Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-07-07


with people from many parts of the civilized
| ra!th, yet Loan safely say, that without scarce
ly an isolated exception, they arc as destitute
| Of affection and gratitude as ii hog not only so
far as foreigners arc concerned, but with their
own people Intellectually, they arc probably
notch or two above the Digger Indians of
California, and their manner of living and lazy
habits arc very similar to them. Their prin-
cipal food is " Poa," which is manufactured
from a root called "Tarrah." This root is
painted and grown in standing water, and
which CONES to maturity in about fourteen
mouths; it is pounded up, which makes n
sticky substance not unlike good thick paste
Tnry have large flat gourds with the tops cut
OF, in which they put this glutinous substance;
wien it sours, then it s, as they say, in an
eatable condition. Not only the poorer class
cs, but the more wealthy, aud even the nobil
ity, feast on Poa !; some have tea and roast
beef to mix with it, but many satisfy hunger
all the time on p6a and raw fish, and nescr
look Tor nor expect anything better. ! have
seen as high us dozen sit round IL gourd Of
'oa and II bunch OF raw fish, which to them
seemed to be II savoury dish; neither knife
fork, nor spoon is used at their meals, which
however, does not occur nIorc than once dny.
They sccm to haveu prcuiar slight in fishing
the Poa up with their fingers, which were
made long before knives aud forks, and even
spoons were thought Of have been aston
isncd at the amount of this food that they will
eat; they stuff themselves until their skin
around the abdomen is as tight as u drum
head. They still retain their ancient ideas
of supcrstiton--one of which is an outra
."us hcresy-t is this: They believe that
ortain of their Doctors have tho power of
praying the Hoiny to dcath, several instances
Of which is said to have occurred whilst was
In Honolulu, few months since These in.
spired conjurors not only pray the natives to
death, but foreigners also yes. enlightened
waite people shrink and withcr bcttre t',cse
all powerful Mcdcos Of these isolated Isles.
| they take dslikiny to persnn, or if q
native wants his enemy prayed to death, Il c
Doctor must have something given to him
which belonged to tho subject to be prayed 10
death; he or she, rs the case ulay be- is then
notified by the said Mcdico that he or she will
certainly die in such time, and for the con.
summation Of which, he, the aforesaid Medico
ommcnces his prayers and supplicntons, and
sure enough, at the time specified, the sub
i"ct. having unhoundcd faith IN the praycrfu
Doctor, resigns himself or herself to his or her
tnte, gives up the ghost, is buried and moth
ing moro is said nor no questions asked.
Their dialects cannot be called Ian
guagc--is very much like tho cultural, eye.
brow dialect of the Digger Indians of Culito, !.
! mia. ] have noticed conversations going on
whom the listener or listeners, as the case
might be, reply or consent to, tho speakers
haranguc, entirely by the working of the eye
hrows, with an occasional grunt us cliucher.
But the most ridiculous farce in the whole
programme of Knnnkadom is the reduction
Of this cultural, grunting, eyebrow dialect, to
writing, in which school, historical and rcii.
gious books nfe published, for the present lis
well as future generations | met with sever.
al who had a very fair English education
and who convcrscd quite Aucntly on many
subjects; they, however, had no capacity 70,
business, either private or public, cohse.
qucnty foreigners fill all the Official positions
OF State, with few exceptions, who are hall
caste or natives in full. The King and Privy
Council are natives The late King, Kamma
hamahama Nv, was naturally very intelligent
man, and had received a very good English
education. Tho present King, Kahfmahama
hama Y, is not worry Intelligent thought tc
DO rather stupid than otherwise. His fea
lures arc very coarse, low forehead and rathci
thick lips. :.
Among the many vices of the females ndul