The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-01-01

Gus Aiiis
Around the town. .le natives often
swarmei I'm crowds. White faces were
rare. There we.e few .ascars. but
scarcely any Chinese The native men
were usually nude save ,he maiJ OF
breech girIIe. T1is was snip o. CO.
pa or cloth "a foot wide and -wJ yards
long. A. church o. on special ooea-
sions the men wore Siaei. which was
a sort OF cape yard square. This was
knotteI over one shoulder and passed
under the other In Honolulu, now
ever. by 1896 a majority Of the men
had attained 20 such wealth as TO ap-
pear a church in q snort cotton shirt
TrOuse.s were then seen only on
chiefs. lel only on special occasions.
The women at that time usually ap-
peared i'm DuhTf. dressed i'm a hnlCku,
or Mother Hubbard" Tut always with
she pau. This was usually tapa cloth
a yard wide and six 20 twelve yards
long, wound eighty around the hips
from The waist % below the knees.
This national garment appears to cor
respond to ,de sIrJng Of Malaysia The
aged women q. home ordinarily wore
only the paul leaving the withered
bosom exposed At home, the younger
women commonly wore q slight che
mise only. The lanes and public places
were often full OF both sexes in the
array described All swarned with
termin. Notwithstanding ,heir frequent
bathing. HideOus sores on their faces
and legs we're freely displayed in pub
lie The general aspect OF the pOpulaca
was one Of good nature or gaping Curl
osity. Young children went naked.
In the lower part Of the town. the
high broad For. walls were cOnspiCu-
Gus. There the Governor lived crimi-
nails were confined. ana a few soldiers
were quar,ered s number Of guns
COMMANDED the garbJr and shipping.
As a prominent symbol OF authority,
the Fort enhanced b. the determined
character of the Governor. KekUanlOa,
husband of the Royal Kinau. Not only
natives stood i'm awe of him. bU. even
white men. The hlIbOr was much fire.
quented by sperm vhalers. the Arctic
and OkhOtsk whaling grounds being
discovered later. There We're a number
of c01sting brigs and schCOners owned
by chiefs, also an occasional war hip.
There were few small, whafves.
James Robinson's snip yard was in full
activity and coming douDloons which
he sedulously boarded.
That vicinity was personally assO-|
ciated wllh the sickening odor Of tar.
Experiences Of tossing passages on
miserable schoOners had combined
nausea. bilge-wa,er and tar ineXJrica-
bly,. The old Bethel Chapel stood near
the harbOr. and Sunday services there
under the preaching of Father DamOn's
predecessor the Rev. John Dell are
wildly connected in memory with chat
sickening smell waited from the ship
yard. a six months passage on a
whaler around Cape Horn cured that.
Mr.. Dell generally had quite a little
congregation of sea-faring people. as|
we'll as the local traders and white
families. Mrs. Diall s,ih survives. II
believe, at the age of ninery or more
Among the congregation were regular
ly seen Mrs. Cornsy and her two yOungI
daughters still residing here.
g. the places of business in those
days ! clearly recall only the store oil
Ladd and Brinsmlde at the foot oil
Nuuanu. and a small one KEEP. by the
elder Pitman farther mp town I think
that Capt. Grimes also had a store, and
perhaps Capt Hinkley. They were all
of course very small ana shabby con-
Germs, though full Of interest to rustic
eyes. The white families outside of
the mission circle we're few in number
but gradually incts asing. \ few Cap
tains who traded 20 Mazat.an. MacaOI
and other Pacific ports had families i'm
Honolulu. such as Captains Carter. Lit-l
tile. and Domins.
This white element was naturally
the leading one in Hawaii. next 20 the
missionaries VINO nearly mOnOpolized
the confidence of the native chiefs and
people, an between whom and al
majority Of the male whites shere was
much animOsiry. The white ladies of
both parties were generally on very
cordial terms. OF other foreign ale- |
ments there were hardly any. Perhaps
"A dozen Chinese may have been in the |
Islands, and a score or two of Lascars |
from India. Aafew OF the drift-wood |
of civilization were sparsely settled in !
country districts including Sydney |
convicts. Now and then a humble |
bcach-cOmber grew to- be an hOnOred |
patriarch among the rural natives. and |
even became infected with their super
stitious terrors
Hawaii has immensely changed IN |
these sixty years. This fourth genera |
ton from those 10000 Hawaiians are |
reduced to less than 10000 Of pure
blood. The places of the former are
largely occupied by Asiatics and POr- |
tuguese. That squatted village has |
grown % a wealthy and beautiful city. |
The English language has nearly dis
placed tine Hawaiian Diamond Head |
and Punch Bowl tower as before and |
the same ridges of Waianae and KOna- |
huanui shoulder the clouds. whose af- |
ternoOn raiubows still span ManOa ana
Nuuanu as of OLD. The old cocoa
palms Of Waikiki and Noan1Iua still
tower aIOft i'm their decay The dust
storms no more drive across the plains |
The TANKS of Punch Bowl are crowd !
ed with dwellings, and residences OF |
the wealthy a,e climbing the heights |
The memories OF that droarv part
awaken 10 regret in the writer. Tho
Twentieth century dlwus hopeful and |
bright.