The noted humorist's account of his 1866 trip to Hawaii at a time when the island were more for the native than the tourists.
Grove A. Day Pořadí knih (chronologicky)
It has been six weeks since I touched a pen. In explanation and excuse I offer the fact that I spent that time (with the exception of one week) on the island of Maui. I only got back yesterday. I never spent so pleasant a month before, or bade any place goodbye so regretfully. I doubt if there is a mean person there.... I went to Maui to stay a week and remained five. I had a jolly time. I would not have fooled away any of it writing letters under any consideration whatever. Mark Twain. So Samuel Langhorne Clemens made his excuse for late copy to the Sacramento Union, the West Coast newspaper underwriting the young reporter's sojourn in 1866 in return for a series of twenty-five humorous travel sketches. Whether journeying about Oahu on the wretchedest horse in literature, pronouncing the government prison 'the pleasantest quarters in Honolulu,' or delighting in the humanity of local businessmen and politicians, Mark Twain, with his special brand of humor, zestfully sounds the depths of Hawaiian life so accurately that his descriptions still measure up today, sometimes with a bit of a sting, but always with special affection for 'the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean.'