
 receive his two hundred and fifty dollars' 
 salary. The prince has my sympathy when 
 he rises and moves to reject these resolu- 
 tions, because, as he says, " all men are 
 prone to err." 
 
 The business of parliament is planned by 
 the ministry. The speeches are made in 
 English and Hawaiian, translated by an ora- 
 torical interpreter. The white members do 
 most of the talking. To them the session 
 is the' opening- of a valve which has been 
 locked for two years; and now the opened
 
 IMPORTANT RESOLUTIONS. 145 
 
 valve blows off its accumulated vapors daily. 
 As the English language can not express all 
 the ideas begotten to the white people 
 under this tropical sun, they interpolate 
 their speeches with native words ; the 
 favorite word being pilikia, a perplexity, a 
 trouble, a dilemma, a hardship, a difficulty. 
 The native members speak in their own 
 language, but are generally silent except 
 when horses, dogs, or intoxicating liquors 
 are discussed. The resolutions which they 
 offer will help the curious to understand the 
 capacity of the Hawaiian race for political 
 government. The following examples of 
 their ideas are from the journal of parlia- 
 ment, session of 1872 : 
 
 Resolved, 
 
 That the house present its compliments to the 
 editor of the Kuokoa newspaper for his sarcasms. 
 
 That no one shall hoM a government office who 
 keeps a mistress, or gets drunk. 
 
 That his Majesty's ministers be impeached for
 
 146 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 building a hotel, and that the ministers conduct the 
 members of the assembly through it. 
 
 That Hawaiian doctors be allowed to practice 
 without restriction. 
 
 That persons afflicted with leprosy be allowed 
 to live with their families. 
 
 That the sergeant-at-arms provide lunch every 
 day at an Hawaiian restaurant; to be paid for out of 
 the treasury. 
 
 That no member of this assembly shall be 
 made a tax-collector or assessor, as it interferes with 
 his independence. 
 
 That the doctors of Honolulu hold themselves 
 in readiness to care for the members of this assembly 
 in case of sickness. 
 
 That the motive of an honorable member in va- 
 cating his seat for three days be investigated. 
 
 That the sergeant-at-arms furnish Hawaiian 
 articles of food for lunches. 
 
 That the assembly lunch at the new hotel, and 
 pay for it out of the treasury. 
 
 Now the minister of the interior, an au- 
 tocratic white man, turns upon his native 
 colleagues, and scolds them for their incapa- 
 city to legislate :
 
 A MINISTERIAL RAMPAGE. 147 
 
 " I feel very much ashamed of the members of 
 this house. It appears to me that you have occu- 
 pied most of your time in discussing what you shall 
 have for lunch, and where you shall have it. I am 
 astonished to see how recklessly you spend the public 
 nione}'', and that for things you have no right to ! 
 At the same time, you are continually crying out for 
 reduction of expenses, and telling about the pilikias 
 of your constituents. I don't think the country 
 gets any value for your services here, and you would 
 not be missed if you went home." 
 
 Of course, nothing more is said about 
 lunches for the members of parliament. 
 
 Numerous petitions are sent to the legis- 
 lature by the native population ; for in- 
 stance, 
 
 To reduce the salaries of the king, ministers, 
 and all government officers. 
 
 That parents having more than four children 
 be exempt from the school-tax. 
 
 That all taxes on the natives be abolished. 
 
 That the governme-nt no longer support Eng- 
 lish schools. 
 
 That employers be made to give their sick 
 laborers tea, bread, and warm food.
 
 148 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 That no money be paid for government print- 
 ing, or for newspapers. 
 
 That natives have the same privileges as the 
 white people in buying and drinking spirituous 
 liquors. 
 
 These petitions for abatement of taxes 
 indicate that the Hawaiians are a nation of 
 paupers. Many of the signatures are made 
 with " his X mark ; " for all these poli- 
 ticians can not read or write. Most of the 
 petitions pray that the taxes may be re- 
 duced on horses and dogs. These animals 
 being always in the legislative field, are 
 the standard subjects of law and finance. 
 
 The minister of finance now rises, and 
 tells the house that the horse law of 1870, 
 exempting from taxation " all horses, rr.ale 
 or female, under two years old," has caused 
 a loss to the treasury of $7,021.37 during 
 the two years past; for the native horses 
 are always under two years old. 
 
 The minister also says that " the dog-
 
 THE POLITICAL PEDESTAL. 149 
 
 tax has increased $6,841.40. This is at- 
 tributable to the use of metallic tags, 
 although, many worthless dogs in the 
 towns have been destroyed by the consta- 
 bles." Then, dilating upon the difficulty 
 which an untaxed dog has to escape de- 
 tection under the law, he exclaims, " God 
 save the king ! " as if all the taxed and 
 untaxed dogs in the kingdom were about 
 to rush in a yelping pack upon that 
 Majesty which they support. 
 
 The existence of the Hawaiian kingdom 
 depends upon the dogs. Notice the fervor 
 of the native members when they discuss 
 the question of giving to the untaxed dog. 
 caught without the government tag fast- 
 ened to his neck, twenty-four hours to 
 prepare for death. 
 
 Mr. Kaukaha wants the people to have time to get 
 their tax receipts, or a dog-tag, in case the tag should 
 
 not he on the dog. Now the dog is lulled the 
 13*
 
 150 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 moment be is seen without a tag, which is barbar- 
 ous to the dog. 
 
 Mr. Kupakee thinks there ought to be a stated 
 time in which the dogs can not be molested. The 
 dogs ought to have a fair chance to live, or pay. 
 
 Mr. Komoikehuehu says the whole dog-tax ought 
 to be abolished. It is an outrage on the people, and 
 on the dogs also. It is an outrage on our own 
 civilization ! 
 
 Mr. Kikalemi is opposed to the dog-law every way. 
 It is a great injustice. It is an evil-working law 
 among the people, as well as among the dogs. He 
 proposes to have the dogs branded free by the gov- 
 ernment, instead of tagged for ten cents. 
 
 The poor Hawaiian dog, pedestal of a 
 kingdom ! See how he runs when he spies 
 the royal tax-collector corning down the 
 road ! runs for his life, if he has lost that 
 ten cent metallic tag, his badge of citizen- 
 ship, his contribution to royalty ; runs, be- 
 cause his royal government will knock him 
 on the head,, dead, "a worthless dog de- 
 stroyed by the constables."
 
 PERSONAL TAXES. 151 
 
 The ancient prophets, in their visions, 
 united the faces of animals to the bodies 
 of men. They did not deem the union 
 unworthy of the one or of the other. It 
 was the spirit acting in the animal that 
 they were thinking of. And, if a noble 
 dog is " worthless," is his Hawaiian master 
 any less so ? Is his life animated by any 
 nobler impulses than those which the dog 
 possesses ? 
 
