HONOLULU AND SAN FRANCISCO.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 243, 29 November 1873, Page 2

HONOLULU AND SAN FRANCISCO.

Wb {Southland Times) have been fuvored by Mr Alexander Cross with the following extract from a letter received by the ait mail from Mr James T. Cross, who left South! md fjr dan Francisco some months iince. The writer lays :— After leaving A ucklund, we called at the Navigator Islands, and there saw what I call mil savages. They were almost naked, liuving nothing but sraweed or native grass round them. They are vt-rv fond of tho water, jumping in without any fiar of sharks, which they defr, bring aiwd witli short wooden lance*, with which they dive below the shark and rip it in the stomach. They u ill >io anything for nuney, and the oranges and cocoanuts 1 got in exchange were really magnificent. Not wanting to encumber myself with shells, clubs or fancy paper mats, made out of the patna tree leaves, I did not go in tor any, but any one coming this wav again .•ould do lar bettor with old clothes in the way of barter than win be done with mo:.ey. An old shirt will get fruit, shells, clubs, or fancy griiss-made counterpanes. On getting to Honolulu, we expected to receive orders as to whether we were to go on in the Dakota, or be transhipped to the Aloses 'laylor, which we were led to beliere would tie the order of the day, having had such information conveyed to us by the Nebraska, which we met the night belore we got to the Navigators. I will give Honolulu tie credit of supplying the cheapest meal I ever got for the quality. I went to a Chinese saloon, and )OU would be astonished at the number of dishes they put down before you, from which to lielp jourself. Fish, sausages, baniinns, dre-id fruit, potatoes, tHrts, puddings, eg s, and coffee or tea, all tor 25 cents., equal to a Colonial Robert ; and not only that, but when you pay your bill at a little counter in the front of tha saloon, a box of first-class cigars is placed before you, from which to help yourself. You can q t the above three times a day for seventy-five cents., done up in a thoroughly clean, tidy, and respectable stylt. I co-ild hnve live>l at a Honolulu Chinese restaurant and grown fit. We stopped at Honolulu seven days, »u I saw the most of the city and its surroundings. So far a? o imate is concerned, it is a very nico place to stay ut, out atte.- seeing th« victims to leprosy I was so muck disgusted that I was glad to get away. They have made one of the islands an asylum for the lepers —to live there until they waste away, and " shuffle off this mortal coil." The sight of 36 lepers being shipped away in one day would disgust any human being at Honolulu. The victims are attacked, some visibly and some invisibly. The disease is a wasting or rather a rotting away of the flesh, which may take years to reach some vital spot, and of course it is so long before the victim dies. I saw one young man, a Kanaka (who are chiefly attacked by it), who had not a particle of flesh on one of his hands, yet his body and face were as free from disease as you or I. * On the island where lie wns cjn.lemned to lire he would go on eating and drinking like any other man, and slowly rot away. It was one of the most dis usting and heartrending sights lever witnessed. That no cv c exists ibr such a disease baffles one to believe, yrt such is the case. Men, women, and children — all are affl cfed, some in tho face, wh.ch is horrible to look at. Cancer is a king t 1 -„r< • . Very many of the natives *peak uiv>heii English, a .a I liud the pleasure, it you may call it such, of talking with the King, who walks about in a black suit like any other man, and speaks very good English. The Kanakiit are the biggest rogues un ler the «un. Nothing it safe out of your sight. The women ride stride legs, and it would astonish you to see how they manage to keep their clothes down so well. The law in Honolulu is very strict, and the people are terrified at the polic>, who are very numerous. After leaving, we had a splendid though tedious passage to Sun Francisco, the captain having had orders not to push himself along ; I speak from the rerolutions of the engine, the beam before making Honolulu averaging IS dips to the minute; after leaving it did not averege 13 dips. We sighted tile entrance to the Golden Gate early on the 21st April, and ft earned up to the w!<arf about noon. I fcm stopping at the International Hotel, not finding anything in the May of private lodgings to pleura me. The charges here are ridiculous— £ls per month for bedroom und board, and for room without bi.ard, £a per month ; in private lodgings, about £12 per month, and only two meals, break lnst und dinner. The only fault I find with San Fran-c.-co is the Hub ralue of money. If you goto the t tealit, 4s is the lowest j take a cab, nothing under 10s ; drinks at the first bar, Is. Everything is bought and payed for with a recklessness which astonishes me. £10 10s to £15 is the price for a suit of clothes, made to order. I paid 12s for a shirt similar to one which I bought at Yule's for tii 6 1. I »:n so surprised at the extravagance here that 1 am keeping very quct, nit seeking acquaintances. I get disgusted to see fellows with velvet coats, white vests, gold chains, and diamond shirt pins. I find that the best dressed men in San Francisco are not in consequence all gentlemen. Here ail nationalities are centred. There is not a spot in the globe, from Siberia to Cape Horn, but you will find a representative in this city, innong whom are thegreast experts in cheatiug, gambl ng, thieving, roguery of a 1 sorts, not to mention murderers. The change of the manners and customs of tho people here, from those of the coonies, is very great, and 1 must compliment colonial ho pitality in com* ptrison with American customs. The climate here is excellent. Since I landed I have not seen a drop of rain, and Act it is not too hot. Some evenings it feels chilly; the change from the heat of the day to the cool sea breeze at night makes one feel colder than it really is. By the btatistics, San Francisco is one of the healthiest cities in the

