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diff --git a/old/13222.txt b/old/13222.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1a3908 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13222.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10790 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern California, Oregon, and the +Sandwich Islands, by Charles Nordhoff + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands + +Author: Charles Nordhoff + +Release Date: August 19, 2004 [EBook #13222] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, *** + + + + +Produced by Ronald Holder and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: The following words are noted as having changed +between the publication of this book and the year 2004: 'Nuuanu +Valley', versus 'Nuanu'; 'lei', vs. 'le' for a flower garland; 'holoku' +vs. 'holaku' for a Hawaiian black dress; 'Wailua', vs. 'Waialua'; +'Kealakekua Bay' vs. 'Kealakeakua'; 'Kahului' vs. 'Kaului'; 'kuleana' +vs. 'kuliana' for a small land-holding; 'kulolo' vs. 'kuulaau' for a +taro pudding; 'piele' vs. 'paalolo' for a sweet-potato and coconut +pudding; 'Koa' trees vs. 'Ko'; 'Sausalito' vs. 'Soucelito'; 'Klickitat', +vs. 'Klikatat'; and 'Mount Rainier' vs. 'Mount Regnier'. + +Also, in chapter 1, the author mis-stated information on taro fields; +it should say that a square forty feet on each side will support a +person for a year; this is equivalent to a square mile feeding 15,000. + +An explanation of footnotes in the Appendix: The book has both footnotes +at the bottom of each page, to which I assigned letters, and four pages +of notes at the end of the Appendix. The latter includes comments by +the translator in brackets, therefore these notes, which use numbers, +will not be enclosed in the normal [Footnote: ] brackets to avoid any +confusion. The lettered footnotes follow the numbered notes at the +end.] + +[Illustration: THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO.] + + +NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, + +OREGON, + +AND THE + +SANDWICH ISLANDS. + + +BY CHARLES NORDHOFF, + +AUTHOR OF + +"CALIFORNIA: FOR HEALTH, PLEASURE, AND RESIDENCE," &c., &c. + + +NEW YORK: + +HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + +FRANKLIN SQUARE. + + +1875. + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by + +HARPER & BROTHERS, + +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + + +TO MY FRIENDS, + +MR. AND MRS. HENRY A. DIKE, + +OF BROOKLYN, N.Y. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The favor with which my previous volume on California was received by the +public induced me to prepare the present volume, which concerns itself, +as the title sufficiently shows, with the northern parts of California, +Oregon (including a journey through Washington Territory to Victoria, in +Vancouver's Island), and the Sandwich Islands. + +I have endeavored, as before, to give plain and circumstantial details, +such as would interest and be of use to travelers for pleasure or +information, and enable the reader to judge of the climate, scenery, +and natural resources of the regions I visited; to give, in short, such +information as I myself would like to have had in my possession before +I made the journey. + +Since this book went to press, Lunalilo, the King of the Sandwich Islands, +has died of rapid consumption; and his successor is the Hon. David +Kalakaua, a native chief, who has been prominent in the political affairs +of the Islands, and was the rival of the late king after the death of +Kamehameha V. Colonel Kalakaua is a man of education, of better physical +stamina than the late king, of good habits, vigorous will, and a strong +determination to maintain the independence of the Islands, in which he is +supported by the people, who are of like mind with him on this point. His +portrait is given on the next leaf. + + +[Illustration: KING KALAKAUA.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +HONOLULU AND THE ISLAND OF OAHU + + +CHAPTER II. + +HILO, WITH SOME VOLCANOES + + +CHAPTER III. + +MAUI, AND THE SUGAR CULTURE + + +CHAPTER IV. + +KAUAI, WITH A GLANCE AT CATTLE AND SHEEP + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE HAWAIIAN AT HOME: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS + + +CHAPTER VI. + +COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE LEPER ASYLUM ON MOLOKAI + + * * * * * + +NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: + +ITS AGRICULTURAL VALLEYS, DAIRIES, FORESTS, FRUIT-FARMS, ETC. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY: A GENERAL VIEW, WITH HINTS TO TOURISTS AND +SPORTSMEN + + +CHAPTER II. + +WINE AND RAISINS--PROFITS OF DRYING FRUITS + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE TULE LANDS AND LAND DRAINAGE + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SHEEP-GRAZING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE CHINESE AS LABORERS AND PRODUCERS + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MENDOCINO COAST AND CLEAR LAKE--GENERAL VIEW + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN INDIAN RESERVATION + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE REDWOODS AND THE SAW-MILL COUNTRY OF MENDOCINO + + +CHAPTER IX. + +DAIRY-FARMING IN CALIFORNIA + + +CHAPTER X. + +TEHAMA AND BUTTE, AND THE UPPER COUNTRY + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TOBACCO CULTURE--WITH A NEW METHOD OR CURING THE LEAF + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE FARALLON ISLANDS + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE COLUMBIA RIVER AND PUGET SOUND--HINTS TO TOURISTS + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX. + +CONTRIBUTIONS OF A VENERABLE SAVAGE TO THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE HAWAIIAN +ISLANDS + + +NOTES + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +MAP OF THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO + +KING KALAKAUA + +DIAMOND HEAD AND WAIKIKI + +HONOLULU--GENERAL VIEW + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU + +GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, HONOLULU + +ROYAL SCHOOL, HONOLULU + +COURT-HOUSE, HONOLULU + +MRS. LUCY G. THURSTON + +KAWAIAHO CHURCH--FIRST NATIVE CHURCH IN HONOLULU + +DR. JUDD + +DR. COAN + +BETHEL CHURCH + +DR. DAMON + +QUEEN'S HOSPITAL, HONOLULU + +NATIVE SCHOOL-HOUSE IN HONOLULU + +COCOA-NUT GROVE, AND RESIDENCE OF THE LATE KING KAMEHAMEHA V., AT WAIKIKI, +OAHU + +HAWAIIAN POI DEALER + +THE PALACE, HONOLULU + +EMMA, QUEEN OF KAMEHAMEHA IV. + +A HAWAIIAN CHIEF + +THE CRATER OF KILAUEA--ONE PHASE + +KEALAKEAKUA BAY, WHERE CAPTAIN COOK WAS KILLED + +THE VOLCANO HOUSE + +HAWAIIAN TEMPLE, FROM A RUSSIAN ENGRAVING, ABOUT 1790 + +LAVA FIELD, HAWAII--FLOW OF 1868 + +VIEW OF THE CRATER OF SOUTH LAKE IN A STATE OF ERUPTION, FROM THE CREST OF +THE NORTH LAKE + +HILO + +SURF BATHING + +LAHAINA, ISLAND OF MAUI + +CASCADE AND RIVER OF LAVA--FLOW OF 1869 + +MAP OF THE HALEAKALA CRATER + +WAILUKU, ISLAND OF MAUI + +KEAPAWEO MOUNTAIN, KAUAI + +CHAIN OF EXTINCT VOLCANOES NEAR KOLOA, ISLAND OF KAUAI + +WAIALUA FALLS, ISLAND OF KAUAI + +IMPLEMENTS + +GRASS HOUSE + +HAWAIIAN WARRIORS + +LUNALILO + +KAMEHAMEHA I. + +QUEEN OF KAMEHAMEHA I. + +ANCIENT GODS OF HAWAII + +HAWAIIANS EATING POI + +NATIVE HAT PEDDLER + +HULA-HULA, OR DANCING-GIRLS + +HAWAIIAN STYLE OF DRESS + +NATIVE PIPE + +NECKLACE OF HUMAN HAIR + +MAP OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA + +A CALIFORNIA VINEYARD + +WINE VATS + +TRAINING A VINE + +A BOTTLING-CELLAR + +INDIAN RANCHERIA + +PIEDRAS BLANCAS + +POINT ARENA LIGHT-HOUSE + +SHIPPING LUMBER, MENDOCINO COUNTY + +A WATER-JAM OF LOGS + +MOUNT HOOD, OREGON + +COAST VIEW, MENDOCINO COUNTY + +INDIAN SWEAT-HOUSE + +ANOTHER COAST-VIEW, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA + +A SAW-MILL PORT ON PUGET SOUND + +CAPE HORN, COLUMBIA RIVER + +SAW-MILL + +WOOD-CHOPPER AT WORK + +MOUNT HOOD, OREGON + +INDIANS SPEARING SALMON, COLUMBIA RIVER + +CHINOOK WOMAN AND CHILD + +VIEW ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER + +LUMBERING IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY--PREPARING LOGS + +VICTORIA HARBOR, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND + +PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON TERRITORY + +POINT REYES + +COLUMBIA RIVER SCENE + +STREET IN OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY + +"TACOMA," OR MOUNT RAINIER + +INDIAN CRADLE, WASHINGTON TERRITORY + +RUNNING THE ROOKERIES--GATHERING MURRE EGGS + +LIGHT-HOUSE ON THE SOUTH FARALLON + +ARCH AT WEST END, FARALLON ISLANDS + +SEA-LIONS + +THE GULL'S NEST + +SHAGS, MURRES, AND SEA-GULLS + +CONTEST FOR THE EGGS + +THE GREAT ROOKERY + +INDIAN GIRLS AND CANOE, PUGET SOUND + +SALEM, CAPITAL OF OREGON + +SEATTLE, WASHINGTON TERRITORY + +VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA + +MAP OF PUGET SOUND AND VICINITY + +THE DUKE OF YORK + +QUEEN VICTORIA + +NANAIMO, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND + +ANCIENT HAWAIIAN IDOL + +THE TARO PLANT + + + + +[Illustration: DIAMOND HEAD AND WAIKIKI.] + +NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, + +AND + +THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HONOLULU AND THE ISLAND OF OAHU. + + +The Hawaiian group consists, as you will see on the map, of eleven +islands, of which Hawaii is the largest and Molokini the smallest. The +islands together contain about 6000 square miles; and Hawaii alone has an +area of nearly 4000 square miles, Maui 620, Oahu (which contains Honolulu, +the capital) 530, and Kauai 500. Lanai, Kahoolawe, Molokai, Niihau, +Kaula, Lehua, and Molokini are small islands. All are of volcanic +origin, mountainous, and Hawaii contains the largest active crater in the +world--Kilauea--one of the craters of Mauna Loa; while Maui contains +the largest known extinct crater, Haleakala, the House of the Sun--a pit +thirty miles in circumference and two thousand feet deep. Mauna Loa and +Mauna Kea are nearly 14,000 feet high, as high as Mount Grey in Colorado; +and you can not ride anywhere in the islands without seeing extinct +craters, of which the hill called Diamond Head, near Honolulu, is an +example. + +[Illustration: HONOLULU--GENERAL VIEW.] + +The voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu is now very comfortably made in +one of the Pacific Mail Company's steamers, which plies regularly between +the two ports, and makes a round trip once in every month. The voyage down +to the Islands lasts from eight to nine days, and even to persons subject +to sea-sickness is likely to be an enjoyable sea-journey, because after +the second day the weather is charmingly warm, the breezes usually mild, +and the skies sunny and clear. In forty-eight hours after you leave +the Golden Gate, shawls, overcoats, and wraps are discarded. You put on +thinner clothing. After breakfast you will like to spread rugs on deck +and lie in the sun, fanned by deliciously soft winds; and before you see +Honolulu you will, even in winter, like to have an awning spread over you +to keep off the sun. When they seek a tropical climate, our brethren on +the Pacific coast have to endure no such rough voyage as that across +the Atlantic. On the way you see flying-fish, and if you are lucky an +occasional whale or a school of porpoises, but no ships. It is one of the +loneliest of ocean tracks, for sailing-vessels usually steer farther north +to catch stronger gales. But you sail over the lovely blue of the Pacific +Ocean, which has not only softer gales but even a different shade of color +than the fierce Atlantic. + +We made the land at daylight on the tenth day of the voyage, and by +breakfast-time were steaming through the Molokai Channel, with the high, +rugged, and bare volcanic cliffs of Oahu close aboard, the surf beating +vehemently against the shore. An hour later we rounded Diamond Head, and +sailing past Waikiki, which is the Long Branch of Honolulu charmingly +placed amidst groves of cocoa-nut-trees, turned sharp about, and steamed +through a narrow channel into the landlocked little harbor of Honolulu, +smooth as a mill-pond. + +It is not until you are almost within the harbor that you get a fair view +of the city, which lies embowered in palms and fine tamarind-trees, with +the tall fronds of the banana peering above the low-roofed houses; and +thus the tropics come after all somewhat suddenly upon you; for the +land which you have skirted all the morning is by no means tropical in +appearance, and the cocoa-nut groves of Waikiki will disappoint you on +their first and too distant view, which gives them the insignificant +appearance of tall reeds. But your first view of Honolulu, that from the +ship's deck, is one of the pleasantest you can get: it is a view of gray +house-tops, hidden in luxuriant green, with a background of volcanic +mountains three or four thousand feet high, and an immediate foreground of +smooth harbor, gay with man-of-war boats, native canoes and flags, and +the wharf, with ladies in carriages, and native fruit-venders in what will +seem to you brightly colored night-gowns, eager to sell you a feast of +bananas and oranges. + +There are several other fine views of Honolulu, especially that from the +lovely Nuanu Valley, looking seaward over the town, and one from the roof +of the prison, which edifice, clean, roomy, and in the day-time empty +because the convicts are sent out to labor on public works and roads, has +one of the finest situations in the town's limits, directly facing the +Nuanu Valley. + +From the steamer you proceed to a surprisingly excellent hotel, which was +built at a cost of about $120,000, and is owned by the government. +You will find it a large building, affording all the conveniences of a +first-class hotel in any part of the world. It is built of a concrete +stone made on the spot, of which also the new Parliament House is +composed; and as it has roomy, well-shaded court-yards and deep, cool +piazzas, and breezy halls and good rooms, and baths and gas, and a +billiard-room, you might imagine yourself in San Francisco, were it not +that you drive in under the shade of cocoa-nut, tamarind, guava, and +algeroba trees, and find all the doors and windows open in midwinter; and +ladies and children in white sitting on the piazzas. + +[Illustration: HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU.] + +It is told in Honolulu that the building of this hotel cost two of the +late king's cabinet, Mr. Harris and Dr. Smith, their places. The Hawaiian +people are economical, and not very enterprising; they dislike debt, and +a considerable part of the Hawaiian national debt was contracted to build +this hotel. You will feel sorry for Messrs. Harris and Smith, who were for +many years two of the ablest members of the Hawaiian cabinet, but you will +feel grateful for their enterprise also, when you hear that before this +hotel was completed--that is to say, until 1871--a stranger landing in +Honolulu had either to throw himself on the hospitality of the citizens, +take his lodgings in the Sailors' Home, or go back to his ship. It is not +often that cabinet ministers fall in so good a cause, or incur the public +displeasure for an act which adds so much to the comfort of mankind. + +The mercury ranges between 68 deg. and 81 deg. in the winter months and +between 75 deg. and 86 deg. during the summer, in Honolulu. The mornings are +often a little overcast until about half-past nine, when it clears +away bright. The hottest part of the day is before noon. The +trade-wind usually blows, and when it does it is always cool; with a +south wind; it is sometimes sultry, though the heat is never nearly so +oppressive as in July and August in New York. In fact, a New Yorker +whom I met in the Islands in August congratulated himself as much on +having escaped the New York summer as others did on having avoided the +winter. + +The nights are cool enough for sound rest, but not cold. + +It is not by any means a torrid climate, and it has, perhaps, the +fewest daily extremes of any pleasant climate in the world. For +instance, the mercury ranged in January between 69 