# Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen/Chapter 19

CHAPTER XIX
QUEEN KAPIOLANI’S JOURNEY
Princess Kaiulani
Reproduced, by permission, from a photograph by Elmer Chickering, Boston
pleased when, acting under my advice, he consulted the king, and returned as quickly as he could to tell me that it was all settled that he should go with us. Only a few days of necessary preparation were left to us; and by the 12th of April we were ready to embark on the steamship Australia, by which we had taken passage for San Francisco.
But I could not think of leaving without saying farewell to some little girls, five in number, the charge of whose education I had assumed, and who were at Kawaiahao seminary. So on the day of departure, at about eleven o’clock I stopped at the schoolhouse. At my coming all the pupils were gathered together into the large room, where I made them an impromptu address, telling them of my intention to sail immediately for foreign lands, encouraging them to be faithful to their duty to their teachers, and warning them that it would distress me more than could be expressed should I ever hear that any of them had done other than right during my absence. After these few farewell words I left the institution, I must confess with some fears in my heart, some misgivings as to the future of some of the girls whom I had addressed. But these doubts were set at rest by their letters, and it made me very happy while I was abroad to hear accounts of their progress and continued good behavior.
The next call after leaving the seminary was upon my mother-in-law, Mrs. Dominis, to whom, at her home in Washington Place, I bade an affectionate adieu. Then, accompanied by my husband, I proceeded directly ​to the steamer. Queen Kapiolani and her attendants were already on board; the king was awaiting us there to bid the party farewell. When this was over, and His Majesty had gone ashore, the word was given to get under way, and the steamer took her departure in the presence of one of those immense crowds which throng the wharves on such occasions. On the seventh day out we were boarded by the pilot off the Golden Gate; it was early morning, but by nine o’clock of the same day we were steaming toward our berth at the wharf. On the third day at sea my husband was attacked with rheumatism, which rendered him perfectly helpless, so that he had to be carried ashore on a stretcher. Kind friends succeeded in taking him to the Palace Hotel without occasioning him severe pain, for which attentions they earned my gratitude.
We remained in the city of San Francisco about one week, during which the health of General Dominis improved so that we took one of the northern routes for the city of Washington. While at San Francisco the queen improved every moment to see what she could of the city, this being her first visit to any foreign country. In this pleasure I was unable to participate, my husband’s illness having rendered me a watcher by his bedside. But I made the acquaintance of two very charming princesses from Tahiti. They were lovely ladies; one was the Princess Moetia, the other the Arii Manihinihi.
From San Francisco our party pursued its journey across the continent. At Sacramento we received some pleasant attentions, and there were peculiarities of na​fure in scenery and changing seasons which were most interesting to those from a land of perpetual summer. When we arrived at Summit, for example, there were the lofty peaks covered with their snowy mantles. This was similar, but more extensive, to what we could witness on the tops of the highest mountains on Hawaii; but here it was universal, and the valleys were also filled with snowbanks. Then, when we passed through the long snow-sheds the train came to a stop for a few minutes while some members of our party got off to examine the snow, which blew through the cracks or crevices in the boards on to the railroad track. Taking it up and rolling it in their hands, they made snowballs, and pelted each other with it, quite ordinary sport for cold climates, but a rare opportunity for those born in the Hawaiian Islands, and to be always remembered as a novel experience. After coming forth from the sheds again into the light of day, we descended gradually until we reached the Great Salt Lake; and at the city of the same name, the capital of Utah, we stopped a few hours, meeting not only many of the prominent elders of the Mormon Church, but quite a number of our own people who were living there. These were naturally much delighted to meet visitors of their nation so far from home. After a short rest we resumed our eastward course.
The next principal place of which I have a vivid recollection is Denver, which was an infant city then, comparatively just springing into being; there were but a few scattered houses, quite distant from the line of the railway, and not very suggestive of such a thriving city ​as is now, I hear, on the site of those humble beginnings. But that which had interested us most along our line of travel was the trees without a sign of leaves or blossoms, since with us the verdure is perennial; and the sight of shrubs or bushes, or even lofty trees, standing out bare of foliage or flower, struck us very strangely. We made no stop in Chicago, and the oil regions of Pennsylvania were the next natural wonders to interest us as we passed through them on the train. Here there were signs of the coming of the summer, the tree-tops being covered with opening foliage, and the grass growing greener. There were some few spring flowers to be seen in bud or blossom by the waysides, and Nature welcomed us with a display of her beauties akin to those of which we had taken farewell in our own beautiful islands.
We arrived safely at Washington, and found comfortable quarters at the Arlington Hotel. Our party consisted of the following individuals: Her Majesty Queen Kapiolani, wife of my brother, the reigning king; Lieutenant-General J. O. Dominis, governor of the island of Oahu, and myself; Colonel C. P. Iaukea, Colonel J. H, Boyd; besides which each of us had our attendants, the queen having four, and each of the others at least one attendant or valet.