The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-25

the other hand. vowels may string along
IN indefinite succession. The speech
oound with whole words which have
not a single consonant to hold them to-
gether. Two vowels stand side by side
IN a majority OF words. The opportu-
nifty to triplicate the vowel has not
been neglected: a word has been formed
OF every such combination. Thus "aaa"
means friendly, Zee" is the verb to
rise up, "iii' Is little, 200" means to
shrink. and 'uuu" means to stammer.
-Four novels together form many words
as aqua a crone or bag with wrin-
kles under the eyes. Some few words
: consist Of as many as five voweIs. one
after the other. such as "iiaao," which
is the name for poi when II is hard and
musty, or ~"oiaio," the word meaning
true.
The language is highly developed in
grammar and rhetoric, developed by
the savage Hawaiians up to the limits
OF their needs and containing the ele-
ments Of a still further development.
The proof OF that may be found in the
books which have been translated into
Hawaiian. The holy scriptures in Ha-
waiian show this. Despite the fact
the history and the doctrine therein
contained were absolutely beyond the
line Of island experience, II has beer
found possible to express them perfect
ly in the native tongue with only a very
few words adapted from foreign sourc-
es; In fact. there are fewer than | per
cent. of naturalized words in the Ha-
waiian.
IL has its widespread linguistic aim
tiles. The Polynesian tongue Of which
il is one member. Is spoken over a wide
extent Of the Pacific, as far south as
New Zealand. as far east as TIE Pfta
fG NnHnnn or R1na-nFrf Vrhfgh l. -
ter known as the Easter island Of the
colossal carvings. When cook travers-
ed those seas ne carried a Tahitian.
who was everywhere a competent in
tcrpreter. one language of the Poly
nestan stem Is as like another as are
English, Dutch and German. There are
Malay afinities: there are stems which
may be traced In the remoteness OF
Madagascar. At least one great effort
has been made TO prove the Polynesians
TO be an early offshoot of the Aryan
race, and therefore blood brothers to
the Germanic stock.
For long ages unwritten, letters were
the gift Of the American missionaries
There was a great literature of poetry,
long poems held in faithful memory
and recited in the full moonlight. There
were poems which preserved the men,
DRY Of adventurous voyages and the
victories OF great warrior chiefs. The
'ttA oNANA VI INT NflEt may bt SHOWN
by this extract from the "Mele" or song
Of the chief Kualii, composed long be-
fore the white men discovered the ISL
ands. The curious will find tina the
Hawaiian lines fulfill all the require
ments of prOsody:
q Kahiki. moku kai a loa,
Ain o Olopana I noho al.
lloko ka moku. / waho ka la:
o Ike aloalo o ka la, ka moku, Ike hiki
mai.
Ane ua ike oe!
Ia ike.
Ike hoi au ia Kahikf.
He moku leo pahaohao vale Kahiki.
Kahiki kanaka | pi / a luna
a ka W kuamoo o ka lani:
A luna keehi tho,
ana tho ia lalu
Aole o Kahiki kanaka:
Hookahi o Kahiki kanaka-he haoIe;
Me la Ia he Akua.
Me au Ia he kanaka;
He kanaka no.
kau; a Ike Ike kanaka hookahi e hiki.
Kahikl Is not only the parent
archipelago OF Tahiti. from which the
Is drawn, IL is any foreign land.
great mystery Of this poem is that
Il describes the white man long before
came to Hawaii. The translation
Is badly literal and Attempts to carry
OF the swing. II not quite the
of the original:
Kahikf's a and in the wide-spreading
ocean,
The great Olopana's abode which he
dwelt in;
Within is the island. outside II the sun
whirls.
But dim IS the sun and the land when
y make IT,.
Perchance thou hast seen It!
| have seen.
It's true that my eyes have indeed seen
Kahiki. ,
kahiki's a land where they speak in a T,
strange tongue.
The men OF Kahiki have ventured to
climb up
The towering heights of the backbone
of heaven:
And all that is lofty they tread on and
trample. :
And what lies below them they scan ,
with derislon. ,
men such as we are the folk OF
Kahiki; .
<ahiki has folk of but one sort-the !
white man. :
He is like a God, =
But ]. like a mortal. ,
A man even SO. :