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HAWAIIAN SKETCHES BY
GEO. H. DE LA VERGNE
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Presented to the
LIBRARY OF THE CHURCH COLLEGE OF HAWAII
in memory of the Honorable
Samuel Wilder King
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HAWAIIAN
SKETCHES
BY
GEO. M. DE LA VERGNE 1
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. H. S. CROCKER COMPANY 1898
LIDICITY OF The Church College of Hawaii
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COPYRIGHT 1898
Pacific Islands Locked
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INTRODUCTION.
I realize that these sketches furnish no information to the earnest seeker after facts in regard to Hawaii. I desire to state briefly the conditions which will face the peaceful invader from the Mainland coming to the Islands.
Hawaii is not a new country. American capital has been there for many years, and the various lines of industry have been fully developed. It is not the place for a man of small capital and large family. The success of the coffee industry is not as yet assured, though it is possible that a young man with some capital and a fondness for seclusion and a rural life might succeed in it. There is undoubtedly room for men in Hawaii who (3)
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have money to invest. For instance, Hono- lulu could very well afford to have a few first- class hotels. But Hawaii is by no means a Klondyke of new possibilities for the Ameri- can laboring man, mechanic or farmer.
Oakland, November, 1898.
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CONTENTS.
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Introduction
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I.
Our Trip to the Volcano
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II. Mauna Kea (poem). 31
III.
The Ghost of the Heiau
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IV.
Haleakala (sonnet)
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V.
The Legend of Haleakala
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VI.
The Southern Cross (sonnet)
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VII.
A Saunter Through Honolulu.
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VIII.
Leahi, Diamond Head (sonnet).
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The Trade and the South Wind
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X.
Sun Shee .
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XI. Manuwell Souza
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XII. The Royal Palm and the Alien Pine. .
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OUR TRIP TO THE VOLCANO.
"The channels between the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii are said to be the roughest wa- ters on the globe." -Mary H. Krout.
Where rolls the Kinau and hears no sound save her own splashing and the groans of wearied souls cabined and confined, and likewise ill. Whether the good ship Kinau stood on the top of her masts while crossing the Oahu channel, I can not assert positively, but I am sure she did while crossing the one that separates Maui and Hawaii. But this is anticipating. As we passed under the lee of Molokai there came a short time of compara- tive rest, which enabled us to look out of our cabin door, and there rose before our eyes the red slopes of the island, with dust devils caught up here and there by the wandering breeze. Higher up towards the crest of Molokai are deep green gashes in the hills.
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Meanwhile the seas are rushing past in the gleaming sunshine, and you would be willing to give the great ocean, with all its glory and freedom, for one square foot of that ugly, solid, red earth to stand upon. In this mood you propound to your soul the question, "Why were you such a fool as to leave the compara- tive heaven of the quiet land for this pound- ing purgatory of the seas?" But the ques- tion is unanswered as the ship heads into the second choppy channel and you come up faint and gasping in the blessed shelter of another island-Maui. But as an addendum to this last crossing, I desire to pay my tribute to the cheerful individual who sat just outside my cabin door on a camp stool with his feet braced against the rail while the ship swayed hither and thither, and related funny stories to the ladies, who lay stretched out on the steamer chairs, wrapped up in rugs, and with shawls almost hiding their pale faces, and that far, far away look in their eyes.
"Here, Steward," he called in vibrant tones,
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to the obliging little Jap, "Bring up some doughnuts and mince pies for the ladies." Perhaps the ship will give another extraordi- nary lurch, and he will go over into the sea, camp stool and all, and I thought with deep thankfulness of the hungry sharks waiting to receive him.
While the ship is speeding along under the protecting shelter of the land, you crawl to the rail, and look feebly up at the great moun- tains. On West Maui they rise in gothic forms, with sharp ridges buttressing the higher and sharper heights, and deep valleys intervening. Crest rises above crest and peak over peak, but there is no jumbling of great mountains and of unwieldy rock. They are clean and clear cut in every outline, and over them is thrown a rich mantle of heavy tropical green. Between East and West Maui there is a narrow ribbon of red earth, which holds the two together. Across 1 it the trade winds whirl great clouds of dust, which drift out to sea.
