The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-04-18
A LAND or oUteR THINGS.
The islands seem Designed Tor the world' =.
Pleasure Resort.

IT / should attempt 10 sum UP on ia
wau-Noi IN one sentence, ] would say
IL is a land where everything seems Co
be something elise. There is riotous
abundance ct useful vegetation, yet soon
OF late a blight comes ON allnos, every
thing There is a greater variety of
fruits than 100 amy other la I'd ] know,
vet so far as ] could learn very fruit
dogenerates in few years, and the stock
must bee renewed. The eli nate Is al.
most perfection, yet measles, smallpox
aud affections of the heart ar peculiarly
fatal The mountains look u fixed 10
place for all eternity, and TIN more solid
and rugged a mountain looks the more
certain IL is 90 quake and m re likely 10
split open The natives are j well eiu-
Gated and nearly all though less. They
are Oh nominal Christians, yet chastity
IS but a vague sentiment, and many a
common Kaualla viii tell lie when the
truth would better serve his purpose.
Life and property are as safe as any
where on earth, though the laws are not
severe or executed with any special rigor
This may be due partly TO the lack Of
acquisitiveness among the common ka-
nal1as and their general live and let live
feeling. They are the most unselfish
race on earth. In a detached group in
the interior the property Of any one is
the property Of another, If that other
needs it badly. A foreigner who has be
friended one is the friend of all in the
village The men give him fish, fruits
flowers aud poi; the women give what
they have, and with a certain freedom
which is delicate and charming I'm
fortunately their kindness may be "A
danger, for they may be affected with
leprosy long before they learn the fact,
and physicians have decided that Of all
supposed ways that is the one absolutely
certain way Of acquiring it.
There is wonderful variety of fruit
in Honolulu such as oranges, lemons,
lines, melons, bananas strawberries and
many more. Peaches are produced on
the islands, but the blight affects them
more quickly and certainly than any
other fruit, frequently taking the form
of black scale or film The cocoanut
seems to beindigenous, and therefore less
liable TO blight than any other product
1t was long supposed that the sugar cane
was proof against all blights, but of late
years a new worm, as it were, has at
tackled ii at the root, and the chances
now are that the sugar planters will
have to renew their stocks every few
years. 1t reminds one Of Horace Gree
ley's plan for getting rid Of the Canada
thistle, Cultivate it as garden plant,
and some derned bug or other will be
sure TO come along and eat it.
Wheat grows in but a few places on
the islands, little valleys in the elevated
plateaus. As to moisture the climate
cannot be described in general terms.
Old residents say in jocular way that
in one district the rainfall is II feet a
year, in another II inches, and in third
1-17th of an inch. Isaw places which Ger.
tainly looked as if rain had never fallen
on them. In the best sugar lands irIiga,
ton is necessary, but in many places
very little is required. Domestic animals
thrive, as a rule, especially horses, OF
which the native stock is very hardy and
capable. 1t appears to have been case
| of survival of the fittest." All the ten
| der ones were run to death at the star
| and only the toughest mares leftposterity
After all, the great product Of the is
/ lands is the taro root, from which poi Il
made 1t grows wherever the soil is KEEP
! thoroughly water soaked, and in matted
punches very much like the calamus Of
sweet flag Of the middle western states
The root is something like long beet
Il. L. I a. l..
poi--a whitley yellow batter at first, latei
a sort of sour paste 1t operates hOmG
opathically, so to speak-that is, it build
up dilapidated constitution surprising
ly, but if used exclusive of any othe
food it Injuries the health. There is NJ
particular danger of any American o
Englishman using the native style of i
to excess, for it is emphatically nasty
Decently prepared, however, it is quit
palatable. Local statisticians say tina
one acre of it will furnish yearly breat
for 5000 men-a pleasing statemen
which, regret to say, do not believe.
Fish is said to be the proper correctly
TO take with poi, and fish also are album
dant. Early visitors say the Kanaka
formerly ate them raw and at the soon
est possible moment after killing them
Indeed it was thought luxury to begi
to gnaw on the tail before the head wa
dead. At any rate the hungry nativ
took the fish as it came from the water
hastily ran a knife from gill to tail, tor
out the entrails and at once fell to cal
ing, and there is story that when tn
first Kanakas were taken to be presente
to the king of England they behave
quite handsomely till they saw some tis
in little aquarium in the royal apar
,, ment Their appetite overcame then
Men and women alike fell on the finn
prey, tore and devoured it with the savag
yum-yum of appeased hunger, and dc
clared in choice Kanaka that it was thei
first square meal" since they left Homo
lulu.
They tell many hard stories like thi
about the former Hawaiians, but as
saw nothing of the kind | will continu
to hope they are not true. If it was true
as the first visitors said, that the parent
killed all their children above two or three
that methods of ''check" were used whic
soon proved fatal to half the women
that thousands of men We're killed in tn
saturnalia following kings death, am
thousands more were sacrificed or eaten
how did the population get so large
Why so much greater than now, whel
none of these things are donei canno
help suspecting that there has been ex
aggeration.
, There is peace and good FELLOWSHIP
! enough now. There are social enjoymen
. and ease and joyousness and feastin
i enough now. Everywhere this is true
but especially in Honolulu. There tn
slant eyed Chinaman and the darke
: Malay, the very fair Englishman, dar
. Portuguese and medium American, tn
, smooth brown Kanaka and the roug
brown Samoan hostile each other goo