 The poll-tax, which is levied upon all 
 men between the ages of seventeen and 
 sixty years, whether subjects or aliens, is 
 like other taxes, obnoxious to the natives. 
 The poll-tax is one dollar, the road-tax two 
 dollars, the school-tax two dollars ; making 
 a personal tax of five dollars annually. 
 Thirty years ago, there were but two taxes 
 to support the kingdom, a poll-tax, paid in 
 money ; and a property-tax, paid in swine. 
 Men were then taxed one dollar, women 
 fifty cents, boys twenty-five cents, girls
 
 15U PA HA DISK IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 twelve and a half cents. The question 
 now before the house is to reduce the poll- 
 tax from one dollar to fifty cents. On this" 
 question the white members speak. 
 
 Mr. Carter (representative) says, " This tax is a 
 great wrong. It is very difficult for the native in the 
 outside districts to earn five dollars for the tax-col- 
 ector. There are, at least, three thousand personsl 
 in this kingdom who pay into the treasury the sum 
 of fifteen thousand dollars, for which they have no 
 equivalent in representation. This is not just." 
 
 Mr. Judd (representative) says, " The principle of 
 special taxation is wrong in this country, where there 
 are no municipal governments for the towns. I de- 
 sire to see the poll-tax abolished. The natives are 
 not rich enough to pay it. I do not know of an. 
 Hawaiian who started even with the world, and has 
 come out ahead. The exceptions, if any, are mem- 
 bers of this house. Natives ought to be looked upon 
 and treated differently from members of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race." 
 
 Mr. Bishop (noble) says, " It seems to me from the 
 remarks, that every thing in this kingdom is in a 
 state of pilikia. A stranger, on hearing the remarks
 
 A RICH KANAKA 153 
 
 made by representatives in this house on the tax 
 question, would be likely to conclude that we are 
 representing a nation of paupers." 
 
 The minister of finance (noble) says, " These peo- 
 ple are not so pilikia that they can not raise one dol- 
 lar per annum. The tax is small, and ought not to 
 be decreased. Can any one be so pilikia as to be 
 oppressed by this tax ? The house has for three days 
 debated this reduction of fifty cents; and what is the 
 amount of this waste of time ? Fifty cents is not 
 even the price of a brace of chickens ; and we are 
 disupting whether the people shall be relieved to the 
 extent of one chicken per annum ! " 
 
 The parliamentary debates give an in- 
 sight to the condition and character of the 
 Hawaiian people, which is not furnished by 
 any published histories. 
 
 A native who presented his credentials 
 as a member-elect had his seat contested 
 because he did not possess the necessary 
 property-qualifications, real estate worth 
 five hundred dollars, or an annual income 
 of two hundred and fifty dollars from prop-
 
 154 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 erty or lawful employment. The commit- 
 tee found that he had no real estate, and 
 was taxed for only three horses. But he 
 had been pastor of a church five years, 
 receiving an average salary of a hundred 
 dollars a year, also rent of his hut, and food 
 for his family, which was composed of four- 
 teen persons, his wife's relations, proba- 
 bly. Their food was a keg of poi each 
 week, worth three dollars a keg, or a hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars a year, which, with his 
 salary, made an annual income of two hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars within the meaning 
 of the Constitution. It would be difficult 
 to find many kanakas as rich as this poor 
 man. 
 
 There can be no mistake in regard to the 
 size of the Hawaiian kingdom, except when 
 the minister of finance offers the appro- 
 priation bill. There we find a money ma- 
 chinery large enough for five million sub- 
 jects. The salaries called for amount to
 
 THE MONEY MACHINERY. 155 
 
 more than fifty per cent of the entire in- 
 come. The king is paid $22,500 a year, 
 and $2,500 for his chamberlain ; Queen 
 Emma receives $6,000 a year; the minis- 
 ters $5,000; the chief justice $5,000; the 
 associate justices $4,000; the postmaster 
 $5,000 ; and so on. The royal whistle is 
 very large and expensive. 
 
 During the years 1870 and 1871 the 
 direct taxes collected amounted to $216,- 
 000. Of this, the dogs paid $22,275 ; the 
 horses, $59,140 ; the men, $27,381. 
 
 Licenses to trade produce nearly $50,000 
 a year. A retail rumseller pays $1,000, 
 and a wholesale rumseller pays $250, each 
 year for a license to do business. The opium 
 license was sold at auction in May, 1872, for 
 $21,000. It gives to the purchaser an exclu- 
 sive right to sell opium in the kingdom for 
 one year, to increase the moral and phys- 
 ical corruption of the people in considera- 
 tion of that sum paid into the treasury.
 
 156 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 The civil code prohibits the selling of 
 spirituous liquors to natives ; but the law 
 is generally disregarded. A bill to repeal 
 it was introduced in parliament; and Mr. 
 Kalakaua (a noble) advocated it as the 
 restoration of the civil rights, liberty, and 
 freedom of the Hawaiian people, which 
 had been taken from them. He said, 
 
 " The restrictions imposed by this law do the peo- 
 ple no good, but rather harm ; for, instead of incul- 
 cating the principles of honor, they teach them to 
 steal behind the bar, the stable, and the closet, where 
 they may be sheltered from the eyes of the law. The 
 heavy license imposed on the liquor-dealers, and the 
 prohibition against selling to the natives, are an in- 
 fringement upon our civil rights, binding not only the 
 purchaser, but the dealer, against acquiring and pos- 
 sessing property. Then, Mr. President, I ask, Where 
 lies virtue? where lies justice? Not in those that 
 bind the liberty of this people by refusing them the 
 privil }ge that they now crave, of drinking spirituous 
 liquors without restriction. Will you, by persisting 
 that this law remain in force, make us a nation of
 
 NATIONAL DRUNKENNESS. 157 
 
 hypocrites ? or will you repeal it, that honor and vir- 
 tue may for once be yours, Hawaii ? " 
 
 A committee of parliament, of which the 
 chairman was Mr. J. 0. Carter of Honolulu, 
 reporting on the question to extend the 
 prohibition of the sale of intoxicating drinks 
 to all classes, said, 
 
 " Experience teaches that such prohibition could 
 not be enforced without a strong public sentiment to 
 indorse it ; and such a sentiment does not prevail in this 
 community, as is evidenced by the fact that the sale 
 of intoxicating drinks to natives is largely practiced 
 in defiance of la\v and the executive ; and that the 
 manufacture of intoxicating drinks, although prohib- 
 ited, is carried on in every district of the kingdom.'"' 
 
 The same committee reported, on pro- 
 hibiting the sale of awa, an intoxicating 
 narcotic used by all natives : 
 
 " That such prohibition is not practicable, unless 
 its growth and cultivation is prevented. So long as 
 public sentiment permits the open violation of the 
 existing laws regulating its sale, without rebuke, so 
 long it will be of little use to attempt prohibition." 
 
 14
 
 158 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 I m.iy now ask, What does the Hawaiian 
 civilization amount to ? 
 
 There is an abundance of documentary 
 civilization here. There is a constitution, 
 written in English, which the kingdom has 
 presented as its card of admission to the 
 civilized society of the world. There is a 
 throne surrounded by white ministers. 
 There are laws made by white people ; 
 .courts with white judges and white attor- 
 neys. There are church organizations un- 
 der Anglo-Saxon management. There is 
 also an Hawaiian evangelical association ; 
 a board of missions, interested, like Mrs. 
 Jellyby, in swarms of heathen who are 
 thousands of miles away in the South Seas. 
 And even this organization is Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 D O ' 
 
 numbering fourteen white men to eight 
 natives. But all these forms of civilization 
 are exotic. They belong to the white peo- 
 ple alone. With them, the mass of the 
 Hawaiians have little or nothing to do.
 
