CHAPTER I

THE SPELL OF THE

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AND

THE PHILIPPINES

THE SPELL SERIES

_Each volume with one or more colored plates

and many illustrations from original drawings

or special photographs. Octavo, decorative

cover, gilt top, boxed._

_Per volume, net $2.50; carriage paid $2.70_

BY ISABEL ANDERSON

THE SPELL OF BELGIUM

THE SPELL OF JAPAN

THE SPELL OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AND THE PHILIPPINES

BY CAROLINE ATWATER MASON

THE SPELL OF ITALY

THE SPELL OF SOUTHERN SHORES

THE SPELL OF FRANCE

BY ARCHIE BELL

THE SPELL OF CHINA

THE SPELL OF EGYPT

THE SPELL OF THE HOLY LAND

BY KEITH CLARK

THE SPELL OF SPAIN

THE SPELL OF SCOTLAND

BY W. D. MCCRACKAN

THE SPELL OF TYROL

THE SPELL OF THE ITALIAN LAKES

BY EDWARD NEVILLE VOSE

THE SPELL OF FLANDERS

BY BURTON E. STEVENSON

THE SPELL OF HOLLAND

BY JULIA DE W. ADDISON

THE SPELL OF ENGLAND

BY NATHAN HASKELL DOLE

THE SPELL OF SWITZERLAND

THE PAGE COMPANY

53 Beacon Street

Boston, Mass.

[Illustration: _Mount Mayon_ (_See page 308_)]

The SPELL of

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

AND THE PHILIPPINES

_Being an Account of the Historical and Political Conditions

of Our Pacific Possessions, together with Descriptions of the

natural Charm and Beauty of the Countries and the strange and

interesting Customs of their Peoples._

_BY_

_Isabel Anderson_

_Author of "The Spell of Japan," "The Spell of Belgium," etc._

ILLUSTRATED

BOSTON

THE PAGE COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

_Copyright, 1916, by_

THE PAGE COMPANY

_All rights reserved_

Published in November, 1916

Second Impression, June, 1917

THE COLONIAL PRESS

C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK WITH LOVE

TO THE MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHER

WILLIAM F. WELD

WHOSE SHIPS SAILED UPON THESE

TROPICAL SEAS

FOREWORD

It is my hope that this book about our islands in the Pacific ocean may

be of some interest, if for no other reason than that there is at

present so much discussion as to whether or not we should keep the

Philippines.

Soon after the close of the Civil War my father, who was a naval

officer, was sent on a cruise on the Pacific and stopped for a time both

at Honolulu and Manila. During this cruise he took part in the

occupation and survey of Midway Island, as it is now called--_our first

possession in Pacific waters_. Many years later, when my husband and I

started on our first trip to the East, I asked my father if he would

give us letters of introduction to his many friends there. He replied,

"It is a long time since I visited the islands in the Pacific; if my

friends have forgotten me letters would do no good, and if they remember

me letters are not necessary." Needless to say, they did remember him

and extended to us the most cordial hospitality.

The charm of Hawaii will linger forever in our memory--those happy

flower islands where the air is sweet with perfume and gay with the

musical strains of the ukulele. We lived there for a time before the

Islands were annexed to the United States and, on another visit, we had

the privilege of accompanying the Secretary of War, Hon. J. M.

Dickinson, so that we had exceptional opportunities of seeing both

Hawaii and the Philippines, and of making the acquaintance of leaders

among the Americans and the natives.

We found the Philippines especially fascinating on account of the great

variety they provide. The old world plazas, the flowering Spanish

courtyards, and the pretty women in their distinctive costume of piña

are all enchanting. Nowhere else in the Far East are the

_mestizos_--those of mixed blood--socially above the natives. The

Filipinos are unique in that they are the only Asiatics who are

Christians. Among the hills, near civilization, live the savages who

indulge in the exciting game of head-hunting. The Moros, the Mohammedans

of the southern islands, stand quite by themselves. They are very

picturesque and absolutely unlike their neighbours.

Secretary Dickinson and Governor Forbes we can never thank enough for

the thousand and one strange sights we saw, as enchanting as the tales

which Scheherezade told during those far-off Arabian Nights. I only wish

I could describe them in her delightful style! Of all the spells what is

more puissant than the spell of the tropics--the singing of dripping

water, the rustle of the palm in the breeze. In this land you forget all

trouble and dream of love and happiness, while the Southern Cross gleams

brightly in the sky.

There it is indeed true that

"The flower of love has leisure for growing,

Music is heard in the evening breeze,

The mountain stream laughs loud in its flowing,

And poesy wakes by the Eastern Seas."

I wish especially to say how grateful I am to those who have helped me

in one way or another, with this book: Admiral George Dewey, General

Thomas Anderson, Major J. R. M. Taylor, Major William Mitchell, Mr.

William R. Castle, Jr., and Mr. C. P. Hatheway. Mr. R. K. Bonine was

also very kind in allowing me to reprint some of his photographs of

Hawaii. My thanks are also due to Miss Helen Kimball, Miss C. Gilman,

Miss K. Crosby, and my husband, and to all the others who have been so

good as to encourage me in writing the "Spell of the Hawaiian Islands

and the Philippines."

CONTENTS

FOREWORD vii

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE BRIGHT LAND 3

II MYTHS AND MELES 29

III THE FIVE KAMEHAMEHAS 48

IV SERVANT AND SOIL 81

V IN AND OUT 103

THE PHILIPPINES

I MANILA AS WE FOUND IT 123

II THE PHILIPPINES OF THE PAST 148

III INSURRECTION 180

IV FOLLOWING THE FLAG 206

V HEALING A NATION 224

VI DOG-EATERS AND OTHERS 245

VII AMONG THE HEAD-HUNTERS 270

VIII INSPECTING WITH THE SECRETARY OF WAR 296

IX THE MOROS 325

X JOURNEY'S END 353

BIBLIOGRAPHY 363

INDEX 365

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

MOUNT MAYON (_in full colour_) (_See page 308_) _Frontispiece_

MAP OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 3

ROYAL HAWAIIAN HOTEL 6

HON. SANFORD B. DOLE 9

SURF-BOATING (_in full colour_) 17

MAKING POI (_in full colour_) 27

INTERIOR OF HAWAIIAN GRASS HOUSE 33

ANCIENT TEMPLE INCLOSURE 37

A HULA DANCER (_in full colour_) 40

QUEEN EMMA 65

KING KALAKAUA AND STAFF 73

"THE TINY PLANTATION RAILWAY AMONG THE WAVING GREEN STALKS" 82

PINEAPPLE PLANTATION, ISLAND OF OAHU 88

LEPER COLONY, ISLAND OF MOLOKAI 105

SILVERSWORD IN BLOOM, IN THE CRATER OF HALEAKALA 108

FIRE HOLE, KILAUEA 110

ON THE SHORES OF KAUAI, THE "GARDEN ISLAND" 115

MAP OF THE PHILIPPINES 121

GOVERNOR GENERAL CAMERON FORBES 125

THE PASIG RIVER (_in full colour_) 128

MALACAÑAN PALACE 136

MRS. ANDERSON IN FILIPINA COSTUME 139

"UNDER THE BELLS" 155

JOSE RIZAL 170

FORT SANTIAGO 172

A GROUP OF FILIPINA LADIES 182

AGUINALDO'S PALACE AT MALOLOS 191

SAN JUAN BRIDGE 194

GENERAL LAWTON 196

BENGUET ROAD 212

FIRST PHILIPPINE ASSEMBLY 215

OSMEÑA, THE SPEAKER OF THE FIRST ASSEMBLY 217

A CARABAO (_in full colour_) 225

PENAL COLONY ON THE ISLAND OF PALAWAN 239

THE PARTY AT BAGUIO 246

IGOROT SCHOOL GIRL WEAVING 251

IGOROT OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE 253

ILONGOT IN RAIN-COAT AND HAT OF DEERSKIN 258

ILONGOTS RETURNING FROM THE CHASE 260

WOMAN OF THE BATAN ISLANDS WITH GRASS HOOD 264

CONSTABULARY SOLDIERS 283

RICE TERRACES 287

IFUGAO COUPLE 289

IFUGAO HEAD DANCE 293

WEAPONS OF THE WILD TRIBES 295

LANDING AT TOBACO 309

A MORO _DATO_ AND HIS WIFE, WITH A RETINUE OF ATTENDANTS 325

A MORO GRAVE 329

A MORO _DATO'S_ HOUSE 336

BAGOBO MAN WITH POINTED TEETH 339

BAGOBOS WITH MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 345

BAGOBO WITH NOSE FLUTE 348

MORO BOATS 350

ONE DAY'S CATCH OF FISH 356

VIEW IN ILOILO, ILOILO, SHOWING HIGH SCHOOL GROUNDS 358

THE OLD AUGUSTINIAN CHURCH, MANILA 361

[Illustration]

THE SPELL OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AND THE PHILIPPINES

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

CHAPTER I

THE BRIGHT LAND

On our first trip to Hawaii we sailed from San Francisco aboard the

_Gaelic_ with good, jolly Captain Finch. He was a regular old tar, and

we liked him. We little thought that in 1914 he would have the

misfortune to be in command of the _Arabic_ when it was torpedoed in the

Atlantic. He showed great gallantry, standing on the bridge and going

down with his ship, but I take pleasure in adding that he was saved.

We had an ideal ocean voyage: calm, blue seas, with a favouring trade

wind, a glorious moon, and strange sights of huge turtles, tropic birds,

and lunar rainbows. We had, too, an unusual company on board--Captain

Gridley, of Manila Bay fame, then on his way to take command of the

_Olympia_; Judge Widemann, a German who had lived for many years in

Honolulu, and had married a Hawaiian princess; Mr. Irwin, a

distinguished American with a Japanese wife--all old friends of my

father, who, as a naval officer, made several cruises in the

Pacific--Dr. Furness of Philadelphia, a classmate of my husband's at

Harvard, who was going out to study the head-hunters of Borneo; and Mr.

Castle, grandson of one of the early missionaries to Hawaii. He has

since written a charming book on the Islands.

After six days on the smooth Pacific, we caught sight of Oahu, the fairy

island on which Honolulu is situated. Diamond Head stretches far out

into the blue, like a huge lizard guarding its treasure--a land of

fruits and flowers, of sugar-cane and palm. The first view across the

bay of the town with its wreath of foliage down by the shore, just as

the golden sun was setting over the mountain range, was a picture to be

remembered. And in the distance, above Honolulu, the extinct crater

called Punchbowl could be seen, out of which the gods of old no doubt

drank and made merry.

An ancient Hawaiian myth of the creation tells how Wakea, "the

beginning," married Papa, "the earth," and they lived in darkness until

Papa produced a gourd calabash. Wakea threw its cover into the air, and

it became heaven. The pulp and seeds formed the sky, the sun, moon and

stars. The juice was the rain, and out of the bowl the land and sea were

created. This country they lived in and called it Hawaii, "the Bright

Land." There are many legends told of Papa by the islanders of the

Pacific. She traveled far, and had many husbands and children, among

whom were "the father of winds and storms," and "the father of forests."

As we approached the dock, we forgot to watch the frolicking porpoises

and the silver flying fish, at sight of the daring natives on their

boards riding the surf that broke over the coral reef. The only familiar

face we saw on the wharf as we landed was Mr. George Carter, a friend of

my husband's, who has since been Governor of the Islands.

Oahu is a beautiful island, and the town of Honolulu at once casts its

spell upon you, with the luxuriance of its tropical gardens. There is

the spreading Poinciana regia, a tree gorgeous with flowers of flame

colour, and the "pride of India," with delicate mauve blossoms; there

are trees with streaming yellow clusters, called "golden showers," and

superb date and cocoanut and royal palms, and various kinds of acacia.

Bougainvilleas, passion-flowers, alamanders and bignonias drape verandas

and cover walls. There are hedges of hibiscus and night-blooming cereus,

and masses of flowering shrubs. Everywhere there is perfume, colour and

profusion, the greatest wealth of vegetation, all kept in the most

perfect freshness by constant little passing showers--"marvelous rain,

that powders one without wetting him!" Honolulu is well named, the word

meaning "abundance of peace," for we found the gardens of the town

filled with cooing doves. It is said the place was called after a chief

by that name in the time of Kakuhihewa, the only great king of Oahu who

is mentioned before Kamehameha I.

At the time of this visit, in 1897, the total isolation of the Islands

was impressive, absolutely cut off, as they were, except for steamers.

Sometimes, moreover, Hawaii was three weeks without an arrival, so that

the coming of a steamer was a real event. To cable home, one had to send

the message by a ship to Japan and so on around the world.

After a night at the old Royal Hawaiian Hotel, big and rambling, in the

center of a pretty garden, we started housekeeping for ourselves in a

little bungalow on the hotel grounds, with a Chinaman for maid of all

work. Here we lived as if in a dream, reveling in the beauty of land and

sea, of trees and flowers, enjoying the hospitality for which the

Islands are famous, and exploring as far as we could some of the

enchanting spots of this heaven on earth.

[Illustration: ROYAL HAWAIIAN HOTEL.]

We were pleased with our little house, with its wide veranda, or

_lanai_, as it is called there, which we made comfortable and pretty

with long wicker chairs and Chinese lanterns. Mangoes falling with a

thump to the ground outside, and lizards and all sorts of harmless

creatures crawling or flying about the house, helped to carry out the

tropical effect.

In the four visits that we have made on different occasions we have

found the climate perfect; the temperature averages about 73 degrees.

The trade winds blowing from the northeast across the Pacific are

refreshing as well as the tiny showers, which follow you up and down the

streets. There is not a poisonous vine or a snake, or any other creature

more harmful than the bee; but I must confess that the first night at

the old hotel, the apparently black washstand turned white on my

approach as the water bugs scuttled away. Nothing really troubled us but

the mosquitoes, which, by the way, did not exist there in the early

days, so must have been taken in on ships.

The Islands have been well called "the Paradise of the Pacific" and "the

playground of the world." The five largest in the group, and the only

important ones, are Hawaii, about the size of Connecticut, Maui, Oahu,

Kauai and Molokai. The small ones are not worth mentioning, as they have

only cattle and sheep and a few herdsmen upon them. They are formed of

lava--the product of numberless volcanic eruptions--and the action of

the sea and the rain, combined with the warm climate and the moisture

brought by the trade winds, has resulted in the most varied and

fascinating scenery. Mark Twain, who spent many months there, said of

them, "They are the loveliest group of islands that ever anchored in an

ocean," and indeed we were of his opinion.

At that time the Islands formed an independent republic, under Sanford

B. Dole as President, the son of Rev. Daniel Dole, one of the early

missionaries. He was educated at Punahou, meaning new spring, now called

Oahu College, and at Williams College in the States. He came to Boston

to study law, and was admitted to the bar. But Hawaii called him, as if

with a forecast of the need she would have of his services in later

days, and he went back to Oahu, where he took high rank among the

lawyers in the land of his birth, and became judge of the Supreme Court.

After the direct line of Kamehameha sovereigns became extinct, and the

easy-going rule of their successors culminated in the high-handed

attempt of Queen Liliuokalani to restore the ancient rites and also to

turn the island into a Monte Carlo, Judge Dole was the one man who

understood both parties and had the confidence of both, and he was the

unanimous choice of the best element of the population for president.

[Illustration: HON. SANFORD B. DOLE.]

Of course we visited the buildings and localities in Honolulu that were

of interest because of their connection with the existing government or

their history in the past. The Executive Building--the old palace, built

by King Kalakaua and finished in the finest native woods--and the Court

House, which was the Government Building in the days of the kings; the

big Kawaiahao Church, built of coral blocks in 1842, and the Queen's

Hospital, all are in the city, but they have often been described, so I

pass them by with only this mention. The first frame house ever erected

in the Islands deserves a word, as it was sent out from Boston for the

missionaries. It had two stories, and in the early days its tiny rooms

were made to shelter four mission families and twenty-two native

children, who were their pupils.

Oahu College, too, interested us. It was built on the land given by

Chief Boki to Hiram Bingham, one of the earliest missionaries, who

donated it to his coworkers as a site for a school for missionary

children. The buildings stand in a beautiful park of ninety acres, in

which are superb royal palms and the finest algaroba trees in Honolulu.

Long ago, in the days of the rush for gold to California, boys were sent

there for an education from the Pacific Coast.

The great aquarium at Waikiki, the bathing suburb of Honolulu, I found

particularly fascinating. There does not exist in the world an aquarium

with fishes more peculiar in form or colouring than those at Waikiki,

unless the new one in the Philippines now surpasses it. About five

hundred varieties of fish are to be found in the vicinity of the

Islands. The fish are of many curious shapes and all the colours of the

rainbow. Some have long, swordlike noses, and others have fins on their

backs that look like feathers. One called the "bridal veil" has a lovely

filmy appendage trailing through the water. The unusual shapes of the

bodies, the extraordinary eyes and the fine colouring give many of them

a lively and comical appearance. Even the octopus, the many-armed sea

creature, seemed wide awake and gazed at the onlookers through his glass

window.

An afternoon was spent in the Bishop Museum, which is very fine and well

equipped, its collection covering all the Pacific islands. I was chiefly

interested in the Hawaiian curios,--the finely woven mats of grass work

and the implements of the old days. Here, too, was the famous royal

cloak of orange, made of feathers from the _mamo_ bird.[1] It was a work

of prodigious labour, covering a hundred years. This robe is one of the

most gorgeous things I have ever seen and is valued at a million

dollars. There were others of lemon yellow and of reds, besides the

plumed insignia of office, called _kahili_, which were carried before

the king. Our guide through the museum was the curator, Professor

Brigham, who had made it the greatest institution of its kind in the

world.

This museum is a memorial, created by her husband, to Bernice Pauahi

Bishop, great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I and the last descendant of

his line. Bernice Pauahi was the daughter of the high chief Paki and

the high chieftainess Konia. She was born in 1831, and was adopted in

native fashion by Kinau, sister of Kamehameha III, who at that time had

no daughters of her own. Her foster sister, Queen Liliuokalani, said of

her, "She was one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw."

At nineteen she married an American, Hon. Charles R. Bishop, who was

collector of customs in Honolulu at that time. She led a busy life, and

used her ability and her wealth to help others. She understood not only

her own race but also foreigners, and she used her influence in bringing

about a good understanding between them.

