The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-09-02
AN EARTHLY PARADISE.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS A PERPET-
UGL GARDEN OF EDEN.

| Kingdom of Liituokniant- beauty
L.v,.hiy Bestowed by Nntur. .-Tror.
| tcal scenery on Islands OF the Pacific
/ Ocean.
! 1t is good to be able to date a letter
from Paradse Would you like to know
its exact locality? You must sail south
of west for 2,10O miles from San Fran
cisco, or south of east 8 400 miles from
Yokohama, and then you will arrive at
the beautiful Hawaiian Islands, where
we are anchored at present. bound to
! Yokohama. We are to-day safely ar
rived under the green aud golden hill. of
! Oahu, the northernmost Of the Sand.
wich group. Even from the sea tho
viea is charming and full of promise Of
these delightful islands none the less 80
| il. as is my own case, the voyager has
recently traversed by rail the 1880 miles
of mainly unlovely scenery between New
York aud San Francisco. coming by
thnse dreary, irib wildernesses Of Texas,
| Arizona and New Mexico, and la. then
steamed for week without anything to
look vt except rolling seas and driving
cluuls. or course. therefore, we have
passed every available hour Of our deten-
tiun here ashore. and seen enough to
wonder Why people dwell In the bitter
lsti,u,les Of LONDON and New York,
when t ~ might breathe the heavenly
air If these ocean paradises, and live in
the We, p-tual garden Of Ellen which ma
ture has laid out Tor her harpiest chill
lrcn in their hullows and uplands
hal imagined the Hawaiian cluster
to be composed of dens,'ly wooded islets
and isles, with dark foliage spread all
over the plains and climbing to rounded
hills. But | see a lroken land much
more open aud varied than my antici-
patton: the low lands rather bare Of
trees and vegetation. the upands ascend
ing 10y Slopes Int, Il vita t,ie tender gr '-i
vi coming crops L. u volcanic sierra. veIy
rugged. nsh,r, -ul majestic in outline,
scanned and i-sureI with innunrral'le
glens, each nursing gradually diniin-
islIins rib,nu OF verdant embroidery.
At one extremity Of the long crescent in
which Honolulu nes,les amid her groves
WI NONoNhuk ftScS
precipitously the yellow and red steep OF
Diamond Head, and ON the other ranges
into far distance a lofty line of peaks.
lifted from the bottom of the sea by somo
ancient and stupendous telluric spas,n.
The golden Sierra fades away into ridge
OF rose aud violets against the horizon,
where the sapphire of the Pacific blends
with the turquoise of the sky. The
northeast trade wind which was blowing
in lively way outside is quite shut of
from our anchorage by those lofty noun.
tains. rising to 4 900 feet of elevation and
upward, 50 that the good ship Belgic
rides quietly outside the reef to single
cable. The channel is narrow by which
the quiet inner harhor is reached and we
shall not enter, but there is plenty OF
water there, as is evidenced by the
United States steamer Charleston, an
iron-clad of the second class. which is
moored within under the very plumes of
the cocoanut groves.
Honolulu, from the sea, looks like Q
smaller town than she really is. being 80
much buried in groves and gardens; nor,
indeed. at biggest does she number more
than 1000 citizens, the entire island con-
tanning no more than 81 ,l94 inhabitants
and the hole group about $1,000. OF
these about IS 900 are natives. 5000
Chinese. 1900 Japanese and $500 Portu.
gese; the American residents totaling
Ices and the English l,344. There are,
beside, over 1000 Germans scattered
abou, the group, and 900 other foreign.
ers. more or less, including 20 French.
men-a mixei population, amid which
the indigenous kanaka race. which we'll
deserved to be perpetuated, is, alas.
sadly and steadily decreasing. That
this paradise of the Pacific is not with.
out its drawback the voyager is griev.
ously reminded AS lie approaches Dis.
mond Head round into the anchorage
of Honolulu. Broad on the port side of
the ship, about thirty miles from the lit
tie city, Molokai rises fair and fertile
from the ocean-the Island Of Lepen;
beautiful enough TO be n fitting -purgs-
tory to the Paradise" beyond.-Lon.
don Telegraph.