FROM GREYMOUTH TO LIVERPOOL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 940, 1 August 1871, Page 2

FROM GREYMOUTH TO LIVERPOOL.

[by an old geeymouthian.X London, Jii-gV^ In accordance with your desire, T will give you a slight Bketch of my trip from Greymouth to Liverpool, across the American Continent. Heft Greymouth in the handy little steamer Murray on the 2nd March, about sunßet, having the pleasure of the company on board of one of the spirited and enterprising men of Greymouth, part owner of the vessel, and a well' and " long " known individual, who was taking a peculiar interest in the little craft. There was no sickness on board, and after a very pleasant run up, arrived there at six in the morning of the 4th of March. I went on shore, visited some Nelson friends, took a long drive into the country, admired the pretty scenery about Nelson, and at 8 p.m. embarked on board the Phoebe, for Auckland. On board the .Phoebe I met with an old Greymouth friend, in charge of the mails, who was going on to San Francisccf. From Weßtport I had been accompanied by an old Bank of New Zealand friend, going to Onehunga, so we made a pleasant trio. We had splendid weather, and the dreaded " mal de mer" did not trouble me. Put into, or rather lay off, Taranaki. Had a fine view of Mount Egmont, and after a few hours detention, proceeded to the Manakau. I was up very early on the morning of the 6th, and had a splendid view of the coast, and after passing Manakau Heads, of the pretty bay, which gives one a very different idea of New Zealand to that conveyed by an acquaintance with the West Coast only. At Onehunga rwe found coaches ready to drive us across to Auckland — a distance of nine miles — rather a pleasant road, but no striking scenery. I arrived in Auckland at 9 a.m., Monday, 6th March. Put up at the Waitemata Hotel, kept by an old Greymouth. acquaintance (Abbott), and after a good bath, started off to look about Auckland. In a few hours a heavy thunderstorm came on, rain fell in torrents, the streets' were flooded, water rushed through shops and into cellars and warehouses, mud was piled up in heaps, and everything got a great soaking. This was the first rain that had fallen for a long time in Auckland.* It rained slightly for the rest of the day, and the air was very close and oppressive. Next day I went to the Native- Lands' Court, where a great case was being: d3cided between two Maori tribes. There was a great gathering of Maori chiefs and warriors, and counsel engaged on both sides, the whole affair being very interesting to me. The harbor of Auckland is very pretty, and the town well situated, running up from the water to the top of the hills close to the bay. There is a good deal of shipping in port, mostly small craft, some owned and manned by Maoris. The natives come in to market With fruit and vegetables, and struck me as very fine fellows, many being over six feet, and strongly built, while some of them must be six feet three or four, and big enough, to weigh seventeen or eighteen stone. A great many of the young women are nearly as tall and as straight as arrows. The City of Melbourne sailed at 2 p.m. on the 7th, with about fifty passengers in the saloon, five in the second-class cabin, and about sixty forward. We had a favorable passage to Honolulu, the weather very Lot. Wtf coma not have our ports; opeu much, as the steamer rolled a good deal, and the ports were rather close to the water. The accommodation on board was good, and the table excellent. I cannot say what the second-class and steerage accommodation was, as I did not visit that part of the ship. Captain Grainger was very attentive to the comfort of his passengers, and anxious to make a good trip. We arrived at Honolulu on the 24th March, and went ashore that afternoon. Honolulu is a very different place to what we expected to find it ; far more like a Colonial town, and nothing of the savage island about it. You see the high hills behind the town a long way off, and as you approach, the beautiful green look is most welcome. The town stretches up a valley rising gently between high hills, and skirts the bay for two or three miles. The vessels run up to capital, well-built wharves, and lie in calm water. There are numbers of large full-rigged ships in harbor, from all parts of the world, and a large and brisk trade going on. A short time before we arrived nearly 200 whalers were lying there, which would give an access of about 7000 men to the population, drawing supplies of all kinds from the place. There were about 20 or 30 whalers in port when I was there, and some 40 or 50 other vessels, besides small craft in numbers. The chief trade is with America. The white population is about 2000, on shore, among whom are about 500 Germans. Many of the merchants are very wealthy, and have pleasant residences in the suburbs of Honolulu ; many are married to natives. The Kanakas, as the natives are called, are industrious, and dress like the French working classes; nearly all wear boots ; the women dress like Europeans, except that the dress is not drawn in at the waist — a very sensible plan in a hot climate. They ride astride like the men, with a long flowing robe across their knees and tucked round the stirrups. Most natives, male andiemale,* have horses, and seldom walk. There are many churches, well-built, and very large, Catholic and Protestant, the latter chiefly Congregational. I believe the Kanakas in all the islands are Christians. The population of Honolulu is about 15,000 ; of the island, 61,000. The island next in importance is Hawai, with which there is a large trade, chiefly in sugar ; it is about 200 or 300 miles from Honolulu; and a large steamer, always crowded, goes there weekly ; the steamer beloDgs to the King. Numbers of schooners