The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-21

paid no attention 60 ma- They ordered az
Lne men ashore. and r1-4 the women 70
O. naia The men refused % go. ana me
p Eric- amen shot three OF fEem dean a -s
rest Here driven overheard ar TIE point
~ rl- 4ayolet- The women Ucre carried
"a aay. assaulrsI ny rl- EN-c amen and
sold 10 islanders hundreds ~ miles away.
7 aiterWard heard.
To get rever-e for thls t1e IiEano
-laAr4 ashore "a ula- load " men l-1u
t1e next ship tna- came by and promq ~
Ai-el ana ate -1-rl- Aley happened %
..- Els-islmel. ami il due time a aar-
7l-p vas sent r1 shell rle llkals Cu- o.
-1r.r village 5y way az Punishment /
-eAt out nag q truce. and under DO cN-
planned % the British c1mmaulaut why
-i- men were killed he dla uot shell our
village As a reward for tails the king
-llale me great var CHIEF % perpe-lltys.
ana an my heirs forever.
ABOUT nine months ar-er my arrival
among the lilkaus the king died. leaving
no helr- The chiefs held a l0takai, OF con-
ten-lons 70 name his successor As he
bad no heir. the choice lay between RAJ
n9koumas the head 1f the warriors. and
alta, the chief Of the lawmakers. II
either one were elevated 90 lle kingship
clFli strife was bound 10 follow.
fahokoUma turned 10 his fellow
statesmen and said- Since the Great
w hite Spirit has sent this white man 20
as ana ne has helped up in battle. let US
make him our Oumalea-
There was great applause al this, and
well, 1 was TOO good a democrat 10 re-
iuse the nomination. / was elected by
reclamation.
II left the Hlwan islands few months
after that. but ] have spent three or four
months among my adopted people nearly
every year since then. The government Is
really carried on by RahOkOuma and ALA.
am The king. but they practically rule
the people. About all ] have done Is to
keep out all foreigners from the Iikans.
Ihey are a iine, honest, manly race. with
many virtues.
Selhshness they consider the most
heinous sin. In times of need even the
king must share with the poorest man.
lie may keep enough for himself. but
10 withhold more than that would be sell
VIE, because polygamy would give a
fish, No man may have more than one
great supply Of wives TO a few selfish men
and leave the others wifcless.
They used 10 DE cannibais. They ate
none OF their own nation, but their enc
mics were cooked and devoured After
the first battle ] spoke OF, RahOkOuma
noticed that ] had failed 10 eat the
hearts Of my enemies.
White man he said. you no eat fel-
NO replied; no ike eat EN-"
An! he said, II white man ever eat
yellow man with long tail on top Chi
ndman) he never eat any more fOur-legs
that digs food out Of the ground with its
nose pig).
Is white man good to eat? I asked
No. he replied; white man too much
IKE wave mat breaks on the shore. yell
low man plenty good
You know the Chinese don't use salt
IN their food. RahOkouma objected to
The salt (sea-waterish) taste of white
men.
Yet they have given up cannibalism.
RahOkouma fhOugntfully told me one
day that he would eat no more hearts
Of his enemies. 1T Is selfish he said
to eat the heart The Great White Spirit
lf ]
mad explained the Christian religion to
him as best ] could AT the next hoda-
kat ne told the other chiefs of his reso-
luton, and they an agreed to give IN
cannibalism. They used to think they alb
sorbed their enemies courage by eating
their hearts.
"Rahokouma has a necklace made of
one eye-tOOth from each man he has
killed. The Illkans take enemies eye
teeth as our American Indians take
scalps. Rahokouma has given up wear
ing the necklace, and wears one of por-
pOlse teeth instead.
There are $4,000 Of the Iikans. Of whom
LOCO are warriors constantly in training
They have wrestling matches, war dances
and all that kind of thing daily. The
warriors are strong, vigorous fellows /
have seen one OF them split a man from
the top Of the head down through the
shoulders with a big wooden, tWo-han-
died sword. What made the old ambush
trick so easy was that among all these
ISLANDERS it has been the custom for ages
for two armies to rush up and fight en-
masse-dng against king. chief against
chief, and man against man. No mere
man would think OF lighting with a chief,
much less of attacking a king
The religion Of the Ilikans is very sim
pie. Good Is white. Bad is black God is
the Great White Spirit Father He lives
up in the sky over the water hilP-that
is, beyond the horizon. The sun is MS
fire. The moon is his eye as he goes
round and round the world. The stars
are the fires of their friends who have
died and gone over the water hill The
color of the sun rising over the sea
bright rcd is sacred in their estimation
They try TO make their hair red by daub-
ing it with yellow ochre.
Miss Collin, whom 1 shall marry has
red hair They will certainly revere her
as a goddess. We hope to be married in
the early fall and go to Ilika for a visit
of Few months l forgot to tell you
that my title, Oumalea, means literally
the supreme ruler forever of all the
land. My wife they viii call AnaHe.
which means his sweet soothing spirit u