The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-10-03
An Interesting Letter.
u, S, LEGATION

My Dearest Sister:
am safe in my new home, and perfectly
satisfied and happy. The steamer left the
wharf at San Francisco at 1890
D. m, on the 5th of August,
and at l o'cock went down to lunch had
the seat at the Captains right, at his own
table, which was the highe,t place of hon
or. Mr.. Rsgnold, the actor, who has made
Henry V. such n success, en- board.
The wife, nurse and babe of the French |
Consul, and several other very pleasant |
ladies were among ,he.passengers. ! was
sick during the entire eight days.
Our steamer came into port O'Clock at
night. Gen. Comfy, Susie and Smith cane
after me in the carriage before breakfast
The first day I recovered my appetite and
am now perfectly we'll.
Wednesday Mrs. Comfy and | called on
DIR. Scott and wife, the American Consul
They are both old people. Gen. Comfy is
the American Minister, and ranks next to
the King. He is the highest officer on the
islands.
We live in beautiful. place up on the
mountain, mile from Honolulu. In
front of the house the mountains begin,
from the sides of the road, and rise sud
denly, until two peaks are lost in the
clouds; from the dining room window,
which constitutes the entire side of the
room, can be seen the slope to the beach,
mile distant, and we have a full view of
} the harbor, and in the distance the ocean.
The stretch of land is covered with beautl-
full cottages, the native huts and palm
! trees; it is perfect picture, and l fairly
breath in its loveliness. At our left, and
: between US is Punch-bowl-an extinct
crater. You eau see where the hot rivers
of lava have run down, and the action Of
: the fire on the rocks as if it had recently
3 occurred, although it is more than 40(
years age.
e The roses are in full bloom, and the
l tropical flowers are most beautiful, bu
t have little odor.
e The school building is very nice
d structure of manufactured stone, has splen
d did ventilation, large rooms, and goo6
j black. boards. We have pupils of almos
: every race on the globe, American, Span
= ish, French, English, Portuguese, Chinese
T natives, etc. You might think this woul'
t not be pleasant, but I assure you they ar
8. very pleasant, intelligent and polite. w
10 have three natives who are nepbews AM
y wards of the King. They teach the mos
le excellent system here of history ever saw
N and shall study it myself We take up ou
* school at 8 a. NJ, have recess of fftee
to minutes at 10 O'Clock, another recess c
" thirty minutes, at u o'clock, and dismis
,g at o'clock p. m.
The stores are quite large here, but yo
is can make all purchases in any one stol
from carpets to all kinds of clothing, ct
I was quito alarmed TO find centipedes an
er scorpions common, but as they have no poi
at ons to feed on, the bite is not fatal, a
ne though exceedingly painful.
There are lizards from one to five inch'
IS long, which crawl over the walls, and fee
he on flies and mosquetoes, which are terribl
he | was very much afraid of the lizards
W first, but as they are perfectly harmless,
lis look for them soon as we have the lam
up lighted, and We call them our pets. He
also are huge spiders, that look like n lar
p mouse running along they also are perfee
ly harmless. Water is very scarce. Gle
ass Comfy has stream from the mountain
no which runs on Saturday from II m. till
of p. M. for household cleaning. etc. T
he goldfish and centipedes come down fro
ng the mountain with the water, and t
of chickens eat both l hate to see them d
a stroy the lovely gold fish. We have
IN large bunch of bananas on hand all t
os time, there are one hundred on each bunt
cd and they sell from twenty-five to sevent
-. FIVE cents per bunch the cocoannts al
'S' dates are ripe. One of my pupils broug
at me some plums, which are not at all Ii
ing our plums. We have in our yard, ma
zen goes fruit which grows on large tr
no also guavos, yellow fruit, size of peach
~ We have banana grove set out, and
patch of pine apples; the bananas do
grow high, and have very long, bao
leaf, about seven feet long, and two wiz
at. Each tree bears only one bunch, and is tn
-, cut down each tree sends up new shoe
which in turn are planted. 1t fakes
months for the bannannas to mature a
to ripen. 1t has rained every day since
to came, and find heavy clothing very co
Portable. LoLLIE A. RITZ