Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-12-02

ly and well, but Kalakau, like Old King
Cole, was a merry old soul. but he
seems to have called for his pipe and
called for his bowl much too frequent
ly. 1t was during his reign that the
seeds of discomfort were sown, though
the harvest was not reaped until after
his death, during the reign of his sis
ter. Queen Liliuokalani.
Religion.
During the reign Of Kamehameha
the First, the influence of the white
race began to assert itself and the
whole social and political condition of
the people became rey~olutionized, the
power Of the heather priest destroyed
and the way paved for the easy intro
duction of Christian civilization. Up
to 1919 the religion of the country was
idolatry and the religion was SO in
terwoven with the government of the
country that what governmental func-
tons the chiefs overlooked, the priests
took up, and the government of the
country was virtually a government
by tabu, a system whereby the native
priests, or kahunas, religiously or
pressed the people. BY mere edict
Of chief or priest, the doing of a GER
tain act or the failure to do a certain
thing was made tabu, and a violation
of the tabu meant the death or great
punishment of the offender. The tabus
were many and various. 1t was tabu
for men and women to eat together;
it was tabu for the women to eat of
the best fish of the sea and the best
fruits OF the land, and even pork, ba-
nanas and c%ocoanuts were denied
them. 1t was tabu to eat certain
things at certain times, and during
certain periods tabus were general
when no fire could be lighted and no
canoe launched and no net cast, on
pain Of death. The tabu was
times manifested by setting up in the
ground two sticks or rods. II these
sticks were placed on a natives land
or before his grass hut, it meant that
he might not go out until the tabu was
taken off, which was usually done
upon the payment of some kind Of a
tax. There were other occasions
when 1t was tabu to pound poi ina
tive bread) IT beat tapa (native cloth
made from the bark of the mulberry
tree) and there were times when even
the dogs had to be muzzled and the
chickens shut up in calabashes, for
it was tabu for a sound to be uttered
in all the islands. This, however, was
on ceremonial occasions, for your Ha-
waiian native, true to his Polynesian
race, was long on ceremony. Much
ceremony, prayers and sacrifices at
tended all Of his doings-his planting,
his fishing and the daily routine of
his life, but, strange to say, there were
no religious ceremonies connected
with marriage, except that when per-
sons of high rank were married they
touched noses In the presence of their
followers, or perhaps a piece of tapa
cloth was thrown over the couple and
answered the purpose Of a ring. An
advantage there which is tabu here
was that the maid could solicit mat
rinony as we'll as the man, and leap
year was unknown to the Hawaiian
calendar.
The conceptions which the ancient
Hawaiians had of the future state
were very vague and inconsistent.
After death, according to some, the
Kanaka was supposed to get to a sub
%terranean Hades, II he could, in his
passage, escape the %man-eating
sharks; according to others they went
to Kane, a fairy island in the West,
but how the ancient could conceive
of any island more beautiful than his
own is beyond me.
In addition to the regular priests
there were kahunas of a lower class
which comprised OWNERS, doctors who
depended upon charms and sorcerers
who were presumed to have the power
to pray people to death, and thus the
religious forms and rites, as well as
the administrators Of them, grew to
be a great oppression upon the people.
When Kamehameha II came to the
throne, one of his first acts was to
abolish idolatry and the tabu. The
following year, 1920, the American
missionaries arrived. They immedi-
ately laid the foundation for the pres
ent excellent school system and re-
duced the native language to writing,
using an alphabet of only twelve let
tiers. They also wrote the music Of
those beautiful, though plaintive,
songs which for years and years the
Kanaka and his sweetheart had sung
to the accompaniment of the native
ukilili, beneath Hawaiian palms and
stars.
The natives embraced Christianity
eagerly and they also readily adapted
themselves to the customs and to the
habits, good and bad, Of the Ameri-
cans. The grass hut gave way to
the board cottage. The tapa cloth
wrapper did not conform we'll to the
modern corset, SO it was changed for
the adornment worn by the wax figure
in the show windows. The ava, or
native drink, lost its popularity when
gin put In its appearance, and money
now, not feathers, is the much-sought
medium Of barter and trade.
A.NLN .