HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
In 1898, having nothing to detain me and knowing that my son Arthur could conduct my business better than I could, I decided to take an extensive tour around the world, taking as much time as I pleased in visiting the interior of countries to study the people in their natural condition, both physically and mentally.
When our boat passed through the Golden Gate into the open Pacific a wild storm was whistling down the coast from Alaska, which caused our steamer to roll and plunge worse than anything I have ever since experienced. For five days neither sun or stars appeared, and when we got our reckoning we were five hundred miles out of our course.
When we neared the Hawaiian Islands we saw whales, schools of pretty flying fish, sharks and porpoises, while large sea birds came near. Then, when we felt our cheeks fanned by the soft summer breeze, we forgot Columbia's wild Boreas and got our silver pieces, so that when the natives swam from shore to meet us we could throw the money into the deep sea, which they would dive for and usually bring up, even though they sometimes swam more than fifty feet to the spot where it went down.
We found the mid-Pacific Islands all in bloom. I stayed there five weeks, in which time I visited Kilanea Volcano on the Hawaiian Island and all the other islands, of which I will only mention my trip to Man Eating Rock, which, to me, was the most wonderful.