deg. at 7 A.M., 75-1/2 deg. +at 2 P.M., and 71-1/2 deg. at 10 P.M. The highest temperature in that month +was 78 deg., and the lowest 68 deg.. December and January are usually the +coolest months in the year at Honolulu, but the variation is extremely +slight for the whole year, the maximum of the warmest day in July +(still at Honolulu) being only 86 deg., and this at noon, and the lowest +mark being 62 deg., in the early morning in December. A friend of mine +resident during twenty years in the Islands has never had a blanket in +his house. + +It is said that the climate is an excellent one for consumptives, and +physicians here point to numerous instances of the kindly and healing +effect of the mild air. At the same time, I suspect it must in the +long-run be a little debilitating to Americans. It is a charming climate +for children; and as sea-bathing is possible and pleasant at all times, +those who derive benefit from this may here enjoy it to the fullest extent +during all the winter months as well as in the summer. + +Of course you wear thin, but not the thinnest, clothing. White is +appropriate to the climate; but summer flannels are comfortable in winter. +The air is never as sultry as in New York in July or August, and the +heat is by no means oppressive, there being almost always a fresh breeze. +Honolulu has the reputation of being the hottest place on the islands, +and a walk through its streets at midday quickly tires one; but in a +mountainous country like this you may choose your temperature, of course. +The summits of the highest peaks on Hawaii are covered with almost +perpetual snow; and there are sugar planters who might sit around a fire +every night in the year. + +Unlike California, the Islands have no special rainy season, though +rain is more abundant in winter than during the summer months. But the +trade-wind, which is also the rain-wind, greatly controls the rain-fall; +and it is useful for visitors to bear in mind that on the weather side +of every one of the Islands--that side exposed to the wind--rains are +frequent, while on the lee side the rain-fall is much less, and in some +places there is scarcely any. Thus an invalid may get at will either a dry +or moist climate, and this often by moving but a few miles. Not only is +it true that at Hilo it sometimes rains for a month at a time, while at +Lahaina they have a shower only about once in eighteen months; but you may +_see_ it rain every day from the hotel piazza in Honolulu, though you get +not a drop in the city itself; for in the Nuanu and Manoa valleys there +are showers every day in the year--the droppings of fragments of clouds +which have been blown over the mountain summits; and if you cross the Pali +to go the windward side of the island, though you set out from Honolulu +amidst brilliant sunshine which will endure there all day unchanged, you +will not ride three miles without needing a mackintosh. But the residents, +knowing that during the greater part of the year the showers are light and +of brief duration, take no precautions against them; and indeed an island +shower seems to be harmless to any one but an invalid, for it is not a +climate in which one easily "takes cold." + +The very slight changes in temperature between day and night make the +climate agreeable, and I think useful, to persons in tender health. But I +do not believe it can be safely recommended for all cases of consumption. +If the patient has the disease fully developed, and if it has been +caused by lack of nutrition, I should think the island air likely to be +insufficiently bracing. For persons who have "weak lungs" merely, but no +actual disease, it is probably a good and perfectly safe climate; and if +sea-bathing is part of your physician's prescription, it can, as I said +before, be enjoyed in perfection here by the tenderest body all the year +round. + +[Illustration: GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, HONOLULU.] + +Honolulu, being the capital of the kingdom, contains the government +offices; and you will perhaps be surprised, as I was, to find an excellent +public hospital, a reform school, and other proper and well-managed +charities. When you have visited these and some of the numerous schools +and the native churches, and have driven or ridden to Waikiki for a +sea-bath, and have seen the Nuanu Valley and the precipice called the +Pali, if you are American, and familiar with New England, it will be +revealed to you that the reason why all the country looks so familiar +to you is that it is really a very accurate reproduction of New +England country scenery. The white frame houses with green blinds, the +picket-fences whitewashed until they shine, the stone walls, the small +barns, the scanty pastures, the little white frame churches scattered +about, the narrow "front yards," the frequent school-houses, usually with +but little shade: all are New England, genuine and unadulterated; and +you have only to eliminate the palms, the bananas, and other tropical +vegetation, to have before you a fine bit of Vermont or the stonier parts +of Massachusetts. The whole scene has no more breadth nor freedom about it +than a petty New England village, but it is just as neat, trim, orderly, +and silent also. There is even the same propensity to put all the +household affairs under one roof which was born of a severe climate in +Massachusetts, but has been brought over to these milder suns by the +incorrigible Puritans who founded this bit of civilization. + +[Illustration: ROYAL SCHOOL, HONOLULU.] + +In fact, the missionaries have left an indelible mark upon these islands. +You do not need to look deep to know that they were men of force, men of +the same kind as they who have left an equally deep impress upon so large +a part of our Western States; men and women who had formed their own lives +according to certain fixed and immutable rules, who knew no better country +than New England, nor any better ways than New England ways, and to +whom it never occurred to think that what was good and sufficient in +Massachusetts was not equally good and fit in any part of the world. +Patiently, and somewhat rigorously, no doubt, they sought from the +beginning to make New England men and women of these Hawaiians; and what +is wonderful is that, to a large extent, they have succeeded. + +As you ride about the suburbs of Honolulu, and later as you travel about +the islands, more and more you will be impressed with a feeling of respect +and admiration for the missionaries. Whatever of material prosperity has +grown up here is built on their work, and could not have existed but for +their preceding labors; and you see in the spirit of the people, in their +often quaint habits, in their universal education, in all that makes these +islands peculiar and what they are, the marks of the Puritans who came +here but fifty years ago to civilize a savage nation, and have done their +work so thoroughly that, even though the Hawaiian people became extinct, +it would require a century to obliterate the way-marks of that handful of +determined New England men and women. + +[Illustration: COURT-HOUSE, HONOLULU.] + +Their patient and effective labors seem to me, now that I have seen the +results, to have been singularly undervalued at home. No intelligent +American can visit the islands and remain there even a month, without +feeling proud that the civilization which has here been created in so +marvelously short a time was the work of his country men and women; and if +you make the acquaintance of the older missionary families, you will not +leave them without deep personal esteem for their characters, as well as +admiration of their work. They did not only form a written language +for the Hawaiian race, and painfully write for them school-books, a +dictionary, and a translation of the Scriptures and of a hymn-book; they +did not merely gather the people in churches and their children into +schools; but they guided the race, slowly and with immense difficulty, +toward Christian civilization; and though the Hawaiian is no more a +perfect Christian than the New Yorker or Massachusetts man, and +though there are still traces of old customs and superstitions, these +missionaries have eradicated the grosser crimes of murder and theft so +completely, that even in Honolulu people leave their houses open all +day and unlocked all night, without thought of theft; and there is not a +country in the world where the stranger may travel in such absolute safety +as in these islands. + +The Hawaiian, or Sandwich Islands, were discovered--or rediscovered, as +some say--by Captain Cook, in January, 1778, a year and a half after +our Declaration of Independence. The inhabitants were then what we call +savages--that is to say, they wore no more clothing than the climate +made necessary, and knew nothing of the Christian religion. In the +period between 1861 and 1865 this group had in the Union armies a +brigadier-general, a major, several other officers, and more than one +hundred private soldiers and seamen, and its people contributed to the +treasury of the Sanitary Commission a sum larger than that given by most +of our own States. + +[Illustration: MRS. LUCY G. THURSTON.] + +In 1820 the first missionaries landed on the shores of these islands, and +Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston, one of those who came in that year, still lives, a +bright, active old lady, with a shrewd wit of her own. Thirty-three years +afterward, in 1853, the American Board of Missions determined that "the +Sandwich Islands, having been Christianized, shall no longer receive aid +from the Board;" and in this year, 1873, the natives of these islands +are, there is reason to believe, the most generally educated people in the +world. There is scarcely a Hawaiian--man, woman, or child--of suitable +age but can both read and write. All the towns and many country localities +possess substantial stone or, more often, framed churches, of the oddest +New England pattern; and a compulsory education law draws every child into +the schools, while a special tax of two dollars on every voter, and an +additional general tax, provide schools and teachers for all the children +and youth. + +[Illustration: KAWAIAHO CHURCH--FIRST-NATIVE CHURCH IN HONOLULU.] + +Nine hundred and three thousand dollars were given by Christian people in +the United States during thirty-five years to accomplish this result; and +to-day the islands themselves support a missionary society, which sends +the Gospel in the hands of native missionaries into other islands at its +own cost, and not only supports more than a dozen "foreign" missionaries, +but translates parts of the Bible into other Polynesian tongues. + +Nor was exile from their homes and kindred the only privation the +missionaries suffered. They came among a people so vile that they had not +even a conception of right and wrong; so prone to murder and pillage that +the first Kamehameha, the conqueror, gave as excuse for his conquest that +it was necessary to make the paths safe; so debauched in their common +conversation that the earlier missionaries were obliged for years rigidly +to forbid their own children not only from acquaintance with the natives +among whom they lived, but even from learning the native language, because +to hear only the passing speech of their neighbors was to suffer the +grossest contamination. + +Of those who began this good work but few now remain. Most of them have +gone to their reward, having no doubt suffered, as well as accomplished, +much. Of the first band who came out from the United States, the only one +living in 1873 is Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston, a bright, active, and lively old +lady of seventy-five years, who drives herself to church on Sundays in a +one-horse chaise, and has her own opinions of passing events. How she has +lived in the tropics for fifty years without losing even an atom of the +New England look puzzles you; but it shows you also the strength which +these people brought with them, the tenacity with which they clung +to their habits of dress and living and thought, the remorseless +determination which they imported, with their other effects, around Cape +Horn. + +[Illustration: DR. JUDD.] + +Then there was Dr. Judd, who has died since these lines were written, who +came out as physician to the mission, and proved himself in the islands, +as the world knows, a very able man, with statesmanship for some great +emergencies which made him for years one of the chief advisers of the +Hawaiian kings. It was to me a most touching sight to see, on a Sunday +after church, Mrs. Thurston, his senior by many years but still alert +and vigorous, taking hold of his hand and tenderly helping him out of the +church and to his carriage. + +[Illustration: DR. COAN.] + +And in Hilo, when you go to visit the volcano, you will find Dr. Coan, one +of the brightest and loveliest spirits of them, all, the story of whose +life in the remote island whose apostle he was, is as wonderful and as +touching as that of any of the earlier apostles, and shows what great +works unyielding faith and love can do in redeeming a savage people. When +Dr. and Mrs. Coan came to the island of Hawaii, its shores and woods were +populous; and through their labors and those of the Reverend Mr. Lyman +and one or two others, thousands of men and women were instructed in +the truths of Christianity, inducted into civilized habits of life, and +finally brought into the church. + +As you sail along the green coast of Hawaii from its northern point to +Hilo, you will be surprised at the number of quaint little white churches +which mark the distances almost with the regularity of mile-stones; if, +later, you ride through this district or the one south of Hilo, you will +see that for every church there is also a school-house; you will see +native children reading and writing as well as our own at home; you may +hear them singing tunes familiar in our own Sunday-schools; you will see +the native man and woman sitting down to read their newspaper at the close +of day; and if you could talk with them, you would find they knew almost +as much about our late war as you do, for they took an intense interest in +the war of the rebellion. And you must remember that when, less than forty +years ago, Dr. and Mrs. Coan came to Hilo, the people were naked savages, +with but one church and one school-house in the district, and almost +without printed books or knowledge of reading. They flocked to hear the +Gospel. Thousands removed from a distance to Hilo, where, in their +rapid way, they built up a large town, and kept up surely the strangest +"protracted meeting" ever held; and going back to their homes after many +months, they took with them knowledge and zeal to build up Christian +churches and schools of their own. + +Over these Dr. Coan has presided these many years; not only preaching +regularly on Sundays and during the week in the large native church at +Hilo, and in two or three neighboring churches, but visiting the more +distant churches at intervals to examine and instruct the members, and +keep them all on the right track. He has seen a region very populous +when he first came to it decrease until it has now many more deserted and +ruined house-places than inhabited dwellings; but, also, he has seen a +great population turned from darkness to light, a considerable part of it +following his own blameless and loving life as an example, and very many +living to old age steadfast and zealous Christians. + +On your first Sunday at Honolulu you will probably attend one or other of +the native churches. They are commodious buildings, well furnished; and a +good organ, well played, will surprise you. Sunday is a very quiet day in +the Islands: they are a church-going people, and the empty seats in +the Honolulu native churches give you notice of the great decrease in +population since these were built. + +[Illustration: BETHEL CHURCH.] + +If you go to hear preaching in your own language, it will probably be to +the Seamen's