Thomas Wallace Knox

“ The valleys are cool, the mountain-tops are warm; the north winds are hot, the south winds are cold, the east winds are healthy. The bees are without sting; the cherries grow with the stone outside; one of the birds has a broom in its mouth instead of a tongue. Many of the beautiful flowers are without smell; most of the trees are without shade, and shed their bark instead of their leaves ”

“ Outside of the business portion of the place our friends entered upon a straight and very dusty road, which for the first two miles and more led among the villas belonging to the merchants and other well-to-do people who make Honolulu their home. Each villa stands in a garden by itself, and the houses are often rendered invisible by the masses of foliage that surround them, and the creeping and climbing plants that rise to their very tops. ”

“ HAWAIIAN PIPE "It is a curious circumstance that the victims of leprosy rarely suffer pain. The decay of the extremities is gradual, and the shiny ridges on the face may be pinched with the fingers or punctured with a pin without giving any sensation. Among the nine hundred and odd persons in the leper settlement we saw very few sad faces. The people were enjoying themselves very much as they would in Honolulu—talking and laughing, walking or lounging about, or riding horses, and in one place they were playing a game that evoked a good deal of shouting and hilarity. ”

“ The boiling lake at the top of the White Terraces is a pool perhaps a hundred feet in diameter, and varying in height from time to time. Curiously enough, it changes with the wind, though why the wind should affect it I am unable to guess. It is boiling, boiling, boiling all the while, though more furiously at some times than at others. The water is a beautiful turquoise blue, and so intense is the blue that it reflects upon the cloud of steam that rises from the lake. In fact, nearly all the hot springs in this region are blue, and the color is perceptible at very slight depths. ”

“ Jealousy between communities and colonies is the basis of enterprise, and many things have been done here in consequence of competition that without it would never have been done at all. When one colony sends out an exploring expedition another does the same; when one establishes a system of cheap emigration the rest will not be left behind. And so it goes through all their enterprises. It is exactly like the rivalry that existed between our Western States and cities twenty years ago, and still exists to some extent. ”

“ Three millions of people settled in five great colonies, possessing all the characteristics of an advanced civilization, with the unity developed by a common language and a common allegiance, and the rivalry that springs from the independence of each colony by itself, are uniting in the centennial celebration, and contrasting the Australia of to-day with that of one hundred years ago. ”

“ There are tram-ways, or horse railways, along the broad and well-made streets, the lawns are velvety with English grasses, and along the banks of the winding river the weeping-willow droops almost to the surface of the water. ”

“ We all agree that we have never seen prettier lake scenery anywhere in the world than in this famous western district of Victoria. The lakes are at various levels, the larger ones studded with islands, and the shores of the salt lakes glistening with snowy crystals. In the landscape are plains, undulating areas, and mountains. ”

“ The youths had already noted the fact that Australia is a favorite resort of members of the dramatic profession of England and the United States; a considerable number of the men and women well known to the foot-lights of English-speaking countries have at one time or another appeared on the boards of Melbourne and Sydney. Australians are fond of the drama, and there are few cities in the world that can be counted on for a more liberal patronage of good plays and good players, in proportion to their population, than the principal cities of the great southern continent. ”

“ Many a vagabond makes an easy living by wandering from one station to another, pretending that he wants employment but carefully avoiding it. The sundowner is as insolent as the American tramp; by Australian custom he is welcome to supper, lodging, and breakfast, the food consisting of tea, sugar, bread, and beef or mutton, and the lodging being in his own blankets on the floor of the men's hut or the wool-shed. ”

“ You cannot hire one of these people to climb a cocoanut-tree on Sunday, or do any other work that is not strictly one of necessity."
"What an immense change," said another, "from the days when cannibalism prevailed throughout the islands, and when all public ceremonials were attended with human sacrifices. On the death of a chief his wives and servants were buried alive with him, in order that he could have their company in the spirit world. When a chief's house was built a slave stood in each post-hole to support the post, and was buried there alive. ”

