The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-01-13

that ancient spring chicken clap MS
rusty wings and give forth his asthmatic
crow as the signal for the daily inspect
ion; and we have scaled the CLASSY sides
of Mont Blanc on the backs OF mules
even more lazy than those of Maui
plantation. We have crossed the Alps
three times mot much OF hills either
and have ploughed the waters OF that
much abused Lake Como, where lived
and loved the "onlv original" Claude
and Pauline. We have visited with
great pleasure and admiration that Won
derful work of engineering the Forth
bridge, compared to which the Eitfel
tower is child's toy, and we have gazed
with wonder, ii not satisfaction, upon
that great waste of mans energy and
Aeans, the spire Of the Cologne cathe-
dral.
We have been to Marengo and to
Waterloo the Alpha and Omega OF Ma
poleon, and we have looked upon the
last resting place of that incompatible
"soldier of fortune" under the magnifi-
cent dome OF the Invalides, with a
strange mixture OF feeling-half rever-
ence, half pity, but wholly interesting.
We have. been inside OF all the 365
castles, palaces and prisons occupied by
that ubiquitous Queen, Mary of Scots,
and we have CROPPED our way through the
dark cells and dungeons of Chillon,
made famous by Byron's poetic account
OF the sufferings of the heroic Bonni-
ward. We have visited the battlefield
OF Gravelotte, and wondered at the
audacity OF the Germans in trying to
capture Metz; but we have ceased to
wonder at the results Of a campaign
where such generalship was displayed
We have stood upon the field of Culloden
where Prince Charlie made his ''last
stand" and where the brave highland
ers threw away their lives in blind devo-
ton to that ruinous idea OF the divine
right of kings. We have made our pill
grimage to Abbotsford, as everybody
does, and have paid our shilling to see
the underground pigeon house (said to
have been the library of Bruce at the
nondescript castle of 'HawthOrnden, J"
and we threw in pour boire Of sixpence
to the old cicerone who related to us the
poetic greeting and response between the
then proprietor and old Ben Johnson on
the occasion of the latter's visit, as fol-
lows:
"Welcome! Welcome! Rare old Benz"
We have-but why prolong the list ?
Does not everybody visit the same
places, and admire the same old
masters''-especially those that are SO
black you can't tell what they were
meantime? And do you suppose we
would allow them to palm off any modern
trash on us, just because We were saw
ages?
But do not imagine there is nothing in
Europe worth seeing, or that even a
Sandwich Islander cannot learn some
thing newt he tries hard.
There's the great "Mer de Glace"
that would take all the heat Of Madam
Pele's kitchen 10000 years to melt into
water. Ii Hawaii can boast the greatest
known fire hole, Switzerland can furnish
ice enough to cool it down. Looking
upon those immense fields of solid ice,
miles in length and width and thousands
of feet deep, one can scarcely realize that
they are but CONCEALED forms of mois-
ture, slowly melting at their base and
being the source of mighty rivers, but as
surely forming each succeeding season,
at their highest points among the noun
tain tops, and irresistibly moving in their
downward course, grinding the solid rock
beneath and forming those wonderful
ridges known as ''mOraines." To me the
Glaciers are the most interesting feature
of Switzerland, and in fact of Europe.
But our ideal in scenery, as well as per-
lection in living, was found within the
realms of Her Brittanic Majesty. Way
up in Scotland are to be seen some o.
the prettiest lakes in the world. 'Loch
Maree," and "Loch Katrine," for in
stance, and although their "Bens'
| EDMOND, Nevis, ETC., etc., are no
| much in the way of mountains, wher
| compared with our own Mauna Kea anC
Mauna Loa, they are fine hills and serve
| to break the mOnotony of the landscape
| A trip through the Caledonian Canal il
| far more pleasant than crossing the Ha
waii channel, and if the new road to the
| Volcano is as smooth and well made al
those in Scotland the money will be wei
spent.
Then the green of the grass of old Eng
land Such beautiful green that on
is contented to see "miles and miles, @
it, although otherwise it would look Xix
waste of the raw material. The splen
did railways, handsome cities, and pic
turesque villages, all going to make VI
]
be found. To be sure, the monste
Cathedrals-those relics of by-gon
despotism which still mars the symmetr
OF the British government by it's uniol
of "Church and State"-often look on
of place in the midst of the pigmies tina
surround them, as for instance "Dur
ham," among the shabby dwellings OF
mining town; but there are plenty c
beautiful churches and buildings in al
the cities, fit and seemly for their pCr
poses and attractive to the eye.
No one need 90 outside of England
Scotland and Ireland, to find the fines
scenery and the highest civilization i
the world-as we'll as touches of tn
finest climate. But i. has contrasts c
its "off days. of climatic uncertainty
cane knife, and the cold rain of Liver
pool will irrigate you through and throug
before you know it. The dwellings
the poor in the large cities and minin
towns, are bad enough; but God pity th
"Crofters" who exc out living on tn
barren lands OF the Isle of Skye and elst
where, and live (?) in huts and hovel
compared with which our meanes
plantation houses are models of comfol
and eloquence.
Did you ask what we have seen ths
we don't have at home? Ruins! Ruins
Ruins!!' No place in Europe is counte
much unless it has its Ruins" and
am so glad l left that old Kappa chin
ney standing, for the benefit OF futul
generations.
Why, even slept one night in lit
tavern that butts up against the ruins
''Melrose Abbey" SO close as to be act,
ally within the limits of the space form
erly occupied by the Abbey itself; an