The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-07-24
HEALTH AND CLIMATE.

The question asked by a correspon-
ldent II the Hawaiian climate is bad for
women may be answered in way by
the statement that there Is no Hawaii
an climate. Each geographical sub
division Of the group has its own ell
Innate In some places, owing to altitude,
u braClng and crisp one; In another a
climate of actual snow and Ice; In an
other the climate of the sub-tropics
and In still another the dank and MAS
matte heats of the true tropics. Even
the difference between one part and
another of Honolulu Is easily percepti-
| BILE. There are women and men too
who fall sick on the plains and thrive
| in the Nuuanu valley and would thrive
| stll better on the heights of Tantalus.
And speaking of Tantalus It is true
that five hundred miles OF California
latitude, counting north from the from
tier of Lower California, do not make
so much difference in climate as lies
between Fort street and the nearby
and easily accessible crest OF that de-
lectable mountain.
The consensus of opinion among doc
tors seems to be that Honolulu has
spoiled the emollient qualities In it's
climate by insanitation; but some of
them hold that when cesspools are
abolished and the sewer operated, we
shall recover our physical tone. Per-
haps. But the remark of one doctor
that Honolulu air Is miasmatic by
night points to another and more Sc
rious source of danger and that Is the
semicircle OF flooded land In the en-
brace of which Honolulans make their
homes. Think of building a city in a
swamp or on an island In a swamp.
Every doctor would advise against
such a course or call II suicidal yet
what is the difference, hygienically, be-
tween building city in n swamp and
building a swamp about city? This
last Is what we have done in Honolulu.
We have deliberately surrendered our
suburbs in many directions to the rice
field and the taro patch; have created
boundless contIguity of marsh where
the frog croaks and the poisonous mists
arise every warm night. There is
smell oftentimes on King street at
three o'clock in the morning when the
wind Is southerly, that reminds one of
the Bayou Teche country in Louisiana
or the everglades of the Florida PENN
sula and which prompts the hope that
the authorities will. before we all get
malaria, adopt the Savannah plan and
prohibit the flooding of land for agri- |
cultural purposes at any place within
three miles from city limits.
We note the advice of one doctor |
that women should go to the Coast |
every year or two for a few months |
and recover from the effects of local |
enervation. The prescription is one .
the most women would like to take
So Is a trip to Paris or to the hords of .
Norway But every woman cannot .
pack up when the doctor orders and go
even to California. Many women can
not bear the expense some cannot
leave young children or invalid rela-
tives; Others do not want to turn their
husbands over to boarding house
annually or blennially while they go
away FOR months" Those who can
take the California cure as a regular
thing may not be one in a hundred.
What is to be done for the multitude
IF stay-at- homes?
The man who win build a Commo-
ilous hotel with cottages annexed on
the top of Tantalus or on some nearby
elevation. make its rates reasonable
ard access easy and cheap will help
solve the problem the next man who
viii put hotel OF the same character
on the slopes Of IIaleakala 5000 feet
above sea level, win also confer a boon
On eneryated Islanders and after that
The man who makes the snow line over
1n Hawaii accessible to health seekers
VIII round out the sum Of hyglenic
achievement in hotel building. The
point Is that these Islands, properly
opened up, would give one all the eli
matte change that ill-health might re-
lulre, Feeling badly from humid low
and heats man or woman could
imply ride up hin until the right cIi-
nate was found, Nothing could be
mpler or, with money spent on roads
md hotels, more practicable,