The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-12-08
VICTIMS OF
THE DRUG

That the opium pipe Is exertlng It's
baleful spell more and more on the
native population OF Honolulu. IL a
sad but not TO be disguised fact.
A few years ago the spectacle OF an
Hawaiian dallying with the insIdious
drug was very rare one. Today the
sight can be seen for the trouble of
looking for II, I'm any of the rookeries
OF the town and In some places where
the existence OF the evil is but little
suspected.
The neighborhood of old Kaumakapili
church seems to be a favorite locality
with native users of the pipe and here
abouts, by night and day. the odor OF
the black smoke is In sickening evil
dence and shells OF men. aye. and
women too, pass IN and out of filthy
tenements, bent on such little business
as slave-like devotion to the. in most
cases. inalenable habit, permits.
The Chinese of the district always
have smoked and always will smoke.
To them opium appears to answer the
purpose of meat and drink. The smoke
choked atmosphere is happiness to
them; to these celestials the mat-cov-
cred floor of their squalid dwelling is
an ideal home.
The Hawaiian is new to this condi-
ton of affairs. however. Only recently
has the pernicious delight of the juice
of the poppy appealed to him, but UNI
happily the appeal has not been in
vain.
The lesson has undoubtedly been
learned from the Chinaman but today,
In the center of the town, three natives
are making living by selling opium
to their countrymen and countrywomen
and allowing them to smoke their pur-
chase in the miserable shacks they
call home.
The spot is just Mt the rear of the
vacant lot once graced by the great
/ church of Kaumakapili Beneath the
shade OF an ohia tree and built prac-
| tically into the face of a low cliff, are
three huts made out of odds and ends
of lumber and old kerosene oil tins
and matched with sackcloth and in
fact anything that will keep out the
rain.
The interior of these novels is fur
| nished with board floor, covered with
mating, and suspended from overhead
are u few utensils of daily life. Out
side the structures, crude cooking
stoves litter the lot.
In the first of these miniature dwell
ing-places and nearest Kukui street.
lives Jim Grow, an old native who, in
,, the dead days of whaling, was esteem
ed to be "a rare goodun with his
fists"
His nelghbor is a middle-aged kama
ka named Hulihia and the third house
is tenanted by Kealoha, wahine.
This trio has been living in the
church lot for perhaps u year and a
half past. Their method of making a
living is queer one.
Each of the three is n confirmed
opium-smoker and they have hit upon
the idea of supplying other opium
using natives with the sticky stuff. at
the tariff of five cents per plpeful and
an extra nickel for the use of the floor
TO smoke II on and the roof to shelter
them from the heat of the sun.
Both the men and the woman have
their regular clients who come and go
in the most matter-of-fact way. Jim
Crows customers include u Chinaman
and two gentlemen of color.
Yesterday afternoon between l and 2
O'Clock, two native girls of about six
teen years of age, came down the wind
ing path across the lot from Bereta-
MIA street and after a few minutes
dickering with Kealoha, entered her
abode and We're soon afterward In the
grasp of the drug.
1t was pitiful to see them-going to
perditon I'm the broad light of day.
with policeman pacing his beat a
hundred yards away and schoolrooms
end mission halls almost within sight.
This thing does not occur every now
AID again but every day. Perhaps If
the matter Is out of the province of
the police 1t may, with due and dill
gent seeking, be found to be the bust
ness of someone else.