USA > Hawaii > Hawaiian sketches > Part 4
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But it is time to leave this crowded Oriental quarter and to return to the civilized portion of the town. In the square the band is play- ing. The moonlight falls softly on the dark foliage of the trees, and the palms are glisten- ing with light, as with moisture, while above the sharp crests of the mountains the clouds rise upward in masses of billowy white, and around the island lies the calm and resplendent sea.
LEAHI.
(Diamond Head.)
As lies the Sphinx upon old Egypt's sand In silence deep, while slow the years unfold; E'en so thou watchest where the waters hold Their sway-the waves slow marching on the land
Till lines of foam are stretched along the strand.
Thou seest with a glance assured and bold The secret sea beneath thy feet unrolled; While spirits of the deep thou dost command, Or crouchest like the lion of the seas Though years have changed thy fiery heart to stone.
Below the plain is filled with tropic trees, While from the flowering shrubs and plants is blown
A heavy fragrance on the languid breeze; Yet mid the beauty thou art stern, alone.
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THE TRADE AND THE SOUTH WIND.
The trade wind was in a stern humor, as he started southward from his northern home of mist and snow. He drove the clouds in blue- gray masses along the stormy horizon and the ocean was dark and sullen beneath his icy breath; while the ships bore westward, under bare poles, lurching through the angry waters. But as he blew on and on towards the South the trade wind became milder and milder in temper and gayer in spirit. For was not the sun shining in clear splendor from the cloud- less blue? And there was the great sea to wander over as he chose. So he swept on- ward joyously, while beneath his steps the waters were quickened into thousands of waves, tossing gaily their white and gleaming crests. For many days he was alone with the sea, the sky and his children of the waves.
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But at last there rose within the circle of the horizon the dark forms of several islands, and the trade wind flew upward towards the sky so that he might observe them, and he dis- covered that a white haze lay over the islands and there was not a single cloud on mountain or on sea, and a breath of hot air blew against his cool cheek. " Ha," exclaimed the trade wind, " that miserable fellow, the south wind, has come back again. How many times must I tell him to stay at home in the south seas. This time I shall drive him back beyond the equator." So he summoned his messengers, the white clouds, which were resting in broken detachments along the horizon, and they sailed serenely up towards the sky and floated on before him till they rolled in billowy masses of white above the serrated tops of the mountains. As the cool shadows spread over the sweltering valleys and the burning plains, the leaves began to rustle with the first breath of life, the long grasses lifted their drooping heads and the birds commenced to twitter among the trees.
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The people who were stifling in the town were thankful when they saw the clouds roll- ing above the mountains and felt the first cool breeze. The tired women in their homes
said: "Thank Heaven, there comes the trades," while the men down town, bending over huge ledgers in hot offices, or rushing along the burning sidewalks in their shirt sleeves, swore softly to themselves and said: " It is about time."
The south wind perceived that it was time for him to depart, so he withdrew slowly and languidly from the mountains and valleys. " My dear trade wind," he said, in his soft and courteous way, " I shall return to the seas be- yond the equator for a little while. Your brisk ways are very trying to me, but I really think I shall come back again, and so adieu for the present." This rather insolent speech made the trade wind so angry that he pursued his enemy with unrelenting force until the sea was tossed wildly behind his furious path, but by and by, as he got further and further
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south, a curious drowsiness crept over him, which he could not shake off. The clouds became a white and wavering haze before his eyes and an overpowering desire possessed him to rest on the blue bosom of the sea for- ever. The south wind saw his opportunity and he drove his helpless foe back, back until the cloudy banners were withdrawn from the mountains and he returned to the land of the mist and snow. But we know that when the trade wind feels the reviving breath of his northern home he will return to us again. So here's aloha to the trade wind, and may he come often, with his life-giving breath to these islands and their intermingling seas.
SUN SHEE.
