Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-03-18
s H:::' Arleigh's s E:::'

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fact that most of this brightness and
color did not come to these islands
| until the missionaries from America
nearly hundred years ago, made
| their slow and toilsome way around
Cape Horn to this present Paradise
of the Pacific. E:..=s
II suppose | shall be called upon to
prove the remarkable statement that
the present color scheme of Hawaii
came with the missionaries, or was
! introduced by them. An aged and
/ honePed missionary the son of a
missionary who was born in Honolulu
tells me that so years ago Honolulu
was Yindswept village. with the red
dust of the soil flying in choking
clouds along every street; that thera
were very few flowers or trees or
shrubs. and that the general appear
anee of the mud-dried brick and
matched cottages and native huts was
sember and depressing, *>..s
For miles we rode together in q
trolley car, past magnificent estates
ffonted by smooth, yelyetY lawns and
brilliant flaWer gardens; past miles
of hibiscus hedges, glorious with their
enormous red flowers peeping through
the glossy green; past great avenues
of stately royal palms and beneath the
shade of great algaroba, poineiana
and bahyan trees. All these said
my friend are foreign trees; none of
them was here when was hoy lie
peered eagerly To right and left IT,
find a native tree indigenous to the
soil There, there, he said, that lit
tie palm is a native, but the swift
trolley car swept by before | could
get my eye on IT, 'Four-fifths of all
the trees and plants, If not nine-tenths
of all, he went on to say, have been
introduced from abroad, and most Of
them by the missionaries or their de
seeldants. Some have come from
California, some from Brazil, some
from the West Indies and some from
the East Indies. --..... .
ut is the same with the fruits. Pa
payas, bTeadffuit, bananas and co
nuts the missionaries found here; but
the gorgeous displays of the fruit
stalls in gold and purple. and orange
and crimson, representing score nf
delicious fruits, were unknown for
years. ~, -.
And, as to the people, instead Of
the gorgeous mixture OF costumes Or
Chinese and japanese, hilipinos and
Portuguese, Koreans, Americans ami
Ha; siIdfs, the latter constituted the
whole population, and as they wore
no clothing 10 speak OF, rather SOM
Der brown must have been the pre-
dominating human color.
Here Is the graphic account Whisil
one of the early missionaries gave OF
her first glimpse of Honolulu as tie
ship approached the harb0r:
March 30, 1928 The island OF
Oahu, our Ultima Thule, looms up in
the distance, displaying gray and red
rocky hills unrelieyed by a single
shade of green, forbidding enough in
aspect ....s
Please give me the glass for a
moment There, see the town OF
Honolulu, a mass of brown huts, look,
ing precisely like so many haystacks
in the country; not one white cot
tage. no church spire, not garden
or a tree 10 be seen, save the grove
of coconuts.' 49,. -. ~
Now, what DO the thousands Of tray
elers see, who every year on mighty
ships steam into the harbor of Homo
lulu? A beautiful city, embowered in
trees of scores Of varieties; city Of
splendid schools, Of churches that
would DO credit 70 any great Betropo
lis; and above al, . city Of such love
Iy and hospitabie homes as challenge
any town ii ne World OF five times
its size 70 eo61l
-Such IS ne city founded By the
misIionarles s. years 80. Here their
inlI1EIte an1 II11 q their descend
ants + SIN rre1c0in1nt 81 mzny re-
spec 0rI &c ..I1I rbzneee This