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East Maui is simply one mountain, Halea- kala, but it is sufficient. Its spreading sea skirts are green with the fields of sugar cane and further up the slope, there lies the tem- perate region of Kula, where grow corn, po- tatoes and wheat. Upon the Southern side are trees standing in clumps and circles of green; and what in years long past were un- sightly cones of volcanic sand, are now mounds covered with a deep, smooth verdure. On the Hana, or eastern slope of the mountain, are great untamed tropical forests. It is a world in itself-this old giant among the volcanos of the earth. Within its grasp, beyond that far rolling height there lies a land of mystery and desolation, with lofty cones, long stretches of lava and volcanic sands, and white, rolling clouds, and over all a silence, such as dwells on the death mask of the moon.
The Kinau comes to its first anchorage in Maalaea Bay at the corner of the narrow strip of land to which I have referred. The ship's boats are lowered from the davits
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into the bouncing waves, and quickly filled with squealing pigs and seasick Chinamen. Then comes the sport. There is a long stand- ing controversy between the native crews, of the starboard and larboard boats as to their relative speed. Both crews use the plain Hawaiian stroke as opposed to the Courtney, Cook or Lehman methods. Their feet are kept firmly planted on the bottom of the boat and they stand quite erect and bend slightly on the forward reach, and then the oar is brought quickly back until it comes in con- tact with the head of some passenger. Then the process is repeated. The two crews had put a few Kalakaua dollars on the result as they sat beneath the bridge on the forward deck, discussing the situation, while crossing the channel. In the stern of the starboard boat stands the redoubtable Jim Crow, one of the best steerers among the Hawaiian boat- men, and that is saying a great deal. He has on a red flannel undershirt, which answers the purpose of personal distinction as well as ever
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did the white and waving plume of Navarre. Tall and sinewy he stands, with both hands grasping the oar and his face is as imperturb- able as an Indian's and indeed he has the same high cheek bones, swarthy skin and straight black hair of the American savage. Hence his name. His keen black eyes are fixed on the advancing waves and he guides his boat with unerring skill beneath the toppling breakers and through the green vales of water, using the steering oar with the same instinctive deftness and power as a shark uses his guiding fin, as he cuts through the water. Not a smile lights up his face as his boat crosses the bow of the other and bumps along- side of the wharf-it is a matter of course with him, not of congratulation. These Hawaiian boatmen are worthy of more than passing mention, for they are the masters of these southern seas, even as the Norseman was once the ruler of his wild northern waters. He knows the ocean, he loves it, and the timid landlubber can place absolute
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confidence in his faithfulness, skill and cour- age. When the boats have been again swung to their places the Kinau steams along the Maui coast towards the Hawaii channel. It is now drawing towards evening, and the setting sun kindles his rosy watch fires on the heights of Haleakala, Mauna
Kea and Mauna Loa. Then " At one stride comes the dark " and the ship is soon bucket- ing through the roaring seas, while the hours towards midnight stretch out to eternity and as you lean against your cabin door for a moment you hear the swish of the waters through the darkness and see the stars reeling in the sky. From a wretched doze you awake to find the ship lying in absolute quiet at Kawaihae. The desolate coast of Hawaii is hidden by the soft gloom, through which rises the shadowy bulks of Mauna Loa and Hua- lalai. Gladly you seek the fresh air on deck.
The moon, which is but a golden rind in the 1 low east, casts a faint light on the quiet waters of the bay and towards the shore can be heard
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faintly the dip of the oars of one of the ship's boats. My friend, whom I shall call the " humorist," orders some -black coffee and toast, while I restrict myself to iced ginger ale and soda crackers. There is something so neutral about these crackers that you can eat them under the most trying conditions. The humorist with rare good breeding forbears making any reference to my recent illness but speaks of other matters.
" Do you notice those black walls rising on the hill over there?" he asked, pointing towards the shore. "They enclosed what was once the most famous temple on these Islands. In fact this place in the old days used to be the great sacred rendezvous for the natives and they were accustomed to come here by the thousands to sacrifice to the gods, and also to catch fish, both of equal importance in their eyes. Many varieties of fish abound in this bay and the water is so clear that you can see them thirty or forty feet down."
" What were these sacrifices?" I inquired.