“ If a man has no sister, he steals a wife from another tribe than his own; he lies in wait in the neighborhood of the other tribe, and when a young woman passes near him he rushes out and knocks her down with a waddy, or club. Then he drags her to his hut and pounds her into submission. Such a proceeding is perfectly proper, though it almost invariably leads to a fight between the two tribes, no matter how friendly they may have been before the occurrence. It is the duty of the woman's tribe to avenge her abduction, and that of the man's to protect the newly wedded couple. ”

“ The larger solfataras are like the mouth of a well, the mud bubbling up in the centre and forming a ring of dirt that solidifies and offers a good footing, so far as the eye can perceive; but woe betide the unfortunate stranger who ventures to step upon it; the crust gives way, and he will be fortunate if he escapes with his life. ”

“ More palatable than shark steak were the oysters which abound in the bay. The island of Kawau has a coast-line of about thirty miles, and all around it there are oyster-beds, some of them of great extent. Not only do the oysters grow on the rocks and in the water, but they cling to the overhanging limbs of the trees, and grow there quite contented with their immersion of a few hours twice a day during the rising of the tide. Frank and Fred found the oysters of good flavor and soon became quite expert at opening the shells with the oyster-knives which were opportunely brought along in the boat. ”

“ The word 'squatter' in Australia has a meaning almost the reverse of its American one. In America a squatter is the occupant of a small area of land on which he has 'squatted,' or settled, with a view to acquiring title under the homestead laws, or perhaps to being bought off by somebody else. In Australia the squatter is the holder of a run which he obtains by lease from the Government for a term of years, paying an annual rental of ten shillings per square mile, with a privilege of renewal, and also with the right of pre-emption or actual purchase. ”

“ The race for the Melbourne Cup is the sporting sensation of Australia, and it is said that nearly two hundred thousand people assemble to witness it. The city and suburbs furnish a large part of the attendance, and the rest is made up from the country regions, from the other colonies of the continent, and not a few visitors from New Zealand and Tasmania. For weeks—and, one may say, for months—preceding the event it is the principal topic of conversation, and the stranger is often surprised at the prevalence of "horse talk" in the best social circles. ”

“ We have been reminded over and over again, and on nearly every day of our stay in Australia, of the welcome which the climate gives to the flowers of other lands, and nowhere is the reminder more forcible than in the gardens of these country-houses near Melbourne. Every description of ornamental tree and flowering shrub is to be found there, and exotics vie with the native flowers of Australia in covering the ground with all the colors known to the artist. ”

“ Doctor Bronson says prejudice against railways is not confined to savages, as he has known fairly intelligent men in New England and other parts of the United States resolutely refuse to trust themselves inside a railway-carriage under any circumstances. Our host tells us that the Maoris were once under the impression that the Englishmen had a demon of some kind chained in the locomotive and compelled to move it by turning a crank. Their more intelligent men have learned the power of steam and explained it as far as possible to the rest, so that the demon theory exists no longer. ”

“ Beyond this region of villas the carriage entered the foot-hills, where the road wound with a steep grade among taro-fields, in which men were at work up to their knees in water tending the plants which yield to the Hawaiian the staff of life. The water which irrigates the taro-fields is brought by innumerable streams from the sides of the mountains, to which it is supplied by the clouds borne by the trade-winds. Honolulu receives its water from the mountains, and there is certainly an abundance of it. ”

“ In Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane a man can buy for threepence a glass of as fine an ordinary wine as was ever made; it is nutritious and wholesome, but unfortunately the great majority of the laboring classes prefer to swallow the vile decoctions that are sold under the names of spirits. Our capabilities in wine-making are absolutely unlimited; we are shipping some of our products to Europe, where they take the place of the ordinary wines of France and Spain, and quite possibly you get many casks of them in New York and other American cities, where they are sold as Bordeaux wines. ”