Chapel where the Rev. Mr. Damon preaches--one of the oldest +and one of the best-known residents of Honolulu. This little chapel was +brought around Cape Horn in pieces, in a whale-ship many years ago, and +was, I believe, the first American church set up in these islands. It is +a curious old relic, and has seen many changes. Mr. Damon has lived here +since 1846 a most zealous and useful life as seamen's chaplain. He is, in +his own field, a true and untiring missionary, and to his care the port +owes a clean and roomy Seamen's Home, a valuable little paper, _The +Friend_, which was for many years the chief reading of the whalemen who +formerly crowded the ports of Hawaii; and help in distress, and fatherly +advice, and unceasing kindness at all times to a multitude of seamen +during nearly thirty years. The sailors, who quickly recognize a genuine +man, have dubbed him "Father Damon;" and he deserves, what he has long +had, their confidence and affection. + +[Illustration: DR. DAMON.] + +The charitable and penal institutions of Honolulu are quickly seen, and +deserve a visit. They show the care with which the Government has looked +after the welfare of the people. The Queen's Hospital is an admirably +kept house. At the Reform School you will see a number of boys trained and +educated in right ways. The prison not only deserves a visit for itself, +but from its roof you obtain, as I said before, one of the best views of +Honolulu and the adjacent country and ocean. + +[Illustration: QUEEN'S HOSPITAL, HONOLULU.] + +Then there are native schools, elementary and academic, where you will see +the young Hawaiian at his studies, and learn to appreciate the industry +and thoroughness with which education is carried on all over these +islands. You will see also curious evidence of the mixture of races here; +for on the benches sit, and in the classes recite, Hawaiian, Chinese, +Portuguese, half white and half Chinese children; and the little +pig-tailed Celestial reads out of his primer quite as well as any. + +[Illustration: NATIVE SCHOOL-HOUSE IN HONOLULU.] + +In the girls' schools you will see an occasional pretty face, but fewer +than I expected to see; and to my eyes the Hawaiian girl is rarely very +attractive. Among the middle-aged women, however, you often meet with fine +heads and large, expressive features. The women have not unfrequently +a majesty of carriage and a tragic intensity of features and expression +which are quite remarkable. Their loose dress gives grace as well as +dignity to their movements, and whoever invented it for them deserves +more credit than he has received. It is a little startling at first to see +women walking about in what, to our perverted tastes, look like calico +or black stuff night-gowns; but the dress grows on you as you become +accustomed to it; it lends itself readily to bright ornamentation; it +is eminently fit for the climate; and a stately Hawaiian dame, marching +through the street in black _holaku_--as the dress is called--with a long +necklace, or _le_, of bright scarlet or brilliant yellow flowers, bare and +untrammeled feet, and flowing hair, surmounted often by a low-crowned +felt hat, compares very favorably with a high-heeled, wasp-waisted, +absurdly-bonneted, fashionable white lady. + +[Illustration: COCOA-NUT GROVE, AND RESIDENCE OF THE LATE KING KAMEHAMEHA +V., AT WAIKIKI, OAHU.] + +As you travel through the country, you see not unfrequently one of +the tall, majestic, large women, who were formerly, it is said by old +residents, more numerous than now. I have been assured by several persons +that the race has dwindled in the last half century; and all old residents +speak with admiration of the great stature and fine forms of the chiefs +and their wives in the early days. It does not appear that these chiefs +were a distinct race, but they were despotic rulers of the common people; +and their greater stature is attributed by those who should know to their +being nourished on better food, and to easier circumstances and more +favorable surroundings. + +When you have seen Honolulu and the Nuanu Valley, and bathed and drunk +cocoa-nut milk at Waikiki, you will be ready for a charming excursion--the +ride around the Island of Oahu. For this you should take several days. It +is most pleasantly made by a party of three or four persons, and ladies, +if they can sit in the saddle at all, can very well do it. You should +provide yourself with a pack-mule, which will carry not only spare +clothing but some provisions; and your guide ought to take care of your +horses and be able, if necessary, to cook you a lunch. The ride is easily +done in four days, and you will sleep every night at a plantation or farm. +The roads are excellent for riding, and carriages have made the journey. +It is best to set out by way of Pearl River and return by the Pali, +as thus you have the trade-wind in your face all the way. If you are +accustomed to ride, and can do thirty miles a day, you should sleep the +first night at or near Waialua, the next at or near what is called +the Mormon Settlement, and on the third day ride into Honolulu. + +If ladies are of your party, and the stages must be shorter, you can +ride the first day to Ewa, which is but ten miles; the next, to Waialua, +eighteen miles further; the third, to the neighborhood of Kahuku, twelve +miles; thence to Kahana, fifteen miles; thence to Kaalaea, twelve miles; +and the next day carries you, by an easy ride of thirteen miles, into +Honolulu. Any one who can sit on a horse at all will enjoy this excursion, +and receive benefit from it; the different stages of it are so short that +each day's work is only a pleasure. On the way you will see, near Ewa, +the Pearl Lochs, which it has recently been proposed to cede as a +naval station to the United States; and near Waialua an interesting +boarding-school for Hawaiian girls, in which they are taught not only +in the usual school studies, but in sewing, and the various arts of the +housewife. If you are curious to see the high valley in which the famous +Waialua oranges are grown, you must take a day for that purpose. Between +Kahuku and Kahana it is worth while to make a detour into the mountains to +see the Kaliawa Falls, which are a very picturesque sight. The rock, at a +height of several hundred feet, has been curiously worn by the water into +the shape of a canoe. Here, also, the precipitous walls are covered +with masses of fine ferns. At Kahana, and also at Koloa, you will see +rice-fields, which are cultivated by Chinese. You pass also on your road +several sugar-plantations; and if it is the season of sugar-boiling, +you will be interested in this process. For miles you ride along the +sea-shore, and your guide will lead you to proper places for a midday +bath, preliminary to your lunch. + +After leaving the Mormon Settlement, the scenery becomes very grand--it +is, indeed, as fine as any on the Islands, and compares well with any +scenery in the world. That it can be seen without severe toil gives it, +for such people as myself, no slight advantage over some other scenery +in these Islands and elsewhere, access to which can be gained only +by toilsome and disagreeable journeys. There is a blending of sea and +mountain which will dwell in your memory as not oppressively grand, and +yet fine enough to make you thankful that Providence has made the world so +lovely and fair. + +As you approach the Pali, the mountain becomes a sheer precipice for some +miles, broken only by the gorge of the Pali, up which, if you are prudent, +you will walk, letting your horses follow with the guide--though Hawaiian +horsemen ride both up and down, and have been known to gallop down the +stone-paved and slippery steep. As you look up at these tall, gloomy +precipices, you will see one of the peculiarities of a Sandwich Island +landscape. The rocks are not bare, but covered from crown to base with +moss and ferns; and these cling so closely to the surface that to your +eye they seem to be but a short, close-textured green fuzz. In fact, these +great rocks, thus adorned, reminded me constantly of the rock scenery in +such operas as Fra Diavolo; the dark green being of a shade which I do +not remember to have seen before in nature, though it is not uncommon in +theatrical scenery. + +The grass remains green, except in the dry districts, all the year round; +and the common grass of the Islands is the _maniania_, a fine creeping +grass which covers the ground with a dense velvety mat; and where it is +kept short by sheep makes an admirable springy lawn. It has a fine deep +color and bears drought remarkably well; and it is the favorite pasture +grass of the Islands. I do not think it as fattening as the alfilleria of +Southern California or our own timothy or blue grass; but it is a valuable +grass to the stockmen, because it eats out every other and less valuable +kind. + +On your journey around Oahu you need a guide who can speak some English; +you must take with you on the pack-mule provisions for the journey; and +it is well to have a blanket for each of your party. You will sleep each +night in a native house, unless, as is very likely to be the case, you +have invitations to stop at plantation houses on your way. At the native +houses they will kill a chicken for you, and cook taro; but they have +no other supplies. You can usually get cocoa-nuts, whose milk is very +wholesome and refreshing. The journey is like a somewhat prolonged picnic; +the air is mild and pure; and you need no heavy clothing, for you are sure +of bright sunny weather. + +For your excursions near Honolulu, and for the adventure I have described, +you can hire horses; though if you mean to stay a month or two it is +better to buy. A safe and good horse, well saddled and bridled, brought to +you every morning at the hotel, costs you a dollar a day. In that case +you have no care or responsibility for the animal. But unless there are +men-of-war in port you can buy a sufficiently good riding-horse for from +twelve to twenty-five dollars, and get something of your investment back +when you leave; and you can buy saddles and all riding-gear cheaply in +Honolulu. The maintenance of a horse in town costs not over fifty cents +per day. + +Your guide for a journey ought to cost you a dollar a day, which includes +his horse; when you stop for the day he unsaddles your horses and ties +them out in a grass-field where they get sufficient nourishment. For your +accommodation at a native house, you ought to pay fifty cents for each +person of your party, including the guide. The proprietor of the Honolulu +hotel is very obliging and readily helps you to make all arrangements for +horses and guides; and if you have brought any letters of introduction, or +make acquaintances in the place, you will find every body ready to assist +you. Riding is the pleasantest way of getting about; but on Oahu the roads +are sufficiently good to drive considerable distances, and carriages are +easily obtainable. + +One of the pleasant surprises which meet a northern traveler in these +islands is the number of strange dishes which appear on the table and in +the bill of fare. Strawberries, oranges--the sweetest and juiciest I have +eaten anywhere, except perhaps in Rio de Janeiro--bananas and cocoa-nuts, +you have at will; but besides these there are during the winter months the +guava, very nice when it is sliced like a tomato and eaten with sugar and +milk; taro, which is the potato of the country and, in the shape of poi, +the main subsistence of the native Hawaiian; bread-fruit; flying-fish, +the most tender and succulent of the fish kind; and, in their season, +the mango, the custard-apple, the alligator-pear, the water-melon, the +rose-apple, the ohia, and other fruits. + +Taro, when baked, is an excellent and wholesome vegetable, and from its +leaves is cooked a fine substitute for spinach, called _luau_. Poi also +appears on your hotel table, being the national dish, of which many +foreigners have become very fond. It is very fattening and easily +digested, and is sometimes prescribed by physicians to consumptives. +As you drive about the suburbs of Honolulu you will see numerous taro +patches, and may frequently see the natives engaged in the preparation of +poi, which consists in baking the root or tuber in underground ovens, and +then mashing it very fine, so that if dry it would be a flour. It is +then mixed with water, and for native use left to undergo a slight +fermentation. Fresh or unfermented poi has a pleasant taste; when +fermented it tastes to me like book-binder's paste, and a liking for it +must be acquired rather than natural, I should say, with foreigners. + +[Illustration: HAWAIIAN POI DEALER.] + +So universal is its use among the natives that the manufacture of poi is +carried on now by steam-power and with Yankee machinery, for the sugar +planters; and the late king, who was avaricious and a trader, incurred the +dislike of his native subjects by establishing a poi-factory of his own +near Honolulu. Poi is sold in the streets in calabashes, but it is also +shipped in considerable quantities to other islands, and especially to +guano islands which lie southward and westward of this group. On these +lonely islets, many of which have not even drinking-water for the laborers +who live on them, poi and fish are the chief if not the only articles of +food. The fish, of course, are caught on the spot, but poi, water, salt, +and a few beef cattle for the use of the white superintendents are carried +from here. + +Taro is a kind of _arum_. It grows, unlike any other vegetable I know of +unless it be rice, entirely under water. A taro patch is surrounded by +embankments; its bottom is of puddled clay; and in this the cutting, which +is simply the top of the plant with a little of the tuber, is set. The +plants are set out in little clumps in long rows, and a man at work in a +taro patch stands up to his knees in water. Forty square feet of taro, it +is estimated, will support a person for a year, and a square mile of +taro will feed over 15,000 Hawaiians. + +[Illustration: THE PALACE, HONOLULU.] + +By-the-way, you will hear the natives say _kalo_ when they speak of taro; +and by this and other words in common use you will presently learn of +a curious obliquity in their hearing. A Hawaiian does not notice any +difference in the sounds of _r_ and _l_, of _k_ and _t_, or of _b_, _p_, +and _f_. Thus the Pali, or precipice near Honolulu, is spoken of as the +Pari; the island of Kauai becomes to a resident of it Tauwai, though a +native of Oahu calls it Kauai; taro is almost universally called _kalo_; +and the common salutation, _Aloha_, which means "Love to you," and is the +national substitute for "How do you do?" is half the time _Aroha_; Lanai +is indifferently called Ranai; and Mauna Loa is in the mouths of most +Hawaiians Mauna Roa. Indeed, in the older charts the capital of the +kingdom is called Honoruru. + +Society in Honolulu possesses some peculiar features, owing in part to the +singularly isolated situation of this little capital, and partly to the +composition of the social body. Honolulu is a capital city unconnected +with any other place in the world by telegraph, having a mail once a month +from San Francisco and New Zealand, and dependent during the remainder of +the month upon its own resources. To a New Yorker, who gets his news hot +and hot all day and night, and can't go to sleep without first looking +in at the Fifth Avenue Hotel to hear the latest item, this will seem +deplorable enough; but you have no idea how charming, how pleasant, how +satisfactory it is for a busy or overworked man to be thus for a while +absolutely isolated from affairs; to feel that for a month at least the +world must get on without your interfering hand; and though you may dread +beforehand this enforced separation from politics and business, you will +find it very pleasant in the actual experience. + +As you stand upon the wharf in company with the elite of the kingdom to +watch the steamer depart, a great burden falls from your