The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-10-06
A SACRIFICE.


beautiful Sandwich Islands shall tell
enc story imperfectly. knowing so little
as do about the locality and the Ian
guage. but l asked three or four ques-
tons 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 IL fine sight for such as love healthy
manhood TO watch the amphibious peo-
ple play with the sea. II is az much
their home as the land. Fishing is quite
as important to them as agriculture, and
they all know the ways and whereabouts
OF the creatures of the deep and Of the
reef as well as Of 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 fnny
tribes into the shadows of the lagoOns
and out upon the sands and have trick
where it is permitted-of placing nm
der heavy stones beneath the water the
bruised roots Of a plant-auhuhu-wh
ever u5H HltGliN inc
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 q
sight TO see Hawaiian canoe coming
ashore with or without the ma-an out
4 IL
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 pad
ding TO land from fishing or sailing
excursion in the evening. They under
stand 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.
II 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
uIar sport office nalu, or surf swimming,
where party Of these laughing water
babies OF all ages. naked except for a
wreath Of seaweed or a whisp of bark
cloth, will 60 down to the reefs edge at
sunset. carrying long light boards of
koawood, 8 feet long and Is inches broad.
stained black and highly polished. Clasp
ing these, they swim boldly out to sea
ward, diving. plank and all. under each
incoming roller as they meet it. until
they have gone as far ont as where the
ocean feels the first Of the coral bottom
and swells for its outer line of long bill
low.
k.1;r- g., 49, sr1t
they lie down fat upon the plank, bel
ancing themselves upon it and holding
it with feet and hands straight along the
CLASSY bs. r of the great roller, which
foams, curls, leaps and thunders under
them as they tear along tossed like bub-
bles amid the milky spume and the
whirling sea lace. until they come
drenched and shining TO the shore or
into the placid green water inside the
reef. The very babies learn to swim al
most 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 so
hours in the sea after capsize and have
yet come safely to land.
But one must be strong and well and
unencumbeI I'd for these long swims, and
sick man cannot sport with the ocean
in such a fearless way, which is why
Mina-Mina lost her frstborn and bought
with his little life her husbands safety.
We passed her walking with string OF
fish and little child upon her arms I'M
der the palm trees near Leahi, and my
friend-an old resident-gave her good
day in the musical Hawaiian, calling
her by the name / have mentioned.
What pretty word that is, i said,
.'to call woman by. What does it
meanf'
'Ohrn he answered, that's not her
right name, but one which the neighbors
have given her since n sad adventure
that she met with off Koko head, round
wonder. ln-na-mi-na signifies regret
for the memory of anything sadness,
something precious that is gone sorry
to lose. She is a good and brave girl,
and she has got another baby now to
play with, but she can never forget the
boy she was obliged to leave to the
sharks in the bad time"
OF course l asked him for the story.
and this is how he told 1t:
One day in the season of the change OF
weather Nina Nina, with her husband
and their little boy of about year old,
had gone in canoe over TO Molokai 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. could 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
nomeward under the little sail of mat
spread on the bamboo mast, with the
red bird painted upon it, and Mina-Mina
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
and 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-
ment one OF those circular gusts which
sweep the sea at the change of weather
came upon them without warming out