Statewide County HI Archives News.....Letters of Isabella L. Bird Bishop. - Part 4. October 4, 2008
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 October 6, 2008, 2:49 pm

Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands October 4, 2008

Contributed for use in
USGenWeb Archives
by Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
October 5, 2008.

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Historical Collections of Hawai'i
Keepers of the Culture
A study in Time, of the Hawai'ian Islands
Letters of Isabella L. Bird Bishop
"Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the
Sandwich Islands." 
Letter # II - part 2.
Transcribed.

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" Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Vplcanoes of the
Sandwich Islands." - by Isabella L. Bird

Letter # II - Part 2.


When we ascended above the scattered dwellings and had passed the
tasteful mausoleum, with two tall Kalilis [ The kalili is shaped like an
enormous bottle brush. The fines are sometimes twnty feet high, with
handles twelve or fifteen feet long, covered with tortoiseshell and
whale tooth ivory, the upper part is formed of a cylinder of wicker work
about a foot in diameter, on which red, black, and yellow feathers are
fastened. These insignia are carried in possession instead of banners,
and used to be fixed in the ground near the temporary residence of the
King or chiefs. At funeral of the late King seventy six large and small
kahilis werecarried by the retainers of chief families.] or feather
plumes, at the door of the tomb in which the last of the Kamehamehas
received Christian burial, the glossy, redundant, arborescent vegetation
ceased. At the height a shower of rain falls on nearly every day in the
year, and the reult is a green sward wich England can hardly rival, a
perfect sea of verdure, darkened in the valley and more than half way up
the hill sides by the foliage of the yellow blossomed and the most
impenetrable hibiscus, brightened here and there by the pea-green
candlenut. Streamlets leap from crags and ripple along the roadside,
every rock and stone hidden by moist-looking ferns, as aerial and
delicate as marabout feathers, and the windings of the valley and the
projecting spurs of mountains shut out all indications of Honolulu, in
the cool green lovliness one could imagine oneself in the temporate
zones. The peculiarity of the scenery is, that the hills, which rise to
a height of about 4,000 feet, are wall-like ridges of grey and coloured
rock, rising precipitously out of the trees and grass, and that these
walls are broken up into pinnacles and needles. At the Pali ( wall
like precipice), the summit of the ascent of 1,000 feet, we left our
buggy, and passing through a gash in the rock the celebrated view burst
on us with overwelming effect. Immense masses o black and ferruginous
volcanic rock, hundreds of feet in nearly perpendicular height, formed
the pali on either side, and the ridge extended northwards for many
miles, presenting a lofty, abrupt mass of grey rock broken into
fantastic pinnacles, which seemed to pierce the sky. A broad, umbrageous
mass of green clothed the lower buttresses, and fringed itself away in
clusters of coco palms on a garden like stetch below, green with grass
and sugar cane, and dotted with white houses, each with its palm and
banana grove, and varied by eminences which looked long extinct tufa
cones. beyond this enchanted region stretched the coral reef, with its
white wavy line of endless surf, and the broad blue Pacific, ruffled by
a breeze whose icy freshness chilled us where w stood. Narrow streaks on
the landscape, every now and then disappearing behind intervening hills,
indicated bridle tracks connected with a frightfully steep and rough
zigzag path cut out of the face of the cliff on our right. I could not
go down this on foot without a sence of insecurity, but mounted natives
driving loaded horses descended with perfect impunity into the dreamland
below.

The pali is the scene of one of the historic tragedies of this island.
Kamehamhea the Conqueror, who after fierce fighting and much ruthless
destruction of life united the island sovereignties in his own person,
routed the forces of the king of Oahu in the Nuuanu Valley, and drove
them in hundreds up the precipice, from which they leaped in despair and
madness, and their bones lie bleaching 800 feet below.

The drive back here was delightful, from the wintry height, where I must
confess that we shivered, to the slumbrous calm of an endless summer,
the glorious tropical trees, the distant view of cool chasm-like
valleys, with Honolulu sleeping in perpetual shade, and the still blue
ocean, without a single sail to distrurb its profound solitude. Saturday
afternoon is a gala-day here, with the broad road so thronged with
brilliant equestrians, that I thought we should be ridden over by the
reckless laughing rout. There were hundreds of native horsemen and
horsewomen, many of them doubtless on the dejected quadrupeds I saw at
the wharf, but a judicius application of long rowelled Mexican spurs,
and a degree of emulation, caused these animals to tear along at full
gallop. The women seemed perfectly at home in their gay, brass bossed,
high peaked saddles, flying along astride, barefooted, with their orange
and scarlet riding dresses streaming on each side beyond their horses'
tails, a bright kaleidoscopic flash of bright eyes, white teeth,
shinning hair, garlands of flowers and many coloured dresses; while the
men were hardly less gay, with fresh flowers in their jaunty hats, and
the vermilion coloured blossoms of the Ohia round their brown throats.
Sometimes a troop of twenty of these free and easy female riders went by
at a time, a graceful and exciting spectacle, with a running
accompaniment of veciferation and laughter. Among these we met several
of the Nevada's officers, riding in the stiff, wooden style which
Anglo-Saxons love, and a horde of jolly British sailors from H.M.S.
Scott, rushng helter skelter, colliding with everybody, bestriding their
horses as they would a topsail-yard, hanging on to manes and lassoing
horns, and enjoying themselves thoroughly. In the shady tortuous streets
we met hundreds more of native riders, dashing at full gallop without
fear of the police. Many of the women were in flowing riding dresses of
pure white, over whic their unbound hair, and wreaths of carmine tinted
flowers fell most picturesquely.

