LEGENDS OF OLD HONOLULU. By William Drake Westervelt. (Published
July, 1915.) Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co., Boston. 12mo. $1.50.
Lovers of legendary lore may feast upon this collection of traditional
tales of the Hawaiian people and their origin as first told by the old
Hawaiians and sometimes touched up and added to by the Hawaiian
story-teller. The author was president of the Hawaiian Historical
Society for some time, and is a resident of Honolulu. The tales found in
this handsomely illustrated volume have already for the most part seen
print in papers, magazines, and society reports, and they are well
worthy of preservation in this permanent form. The legends tell of many
things in heaven and on earth, of the creation of man, the gods who
found water, the great dog Ku, the Cannibal Dog-man, the water of life
of Kane.--_Transcript, Boston, Mass., Aug. 11, 1915._
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"Legends of Old Honolulu," collected and translated by W. D. Westervelt,
author of several other fine literary works, is an interesting and
fascinating volume in which we are told with beauty of language and
colorful description the weird and mysterious folk-lore of these distant
people who live in a charmed atmosphere and whose life is one long
summer day.
These legends have been gathered from Hawaiian traditions by W. D.
Westervelt, who resides in Honolulu, and who is particularly equipped
for giving them to the reading public. They are illustrated with many
sepia pictures taken from original photographs, and these add greatly to
the charm of the book.
The author has not lost the simplicity of style in translation, and this
makes these tales all the more delightful.
"The Great Dog Ku" is captivating in its unusual depiction. "The
Wonderful Shell" is a veritable prose poem, and there is magic and
wonderful imagery about "Pikoi the Rat-Killer" which will enthrall the
youngsters and entertain their elders. All these legends have their own
particular appeal, and this book may be classed among the rare offerings
of the year.--_Courier, Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. 29, 1915._
W. D. Westervelt has produced a book of permanent and world-wide
interest in collecting and translating the legends of old Honolulu which
embody all that the vanishing race knows of their origin and their life
before the white man came to civilize and decimate them. The legends are
given their proper setting by means of descriptive interludes and
explanations of native customs and a key to the language and its
pronunciation. No ethnologist, student of comparative religion, or
mythologist can afford to be ignorant of the material collected by Mr.
Westervelt and embodied in this well printed and finely illustrated
little volume.
Published by Geo. H. Ellis Co., Boston, Mass.--_Express, Portland, Me.,
Sept. 4, 1915._
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Mr. Westervelt has long been an active investigator of the aboriginal
conditions of Hawaiian life, and the stories he has discovered have
added not a little to our knowledge of the Polynesian race as it was
before the dawn of history. The ancient Hawaiians were of an imaginative
turn of mind, and their traditions abound in tales of gods and goblins.
Some of the stories, now centuries old, are closely related to the
legends that are known to exist in New Zealand and other islands of the
Pacific, and many of them bear active resemblances to the fairy-tales of
our own country. They are interesting enough in themselves, and have an
added attraction for the student of comparative folk-lore. The present
volume contains excellent illustrations of the scenery of Honolulu, some
of them taken from photographs by the author.--_Scotsman, Great Britain,
Sept. 13, 1915._
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Mr. Westervelt, who gives us these legends of Polynesia, has lived for
many years in Honolulu, and has made a special study of the history and
traditions of the people of the islands. He writes as one well versed in
his subject, and some of the legends which he presents to us are of
great beauty, showing a fine and delicate imagination in their authors.
The character of the legends varies. One or two, and these perhaps the
most interesting, are Creation myths. It is evident here and there that
the original web is crossed with later strands which have obviously been
introduced by Christian missionary teaching, and it is not always easy
to disentangle them.
One, that has as primitive and antique a savour as any, is that of the
Hog-god, Kamapuaa. It is a great tale, and Kamapuaa was rather a
glorious ruffian and capable of surprising transformations.
"Many of the Hawaiians [he writes] of to-day believe in the continual
presence of the aumakuas, the spirits of the dead. In time past the
aumakuas were a powerful reality. An ancester, a father or a
grandfather, a makua, died. Sometimes he went to Po, the under-world, or
to Milu, the shadow-land, or to Lani, the Hawaiian heaven, and sometimes
he remained to be a torment or a blessing to his past friends."
We could do well with more light thrown on these places, pleasant or
unpleasant, and on the ideas of the Polynesians concerning the life
after death. It seems that it would be well within Mr. Westervelt's
power and knowledge to give us this further light, and we may hope that
some day he will do so.--_Times, London, Sept. 23, 1915._
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Honolulu is fast becoming a favorite tourist land, and particularly
since the tremendous popularity of a recent Hawaiian volcano play, a
good many people have taken to humming pensively the native farewell
song and discoursing wistfully of the Eden-like qualities of the
islands. In view of this increasing interest, W. D. Westervelt's book of
the legends of Honolulu is especially timely, although such a work
always has value. During his residence in Honolulu this writer has
collected and translated from the Hawaiian all the available legends of
the region, retelling them with singular success.
To mention but an instance, every one of them has a tale relating the
creation of man. This haunting similarity is one of the fascinations of
legend study. Mr. Westervelt has made a noteworthy contribution to that
branch of literature.--_Bellman, Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 25, 1915._
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These legends will prove of unusual interest to the general reader and
especially to the scholar, thinker, and poet. They describe vividly and
strongly the triumphs and the wanderings of the people of Hawaii. The
legends of old Honolulu proper have been compiled from stories told by
old Hawaiians still living; others, furnished by the pioneer American
missionaries, who began their work on the islands early in the last
century. The writer has lived among this remnant of a great race for
many years, and through his sympathy and deep appreciation of native
hopes and native aspirations has been able to familiarize himself with
their inner life.
Price, buckram, 12mo., $1.50; also in kapa. Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co.,
Boston, Mass.--_Overland Monthly, San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 1, 1915._
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"Legends of Old Honolulu" is an interesting summary of what is known
about the Hawaiian Islands, their people, and the origin of their race.
As soon as the Hawaiian alphabet was prepared, in 1821, native writers
began delving into their past, finding there a treasure-mine of romantic
stories and of valuable ethnological and historical facts in regard to
the Polynesian race. These stories were written originally in Hawaiian,
for native news-papers, and have been collected and translated by Mr. W.
D. Westervelt, author of previous volumes on this same subject.
While the book will be of special interest to students of ethnology and
to those who have visited Honolulu, the romantic charm which pervades
this Pacific archipelago gives its history a universal attraction for
the reading public.
The volume is well bound and well illustrated. Boston: Geo. H. Ellis
Co.--_Globe, Boston, Oct. 25, 1915._