soul, because for +a month to come you have not the least responsibility for what may happen +in any part of the planet. Looking up at the black smoke of the departing +ship, you say to yourself, "Who cares?" Let what will happen, you are not +responsible. And so, with a light heart and an easy conscience, you get +on your horse (price $15), and about the time the lady passengers on the +steamer begin to turn green in face, you are sitting down on a spacious +_lanai_ or veranda, in one of the most delightful sea-side resorts in the +world, with a few friends who have determined to celebrate by a dinner +this monthly recurrence of their non-intercourse with the world. + +[Illustration: EMMA, QUEEN OF KAMEHAMEHA IV.] + +The people are surprisingly hospitable and kind and know how to make +strangers at home; they have leisure, and know how to use it pleasantly; +the climate controls their customs in many respects, and nothing is +pursued at fever heat as with us. What strikes you, when you have found +your way into Honolulu society and looked around, is a certain sensible +moderation and simplicity which is in part, I suspect, a remainder of the +old missionary influence; there is a certain amount of formality, which +is necessary to keep society from deteriorating, but there is no striving +after effect; there are, so far as a stranger discovers, no petty cliques +or cabals or coteries, and there is a very high average of intelligence: +they care about the best things. + +They know how to dine; and having good cooks and sound digestions, they +add to these one requisite to pleasant dining which some more pretentious +societies are without: they have leisure. Nothing is done in haste in +Honolulu, where they have long ago convinced themselves that "to-morrow is +another day." Moreover, you find them well-read, without being blue; they +have not muddled their history by contradictory telegraphic reports of +matters of no consequence; in fact, so far as recent events are concerned, +they stand on tolerably firm ground, having perused only the last monthly +record of current events. Consequently, they have had time to read and +enjoy the best books; to follow with an intelligent interest the most +notable passing events; and as most of them come from families or have +lived among people who have had upon their own shoulders some conscious +share of government, political, moral, or religious, these talkers are +not pedantic, but agreeable. As to the ladies, you find them charming; +beautifully dressed, of course, but they have not given the whole day +and their whole minds to the dress; they are cheerful, easily excited to +gayety, long accustomed to take life easily, and eating as though they did +not know what dyspepsia was. + +Indeed, when you have passed a month in the Islands you will have a better +opinion of idleness than you had before, though in some respects the odd +effects of a tropical climate will hardly meet your approval. Euchre, +for instance, takes the place here which whist holds elsewhere as the +amusement of sensible people. + +[Illustration: A HAWAIIAN CHIEF.] + +Finally, society in Honolulu is respectable. It is fashionable to be +virtuous, and if you were "fast," I think you would conceal it. The +Government has always encouraged respectability, and discountenanced vice. +The men who have ruled the Islands--not the missionaries alone, but the +political rulers since--have been plain, honest, and, in the main, wise +men; and they have kept politics respectable in the little monarchy. The +disreputable adventurer element which degrades our politics, and invades +society too, is not found here. You will say the rewards are not great +enough to attract this vile class. Perhaps not; but at any rate it is not +there; and I do not know, in short, where else in the world you would find +so kindly, so gracefully hospitable, and, at the same time, so simple and +enjoyable a society as that of Honolulu. + +No one can visit the Islands without being impressed by the boundless +hospitality of the sugar planters, who, with their superintendents +and managers, form, away from the few towns, almost the only white +inhabitants. Hospitality so free-handed is, I suspect, found in few +other parts of the world. Though Honolulu has now a commodious hotel, the +residents keep up their old habits of graceful welcome to strangers. The +capital has an excellent band, which plays in public places several times +a week; and it does not lack social entertainments, parties, and dinners, +to break the monotony of life. Not only the residents of foreign birth, +but a few Hawaiians also, people of education, culture, and means, +entertain gracefully and frequently. + +As for the common people, they are by nature or long custom, or both, as +kindly and hospitable as men can be. If you ask for lodgings at night-fall +at a native hut, you are received as though you 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 slain in your honor, and +for your exclusive supper; 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 a single room, calico curtains serving +as partitions by night; at one end a standing bed-place, running across +the house, provides sleeping accommodations for the whole family, however +numerous. This bed consists of mats; and the covers are either of tapa +cloth--which is as though you should sleep 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 take out of their chests, when you ask hospitality, blankets, +sheets, and a great number of little pillows for the bed, as well as often +a brilliant silk coverlet; for this bed appears to be like a Cape Cod +parlor--for ornament rather than use. The use of the dozen little pillows +puzzled me, until I found that they were intended to tuck or wedge me in, +so that I should not needlessly and uncomfortably roll about the vast bed. +They were laid at the sides, and I was instructed to "chock" myself with +them. On leaving, do not inquire what is the cost of your accommodations. +The Hawaiian has vague ideas about price. He might tell you five or ten +dollars; but if you pay him seventy-five cents for yourself and your +guide, he will be abundantly and thoroughly satisfied. + +[Illustration: THE CRATER OF KILAUEA--ONE PHASE.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HILO, WITH SOME VOLCANOES. + + +Hilo, as you will perceive on the map, lies on the eastern or windward +side of the Island of Hawaii. You get there in the little inter-island +steamer _Kilauea_, named after the volcano, and which makes a weekly tour +of all the Islands except far-off Kauai, which it visits but once a month. +The charge for passage is fifteen dollars from Honolulu to Hilo, and +twenty-five dollars for the round trip. + +The cabin is small; and as you are likely to have fine weather, you will, +even if you are a lady, pass the time more pleasantly on deck, where the +steward, a Goa man and the most assiduous and tactful of his trade, will +place a mattress and blankets for you. You must expect to suffer somewhat +from sea-sickness if you are subject to that ill, for the passage is not +unlikely to be rough. On the way you see Lahaina, and a considerable part +of the islands of Maui and Hawaii; in fact, you are never out of sight of +land. + +If you start on Monday evening you will reach Hilo on Wednesday--and +"about this time expect rain," as the almanac-makers say. They get about +seventeen feet of rain at Hilo during the year; and as they have sometimes +several days without any at all, you must look for not only frequent but +heavy showers. A Hilo man told me of a curious experiment which was once +made there. They knocked the heads out of an oil-cask--so he said--and it +rained in at the bung-hole faster than it could run out at the ends. You +may disbelieve this story if you please; I tell it as it was told me; but +in any case you will do well to provide yourself for Hilo and the volcano +journey with stout water-proof clothing. + +Hilo, on those days when the sun shines, is one of the prettiest places on +the Islands. If you are so fortunate as to enter the bay on a fine day +you will see a very tropical landscape--a long, pleasant, curved sweep of +beach, on which the surf is breaking, and beyond, white houses nestling +among cocoa-nut groves, and bread-fruit, pandanus, and other Southern +trees, many of them bearing brilliant flowers; with shops and stores along +the beach. Men and boys sporting in the surf, and men and women dashing on +horseback over the beach, make up the life of the scene. + +Hilo has no hotel; it has not even a carriage; but it has a very +agreeable and intelligent population of Americans, and you will find good +accommodations at the large house of Mr. Severance, the sheriff of Hawaii. +If his house should be full you need not be alarmed, for some one will +take you in. + +This is the usual and most convenient point of departure for the volcano. +Here you hire horses and a guide for the journey. Having gone to Hilo on +the steamer, you will do best to return to Honolulu by schooner, which +leaves you at liberty to choose your point and time of departure. Hawaii +lies to windward of Oahu; and a schooner, which might need four or +five days to beat up to Hilo, will run down from any part of Hawaii in +twenty-four hours. If you are an energetic traveler, determined to see +every thing, and able to endure a good deal of rough riding, you may spend +six weeks on Hawaii. In that time you may not only see the active volcano +of Kilauea, but may ascend Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, whose immense slopes +and lofty and in the winter snow-clad summits show gloriously on a clear +day from Hilo; and you may ride from Hilo along the north-eastern +coast, through the Hamakua and Kohala districts, ending your journey at +Kealakeakua Bay where Captain Cook was killed. There you can take schooner +for Honolulu; or if your energies hold out ride through Kau and Puna +back to Hilo. + +The Hamakua and Hilo coasts you will see from the steamer, which sails +close along this bold and picturesque shore on her way to Hilo. This part +of the island is but an extension of the vast slope of Mauna Kea; and +all the waters which drain from its cloud-laden summit pour into the +sea through numerous deep channels, or gorges which they have worn for +themselves, and occasionally dash into the ocean from high cliffs, forming +water-falls visible from the ship's deck. Of the gorges or canons, there +are seventy-nine in a distance of about thirty miles; many of them are +from five to eight hundred feet deep; and as you ride along the coast, you +have no sooner emerged from one of these deep pits than you descend by a +road seldom easy, and often very steep indeed, into another. The sides of +these gorges are lined with masses of the most magnificent ferns, and at +their bottoms you find sparkling streams; and as you look up the canons +you see picturesque water-falls. In short, to the lover of bold and +strange scenery this ride offers many pleasures; and that its difficulties +may not be exaggerated to any one's apprehension, I will mention that +during the spring of 1873 an English lady, taking with her only a native +woman as guide, made the tour of the whole seventy-nine gulches, and +thought herself amply rewarded for her toils by what she saw. As for +myself, I must confess that four of these gulches--the four nearest +Hilo--satisfied me; these I saw in visiting some sugar-plantations. + +[Illustration: KEALAKEAKUA BAY, WHERE CAPTAIN COOK WAS KILLED.] + +If you do not intend such a thorough exploration of Hawaii, but mean only +to see the volcano of Kilauea, your pleasantest plan is to ride from Hilo +by the direct road to the crater, and return by way of Puna. You will have +ridden a trifle over one hundred miles through a very remarkable and in +some parts a beautiful country; you will have slept one night in a native +house, and will have seen much of Hawaiian life, and enjoyed a tiring but +at the same time a very novel journey, and some sights which can not be +matched outside of Iceland. To do this, and spend two or three days in +pleasant sight-seeing near Hilo, will bring you back to Honolulu in from +twelve to fourteen days after you left it. + +Your traveling expenses will be sufficiently moderate. At Hilo you pay for +board and lodgings eight dollars per week. The charge for horses is ten +dollars each for the volcano journey, with a dollar a day for your guide. +This guide relieves you of all care of the animals, and is useful in +various ways. At the Volcano House the charge for horse and man is five +dollars per day, and you pay half-price for your guide. There is a charge +of one dollar for a special guide into the crater, which is made in your +bill, and you will do well to promise this guide, when you go in, a small +gratuity--half a dollar, or, if your party is large, a dollar--if he gives +you satisfaction. He will get you specimens, carry a shawl for a lady, and +make himself in other ways helpful. + +[Illustration: THE VOLCANO HOUSE.] + +When you get on your horse at Hilo for the volcano, leave behind you all +hope of good roads. You are to ride for thirty miles over a lava bed, +along a narrow trail as well made as it could be without enormous expense, +but so rough, so full of mud-holes filled with broken lava in the first +part of the journey, and so entirely composed of naked, jagged, and ragged +lava in the remainder, that one wonders how the horses stand it. A canter, +except for two or three miles near the Volcano House, is almost out of the +question; and though the Hawaiians trot and gallop the whole distance, a +stranger will scarcely follow their example. + +You should insist, by-the-way, upon having all your horses reshod the day +before they leave Hilo; and it is prudent, even then, to take along an +extra pair of shoes and a dozen or two horse-nails. The lava is extremely +trying to the horse's shoes; and if your horse casts a shoe he will go +lame in fifteen minutes, for the jagged lava cuts almost like glass. + +Moreover, do not wait for a fine day; it will probably rain at any rate +before you reach the Volcano House, and your wisest way is to set out +resolutely, rain or shine, on the appointed morning, for the sun may +come out two or three hours after you have started in a heavy rain. Each +traveler should take his water-proof clothing upon his own saddle--it may +be needed at any time--and the pack-mule should carry not only the spare +clothing, well covered with India-rubber blankets, but also an abundant +lunch to be eaten at the Half-way House. + +India-rubber or leather leggings, and a long, sleeveless Mackintosh seemed +to me the most comfortable and sufficient guards against weather. Ladies +should ride astride; they will be most comfortable thus. There are no +steep ascents or abrupt descents on the way. Kilauea is nearly four +thousand feet higher than the sea from which you set out; but the rise +is so gradual and constant that if the road were good one might gallop a +horse the whole distance. + +You should set out not later than half-past seven, and make up your mind +not to be hurried on the way. There are people who make the distance +in six hours, and boast about it; but I accomplished it with a party of +ladies and children in ten hours with very little discomfort, and did not +envy the six-hour people. There is nothing frightful, or dangerous, or +disagreeable about the journey, even to ladies not accustomed to riding; +and there is very much that is new, strange, and wonderful to Americans +or Europeans. Especially you will be delighted with the great variety and +beauty of the ferns, which range from minute and delicate species to the +dark and grand fronds of the tree-fern, which rises in the more elevated +region to a height of twenty feet, and whose stalk has sometimes a +diameter of three or four feet. From a variety of this tree-fern the +natives take a substance called pulu, a fine, soft, brown fuzz, used for +stuffing pillows and mattresses. + +Your guide will probably understand very