The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-03-19
WAS A GOOD MAN E.
Chinese Evidenced Appro-
val Of Personal Worth.
Funeral of Cheung Amana-Why the
Loss Was Mourned - EulOgy.
Duties of Hawaiian Born Son.

| The largest CnlneSe funeral tnat mas
been held in Honolulu for many years,
was that Of Cheung Amana on last
Sunday afternoon. The fact that sew
eral hundred Of the countrymen OF
| Cheung Amana gathered to mourn his
death, and to attend the last offices, is
a tribute Of the highest sort, to this
Chinese community. There can be fur
nished no record of a distinguished
career for the man now dead. He did
not become wealthy, was not known as
prominent man, was neither a
| speaker nor a writer. Chinese who
have been asked about Cheung Amana
and his big funeral, simply say: HE
was a good man. He never cheat. He
always pay his debts. He always speak
true. He treat we'll all his family, all
his friends and everybody" That's a
brief eulogy, but a pretty strong one.
Cheung Amana was 7S years of age.
| He came to these Islands from Canton
province about 80 years ago. First he
sailed into the north on whaling barks.
Next he was a compradOre, then he was
travelling merchant in a small way
| He failed to make money and was for
| several years a servant in the family
of the late Postmaster Brickwood He
saved his earnings and became one of
| the experimenters in the rice business.
Like all industrial pioneers, he paved
| the way without profit to himself, for
| others to mass fortunes. About eight
or 10 years ago, Cheung Amana was
compelled by the action Of age to retire
| from active life. Since then he has
| lived alone in town, but has been cared
| for nicely by his son and friends. His
wife, native woman, died some years
ago. She had followed to the grave
seven sons. The eighth is NJ c. Amana,
Of the tax office. M. c. Amana is known
also as All Eook and as Makahoe. He
| is one the rising young men of the
town. Three languages he speaks
fuently, is an expert accountant,
Tightening calculator and knows every
piece of property from Diamond Head
| to Moanalua and for the sea TO the
| hills He has been in the tax bureau
a number of years, and is regarded as
a very valuable man.
M. c. Amana is much more Hawai-
ian, or rather American, than Chinese,
though his wife is the daughter of a
wealthy Chinese merchant in Corea,
This young man took a part in the fun
eral of his father that he does not I'M
derstand. Barefoot, and attired in sack
cloth, he walked behind the hearse,
bearing an emblem of the Chinese Ma
sonic Society, in which his father had
reached the 32d degree. The rules OF
the order as practiced in the Orient,
impose this duty on the son of a dead
member. 1t was also required that the
wife of the son walk barefoot and in
sackcloth, and this Mrs. M. G. Amana
did. but being indisposed was support
ed by her servant girl, who was for the
occasion in Sackcloth. NJ G.. Amana
says he is a Chinese Mason himself,
but compared to the rank of his father,
but a novitiate. He knew nothing o.
the emblem he carried.
For the funeral there were four
horses attached to the hearse, and the
procession was a couple of hundred
yards of carriages. The coffin was a
costly one. Just as this heavy process
sion was being formed, it was odd that
another vastly different should pass.
The other hearse had but one horse to
draw it, and there was but one mourn
er. and he was riding a native pony.
Prayer papers were distributed by the
thousands for the Amana funeral and
the secret society held lengthy cere>
monies at the grave, using a ritual that
NF ~ oil cd
nese declare is most beautifully ex>
pressive, and that is solemn and
Notwithstanding According to the
suggestion Of those who had the funer-
al in charge, all of the night before, NJ.
c. Amana kneeled at the bier of his
father. For hour after hour he main
tanned the kneeling position, arising
only when almost exhausted, and then
for but a few minutes. The funeral viii
be the talk of the Chinese colony for
many months and the memory OF
Cheung Amana will live for years. He
came of good family and used the same
dialect as Commercial Agent Goo Kim
: the representative Of the Chinese Gov,
eminent here and Lee Cheung, the Chi,
nese Interpreter for the Hawaiian
courts. NJ. G. Amana is a patriotic
Hawaiian, but says he desires to some
time travel in China. He attended
school here and secured his first in
sight into bookkeeping at the Y. NJ. c
A. when P. G. Jones had class there
The familiarity of this young man witt
properties and titles and individual;
here, is something remarkable. In ad
ditiOn he seems to know every Chi
naman and Hawaiian in the group, ant
as we'll all the haoles liable for take:
| of any kind.