Little Sun Shee lived in Honolulu, but she was born in the flowery kingdom and had been brought to the island of Oahu when she was five, and she had now arrived at the ad- vanced age of twelve. You could see her quite frequently standing in the door of the store, with a Chinese baby strapped on her back and her glossy black hair hanging in a braid, the end of which was intertwined with red silk, so that it almost touched the ground. In these comparative idle moments, she used to watch the little native girls playing on the street, or the white ones riding on wheels or on the tram cars. Perhaps she envied them at the base of her impassive little soul, and she certainly did wonder why they never had to work. As for herself she did not recall the time she was not obliged to toil. If she did not wake up in the morning before the
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sun did, her owner, for she was nothing but a little slave girl, would rouse her by striking her with a heavy strap, which left marks on her body that became blue by night. But she did not fear her master as much as she did his woman Wong Fui, who took de- light in torturing the girl in her cold-blooded Oriental way. She would drive her into the dark little room back of the store and pull at the jade earrings in the child's ears, or else she would take the two-pronged hairpin from her wonderfully put up hair and stick it into the girl's flesh. There was nothing of anger or revenge in this; it only served to send a curious thrill of pleasure through her veins to see the child cringing before her and abso- lutely in her power. Sun Shee never wept or cried out, or rebelled, but bore it all with Chinese patience.
It was little wonder that she was miserable. Her only respite was to escape to the flat roof of the house, which was surrounded with a wooden parapet. Of course she had to take
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Wong Fui's child with her, for she had the constant care of the youngster. This roof was the oasis in her life. The old yellow cat would follow her up and roll around on the hot gravel that covered the roof, or chase the tip of Sun Shee's queue as she swung it around.
They were very good friends, these two. Then the child took pleasure in the Chinese lilies ranged along the parapet, in their green China bowls, and she used to poke around with her finger among the clean white pebbles in the water around the bulbous roots. To count and to put them into different com- binations was almost as keen a pleasure
for her as to shift the beads back and
abacus. At times she forth on the
would lean over the parapet and
gaze at the ships lying in the harbor slips, ornamented with curious figureheads and with their great bowsprits extending far over the wharfs, making them resemble monsters of the deep raising themselves up to look over the land. She used to imagine herself sail-
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ing away on one of these vessels and being free forever from the clutches of her owners. After hesitating between the claims of various ships, she decided that the big ship, with the woman's figure at the prow, clothed in white and with outstretched beckoning hand, was the one she preferred. It looked very com- fortable and cool under the awning stretched over the after part of the ship, and there was a green parrot, in a gilded cage attached to the mast, which was discoursing in profane accents. Just as Sun Shee was far away in her dreams, she would feel a hand on her queue and find herself jerked suddenly backwards, while the cat would leap on the parapet with ruffled tail and make tracks for the adjoining roof. It would be Wong Fui, who had crept silently up the ladder, expecting to catch the child unawares, and who scolded in accents which resembled to foreign ears the cackling of an agitated hen. Little Sun Shee would descend patiently the ladder and go silently to the fate that awaited her in the dark room below.
