The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-05-01

"UNTo HIN that hath shall be given 4" is a
declaration Of holy writ which experience has
caused to be regarded as an aphorism; and SO
when some peculiar good fortune is seen to attend
an individual, we almost naturally expect to see
it continue, and are apt to be surprised or to
look closely for a cause if a reverse follows.
Thus is it with communities as well for, having
felicitated ourselves upon the happy prospects
that are about to dawn upon the country as a
result of His Majesty's visit and the embassy to
the United States, we are actually beginning to
look forward with n considerable degree Of conf
dence to the accomplishment, in the not distant
future, Of that great undertaking the trans
Pacific cable between America and Asia, via
Honolulu. And indeed, We can see no just cause
why we may not reasonably indulge in these
hopes. With reciprocity an accomplished fact,
the cable will be much more likely to be laid
than without it. Every increase Of American
and American interests in this direction
will render the quick Transmission Of intelligence
so much the more a necessity and the telegraph
cable would be the umbilical cord to firmly unite
our material and social interests to the energetic
communities of the neighboring continent in their
onward march of prosperity.
The recent voyage of the U. S. s.. THScarord,
Capt. Belknap, when soundings were taken for
the purpose of ascertaining the feasibility of the
telegraph project, demonstrated Gas we have
shown in previous numbers of this journal) that
there are no natural obstacles to the laying of
the cable between these Islands and the coast of
California, but that on the contrary, the task
would be a comparatively triaing one. From
these Islands westward towards Japan, the bottom
= -z-.o -o,t;.,s ~-;.o ,,o-a, aaroroI
submarine peaks Of considerable altitude and
abruptness having been encountered by the lead
in sounding, but the obstacles are by no means
insuperable in these days Of enterprise and scien-
tifc achievement. On the other hand, the diff
entities in the way Of adopting the northern route
are of a far more serious nature, and have seemed
to be SO insurmountable TO the observers on the
TiScarOra as to have cast a cloud Of doubt in the
public mind upon the whole project of a trans
Pacific cable. The great ocean current, the
japanese Kuro Siwo-sometImes called the gulf
stream of the Pacifc-which must be crossed by
the cable on the northern route, runs with the
velocity of a mill-ruce, and in some portions of
its course the lead descended to q depth of nearly
five miles before touching the bottom. Besides
these difficulties there are the dangers of break
ages of the cable from ~ice-bergs in the n~eighbor-
hood Of the Aleutian Islands, and the prevalence
in those high attitudes of stormy and foggy
weather. 1t may be pretty safely assumed, on
the whole, that the cable will not be laid by the
northern route. And as we view the signs of the
times, we feel equally assured, that the growing
needs Of American ommerce with Asia and the
enterprise Of American merchants will demand
the telegraphic message, and that the trans
Pacific cable will be laid within the next few
years, and by the southern route, via the Hawai-
ian Islands.