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

oAo RAOR[A I'll AlT HOtAAtA Id Z sA4A4
ed the baby TO his 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 faIDil-
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 iatness. 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
a throb Of solid motion in the shining
surface which drops a small boat into
vast, shallow valleys and again lifts it
upon the breast of gradual but far
reaching slopes, and the very peace Of
the sleeping element becomes dreadful
But when a 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 yastness
and baroness and deadliness of it become
to all but the hardest absolutely terri
bic.
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 httleness of his powers and
at the largeness of the chilly death lap
ping and washing all around him, before
and behind, and right and left, as 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 will choke the life from a
wearied swimmer as well as 1000 IA
thoms of the mid-Pacifc.
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 the sea, 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 nostrils and filings
its bitter menace into the blinded eyes.
Mina-Mina soon found that her man
could not keep the baby's head and his
| own at the same time above the 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
a 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 Quoted 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 a current was run
ming before the light trade wind, and they
might drift too far to reach the land at
| last.
Presently -AIina's bright eyes per-
ceive upon the water to the right on her
husbands side dark edge moving slow
| ", like blade of black seaweed tilted
| up.
"Oh, Mol1uhalii great god of the fish,
help US now" she cried. "He kokua,
helpl Hero is he mano, the shark
Your amakua is the great fish. He
will not hurt you, wife, but he will take
me or the little one"
Being of the fish gods line, she was
taboo to sharks, ard they to her, and to
injure the butcher of the deep was for
hidden to her, for there is plenty of
ancient belief still among them, in spite
of the missionaries. But now she was
thinking only of her husband and her
baby, and superstition fled to the winds
| for the dear sake of those she loved. OF
all examples of similar religious courage
in Hawaiian women none is better
known than that of Paplolani, the
daughter of the chief of Hilo, who broke
the spell of Pele, the goddess of the
great volcano, eating the sacred berries
of the dreaded goddess and flinging
stones into the seething, fiery crater of
Mauna Loa, thereby converting the
people from their ancient fears. But
that is another story"
BEAT hard upon the water. He Luna!
Master! Beat when he comes near and
keep him little off. viii kill my au-
makual Otherwise will he eat my pre-
cious SON."
At any other moment these words
would have seemed too impious to hear
Or pronounce. Now, however, the en-
feebled and weary husband could only
sign silent assent and put his elbow I'M
der the child's arm, while Mina-Mina
drew her knife from her belt and held it
in her pearllike teeth, silently padding
to meet the shark. There is q spot in
these murderous brutes well known to
the islanders where the stroke of long
knife driven hard into the white belly
will find the swim bladder, and when
this is pricked the shark sinks or be-
comes disabled.
The cruel fish had seen or OWNED the
baby as a dainty prey, though ordinarily
this Hawaiian species is too we'll fed or
too particular to care much for brown
meat. AS he came within twice his own
length of the father and child he turned
slowly over and slipped below the sur
face, the pale colored underside CLEAN
ing up through the green water, and
Just when you could discern the horse
shoe shaped mouth opening to show the
sharp notched jaws and red palate OF
the man eater Mina-Mina's knife was
| xx--+l, oil no II lifted