trade there too.' some belonging to natives; several others of the larger islands have whites on them, and all have some trades. We took 6000 kegs (2001 b) sugar up to San Francisco in the Ajax. Hawai is the most productive island, but Honolulu is the great ; port and chief place of the group. There are excellent roads through the island, and much cultivation, chiefly taro patches. The Kanakas live entirely on poi, a preparation looking and tasting like paste, made from the taro root. The taro grows under water like rice, but the natives are good at irrigation, and there is plenty of splendid water all over the island. The town is well laid out in good streets, full of shops, and nicely shaded by trees-? chiefly tamarins.. The retail trade is greatly in the hands of Chinese ; the Kanakas do not trade much, except in fruit and vegetables. The Government is managed by Europeans under the native King, Kamehameha the Fifth, two Americans, one German, and one Englishman, form

the ; the police is native, but tMfciperintendent an American ; the govern^eofilike gaol is a Scotchman ; the gaolers Kanakas. Some of the officials under the Government are native-born whites, some Kanakas, some Europeans and Americans. No liquor is allowed to be sold to the natives, and a hotel license is L2OO a year ; the duties are much the same as in New Zealand or California. The native population is rapidly decreasing, for the women will not be troubled with children. Immorality is not so rife among the women as it used to be, the Government having checked many bad practices among them. The King is educated and lives in a fine palace, with handsome grounds, surrounded by a stone wall some mile and a half round. He is an immense man, about 6ft. sin. high and large in proportion, weighing 19 stone. He drives a handsome carriage with a pair of English horses. He has a fine yacht, and -visits the other islands pretty .often, and goes into trade, which latter pursuit makes him rather unpopular, aa he has unfair advantages. The Kanaka boys are great divers, and can stay in the water for hours. If you throw a coin into the clear blue sea, they will catch it before it reaches the bottom, stuff it into their mouths, and wait for more, swimming about all the time. I have seen them spring 40ft. off a rock into a pool where 1 was bathing, and they have a, peculiar way of reaching the water so as to avoid concussion from the high leap. I must now leave Honolulu, or I shall never get to America. Fruits of all kinds, European and tropical, abound. I had oranges, mangoes, guavas, bananas, strawberries and apples— the two latter grow up the cool valleys. Ice is brought from America. The Ajax arrived on the 25th March, but did not leave for San Francisco till the evening of the Ist April. The City ofMelbonrne returned to New Zealand on the 27ih March. The Ajax rolled so much that we were nearly all very uncomfortable, some were ill all the way up. We had several more passengers in the saloon from Honolulu, and all our New Zealand lot but one. There were only seven passengers actually from New Zealand, the rest^were all Australians, chiefly from Victoria. Two days before arriving in San Francisco we passed the Nevada at night, {pretty close. She was the first of the new mail line going through to New Zealand, touching at Honolulu. We got into San Francisco at midnight, 12th April. The importance of the port was easily noticed by the quantity of shipping lying at the wharves, and the large tonnage of much of it. I went on shore that night, but came back to sleep on board. Next morning we got our luggage examined by the Custom House officers, and then went up town to the Occidental Hotel, where all the better class of our saloon passengers put up. This hotel deserves mention, as one of the best managed and most complete establishments to be found anywhere in the werld. There is a fixed and reasonable charge for travellers- -3dol a day — and for this you have a capital, spacious bedroom, with hot and cold water laid on, and a table at which you are served with everything that money can procure in California— the variety of the bill of fare is astonishing. There is a steamlift, or elevator, to take lodgers and luggage to the different floors or flats of the immense building, and it is in requisition from six a.m. to midnight. All the arrangements of the hotel are very complete, and it is conducted with great method. The Occidental cost 1,500, OOOdol, and the furniture 150,000d01, total, in English money, L 330,000; the street floor is let for shops ; there are 13 tables in the billiard-room. San Francisco has a population of 150,000, and is a driving, busy place, with an increasing trade, but, at present, there are far too many traders, and speculation has been overdone. California is going through a sort of crisis, and will settle down to a most prosperous and fast increasing state, as the soil is very productive, the climate excellent, and the port so situated that a large trade must take root there. Oakland, on the other side of the Bay, is a very extensive place, mostly private dwelling of San Francisco merchants, and all the country round about is dotted over with villas and gardens. The Bay is beautiful, and the facilities of rail and tramways allow men to live a long way from San Francisco, and come in daily to their offices. The city is well built, but, for fear of earthquakes, mostly of wood, although some large buildings, like the Occidental Hotel, have brick walls cased in wood and bound with iron. There is a large Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum near Berkeley, on the Oakland side of the Bay, built of a stone similar the Australian bluestone. I went over this Asylum, and it is very admirably arranged and conducted. The Californian