HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2746, 4 December 1894, Page 3

HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY.

“ I know of no more hospitable people in the world,” said Captain A. 0. Alexander, of Washington, “ than the common people of Hawaii. If you ask for lodgings at nightfall at a native hut, you are received as as if yon were conferring a favor; frequently the whole house, which has but one room, is set apart for you, the people going elsewhere to sleep. A chicken is ■lain in your honor and for your exclusive sapper, and you are served by the master of the house himself. The native grass house, where it has been well built, is a very comfortable structure. It has but one room, calico curtains serving as partitions by night. At one end a standing bed-place, running across the house, provides accommodation for the entire family, no matter how numerous. This bed consists of mats, and the covers are either tappa cloth (which is as though you were sleeping under newspapers), or of blankets. The more prosperous people have often, besides this, an enormous bedstead curtained off and reserved for strangers, and you may see the women go to chests when you ask for hospitality and take out blankets, sheets, and any number of little pillows for the bed, and very often a brilliant silk coverlet. The use of the dozen or so pillows puzzled me until I found that they were intended to tuck or wedge me in, so that I should not roll around in the big bed. On taking your departure the next morning it is not well to ask the|cost of your accommodation, as the Hawaiian has the vaguest ideas of prices.' He might tell you ten dollars or twenty dollars, whereas if you hand him -.seventy five cents, for yourself and guide he will be abundantly satisfied.”