 HEATHENISH PEOPLE. 159 
 
 What, then, is the Hawaiian civilization ? 
 Is it any thins; better than a condensation 
 
 * o 
 
 of animal aims and instincts ? Is it any 
 thing more than rum and opium and awa, 
 lawfully drunk ? and superstition and sloth 
 lawfully tolerated ; increasing crime as the 
 population decreases ? Is it any thing else 
 than the means by which a colony of white 
 people, who have sworn allegiance, and are 
 paying adulation, to a barbaric throne, may 
 support themselves out of taxes imposed 
 ivpon the islanders ? 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Bishop delivered an ad- 
 dress to children of American parents at 
 Honolulu, June 15, 1872, in which he con- 
 gratulated them that they had been strictly 
 secluded in childhood from all intercourse 
 with the natives. Said he, 
 
 ' None know or can conceive, without personal 
 observation, the nameless taint that pervades the 
 whole garrulous talk and gregarious life of all heathen 
 people, and above which our poor Hawaiian friends 
 have not yet risen."
 
 160 
 
 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 No ! The Hawaiians, as a people, have 
 not yet risen above heathenism. The white 
 people are the only civilized people in the 
 Hawaiian kingdom.
 
 SOCIETY IN HONOLULU. 
 
 F the white people of Honolulu met 
 only when they had something to 
 
 : say, there could be no social life here. 
 
 iT J 
 
 Conversational themes are not abundant. 
 There are no politics, tariffs, stocks, crops, 
 operas, nor public sensations. Even 
 fashions and the weather present little 
 variety as talkable topics. The resident 
 soon becomes indifferent to those events 
 and opinions which interest the mind of 
 larger and more active communities, of 
 which reports drift over from the conti- 
 nent once a month ; and little is to be 
 found for the mind to feed upon, except 
 gossip and good stories. 
 
 In the course of these indolent days, 
 
 161
 
 162 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 every beau and belle, every matron and 
 maid, has been measured, weighed, ap- 
 praised, and set in place in the social circle. 
 There they remain, the same to each 
 other every day ; promising, like some 
 established medicines, to be good for all 
 time. 
 
 And yet there is much warm social life 
 in Honolulu. Men and women from all 
 nations form the social community ; and I 
 often Avonder by what chances and acci- 
 dents so many of them were drifted to this 
 jittle island which has become their home. 
 
 People of American birth are numerous 
 in this society. Missionary and mercantile 
 business brought them here at first. Rela- 
 tives followed from the New-England states. 
 Nantucket and New - Bedford whalemen 
 were stranded here. Intermarriages were 
 made, business-connections established ; and 
 although an exile from New England has 
 occasionally returned, with wealth, to that
 
 THE LOTOS EATERS. 163 
 
 inhospitable climate, the larger number 
 have never thought of going back. They 
 talk about the east, and sometimes plan an 
 excursion to visit those distant scenes of 
 their youth; but Honolulu is their home, 
 and they cannot make another elsewhere. 
 Like the lotos-eaters, 
 
 "They sat them down upon the yellow sand, 
 
 Between the sun and moon upon the shore ; 
 And sweet it was to dream of fatherland : 
 
 Then some one said, ' We will return no more ; ' 
 And all at once they sang, 'Our island home 
 Is far beyond the wave : we will no longer roam.' " 
 
 There are also English and German 
 families in Honolulu society. These are 
 inclined to make inside circles of their 
 own ; and it is owing to this spirit that 
 the English and German clubs are the only 
 institutions of the kind in the city which 
 have survived disaster. 
 
 The sentiment of Honolulu society is 
 the sentiment of the songs which Dora
 
 164 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 sang to David Copperfield, " generally 
 to the effect, that, whatever was the matter, 
 we ought always to dance." An entertain- 
 ment of dancing brings society together at 
 short notice. Then it is pleasing to see 
 with what enjoyment both white and yel- 
 low Honolulu trips its light fantastic toe ; 
 whether the occasion be the reception of 
 the officers of a frigate, the christening of 
 a new hotel, a fire-company's jubilee, the 
 marriage of a belle, or the birthday anni- 
 versary of your host, who commences it 
 with a picnic in the country, and ends it 
 with an exhaustive dance in town. 
 
 A king at hand must be the leader of so- 
 ciety. Next is the Queen-Dowager Emma, 
 who sometimes summons society to dance 
 at her pleasant cottage in the valley, called 
 by the everlasting name of Hanaiakama- 
 lama. Next are the cabinet ministers. 
 Then come the chief-justice, and the for- 
 eign representatives, all hospitable to
 
 TTIE GOVERNOR. 165 
 
 society. Nor must I forget the governor, 
 of American birth, married to a native 
 woman. He has a salary, a uniform, a 
 staff, and is entitled to be called his Ex- 
 cellency. When p. white man marries the 
 right kind of a native woman, he is a candi- 
 date for public honors and perquisites, and 
 becomes one of the photographic celebrities 
 of the kingdom, sold to strangers at 
 twenty-five cents each. But, as . honors 
 and emoluments are limited in number, let 
 no crowd of bachelors migrate to Hono- 
 lulu, expecting to lounge through this tropi- 
 cal life on an Hawaiian sinecure ! 
 
 Dancing does not engross every thought 
 of Honolulu society. There are strawberry 
 festivals for sabbath schools, gifts to the 
 needy, cordial receptions to travelers, 
 sewing-bees, tableaux, and cribbage. 
 
 Church services on Sunday are held in 
 the morning and evening only. Society 
 goes to church, and generally avoids the
 
 166 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 theater, which is called the " Royal Hawai- 
 ian Theater;" but there is no royalty in its 
 style or appointments. Its brilliant nights 
 disclose empty boxes ; for nothing better 
 than " the lean and slippered pantaloon " 
 struts its stage, except vulgar dancing- 
 women, passing between California and 
 Australia, who find no profit in dancing 
 before Honolulu society. This theater 
 stands on a street-corner, pleasantly em- 
 bowered in tropical trees, over which run 
 sweet-scented Mexican creepers. Under 
 this shade I often tarry to smell the fra- 
 grant air. Its pleasant surroundings indi- 
 cate the taste of its proprietor, a long-ago 
 exile from New England, an enthusiastic 
 botanist, whose principal care is the king's 
 flower-garden. 
 