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" Human, or rather inhuman," he an- swered.
" The priests used to slay their victims on the altar in the sacred anu and use their en- trails for the purpose of divination."
As I looked again at that black square upon the shore it had acquired a new interest and meaning for me. There was a deeper darkness around it than came from the night, an exhal- ation of mystery arose from its walls. For cruel death and bloody sacrifice had been wrought within that enclosure, which gave it an unholy yet lasting consecration. It is not strange that the natives regard it with super- stitious fear. For them the somber place is filled with ghosts and evil spirits nesting thickly within the walls, or flying about on bat-like wings, like birds of evil omen.
Soon the gray presence of the morn stepped quickly forth upon the land and sea, and cast from her shoulders the dark shadows of the night. Our ship, as the light grew stronger, turned upon her track and
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sailed up the coast to Mauakona. The wind was blowing great guns, presumably thirteen- inch, off shore and flattening out the yeasty seas beneath its force. Under the circum- stances I refused the invitation of the humorist to go ashore in one of the boats. It happened he was tax assessor for one of the islands, and said he desired to appraise the value of some of the blocks in Maua- kona, which place consisted of one white house and a weather-beaten store, while around it lay a country which was as desolate as only a tropical one can be when it decides to become a desert. Then he, with a brother assessor, who was aboard, and several other presumably intelligent individuals, climbed into the boat, and it was quickly lowered down the side. They waved to us, who were watch- ing them over the rail, and made audible comments on our lack of nerve.
" I shall telephone to Hilo," shouted back one, "that there is a party of distinguished congressmen aboard, who have come down to spy out the land, and they will prepare some fatted pups for your luau."
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"Better not tell them that there are any tax assessors in the bunch," retorted an individual leaning over the rail, " or the hospitable cit- izens will make our reception a trifle too tropical."
The boat had now drifted away from the ship's side about seventy-five feet, when to our glad surprise we observed that they were not making any headway against the tremendous wind, though the sturdy natives were bending their oars through the water. The gray-whiskered old captain was looking down grimly from the bridge, for they had started in spite of his advice not to ot a landing. Our party on deck tried to furnish them with helpful advice and add to their happiness by pleasant comments.
" Is that the fast boat?
If so, what is it fast to?"
" Why don't you fellows in the stern take off your coats and help row?" remarked one.
" Better throw up the sponge, along with the other things," suggested a pale convales- cent.
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" Don't leave us in that unceremonious manner," protested a third. " Are you gen- tlemen going to Mauakona, Samoa, or are you going to stay?"
" If you get there before we do," we all shouted in chorus.
The party in the boat waved their hats and urged us " to come off our perch," which we firmly declined to do.
Just then a note of tragedy came in, " Come back, George, dear," wailed a fem- inine voice at my elbow. "You will be drowned;" but George, who seemed somewhat despondent, could not come back, so he waved a deprecatory hand, and then locked over the boat's side.
Just then there came a loud splintering sound. The bow oar, a big fat kanaka, had put on too much force, and his blade was shat- tered. Then the boat began to drift in earn- est, the steerer contenting himself with keep- ing her straight before the wind, and in a short time they were far astern. All hands
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were now summoned aft to reassure the dis- tracted bride.
" There was absolutely no danger," " This had happened before," "In a short time the steamer would pick them up."
But it was all to no avail. She would glance for a moment at the boat, which was now a mere black speck, bobbing on the waters, then her shapely head would go down on the rail and she would moan, " Oh, George, I shall never, never see you again."
Finally the purser's boat returned from the shore, and the steamer was swung round and headed towards the runaways. In ten min- utes we overhauled them. A quickly impro- vised reception committee had gathered on deck to receive them as they stepped pale and rather drenched, from the boat.
" Fine place, Mauakona," said one of the committee, "so convenient to telephone from."
" Nothing like having a boat of your own in which to sail the summer seas," remarked the chairman.
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" It looked like a judgment on you tax as- sessors," said a third.
" I don't know about that," replied the humorist, imperturbably, "I shall value the land more highly than ever now."
Meanwhile George was holding a reception that must have repaid him for all his trouble.
