The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1875-06-04
MI isc eIIane O III 8.
Correspondence Of the Agis 6 Intelhgencer.
Letter From the, Sandwich
Islands.
AT SEA JANUARY 18th, 1875, ]
BETWEEN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS :
AND SAN FRANCIsco \

4
AND SAN Francisco.
Mr.. EDITOR: l hardly think you have a
correspondent in Honolulu, but should
you have one you can suppress all this,
because there will be nothing new in it.
My getting to the Sandwich Islands was
all lucky accident-lucky because no
evil came out Of it. 1 left Yokohama,
Japan, the 22d of December, and after
spending Christmas and New Years day
at sea, and being out about fifteen days,
tremendous gale from the north west
struck us, lasting two days and blowing
us out OF our course several hundred miles.
The steamer l was on, the Colorado, an
old WORKOUT ship, was out of repair when
we left Japan and could ill stand the ter
rible seas we encountered; and besides
that we started without coal enough to
carry US over safely to San Francisco, had
everything been favorable, Owing to the
bad management of the Pacific Mail Com
pany.) So in the midst of the storm the
engineer reported the shaft out of order,
and the coal most gone. The captain then
headed for Honolulu, distant about 400
miles, and the sea going down we reached
that port in two days more without fur
Their trouble.
The coast of the island that Honolulu
is on is barren and mountainous; looks
very much like the coast of China or Cali
fornia. l had expected to see the shores
covered with tropical growth and monkeys
right down to the waters edge; conse-
quently was very much disguised, and
except for the intense heat should not
have known that was in the tropics at
all but presently we rounded u Point
called diamond Head" and there was
immensely pleased, for there under the
hills nestled the town of Honolulu, the
houses almost hidden by all kinds of trop-
ical ees-cocoanuts, palms and all sorts
of trees and shrubs. My expectations as
to tropical scenery were then fully graft
fed. The harbor is lovely and most pc
culiar. 1t has no protection from the sea
except what it gets from reef about two
miles out, that extends in a kind of half
circle all around the front of the town
and at low water the reef is entirely out of
water, looking like wall of sand. There
is but one entrance through the reef and
that does not look more than hundred
feet wide. The channel is so narrow that
our ship could not have turned in it. For
about a quarter of a mile from the shore
out, all along the front of the town, the
water is deep enough for the largest ships
to float. This harbor is the only one in
the islands.
Honolulu covers about all the level
ground on that side of the island, has about
1000 white population and several thous.
and natives. 1t is flat, sandy and awfully
hot; the thermometer while we were there
in January, being about 000 in the shade.
The buildings are mostly frame and of two
stories; the streets are not paved, and
there are no sidewalks. One has to wade
through sand several inches deep, and you
swallow your "peck" every ten minutes.
The hotel and the kings palace are the
only two buildings in the place that aspire
to anything, and they not much; the ho-
tel being better than the palace. The
streets are not lighted, so one goes along
after dark in momentary expectation OF
tumbling over something, or Of having
some drunken native knock you over the
head. l did not come in contact with the
drunken "Kanaka," but did with the falls.
The residences of the white population are
very pretty little cottages, nearly covered
with vines and flowers; and lovely gar
dens, but fearfully suggestive of hairy spi-
ders and centipedes, OF which there are
lots. We used to drive them out of our
beds every night before going to sleep.
The air is laden with all sorts of perfumes
from bananas, oranges, flowers and exam
akas." l had the pleasure Of eating CO.
coanuts, bananas and oranges right off the
trees; but having done that in China ex-
cept the cocoanuts, 1t was not such a, rar-
ity.
The natives are about the color of a
bright mulatto and as lazy as the day is
long. They never do bit of work ifthey
can possibly help it; they have some Chi
namen who do most of the work. The
native men are fine looking, as rule, have
straight, black hair, thin lips and good
features-are nearly always on horseback,
and ride like Mexicans. l think there
must be more horses than people on the
island, and they are very cheap, costing
from ten to fifty dollars. The people all
ride at run, 80 one has to be pretty sharp
to prevent being knocked down. The
women are very large and fully developed
and rather good looking. They wear their
hair down their backs. 1t is straight and
black and reaches to the waist, presenting
rather wild appearance. The style OF
dress is rather peculiar, and was introduce
ed by the missionaries, and is an improve
ment on what Mark Twain said on his
first visit. 1t consists of one garment
made of the brightest sort of calico. 1t is
made like chemise, at least like sup
pose they are all made, with yoke, and
hangs loose to within six inches of the