The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-07-10
FIRST PEEP INTO TOWN
\ NEW CONFER ENTHUsEs OVER
HONOLULU.
lie Writes His Friends Through the
Newark Call, Giving Them Full
and Graphic Account.

Samuel j. Macdonald, formerly Of
Newark and now of Honolulu, writes
this of his first glimpse of Honolulu to
the Newark Sunday Call:
The voyager who approachers for the
first time, over sunny tropical seas
and under cloudless skies. the island
of Oahu is almost certain to conceive
gloomy view of his prospective resi-
dence upon that island. The coast
which he first sees is the dreariest
and most forbidding. Huge hills of
lava rock rise sheer and steep from
the waves, which idly lap their base
for the tropical Pacific is as languid
and lazy as the South Sea native him
self. Little or no vegetation is visible,
and the rocky hills are as barren and
bleak-if that word may be employed
in the tropics-as any coast which the
adventurous voyager may behold.
But when he rounds Diamond Head
the voyager, astonishcd and dazzled
| by the scene spreading before him,
I learns that his first view of the island
is like the first appearance of some
tropical fruits-forbidding and repel-
liant without, but succulent and deli
cious within. Rounding Diamond
Head well out to sea, to escape the
hidden reefs, he finds himself at the
entrance of broad and beautiful bay,
enclosed by bold and austere head
cred in luXuriant tropical foliage, sits
the city of Honolulu. Slowly picking
her way up very narrow channel, de-
fined by frequent buoys on either side,
the steamer finally reaches her wharf,
passing under the guns of the form
liable Naniwa, the Japanese cruiser,
an old fashioned United States man
of-war, and the spick and span United
States cruiser Philadelphia. The
stranger also sees for the first time
the sight, common in all tropical har-
bors, of native boys swimming along,
side the vessel and diving through the
translucent waters for silver coins
tossed to them by the gazing passen-
gers. They never fail to secure the
coin, and the fortunate diver, reach
ing the surface, holds it aloft in one
hand, deposits it in his capacious
mouth and is ready for the next.
Upon the wharf hundreds of the res
idents await the steamer and arriving
friends-the men clad in white duck,
white canvas shoes and white straw
hats, and the women in thin silks and
other appropriate fabrics, which it re-
quires a feminine pen to describe, but
positive assurance that he is at last
in tropical land. Yet the weather IS
not hot-at least to one accustomed
to summer heat in the Middle States.
The thermometer is only about 20 de-
grees, delightful fresh breeze blows
down through the inland valleys, and
there is scarcely any of the humidity
which makes our summer days so sui
try and oppressive.
The customs officers seem to be SOL
icitous about only two things-fre-
arms and opium. Having neither of
these, the passengers baggage is quick
ly passed, the transfer company re-
lieves him of it's further care and he
these the passengers baggage is quick
full customs inspectors at the gates.
Here multitude of first-class hacks
each with excellent horses and an en-
ceedingly polite and intelligent driver,
awaits him. And he finds, to his great
establishment, perhaps, the most per-
feet and moderate priced hack system
within his ken. Fifteen cents per pas
senger is the charge within certain
limits, and twenty-five cents anywhere
within the corporate limits-whch in
clude, as he will afterward find, no
inconsiderable area.
The drive to the Hawaiian Hotel
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