Seven Legs Across the Seas: A Printer's Impressions of Many Lands

by Samuel Murray

CHAPTER VII

Returning to Tokyo, from that city we left for Yokohama, where the fourth ship we had traveled on since leaving Manila was making ready to start for Honolulu, 3,400 miles separating the Japanese seaport from the Hawaiian capital.

Sailing from Japan on a Japanese ship, second-class was the best accommodation we could afford, which did not mean anything in the nature of luxurious living. The butter—well, it was not the kind one gets on a farm, and seemed to be made of at least three constituents—olive oil, peanut flour, and colored lard. Twenty foreigners were on the ship, the other passengers being Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos. A request was made of the captain, who was a Britisher, to oil up the table, as it were, when luxuries like catsup and pickles improved things somewhat; but the Oriental butter remained true to its original taste and color.

For the first two days out the ship sailed through the tail of a typhoon, after which summery weather prevailed. A number of Chinese sailors, with collapsible tables, appeared on the deck below, where, in a half-circular space, on each side of a dividing line, were printed the words, "High—Low." On the tables were small teacups, a pair of dice alongside, and small piles of money—silver, gold, bills, and nickel coins of several countries. A half-dozen of these gaming tables did business part of the day, and some all day. This form of gambling is common on most ships sailing in that part of the world.

Nine days out from Yokohama a green island hove in sight—one of the Hawaiian group. The next morning the ship lay to in a blue-water bay; shortly afterwards she was being towed through a channel and was soon alongside a wharf at Honolulu.

One would be led to think from the questioning, ticket examination, passport identification, and other immigration regulations, that the streets of Honolulu were glistening with diamonds or other precious material. Immigration officials take passengers' steamship tickets on their leaving a vessel, and travelers regain them only when about to enter the gangplank on leaving the islands. Thirty days is the longest period allowed for a stop-over. Orientals, however, leave a ship by hundreds.

The most striking feature of the Hawaiian Islands is its climate—perpetual summer. Most of the white people seen were Americans, but whites are much in the minority. The street-car system is good, the cars modern, and some large and roomy. No color line is drawn, and Asiatics are seen at every turn. While Chinese and Japanese merchants control the business in less prominent streets, American business houses dominate the business center. Some of the stores are good, although prices are higher than on the mainland, as the United States is termed.

Ice and bananas were the cheapest things quoted, the former selling at half a cent a pound and bananas at 5 cents a dozen. Milk, on the other hand, costs from 10 to 12 cents a quart, and butter was quoted at 40 cents a pound. Beef, mutton, pork and veal sold at 22 to 26 cents a pound. Turkey and chicken, live weight, sold at 35 to 40 cents a pound. Fresh eggs brought from 50 to 75 cents a dozen. Potatoes are sold by the pound, and cost 4 cents. At 60 pounds to the bushel, potatoes cost $2.40. A 50-pound sack of good flour sells at $1.65 to $1.75. Coal sells at $12 a ton, but little is used, as summer prevails the year round. A cord of wood costs $14. Gas is $1.50 a thousand feet, and electric light 17 cents a thousand watts. A furnished room can be rented for $2 a week, however, and popular priced restaurant food can be had for a dollar a day. Street-car fare is 5 cents. House rent ranges in price from $20 a month upward. A house renting for $30 a month includes ground containing cocoanut palms and other attractive tropical growths. Wages paid are about the same as those on the mainland. Street laborers, mainly Portuguese and Russians, are very well paid, receiving from $1.60 to $2 a day.

The percentage of motor-cars to population is very high. There are about 1,200 in Honolulu, and, as the population is 50,000, it works out an average of one motor-car to every 400 inhabitants.

"Don't Spit" signs, printed in big type, are posted in rooms and at public places, suggesting that lung trouble is prevalent. Honolulu is similar to Los Angeles, Cal., in this respect, as many wealthy people with that malady make their home in this pleasant climate, which may account in a measure for the many motor-cars seen.

With the exception of some business buildings, the later-built of these being attractive structures, Honolulu is built of wood. The lumber comes from the Pacific Coast, and, as the price for 1,000 feet ranges from $37 upward, it is needless to add that it costs a good sum to erect substantial buildings in the Hawaiian Islands. A great many of the homes, however, like others in warm climates, offer a very inviting appearance, as verandas are built all around, and, if two or more stories in height, each floor has a porch attached. Flowering vines grow over these, and in the home space is often found the poinciana regia, a crimson-flowering tree, as gorgeous in color as the flambeau growing in Durban, South Africa. Cocoanut palms and bamboo also grow within the grounds, while the streets may be studded with the trunks and arched with the long fronds of a different specie of attractive palm tree. Together with flowers, pineapples, banyan and mango trees, one has a setting nearly as good as that offered in the metropolis of Natal, between which and Honolulu there is a marked similarity.

