The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-21
WAYS OF LEAVING TOWN.

WAYS OF LEAVING TOWN.
Now, 1 do not wish to be understood
at all as sneering at Hilo. / do like
the place. l think it is prettier than
Honolulu, and l can imagine some as
poets of life under which it would be
vastly more desirable. 1t would not
seem to be enough farther south to be
so much more tropical as it is. So far
as appearances go, indeed, Hilo might
be twenty degrees nearer the equator
than this is-not because it is so much
warmer, although it is very much
warmer, as because all the surround
ings of the place have a more tropi-
cal aspect, and the people dress for the
tropics and live, the better class of
them, in houses more adapted to tropi-
cal life.
And it has the recommendation that
you can get away from it easily, into
a climate that is altogether cooler and
more desirable than that of the town
itself. The two great mountains that
reach into the clouds above the town
give every variety of climate that a
man may want, and there is at the
Volcano House a stopping place afford
ing all the advantage of a first-class
mountain resort to Hilo people. 1t is
a wonder, indeed that they do not
avail themselves of the advantage
more generally. But here comes in
that same old habit of rest. That, you
know, gets to be state of mind, like
the work maitland is very much more
difficult to shake off.
Also. there is the Kinau as a means
of getting away, if you want to get
away. You generally do, after you
have seen Rainbow Falls, which is a.
most strikingly beautiful thing in the
early morning, and after you nave
taken a dip at Cocoanut Island. What
a pity it is that there is not the coun-
terpart of Cocoanut Island somewhere
out Waikiki way, say? 1t would be the
last touch needed to make Honolulu's
beach the most beautiful in the world.
THE OLD KINAU.
But, as I said before, there IS the
Kinau as means of getting away
from Hilo. The Kinau is Hilo insti-
tuition, much more than a Honolulu
one-the Kinau and Admiral Beckley.
Of fancy picture one of these to your
ina gination without the other. The
Kinau does not roll so much as she
used to do. I had been hearing this
ever since I came to Honolulu this
last time, and I am ready now to bear
witness to the truth of it. The Kinau
does not roll nearly so much as she
used to do She is, in fact. very good
sea boat-and a good sea boat is
thing that is needed among the choppy
channels that lie between these is
lands.
When I left Hilo on the Kinau the
sea outside was rough, with a strong
wind from the southwest, and long
swell that would have made the XII
nau of old days dip her rail into the
water at every roll. She but rolled
decently in the sea. enough to show
that she felt it-and after she had
passed Laupahoehoe, and the wind
had shifted further astern of her, she
hardly felt the sea at all. And that
was a gratifying thing because, even
if one is not inclined to be seasick,
one does not greatly relish being
bumped about in a small steamer. The
Kinau was well behaved, and her table
service was good. You want little
more, at sea, than that. But If you
have pleasant ships company in ad-
dition, and officers who are mined to
be obliging, why then travel becomes a
real pleasure, as it should be. Else,
why go away from home. where your
pleasures are a matter of every day
study, and your routine is such as you
make it yourself, with any kind of
luck.
THE WINDWARD COAST.
The way of the Kinau. leaving Hilo,
lies along the windward coast of Ha-
waii-and I do not think that any land
on earth presents a more beautiful
seward view. Mile after mile, the
sugar plantations lie green along the