A Romance of Honolulu.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8078, 6 April 1906, Page 4

A Romance of Honolulu.

• Waikiki might be termed the Long Branch A the Hawaiian Islands. Summer, hotels *dth wide veramkhs, where hummocks swing iid Chineje lanterns sway, attest mors plainly than words the universal outdoor life. Darkhued natives stand waist-deep in the sea, drawing their nets, or shoot in long, narrow boats through the surf beyond the reef to indulge in deep-sea fishing. At high tide the surf beats over the reef, breaking in foamy furrows almost at the cottage doors. At low tide the sea recedes a half mile or more, exposing coral rocks, to which oling long tendrils of seaweed. One early movning I was taking snapshots with the keen zest of an amateur, when far out on the rocks I saw a native engaged iu reef fishing. He was picturesquely dressed in a pair of very ragged overalls, rolled high above his knees, and a wide-brimmed hat of native braid, much frayed and broken. Over his shoulders, partly concealing his broad muscular back, was itung a burlap bag, half filled with freshly taken fish. Occasionally the sack would quiver slightly with the convulsive motion of the still living victims. The man was provided with fishing taokle md a long, sharp pointed rod, (or impaling jquid or.devilfish. This fish with poi (grated taro root) constitutes the national Hawaiian diet, and the natives become very expert in •ts capture.

Carefully picking my way over the wet slippery rocks to where he stood, I asked to see his fish. With a smile that showed bin Arm, white teeth, he opened the sack, revealing beautiful finny specimens, some four or five inches in length, brightly striped in red and green. Though evidently pleased by my enthusiastic admiration, he could give them no name, only saying : "Kanaka eat," adding with a shake of his head, " I lolo." " Lolo," [ subsequently learned was Hasvaiian for stupid, and my fisherman upon acquaintance proved very far from that. Day after day I watched him as he fished, often following barefooted in his wake, uutil having gained his full confidence he 'was jasily induced to become my guide on long rambles over singing sands, into densely wooded valleys where lace ferns and rare orchids grew, or up lofty, almost inaccessible cliffs, where in lava pipes or caves formed by gas while the volcanic rock was in a viscid date, lay the bones of the ancient Hawaians, packed in closely covered hardwood canoes.

Longlieautiful nights, when earth and sea were bathed in soft moonlight, we rocked on the swelling waves in his koawood boat, '.aading when huugry, laua (cook) our fish jefore an open fire, and then it was, as we lay in the shadow of some overhanging pikca (cliff), misty blue rings curling from our pipes, that Waahila, JXtirely self-forgetting, tost in memories of the past, told in his fiquan't broken English, intorperscd with tiaWalian words, adventures of the deep blue sea. , - So unconscious, yet so vivid, was the porrayal, that one could almost see the scene Jesoribed—the fragile skiff riding the eurlmg biilows, while struggling sea monster* ohurned the waters to froth in vain efforts to scape the cruel harpoon, now diving the length of the straining line or rising in impotent fury to threaten the little craft with instant destruction. The fisherman, ever xlert and ready to secure his prize, when exhausted by futile effort he could play it into shallow water or strand it on the beach.

Like most Hawaiians, Waahila was affectionate and kind-hearted, though not at all averse to indulging in savage sports, or to eating his fish raw or even alive; while squid fishing was his great delight. Wading out upon the reef, be would watch, until in some hook or cranny a squid would bo spied. Blowing a mouthful of finely chewed kakui nut into the water to make it oily and clear, he would impalerthe octopus with his long-sharp-pointed rod, and watch with almost feline pleasure ftie uncanny little monster slowly draw itself by its sucker-provided tentacles up his bare arm to the shoulder, when with a quick movement he would bite aut its eyes, from the centre of its body, and the devilfish would collapse into a writhing, spidery muss. One beautiful day we were fishing for yuhu—a bright red fish with a parrot-shaped gill. The fish weighs from one to twenty pounds, and is usually found in schools within a huudred feet of the shore, just below low-water mark—where the liumculla, an edible seaweed, much prized by both Kanaka and fish, grows in long, seed-covered trails. J

Swimming out to little coves among weedcovered rocks, the fisherman ill search of yuhu waiits until he gets the fißh in line, .vhen he impales them one after another on his spear, which is some six feet long with a two foot head. The yuhu is also taken with hook and line and dragnet, from a canoe. The first yuhu jaught is suspended into the water for a de;oy, by a string attached to its bill. A net, spread fiat by three cross-sticks in the form of a triangle, is sunk to the bottom of tha rove. The school of yuhu attracted by the lecoy, collects above the net, when it is .Irawn to the surface, enmeshing the fish id 'ts folds.