In 1883, the year before her death, she bequeathed her fortune to found

the Kamehameha School for Hawaiian boys and girls. This school has now a

fine group of stone buildings not far from Honolulu.

The Lunalilo Home was founded by the king of that name for aged

Hawaiians. When we visited it, we were particularly interested in one

old native who was familiar with the use of the old-time musical

instruments. This man, named Keanonako, was still alive two years ago.

He was taught by his grandfather, who was retained by one of the old

chiefs. He played on three primitive instruments--a conch shell, a

jew's-harp and a nose flute. The last is made of bamboo, and is open at

one end with three perforations; the thumb of the left hand is placed

against the left nostril, closing it. The flute is held like a clarinet,

and the fingers are used to operate it. Keanonako played the different

notes of the birds of the forest, and really gave us a lovely imitation.

The musical instruments in use to-day are the guitar, the mandolin, and

the _ukulele_. The native Hawaiians are very musical and sing and play

well, but the music is now greatly mixed with American and European

airs.

It was always entertaining to drive in the park, where we listened to

the band and watched the women on horseback. In those days the native

women rode astride wonderfully well and looked very dignified and

stately, but one does not see this superb horsemanship and the old

costumes any more. They did indeed make a fine appearance, with the

_paus_, long flowing scarfs of gay colours, which some of them wore

floating over their knees and almost reaching the ground, while their

horses curvetted and pranced.

One of the amusements was to go down to the dock to see a steamer off

and watch the pretty custom of decorating those who went away with

_leis_--wreaths of flowers--which were placed around the neck till the

travelers looked like moving bouquets and the whole ship at last became

a garden. When large steamers sailed the whole town went to the wharf,

and the famous Royal Hawaiian Band--which Captain Berger, a German, led

for forty years--played native airs for an hour before the time of

sailing. It was an animated and pretty sight at the dock, for the

natives are so fond of flowers that they, too, wear leis continually as

bands around their hats, and they bring and send them as presents and in

compliment. Steamers arriving at the port were welcomed in the same

charming fashion.

Judge Widemann kindly asked us to dine and view his wonderful hedge of

night-blooming cereus. The good old Judge who had married the Princess

had three daughters; two of the girls were married to two brothers, who

were Americans. All the daughters were attractive, and the youngest, who

was the wife of a German, was remarkably pretty. It was strange at first

to see brown-skinned people in low-necked white satin dinner gowns, and

to find them so cultured and charming.

We dined with Mr. and Mrs. Castle, also with old Mrs. Macfarlane at

Waikiki. We enjoyed our evening there immensely. Sam Parker, "the prince

of the natives," and Paul Neumann, and Mrs. Wilder, too, all great

characters in those days, were very kind to us. Many of them have passed

away, but I shall always remember them as we knew them in those happy

honeymoon months.

All the mystic spell of those tropical evenings at Waikiki lives in

these lines by Rupert Brooke:

"Warm perfumes like a breath from vine and tree

Drift down the darkness. Plangent, hidden from eyes,

Somewhere an eukaleli thrills and cries

And stabs with pain the night's brown savagery.

And dark scents whisper; and dim waves creep to me,

Gleam like a woman's hair, stretch out, and rise;

And new stars burn into the ancient skies,

Over the murmurous soft Hawaiian sea."

I took great pleasure in going to Governor Cleghorn's place. He is a

Scotchman who married a sister of the last king, and was at one time

governor of this island. Many years ago, my father brought home a

photograph of their beautiful daughter, then a girl of fourteen, who

died not long after. Mr. Cleghorn's grounds were superb--old avenues of

palms and flowering shrubs, and shady walks with Japanese bridges, and

pools of water filled with lilies. A fine view of the valley opened out

near the house. There were really two connected houses, which were large

and built of wood, with verandas. One huge room was filled with

portraits of the Hawaiian royal family and some prints of Queen Victoria

and Prince Albert. There were knickknacks everywhere, and teak-wood

tables and chairs, _poi_ bowls made by hand, and primitive stone tools.

We were served with lemonade by two Japanese servants in the pretty

costume of their land, while tea was served by a picturesque Chinese

woman at a table on the veranda.

Besides these informal entertainments, there were various official

functions. One was a delightful musicale at President Dole's house, in

the midst of his lovely tropical garden; also a dinner at the Consul

General's, besides several parties on the naval vessels at the station.

Captain Book gave us a dinner and dance on his ship, the _Marian_. We

had breakfast one day on the flagship _Philadelphia_ with Admiral and

Mrs. Beardsley--the Admiral was in command of the station. Captain

Cotton of the _Philadelphia_ also gave us a boating party by moonlight,

followed by a little dance aboard ship.

[Illustration: _Surf-Boating_]

After lunching with the American Minister, Mr. Sewall, one day, we sat

on his lanai at Waikiki and watched the surf-boating, which was

most exciting, even from a distance, as the canoes came in at racehorse

speed on the crest of the breakers. That day L. and I put our bathing

suits on, as we did indeed several times, got into an outrigger canoe

with two native boys to handle it, and started for the reef. They

skilfully paddled the boat out between the broken waves, waiting for the

chance to move on without meeting a foaming crester, and then hurrying

to catch a smooth place. At last we got out far enough and turned,

watching over our shoulders for a big fellow to come rolling in. Then

the boys paddled wildly and allowed the crest, as it broke, to catch and

lift the boat and rush it along on top of the roaring foam, right up to

the beach. On one of our trips our oarsmen were a little careless and we

were upset. But instead of swimming in shore we swam out to sea and

pushed the boat until we were well beyond the breakers, where we could

right it again and get in--which, for those not used to it, is not a

particularly easy thing to accomplish. The people on the shore became

frightened about us and sent out another boat to pick us up, for we were

quite far out and there were many sharks around.

By the way, one hears it questioned even to-day whether sharks really

do eat men, notwithstanding two men were bitten lately while bathing as

far north as on the New Jersey coast. I will simply say I have seen a

black diving boy at Aden with only one leg, as the other was bitten off

by a shark, and have myself even worn black stockings when bathing in

tropical seas because it is said sharks prefer white legs to black.

An old friend of mine, an admiral in the navy, tells this extraordinary

story--that a sailor was lost overboard from his ship, and that inside a

shark caught the very same day was found the sailor's head. Here is

another story even more remarkable than that, taken from Musick's book

on Hawaii:

"Why, sharks are the most tractable creatures in the world when you know

how to handle them. It takes a great deal of experience and skill to

handle a good-sized shark, one of the man-eating species, but the Kanaka

boys know exactly how to master them. I used to have a fish pond over on

the other side of Oahu, and at high tide sometimes as many as half a

dozen full-grown sharks would come in the pond at a time, and when it

was low tide it left them in the pond, which would be so shallow the

sharks could not turn over. The native boys used to go to that pond,

jump astride the sharks and ride them through the water. It was great

amusement to see them riding races around the pond on the backs of the

sharks.

"Now, if you don't believe this story, if you will charter the ship I

will take the whole party to the very pond in which the sharks are

ridden for horses. If I can't show you the pond, I will pay the expense

of the ship."

A long drive up into the mountains back of the town one morning, took us

to Mt. Tantalus, two thousand or more feet high, from which there are

splendid views of the plain below and the sea beyond and mountain ranges

on each side. To-day there are many pretty summer villas built on its

slopes. While we were looking down on the town and harbour far below us,

we saw little puffs of white smoke, and long after could just hear the

booming of the guns of the warships, American, English, and Japanese,

saluting in honour of the President of this little island republic, who

was visiting one of the vessels. Then we climbed higher yet, through

woods of _koa_ trees, bordered by thickets of the lantana, with its

many-coloured flowers, up till we could look down into the dead crater

of Punchbowl and over Diamond Head, and far off across the sparkling

ocean, while the steeply ravined and ribbed mountains seemed to fall

away suddenly beneath our feet.

Punchbowl, where in the early days the natives offered human sacrifices,

"is for the most part as red as clay, though a tinge of green in its

rain-moistened chinks suggests those bronzes of uncertain antiquity." On

this mountain top a myth tells us how a human being was first made--a

man to rule over this island. The gods molded him from the clay of the

crater, and as they were successful and he came to life, they made from

his shadow a woman to keep him company. Indeed, many of the natives

still believe in gods and fairies, in shark men, owls, and ghosts, and

they will tell you stories of the goddess of the crater even to-day.

When we last visited this island thirteen years later with our Secretary

of War, Mr. Dickinson, we saw many changes. We were taken to the

Alexander Young Hotel in the center of the town, and to the great hotel

at Waikiki. The old hotel, where we stayed years before, had changed

hands and was sadly run down. How pretty and green everything was, and

how marvelous were the flowers! Many new and rare species had been

planted.

The changes have been gradual, but to-day Honolulu is a modern,

up-to-date American town, with business blocks of brick. The Makapuu

Point Light is one of the largest in the world, and Diamond Head crater

has been made into one of the strongest fortifications of modern times.

Great men-of-war are to be seen off Honolulu, and Pearl Harbour has been

dredged. The army quarters on this island are quite fine. There are good

golf links, and on the polo field you see excellent players; the field

is also used for aviation. The finely equipped Children's Hospital, the

Normal School, and the McKinley High School were interesting

institutions that had sprung up since our first visit.

To-day, out of a total population in all the Islands of 209,830,

Honolulu has over 50,000. Many new houses and beautiful gardens are to

be seen. The island now has, of course, cable and wireless communication

with the mainland, electric cars and lights, telephones, the telegraph

and numberless motors--in fact, every luxury is to be found. There are a

number of clubs, of which the University is especially popular, and the

Pacific, or British, Club is the oldest. The graduates of women's

colleges have formed a club of their own. Schools and charitable

institutions and missionary societies are numerous, and the Y. M. C. A.

building is very prominent.

The city now has many churches, which are well attended. The Episcopal

cathedral, of stone brought from England, is especially fine. The

Catholic cathedral and convent have long been established. It was a

Catholic priest who first brought the algaroba tree from Central America

sixty years ago and planted it in the city of Honolulu. The descendants

of that one tree have reclaimed great sandy wastes and clothed them with

fodder for cattle.

Our motor trip to Pearl Harbour took us past Mr. S. M. Damon's charming

new place with its delightful Japanese garden. We motored to the Pali, a

precipice that drops one thousand feet to the plains which stretch to

the sea, where in the old days we had gone so often. Now, a stone tablet

on its summit bears the following inscription:

"Erected by the Daughters of Hawaii in 1907 to commemorate the battle of

Nuuanu, fought in this valley in 1795, when the invading Kamehameha I

drove the forces of Kalanikupule, king of Oahu, to the Pali and hurled

them over the precipice, thus establishing the Kamehameha dynasty."

In these days of aeroplanes, I gather this myth of the Bird-man of the

Pali from "Legends of old Honolulu," by Westervelt:

Namaka was a noted man of Kauai, but he left that island to find some

one whom he would like to call his lord. He excelled in spear-throwing,

boxing, leaping and flying. He went first to Oahu, and in Nuuanu Valley

he met Pakuanui, a very skilful boxer, and they prepared for a contest

at the Pali. Pakuanui could not handle Namaka, who was a "whirlwind

around a man," so he became angry and planned to kill him. Namaka was as

"slimy as a fish." "The hill of the forehead he struck. The hill of the

nose he caught." Like a rainbow bending over the _hau_-trees he was, as

he circled around Pakuanui. At a narrow place Pakuanui gave him a kick

that knocked him over the precipice, expecting him to be dashed to

pieces. "But Namaka flew away from the edge.... The people who were

watching said, ... He flew off from the Pali like an Io bird, leaping

into the air ... spreading out his arms like wings!"

This panorama is one of the wonders of the world; land and sea, coral

reef and mountains, green meadow and shining sand, spread out before

one's eyes at the Pali. As the road makes a sharp turn and begins to

descend toward the valley, we encounter the full force of the trade

winds, for through this pass a gale is always blowing. To quote from

Charles W. Stoddard, "If you open your mouth too wide, you can't shut it

again without getting under the lee of something--the wind blows so

hard."

From the Pali we went on to Pearl Harbour, where the United States

Government is constructing a great naval station. This harbour, the

finest in the Islands, is a deep lagoon, entered from the ocean by a

narrow channel three miles in length. At the inner end it expands and

divides into two "lochs," which are from thirty to sixty feet deep and

with a shore line of some thirty miles. Algaroba forests cover the

shores, and the fertile countryside, in which are rice, sugar and banana

plantations, promises abundant supplies for the troops stationed here.

Pearl Harbour has really been in our possession ever since the

Reciprocity Treaty with Hawaii was signed in Harrison's

administration.[2] As it covers ten square miles, the whole navy of this

country could find anchorage there, and be in perfect safety. Not only

has the bar that obstructed the entrance to the channel been removed,

the long, narrow channel straightened, and a huge drydock constructed in

which our largest ships of war could be repaired, but barracks, repair

shops, a power house, hospitals, a powder magazine, and all the other

buildings needed to make a complete station have been erected at a cost

of more than ten millions of dollars. Before the drydock was finished it

was partially destroyed by an upheaval. The natives' explanation was

that the dock was built over the home of the Shark-god, and that he

resented this invasion of his domain.

The island of Oahu will soon be a second Gibraltar, we hope. The channel

from the sea is guarded by Fort Kamehameha. Fort Ruger is at the foot of

Diamond Head, Fort DeRussy near Waikiki Beach; at Moanalua is Fort

Shafter, and at the entrance of Honolulu Harbour, Fort Armstrong. There

are more than eleven thousand troops stationed there to-day, consisting

of field artillery, cavalry, infantry, engineers, signal corps,

telephone and telegraph corps, and it is said there will soon be fifteen

thousand or more.[3]

A Hawaiian feast, such as they had in the old days, was given in honour

of the Secretary of War, so we were taken to the house of a member of

the royal family. I was surprised to see how fine these residences were.

This man was only part native, and really one would not have suspected

from his appearance that he had any Hawaiian blood at all. His wife was

a fat native in a _holoku_--a mother hubbard--who directed the feast,

but did not receive.

The bedroom in which we took off our wraps opened out of the big ball

room. There was a bright-coloured quilt on the bed, and on the walls

were many photographs and cheap prints. Here were also royal feather

plumes in vases and more polished poi bowls.

The inclosure where we feasted--or had the _luau_ or "bake"--which led

out of the ball room, was half open with a cover of canvas and banana

leaves. It contained a long table covered with flowers and fruit, bowls

and small dishes. There were no forks nor spoons, nor anything but one's

fingers to eat with. At the end of the meal a wooden dish was passed for

us to wash our fingers. Some of the dishes contained raw fish with a

sauce. A cocoanut shell held rock salt, the kind that is given to

cattle, and a small bowl was filled with a mixture of sweet potato and

cocoanut. That was the best dish of all. The roasted sweet potato was

good, too, and pork, sewed up in _ti_ leaves and roasted with hot

stones, was another delicacy. The drink was made of fruits and was very

sweet. And, of course, we had poi.

[Illustration: _Making Poi_]

Poi is described as "one-finger" or "two-finger" poi--thick or thin.

Native Hawaiians like it a few days old, when it is sour. Fortunately,

as this was only one day old, I was able to put one finger-full of the

pasty stuff in my mouth, and, on a dare, I ventured another. Poi is made

from the taro root, which is boiled till soft, then pounded and mixed

with water. Why I was not ill after this feast I don't know, as I tried

mangoes, grapes, watermelon, and pineapple, as well as all the other

things. Leis of pink carnations were put about our necks. Hawaiian music

with singing went on during the meal, and afterward we danced.

The company was certainly cosmopolitan. One of the people who interested

me most was a Hawaiian princess, really very pretty, dressed in the

height of fashion. Her father was English. Another interesting person

was the daughter of a full-blooded Chinaman, her mother being half

Hawaiian. Her husband was an American. She told me with great pride that

her boys were both very blond. A wild Texan army man also roused my

interest, from the point of view of character study; and I must not

forget an Englishwoman, who said, on departure, "Us is going now." We

found it all very diverting and the people so kind and hospitable that

we enjoyed every minute of our stay.

CHAPTER II

MYTHS AND MELES

Native Hawaiians--big, generous, happy, good-looking folk, athletic and

fond of music--are in physical characteristics, in temperament, in

language, traditions and customs, so closely related to the Samoans, the

Maoris of New Zealand, and the other inhabitants of Polynesia, that it

is clear they belong to the same race. Although Hawaii is two thousand

miles from any other land, the people are so much like the natives of

the South Sea Islands that I do not see how the relationship can be

questioned. Distance, too, means little, for we hear that only lately a

Japanese junk was caught in a storm and the mast destroyed, yet it was

swept along by the Japan current and in an exceedingly short time was

washed up on the shore near Vancouver, with most of the sailors still

alive. The adventurous boatmen who first landed on the island of Hawaii,

however, must not only have crossed two thousand miles of ocean in their

canoes but crossed it in the face of opposing trade winds and ocean

currents.

The Polynesians of those early days, like the ancient Chaldeans, studied

the heavenly bodies, and so, on their long voyages, were able to guide

their course by the stars. Their vessels, which were double canoes, like

those of the modern Samoans, were from fifty to one hundred feet long

and carried a large company of people, with provisions, animals, idols,

and everything that was needed for a long voyage or for colonizing a

strange island.

The legends of that earliest time tell of Hawaii-loa, who sailed from

the west to the Islands, which he named for himself. The coming of Wakea

and Papa also belonged to that period. While they are mentioned as the

creators of the earth, they are said in another version of the story to

have come from Savaii in Samoa. They brought with them the _tabu_, which

is common to all Polynesia.

Little is to be learned, however, of the history of Hawaii from the

folklore of Pacific Islanders until about the year 1000 A. D. If we

may believe their traditions, this was a time of great restlessness

throughout all Polynesia, when Hawaii was again visited and held

communication with other islands, peopled by the same race. It is

interesting to remember that this was the century when the Norsemen were

striking out across the Atlantic, showing that there were daring

navigators on both sides of the globe.

Paao, one of the heroes from Samoa, who settled in Hawaii, became high

priest. He introduced the worship of new gods and increased the number

of tabus. The great temple built by him was the first in the shape of a

quadrangle--previously they had been three-sided. Afterward, he went

back to Samoa and returned with Pili, whom he made ruler, and from whom

the Kamehamehas were descended.