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At length, however, matters came to a cli- max. It was the first day of Chinese New Year, and the little girl was standing in the doorway with the child on her back, watching the hacks drive by, filled with family parties of Chinese. Each vehicle was overflowing with little Orientals, dressed in gorgeous silks of every hue known to the flowery kingdom. They did not shout and pull each other's queues and throw firecrackers at the harmless passerby, as the little foreign devils would have done. They seemed quite demure, but their small yellow faces were filled with the sober joy of anticipation. Perhaps they would drive out past Palama, way to Moan- alua, or maybe they would go up Manoa Val- ley and see papa's " flend " and clansman, who probably had a banana plantation up there. Sun Shee would have given her little pigtail to have been able to go with them, but she had extra work waiting on her master's guests. All the other children in the block had firecrackers to burn, and the narrow streets were drifted with red flakes of paper. Even the funny little Japs, with their queer
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chrysanthemum tufts of hair, were shouting over the sputtering bunches of crackers, but the blue devils seemed destined to stay around Sun Shee's door for that year at least. But the worst devil that haunted her just then came around the corner in the shape of a bent old Chinaman with long black nails, and with eyes that looked furtively out from his over- hanging mane of black hair. Not being a white child, Sun Shee did not run and hide under the counter, but she could not help shrinking a little as he rested his hands on her shoulder and peered into her face. She won- dered if he was going to make another effort to buy her from her master. He was quite rich, as he owned a banana plantation at Waikiki, and he was also a prominent director in a chee fa bank, a gambling institution pro- hibited by law. The old reprobate went into the back room with Wong Tai, and an ani- mated discussion took place over the samshu, and their shrill accents reached the ears of the little girl and she knew that they were bar- gaining for her. The upshot was that the old pake came out and picking up the unresisting
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child, placed her in the back of his wagon, and drove off. As the cart rattled down King street a desperate idea came into Sun Shee's head, that is, desperate for a Chinese girl. While the old pake was busy beating his bag- of-bones of a horse, Sun Shee slipped out of the back of the wagon and in a short time was running along Maunakea street, and, crossing the stream, was soon lost in what was, at that time, a maze of narrow alleys. At last she came to a spot which seemed just the place for her to take refuge in. It was where a large mango tree stood in a deserted yard. Its great dome, with the mass of green re- lieved by the red slips of the newer leaves, shadowed a little stream of water which ran through the yard. The yard itself was sur- rounded by a high board fence, and tall grasses grew everywhere, and in one corner was a bunch of sugar cane. What luxury it was for Sun Shee to lay down in the shade of the mango tree with the rank vegetation con- cealing her from observation. No more slavery for her. She was not lonely for she had no home to regret and was just as free as
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the white clouds floating in splendor over the green valley beyond.
The little stream furnished her with water to drink and then there were mangoes and sugar cane and bananas. After the first few days she gained sufficient courage to venture out and made friends with the children that played their queer games near the coffee shop on the corner of Lilihia road. But she some- times felt very lonely at night with the black shadow of the mango tree over her and when the only sounds were made by the insects along the stream. Very often, about mid- night, a crowd of drunken kanakas would pass along the narrow path-way, shouting and hic- coughing their hula songs, then Sun Shee would be so frightened that she would crawl into the long grass and never venture out till hours after they had passed. It seemed to her if she could only have the old yellow cat he would protect her. So one unfortunate even- ing she left her place of refuge, planning to slip around to the vicinity of her master's 1 store to see if she could find her old playmate. While she was going down Mounakea street
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she failed to notice the young Chinaman with a slouch hat and a hang-dog look, who was stealthily following her. Suddenly he reached out and grasped her by the shoulder, saying in Chinese "I know you, you come down to the police station with me." " To- morrow the judge send you back home, and your master will whip you to death." So the scared child was taken down and put in a cell and the friendly mango tree did not see her again. However, she did not go back into the clutches of Wong Fui. For the suspicions of the authorities became aroused in her case, and neither her old or new master dared to appear in court the next day. Accordingly, she was sent to a girls' school in Honolulu, and every Sunday she marches to church in column with the other girls. She does not mind if she has to help in the kitchen, carry water and sew, but she sometimes misses the yellow cat, and the place of the mango tree. I might add that Sun Shee's name was changed to Sunshine and she became the pride of the school, but I desire that this nar- rative should be strictly accurate.
MANUWELL SOUZA.
Souza is the guardian of the light-house near Nawililwili Bay, on the east coast of the Island of Kauai. But I hasten to state for the benefit of any incipient office seeker from the States, that Mr. Souza's job brings him is only six dollars per month and that a large proportion of his drinking water is drawn from the corrugated iron roof of his house, and tastes strongly of salt. Manuwell is a short, thick-set Portugee with a stubby grizzled beard. He has followed the sea since he was able to walk, and his eyes seem to have become saturated with the blue of its waters and there is in them something of the gleam and shrewdness of salt. He is a New Englander by birth, as he proudly informs his visitors. " Yees, I was born in Massachu- setts, varee goot yankee; when small keed 1 poppa, he say to me, ' You lazee brat, you go catch your own feesh.' I catch heem ever
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since." At this pitiful narration Souza would slap his thick thigh, and his leathery face would wrinkle with wholesome merriment.
