Chapters 10-12 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 10, Twain tackles the topic of Pacific whaling traffic. The trade is centered in Honolulu. Without whaling, Twain admits, Honolulu would wither away. Nevertheless, Twain advocates that San Francisco divert the trade to its own harbor, bringing in several hundred thousand dollars a year. Twain runs through the numbers on sailors, their ships, and how best to accommodate both. He also looks at the prices of both oil and whalebone and the profit that each might bring San Francisco. He admits that the "palmy days" of whaling are in the past but notes that the market is once again on the rise.

Twain does a side-by-side comparison between San Francisco and Honolulu. Honolulu frowns on its citizens being recruited as sailors - not so San Francisco. San Francisco is also closer to the whaling lines, has a more...