“On the morning of the 3d of March, 1841, (Sir George Simpson) started from Euston Square, by railway, for Liverpool, at a quarter past nine o’clock.” He embarked on a ‘Journey Round the World,’ including a stop in the Hawaiian Islands.
“As we edged away towards the south, the heat became more oppressive from day to day. The skies were usually a little overcast, coming down upon us now and then, with a flying shower; so that, even when our breeze was at its freshest, the air felt close and sultry. …”
“On the evening of the ninth of February (1842), we felt tolerably certain that the next day’s sun would find us within the visual range of Hawai‘i, though, as nothing but the clearest atmosphere could serve our purpose, we were rather likely than otherwise to be prevented from actually seeing it. In the morning, however, this last anticipation was agreeably disappointed. …”
“I accompanied my friend Mr. Pelly to his rural retreat in the valley of Nuanau. The change of temperature within a distance of four miles of gentle ascent was very remarkable, so that, at our journey’s end, we found a change from light grass clothing to warm pea-jackets highly acceptable.”
“Mr. Pelly’s residence was a snug little cottage, surrounded by a great variety of tropical plants, particularly by beds of pine-apples and miniature plantations of coffee.”
“In fact, the gardens of the residents generally contain rich displays of almost every flower and shrub under the sun, orange, lemon, citron, lime, pomegranate, fig, olive, gooseberry, strawberry, squash, melon, grape, guava, tomata, batata or love apple, yams, sweet potatoes, with many other fruits and all sorts of esculent vegetables.”
“To notice one or two of the rarer specimens, a very large variety of melon produces a most gorgeous flower, far more beautiful and elaborate than even the passiflora in Europe, and the papia causes so rapid a decomposition in meats …”
“… that the toughest beef or the most venerable of old cocks, if steeped in an infusion of the fruit or the stem of the plant, becomes, in a few hours, perfectly tender.”
“In addition to all that I have just enumerated, may be mentioned, the prickly pear, the oriental lilac, the date palm, the camphor tree, in short nearly all the plants of all the groups of Polynesia …”
“… and, in order, if possible, to extend the catalogue, Mr. Hopkins left in the hands of one of the most persevering horticulturists some seeds of the cherry and apple, which he had brought from England.”
“At the head of the valley, distant but a few miles from the house, a pali of 1,100 feet in height overhangs the windward side of the island. I had intended to ride to this precipice in the course of the afternoon, but was prevented by the heavy rain …”
“… our time, however, was spent very agreeably in receiving visits from many of the neighboring natives. Next morning, though the rain continued to fall as heavily as ever, and the clouds and mist were driving down the gorge before the trade-wind, I was trotting away at dawn in the very teeth of the storm.”
“The scenery of Nuanau is strikingly picturesque and romantic.”
“On looking downwards, the placid ocean breaking on the coral reefs that gird the island, the white houses of the town glancing in the sun, the ships lying at anchor in the harbor, while canoes and boats are flitting …”
“… as if in play, among them, form together a view which, in addition to its physical beauty, overwhelms one who looks back to the past, with a flood of moral associations.”
“In the opposite direction you discover a rugged glen, with blackened and broken mountains on either side, which are partially covered with low trees, while from crag to crag there leaps and bubbles many a stream, as if glad and eager to drop its fatness through its dependent aqueducts, on the parched plain below.”
“Nor is the view in this direction destitute, any more than the view in the other, of historical interest.”
“It was up this very pass that Kamehameha, after gaining … his last and greatest battle, chased with ‘his red pursuing spear’ the forces of Woahoo, and his own recreant followers who had joined them …”
“… till he drove them headlong, to the number of three hundred, ‘death in their front, destruction in their rear,’ down the almost perpendicular wall that terminates the valley.”
“On arriving at the pali, I saw, as it were, at my feet a champagne country, prettily dotted with villages, groves and plantations, while in the distance there lay, screened, however, by a curtain of vapors, the same ocean which I had so lately left behind me.”
“Though the wind, as it entered the gorge, blew in such gusts as almost prevented me from standing, yet I resolved to attempt the descent, which was known to be practicable for those who had not Kamehameha to hurry them.”
“I accordingly scrambled down, having, of course, dismounted, for some distance; but as the path was slippery from the wet, I was fain to retrace my steps before reaching the bottom.”
“In all weathers, however, the natives, when they are coming to market with pigs, vegetables, &c., are in the habit of safely ascending and descending the precipice with their loads.”
“While I was drenched on this excursion, the good folks of Honolulu were as dry and dusty as usual, the showers having merely peeped out of the valley to tantalize them.” (Simpson)
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