The suburban citizen., 1901-11-02
PASSING OF HAWAIIANS
BUT FEW NATIVES hRE NOW LEFT
ON THE ISLANDS.

The civilization OF the White man IS
not always a boon to the savage; 1t
means, sooner or later, his doom, says
the London Mail. The red men are
nearly gone, the aborigines of Austria
liza are passing and the Hawaiian race
is rapidly melting away before the
sunlight of civilized enterprise.
In 1853 there were 71,010 Hawaiians
in the islands still even though for
egners had already begun introducing
civilization. The Hawaiian population
is now actually only one-third the num-
ber Of the Japanese immigrants; there
have been 29S34 to over 61,OO0 Jap
anese. In fifty years thore will be
scarcely any Hawalians left to inhabit
the Hawaiian Islands.
The old customs and habits Of the
Hawaiians are dying out faster even
than the race itself. 1t is very un-
usual to find a real Hawaiian grass
house on tho Island of Kahulawi
though there are a fair number on
the larger islands as yet. The grass
houses are being replaced by wooden
frame houses of orthodox shape and
construction. The change is certain.
ly not artistic, nor is it very much
more comfortable or suitable to the
climate. However, the grass hut has
passed so completely that there is to
be a specimen erected in the Bishop
Museum, in Honolulu, to enable peo-
pie to learn what the old houses looked
like.
Two features Of old Hawaii will
probably remain until the end. One
is the native generosity to absolute
strangers-a generosity which has
been consistently abused by foreigners
since the earliest times A Hawaiian
gives away land, food Or any posses
sion most readily and on many occa-
sions where it has been found impos-
sible to induce an old chief to sell
land he has turned round and given
the land in question to some friend
Of his absolutely. The two leading
rich Hawaians-Prince David and
Hon. San Parke-have both given
away endless amounts of valuable
possessions almost indlscriminately.
Another distinctive feature Of Ha-
waii Is the dress of the women, in
troduced by the missionaries as
tribute to Western ideas. This dress
is simply a Mother Hubbard" flow
ing freely from shoulder to feet and
unconfned to the waist. These long
Mother Hubbards" are to be. seen in
all colors, and are worn even by the
rich Hawaiian ladies. The costume is
undoubtedly suitable to the climate,
and in the summer months the women
go bathing in them, allowing their wet
garments to dry in the suns rays
after the bath. The japanese women
of Hawaii often adopt the Mother
Hubbard" and present most ungainly
and weird objeCts-their figures not
being built for long, flowing gowns.
The old riding habit has almost dis
appeared, and now the appearance of
n rider clad in gay garments at once
attracts a crowd. The Hawaiian
women all ride astride on a mans
saddle-a course rendered necessary
by the dangerous mountain roads to
be traversed. The phrase used to de-
scribe 1t is ride Hawaiian fashion"
The habit consisted of a very long
piece of gay-colored cloth, wrapped |
round the waist Of the rider and then |
around the legs, the long ends stream
ing out behind and almost covering
the horse when in rapid motion. As
the custom used to be to dash at full |
speed through the town, 1t was very
gay sight when several of these rid
ers galloped by together in the bril-
liant sunshine. Now, alas! there are
no more such riding habits to be seen,
and every year there are fewer such
riders
Even the leis which are sold at sew
eral Of the street corners in Honolulu
are in danger of extinction. These
leis wreaths are formed Of strings of
flowers on grasses, and are hung
around the neck or hat of the pur-
chaser In old times on festive occa-
sions the Hawaiians used to appear
almost covered in the wreaths of
varied colors. Now when friends are
departing it is customary to send lei
wreaths with aloha or good-by wishes.
But even these charming flower
wreaths, costing only some twenty-five
cents each, are likely soon to be unob-
tainable, owing to the substitutes in
troduced. These cost less, and have
the added advantage that they do not
fade and need not be renewed. They
are, however, poor substitutes for the
sweet-scented beautiful lei wreaths of
The real Hawaii. When the lels are
gone, another link with the past will
have been severed, and progressive
civilization may rejoice at another CON
quest.
In the old times luans, or native
-easts, were held whenever an occa-
sion Of honor or rejoicing occurred,
md they were distinguished by the
quantity of food consumed and the
lbsence Of ill-effects upon the diners.
This latter was principally because of I
he vegetable food in the feast. The {
uan was held in the open air or in