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."