At the close of my visit, my Hawaiian friends urged me strongly to
publish my impressions and experiences, on the ground that the best
books already existing, besides being old, treat chiefly of
aboriginal customs and habits now extinct, and of the introduction
of Christianity and subsequent historical events. They also
represented that I had seen the islands more thoroughly than any
foreign visitor, and the volcano of Mauna Loa under specially
favourable circumstances, and that I had so completely lived the
island life, and acquainted myself with the existing state of the
country, as to be rather a kamaina {0} than a stranger, and that
consequently I should be able to write on Hawaii with a degree of
intimacy as well as freshness. My friends at home, who were
interested in my narratives, urged me to give them to a wider
circle, and my inclinations led me in the same direction, with a
sort of longing to make others share something of my own interest
and enjoyment.
The letters which follow were written to a near relation, and often
hastily and under great difficulties of circumstance, but even with
these and other disadvantages, they appear to me the best form of
conveying my impressions in their original vividness.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25