leper. This is indeed heroism,
to brave the horrors of such an exile in the fulfilment of what he
conceives to be his religious duty. If we knew the priest's name we
would record it in this connection.

Like tropical regions generally, Honolulu does not lack for annoying
insects and disagreeable as well as poisonous reptiles. That the
mosquito reigns here goes without saying, and exhaustive measures are
taken in every domestic establishment to afford protection against the
ubiquitous pest. Our steamer, on the passage toward America, took on
board five hundred packages of bananas, each bunch wrapped up in a
covering of banana-leaf husks. The night after we sailed for San
Francisco quite a commotion was created among the lady passengers,
reinforced by the gentlemen, on the finding of huge roaches, scorpions,
centipedes, and elephantine spiders meandering in and about the berths
and the cabins. That the sensation experienced on awaking from sleep to
feel a damp, slimy creature creeping slowly over one's face is
excessively disagreeable, may be readily supposed. These reptiles and
insects were brought on board in surprising numbers in the fruit
packages, where they were securely hidden until they chose to come
forth. The chief engineer of the ship prepared a number of bottles with
proof spirit, in which a lot of these scorpions and centipedes were
preserved, and which were secured by passengers curious in such matters.
A young child was bitten by one of the mammoth spiders, causing its arm
to swell up alarmingly, but the doctor treated the wound promptly with
ammonia, and gave the little sufferer some internal medicine which
seemed to act as an antidote to the poison.

We must not close these notes touching the Hawaiian group without a few
words relating to our intimate national relation therewith, which at the
present time is assuming special political importance.

The relation of the United States with the Hawaiians is in a somewhat
peculiar state at the present writing. For ten years past there has
existed a reciprocity treaty between us by which their sugar crop is
admitted free of duty into the States, and a certain liberal concession
on their part is made as to admitting the products of this country into
the islands. The operation of this treaty has been to stimulate the
production of sugar in the islands from about thirty thousand tons per
annum to one hundred thousand tons and over, all of which comes to this
co