From the Hawaiian _meles_, or songs, we may picture their life. The men

were skilful fishermen, using hooks of shell, bone, or tortoise shell,

nets of _olona_-fiber or long spears of hard wood. The bait used in

shark fishing was human flesh. When it was thrown into the water and the

shark was attracted to it, the fishermen sprang overboard and fought the

fish with knives of stone and sharp shark's teeth. No doubt it was an

extremely exciting sport.

Along the shores of the Islands are the walls of many fish-ponds, some

of which, though very old, are still in use and bid fair to last for

centuries longer. Usually they were made by building a wall of lava rock

across the entrance to a small bay, and the fish were kept in the

inclosure. The wall was built loosely enough to allow the water to

percolate through it, and sluice gates were added, which could be opened

and closed. They were at first owned by kings and chiefs, and were

probably built by the forced labour of the people. Tradition has it that

the wall of Wekolo Pond at Pearl Harbour was built by natives who formed

a line from shore to mountain and passed lava rock from hand to hand

until it reached the shores over a mile away, without once touching the

ground. Some of the ponds in the interior of the Islands have been

turned into rice fields and taro patches, especially on Oahu.

The sports and games of the Hawaiians, of which there were many, were

nearly all associated with gambling. Indeed, it was the betting that

furnished most of the excitement connected with them. At the end of a

day of games, many of the people would have staked and lost everything

they owned in the world.

Boxing, surf-riding and hurling the _ulu_--a circular stone disk, three

or four inches in diameter--were some of the favourite amusements, as

well as tobogganing, which is interesting as a tropical adaptation of

something that we consider a Northern sport. The slide was laid out on a

steep hillside, that was made slippery with dry _pili_ grass. The

sled, of two long, narrow strips of wood joined together by wicker work,

was on runners from twelve to fourteen feet long, and was more like our

sleds than modern toboggans. The native held the sled by the middle with

both hands, and ran to get a start. Then, throwing himself face

downward, he flew down the hill out upon the plain beyond, sometimes to

a distance of half a mile or more.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF HAWAIIAN GRASS HOUSE.]

The old Hawaiians were not bad farmers, indeed, I think we may call them

very good farmers, when we consider that they had no metal tools of any

description and most of their agricultural work was done with the _o-o_,

which was only a stick of hard wood, either pointed at one end or shaped

like a rude spade. With such primitive implements they terraced their

fields, irrigated the soil, and raised crops of taro, bananas, yams,

sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane.

Most of the houses of primitive Hawaiians were small, but the grass

houses of the chiefs were sometimes seventy feet long. They were all

simply a framework of poles thatched with leaves or the long grass of

the Islands. Inside, the few rude belongings--mats, calabashes, gourds,

and baskets for fish--were all in strange contrast to the modern luxury

which many of their descendants enjoy to-day. The cooking was done

entirely by the men, in underground ovens. Stones were heated in these;

the food, wrapped in ti leaves, was laid on the stones and covered with

a layer of grass and dirt; then water was poured in through a small

opening to steam the food.

The mild climate of Hawaii makes very little clothing necessary for

warmth, and before the advent of the missionaries the women wore only a

short skirt of _tapa_ that reached just below the knees, and the men a

loin-cloth, the _malo_. Tapa, a sort of papery cloth, is made from the

bark of the paper mulberry.

Hawaiians say that in the earliest days their forefathers had only

coverings made of long leaves or braided strips of grass, until two of

the great gods, Kane and Kanaloa, took pity upon them and taught them to

make _kiheis_, or shoulder capes.

Tapa making was an important part of the work of the women. It was

sometimes brilliantly coloured with vegetable dyes and a pattern put on

with a bamboo stamp. Unlike the patterns which our Indians wove into

their baskets and blankets, each one of which had its meaning, these

figures on the tapa had no special significance, so far as is known. By

lapping strips of bark over each other and beating them together, the

tapa could be made of any desired size or thickness.

In the old legends, Hina, the mother of the demi-god Maui, figures as

the chief tapa maker. The clouds are her tapas in the sky, on which she

places stones to hold them down. When the winds drive the clouds before

them, loud peals of thunder are the noise of the rolling stones. When

Hina folds up her clouds the gleams of sunlight upon them are seen by

men and called the lightning.

The sound of the tapa beating was often heard in the Islands. The story

is told, that the women scattered through the different valleys devised

a code of signals in the strokes and rests of the mallets by which they

sent all sorts of messages to one another--a sort of primitive

telegraphy that must have been a great comfort and amusement to lonely

women.

In the early days, marriage and family associations fell lightly on

their shoulders, and even to-day they are somewhat lax in their morals.

The seamen who visited the Islands after their discovery by Captain Cook

brought corruption with them, so that the condition of the natives when

the first missionary arrived was indescribable. A great lack of family

affection perhaps naturally followed from this light esteem of

marriage. The adoption and even giving away of children was the

commonest thing, even among the high chiefs and kings, and exists more

or less to-day.

There were three distinctly marked classes even among the ancient

Hawaiians--chiefs, priests, and common people--proving that social

distinctions do not entirely depend upon civilization. The chief was

believed to be descended from the gods and after death was worshiped as

a deity.

The priestly class also included sorcerers and doctors, all called

_kahuna_, and were much like the medicine men among the American

Indians. As with most primitive peoples--for after all, when compared

they have very similar tastes and customs--diseases were supposed to be

caused by evil spirits, and the kahuna was credited with the power to

expel them or even to install them in a human body. The masses had

implicit belief in this power, and "praying to death" was often heard of

in the old days.[4]

Ancient Hawaiians wrapped their dead in tapa with fragrant herbs, such

as the flowers of sugar-cane, which had the property of embalming

them. They were sometimes buried in their houses or in grottoes dug in

the solid rock, but more frequently in natural caves, where the bodies

were dried and became like mummies. Sometimes the remains were thrown

into the boiling lava of a volcano, as a sacrifice to Pele.

[Illustration: ANCIENT TEMPLE INCLOSURE.]

It is said no Hawaiians were ever cannibals, but in the early days

man-eaters from the south visited these Islands and cooked their victims

in the ovens of the natives. Human bones made into the shape of fish

hooks were thought to bring luck, especially those of high chiefs, so,

as only part of Captain Cook's body was found and he was considered a

god, perhaps his bones were used in this way.

The _heiaus_, or temples, developed from Paao's time into stone

platforms inclosed by walls of stone. Within this inclosure were sacred

houses for the king and the priests, an altar, the oracle, which was a

tall tower of wicker work, in which the priest stood when giving the

message of his god to the king, and the inner court--the shrine of the

principal idol. One of the most important heiaus, which still exists,

although in ruins, is the temple of Wahaula on the island of Hawaii.

There was much that was hard and cruel about this religion. The idols

were made hideous that they might strike terror to the worshipers. Human

sacrifices were offered at times to the chief gods. The idols of the

natives were much like those of the North American Indians, but the

Kanakas are not like the Indians in character.

The oppressive tabu was part of the religion, and the penalty for

breaking it was death. The word means prohibited, and the system was a

set of rules, made by the chiefs and high priests, which forbade certain

things. For instance, it was tabu for women to eat with men or enter the

men's eating house, or to eat pork, turtles, cocoanuts, bananas and some

kinds of fish. There were many tabu periods when "no canoe could be

launched, no fire lighted, no tapa beaten or poi pounded, and no sound

could be uttered on pain of death, when even the dogs had to be muzzled,

and the fowls were shut up in calabashes for twenty-four hours at a

time." Besides the religious tabus there were civil ones, which could be

imposed at any time at the caprice of king or chiefs, who would often

forbid the people to have certain things because they wished to keep

them for themselves.

One is apt to think that in those early days the natives of these

heavenly islands must have been happy and free-living, without laws and

doing as they wished, with plenty of fruit and fish to eat; but it was

not so at all, for they were obliged to crawl in the dust before their

king; they were killed if they even crossed his shadow.

As a pleasant contrast to all these grim features, the Hawaiians, like

the ancient Israelites, had cities of refuge, of which there were two on

the island of Hawaii. Here the murderer was safe from the avenger, the

tabu-breaker was secure from the penalty of death, and in time of war,

old men and women and children could dwell in peace within these walls.

The curious belief in a second soul, or double, and in ghosts, the

doctrines of a future state, and the peculiar funeral rites, all of

which formed part of the native religion, seem strange to many

present-day Christian Hawaiians.

In all Polynesia the four great gods were Kane, "father of men and

founder of the world,"[5] Kanaloa, his brother, Ku, the cruel one, and

Lono, to whom the New Year games were sacred. These four were also the

chief deities of Hawaiians.

Besides the great gods there was a host of inferior deities, such as the

god of the sea, the god of the fishermen, the shark god, the goddess of

the tapa beaters, Laka, the goddess of song and dance, who was very

popular, and Pele, the goddess of volcanoes. Still lower in the scale

were the demi-gods and magicians of marvelous power, like Maui, for whom

the island of Maui is said to be named, who pulled New Zealand out of

the sea with his magic fish hook and stole the secret of making fire

from the wise mud hens. His greatest achievement was that of lassoing

the sun and forcing him to slacken his speed. He was a hero throughout

Polynesia, and his hook is said to have been still preserved on the

island of Tonga in the eighteenth century.

Like most primitive peoples, the Hawaiians danced in order that their

gods might smile upon them and bring them luck, or to appease the

dreaded Pele and the other gods of evil. The much-talked of _hula_ began

in this way as a sacred dance before the altar in a temple inclosure,

while the girls, clad in skirts of grass and wreaths of flowers, chanted

their songs. There was grace in some of the movements, but on the

whole the dances are said to have been "indescribably lascivious." After

the missionaries arrived, the hula was modified, and to-day it has

almost died out.

[Illustration: _A Hula Dancer_

_With some concession in costume to Western conventions_]

Many of the old chants were addressed to Laka, sometimes called the

"goddess of the wildwood growths." These meles had neither rime nor

meter and were more like chants or recitatives, as the singers used only

two or three deep-throated tones. Curiously enough the verses suggest

the modern _vers libre_. The chants include love songs, dirges and name

songs--composed at the birth of a child to tell the story of his

ancestors--besides prayers to the gods and historical traditions. As

some of these early songs have real vigour and charm, I give a few

examples.

The following is a very old chant of Kane, Creator of the Universe:

"The rows of stars of Kane,

The stars in the firmament,

The stars that have been fastened up,

Fast, fast, on the surface of the heaven of Kane,

And the wandering stars,

The tabued stars of Kane,

The moving stars of Kane;

Innumerable are the stars;

The large stars,

The little stars,

The red stars of Kane. O infinite space!

The great Moon of Kane,

The great Sun of Kane

Moving, floating,

Set moving about in the great space of Kane.

The Great Earth of Kane,

The Earth squeezed dry by Kane,

The Earth that Kane set in motion.

Moving are the stars, moving is the Moon,

Moving is the great Earth of Kane."[6]

I find the meles to Laka especially pretty, such as these, taken from

Emerson's "Unwritten Literature of Hawaii":

"O goddess Laka!

O wildwood bouquet, O Laka!

O Laka, queen of the voice!

O Laka, giver of gifts!

O Laka, giver of bounty!

O Laka, giver of all things!"

"This is my wish, my burning desire,

That in the season of slumber,

Thy spirit my soul may inspire,

Altar dweller,

Heaven guest,

Soul awakener,

Bird from covert calling,

Where forest champions stand,

There roamed I too with Laka."

This one from the same collection is interesting in its simplicity and

strength:

"O Pele, god Pele!

Burst forth now! burst forth!

Launch a bolt from the sky!

Let thy lightnings fly!...

Fires of the goddess burn.

Now for the dance, the dance,

Bring out the dance made public;

Turn about back, turn about face;

Dance toward the sea, dance toward the land,

Toward the pit that is Pele,

Portentous consumer of rocks in Puna!"

The Hawaiian myths, I find, are not nearly so original or so full of

charm as the Japanese and Chinese stories, and the long names are

tiresome. They have, moreover, lost their freshness, their individuality

and their primitive quality in translation and through American

influence. They had been handed down entirely by word of mouth until the

missionaries arrived. Many of the myths bear some resemblance to Old

Testament stories as well as to the traditions told by the head-hunters

of the Philippines. The legends of the volcano seem more distinctly

Hawaiian.

There are many legends of Pele as well as chants in her honour, which

generally represent her as wreaking her vengeance on mortals who have

been so unfortunate as to offend her. I quote one that is told to

account for the origin of a stream of unusually black lava, which long,

long ago flowed down to the coast on Maui:

"A withered old woman stopped to ask food and hospitality at the house

of a dweller on this promontory, noted for his penuriousness. His _kalo_

(taro) patches flourished, cocoanuts and bananas shaded his hut, nature

was lavish of her wealth all around him. But the withered hag was sent

away unfed, and as she turned her back on the man she said, 'I will

return to-morrow.'

"This was Pele, goddess of the volcano, and she kept her word, and came

back the next day in earthquakes and thunderings, rent the mountain, and

blotted out every trace of the man and his dwelling with a flood of

fire."

Another story goes that in the form of a maiden the goddess appeared to

a young chief at the head of a toboggan slide and asked for a ride on

his sled. He refused her, and started down without her. Soon, hearing a

roar as of thunder and looking back, he saw a lava torrent chasing him

and bearing on its highest wave the maiden, whom he then knew to be the

goddess Pele. Down the hill and across the plain his toboggan shot,

followed by the flaming river of molten rock. The chief, however,

reached the ocean at last and found safety in the waters.

This condensed story of the Shark King is also a typical Hawaiian tale:

The King Shark, while sporting in the water, watched a beautiful maiden

diving into a pool, and fell in love with her. As king sharks can

evidently take whatever form they please, he turned himself into a

handsome man and waited for her on the rocks. Here the maiden came one

day to seek shellfish, which she was fond of eating. While she was

gathering them a huge wave swept her off her feet, and the handsome

shark man saved her life. As a matter of course, she straightway fell in

love with him. So it happened that one day they were married; but it was

only when her child was born that the shark man confided to her who he

really was, and that he must now disappear. As he left, he cautioned her

never to give their child any meat, or misfortune would follow.

The child was a fine boy, and was quite like other children except that

he bore on his back the mark of the great mouth of the shark. As he grew

older he ate with the men instead of the women, as was the custom, and

his grandfather, not heeding the warning but wishing to make his

grandson strong, so that some day he might become a chief, gave him the

forbidden meat. When in company, the boy wore a cape to cover the scar

on his back, and he always went swimming alone, but when in the water he

remembered his father, and it was then that he would turn into a shark

himself. The more meat the boy ate the more he wanted, and in time it

was noticed that children began to disappear. They would go in bathing

and never return. The people became suspicious, and one day they tore

the boy's mantle off him and saw the shark's mouth upon his back. There

was great consternation, and at last he was ordered to be burned alive.

He had been bound with ropes and was waiting for the end, but while the

fire was kindling he called on his father, King Shark, for help, and so

it was that he was able to burst the ropes and rush into the water,

where he turned into a shark and escaped.

The mother then confessed that she had married the Shark King. The

chiefs and the high priests held a council and decided that it would be

better to offer sacrifices to appease him rather than to kill the

mother. This they did, and for that reason King Shark promised that his

son should leave the shores of the island of Hawaii forever. It was

true, he did leave this island, but he visited other islands and

continued his bad habits, until one day he was really caught just as he

was turning from a man into a shark on the beach in shallow water. He

was bound and hauled up a canyon, where they built a fire from the

bamboo of the sacred grove. But the shark was so large that they had to

chop down one tree after another for his funeral pyre, until the sacred

grove had almost disappeared. This so angered the god of the forest that

he changed the variety of bamboo in this region; it is no longer

sharp-edged like other bamboo on the Islands.

CHAPTER III

THE FIVE KAMEHAMEHAS

Hawaiian myths and traditions are confused and unreliable, and we know

little real history of the "Bright Land," the "Land of Rainbows," before

the coming of Captain Cook, in 1778. We do know, however, that, in those

early days, the different tribes continually carried on a savage warfare

among themselves. Not until the latter part of the eighteenth century

did there arise a native chieftain powerful enough to subdue all the

islands under his sway and bring peace among the warring tribes. This

chief was Kamehameha I, or Kamehameha the Great, often called the

Napoleon of the Pacific. The authentic history of Hawaii really begins

with his reign. His portrait in the Executive Building in Honolulu shows

him as a stern warrior.

The Japanese, as well as the Spaniards, had long known of the existence

of islands in that part of the Pacific Ocean. Tradition tells of some

shipwrecked Spanish sailors and some Japanese who settled there at a

very early date. These Islands were, however, brought to the notice of

the civilized world for the first time by Captain Cook.

The Englishmen were received by the simple natives with awe and wonder,

Captain Cook himself was declared by the priests to be an incarnation of

Lono, god of the forest and husband of the goddess Laka, and abundant

provisions were brought to the ship as an offering to this deity. Had

the natives been even decently treated, there would have been no tragic

sequel to the story, but Cook's crew were allowed complete and

unrestrained license on shore. As it was, there was no serious trouble

during their first visit, but when they returned in a few months and

again exacted contributions the supplies were given grudgingly. The

English vessel sailed away, but was unfortunately obliged to put back

for repairs, and it was then that the fight occurred between the

foreigners and the natives in which Captain Cook met his death. It was

this famous voyager who gave the name of Sandwich Islands to the group,

in honour of his patron, Lord Sandwich. They were known by that name for

many years, but it was never the official designation, and is now seldom

used.

The discovery of the Islands by Englishmen and Americans was fraught

with evil consequences to the natives, as they brought with them new

diseases, and they also introduced intoxicating liquors, and it soon

became the custom for whaling vessels in the Pacific to call there and

make them the scene of debauchery and licentiousness. It has been said

that at that time sea captains recognized no laws, either of God or man,

west of Cape Horn. We must not fail to note, however, that even in those

early days there were a few white men who really sought the good of the

Hawaiians.

Isaac Davis and John Young were two of these men. When the crew of an

American vessel was massacred these two were spared, and they continued

to live in the Islands until their death. They were a bright contrast to

most seamen who visited Hawaii at that period. They accepted the

responsibility imposed by their training in civilization, exerting a

great influence for good, and were even advisers and teachers of King

Kamehameha I.

