SITUATION OF HONOLULU.

47

It is a long hill, truncated above; which, while it shows seaward a peak, named Diamond Head, when seen from the town, or from the south-eastern direction at sea, looks like a straight, detached ridge, a little elevated at its end. The particular form of this promontory results from its volcanic origin. Another remarkable hill of the same character, crowned with a battery, guards the entrance of the smaller bay which forms the harbour of Honolulu. At the foot of the mountains extends a fertile plain, ten miles in length, and, in parts, two miles in width from the sea to the base of the hills. On this plain Honolulu is built. The remarkable shapes of the mountains, torn by ravines or divided by green valleys, and of the plain also, unmistakeably speak the fiery agencies which produced them. Those agencies were exerted at a very ancient period. The substratum of the plain is a deposited calcareous rock, containing bones of animals and fish, marine shells, and branches of white coral. This rock is hardest at its upper extremity, and becomes softer and more porous as its depth increases. Above the chalk lies a layer of fine volcanic ashes and cinders; and over all a rich alluvial soil of the depth of two or three feet. By boring little more than a dozen feet into the chalk stratum excellent water is obtained. It is a remarkable circumstance that though the water in the wells rises and falls with the tide, showing that it reaches them by infiltration from the sea-it is never salt or brackish to the taste. The city is, therefore, blest with great 'water privileges,' and a corresponding facility for drainage. It is built round the harbour, which possesses quays and warehouses, and slips for heaving up and repairing ships. Near it are the custom-house, and a large building containing the public offices. There is also the fort, which, at

the time of Beechey's visit, mounted forty guns; but has now been dismantled, and applied to other government

uses.

The central portion of the town consists of regularly laid out streets, many of the houses standing within gardens. There are two stone churches, belonging to the American Congregationalists; a Native church; and the Roman Catholic Cathedral. A distinguishing feature. of Honolulu is, that this large town is built without a single chimney-a cheerful city, under its brilliant, unclouded sky; the blue sea spreading at its feet, with a silvery line of breakers on the distant reef. The masts of shipping in the port rise into view above the spreading roofs of the houses and stores; the flags on the fort and at the consulates flutter in the fanning breeze; and the sound of hammers,-welcome indication and type of industry, comes from the shipyards of the harbour. People of all nations are meeting in the wide streets; English, American, French, German, Chinese, South Polynesians, are represented here; busy with commerce, with politics, with dinner at the very excellent hotels, or, in that rest-inviting climate, busy doing nothing. The Queen's Hospital is to be visited; or a salute from the battery on Punch-bowl Hill announces that a foreign man-of-war,-in the neater American form, a national ship,-has arrived. Numbers of Hawaiians, more or less in European dress, fill the streets, giving a smile and the cheerful aloha, or greeting, as they pass you. Women bring in plantains, and oranges, or the delicious chirimoya, from gardens ; vegetables, and fish, and taro roots. The younger women, though they have thrown off idolatry and thrown on some clothes, must still crown themselves with flowing chaplets as of old. They have discarded many things,

but cannot abandon that graceful taste and appreciation of nature which led them to deck themselves,— both sexes occasionally,-with perfumed and manycoloured blossoms, formed in elegant wreaths.

Look, too, at these large placards; the Royal Hawaiian Theatre is open this evening. Great stars are announced,-brilliant stars; though, like those of the Southern Cross, unknown in our northern hemisphere. The Equestrian Circus also invites to its new and amazing acts,' and it will not be left empty by a people so devoted to horse-flesh. See, now, even whilst we speak, how many riders of both sexes the eye takes in, as one looks along the road! and we must take care that we are not ridden down, for the police, with all their care, cannot prevent the inconvenience of occasional racing in the streets. There seems an unusual stir in the streets to-day; a greater than ordinary crowd. Many country people are flocking in; and that salute meant something more than the arrival of a national ship in the harbour. Let us walk onward, and inquire what this gala appearance means: for flags are flying, and we hear music at a distance. We can

inquire here at the office of the Hawaiian Gazette,' an excellently conducted weekly newspaper, and the Government official or semi-official organ. Nearly vis-avis is the bureau of the Commercial Advertiser,' also a weekly journal, in English, devoted to the interests of the American missionaries; and claiming, by its generally adverse criticisms on ministers and measures, to occupy, in the room of any senatorial body, the place of His Majesty's Opposition.' The same party have also a monthly publication, of many years' standing, The Friend.' We remark, in passing, that two newspapers in the vernacular make their appearance

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