The evening times., 1899-11-09

HONOLULU, Oct 17.-Honolulu is a
| town where. outside the business quar-
! Ter. the houses stand in their own
! gardens. shaded by magnificent trees
and adorned by a multitude of Towering or
, decorative shrubs. 1t seems almost incred-
! ible that, of all this beauty, next to none is
! native to the island. When Cook and VAN
! couyer visited the group. the native set
tiement on Oahu was at Waikiki between
the slopes of Diamond Head and the sea.
More than thirty years later the settlement
of Honolulu was begun, determined by the
presence of the harbor. Contemporary
prints show a bare slope without shrub
berry, and supporting only a few cocoanut
| trees. Here the missionaries started their
schools and churches, and here the Govern
ment, following commerce, was finally es-
tablished. Later, chiefly through the INTEL
ligent efforts of the late DR.. Hillebrand the
tropics of the world were searched for use
ful and ornamental trees and shrubs. Hun
; dreds were imported. and the result is what
we see. The botanist VINO knew them all
would have a tolerable idea of the best part
of the arborael fora of the tropics, and it
, is perhaps not wonderful that have found
few of the residents who could supply the
name and origin of the greater number
The most conspicuous and finest shade tree
Is the so-called "monkey-pod' (Pithecool-
bium), which resembles in its form the
grand oaks of California, but bears an ex-
auisite fringed blossom of delicate pink
and white. Its leaves are deciduous in win
ter.
Many striking Trees.
By far the most striking tree is the
Royal Ponciana, with magnificent dense
punches Of most brilliant scarlet flowers,
which remain for months in all their glory.
The stately Barringtonia is also here, and
anything more delicate than its bioss SONS
which exhibit crown, four inches across,
OF fine white stamens with golden anthers
is difficult to imagine. Its curious octo-
hedral fruit is covered with polished cor
tex, and the grated kernel is used by the
Micronesian natives to bring to the sur
face. stupefied, the fish of ponds into which
it is thrown. The royal palm is very COM
mon, and the COCO date. and sago PAINS
abundant Toward the suburbs the algaro-
ba finds a means of living in the rockiest
and most arid stretches, and the gloomy
needles Of the ironwood (Casuarina) are
not uncommon.
The banana is everywhere. the bread
are not rare. OF smaller growth are the
Theyetia. with its golden trumpets and
fruity perfume; multitude of varieties of
Gamma, croton and caladium, with beauti-
fully varied leaves; and hedges OF re-
splendent hibiscus, scarlet, crimson. and
white, or pink and white phyllanthus and
oleander. Few herbaceous Towering plants
are seen, but the pretty native custom of
stringing the petals of the tree flowers in.o
,-go dc hirha
up in part for the absence of the others.
One must not omit to notice various
sources Of perfume better known to most
Of US by the names on perfumeIs' bottles
than rs actual flowers. The night-bloom-
ing cereus grows in thickets along some of
the stone walls; frangipani. yang -ylang.
and gardenia appear in half the gardens.
All this beauty is dependent upon irri-
cation; six months drought would wreck
almost the whole of it. The water is de-
rived from artesian wells, streams, or Up
land reservoirs, all of which depend on
the mountain rainfall The dryness of
the earth is surprising There seems to
be hardly any capillary circulation of
moisture. and / am told plants will wilt
and die within two feet of trench fell
OF water; the irrigation must be applied
directly to the ground about the roots.
The Flora Exotic.
II the fora is almost wholly exotic the
fauna, limited as it is, is not less so. In
the weeks l have passed here / have not
seen a native bird. The impudent Eng
lish sparrow has arrived from Australia,
| and a Japanese brown and white bird, like
a robin. enormously known here as the
mynah. is quite common. The common
dove is abundant, but to see native bird
of any kind one must climb the mountains.
A very shy little lizard occasionally darts
from one covert TO another, and is the
only indigenous land-vertebrate strangers
are likely to see. There is fish market
here where very beautiful sea fish may
often be seen, and the ancient native fish
ponds still exist as valuable property, but
the fish are common to other tropical re-
gions. To cap the climax the mosquitoes
are said to have been imported, and q cir
cumstantial story is told of some Nan.
tucket whaleman who. to revenge himself
for some slight, emptied barrels of water
from Mexico, containing mosquito-larvae
into one OF the fresh water basins The
probability of this story being true is
somewhat diminished by the fact that, in
the forties. an analogous story was told
Herman Melville. to account for the mos
quitoes at Tahiti.
The population of Honolulu is truly cos
mopolitan Chinese. Japanese Hawaiians
portuguese, ana most other nations
contributing TO 1t. 1t was with feel
ing of unwonted satisfaction that 1 have
watched the passersby on the crowded
street. The brown people move about with
a cheerful self-confidence, whatever their
race, accosting each other, and the whites
with an easy bearing indicative Of recipro-
cal respect
And hitherto there has been no color
line here. Conduct, not complexion, has
governed the standing of the individuals.
If man was able. honest, well bred, his
fellow-citizens have not questioned his
tint. The last valedictorian of Oahu Col
lege was a young Chinese student who stood
at the head of his class. Coeducation has
brought mutual appreciation and respect
among the different races. l speak, or
course, of the public and business sides
of life; in private, as everywhere else in
the world, birds of feather flock together.
The reluctance with which the native Ha-
waiian has accepted annexation Is un-
doubtedly due chiefly 10 his fear that
the brutal race prejudices which have dis
graced the United States so often before
the world, may find Iodgment here.
An Interesting Race.
To temporary sojourner the Hawaiians
present much of interest. Some of their
virtues and graces appeal to all the world:
the mixture of blood SO common here has
produced types of unusual beauty, and fine
athletic figures abound But a certain in