The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-13


for the benefit of the y. NJ. C. a.
Library, was well attended last
Friday. The subject was "Orient-
al Oddities" The lecturer assured
the audience that, like Samson, he
would be satisfied if he brought
down the house; and it may be
added that he did so.
The following is Mr.. Twombly's
lecture, greatly condensed:
A friendly eagle, so the classic story
tells US, once desired an owl to tell him
the peculiarities of her progeny, that
he might not drown them by mistake
The owl, in her maternal blindness,
decribed her unfiedged Owlets of lovely
form, with gay and beauteOus plum
age. The eagle, therefore, lighting 10y
chance upon nest of scrawny, un
couth, ugly birds, incontinently swal-
lowed them, thinking all the time no
harm to the mother owl. In like
manner we intend no disrespect to
patriarchs and prophets; we mean no
harm to Abraham, Isaac, or 20 Jacob
as We portray their degenerate des-
cendants, whom We lighted on not
many years ago. Who, for example,
would see Joseph or Joshua in that
queer old turbaned Turk, who with
bags for trousers and tobacco pipe in
mouth, mounted the wheel-house of
our steamer as we entered Alexandria,
and stood there huttering in the
breeze, to steer US in Rather would
you see in him the walking adver-
tisement of some enterprising AleXan-
drian tobacconist, sent out to inveigle
strangers to his shops. And so it is
Throughout the east, the manners,
features, customs of the people mark
race degenerate and Altogether less
alive than the most sluggish of their
ancestors. 1t is true, they gather
dreamy memories about them of the
past. Their garments flow in lines
and curves as gracefully as when
Young Jacob wooed and won his
Rachel. And yet, from the gaunt and
prisly forms Of Arab sheikhs to the
light tripping water carriers of Cairo,
they might all turn to sculptured
forms upon the antique stones of
Egypt anu leave lhe hOAAu ShS well Ou
as before.
They are at the antipodes Of western
culture, doing clumsily everything
that we do handily. They grasp ideas
by the wrong end, just as they
seize their horses by the tail,
and swing themselves into the saddle.
They take their shoes off upon enter
ing a room, allowing their head COW
ering to remain. Women hide their
faces, leaving the breast exposed. An
Arab takes the name OF his first-born
son; TO be polite to an Oriental you
address him rs father, whether he
has ever had son or not. As the
names of daughters are taken from
the most fairy objects and as the
mothers take their daughters names,
it sounds strange to hear the veriest
old bag accOsted as the Mother of the
Sweet Moon" and some old beggar
woman may be called the Mother of
Gods Bounty Ia our land it is the
custom for mothers TO use the rod for
the benefit of their sons, but in the
East the sons use it for their mothers
good, reversing Solomon's trite say
ing, and making it 'Spare the rod if
you would spoil your mother"
On riding at early morning to in
spect the place where Jericho once
stood, we are ridden down upon by
two most fearful horsemen, who with
frantic speed rush at us, fiourishing
their weapons, till, just as they are
near enough to touch US with their
spears, they cheek their steeds, put
their spear points to the ground in
token OF submission, and are ours to
look at and to pay for the excursion to
the fords. They wear rough jackets
of some ragged patchwork with Cir
dies of the same, in which are stuck
huge pistols of a former and defunct
make. A long, curved hanger swings
bv their side, and a trumpet-shaped,
short gun hangs from their back. In
their hands are spears of fifteen feet in
length, tipped with rude beads of
iron. Their bare feet are thrust into
stirrups of a shovel shape, used by
them in place of spurs, and horses and
riders seem animated by the same
wild. shaggy mind, if such creations
can be said to have a mind at all.
= 1t is now plain riding for an hour
toward the Jordan, and we give these
Arabs "backshish," signifying desire
TO see some feats of horsemanship. so
off they 90 like madmen, till from
points hundred yards apart they
rush together, urging their low-bod-
led, sharp-nosed horses to their ut
most speed. Their long spears pass
within an inch of that rough head |
gear we have mentioned, but |
quick as thought the spearheads turn,
and of they 90 for renewed attack. |
This time, with horses at full speed,
they swing down under the saddle, |
hanging by single foot, and from |
that periIous position hurl their spears |
for mary yards Recovering their
weapons, they career upon the plain,
taking the tallest bushes in their fly
ing leaps till, fresh as when the exer-
else began, they lower their spear
points once more before our caval-
cade, and pat their nimble nags with
all the fervor of a father for his child:
We find these men full of fun and
to laugh at jokes as well
as perpetrating them at our expense.
They get us to undress and battle in
the Dead Sea, aud urging our way
somewhat incautiously over the