Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1881-09-03
"reminiscences of Honolulu Thirty.fve Year
Ago.-N0 1.

"reminiscences Of Honolulu Thirty.ive Years
Ago.-No. 1.
Tho so-cnlled city of Honolulu of to-day
IN in every particular very different place
from tho village of that name, when ar
rived hero on tho 9Th of March, 1916,
after voyage of 1lG days around Capo
Horn from Boston, in the clipper. schooner
Ramehomeha Ill.,, Captain Fisher A.
Newell There were over ono hundred
whacships in tho harbor, closely packed,
three and four side by side, coopering oil,
dscharging into homeward bound whalers
or merchant vessels, and preparing for the
summers cruise in tho northern seas.
The whaling business was much more gen.
orally successful in those days than it ever
has been since. Seventeen hundred bar
rels was an ordinary seasons catch, while
frequently twenty-five hundred and as high
as three thousand barrels was reported.
The port, as may be supposed, presented
busy scene. Each of these 100 and more
ships had on an average thirty persons at
tnched to it as seamen and officers, amount
ing in tho aggregate to some 5000 persons,
about one half of whom were always on
shore "on liberty" and they gave the town
quite lively appearance. The grog-shops
wore particularly lively, and thepolice-court
presented an animated spectacle every
morning.
The streets of the town--or village, MS
fho foreign residents appropriately termed
it-were dusty or muddy thoroughfares,
according to the weather, with no pretence
to sidewalks. Indeed, there was no neces-
sty for the latter, for there were no horse
teams and hardly carriage to be seen.
When ladies-and sometimes gentlemen
went out to an evening party or to church
ON Sunday, they were conveyed In sort OF
handcart with four wheels, drawn by one
kanaka and pushed from behind by another.
To a newcomer, the sight was grotesque
and forcible reminder Of the partially civ,
ilizcd state of the country, to see we'll
dressed white lady thus pulled and propelled
along the street by two bareheadcd and
barefooted natives, whose only clothing cou-
sisted of maio and very short denim
frock. Goods were transported from the
wharves to stores on heavy trucks, drawn
by a dozen natives, sweating and tuggng
through the yielding soil and sand of the
streets. Horses were plentiful and cheap,
and most foreign residents kept one or
more for riding.
y
even down to the business part of the vii
lage, with here and there n stone, or more
frequently an adobe structure, but generally
with u matched roof, for shingles brought
around Cape Horn were costly, and Oregon
lumber was ns yet unknown. 1t cannot be
denied that the matched house, when sufli-
GENTLY high between joints, was much
more comfortable lodging in this climate
than our modern clapboarded and shingled
houses. The largest foreign. built structure
this date,-with the exception of the
-, Is palace-was the Bethel church
where the Rev. DIR. Damon ofiiciated, hav.
ing succeeded the Rev. Mr.. DELL in 1S43
With the Sarge number of seamen visiting
tho port at that time we may be assured
that "Father Damon AS he was generally
but quite respectfully ontitled-had no idle
time on his hands, but was often to be seen
visiting from ship to ship. The Sailors
Home was not built until some years after
this.
\/What is now Nuuanu Avenue, was then
little else than bridle-path through the
taro patches up the valley and leading to
the Pail. There were no pretty cottages
such as now line both sides of that fine
'thoroughiare, but only here and thore hut
of thatch, squatting on the edge of patch
of taro or sweet potatoes. Ornamental
trees had not been introduced, and the only
ones to be seen in the village and suburbs
were an occasional kukui or the unsightly
hau.
There were no water.works, the supplies
for domestic use and for shipping being OBJ.
tanned from wells, of which there was one
in almost every house-lot. In some of these
wells--particularly those near the harbor-
the water rose and fell with the ocean tides
1t was more or less brackish, and what
housewives denominate as peculiarly
"hard." Gentemen's linen was not SC
Immediately white in those days ms now
There was no Fire Department, and fortu-
nately no fires of any consequence, until
when Department was organized some
years after.
1t may DO interesting to note the names
of the principal residents and business men
n of Honolulu, thirty-fve years ago, many Of
whom have since gone TO join the grea'
majority" Alexander q. Abel MAS U. s
Corsul, and kept his office in tho larg,
adobe building that stood on the N. w
corner of Nuuanu aud Queen streets. (Ih'
latter was known as "the beach, for boat
landed where Malee's block now stands.
Mr.. Abel has been resident Of San Fran
cisco ever since he was succeeded ~ tn
Consulate by the late Judge Turrsll. J. Is
McCurg 4 Co., s. II. Williams \ Go.
Patty 4 Co, II. d II. Grimes, Jones q Ma