The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-18
HELLO IS GROWING FAT
Interesting Letter From a
Man With Company @.
NO COMPLAINT TO MAKE
The Popular E~x-Alderman Is Regimental
Clerk and Escapes the Tedium of
Routine Du~ties-Scenes
in Honolulu.

: Hetllg, VINO went 10 the war as d pm
vate in Company g of Butte. has been
received by Mr.. Heilig's sister, Mrs
David Hastings. The letter is from
Honolulu and IS written on the letter
head Of the Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION Of that city. The latter fact
is interesting only I'm hat the style OF
the heading Is very much American
and is the regulation heading found on
the correspondence table In y. NJ. {.
A.. rooms I'm this country. Unlike many
of his comrades. Mr.. Heilig has no COM
plant to make against either the quail
ity or quantity of food furnished him.
ON the contrary, he says he Is Owl
fat on his keeping. The popular eN-
/ alderman is evidently In good favor
with the officers Of the regiment, as ne
makes mention of being the regimental
clerk and escapes the tedium of routine
soldier duty. The letter, which is full
of interesting chat, reads:
Honolulu. n. l., July 30, 1S9S.-Dear
Nina: We arrived here on Thursday
morning after a nice trip OF nine days.
The weather on the first night was a
little windy and the sea was rough and
a thousand soldiers got seasick. l had
"a hours of NAL de mer. but only
throwing up once. After that and ever
since / nave been extremely well-in
fact. / feel better han l have for years,
. anu liilE tilbl hiI6 Il NtASiNN ihSPNA 49,
with only a shirt, pants, hat and shoes
on (no underwear at alb. l weighed l52
pounds. / weighed 139 in Helena, SO you
need not fear that | am either sick or
starved. As usual. quite a number
kick on both quantity and quallty OF
grub, but as for me, i have had all l
want to eat and good at that. Yesterday
the whole regiment. and the $40 Califor-
mia recruits that we brought along In
our ship, marched up to the palace ana
were given an excellent dinner under
the trees-all We could eat and drink
and cigars to smoke; in fact. there was
enough left on the tables when we got
UP to feed another regiment. We had
about the same as one would get at
home and besides oranges bananas,
p~ineapples, etc. right from the trees.
/ have gathered here bananas, cocoa
nuts. ang mangroves, ~papaplnoes,
guavas and all kinds of strange fruits
and vegetables with u~npronouncable
names. This is the most beautiful u
try one could imagine and 1T Is never
very hot nor cold. Once since thernom-
eters have been used IL has been toler-
ably ~cold-about five years ago the
thermometer got down to the extreme
low point of 81 degrees It., all of six
degrees below the temperate point. 1t
has been between 80 and IS degrees ever
since we arrived and the inhabitants
tell me that Is a fair specimen of the
temperature all the year around. Amer
leans here say hat II becomes monoto-
nous after a while to have no seasons
at all. Drunkenness here is almost UNI
known. l have not seen any one under
the influence of liquor, either native,
Asiatic or white, since | have been here;
In fact, there are only Il saloons on the
entire island. and they do not seem to
make expenses, although they charge
% cents "A drink.
Paddy Ryan. the p~ugilist, is running
a saloon here and he says there is Moth
ing IN it, as he has to pay $3.50 duty per
gallon on his liquor and $1,000 per year
license, and nobdy drinks to amount
10 anything. He says the missionaries
run the island and keep it down. A
good thing, | think. .
II am taking things easy. l still act
for about an hour a day as regimental
clerk and have the alance OF the time
to see and study up the country. The
boys are all now out in the hot sun
drilling and | am up here at the y. NJ.
c. \. rooms, in a cool room full OF
books and papers. bath rooms, etc, ana
everything free. Yesterday afternoon,
after the big feast, | and Alex Last
went out TO the Bernice 7. Bishop mu-
scum and spent almost the entire aft
ernoon looking at the curiosities there.
after which we sat on the thick sward
and contemplated the beauties OF nature
I'm the tropics. While thus occupied we
were accosted by a kanaka otherwise
native) student of a military college
close by, who insisted on us eating sup
per with them at the school, which we
did. They gave us, among other things,
some OF their native food-poi-but 10
tell the truth l did not like IL. II Is
made from a plant, the name OF which
| forget, but looks look n water lily
which is dried and ground into a coarse
....1 ,xAg,h IL rpplaI into a thick nnEfp
and eaten with "a spoon. The nearest
thing ] can liken II TO is a thin oat-
meal mush, although ground inner. that
has had all the taste taken out OF 1t,
then cooked and allowed to stand tol
about a week and gotten a little sour.
7 don't like il.
The native Hawaiians, or kanakas
are a dark. copper-colored race, with
, straight black hair. high cheek bones
, Neg Perce-a black, piercing eye. and
seem To be a very intelligent race. Near,
ly all here seem to be well educated
/, and speak good English, with a very
. peculiar brogue which / cannot describe
Their native language Is very musical
= nearly entirely composed of broad
vowel sounds and liquid consonants
They are extremely polite and friendly
In fact, IL seems they cannot do to-
Z much for one and you can hear thei
r aloha everywhere. This Is their wore
n OF welcome. their how d you do how
Y the folks. good morning good night,
o good bye in fact. every English salu
tation existent combined in the on
word aloha
We do not know how long we WI
stay here. but very likely 5 or 10 days
j. and ] could stay here all the time.
guess you are tired OF this scratch ant
: | will try to write again before we leaN
q this garden of Eden and start on tn
q 2l-day sail across the balance of the Pa
cihc. We can't buy American stamp
here and Hawaiian postage is > cents
T" and we are instructed to mail withou
postage"
:, Rides = Century a Day.
v Tcrra Haute. Ind. Aus. E.-Tsddy Ed