Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-02-25
a LAND Of QUEER THINGS.
The islands Seem Designed For the World Z.
Pleasure Resort.

Pleasure Resort
If | should attempt to sum mp ON Ha-
waii-Nei in one sentence, | would SAY.
1t is land where everything seems 10
be something else. There is Il riotou.
abundance Of useful vegetation. ye; soon
or late a blight comes on almost every
thing There is a greater variety Of
fruits than IL any other land know.
yet so far as could learn every fruit
degeneratcS IN Il few years, and the stock
must be renewed The climate Is al
most perfection, vet measles. smallpox
and affections Of the heart are peculiarly
fatal. The mountains look as if fiy,,! Il.
place for all eternity, and the more soils!
and rugged 4 mountain looks ti., more
certain il IS to quake ana mort rzclv 10
split open. The natives are al well e;lu-
Gated AID nearly al thonghtlcss They
are al uUmiu&! Christians, yet chastity
IS bat q y -Ee soEtlmcEt, dad many a
common .,s..l;.sa VIII tell :. lie whe1. the
truth would better serve his purpose.
Life and nroperty are a., safe as any
where on earth, though the laws are not
severe or eX -cuted with any special rigor
This may be due partly II the lack OF
acGuIsiuveness among the common IA
nakas and their general live and let live
feeling. They are the most uusclfish
race on earth. In detached group III
the interior the property of any one is
the property Of another. if that other
needs it badly. 4 foreigner who has he
frlended one is the friend OF al in the
village. The men give him FISH. fruits
flowers and poi. the women give what
they have, and with q certain freedom
which is delicate and charming. I'm
fortunately their kindness may be
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 wonderful variety of fruit
in Honolulu, sach as oranges, lemons.
LINES, melons, bananas, strawberries and
many more Peaches are produced or
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 be indigenous, and therefore less
liable TO blight than any other product
1t was long supposed that the sugar cane
was proof against all blghts, but Of late
years new worm, as il were. has at
tackled It at the root, and the chances
now are that the sugar planters will
have to renew t.,.ir stocks every few
years. it reminds one of Horace Gree
leys plan for getting nd of the Canada
thistle, Cultivate it as d garden plant.
and some derned bug or other will be
sure TO come along and eat it.
Wheat grows IN bat few places on
the islands, little valleys IN the elevated
rlateaus. AS. to moisture the climate
cannot be described in general terms
Old residents say III jocular WAY That
IN one district the rainfall is + fet a
year, in another L inches. and IN Z. tliirl
1-17th of an inch. isaw places whirn .as,
tainly looked as Z rain mad never fallen
on them. IN the best sugar lands i,-,';.-;,-
ton Is necessary, but in many riaces
very little Is required Domestic animals
thrive, as rule, especially horses. or
which the native stock is very hardy and
capable. 1t appears to have been case
of survival of the tttest. All the ten
der ones were run to death at the start
and only the toughest nlareslef posterity.
After all, the great product of the is
lands Is the taro root, from which moi is
made. 1t grows wherever the soil is kept
thoroughly water soaked, and in matted
lunches very much like the calamus or
sweet flag of the middle western states