Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines — 05-Hawaii, Ch. 3 The Five Kamehamehas pt 2

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 ,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.