 On the arrival of a ship-of-war at Hono- 
 lulu, the officers are presented to the king, 
 at the palace, at noonday ; when the sun- 
 light glistens with best effect upon the
 
 SHIPS OF WAR 167 
 
 resplendent gold of scabbards, buttons, 
 epaulets, and laces. The visit is soon re- 
 turned by the king, attended by his staff 
 and cabinet, by the governor and his staff, 
 and the judges. The wives also must go ; 
 for good wines are sometimes in the locker 
 of a foreign frigate, and good dancers in 
 her ward-room. The frigate mans her 
 yard?, fires the royal salute, gives her 
 guests to eat and to drink, and sends them 
 nshore with noisy courtesies. " The Ga- 
 zette" publishes the particulars of the ex- 
 cursion in large type, stating that ' the 
 occasion was an exceedingly gratifying one 
 to all on board," which nobody doubts. The 
 officers of the ship are now welcome to the 
 hospitalities of society. On a succeeding 
 day, two or three foreign consuls may be 
 seen pulling off quietly in a boat to visit 
 the frigate, take a drink, and receive a 
 salute ; after which they return as quietly 
 to their shops, and relate the adventure to 
 loiminnir listeners.
 
 168 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Unceremonious visiting is universal. I 
 am not surprised when my door is opened, 
 unexpectedly, without a warning knock. 
 Everybody claims to know everybody 
 else. And, if I do not call upon my friends 
 frequently, the painful inference is, that 
 something is the matter with me, and I 
 must be looked after. 
 
 What can you do this evening ? Go 
 into your neighbor's. His doors are open. 
 The light of his lamps streams out into the 
 veranda, and glimmers through the mango 
 and tamarind trees adown the path to the 
 gate. He is stretched on a bamboo lounge 
 outside; or he is inside, cracking with his 
 heel young centipedes and scorpions on 
 the Chinese carpet of his reception-room ; 
 or he is playing cribbage at the table with 
 his wife ; or they all have gone to a 
 neighbor's, leaving the house in care of 
 the dog. 
 
 The neighbor is glad to see you ; for
 
 INDIGENOUS GOSSIP. 169 
 
 he must have somebody to talk to beside 
 his own. And when facts have been 
 exhausted, turned over, shaved down, 
 split into pieces, and completely used up, 
 what is there left ? " What news ? " As 
 if there could be any news on this island 
 in the Pacific, where there is 
 
 "No traveling at all, no locomotion, 
 No inkling of the way, no notion, 
 ' No go ' by land or ocean, 
 No mail, no post, 
 No news from any foreign coast, 
 No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility, 
 No company, no nobility ! " 
 
 So it comes about that Honolulu is the 
 paradise of gossips. Here they grow to a 
 very old age, begotten, perhaps, of this 
 idle and unsatisfied life, where 
 
 " Satan finds some mischief still 
 For idle hands to do."
 
 170 PARADISE IiV THE PACIFIC. 
 
 At the principal bookstore a bulletin is 
 posted every morning, on which are re- 
 corded the news of the city, arrivals and 
 clearances of sugar-schooners, auction- 
 sales, ships expected, some of which are 
 phantom cruisers ; also the latest opinions, 
 rumors, suppositions, expectations, proba- 
 bilities, afloat in the town ; showing how 
 much enterprise there might be in Hono- 
 lulu society, if the city were connected 
 by telegraph with the rest of the world. 
 But then it would be no longer Hono- 
 lulu. 
 
 Mental life here is not healthy. The 
 mind dozes under the indolent influences 
 of this tropical climate. If it is aroused, 
 it grates like the rusty hinges of a door 
 which has long stood open to the sunshine 
 and the showers. There is no scope for 
 active thought in this isolated existence, 
 and no encouragement for its exercise. 
 For this reason, some who have prospered
 
 TROPICAL INFLUENCES. 
 
 171 
 
 here in worldly affairs have taken their 
 wealth, and migrated to a more progressive 
 society, where, as " iron sharpeneth iron, so 
 a man sharpeneth the countenance of his 
 friend."
 
 SOUNDS AND SIGHTS IN 
 HONOLULU. 
 
 ;ONOLULU ought to be a quiet 
 place, a solitary city, on a soli- 
 tary island, in a solitary ocean. At 
 niglit, having nothing to do, I draw the 
 mosquito-net over my bed, slip in, and fall 
 asleep with the opinion that Honolulu is a 
 very quiet place indeed. 
 
 But there are certain inhabitants of 
 Honolulu who never go to sleep. I have 
 seen a large number of dogs and cats 
 about town. Every family keeps one 
 dog; every native family keeps a brace 
 of cats ; at least, a brace. Besides these, 
 there are about five thousand cats be- 
 longing to the government ; that is to 
 
 172
 
 THE CATS AND DOGS. 173 
 
 say, they belong to no one else, and are 
 held at large, like the crown lands. All 
 families keep a great many cocks, for cock- 
 fighting is a favorite sport. These are the 
 creatures that are wide awake, and on the 
 alert, when I go to sleep, thinking that 
 Honolulu is a very quiet place. 
 
 Chanticleer does not wait long after I 
 have fallen asleep, before he begins to 
 speak for himself. There is a solitary 
 crow ventured under, my window : it is 
 repeated ; not ringing, like the " cock's 
 shrill clarion" in Gray's Elegy, but boost- 
 ing itself up into a strained, asthmatic cry, 
 which seems, to my vexed senses, to be 
 some one with an influenza, asking how 
 do I like " Hoo-ner-loo-loo." The ques- 
 tion is immediately taken up by a com- 
 rade, then by a dozen, then by a thousand 
 comrades. By this time, the dogs open 
 their mouths, as if denying the right of 
 the cocks to make so much noise when a
 
 174 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 stranger is in town. Their protest immedi- 
 ately arouses the cats, all the public and 
 private cats, all the Thomases and Mary 
 Anns, who hasten to express their pro- 
 longed opinions in every vowel sound of 
 the Hawaiian tongue. 
 
 It is now impossible for me to sleep. I 
 step out upon the veranda for a relief to 
 my confused senses. The full-faced moon 
 is shining upon the tree-tops, and lighting 
 the mountains and the sea ; while the 
 midnight air is filled by a universal chorus 
 of cats, dogs, and roosters, which excels 
 all the paradoxical harmonies of a Boston 
 jubilee. 
 
 When there is a lull in this tempestuous 
 serenade, I fall asleep to await the next 
 summons, which comes from the belfry 
 of the Roman-Catholic cathedral, whose 
 noisy bell, long before the dawn, cries 
 aloud like a public nuisance. In a little 
 while, after having mentally condemned
 
 THE BELLS AND BANDS. 175 
 
 this nuisance, I am startled by another bell, 
 ringing, " All aboard ! " Forgetting that 
 this is Honolulu, in my dreamy mood I 
 think, if I do not hurry up, I shall lose 
 the railroad train. Stay ! That was only 
 the bell of the Episcopal church, always 
 making a clatter out of that little pyramid 
 belfry, which I can see just above the trees 
 yonder. Now, at last, 
 
 "Night's candles are burned out, and jocund day 
 Stands tip-toe on the misty mountain-tops ; " 
 
 and I am thankful that the noises of the 
 night have ceased ; when the king's band 
 
 twenty natives marches past my win- 
 dow, practicing on many clarinets, bugler, 
 trombones, and a base-drum, which is never 
 fatigued. The band plays with tremen- 
 dous expression, "Put me in my little bed," 
 
 a duty which I have vainly tried to do 
 all night. 
 
 By day, there is the baritone voice of
 
 176 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 the Pacific surf, for ever coming in with 
 the tides : it may be heard throughout the 
 city, and in the valleys; its tones rising 
 and falling as the wind and tide vary in 
 force. 
 