little English: let him be +instructed in your wishes before you set out. The native Hawaiian is the +most kind and obliging creature in the world, and you will find your guide +ready to do you every needful service. You can get nothing to eat on the +road, except perhaps a little sugar-cane; therefore you must provide a +sufficient lunch. At the Half-way House, but probably nowhere else, you +will get water to drink. + +When you reach the Volcano House, I advise you to take a sulphur +vapor-bath, refreshing after a tedious ride; and after supper you will sit +about a big open fire and recount the few incidents and adventures of the +day. + +The next day you give to the crater. Unless the night is very foggy you +will have gone to sleep with the lurid light of Kilauea in your eyes. +Madame Pele, the presiding goddess of the volcano, exhibits fine +fire-works at night sometimes, and we saw the lava spurting up in the air +above the edge of the smaller and active crater, one night, in a quite +lively manner. On a moderately clear night the light from the burning +lakes makes a very grand sight; and the bedrooms at the little Volcano +House are so placed that you have Madame Pele's fire-works before you all +night. + +The house stands but a few feet from the edge of the great crater, and you +have no tedious preliminary walk, but begin your descent into the pit +at once. For this you need stout shoes, light clothing, and, if you have +ladies in your party, a heavy shawl for each. The guide takes with him a +canteen of water, and also carries the shawls. You should start about +nine o'clock, and give the whole day to the crater, returning to dinner at +five. + +The great crater of Kilauea is nine miles in circumference, and perhaps +a thousand feet deep. It is, in fact, a deep pit, bounded on all sides +by precipitous rocks. The entrance is effected by a series of steps, and +below these by a scramble over lava and rock debris. It is not difficult, +but the ascent is tiresome; and it is a prudent precaution, if you have +ladies with you, to take a native man for each lady, to assist her over +the rougher places, and up the steep ascent. The greater part of the +crater was, when I saw it, a mass of dead, though not cold lava; and over +this you walk to the farthest extremity of the pit, where you must ascend +a tolerably steep hill of lava, which is the bank of the fiery lake. The +distance from the Volcano House to the edge of this lake is, by the road +you take, three miles. + +[Illustration: HAWAIIAN TEMPLE, FROM A RUSSIAN ENGRAVING, ABOUT 1790.] + +The goddess Pele, who, according to the Hawaiian mythology, presides over +Kilauea, is, as some say all her sex are, variable, changeable, mutable. +What I shall tell you about the appearance of the crater and lake is true +of that time; it may not have been correct a week later; it was certainly +not true of a month before. We climbed into the deep pit, and then +stood upon a vast floor of lava, rough, jammed together, broken, jagged, +steaming out a hot sulphurous breath at almost every seam, revealing rolls +of later lava injections at every deep crack, with caverns and high ridges +where the great mass, after cooling, was forced together, and with a steep +mountain-side of lava at our left, along the foot of which we clambered. + +This floor of lava, which seems likely to be a more or less permanent +feature, was, three or four years ago, upon a level with the top of the +high ridge, or ledge, whose base you skirt. The main part of the crater +was then a floor of lava vaster even than it now is. Suddenly one day, and +with a crash which persuaded one or two persons at the Volcano House that +the whole planet was flying to pieces, the greater part of this lava floor +sank down, or fell down, a depth of about five hundred feet, to the level +whereon we now walked. The wonderful tale was plain to us as we examined +the details on the spot. It was as though a top-heavy and dried-out +pie-crust had fallen in in the middle, leaving a part of the circumference +bent down, but clinging at the outside to the dish. + +[Illustration: LAVA FIELD, HAWAII--FLOW OF 1868.] + +After this great crash the lava seems from time to time to have boiled up +from beneath through cracks, and now lies in great rolls upon the surface, +or in the deeper cracks. It is related that later the lake or caldron at +the farther end of the crater boiled over, and sent down streams of lava +which meandered over the black plain; that, continuing to boil over at +intervals, this lake increased the height of its own banks, for the lava +cools very rapidly; and thus was built up a high hill, which we ascended +after crossing the lava plains, in order to look down, in fear and wonder, +upon the awful sight below. What we saw there on the 3d of March, 1873, +was two huge pits, caldrons, or lakes, filled with a red, molten, fiery, +sulphurous, raging, roaring, restless mass of matter, to watch whose +unceasing tumult was one of the most fascinating experiences of my life. + +The two lakes were then separated by a narrow and low-lying ledge +or peninsula of lava, which I was told they frequently overflow, and +sometimes entirely melt down. Standing upon the northern bank we could see +both lakes, and we estimated their shortest diameter to be about 500 feet, +and the longest about one-eighth of a mile. Within this pit the surface of +the molten lava was about eighty feet below us. It has been known to sink +down 400 feet; last December it was overflowing the high banks and sending +streams of lava into the great plain by which we approached it; and since +I saw it, it has risen to within a few feet of the top of the bank, +and has forced a way out at one side, where, in September, 1873, it was +flowing out slowly on to the great lava plain which forms the bottom of +the main crater. + +What, therefore, Madame Pele will show you hereafter is uncertain. What we +saw was this: two large lakes or caldrons, each nearly circular, with +the lower shelf or bank, red-hot, from which the molten lava was repelled +toward the centre without cessation. The surface of these lakes was of a +lustrous and beautiful gray, and this, which was a cooling and tolerably +solid scum, was broken by jagged circles of fire, which appeared of a +vivid rose-color in contrast with the gray. These circles, starting at +the red-hot bank or shore, moved more or less rapidly toward the centre, +where, at intervals of perhaps a minute, the whole mass of lava suddenly +but slowly bulged up, burst the thin crust, and flung aloft a huge, fiery +wave, which sometimes shot as high as thirty feet in the air. Then ensued +a turmoil, accompanied with hissing, and occasionally with a dull roar as +the gases sought to escape, and spray was flung in every direction; and +presently the agitation subsided, to begin again in the same place, or +perhaps in another. + +Meantime the fiery rings moved forward perpetually toward the centre, a +new one re-appearing at the shore before the old was ingulfed; and not +unfrequently the mass of lava was so fiercely driven by some force from +the bank near which we stood, that it was ten or fifteen feet higher +near the centre than at the circumference. Thus somewhat of the depth was +revealed to us, and there seemed something peculiarly awful to me in the +fierce glowing red heat of the shores themselves, which never cooled with +exposure to the air and light. + +Thus acted the first of the two lakes. But when, favored by a strong +breeze, we ventured farther, to the side of the furthermost one, a still +more terrible spectacle greeted us. The mass in this lake was in yet more +violent agitation; but it spent its fury upon the precipitous southern +bank, against which it dashed with a vehemence equal to a heavy surf +breaking against cliffs. It had undermined this lava cliff, and for a +space of perhaps one hundred and fifty feet the lava beat and surged into +glaring, red-hot, cavernous depths, and was repelled with a dull, heavy +roar, not exactly like the boom of breakers, because the lava is so much +heavier than water, but with a voice of its own, less resonant, and, as we +who listened thought, full of even more deadly fury. + +It seems a little absurd to couple the word "terrible" with any action of +mere inanimate matter, from which, after all, we stood in no very evident +peril. Yet "terrible" is the only word for it. Grand it was not, because +in all its action and voice it seemed infernal. Though its movement is +slow and deliberate, it would scarcely occur to you to call either the +constant impulse from one side toward the other, or the vehement and vast +bulging of the lava wave as it explodes its thin crust or dashes a fiery +mass against the cliff, majestic, for devilish seems a better word. + +Meantime, though we were favored with a cool and strong breeze, bearing +the sulphurous stench of the burning lake away from us, the heat of the +lava on which we stood, at least eighty feet above the pit, was so great +as to be almost unendurable. We stood first upon one foot, and then on the +other, because the soles of our feet seemed to be scorching through thick +shoes. A lady sitting down upon a bundle of shawls had to rise because the +wraps began to scorch; our faces seemed on fire from the reflection of +the heat below; the guide's tin water-canteen, lying near my feet, became +presently so hot that it burned my fingers when I took it up; and at +intervals there came up from behind us a draught of air so hot, and so +laden with sulphur that, even with the strong wind carrying it rapidly +away, it was scarcely endurable. It was while we were coughing and +spluttering at one of these hot blasts, which came from the numerous +fissures in the lava which we had passed over, that a lady of our party +remarked that she had read an excellent description of this place in the +New Testament; and so far as I observed, no one disagreed with her. + +After the lakes came the cones. When the surface of this lava is so +rapidly cooling that the action below is too weak to break it, the gases +forcing their way out break small vents, through which lava is then +ejected. This, cooling rapidly as it comes to the outer air, forms by its +accretions a conical pipe of greater or less circumference, and sometimes +growing twenty or thirty feet high, open at the top, and often with +openings also blown out at the sides. There are several of these cones on +the summit bank of the lake, all ruined, as it seemed to me, by some too +violent explosion, which had blown off most of the top, and in one case +the whole of it, leaving then only a wide hole. + +Into these holes we looked, and saw a very wonderful and terrible sight. +Below us was a stream of lava, rolling and surging and beating against +huge, precipitous, red-hot cliffs; and, higher up, suspended from other, +also red or white hot overhanging cliffs, depended huge stalactites, like +masses of fiercely glowing fern leaves waving about in the subterraneous +wind; and here we saw how thin was in some such places the crust over +which we walked, and how near the melting-point must be its under surface. +For, as far as we could judge, these little craters or cones rested upon +a crust not thicker than twelve or fourteen inches, and one fierce blast +from below seemed sufficient to melt away the whole place. Fortunately +one can not stay very long near these openings, for they exhale a very +poisonous breath; and so we were drawn back to the more fascinating but +less perilous spectacle of the lakes; and then back over the rough lava, +our minds filled with memories of a spectacle which is certainly one of +the most remarkable our planet affords. + +When you have seen the fiery lakes you will recognize a crater at sight, +and every part of Hawaii and of the other islands will have a new interest +for you; + +[Illustration: VIEW OF THE CRATER OF SOUTH LAKE IN A STATE OF ERUPTION, +FROM THE CREST OF THE NORTH LAKE.] + +for all are full of craters, and from Kilauea to the sea you may trace +several lines of craters, all extinct, but all at some time belching forth +those interminable lava streams over which you ride by the way of the Puna +coast for nearly seventy miles back to Hilo. + +I advise you to take this way back. Almost the whole of it is a land of +desolation. A narrow trail across unceasing beds of lava, a trail which +in spots was actually hammered down to make it smooth enough for horses' +feet, and outside of whose limits in most places your horse will refuse to +go, because he knows it is too rough for beast or man: this is your road. +Most of the lava is probably very ancient, though some is quite recent; +and ferns and guava bushes and other scanty herbage grow through it. + +In some of the cavernous holes, which denote probably ancient cones or +huge lava bubbles, you will see a cocoa-nut-tree or a pandanus trying to +subsist; and by-and-by, after a descent to the sea-shore, you are rewarded +with the pleasant sight of groves of cocoa-nuts and umbrageous arbors of +pandanus, and occasionally with a patch of green. + +Almost the whole of the Puna coast is waterless. From the Volcano House +you take with you not only food for the journey back to Hilo, but water in +bottles; and your thirsty animals get none until you reach the end of +your first day's journey, at Kaimu. Here, also, you can send a more than +half-naked native into the trees for cocoa-nuts, and drink your fill +of their refreshing milk, while your jaded horses swallow bucketfuls of +rain-water. + +[Illustration: HILO.] + +It will surprise you to find people living among the lava, making +potato-patches in it, planting coffee and some fruit-trees in it, fencing +in their small holdings, even, with lava blocks. Very little soil is +needed to give vegetation a chance in a rainy reason, and the decomposed +lava makes a rich earth. But except the cocoa-nut which grows on +the beach, and seems to draw its sustenance from the waves, and the +sweet-potato, which does very well among the lava, nothing seems really to +thrive. + +It will add much to the pleasure of your journey to Kilauea if you carry +with you, to read upon the spot and along the road, Brigham's valuable +Memoir on the Hawaiian Volcanoes. With this in hand, you will comprehend +the nature, and know also the very recent date of some important changes, +caused by earthquakes and lava flows, on the Puna coast. Near and at +Kaimu, for instance, there has been an apparent subsidence of the land, +which is supposed in reality, however, I believe, to have been caused +rather by the breaking off of a vast lava ledge or overhang, on which, +covered as it was with earth and trees, a considerable population had long +lived. In front of the native house in which you will sleep, at Kaimu, +part of a large grove of cocoa-nut-trees was thus submerged, and you may +see the dead stumps still sticking up out of the surf. + +Kaimu is twenty-five miles from the Volcano House. The native house +at which you will pass the night is clean, and you may there enjoy the +novelty of sleeping on Hawaiian mats, and under the native cover of tapa. +You must bring with you tea or coffee, sugar, and bread, and such other +food as is necessary to your comfort. Sweet-potatoes and bananas, and +chickens caught after you arrive, with abundant cocoa-nuts, are the +supplies of the place. The water is not good, and you will probably drink +only cocoa-nut milk, until, fifteen miles farther on, at Captain Eldart's, +you find a pleasant and comfortable resting-place for the second night, +with a famous natural warm bath, very slightly mineral. Thence a ride of +twenty-three miles brings you back to Hilo, all of it over lava, most of +it through a sterile country, but with one small burst of a real paradise +of tropical luxuriance, a mile of tall forest and jungle, which looks more +like Brazil than Hawaii. + +One advantage of returning by way of the Puna coast, rather than by the +direct route from Kilauea, is that you have clear, bright weather all the +way. The configuration of