The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-07-07
A HAWAIIAN SACRIFICE.
BY SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.


SO little as | do about the locality and
the language, but / asked three or four
questions afterward as to the Hawaiian
words and phrases and what follows is,
as far as | can remember, the manner
in which it was related
They are wonderful swimmers in the
Sandwich Islands, as in almost all those
clusters of the Pacific archipelagoes,
and it is fine sight for such as love
healthy manhood to watch the amphibi-
Gus people play with the sea. 1t is as
much their home as the land. Fishing
is quite as important to them as agr!.
culture, and they all know the ways
and whereabouts of the creatures f
the deep and of the reef as well as Ct
the birds of the grove and mountain
slope. With nets of the olona fiber
and sweep ropes Of XII leaves they draw
the countless variegated hnny tribes
into the shadows of the lagoons and
out upon the sands and have a trick
where it is permitted of placing under
heavy stones beneath the water the
bruised root of a plant - auhuhu -
which intoxicates every fish coming
within the influence of its juice.
Excellent boatmen, in spite of the
primitive character of the native canoes,
they make adventurous runs from island
to island and are especially skillful in
handling little craft in the midst of
surf Of great breaking pillows. 1t is a
sight to see a Hawaiian canoe coming
ashore with or without the ma--an out
rigger of light wood which steadies the
frail craft. The sea birds skimming
over the rollers do not seem more at
home in the middle of the huge Pacific
surf than the brown skinned Kanakas
padding to land from fishing or sail
ing excursion in the evening. They
understand the tricks and dangers Of
the coral barrier which they must cross
and take the enormous wave which
rolls over it with shouts of excitement
and delight.
. If they are capsized, it is nothing to
them so long as no sharks are about.
They really make the white and blue
breakers their playfellows in their pop
ular sport of hee nalu, or surf swim
ming, where party of these laughing
water babies of all ages, naked except
for wreath of seaweed or a wisp OF
bark cloth, will 60 down to the reefs
edge at sunset, carrying long light
boards of koa wood, 8 feet long and IS
inches broad, stained black and highly
polished. Clasping these, they swim
boldly out to seward, diving, plank
and all, under each incoming roller as
they meet it, until they have gone as
far out as where the ocean feels the
first of the coral bottom and swells for
its outer line of long billow.
Then, turning their faces shoreward,
they lie down fiat upon the plank, bal
ancing themselves upon it and holding
it with feet and hands straight along the
CLASSY back of the great roller, which
foams, curls, leaps and thunders unde,
them as they tear along, tossed like
bubbles amid the milky spume and the
whirling sea lace, until they come
drenched and shining to the shore Of
into the placid green water inside the
reef The very babies learn to swim
almost before they are able to toddle
and as for the grown boys and girls OF
the Islands, and the men and women
the waves are as much their playground
as the woods and meadows, and there
are instances where Hawaiians have
been thirty hours in the sea after {
capsize and have yet come safely to land
But one must be strong and well anc
unencumbered for these long swims
and sick man cannot sport with thu
ocean in such fearless way, which il
why Nina Nina lost her frstborn anc
bought with its little life her husbands
safety. We passed her walking with ;
string of fish and little child upoI
her arms under the palm trees nea
Leah, and my friend-an old residen
gave her good-day in the musica
Hawaiian, calling her by the name
have mentioned.
"What pretty word that isl | said
''to call woman by. What does i
mean ?"
"Oh!" he answered, "that's not he
right name, but one which the neigh
bors have given her since sad adven
ture that she met with off Koko head
round yonder. Mi-na-m-na signifie
regret for the memory of anything
Sadness, something precious that i
gone, sorry to LOSE She is a goo
and brave girl, and she has got anothe
baby now to play with, but she ca
never forget the boy she was obliged t
leave to the sharks in the bad time"
OF course asked him for the stor
and this is how he told it:
One day in the season of the chang
of weather Nina. Nina, with her hui
band and their little boy of about
year old, had gone in canoe over
Molokai to fetch ironwood and shell
The man was weak and i'll with feve
though recovering, but the wife, lik
most of these Hawaiian women, coul
handle paddle with the best, an
Manae, her young partner, was quit
strong enough to take part in loadir
the craft and steering her. So the
were making the voyage homewar
under the little sail of mat spread c
the bamhOo mast with thP red hi,