The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-08-09
The root is something like a long beet,
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The root is something like a long beet,
and when boiled and mashed the pulp is
poi-a Whitley yellow batter at first, later
a sort OF sour paste 1t operates hom@
opathically, so to speak-that is, 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
Engllshlnan Using the native style of it
to excess, for it is emphatically nasty
Decen1ly prepared. however, it is quite
palatalie. 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 album
dant. Early visitors say the Kanakas
formerly ate them raw and at the soon
est possible moment after killing them
Indeed it was thought a 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 a story that when the
first Kanakas were taken to be presented
to the king of England they behaved
quite handsomely till they saw some I n
in little aquarium in the royal az t.
mont. Their appetite overcame them.
Men and women alike fell on the .ans
prey. tore and devoured it with the savage
yum-yum of appeased hunger, and dc.
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" We're used which
soon proved fatal to half the women
that thousands Of men We're killed in the
saturnalia following kings death, and
| thousands more we. sacrificed or eaten,
how did the population get so large?
| Why so much gre:-ter than now when
mono of these things are done2 cannot
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 feasting
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
| humoredly in the streets and even prac-
| tice a sort of social equality unthought
of in the United States. During my stay
| there King Bill was even as ono of us in
many an excursion. and at poi suppers
it was not very uncommon to meet ma
tive ladies get up regardless in silk
and delicate longee done in the "tie
back style, and wearing the monster
chignons which were the fashion 90
years ago
| OF all our pleasure excursions those to
the WaikilSi he;. for bathing by noon
light We're the lost pleasant, and the
requirements in costume We're much the
same as at Long Branch Back in the
4
of both sexes took to the water without
the forn.iity of putting on suits ;"
The Kansas are described by scientists
as belonging to the Polynesian branch
of the lIalaY race" which means, take
it, that they are Malays modified by long
residence among many islands polu-
nesia), and therefore swimming is about
as natural to them as walking to us
Brigham Young told mo just before l
left Salt Lake City that they were like
the American MISUNDERSTANDING of
the ancient Israelites who had back
| slidden' and been cursed and turned
dark accordingly. If so. they have slid
| den back great deal further chan they
are ever likely to slide forward again.
And this makes it fitting to close with
a few words on the political question
This is not the first time by several that
Hawaii has in a measure been reyo-
lutionized. From 1880 OF thereabouts
to 1913 it was sharply commended for by
various powers. In 1889 the French
compelled King Kamehameha LII to pay
a large sum in gold and held the king
dom in duress till it was done The
American merchants raised and paid the
money, and thus saved the kingdom for
the time. In 1S42 the British consul.
Richard Charlton, and Lord George Pau
let overthrow the kingdom in effect, com
PEELED the king to retire to the mountain
forests and raised the British flag.
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