Captain George Vancouver, who visited the Islands three times in the

last decade of the eighteenth century under commission from the British

Government, was another white man whose work there was wholly good. He

landed the first sheep and cattle ever seen there, and induced the king

to proclaim them tabu for ten years so that they might have time to

increase, after which women were to be allowed to eat them as well as

men. He introduced some valuable plants, such as the grapevine, the

orange and the almond, and brought the people seeds of garden

vegetables. He refused them firearms. Under his direction the first

sailing vessel was built there and called the _Britannia_. Vancouver so

won over the natives by his kind treatment that the chiefs ceded the

Islands to Great Britain and raised the British flag in February, 1794.

He left them with a promise to come again and bring them teachers of

Christianity and the industries of civilization. His death, however,

prevented his return, and Great Britain never took formal possession.

Kamehameha I, who, at the time of Cook's arrival, was only a chief on

the island of Hawaii, joined in the tribal wars, conquered the other

chiefs of that island, and became king. While this conquest was in

progress, an eruption of Kilauea destroyed a large part of the opposing

army and convinced Kamehameha that Pele was on his side.

The subjugation of Maui and Oahu followed. At the great battle fought in

the Nuuanu Valley, the king of Oahu was defeated and driven with his

army over the Pali. Kamehameha was twice prevented from invading Kauai,

but some years later it was ceded to him by its ruler.

After the conquest of Oahu was completed, in 1795, it was Kamehameha's

work to build up a strong central government. According to the feudal

system that had existed in the Islands up to that time, all the land was

considered to belong to the king, who divided it among the great chiefs,

these in turn apportioning their shares among the lesser chiefs, of whom

the people held their small plots of ground. All paid tribute to those

above them in rank. Kamehameha I, in order to increase his own power and

destroy that of the chiefs, distributed their lands to them in widely

separated portions rather than in large, continuous tracts, as had been

the custom previously.

Kamehameha was elected by the chiefs as king of all the Hawaiian

Islands, and founded the dynasty called by his name, under which his

people had peace for nearly eighty years. He adroitly used the tabu to

strengthen his power, and availing himself of the wise advice of the few

benevolent foreigners whom he knew, he sought in every way to further

the best interests of his people. He has been called "one of the

notable men of the earth."

The bronze statue of Kamehameha I stands in front of the Judiciary

Building in Honolulu. The anniversary of the birthday of the great ruler

occurs in June, and is celebrated by the natives far and near. His

statue is dressed in his royal cape of bird feathers and decorated with

leis of flowers by the sons and daughters of Hawaii.

The strength of character of Kamehameha I is shown in many ways, but

especially in the stand he took in regard to liquor, which was having a

disastrous effect on his people. When he became convinced that alcoholic

drinks were injurious, he decided never to taste them again.

Before the close of his life, he made a noble effort to prevent the use

of liquor by his people. All the chiefs on the island of Hawaii were

summoned to meet in an immense grass house, which he had ordered built

at Kailua, the ancient capital, solely for this council. When they were

all assembled the King entered in his magnificent cape of mamo bird

feathers, and drawing himself up to his full height, uttered this

command:

"Return to your homes, and destroy every distillery on the island! Make

no more intoxicating liquors!"

At the death of Kamehameha I, in 1819, his son Liholiho succeeded him as

Kamehameha II. Unfortunately, he did not carry out his father's wishes.

He was like his father in nothing but name, being weak and dissipated,

and easily influenced by the unscrupulous foreigners who surrounded him.

Many changes took place in his reign, but so strong had the government

been made by his father that it survived them all. Fortunately, too, an

able woman, one of the wives of the first Kamehameha, was associated

with the King as Queen Regent.

Before the end of the year 1819 the Hawaiians had burned their idols and

abolished tabu. It was the influence of Europeans that had led to these

radical changes. Early in the nineteenth century the trade in sandalwood

sprang up, in return for which many manufactured articles were imported,

especially rum, firearms and cheap ornaments. This trade brought

increased numbers of foreigners to the Islands, and their sneers

undermined the faith of the people in their old gods without offering

them any other religion as a substitute.

In this connection, we are told that twice Kamehameha I made an effort

to learn something about Christianity. When he heard that the people of

Tahiti had embraced the new faith, he inquired of a foreigner about it,

but the man could tell him nothing. Again, just before his death, he

asked an American trader to tell him about the white man's God, but, as

a native afterward reported to the missionaries, "He no tell him." This

greatest of the Hawaiians prepared the way, but he himself died without

hearing of Christ.

The Hawaiians had now swept their house clean, and they were ready for

an entirely new set of furnishings. In a land far away beyond the

Pacific these were preparing for them, and the short reign of this

second Kamehameha was made memorable not only by the changes already

mentioned but also by the coming of the missionaries, in 1820.

Obookiah, whose real name was Opukahaia, was a young Hawaiian who

shipped as seaman on a whaler about 1817, and was taken to New Haven,

where he found people who befriended him and undertook to give him an

education. They sent him to the Foreign Mission School which had been

established at Cornwall, Connecticut, for young men from heathen lands.

Among his mates were four others from his native islands. It had been

his purpose to carry the Christian religion to his home, but he was

taken seriously ill at the school and on his death-bed he pleaded with

his new friends not to forget his country. His appeal led the first

missionaries to embark for those far-away shores. Three young Hawaiians

from the school went with them as assistants.

When the Christian teachers arrived, it is said that the captain of the

ship sent an officer ashore with the Hawaiian boys. After awhile they

returned, shouting out their wonderful news:

"Liholiho is king. The tabus are abolished. The idols are burnt. There

has been war. Now there is peace."

The missionaries received a cordial welcome from some of the natives of

high station. The former high priest met them with the words,

"I knew that the wooden images of gods carved by our own hands could not

supply our wants, but I worshiped them because it was a custom of our

fathers.... My thought has always been, there is only one great God,

dwelling in the heavens."

The chief Kalaimoku, neatly dressed in foreign clothes, boarded the

ship, accompanied by the two queen dowagers, and welcomed each of the

newcomers in turn with a warm hand clasp. One of the queens asked the

American women to make her a white dress while they were sailing along

the coast, to wear on meeting the King. When she went ashore in her new

white mother hubbard, a shout greeted her from hundreds of throats!

Because the gown was so loose that she could both run and stand in it,

the natives called it a holoku, meaning "run-stand." It became the

national dress. The queens afterward sent the missionaries sugar-cane,

bananas, cocoanuts and other foods, as a token of their pleasure.

The Americans were received kindly by the King after explaining their

mission and were allowed to remain in the Islands. They had many trials

and privations, but they were strong in their faith, and within twenty

years they had the joy of baptizing thousands of converts.

Kamehameha II, fearing the Russians--one trader had actually gone so far

as to hoist the Russian flag over some forts that he had built--visited

the United States with his queen and then went on to England to ask for

protection, which was promised them by George IV. They both died there,

in 1824, and their remains were sent home in a British man-of-war,

commanded by Lord Byron, cousin of the poet.

When Kamehameha III was made ruler, all the unprincipled white men in

Oahu immediately set to work to lead him into every form of dissipation,

but they were not to succeed with him as they had with his predecessor.

There were men of ability in that band of missionaries, and they had

great influence with him. These faithful advisers had a large share in

framing the liberal constitution which he granted.

It is of special interest to note that, the year before the constitution

was adopted, a Bill of Rights was promulgated, which set forth the

fundamental principles of government and is often called the Hawaiian

Magna Charta. An eminent writer has given us the provisions of this

document.

It asserts the right of every man to "life, limb, liberty, freedom from

oppression, the earnings of his hand, and the productions of his mind,

not however, to those who act in violation of the laws. It gave natives

for the first time the right to hold land in fee simple; before that the

King had owned all the land, and no one could buy it. In this document

it is also declared that 'protection is hereby secured to the persons of

all the people, together with their lands, their building lots and all

their property while they conform to the laws of the kingdom,' and that

laws must be enacted for the protection of subjects as well as rulers."

A commission was also formed to determine the ownership of the land. By

this commission one-third of all the land was confirmed to the King,

one-third to the chiefs, and one-third to the common people. As far as

possible the people's share was so divided that each person received the

piece of ground that he was living on. The King and many of the chiefs

turned over one-half of their share to the Government, which soon held

nearly one-third of all the landed property in the kingdom.

The first constitution was framed in 1840. About ten years later an

improved one was adopted. The legislature was to meet in two houses. The

nobles were to be chosen by the King for life, and were not to be more

than thirty in number. There were to be not less than twenty-four

representatives, who were to be elected by the people. The Supreme Court

was to be composed of three members--a chief justice and two associate

justices. Four circuit courts were to be established, and besides the

judges for these, each district was to have a judge who should settle

petty cases.

It was in 1825, early in the reign of Kamehameha III, that Kapiolani,

daughter of the high chief Keawe-mauhili, of Hilo, defied the power of

Pele. Having become a Christian, she determined to give her people an

object lesson on the powerlessness of their gods. With a retinue of

eighty persons she journeyed, most of the way on foot, one hundred miles

to the crater of Kilauea. When near the crater, she was met by the

priestess of Pele, who threatened her with death if she broke the tabus.

But Kapiolani ate the sacred _ohelo_ berries without first offering some

to the goddess, and undaunted, made her way with her followers down five

hundred feet to the "Black Ledge." There, on the very margin of the

fiery lake of Halemaumau, she addressed her followers in these ringing

words:

"Jehovah is my God. He kindled these fires.... I fear not Pele. If I

perish by the anger of Pele, then you may fear the power of Pele; but if

I trust in Jehovah, and he should save me from the wrath of Pele, then

you must fear and serve the Lord Jehovah. All the gods of Hawaii are

vain!" Then they sang a hymn of praise to Jehovah, and wended their way

back to the crater's rim in safety.

It was during the reign of Kamehameha III that the United States, France

and Great Britain recognized the independence of the Hawaiian Islands.

Before this news reached the Pacific, however, Lord George Paulet, a

British naval officer, took possession and hoisted the British flag,

because the King refused to yield to his demands. Five months later,

Admiral Thomas, in command of Great Britain's fleet in the East,

appeared at Honolulu and restored the country to the natives. In

recognition, an attractive public park was named for him. At the

thanksgiving service held on that day, the King uttered the words which

were afterward adopted as the motto of the nation, the translation of

which is: "In righteousness is the life of the land."

The independence of Hawaii was only once again threatened by a foreign

power, when a French admiral took possession of the fort and the

government buildings at Honolulu for a few days. Indeed, that

independence was not only recognized but guaranteed by France, England

and the United States.

Many of the missionaries settled in Hawaii, and their descendants have

become rich and prominent citizens. Hawaii owes much to them. So far as

lay in their power, they taught the people trades and introduced New

England ideals of government and education. Two years after they arrived

a spelling book was printed, and a few years later the printing office

sent out a newspaper in the native language. The first boarding school

for boys was started by Lorrin Andrews in 1831, on Maui, and it was not

long after that one was established for girls. The Hilo boarding school,

which came later, was the one that General Armstrong took many

suggestions from for his work for the coloured people, at Hampton

Institute in Virginia. Indeed, so eager were the Hawaiians to learn of

their new teachers that whole villages came to the mission stations,

gray-haired men and women becoming pupils, and the chiefs leading the

way.

As early as 1835, Hoapili, governor of Maui, made the rule that all

children over four years of age should attend school, and no man or

woman who was unable to read and write should hold office or receive a

license to marry. Soon after that laws were passed making attendance at

school compulsory. Any man who had a child under eight years of age, and

did not send him to school, was to suffer various penalties, among them

to forfeit the right to cut the kinds of timber that the king set apart

for the use of the people. To make this provision emphatic, the

following sentence was added: "All those kinds of timber are tabu to

those parents who send not their children to school." An anecdote of

this transition period is found in a book written by one who styled

himself simply _Haole_ (a foreigner). In the valley of Halawa, on the

island of Molokai, he was entertained at the house of the district

judge, a full-blooded Hawaiian. Among the furnishings of the house were

a table, a bedstead, some chairs, even a rocking chair. He gives an

amusing description of his evening meal in this house.

"First of all, the table was covered with a sheet just taken off the

bed. The table service consisted of a knife, fork and spoon, procured

from the foot of a long woolen stocking, a single plate, a tumbler, and

a calabash of pure water from a neighbouring spring. The eatables were

composed of fresh fish, baked in wrappers of the ti leaf, a couple of

boiled fowls, a huge dish of sweet potatoes, and another of boiled tara

(taro?).... The last thing served upon the table was something which the

family had learned to designate by the name of 'tea' in English. This

was emptied into large bowls, and was intended for the family group,

myself included....

"The cook was a strapping Kanaka, rather more than six feet in height,

and would have weighed nearly three hundred pounds. While I was the only

occupant of the table, the family had formed a circle on their mats,

where they were discussing their supper with the utmost eagerness. _He_

devoted his entire attention to me. He was a good specimen of a well

poi-fed native. I could see his frame to advantage, for his sole dress

consisted of a short woolen shirt and the malo; and his head of hair

resembled that of the pictured Medusa. When I first sat down to the

table, he took up my plate, and with a mouthful of breath, which was

really a small breeze, he blew the dust from it.

"This act occasioned me no small merriment. But when, in supplying me

with 'tea,' he took up a bowl and wiped it out with the corner of his

flannel shirt, I could refrain no longer. I laughed until my sides

fairly ached and the tears streamed down my face.... For a moment the

family were taken by surprise, and so was this presiding deity of

culinary operations. But on a second outburst from myself, they felt

reassured, and joined with me in my laughter. The cook, however, seemed

to feel that I had laughed at some one of his blunders; so he dipped the

bowl in a calabash of water, washed it out with his greasy fingers, and

again wiped it out with that same shirt lap. This was done three times,

in answer to the laughter it was impossible for me to restrain. And

when he had filled the bowl with tea, and saw that it remained untasted,

he put a large quantity of sugar into the huge tea-kettle, shook it up,

placed it at my right elbow, and told me to drink _that_!

"The evening was closed with solemn devotions. The best bed in the house

was placed at my disposal; and upon it was replaced the sheet on which I

had just before supped, and on which I slept during that night. The bed

was carefully stuffed with a soft downy substance, resembling raw silk,

but called by the natives _pulu_, and culled from the tree-fern. The

pillows were stuffed with the same material."

[Illustration: QUEEN EMMA.]

Kamehameha III was succeeded by his nephew and adopted son Kamehameha

IV. Although he had a violent temper, he had many good qualities. His

wife was Queen Emma, granddaughter of John Young, who was very English

in her tastes. It was in her honour that the King founded the Queen's

Hospital, and it was probably due to her influence that he started the

Anglican mission and made an excellent translation of the English prayer

book into the Hawaiian language. The harbour of Honolulu was enlarged by

him and other improvements were made, and the cultivation of rice was

introduced. After his death, which occurred in San Francisco, Queen Emma

made an attempt to obtain the crown, but was unsuccessful.

It was about this time, thirty years before my first visit to Hawaii,

that my father, Lieutenant Perkins of the U. S. S. _Lackawanna_, was

ordered to the Pacific, and for two years was stationed at Honolulu. He

spent much of his spare time in traveling over the Islands, even to

their remotest corners. He enjoyed visiting the ranches and joining in

the exciting though perilous occupation of driving wild cattle down from

the mountains, where one's safety depended almost wholly on skilful

horsemanship. He ascended to the great crater of Kilauea, went to every

interesting locality, studied the natives, attended their feasts and

learned their customs. These things were described in his letters, and

such a newspaper bit as the following gives a glimpse of the duties of a

naval officer.

"The whaling bark, _Daniel Wood_, of New Bedford, was wrecked on the

French Frigates Shoal, April 14th. Captain Richard and a portion of the

crew arrived at Honolulu after a passage of 450 miles in an open boat.

The U. S. S. _Lackawanna_ immediately sailed for the scene of the wreck

to rescue the remainder of the crew."

Another clipping records this amusing incident: "The Commander of the

British war vessel _Chanticleer_, at Honolulu, set his band playing

'Dixie,' alongside the United States steamer _Lackawanna_. The latter

retorted with 'Wearing of the Green.'"

While the _Lackawanna_ was at Honolulu, an event occurred which was

referred to in the discussions of Congress with regard to Hawaiian

matters in the session of 1892-1893, as illustrating the policy of our

Government. The official record of the Government affords a very

complete story of how the United States became the possessor of what is

now called Midway Island. It was first known as Brooks Island, but was

renamed by our navy department, principally on the unofficial suggestion

of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, in recognition of its

geographical position on the route from Hawaii to Japan.

The attention of Mr. Welles, then Secretary of the Navy, was called to

this island as possibly destined to prove of early importance as a

coaling station for United States vessels cruising in these waters.

Secretary Welles issued an order to Rear Admiral Thatcher, commanding

the _Lackawanna_ or some other suitable vessel to search for the island

and having found it, to take possession in the name of the United

States.

My father's letters give an account of this trip. August 4th, 1867, he

wrote:

"Just now we are sailing along quietly, although we have been

greatly startled and had a few moments of terrible anxiety. One of

the men, while furling the top-gallant sail, lost his hold and fell

overboard. Of course, falling from such a height, we all thought he

was killed. The life buoys were cut away, and the ship hove to, and

the boat sent for him, which picked him up and found him but little

hurt after all. It was such a narrow escape, we were all greatly

relieved when we got him aboard all right. Except this, we are

sailing along day after day in perfect monotony, and for two months

or more we shall not see a strange face or hear a word of news from

home. But the weather is delightful, and my health is good."

"August 24th.

"Breakers have been reported from the masthead, and I hope it is

the island we are looking for."

"August 27th.

"Yes, it proved to be the land we were seeking, and now we are

lying at anchor off Brooks Island, called after the captain who

discovered it a few years ago; and probably never before or since

has there been any one there. It is low and sandy, about six miles

long, and its inhabitants are only sea gulls and other sea birds,

seals and turtles. Never having seen human beings before, they are

not in the least afraid of us, and we can catch as many of them as

we wish. I have been fishing and caught a boatload of fish and

eleven turtles, each one of the latter weighing two hundred pounds

and over. We are going to remain here and survey the island, but

to-day it has come on to rain, and we are all cooped up on board

the ship."

"August 28th.

