The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-06-09
| OF course I asked him for the story,
and this is hoW he told it:

weather Nina Nina, with her husband
and their little boy of about year old,
had, gone in canoe over to Mololsai to
fetch ironwood and shells. The man was
weak and i'll with fever, though recov-
ering, but the wife, like most of these
Hawaiian women, ceald handle pad
die with the best, and Manae, her young
partner, was quite STRONG enough to take
part in loading the craft and steering
her. So they were making the voyage
homeward under the little sail Of mat
spread on the bamboo mast, with the
red bird painted upon it, and Nina Nina
was sucking her son forward, while her
husband directed the boat, and all had
gone safely up to about midway in the
broad channel.
! Perhaps he was singing her an ipo-a
love verse-for the people are like birds
hnd are always chirruping, or she per-
haps was cooling a sleep song to her
small son in the doves voice which the
island mothers have. But all In mo-
hnent one Of those circular gusts which
sweep the sea at the change of weather
came upon them without warning out
of the clear sky over the smooth sea. He
WAS languid and slow with his fever.
She was engaged with her child and had
no time to let the sail fall or to; fling over
board the heavy stuff in the bottom Of
the canoe.
The gust forced the gunwale Of it un-
der, Though they both leaned well to
Mindward, and although Nina Nina
reached over and cut the haIliards with
her knife in q moment the little craft
filled and sank from under them, drawn
down by her load, leaving the three
floating on the agitated sea with only
one paddle, which Manae held. Nina
Nina had swung her baby over her back,
and his little round head, like acocoanut,
peeped well forth from the water as his
mother struck out by the side of her hus-
band for the shore under Koko head.
Although this lay fully two&eagues
away, there was nothing in the situation
greatly to disconoerta Hawaiian family.
If only the young husband had been in
his proper strength, he would have shift
ed the baby to bis own shoulders. and
side by side, while the sea grew quiet
again, they would have managed to make
their long swim to land If no, shark in
tercepted them. For any one less fa1nil-
lar with the open ocean than these Is
landers no doubt it would have been .
dreadful plight. Even from boat the
wide and naked face Of the sea appears
terrible in its spread and fairness. The
long, huge, ponderous swell Of It, which
you did not notice from the deck of the
ship Or steamer, gives a new and awful
impression Of its elemental weight and
bulk.
Even in the quietest weather there is
q throb of solid motion In the shintng
surface which drops small boat into
vast, shallow valleys and again lifts 1t
upon the breast Of gradual but far
reaching slopes, and the very peace Of
the sleeping element becomes dreadful.
But when swimmer beats the salt sea
far from land or help, his chin upon its
shining top, his eyes just level with the
long glitter of the surface, the vastness
and baroness and deadliness Of it become
to all but the hardest absolutely terri
BILE.
There is no man who, swimming in the
ocean, has not experienced even when he
had safety close at hand that irresistible
horror at the littleness Of his powers and
at the largensss Of the chilly death lap
ping and washing all around him, before
and behind, and right and left. a. far
away on every quarter as to where the
sky comes down to the sea. And it is
worse when he thinks Of the deep abyss
Of liquid beneath his feeble fetal
though, for the matter Of that, seven feet
of water win choke the life from a
wearied swimmer as well Is 1000 IA
thoms Of the mid Pacific.
Actual death by drowning is probably,
like most other forms Of dying, not at
all painful, but never does death appear
more visible and dreadful than when
you look along the face Of thessa, strug-
Cling with its waters for every breath
that is drawn and every yard that Is
won, while the dance Of the brine wash
es over the lips and nostSils and filings
it's bitter menace into the blinded eyes.
Nina Nina soon found that her man
could not keep the baby's head and bis
own at the same time above tho water.
The little brown imp was nevertheless
laughing and growing at the sparkling
waves without any fear or trouble, and
when she drew him down beside her In
the sea and Let him paddle for cables
length or SO the tiny castaway swan like
q small fish, and all three were making
fair progress. In the moment Of the cap
size they had fallen into the sea Of
course fully clothed, but both had since
loosened and cast aside in the water
their garments Of tapa for freer swim
ming, although Mina-Mina still retained
her waist band, in which she kept her
fishing knife.
The ocean was Quieted down again
after the sudden blast, and it was not
difficult to rest sometimes by floating,
the wife holding up their small compan-
ion. Only this would not do for any long
time together, because currentwas rum
ming before the Light trade wind, and they
might drift too far to reach the land ct
last