The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-06

The builders had every suitable ma
terial at hand for construction big
timber, cocoa fibre for twine and gam
for calking. In fact, the islands OF
the South Seas are like so many gar
dens of Eden, furnishing their occu-
pants with everything they want
| without much labor.
A typical canoe of the sort described
was of black and rugged with mast
and triangular sail of braided pam
danus leaf, which was placed with the
| apex downward. When the wind
was contrary or the weather very
rough, the mast and sail were proba-
bly, unshipped, folded up and lashed to
the cross pieces which held the two
canoes together. Progress would then
depend on the paddle. There were
seats for forty paddle men, sitting two
on bench. Midships was raised
platform screened by mats, for the
chief, his family and the officers.
Among the last were priest, an
astronomer and navigator, a sailing
master and a trumpeter. 1t is very
interesting to compare this descrip-
tion with that of a Viking ship.
The period embracing the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries was one of
great unrest and commotion through
out the island world of Polynesia.
Some ferment was at work TO stir up
the energies and passions of wild and
primitive men. 1t may have been
the pressure of invading expeditions
arriving from the West, or perhaps
the outbreak OF mutual jealousies and
harryings Of contiguous and hostile
tribes. The land must have been wit
ness to great contention and violence
the ocean to many scenes of sudden
departure and disastrous flight. Ac-
cepting the evidence of traditions of
the period, it was time of much pad
ding about and sailing to and fro in
canoes-an era of long voyages be-
tween widely separated groups of
islands and of venturesome eXpedi-
tiOns. 1t was at about this time that
the Hervey Islands and New Zealand
were colonized.
The lapse of time in the history of
these people is reckoned with reason
able certainty by the traditions which
have been handed down to the present
day-nOtably the unwritten genealogi-
cal records brought from the South
Pacific and preserved IN Hawaii. |
Eventually it came about that COM |
between Hawaii and the |
mother country ceased, and after |
awhile Tahiti faded in the minds of |
the Hawaiians into a sort of myth
land-a region of mystery and magic, |
full of marvels, inhabitated by super
beings.
One of the Hawaiian traditions
relates TO an ancient navigator named
who voyaged all the way
TO Tahiti and brought back with him
two white men of priestly Office,
called kaekaa and Maliu, together
with q prophet named Malela. This
last was a wizard who had power over
the winds, a function not altogether
in those days, when the
whole contents Of Eolus' cave could
De kept in one small calabssh along
with dead mans bones. The descrip-
ion of these mysterious strangers as
air and tall, stout and ruddy, with
sparkling eyes, is suggestive of
Vikings Of the Saxon type; but the
Driestly function does not seem to be
n keeping with the character of the
1iratical NOrsemen.
The agriculture of the ancient Poly
lesians was mainly the growing of
.aro, the root of which was ground
nto flour and made into all sorts of
,akes and other nutritious dishes.
vas usually celebrated by q human
acrifice. Hence the story of the
fatal tarO patch" Everybody is
amiliar with the plant with huge,
green, heart-shaped leaves which is
Ised for decorative purposes in parks
Ind about fountains. Elephant leaI"
5 a common name for it. That is the
arc, imported from the South Pa
,ific.
Human sacrifices were very common
among the Polynesians, some families
being devoted for generation after
generation to furnish such offerings.
The priests being regarded as EN- mbody-
ng the various deities and hence
.ermed "god boxes" could designate
anybody they disliked as a suitable
victim. After being slain, the latter
was usually devoured. The practice
If cannibalism was carried so far
hat parents would even eat their
,wn children. From this unhealthy
appetite for ''long pign the mission
aries have done their best TO wean the
Stands OF today.
These people only used the bow and
arrow to kill rats with. They fought
With clubs and spears. Clothing they
made by beating out the inner bark of
he mulberry tree. They invented
l method of fish-farming, using for
hat purpose pools among the coral
'eefs, which were prepared by dam
ming the inlets and scraping the
bottoms smooth. Fishes caught in
the sea the hooks employed had no
1arbs and did not do injury by tearing
he gills-were transferred to the
ponds. Various implements were
made of polished stone and from the
shell of the giant clam, which cuts
ike an axe.
Like all other aborigines encoun-
cred in the march of civilization, the
have succumbed to alco-
lol and the diseases of the white man.
The native Hawaiian population is
.Oday only one-tenth as numerous as
when Captain Cook sailed. Thanks
% that great navigator, most of the
Stands of Oceanica are oveIrun with
pigs, his rule having been to leave
lair of them wherever he landed. No