State University is to be built close by Berkeley too. San Francisco strikes an Englishman at once as a foreign place, quite different in appearance to any place he is accustomed to, and the ways, manners, and dress of the people quite peculiar ; it is very different to New York in this respect. The men look pretty health, but the women are sallow and sickly looking, arid not much for beauty. Among the men, every nation under the sun is represented, including about 30,000 Chinese. There is an amount of spitting, chewing, and disgusting clearing of throats going on day and night, which, to me, is inexpressibly revolting. Fellows seem to sleep uneasily, too, for you often get next room to some man who is clearing his throat all night, and so noisily that he keeps you awake. Bathing is not an "institution" in the States ; there are baths to be had, but as a large hotel proprietor remarked to me, when 1 complained of paying 2s daily for my bath, "American gentlemen, Sir, generally find one bath a week enough." I don't, and doubt if any English gentleman does. The feeding is good, but too varied by lots of trash, sweets, pea-nuts, and other indigestibles. Cigar smoking is carried to great excess ; not enough exercise is taken ; men and women wear very tight boots, with the toes right forward over the sole, and heels three or foiu inches high, so that they walk very badly, and must suffer martyrdom at times ; even working-men, sailors, and soldiers wear these absurd boots, and the poor Kanakas have adopted this fashion, and are half crippled by it, especially the women ; perhaps that is why they never walk if they can help it. On Sunday the theatres and many shops are open, billiard saloons, and music-halls. There are many large churches in San Francisco. The Jews have a very large synagogue. I was at a Sunday-school meeting on Sunday afternoon in the immense skating rink buildings. There were

about 3000 children there, and about 1500 adults ; lots of psalm-singing and preaching of the most sensational American style. The children and people generally were very well dressed, and seemed well-to-do. I must get out of San Francisco, or my letter will be too long, and my time is limited. I went across to Oakland at 8 a.m., 17th April, in one of the commodious steam-ferries ; took car for. New York, and started on my trip across America. The train was well filled, many passengers booked through to various parts of the Eastern and Western States. The cars are well fitted, with a wide passage through the centre, seats for two on each side j the seats turn over, so that you can sit face to face or back to back, two and two, as you please. There is a stove at each end and a filter with iced water. Each car is about 50ft long, and you can walk from one end of the train to the other through the central passage. The weather became chilly after sundown, and the stoves made the air in the car very oppressive and hot. There is only one second-class car in the train, used as a smoking-car, heated like an oven, feeding done there by those who carry their own provisions, and all the smokers have to resort there, so it is absolutely stifling in that car, and the women nearly fainted. These great cars have only four wheels, and are wider than the colonial carriages and are nearly twice as long, but they run very smoothly, being well-supported on springs and rubber buffers. We had fourteen cars on our train, two were sleeping-cars and one a dining-car. You pay Idol, a meal and 2dol a bed. The scenery along the line is varied enough, but there |are nojparticular points worth describing — it is very bare and rocky-looking all along the line, through the Nevadas and Tlocky Mountains and the prairies are as dreary and barren looking as can be — I saw them just as the snow was clearing off and the long frost had dried up the grass. We stopped at 108 stations between San Francisco and New York, but never for more than thirty minutes, and at many for only one minute. The beautiful scenery of California is not on the Pacific line at all— you must make special trips from San Francisco or Sacramento to see that ; it was too early in the year for me — itwould be all blocked up with snow. Chicago is a busy and populous city— 3oo,ooo inhabitants. I spent an hour or two there. I had a good view of the lakes — Michigan, Erie, and Huron ; got to Niagara very done up. Spent Sunday afternoon looking at the falls. Went on to New York at 4 a.m. of the 24th April ; passed through a very populous and well-tilled country ; came down along the banks of the Hudson from Albany, and arrived in New York at 7 p.m. Left New York on 29th April by the City of London ; had a capital passage across, and arrived in Liverpool at 2 p.m. on the 10th of May. I cannot give you my views of New York or America generally at present, although ltook care to see and learn all I could. My letter is getting too long. My trip cost me Ll27 — rather different to what we calculated in Greymouth, when I reckoned L 72 10s, with a chance of extras coming up to L9O, being the probable expense. With sleeping cars, Pullman dining cars, drawing-room cars, and less attention to saving money, it would cost over Ll5O. Now that the P. and O. Company have reduced their fares to LBS from Melbourne, and give a second-class passage for L 50 ,1 take it the ' expense of going home by way of San Francisco must be reduced somewhere or somehow, or there will not be much traffic that way. lam sorry 1 .have not more time at my disposal : I could have written you a better and more interesting letter. This has been scribbled off post haste to save the mail. There really is not much to write of the actual transit across America, but plenty to say of the country generally — its progress, prospects, and advantages, &c.