French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the following is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.
“In Honolulu I traded what remained of the cargo in exchange for sandalwood. Stowing this wood on board is a long and careful task if one is to make full use of the space.”
“After ballasting the ship to a sixth of its tonnage, one begins stowing at both ends, stacking together the pieces of equal length, even under the deck, and then forcing into each stack as many other pieces as possible, driving them in with a mallet.”
“While this work was proceeding on board the Heros, I accepted the invitation of the English consul to make a short trip to the north of the island in a small schooner that belonged to him and was going to obtain sandalwood in a place called Waialua.”
“We left at three in the afternoon, and in order to double Koko Head and the eastern part of the island, we tacked until noon the next day when, finding ourselves sufficiently to windward, we let the ship falloff northwest toward our destination.”
“For some while the chain of mountains that appears to traverse the island from east to west and falls away on the side of Honolulu to form a number of fine valleys appeared from the north as a steep wall hemming in a plain of two or three leagues in width and stretching from this barrier to the edge of the sea.”
“But soon the mountains turning abruptly to the north, advanced to the water, leaving only a very small space between themselves and the shore, where a great number of huts stood everywhere.”
“We were less than a mile at sea, ranging along the coast in somber and rainy weather. The setting sun, about to go down on the opposite side of the mountain, left in the shade all that we could see. It is hardly possible to imagine anything more imposing than the spectacle before us that moment.”
“Three massive shapes, suspended over our heads, were composed of fearsome precipices, one towering over the other, of impenetrable forests rising in great steps above other forests, dark chasms of frightful depth, steep and slippery slopes, bare wet rocks mingling their dark color with the somber green of the old trees.”
“High and gleaming cascades, after descending for hundreds of yards, threw themselves onto the tree tops, where they burst into foam only to reunite and fall again until some fissure in the rocks provided a channel for a gentler descent to the sea”
“ If I add that the progress of the ship was continuously changing and varying the scene for us, the reader may form an idea of this spectacle”
“But one must see it with one’s own eyes, see the heavy clouds, now motionless over the forests that they drench with their showers, now eddying swiftly, rising and falling at the will of the wind that was whirling around behind the mountains.”
“One must see this turbulent chaos of clouds, moving, dissipating, and reappearing in different form as the ship advances if one is to sense how magical and mysterious was this scene to us.”
“In the far distance the mountains opened up as if some great hand had torn them apart; narrow valleys, well peopled, wound among the openings.”
“A large number of fishing canoes could be seen close to us. And we called to one of these light craft for a pilot to show us the port of Waialua (place of two streams).”
“The pilot pointed it out, several miles ahead, and we lost no time in entering through the wide opening in the reef, where we found no less than four fathoms of water.”
“It was almost dark when we went ashore and were received by the village chief, who invited us to sup with him ad sleep in his house.”
“We had some provisions brought from on board along with some bottles of wine, and these we added to the excellent fish that he served.”
“Although the house was very large it barely sufficed to hold the numerous guests who were gathered there, for we were no fewer than forty men and women under this hospitable roof.”
“I and my companion, the English consul, stretched ourselves out on mats as did the others, but the night was far advanced before we could sleep.”
“In addition to the insects, flying, jumping and crawling, that tormented us, the chief, after reciting a Christian prayer in the language of the country, kept up a conversation with several others.”
“Although I did not understand a word, this eternal colloquy held me awake for a long time.”
“Even the sleep was not peaceful; with my imagination overwhelmed by the grandiose and sublime spectacle of the mountains, I dreamed that I was pursued by a torrent and took refuge under an overhanging rock that then broke loose and collapsed on me.”
“Awakening with a start, I found on my chest the two heels of a fat Sandwich Islander, my neighbor on the bed, who sept profoundly in that position and who had been the cause of my nightmare.”
”Day was breaking. Taking my gun I went for a walk, intending to shoot some birds, but could not reach the base of the mountains; the entire landscape was cut into a labyrinth of taro fields separated by slippery dikes covered with high, wet grass and difficult to walk on without tumbling into the muddy ponds.Z”
“After killing only a few plover and a duck, I returned to the port. Our little schooner was loaded early, and in the evening we set
sail for Honolulu.”
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What beautiful prose. So well captures the beauty found when casting gaze upon Hawaii from the ocean.
“But one must see it with one’s own eyes, see the heavy clouds, now motionless over the forests that they drench with their showers, now eddying swiftly, rising and falling at the will of the wind that was whirling around behind the mountains.”