Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-02-25

The root is SoT:etnng ike z long beet,
and when boiled ana mashed the pulp is
poi-a whitley yellow batter at first, later
a sort of sour paste. 1t operates homo-
opathicGlly, so 10 speak that is. it builds
up dilapidaJed constitution surprising
ly, but if ussu exclusive of any other
food it Injuries III" health. There is no
particular daEsel q. any American or
Englishman using the native style of il
to excess, for it is COMPATIBILITY nasty
Decently prepared. however, it is quite
palatable. Local statisticians say that
one acre of it viii furnish yearly bread
for 5000 men-a pleasing statement
which. regret to say / do not believe.
Fish is said to be the proper corrective
to take with poi. and fish also are abun-
dant Early visitors say the Kanakas
formerly ate them raw and at the soon
est possible moment after killing them
Indeed it was thought luxury to begin
to gnaw on the tail before the head was
dead At any rate the hungry native
took the fish as it came from the water
hastily ran knife from gill to tail, tore
out The entrfiiS and al once fell to eat
ing, and there Is story that when the
first kanakas were taken to be presented
to the king OF England they behaved
quI.e tans.:..3u..S III! they saw some fish
ii Il little aq,atr.j.Ia ~ the royal apart
ment Their appetite overcame them
Me-. and women alike fell on the finny
prey, tore ana devoured it with the savage
yum-yum of appeased hunger and de-
clared in choice kanaka that il was their
first square meal" since they left Homo
lulu
They tell many hard stories like this
about the former Hawaiiaus, bat as /
saw nothing of the kind | Will continue
to hope they are not true. If it was true.
as the first visitors said, that the parents
killed ali their children above two or three,
that methods OF cheek" were used which
soon proved fatal 10 half the women.
that thousands OF mon We're killed in the
satusrali. following kings death. and
thousands more Were sacrificed or eaten,
how 3id the population get so large:
Why 20 much greater than now, when
none of these things are done? | cannot
help sUspectlnG that there has been ez-
agEeratlon
enough now There are social enjoyment
and ease and jCyousness and Teasing
enough now. Everywhere this is true.
bat especially IN Honolulu There the
slant eyed Cninaman and the darker
Malay, the very fair Enghshman, dark
Portuguese and medium American, the
smooth brown Kanaka and the rough
brown Samoan jostle each other good
humo-edly IN the streets and even prac-
tice a sort of social equality Unthought
of i'll the United States During nv STAY
there King BIZ was even as one OF us in
many an excursion. and at POI suppers
it was not very uncommon to meet ua-
tive ladies got up regardless" in silk
and delicate pongee done in the tie
back style, and wearing the monster
chignons which We're the fashion 20
years ago
OF all our pleasure excursions those to
the Waikiki beach for bathing by moon
light were the most pleasant. and the
requirements in costume were much the
same as at Long Branch. Back in the
secluded districts, however, the natives
of both sexes took to the water without
the forraahty Of putting on suits
The Kauakas are described by scientists
as belonging To tie Polyuosian branch
Of the Malay race. which means, take
il, that they are MaIays modified by long
residence among many islands" trolu-
uesia'. 80 therefore swimming is about
as ra:t,ral 10 Them rs walking to us.
Brigham loaGA ted ne inst before
left Salt Lake ClIy that they were like
the American Indians of
the ancient Israelites who had back
Slider" and been cursed and turned
dark accordingly If SO. they have slid
den back greet deal further than they
are ever Likely TO slide forward again
And this makes il fitting to close with
a few words Oh the political question
This IS not the first time hy several that
Hawaii has in y measure been revo-
lTtioGize,3 From 1850 or Whereabouts
to 1913 i; was sharply coUtended for by
various powers II 1899 the French
compelled King Kunehameha III to pay
large sun IN gold and held the king
dom in Guress til il YVES done The
American merchants raised and paid the
money. and thus saved the kingdom foI
the time. In 1872 the British consul.
Richard Charlton and Lord George Pau
let overthrow the kingdom in effect. COM
PEELED the king "a retire 10 the mountain
forests and raised the British flag