“ The central peak of Tahiti has an elevation of something more than seven thousand feet, and from this peak there is a series of ridges radiating towards the sea like the spokes of a wheel. Many of these ridges are so steep on their sides that they cannot be ascended, and so narrow that there is not room for an ordinary path. A man standing on one of these ridges could with his right hand throw a stone into one valley, and with his left a stone into another, whose inhabitants could communicate only by descending to the coast, or to the lowland which borders it. ”

“ We asked the driver of our carriage to show us some of the finest private residences; he did so, and we certainly commend the good taste of the leading: citizens in their architecture. Our drive extended to North Adelaide, which is to 'the city' what South Melbourne is to Melbourne, being principally a place for residence. The river Torrens separates Adelaide from its northern suburb; we crossed it on one of three handsome bridges, and found it less worthy of the name of river than is the Yarra at Melbourne, its bed being little more than a dry waste of sand. ”

“ Sight-seeing places the world over are the cause of great demoralization to the people that live near them, and the Hot Lake district of New Zealand is no exception. The Maoris here are as rapacious as the hackmen at Niagara Falls, the guides and hotel-keepers at Rome, Naples, and hundreds of other places on the Continent, or the custodians of the Taj Mahal at Agra, or the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. ”

“ The Premier of one of the colonies—the Premier is equivalent to our Secretary of State—worked on the public roads when he first came to Australia, and nobody thinks the worse of him for it; the Minister of Public Instruction in another colony drove a coal-cart in Sydney, and there are dozens of men of prominence who have been shepherds, cattle-drivers, carpenters, bricklayers, and the like. Australia seems to have taken a leaf out of the history of the United States, and been greatly benefited by so doing. ”

“ Hotel-keepers in San Francisco have told me that those who order California wines at dinner are invariably strangers; a Californian would almost consider himself disgraced if he should do so." "Well, it is pretty much the same in Australia," said Mr. Watson. "We are proud of our country and what it produces, but we prefer French champagne to our own sparkling wines, and Spanish sherry to what comes from our vineyards and wine cellars. And not altogether without reason, I must confess, as we have not yet reached perfection with our fine wines." ”

“ There is a tendency to exclude religious teaching from the public schools, and in place of this there is a wide-spread interest in Sunday-schools, which abound all over the continent wherever it has been settled. In the matter of education the colonies are happily actuated by the same impulse, all believing that it is one of the vital principles of good government. The children are taught either wholly or partially by the aid of the State funds of each province, and in nearly all the colonies a separate department, under a minister of the Crown, controls the machinery of education. ”

“ To offset the hot wind of Sydney we had a 'southerly burster' in Melbourne, and also two or three showers of rain that came down with such vigor as to fill the gutters of the lower streets to a depth of two or three feet. Most of the crossings are bridged, so that one can walk over the temporary rivers in safety, but in former times accidents were not infrequent. 'Another Child Drowned in the Gutters Yesterday' was by no means an unusual heading in the Melbourne papers, and sometimes full-grown men fell victims to the streams that flowed like mill-races while they lasted. ”

“ It is a favorite trick of sailors to induce a novice to pick up a captured physalia, so that they may enjoy his haste in dropping it.
As the Alameda continued her course the outline of the land grew more and more distinct, revealing the rugged volcanic cliffs of Oahu, and reminding the passengers of the burning mountains for which the Sandwich Islands are famous. The course of the vessel lay through the Molokai Channel, leaving Molokai Island on the left, and hugging closely against the surf-beaten shores of Oahu, on which the capital, Honolulu, is situated. ”

“ We can't begin to name all the churches we have seen in our rides and walks along the streets. Suffice it to say there are no finer modern churches anywhere than here, and the inhabitants of Melbourne have shown great liberality in their contributions for building these religious edifices. There is no State Church in the colony, but the Church of England is the fashionable one, and has a greater number of adherents than any other church. ”