A NELSONIAN'S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES.-NO. II.

Colonist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3480, 13 June 1882, Page 3

A NELSONIAN'S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES.-NO. 11.

April 11th.—Just before leaving Honolulu the whole of the residents of that place, I be* lieve, canae to see our good ship leave the pprt. The King's band also came down and pfayed the best and liveliest music that ever I heard. Their instruments were beautiful, all being of polished Bilvor. With tbe exception of tbe leader, who was an Englishman, all the members of the band were natives. Our steamer took on board bananas and other fruits in large quantities, but finally we caßt off from tho wharf, and steamed;slowly away/ Duricg the time that ~v?p ''^ere'.; ffi^fing. away from the wharf, a* number of Natives were swimming about around the steamer, and as the passengers threw them sixpences s and shillings, they dived after the money and succeeded in securing the silver long before it had a chance of reaching bottom. Soon orders Wtere;jgiV|ea .'jf Full steam ahead," and in twenty minutes we were out of sight of the harbor. Honolulu lies in &i pretty a little basin as it is pos«ible to conceive, and, has good wharves. The basin is formed by a coral reef.like the Boulder bank.forms.one at Nelson, but Honolulu^looks rmoreicompabt: than Nelson harbor, and the coral reef at low water, does not stand so high out of water as tbo Boulder bank. After we had got fairly outside the pilot left us, and. the steamer stopped for nearly'an:ho'ilr; to put due of her bearings right, as it was heating. As we steamod alongside the island, it looked very pretty, with nice undulating hills, which being covered with grass, looked as if it would be a good, country for sheep, but I was told •tieep had been put on tbe hills and they proved, a complete, failure. We ; sighted another island at &: considerable distance, being the place where those suffering from leprosy are taken from Honolulu, to end their days. We had taken on board at Honolulu, twenty more cabin paisengors, and I don't know how many, forwards. VV o, were crowded before, but you can immagine how we fared when the7arrivale?'crushed themselves into* our already limited?Bpace.s Our newlpassengers had evidently plenty of moriey,isome of them having given tho officers of'the steamer from fifty to two hundred .dollars for the use of their bnrtbs. This added to the passage money of £15 for the cabin, and £7 for the Btoerngo, was not bad pay for an eight days' passage;-5 The bananas, which are shipped in great,quantities'from HonoliilUil found to be splencled eating, and reminded me somewhat of pur apricots/ Thousands of acres are planted in the Sandwich Islands with _tho sugar cane, sugar being one bfL'&he principal exports of the Kingdom. Sinoe we have left Honolulu we; have gone 243 miles. April. 12,—The weathep is, fine,, and sufficient sea is running to make the steamed lively. The usual games and sweepstakes are proceeding. Some of our friends from Hono. lulu have been giving mo all the information they oould with regard to sugar growing, etc. We have on boara, the captain and cook of the ship Norval, which' was burnt at sea. The Norval, hatted from Hull, in England, she was coal laden 'and caught fire at sea. Hebrew loft her in. four boats, and of these three reached Honolulu safely, but the fourth . containing eight persons, has not been heard of since; they left the ill-fated ship. Our log shows we have gone"267!imiles to-day ;> ;<■■■. April' 18tb.—A! subscription was made amongst tbo saloon passengers for the Cap tain and cook of the ship Norval, and in a very short time between sixty and seventy pounds were subscribed for them. The weather continues fine. We ran 274 miles in the last twenty-four hours. ■'■'' April i4th'.^The::steamer is .rolling more to-day; than ever she has: done, this ia owing to a heavy*swell coming across our path at midships. This afternoon,,the captain of the. slug Norval was presented with the purse of sovereigns which was collected. The folks who hail from Honolulu ;have a great stock of yarns, and if their supply holds out much longer I shall be beaten, and will have to take a back seat. We accomplished 284 miles to-day. ';'■''. April 15th.—I had a yarn to-day with Captain Halladay, of the ship. Norval. He says the Norval was going from Hull to San Francisco. He feels sure that the : vessel was on fire five or six weeks before the_ crew discovered such to be the case., He thinks a. pipe should be laid through the cargo of a coal-laden vessel, so that the earliest warning would he given of the coals catching fire. Some plan of that sort would save many lives as well as many vessels. Captain Ealladay, does not believe any vessel; ia .safe; which is loaded with coals just taken' out of a coalmine, or with coals which are wet. Just as; he was leaving Hull, the owners, of ,the Norval received a cablegram^ stating, that >one of their vessels, which was coal-laden, was on fire at San Francisco.; His crew numbered 29 all told, and he has hopes that the eight, who are now missing, have been ,picked up by a passing vessel, arid that he- will hear something about them when he reaches San Francisco. We have some fine fun with the Yankees on board, in discussing Free Trade versus Protection. I takeW prominent part in these debates, and I, am always called upon to defend New Zealand's' policy, arid have done so successfully against . all comers, without making one enemy..' among > our Yankee friends, who are really, jolly .fellows, and can take 'any amount of chaffing'remarkably well- Our,, log,showed/another 284 miles run to-day.7 7*.; „ 7 :'::..'■■ Co J April 16th.—A ball whioh was given,by, tho passengers to the officers' of the steamer; passed off very successfully .last night. * The" dancing was maintained with greet difficulty,.' owing to the steamer rolling bo muoh, but everyone enjoyed the' furi immensely. To-day, being Sunday, everything is very quiet. Drs* Smith road tho churcji Service^ ajs he does' every Sunday. Neither, the Catholic priest nor the Mormon elder held any service, both deolining to do so. Theweatber is very cold and every ono was glad to put a big coat on. Although a pretty heavy,sea has been running all day, we went 277 miles. '*' 7 April" 17th.—We hate J passed [two,; ships and a scboouer, which were working their way. up to San Francisco. .Everybody is busy packing up, as we expect to land at San Franoieco beforo breakfast time to'-tnorrow; morning. lam told thiscmrip-iny lands every passenger as soon as the- u'earner arrives in port, that the r-rew are di^'irscd', and that' tl.e coptamaud officers «'c ulowed so much money to pay for their b<»inl *hile in porl. The cargo is all taken out, a*' w«ll as put in, by contract. About two "nys^ befsrs tho steamer is ready for sailing »gnu, the officers come on board, and engage ,a '-e.-h cruw. April 18th.—The .weather is very thick and hazy. At three o'clock ' this morning the aptain had the engines stopped, and took

soundings to se» where he waa. Ho kept th« whistle blowing till abbut. r half-past,,«ight, 'whenthe pilot';6ameon board, %adj;tookuß into port. We got safely along»ide the wharf at San Francisco about eleven o'clock. W« found[ourisplves among ships of all d«soriptions 'and' sizes, and embracing «very nationality. (To be continued.)