Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-12-25

tabooed TO tho women. but after the
feast was over, the women were admit
ted, the hula hula danced, and the festi-
val wound up with a wild Orgie. Great
care was taken TO prevent the missiona-
rles from getting wind of these festivi-
ties, and the morning after q feast and
dance, all the members OF the "Matarii-
i-raron under the stars)-for 30 the So
ciety was scalled-woulda appear at church
with faces composed to deacen-like So
lemnity.
1t Is well-known fact that the meet
ing OF the MartaTii in October, 1851,
was preceded and followed by ID I'm.
usual agitation. The king and court
were greatly alarmed, some of the mis-
siOnaries packed up their household
goods and prepared TO 90 aboard the
ships that were in the harbor, and q
French corvette was ordered over to
Hawaii, where she eTuised back and
forth for fortnight with her decks
cleared for action, The British com.
| missioner was unusually active, but
nothing furthet came Of all this stir, and
finally matters settled down into the
usual humdrum. 1t was officially an
nounced that Father Michel, In explor-
ing the crater In Kiladea, had ventured
too far, had been overcome by the sui
phurous vapOrs and lost his life. His re-
mains, a few charred bones, were
brought over 70 Honolulu, deposited in
leaden box, and afteWard sent to
France, and there the matter rested.
A-Pong tells the story that, in this
October, he was with FreTe Michel
good ways up the great mountain Mauna
Doa, the priest bOtaniziDg at this time,
the ground being too rougn for one man
to carry the theOdolite over. One night,
when they had had supper and were
sleeping under their blankets, he was
aroused by hand over his mouth, and,
starting up, was seized by four men,
who bound him, gagged him, and
dragged hurriedly away over the rough
stones. He did not see what became of
the priest, nor did he ever see Frere
Michel again. He only heard q wild
cry, like a shrek, quickly muffied, as
he was dragged away. He was taken
some distance, and then confined in 8
dark place like q cavern for three days.
Water and fOod-00i-were brought TO
him by an old gray-haired man, who
seemed to be deaf and dumb. A-Pong
could not eat, however; he was dread
fully frightened, and fancied they were
feeding him up in order to est him.
On the fourth day, however, large
man came to him, with stern face, and
asked him il he could hold his tongue.
This man was, by the description, cid
PoenahmOo, the terrible chief whom the
missionary party most dreaded and most
hated. He gave A-Pong the alterna-
tive Of taking five hundred Mexican
dollars and free ticket to San Francis
co, and embarking at once, or of having
bis throat cut then and there. A-Pong's
choice was soon made. He was escort
ed down the mountain by two natives,
who crossed with him to Honolulu, and
without permitting him to land, took
him to native schooner in the harbor
that was about to sail. A boat came
out to the schooner with one of the
French priests in il and an officer Of the
law, but the captain of the schooner
would not permit them to come aboard,
and presently made sail, A-Pong's Gus
tOdians not leaving him until the vessel
was well under way. This same priest,
so A-Pong said, traced him to Frisco
tell him what he told me.
The proofs that the priest was killed
and eaten are pretty conclusive:
in which his bones were sent to France
was MdTtyrio CoroRGtus.
SecOnd-Some OF the bones (all were
well-charred and crumbling) had the
appearance of having been sawed.
Third-Nunana says that he was pres
ent at the banquet, and himself partook
of the horrid feast.
Nunana's account OF the affair is too
long to give here, but his explanations
of some Ofthe mysterious circumstances
are lucid ard plausible. The object of
the cannibal banquet was not merely to |
revive an old superstitiOus rite, but to |
bind the eonspirators more closely to- |
gether. They chose the French priest, |
because then the missionary influence, |
Protestant, would not be 80 |
arrayed against them. In the |
end, the banquet was the means of |
breaking up the conspiracy entirely. !
hamehameha, as soon as the priest was |
missed and the French made q stir in |
the matter, threatened to have the whole |
affair exposed, and deliver Hawaii up to |
the vengeance Of the Gauls, The con- |
spiratOrs said that if q step was made in |
that direction they would murder every |
one of the missionary party, including |
hamehameha and ali his family. change |
the succession, and fight the French in |
the mountain fastnesses of Hawaii; that |
there was no proof the French priest |
had been eaten; and as to killing him, |
the missionaries ought to be glad to get |
rid of a man they hated 50 much, and |
had so often preached against in the most
violent terms. This reasoning was
hard to answer, and it did not suit the |
policy of those controlling affairs to go |
to extremes that would be sure to end In |
q destruction OF the prosperity of the
islands, and probably in French pro-
tectorate. A compromise was effected. |
The conspirators abandoned their plot, |
and Kamehameha and the missionaries |
TO protect them from the |
French. 1t was agreed that the death |
of Brother Michel should be attributed |
10 accident, but all the conspIrators were
banished from court, and an indemnity |
Of five thousand dollars was made to the |
family Of the deceased from Ksmeham.
eha's private purse. Among those ban
shed was Kulakaus, now king of the |
Sandwich islands. Nunana says, with |
; horrid grin, that if his majesty does
not know the taste of man-meat, it is |
simply because he has forgotten IT,