Middletown transcript., 1898-07-09
= LAND OF QUEER THINGS.
The Islands Seem Designed For the World
Pleasure Resort

1t Is a land where everything seems to
be something else There is a riotous
abundance of useful vegetation, yet soon
or late blight comes on almost every
thing. There is greater variety of
fruits than in any other land | know,
yet so far as could learn every fruit
degenerates in few years, and the stock
must be renewed The climate is al
most perfection, yet measles, smallpox
and affections of the heart are peculiarly
fatal. The mountains look as if fixed in
place for all eternity, and the more solid
and rugged mountain looks the more
certain it is to quake and more likely to
split open. The natives are all well edu-
Gated and nearly all thoughtless. They
are all nominal Christians, yet chastity
is but vague sentiment, and many a
common Kanaka will tell lie when tho
truth would better serve his purpose
Life and property are as safe as any
where on earth, though the laws are not
severe or executed with any special rigor.
This may be due partly to the lack Of
acquisitiveness among the common Ka-
nakas and their general live and let live
feeling. They are the most unselfsh
race on earth. In detached group in
the interior the property of any one is
the property of another, if that other
needs it badly. A foreigner who has be-
friended one is the friend of all in the
village. The men give him fish, fruits,
flowers and poi; the women give what
they have, and with a certain freedom
which is delicate and charming. Un-
fortunately their kindness may be a
danger, for they may be affected with
leprosy long before they learn the fact
and physicians have decided that of all
supposed ways that is the one absolutely
certain way Of acquiring it.
There is wonderful variety of fruit
in Honolulu, such as oranges, lemons,
lines, melons, bananas, Strawberries and
many more. Peaches are produced on
the islands, but the blight affects them
more quickly and certainly. than any
other fruit, frequently taking the form
of black scale or film. The cocoanut
seems to beindigenous, and therefore less
liable to blight than any other product.
1t was long supposed that the sugar cane
was proof against all blights, but of late
years new worm, as it were, has at
tackled it at the root, and the chances
now are that the sugar planters will
have to renew their stocks every few
years. It reminds one of Horace Gree
ley's plan for getting rid of the Canada
thistle, Cultivate it as garden plant,
and some derned bug or other will be
sure to come along and eat it"
Wheat grows in but few places on
the islands, little valleys in the elevated
plateaus. As to moisture, the climate
cannot be described in general terms.
Old residents say in jocular way that
in one district the rainfall is II feet
year, in another II inches, and in third
1-17th of an inch Isaw places which GER
tainly looked as if rain had never fallen
on them. In the best sugar lands irriga-
ton is necessary, but in many places
very little is required. Domestic animals
thrive, as rule, especially horses, of
which the native stock is very hardy and
capable. It appears to have been case
of Survival of the fittest." All the ten
der ones were run to death at the start
and only the toughest mares left posterity.
After all, the great product of the is
lands is the taro root, from which poi is
made. 1t grows wherever the soil is kept
thoroughly water soaked, and in matted
punches very much like the calamus or
sweet flag of the middle western states.
The root is something like long beet,
and when boiled and mashed the pulp is
poi-a Whitley yellow batter at first, later
sort of sour paste. 1t operates hom@-
opathically, so to speak-thatis, it builds
up dilapidated constitution surprising
ly, but if used exclusive of any other
food it Injuries the health. There is no
particular danger of any American or
Englishman using the native style OF it
to excess, for it is emphatically nasty.
Decently prepared, however, it is quite
palatable. Local statisticians say that
one acre of it will furnish yearly bread
for 5000 men-a pleasing statement
which, regret to say, | do not believe.
Fish is said to be the proper corrective
to take with poi, and fish also are abun-
dant. Early visitors say the Kanakas
formerly ate them raw and at the Soon
est possible moment after killing them.
Indeed it was thought luxury to begin
to gnaw on the tail before the head was
dead. At any rate the hungry native
took the fish as it came from the water,
hastily ran knife from gill to tail, tore
out the entrails and at once fell to eat
ing, and there is story that when the
first Kanakas were taken to be presented
to the king of England they behaved
quite handsomely till they saw some fish
in little aquarium in the royal apart
ment. Their appetite oyercame them.
Men and women alike fell on the fnny
prey, tore and devoured it with the savage
yum-yum of appeased hunger, and de-
clared in choice Kanaka that it was their
first square meal" since they left Homo
lulu.
They tell many hard stories like this
about the former Hawaiians, but as !
saw nothing of the kind | will continue
to hope they are not true. If it was true,
as the first visitors said, that the parents
killed all their children above two or three;
that methods of "check" were used which
soon proved fatal to half the women;
that thousands of men were killed in the
saturnalia following kings death, and |
thousands more were sacrificed or eaten,
how did the population get so larger
Why so much greater than now, when
none of these things are done? l Icannot
help suspecting that there has been ex-
aggeration.
There is peace and good fellowship |
enough now. There are social enjoyment |
and ease and joyousness and feastihg |
enough now Everywhere this is true,
but especially in Honolulu. There the
slant eyed Chinaman and the darker
Malay, the very fair Englishman, dark
Portuguese and medium American, the |
smooth brown Kanaka and the rough |
brown Samoan jostle each other good |
in the streets and even prac-
tice sort of social equality unthought |
of in the United States During my stay
there King Bill was even as one Of Us in |
many an excursion, and at poi suppers
it was not very uncommon to meet ma
tive ladies got up regardless" in silk
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