Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-02-23
A LAND OF QUEER THINGS.



IF | should attempt to sum up on Ha-
waii-Nei in one sentence, | would say,
1t is Il land where everything seems to
be something else. There is u riotous
abundance of useful vegetation, yet soon
or late Il blight comes on almost every
thing. There is a greater variety of
fruits than i'll any other land know,
yet so far as | could learn every fruit
degenerates i'll few years, aud the stock
must be renewed, The climate is al
most perfection, yet measles, smallpox
and affections Of the heart are peculiarly
fatal. The mountains look as if fixed i'll
place for all eternity, and the more solid
and rugged a mountain looks the more
certain it is to quake and more likely to
split open. The natives are all we'll edu-
Gated and nearly all thoughtless. They
are all nominal Christians, yet chastity
is but a vague sentiment, and many Il
common kanaka will tell lie when the
truth would better serve his purpose.
Life and property are as safe as any
where on earth, though the laws are not
severe or executed with any special rigor.
This may he due partly to the lack of
acquiaitiveness among the common ha-
nakas and their general live and let live
feeling. They are the most unselfsh
race on earth. In detached group in
the interior the property of any one is
the property of another, if that other
needs it badly. A foreigner who has be-
friended one is the friend of all in the
village. The men give him fish, fruits,
flowers and poi; the women give what
they have and with certain freedom
which is delicate and charming. Tn
fortunately their kindness may be a
danger, for they may be affected with
leprosy long before they learn the fact,
and physicians have decided that of all
supposed ways that is the one absolutely
certain way of acquiring it,
There is Il wonderful variety of fruit
i'll Honolulu, such as oranges, lemons,
lines, melons, bananas, straw berries and
many more Peaches are produced on
the islands, but the blight affects them
more quickly and certainly than any
other fruit, frequently taking the form
of black scale or film. The cocoanut
seems to beindlgenous, and therefore less
liable 10 blight than any other product.
1t was long supposed that the sugar cane
was proof against all blights, but of late
years Il new worm, as it were, has at
tackled it at the root, and the chances
now are that the sugar planters will
have to renew their stocks every few
years. 1t reminds one of Horace Gree
ley's plan for getting rid of the Canada
thistle, "Cultivate it as garden plant,
and some derned bug or other will be
sure to come along and eat it"
Wheat grows IN but few places ON
the islands, little valleys in the elevated
llateaus. AS to moisture, the climate
cannot be described in general terms.
Old residents say in jocular way that
in one district the rainfall is II feet a
year, in another II inches, and III Il third
1-1,th of an inch. Isaw places which GER
tainly looked as if rain had never fallen
on them. In the best sugar lands irriga-
tion is necessary, but in many places
very little is required. Domestic animals
thrive, MS rule, especially horses, Of
which the native stock is very hardy and
capable. 1t appears to have been case
Of survival of the iittest.' All the ten
der ones We're run to death at the start
and only thetoughestmarcs |tposterity
After all, the great product of the is
lands is the taro root. from which poi Is
made. 1t grows wherever the soil is kept
thoroughly wafer soaked. and in matted
lunches very much like the calanus or
sweet flag of the middle western states.