Customer Reviews

Six Months in the Sandwich Islands: Among Hawaii's Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The steamer Nevada left Auckland New Zealand in January of 1873. Onboard are a number of travelers including Isabella Bird, who is traveling for her health. When another passenger takes ill, his Mother asks Isabella to disembark with them at Honolulu so they are not in a foreign land all alone. Thinking she will be there a short while, she actually begins a six-month journey, which she chronicles in a series of unabridged letters to her Sister back home. For those who have visited Hawaii or those who wonder what the islands were like before being annexed to the United States, these writings are pure joy.

Isabella arrives as a foreigner, but in a short time learns of the beauty of the various islands and begins to understand the diverse culture of the people.

She travels as an unescorted woman in a country, which has recently converted from aboriginal customs and inter-island wars, to the relatively peaceful paradise known in modern times. From simple observations of looking down at clouds on Maui at sunrise, to the unexpected earthquakes while standing next to a bubbling caldron of creation itself, you follow her adventures in well-written communications, which inform and entertain.

As she stood in snow, gazing down at the crater 800 feet below her, she wrote "The mystery was solved, for at one end of the crater, in a deep gorge of its own, above the level of the rest of the area, there was the lonely fire, the reflection of which, for six weeks, has been seen for 100 miles."

What she witnessed upon King Lunalilo's arrival in Hilo, brought tears to my eyes. Although they were beginning life under a form of government, the natives treated their king to a touching procession unlike anywhere else in the world. Many of the citizens had little or no money for clothes and wore what they had to meet him.

Some also brought gifts as Isabella writes: "One woman, sorely afflicted with quaking palsy, dragged herself slowly along. One hand hung by her side helpless, and the other grasped a live fowl so tightly that she could not loosen it to shake hands, whereupon the king raised the helpless arm, which called forth much cheering." A poor cripple who had only the use of his arms, drug himself two miles to lie for a moment at his kings feet. He too carried a gift.

Reading Isabella Birds' letters allows you to see first hand the magic the islands has on a visitor's soul and how easy it is to fall under the spell of the Hawaiian people.

I highly recommend the book with only one useful hint. That is to find a detailed map and refer to it during the travels. Unfortunately, the maps in the book are not clear enough to use for this purpose.

A beautifully written first hand description of the hawaii of the 18th. century. The book is a series of letters written by a 40 year old english women to her sister in england. During her stay in the islands, she had the opportunity to travel to all of the main islands, and the stories of her experiences are most vividly described. For those of us who love the islands, it's people and their culture this is the book for you.

Every book by Isabella is an adventure. This book is wonderful to read during and after a trip to the islands. It makes great bedtime reading and is a book that you can stretch out for a long time and read again and again.

Isabella Lucy Bird won fame in her own time as th most remarkable woman traveler of the nineteenth century, and Six Months in the Sandwich Islands, in which she describes her sojourn in Hawaii in 1873, is one of the gems of Pacific literature. It is safe to say that no other book about Hawaii surpasses it in fascination. Much of the charm of Isabella Bird's writing is due to her use of personal letters for conveying her experiences and her impressions. The thirty-one letters that compose the book were written to her beloved sister Henrietta, who dutifully stayed at home in Edinburgh to take care of the household while Isabella was away on her travels.

--- from summary inside book's cover

The 5 star reviews are correct. This book is interesting from several perspectives:

Women's History; she was quite a gal. Single, traveling alone, great adventures on every page. "Rollicking good time!" is the cliche. She is quickly bored by Honolulu "society" and itches to get moving.

Mores of 19th Century Western (European, British, American) culture in respect to women. The changes Isabella makes as she adapts to new lifestyles.

Personal accounts and insight of historical figures, White and Hawai'ian, and her instincts and frustrations with self-serving individuals of all races. She meets history-altering people mentioned in Shoal of Time.

Detailed account of sugar production.

Detailed accounts of the landscape, especially of the Island of Hawai'i, before nearly everything valuable was obliterated. Sense of place.

Detailed accounts of flora and fauna.

Horse riding styles, quality and treatment of horses. Discussion of a variety of methods of post contact Hawaiian transportation. Foot, horse, ship.

Details of a variety of Hawaiian life styles.

Accounts of mission schools and second generation missionaries.

Enjoy and learn!

Interesting account for the times, refreshing in lacking a political agenda. More of an objective, non-biased account of the life and times in the Hawaiian Islands in the 19th century. The narrative style is a bit tedious at times, but this woman was an amazing adventurer.

After hiking in Kauai I just wanted to slip into a book to relive the colors and smell of the landscape. This book did it for me. She takes you back to the island, introduces you to some of her native friends, and reveals some local knowlege. I loved her descriptions of the landscape. I hope to get back to Hawaii sooner than later. Mahalo!

I like the biography on Isabella Bird, "Amazing Traveler, by Evelyn Kaye" much better. Anything by Isabella is amazing, but the detailed way in which she writes her sister can be a bit hard to read at times.