Of the two methods I prefer the former, ■tnd excitedly watched Waahila as he mercilessly iinpaled a huge yuhu upon his spear. Swimming in shore he shook himself free irom water and triumphantly displayed his prize. 1 As he held it aloft, a rippling laugh and Hawaiian word of commendation caiiio from the full red lips of a dark-haired, dark-eyed native girl. Shehadheen gathering inmululla, and was now wading towards her haltfilled basket.that sat upon the beach beside her discarded holoku (dress) and shell-banded hat. LikeaNereid fresh risen from the sea she appeared, and with as liltls consciousness of her own beauty and grace, as approaching in her single, low-neelted garment, her shapely arms filled with dripping sea-weed, she softly, " Aloha "(I love you). " Aloha nut " (I love you very much), Waahila replied, explaining almost in the same breath : "It is Leoni," and we knew by the soft, languorous expression of his eyes that Leoni was all the world to him, and that his devotion was fulfy returned by this simple-minded mtive maid—too much a child of nature to feel the need of veiling her heart from her own true love.

After this she often joined us on our rambles, bringing rare shells, candlenuts, or leis of curious seeds, and so the days glided into each other, while an unwritten idyl of the tropics was played before ruy delighted eyes.

A visit to Kilauea, the great volcano ; separated us for several weeks. 1 had become sincerely attached to the warm hearted pair, am! longing to resume my wanderings .mder their guidance. As the little steamer Kenau landc<r?l eagerly scaned the faces at the wharf, but no Waahila was in wailing—nor did I see him for many days. At last he appeared, alone, apathetic, listless, with Drooping head and deep-lined, hollow eyes, What is it? I exclaimed, inexpressibly shocked at the change a few short weeks had wrought. In a dull voice, monotonous with despair, he answered : "Leoni—my heart's heart—they have taken her, my little one, to Molokai, to the leper settlement. She is dead in life—dead to me, and I cannot die for her."

"Leoni! " I exclaimed. "Leoni, so strong, so beautiful —without » spot or blemish! Leoni, a leper? Impossible!" Almost as if unhealing, he continued, with no change in his passionless volie : "She knew not—none knew—it is often so among my people ; it is .in the blood of our race. There was no spot—there was no pain—it is often so. We were at the luau (feast) under the algerobit trees on the east shore* Low tables had been spread with torn leaves—about them many knelt. Bowls

of poi had been placed. Every one was - ' happy. Before open fires, fish werc'luaued in ti leaves; yams and cocoanuts were grated on rough, flat stones; the air was full of hungry iteail.,*good to smell. ,All were waiting for the line fat pigs and poi dogs (dogs that havo been always fed on poi) that bad been luauedlri the pit filled with red hot stones. They were lifting out the nigs. Stones, red-hot, were thrown about the steaming nit. Leoni, in her white koloku and lei (wreath) of tuberose, stepped near to look ; stepped on the blistering hot stones with' her little bare feet, and. sjood there smiling, while the : stones seared into the flesh ; and she knew it not. Then'her mother moaned and bowed to the groundi while a great hnsb fell upon all the people. Leoni knew not, only wondered at the hush. I tried to take her to my heart—to hide her. They held me back; whilo I fought like a dog gone mad, the good priest touched her softly saying : ' My daughter, it is God's will,' and led my little one away." And the poor fellow, with all joy and gladness gone from his heart, shook with tearless agony, like a forest tree in a kona storm.

I could only clasp his hand and murmur words of sympathy that sounded cold and heartless, even to myself. Days passed, but no Waahila came at early dawn or dewy eve to guide me to sylvan haunts or fairy dells. At last he unexpectedly appeared, haggard and wasted to be sure, but almost smiliug, a great peace In his patient eyes. One of the saintly nuns who devote their lives to the lepers had written from the settlement at Molokai. The letter came by the returning vessel that had taken Leoni away from Honolulu.

