The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1873-02-20
IDAHO WORLD.
THE HAWAIIAN CLIMATE.
By MARK TWAIN.

90 back there and remain the rest
nv DAYS. It is paradise for an ind
lent man. If a man is rich he can liv
extensively, and his grandeur will b
respected as in other parts of the eartf
if he is poor he can herd with the n;
tives, and live on next to nothing; h
can sun himself all day long under tn
palm trees, and be no more troubled b
bis conscience than a butterfly would.
When you are in that blessed retreat
YOU are safe from the turmoil OF life
you browse your days away in long
deep dream Of peace; the past is fol
gotten thing, the present is heaven, tht
future you leave to take care of itself
You are in the centre OF the Pacific
Ocean; you are two thousand miles
from any continent; you are millions
of miles from the world; as far as you
can see, on any hand, the crested bill
lows wall the horizon, and beyond this
barrier the wide universe is but for
eign land to you, and barren of interest
The climate is simply delicious-nev-
er cold at the sea level, and never really
too warm, for you are at the halfway
house-that is, twenty degrees above
the equator Bnt then you may order
your own climate for this reason: the
eight inhabited islands are merely
mountains that lift themselves out of
the sea-a group of bells, if you please,
with some (but not very much) flare"
at their bases. You get the idea
Well, you take thermometer, and
mark on it where you want the mercury
to stand permanently forever, with not
more than II degrees variation, Winter
and Summer. If 50 in the shade is
your figure with the privilege of going
down or up 5 or degreS ut long in
tervals), you build your house down on
the "Aare'-the sloping or level ground
by the sea-shore-and you have the
deadest surest thing in the world on
that temperature. And such is the eli
mate Of Honolulu, the capital of the
kingdom. If you mark 20 as your
mean temperature, you build your house
Oh any mountain side, 400 or 800 feet
above sea level If you mark 55 or 60,
go l, 800 feet higher If you mark for
wintry weather, go on climbing and
watching your mercury If You want
snow and ice for ever and ever, and re-
70 and below, build on the summit of
Mauna Kea, 10000 feet up in the air. {
1t you must have hot weather, you |
should build at Lahaina, where they do |
not hang the thermometer on nail be- /
cause the solder might melt and the in /
strument get broken; or you should a
build in the crater Of kilcaua, which h
would be the same as going home be- h
lore your time You cannot find as a
much climate punched together any Fl
where in the world as you can in the 0
sandwich Islands. You may stand on S
ne summit of Mauna Kca, in the midst Il
It snow-banks that were there before D
captain Cook was born, may be, and Ii
While you shiver in your furs you may f
asst your eye down the sweep of the a.
fountain and tell exactly where the Il
Igld zone ends and vegetable life be- Of
ms; stunted and tormented growth
trees shades down into a taller and in
'eer species, and that in turn, into the W
Ill foliage and varied tints of the tenn CT
crate zone; further down, the mere or. I'll
mary green tone of forest washes he
yer the edges of broad bar of orange ri,
ees that embraces the mountain like tn
belt, and is so deep and dark green mi
lat distance makes it black; and still be
rther down, your eye rests upon the X,
vels of the sea-shorc, where the sugar w;
me is scorclling in the sun, and the
athcry cocoa-palm CHASING itself in
e tropical waves; and where YOU m
low the sinful natives are lolIine '" ~
'out in utter nakedncss and never =, n'
lowing or caring that you and your =:
ow and your chattering teeth are so a,'
use by. So you perceive, You can al,
'k down upon all the climates of the W.
rth, and note the kinds and colors Of ="
the negotiations, just with glance o.. 81.
the eye-and this glance only travels ' ~.
er about three miles, as the bird h W.
hea
"A PENNSYLVANIA woman, who has for ~, 49,
n VparS hoo. oAq;olJ ~ uic