Evening star., 1901-11-13
FROM HONoLULUIo o MANILA
LETTER DESCRIPTIVE OF A RECENT
SEA JOURNEY.
Miss Mabel Kent Writes of Scenes
and Incidents I'm Two
Cities,

Miss Mabel T. Kent Of this city has writ
ten letter descriptive of her recent trip
to Manila on the transport Meade. The let
ter is dated at the latter place, September
23. After noting an uneventful voyage to
Honolulu Miss Kent says:
Honolulu Is a beautiful place. 1t is quite
hot during the day, but the nights are cool
and pleasant. 1t is very mountainous. the
mountains being chiefly of volcanic nature
Some are heavily wooded, others bare OF
verdure. showing plainly the lava forma-
ton. There are some beautiful drives, and
l saw here some Of the finest mountain
scenery I ever gazed upon In my life. The
tropical iuxurfance Is wonderful. Even In
Cuba never saw the like.
THE size and variety Of palms you cannot
imagine. You must see them to realize 1t.
The great banyan tree with its roots hang
ing from the spreading branches, is Won
der The Towering trees and bushes are
legion. They use the hibiscus for hedges,
and they are brilliant with great red and
pink blossoms. On one drive I saw a
whole hedge of night blooming cereus. and
the air was heavy with the fragrance Of
the immense flowers
THE natives are called Kanakas, and are
largely civilized. Indeed, Honolulu is too
civilized for me. l wanted to see more
of the primitive life. There Is one large
ience and many others which are more
than comfortable. There are lovely houses
surrounded by fine grounds. There is an
electric railway which takes one mp on a
mountain from which there is a glorious
view. The native women wear a garment
called holaku, but that Is only Kanaka
for Mother Hubbard. They wear them
everywhere. Sunday night went to ma
tive church Presbyterian). and when the
choir stood up to sing noticed that all the
women wore Mother Hubbards. 1t GER
tainly was comical-
They have a pretty custom here of
wearing wreaths made out of the petals of
flowers of all coiors; these are wound
around the hats Of both men and women,
and also over the shoulders. They string
beads and tiny shells and wear them as
necklaces. The natives look like mixture
of Chinese, Indian and negro, with high
cheekbones, slanting eyes, thick lips and
coal black straight hair. They vary in
color from coal black to light mulatto.
There are fascinating small boys, studies
in bronze, vino will dive for nickel thrown
from the wharf and catch it before it sinks
to the bottom.
Encounter Bad Weather,
after leaving Honolulu We struck some
bad weather. 1t rained about ten times
day, and every day, and we were most un-
comfortable. Our state rooms were down
stairs, and we could not open our port
holes, as the waves would dash in. We had
no salon to repair to, so we just sat on
deck and let it rain. The only good thing
about the rain was that it kept the air
cool. Then there came some pleasant
weather, and we all enjoyed life again, but
that was too good to last. and a typhoon
came along. We were lucky to strike only
the edge Of it, but that was enough. The
waves dashed clear over the upper deck, and
there were times when we could not see the
front of the steamer for the binding spray.
Fortunately, l was not i'll. so rather en-
1oyed the storm, as 1t was a grand sight.
1t lasted for thirty hours, and after that
we reached our haven. 1t Is a long. long
trip. and nothing to vary the monotony-
no land in sight for seventeen days, not
even sail on the horizon My heart fails
me whenever 1 think of taking it over
again, even If 1t Is to go home.
Manila is great place, a curious mix
ture of civilization and primitive life and
the sights one sees are extremely interest
Of the good hotels, and our rooms are large
and airy. We have elaborate tiled floor
and an electric fan and light (Which. by
the way, goes out promptly at II o'clock.
l have one window in my room, but 1t Is
very large. The upper half is of glass, but
the lower half Is only a grating. We are
on the ground floor and the pavement is
directly outside. and any number of yenders
of dry goods. with their packs on their
backs yell at me through the grating ap-
peaiing to me to buy and when / say, No,
no, vamos.' they grin and yell the louder.
Then l turn my back on them and they
finally say, 'goo-by.' They never omit this
farewell.
But 1 must tell you about my bed.
There are no springs or mattress. but a
piece of cane. like a cane-seated chair, is
stretched tightly over the top; over this a
piece Of mating and over this a sheet
nothing more. My one pillow is stuffed
with copblestones (or maybe it is only
grayeD. Draped around the bed at the TOP
or the four high posts, Is a deep fringe Of
lace, and over this some gaudy drapery
flnafiy the MOSQUITO net, the most Inn
are something terrible, both day and night
Verify have need of my Spanish The
servants In the hotel do not speak one
word of English, and If I did not know
The meals are not very good, but we eet
enough, for which We are thankful Eyery-
thing is served separately on large dinner
plates. Saucers are unknown.
The Walled City.
I'VE are in the walled city, This Mace
Is a collection of turns There is the
Walled City. then Manila, Malata. Ermtta.
and it is quite mixing. The old gray wall
covered with moss is most picturesque.
There are fascinating gateways through
1t. and arched bridges over the moat. all
gray with time.
Yesterday l saw a chIld's funeral Tho
casket was sky blue and gold; the top was
not nat as We use them, but built up on
layers There were no carriages, Just a
few people on foot: The casket was car
ried on the shoulders Of four boys. but
there was full brass band along, and 1t
was playing lively Jig tune. I saw an
other funeral of grown person. There
were four horses attached to the hearse.
with great plumes on them, each one led
by man dressed in continental costume
The hearse was gilt, with gay angels on
each corner and one in the center, and the
casket was solid gilt eIaborately carved
The people will spend their last cent on a
funeral, and as flowers are scarce large
wreaths are made Of artificial ones and kept
In the family and used over and over again
saw moving the other day and a boy
was carrying the family funeral wreath, an
immense one.
Every one rides here-no one thinks of
walking-carriage hire is very cheap. There
are two kinds Of carriages, one you enter
at the side over the wheel. It Is called
carometa. The other you enter from the
back and It Is called keeiiz. They are all
drawn by little bits Of horses ho.rdi, 10 r,-a.