LETTER XVIII. 



Social Hurry — A Perfect Climate— Honolulu " Lions "—Queen Emma— 

 A Royal Garden Party— Dwindling of the Native Population— Coinage 

 and Newspapers. 



Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu, March 20th. 



Oahu, with its grey pinnacles, deep valleys, cool chasms, 

 ruddy headlands, and volcanic cones, all clothed in green by 

 the recent rains, looked unspeakably lovely as we landed by 

 sunrise in a rose-flushed atmosphere, and Honolulu, shady, 

 dew-bathed, and brilliant with flowers, deserved its name, 

 "The Paradise of the Pacific." The hotel is pleasant, and 

 Mrs. D.'s presence makes it sweet and home-like; but in a 

 very few days I have lost much of the health I gained on 

 Hawaii, and the " Rolling Moses " and the Rocky Mountains 

 can hardly come too soon. For Honolulu is truly a metropolis, 

 gay, hospitable, and restless, and this hotel centralizes the rest- 

 lessness. Visiting begins at breakfast time, when it ends I 

 know not, and receiving and making visits, court festivities, 

 entertainments given by the commissioners of the great powers, 

 riding parties, picnics, verandah parties, " sociables," and 

 luncheon and evening parties on board the ships of war, suc- 

 ceed each other with frightful rapidity. This is all on the sur- 

 face, but beneath and better than this is a kindness which 

 leaves no stranger to a sense of loneliness, no want uncared 

 for, and no sorrow unalienated. This, more than its beauty 

 and its glorious climate, makes Honolulu " Paradise " for the 

 many who arrive here sick and friendless. I notice that the 

 people are very intimate with each other, and generally address 

 each other by their Christian names. Very many are the de- 

 scendants of the clerical and secular members of the mission, 

 and these, besides being naturally intimate, are further drawn 

 and held together by a society called " The Cousins' Society," 

 the objects of which are admirable. The people take an in- 

 tense interest in each other, and love each other unusually. 

 Possibly they hate each other as cordially when occasion offers. 



