The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-01
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TRIP TO HAWAII
BY F. ]. Hart in St. Mary's Collegian.
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Six long, lazy days on the Pacific
Mail liner Mongolia formed a most
blissful prelude to visit to the Ha-
waiian Islands. Nary a care can in
trude upon the diversions of the ocean
goer; but worryf just one. Did you,
gentle reader, on your first real voyage,
escape the dread thought of seasick-
ness7 Neither did I, and the careful
injunetions of solieitous and well-mean-
ing friends, hurled at me on San Fran
disco s mail were foolishly needed.
fBe sure to drink a glass of beer be-
fore you are we'll out to sea- was
about the only sensible, practicable
piece of advice I got; but it was quite
superhuous, for the environment of the
Mongolia's Smoking Hall" thrusts
the thought upon one. However, after
healthy nights sleep began to re-
legate all ideas of seasiekness to the
regions of the unknOwable.
With the Mongolia we'll out to sea
and blowing through the swells with
no more ado than a Key Route ferry
n BOAT makes over ehoppy bay, settled
4<dOwn in steamer chair and began
to live. The ocean was true to his, her
or its name, and we glided along day
after day to the Crossroads of the Pa
eife.
Reluctant indeed was my leave-tak-
ing of the Mongolia, for, in those few
days, / grew to know her and goodly
bit of her human luggage. The social
game on liner is hardly to be criti-
cized. for appearance are generally
packed in the hold with the clothes of
the traveller and the very sight of the
ocean seems to inspire good nature and
loosen the tongue. A eoterie of collie
gians aboard the Mongolia livened
things judieiously and many a sight
SCARED old world-rover told of lands
far and away. Hawaii and its pros
poets, however, overruled the reluc-
tanee I felt at the thought of leaving
old Mongolia.
The first bit of land to be seen is
Molokai, the world-famous leper island.
And Molokai at sunrise, with its tradi-
tiOns flying through the mind, makes
the first glimpse of terra firm a trebly
attractive panorama. 1 thought of
Father Damien, that man of men, who
4 "shut with his own hands the door of
4 his own sepulchre, - whose life-story
shall llnger in many minds when her
aided heroes are forgotten. And this
sunny happy looking little island is
MolOkail This, the Gland of living
death!' Withal, it is beautiful, but
its story!-Let US "about faee' and
peer at the isle of Maui, with its rugged
majestic Haleakala, the largest volcanic
crater on the face of earth, dubbed
the "Palace of the Sun, rising unhesi-
tatingly two miles above the sea. Maui
is surely an island of variety,-its era
ter. its great eane-fields, its jungle-like
valleys and its dull, dead desert slopes
justlfying the adjective.
Onward veered the Mongolia until
Oahu. the island on which Honolulu is
situated. is sighted. Koko Head and
Waikiki Beach. its glittering surf, tall
palms and fine hotels, rolls by and gives
place TO Honolulu s huddled harbor.
The pilot, prosperous looking old
''sea-dog.' climbed aboard and helped
the captain in quite nice exhibition of
seamanship. while a couple of debO-
nair quarantine officers Intruded upon
our first-impression glances at the
nearing city.
First impressions are sacred thoughts,
fool words and poorer writing-so ii
not trouble YOU with mine. However,
GIVE" doeked, with bothersome exact
ness, amid craning of necks to and from
the main deck of the Mongolia. A vast
yala-like crowd swarmed the wharf
people of many nations were there and
a great pleasing majority were happy
faced and generally interested
7 spotted nv relatives, called good
hives to the Mongolia and her cargo,
and stumbled eagerly down the gang
plank. Family troubles started and we
wendell our way through the cosmo-
4politan gathering My eyes drank n
7 the surroundings and-I was in Hawaii
and there I'd stick till welcome wore
out.
During the next few days / saw all
the oddities and eonformities of Homo
lulu and finally climaxed very, very
interesting week with an auto drive
around the island of Oahu. Truly,
saw it all from the eane-felds and
sugar-mills. IN all their vastness, to the
inadequate little grass hut in which the
Hawaiian cAnquerOr, Kamehameha
spent his first night on Oahu.
We crawled through. or rather over