 Birds are not often seen or heard in 
 Honolulu. The white tropic bird, of 
 which one species has white, and the other 
 scarlet feathers in its tail, flies high above 
 the city, going to the mountains to incu- 
 bate ; making a shrill cry, like a boat- 
 swain's whistle. The only singers are 
 little birds called linnets, flocking into the 
 algaroba and mango trees for shelter at 
 sunset. 
 
 Flying cockroaches of extra size, scorpi- 
 ons, centipedes, large spiders, and mosqui- 
 toes, are among the harmless sights of 
 Honolulu, which were introduced by the 
 white people. 
 
 More agreeable sights than these are 
 the private cottages, embowered in trees.
 
 A CORAL COTTAGE. 177 
 
 which make pleasing pictures of ease and 
 comfort. Here is one that I admire, a 
 large square house, standing alone, built 
 of gray coral blocks pointed with white 
 cement, two stories high, surrounded on 
 each story by a wide veranda, over which 
 juts the peaked roof. No chimneys mar it. 
 Its rooms are large and lofty. The doors 
 and windows open upon the verandas, and 
 command views of grass, flowers, and 
 trees. Between the cottage and the 
 street is a fountain of water surrounded 
 by large-leaved tropical plants, sea-shells, 
 and roses. A winding, tessellated pavement 
 leads to it from the gate. Jets of water 
 are showering the grass that surrounds it, 
 out of which large rubber-trees rise 
 higher than the roof; their thick leaves 
 glistening like mirrors in the sun. A 
 line of orange and banana trees hedges the 
 yard. Aside, near the gate, is a miniature 
 cottage, with peaked roof, porch, and
 
 178 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 blinds. This is the doctor's office. He is 
 an American, of course. 
 
 The doctor shows me a rare sight, an 
 Hawaiian mummy. In ancient times, the 
 Hawaiians deposited their dead within lava- 
 caves, in places almost inaccessible. There 
 the bodies, placed in a sitting posture, 
 the limbs flexed, the hands supporting the 
 knees, were dried, and sometimes har- 
 dened into a mummy state. A few only 
 have been found in this condition. 
 
 The sights in the shops of Honolulu are 
 not brilliant. With saddles, bridles, and 
 cordage, I am offered dress-goods, patent- 
 medicines, cutlery, shovels, shoes, laces, 
 and every thing else. A respectable wed- 
 ding causes a dearth of trousseau items in 
 the shops; making it impossible for more 
 than two people to be made happy at once. 
 The goods on sale come principally from 
 England and Germany. The shop-keepers 
 are all whites, except on Nuanu Street,
 
 MERCANTILE REPOSE. 179 
 
 where every shop is held by a Chinaman, 
 dealing in whatever will sell to his coun- 
 trymen and to the natives. At evening, 
 this is the brightest street in the city, 
 when the illuminated shops and restaurants, 
 with open doors, attract a cosmopolitan 
 crowd of loungers. 
 
 In Merchant and Queen Streets, where 
 business is done with ships, sugar-planta- 
 tions, and foreign ports, there is no bustle 
 nor confusion, but a deal of leisure and 
 patient waiting for trade. When I enter, 
 and find everybody nodding in arm-chairs, 
 I am not expected to disturb the mer- 
 cantile repose ; but, knowing how it is 
 myself on a warm day, I take a chair and 
 do likewise. In time, the merchants 
 awaken, look at each other with mild 
 surprise, utter a stoical " Halloo ! " have a 
 long-drawn talk, and we all adjourn. 
 This is 
 
 " A life that leads melodious days."
 
 180 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 In the markets of Honolulu, the beef is 
 lean; for the strength of native cattle runs 
 into bones and horns. The chickens and 
 turkeys are hard and stringy. Mutton is 
 good : so is fish, of which the mullet is 
 most abundant. Oranges, bananas, melons, 
 mangoes, tomatoes, and coffee are deli- 
 cious. The strawberies are acid. Most of 
 the butter is imported ; and cream is 
 almost unknown. 
 
 The streets on holidays and Saturday 
 afternoons are thronged by natives, dressed 
 in gay calicoes, adorned with lais of flow- 
 ers, and redolent of cocoanut-oil. They 
 are civil and unoffending ; on foot and 
 on horseback. If there be an itinerant 
 circus on the esplanade, they patronize 
 it liberally, laughing at the tricks of the 
 horses and at the jokes of the clown, as 
 if they appreciated all. 
 
 The wharves are a credit to the city. 
 The y have a large water-front, are substnn-
 
 HARBOR SCENERY. 181 
 
 tial and capacious. There are traditions 
 of a time when two hundred and fifty 
 ships lay moored in this harbor, day after 
 day. Those were the flush times of Hono- 
 lulu, when it was a port of refuge and 
 supply for the large fleet of whale-ships 
 cruising in the Pacific Ocean. This fleet, 
 now smaller, seeks other ports. In the 
 spring, a part of it calls here, on its way 
 to the Arctic Ocean, and in the autumn 
 calls again, on its way to the southern 
 seas. But the harbor will never be 
 crowded with ships again. 
 
 The lighthouse of the port is only a 
 mile distant from the wharves, standing on 
 the inner edge of the reef, a Fresnel light, 
 twenty-six feet above the sea, visible from 
 a deck nine miles away. There is no other 
 lighthouse between this and the coast of 
 New Zealand, in the south. 
 
 It is evening. Tarry with me here on 
 this pier, facing the sea, and notice the 
 
 1C
 
 182 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 sounds and sights about us. There are no 
 clouds in the sky. A gentle breeze, the 
 sleepy remnant of the day's trade-wind, 
 fans us pleasantly. Listen to the sea on 
 the reef: it is crooning a lullaby to the 
 night. Lights redden the cabin-windows 
 of vessels moored near us ; but their decks 
 are silent. A company of natives, laugh- 
 ing, passes behind us in the gloorn. We 
 hear voices on the water, and discover the 
 outline of a sail-boat rippling slowly 
 across the harbor. In the dimness, we dis- 
 cern, at anchor, the missionary yacht 
 " Morning Star," recently returned from 
 a benevolent cruise among the South Sea 
 Islands. Yonder lies an English frigate : 
 her lanterns send faint rays toward us. 
 We hear her boatswain's whistle, and her 
 bugle-call; and her outlines grow more 
 distinct, the longer we look at her. 
 
 The light of the harbor lighthouse throws 
 its broad gleam across the harbor, into our
 
 THE HARBOR LIGHT. 
 
 183 
 
 eyes. There is a fascination in looking at 
 it; for it is a signal that the commercial 
 civilization of the white people is estab- 
 lished in Honolulu.
 
 THE CLIMATE OF HONOLULU. 
 
 ANY of the strangers visiting Hono- 
 lulu are invalids from the United 
 States. To them the character of 
 the climate is a subject of interest; for, 
 while it is suitable to some, it has been 
 found to be unsuitable to others. There 
 is a class of invalids (of which I was 
 one) needing repose after they have 
 begun to recover their health to whom 
 this climate is exactly adapted ; but 
 my own observations lead me to think 
 that invalids afflicted with consumption, 
 bronchitis, or any serious defect in the 
 respiratory organs, should not go to Hono- 
 lulu to stay. The reason for this is the 
 trade-wind. 
 
