The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1889-02-20
HAWAII MlSREpRESENTED.
ABSTRACTS FROM A LETTER IN A
BRooKLYN PAYER.

evidently frequent contributor to
the columns Of the Morning jour
nal, - for, on the previous Sunday, she
had been telling its readers all about
Lapland. 1t is doubtful if there
was ever published n greater mis-
representation Of Hawaiian life.
Following are some abstracts from
the letter:
Away off to the southwest of
California lies a group of eight small
islands which form the Kingdom of
Hawaii. They are called on your
maps the Sandwich Islands.
The principal island in the group
is Oahee, though it is by no means
the largest. 1t is about the size Of
Manhattan Island. 1t is here that
the city of Honolulu is located,
which is the only city anywhere in
the group. Honolulu has about
10000 people, and is very much like
an English city, 1t has been built
mostly by English people, and they
have really taken possession of it.
The Hawaiian Government has no
money. The King, Kalakaua, lives
in a mud hut, out at one side of the
city. All the lords and ladies Of the
kingdom are as poor as their sover-
eign. Some of them hardly have
food enough TO eat.
A few years ago Kalakaua came
to this country TO ask for help, but
his tour was not a very successful
one. He was very ambitious for
time, but now he seems to have given
up hope, and sits day after day in a
melancholy attitude caring little
what happens.
The climate in the islands is beaut-
ful. The air is warm and balmy land
they have the most wonderful moon
light it is white, like our electric
light. All round the city of Homo
lulu are groves of the cocoa palm and
great fields of banana plants. The
palm tree, you all know, is very
tall-all the way from 30 to $50
feet-and the trunk is perfectly
straight and smooth, There are no
branches except at the very top, and
that is where the cocoanuts grow.
Now how do you suppose they get
these nuts? 1 will tell you how, and
you will think it is very funny. l
did when first heard of it.
The groves are full of monkeys.
They are wild, just as the birds are
in our woods, and the natives sur
round them and drive them up the
palm trees. They run up the
straight trunks without any trouble,
and when they get to the top their
pursuers throw stones at them. OF
course they can't hit them, but the
silly monkeys don't know that, and
they pull off the cocoanuts and pelt
back.
Once in a while native gets q
crack on the head, but as n rule
they catch very well. The monkeys
chatter and scold as hard as they
can all the time, and hundred q
two of them altogether manage tc
create quite din.
In the evening the native girls 81
out under the palms in the moon
light and dance to the music of thei
tambourines. They are pretty
graceful creatures, and they dane,
with their beautiful brown bodies
almost bare. They wear shor
skirt that just reaches the knee
round their ankles are brass bands
to which are hung lot of little bell
and upon their arms they wear NOR,
bangles than any New York lad,
ever dreamed of owning. Rounc
their necks they have innumerabl
strings of beads, and that's all thei
J costume, except for their long
glossy hair, that falls sometime
nearly to their heels, and is Away
saturated with cocoanut oil.
They rub this oil on their bodie
too, so that their skin is very sof
and shines like satin. They hav
}. large, dark eyes, with lazy, droor
ing lashes, and the whltest of teeth
. Their dancing is not wild an
polSIClOuo Inv thaO VI many oafaS
tribes. They move with soft, glid
!. ing steps, gently shaking their tan
bourines, with both hands abov
their heads, while their little bell
tinkle softly and their white teet
CLEAN from behind their full re
lips, and the wonderful white moor
y light, across which falls the shade
: of the palms, makes a carpet fc
them.
7 The old women are awfully ugl,
They are very fat, and their Skin
look like old dirty leather.
L think, though, that the childre
are the happiest of all the people
the islands. They live very muC
J. as the monkeys do, and they see
to have quite as little thought fc
the future. They run about wit
nothing on but pair Of little trunl
At about their hips, and very many
them do not have even that muC
N of wardrobe. They seem to thin
% they are still living in the Garden
N Eden and that clothes have n
come in fashion. They are as sl
as little cartridges, and though the
g. will come within few feet of W
~ and stand looking at you with the
I'd dancing bright ewes and all their Ii