The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-10-16
WORTH READING
Congressman G. Mondsll
Talks of Hawaii.
The Wyoming Statesman Gives a
Beautiful Word Painting Des-
criptive Of HIS Recon, Visit.

| ceiyed some very interesting informa-
ton concerning the Hawaiian Islands.
Mr.. Mondell having become very ia
miliar with Uncle Sans new posses
sions on his recent trip to them. In
answer TO an interrogation as to his
| opinion OF the IslanUs. he said:
What do l think of the Hawaiian
Islands? / think II there Is land
more delightful, beautiful and enjoy
able, it must be beyond the vale.
cannot imagine a more perfect region
in this mundane sphere. From the
time your steamer, passing Diamond
Head, reveals the rugged outlines of
the mountain ranges OF Oahu. the long
sweeping curve OF the beach OF ~ al
| kiki, with the graceful cocoanut palms
bending dreamily over IL. the sunIit
valleys widening to- the coast and the
verdure-embowered villas in the SUI
burbs OF Honolulu. you are under the
mystic charm and spell OF these sirens
OF the Pcaific; and your stay. be IL
long or brief, is a continual delight. a
novel experience of never tagging in
| terest. The perfect climate: the see
merry, charming. picturesque. sublime:
the people, kindly. courteous. hospi-
journ in these isles of enchantment an
experience never to- be forgotten and
which one cannot but hope to- repeat.
For those whose lives have been spent
| in regions where Mother Earth dis
penses her bounties sparingly and
somewhat grudgingly. where the en-
joyment of the most perfect day may
be clouded by thoughts of the chilling
| blasts TO follow. the first experience in
the tropics is particularly charming.
Wherever the necessary moisture
| is present nature seems riotously eN-
| travagant in the abundance OF her
gifts, and challenges interest and ad-
| miration with the endless variety and
beautiful and novel forms of vegetable
| life; and in Hawaii one enjoys the
beauty and luXuriance OF the tropics
| in climate well nigh perfect: attired
| in the creamy linen and snowy duck
which you have always admired but
| avoided at home through fears of chills
| and attendant ills, constantly famed
| by the balmy but refreshing and ever
| faithful trade winds from of the north
| ocean, you drink in the delights of n
| tropical cline, free from all thoughts
| of oppressive heat and as buoyant as
| under the invigorating influences OF n
| September morning on the Laramie
plains. Dame Nature is as variable in
some respects here. however. as she Is
wont to be elsewhere; to- the windwaTd
| side OF the Islands the ever constant
| trade winds bring the treasures of
| moisture from across the broad Pacific
and waiting them over the ascending
| slopes create a condition OF great HUI
Nudity; not torrential. devastating
downpours. but lightly falling. sim
mering showers, which illustrate what
keeping at a thing in a moderate way
| Will accomplish: for these showers.
which chase each other across the
landscape, with intervening periods OF
| brilliant sunshine. only occasionally
| developing into n vigorous downpour.
succeed in depositing from five tn
| twelve feet OF water per annum. Hav-
ing accomplished this beneficent ser
| vice from the protecting coral reefs to-
the mountain heights which. at an al
| titude of from five to- fourteen thou
| sand feet, form the backbone OF the
| Islands, the clouds pass high over the
| leeward slopes, only occasionally and
| begrudgingly granting the paTched
| hillsides a refreshing shower. gener-
| ally leaving them as dry. parched and
destitute of vegetation as a typical CEN
| trail Wyoming hillside in August
From the luxuriant coffee and sugar
plantations in the Olaa district OF Ha-
| wall, TO the sparsely grassed. cactus
| covered cattle ranches in the kona
| district OF the same Island. is found
| the entire range OF conditions from
| moist luXuriance to- arid poverty, and
] these two points are no further apart
| than Cheyenne and Laramie: to- travel
on an air line from one to- the other
would render necessary the hewing OF
| ones way through miles OF almost i'm
penetrable tropical jungle. where mon
| strous parasitis vines, with their my
Rad arms fold the giant trees in the
| deathlike embrace: where the tree
| fern rears its leafy crown high above
| the tangled stems of wild bananas and
countless forms of gorgeOusly hued un-
dergrowth; up and across the rough
and Jagged beds OF former lava flows
| through thinning vegetation and over
barren rocks ascending the slope oi
Mauna Loa, past its mighty crater and
| Snowclad crest, nearly fifteen thousand
feet above the level of the blue Pacific
which rolls its long swells on either
hand. and thence down the parChed
rugged and scantily grassed slopes or
the lee shore of the Island.
There must be some virtue in the
balmy cline of these Islands to softer
and tone down the stern and auster'
side of human nature; for the shapell
formed and bright-eyed people whI
have occupied them from time imme
mortal are almost universally n soft
spoken. kindly and courteous race
generous to a fault. and the Caucasian
who has adopted as his own the Lane
of the Hawaiian, seems TO have &C
quired to an unusual degree these char
| acteristics of the brown brother:
spirit of kindness. courteousness an'
hospitality pervades the land an,
: even the taciturn and somber Asiati
has yielded to the universal influence
and is suave and courteous. Nowher
on earth is n stranger made to fee
more thoroughly at home. and from
the first hearty aloha OF welcome un
til laden with fragrant and beautiful