 184
 
 THE TRADE-WIND. 185 
 
 This wind is the most conspicuous fea- 
 ture in the climate. It blows over a cool 
 ocean, ranging from a point more than a 
 thousand miles north-east of the islands. 
 It comes with a varying force and a steady 
 regularity ; having blown through a part 
 of two hundred and ninety -eight days, 
 yearly, during the last ten years. It com- 
 mences between nine and ten o'clock in 
 the morning, and generally subsides at 
 night. It is cooler than the trade-wind of 
 the West Indies, and always brings with it 
 rain upon the highlands. It is sometimes so 
 cool as to reduce the sensible temperature 
 of the atmosphere much below the thermo- 
 metrical temperature ; then the invalid 
 feels the necessity of wearing warm cloth- 
 ing while exposed to it, especially in the 
 latter part of the day. 
 
 The trade-wind is connected with sudden 
 meteorological changes, which are some- 
 times verv troublesome to an invalid. For 
 
 / 
 
 16*
 
 186 PARADISE IN TIJK PACIFIC. 
 
 example : on Thursday, April 4, 1872. 
 the thermometer in Honolulu indicated a 
 temperature -of 70 degrees at sunrise, and 
 82 degrees at two o'clock in the afternoon, 
 with a light trade-wind, and showers of 
 rain. At sunset, the thermometer had 
 fallen to 70 degrees. At eight o'clock, the 
 trade-wind came in suddenly with an icy 
 breath, which made me shut the windward 
 doors; and the mercury sank to 58 degrees, 
 remaining at that point until sunrise, on 
 Friday morning the 5th. outside of the city, 
 but standing at 62 degrees within the city. 
 The morning wind on Friday was light, 
 from the south. At ten o'clock, the trade- 
 wind suddenly blew from the north-east, 
 preceded by varying gusts and local whirls 
 in the street. A very heavy dew fell at 
 sunset; and in the evening the sky was 
 illuminated by incessant sheet-lightning. 
 A terrific thunder-storm followed, lasting 
 until three o'clock on Saturday morning ;
 
 THE EQUINOCTIAL. 187 
 
 and, in those six hours, six inches of rain 
 (ell. This deluging storm, which hung di- 
 rectly over the city, made a sleepless night 
 for every one in the hotel, and a night of 
 terror to our horses in the stable, who ex- 
 pressed their alarm by pitiful cries at every 
 crash of thunder. At eight o'clock on 
 Saturday morning, the thermometer indi- 
 cated 78 degrees in my veranda ; while 
 the wind was as soft from the south-east as 
 if there had never been a storm. 
 
 But the general force of the trade-wind 
 blowing upon Honolulu is temperate, and 
 agreeable to every one. If its character 
 were every day what it is many days of 
 the year, it could do no harm to any in- 
 valid who is able to be out of doors. It 
 is the rough and extreme exceptions 
 In its character which surprise and worry 
 the invalid. When this wind blows with 
 such a boisterous fury that I can hardly 
 open a door against it ; that, when riding,
 
 188 PA I? A DISK 7 ;V THE PACIFIC. 
 
 we find a lap-rug to be comfortable, and 
 must fold down the top of the buggy, lest 
 the wind, striking at a right angle, upset 
 it (which I was often obliged to do 
 when driving across the plains toward 
 Punahou), then, indeed, it is time for the 
 invalid to think of returning to California. 
 
 At this equinoctial season the trade- 
 wind was very severe. It commenced 
 blowing fresh on the evening of the 16th 
 of March, and blew a dry gale for nearly 
 three weeks; after which, it subsided into 
 the milder breezes of April, bringing to us 
 those balmy days and sleepy nights which 
 make the charm of the Honolulu climate. 
 
 During those windy weeks of the equi- 
 noctial, it was difficult to believe that we 
 were within the tropics, in a land of 
 oranges, bananas, mangoes, guavas, and 
 tamarinds. The wind rolled the dust in 
 clouds through the city, and scoured bare 
 the dry roads traversing the country, so
 
 THE TEMPERATURE. 189 
 
 that locomotion, either on foot or on 
 wheels, was very unsteady, except under a 
 lee. All day and night it howled about 
 that upper corner of the hotel where I was 
 domiciled, rattling the blinds, shaking the 
 doors, and moaning in the crevices, with a 
 dismal tone which prevented sleep, and 
 reminded me of the sounds of a December 
 snow-storm on the coast of New England. 
 If it is entirely shut out of the apart- 
 ment, the invalid suffers from warmth ; if 
 it is admitted, it rushes in like a wild beast, 
 sweeping through the apartment with a 
 ferocity that exasperates the lungs, and in- 
 creases the cough. The only place in 
 which any repose is to be found, when the 
 trade-wind is blowing in this manner, is 
 on the lee-side of the house, near the 
 ground. 
 
 During the eight months commencing 
 with October, and ending with May- 
 which comprise the period within which
 
 190 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 the California physicians send their bad 
 patients to Honolulu, to be returned, per- 
 chance, by the undertakers, the lowest 
 average range of the thermometer in the 
 city is 70 degrees, and the highest is 82 
 degrees ; while the extreme ranges are 
 from 60 degrees to 87 degrees, noted at 
 sunrise, and at two o'clock in the after- 
 noon, near the sea level. Tn the summer 
 months, the temperature is about five 
 degrees higher. 
 
 The extreme ranges of the thermometer 
 in each of the eight months are, generally, 
 as follows : 
 
 In October, 72 to 86 degrees, average 75 to 84 
 
 " November, 66 to 86 " " 73 to 84 
 
 ." December, 70 to 85 " 72 to 82 
 
 " January, 60 to 85 " 66 to 82 
 
 " February, 62 to 82 68 to 80 
 
 " March, 65 to 84 70 to 82 
 
 " April, 62 to 84 70 to 82 
 
 " May. 70 to 87 " " 74 to 84
 
 THE SOUTH WIND. 191 
 
 In the valleys behind the town, the tem- 
 perature is lower and also damper ; espe- 
 cially on the rising lands of the Nuanti Val- 
 ley, where showers of rain are frequent. 
 
 The annual rain-fall in the city is very 
 irregular. In 1869, it was 40.G2 inches. 
 In 1870, it was 59.51 inches. In 1871, it 
 was 40.09 inches. The porous lava soil 
 absolves the rain-water quickly, leaving no 
 pools standing in the streets. This granu- 
 lated soil forms the main sewerage system of 
 the city; and it works well, except when the 
 wind blows from the south, at which time 
 I am occasionally reminded of Coleridge's 
 "two and seventy stenches" at Cologne. 
 
 During the days when the trade-wind 
 is hushed, the winds of Honolulu are vari- 
 able ; but they often come from the south. 
 With the south wind comes a heavy swell 
 of the sea, and a great surf roaring on the 
 harbor reefs. It is not an agreeable wind 
 to the invalid, because it brings a languid,
 
 192 PAR A DISK IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 inelastic atmosphere, which seems to be 
 destitute of oxygen ; causing a depressing 
 feeling, relaxing the system, 'and dulling 
 the appetite. One must go through a 
 process of acclimation ^to become indif- 
 ferent to the influences of these southerly 
 winds. 
 
