Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-08-18
AZ U.tIiITtN TENT,

A familiar sight TO me, in years gone by, was
the watering ul ships in Ililo h.fhor from the
river Waikiki. Vessels came = thousand miles
out ul heir way 20 supply themselves at this
pure ,Icnm. Their boats crews, putting out
from he ship with long tow Of empty casks,
pcIhals q hundred in line, like n gigantic yea.
serpent, would pull llndwnrd across the beau.
tihl bar, and up the entrance Of the stream,
hciwccn picturesque and PERCEPTIONS banks,
until Nh y reached the first cascade. There the
water, pure and cool from the upland forests
and from the snow Of Mnunn ktl, came umh-
ling down a lava clin into the sea. A long
hose was carried to the bank one 10y one the
casks were filled, and the hoopen sea serpent,
a ponderous tow, was lugged slowly back 10
the ship again
The Waikiki water was good river water,
and il received in tanks on shore, instead OF on
rolling ship, ii would have given little trouble
To the consumer. Bu, kept in casks ON ship
board it had 10 work OF go through a
process, Of fermentation, lasting perhaps fort.
night, before It got clear OF its sediment stirred
up 10y the constant motion Of the ship, and not
properly exposed to the purifying oxygen OF
the are. Bright and clear when dccanted from
the river, /, become mrbid and ill-smelling
while it was working" and would then be
called quite undrinkablc by shore people,
though the sailors used 1t even then. Its chief
inquiry was decomposing vegetable matters
and these are only one cause among many O.
the inquiry Of streams. River waters are
more likely TO he impure than those Of wells
or SPRINGS and their causes OF impuri,y may
he counted, in the order Of their importance,
as follows:
The muddy water Of ircshets is rather nm in.
convenience than a danger to health. River
water that is turbid from this cause will soon
clear itself; if il be exposed To- the air in n
reservoir, 10y dcpositing the earthly matter in
suspension, and by absorbing oxygen, it will
become pure and sparkling. Nor is it the
most lurbid water, by any means, that is the
most dangerous TO drink water that is merely
turbid iom containing earthly matters, like the
Wailuku water in nood.time, is harmless.
In small and sluggish streams the water
often fouls itself from the decay OF animal and
vegetable substances that II has itself produced
plants, insects, and fishes Streams are in
general pure according TO their size and swirl.
ness. Ii is not easy to pollute the water Of a
powerful and rapid stream that pours down
over bed of pcbbly or of silicious sand; the
air purihcs it as it tumblcs along. The Seine
received until lately the sewer discharge of the
city of Paris; bu, the Seine is n living stream,
flowing over a bed Of white sand; and in 1870
it freed itself entirely, even from this enormous
mass of inquiry, by the time it reached
Mculan, about sixty miles below the city
There the water could be used again, as above
the city, for drinking
A dangerous fUuling Of the river occurs in
manufacturing countries; it is caused by the al
most unrestricted practice of throwing the
refuse of manufacturing processes into the
streams These chemical posons kill the
fish, give bad smell to the water, and make