from it. The court-house, a large buff painted frame-building with
two deep verandahs, standing on a well-kept lawn planted with exotic
trees, is the most imposing building in Hilo. All the foreigners
have carried out their individual tastes in their dwellings, and the
result is very agreeable, though in picturesqueness they must yield
the plain to the native houses, which whether of frame, or grass
plain or plaited, whether one or two storied, all have the deep
thatched roofs and verandahs plain or fantastically latticed, which
are so in harmony with the surroundings. These lattices and single
and double verandahs are gorgeous with trailers, and the general
warm brown tint of the houses contrasts pleasantly with the deep
green of the bananas which over-shadow them. There are living
waters everywhere. Each house seems to possess its pure bright
stream, which is arrested in bathing houses to be liberated among
kalo patches of the brightest green. Every verandah appears a
gathering place, and the bright holukus of the women, the gay shirts
and bandanas of the men, the brilliant wreaths of natural flowers
which adorn both, the hot-house temperature, the new trees and
flowers which demand attention, the strange rich odours, and the low
monotonous recitative which mourns through the groves make me feel
that I am in a new world. Ah, this is all Polynesian! This must be
the land to which the "timid-eyed" lotos-eaters came. There is a
strange fascination in the languid air, and it is strangely sweet
"to dream of fatherland" . . .
I.L.B.



LETTER IV.