 But, after all, there are many splendid 
 days in the climate of Honolulu, mild, 
 sunny, cheerful days, to be enjoyed by 
 those who are in a good physical and 
 mental condition. They are those days 
 succeeding each other, 
 
 " In which it seemed always afternoon," 
 
 when the trade-wind blows gently, and the 
 balmy air is what the long-suffering and 
 discouraged invalid needs to cheer her 
 
 " Uneasy steps 
 Over the burning marl."
 
 HONOLULUAN DAYS. 
 
 HERE is a charm about Honolulu, 
 which it is difficult to describe. It 
 lies in these delightful days. During 
 weeks in succession, every day is like the 
 other, the same agreeable temperature, 
 the same refreshing breeze, the same per- 
 petual sunshine, the same evergreen ver- 
 dure. They are days that leave no mark of 
 the passage of time. They make an extra 
 summer in our lives. 
 
 We occupy ourselves with lounging. 
 We lounge in easy-chairs on the verandas, 
 interested in a book, interested in the land- 
 'scape before us, which stretches away in 
 great variety up to the distant mountain- 
 peaks. We lounge in the shops. We 
 
 17 193
 
 194 PARADISE IN TUP: PACIFIC. 
 
 lounge into a friend's cottage without cere- 
 mony. We lounge in our carriage, with a 
 luncheon, far away into the green valleys, 
 at noon, or over the plains and along the 
 sea-beach, at the close of day. We lounge 
 under the starlight, noting the ascent of 
 Orion, and looking, every evening, for the 
 higher rising of the Ursa Major above the 
 northern mountains, reminding us that 
 the time approaches when we must return 
 to the north. 
 
 Every day, \ve ride into the country. I 
 have already mentioned the ride west of 
 the city, toward' HalaAva, nnd north toward 
 the Pali. Two roads lead from the eastern 
 end of the city, one, branching to the 
 right, ends on the sea-beach at Waikiki ; 
 the other, to the left, passes the school of 
 Punahou, and climbs up into the Manoa 
 Valley, where it is lost in the grass of fence- 
 less fields. From these a rougher road 
 pushes farther east, over barren hills, where
 
 MA NO A VALLEY. 195 
 
 volcanic ruins are strewn in grotesque con- 
 fusion, and reaches the ocean near Koko 
 Head, some twelve miles from the city. 
 All these roads command pleasing views 
 of land and sea. 
 
 To the Manoa is an attractive ride. 
 Here, hitching our horse, we can roam on 
 foot through banana-orchards in search of 
 fruit, and call at dairies for a drink of fresh 
 milk. Coming out of the valley, the hills 
 by the roadside are high, rounded like 
 billows, and smooth with turf, whose green 
 hue is varied by patches of blue and red 
 volcanic gravel ; while the landscape opens 
 before us enchanting views of the plain 
 below, and of the city and sea beyond it. 
 
 The favoite ride is to Waikiki. This is 
 the name of a hamlet of plain cottages, 
 stretching along the seashore, in the edge 
 of a grove of cocoanut-palms, whither the 
 white people of Honolulu go to revel in 
 bathing-clothes, mosquitoes, and solitude,
 
 196 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 at odd times of the year. It is not a gay 
 watering-place. Its local excitements are 
 caused by the activity of the insect tribes, 
 and the occasional fall of a cocoanut. But 
 to the wearied dweller in Honolulu, to 
 whose year there comes no variety of 
 seasons, fashions, or faces, Waikiki is 
 " somewhere to go." Here he celebrates 
 his birthday by a picnic with his friends. 
 Here, when school does not keep, he brings 
 his children for a romp and a bath, and 
 a hunt for shells along the shore ; and 
 here he sometimes comes alone to enjoy 
 nature and the natives. 
 
 It is a ride of three or four miles to Wai- 
 kiki. Leaving the city on the eastern side, 
 by King Street, we pass^the great coral 
 meeting-house, built by native labor so 
 long ago, that it is now much too large for 
 its uses. Near by is a neighborhood whose 
 broad street, white houses, stone walls, 
 swinging gates, and old shade trees, remind
 
 AC If OSS THE PLAIN. 197 
 
 me of a New-England village. These 
 large, arching algarobas are sufficiently 
 suggestive of elms to complete the 'delusion. 
 Here was the first missionary settlement in 
 Honolulu : hence its pleasant New-Eng- 
 land complexion. 
 
 Now we enter upon a hard, level road, 
 where we can try the speed of our horse. 
 On the right we pass the handsomest tree 
 .on the island, a huge mamani, or 
 tamani tree, called, also, the umbrella-tree, 
 a native of Tahiti, extending its shade 
 over half an acre. At this season its large, 
 isolated leaves are both scarlet and green. 
 Beyond, over a grassy flat, we see the 
 ocean, and an American whale-ship, her 
 maintopsail aback, waiting for a pilot. 
 On the left are pleasant cottages, and the 
 plains of Kulaokahua, from which rise 
 the volcanic hills and mountains, in whose 
 variety of form and color we always find 
 something to admire. 
 
 17*
 
 198 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 After a brisk trot of ten minutes, we 
 turn to the right, direct for the shore, 
 and, wheeling around the corner, encoun- 
 ter a native woman astraddle of a strong- 
 minded pony, not disposed to go her way. 
 Out of her gibberish we catch the word, 
 pilikia; which tells us that she is in " a 
 peck of troubles." We can give her only 
 our sympathy, and the pony a cut of our 
 whip, which starts him spinning toward 
 Honolulu. 
 
 Hereabout is a neighborhood of white 
 cottages, within white fences, inhabited by 
 white people, pleasantly shaded by trees. 
 The crimson flowers of the China hibiscus, 
 the reddening leaves of the mango, and the 
 brown loments of the tamarind, make 
 attractive contrasts to the green foliage. 
 The road, now crossing a stretch of level 
 fields, is occupied by pigs of every color, 
 except white, apparently going, like our- 
 selves, to Waikiki. They swing their
 
 THE COCOANUT PALM. 199 
 
 straight tasseled tails with so much energy 
 as to worry our horse, who never saw such 
 pigs at his own home in California. Fit 
 companions to them are their owners, 
 natives, on whose civilization the era of 
 trowsers has not yet dawned. After the 
 pigs we come to the king's poi-factory, 
 where poi is ground out by the quantity, 
 for the subjects of his majesty to lick from 
 their fingers as they squat around musty 
 calabashes at their social dinner-parties. 
 
 Near by, under the cocoanut-trees, is 
 the king's brown cottage. The royal stan- 
 dard is flying from a flag-staff on the lawn, 
 reflecting its red, white, and blue stripes in 
 the large silvered globe, emblematic of do- 
 minion, perched on a tripod below it. In 
 the veranda sits his majesty, alone ; while 
 a little way off', before him, a dozen native 
 women, chattering, in calico gowns, lie on 
 their bellies in waiting. 
 