In the thirty years of seafaring life, he had experienced many and strange adventures, but so reticent was he in regard to his past that only a few facts could be gleaned from him. He had been shipwrecked five times, once in the China seas, when the crew had been attacked by pirates. He was also on the frigate " Wabash " when Farragut fought for the mouth of the Mississippi at New Or- leans. When I asked him for some of the de- tails of his adventurous career he branched off, as was his custom, into the narration of some local incident. " Nevare mind that now, I tell you about my boss' leetle boy and the peegs. Before I get lighthouse, I milk cows for the boss. One day the leetle deevil came to me and say, ' Manuwell we go beesness to- gether, poppa give me one sow and one boor soon there be lots leetle peegs, and we sell them to poppa and get reech. I give you half, you feed 'em.' I say 'all right.' By and by old sow have eight peegs, and one night
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she eet them all up. I tell leetle boy, he cry verra much, but his poppa bought old sow for seex dolla. All right, but we not reech Oh! No!" This tragical incident seemed to fur- nish him great amusement and he would throw back his head and laugh, till he would shake all over.
The lighthouse was a delightful place to spend an afternoon, when the trade wind was blowing freshly down the channel, and the waves were tumbling and foaming over the black lava rocks, the green of the water marbled with the foam. Vines and thick grass covered the rocky coast and you could easily find some convenient place in the shadow of a rock to stretch out and read, or watch the moods of the changing sea. While landward you could see the great fields of sugar cane, like an inland lake of green, backed by the clear-cut mass of Waialeale.
The lighthouse keeper was the soul of hos- pitality and as soon as the visitor hove in sight above his horizon he would wave his hat and hurrah with much enthusiasm, " Coom right in," he would say, " Ol' woman not at home,
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but I make you some coffee all myself;" and so he would. It looked very black and strong as he poured it into the china bowl, but it was not half bad, for the old sailor was a man of resources. His one room was decorated with illuminated texts of scripture and with a couple of highly-colored prints of ladies, ad- vertising the merits of a particular soap. Over the small table hung a marble crucifix. But, as is the case with many other people, I fear that Souza's religion was largely external.
He was quite content to be again neigh- bor to his old friend the sea. One of his patrons, a wealthy plantation owner, had given him a boat, which he kept in a small sandy cove, below the house. There were, however, one or two drawbacks to his com-
plete happiness. He could not raise grapes, for as soon as the leaves came out the salt air would nip them black. Another thing that disturbed his soul's serenity was the fact that he could not catch any of the sharks that in- fested the waters of the bay, for which he had an old salt's hatred. Although he had care- fully rigged up some long poles that extended
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out over the water. " All right, you black deevils," he would say, shaking his fist towards the sea, " When I catch you I eet you alive." Though Manuwell could not catch sharks, and raise grapes, he had fine success with chickens. They were scattered all over the promontory, picking up insects and bugs, and laying innumerable eggs in their cosy nests among the lava rocks. " Yees, plenty cheeck- ens," he said to my comment on their num- ber, " cheeckens to burn." He had picked up the phrase from some of the boys who were home from school.
