The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-03-08
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Sunshine and Shadows of Hawaii
! A Birdseye View of Americas Blight
ed Paradise is the title of a remark.
| able article in the New York Times
signed "Haole. The "blight'' re
ferred to is the great colony of Asi
atics. In its literary style the article
is the work Of master hand, but it's
conclusions about the permanence of
the Asiatic population here seem rather
forced in view of the prospects that
the Chinese will die out and the Japa-
nese be absorbed by the Pacific coast
and by Japan's new colonies. But here
is the article:
HONOLULU, H. l., Feb. Ito the
senslblllties OF the average American
who has been born and bred ON the
Atlantic Slope, and whose travels have
never before carried him beyond the
limits of the original thirteen States,
there Is apt to come severe shock
when he lands for the first time upon
native land and differing from it in
every way in which two countries can
ditfer-in climate, scenery, flora, and
people-and tries to convince himself
that he is still treading American soil.
1t is of little assistance to him IN
his attempt at mental reconciliation
that he recognizes the bit of bunting
which fiutters over the Custom House,
the army post, and the naval station as
kindred with that which flung him a
parting farewell as he sailed out of the
Golden Gate week before. So abso-
lutely-so incomprehensibly- different
is every scene which presents itself to
his view, from what he has come from
observation and teaching to regard as
American, that he is inclined to won
der if the display of tropical splendor
before him is not one of those mirages
of which the traveller is often the
dupe, and the starry flag which folds
and futters in the rays of the tropic
sun an image of the brain. He looks
in vain for the tall and graceful elm,
the stately pine, and wide-spreading
maple with its frost painted foliage,
only to find their places usurped by the
jaunty cocoanut palm, rivaling the
elm and the pine in. height, but substi
tuting for their dignity a rakishness
of bearing uniquely its own; by the
trim and graceful royal palm, the
feathery algaroba, and the prolific
banyan. And those huge mounds of
earth-defunct volcanoes-which rise
with their barren slopes and ragged
crests about the serene and placid
harbor of Honolulu, inclosing it's gentle
loneliness like a vase of lilies sur
rounded by ring of broken bowls
what have they to do with the cold
austerity of Lis native landscape9 And
the throng of gayly clad Polynesians,
draped with garlands of flowers and
wearing upon their huge, dark faces
the signs of eternal good nature and
Incidence, which crowds upon the
docks and greets the incoming vessel
with hearty Aloha what has it to
do with American citizenship
Yet, incongruous as Hawaiian scenery
and American appear to the traveller |
at first sight, so gentle, so lovely, so
fairylike is the scene which presents
itself to him on his first introduction !
to the islands, that it would be the |
apotheosis of antiimperialism in an |
American breast to wish any change |
in the political conditions which ar
ford the Paradise of the Pacific a |
place in our growing museum of terri |
torial exhibits.
A bright sun was beating down up
on the deck of our vessel, but the heat |
Of its rays was tempered by the cool |
breezes which blew down from the in
land valleys of Oahu. Before us lay
Honolulu, a picture of unruffled ease
and quiet, basking in it's rays. A clus-
Ter of stone and brick buildings, all of
which could be gathered into many a
New York business block with room
% spare, betrayed the only sign of in
iustry to be noticed, and the air about
,hese bore little resemblance to the
atmosphere of the States.
And vet this humble apology for Amer
can initiative seemed oddly out of
place in the midst of the forest of
quaint little roofs, imbedded in masses
If shining green, which surrounded 1t
IN all sides. stretching out to the right
md to the left till it melted away
nto still greener fields of rice and
.ane. and extending back till it reach
d the chain of volcanic mountains
which shuts in the crescent-shaped
lain upon which the city stands. In
here was the same appearance of quiet
eelusion of shady GOODNESS, In the lit
Ie detached houses with their gardens
# orange and palm trees and giant
eafed banana plants, all joined togeth-
r and oyerrun by strange creepers and
ines. There were no towering chin
levs. pouring forth their volumes of
moke. beacons of toll and sweat; no
huge and bare-walled factories to dis
urb the dream of Incidence; no rattle
# trains. no shrieking of whistles, no
,uffing of the iron steed of commerce.
The little narrow gauge road which
ucireles the island of Oahu and does
n irregular business, creeps silently
nto distant purIieu of the city and
here stops as if half ashamed of its
udacitv and grateful for this bit OF
clearance.