The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-03-16

ga sUMMER IN NORWAY" ETC.
The two months | have spent in these ISL
ands, / have found both pleasant and profit
able. Wherever [ have gone the hospitality
and kindness of the people have deeply i'm
pressed me and will not be forgotten. l
have travelled in many countries and visited
many places of high repute for health
mess, but none which [ think will COM
pare with the Hawaiian Islands as a sanitary
resort. | have taken some pains TO gather
mortuary statistics, and | think the death rate
lower than can be found in any other coun-
try. Especially is this true IN reference to
the children of foreigners. | will not stop
to truble you with the figures, but will
merely say that the results are almost IN
credible. Indeed the death of a child is of
rare occurrence, and the mother has little
fear that her infant will not reach the age OF
puberty. Those diseases to which children
everywhere are subject occur here also, but
they are of so mild a type as to cause little
apprehension when proper care IS taken.
This is equally true in the most aired and
in the most humid portions of the Islands.
In these Islands the zoologist finds a page
in natural history to study, which is no
where else afforded to so full an extent.
That is, the influence upon domesticated
animals, in their reversion to the wild state.
The influence of domestication upon wild
animals has been long the subject of interest
ing observation, but the opportunities for
counter observations have been limited.
Here find that the horse, the OK, the goat,
the hog, the dog, the cat, and in some in
stances even the sheep, among quadrupeds,
and the turkey, the peacock, and the barn
yard fowl among the birds, have all fled from
domestic control and become wild, some for
a longer time and to a much greater extent
than others. What changes have been
wrought in each in form, color, habit and
reproductive powers, by his changed condi-
ton of life is a subject which | trust som
competent naturalist will investigate. have
no doubt he will find that the tendency is a
reversion to the peculiarities of the original
parent, and | think it not improbable
that it will be found that the longer the
species has been kept in domestication, the
longer it will take to complete this reversion.
The specimens of the wild turkeys here
which [ have seen already show a marked
advace towards the form and colorings of
the wild turkey of America, and which are
quite wanting in our domestic turkey, unless
they are lately descended from the wild
stock or the wild blood has lately been in
fused into the tame flock. The tendency of
the swine to revert to the form, color and
habit of the wild boar, is very marked espe-
cially with the young pig which in the wild
state is striped longitudinaIly.
But do not propose to discuss the SUBJ
ject now, but only to call attention to the
facilities here afforded for its investigation
and to ask of those who have the opportu-
mites, to observe whether there is a ten
dency among these domestic animals gone
wild to assume uniform c~olors, that is, the
individuals of a species to become colored
alike, the sexes however differing more or
less as is usually the case in the original
wild state. We can hardly expect that suffi-
cient time has elapsed to make an impress
sion on the color of the horse, the OK or the
goat, and yet it may be found that with the
OK and the goat, the black color begins to
predominant more with the wild than with
the tame, or that the black is of a deeper
shade or more pronounced on the former
than the latter.
| should be glad to speak of the observa-
lions | have made on the agriculture of these
Islands, which after all is the great and lead
ing interest, and should receive every posi-
BILE encouragement at the hands of the gov
eminent, for therein must consist the wealth
and support of the kingdom but | have
already occupied more Of your space than [
should have done. With many thanks for the
kindness received from all classes,-from the
King down through all grades with whom
| have come in contact, am, &c.