His helpmate, Mrs. Souza, was a funny old woman and the yellow skin of her face was as thickly intersected with lines as is the map of a Colorado mining claim. Around her head she generally wore a yel- low cotton handkerchief. " Sancta Marie," she would say, " the meesquitoes eet me all up, Peelikia," then her mouth would expand in an almost toothless grin, and the skin would wrinkle up so as to almost shut out her little black eyes. She would repeat this complaint about the " meesquitoes " over
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and over again. But in her own tongue she was voluble enough. In fact so much so that old Souza would become exasperated and beat her with a stick of the size approved by the common law. But this was merely a coin- cidence and showed no desire on the part of Manuwell to keep within the bounds of the law. This meant subsequent trouble for the old fellow, when his boss's wife found out about it. You would hardly imagine in the light of these conjugal episodes that there had been any romance connected with Souza's marriage, but there was. Perhaps in the glad old days in Portugal, Marie Souza had been a happy-hearted girl, with dark fringed eye- lashes and lithe figure dancing down the vine- yard rows, until the gallant sailor whispered into her ear the magic words and she fled with him across the seas.
But let Souza tell it himself. It happened that I was with him in the lighthouse, which looked like a large bird-house raised high on wooden timbers, and roofed with cor- rugated iron. Inside was a huge oil lamp with reflector, which was placed behind the glass
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window, set in the corner of the building and which looked out on the channel in both directions. The room was ornamented with a picture of President Dole and several col- ored prints. If I could look into the place now I am sure I would discover pictures of Admiral Dewey and President Mckinley. Souza was busy polishing the reflectors and was speaking on general subjects, when he sud- denly seized the brass telescope, and rushed out on the windy platform, and leveled it up the channel. By the way, Souza claimed that this glass was one of extraordinary power en- abling him to look over the horizon at times. Personally I could not see a hundred yards with it. But I always squinted through it dutifully and exclaimed on its remarkable clearness. I followed Souza out. He said he was taking observations on the liner China bound for Honolulu. I could see nothing but white caps on the horizon. After this diversion was over Souza returned to his polishing and I led him gently around to a chronicle of his domestic experiences. " You know I traveled much around the world. I see plenty, plenty
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wimens. I find you can no trust them, so I say to myself Manuwell when you get a woman, get one so ugly nobody bother you. So I found Marie, she just suit me, she came with her peeples from Madeira and was work- ing on Maui on contract, I pay feefteen dolla down on her contract, and thirty dolla in seex months. When time up I go to boss and say you take old woman back now. He get verra mnad, and make me pay all up. Marie, he good woman, but talk, talk all time, make me mad then pilikia again." So endeth the romance of Manual Souza.
The last time I saw the venerable Souza, was in the little Lihue church, which stands white between the rows of iron wood trees, facing the distant sea. He had on his Sunday clothes, consisting of a Prince Albert coat, flannel shirt, with a flaming handkerchief tied under the collar, and light trousers drawn roughly over cowhide boots. He
was holding a hymn book in his brown hairy fist, and singing with the great- est unction. I knew that his presence at church indicated a storm center at home and
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a desire on his part to re-establish himself in the good graces of the plantation people who were his patrons. " Yees, I give the ol' women leetle licking," he said in reply to my whis- pered question, " she go to the big house, sit on the step, and cry whenever she see the boss' wife, pilikia for me." Then he resumed his singing, but there was a quissical gleam in his old eye, which indicated something besides devotion. Doubtless old Souza has his faults, but one can not help liking him for his indomitable cheerfulness and pluck. So here is success to you Manuwell, and may the grapevines yet twine around your cottage door, and the black sharks come to fasten on your bait.
THE ROYAL PALM AND THE ALIEN PINE.
It was very, very warm. There were no cooling clouds resting upon the sharp-cut mountain crests; even the trade winds were dozing in the green mountain valleys; and the great sea-rollers curled listlessly over on the reefs and rippled lazily upon the heated sands of the beach; while the dark-hued natives lay on the shady grass peacefully asleep with their heads resting on their folded arms. The tropical trees and flowers seemed to be drink- ing in the heat with quiet enjoyment. But the somber Pine tree was very unhappy and sighed deeply as the fitful breeze stirred among his dark branches.
