The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-06-17
Letter from Maui.

board the steamer Kflauca, Of which your readers
have heard before; and, as the dangers Z the seas
are g not e~rcepted" on the passengers tickets, but
have 10 be accepted by the traveller, l left an impress
sion OF myself at Weeds gallery, which l was told
was a good one. l note this fact here, as DO not
often leave good impressions.
Your special is not an exempt from paying tribute
to Neptune, and a few minutes after leaving the
wharf found him in the enjoyment Of those eleyating
sensations when everything seems rising within one
Kind reader, did you ever lay on the deck Of q
Sandwich Islands packet, and watch the taPering
masts as they cut segments Of circles in the starry
zenith, and seemed disposed TO cut up consultations
without regard to astronomical rules. while old Nep-
tune was relentiessiy feeling for the fried oysters
you had incontinently INDUCED in three days before:
IF you have. never mind the strawberry-mark :;
you are my ~long-lost brother. l DO not men,
ton the s|altpetry tobacco-smoke that invaded your
nostrils as you drew breath after that last horrible
wrench on all that was within you. Ugh how
com assionately some old siager bends over you,
with pipe in mouth, and puEs the sickeuing vapor at
you az he asks after your general well-being, and
puf-advises you to Notwithstanding nourish-
iug-pCf again.
The continual humping under one which dis
turbed my %slumbers, | presume gave rise TO that
story which l heard some time since, that one division
of the Honolulu Iron Works was kept on board the
KTIquea, and which was probably not so, though 1
am witness 10 the fact that there were 4 great many
castings going on all night.
| am not Of the opinion that the RilaueG is a very
fast boat. | am told that the last half-inch that
was cut on her propeller-blades increased her speed,
and | would advise the cutting of OF another halt-
inch. As the Government own largely in her, this
will probably be done as soon rs the Government
officials read this, for they pay great regard 10 any
suy-a-ffCnz that 7 make. and then again this rClicS
of cutting off Is q favOrite one Of theirs. Cut off
some of the schools. and people will learn faster, they
think; cut or Bible-reading, and people will grow
more moral cut down the intelligence OF the Board
OF Education, and IT'S work will be better done cut
down the liberties Of the people, and they will be-
come better citizens. In fact, cut down anything
but the salaries Of the Government officers, and it
will be for the public advantage. These considera-
tons, | presume, arose from the successful applica-
ton of this principle 10 the propeller OF the hiiaUea,
and | am not sure but that the idea would be veri-
fed by attempting to gag the pulpit and press, and
cut down free speech, which would probably make
people talk and write all the faster. As to this prop
osition, | would refer you 10 your late correspondent,
(befOre the COnventlOn,O &C. Z. H. VINO, though
differing somewhat from your present correspondent
on some political questions, will doubtless agree with
him perfectly on this point.
Lahaina.
We reached the second city of the kingdom at
about eight o'clock \. VI, and your correspondent is
bound to notice 50 important n place. Lahaina can
not forget that she was once the seat Of Government,
and I have always noticed a jealousy there of the
metropolis. Since royalty vacated her palaces, she
has not grown in splendOr, and commerce, too, seems
to have Tilted. this unfortunate, who, in her early
age, mourns her former glories. She had once, too,
a full staff Of city officers. but | an informed that
one individual now combines all these civic digni-
taries in his own person.
There are two sugar-mil!s in Lahaina, one a private
enterprise, of which l heard but little, and the other
q joint stock affair.
1t seems that, when stripped Of her metropolitan
robes, Lahaina firted desperately with the whaling
feet for n while, but did not succeed in this, owing,
as she declares, to malicious reports circulated by
her rival and then, firing Of the world without,
she sought 70 develop something within herself that
should enrich her, and cause her successful rival 10
succumb. So she arrayed herself in cane-helds Of
surprising beauty and richness, and then endeavOred
to pawn her robes for the wheTeWithal to turn this
Juicy richness into money; but here al last she had
to appeal TO her rival TO subscribe the necessary
means, and so q committee of her citizens visited the
metropolis, whose citizens generously aided them TO
send for their mill, though it was TO cast Honolulu
into the shade. The mill is there, but alas for hui
man hopes, it is the apple OF discord, and the contest
every season wakes warm between the producer and
the manufacturer. The former looks with pride
upon his waving patch Of sugar-cane; and estimates
the tons of richness it contains, and demands fabu-
lous sums on the strength of MS imagined wealth.
The mill-agent counts up his daily expenses, and
cannot comply, and then the thought comes up that
the agent is acting under instructions from Homo
lulu, and that it is n plot TO ruin the prospects Of
poor Lahaina and so the producer herOlcally pre-
fers death to his cane aud poverty forever, to the en-
riching OF the Honolulu despotism; and now the dar-
ling mill, which fond proprietors and expectant heirs
have watched as it crushed the juicy stalks, is said
to be in debt, and I found an impression here that
certain merchants in the metropolis, who are looked
upon as ogres among mills, and who are supposed to
swallow rollers COR breakfast ami digest copper trains
for dinner, were soon 10 come and demand their
pound Of flesh; and in this, too. they see the jeal-
ousy of Honolulu. Alas for thee, Lahaiua ! in all
this there is one consolation, and that is that some
thoughts 90 stir the seeming staguatiOn that broodS
over thpp \ Crown Minister was there when
landed. which seemed 70 have aroused some q the
inhabitants, who, l Am told, are all oftce-seekers,
but the background of dilapidation and loaferism
was still there.
Some Of these items were gathered upon former
visits, rs your correspondent, within an hour and a
half Of his arrival, was in the saddle starting from
the door Of the h~ospitable United States Consul for a
ride over the mountain. Men speak hard Of the
road that leads over the mountain, and advise trav.
elers not to take that route; and here, as elsewhere
about the group, men End fault with the Road Su-
peryisor, and you are somewhat surprised. after hear
ing Of that Individuals neglect Of duty, to find him
on the road doing his duty in the heat and dust.
Believe me. the post Of Road Supervisor IL By no
gallop of an hour and a quarter brings you to the
ascending path. and for an hour you are going M,
up, but on a road by no means as bad as represented,
you look down upon
e The blaze upon the waters to the West"
and espy the RiIauea p~loughing through the waves
and struggling against the winds. You can smile as
you think of Neptune avoided, and trot merrily over
the many plateaux, looking out upon the cloudy
summit of Haleakala, the white caps in the Bay Of
Kalepolepo TO the right and the long line OF surf of
kahului 10 the left, and the waste of ssndbills on
the plains below, over whose nakedness Mother Ma
ture seems disposed to draw o grassy covering.
| was three hours and a quarter 10 NaIluku from
Lahaina, and beat nv cOmp1gROBS du U0yGge, who
adhered to ocean navigation, about an hour.
Marshal o., of Lahaina, started with me. but,
though the vigor Of the Marshal is unimpajred, his