The temperature varies only about 30 degrees the year round. During the summer the thermometer seldom rises higher than 90 degrees in the shade, and rarely drops below 50 degrees during the winter. Wherever the cocoanut palms are seen growing, one knows there will be no cold weather. While the sun is hot during the day, one can sleep under bed clothing at night. Nairobi, British-East Africa, and Entebbe, Uganda, were other places visited where the nights were cool, though a hot sun shone during the day.

As in New Zealand, there are said to be no snakes nor poisonous plants. Bees and yellow jackets, however, buzz about all day. Mosquitos were unknown in the group before 1826, when a Mexican whaling ship, it is said, started a "colony."

Sugar-cane growing is the most prosperous industry here, notwithstanding that it requires more care, cultivation and expense than in other countries. Irrigation and fertilization are necessary to insure crops in some parts of the group. All the soil is of volcanic origin.

The wages paid sugar plantation workers are from $18 to $26 a month, with free house rent, cooking fuel, and medical attendance. In addition to wages, a bonus is given to workers who remain to the end of the season. The homes are built of lumber, rest on posts from two to four feet above ground, and are whitewashed. We believe many white persons in the United States would quickly accept an offer of work at the wages paid, comforts included.

Pineapple growing, which holds second place to the sugar industry, is a new venture; and those familiar with the nature of the soil, and the droughts, blights and pests that have to be combatted have not full faith in the permanency of the pineapple industry here. Corn would do well if a bug did not eat the heart out of the stalk when young; cotton also, but for a pest; fruit would be abundant if trees were not attacked by the Mediterranean or some other fly, and cattle thrive as long as feed and water are available; but, owing to frequent droughts, animals die on some of the islands nearly every year; Irish potatoes would yield a good crop if a bug did not eat the vines—in short, pests are so numerous that the government has sent scientists to many parts of the world to seek parasitic insects that will destroy those which now devastate the crops. On some islands where wells had been bored for watering the cattle, it turned out so salty that the animals would not drink it.

The streets were full of "Thank you, ma'am." In some instances one side of a street contained a walk and the other side the Oriental form of sidewalk, native soil. One might walk about Honolulu for a day without seeing more than three or four policemen. In such a mixed population, with bumpty-bump streets the rule, and hop-step-and-jump sidewalks numerous, it is safe to presume the city management might be improved on. But a splendid municipal feature is the patrol wagon. This "Black Maria" is an artistically painted, swift-geared, smooth-running, attractively screened automobile. The smart appearance of the "Maria" is enough to tempt poor people to commit an offense against the law in order to get a ride in the handsome machine.

No beggars were seen, which indicates there is little distress, neither are there government almshouses. Refuges for old people to end their days have been provided, however, maintained by public-spirited citizens. In very few parts of the world will one find as comfortable homes as those occupied by the laboring class of Honolulu.

Save for music from the picking of strings of a guitar or banjo and sounds of song coming from groups of Kanakas as they pass along the streets in the evening, there is little native life left. With few exceptions they wear European clothes, including shoes. Like all natives living on the islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Kanaka is not much given to work. When an ambitious feeling does come over him he then wants to work, but when these moods are absent he cannot be depended on. Like the negro, there is little push in him, and it is said that there is not one successful business Kanaka in the group. Japanese and Chinese have taken advantage of openings that Kanakas should have accepted. When there is an easy job in sight, however, Kanakas want to secure it, a majority of territorial positions being filled by natives. There is little initiative in them, and one is safe in asserting that it requires two to do one man's work. Withal, the Kanaka, like other tribes of the Polynesian race, is a very agreeable, peaceable, good-hearted, care-free person.

Panorama of Honolulu, Hawaii.

A few of the native customs are still maintained, notably wearing garlands, and, by way of show, a grass skirt may be seen worn by women. A garland of white flowers encircles the head, and one of red, lavender, yellow, or other color is worn about the neck. In front, under the neck garland, a clump of orange leaves or some other growth is worn. Their hair is straight, features regular, complexion swarthy, and they are of good build. The mausoleums of the Kanaka kings rest in a cemetery a short distance from Honolulu.

High, pretty hills rise behind the metropolis to the shore on the other side, and the view of the city obtained from some of these, stretching out at the base and beyond to the turquoise blue sea, with light green fields of sugar-cane to the right extending to Pearl Harbor, and Diamond Head to the left; beautiful verdure and attractive homes in between, together with the seductiveness of the balmy air and tropical growth, holds one in Hawaii when better success might be achieved in a more rugged clime.

