Within the last century the Hawaiian islands have been the topic of
various works of merit, and some explanation of the reasons which
have led me to enter upon the same subject are necessary.
I was travelling for health, when circumstances induced me to land
on the group, and the benefit which I derived from the climate
tempted me to remain for nearly seven months. During that time the
necessity of leading a life of open air and exercise as a means of
recovery, led me to travel on horseback to and fro through the
islands, exploring the interior, ascending the highest mountains,
visiting the active volcanoes, and remote regions which are known to
few even of the residents, living among the natives, and otherwise
seeing Hawaiian life in all its phases.
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. With the
exception of certain omissions and abridgments, they are printed as
they were written, and for such demerits as arise from this mode of
publication, I ask the kind indulgence of my readers.
ISABELLA L. BIRD.
January, 1875.