 What strange things these cocoanut-trees
 
 200 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 are ! casting their shadows far away, 
 never showing any signs of growth, 
 always standing in silence, the same 
 long, crooked, wrinkled, cylindrical stems, 
 crowned with plumy tufts. They lean and 
 curve, and point upward from every direc- 
 tion. When riding toward them at sunset, 
 the gray trunks invisible in the dimness, 
 their plumy tops have appeared to me as 
 clouds in the evening sky. Under these 
 trees are a few grass huts and wooden 
 shanties, occupied by natives ; and under 
 them, also, straggles the line of unpaiuted 
 cottages, which is Waikiki. 
 
 The architecture of these cottages is of 
 the sudden, spasmodic style, indicating 
 daily diversities of mind in the same indi- 
 vidual. They stand so near to the shore, 
 that the front-door is necessarily on the 
 back-side, which our carriage must ap- 
 proach by a wandering by-road. From 
 the southern verandas extends a long,
 
 AT WA1KIKI. 201 
 
 broad porch, made of reeds woven upon a 
 frame, which shuts out the glare thrown 
 up by the sun from the sea ; but it can 
 not shut out the mosquitoes that come 
 with the gloaming, whose visits are the 
 sharpest ills of life. 
 
 Here is indolence all around us. It is 
 exemplified by those 'native men and 
 women, lounging in scanty raiments on 
 the grass, playing cards, and talking idle 
 tattle, all day long. What specimens of 
 human grossness and laziness! Even a 
 silver coin is slow to induce a native boy 
 to climb a cocoanut-tree, and throw down 
 some nuts for us. 
 
 The sand on this shore is lava, coral, 
 and shells, pulverized by the sea, and 
 bleached by the sun. Wild vines, bearing 
 flowers, are running over it as if it were a 
 garden soil. A mile away, on our left, 
 where the shore curves toward the south, 
 rise the sterile sides of Diamond Head,
 
 202 PARADISE IN THE PACIFIC. 
 
 the stump of an ancient volcano, whose 
 southern slope is seven hundred feet high 
 where it juts into the sea. Yonder, in 
 front of us, is a coral reef, against which 
 the ocean is always breaking with a moan, 
 as if it were weary of its long endeavor to 
 destroy the barrier. Naked natives are 
 searching in the water for shell-fish to eat ; 
 and others are paddling swift canoes, 
 balanced by outriggers, through the surf. 
 A company of men and women are wading 
 toward the land, dragging a sweep of 
 palm- leaves, in which they expect to 
 strand a skip-jack or a mullet. 
 
 The swell which rolls over the reef 
 comes up gently to the edge of the shore 
 where we are standing, 
 
 "Kissing the sands, and whispering at our feet, 
 With exquisite advancement and retreat." 
 
 A bath in this summer sea is delightful. 
 The water is very buoyant, clear, and
 
 THE MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 203 
 
 pleasantly warm ; its temperature being 
 about seventy degrees. Once in, I am re- 
 luctant to leave it. But can we not come 
 again to-morrow ? 
 
 The scenery about Honolulu presents 
 charming pictures to a stranger every day. 
 It is a scenery that will bear favorable 
 comparison with any summer scenery in 
 other lands. Lounging in our verandas, 
 and gazing at the panorama, we find new 
 attractions in it daily. The great feature 
 of the scenery is the mountain-range 
 running through the length of the island, 
 behind the city. These mountains, throw- 
 ing out spurs toward the sea, divide the 
 lowlands into valleys, which are not depres- 
 sions between summits, but are, rather, 
 amphitheaters, rising away from the plains, 
 where the scenery shifts daily from 
 showers to rainbows, and then to long 
 cascades falling down the wooded cliffs. 
 
 From our northern verandas we can dis-
 
 204 PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC. 
 
 tinguish four of these green amphitheaters, 
 whose names are Ka-li-hi, Nu-a-nu, Pow- 
 o-a, Ma-no-a. Some of them are dotted 
 with white cottages. Some of them are 
 spanned by rainbows ; for, the higher they 
 rise into the mountains, the more fre- 
 quently are they baptized with showers. 
 
 In the season of the trade-wind, the 
 peaks, rising far above the valleys, are 
 softened by tender , gray mists, which 
 screen the splendor of the sun as it falls 
 upon the slopes colored by ferns and 
 grasses, and by forests of bright green 
 kukui-trees and dark green koa-trees, and 
 by ridges of black lava and patches of red 
 soil. Here, day after day, 
 
 " There is wide wandering for the greediest eye 
 
 To peer about upon variety ; 
 
 Far round the horizon's crystal air to skim. 
 
 And trace the dwindled edgings of its brim ; 
 
 To picture out the quaint and curious bending 
 
 Of a fresh woodland alley never-ending ; 
 
 Or by the bowery clefts and leafy shelves 
 
 Guess where the jaunty streams refresh themselves."
 
 K VEN1NG. 205 
 
 It is near the time of sunset. Let us 
 go up into the observatory of the hotel, 
 and take a last look at the surrounding 
 scenery. Below us, the town is concealed 
 from view by the embowering trees. 
 Behind us rise the mountains ; before us 
 stretches the sea, streaked .with purple and 
 gray in the changing light. We can 
 discern the sweep of the coast from 
 Diamond Head in the east, to Laeloa point 
 in the west, where the misty outline of 
 that mountain spur is blending with the 
 sky beyond it. Clouds lie on the far-off- 
 horizon, shaping themselves into quaint 
 forms, and growing darker as the daylight 
 begins to fade away. There is no pro- 
 longed twilight. There is a lingering Hush 
 in the sky; but day disappears almost as 
 suddenly as in the description of the 
 " Ancient Mariner : " 
 
 ' The sun's rim dips ; the stars rush out ; 
 At one stride conies the dark."
 
 206 PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC. 
 
 The light is burning in the lighthouse ; 
 the masts of the ships have disappeared in 
 the darkness; the trade-wind has subsided 
 to a zephyr. The stillness of sleep pervades 
 the city ; and the crooning voice of the 
 surf bids us " Good-night ! " 
 
 Our days in Honolulu are ended. 
 
 The bark "Murray" has hoisted her 
 flags, and is waiting for us, ready to sail 
 for San Francisco. 
 
 We have said adieu to our friends, and 
 are now on her deck. The bow-lines are 
 cast off; her head swings around until it 
 points to the sea ; and she is held to the 
 shore by a line from her stern, while her 
 topsails, topgallant sails, and royals are 
 hoisted. 
 
 " Let go that line ! " shouts Captain 
 Shephard. 
 
 " All gone, sir ! " 
 
 It was the last line that held us to 
 Honolulu.
 
 ADIEU. 207 
 
 The trade-wind fills the sails; the bark 
 glides rapidly across the harbor, past the 
 lighthouse, into the open sea. The beauti- 
 ful panorama of Honolulu fades in our 
 eyes. I shall see it no more. 
 
 " No more, no more ! 
 
 The worldly shore 
 Upbraids me with its loud uproar. 
 
 With dreamful eyes 
 
 My spirit lies 
 Under the walls of Paradise."
 
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