The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-15

Detroit's returned pilgrims from Ha-
wall tell some interesting stories 81
life over there. Said w. H. McGregor,
Who acted as correspondent for the
Tribune and Tribune:
Our party was composed in the
main, of men along in life, of indie
pendent fortunes, and while there were
a few younger business men on board,
who made little fun, in the main we
composed dignified body.
One who has not seen the islands
can form no adequate idea of their
loneliness at this season, when every
semi tropical plant is bursting into
bloom, and the coaconut trees drop a
ripe nut every day of the year. Is it
any wonder that the natives do not
care to work for living? Nature does
all the work. II is possible to live there
on sum that seems ridiculous to a
white man, but the natives enjoy life.
While civilization has it's delights,
doubt if. for all our improvements, we
are really any happier than the people
of the islands. who live on little and
take no heed of the morrow Life with
them seems one long holiday, and a
cloud never appears on the horizon.
ITS an expensive place for tourists,
however, and $40 day is an exceed
ingly modest estimate. Hack hire
costs several dollars a day alone, and
this, with other necessary things, eats
up money fast An American could
not rent a house there fit to live in for
much less than $50 month, and even
then he'd feel he was cheated. The no
tells charge big prices.
'The Pacific ocean is usually called
peaceful, but old travellers in our party
who had crossed the Atlantic many
times without succumbing to seasick-
ness, found themselves Frustrated by
the Pacific. One man kept in his state
room nearly all the time, declaring
that if ne went on deck he'd throw
himself into the sea. He didn't care TO
live, he said, and others were similar
ly afflicted.
I'VE tried ali sorts of cures. but the
best thing we struck was ginger ale,
good and plenty.
"One of the queer results is that it
seems to upset all your past habits.
One of our party, who was such an in
veterate tobacco-chewer even using
the weed before breakfast, found that
after he had been seasick ali desire for
tobacco was gone, and he declared he'd
break off forever Another man raw
enously ate onions. although for years
before the very smell of Bermudas
made him sick. Seasickness. in his
case, has turned him into a confirmed
lover Of onions. How long it will last
there is no telling. but the way he
devoured them after recovery seemed
to indicate a lively future.
They do not talk much about the
leper colony there, although we passed
in full view of the lepers island. 1t is
looked upon as an unfortunate thing
and is kept as quiet as possible. To
my mind, it is a blood disease, and APP
pears after several generations among
the descendants. There has recently
been introduced a new system of quar-
antine and reporting, which may posi-
bly, aid in stamping out the dreadful
aff1ictton.
There is not much chance for white
mans labor on the islands, certainly
not for merchants. Japs, Chinese and
Portuguese do all that for a price so
low that our American laboring man
could not make his salt The only
chance is for people with money as
even the clerkships are monopolized
by the sons of the rich American or
English proprietors of the sugar plan
tations.