The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-08-16
OLD CHINESE HAVE ERECTED A
SETTLEMENT.
1t is Dirty and Poverty is Every Where
Apparent But 1t Is Nevertheless
Picturesque.

Aala Park may in time become one
of the most highly cultivated and beau
tiful spots in the islands but for
picturesqueness 1t will never approach
one small portion of the district as it
exists at the present day. This interest
ing feature of the proposed park site
consists of little gathering of novels
erected by a band of Chinese squatters
and while it will probably not be per-
mitted to remain an indefinate period
it will certainly go down in the history
of architecture as among the most novel
buildings erected by the hand of man.
For downright abject misery, for heart
rendering poverty the imprOmtu set
tlement stands preeminent. There is
so much squalor and so much outward
distress that one actually loses sight
of the darker side of the place and is
impressed by it's artistic character. 1t
is an habitation of old men and poor
. men. There is no "bossy man" unless
it be gaunt and grizzled want who
threads his way by day and by night
through the tiny rooms, reigning abso-
lutte among the wasted, the blind and
the broken who compose his colony.
In a space fifty by fifty feet have been
built about twenty-five little rooms and
Z huts. 1t would be impossible to decide
how many are separate buildings and
how many are sheltered by the same
IL
and this is that the builders did not pro-
pose to risk a confusion of tongues.
Whoever designed the little buildings
was of a lowlY architectural mind for
his idea was to burrOw more than build
The highest building is not over four
feet in height. The average is three,
some are even as low as foot ana half
Yet with the low ceilings, some scarcely
high enough to permit a three wear old
child to walk erect, fully fifty Chinese
are crawling and squatting about wait
ing till the dark angel summons them
to their eternal place of rest.
For the most part corrugated iron
roofing seems to have been the most
available material as it has been used
in making the sides and roofs Of i large
number of the hutS. Broken, Jagged
remnants of boards serve as patches
here and there, in fact every conceivable
shape of lumber has been gathered from
every point that boxes a compass and
used in throwing together this village of
old men. From the way that the roofs
are made there must have been a
dearth of nails. The slants of the tops
are heavily ladened with rocks, iron and
odds and ends of weight to hold down
a covering for the gray hairs of the in
habitantS. The whole presents picture
Of desolation and rust and struggles
With the elements that only the foulest
bottom of a ship can show.
inside the dwellings are not so un-
inviting. There is only one raised bed
in the entire camp. All of the other
floors are covered with mats on which
the Chinese sleep, some with coverings
some without for it is doubtful wen If
any be needed. The hOles are stulfy
and hot enough to suffocate one, robbed
of ventilation as most of them are.
Stretched outside of the settlement
was a big seine this morning. The In
habitants said that one of their number
owned this net and was a fisherman.
Others who live there work as lahorers
or any place that they can but Judging
from the poverty that is every where
apparent the inhabitants do not seem tC
be very successful in their search for
employment. The village is located
about 100 feet Eva of Nuuanu stream
and if the Chinese possess any boats,
which no doubt they do. 1t is an easy
matter to take their seine out to the
fishing grounds every morning. The
place is some what similar in character
to the village of the South Sea ISL
anders at KakaakO Point but in view OF
cleanliness it is far inferior to that
place no matter what superiority it may
nOSSeSS from an artistic stan DOint.