LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

West Coast Times, Issue 140, 28 February 1866, Page 3

LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

(From the Correspondent of the Southern Cross.) Honolulu, November 13, 1865. ADVENTURES OP A BRITISH NABOB. In February last there arrived here an iron schooner called the Themis commanded and owned by Thomas 13. Hanham, formerly a lieutenant in the British Navy and a midshipman under ■ Lord George Paulet when that officer, in the Carysfort, frigate, in 1843, forced the then king to cede the sovereignty of the Islands to England. Captain Hanham is said to be immensely rich*— one of the " ten thousand a year" men — and has been quite free with his money during his stay here. His yacht, the Themis, was built on purpose to beat the America, in which, however:, she did not succeed), and is enrolled in the lists of the Royal Yacht Club, London. After- a nine-months' stay about the Islands, sometimes at one port and sometimes at another, but mostly lying at Honolulu — Captain Hanham in the meantime^ enjoying the hospitality of Hhe king, living in one of the palace /'buildings— he concluded on Thursday last that he would bid farewell to the the Islands, and, via Tahiti, return to Old England. Now all this would not b:j worth mentioning, were it not for the circumstances which follow, and which are connected with the fact, the undeniable fact, that the captain, the rich, aristocratic, highly connected yacht-owner — albeit he had his wife on board, who is also immensely rich in her own name, and a very pi ? etty woman to boot — was a gay Lothario, a perfect libertine. Not that 'I ever heard of his interfering with anybody's marital rights, but *ie quite got notorious for his frequent '•' liaisons " with the frail ones among the unmarried. On Thursday lost (the day of his sailing) he applied to Governor J. 0. Dominis, to allow him to take one of these fair and frail ones in his vessel to England, offering to give the bond which the J law requires, that he would return her ho her native lnnd. (I may here state, that by the Hawaiian laws, any master of a vessel, before being allowed to take out of the kingdom an aboriginal Hawaiian of either sex, insist deposit with the Governor a bond in the sum of 300dols, as security that such subject shall be returned.) In this instance the Governor, using the discretion which I suppose the law allows him, or, perhaps, acting under advisement — command, even — from high authority, refused to grant permission for Miss to embark on board the yacht. Captain. H., however^ was not thus to be doprived of his Dulcinea, and so he stealthily abducted her, contrary, of course, to the law of the country and the will of the Executive, expressly pronounced. More than this, he had appointed to meet the King on the Esplanade, to exchange farewells, at a fixed hour, but when his Majesty got tliQre, the yacht was under way, and sailing out of the harbour. This insult of course irritated the king, who is a man of spirit, and knows thoroughly •what is due not only from one gentleman to another, but also what is due to rank and station ; and so he went home to the palace in no very good humour. This was at 5, p.m., and during the evening the report was brought to him of the unlawful abduction of Miss . The marshal of the islands was summoned at once, and, armed with the proper legal documents, he was despatched, on Friday morning, to arrest the young woman and bring her back. But alas ! the gay captain didn't see it (\\\ that light. When the steam tug Pele, in which the Marshal with his " posse comitatus" was embarked, came up with the Themis, becalmed about 40 miles from Lahaina, Captain H. at first refused to come alongside, but subsequently consented, and on hearing his message, defied him to take anybody or anything from the Themis, declaring that he was on the high seas, and beyond the jurisdiction of the Hawaiian government. At the same time he invited the Marshal to take lunch and a glass of brandy and water, in the cabin, which he did. The Pele proceeded on to Lahaina, where, leaving the marshal to await the arrival of the Themis (for what purpose has not yet transpired), she returned to Honolulu, arriving here on Sunday afternoon. Meantime, on Sunday morning, a schooner had arrived from Lahaina, bringing a despatch from the marshal, in which he described the very cavalier manner with which Hanham had treated his legal documents. The schooner bringing the message was the Nettie Morrill, built on the principle of the New York pilot boats, and had, on a recent passage to. one of the other islands, beaten the Themis by several hours. She was immediately chartered by the King, her cargo of sugar discharged with great expedition, i'our guns with proper ammunition put on board, besides some thirty soldiers and an experienced gunner, and despatched before midnight of Sunday, in search of the Themis. So you see the affair is likely to assume somewhat of the proportions of the rape of Helen of Troy. It is to be hoped that Hanham will have taken a sober second thought, and "topped his boom" for Tahiti, cind not run the risk of a "collision. The public are very much excited over the affair, but there is only one opinion as to the King's action, and that is, that he did quite right under the circumstances. We are waiting to-day to hear N from the improvised man-of-war, Nettie Morril, whether she or the Themis has been sunk in desporate encounter, The general opinion, however, ia that there y\}} be no blqqd (jpUfc, Had fye lftte

Minister of Foreigh Relations been alive (peace to his manes !) nothing worse than ink would have been shed. Is it not singular that about all the troubles and disturbances in the world are caused, one way or another, by women 1 Let me quote Shakspero a little : - Could I find out The woman's part in mo ! For there's no motion That tends to vice in man but I affirm It is tbo woman's part. Bo it lying, note it, The woman's ; flattering, hers : deceiving, hers ; Ambitions, covetings, change of prides, dis dam, Nice longings, slanders, mutability, All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows, Why hers, in part, or all ; but rather all, For even to vice . They are not, constant, ■ but are changing still. Of course, women are oftener the innocent than the guilty cause of man's troubles, but the lords of creation must have a scapegoat, and are not too chivalrous, in literature at least, to blame the weaker vessels for their own sins.

A ton of perfect point can bo more easily found than an ounco of perfect happiness. Ho knows little of himself or of tho world, who does not think it sufficient happinoss to bo frco from sorrow. ,

Discovery of a Mexican City. — The Render says: — " About fifty miles from Tuxan, in tho Province of Tlaxicala, in Jicorumbo, a dense forest of gigantic cedars, situated on a healthy table-land, the ruins of an extensive Mexican aboriginal city have just been discoveied. The temples are of immense size, some with vaulted roofs, and so well preserved that ancient pictures appear fresh, and the courts are filled with figures of idols, and pyramids surmounted by the same." ■ •

An American paper says that M. Dcsor, a Swiss naturalist, has investigated and confirmed the statement that small fish havo boon found in Algerian artesian wells, 200 foot deep. These fish belong to tho carp .specios. They are healthy, and havo fine largo and perfect eyes. Snbtorranean fish nro usually blind, on account of tho iiselessness of oyes to such creatures. It is bolioved, therefore, that the artesian wells in the Algerian Sahara aro connected with superficial ponds at long distances from tho wells.

Conoretb Arching. — The use of artificial stone and concretes in construction has been attempted in several forms, but, generally, in that of blocks previously shaped, and afterwards applied like stones. In tho extensive underground floors of a new barracks now erecting in Paris, the vauliings are being formed of what is called Beton's agglomeres, the exact composition of which is kept secret by tho inventor, M, Coignet. The walls are fully thirteen feet apart, and the concrete is laid on timber centreings, and trodden and beaten down with great care. The vault and flooring thus formed is about two feet thick at the spring of the vault, but only about ten inches on tho crown, and it is found sufficiently strong for all practical purposes. It has also this great advantage, that the ceiling can at once be whitened, and the floor laid with tiles or cement without further preparation. The process is said to be successful and economical. — Society of Arts Journal.

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Government Notices.