"Think I shall certainly bring my wife next time," remarked an elderly gentleman sitting near the rail, " and try this little ex- periment. Nothing like danger for restoring the affections."
We discovered afterwards that it was only a cold bluff on his part, and that he was not married at all.
A few hours later we rounded the northern point of Hawaii and were soon steaming down the beautiful Hamakua coast. The black precipices rose in a continuous line of palisades from out the sea, with no white beach shelv- ing down. The great green surges, with the force of the Pacific behind them, rolled against the perpendicular walls, the dark surfaces of
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which were veined at frequent intervals by the silvery lines of the waterfalls, or graced by the vines, which fell in straight lines or were looped in varied shapes. Beyond these cliffs there rose the splendid slopes, covered with great fields of cane. Here and there were groves of royal palms and slender cocoa trees, fit temples for the gods of ancient Hawaii, who were supposed to dwell in streams and groves and mountains. Still higher up the slopes grew the forests of koa and kukui. At times the skirts of the clouds, heavy with moisture, dragged along the lower slopes, and a soft gloom would diffuse itself over the landscape. Then the sun would roll the mists aside for the moment and the light would fall upon tropical vales, hills and slopes, with all the vividness of the early spring, and yet with the full, rich splendor of summer.
We reached Hilo in the afternoon and re- ported no cholera and only a few cases of seri- ous seasickness. I met the humorist several hours after our arrival, down town, looking
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for his trunk, which had not yet put in its ap- pearance. He seemed outwardly calm, and his language was restrained as he explained to the stout purser, who just came bustling up, and who had many excuses to offer; that he was perfectly aware of the fact that the steam- ship corporation was a noble organization and was run entirely in the interest of humanity, and though he did not wish to insinuate that it was carrying his trunk concealed about its person with felonious intent, nevertheless it contained things which would be of great and immediate use to him. " And why," he asked in reasonable tones, "should the company have superfluous suits on its hands?" He got the trunk.
The next morning we procured, after much effort and diplomacy, two horses from the autocrat of the only livery stable in Hilo, and started on our ride of thirty-one miles to the volcano. It was overcast and muggy as we left the village, but after following the road for several miles up the gradual slope we emerged
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from the overhanging growth into the sun- shine, while the air gradually lost its murky heaviness and became clear and vital. Along the distant coast was the ever present sea, ringing with its broad band of blue the island, and its calm surface was burnished with the glow of the white sun, which gazed from its own illimitable blue into the illimitable blue beneath. Before us rose from slow and mas- sive slopes to their sun-crowned heights, the two brothers, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. It is only Mauna Loa who keeps the sacred fire burning on his altars; the other dwells in unapproachable calm, robed in sunshine and girt with clouds. As we went on our way there rose continually before our eyes that distant pillar of gray white smoke, far up the slope of Mauna Loa, which marked the mecca of our travels and sufferings by sea and land.
We had been on the way a couple of hours when we overtook the four-seated stage. From both sides were the heads of the pil- grims craned out as they gazed at the tropical
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foliage. They were all curiously and won- derfully decorated with tropical flowers, and wreathed with vines. As we rode past we told our steamer friends that they were a bit slow and that we would take great pleasure in ordering dinner for them at the Volcano House. However, our pride was to receive a severe blow, for we had not ridden many miles when we were overtaken by a bicyclist, with head low bent, crouching form and stealthy tread. He passed us as if we had been an- chored to the road. But what to him was all the beauty surrounding him? He saw nothing but the black road that flew beneath his wheel and might just as well have been in the Desert of Sahara.
" They are a strange people, these bicycle faddists," remarked the humorist, "half human, half mechanical creatures."
Perhaps our discomforture had something to do with this cynical reflection.
After lunch at the Half-way House, we rode into the coffee belt. Some of the places
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appeared very home-like and pleasant, with their carefully cultivated rows of coffee shrubs, their scarlet berries shining amid the glossy green leaves, and with the fern-slab walks leading to the neat cottages, while chil- dren were at play in the yards or on the shaded road. Veritable oases of cultivation in the midst of the tangled wilderness of tropical growth.
But I can hear the plain American citizen growling, "Hang your descriptions. How much per cent can we realize on our capital invested in this industry?"