the coast makes Puna sunny while Hilo is rainy. + +If you desire a longer ride than that by the Puna coast, you can cross +the island, from the Volcano House, by way of Waiahino and Kapapala to +Kauwaloa on the western coast, whence a schooner will bear you back to +Honolulu. A brief study of the map of Hawaii in this volume will show the +different routes suggested in this chapter. + +Moreover, when you are at Kilauea, you have done something toward +the ascent of Mauna Loa; and guides, provisions, and animals for that +enterprise can be obtained at the Volcano House, as well as such ample +details of the route that I will not here attempt any directions. It is +not an easy ride; and you must carry with you warm clothing. A gentleman +who slept at the summit in September, 1873, told me the ice made over two +inches thick during the night. + +If Mauna Loa is active, a traveler on the Islands ought by all means to +see it; for Dr. Coan assures me that it is then one of the most terrific +and grand sights imaginable. I did not visit it, as it was not active +while I was on the Islands, though its fires were alive. The crater is a +pit about three miles in circumference, with precipitous banks about two +thousand feet deep. At the bottom is the burning lake, which has a curious +habit of throwing up a jet, more or less constant, of fiery lava, to the +height, this last summer, of four or five hundred feet from the surface of +the lake. It is a fine sight, but, of course, somewhat distant. I am +told that this jet has at times reached nearly to the summit level of the +crater; and it must then have been a glorious spectacle. + +[Illustration: SURF BATHING.] + +Near Hilo are some pretty water-falls and several sugar plantations, to +which you can profitably give a couple of days, and on another you should +visit Cocoa-nut Island, and--as interesting a spot as almost any on the +Islands--a little lagoon on the main-land near by, in which you may see +the coral growing, and pick it up in lovely specimens with the stones upon +which it has built in these shallow and protected waters. Moreover, +the surf-beaten rocks near by yield cowries and other shells in some +abundance; and I do not know anywhere of a pleasanter picnic day than that +you can spend there. + +Finally, Hilo is one of the very few places on these islands where you +can see a truly royal sport--the surf-board. It requires a rough day and +a heavy surf, but with a good day it is one of the finest sights in the +world. + +The surf-board is a tough plank about two feet wide and from six to twenty +feet long, usually made of the bread-fruit-tree. Armed with these, a party +of tall, muscular natives swim out to the first line of breakers, and, +watching their chance to duck under this, make their way finally, by the +help of the under-tow, into the smooth water far off: beyond all the surf. +Here they bob up and down on the swell like so many ducks, watching their +opportunity. What they seek is a very high swell, before which they place +themselves, lying or kneeling on the surf-board. The great wave dashes +onward, but as its bottom strikes the ground, the top, unretarded in its +speed and force, breaks into a huge comber, and directly before this the +surf-board swimmer is propelled with a speed which we timed and found to +exceed forty miles per hour. In fact, he goes like lightning, always just +ahead of the breaker, and apparently downhill, propelled by the vehement +impulse of the roaring wave behind him, yet seeming to have a speed and +motion of his own. + +It is a very surprising sight to see three or four men thus dashed for +nearly a mile toward the shore at the speed of an express train, every +moment about to be overwhelmed by a roaring breaker, whose white crest +was reared high above and just behind them, but always escaping this +ingulfment, and propelled before it. They look, kneeling or lying on their +long surf-boards, more like some curious and swift-swimming fish--like +dolphins racing, as it seemed to me--than like men. Once in a while, by +some mischance the cause of which I could not understand, the swimmer +_was_ overwhelmed; the great comber overtook him; he was flung over and +over like a piece of wreck, but instantly dived, and re-appeared beyond +and outside of the wave, ready to take advantage of the next. A successful +shot launched them quite high and dry on the beach far beyond where we +stood to watch. Occasionally a man would stand erect upon his surf-board, +balancing himself in the boiling surf without apparent difficulty. + +The surf-board play is one of the ancient sports of Hawaii. I am told that +few of the younger generation are capable of it, and that it is thought to +require great nerve and coolness even among these admirable swimmers, and +to be not without danger. + +In your journeys to the different islands you need to take with you, as +part of your baggage, saddle and bridle, and all the furniture of a horse. +You can hire or buy a horse anywhere very cheaply; but saddles are often +unattainable, and always difficult to either borrow or hire. "You might as +well travel here without your boots as without your saddle," said a friend +to me; and I found it literally true, not only for strangers, but for +residents as well. Thus you may notice that the little steamer's hold, +as she leaves Honolulu, contains but few trunks; but is crowded with a +considerable collection of saddles and saddle-bags, the latter the most +convenient receptacles for your change of clothing. + +Riding on Hawaii is often tiresome, even to one accustomed to the saddle, +by reason of the slow pace at which you are compelled to move. Wherever +you stop, for lunch or for the night, if there are native people near, +you will be greatly refreshed by the application of what they call +"lomi-lomi." Almost everywhere you will find some one skillful in this +peculiar and, to tired muscles, delightful and refreshing treatment. + +To be lomi-lomied, you lie down upon a mat, loosening your clothing, or +undressing for the night if you prefer. The less clothing you have on the +more perfectly the operation can be performed. To you thereupon comes a +stout native, with soft, fleshy hands but a strong grip, and, beginning +with your head and working down slowly over the whole body, seizes +and squeezes with a quite peculiar art every tired muscle, working and +kneading with indefatigable patience, until in half an hour, whereas you +were sore and weary and worn-out, you find yourself fresh, all soreness +and weariness absolutely and entirely removed, and mind and body soothed +to a healthful and refreshing sleep. + +The lomi-lomi is used not only by the natives, but among almost all +the foreign residents; and not merely to procure relief from weariness +consequent on overexertion, but to cure headache, to relieve the aching +of neuralgic or rheumatic pains, and, by the luxurious, as one of the +pleasures of life. I have known it to relieve violent headache in a very +short time. The old chiefs used to keep skillful lomi-lomi men and women +in their retinues; and the late king, who was for some years too stout to +take exercise, and was yet a gross feeder, had himself lomi-lomied after +every meal, as a means of helping his digestion. + +It is a device for relieving pain or weariness which seems to have no +injurious reaction and no drawback but one--it is said to fatten the +subjects of it. + +[Illustration: LAHAINA, ISLAND OF MAUI.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MAUI, AND THE SUGAR CULTURE. + + +Maui lies between Oahu and Hawaii, and is somewhat larger than the +first-named island. It contains the most considerable sugar-plantations, +and yields more of this product than any one of the other islands. It is +notable also for possessing the mountain of Haleakala, an extinct volcano +ten thousand feet high, which has the largest crater in the world--a +monstrous pit, thirty miles in circumference, and two thousand feet deep. + +There is some reason to believe that Maui was originally two islands, +the northern and southern parts being joined together by an immense sandy +plain, so low that in misty weather it is hardly to be distinguished from +the ocean; and some years ago a ship actually ran aground upon it, sailing +for what the captain imagined to be an open passage. + +Maui has also the famous Wailuku Valley, a picturesque gorge several miles +deep, and giving you a very fair example of the broken, verdure-clad, and +now lonely valleys of these islands; which are in reality steep, narrow +canons, worn out of the mountains by the erosion of water. The old +Hawaiians seem to have cared little how difficult a piece of country was; +they not only made their taro patches in the streams which roar at the +bottoms of such gorges, but they fought battles among the precipices which +you find at the upper ends of these valleys, where the defeated usually +met their deaths by plunging down into the stream far below. + +After seeing a live or burning crater like Kilauea, Haleakala, I thought, +would be but a dull sight; but it is, on the contrary, extremely well +worth a visit. The islands have no sharp or angular volcanic peaks. +Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, on Hawaii, though 14,000 feet high, are mere +bulbs--vast hills, not mountains; and the ascent to the summit of +Haleakala, though you surmount 10,000 feet, is neither dangerous nor +difficult. It is tedious, however, for it involves a ride of about twelve +miles, mostly over lava, uphill. It is best to ride up during the day, and +sleep at or near the summit, where there are one or two so-called caves in +the lava, broken lava-bubbles in fact, sufficiently roomy to accommodate +several persons. You must take with you a guide, provisions, and blankets, +for the nights are cold; and you find near the summit water, wood enough +for a small fire, and forage for your horses. Each person should have +water-proof clothing, for it is very likely to rain, at least on the +Makawao side. + +[Illustration: CASCADE AND RIVER OF LAVA--FLOW OF 1869.] + +The great crater is best seen at sunrise, and, if you are so fortunate +as to have a tolerably clear sky, you may see, lying far away below you, +almost all of the islands. Hawaii lies far enough away to reveal its +entire outline, with Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea rising near either end, and +the depression near which lies Kilauea in the middle. The cloud effects at +sunrise and sunset are marvelous, and alone repay the ascent. + +But the crater itself, clear of fog and clouds in the early morning, and +lighted up by the rising sun, is a most surprising sight. It is ten miles +in diameter, and the bottom lies 2000 feet below where you stand. The vast +irregular floor contains more than a dozen subsidiary craters or great +cones, some of them 750 feet high, and nearly as large as Diamond Head. At +the Kaupo and Koolau gaps, indicated on the map, the lava is supposed to +have burst through and made its way down the mountain sides. The cones are +distinctly marked as you look down upon them; and it is remarkable that +from the summit the eye takes in the whole crater, and notes all its +contents, diminished of course by their great distance. Not a tree, shrub, +or even tuft of grass obstructs the view. + +To describe such a scene is impossible. A study of the map, with the +figures showing elevations, will give you a better idea of it than a long +verbal description. It is an extraordinarily desolate scene. A few wild +goats scramble over the rocks, or rush down the nearly perpendicular +cliff; occasionally a solitary bird raises its harsh note; the wind howls +fiercely; and as you lie under the lee of a mass of lava, taking in the +scene and picking out the details as the rising sun brings them out one by +one, presently the mist begins to pour into the crater, and often by ten +o'clock fills it up completely. + +The natives have no tradition of Haleakala in activity. There are signs +of several lava flows, and of one in particular, clearly much more recent +than the others. It must have presented a magnificent and terrible sight +when it was in full activity. I did not ride into the crater, but it is +possible to do so, and the natives have a trail, not much used, by which +they pass. If you descend, be careful not to leave or lose this trail, for +in many parts your horse will not be able to get back to it if you suffer +him to stray off even a few yards, the lava is so sharp and jagged. As you +descend the mountain on the Makawao side you will notice two finely shaped +craters on the side of the mountain, which also in their time spewed out +lava. Nearer the coast your eye, become familiar with the peculiar +shape of these cones or craters, will notice yet others; and, indeed, to +appreciate the peculiarities of Sandwich Island scenery, in which extinct +craters and cones of all sizes have so great a part, it is necessary to +have visited Kilauea and Haleakala. The latter name, by-the-way, +means "House of the Sun;" and as you watch the rising sun entering and +apparently taking possession of the vast gloomy depths, you will think the +name admirably chosen. + +If you carry a gun you are likely to have a shot at wild turkeys on your +way up or down. It is remarkable that many of our domestic animals easily +become wild on the islands. There are wild goats, wild cats, wild chickens +and turkeys; the cattle run wild; and on Hawaii one man at least has been +killed and torn to pieces by wild dogs, which run in packs in some parts +of the island. + +Sugar plantations are found on all four of the larger islands; and on +all of them there are successful examples of this enterprise; but Maui +contains, I believe, the greatest number, and is thought to be the best +fitted for the business. It is on this island, therefore, that the curious +traveler can see this industry under its most favorable aspects. There +is no doubt that for the production of sugar these islands offer some +extraordinary advantages. