The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-01-01

wall, III tHe W.T. idii Va i'V'' I'm
show to the world her advancement
under American rule and at the same
time will present persons and .hings
that speak of the days when the Ka-
mehamehas ruled the land and super.
stition was rampant.
Prince Cupid--he of the erstwhile
royal family whods now delegate to
the national congress from the md
Pacific group-said while in st. Louis
recently that a Hawaiian exhibit would
be incomplete without a kahuna. a
hula-hula girl, kahili, and a robe
made from feathers of the 90 bird.
And he also said that these links which
bind the present with the past could
still be found in different paris OF The
country.
THE WITCH DOCTORS
For It was not more than twenty
years ago that the kahunas prayed
people to death, even as they did dur
ing Captain Cooks time; indeed their
services as exorcists were in demand
on the day that the stars and stripes
were hoisted for the first time over the
government palace at Honolulu, When
they were asked to use their incanta-
lions for the purpose of driving the
foreigners into the sea. So that some
of those old witch doctors still live in
their grass huts on mountain sides,
and although their practices are for
hidden by law, yet there Is little doubt
that they still listen to those who ill.,
woke their powers.
Under the belief that kahuna could
pray the soul out of a man or woman
many crimes were undoubtedly COM
mitted in the Hawaiian Islands in years
gone by, for it is evident that after re-
ceiving their fee for services that would
result in death they resorted to the
use of poison and thus retained their
prestige. But so skillfully We're the
deeds of violence committed that for
centuries no one suspected the truth,
and it was believed that these white
haired priests possessed the power to
kill by the means of prayer alone.
THE DANCING.
The hula-hula girl, though more mod
ern than the kahuna, Is also becoming
n rarity, owing to the objection to their
form of dancing offered by the new
Corners on the islands. This criticism
on the part of foreigners could not be
understood by the natives when first
offered, for the hula girl was to them
the poetry of motion and her every act
was the expression of a Hawaiian
song.
These girls We're trained for their
dances while yet in the cradle. when
women who were expert in the con-
voutions that would be necessary,
twisted their limbs and kneaded the
little ones muscles until they became
supple as acrobats.
Kahilis and robes made from birds
feathers speak of a day when gorgeous
feathered songsters filled the trees and
bushes of the islands. But alas for the
vanity of kings! this species of fauna,
indigenous to the archipelago, has long
since departed and the birds seen today
are the result of importation.
DIFFERENTIATION OF BIRDS.
One of the Kamehamehas is RESPONSE
BILE for the extinction of these members
of the feathered tribe. When admiring
an 90 one day he decreed that he
should be furnished with a royal robe,
made from the golden tufts that shone
on the breasts of the songsters. These
tufts We're only n fraction of an inch
in diameter and the robe maker said
that hundreds of thousands of the
birds would be needed to complete the
gorgeous garment. III II takes every
bird in my kingdom / must have the
robe" said the monarch, and forth
with the slaughter began. Probably
the most magnificent piece OF wearing
apparel ever worn. even by king, was
the result. But the birds We're so
plentiful that there still remained n
goodly number, seeing which, and his
vanity being unsatiated, Kamehameha
ordered that a cape be made. even us
the robe has been. This time the hunt
ers We're at work for much longer
period and when they had completed
their task not an 90 remaised on the
islands, and you hear of them today
only in fables.
PRICELESS ROBES.
But the garments are in existence
priceless robes of n former state. One
is in the British museum. taken there
soon after Liliuokalani's abdication,
and the other is in the government
building at Honolulu. 1t is the latter
that will be seen in st. Louis next sum-
mer.
Plumage OF larger birds than the 90
was used in forming the kahilis, which
are immense plumes, made of variegat-
ed feathers and used by, attendants to
wave flies and other insects from the
face when he was enioyinp
an afternoon siesta. These by the doz-
ems will be brought to st. Louis, taken
from the room in Honolulu where rem
iniscences Of royalty are stored as
ISLANDS OF TODAY,
But It is the Hawaii OF today that
will interest mo less than the Hawaii
OF the dark ages. As education is the /,
keynote OF the Louisiana Purchase ex-
position. SO IL Is In matters educa-