Evening star., 1900-07-31
CLIMATE AND POPULATION.
Letter Giving Brief Description of the
Hawaiian Islands.

Asss
Mr.. George c. l.. Goodman who with
Mrs. Goodman, Is making tour of the
territory of Hawaii, recently wrote letter
to a friend Of his in Anacostla, from which
the following. descriptive of the island eli
mate and population. Is taken:
The passage here was uneventful and
became quite monotonous. The vessels of
these Pacific steamship companies are not
as large as the Atlantic liners and do not
make as fast time. On the morning of the
seventh day we came into the harbor OF
Honolulu having seen but one vessel after
leaving the California coast
The islands are not, l used to think
all near each other, so to be seen all
from one point but from this place to the
podt of Hilo. on the island of Hawaii, the
distance is little over 200 miles, and they
are nearly all out of sight of each other.
There are boats running from this place to
all the inhabited islands, at regular inter-
Vals, generally once every week or ten days.
The climate is, stated in the old
school books. torrid although we have
thought that If h were substituted for it
1t would come nearer defining the situation.
The climate Is very humid. and to any one
who has lived always in northern lati-
tude 1t Is very enervating. We have noticed
several striking conditions that are pecu-
liar to this latitude, Of which l will men
tion a few.
The speed and course Of our ship was
such that we lost in longitude, or time,
about twenty-five minutes every twenty
four hours, which was taken off every
morning at o'clock AS we ncared the
Tropic of Cancer and passed under the YER
teal rays Of the sun it was curious to note
that at noon we cast shadow while a
few days later what shadow We made was
toward the south. Honolulu is in about 20
north latitude and 151 west longitude, and
II II were not for the influence of the trade
VI NJ he. oil pt,II Ir
Il have never seen such a cosmopolitan
population as We find here. The warp |
might say, Is the native colored man. who
mas skin like the African, but has straight
hair. The woof of this human fabric might
be made up Of the Chinese the .Japanese
Portuguese. Italians and the whites-Amer-
ican. English, German and French. l be-
lieve they claim that the natives will con-
stitute one-half OF all, and asked the gen.
tleman who is making the United States
census here TO give me an estimate of the
total population OF the islands He puts 1t
at 10000, with but 10000 whites all told
THE most important. and l might saw all
important, product here Is sugar without
which the islands would have little COM
mercial importance. Last year the product
OF sugar was valued at $50 900 900 and
from the increased acreage planted in cane
they estimate this amount will be doubled
In two years.
Something like $4,000 worth of bananas
We're shipped from here in 1899 and the
plague interfered somewhat. / understand
with the expectation of this product Co
coanuts and other tropical fruits are grown
and many beautiful palms of several va
rieties are to be seen.
THE people generally think. ara
pleased with annexation. OF course the de-
posed queen and her friends are not
pleased. The influence of Uncle Samuel is
being felt already, and an impetus has been
given to all branches of trade here and
Honolulu will in few years be a pro-
gressve American city
There is no building material found on
the Islands except lava rock that is used
for building stone. All lumber, brick. lime
cement and other material for building is
imported, and nearly all comes from our
western coast. Business in the building line
is good. and l have had splendid oppor-
tunity presented to take charge of a new
lumber yard just starting here and also to
put money into the business, but l am
afraid OF the climate, and we are planning
to leave here the last of the month"