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE HALEAKALA CRATER.] + +I have seen a field of thirty acres which two years ago produced nearly +six tons of sugar to the acre. Four tons per acre is not a surprising +crop; and, from all I can hear, I judge that two and a half tons per acre +may be considered a fair yield. The soil, too, with proper treatment, +appears to be inexhaustible. The common custom is to take off two crops, +and then let the field lie fallow for two years; but where they irrigate +even this is not always done. There is no danger of frost, as in +Louisiana, and cane is planted in some part of the islands in almost +every month of the year. In Lahaina it matures in from fourteen to sixteen +months; in some districts it requires eighteen months; and at greater +altitudes even two years. + +But under all the varying circumstances, whether it is irrigated or not, +whether it grows on bottoms or on hill slopes, in dry or in damp regions, +everywhere the cane seems to thrive, and undoubtedly it is the one product +of the islands which succeeds. A worm, which pierces the cane near the +ground and eats out the pith, has of late, I am told, done some damage, +and in some parts the rat has proved troublesome. But these evils do not +anywhere endanger or ruin the crop, as the blight has ruined the coffee +culture and discouraged other agricultural ventures. The sugar product +of the islands has constantly increased. In 1860 they exported 1,444,271 +pounds of sugar; in 1864, 10,414,441 pounds; in 1868, 18,312,926 pounds; +and in 1871, 21,760,773 pounds of sugar. + +What is remarkable is that, with this rapid increase in the production +of sugar, you hear that the business is unprosperous; and if to this you +reply that planters, like farmers, are hard to satisfy, they show you that +the greater number of the plantations have at some time been sold by the +sheriff, some of them more than once, and that, in fact, only six or seven +are to-day in the hands of their founders. + +I do not doubt that there has been bad management on many plantations, +and that this accounts in part for these failures, by which many hundred +thousand dollars have been lost. For the advantages of the sugar planter +on these islands are very decided. He has not only, as I showed you above, +a favorable climate and an extraordinarily fertile soil, but he has +a laboring population, perhaps the best, the most easily managed, the +kindliest, and--so far as habits affect the steadiness and usefulness +of the laborer--the least vicious in the world. He does not have to pay +exorbitant wages; he is not embarrassed to feed or house them, for food +is so abundant and cheap that economy in its distribution is of no moment; +and the Hawaiian is very cheaply housed. + +But bad management by no means accounts for all the non-success. There are +some natural disadvantages serious enough to be taken into the account. +In the first place, you must understand that the rain-fall varies +extraordinarily. The trade-wind brings rain; the islands are bits of +mountain ranges; the side of the mountain which lies toward the rain-wind +gets rain; the lee side gets scarcely any. At Hilo it rains almost +constantly; at Lahaina they get hardly a shower a year. At Captain +Makee's, one of the most successful plantations on Maui, water is stored +in cisterns; at Mr. Spencer's, not a dozen miles distant, also one of the +successful plantations, which lies on the other side of Mount Haleakala, +they never have to irrigate. Near Hilo the long rains make cultivation +costly and difficult; but the water is so abundant that they run their +fire-wood from the mountains and their cane from the fields into the +sugar-houses in flumes, at a very great saving of labor. Near Lahaina +every acre must be irrigated, and this work proceeds day and night in +order that no water may run to waste. + +Then there is the matter of shipping sugar. There are no good ports except +Honolulu. Kaului on Maui, Hanalei and Nawiliwili on Kauai, and one or two +plantations on Oahu, have tolerable landings. But almost everywhere the +sugar is sent over vile roads to a more or less difficult landing, whence +it is taken in launches to the schooners which carry it to Honolulu, where +it is stored, coopered, and finally reshipped to its market. Many landings +are made through the surf, and I remember one which, last spring, +was unapproachable by vessel or boat for nearly four weeks. + +Each sugar planter has, therefore, problems of his own to solve. He can +not pattern on his neighbors. He can not base his estimate on theirs. He +can not be certain even, until he has tried, which of the ten or a dozen +varieties of cane will do best on his soil. He must look out for wood, +which is by no means abundant, and is often costly to bring down from the +mountain; he must look out for his landing; must see that taro grows near +at hand; must secure pasture for his draught cattle: in short, he must +consider carefully and independently many different questions before he +can be even reasonably sure of success. And if, with all this uncertainty, +he embarks with insufficient capital, and must pay one per cent. a month +interest, and turn his crop over to an agent in Honolulu, who is his +creditor, and who charges him five per cent. for handling it, it will not +be wonderful to any business man if he fails to grow rich, or if even he +by-and-by becomes bankrupt. Many have failed. Of thirty-four plantations, +the number worked in all the islands at this time, only six or seven are +in the hands of their founders. Some, which cost one hundred thousand +dollars, were sold by the sheriff for fifteen or eighteen thousand; some, +which cost a quarter of a million, were sold for less than a hundred +thousand. + +If you speak with the planters, they will tell you that their great +difficulty is to get a favorable market; that the duty on their sugar +imported into San Francisco eats up their profits; and that the only +cure--the cure-all, I should say, for all the ills they suffer--is a +treaty with the United States, which shall admit their product duty free. +Of course any one can see that if the sugar duty were remitted to them, +the planters would make more money, or would lose less. An ingenuous +planter summed up for me one day the whole of that side of the case, by +saying, "If we had plenty of labor and a free market for our sugar, we +should be thoroughly satisfied." + +But I am persuaded that, as there are planters now who are prosperous and +contented, and who make handsome returns even with the sugar duty against +them, so, if that were removed, there would be planters who would continue +their regular and slow march toward bankruptcy; and for whom the remitted +duty would be but a temporary respite, while it would deprive them of a +cheap and easy way to account for their failure. Wherever on the islands +I found a planter living on his own plantation, managing it himself, and +_out of debt_, I found him making money, even with low prices for his +sugar, and even if the plantation itself was not favorably placed; not +only this, but I found plantations yielding steady and sufficient profits, +under judicious management, which in previous hands became bankrupt. But +on the other hand, where I found a plantation heavily encumbered with +debt and managed by a superintendent, the owner living elsewhere, I heard +usually, though not always, complaints of hard times. If a sugar planter +has his land and machinery heavily mortgaged at ten or twelve per cent +interest; if he must, moreover, borrow money on his crop in the field to +enable him to turn that into sugar; if then he sends the product to an +agent in Honolulu, who charges him five per cent. for shipping it to San +Francisco; and if in San Francisco another agent charges him five per +cent. more, _on the gross returns including freight and duty_, for selling +it; if besides all this the planter buys his supplies on credit, and is +charged one per cent. a month on these, compounded every three months +until it is paid, and pays almost as much freight on his sugar from the +plantation to Honolulu as from there to its final market--it is highly +probable that he will, in the course of time, fail. + +There are not many legitimate enterprises in the world which would bear +such charges and leave a profit to the manager. But it is on this system +that the planting of sugar has been, to a large extent, carried on for +years in the Islands. Under it a good deal of money has been made, but not +by the planters. Nor is this essentially unjust. In the majority of cases, +planters began rashly with small means, and had to borrow largely to +complete their enterprises and get to work. The capitalist of course took +a part of the profits as interest. But the capitalist was in many +cases also the agent and store-keeper in Honolulu; and he shaved off +percentages--all in the way of business--until the planter was really +no more than the foreman of his agent and creditor. When, under such +circumstances, a planter complained that he did not make the fortune he +anticipated, and reasoned that therefore sugar planting in the Islands is +unprofitable, he seemed to me to speak beside the question--for his agent +and creditor, his employer in fact, made no complaint: _he_ always made +money; and as he had invested the money to carry on the enterprise, this +was but the natural result. + +The planters make a grave mistake in not acting together and advising +together on their most important interests. There are so few of them that +it should be easy to unite; and yet for lack of concerted action they +suffer important abuses to go on. For instance, it is a serious loss +to the planter that when he ships or engages a hand he must pay a large +"advance," amounting usually to at least half a year's pay. This custom is +hurtful to the laborer, who wastes it, and it inflicts a serious loss +upon the planter. Suppose he employs a hundred men, and pays fifty dollars +advance, he invests at once five thousand dollars for which he gets no +interest, though if, as is probable, he borrowed it, he must pay one +per cent. a month. This abuse could be abolished in a day by the simple +announcement that no planter would hereafter pay more than ten dollars +advance. But it has gone on for years, and the sum paid gets higher every +year merely by the planters outbidding each other. + +Again, it is possible to ship sugar from some of the Islands direct to +San Francisco, and for but little more than is now paid for shipping it +to Honolulu. Half a dozen planters on Hawaii or Maui, clubbing together, +could easily get a ship or half a dozen ships to come for their sugar, and +thus save five per cent. on their gross returns, now paid to agents. But +this is not done, partly because so many planters are in need of money, +which they borrow in Honolulu, with the understanding that they will +submit their produce to the management of agents there. + +Again, the planters err, I think, in not giving personal study to the +question of a market for their sugar. They leave this to the agents to +manage. No doubt these gentlemen are competent; but it is easy to see that +their interests may be somewhat different from those of the planter. For +instance, some years ago an arrangement was offered by the San Francisco +sugar refineries by which these agreed to take two-thirds of the product +of the plantations in crude sugar, to furnish bags to contain this +product, and to pay cash for it in Honolulu. Under this system the planter +was saved the heavy expense of sugar kegs, and the cost of two agencies +of five per cent. each, besides getting cash in Honolulu, whereas now his +sugar is usually sold at three months in San Francisco, and he probably +loses six months' interest, reckoning from the time his sugar leaves the +plantation. This arrangement, several planters told me, was profitable to +them; but it was discontinued--it was not to the advantage of the agents; +its discontinuance was no doubt a blunder for the planters. Moreover, +the Australian market has been too long neglected; but the advantage of +possessing two markets instead of one is too obvious to require statement. + +It is a reasonable conclusion, from all the facts in the case, that +sugar planting can be carried on at a fair and satisfactory profit in the +Hawaiian Islands, wherever skill and careful personal attention are given, +and due economy enforced by a planter who has at the same time sufficient +capital to carry on the business. The example of Captain Makee and Mr. +A.H. Spencer on Maui, of Mr. Isenberg on Kauai and others sufficiently +prove this. + +If I seem to have given more space to this sugar question than it appears +to deserve at the hands of a passing traveler, it is because sugar enters +largely into the politics of the Islands. It is the sugar interest which +urges the offer of Pearl River to the United States in exchange for a +treaty of reciprocity; and it is when sugar is low-priced at San Francisco +that the small company of annexationists raises its voice, and sometimes +threatens to raise its flag. + +There is room on the different islands for about seventy-five or eighty +more plantations on the scale now common; and there are, I think, still +excellent opportunities for making plantations. The sugar lands unoccupied +are not high-priced; and men skilled in this industry, and with sufficient +capital, can do well there, and live in a delightful climate and among +pleasant society, in a country where, as I have before said, life and +property are more absolutely secure than anywhere else in the world. But +I strongly advise every one to avoid debt. It has been the curse of the +planters, even of those who have kept out of debt, for it has prevented +such unity of action among them as must have before this enabled them to +effect important improvements. For instance, were they out of debt there +is no reason that I can see why they should not succeed in making their +market in Honolulu, and drawing purchasers thither instead of sending +their sugar to far-off markets at their own risk and expense. If ships can +afford to sail in ballast to more distant islands for guano, calling at +Honolulu on the way, it is reasonable to suppose they could afford to come +thither for the more valuable sugar cargoes. + +[Illustration: WAILUKU, ISLAND OF MAUI.] + +The planters err, I think, in not planting the mountain sides, wherever +these are accessible and have soil, with trees. The forests of the country +are rapidly disappearing, especially from the higher plains and the +grass-bearing slopes. Not only is the wood cut for burning, but the cattle +browse down the young growth; and a pestilent grub has of late attacked +the older trees and destroyed them in great numbers. Already complaints +are heard of the greater dryness and infertility of certain localities, +which I do not doubt comes from suffering the ground to become bare. At +several points I was told that the streams were permanently lower than +in former years--of course because evaporation goes on more rapidly +near their head waters now that the ground is bare. But little care +or forethought is exercised in such matters, however. A few extensive +plantations of trees have been made, notably by Captain Makee on Maui, who +has set out a large number of Australian gum trees. The universal habit +of letting cattle run abroad, and the dearness of lumber for fencing, +discourages tree planting, which yet will be found some day one of the +most profitable investments in the islands, I believe; and I was sorry to +see in many places cocoa-nut groves dying out of old age and neglect, and +no young trees planted to replace them. + +It remains to describe to you the "contract labor" system by which the +sugar-plantations are carried on. This has been frequently and, as it +seems to me, unjustly abused as a system of slavery. The laborers hire +themselves out for a stated period, usually, in the case of natives, for +a year, and in the case of Chinese for five years. The contract runs in +English and in Hawaiian or Chinese, and is sufficiently simple. Thus: + + "This Agreement, made and entered into this ---- day of ----, A.D. + 18--, by and between the owners of the ---- plantation, in the + island of ----, party of the first part, and ---- ----, party of + the second part, witnesseth: + + "I. The said party of the second part promises to perform such + labor upon the ---- plantation, in the district of ----, island of + ----, as the said party of the first part shall direct, and that + he will faithfully and punctually perform the same as becomes a + good workman, and that he will obey all lawful commands of the + said party of the first part, their agents or overseers, during + the term of ---- months, each month to consist of twenty-six + working days. + + "II. The party of the first part will well and truly pay, or cause + to be paid, unto the said party of the second part, at the end + of each month during which this contract shall remain in force, + compensation or wages at the rate of ---- dollars for each month, + if said party of the second part shall well and truly perform his + labor as aforesaid." + +The law requires that this contract shall be signed before a notary +public. The wages are usually eight dollars per month and food, or eleven +dollars per month without food; from which you will see that three dollars +per month will buy sufficient poi, beef, and fish to support a native +laborer in these islands. The engagement is entirely voluntary; the men +understand what they contract to do, and in all the plantations where they +are well treated they re-enlist with great regularity. The vicious custom +of "advances" mentioned above has become a part of the system; it arose, +I suppose, from the fact that the natives who shipped as whalemen received +advance pay; and thus the plantation laborers demanded it too. The +laborers are commonly housed in detached cottages, and live with their +families, the women forming an important, irregular