Among the attractions of Honolulu is its aquarium. Some of the beautifully colored fish swimming about the glass tanks look more like pretty birds than fish. There is also a good museum; a beach, where natives, standing on boards, disport themselves while the breakers are rolling in; parks scattered about the city, in one of which a native band plays every evening; forts, which may be visited, located close to the city, and a trip around Oahu Island is a very pleasant one.

I was offered work at good wages, but as the time at my disposal could be better utilized in familiarizing myself with the country, and having no desire to remain, energy was reserved until the mainland was reached. Two English dailies, four Japanese, one Chinese, and a semi-weekly Portuguese newspaper are published in Honolulu.

The Hawaiian Islands were discovered by Captain James Cook, the noted navigator, in 1778, who had planted the English flag in Botany Bay, near Sydney, Australia, seven years earlier, and who claimed Tasmania and New Zealand for England; he also discovered the Tongan group. The Kanaka, true to Polynesian custom, welcomed the captain and his crew on their first visit. A year later, however, upon the return of the skipper, he got in trouble with the natives, who killed him. A monument is erected to the memory of the great navigator on the Island of Hawaii.

David Kalakaua was the last of the native kings; he died in San Francisco, Cal., in 1891, his sister, Liliuokalani, being proclaimed Queen. Two years later, in 1893, the Queen was deposed, when the islands virtually became an American possession. In 1898 it became a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as its first governor. What was once the royal palace of the rulers of Hawaii is now the capital building. Liliuokalani lived for years in Honolulu in a white-painted house, built in beautiful grounds.

Eight islands compose the group, namely, Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, and Hawaii, the latter, from which the territory takes its name, having an area of 4,015 square miles; the other seven combined have not the area of Hawaii, the eight totalling 6,449 square miles. Captain James Cook first gave the name Sandwich Islands—now obsolete—to the group.

Leaving Honolulu for Kilauea crater, soon we rounded Diamond Head, and some time later Molokai, on which the territorial leprosy colony is located, appeared on our left. A portion of this island is utilized for stock grazing purposes, but the grass was white from drought, and cattle were dying for want of water. Maui was next reached, where what should have proved a nice land view also was blighted by the drought. Later we sailed alongside Hawaii, its vegetation offering a more inviting scene than those left behind. A number of stops were made during the journey, passengers leaving and others boarding the vessel. Most of the white travelers were Americans. After several landings in Hawaii, Hilo was reached, where all passengers left the ship. Hilo, next in size to Honolulu, has a population of 7,000, mostly of color. A large tonnage of sugar is shipped from this port, where the harbor, the best in the group, has been improved by a good breakwater.

From Hilo a start was made for Kilauea crater, which may be reached by train or motor-car. The train was taken, and it proved even slower than the ones traveled on during the short trips from Manila. Some excuse might be offered for the Hilo train, as the route is up-grade, while the railways in Luzon are as flat as a table. Finally the train "stuck" at a steep grade, and the conductor, who was a Kanaka, did not know what to do to get it started. He was "waiting for orders from Hilo," he said. The train was later detached, however, and, when the parts had been taken over the humpback and linked together again, it crawled slowly through large sugar plantations, past tree ferns, and other attractive landscape scenes, until we reached Glenwood, the end of the railway line, where a mail motor car was ready to take passengers to the hotel, nine miles beyond. An elevation of 4,000 feet had been traveled from Hilo to the object of our mission. Many passengers had wended their way to this place, and it seemed odd, after having been in black countries for three years, to find every one at the hotel locking the door to his room at midday. In some countries passed through the room doors were not closed even at night.

