The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-11


ing brightly embroidered silk trousers
and a dull green brocaded coat made
after the simple fashion Of the Jacket
of a pair of pajamas. She had jade
pieces set in gold about her neck. With
her were two Of the tiniest, cleanest'
most gayly bedecked little Chinese
babies ever seen Off the sides of tea
Jar. Each of them held a huge ships
biscuit in his chubby fist, feeding
crumbs TO the goldfish. The woman
knew a few words of English and 1
invited myself to the party. The little
ones shared their provender with me.
and cackled softly when the voracious
fish would rise almost out Of the wa
ter to snap at the falling crumbs. No
one ever thinks of a Chinaman as
laughing in enjoyment of such simple
scenes. yet three who came in were
reduced to audible chuckling over the
play Of the children and my effort to
establish lingual communication with
the mother.
Honolulu has about $4,000 inhab-
itants, of whom about only 1000 are
white. The others are Japanese. Chi
nese, Hawaiians, Portuguese, Koreans,
Porto Ricans, and various permuta-
tons and combinations thereof. There
are few negroes in the city, but l
did not see one of them. Local and
long-distance telephone wires are
strung all about the city; there is
wireless communication with the other
islands of the group and cable con-
nection with the United States.
HONOLULU NEWSPAPERS.
Three excellent daily newspapers are
printed in English. They receive
cable report of one hundred words
daily from the mainland fifty words
in the morning and fifty words in the
afternoon. One day the principal item
in this daily news report was this
striking piece of intelligence:
Madrid, May 1.-THE young Prince
of Astur'ias is a blonde.
A CLEAN CITY.
Honolulu is a clean city. The sur
geon-general off the United States
army has declared it the second health
lest post at which regular troops are
stationed. The city has learned by
experience the high cost it must pay
in lives for uncleanliness. Diseases of
the torrid zone are swift and terrible
in their ravages and easily communi-
Gated. AL of the ports of these is
lands have suffered from infections
brought by ships. They have dearly
purchased the knowledge of the value
and necessity OF sanitation.
Life is not the salyage competition
here that II is at home. The stream
of affairs moves drowsily between
pleasant banks. No one let's business
interfere with pleasure. The people
take plenty of time to divert them
selves as one golden sunlit day and
soft silvery night succeeds another. |
Out at Waikiki they have wonderful
curved crescent of hard white beach
with blue seas booming in ceaseless1y. |
Every day in the year the surf is full |
Of bathers. The little children living |
in the cottages along the beach front |
spend their entire days in the milk |
warm water, instead of on their green |
lawns. BY the time they are six they |
move about in the water with the I'M !
conscious skill of fishes.
SURF RIItNG.
At Waikiki there is practised a sport |
which can be found only in the south |
Z Inns IL SuI1 Iil4liSs 1L3S
may be done in an outrigger canoe or |
an a surf board. One paddles far out |
beyond the line of breakers to where |
the great combers begin to form and |
uprear their lcrested heads. Then seiz- |
ing the right moment the canoe is
driven furiously towards the shore |
until it is caught up on the crest of a /
wave and driven shoreward with a |
dizzying velocity. 1t is a ride that |
makes a toboggan slide seem almost |
tame. With the surf boards the Ka- |
naka boys spring upright as soon as
they are caught up by the waves, and |
come sliding inshore apparently stand |
ing on the crest Of the wave, like some |
young water god, their olive-hued |
bodies glistening with spray and shin |
ing in the sun.
GAY, BUT NOT FAST"
Honolulu has the reputation of being |
a gay place. It is, but without being
fast In the old days it welcomed
every newcomer warmly and did not
inquire too closely about his or her
credentials. Steamer days are still
marked with a red ring On the call
endar. All the tide of travel between
the Pacific Coast and the Far East and
Australia halts for a day and a night
at Honolulu. both going out and COM
ing back again. There is always dane
ing at the hotels in the evening when
a steamer comes in. There are lights
and music, soft laughter and bright
eyes to entertain the visitor, even
though he come for but a day, for
these are a pleasure loving people, and
much given to a generous hospitality.