The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-24
HEALTH AND CLIMATE.

The question asked by a correspon-
dent if the Hawaiian climate is bad FOR
women may be answered in a way by
the statement that there is no Hawaii
an climate Each geographical sub
division of the group has its own ell
mate; i'm some places. owing to attitude,
bracing and crisp one; in another
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 ana
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
still 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-
llectable mountain.
] The consensus of opinion among doc
tors seems to be that Honolulu has
spoiled the emollient qualities in its
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
,f,,ly Of hui ri m n
swamp or on an island in a swamp.
Every doctor would advise against
such a course or call it suicidal; yet
what is the difference, hygienically, be-
tween building city in 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
a boundless contiguity of marsh where
the frog croaks and the poisonous mists
arise every warm night. There is a
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 loca
enervation. The prescription is one
the most women would like to take
So is a trip to Paris or to the fiords o.
. | Norway. But every woman canno
f. pack up when the doctor orders and q
: even to California. Many women can
!. not bear the expense; some canno
. leave young children or invalid rela
: tives; others do not want to turn thei
: husbands over to a boarding hous
!, annually or biennially while they g
u away "for months" Those who ca
- take the California cure as a regula
:. thing may not be one in a hundred
: What is to be done for the multitud
=, of stay-at-homes?
The man who will build a commo
dious hotel with cottages annexed o
I, the top of Tantalus or on some near-b
elevation, make it's rates REASONABLE
and access easy and cheap will hel
., solve the problem; the next man VIII
- will put a hotel of the same characte
=, on the slopes of Haleakala, 5000 fee
above sea level, will also confer boo
q on enervated islanders and after tha
IN the man who makes the snow line owe
a, on Hawaii accessible to health seeker
% will round out the sum of hygien
achievement in hotel building. TT
point is that these Islands, properl
opened up, would give one all the cl
matte change that ill-heaIth might r,
ed quire. Feeling badly from humid low
y land heats man or woman coul
p simply ride up hill until the right cl
Mt mate was found. Nothing could I
id simpler or. with money spent on roa(
IN and hotels, more practicable.