Looking down upon and over a depression in the earth, bastioned by deep walls of rocks on each side, 7¾ miles in circumference and containing an area of 4¼ square miles, there spreads out for three miles a fissured, hillocked, corrugated, gnarled, steam-emitting surface of slate-colored and black lava. This is the first view one obtains of Kilauea crater. The scene is very unusual, and interest is sharpened to a keen edge. Later a journey is taken over that strange lava wake, when the leaven from the fire-boiling underworld suggested the tremendous force contained below the sphere on which man treads. We had looked at the teeming volumes of water being ejected from geysers in Yellowstone Park; but water washes away and will eventually become purified as the stream it joins leaves the geyser zone. But here the lake-like, deep, black earth deposit remains, although, like the water from the geysers, for a time it had been a moving stream also. An acre of land area with similar deposit would attract scientists from great distances, but here there are over four square miles of that subterranean deposit. One obtains a side view, as it were, of a portion of the world turned inside out by nature's force at Kilauea crater. There was no soil, no rock, no trees—the substance under, before, all about us was weirdly foreign to what is natural to the upper crust of the earth and to the sky above. Further on the fissures became wider, the hillocks higher, and the substance warm. Still yet ahead steam—or white smoke—is issuing from the cracks in the alien deposit, and when these are reached canny, hissing, and gurgling sounds from underneath are heard. From every side appears varied formations, molded while the lava was changing from liquid to solid matter. Some of these resemble mummies, great coils of rope, petrified trees, columns of iron, and other shapes. Beyond appears a large volume of smoke, reminding one of a great geyser basin on a calm, early morning. Approaching, the air becomes sulphur-laden, a hand is put to the nostrils, and natural breathing for the time is withheld, to prevent one from choking from the netherworld fumes. The wind now whirls the noxious odors away, and a still further advance finds one on the rim of a deep, yawning maw. Unearthly fumes again envelop the onlooker, but a friendly breeze again wafts the poisonous vapor to other parts, when the awful vent in Kilauea's deep, leaden crust reappears. Boom! comes from below, and smoke envelops the gaping chasm. A draught of wind sweeps the smoke from the pit of the fiery abyss, and——A black and red stream of fire is seen swirling across the strange floor below! It is Halemaumau, the greatest active volcano in the world, termed "the safety valve of the Pacific." The volcano is about a thousand feet in circumference, and the fire swirls several hundred feet below the lava-crusted rim. How many persons have had the rare privilege of looking into an active volcano? There it was—Halemaumau, in Kilauea crater.

Locating to the windward of the volcano, the demon-like river of fire was, for the time being, holding revelry in quiet volcano fashion—but volcanic fashion. Boom! came from below, as if from ordnance in action nearby, and fiery rocks were hurled against the lava-scaled sides. Ah! A clear stream of liquid fire now runs across the base as a river. Then sulphurous smoke envelops all. There (after the smoke has lifted) now runs what seems like a river of thick, black dirt; but small explosions are taking place. A red seam next shows through the volcanic dross. A clear red river of fire——Boom! The sides of the crater, like icicles—flushed by the rays of a scarlet sun—on a rock-faced coast, formed from a surging sea, are gorgeous with dripping lava. Were a black panel implanted across a morning aurora—that is how Halemaumau's strange river looks now. The current runs but one way and comes from the same side of the fomenting maw. Where does the lava stream come from? Into what outlet does it empty? Boom! Boom! The burning depths seem to rise on a platform of fire. Listen to the splash as the red, upheaved rocks fall back into the furious maelstrom! What a pretty, clear stream of carmine liquid! It has passed away, and the black, dross-like course has again taken the red flow's place.

There was no afterglow in the west, and the shades of evening were soon enveloped in the scroll of night. See Halemaumau now! How grand in the darkness! All about is flaming red. There is the same unspecked fiery river, flowing in the same direction as before. Half black now, and half red, but coming from the same invisible source and becoming lost in the invisible outlet. A clear, red stream again, but appearing further away. The liquid fire seems to have been sucked far below! An abnormal expansion of the axis on which the world revolves takes place. Boom! Boom! Boom! The tremendous force from contraction ejects flaming substance from the nether-world high up against the sides, and from Halemaumau's flare the sky above is aglow—an esplanade of fire spanning the space between the infernal abyss and the vault of heaven!

The last stop has been reached on the long journey. From Honolulu, after visiting Kilauea crater, I continued to San Francisco on an American ship, the fifth vessel traveled on since leaving Manila. After a stay of several weeks in San Francisco, in order to earn a portion of the money necessary to secure railway passage to New York, and borrowing $50, a start was made for the Atlantic seaboard, stopping off a week at Washington, D. C. New York was reached May 1, 1913, having left Gotham nearly three years and three months earlier.

In order to point out how cheaply one may travel, if economy be practiced, this statement is offered: From the time of leaving New York, February 9, 1910, until my return to New York, May 1, 1913, I had been away 1,176 days. I had for the journey $1,350. My earnings in South Africa amounted to $2,400, in San Francisco $60, in Washington, D. C., $15, which, with the $50 borrowed, makes a total of $3,875 for the entire time consumed by the tour. By dividing $3,875 by the number of days—1,176—an average expense for everything of about $3.30 a day is the result. The distance traveled was 73,689 miles, and the itinerary and accompanying map indicate the course from place to place. No wrecks or accidents were encountered—no such experience having taken place in all my journeyings. I have often thought I traveled under a lucky star.

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