The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-12-11
LAND OF nREAMs.


/ n, one BOthers Much About work a.
BcautftuI Hawaii.
When the powers that be fan to dis
cussing any particular corner Of the
glose, the laity pricks up It's ears and
straightway begins to see il It knows
ANYTHING about the bone Of contention.
Now that Hawaii is TO the fore the aver
age citizen is finding out that somehow
or other the Sandwich islands, as they
used to be called, are a very misty fac
tor in the makeup Of his geographical
information.
In Frisco the wealthy social class
talk very nonchalantly about "a run to
the islands, and to the jewellers on
the Pacific coast the 2,1O0 miles across
to Honolulu seem a very small matter
70 hesitate about. But on this side Of
the Rocky mountains we cannot touch
elbows so easily with far-away islands.
1--we have forgotten that long ago we
learned at school that the Hawaiian
islands have a climate that is not sur
passed anywhere in mild summer heat
for exactly 70 months in the year.
The whole round dozen of islands are
wonders of natural beauty, with their
sloping mountain sides covered with
luxuriant growths and their thousands
of dashing streams glinting off to-
ward the sea. Indeed, if enthusiastic
visitors are to be believed, the eight
lnhabitable islands are variable fairy
lands. and to the overworked jewellers
in the United States, the easy, placid
life of Hawaii seems to be that dreamed
of heaven, "where the wicked cease from
troubling and the weary are at rest"
No one does very much of anything
over there's; the missionaries have made
Christians of all the natives; some of
these Jealous newcomers put the Ha-
waiian language into written form
about 1920, and as the Chinese, Japa-
nese and all European nations are rep
resented in ever-increasing numbers,
the good-tempered, light-hearted ma
tives are dwindling away in most con-
tented fashion.
Capt. Cook found about 100000 Of
them when he stumbled upon the is
lands and named them in 1778. In so
years the census reported 10000, and
in 1878 they had only a meager 44,oss to
claim as their own.
/ AC III oAC lis APRCoAAA IN
more rapidly than the men, it APP
pears, and those who are left rarely bear
children, only one native wife out of
three becoming a mother now.
1t is the old story of the civilized races
in contact with heathendom, but this ex-
tinction is, happily, going on in peace.
Think of a land where the kalo plant
in a plot 40 feet square will support a
native a whole year; a square mile of
it would keep a whole city full (about
1900 heads).
1t is not in the human nature to toll
and spin when such manna comes un-
stintedly and there is no winter time
to dread.
The women weave garlands, they say,
they love flowers and deck themselves
and all their friends with them; they
ride astride like their more numerous
brothers, and even swim in the surf and
go tobogganing on the breakers, on the
fat boards. as daringly as if they did
HUvKnowr naJHs a f8cet heynredoomed.
Their history in a hAtshelI is thu
When Capt. Cook 4ouhd Hem each
island had its own chief. In 1919 Ka-
mehameha l. of Hawaii, set TO work to
conquer the other chieftains, and sue
ceeded in making himeelf lord of what
he called "The Kingdom of Hawaii"
His family followed in his footsteps and
held his precepts until the downfall
OF Liliuokalani, just the other day.
They were cannibals in their baImy
days, of course, and it is told that when
Kamehameha I. died and his mobiles de-
bated what to do with his remains. one
old peer gravely suggested that they
should eat himl
But that was long ago; to-day they
dine from the choicest viands of the
earth, if they are wealthy. They talk
oVer telephones to all their neighbors
and to the seamen on board the many
ships in the hsrbor. They sit at ease
In their leafy lands or verandas; they
go regularly to Waikiki 1.-THE Lon@
Branch of HonolulIA. and thew revei il
raiment that would shame solomon in
all his glory. The natfxe women bave
practiced massage for GENERATIONS and
the ''lomi, lomi woman Mo daftI1
manipulates over weary travsSers WIZ
nre racked with pain after a nexorv.
: sion to one of the volcanoes is S aor,.
forting a presence thatitis sad to tEnIu
| hat she, too, is fading away.-PhfK-
I delphia Record.