"Pleasant weather has come again, and I have been out hunting and

fishing. Shot seventeen curlew, hauled the seine, caught a boatload

of fish and three large turtles; hunted for shells, but could not

find any.

"We are going to have quite a ceremony and take possession of the

islands for the United States."

Captain William Reynolds, the officer in command of the _Lackawanna_,

was very proud of having been concerned in taking possession of the

first island beyond our own shores ever added to the dominion of the

United States. In his report he well describes the somewhat dramatic and

spectacular performance.

"I have the honour to report that on Wednesday, the 28th of August,

1867, in compliance with the orders of the Hon. Secretary of the Navy of

May 28th, I took formal possession of Brooks Island and reefs for the

United States. Having previously erected a suitable flagstaff I landed

on that day, accompanied by all the officers who could be spared from

the ship, with six boats armed and equipped, and under a salute of

twenty-one guns, and with three cheers, hoisted the national ensign, and

called on all hands to witness the act of taking possession in the name

of the United States.

"The ceremony of taking possession over, the howitzers and small-arm men

and marines were exercised at target-firing. Having hauled the seine and

procured an abundant supply of fish, the men cooked their dinner on

shore, and the rest of the day was spent pleasantly, picnic fashion upon

the island.... I sincerely hope that this will by no means be the last

of our insular annexations. I venture to name the only harbour at this

island after the present Hon. Secretary of the Navy, and to call its

roadstead after the present Hon. Secretary of State (Seward)."

"In 1869," writes C. S. Alden, in his life of Commodore Perkins,

"Congress appropriated $50,000 for deepening the entrance of the

harbour; the work was begun, but the amount proved insufficient for

completing the plan. One hundred miles to the west, Lieutenant-Commander

Sicard, of the U. S. S. _Saginaw_, who had the duties of inspecting and

assisting in this work, had the misfortune to wreck his ship on a reef.

The hazardous voyage of Lieutenant Talbot with three men in a small boat

sailing over 1500 miles to Kauai, Hawaiian Islands, to gain succour, and

the drowning of all but one of the men just as they reached their

destination and were pushing through the surf to make a landing, is one

of the thrilling tales of the sea. Nothing further seems to have been

done by our Government until three or four decades later, when it sought

to insure safety to navigation by establishing there a lighthouse and

buoys. After the visits of the _Lackawanna_ and the _Saginaw_, the

islands were deserted until the Pacific Commercial Cable Company placed

there a station in the San Francisco-Manila line, maintaining about

forty men. This is the intermediate station between Honolulu and

Guam."[7]

Kamehameha V was the older brother of the last King, and a man of

autocratic temper, who promulgated a new constitution that increased the

powers of the king and decreased those of the people. He was called

Prince Lot before he came to the throne. During his reign the leper

colony on Molokai was started, in an effort to stop the spread of

leprosy. As every one knows, it was here that Father Damien, the

Catholic priest, devoted his life to caring for the sufferers and

finally succumbed to the disease. The King died in 1872, the last of his

line. Just before his death, he turned to Mrs. Bishop and asked her to

become queen. She refused, thinking she could serve her people better in

some other way, and the King passed away without naming his successor.

It was suggested that either the sister of Kamehameha V or one of the

high chiefs should be placed on the throne, but Prince Lunalilo, the

nearest male relative, was elected in 1874 by the people. He was thus

the first Hawaiian monarch to be chosen by popular vote. His reign,

however, lasted little more than a year.

[Illustration: KING KALAKAUA AND STAFF.]

David Kalakaua, a high chief, was the choice of the people to succeed

Lunalilo. The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States was the great

commercial event of this reign. By this sugar and some other products

were admitted into America free of duty.

This last of all the kings sought continually to regain the authority

lost by the crown when the first constitution was granted, and his

government kept growing more arbitrary and corrupt. Finally, so much

feeling was roused that the foreign element compelled Kalakaua to

proclaim a new constitution, by which he lost the power he had

previously possessed and white men gained more control of the

government. Two years later, the "Wilcox rebellion," headed by Robert W.

Wilcox, a half-breed, was the unsuccessful attempt of the natives to

assert themselves against the whites. It was, however, promptly put

down.

Kalakaua was kind-hearted, popular, and possessed a dignity and ease of

manner that made him at home in any society, although he was dissipated

and corrupt and could be "hail fellow well met" with carousers. Captain

Lucien Young says of him in his book, "Real Hawaii":

"Kalakaua was only a high chief, in no way related to the extinct royal

family, and was reputed to be the illegitimate son of a negro cobbler,

who had emigrated to the Islands from Boston."

On the other hand, the sister of Kalakaua, Liliuokalani, who followed

him, gives the following account of their pedigree:

"My father's name was Kapaakea; my mother was Keohokalole; the latter

was one of the fifteen counselors of the King, Kamehameha III. My

great-grandfather Keawe-a-Heulu, the founder of the dynasty of the

Kamehamehas, and Keona, father of Kamehameha I, were own cousins, and my

great-grandaunt was the celebrated Queen Kapiolani, one of the first

converts to Christianity."

King Kalakaua was the author of the Hawaiian national hymn, which was

set to music by Captain Berger, leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band. It

certainly testifies to a firm belief in the "divine right of kings."

"Hawaii's very own,

Look to your sovran Lord,

Your chief that's heaven-born,

Who is your King;

"Men of Hawaii's land,

Look to your native chiefs,

Your sole, surviving lords,

The nation's pride.

"Men of Hawaiian stock,

My nation ever dear,

With loins begirt for work,

Strive with your might.

REFRAIN:

"Protector, heaven-sent,

Kamehameha great,

To vanquish every foe,

With conquering spear."

Kalakaua died in San Francisco and his body was taken home in a United

States man-of-war. His funeral was one of barbaric splendour with kahili

bearers, superb feather cloaks, and as was the custom, with bearers who

had shaved half their faces and heads.

Under the kings the Hawaiians had a coat of arms. It had on the first

and fourth quarters of the shields eight red, white and blue stripes,

which represented the eight inhabited islands. On the yellow background

of the second and third quarters were the tabu sticks--white balls with

black staffs. These were a sign of protection, as well as of tabu. In

the center of the shield is a triangular flag, the _puela_, lying

across two spears. This also was a sign of tabu and protection. The

background represents a royal mantle. At the sides are the supporters in

feather cloaks and helmets, the one on the right carrying a spear, the

one on the left a kahili, or staff used only on state occasions. Above

the shield is the crown, ornamented with twelve taro leaves. Below is

the national motto.

Notwithstanding she had married an American, John C. Dominis of

Massachusetts, Liliuokalani was even more determined than her brother

had been to restore the ancient privileges of the monarch. She revived

the old Hawaiian customs, and decided to proclaim a new constitution

giving to herself increased power. The English Minister and his

followers were on the Queen's side, but those who composed the American

mission element were distinctly the best citizens, and this element

conquered.

A Citizen's Committee of Safety was formed, then a Provisional

Government was established, and a delegation sent to Washington to

request annexation to the United States. A treaty of annexation was

drawn up, but it was not acted upon by the Senate before President

Harrison's term of office ended and President Cleveland's began. In the

meantime, Mr. Stevens, our Minister to Hawaii, had, at the request of

the Provisional Government, put the Islands under the protection of the

Government of the United States. Emissaries of the Queen told their

story to President Cleveland, who sent a special Commissioner to the

Islands to report on conditions there. After receiving his report, which

was far from impartial, the President sent an urgent request--really a

demand--to the Provisional Government to restore the Queen to power. It

was impossible for free-born Americans to accede to such a demand, and

they replied through Hon. S. B. Dole that the Government "respectfully

and unhesitatingly declines to entertain the proposition of the

President of the United States that it should surrender its authority to

the ex-Queen." Then, in 1894, despairing of immediate annexation, they

formed a republic with Mr. Dole as president.

It was proposed by some of the people that Princess Kaiulani, Mr.

Cleghorn's daughter and the Queen's niece, should be proclaimed queen,

and a Regency with Mr. Dole at its head established until the Princess

came of age. But the American element did not feel that an honest

government would be insured by this means. Kaiulani, who was being

educated in England, came here and issued an appeal to Americans, but

was unable to awaken sympathy. She died soon after.

The new Republic of Hawaii thus began its history under the leadership

of the man of whom it is said that he "throughout his life had been

identified with all that was least partizan and most upright in the

Islands." It is interesting to note that a vast amount of political

wire-pulling was guarded against in the constitution then adopted by the

provision that the President at the close of his term of six years

should be "ineligible to reëlection for the next succeeding term."

The last native uprising, said to have been instigated by the ex-Queen,

occurred in 1895, but was quickly put down. Among the few who lost their

lives at this time was Charles L. Carter, brother of Governor Carter.

Liliuokalani was tried for treason, with nearly two hundred of her

followers, but having formally renounced all claim to the Hawaiian

monarchy and taken the oath of allegiance to the republic, she was

pardoned. None of the rebels were executed, their sentence being

commuted in various ways.

At this time, trouble arose over the large immigration from Japan; the

Japanese contract labourers showed a bad spirit; a Japanese man-of-war

appeared and also a British war vessel; and it was seen that only

annexation to the United States could prevent the Islands from falling

into the hands of some foreign power. They were formally annexed to the

American republic in 1898. The Territory of Hawaii--this is now the

official title of the Islands--has the same form of government as the

other territories of the United States.[8]

As was indeed fitting, the first governor of Hawaii was Hon. S. B. Dole.

The governor and the secretary of the territory are appointed by the

President. Of the fifty senators and thirty members of the House of

Representatives about one-half are Hawaiians. There are two official

delegates to Washington, one of whom is Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole,

usually called Prince Cupid.

A series of able men have succeeded Mr. Dole, who in 1903 was appointed

to another office.[9] Hon. George R. Carter was the next governor until

his resignation in 1907. Judge Walter F. Frear held the position from

that time until 1913, when Governor Pinkham was appointed, who is still

at the head of affairs in the territory.

CHAPTER IV

SERVANT AND SOIL

As Americans have always been leaders in the Islands, so they were the

first to begin the cultivation of sugar, which is the chief occupation.

They commenced by using their own capital, and then gradually interested

capitalists from the mainland. The Reciprocity Treaty between the United

States and the Islands in 1876 gave a great impetus to the sugar

industry. Capital, particularly from this country, was invested in the

Islands, until at present crops of more than 600,000 tons are shipped

away in a year.

One of the largest sugar plantations in the world is that of the

Hawaiian Commercial Sugar Company on the island of Maui. It was Mr.

Claus Spreckles who bought crown land of the Hawaiian Princess Ruth and

by his influence with King Kalakaua secured irrigation water for this

tract at a nominal rental, then formed a stock company to carry on the

plantation. The yearly product of these miles of cane fields alone is

60,000 tons.

On Maui, Kauai and Hawaii skilfully engineered tunnels have brought down

the water needed for sugar raising. On Oahu artesian wells have reached

"the water of magic power."

We enjoyed an excursion to Judge Widemann's plantation of Waianae on

Oahu. Here we saw a sugar-cane mill and wide meadows and brakes of the

thick growth, and the whole process of the work--the crushing of the

cane into molasses, the refining into sugar--and rode on the tiny

plantation railway among the waving green stalks, while the blue sea

sparkled on one side, and bare, gaily coloured mountains rose above us

on the other.

Sugar raising in Hawaii probably furnishes the most perfect example of

scientific agriculture to be found under the flag of the United States.

"Think of always plowing two feet deep," writes a friend, "and not

having to wait for rain, but telephoning to the engineer to start the

pumps--of knowing at the end of a crop just what elements and the amount

of each have been taken from the soil--of searching the world for

parasites to destroy the insect enemies of the cane--of collecting and

recording the life history of all the insects found in countries

bordering the Pacific and all the islands within its borders, so that

when some new pest appears, its origin and characteristics will be

known--of sending men out to wherever sugar-cane is grown, in order to

study and record its diseases, and giving the planter coloured

illustrations of symptoms, so that he may know them in advance of their

arrival and be able to check the pest--of the skilful manipulation of

the soil, so that there is a constant increase in the production."

[Illustration: "THE TINY PLANTATION RAILWAY AMONG THE WAVING GREEN

STALKS."]

In harvesting the cane a path is first opened through the jungle, then

the men, armed with knives like butchers' cleavers, go in among the

dense growth to cut the stalks. After they have "stripped" a field in

this way, the cane must be sent to the mill within twenty-four hours, or

the juice will ferment.

Here the Japanese women play their part--for, among the Japanese, the

women as well as the men work on the plantations. They gather up the

stalks, which are not very heavy but are decidedly unwieldy, and if the

field is on high land take them to wooden flumes through which water is

run from the irrigation ditches. The women toss the great twelve-foot

stalks into the rapid stream which carries them down to a loading place

for cane-cars. Here the flume branches into five "fingers," at the head

of which stands a man who opens one finger after another, until the

cars standing under them are filled in turn.

Inside the cars are men who stack the cane as it tumbles in, so that

each car carries a maximum load, laid in good order for the next process

at the mill. Here, too, is an automatic "giant-hand" on an endless belt,

the "fingers" of which, as it revolves, clutch the stalks of cane like

jackstraws and pass them up to a wide belt that extracts every drop of

juice so completely that the refuse is fit only for fuel for the

furnaces. After the various processes of boiling down, evaporating,

crystallizing and drying, the raw sugar is shoveled into gunny-sacks,

which are filled to weigh exactly one hundred pounds each. Again the

women take hold, and sew up the bags. The cost of raising and marketing

sugar is from forty-five to seventy-five dollars a ton.

Japanese women who work on the sugar plantations may be seen sometimes

knee-deep in muddy-watery soil near the flumes, or again out in the

driest, hottest part of a newly plowed field. They have discarded their

usual Japanese dress for a mixed costume, consisting of a close-fitting

waist of dark, figured, Japanese cotton crêpe, a scant skirt to the

knee, khaki gaiters, and their own heavy cotton "bootees." To protect

their hair from dust and their necks from the sun, they wear a piece of

Japanese toweling, which is tied across the back of the head and hangs

down on the shoulders. On top of this is perched a cheap American sailor

hat. The effect is certainly startling. Some take their tiny babies in

bright-figured swaddling clothes with them, and put up a little shelter

tent of cloth and sticks, where the youngsters lie and sleep.

Most of the women who do agricultural work are Japanese. A few years

ago, when a ship-load of people came from Madeira, the women told the

immigration authorities that they had come to work on the plantations.

But, after a very short time, they retired from this sort of labour for

the much pleasanter and more remunerative business of making Madeira

embroidery. Among the Chinese the women rarely go out of their own homes

to work, although Oriental servants prevail all over these Islands. Some

of the younger generation of Portuguese girls go out as nursemaids in

white families, but the majority of that race make sewing and

dressmaking or "clerking" their means of support. It is surprising,

indeed, to see how few of the employees in any store are "white";

bookkeepers, clerks, etc., are usually young part-Hawaiians or

part-Chinese.

From the beginning, when sugar was ready for export, it was rarely

shipped from the Hawaiian Islands in any but American bottoms. The

American-Hawaiian Steamship Company--the largest fleet sailing under the

Stars and Stripes and numbering twenty-eight vessels--the Oceanic

Steamship Company, and the Matson Navigation Company, were all formed

largely because of the favourable contracts they were able to make for

carrying sugar, and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which plied

between California and the Far East, stopped at Honolulu because of the

profit to be made by carrying freight from the Islands. American

shipping on the Pacific, however, has always been at a disadvantage,

because foreign ships can be built more cheaply than ours and are

usually subsidized.

As if these drawbacks were not enough, during the present Congress the

Seaman's Act, somewhat modified now to be sure, has had a disastrous

effect on American shipping on the Pacific Ocean. The American boats

used to carry crews of well trained Chinamen. Under this act the

majority of the crew must be English-speaking sailors and they cannot be

procured in sufficient numbers nor can such boats generally be run with

sufficient economy to compete with foreign flags. So trans-Pacific trade

has been given over almost entirely to the Japanese, who have especially

fine passenger ships on that route to-day. As, according to our laws,

these boats are not permitted to carry passengers or freight between

American ports, the service between the Islands and the United States

has been seriously crippled with consequent increase in rates of

carriage. A resident in the Islands writes, "When the last Pacific Mail

steamer sailed from Honolulu Harbour, all flags were at half mast and

Hawaii was in mourning."

Still, the planters are cheerful. For 1916, they look forward to an

estimated production of 603,000 tons and a continuance of the present

high prices, which will enable them not only to pay good dividends but

also to install labour-saving machinery and to make other improvements,

by which they will produce sugar more cheaply when the present era of

high prices is over. The shipments of raw sugar from Hawaii for the year

ending June 30, 1915, sold for more than $51,000,000.

Next in importance to the sugar industry is the production of

pineapples. These are raised only on the higher ground. The land is as

carefully prepared as a garden, and the soil thoroughly pulverized. The

plants are set in furrows, and there are sometimes as many as twelve

thousand to the acre. They mature their fruit in about two years. When

the pineapple ripens, from the lower part of the stump suckers appear,

which bear fruit one year later. These in turn grow suckers that come

into bearing the following year. Besides these there are slips, that

spring from the upper part of the parent plant. New plants are grown not

only from suckers and slips, but also from the crowns of the fruit, and

growers consider them all about equally good. The plants almost never

produce seeds, and when found, they are used for experimental purposes

only.

There are 24,000 acres of land in the pineapple plantations of the

Islands, and most of them are on Oahu. There is never any frost, and as

there are no serious insect pests which attack the fruit the crop is a

very fine one. Nor is irrigation necessary, so that thousands of acres

unavailable for sugar have brought in millions of dollars to those who

own or rent these plantations.

[Illustration: PINEAPPLE PLANTATION, ISLAND OF OAHU.]

The fields are carefully picked over every day or two, and only

perfectly ripe fruit is gathered. Hawaiian pineapples are rich in sugar

when fully matured, but if picked green, they contain little sugar, and

gain none after they are taken from the plant. Extensive experiments

have shown that the Smooth Cayenne variety is far superior to all

others, and it is now the only one grown in the Islands. In no instance

are the fields more than a few miles from the cannery, and the fruit is

put in the tins as soon as possible after it is picked. The Hawaiian

canneries are equipped with labour-saving machinery. Aside from grading

the slices and filling the cans, all the work is done by machines. The

employees who handle the fruit wear rubber gloves with gauntlets, and

the most modern sanitary methods are observed throughout. Every night

everything in the factory is washed, steamed and scrubbed as clean as

possible.

