The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-04-29
A LETTER FROM
FAR OFF HAWAII
Something About the Island and Its
inhabitants.
VISIT TO AN ACTIVE VOLCANO
rhe Vegetation is Gorgeous and Beau
tii'ul and the Roads Almost Fer
fcct-Gcneral Eagan's Cof-
fee Plantations.

The following letter from Dr. Allen }.
Black. written from Hawaii and pub
lfsned in the Radford Advance, will prove
interesting TO his friends here, and is tllteti
with information about that new posses
sion of ours:
Il S. Army Transport '.Leelanau.
HILo. HAWAII. March 3, 1909.
The island of Hawaii is the largest one
of the Hawaiian Isles, its area being equal
in extent to all the other islands. Hiio
is THE port; it is second in Importance to
Honolulu. The harbor of Hilo, while deep
is not protected and all vessels lying there
keep up steam, in order to put TO sea- IN
tts2e event of storm otherwise they
would be driven on the lava rocks ashore
Iilo has a population of $500, the island
30 0Oc Chinese, apanese, Portuguese ana
Nanakas comprise the body of the popula-
ton. English. Americans, Scotch. 10 the
number of about 1000 dwell hereahouts
they are mainly engaged in sugar planting
and business and professional! pursuit
The kanakas are about like the negroes
in color, are very llzy and nave had very
little TO do with the Development OF the
vast resources Of the islands. Their Ian
alphabet twelve letters, all of the words
eI.d in vowels and the sytlabies rarely
contain over two letters, the pronunc a
ton is easy to acquire, consequently the
language is easy to learn.
The Chinese, japanese and Portuguese
were imported under contract to work on
the sugar plantations. The Chinese and
Japs have retained their native customs
and are fun of interest 10 one from any
section of the States The Jap women car
ry their babies strapped on their backs
and the Titles ones are particularly cute
little objects, as are the Chinese babies
One feels like buying one 10 play with for
q <iy and throwing 1t away. aley are
sufficiently plentiful for this purpose.
The white population IS particularly con-
genial and has been especially kind to us.
Dancing. driving, sailing and dining has
been my Dot for nthe ten days I've been
here. We were rendered a reception on
Friday last March 2i, al which there were
fully two hundred people and attractive
people at that The reception was held
at Hilo Hotel and ended with a dance in
i the big dining-room I kept in the game
to the finish, but can't say that overen-
ioyed the dance, because the m2Gter of
. taking $50 pounds around in this climate
is like hard work. The temperature rec
ords for Hiio for the past ten years show
81 as the hlSfisSt and 95 as the EpNSSt, Ior
place on the 20th degree it is not as
| warm a place as one might suppose.
! SNOW-CAPrED MOUNTAIN.
In full view of our ship stands Mamma
] Nea. mountain 1850 feet high, capped
! with snow. So You see a lifelong resi-
! dence in the tropics doesn't always mean
/ that the people are ignorant as to what
I; snow is. There are many points OF In
terest about here and I've been TO see
] everything.
! The great sight. however, was a "trip to
! the active volcano Kiianea. Our party
| left IIfIo= at oclock on Monday morning
| last In Il stage for the volcano The
| distance is 81 miles over a perfect road
! one over which horses easily trotted
! four-ffftl,s of the distance. The road was
constructed by THE Government and evi-
1 IDENTITY the work fell into the hands ar
| honest contractor. For - miles the roslG
/ passed Through the Olaa Sugar Cos
/ p,.operty, a gigantic affair, which controls
/ $1,000 acres of sugar land. The jungle
and vegetation along the road were gor-
/ geous in color and lbeauty-a species OF
/ ferns which grows from 10 to 50 feet his
4 added much to the scene.
i About five miles from toe volcano We
passed General Easan's fthe beef-man's
/ coffee Tlantatio His son, Cha riss. ca ns
out and invited US into the bungalow Ins