The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-14


the Hawaiian Islands. He was also one
of the inhabitants of mist land. Lee
gends gathered around him like clouds.
Facts also stood out like tall trees
through the clouds. He was real
cannfbal of whom the Hawaiians are
not proud.
The Hawaiians have frequently been
called cannibals. Secretaries of the
Missionary Board under which the
first missionaries came to Hawaii, and
papers of the denomination supporting
that mission have uttered the untruth,
THE cannibals of the Sandwich Islands
would erewhile cook and carve a mer-
chant or marine and discourse on the
deEciousness of cold missionary" 1t
was a very 1orcible background against
which to paint moral Improvement, but
it was not accurate. The Hawaiians
claim that they never practiced canni-
balism. If anything like feast of hu-
man flesh was partaken of it was only
in exceedingly rare and obscure cases.
And of these, only Chief Maneater'
is accepted as an historical fact.
Legends that possibly have had hint
of cannibalism are very few.
1t is recorded that after certain fierce
battles of the long ago as method of
showing indignity of dead chiefs their
bodies were baked and thrown into the
sea.
It is barely possible that the baking
was followed by cannibalism, but there
is nothing in the record beyond the
suggestion of a suspicion.
The daring act of heart eating is
mentioned in Hawaiian annals. This
came during, or after, a battle, when
two warriors had been engaged in a
hand to hand struggle. The victor,
whose strength was almost gone, would
sometimes tear out the heart of the
dying opponent and eat it on the spot.
1t was believed that the strength and
courage of the dead entered immediate
ly into the living.
That the Hawaiian chiefs and priests
set small value upon life is well at
tested by the large number of human
sacrifices required for almost all civil
and religious ceremonies. For instance,
when the famous war god Kali was
taken to a temple dedicated to it by
Kamehameha eleven human victims
were placed at once upon the altar be-
fore it. When a chief desired a new
canoe a man was usually slain at the
foot of the tree from which the canoe
was to be made. Another was siain
when the canoe was complete, and
others might be sacrificed at different
stages of the work. When a chiefs
house was to be erected, sometimes a
victim was sacrificed and buried at
each corner and when the house was
completed another slaughter occurred.
When an idol was to be made sub
stantially the same sacrifices accom-
panied the ceremony of choosing the
tree and carving the image. At GER
tain times the priests of all the tenn
pies demanded human victims, and reg
ularly appointed officers, or man
catchers, were appointed to provide for
the sacrifice. These spared not even
their own relatives in their search.
Women were almost always exempt
from this horrible termination of life.
When a battle had been fought many
captives were sacrificed by both victor
and vanquished.
Infanticide was freely practiced up to
the time of the advent of the mission
aries. Even for old people there was
often but little love, and the aged and
the infirm were left to care for them
selves, or placed on the beach for the
outstretched hands of the incoming
tide
A native historian says: THE ancient
restrictions of chiefs and priests were
like the poisoned tooth OF ~eptile. If
the shadow of common man fell on
chief, it was death. If put on any part
of the garments of a chief, it was
+ he int obi sc,
yard or upon the chiefs house. it was
death. If he stood when the kings
bathing water or his garments were
carried along or in the kings presence,
it was death. If he stood at the men
ton of the kings name in song, it was
death. There were many other offences
of the people which We're made capital
by the chiefs. The king and the priests
were much alike. The priesthood was
oppressive to the people. Human vic
Tins were required on many occa-
sions. 1t tabus were violated it meant
death. 1t was death to be found in a
canoe on a tabu or sacred day. If a
woman ate pork, cocoanuts, bananas
or certain kind of fish or lobster it was
DEATH
This much, and more, of human
cruelty is acknowledged concerning the
savage life of ancient Hawaii. Never
theless from the beginning of the earl
lest acquaintance of white people with
the Hawaiian not an instance or hint
of cannibalsm has been known.
The idea of eating human flesh was
thoroughly repugnant. Alexander, in
his brief history of the Hawaiian peo-
pie. says: ''Cannibalism was regarded
with horror and detestation." Isaac
Davis. one of the first white men to
make his home in the islands, declared
the Hawaiians had never been canni-
balls since the islands were inhabited
To the Hawaiian Chief I1aneater'
was the unique and horrid embodi-
ment of an insane annette. He was