When the fruit arrives at the cannery, it passes into a machine which

first cuts off both ends, then takes out the core and removes the rind.

It is then conveyed to another, which slices the whole pineapple in one

operation. From here it passes on a moving belt in front of a line of

workers, who select the perfect cylindrical pieces for the first grade.

From the packing table the tins go to the syrup machine, where the fruit

is covered with a syrup made of clear water and granulated sugar, thence

to the exhaust box and double sealer, where it is heated and the cover

sealed on the can. Then the can is conveyed to the cooker, where it is

submerged in boiling water from twenty to thirty-five minutes, after

which it is left in the cooling room about twelve hours, and then

stacked in the warehouse until required for shipment.

The history of this industry is interesting. Only small amounts were

canned previous to the year 1901. There has been a steady increase ever

since, with a total output in 1914 of over 2,000,000 cases from nine

canneries. Nothing like this rapid increase in production and

distribution has ever been known before in the canned-fruit trade.

California, as every one knows, is the greatest fruit-producing section

in the world, and her canned fruits are found in practically every

market, yet her average total pack, of every variety except apples, from

1901 to 1910, was only about one-third more than the pack of Hawaiian

pineapples alone in 1914. The total value of those shipped to the United

States for the year ending June 30, 1915, was nearly $6,000,000.

Besides the other important staples raised by the planters for export,

coffee and rice are produced in large quantities--over 3,000,000 pounds

of each. The coffee grown in the district of Kona is famous. The Chinese

are especially good at market gardening. The Hawaiians also plant taro

for poi, which, although now manufactured by machinery, is still their

favourite food, and is also eaten by the whites. Doctors pronounce it

most digestible and strengthening. Duke Kahanamoku, a native who has

always lived on poi, is the champion swimmer of the world. It is true

that not only poi but also the climate is favourable to our race as

well, for white boys brought up in Hawaii have proved themselves to be

strong, all those who have gone into athletics in American colleges

having made fine records.

In addition to the products of the large plantations, wool, hides and

skins from the ranches are exported to a considerable extent. The

Shipman stock ranch, near Hilo, has been carried on for more than forty

years. The Parker ranch, however, is the largest, having 18,000 head of

cattle--Herefords and Holsteins. The long pods of the algaroba tree

furnish a large part of the feed for cattle and horses. This is the

carob tree of the New Testament, the pods of which were the husks that

the Prodigal Son fed to the swine he tended. In the earlier days, guano

from the bird islands was exported, for use as a fertilizer.

While plantation life in the Islands may be monotonous for the resident,

it is full of interest for the tourist who really takes time to see it.

An effort is made by the planters to furnish recreation for their

labourers. At Waialua on Oahu a large hall has been built, where

moving-picture shows are given at intervals, political meetings are

held, and there are dances for the white colony. The latter have tennis

courts near their homes and hold tournaments, to which they invite

players from other plantations. As work is over at four o'clock--the

hours being from five to eleven in the morning and two to four in the

afternoon--the men who work in mill, store or office can play every

afternoon.

The Portuguese, Japanese and Hawaiian boys have formed a baseball team,

which represents the plantation in a league of such teams. There are

match games by this league at different places every Sunday. The

Japanese at Waialua have a theater, the occasional performances at which

are announced during the day by a man who drives through all parts of

the plantation in a hack covered with Japanese signs, beating a drum.

The native Hawaiians in country districts often present "tableaux" for

the benefit of their church or some charity fund. A friend of mine told

me she had once gone to a representation of "Adam and Eve" which would

have seemed either sacrilegious or ridiculous if done by any but these

ingenuous, grown-up children. The minister of the church played the part

of Satan, in a bright red union suit with a long tail; a large native,

in flowing white robes, with a Santa Claus beard and mask, took the part

of the Deity and banished Adam and Eve, in brown union suits the colour

of their skin, from the Garden of Eden. Other tableaux gave very vivid

portrayals of scenes from ancient days of royalty, with its attendant

pomp and ceremony, and old Hawaiian legends. One of these was about

Paahana, a young Hawaiian girl, who was afraid of the white settlers,

and ran away to the mountains, building herself a shelter of grass among

the bushes. Finally she was discovered by the white missionaries, who

tried to approach her, but she was wild with fear, and vanished from

sight into the forest. This story was told in verse, sung to the tune of

"Mauna Kea," a hula dance.

These entertainments are never complete without a dance for young and

old, to music sung and played by a quintette of native boys. Besides the

ukulele and the taro-patch, which is a large ukulele with five strings

instead of four, they use the mandolin, violin, guitar and bass-viol.

The Hawaiians, being naturally musical, have a keen sense of time and

rhythm. The Filipinos are also fond of dancing, and in the Libby,

McNiel and Libby pineapple cannery, where many of this nationality are

employed, dances are held to make them more contented with their

isolated life.

Among the plantation labourers there is never the abject poverty that is

known in the Far East for, in addition to steady wages, houses, water,

fuel and doctor's services are all provided for them. Although the

climate is semi-tropical sunstroke is unknown. The men who work around

the machinery and the boiling sugar wear as few clothes as possible, and

the women who sew up the bags of sugar as fast as they are filled, have

adopted the cool and comfortable but hideous Hawaiian garb of the

holoku. The heat from the great boilers in the mill is sometimes hard

for the white men to bear, but I have never heard of a case of

heat-prostration. As a large part of the school work must be done on

the plantations I insert the following description, given me by one of

the teachers of the school at Waialua, Oahu, the largest outside of

Honolulu.

"As the pupils are almost entirely foreign, the first grade has three

divisions, to accommodate the number who enter it until they are able to

speak enough English to be properly graded. Sometimes one finds here

children of twelve to fourteen years who have just come to Hawaii. As a

rule, they work hard to get out of the 'baby-grade,' and are quickly

promoted.

"I was the only white teacher in the school besides the principal. The

other teachers were Hawaiian, half-white and Chinese Hawaiian girls who

had gone through the Honolulu Normal School. They are good teachers,

kind and patient, and can instruct children in the same slow manner in

which they themselves learn. There was also a young Hawaiian man, a

Normal graduate, who could help in many extra ways, such as map-drawing,

chorus-leading, games, etc.

"Fifteen nationalities were represented in the various grades--Hawaiian,

Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Filipino, Spanish, Korean, Porto Rican,

and a few Scotch, English, Canadians, Germans and Americans, as well as

Russians and Italians. Besides the pure bloods there were many mixtures,

such as American-Hawaiian, Chinese-Hawaiian, Japanese-Portuguese,

German-Hawaiian, etc.

"The Japanese and Chinese were the best pupils in every way. The

Hawaiians were tractable, but stupid; Portuguese, smart but mischievous.

School hours were from nine to twelve, and from half past twelve to two.

Most of the children came from long distances, and after the plantation

school was dismissed, the Japanese children went to a Japanese school

for two hours.

"In the first grade, I taught reading, writing and 'rithmetic; also

nature-study, in simple form, story-work, folk songs and dances. These

last helped them a great deal in the new vocabulary, as they loved that

part of the day's program.

"It was interesting to note the habits of the different nationalities at

recess, especially in regard to their luncheon. The Japanese usually

were together out in the yard. They each had their little tin pail with

top and bottom section, in which they carried fish and cold rice. I

never got a very close look at it, to know how the fish was cooked, but

I could smell it afar off! They seemed very shy, and would try to hide

their lunch as I walked past. The Chinese were even shyer about their

lunch, for they never gathered together, as the other nationalities did,

but went to some secluded spot and nibbled away at an orange or

something else.

"The Portuguese usually brought long rolls of bread, which had been cut

open and a red jelly-like substance spread all along the inside. They

also had fruit, and especially the mango in its season.

"A little Japanese store nearby kept cakes and pastries, which were very

popular when the children had money, but the greatest delicacy sold

there seemed to be a rubbery substance, which looked like a piece of

resin, but could be shaved in long strips. They called it dry squid, but

it did not seem like the dry squid I've tried to masticate at native

luaus, and I never did find out just what it was.

"The schools are all supported by the territorial government, which in

turn receives the plantation taxes, so the plantations themselves do not

directly support the schools, although the children of the labourers

comprise nine-tenths of the pupils outside Honolulu.

"There is compulsory attendance until the age of fourteen, and at

Waialua a school policeman--a Hawaiian--went all over the plantations

on horseback and found out if any of the children were ill or playing

truant."

Each nationality is housed more or less by itself in small, one-story

houses built in rows, each group called a camp. The white men employed

as chemists, bookkeepers and clerks in the general store usually live in

a group near the buildings where they are employed. They are German,

Scotch, Norwegian, English and Danish. Few Americans go into this work

now, although a number did in years past start out as time-keepers and

have become managers. The Kanaka does not make a good manager, but if he

has some one to direct him he works well, and he can learn almost any

trade; of course he is at his best as a sailor, and he is such a

wonderful rider that he makes an excellent cowboy.

At Waialua there is a small hospital where the labourers are treated

free, and in at least one of the outlying camps there is a small cottage

that is used as a dispensary. The plantation doctor has charge of the

school children, vaccinating all that need it at the opening of the

school year and watching them for signs of trachoma or leprosy.

Social work on plantations has not been carried on with a central

organization as yet, and the welfare of the labourers depends on the

attitude of the managers, who all belong to the Sugar Planters'

Association. This holds yearly meetings of a week or more in Honolulu,

when managers from all the Islands talk over questions pertaining to

their interests.

The agricultural situation in the Islands has been carefully studied by

the Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry, which reports that there are no

other crops than sugar and pineapples which can be recommended as a

reliable industry for the territory. This is true for several important

reasons.

In the first place, from an agricultural point of view Hawaii is not a

tropical country, and the strictly tropical crops do not find optimum

climatic conditions. Neither has Hawaii a temperate climate, and the

staple products of the temperate zone cannot be relied upon.

The distance from the mainland markets imposes a serious handicap.

Moreover, both inter-island and inter-community transportation is

difficult and expensive, because Hawaii is a group of comparatively

small, mountainous islands with very few harbours.

It should be borne in mind, moreover, that the area of cultivated land

in Hawaii is very small, the amount reclaimable still smaller, while

the needs of a growing population must be met. This, of course, means

intensive cultivation and a high average rate of wealth production per

acre. In the ten-year period from 1900 to 1910, the population increased

24.6 per cent and the area of tillable land 3.6 per cent. The census

reports also show that Hawaii is already cultivating its land far more

intensively than the mainland states; for example, it supports

twenty-two times as many persons per acre of improved arable land as the

agricultural state of North Dakota. Clearly, the problem in Hawaii is

peculiarly difficult.

It is true, also, that practically all tropical industries demand a

plentiful supply of cheap labour. Labour in Hawaii is neither cheap nor

plentiful. In this respect, the Islands are at a disadvantage compared

with nearly all tropical countries, but much money has been spent on the

industries, and the results are certainly encouraging.

How to secure cheap labour has always been a serious question for the

planters. The Bureau of Immigration was established in 1876. When the

Reciprocity Treaty with the United States was signed, several thousand

Portuguese were sent for by the government and the planters, and many

of them have remained in the country and become good citizens. About the

year 1888, however, it was decided that the Chinese and the Japanese

should be encouraged to come, because the cost of transportation for

them was so much less. For some years the larger part of the labourers

were of these two nationalities. The Japanese are still far in excess of

all others, numbering over 93,000. After annexation, when the Congress

of the United States prohibited immigration by the yellow races, Hawaii

was obliged to seek a supply from other sources. Filipinos, of whom

there are only 8,000, are next in number to the Japanese; Portuguese,

Chinese, Spaniards, and Porto Ricans stand next.

After the expenses of the voyage were paid, the labourers did not always

keep their agreement to work, so contract labour was introduced.

Although some objections have been made to the contract system in

Hawaii, it must have proved fairly satisfactory to both parties, for in

those days a large number of labourers would sign a second contract on

the same terms, showing at least that they were well treated and paid

according to agreement.

In some cases, Chinese and Japanese labourers remained in the Islands

after their contract expired, and settled there permanently. Many of

the Chinese became merchants. The Portuguese went into fruit raising,

and the Japanese kept mostly to the coffee plantations. In those days,

the Japanese had labour unions, and they were sometimes troublesome.

Hawaii, owing to the lack of coal and iron and other minerals, can never

be a manufacturing country, hence must always depend largely upon the

United States for such goods. The Islands spend a large part of

$60,000,000 yearly for imported articles, although, since Hawaii is a

territory of the United States, goods received from the American

mainland are not classified in census returns as imports.

With the opening of the Panama Canal, the Hawaiian Islands are a

necessary coaling station between the Atlantic Coast and the Far East.

In anticipation of increased traffic, the harbours have been enlarged,

new wharves built, a floating drydock installed, the channel widened and

deepened in the harbour of Honolulu, breakwaters built at Hilo and

Kahului, modern freight- and coal-handling apparatus provided, and fuel

oil depots established.

CHAPTER V

IN AND OUT

Honolulu itself the traveler may perhaps be able to see in a day, with

American rush, while the steamer stops on the way to Japan. To take

trips on Oahu, go surf-riding, indulge in a luau, visit the plantations,

and make an excursion to the volcanoes in the other islands, you must

stay at least a few weeks, so that you may really see it all and have

time to dream of its wonderful beauties.

Honolulu is the oldest, and so by far the most attractive, town in the

Islands. Besides visits to Waikiki, the Pali, and Punchbowl, there are

many delightful excursions on the island of Oahu. The Trail and Mountain

Club has made excellent paths to the mountain tops, where you can get

superb views. The lovely falls of Kaliuwaa are especially celebrated,

while a trip to Hauula is pleasant. The coral gardens are entrancing,

and near these one can see the largest wireless station in the Islands.

In the great pineapple district, Wahiawa, there is a good hotel and

fine bass fishing, and not far away is a big military camp.

To-day the excursion to the other islands is made fairly comfortable on

the steamers of the Inter-Island Navigation Company, and one can motor

to the very brink of Kilauea. But at the time of our first visit the

journey was something to be endured, for the sake of the wonders at the

end. The story has been often told by travelers, yet it may be worth

while to recount our own experiences.

The trip certainly could not be recommended for pleasure in those days.

The tiny boat was loaded down with pigs and cattle and sickly smelling

sugar. The crossings were far worse than the English Channel, and our

wretched little steamer reeled before the winds and tossed upon the

waves. To add to our discomfort, the boat was by no means swift, and

hours were consumed between the innumerable small landing-places. When

we had the pleasure of stepping on solid earth once more, we found very

poor hotels, if you could call them by that name, and finally, we were

disappointed in the volcano itself, which was not active enough to suit

us.

[Illustration: LEPER COLONY, ISLAND OF MOLOKAI.]

At our departure from Honolulu, we were quite covered with leis by the

kind friends who gathered at the dock to see us off. Our boat plunged

almost immediately into the high seas of the channel between Oahu and

Molokai. As we passed the latter island, we had a distant view of the

leper colony, on a triangle of level land, at the foot of a precipice

three thousand feet high that effectually guards the patients from the

landward side.

At first the lepers resisted the attempt to banish them to the colony,

and their relatives, who seemed to have no fear of the disease,

concealed those who were afflicted, but this opposition decreased as the

natives learned that the lepers were to be supported in comfort by the

Government. They have a school, a library, newspapers, musical

instruments, a theater, even moving-picture shows now, I am told--in

short, everything is done to make their lives as pleasant and

comfortable as possible.

Mark Twain writes of a beautiful custom in the colony. "Would you

expect," he says, "to find in that awful leper settlement a custom

worthy of transplanting to your own country? When death sets open the

prison door of life there the band salutes the very soul with a burst of

golden music."

On this island where the natives have retained their primitive habits

and beliefs more than on the others of the group, the Poison God was

saved at the time the idols were destroyed, a hundred years ago. It was

kept here in charge of kahunas until near the end of the last century,

and it is not definitely known whether it may not even now be in

existence. This hideous image seems to have had the power to kill those

who handled it. It has been suggested that it was made of some poisonous

wood, and only the priests knew how to hold it without harm.

The boat reeled on through another rough passage to the double island of

Maui, consisting of two great mountain peaks joined by a low isthmus of

lava, which by degrees filled up the channel between the two original

islands. We made endless stops, and by means of small boats took on and

off freight, cattle, and passengers--native, Chinese and Japanese.

Our first landing was at Lahaina, once the capital of the group and the

rendezvous for all the whaling ships in the Pacific. Now it is a

dilapidated village, attractive only for its beautiful situation.

At Wailuku, at the northern end of the isthmus, was the home of "Father

Alexander," well known as one of the early missionaries. The name

Wailuku means "Water of Destruction." A great battle was fought near

here by Kamehameha the Great.

Unfortunately we were unable to see the Ditch Trail, so well described

by Jack London, or visit the famous Iao Valley, of which we had read

such glowing descriptions. The entrance to this "gulch" is by a dark,

wooded gorge that broadens out into an amphitheater surrounded by

precipices as lofty as those of the Yosemite. These cliffs are covered

with masses of trees, shrubs, and graceful, feathery ferns, which are

veiled in turn by the mists from a thousand waterfalls. At the head of

the valley stands the Needle, a natural watch-tower--of rock, but green

with a luxuriant vegetation--to which the defeated army retreated in the

battle of the Wailuku.

East Maui consists entirely of the huge extinct volcano of Haleakala,

"house built by the sun." This, the largest extinct volcano on the

surface of the globe, lifts its enormous crater, twenty miles in

circumference, to the height of ten thousand feet above the sea. Some

titanic eruption blew off the top of the mountain and scooped it out to

the depth of two thousand feet. From the bottom of this vast cavity rise

many cones--the largest a hill of seven hundred feet--and there are two

great gaps in the walls, through which lava flows once made their way

down to the plain. Here and there on the desert that forms the floor of

the crater are scattered clumps of silversword, with long leaves shining

in the sun. This plant grows only at a high altitude. Hunting for it is

like hunting for the edelweiss in Switzerland. Its nearest botanical

relative is found in the Himalaya Mountains. From the highest point of

the rim of Haleakala these plants are said to appear about the size and

brightness of silver dollars.

