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LETTER XVIII

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2012

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Summary

Oahu, with its grey pinnacles, its deep valleys, its cool chasms, its 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 homelike; 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 restlessness. 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, succeed each other with frightful rapidity. This is all on the surface, 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 unalleviated. 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.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011
First published in: 1875

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  • LETTER XVIII
  • Isabella Bird
  • Book: Six Months among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands
  • Online publication: 05 April 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511920431.024
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  • LETTER XVIII
  • Isabella Bird
  • Book: Six Months among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands
  • Online publication: 05 April 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511920431.024
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • LETTER XVIII
  • Isabella Bird
  • Book: Six Months among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands
  • Online publication: 05 April 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511920431.024
Available formats
×