The Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines

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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS


CHAPTER I

THE BRIGHT LAND


On our first trip to Hawaii we sailed from San Francisco aboard the
Gaelic with good, jolly Captain Finch. He was a regular old tar, and
we liked him. We little thought that in 1914 he would have the
misfortune to be in command of the Arabic when it was torpedoed in the
Atlantic. He showed great gallantry, standing on the bridge and going
down with his ship, but I take pleasure in adding that he was saved.

We had an ideal ocean voyage: calm, blue seas, with a favouring trade
wind, a glorious moon, and strange sights of huge turtles, tropic birds,
and lunar rainbows. We had, too, an unusual company on board--Captain
Gridley, of Manila Bay fame, then on his way to take command of the
Olympia; Judge Widemann, a German who had lived for many years in
Honolulu, and had married a Hawaiian princess; Mr. Irwin, a
distinguished American with a Japanese wife--all old friends of my
father, who, as a naval officer, made several cruises in the
Pacific--Dr. Furness of Philadelphia, a classmate of my husband's at
Harvard, who was going out to study the head-hunters of Borneo; and Mr.
Castle, grandson of one of the early missionaries to Hawaii. He has
since written a charming book on the Islands.

After six days on the smooth Pacific, we caught sight of Oahu, the fairy
island on which Honolulu is situated. Diamond Head stretches far out
into the blue, like a huge lizard guarding its treasure--a land of
fruits and flowers, of sugar-cane and palm. The first view across the
bay of the town with its wreath of foliage down by the shore, just as
the golden sun was setting over the mountain range, was a picture to be
remembered. And in the distance, abov