LETTER XXXI. 



The Climate of the Islands — Their Advantages — Their Drawbacks — 

 Gossip — Nuhou — Evils of an Exotic Civilization — Aloha nui to 

 Hawaii-nei. 



Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu, 

 August 6th. 



My fate is lying at the wharf in the shape of the Pacific Mail 

 Steamer Costa Rica, and soon to me Hawaii-nei will be but a 

 dream, " Summer Isles of Eden ! " My heart warms towards 

 them as I leave them, for they have been more like home than 

 any part of the world since I left England. The moonlight is 

 trickling through misty algarobas, and feathery tamarinds and 

 palms, and shines on glossy leaves of breadfruit and citron ; a 

 cool breeze brings in at my open doors the perfumed air, 

 and the soft murmur of the restful sea, and this beautiful Hono- 

 lulu, whose lights are twinkling through the purple night, is at 

 last, as it was at first, Paradise in the Pacific, a blossom of a 

 summer sea. 



I shall be in the Rocky Mountains before you receive my 

 hastily-written reply to your proposal to come out here for a 

 year, but I will add a few reasons against it, in addition to the 

 one which I gave regarding the benefit which I now hope to 

 derive from a change to a more stimulating climate. The 

 strongest of all is, that if we were to stay here for a year, we 

 should just sit down " between the sun and moon upon the 

 shore," and forget " our island home," and be content to fall 

 " asleep in a half dream," and " return no more ! " 



Of course you will have gathered from my letters that there 

 are very many advantages here. Indeed, the mosquitos of the 

 leeward coast, to whose attacks one becomes inured in a few 

 months, are the only physical drawback. The open-air life is 

 most conducive to health, and the climate is absolutely perfect, 

 owing to its equability and purity. Whether the steady heat of 



