The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-03-20
Our SEA SIDE SUBURB
Ecroiicctiou- ct u visit to Honolulu
Long Hrauch hy u Wen Known
American Author.


,ort of opinion is valueless unless you
know all about the mental and physical
Of the man who expresses It,.
so that you may correctly determine the
view point. Well the man cares
quite bit about painting and music,
nothing about books or literature. IT, %
fairly intelligent diner, has substituted
whiskey and water for champagne as q
beverage is counoisseur in female
beauty. and would rather battle in the
ocean than say his prayers.
As one must forego on the island,
such delights as are afforded 10y picture
galleries. statuarv. music. except the
most elemental, as literature holds no
place in the esteem of society, as the
culinary art is only rarely raised above
the talent required to make palatable
POI. and, as theatrical entertainments
are limited to the occasional appearance
of a troupe en- route between San
Francisco and Australia, it will be seen
"A great many COmpensatlOns must he
offered to protect from boredom any
one acCustC med to depend upon any or
all of these pleasures for social recrea-
tons.
Yet no one is ever bored on the isl
ands. The natives have no word to
express that mental condition and the
visitor fOrgets what it is like. To be
sure. the natives will sometimes confess
to being in piiked, which may be
translated "trOuhlp:' but that usually
results from some such difficulty as not
being able to obtain at the moment
enough flowers to make a sufficiently
handsome lei to present to you as an
expression of their JOY that you have
arrived, their regret that you are going,
cOntentment that you are to remain,
or their hope that you will return soon.
a few miles from the town of Homo.
lulu, reached by drive burdered with
parks and gardens of luXuriaut tropical
plants and trees, with now and then a
COCoanut grove, or an Oren space
through which, on one side the smiling
South Sea reached away fore yer, or, OF
the other. the dark green mountain:
rested the eye and cooled the air, Is q
suburb called Waikiki. You call that
y-keekee and it means laughing water
or tumbled water. The "Wai' is water
and every bit of water ON or about the
islands gives prettily characterized
name to the locality. Well, at Wal
kiki many wealthy people have homes
some on the very edge of the water
which are neither summer" homes nor
winter homes to be closed and de-
serted half the year, Their owners
have homes IN town. but keep the Wal.
kiki places open always, to be occupied
by any members of the family or all
the family, as the fancy dictates; for 4
single meal, night, week. a month
or continuously. 1t must have been al
Waikiki that the globe trotter referred
to lived his South Sea idyl.
One of the most charming places on
the beach at Waikiki is owned by a
Honolulu merchant whom / had the
peculiar good fortune to meet pleasant.
ly in this country and then to accom-.
panv on the steamer from San Francis.
co to Honolulu. In that way | became
his guest at Waikiki. He had beautI.
full home in the town, but nearly every
evening drove to the beach. But, and
this is a regularity of Hawaiian tenn
permanent he never knew whether he
was going to the beach or not until he
got into his buggy to do so. | want to
tell something about that very thing.
for it explains whole lot about the
habits and temperaments of the Hawaii.
ans. This merchant was born on the
islands, of English parents.
Here Is a scene IN his business office
A native servant enters. moving with
great deliberation, but speaking with
amazing volubility, and informs the
merchant that his, the merchants
mother wants to know at once if he is
going down to the beach that afternoon
The merchant talks for long time
in Hawaiian to the servant, and then
tells him to wait minute. The ser.
want goes out on the sidewalk and
promptly goes to sleep.
In an hour another servant arrives &c
deliver the same message and to recov.
er the first servant. He talks and is
told to wait minute, and Joins his
comrade in slumber.
In another hour the merchants
mother arrives in a village cart and
sends her driver in for the merchant.
She is coolly dressed, all in white, but
appears to be greatly excited. The two
servants on the sidewalk wake up and
become excited and the merchant ap.
pears and seems to be excited. too, in a
leisurely way.
Mamma begins: Now, George, will
you ever learn to answer my messages:
Are you going to the beach tonight, or
not? You know if you are | must send
down some poi she permits her family
to eat only the poi made by certain
old servant and some extra ice and
some fruit, and some"
Now, mamma, my dear. / can't
tell, interrupted the son. 1--WE are ex-
pecting a ship in this afternoon, and
well, why don't you send the things
down any way"
"And let those lazy servants down
there eat everything | send DOWN.
All traces of excitement had now
disappeared The three native servants
are asleep, the mother and son are
speaking in drawing, low tones, auoth-
er village cart stops, there is an ex-
change of gossip, the mother drives
away in her cart with her friends, the
merchant asks the two remaining SER
wants what they are loafing for, and
they depart, grinning,
That same scene occurred nearly
every day. and no one concerned seem
ed to think there was anything odd
about it.
1t was a little event, a little excuse
for little, a very little furry, and that
was reason enough for the scene. Life
is very simple, very unsophisticated
there, and the natural desire for little
excitement causes them to make an
excitement work 1t up, out of nothing.
Once during Kalakaua's reign break
tasted at his Waikiki place with a party
which included my merchant friend,
an ex Governor of Virginia, an English
tourist, and Claus Spreckles. After
breakfast we went out into the Kings
beautiful cocoanut grove, where Kala-
kaua ordered one of his most expert
climbers to go up tree and send down
some nuts.
There were dozens of native retainers
lounging about in the grove who saw
nothing extraordinary in the work of
the climber which amazed us all. The
young kanaka who made the ascent
touched no part of his body but the
palms of his hands and the souls of his
feet in doing so, yet he ran up the tall
tree as rapidly and easily as sailor
climbs the ratlines. When he reached
the bunch of nuts he wound one leg