Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-02-01
For the Public Ledger NJ
RECOLLECTIONS
OF THE
ISLANDS
by GEORGE W. GIFT.
6a W AAIMOAES
Publisher and Proprietor.

Out Of the big hole, our first business
was to cool off, then to dinner, and then
to explore the vicinity. Right in rear
of the house was an immense escape ol
steam, which came roaring and snorting
out; and flying against the rocks at
night, condensed and trickled down into
a small pool, which the man who acted
as guide carefully collected in barrels
for the use Of visitors when they came.
This was the only source of supply. AT
dinner we had turkey cooked in this
Jet of steam. -- M ts-,,a,
Near the house was a vast bed OF
nearly pure sulphur, from which, | sup
pose, many thousands of tons could be
shoveled up 1t was interesting to
watch the continual accretions TO this
immense store. The bed was perforated
with innumerable small holes, which led
to the laboratory where the sulphur was
made, and through which the fine crys-
tails were brought to the surface along
with escaping gases or vapor. The fine
particles were continually coming up,
and being deposited as snow comes
down, except that the sulphur was in
smaller crystals 1t is now nearly
twenty-four years since l saw these
things; hence may fail to see and de-
scribe them again so as to interest the
reader; and it must be kept in mind that
/ was but a boy of sixteen at the
time. and hence did not observe every
thing which a man of mature years
would have done. The next morning
we spent some more time in explora-
tions, thence % the halfway house and
home. A most excellent and carefully
written account of this visit was pub,
lished in the January C5l) number of
the Knickerbocker Magazine. 1t was
by our surgeon, DR.. McCoun;
/ must not fail to notice the fact that
we were at Hilo in what was considered
the dyv season, yet do not think / ever
saw a day pass without rain; and l saw
more rain fall there in given time than
/ ever saw at any other place, the west
ern coast of MEXICO excepted. ! may
be mistaken, but do not .reoollect to
have heard violent thunder or TO have
witnessed vivid flashes of lightning,
The average annual rainfall is 1850
inches or fifteen feet / kept q journal
in which was recorded the range Of the
thermometer, and to the best of my
recollection the mercury stood at about
6OO at night and S0o in day time. Not
withstanding the immense rainfall de-
scribed. and that under vertical sun,
there was no malaria.
Near Hilo is the falls of Akaka, which
were measured by triangulation by our
master, and the hight determined at six
hundred feet. Nothing eKcels these
save Yosemite. | did not go to see
them. -, ' d,
Our crew had been on liberty
twice. and we had left twenty or thirty
thousand dollars with the natives, aud
were ready to GO. The ship had been
painted inside and outside, allow and
aloft; had been scrubbed and cleaned,
renovated and repaired, aud was now
ready for sea, where she appeared to
have no inclination to go. The wind was
Il. lat and too much ahead to permit us
- =, Ske sail aud work out, and the sea
w ',as - los heavy to allow of the use OF row
boats to taw ont, and there was no such
tb;ng as a steamer. At the end Of three
Jays hard work, hedging and hauling,
we got a start, aud the big castle wss
AGAIN outside. We got puff OF the land
hsseze in the morning, and got some
miles of an oihng before the trade
wind set in. After breakfast the sea
was smooth, the wind steady and the
weather clear, and every one was
on deck TO watch the passing land.
We we're standing 10 the nOrthSard ln
view of q most beautiful scene. Aauna
Kea was in sight, capped with snow
whilst his base was clothed IN the richest
and most inviting pasture. Pouring
into the sea was dozen Waterialisi
showing like silver bars against a vail
of let. The wind was not strong and
at night We we're sailing along the vest
coast Of Maui, and the next mcrning
turned into the channel around the
north end of that island, aud, With a
rousine trade wind drawing between the
islands, sailed to the anchorage OF La
haina
Whilst we are putting the ship TO
rights in the matter Of furhng sails and
making things neat, suppose We retnrE
70 Hawaii and visit the vest or leeEara
side-called leeWard because II Is shell
tered from the trade winds BY noun
tains. This side is pretty neaI as bar
rem as the other is proli6c. The sane
distraction which arrests the winds also
sfops the moisture kalekakua Bay. or
Is noted a. the place where
Captain Cook, the great Engish hayi-
gator. lost bis life. No monument narkS