The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-01-04

HAwA1aN HorEL, HoNoLuLu, Nov 81
At last Ny head spins, my walk il
unsteady as Jack Tar's when "hali seas
over" but IL il not a dream. | am
seated on lanai gazing at the gorgeous
Punch Bowl that kisses a deep blue sky
fieckel with airy clouds. Birds welcome
me with songs | never heard before and
a soft, languid air bids me take life
calmly, in spite of the mosquitoes
To attain this much desired end
my apartment has been fortified
against the only venomous beast
on the island. Wire screens ill
every opening and look upon beauti-
full landscape through fine wire netting.
My lanai is so charming IA TO already
induce dolce far niente badly suited to
work and that Punchbowl is the most
! seductive | ever beheld. To relieve
your curiosity let me explain that lanai
means balcony and my Punchbowl is
an extinct volcano that rises above
Honolulu.
Don't ask me how like the town or
what it looks like. don't know. and
as everybody tells me to 'go slow" like
a good republican. shall heed the ma.
jority. / feel as if were in the United
States, with an inexplicable difference.
The first object my eyes fell upon this
/ morning as left my stateroom was our
good ship Bennington, Of the blessed
white squadron. The language spoken
by those who boarded the Mariposa was
downright yankee English. The brown.
faced youth who drove me from the
steamer to this hotel spoke native
English and took American money. All
who have called were either born in New
England or born here of New England
| parents. / seek in vain for natives.
The boy who met me at the carria. g
door is Portuguese; the clerks of the
hotel are American; the manager is
French, the chamberlain is Chinese; the
walters belong to the celestial Kingdom
SO does the cook. To meet the Hawaiian
| must hunt Tor him in the nearest APP
proach to the Tower of Babel now pos.
sible.
TIE distance from San Francisco tc
Honolulu ia 2l00 miles, one third les,
than the distance from New York to
Liverpool; yet the journey across the
Atlantic is made in six days, while sever
days are literally consumed between the
Golden Gate and these Islands. Why
Because travel, competition and sub
sides put spurs into those splendid At
laptic "greyhounds" and send them fly
ing across the sea. Comparatively littl,
travel, no competition and no subsidies
make so vast difference in iourneyinp
on this side of the globe as to excite
wonder. What is the matter with con.
gress that it is so fili to national inter
! qst1 Rut for Mr. Snr.rkals tbara vynttla
not be one steamer running directly be
tween San Francisco and Honolulu. OF
the several steamers touching here the
Australia alone makes Honolulu hel
goal. The others go on to Sydney
or China or Japan, and are few and fal
between. Weeks often pass without
mails either to or from America, nor IL
any effort made to lessen these awful
gaps. The Australia, for example
steamed out of this harbor twelve hour
before the Mariposa dropped anchor.
Our ship could have been at the pie
fifteen hours earlier hal she burned NOR,
coal. Coal costs money. The steamship
company receives no dividend at pres
ent, SO the captain obeys orders, and W,
who are seasick remain 50 twelve or NOR,
hours longer than necessary because ou
intelligent congress doesn't care iii
whether we have any commerce or fas
mails. whether thousands OF American
colonists communicate with their oil,
home, whether American tourists ar
wretched or happy. Because the Aus
tralia left yesterday and we arrived to
day, twelve days must pass before cai
send word and that am alive. NJ
cable, no steamers, no anything! l an
planted on the only civilized part Of tn
globe cut off from the news of the world
Whyp Because the dominant powe
here is American, and congress is a
blind to the future as an owl at noon
How long will this Grass stupidity pre-
vail? When | go abroad am ashamed
OF my country. KATE FIELD.