The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-05-22
THE MISSIONARIES
GRAFTERS +?

AXE IEE MISS1ONA hlEC
GRAFTERS
There, broadly stated, is one side of
the situation. On the other hand, it
has been charged, by innumerable per
sons and publications, that while the
missionaries to Hawaii pointed the be-
nighted native to mansions in the skies
they at the same time quietly took pos
session of the natives earthly real
estate That the whole island, even
since it has become a territory, is the
private graft of the missionaries and
their SOILS is an accusation familiar to
almost everybody.
HAWAIIANS STILL WORSHIPING
DEVILS.
Even more serious, to my mind, was
the charge made by Prof. William T..
Brigham, director of the famous Bishop
Museum of Polynesian objects, in Homo
lulu. Prof. Brigham has spent life
time in the study of South Sea Island
history, manners and customs. He de-
clared to me that the work of the
Christianization and civilization of the
Hawaiian people has been altogether
superficial, and that, if the whites were
to move out tomorrow the native would
be found restoring his old affairs ant
worship the very next day.
As proof of this he said that he had
recently found native judge in one
of the Honolulu courts-I think he
said United States court-worship-
ing at an OLD native altar in one of
the remote parts of the Island of Oahu.
Within a stones throw of the Bishop
Museum, where we were talking, was
a broken down altar, which, at the
time of the political overthrow in 1898,
was reestablished, along with some
what general recrudescence of idola-
try throughout the islands Within
three months, he further said, in the
city of Honolulu itself, a native priest
had fallen dead while conducting
heather rites before the altar. The
worshipers, fearful that the devil would
catch them also, quickly bundled up the
appliances OF idol worship and carried
them to Prof. Brigham, for they said,
he would know what to do with the
devil better than any other man of
their acquaintance.
OBOOKIAH AND THE HAYSTACK.
Before setting down the conclusions
of first-hand investigation of religious
and social conditions on these islands
(Which investigation has included inter
views with thoroughly informed repre-
sentatiyes of all parties, and study
of a great mass of documentary evil
dence, available only here) it is neces
sary to tell the story of Obookiah, and
of the islands as the missionaries found
them.
The Sandwich Islands, as the Hawai-
ian group were named by their discov-
erer, Captain Cook, were populated by
a race of remote Aryan origin, who
in the sixth century before had been
driven north from the Samoan Islands,
over thousands of miles of sea, in ca
noes of their own making. As late
as the thirteenth century they main
tanned relations, mostly warlike, with
the people of the southern Polynesian
archipelago. They never practiced
eannibalism, though human sacrifice
was one of their religious rites. They
We're race of unusual vigor, longevity
and comeliness. Their skill in handi-
craft is attested by the marvellous
feather cloaks once worn by Hawaiian
royalty, and now the almost priceless
possession of a few museums.
Such was the stock from which
came the 14-year-old boy, bearing the
euphonious name of Obookiah. who, in |
1909, was found weeping on the door
steps of Yale college. He had fed
from Hawaii, having seen his parents
slain before his eyes in a civil war,
and had made his way to America in
one of the New England ships which |
then piled all waters. His thirst for |
knowledge and religion attracted wide
spread attention. Samuel J. Mills, a |
young man who had come TO New Ha- |