We occupied the remainder of the limited time at our disposal in walking and driving around the town and neighbourhood.
The date and other palms, india-rubber and cocoanut trees, tree ferns, guavas, and other kinds of tropical vegetation flourish here in great abundance. Flowers of the most brilliant colours grow everywhere, and the houses of the better classes seem perfect little paradises, with numerous jets of water flying. The grass is delightfully green and beautiful, and great dragon-flies flit about in all directions. Here and there we came across a group of little black-eyed, brown-faced, merry children, looking shyly at the white strangers, and rushing wildly along the streets. We also met numbers of natives on horseback, dressed in splendid colours—red, blue, yellow, and green—all mixed, or in masses of one or more of these delicate hues. “Will you ride,” said one. “Not to-day,” I said, “perhaps to-morrow.” “That no good,” replied he, “for steamer sails tomorrow!” and off he went at a gallop. They are sharp, sprightly fellows, very handsome, wonderfully lithe and active, and have dark, flashing eyes.
The women of the labouring class are very stately looking, and walk with a dignity and grace a duchess might envy. Their clothing is not of a very extensive character, consisting apparently of one long loose robe, gathered neatly around the neck and wrists, with gay-coloured ribbons, and suggesting the idea that seven years would be an unnecessary time for a Honolulu girl to be bound to learn dressmaking.
Meeting a number of little girls returning from school, I tried to get them to come and read to us out of their books. They were very shy, and it was some time before they would venture near us. At last one of them let me have her book, and I saw that her name was Emma—after the good queen of that name, who visited England a few years since—so I said, “Now, Emma, read us something, and I will give you this,” holding a new threepenny piece before her. At once she came and read a page in the true conventional schoolgirl monotone. The book was printed in Honolulu, and was in the native language, which sounded sweet, and free from harshness. She was a nice-looking little girl, quite a “brownie,” and was much pleased with her threepenny-piece. The children were delighted at seeing Queen Victoria’s face on the coin, and frequently repeated her name. The race is fast dying out, and in a few generations will become extinct.
During the day we visited a school, and looked over the Parliament House, which is a handsome building. The hall is very large and lofty, and so also are the rooms, the walls and ceilings being lined with a smooth white enamel. In connection with the House of Parliament there is a tolerably good library, and the nucleus of a good museum, but the country is very poor; indeed I am told it is almost bankrupt. On passing the post-office it occurred to us to ask if there were any letters for us, although we did not expect any, and putting our cards on the table we said we supposed there were no letters for us. “Oh, but there are though,” the clerk said, “and I am very glad to get rid of them,” whereupon, to our intense delight, he produced a huge packet of letters and papers.
While driving into the country we passed many pretty villas, with gardens full of splendid shrubs and flowers, and on to a native village. The houses are made chiefly of large rushes, which grow here in great abundance. There seem to be no chairs or seats in the houses, every one squatting on the ground. We passed some native women carrying their babies, and I asked if they would sell me one. “Yes, for a dollar,” one replied; but when I said “Very well, then, bring it here,” she altered her mind, which was a good thing for me, for I should not have known what to do with a black baby.
The temperature of Honolulu ranges between 60° and 88°, and the islands are always fanned by the N.E. trade winds, rendering them exceedingly healthy.
Our visit conveyed the impression to our minds that it would be impossible to spend a month more delightfully than among the Hawaiian group, and we bade adieu to Honolulu with the greatest regret.
It was a beautiful moonlight evening when we left Honolulu for San Francisco, and after many months’ travelling by land and sea, we began to feel that we were at last really homeward bound, for would not our next voyage land us at Liverpool? While at Honolulu we received a very considerable addition to our passenger list in the persons of a number of Americans, of both sexes, some of them being gentlefolks and some of them not. We also took on board three thousand bundles of bananas, which were hung up in the netting all round the promenade deck. This was a most unfair arrangement on the part of the captain, as not only were the seats on this deck rendered unavailable, and a large portion of the space occupied, but the ship became overrun with centipedes, some of them five inches long, making it like Egypt during one of the plagues, “for they were in all our quarters,” in our beds and in our clothes. Americans, as a rule, are not good sailors. Hence it is that when commencing a voyage they take it for granted that they are going to be ill, and make their arrangements accordingly. My companions had been flattering themselves that the spare berth in their cabin would remain empty to the end of the voyage, but they were doomed to disappointment, for it was their bad fortune to receive one of the most bilious-looking of the new arrivals. On entering the cabin the first observation the Yankee made was, “Where d’ye throw up?” The answer to which was, “We don’t ‘throw up’ at all. We go up and lean over the lee side.” The event proved the Yankee’s apprehensions to be well founded. One party of Americans were returning from a prolonged residence on one of the islands of the Pacific, where they appeared to have acquired some of the native habits. One day these people were taking their lunch on deck; it consisted of chicken and a native dish called “POI.” The latter was a substance like bill-stickers’ paste, and was contained in a large bowl. The company, which numbered some five or six persons, men and women, sat upon the deck around the bowl, and, having learned from their new acquaintances, the savages, to do without spoons and separate dishes, helped themselves to the delicious mixture by each dipping two fingers into the common bowl until it was empty. They then attacked the chicken, and had evidently taken lessons in carving from the same authorities, for they adopted the primitive plan of pulling it to pieces. Of course these proceedings excited considerable remark among the passengers, but the party seemed quite insensible to observation.