Morning journal and courier., 1881-07-20

1 The Chinese are, think, more honest than l the whites, and are making money by their 1 industry and energy, while the whites are | making the same by means of capital, rascal l ity and rings" Of course there are excep- 1 tions in both races. Saloons are numerous | in Honolulu, though they have to pay thou | sand dollars year for license and even beer ] costs twenty-five cents glass. There are several missionaries here and Roman Cath 1 olic and an English bishop. The churches | are numerous and the regular services and prayer meetings are well attended, yet tthere 1 is a great deal of immortality. Prominent members of the church are often the ones who cheat you the worst. There is very good reading room and circulating library here which have frequented a great deal 1 lately. It has about two thousand volumes and takes in nearly all the principal New York. Philadelphia and San Francisco papers, American, English, Scotch and Australian weeklies, monthly and quarterly reviews and magazines. Membership costs only one dol lar fee with monthly dues of fifty cents. All strangers welcomed to the reading room. There is also Y. M. c. A. reading room with library CD, but it does not amount to much. There is, too, theatre and an anna teur company which has lately been giving
 us doses of ''Pinafore." Of course where
 there are so many Chinese there is a Chinese
 theatre, but it is not running now on account of the smallpox.
 
 opposite where I am living, which is used for
 lectures and meetings of different sorts. I
 have seen two or three native gatherings in
 it, through the windows, and found the
 Kanakas to be very energetic speakers and
 am told that many of them are really elo quent. The half castes, especially, said
 to be generally very intelligent. Many of
 them have been educated in the United States or in Europe. Most of them engage in busi-
 ness under the whites few having thus far
 chosen the professions, which are over
 stocked by whites, who also manage to se-
 cure most of the public offices. Many white
 adventurers of various nationalities but
 principally American, draw good incomes
 from the public treasury and have obtained
 influence and lands by marrying native wo-
 men of the higher classes. There are many
 handsome and pretty houses and grounds
 little out from the town. The roads are ex-
 cellent and nearly everyone rides or drives.
 The horses are numerous and seem good. If
 l were sure of being here for some time long CT think I would buy one and live further
 from town. Grain and American hay are dear, but native hay is gathered and brou ght in by Kanakas by means of poles, bundle at either end and the man in the middle. A bundle costs twenty-fiv cents and is sui tcient, with little fresh grass and an occa sional feed of oats, for horse's daily ration and fair riding horse can be got, am told, at from $1O to $40, it would not be very expensive luxury.
 am sure you would be delighted with this place the climate is much better, and it is ever so much prettier than Florida. There are many beautiful trees, flowers, ferns, etc., besides bananas, cocoanuts, mangoes, and a great number of other tropical trees and fruits. You could take long walks without fear of snakes, and probably would not see any more scorpions and centipedes outside of than in the house. I found fine lively specimen of the former, floating round on the wash rag of my bath the other morning and centipede would here be considered sickly which did not measure from six to eight inches in length. Then if you wanted \ boating with some excitement in it, you could go out in one of tho native boats or catamarans. They are a little wider than a paper-cutter. and would roll over and over like a log if they had not an outrigger consist ing of short, thick pole, which floats on the water several yards out from one side of the ! boat and is fastened to it by two smaller ! poles. However, it is best not to get into l catamaran unless you are prepared for a swim. |
 You must keep me informed about home news and write ''lots," for the mails are few and far between. and quite little distance lies between us. While the sun stares right down at you when at luncheon, he takes side glance to see if have started for break fast yet and when he says good night to Honolulu he bids Paris good morning; and while 1t is still forenoon here, 1t is after breakfast time to morrow in Sydney, and yet in less than three hours and half after it is ! noon here it will be noon there. A. W. D.