letter in.] THE LAST OF THE NEVADA. 



27 



the majority of the foreigners are of the same persuasion. The 

 New England Puritan influence, with its rigid Sabbatarianism, 

 though considerably worn away, is still influential enough to 

 produce a general appearance of Sabbath observance. The 

 stores are closed, the church-going is very demonstrative, and 

 the pleasure-seeking is very unobtrusive. The wharves are 

 profoundly quiet. 



I went twice to the English Cathedral, and was interested to 

 see there a lady in a nun's habit, with a number of brown girls, 

 who was pointed out to me as Sister Bertha, who has been 

 working here usefully for many years. The ritual is high. I 

 am told that it is above the desires of most of the island Epis- 

 copalians, but the zeal and disinterestedness of Bishop Willis 

 will, in time, I doubt not, win upon those who prize such 

 qualities. He called in the afternoon, and took me to his 

 pretty, unpretending residence up the Nuuanu Valley. He 

 has a training and boarding school there for native boys, some 

 of whom were at church in the morning as a surpliced choir. 

 The bishop, his sister, the schoolmaster, and fourteen boys 

 take their meals together in a refectory, the boys acting as 

 servitors by turns. There is a service every morning at 6.30 

 in the private chapel attached to the house, and also in the 

 cathedral a little later. Early risers, so near the equator, must 

 get up by candlelight all the year round. 



This morning we joined our kind friends from the Nevada 

 for the last time at breakfast. I have noticed that there is 

 often a centrifugal force which acts upon passengers who have 

 been long at sea together, dispersing them on reaching port. 

 Indeed, the temporary, enforced cohesion is often succeeded 

 by violent repulsion. But in this instance we deeply regret 

 the dissolution of our pleasant fraternity ; the less so, however, 

 that this wonderful climate has produced a favourable change 

 in Mr. D., who no longer requires the hourly attention hitherto 

 necessary. The mornings here, dew-bathed and rose-flushed, 

 are, if possible, more lovely than the nights, and people are 

 astir early to enjoy them. The American consul and Mr. 

 Damon called while we were sitting at our eight-o'clock break- 

 fast, from which I gather that formalities are dispensed with. 

 After spending the morning in hunting among the stores for 

 things which were essential for the invalid, I lunched in the 

 Nevada with Captain Blethen and our friends. 



Next to the advent of "national ships" (a euphemism for 

 men-of-war), the arrivals and departures of the New Zealand 