Glad enough we were to land at Hilo--Hawaiian for "new moon." It takes

its name from the superb crescent of the bay, two miles in length,

perhaps the most beautiful on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. At one

end of the semicircle is Cocoanut Island, crowded with glorious palms

that seem eager for the salt water, stretching their heads far out over

it, as if they would drink it up. As it is on the windward side of the

island, the trade winds bring Hilo a yearly rainfall of 150 inches, and

the result is seen in the luxuriance of the vegetation, which nearly

hides the buildings of the little city in its depths. With the bay in

front, the dense forest belt in the rear, and the towering masses of

Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the background, the situation of Hilo is

glorious in its beauty.

[Illustration: SILVERSWORD IN BLOOM, IN THE CRATER OF HALEAKALA.]

On the thirty-mile trail to the crater we passed first between the

brakes of cane plantations, then through a fine tropical forest. Among

the trees we could see many gay and beautiful flowers, curious fruits

and enormous tree ferns, while in the interior were lovely glades and

the little bungalows of the coffee planters. But the island was only

just being developed, so there were numbers of ranches in the first

stages of raw newness.

A search through the forests on some of the islands would disclose the

beautifully coloured landshells. These exquisite little creatures grow

on the leaves of the trees. Many of the native birds have become

extinct; there were originally seventy varieties. Game birds, however,

have been introduced from America and China, and from other countries

both north and south, including wild turkeys, quail, pheasants and

ducks.

We arrived at the crater late at night, to find only a miserable hotel

with a drunken proprietor. (Liars had told us it was good.) We were

forced to pass the night there, but stayed the next day only long enough

to visit the crater.

Kilauea was for us a great disappointment. It is not imposing in its

situation, lying low on the gradual slope of Mauna Loa. We had been

thrilled by pictures of the great pit of Halemaumau, the "house of

everlasting fire."[10] We had read of fountains of fire thrown a

thousand feet into the air, of great fissures from which burst clouds of

deadly sulphurous vapours, of indescribable terrors as huge billows of

glowing lava surged against the rim of the pit, of changing colours,

marvelous beauty, of ropes and serpents of cooling rock in a myriad

writhing and contorted shapes, of raging floods pouring down to the

plain in rivers of fire from one-half to two miles in width. But alas!

none of these wonders were for us. We saw only a far-stretching lake of

cold, black lava, over which we could walk for miles, as safe as if we

were at home. Out of a pit in the center rose a column of white

vapour--which did not even smell infernal. Pele was sleeping.

We had three days to wait in Hilo until our steamer should be ready to

return to Honolulu. The hotel was a funny little one, near the sea, but

we were fairly comfortable, and amused ourselves in various ways. For

one thing, we tried several of the delicious tropical fruits that were

to be had here--water-lemons, mangoes, papayas, mountain apples and

guavas. We went on a picnic, and some one was kind enough to lend me a

riding habit and a pony that had won some races. I rode astride, in

native fashion. This was my first but by no means my last experience of

this most natural and comfortable mode of riding. Then I had an old

native woman to _lomi-lomi_ me--Hawaiian for massage--as I was very lame

from my long rides, and I was as much amused by her as benefited by her

treatment.

[Illustration: FIRE HOLE, KILAUEA.]

We decided this was our opportunity to see a hula, and asked the

coachman at the hotel to make arrangements for us at a native house. As

part of the preparations, he gave the performers some wine, so the dance

was in full swing when we arrived. They had made leis, which they put on

us and also on themselves. A fat but good looking native woman in a

holoku danced, while some others played. Another pretty native woman

said she was dying to dance, but her husband, a white man, was not

willing, and the last time she did it he beat her, so she did not dare

to try again. It was a strange scene--the native house, the dim lights,

and the wild, suggestive dance.

The trip back to Honolulu, though only two hundred miles in length,

occupied two nights and a day of rough and tumble sailing, after which

we were happy to get to our bungalow and Chinaman once more.

Now, the Inter-Island boats leave Honolulu twice a week for Hilo and

once a week for Kona and Kau, on the lee side of the island. It is quite

a different trip from that in the old days. On the way to Hilo the first

landing is usually at Kawaihae, an insignificant village, of no interest

except for the great heiau of Kamehameha I, the last heathen temple

erected in the Islands, dating from 1791. It is over two hundred feet

long and one hundred feet wide, and the walls are twelve feet thick at

the base. When this temple was dedicated to the favourite war-god of the

King, besides vast quantities of fruit and great numbers of hogs and

dogs, eleven human beings were sacrificed on the altar.

Hilo is to-day a modern city of 10,000 people, and the shipping point

for all the sugar raised on the windward side of the island. A

breakwater now in process of construction will make its harbour a

perfectly safe anchorage for merchant ships.

One may make the entire circuit of the island by motor from Hilo. On a

branch road from the highway to Kilauea is Green Lake, an emerald-tinted

sheet of water occupying an old crater. In the forest surrounding this

lake the rare pink begonia, an exquisite plant, used to grow, but I am

told by Mr. Castle it has become extinct.

Continuing to the southwest, the road passes through the district of Kau

to Kona. Here, indeed, is the "Paradise of the Pacific." Protected from

the trade winds by the huge mountain masses of Mauna Loa and Hualalai,

it enjoys mild breezes from the west, which blow in from the sea all day

long but give place at sunset to a wind from the mountain that cools the

night. The Hawaiians have a saying that in Kona "people never die; they

dry up and blow away." Daily showers toward sunset and at night keep the

vegetation ever fresh and green, and make this a rich agricultural

region.

Honaunau, in Kona, contains the largest of the "cities of refuge," in

the walls of which are stones weighing several tons raised as high as

six feet from the ground. Within these massive walls were three large

heiaus, also houses for the priests and refugees. The gates were always

open, and the fugitive who had crossed the threshold was absolutely

safe. Old men, women, little children, defeated soldiers, all were

received here, and when once the great gods had taken them under their

protection, they were safe even, when they returned to their homes.

It was on the coast of Kona, at Kaawaloa, that Captain Cook was killed

by the natives. A monument has been erected there, which bears this

inscription: "In Memory of the Great Circumnavigator Captain James Cook,

R. N., who discovered these islands on the 18th of January, A. D. 1778,

and fell near this spot on the 14th of February, A. D. 1779. This

monument was erected in November, A. D. 1874, by some of his fellow

countrymen."

At Kailua, a seashore village further north, is the old palace of the

kings of the islands. This is far from imposing in its appearance. At

this place one may watch a primitive method of shipping cattle. With

their horns tied to the side of a rowboat, the poor creatures are

dragged through the water to the steamer, then are hoisted on board by

pulleys.

The road passes next through the Kohala district, in which the town of

that name is of interest as the birthplace of Kamehameha the Great. The

Kohala ditch, twenty-five miles long, brings water from the mountains to

the sugar plantations, fifteen miles of the way through tunnels. One may

leave the main road here and take a horseback ride along this ditch,

from which one can enjoy the magnificent scenery of the Waipio and

Waimanu valleys, enormous "gulches," separated by sheer precipices

hundreds of feet in height.

[Illustration: ON THE SHORES OF KAUAI, THE "GARDEN ISLAND."]

The trip to Kauai, the "Garden Island," from Honolulu, requires but a

single night, but is a rough passage. At Waimea Captain Cook made his

first landing on the Islands. Here, too, is the ruined fort built by a

Russian trader, and over which the Russian flag was raised.

The trip through the Waimea Gulch, which is called a miniature Grand

Canyon of the Colorado, rewards the traveler with magnificent scenery.

At the deepest part the cliffs are 3,000 feet high and the valley is a

mile in width. It is said that "in the decomposing rocks the colours are

as vivid as though volcanic fires were still at work."

On the shore, at the extreme western point of the island, are the

Barking Sands, a row of sand dunes. "The wind on the sands makes them

rustle like silk; to slide down them produces a sound like thunder; to

stamp on them makes them cry out in different cadences." Not far away is

an old bathing beach, where a bath was supposed to bring good luck.

At Hanalei River is one of the most ancient of the deep-water fish

ponds. According to an old tradition, this was built in a single night

by Menehunes, a mythical race of dwarfs, who were noted for their

industry and mechanical skill and their feats of engineering.

Everywhere one is struck by the preponderance of Japanese among the

inhabitants. Since this great war broke out, Japan has taken from

Germany the Ladrone Islands, just north of Guam, on the way to the

Philippines. She has also taken the Marshall Islands, which bring her

outposts fifteen hundred miles nearer to the Pacific coast of America.

If we are inclined to be a bit pessimistic over the future fate of

Hawaii, perhaps a piece of recent news from Nippon may encourage us.

Japan has just passed a law permitting Japanese to become American

citizens. As nearly half the present inhabitants of the Islands are

Japanese and 4,000 Japanese children are born there in a year, this is

an interesting consideration when difficulties between Japan and America

are talked of. The Japanese-American Citizens' Association was organized

by a few Japanese who are citizens by right of birth, and has grown to a

membership of more than fifteen hundred. It takes an interest in

municipal affairs, discusses the questions of the day, and teaches young

Hawaiian-born Japanese the principles and duties of good citizenship.

Rev. S. Sokabe, of Honolulu, gives its members the following advice:

"Hawaiian-born Japanese have a great mission to-day. The Japanese of

Hawaii must become the pacificators should trouble come between Japan

and America.... You owe it to yourselves to do this. Learn to be good

American citizens, and then you will be able to help in case of trouble.

You can do more to keep peace than ambassadors and ministers.... If

trouble should come with Japan, you must remember that you are the sons

of the President, not the sons of the Emperor."

Under the old Japanese law Japanese born in Hawaii were still subjects

of Japan. Under the law lately enacted by the Diet and House of Peers of

Japan, which went into effect June 1, 1916, all Japanese born in a

foreign country have the right at the age of fifteen to decide whether

they will become subjects of Japan or of the country of their birth;

they must, however, first get the consent of their parents before giving

up their citizenship in Japan.

Patriotic Americans should no longer think of Hawaii as she was eighteen

years ago at the time of annexation. Then the Japanese labourer on the

sugar plantations was an alien and un-American. Now he is a factor and

his children a greater factor in the American civilization of the

Pacific!

Moreover, to show how American and patriotic most of the islanders are,

I give an account of the celebration of Washington's Birthday, when a

splendid parade took place. It included the military and naval forces of

the Islands, as well as Hawaiians, Chinese and Japanese--all helping to

make it a success.

The native police led the procession on horseback. In quick succession

the troops of the cavalry rode by, saluting the Governor as they passed

the reviewing stand. The First Field Artillery followed, with their

guns. Then the "Dough Boys"--as the infantry men are called--companies

from the Second and the Twentieth United States Infantry; after these

came the bluejackets from the four United States warships lying in the

harbour, with their field pieces, each manned by a gun crew; then the

marines and the Red Cross brigade. The cadets of the school for young

Hawaiians and the National Guard of Hawaii presented a fine military

appearance.

One of King Kalakaua's descendants, Prince Kuhio, and his brother's son,

little Prince Kalakaua, were among the leaders; also the so-called

Island Princesses, all on horseback. They were chosen to represent the

five large islands, and had escorts of young girls on horseback dressed

in the pau, followed by some lively cowboys on ponies.

Then came the floats, from which confetti were thrown. One float

represented an elaborate tableau of a battle between the new Chinese

republic and the old Manchu dynasty. Some took the part of the new army

with their modern uniforms, and others in the old costumes lay very

realistically dead behind their guns.

As evening came on the Japanese people began to assemble in the park

down in the Oriental quarter, and from there marched to the palace

grounds, then past the four American battleships at the docks, where

they gave their _banzai_ for the sailors, and were given in return a

hearty American "three cheers," showing the good feeling between the two

countries.

In view of the strategic value of the Islands, which, for more than

fifty years, American naval officers have endeavoured to impress upon

our Government, it is pleasant to learn of the loyalty and whole-hearted

Americanism of the people of Hawaii. If Oahu, Guam and the Panama Canal

are well fortified and sufficient numbers of troops and warships are

stationed at these posts they will protect our Pacific coast better

than any number of harbour defenses.

And now, with the banzai of these newest Americans ringing in our ears,

we must say our "_Aloha_," to these dream Islands, almost too perfect to

be real. We say farewell, but the Spell of Hawaii will always be upon

us.

[Illustration: PHILIPPINE ISLANDS]

THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER I

MANILA AS WE FOUND IT

High on the bridge of the Pacific Mail Steamer _Siberia_ we stood as we

passed through the Boca Chica--the narrow channel--into the historic

waters of Manila Bay. On one side was the mountainous island of

Corregidor, rising steeply out of the sea and masking in its tropic

growth many batteries and guns, on the other was the splendid mountain,

Mariveles, and in the distance fine ranges rising from the sparkling

ocean. Far away on the horizon, across the huge bay, lay Manila, the

capital of the Philippine Islands.

Three weeks before we had left Hawaii, two days later we had steamed by

Midway Island. Then we passed a few days in Japan, and coasted along the

superb island of Formosa, rightly named "the beautiful"--where great

mountains dipped down into the still sea--and now we were entering the

Philippines, the real objective point of the official party--there were

eight of us--in which we were so fortunate as to be included. We were

at last going to see the interesting results of Spanish rule for three

centuries, upon which were being grafted all the energy and scientific

and social knowledge of the twentieth-century American.

Although both Hawaii and the Philippines are under American rule, they

are like different worlds. The Land of the Palm and Pine is a much

bigger problem for the United States than Hawaii. The latter is nearer

home, a smaller group of islands, and is quite Americanized. It is the

commercial hub of the Pacific, an important coaling station, an outlying

protection for the California coast. The natives are of Polynesian

extraction and American education; they are quite unlike the Filipinos

in character, who are Malaysian and have had centuries of Spanish

influence. The Filipinos clamour for independence, the Moros and the

wild tribes must be carefully handled, while the Hawaiian is contented

with his lot. Besides the necessity of maintaining an army in the

Philippines so far from home, one hundred and one other difficulties are

to be considered. With these facts in mind, we looked forward to

interesting experiences in the Islands, and we were not disappointed.

[Illustration: GOVERNOR GENERAL CAMERON FORBES.]

As we approached Manila, some small scout boats, all flag bedecked,

came out and joined us, and fell in behind in procession, then larger

boats, one bringing the excellent Constabulary Band, which played gaily.

Another, which had officials on board, exchanged greetings with us

across the water, and others with unofficial people added their welcome.

Quarantine was made easy, and all difficulties with customs officials

were spared us. When we reached the dock it was massed with the people

who had landed from the boats and with crowds from the town.

At once Governor General Cameron Forbes came on board to greet the

Secretary of War, and then followed a reception, the guests ranging from

the apostolic delegate in his robes, the consular officials and insular

officers, and the army and navy in spotless gold-braided uniforms, to

the leading citizens, very intelligent looking and well mannered, and

members of the Assembly. The dock was lined with troops, who paid the

military honours.

After the reception on shipboard the Secretary and Mrs. Dickinson and

the official members of the party were whirled off in autos, with a

squadron of cavalry clattering along as escort. Another motor was

waiting for us, and we soon joined the procession as it moved to the

palace.

We were much interested in the sights in the streets. There were

numbers of _carromatos_, little covered two-wheeled carriages, drawn by

stocky Filipino ponies. The streets in this part of the town are wide,

and the houses have overhanging balconies, in Spanish style. In honour

of the Secretary, the buildings were draped with flags. Near the wharf

the land had lately been filled in, and great docks were in

construction. There was a new boulevard near the old Luneta, and an

avenue named after President Taft, besides a big hotel and a hospital

that had then just been finished. The harbour was filled with vessels,

electric cars were running, and autos were to be seen, so at first it

all looked quite up to date, until you met a carabao slowly swaying down

the street, hitched to a two-wheeled cart, with a brown boy in red

trousers, _piña_ shirt and a big straw hat sitting on his back--"carry

boy," as Secretary Dickinson named the animal. The "carry boys" do not

like white people, and sometimes charge them, stamping and goring them

with their horns, but a small Filipino boy seems to have perfect control

of them, and if they are allowed occasionally to wade in a puddle, which

cools them off, they do not "go _loco_," or crazy.

It was in the palace of Malacañan, or Government House, as it is

sometimes called, that Secretary and Mrs. Dickinson and ourselves

stayed with the Governor General. This is a large, rambling structure in

a garden by the Pasig River. Under the porte-cochère we entered a stone

hall, off which were offices, then went up a long flight of stairs to a

big hall looking into a court. This hall was hung with oil paintings of

Spanish governors, quite well done by native artists, and in the center

stood a huge one-piece table of superb _nara_ wood, covered with

gleaming head-axes and spears, _bolos_, _krisses_, _campilans_, and

_lantankas_, used by the wild tribes and Moros.

Our rooms were large and empty, as was the entire palace--indeed, so are

all the houses on account of the heat. The polished floors, too, are

made of huge planks, sometimes of such valuable tropical woods as

rosewood and mahogany, and are left bare. It took a little time to

accustom ourselves to the hard beds with rattan bottoms, covered only by

two sheets. They were carved and four-posted, and draped with mosquito

netting. Two little brown lizards squeaked at us in a friendly manner,

and crept down the walls, out of curiosity, no doubt, little ants kept

busily crawling across the room in a line, and the mosquitoes that hid

in my clothes in the rack during the daytime buzzed about at night. The

heat was great, notwithstanding the electric fan, but the sliding

screens that formed the sides of the room gave us some relief. These

shutters are like Japanese _shoji_, made of small panes of an opalescent

shell to soften the intensity of tropic sunlight, with green slit bamboo

shades pulled halfway down.

When I used to write or read I sat on my rattan bed under the mosquito

netting; there I could look out of the parted sides of the house to the

red hibiscus border of the garden stretching along the narrow Pasig.

Boatmen, in conical straw hats, perched at the ends of their _bancas_,

paddled the hollowed-out logs rapidly through the water, or floated idly

by, smoking their cigarettes; these boats were loaded to the gunwale

with green grasses, and had canopies of matted straw. Launches, too,

came chugging past, towing the big high poops covered with

straw-screened _cascos_. Over beyond the river was a flat all in a green

tangle, with the thatched _nipa_ houses on their stilts. For the palace

stands outside the more thickly settled parts of the city, which in turn

surround the walled town.

