RUBBER CULTURE IN HAWAII 
The First Sight of Hawaii — A Bit of the History of the Sandwich 
Islands— Temperature, Crops, Etc.— Prospects for Rubber Growth— First Rub- 
ber Plantings 1 he Nahiku Rubber Company, Limited — Principal Planting 
Done by United States Settlers. 
W E crossed the Pacific from Yokohama to Honolulu in the China 
and as passengers were few I had a roomy, high-studded cabin 
to myself. Against the advice of the steward I kept the port 
open, preferring to take a chance on drowning to one on asphyxiation, 
and my chance proved well taken. When we crossed meridian 180 we 
had the somewhat unusual experience of having a day forty-eight hours 
long. We were given two sunrises, two sunsets, and six square meals, 
all on Friday, and all on the fifth of the month. Had it been Thursday 
or Saturday I should not have cared, but I hate fish, and that was cer- 
tainly a long day. 
Our first sight of the Hawaiian group came at evening from the 
“heat lightning ’ playing over one of the outlying islands, and at day- 
break the next morning we were at Honolulu (pronounced Honolulu by 
the inhabitants). I say at the place, but not in it, for one of our steer- 
age crowd of Koreans, after troubling the ship’s doctor by developing 
granulated eyelids, and threatening smallpox, came down with a huge 
abscess in the arm pit that the quarantine officials diagnosed as bubonic. 
So we waited while they took a section of him ashore, only to return 
with the glad news that it was simply a respectable but angry boil. 
After this comforting assurance we went ashore and had tiffin at the 
elegant Alexander Young Hotel, went to Wakaki Beach for surf riding, 
bought curios, took trolley and carriage rides, and in fact settled down 
to real hard work as sightseers. I am, however, going to put off the 
story of my own adventures and get right down to the story of Hawaii 
as it is and as it will be when It gets to be a rubber producer. 
To go back a little, the Sandwich islands were discovered in 1778 
by Captain Cook, whom the natives believed to be edible, and whom 
they at once proceeded to get away with. Some time in the present 
century they were re-discovered by William J. Gorham of the Gor- 
ham Rubber Company, of San Francisco. The natives did not cherish 
the illusions regarding him that they did toward the former discoverer 
and he got away with them. When I met him in Honolulu he had just 
subjugated every trader in the group, and was planning to sell to a 
syndicate, enough of his wonderful steam hose to run a pipe line from 
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