I Business here it too aristocratic in iti style for my fancy. In t ib firm with whom 1 am employed— which is a large c. migniug horne — we never sell or buy ourselves. Biokert Jo all the dirty work. The large houses here hare no store* oftlidronn A ship comes into port— the agent calls for freight — your broker do« the customs' work aud puts the uoods into the nearest warehouse, for which he cliarges 14s. Every time you clear anything the cost it 6j. We never tee the goods unless we are very inquisitive. It is such an easy way of doinig business. I don't like it, and will ieel forced to throw in a little of the colonial style. There is only one United Presbyterian Church here— free seats and a collection a la English Clturch with platts. and a concert in the evening, under the auspices of the Temperance Association— mats free, and a collection to defray expenses.

' At lait (says a correspondent of a contemporary) Dr Kenealy hat finished hii ipeecli. , We have had a wnei of mincellutieous debate*, literary, philosophical, scientific, and legal./ The merit* ot Paul de Kock and the morality of French novels, the casuistry of justification of falsehood in purticular cases, the peculiar mental and moral characteristics ef priesti and women, the diagnosis of apoplexy and catalepsy, the metaphysical explanation of memory, the correlation of fat and brains, the duty of a <ounael to his client — all these, and many other subjects have received the attention of the Bench and the Bar. A number of Wapping witnesses lm\e been examined for the defence The physical peculiarities they ascribed to Arthur Orton comprised large hands and feet, and a watery mouth, spasmodic tw itching of the eye, and a scar on the ldt'c! eek. The shoemak> i- who made Arthur Orion's boots when a youth, produced the lasts on which they were made, in oid«*r I; show their unusual size. He declared that they were- fitted with leather to make them larger, and that they were in the same slate as when he had inude Arthur's shoes, but the Lord Chief Justice remarked thwt the leather and the brass studs hud a Aery new look. The defendant's present boots are ol thin leather, whereas the boot! of butchirtare 1. » le large to Hccoininodale a thick stocking fur warn th. Some ol the wituett>eft would swear to nothing, but tb t they saw Orton when he whs only thirteen, and did not think mo defendant « as the nme man. Their expenses were disallowed. One ot the witnesses law Arthur Orton cut his harm severely tn hit* father's shop, and on the defendant's Li nl being examined no suoh scar was found as the cut wot 111 1 have lelt. The Claimant addretstd a crowd at Lough h r >ugh on Saturday. While be wu speaking tn© boarding ot tbo platform gare traj. ' Fortunately no gae was injured.

