The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-13

With the incoming of civilization
OF course many Of these conditions
have changed. Though poi and fish
are still the favOrite articles Of food OF
the native people, they have added TO
these many acid and sub-acIi vegeta-
bl~s and fruits, with meat, fine flour,
etc.
The second popularity of this peo-
pie, rendering a knowledge Of their
early physical conditions possible, is
their modes of burying their dead.
The most ancient and favorite Of these
places Of interInent were in the old
| lava caves, with which the island of
hawaii particularly abounds. A lava
stream flowing from some opening in
the mountain side would cool first on
the surface, leaving the still flowing
lava within to empty itself on the
country below, and thus q long irreg-
uiar cave of varying dimensions
would be formed. Many of these
open from mountain-sides, and Of
ten from apparently inaccessible
precipices. The ancient Hawai-
Ians We're very superstitiOus; the
| ghost of the dead was supposed TO
haunt the body long after death, and
the friends of the dead anxiously
| sought the most remote and inacces-
Q Die places for depositing their bod
les. The Islands were teeming with
| people, and some of these caves are
| piled many feet deep with the bones
| uf the ancient dead. No wind nor
moisture ever reaches them, and the
| bones are as perfectly preserved as in
| our most carefully kept cabinets, after
| probably hundreds of years since their
| Interneut. But the natives even now
guard the burying-places of their an
| cestors with most Jealous care, and it
II not easy even TO one familiar with
them and their language to obtain az
cess to these ancient sepulchers.
The other mode of burial to which
referred, and which consider to be
much more recent than that of the
caves, was in the sand of the seashore.
Until within comparatively few
years, specimens of crania and other
bones from these burying- grounds
could be obtained realty in many
places. Six or eight miles from Ho-
nOlulu there was such place twenty |
years ago, where for several miles on |
the seaehOre these human remains lay |
bleaching in hundreds under the trop- |
zeal sun, until they had attained the |
color and texture of ivory. 1 have |
seen several similar places on the ISL |
land Of Oahu aud on Kauai particu
Iarly, but they have ceased to exist. |
In some places the grass has grown
completely over the sand mounds, aud
cattle pasture over whatever bones
may remain beneath. In others the
native people, jealous of their removal,
have taken care to break and demol-
ish the skulls, thus rendering them
useless. And the South Sea Island
laborers have sought everywhere for
the skulls and removed the teeth for
the purpose of making necklaces of
them, of which they are very fond.
Realizing more the value of these
ancient remains, now that they are so
difficult to obtain, 1 recently spent a
week on journey to the island of
HAWAII for the purpose of visiting
some of these lava caves aud securing
III possible some of their treasures
was fortunate IN being able to obtain
the as istance of a friend whose knowl-
edge of the native people and their
language made HIM especially valua-
BILE, and L may say Indispensable to
my success. A voyage of perhaps two
miles from Honolulu brought
Us TO the vicinity of the caves. Pro-
viding ourselves with candles, stout
cor, etc, we at once engaged the ser
vice of all old native who claimed to
know all about the object of our
and spent the first day i'm a
vain endeavor to find the ancient cave.
Whether the native knew less than
le had professed, or whether at the
asst his courage failed, and he feared
he result of guiding Us Alright, we
lid not know, but we suspected the
after reason was the true one.
The next day we secured two guides,
md after riding many miles over
Ough lava-covered land, we reached S
spot which our guides pointed to as 9
burial-cave. 1t was Hear the sea-
hore, far from any human dwelling,
mi from any place that could support q
habitatiOiI. We could not believe i
4 first that an opening could exist d
aige enough to admit mars BODY, 4
Tut w tin much labor we succeeded in I
the rocks so that 10y consid- i
rabie effort We We're ahle to force our
elves through. Leaving our unwlli- U
ny guides at the entrance, we fastened | 4
cord securely to- the opening of the a
ave, lighted our candles, aud proreed- a
d to wo k our way down. Dissenting q
mong the rocks until we were at Ii
east fifty feet below the surface, we J
ats forty feet high. There were no |
Odies here, but opening from this
DOM on several sides there We're low, G.
ARROW passages. Entering one of q
hese, we followed it for perhaps Il C
uarter of a mile. Part of the way IL
70 were Obliged to crawl with great e
itficulty through the narrow tunnel. t
We were ullaliy reWartleu ny dSdlH | Il
uddenIy finding ourselves in Il large
pom, and surrounded on every side Z
V the objects of our search. Near II
he entrance some of the bodies lay
3 if hastily deposited, but most of
hem were laid away with care, some
pom shelves partly made with sticks
lii in the rock at the side of the cave,
lore In an opening ut the side, which
he remains of u stone wall showed TO
ave been at some time walled off
ON the rest of the cave, while the
inn light of our candles showed us tt
sv-raI openings in different directions \
-hich doubtless led TO other similar II
urIal caves. u
The knees were usually drawn up to n
he breast, tied with cord, and the a
hole wrapped In many folds of the ~
alive cloth or tapa. By the side of or
ich had apparently been left some pr
'od, and perhaps his fish-hook or re
bear, that he might not want for food TO
1 his future home. The air being II
cry dry, and perhaps having some
ntiseptic property. many of the bod
g were completely mummitied. Deep
ust lay upon everything, and the
illn. IS of death was over all. We
Duid easily imagine with what awe
,o friopHS of thn-a lying hare had