The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-03-19
ECHOES
FROM


at p. m. On Thursday and the natives
began to flock in from all directions.
II is part of the island rarely visited
and there the natives are more unso-
phisticated than in parts where inter-
course with foreigners is more frequent.
Here their first thought was the Ha-
waiian custom of hookupu. l. E., bring
ing presents to the ALI or king. There
We're probably 400 or 500 residents visit
ing and they piled up their hookupus in
two piles, one of which was for N.Y.
self, not as acting chamberlain. but as
a descendant of one of their high chiefs
Although Puma is the most out of the
way place of the islands it has the
honor of being the land from which the
kings and high chiefs of the group en-
anated. Tradition says that a certain
whom became a king, alii-aimoku or
high chief on one of the islands. The
family is spoken of as Nalani Ehiku,
the seven great ones. Here there was
their orators boasted of Puma as being
the fountain from which all the great
chiefs sprang. He said this is the first
time you have visited US, the land from
which your forefathers originated, the
land where the traditions are kept, and
now you, one of the last of the chiefs,
come to see the home of your line. We
welcome you and every man and worn-
an in this district places all they have
at your disposal
L was nonplussed and would rather
he had addressed the princes. However.
both Prince Leleiohoku and Princess
Likelike acted very nicely and said
they were very glad the king had sent
with them a chamberlain who was of
royal descent, and that they had the
opportunity OF visiting so historical a
part of the islands. I gave all that was
given to me to the royal party. There
was a great waste of food. They had
ten or twenty hogs cooked, ten or twen-
ty mammoth calabashes of pink POI, fish
and birds III great quantity. 1t is
wonderful land and it is surprising
that more people do not visit it. The
nut trees grow right through the strata
of lava which covers the whole country
and are so low that we could pick the
nuts as we sat on horseback. There
are forests of guayas, the fruit being
of great size and excellent flavor. On
Saturday, after a good breakfast, we
again took up our journey and arrived
at Kaiopiii, where another luau was
waiting for US. 1 perhaps should state
that at each of the places where We
stopped We had meetings and much
speechifying, well enjoying the
hospitality of the residents. We, then
pushed On to Piialaa the place where
the ancestors of the kings and high
chiefs, and high priests originated.
: 1t may be that this being one of the
most southerly points on the group that
it is where the first migration from the
south came to this archipelago. We
know, or tradition is, as expressed in
the songs and oils, that chiefs from the
south came to this group and were She
rulers of this land. The generosity
and hospitality of the kamaainas of
Puma was boundless, each striving to
do something to make our visit enjoy
able. At Piilalaa an immense lanai
of ohia. covered top and sides with
cocoanut leaves had been erected. The
floor was covered with one grand mat
of green pandanus leaves. 1t must have
taken twenty women or more to make
that mat in so short time. This great
structure was decorated with festoons
OF MALE, awapuhi, uluhe and palapaia1
fern and was delightfully."- cool. Piles
of garlands of MALE and lehua ulaula.
MALE and lehua melemele, and OF
lii fY~IIif nTa
brought there and each of the hundreds
assembled was decorated with a lei, the
princes being covered with leis of ILL
ma. Another great hookupu took place
here amongst the presents being many
fine Iauhala mats, and twenty or more
rolls of kappa. native cloth, made in
the district
noticed how the people took advan-
tage of what little soil there was and
there saw yams and sweet potatoes
growing in hills Of dirt collected on
mats. I saw potatoes fourteen inches
In diameter which were delicious and
raised in this difficult manner. For
hundreds of years the same course has
been pursued. They tell of gardens
having been stolen by pulling these
loaded mats from one land to another.
The cliffs of lava, sixty or seventy feet
high along the shore, are very pictur-
esque. Necessity is the mother of in
yention, and the natives Whereabouts
have become very expert not only in
the cultivation of what soil there is.
but in taking their canoes down and
ND these cliffs. made note of how they
did it. They had spliced two very long
sticks of lehua with ieie or rattan,
making about ninety feet in length. A
nsir of these about four or five feet
apart were made into ladder, as it
were, with rounds about two feet from
each other, the whole being covered
with cocoanut leaves. This runway
was firmly anchored into the lava on
top and the lower ends were dashed to
a float of wiliwili, or cork wood, and
aoated on the deep blue sea- These
expert fishermen went up and down
this runway with their canoes with
lOrl inc = nTI-r1