The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-02-01
Correspondence Of the New York Observer.
A Seaside Retreat in the Pacific.
BY WILLIAM K. BLISS.

Stretching along the sea-shore, in the edge Of
a grove of oOcoanut palms, j. waikiki (Wy-kee-
keel, q hamlet Of plain cottages, whittier the
people Of Honolulu 90 10 reyel IN bathing clothes,
mosquitoes and solitude, at odd times OF the year.
IL is not as gay q place a. Long Branch. although
the President-that Is, the hing-has cottage
here. The principal exciteInents are caused by
the activity VI the insect tribes and the occasional
fall Of 4 cOcOanut. But, for the wearied dweller
IN Honolulu, 10 whose year there comes no change
Of seasons, fashions or faces, Waikiki Is some
where 70 go" During the monotonous round OF
hs days in the city, every friend, neighbour and
acquaintance has been measured, weighed, APP
praised and set in place on the social scale; al
ways remaining there, the same To HIM and TO
each other. Like some established medicines,
they promise 10 be good for all time. Therefore,
as q change, he goes to waikiki, now and then,
70 enjoy nature and the natives. Let us also go.
IL is a ride Of four miles. Leaving the city on
the eastern side, by KING street, We pass the great
coral meeting house, built by native labor 50 long
ago that it is now much too large for Its uses.
Near by Is n neighbOrhoOd whose broad street,
white houses, stone walls, swinging gates and old
shade trees, remind me of a New England village.
These large, arching a~lgeTobas are sufficiently
suggestive Of elms 10 complete the delusiOn.
Here was the first missionary settlement IN Homo
lulu. Henceits pleasantN New Englandcomplexion.
Now we enter upon 4 hard, level road, where
We can try the speed Of our horse. On the right
W. IAGo NAC Wv ~ az A-@1N1 -
huge mamani, or tamani tree, called, also, the
umbrella tree, a native of Tahiti, extending it's
shade over half an acre. At this season It's large,
isolated leaves are both scarlet and green. Be
yond, over a grassy fiat, we see the ocean, and an
American whaleship, her maintopsail aback,
waiting for a pilot. On the left are the plains Of
Kulaokahua, from which rise the volcanic hills
and mountains, IN whose variety OF form and
color there is always something to admire. These
mountains, throwing out spurs toward the sea,
divide the lowlands into valleys which are not de-
prcsslons between SUBMITS, but are, rather
ampbitheaters, rising away from the plains, where
the scenery shifts daily from showers to rainbows,
and then to long cascades falling and pouring
down the wooded cliffs. A branch OF our road,
passing the school of PunahOu-ostentatiously
called a college-climbs up into one of these
beautiful amphitheatres-the Manoa Valley
where it is lost in the grass of fenceless fields.
After n brisk trOt of ten minutes, we turn to
the right, direct for the shore; and, wheeling
around the corner, encounter a native woman a
straddIe of a ~strong-minded pony, not disposed to
90 her way. Out of her gibberish we catch the
word piHkia, which tells US that she is in ga peck
OF troubles" Wecan 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 at
tractivc contrasts to the green foliage. The road,
now crossing a stretch Of lew. fields, is occupied
by pigs of every color except white, apparently
going, like ourselves, to Waikiki. They swing
their straight tasseled tails with so much energy
rs to worry our horse, who never saw such pigs
at his own home III California. Fit companions
to them are their owners; natives, on whose civil
ization the era of trousers has not yet dawned.
After the pigs, we come to the King pOi-factory,
where poi Is ground cut by the quantity for the
Il - 80 a. 1anl- Er~,a -. E--Ar-
rs they squat around musty calabashes, at their
social dinner parties.
Near by, under the cOcOanut trees, Is the King, s
brown cottage. The royal standard is flying from
a flagstaff ON the lawn, rejecting it's red, white
and blue stripes in the large silvcred globe, en-
blematic OF dominion, perched on q tripod below
it. In the veranda sits his majesty, alone; while
a little way off, before him, n dozen native wo-
men, chattering, in calico GOWNS, lie on their bel
lies in PROSTATE alteration of their King.
What strange things these cocoanut trees are,
casting their shadows far away; never showing
any signs of growth; always standing here, in
silence, the same long, crooked, wrinkled, cylin-
drical stems. crowned with plumy tufts. They lean
and curve and point upward from every direction.
When riding towards them, at sunset, the gray
trunks invisible in the dimness, their pluny 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, struggles the line of cottages which is Wal
kiki. The architecture of these is of the sudden,
spasmodic style, Indicating daily diversities of
mind in the same individual. They stand so near
to the shore that the front door is necessarily on
the back side, which our carriage must approach
by n wandering by-road. From the southern
vernndas extends n long, broad porch, made of
reeds woven upon q frame, which shuts out the
glare thrown up by the sun from the sea. But
1T cannot shut out the mosquitoes that come with
the cleaning, whose visits are the sharpest ills
of life.
Here Is Incidence all around us. 1t is eXempli-
fed 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 lazinessl Even a silver
coin is slow to induce a native boy to climb q
cocoanut tree and throw down some nuts for us.
The sand on this shore is lava, coral and shells,
pulyerized 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, rise the sterile sides of Diamond Head-the
stump of an ancient volcano-whose southern
slope is seven hundred feet high, where it iuts in
to the sea. Yonder, in front of us, is a coral reef.
against which the ocean is always breaking with
n moan, as if it were weary of its long endcavor
TO destroy the barrier. Naked natives are search
are padding 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 stranda 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 their feet,
With exquisite advancement and retreat"
4 bath in this summer sea is delightful. The
water is very buoyant, clear and pleasantly warm :;
its temperature being about seventy degrees.
Once in, l am reluctant to leave it. But can we
not come again tomorrow.
WASHINGTON, Jan. Gas the question of
changes anticipated in the Cabinet still continues
to be the topic of much discussion, it is proper to