The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-19
LANGUAGE OF THE HAWAIIANs.
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 be considered as pleasing and agreeable to the ear after time, although at hrst it sounds childish, indistinct and insip- id It lacks anything like force and ex- pression; and the natives are by no means to be compared as orators to the aborigines of North America. The lan- guage is not carable of reaching the lofty strains of the Blackfeet, Crees and other Indians, but flows in melli1uous
 feebleness which, though it never of- fends the ear, always leaves us unsatl- satisfied. The indistinctness and con fusion which arise from the scantiness of it's clements, and it's consequent rep etition of the same sounds, are consid- erably aggravated by the copiousness of the vocabulary, which is sa'd to be in a great measure due to the pride and policy of the chiefs, who habitually in vented new words for their own pecu- liar use, and constantly replaced them, as soon as they became familiar to the people, with other novelties of the same kind Under such circumstances, to say nothing of the intricacy and preci- sion of the grammar, a foreigner can
 
 tongue; and missionaries, even, despite industry and zeal, often find their ears at fault, more particularly when the natives chant their barely articulate strings of words in a quick and mono tonous strain.
 The Hawaians moreover (says the same writer), have a different dialect for the.r poetry; or. at least, if the lan- guage be the same, it's infections and construction appear to be very differ ent, and it's metaphors and allusions, which give enjoyment to the native race, elude the comprehension of resi- dents who are well acquainted with the Hawaiian language used in prose.
 A young poetess, now dead, who bore the name of Poki, enchained the people with her lyrics; yet a gentleman who could report in shorthand the speeches made in the house of legislature was entirely baffled in his efforts to compye- bend the poetry that by turns melted and inflamed it's native hearers. This is probably explainable by fact men toned by Hiram Bingham. namely, that Hawaiian poetry is not accurately measured, either in respect to the sue CtSSlDHf Ol lt6i OI llle lSIlS LII Ol lhC lines; nor did it, prior to the introduc- tion of hymns by the missionaries, ex- hibit any rhyming at the end of the lines AS the songs were unwritten and adapted to chanting rather than to me- trical music, line was measured by the breath the "hopuna," answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath. The people are fond of fabulous tales and songs, and formerly spent much of their time in telling stories and oroon- ing mees (songs) to the accompani- ment of a small drum or musical stick.
 The missionaries found great difficult ty in translating the scriptures into Hawaiian by reason of the number of words therein for which the language has no equivalent and of which the na- tives have no conception; such as faith, virtue chastity, holiness, angel, throne etc. The native conception of an angel is either kanaka lele, flying man." or akua, a word corresponding somewhat to the Algonquin term manito-a spirit, something to be worshiped, or anything of a mysterious nature.
 In giving names to each other and to lllelE CUiluItII llle I1ciN dlldliS nave ways exhibited considerable whimsical ity. The most trifiing circumstance fixes their nomenclature, and names are as likely to be taken from things and qualities disgusting and vile as from those of the opposite character, and are borne without shame or disgrace. Thus there are persons named Moekol- ohe. Adultery" Kekuko, Lust" Kakahu, Anger" Haaheo, Pride" Aihue, Thief" Wahahe, Liar" Pela- pela, Filth" Inurama, Rum drink er,' etc. It is also customary for per sons to exchange names with each oth- CT or to assume new ones at will. The origin of some of such names is amus- ing. Thus. when Kapiolani, the woman chief at Kealakekua, was sick and had to submit to a surgical operation, a child of one of the commonalty that happened to be born at the time was