Me»sn Longmans have in preparation a nuftiibsr of volum^— called " Epochs in Hiitor/," undar whioh title a number 1H writora will contribute' chapters on the history of England " and of Europe at various timift I *imce tUe Ohrutian era ; 1 those will bt ' edited bj Mr jß'dward "B. Morris, the head master of the Bedfordshire Millie Cl m% Public So'iooL There are various orders of Oddffllowi, Anewnt foresters Free Gardeners, Kechabites, unrt Goo&Templars, with whicW nil onr reader! niay be presumed to brt more 6r 1«M familial but tlie " Order of Husbandry "is something new. Of this new order we take the following from an American journal : —" At last we hear something definite of the plan and purpose of the mysterious ' Order of Husbandry* that has so suddenly become a power in the West. It is a secret, cooperative, industrial, beneficial, and literary institution,, with various rites borrowed from the secret Moieties. Apparently it has nothing to do with politics. Men and women nre alike admitted. The members of the fir*t degree are designated respectively as Labourer and Maid ; in me second decree as Cultivator and Shepherdess ; in the third degree as Harvester and Gleaner ; and in the fourth degree as Husbandman and Matron. The membership of the organisation at this time is estimated at 450,000, and if it does go into politics it will certainly be a powerful influence." Not only of great but of all sound minds, this is true, they require the two elements, society and solitude. No healthy life is ever lived in which either of these is ever wanting. And if we turn to books, — to judge of mind by its most euduring products,— we see the same experience repeated, from age to age. There are books etiotlgh left u» brthosi who, never having tried to live, have r sliu't themsalves within the e'rele of the* own meditations. Wonde^ ful in its variety is the literature of mystification and senlWl ment ! What a wealth of thought and feeling, drawn from the pure depth of human consciousness! Again, turn to the memoir writers and court gossips. What keen observations of manners ; what infinite webs of intrigue they unravel before us ; what countless character they have distinguished. But what are the books that instruct us ; that speak to us as men ; that raise us, but raise us not too high for our duties and our destiny ? Between the Irivolous and the divine lie* the truly human. Wisdom that is from above, yet that can give us'no light in this world ! Theory without facts is not ■ iencr, find morulizing without experience is not wisdom. A pallid and dreary jargon is the metaphysics of the schools, by the side of the tangible and experimental maxim which flowers out, naturally, from the intellect that has HveW But, unless to this experience be added the maturing influences of meditation and self-knowledge, the result it equally one-sided. We get,, then, that unspiritual and debasing physiology of human -conduct — that so-failed philosophy of courts— which leaves out, of the computation of motive nil that se| arates men from any other species of mamma 1 . — Quarterly Review. Tlieie is inure poetry written now in one year than was written during the whole of the eighteenth century. Much of it fairly good — quite as good as would have sufficed to establish a great reputation among our grandfathers. The standard collection* of British poetry contain the workfof many poets who would have no chance of a hearing from 1 us. Still the best of ours is not supremely good. TcnnjfOn, browning, Arnold, Russell, Swinburne, Morris. A gootjM array, no doubt. But they all belong to what may be called the literary class of poets. Now, it it a theory of mine that no poetry can live long which is not born in the O| en air. The poetry of the study is a delicate and perishable commodity. Browning is, in one sense, the only exception to this rule. Though t!te most studious of our poets, he is theonly one who manifests the vital insight of a Burns, a S akespeare, or a Scott; there is the direct pathos, the brea bing energy of life, in ' The King and the book.' It is impossible, I think, that ' lhe Bing and the Book' can live. Yet it is in many respects, a stronger and greater piece of .work than anything we have had since Shakespeare. Its author it clearly one of the great masters of the art whioh purge* tbt soul by pity and terror. But the pathos of the others is not the pathos which they have fouud in life, but the pathos which they have found in book*. It is rank heresy, no doubt, yet I confess I prefer the ' Morte d' Arthur,' as a whole, to the ' Idylls of the King.' An exotic, nursed in the hot-house, may be developed into velvety perfection ; but the simple and modest wild flower native of the soil is the hardier plant of the two. What will they know of our poetry a thousand year* hence ? It would not surprise me very much to learm t hat the whole of it had died out, except Sir Walter's ' Prcd9 Maisie is in the Wood,' and (perhaps) Allingham'a ' Up the airy mountain, i I'own the reedy glen.' I Morris is always charming ; so uniformly charming, in f»ctj that he gets just in the least degree monotonous, at latfl The greatest poetry has something more than Morris readi^J — something more fervid — some intense strain.— Zomfojl Quarterly. v The domestic happiness of the Prophet of Mormon ism, has been disturbed by an incident wbicu no prophet in this century could have been reasonably expected to foresee. Ann Eliza Webb, seventeenth Mrs Young, has filed a p'tition for divorce, and the affidavits wlucli have been made in the early stage* of the curious suit atf'ord some curious aid really interesting gl.mpses into an interior which lii^ hitherto baffled the gaze of the inquisitive Gtantile. Tlfy forsaken Ann Eliza ha* a truly jitiful story to tell. TIJ» blissful union which she now seek* to diswOive dates from. April, 1863. For one year after the marriage she was permit'ed to reside wit i her husband, but at Hit end of that time his affection suddenly cooled, and the unhappy Ann Eliza was packed off to farm near Salt Lake, where, as she states, sho "lived on hard, coarse food, had no society except that of her mother, and was treated by Young with scorn and contumely." The avaricious prophet positively compelled No. 17 to give an account of the profits on the sales of farm produce, and those were coolly swept into the exchequer of the " Temple." It is also alleged that she had been compelled to leave Salt Lake Oity from lear of the defendant's violence. Meek submission in such circumstances in not the nature of womankind, and accordingly wa had Mrs Young in the Divorce Court, suing not only iorw separation, but als> for a substantial sum in shape of alimony. Her " husband," she says, has an income of <L 30,000 dollars a month, and she ask* the federal Court to •et aside for her sole u*e the modest sum of 20u,000 dollars. Justice in Utah must be even dearer than the same article at Westminster, since we find the injured plaintiff demanding that the defendant shall pay down 20.U00 dollars for lawyers' fees. Brig' am is said to have been " quite undisturbed " when the papers were served upon him a >ew days ago. "He calmly pasted them off to his secretary,'' who was probably less stoical because not so deeply involved in matrimony as his revered chief. Notwithstanding his assumed calmness, it. is impossible that Young could avoid asking himself, " Where is tnis to end P " The example of Ann Elizi may be followed by the Sarahs and Marias, until of all his numerous w.ves there might be left only a round dozen or so to comfort the Pi ophet in his bereavement. If each of the fair rebel* should also succeed in carrying otf substantial plunder in the shape of alimony, the situation would be indeed painful. ]