Mark Twain

Over a hundred years before there were blogs Mark Twain wrote a series of letters for the Sacramento Union of his adventure to Hawaii in 1866. He aptly describes Hawaii as "the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean."

The writing is wonderful although dated in some respects and very informative about the old days when it was a sovereign republic. Twain never did visit Kauai, but spend most of his time in Honolulu with a visit to the big island.

His writings include quite a bit of detailed economics statistics, for example, the booming sugar production.

• 1864: 10.4 million pounds, 
• 1865: 15.3 million pounds, 
• 1866 (through September): 27 million pounds.

Apparently the series was an early prominent success in his writing - sold a lot of papers - and upon his return he lectured on his Hawaiian travels thereby starting those performances for which he later became renowned.

His irreverent perspective certainly puts missionaries and western officials of the Hawaiian government in their place. While he shows due respect to Hawaiian royalty and parts of the culture, he comes off a little too superior to the common native and pokes somewhat ignorant fun at their "savage" ways.

Wisdom of Audrey Sutherland

A bit more of the wisdom from Audrey Sutherland's book previously mentioned worth sharing.

Selected things every kid ought to be able to do by age 16

• fix a meal
• splice a cord
• change a tire
• change a baby
• listen to an adult with empathy
• set work to be done and do it

What to do if you fall off a mountain

Roll onto your back: you dig in better with your heels than your hands, your vital parts are better protected, and you can see ahead where you are sliding. She adds, "sort of" to that last one. Makes sense.

Quotable quotes

"The ability to live in a variety of styles, city or country, with people or without, in different languages and cultures, with enthusiasm for the small luxuries, gives me a power over the future"

 

Audrey Sutherland

I first heard of Audrey Sutherland from an interview in the Hawaiian Air in-flight magazine.  This week I finished reading her wonder first book and was thoroughly impressed in every way. Well written, it's part travel diary, part Hawaiiana, part philosophy and lighter musings, and overall a small window into her world of solo adventure to the very most remote remaining parts of the islands. Her treks are all the more amazing and insightful because she does it solo, with her own gear and supplies and entirely self-powered (except for getting to and from the island). She's an original and absolutely heroic.

Sutherland, Audrey, 1921- Padding my own canoe / Audrey Sutherland. -- Honolulu : University Press of Hawaii, c1978. 136 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. (A Kolowalu Book) Autobiographical. ISBN 0-8248-0618-2 1. Hawaii--Description and travel--1951- 2. Sutherland, Audrey, 1921- I. Title. DU623.2.S87   919.69'04'4

Aud (as she calls herself throughout the book: solo travel books are by necessity monologues) is a lady who relishes a challenge. On an inter-island flight she spies the uninhabited north coast of Moloka'i, replete with sea cliffs and waterfalls, and is particularly drawn to explore it herself because there are so many hula'ana. As she explains, a hula'ana is a Hawaiian term for an impassible section of coastline, such as where there is only a cliff along the coast line.

Long story short, she shows up next summer on the island with a make-shift floating backpack rig -- this was before REI and high-tech gear was made, in the 1960s. "I scrounged a new rubber meteorological weather balloon, wrapped the camera, food, and clothing in it, rolled it inside a shoer curtain, put the bundle into an army clothing bag, and lashed it all to a lightweight aluminum pack frame..." I won't spoil the fun of telling how splendidly that worked out for her, in waters known to have plenty of sharks no less, but she did survive to write the book obviously.

Over the years she returns over and over again to this territory for time alone, to luxuriate in the exquisite natural beauty, and in no small part to test herself out there. She discovers an abandoned shack and over the years renovates it (carrying in and out everything herself) to because what she calls "Pelekunu Plaza". It's a quick read and chock full of her unique wisdom and creativity.

A beautiful quote near the end of the book encapsulates the lesson she has lived and narrated throughout. To me this rings so true, yet is so counter to the conventional wisdom, and the entire book is full of examples of exactly what she means.

"The only real security is not insurance or money or a job, not a house and furniture paid for, or a retirement fund, and never is it another person. It is the skill and humor and courage within, the ability to build your own fires and find your own peace." -- Audrey Sutherland