[Illustration: _The Pasig River_]

Manila to-day is a curious mixture of native _nipa_ shacks and old

Spanish churches and forts with the up-to-date American buildings and

improvements. There are the different quarters, as in all cities of

the Orient--Chinese, native and so on--and each has its own distinctive

sights. The street smells, which are never lacking in a city, reminded

us of India.

The walled city has picturesque gates breaking through the old gray

battlements--the massive wall was begun in 1590--and ancient sentry

houses at the corners, while behind rise the white balconies of old

convents and monasteries, and buildings now used for government

purposes, and towers of churches. The old moats have been filled up for

sanitary reasons and are being made into wide sweeps of lawn and flower

gardens, and the famous Malecon, the drive beneath the city walls, which

was once upon the sea front, has been removed too far inland by the

filling of the harbour to retain its old charm.

"Intramuros" (within the walls) more than half the land belongs to the

Church, and church buildings abound. These are really inferior, compared

with those we saw in Mexico, but some of them are very old. The

Augustinian Church, finished in 1605, has enormously thick walls and a

stone crypt of marvelous strength.

In the center of the town is Plaza McKinley, but the main business

street is the narrow Escolta, made to look still narrower by the

overhanging second stories of the buildings.

We visited the botanical gardens, a shaded park with winding paths

beneath acacias and mango trees. We drove, too, through the narrow

streets of the suburb of San Miguel, where we looked into tangled

gardens of tropical plants, behind which were houses with broad verandas

and wide-opening sides, covered by a wonderful screen of a sort of mauve

morning glory, which blooms, however, all day long.

The native houses are built of bamboo with braided grass walls and

thatched roofs, and are raised on stilts because of the rainy season. We

went to order some embroidery one day of a Tagalog woman. Climbing a

ladder into a small house, we saw the whole family sitting on the floor,

working over a long frame. In some of these shacks they have a small

room for visitors, with chairs and a table, and cheap prints of the

Virgin on the walls. Under the house are kept usually a pig and a pony.

One woman was very successful--she not only had waist patterns to show

and to sell, but had a standing order from Marshall Field, in Chicago.

We also visited a still more prosperous embroidery house, built of

stucco, with a courtyard. These people were Spanish _mestizos_.

A visit to the cigarette factory to which we were taken by Mr. Legarda

showed us one of the characteristic industries of the city and gave us

an idea of the deftness and quickness of those who are employed in this

work. The little women who pack the cigarettes can pick up a number of

them and tell in a twinkle by the feeling just how many they hold, and

the cigar wrappers work with greatest rapidity and sureness and make a

perfect product. It was all very clean and fresh, with hundreds of

employees in the large, airy rooms. A band played as we went through the

building, and we had a generous luncheon and received innumerable

presents from the managers.

Opportunity was given us for sundry little exploring trips into the

suburbs of Manila.[11] We rode on horseback, in company with Secretary

Dickinson, Governor Forbes and General Edwards, among little native

shacks, through overgrown lanes beyond the city, and along the beach,

where we saw fishermen's huts and men mending their nets, to the Polo

Club. The Governor, who was most generous in giving money of his own to

benefit the Islands, not only built the clubhouse and laid out the field

at his own expense, but even imported Arabian horses and good Western

ponies. This club is a fine thing to keep army officers in good

condition and give them exercise and amusement, as well as to bring good

horses into the Islands. The clubhouse, of plaited grasses, bamboo and

wood, is on the edge of the beach, from which one can see the beautiful

sunsets across the bay and catch the faint line of the mountains in the

distance. It all seemed very far-away and tropical and enchanting.

The English-speaking residents of Manila have various other clubs, among

which the Army and Navy, the English, and the University are perhaps the

most important. The Officers' Club, at Fort McKinley (seven miles from

Manila) has a superb situation, commanding a fine view of the mountains.

As we landed in Manila early Sunday morning, we were in time for service

in the Episcopal cathedral, which had just been built. This is a

handsome building in the Spanish style, large and airy, with an

effective altar. It was erected by an American friend of Bishop Brent,

the Episcopal bishop, who has done fine work in the Islands. According

to a story that is related of this good man, he made a journey at one

time into the interior of Luzon, where he found the natives sadly in

need of instruction in ways of personal cleanliness. As soon as he

reached the mail service again, he wrote to America for a ton of soap,

which was duly shipped to him and used for the purification of the

aborigines.

I was glad to visit also Bishop Brent's orphan school, consisting

principally of American-mestizo children. The native women, when

deserted by their white lovers, generally marry natives, who often

ill-treat these half-white children, and sometimes sell them as slaves.

Miss Sibley, of Detroit, was in charge of this school, which was in a

big, comfortable house near the native shacks on the edge of the town,

and had twelve pupils at that time.

A convent of Spanish nuns on a small island in the river, interested me

greatly. It was then under the supervision of the government, for it was

at that time not only a convent but also a poorhouse, a school for

orphans, an asylum for insane men and women, and a reformatory for bad

boys. The embroidery done at the convent was better than that made by

the natives in their houses, as the thread used was finer. The nuns

charged more than the natives, but they would also cut and sew, thus

finishing the garments. Articles embroidered by native women were never

made up by them, but had to be taken to a Chinese tailor.

The linen must first be bought, however, so I tried to do a little

shopping in the city, but found it very unsatisfactory. The shops are

poor, and, as one traveler has said, you can get nothing you want in

them, but plenty of things you don't want, for which you can pay a very

high price.

One day I was taken to a cockpit, where a cockfight was to come off.

This is one of the characteristic amusements of the Filipinos, which

they have engaged in since the year 1500. It is so popular that it would

be difficult to put a stop to it all at once, but it has been restricted

by the government to Sundays and legal holidays, which is something of a

victory. (They are also passionately fond of horse racing, in regard to

which other restrictions have been made.) Outside, beggars, old and

blind, were crawling over the ground; natives strolled around, petting

their birds, which they carried under their arms; and vendors with dirty

trays of sweetmeats wandered about. We bought our tickets and passed

into the rickety amphitheater.

Cocks were crowing, and such a howling as went on, the audience all

looking toward us as we entered. It seemed as if they were angry with us

for stepping into the arena, and yet there was no other way to reach the

seats. Our guides pointed to a shaky ladder that led into a gallery, but

we preferred to sit far back in the chairs about the pit. There were

natives, Chinese, and mestizos present. We soon discovered that they

were not angry with us, but we had entered at a moment when the betting

was going on, and the cocks in the ring were so popular that there was

great excitement.

Each cock was allowed to peck the neck of the other and get a taste of

blood, while they were still held under their owners' arms. The fighting

cocks did not look quite like ours. They were armed for the fray with

sharp "slashers" attached to their spurs. When the betting had subsided

the cocks were left to themselves in the ring, and they generally went

for each other at once. What a hopping and scuttling! Feathers flew, the

crowd cheered, and the cocks went at each other again and again until

they were hurt or killed. The referee then decided upon the victor.

Sometimes the cocks did not seem to interest the crowd, and then their

owners would take them out of the ring before fighting; at times the

cocks refused to fight. It was not so exciting as I had expected, and

when we considered that the birds were to be eaten anyway, it did not

seem so cruel and terrible as I thought it would.

Speaking of cocks being eaten, the principal foods of the Filipinos are

fowls and eggs, as well as rice, fish and carabao meat, but as the

"carry-boys" are good workers they are not often eaten. Pigs are kept by

the Filipinos, and are put on a raised platform for about six weeks

before killing, so as to keep them clean and fatten them with good food.

Salads, crawfish and trout, as well as cocoanut milk, red wine and wild

coffee, are among the things they live on. Army people in the Islands

often have, in addition, wild deer and wild boar which are shot by the

American officers, besides excellent game birds, such as the minor

bustard, jungle fowl, wild chicken, quail, snipe and duck.

[Illustration: MALACAÑAN PALACE.]

I was asked to receive with the Secretary and Mrs. Dickinson and General

and Mrs. Edwards, at the Governor General's reception at Malacañan,

where we stood in line and shook hands with some seventeen hundred

persons. It was a remarkable scene. The palace, which opens up

handsomely, and the terrace overhanging the river, were outlined by a

myriad electric lights, while launches came and went with guests, and

the Philippine Constabulary Band played in the interior court. The papal

delegate was there in his canonicals, with his accompanying monsignors,

and barefooted friars in cowls. There were foreign consuls in their

uniforms, and many Filipina women, with pretty manners and dainty ways,

some in their native dress, which is so quaint and gaily coloured.

Insurrecto generals came, too, who looked like young boys, and members

of the high courts, very wise and dignified.

After most of the guests had arrived, there was a _rigodon_ of honour,

in which all took part. The rigodon is the dance of the Filipinos, and

of so much importance to them that it was considered essential that the

Secretary and his party should be able to join in it. Accordingly, we

had all practised it on the ship before reaching Manila. It is said that

ex-President Taft won much of his way into the hearts of these island

people by his skill and evident delight in this dance, which is

something like a graceful and dignified quadrille, with much movement

and turning.

To show that traveling in an official party is not "all play and no

work," I may just note the program carried out by the men on the day

following this reception. Rising at six o'clock and taking an early

breakfast, they went on board the commanding general's yacht and cruised

across Manila Bay to visit the new defenses on the island of Corregidor,

which rises a sheer five hundred feet out of the water. For hours they

moved from one place to another in the heat, inspecting huge guns and

mortars and barracks and storehouses, all hidden away so as not to be

seen from the sea, although great gashes in the cliffs showed where the

trolley roads and the inclined planes ran. It is really the key to our

possessions in the Far East. Thousands of men were working like ants all

over the place. It was two o'clock before the party reached the tip-top,

where they had a stand-up luncheon at the quarters of the commanding

officer. Then they came back to the yacht, and fairly tumbled down just

wherever they happened to be for a siesta. They were then taken to

Cavite, ten miles away, which is one of the two naval stations. There

they landed again and visited the picturesque old Spanish fortifications

and the quarters.

[Illustration: MRS. ANDERSON IN FILIPINA COSTUME.]

A _baile_, or ball, was given in honour of the Secretary by the

Philippine Assembly, at their official building, where all the ladies of

our party wore the Filipina dress. This is ordinarily made of piña

cloth, a cheap, gauzy material, manufactured from pineapple fiber. The

waist, called _camisa_, is made with winglike sleeves and a stiff

kerchief-like collar, named _panuela_. The skirt may be of any material,

quite often a handsome brocade, and among the Tagalogs a black silk

open-work apron finishes the costume. The white suits and uniforms of

the men and the bright-coloured dresses made this ball a gay and lively

scene. The band played incessantly, and after the Secretary and Mrs.

Dickinson had stopped receiving at the head of the stairs, there was a

rigodon, which we all danced in as stately a manner as we could. But my

most vivid recollection of the ball is of the heat and the pink

lemonade, which poisoned a hundred people and made me deadly ill all

that night.

The Governor General gave a big dinner for the Secretary of War at the

palace one evening. We assisted also at the opening of the new

theater--which is called the finest in the Far East--at which Marshall

Darrach gave recitations from Shakespeare. I must not forget the gala

performance at the new theater, too, which was arranged by the society

people of the city. All the performers were amateurs, so we rather

dreaded the evening, which promised to be interminable, but everything

was so good that the time passed quickly. The little ladies sang quite

acceptably, and played the violin and the piano; and a lot of tiny tots,

children of the best people, gave an amusing vaudeville that really was

exceedingly funny and was much applauded. We could hardly believe that

it was all amateur.

The Government Dormitory for Girls, which we visited, I found most

interesting. There were one hundred and fifty, eight sleeping in each

room. These girls came from different provinces all over the Islands. As

there are so many distinct dialects, some of them could understand one

another only in English, and no other language is allowed to be spoken.

One of the girls made a speech in English welcoming the Secretary and

did it extremely well. Having learned, among other things, to cook, they

gave us delicious tea and cakes and candies on a half-open veranda among

the vines and Japanese lanterns. Some were taking the nurses' course,

which seemed to be the most popular. These pretty girls danced for us in

their stiff, bright-coloured costumes, swaying and waving their hands,

and turning and twirling in their languid but dignified manner. It

appeared to be a mixture of a Spanish and a native dance, and was

altogether quite charming.

A morning with Mr. Worcester at the Bureau of Science was most

delightful. This bureau is so much more than a museum of scientific

specimens that I cannot begin to do justice to it in a single paragraph.

It was started at first as a Bureau of Government Laboratories in charge

of the chemical and biological work of the government, the departments

of zoölogical and botanical research were subsequently added, and

finally the Bureau of Ethnology and the Bureau of Mines were

incorporated with it. Not only were all these departments coördinated

under one head, preventing overlapping and securing economy and

efficiency of administration, but this work was correlated with that of

the Philippine General Hospital and the College of Medicine and Surgery.

When this comprehensive plan was formed all the scientific work of the

government was carried on in "a hot little shack," and the scheme was

commonly referred to as "Worcester's Dream," but at the time of our

visit the dream had come true. The departments were manned by thoroughly

trained men from the States, and the Bureau of Science was one of the

world's greatest scientific institutions.

The Philippine Bureau of Science "is now dead." When the Democratic

Administration took charge it was announced that all theoretical

departments, such as ethnology, botany, ornithology, photography and

entomology (!) were to be "reduced or eliminated." It was afterward made

plain that all work which was considered practical would be continued,

but the mischief had been done, the men who made the institution had

left, and under present conditions it is impossible to secure others who

are equally competent in their place. Our only consolation is to be

derived, as Mr. Worcester himself says, "from contemplating the fact

that pendulums swing."

Though so recently established, the museum contained in 1910 a wonderful

exhibit of the plants and animals of the Islands. We took a peep into

the butterfly room, where we admired some rare and lovely ones with a

feathery velvet sheen the colour of the sea. We saw also the huge brown

Atlas moth touched with coral, like a cashmere shawl, with eyes of

mother-of-pearl on his wings. We noticed that the females were larger

than the males, and even those of the same variety often differed

greatly in colour. In one case a female was big, and brown and violet

in colour, while her mate was small, and blue and yellow.

In the next room were beetles, some of which were like the matrix of

turquoise, and others had shimmering, changeable shades of green and

bronze. There were beetles like small turtles, and long, horned beetles

like miniature carabaos.

Afterward we visited the birds. Bright-coloured sun birds, with long

beaks, which feed on the honey of flowers; clever tailor birds, small

and brown, with green heads and gray breasts, which sew leaves together

with vegetable fiber to make their nests; birds of whose nests the

Chinese make their famous soup, and the blue kingfishers, of whose

brilliant feathers these same Chinese make jewelry; fire-breasted birds,

too, and five-coloured birds. There were birds that build their nest

four feet or more under the ground, and hornbills, that wall up their

wives in holes in the trees while they are hatching their eggs, the

males bringing them food and dropping it through a small opening. There,

too, I saw the fairy bluebird.

Near by, we visited an orchid garden, and passed under gates and bamboo

trellises dripping with every kind of orchid. The Philippines are the

paradise of these remarkable plants, and many are the adventures that

collectors of them have had in the interior of these Islands.

Then we passed into the Jesuit chapel and museum. We were greeted at the

door by several black-robed priests, who smiled and bowed and talked all

at once. They escorted us first to the museum, where there were cases of

shells--heart-shaped shells, trumpet shells, scalloped shells big enough

for a bathtub--all kinds of shells, and the paper nautilus, which is not

a shell but an egg case. Then there were land shells, polished red and

green, Venus' flower baskets, exquisite glass sponges, corals of all

kinds--fine branches of the red and the white--and an enormous turtle

that weighed fifteen hundred pounds.

In the cases at the side of the room were animals of the country--flying

monkeys, with sucking pads on their toes to help them climb the trees,

big, furry bats and flying lizards. A tiny buffalo, which was discovered

only a few years ago up in the hills, and a small spotted deer were in

the collection. A big monkey-catching eagle, white and brown, was here,

and the paroquet that carries leaves for her nest in her red tail, as

well as a pigeon with ruffs of green and blue about her neck, and a

bald crown, which was caused, the natives say, by flying so high that

her head hit the sky.

Numerous entertainments and receptions were crowded into that too short

visit to Manila. July 25th had been declared a national holiday. A

musical program was given in honour of the Secretary by five thousand

Manila school children. One afternoon Mrs. Dickinson received some of

the Filipina ladies, who sang and played on the piano quite well.

Another day the officers and ladies at Fort McKinley entertained the

party at luncheon at the Officers' Club. Before luncheon there was a

military review in which the troops from all over the islands

participated, followed by some good shell firing out in the chaparral,

as under war conditions, and a display of wireless work. A special drill

was given by Captain Tom Anderson--the son of General Anderson--whose

company was one of the best drilled in the army, and went through the

manual and marching with only one order given, counting to themselves in

silence the whole seventeen hundred counts, all in perfect unison.[12]

In the Secretary of War's speech that afternoon he took occasion to say,

"General Duvall, you have not said too much in favour of the Army. You

have not overdrawn the picture, for a steadier moving column or brighter

eyed men and a more soldierly set of men I have never seen anywhere."

The reception by General and Mrs. Duvall was a brilliant affair, chiefly

of the army and navy. The handsome house with its wide verandas stood in

a garden overlooking Manila Bay.

On the Luneta there was, one evening, the largest gathering that had

assembled on that historic plaza since the days of the "Empire," for the

Secretary of War was expected to be there. The people hoped that he

brought with him a proclamation of immediate independence to be

announced at that time. The Luneta had once been at the edge of the

water, but a great space had been filled in beyond it, and buildings

were going up--a large hotel, which would make all the difference in the

world to tourist travel in the Philippines, and a huge Army and Navy

Club--so that it was planned to remove the Luneta farther out some day,

again to the water's edge. On this particular evening, the oval park was

crowded with picturesque people, almost all the men in white, the

soldiers in their trig khaki, and the women in their gaily coloured

dresses and panuelas. Rows of carriages circled round and round, as the

two bands played alternately. After a time we left our automobiles and

walked in the throng. A magnificent sunset was followed by the gorgeous

tints of the afterglow, and dusk came on and evening fell while we

watched and were watched. Soon a thousand electric lights, that were

carried in rows around the plaza and over the kiosks of the bands,

sparkled out in the darkness. The beauty of the scene, the animation of

the crowd, driving or walking in groups, and the refreshing coolness

after the heat of the day, made this a lasting memory.