''Letters from Hawaii'' is a collection of 25 letters that
Mark Twain wrote from Hawaii in 1866 as a special
correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
for the ''
Sacramento Union
''The Sacramento Union'' was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with ' ...
'' newspaper. The 25 letters, written during Twain's four-month visit, were not published as a book until 1947.
[Edited by Walter Francis Frear, ''Mark Twain and Hawaii'', Appendix C1-C25 (Lakeside Press, 1947)]
During his four-month and a day stay in the Hawaiian Islands, then called the
Sandwich Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Ku ...
, Twain visited the islands of
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...
,
Maui, and
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
.
Oahu
Mark Twain arrives in
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...
under the reign of
Kamehameha IV
Kamehameha IV (Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku; anglicized as Alexander Liholiho) (February 9, 1834 – November 30, 1863), reigned as the fourth monarch of Hawaii under the title ''Ke Aliʻi ...
and wrote Letters 1-17. He climbed
Diamond Head, visited the newly formed Kingdom of Hawaii legislature, etc.
Maui
Mark Twain visited
Haleakala,
Maui, but left no letter on his itinerary of his Maui visit, except some statistics of sugar production in Maui (Letter 23).
Hawaii
In Letters 18 to 25, Mark Twain writes about his visits to
Kailua Kona
Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it shares ...
,
Kealakekua Bay
Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii about south of Kailua-Kona.
Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples (heiaus) and al ...
, and
Kilauea.
References
External links
*
Mark Twain ''Letters from Hawaii'' Study Guide
{{Mark Twain
Books by Mark Twain
American travel books
Hawaiian Kingdom
1947 non-fiction books
Books about Hawaii
Collections of letters
Books published posthumously