Twice a year those doomed to death in life are conveyed by a little inter-island steamer from the hospital at Honolulu to the leper settlement at Molokai. In heartrending anxiety and suspense the leper suspect must await the verdict in the detention hospital at Honolulu. Against " thu law of the plague " there is no appeal: "He is unclean ho shall dwell alone." " Without the camp his habitation shall be." Sometimes in a badly calloused hand or foot the nerves are hot reached, or fail to respond to the clectiic needle of the examining physician, and the patient must be isolated. Such examinations are made in Hawaiian schools several times a year—sometimes "it is but a rising or a burning"—then shall the physician pronounce him clean. So little do the pleasureloving natives fear contagion, such sorrow does the thought of segregation cause, that the utmost vigilance is required on the part of the Government to insure the safety of the people. There are but three good landings on the Hawaiian Islands; that of the leper settle ment is difficult, at times dangerous. The little ship that bore Leoni to her sorrowful refuge was pitching in the short, chopped waves outside the coral reef. Small surf boats shot through the breakers to convey the sorrowful passengers ashore. Assembled on the beach was a pathetic throng —cheerful, smiling, indescribable. Blackrobed nuns uwved among thepi. A band—still ii| possession of fingers and lips—soifhded a welcome to the newcomers. All day a fierce hot wind had been blowing, threatening a kona storm. Dark clouds were gathering; the sea was leaden aud the surf thundered against the reef. ■ Leoni, the last of the passengers, was swung from the side of the plunging steamer into the lurching skiff. Almost Immediately it was lost to view in the combing breakers that wore now rolling mountain high over the sunken rocks. Too late the boatmen realized the nearness of the storm. Too late they knew no boat could live in such a sea. For a few moments the little craft bravely struggled, then lifted high on the crest of a mighty wave it was tossed against the ragged reef, where it helplessly pounded till caught and crushed like a cocklesheli in the paws of the hungry sea. "And now," said Waahila, as he ended his narration. "I can go to her. I prayed the blessed Virgin it might be so -" then dropping his eyes he continued; "And lest she might be busy, so many praying ' Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now.' 1 ate not, I drank not, and cast a small, bhi-1; pig into the sea, and followed that with many red fish, and a kuhinit (witch doctor] charm, calling all the while for my little one to go where I could find her. The god ol my fathers, the great blue slunk, was pleased. He came gliding through the waters, I knew him by the bright light shining from hi* face. J dared not look lest he should blind uie with his brightness." Poor Waahila—desperato from sorrow, he had returned to his ancestral worship, and the great blno shark, omitting a phosphorescent light, Is still regarded as a god by the Hawaiians. That Heaven was nearer and easier of acocss than Molokai was the alleviating thought In his grief. From that day he becam-3 my efficient, thoughtful guide again. A trip up Diamond Head had been planned before Leoni left us. Many a longing glance I had cast toward this extinct orator, whose bare, verdiueless walls tower thousands of feet upward, forming a lofty promontory, extending far into the sea, but would not remind my brokenhearted guide of the happy days" when we three w.tlked side by side; so when lie volunteered to go I gladly set out upon the jaunt.

The way, sloping gradually at first, soon became precipitous and difficult. After leaving the signal station, from which boat arrivals arc telephoned to Honolulu, we seemed poised between blue sea and cloudless sl:y. The deeply cleft and furrowed sides of the volcano are formed of clinkstone, scoriaecous lav*, sand and ashes. Here and there a thorny lantana or fish-benumbing pod-hear-ing auhuhn. lind fouling among the stunted, almost rootless grass, but rook or shrub or grass loosened and fell if grasped by the outstretched hand. At last we stood upon the crater's brink, looking down into its dark, yawning depths, half cxpeetn.g to be torn from the narrow lodge upon which we stood by the rising wind, that seems ever blowing about Diamond Head.

A sudden shower hastened our return. We weredescendingrapidly, Waabila in advance. In making a short cut. to avoid a deep fissure he paused for a moment upon a projecting shelf of rock. Suddenly without warning, it parted from the main cone and was precipitated over the cliff, sweeping Wanhilu with it, into theravine below.

To approach the upper edge of the ruck Would be to court a like disaster. Horror, stricken and unnerved, I made my way to sea level and up into the ravine to aid* the fallen man. I found him half buried by ashis, rock nud sand, a smile oi ineffable gladness upon his bronze face. Leoni's little crucifix lay over the faithful heart t\-at would never heat again. He had said his last "Aloha-oe-Hawaii-nei " (farewell to Hawaii), and gone to join Leoni at the loan spread by the great High Chief under the trees of Eternal Life.