Middletown transcript., 1898-07-09

MAP OF HAWAIIAN lSlIANDo.
nounced exactly like long in line and
prime: as in fate, as ee in feel, as
90 in COO and all other letters sin English.
When ii follow a vowel, the first is
sounded with that vowel and the second
alone. Thus Hawaii is Hah-wy-ee. ac-
cented on the second syllable.
It is the consonants which make the
trouble To say that the language has
no constant consonants would be scarce
ly an exaggeratiOn The vowels are al
ways pronounced clearly and strongly,
in many cases with a real lingering
sweetness, but not so the consonants.
In fact, if clear voiced talker should
omit the consonants entirely, a native
would generally understand him. One
must listen carefully to distinguish be-
tween and |. between and k, and SO
of many other doubles. and in the older
works on the islands one finds the names
thus spelled indifferently. as taro or
kalo. Kilauea or Tirauea, or more COM
monty Kirauea, Pele, Tele or Kele, etc.
NV first lessons were in the Book OF
Mormon" my local mentor being mis-
sionary of that persuasion, and this
book, unlike most, loses nothing in trans
lation. The spirit of the>original could
not evaporate, as Max Muller putsit, be-
cause in English the book is aptly de-
scribed as "chloroform in print hope
lessly dull Nevertheless the Mormons
have done wonderful work on the is
lands, and this would be one of their
strongest outposts if their converts had
not. Kanaka fashion, died off so rapidly.
In Utah is an extensive family of Nebe-
kers, cousins, | believe, of the present
United States treasurer. One OF these
did so good work in Kauai that his
most talented converts took his name.
After my return to Salt Lake City
heard one of these Kanaka Nebekers de-
liver an address there in his native
tongue which a returned missionary
translated, and though by no means an
expert in Kanaka | understood enough
to realize that that interpreter was phe-
nomenally brilliant liar.
The American missionaries reached
the islands in 1920 and soon had the ma
tive speech reduced to a written Ian
guage Now every adult KanaIa can
read and write Some 300 books have
been published in the language, and the
Kanaka journals are read by every one.
Bearing in mind the rules above given,
the reader will easily see that Oahu is
pronounced O-ah-hoo; Maui, Mow-ee;
Kilauea, Kee-low-a-ah; Liliuokalani,
Lee-lee-oo-oh-ka-la-n and SO on of all
other places and persons. The main is
land gives a name to the whole group
with the addition of Nei Nay-ee), aword
signifying union, or the whole; hence
the official designation of the kingdom
is Hawaii-Nei.
Hawaii is nearly twice as large as al
the other islands together, but Oahu is
politically the most important, having
the capital and by far the best harbor in
the islands, and Kauai is rather themost
advanced in agriculture. l did not know
the reason of this till found it out, and
/ was quite suddenly put in the way of
finding it out at Hilo, in Hawaii. It was
a perfectly lovely day, and l was writing
and lounging by turns when there came
a strange culver; my inkstand danced
over the table like quicksilvered toy
man, felt sudden nausea, there was
grinding sensation in the very light
frame walls, and subsequent proceed
ings interested me no more" in that
room-for | was in the middle of the
street with several other people. It
was over in a minute. Then every
body laughed and pointed out that even
if one of these houses fell on fellow it
would not hurt him much, for they are
very light in structure. Heavy stone
buildings are all very well for Oahu and
Kauai, and will barely do in Maui and
Molokai, but not in Hawaii.
The explanation is, to my mind, very
curious The islands were all built up
by volcano and earthquake. Nature be-
gan the job at the northwest end of the
chain with some small islands, mere
rocky peaks; as she moved southeast
ward she built up successively larger is
lands, and she is still at it--intends to
keep at it, the crock sharps" say, till she
makes real island continent. While
she is building an island it is of course
powerful uneasy and mighty uncer-
tain," but when she has finished it it
settles down to quiet maturity. Hence
the comparative steadiness of Oahu and
Kauai; hence the instability of Hawaii.
Only five years before my visit there
was Pele to pay in that island. Pele is
the native devil of Hawaii, or deviless
rather, for it is a female.) For many
days together the whole island shook
like giant in an ague fit. The propri-
etor Of the hotel at the Kilauea crater
said in letter to the Honolulu Adver-
tiser that "Pele sent a Rodman 20-inch
shot with such precision that it struck
the ground within an inch of my bed. /
ran and did not return" Nearly all the
stone buildings in Hilo were shaken
down. The missionaries record with a
sort of grim humor that their bookcases
were upset and the books went tumbling
over the house. Trees swayed and fell,
stone fences went down, and vast noun
tain masses rolled into the sea. One
missionary adds, SO gravely that we
must not suspect him of a joke, that
they prayed with unusual fervor and
sang
On Jordan's stormy banks we stand,
And cast wishful eye.
THE WORLDS eRANDEs7 VOLCANO
How the Lava Made Hawaii-Wild Life