Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-03-05
AMONG THE HAWAllANo.
Customs, National Disease Chms'e Ano
Agricultural Interests

DISTRICT OF KoNA,
BAY OF KEALAKAKUA,
ISLAND OF HAWAII, J
Jan. is, 1882.
One hundred and four years ago to-day
Can't. Cook discovered this island and
anchored his vessels in this hsrbor. One
wear later, according to the inscription on
his monument, he was killed on this spot.
The lines on his monument read thus:
sin memory of the great cilcumnaVi:
gator Captain James Cook, OF the royal
navy, who discovered these islands on the
18th day of January, a. D. l7's, and
fell near this spot on the l4th day OF
February, A D. l779." This monument
was erected in November, A. D. 1874, by
some of his fellow countrymen.
The obelisk is of stone, ten feet square
at its base and about thirty feet high, and
is enclosed by very unique fence
twelve cannons are planted in the ground
for posts to which the chains composing
the fence are attached. Inside n
closure is a tree of acacia, Immediately
outside is a grove of cocoanuts palms. \
native village forms the background and
crowds down almost to the sea. These
nuts are framed with bamboo poles,
matched with dried grass, located lrreg-
ularly and without any regard to streets.
Just up the mountain slope from the vii
Iage can be seen the ruins OF a heathen
temple that forms conspicuous object
in the landscape. The walls OF this tenn
pie are ga feet long, 100 feet wide,
twelve feet thick md sixteen feet
high. As no mortar was used
to cement the stones and no
roof TO enclose the building, the
stones in places have tumbled
from the top Of the walls, but
still the shape of the temple IS plainly to
be seen. The interior was also divided up
with stone walls, the inner court was the
most sacred and the place where the idols
were kept. The sacrifcial alter is great
fat stone in the center OF this temple.
On the day Of the completion OF the walls,
according to the common legend OF the
people now living here, twelve men were
madea sacrifice and their dead bodies
lain on the altar before the idols. The
traveller of the present day hears from the
lips of these people horrible tales OF blood
and murder, as they direct his attention
to the haunts Of their ancestors. The
priests and kings were so prodigal Of hui
man life that they frequently made a
sacrifice of hundred human beings
on q single occasion. These bodies
after decavlng on the altar before the
idols for a few days, were usually carried
to the ocean and fed to their insatiate
war gods, the sharks. If the royal family
of sharks are all dead their posterity is
legion, and can be seen here every day
basking in the ocean surf.
The principal occurrence that inter-
rupted friendly relations between these
heathens and Captain Cook, and caused
the death Of the latter, was the seizure OF
the images of this temple. While the
ships crew were carrying off the idols
from the temple the natives became en-
ragged and threw stones and fought with
wooden spears. Captain Cook was killed
IN the melee with an iron spear in the
hands of q native, taken from his own
ship.
These people are yet exceedingly su-
perstitious, and secretly continue TO wor-
ship wooden and stone images. The na-
tive doctors are distinct class of sor-
cerers, who claim that their knowledge
is a special gift from the medlcine-god.
Their pracuce IS q compound Of absurd
superstit1ons lamentations and misuse of
noxious herbs. Their ordinary practice
is to build a fire near the patient and
roast a hog, dog or fowl, preferably a
black hog. While the animal or fowl is
roasting on the open fire, the doctor NUT
tiers prayers and eats portions of the
brolling meat He then feigns sleep in
order to receive answers to his prayers,
and Oh awaklng, Immediately informs
the patient the cause of his illness. AID
ditional prayers are then offered to re-
move the anger of the God that sent the
disease, or to fasten it upon some other
person. There is scarcely q sick native
that does not have recourse to these idol
atrous doctors, greatly preferring them to
intelligent physicians.
A part of the business Of these sorcer-
ers is by prayer and religious rites, to
procure the death of persons obnoxious
to themselves or to their friends. And
so firm is the belief of the people
in the power of these conjurers,
to invoke the aid of blood loving diety
that when one of them is selected and no.
tilted of his doom, he becomes miserable,
gradually pines away and falls sacrifice
10 his own fears This process is called
fpraying to DEATH" and when confined
to their own nationality the individual
object of prayer, almost invariably dies
within three months. The attempt has
often been tried on foreigners but the pro-
cess has never affected their health in the
least degree.
The diseases of the islands are very
few, and with one exception very simple
aud the disease that is killing off these
people is not caused by climatic infu-
ences, but was introduced by early visi-
tors from other lands, and at a time
when they had no knowledge of disease,
and when remedies were unknown. This
loathsome disease has poisoned hephysi-
cal constitution of the nation, and is now
known as leprosy.
This is not a skin disease or leprosy of
the Bible, but blood disease caught only
by intimate contact or from the matter
of a leprous sore, coming in contract with
an abraded surface.
The ravages of this disease became so
alarming that in 1865 one of the group of