Don't ask me; ask the humorist, he has a coffee plantation of his own. He knows, but he won't tell. Then there is the Hawaiian government; it bubbles over with information on the subject.
Further on, the road was like a narrow stream, running along the bottom of a ravine, with ferns and vines and matted vegetation along the steep sides. As the sun marked the middle of the afternoon we came out on a
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high plateau, covered with old lava flows, only partially concealed by grass, ferns and small trees. If our horses had left the road on either side they would have been quickly swallowed up in one of the deep fissures, whose treacherous depths were concealed by the vegetation. We were now near our goal, and from the edge of the mesa could look over into the crater, from whose center was pour- ing a ceaseless flood of smoke.
In the evening the stage arrived and we went out to welcome our belated friends. There was one young man in the crowd who made himself conspicuous. Nothing pleased him and he let it be known. He insisted that he had been brutally deceived in the volcano, that it was nothing but smoke. He might have stated also that the mountains were noth- ing but a collection of dirt, and the sea an aggregation of salt water. It depends on the point of view. He demanded that the pro- prietor of the hotel should fire up his old vol- cano, or there would be immediate trouble.
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We feared that Madame Pele, who must have overheard his remarks, would sink entirely out of sight, or flare up in sudden anger, but she continued to smoke on in imperturbable peace.
In the early dawn, before the sun had risen from the cold sea to loosen with his warm fingers the mist clinging to the mountain sides and while the steam was rising from the floor of the crater like the smoking campfires of a great army, the humorist and myself started down to the home of the God- dess of Fire. So much has been written in Pele's honor by great travelers and literati from the ends of the earth, that I shall make my necessary tribute to her a very brief one. Around her rose the perpendicular walls of the old crater, and between them and the smoking cauldron stretched the plain of ancient lava flows; in some parts they were broken into innumerable sharp bits, in other portions they still retained their earlier form. In some places the flow was in appearance
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like a huge serpent, whose writhings had been preserved in a perfect petrifaction. After a walk of a mile and a half, we drew near the crater, and the humorist remarked to himself in a casual tone, "And her smoke rose up for ever and ever." It was appropriate.
From the round crater, about a quarter of a mile in diameter, the smoke rolled, gushed and bellied out, white as summer clouds on the upper swells, and tinged with yellow sulphur, as it issued forth. It drifted slowly in a mas- sive column southward down the mountain slope, spreading out thinly towards the far- off sea. A few years back, looking down into this crater, one could see the earth's heart laid bare with its red and beating pulses. Now there is nothing but this crowding, stifling vapor. Perhaps Pele's epitaph is written in this slowly drifting smoke.
As the cool of evening draws rear we sally forth again from the hotel to visit what might be called the side shows of Kiluaea. First there is Kiluaea Eke to the left of the main
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volcano and about three quarters of a mile from the hotel. It is an extinct volcano, its crater forming a perfect amphitheatre, with a pool of black lava far down at the bottom. The white mists roll in as you look, and the whole crater is shut from view, and you hurry back before the narrow path through the undergrowth is obscured by the clinging folds of white. Much nearer the Volcano House are the sulphur banks, the yellow flakes of which crunch under your feet like snow, only it is snow that is soiled, and warm to the touch, such as might have fallen thickly in the at- mosphere of Dante's Inferno. The bushes overhanging the banks are incrusted with the yellow frost.
As the sun sinks behind the far crest of Mauna Loa its yellow banners are withdrawn from the mountain side, and the slopes look almost bleak in the bluish light, with the great lava flows running down them like gigantic streams of ink. There is a nip of cold in the air, and you gladly seek the warmth of the
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big fireplace in the old-fashioned sitting room of the hotel, where you can sit in the circle of the fire light, the shadows wavering in the back part of the room, and listen to the stories of your fellow travelers, or watch the flames as they rush up the wide throat of the chim- ney.
MAUNA KEA.
Thou risest from the central purple seas; Thy brow doth wear a crown of Arctic snow, While round thy feet there stand the tropic trees;
The royal palm and slender cocoa slow Wave their dark plumes beneath the winds which blow
From off the ocean's plain, and there doth rise Along the slope the elm and oak in row on row,
While from slow-rising base to crest there lies The radiant light which dwells beneath the southern skies.
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