A telegraph one hardly feels the beat of the pulses of the larger
world. Those intellectual movements of the West which might provoke
discussion and conversation are not cordially entered into, partly
owing to the difference in theological beliefs, and partly from an
indolence born of the climate, and the lack of mental stimulus.
After all, the gossip and the absence of large interests shared in
common, are the only specialities which can be alleged against
Hawaii, and I have never seen people among whom I should so well
like to live. The ladies are most charming; essentially womanly,
and fulfil all domestic and social duties in a way worthy of
imitation everywhere. The kindness and hospitality, too, are
unbounded, and these cover "a multitude of sins."
There are very few strangers here now. It is the "dead season." I
have met with none except Mr. Nordhoff, who is writing on the
islands for Harper's Monthly, and his charming wife and children.
She is a most expert horsewoman, and has adopted the Mexican saddle
even in Honolulu, where few foreign ladies ride "cavalier fashion."
My friends all urge me to write on Hawaii, on the ground that I have
seen the islands and lived the island life so thoroughly; but
possibly they expect more indiscriminate praise than I could
conscientiously bestow!
Honolulu is in the midst of the epidemic of letter writing which
sets in on the arrival of the steamer from "the coast," and people
walk and drive as if they really had business on hand: and the
farewell visits to be made and received, the pleasant presence of
Mr. Thompson, and Mr. and Mrs. Severance, of Hilo, and the hasty
doing of things which have been left to the last, make me a sharer
in the spasmodic bustle, which, were it permanent, would
metamorphose this dreamy, bowery, tropical capital. The undeserved
and unexpected kindness shown me here, as everywhere on these
islands, renders my last impressions even more delightful than any
first. The people are as genial as their own sunny skies, and in
more frigid regions I shall never sigh for the last without longing
for the first. . . . .
up to here
S.S. COSTA RICA. August 7th.
We sailed for San Francisco early this afternoon. Everything looked
the same as when I landed in January, except that many of the then
strange faces among the radiant crowd are now the faces of friends,
that I know nearly everyone by sight, and that the pathos of
farewell blended with every look and word. The air still rang with
laughter and alohas, and the rippling music of the Hawaiian tongue;
bananas and pineapples were still piled in fragrant heaps; the
drifts of surf rolled in, as then, over the barrier reef, canoes
with outriggers still poised themselves on the blue water; the coral
divers still plied their graceful trade, and the lazy ripples still
flashed in light along the palm-fringed shore. The head-ropes were
let go, we steamed through the violet channel into the broad
Pacific, Lunalilo, who came out so far with Chief Justice Allen,
returned to the shore, and when his kindly aloha was spoken, the
last link with the islands was severed, and half an hour later
Honolulu was out of sight. . . . .
. . . . The breeze is freshening, and the Costa Rica's head lies
nearly due north. The sun is sinking, and on the far horizon the
summit peaks of Oahu gleam like amethysts on a golden sea. Farewell
for ever, my bright tropic dream! Aloha nui to Hawaii-nei!
I.L.B.
A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS.
A few facts concerning the Hawaiian islands may serve to supplement
the deficiencies of the foregoing letters. The group is an
hereditary and constitutional monarchy. There is a house of nobles
appointed by the Crown, which consists of twenty members. The House
of Representatives consists of not less than twenty-four, or more
than forty members elected biennially. The Legislature fixes the
number, and apportions the same. The Houses sit together, and
constitute the Legislative Assembly. The property qualification for
a representative is, real estate worth $500, or an annual income of
$250 from property, and that for an elector is an annual income of
$75. The Legislators are paid, and the expense of a session is
about $15,000. There are three cabinet ministers appointed by the
Crown, of the Interior, Finance, and Foreign Affairs respectively,
and an Attorney-General, who may be regarded as a minister of
justice. There is a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and two
associate justices, and there are circuit and district judges on all
the larger islands, as well as sheriffs, prisons, and police. There
is a standing army of sixty men, mainly for the purposes of guard
duty, and rendering assistance to the police.
The question of "how to make ends meet" sorely exercises the little
kingdom. All sorts of improvements involving a largely increased
outlay are continually urged, while at the same time the burden of
taxation presses increasingly heavily, and there is a constant
clamour for the removal of some of the most lucrative imposts.
Indeed, the Hawaiian dog, with his tax and his "tag," is seldom out
of the Legislative Assembly.
What may be termed the per capita taxes are, an annual poll tax of
one dollar levied on each male inhabitant between the ages of
seventeen and sixty, an annual road tax of two dollars upon all
persons between seventeen and fifty, and an annual school tax of two
dollars upon all persons between twenty-one and sixty. There is a
direct tax upon property of .5 per cent. upon its valuation, and
specific taxes of a dollar on every horse above two years old, and a
dollar and a half on each dog.