All this time I had not seen our domicile, and when our drive ended
under the quivering shadow of large tamarind and algaroba trees, in
front of a long, stone, two storied house with two deep verandahs
festooned with clematis and passion flowers, and a shady lawn in front,
I felt as if in this fairy land anything might be expected.

This is the perfection of an hotel. Hospitality seems to take possession
of nd appropriate one as soon as one enters its never-closed door, which
is on the lower verandah. There is a basement, in which there are a good
many bedrooms, the bar, and billiard room. This is entered from the
garden, under two semicircular flights of stairs which lead to the front
entrance, a wide corridor conducting to the back entrance. This is
crossed by another running the whole length, which opens into a very
many windowed dining room which occupies the whole width of the hotel.
on the same level there is a large parlour, with French windows opening
on the verandah. Upstairs their are two simular corridors on which all
the bedrooms open, and each room has one or more French windows opening
to the varandah, with doors as well, made like German shutters, to close
instead of windows, ensuring at once privacy and coolness. The rooms are
tastefully furnished with varnished pine and a strong aromatic scent,
and there are plenty of lounging chairs on the verandah, where people
sit and receive their intimate friends. The result of the construction
of the hotel is that a breeze whispers through it day and night.

Everywhere, only pleasant objects meets the eye. One can sit all day on
the back varandah, watching the play of light and colour on the
mountains and deep blue green of the Nuuanu Valley, where showrs,
sunshine, and rainbows make perpetual variety. The great dining room is
delicious. It has no curtains, and its decorations are cool and pale.
Its windows look upon tropcal trees in one direction, and up to the cool
mountains in the other. Piles of bananas, guavas, limes, and oranges,
decorate the tables at each meal, and strange vegetables, fish and
fruits vary the otherwise sterotyped American hotel fare. There are no
female domestics. The host is a German, the manager American, the
steward an Hawaian, and the servants are all Chinamen in spotless white
linen, with pigtails coiled round their heads, and an air of
super-abundant good nature. They know very little English, and make most
absurd mistakes, but they are cordial, smiling, and obliging, and look
cool and clean. The hotel seems the great public resort of Honolulu, the
center of stir-club-house, exchange and drawing room in one. Its wide
corridors and verandahs are lively with English and American naval
uniforms, several planters' families are here for the season; and with
health seekers from California, resident borders, whaling captains,
tourists from the British Pacific Colonies, and a stream of townspeople
always percolating through the corridors and verandahs, it seems as
lively and free and easy as a place can be, pervaded by the kindliness
and bonhommie which form a important item in my first impressions of the
islands. The hotel was lately built by government at a cost of $120,000,
a sum which forms a considerable part of that token of an advanced
civilization, a National Debt. The minister whose scheme it was seems to
have been severly censured on account of it, but undoubtedly it brings
strangers and their money into the Kingdom, who would have
avoided it had they been obliged as formerly to cast themselves on the
hospitality of the residents. The present proprietor has it rent free
for a term of years, but I fear that it is not likely to prove a
successful speculation either for him or the government. I dislike
health resorts, and abhor this kind of life, but for those who like
both, I cannot imagine a more fasinating residnce. The charges are $15 a
week, or $3 a day, but such kndly, open-handed, system prevails that I
am not conscious that I am paying anything! This sum includes hot and
cold plunge baths ad libitum, justly regarded as necessity in this
climate.

Dr. McGrew has hope that our invalid will rally in this healing,equable
atmosphere. Our kind fellow-passengers are here, and take turns in
watching and fanning him. Through the half-closed jalousies we see
breadfruit trees, delicate tamarinds and algarobas, fan-palms,
date-palms and bananas, and the deep blue Pacific gleams here and there
through the plumage of the cocoanut trees. A soft breeze, scented with a
slight aromatic odour, wanders in at every opening, bringing with it,
mellowed by distance, the hum and clatter of the busy cicada. The nights
are glorious, and so absolutely still, that even the feathery foliage of
the algaroba is at rest. The stars seem to hang among the trees like
lamps, and the crescent moon gives more light than the full moon at
home. The evening of the day we landed, parties of officers and ladies
mounted at the door, and with much mirth disappeared on moonlight rides,
and the white robes of flower crowned girls gleamed through the trees,
as groups of natives went by speaking a language which sounded more like
the rippling of water than human speech. Soft music came from the
ironclads in the harbour, and from the royal band at the King's Palace,
and a rich fragrance of dewy blossoms filled the delicious air. These
are indeed the " isles of Eden." the 
" sun lands," musical with beauty. They seem to welcome us to their
enchanted shores. Everything is new but noting strange; for as I enjoyed
the purple night, I remembered that I had seen such islands in my dreams
in the cold gray North. " How sweet," I thought it would be, thus to
hear far off, the low soft sweet murmur of the " sparking brine," to
rest, and 

" Ever to seem
Falling asleep in a half-dream."

A half dream only, for one would not wish to be quite asleep and lose
consciusness of this delicious outer world. So I thought one moment. The
next I heard a droning sound, humming sound, which certainly was not the
surf upon the reef. It came nearer --- there could be no mistake. I felt
a stab, and found myself the centre of a swarm of droning, stabbing,
malignant mosquitos. No, even this is not paradise! I am ashambed to say
that on my first night in Honolulu I sought an early refuge from this
intolerable infliction, in profound and prosaic sleep behind mosquito
curtains.

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To be continued in Letter III.



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