" What is the matter, brother Pine?" ques- tioned the broad and buxom banana tree, who was standing near by with her numerous pro- geny around her. " You look so dark and frowning; you should certainly feel happy this beautiful afternoon, for what can be
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pleasanter than a quiet warm day with no breeze stirring to tear my leaves."
In reply the Pine tree only shook his limbs as much as to say: " Leave me alone, can't you? I want to think."
He was indeed in a very bad humor, for as a rule he was rather kind to the banana tree, for he liked her cheerful ways.
Then the Royal Palm decided he would stir up the pine a little as he disliked this tree ex- ceedingly since he held aloof from the court and would not acknowledge his sovereignty. For the Pine came of a royal northern line. and was very proud though in exile; while the Palm was a Prince of the South and was acknowledged as lord and looked up to by all the other trees and flowers which grew on the Island. What a handsome fellow he was, too! With his clean straight body and the tight collar of royal green around his throat, while on his crest were waving plumes which glis- tened in the sun.
" Mr. Pine," said the Royal Palm, bending his stately head slightly toward his rival, " You look very glum this afternoon; if you
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do not like our island why do you not leave it? You are the one dark spot amidst all the beauty of our court."
" My lord," replied the Pine, " if you will permit me to say so, your plumes look rather frowsy this afternoon; doubtless they indicate your Highness' state of mind. I shall cer- tainly not leave so long as I can add to your pleasure by remaining."
AAt this remark the Papaia tree, who was one of the royal guards, interposed. He was a straight young fellow and his rather light skin was tattooed with numerous hearts, while his branches stood straight out from his head making him look like a green Kahili; but be- yond all these attractions the Papaia was a kamaaina (old resident), and was proud of the fact.
" It is insolent of you sire to speak thus to his Royal Highness; you are only a mulihini (stranger), understanding neither our laws, customs nor habits and having no place nor right in sunny Hawaii."
" My dear young savage," replied the Pine tree grimly, " I wish I might take you away
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with me from this sunny land to the cold and high mountains where the air is very thin and you would then not have sufficient breath to talk so much."
At this audacious speech all the other trees and flowers stirred uneasily as though they were about to make a remark in chorus, but they were timid and thought it wiser not to attack the dark Pine any further, for he really seemed an unpleasant fellow when aroused.
As the afternoon waned and the sun sank nearer to the blazing sea, the Pine tree passed out of his defiant mood, and gradually becom- ing more and more somnolent, he finally fell into a deep sleep and was carried far away in his dreams. Once more he was on the moun- tain side with his straight dark brethren around him and thousands of them filling the slope below. The clear breeze was blowing amongst them with a low murmuring sound, and in the ravine the water could be heard tinkling over the smooth granite boulders, while in the little pools the speckled trout shot hither and thither, or "stayed " their bodies against the current.
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Far down he could see the plains stretching far away to the eastern horizon and here and there upon their broad surface lay the cooling shadows cast by the broken, luminous clouds, which lay like a great white fleet anchored be- tween sky and earth.
Then the scene changed and he saw a storm moving downwards in white folds from moun- tain height to height until it covered the great slopes and filled the deep canyons. Then it came eddying and whirling in myriad white particles around him; first blurring and finally shutting from view comrades until he was alone with the storm. The power of the tempest stirred the sap under his bark and a wave of somber exultation came over him, under the influence of which he awoke and saw the stars shining in soft lustre through. the night, while on the warm and languid air came the fragrance of tropical flower and tree.
A numbing pain seemed to find its way through the tough fibre to the stout heart of the alien Pine, and he said to himself, " Be it ever so lovely, there's no place like home."
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J.F. SMITH LIBRARY BYU-HAWAII
3 3300 00309 0649
Pacific Islands DU623 . D4 12644
De la Vergne, Geo H.
Hawaiian Sketches
RALPH E. WOOLLEY LIBRARY THE CHURCH COLLEGE OF HAWAII
LIBRARY BUREAU CAT. NO. 1169.6
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