LETTER XX.] 



A ' ' FA MIL Y SCHO OL." 



197 



climate, I copy a sentence from a speech made by Kame- 

 hameha IV., at the opening of an Hawaiian agricultural 

 society : — 



" Who ever heard of winter on our shores ? Where among 

 us shall we find the numberless drawbacks which, in less 

 favoured countries, the labourer has to contend with ? They 

 have no place in our beautiful group, which rests like a water 

 lily on the swelling bosom of the Pacific. The heaven is 

 tranquil above our heads, and the sun keeps bis jealous eye 

 upon us every day, while his rays are so tempered that they 

 never wither prematurely what they have warmed into life."* 

 The kindness of my hosts is quite overwhelming. They will 

 not hear of niy buying a horse, but insist on my taking away 

 with me the one which I have been riding since I came, the 

 best I have ridden on the islands, surefooted, fast, easy, and 

 ambitious. I have complete sympathy with the passion which 

 the natives have for riding. Horses are abundant and cheap on 

 Kauai: a fairly good one can be bought for $20. I think 

 every child possesses one. Indeed the horses seem to out- 

 number the people. 



The eight native girls who are being trained and educated 

 here as a " family school " have their horses, and go out to 

 ride as English children go for a romp into a play-ground. 

 Yesterday Mrs. S. said, " Now, girls, get the horses," and soon 

 two little creatures of eight and ten came galloping up on two 

 spirited animals. They had not only caught and bridled 

 them, but had put on the complicated Mexican saddles as 

 securely as if men had done it ; and I got a lesson from them 

 in making the Mexican knot with the thong which secures 

 the cinch, which will make me independent henceforward. 



These children can all speak English, and their remarks 

 are most original and amusing. They have not a particle of 



* The following paragraph from Dr. Rupert Anderson's sober-minded 

 hook on the Sandwich Islands fully bears out the king's remarks : — " The 

 islands all lie within the range of the trade winds, which blow with great 

 regularity nine months of the year, and on the leeward side, where their 

 course is obstructed by mountains, there are regular land and sea breezes. 

 The weather at all seasons is delightful, the sky usually cloudless, the 

 atmosphere clear and bracing. Nothing can exceed the soft brilliancy of 

 the moonlight nights. Thunderstorms are rare and light in their nature. 

 Hurricanes are unknown. The general temperature is the nearest in the 

 world to that point regarded by physiologists as most conducive to health 

 and longevity. By ascending the mountains any desirable degree of 

 temperature may be obtained. " 



