The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1904-07-27

IF Waikiki Beach were down on the
Jersey coast it would drive every other
summer resort in the East out of bust
ness. When we got out to the Moana
Hotel for luncheon it was half-past one
and our ship was to sail at three, which
made me perfectly wretched. want
ed to sit there for hours and watch
the beautiful surf play tag with itself
over the silver sand. IT breaks at least
a half-mile from the shore, and then
such a joyous rolling and tumbling you
never saw Even the sunshine takes
part in the sport, and draws beautiful
rainbows in the milk-white spray. The
very palatable dejeuner SPREAD before
us by neat little Japanese walters was
the least interesting thing in all Homo
lulu, so we dispatched it unCeremonlOus-
ly. There was less than an hour left
and we must see the aquarium of
painted fishes" we had heard so much
about. Dear me! what a hurry to be
in. Why did the captain rush away
like that? he told us he was sorry, but
we must make Yokohama in daylight
because we couldn't enter a mined har-
Dor in the night time. Also, we must
be careful about Russian patrol ships
that might be cruising around, ready to
fire across the bow of just such neutral
vessels as ours and confiscate our con-
traband cargo. We were carrying two
hundred and fifty tons of lead to the
japanese at Nagasak to say nothing
Of an immense cargo of railroad iron
which might prove valuable to the Rus
slams. so we must sail at three o'clock
from Honolulu and forego many de-
lights in that fascinating CITY, We
should have had two hours at least TO
Finger in the aquarium. We only had
twenty minutes, but they were twenty
minutes, filled with exclamation points
and interrogation marks.
1t was impossible for such fishes to
have come into existence. painted
fishes" indeed I was disposed to believe
they were. But no. that couldn't be.
No human hand could create such color
ings nor dispose them with such mar
velous skill. Moreover, the shapes in
to which these queer things were made
were such as .obody ever dreamed of In
our part of the world, since they cannot
be moved from their native climate.
They were a nightmare of fishes, ugly
and beautiful, but always indescribable
and always colored in rainbow tints,
which looked iridescent in the clear
blue water through which the sunlight
filtered from above
The sweet May day we spent i'm Ho-
nolulu, envoyage to Japan, is INSOFAR
able in my memory from the night
which preceded it. Seven days before,
We had left San Francisco just in the
nick of time to catch the end of a ter
rife gale off the coast of California and
get a most unpeaceful first impression
of the Pacific Ocean, and for three days
we rolled in a way to make timid hearts
quake with fear. But the fourth day s
sun rose unon an ocean blue as the
sky tha' arched above it, and smooth
as the soft breee that blew up from the
tropics TO play with the tiny white caps
on the soft little waves
-Four days of ideal summer weather
on a beautiful yacht in the Pacific
Ocean is enough to put the bitterest
pessimist in love with life, and it was
almost regretfully that we all began to
consult the folders in the rack at the
foot of the companion-way to find out
what we should see in Honolulu. The
folders promised everything. Folders
always do. 1t takes a special kind or
genius to write them, and the person
employed for this purpose by the Pa
cific steamship comanies and the Homo