The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-04-25
QUEER BIT FROM HAWAII.
THE EXHIBIT or KANAKA LIFE
AT TuE SAN FRANCISCO FAIR.
Native Grass Houses, War Canoes, and
Relies of Kalakaua and Liliuokalani
Standings and Field Guns.

the unique exhibits at the Midwinter
Fair is the Hawaiian village, in which is
reproduced as far as possible under
these alien skies, the characteristic
features OF life in the land of the
Kanaka. idjoiring the village is the
cycloralna of the great volcano OF Kill
eaua, which was at Chicago but the
village itself is the frs attempt made in
this country to show the untravelled
America how the Sandwich Islander
lives a al by what amusement he kills
time. The manager of the show mourns
over his shortsightedness in not setting
up this village at Chicago. al could
have made q barrel of money" he said
with sigh of regret. "Think OF the
free advertising that Blount gave the
Islands, and it was all wasted, for you
can never excite any large amount OF
interest in cyclorama."
The Hawaiian village is near the
Mechanic Arts building. The cyclorama
looks like huge cheese box, but the
village itself is surrounded by an ar
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of palm trees about six feet high, with a
border of gracefully woven palm leaves
OF about the same height. The entrance
is formed OF huge palm trunks. At the
gate is a dusky Kanaka maiden dressed
in white, with jaunty white yachting
cap that makes more pronounced the
midnight darkness of hair and eyes. As
one enters he sees the whole enclosure
rolling bit OF ground, with native
houses here and there, bungalow on
the highest point, which is made to
serve as a museum, and across a little
pond band stand and dancing floor,
shaped like huge conch shell.
The first thing that appeals to the
stranger is the typical native grass
house. 1t is about twenty by twenty
five feet, divided into two rooms. The
walls are made OF poles and bamboo,
covered with close thatch of native or
pele grass. The bamboo poles on the
sides of the house and on the roof are
about hall loot apart and the thatch is
made SO skillfully that no drop OF water
comes through, even in a beating storm.
In the great southeaster that swept over
the Fair last month this Hawaiian grass
house was the only structure on the
ground that did not leak. The only win
dows are two small apertures at each side
about two feet long by eighteen inches
wide, protected by broad shutters.
There is no door, only a grass portiere,
as one might call it, which is seldom let
down as no one fears harsh air or
thieves in Hawaii. The outer room has
floor of earth; the inner room is
covered with beautifully woven mating,
and about one-quarter of the space at
one end is raised as dais and also
covered~with mating. This is the Ha-
waiian bed. OF other furniture there is
none, the Hawaiians like other Pacific
Islanders, preferring to sit upon his
marrow bones in the attitude which nc
civilized man. except the tailor, has
acquired.
This island house gives one a vivid
idea of the simplicity of life in Hawaii.
There is no mending OF clothes, nor
cleaning of carpet and furniture; no
cooking, except such as is done in the
open air in kettle, or in an oven of
earth covered with heated stones. The
family larder consists of a heap of taro
root, looking not unlike a big pile of
very dirty turnips of large size. This
taro root Is the foundation of the native
diet. The rind is cut off and the white
interior is pounded into pulpin large
wooden mortar and made into a paste
called pol. The white person who has
lived in Hawaii always declares that
poi is a delectable dish, but one who
has not bleathed the air OF the Islands
does not take TO the insipid mess.
Near this house is a big war canoe
which carries one back to the days
when Captain Cook was worshipped as
god, and when the Islands mustered
over half million OF fighting men
This canoe is about thirty feet long
hewn out of the trunk of a tree, and no
unlike the great birch canoes OF the st
Lawrence Indians. That it was in
tended for rough weather, however il
shown by the outer rigger, formed o
two tent poles, ten feet long, dashed to I
drag that is about the size Of a railroa'
tie, made OF hard and heavy wood. Thi
makes the canoe virtual catamaran
and enables it to ride in safety heav
seas or on big rollers.
The lake with its palm-fringed borde
is pretty poor reproduction OF the pei
lucid streams that are so common i
Hawaii, but it seems to reveal the ski
of the Hawaiians in all feats of divin
and swimming and in the use of tn
paddle. Near by is genuine curiosit
in the form of an ancient giant Ian
turtle, said to be over 100 years old. |
the valley where it dwells it is wol
shipped as "water god," probably be
cause it gets on famously without water
The turtle has venerable looking she
and still more aged head, with eye
that remind one OF Hebrew cent?
marian. 1t watches you out of il
wicked-looking old eyes and it chaml
its jaws with slow movement as thong
it would relish good bite out OF I'll
calf OF the leg OF the 'inquisitive visito
1t is fully as large as the loggerhea
turtle and does not differ material
from THE deep sea specimens. 1t 81
contentedly in heap of dust.
To be Continued
Central Committee Changes.
At a meeting OF the Second Distri
Z Al. To-. l.,