Foreign Correspondence

Uowoi.ULU, H. I., Noy. 22, 1885. Ed. Courhr : A largo majority of the people of the eastern states naturally obtain their first experience in occan travelIng upon the Atlantic. If they desirethelr lirst ocean journey to be free from the usual uttendiint and nececssary evils, and to be assoeiated with only pleasant mpressions, they should avold the Atlantic and make their first attempt by running down throujjh the Pacific from San Francisco to Honolulú; for, except on rare occasions, this trip willafl'ord an ideal experience in ocean travel. The means of coramunication with the Hawuiian Islands havo improved very greatly in recent ycars. At first, and in the experience of many now living here, the only way of reaching the Mand wa by sailing vessls around Cape Hom, the journey occupying five or six inontha. The building of the Iathmus (Panama) Railway shortcned the trip to five or aix weeks. Later a line of stcamships commenced running from San Francisco to New Zealnnd and Australia, making monthly trips each way and stopping regularly at Honolulú with passengere and mails. The greatest improvement; was made about two and a half yearg ago, when the Oceanic Steamship Co. organized a special line from San Francisco to Honolulú, and put on two nv.ignificent steamships.the Mariposa and the Alameda, which have made trips cach way every two weeks, leaving 8an Francisco and Honolulú regularly on the lst and 15th of each month. This line logether with the A uM i alian line has giren the Island three mails per month. A change, howover, has just been perfected and is to go into operation noxl month, by which the Auulralian-San Francisco Pacific S. S. Co. line is withdrawn and a new line, the Union S. S. Co. of New Zeland takos its place. Under the new arrangement, the Union 8. 8. Co. will run one vessel per month each way bctween Australia and Honolulú, whitt the Oceanic S. H. Co. will continue its present between Honolulú and SanFrancisco. Passenger, freiglit and mails from Francisco to Australia or between Australia and San Francisco will be transferred from one line to the other at Honolulú. This plan will bring a mail from San Francisco to Honolulu every two weeks instead of three times a month as heretofore. As 8O little is known east about the couvenience of travel on the Pacitic, it may not be out of place to give a brief general uescription of the Alameda and Mariposa, wliicli are exact counterparts of each other. These steamsliips were built in Philadelphia lcss than tliree years ago.costing half a million dollars each. They have a displacing power of 2,000 tons each. In the elegance,' convenience and completeness of their construction, equipment and arrangement, they are probably not surpass. ed by any veassel afloat. AU the lntest and best improvements have been adopted, and some new ones Introduced, in their construction. Every part is Iighted by ncandescent electric lifjlits. The staterooms are very large and are fumished with every desirable convenience and eouifort. The dining saloons extend the wholu w dl h of the steamers, and are modela of beauty and coüvenience ; they are tunnslii'il with elx tables, nd maliogany revolving chairs, seating 104 persons. The social halls, In finish and furnishlnj are finished "in richly carved mahozony, relieved with ligbter woods; their library oases are filled with choice works of fiction, poetry, They each have a fine Steinway piano n mahogany case. The smoking rooms have railroad tables, and seats covered with maroon leather. Every convenience in bath accommodations, barber shop, etc, bas been provided. They are fumished with triple engines. thus increasing their speed whlle also reduclng to a minimum the jarring motion of the vessels. These steamshipa are claimed to be " the fastest ocean steamshlps atloat carrying the United States flag;" and I believe the records of their speed fairly entitle them to tliat claim. The time occupied in making the trip between San Francisco and Honolulú is seven da va, althoujrh the distance has been covered 'by the Mariposa in less than lx days. The f are for tlrst-class cabin is $75, or, for a round trip, $125. The diatance is 2.100 miles. In addition to the lines of steamshtps above mentioned, there are numerous regular Unes of sailing vesseli to all parto of the world. These, of course, carry no mails and rarely passengera, but mostly freight. The famous missionary team burkantine, the Morning Star, is now lyingin port.justreturned from her firnt trip to the Micronesian Islands. Shejis to set out again at once for a four or live month'a Sept. lat, at 3 p. m. found me on board the steamship Mariposa at San Francisco, i-njoy ing the confusión and bustle incident to a steamer'g departure. We were off promptly and sooti passed from the sight of the crowd on the wharf, roou from the view of the rocky heighte of San Francisco, a little later through the Ooiden Gate into the great Pacific, and at last entirely out of sight of the land of our birtli. The first night off the coast was rather disagreeable. There was a dense fog, making necessary the constant use of signáis; the sea was rather rough, requiring the port holes to be closed ; and the air was iutensely cold. But on the following morning all these disagreeable features had disappeared and we journeyed under the auspices of a perfect day. During the first twenty-four houw most of the passengers experlenced some symptoms of sea sickness.and a very few enjoyed the real thing itself for a few hours. However, nfterthe first day, nearlyeverybody was at home and in good spirits, As for myself, I can say that I do not vet know what it is to be seasick. although I did experience some slight symptoms of uneasiiies for a little while. ïhere were forty cabin passengere and we passcd the time in the way usual to seatarers. Sleeping and enting took up a very considerable portion of the time. The table fare was rather elabórate nd thoroughly good. I failed to miss a single meal. Traveling on the Pacific is rather lonesome compared with that ou the Atlantic. On the former are rarely seen any signsof life. We were measurably fortúnate in this regard, for on the way we passed fiye sailing vessels and two steamships, - one the Alan)eda, on its way from Honolulú to San Francisco, and the other, the Cityof Sidney, from Australia, New Zealand, etc., to San Francisco. Of marine life one sees no signs after the first day out except flying flsh and they become very plenty as one nears the tropics. The color of the water of the Pacifle Is a very deep indigo-blue. It is much more marked and cbaracteristic than I suppofed. Throuehout the whole voyage after the first night, the weather remained calin and perfect ; and on Tuesday morning, Sept Mli, we found ourselves in sight of