Ladies and Gentlemen—There doesn't appear to be anybody here to introduce me, and so we will
have to let that go by default. But I am the person who is to deliver the lecture, and I shall try to
get along just the same as if I had been formally introduced. I suppose I should apologize for the
weather, but I can't hold myself altogether responsible for it, so I will let it go as it is. The only
apology which I can offer for appearing before you to talk about the Sandwich Islands is the fact
that the recent political changes there have rendered it necessary for us to post ourselves
concerning that country, to know a little something about the people, what we have forgotten, to
gather up again, and, as I have spent several months in the Islands, several years ago, I feel
competent to shed any amount of information upon the matter. (Laughter.) I shall try to tell the
petrified truth about that country, although it is a good deal like pulling teeth to keep it up,
straight along, for any length of time. (Laughter.)
