X 



PREFACE. 



that I had seen the islands more thoroughly than any 

 foreign visitor, and the volcano of Mauna Loa under 

 specially favourable circumstances, and that I had so 

 completely lived the island life, and acquainted myself 

 with the existing state of the country, as to be rather a 

 kamaina* than a stranger, and that consequently I should 

 be able to write on Hawaii with a degree of intimacy as 

 well as freshness. My friends at home, who were in- 

 terested in my narratives, urged me to give them to a 

 wider circle, and my inclinations led me in the same 

 direction, with a longing to make others share some- 

 thing of my own interest and enjoyment. 



The letters which follow were written to a near rela- 

 tion, and often hastily and under great difficulties of 

 circumstance, but even with these and other disadvan- 

 tages, they appear to me the best form of conveying my 

 impressions in their original vividness. With the excep- 

 tion of certain omissions and abridgments, they are 

 printed as they were written, and for such demerits as 

 arise from this mode of publication, I ask the kind 

 indulgence of my readers. 



Isabella L. Bird. 



yanuary, 1875. 



* A native word used to signify an old resident. 