laboring force at +seasons when the work is hurried. But they are not "contract" laborers, +but paid by the day. It has been found the best plan on most of the +plantations to feed the people, and food is so cheap that it is supplied +without stint. + +This system has been vigorously, but, I believe, wrongly, attacked. The +recent census is an uncommonly barren document; but there is strong reason +to believe that while there is a general decrease in the population, on +the plantations there is but little if any decrease. In fact, the Hawaiian +living in his valley on his kuliana or small holding, leads an extremely +irregular life. He usually sups at midnight, sleeps a good deal during +the day, and has much idle time on his hands. On the plantations he works +regularly and not too hard, eats at stated intervals, and sleeps all +night. This regularity conduces to health. Moreover, he receives prompt +and sufficient medical attendance, he lives a more social and interesting +life, and he is as well fed, and mostly better lodged. There are very few +instances of abuse or cruelty; indeed, a plantation manager said to me, +"If I were to wrong or abuse one of my men, he would persuade a dozen or +twenty others not to re-enlist when their terms are out, and would +fatally embarrass me;" for it is not easy to get laborers. + +There is good reason to believe, therefore, that the plantation laborers +are healthier, more prosperous, and just as happy as those who live +independently; and it is a fact that on most of the islands the greater +part of the younger people are found on the plantations. Churches are +established on or very near all the sugar estates, and the children +are rigorously kept at school there as elsewhere. The people take their +newspaper, discuss their affairs, and have usually a leader or two among +the foremen. On one plantation one of the foremen in the field was pointed +out to me: he was a member of the Legislature. + +There is a good deal of complaint of a scarcity of labor. If more +plantations were opened it would be necessary to import laborers; but +for the present, it seems to me, the supply is not deficient. Doubtless, +however, many planters would extend their operations if they could get +workmen readily. Chinese have been brought over, though not in great +numbers; and of late the absurd and cruel persecution of these people in +California has driven several hundred to take refuge in the Islands, where +they are kindly treated and can live comfortably. + +The machinery used in the sugar-houses is usually of the best; the larger +plantations all use vacuum-pans; and the planters are usually intelligent +gentlemen, familiar with the best methods of producing sugar, and with the +latest improvements. Yet it is a question whether the expensive machinery +is not in the long run a disadvantage, as it disables them from profitably +making those low grades of sugar which can be cheaply turned out with the +help of an "open train," and which appear to have, in these days, the most +ready sale and the best market. + +[Illustration: KEAPAWEO MOUNTAIN, KAUAI.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +KAUAI, WITH A GLANCE AT CATTLE AND SHEEP. + + +Kauai lies farthest to leeward of the main islands of the Hawaiian group; +the steamer visits it usually but once a month; and the best way to see +it without unnecessary waste of time is to take passage in a schooner, so +timing your visit as to leave you a week or ten days on the island before +the steamer arrives to carry you back. + +We took passage on a little sugar schooner, the _Fairy Queen_, of about +seventy-five tons, commanded by a smart native captain, and sailing one +afternoon about two o'clock, and sleeping comfortably on deck wrapped in +rugs, were landed at Waimea the following morning at day-break. + +When you travel on one of these little native schooners you must provide +food for yourself, for poi and a little beef or fish make up the sea +ration as well as the land food of the Hawaiian. In all other respects you +may expect to be treated with the most distinguished consideration and +the most ready and thoughtful kindness by captain and crew; and the +picturesque mountain scenery of Oahu, which you have in sight so long as +daylight lasts, and the lovely star-lit night, with its soft gales and +warm air, combine to make the voyage a delightful adventure. + +As usual in these Islands, a church was the first and most conspicuous +landmark which greeted our eyes in the morning. Abundant groves of +cocoa-nuts, for which the place is famous, assured us of a refreshing +morning draught. The little vessel was anchored off the shore, and our +party, jumping into a whale-boat, were quickly and skillfully steered +through the slight surf which pours upon the beach. The boat was pulled +upon the black sand; and the lady who was of my party found herself +carried to the land in the stout arms of the captain; while the rest of us +watched our chance, and, as the waves receded, leaped ashore, and managed +to escape with dry feet. The sun had not yet risen; the early morning was +a little overcast. A few natives, living on the beach, gathered around +and watched curiously the landing of our saddles and saddle-bags from the +boat; presently that pushed off, and our little company sat down upon an +old spar, and watched the schooner as she hoisted sails and bore away for +her proper port, while we waited for the appearance of a native person +of some authority to whom a letter had been directed, requesting him to +provide us with horses and a guide to the house of a friend with whom we +intended to breakfast. Presently three or four men came galloping along +the beach, one of whom, a burly Hawaiian, a silver shield on whose jacket +announced him a local officer of police, reported that he was at our +service with as many horses as we needed. + +[Illustration: CHAIN OF EXTINCT VOLCANOES NEAR KOLOA, ISLAND OF KAUAI.] + +It is one of the embarrassing incidents of travel on these Islands that +there are no hotels or Inns outside of Honolulu and Hilo. Whether he will +or no the traveler must accept the hospitality of the residents, and +this is so general and so boundless that it would impose a burdensome +obligation, were it not offered in such a kindly and graceful way as to +beguile you into the belief that you are conferring as well as receiving +a favor. Nor is the foreigner alone generous; for the native too, if you +come with a letter from his friend at a distance, places himself and all +he has at your service. When we had reached our friend's house, I asked +my conductor, the policeman, what I should pay him for the use of three +horses and his own services. He replied that he was but too happy to have +been of use to me, as I was the friend of his friend. I managed to force +upon him a proper reward for his attention, but I am persuaded that he +would have been content without. + +Kauai is probably the oldest of the Hawaiian group; according to the +geologists it was the first thrown up; the bottom of the ocean began to +crack, up there to the north-west, and the rent extended gradually in the +south-easterly direction necessary to produce the other islands. It would +seem that Kauai must be a good deal older than Hawaii; for, whereas the +latter is covered with undecayed lava and has two active volcanoes, the +former has a rich and deep covering of soil, and, except in a few places, +there are no very plain or conspicuous cones or craters. Of course the +whole island bears the clearest traces of its volcanic origin; and near +Koloa there are three small craters in a very good state of preservation. + +Having thus more soil than the other islands, Kauai has also more grass; +being older, not only are its valleys somewhat richer, but its mountains +are also more picturesque than those of Maui and Hawaii, as also they are +much lower. The roads are excellent for horsemen, and for the most part +practicable for carriages, of which, however, there are none to be hired. + +The best way to see the island is to land, as we did, at Waimea; ride to +a singular spot called the "barking sands"--a huge sand-hill, gliding down +which you hear a dull rumble like distant thunder, probably the result of +electricity. On the way you meet with a mirage, remarkable for this that +it is a constant phenomenon--that is to say, it is to be seen daily at +certain hours, and is the apparition of a great lake, having sometimes +high waves which seem to submerge the cattle which stand about, +apparently, in the water. + +From the sands you return to Waimea, and can ride thence next day to Koloa +in the forenoon, and to Na-Wiliwili in the afternoon. The following day's +ride will bring you to Hanalei, a highly picturesque valley which lies on +the rainy side of the island, Waimea being on the dry side. At Hanalei +you should take the steamer and sail in her around the Palis of Kauai, a +stretch of precipitous cliff twenty-five miles long, the whole of which is +inaccessible from the sea, except by the native people in canoes; and +many parts of which are very lovely and grand. Thus voyaging, you will +circumnavigate the island, returning to Na-Wiliwili, and thence in a night +to Honolulu. + +It is easy and pleasant to see Kauai, taking a store of provisions with +you and lodging in native houses. But if you have made some acquaintances +in Honolulu you will be provided with letters of introduction to some of +the hospitable foreign families on this island; and thus the pleasure of +your visit will be greatly increased. I do not, I trust, violate the +laws of hospitality if I say something here of one of these families--the +owners of the little island of Niihau, who have also a charming residence +in the mountains of Kauai. They came to Honolulu ten or twelve years +ago from New Zealand in a ship of their own, containing not only their +household goods, but also some valuable sheep. Thus fitted out they were +sailing over the world, looking for such a little empire to own as they +found in Niihau; and here they settled, selling their ship; and here they +remain, prospering, and living a quiet, peaceful, Arcadian life, with +cattle and sheep on many hills, and with a pleasant, hospitable house, +where children and grandchildren are clustered together, and where the +stranger receives the heartiest of welcomes. It was a curious adventure to +undertake, this sailing over the great Pacific to seek out a proper home; +and I did not tire of listening to the account of their voyage and their +settlement in this new and out-of-the-way land, from the cheery and +delightful grandmother of the family, a Scotch lady, full of the sturdy +character of her country people, and altogether one of the pleasantest +acquaintances I made on the Islands. + +[Illustration: WAIALUA FALLS, ISLAND OF KAUAI.] + +Kauai has many German residents, mostly, like these Scotch people I +have spoken of, persons of education and culture, who have brought their +libraries with them, and on whose tables and shelves you may see the best +of the recent literature, as well as the best of the old. A New Yorker who +imagines, cockney-like, that civilization does not reach beyond the sound +of Trinity chimes is startled out of this foolish fancy when he finds +among the planters and missionaries here, as in other parts of these +Islands, men and women of genuine culture maintaining all the essential +forms as well as the realities of civilization; yet living so free +and untrammeled a life that he who comes from the high-pressure social +atmosphere of New York can not help but envy these happy mortals, who seem +to have the good without the worry of civilization, and who have caught +the secret of how to live simply and yet gently. + +Kauai has four or five sugar-plantations, some of which are now +successful, though they were not always so. Success has been attained by +a resolute expenditure of money in irrigation ditches, which have made +the land yield constant and remunerative crops. But I could see here, as +elsewhere, that close and careful management--the eye of the master and +the hand of the master--insured the success. + +But a large part of the island is given up to cattle. In the mountains +they have gone wild, and parties are made to hunt and shoot these. But on +the plains, of course, they are owned and herded. The raising of cattle is +an important and considerable business on all the Islands; and at present, +I believe, the cattle owners are making a good deal of money. In 1871, +19,384 hides were exported, as well as 185,240 pounds of tallow, 58,900 +goat skins, and 471,706 pounds of wool. + +The market for beef is limited, and the stockman boils down his beeves. +In many cases the best machinery is used for this purpose; the boiling is +done in closed vessels, and the business is carried on with precision. It +seemed to me, who remembered the high price of beef in our Eastern States, +like a sad waste to see a hundred head of fat steers driven into a corral, +and one after the other knocked on the head, slaughtered, skinned, cut up, +and put into the boilers to be turned into tallow. But it is the only use +to make of the beasts. The refuse, however, is here always wasted, which +appeared to me unnecessary, for it might well be applied to the enrichment +of the pastures. + +On many of the ranches you see open try pots used; it is a more wasteful +process, I imagine, but it is simpler and requires a smaller expenditure +of capital for machinery. The cattle are managed here, as in California, +on horseback and with the help of the lasso; and he who on our Pacific +coast is called a _vaquero_, or cow-herd, is here known as a "Spaniol." +Such a native man is pointed out to you as an excellent Spaniol. This +comes from the fact that in the early days of cattle-raising here the +natives knew nothing of their management, and Spaniards had to be imported +from California to teach them the business. The native people now make +excellent vaqueros; they are daring horsemen, and as they work cheaply +and are easily fed and lodged, the management of cattle costs less here, +I imagine, than even in California. But it is necessary to take care that +the pastures shall not be overstocked; and the vast number of horses kept +by the natives is on all the Islands a serious injury to the pasturage of +both sheep and cattle. + +The Hawaiian, who seventy-five years ago did not know that there existed +such a creature as a horse, and even fifty years ago beheld it as a +rarity, now can not live without this beast. There are probably more +horses than people on the Islands; and the native family is poor, indeed, +which has not two or three hardy, rough, grass-fed ponies, easy to ride, +sometimes tricky but more often quite trustworthy, and capable of living +where a European donkey would die in disgust. At a horse auction you see a +singular collection of good and bad horses; and it is one of the jokes of +the Islands to go to a horse auction and buy a horse for a quarter of a +dollar. The Government has vainly tried to put a check to the reckless +increase of horseflesh by laying a tax on these animals, and by impounding +them if the tax is not paid. I was told of a planter who bought on one +occasion fifty horses out of a pound, at twenty-five cents a head, and had +them all shot and put into a manure pile. But if the horse is worth his +tax it is pretty certain to be paid; and it is not easy to keep them off +the pastures. + +Cattle ranchos usually extend over from fifteen to thirty thousand acres +of land; though many are smaller, and some, on Hawaii, larger. The grass +is of different varieties, but the most useful, as well as now the most +abundant, is the _manienie_, of which I have before made mention. Horses +and sheep, as well as cattle, become very fond of this grass, and eat it +down very close. The handling of the cattle is intrusted to native people, +who live on the rancho or estate; and the planter or stock farmer has +an advantage, in these Islands, in finding a laboring population living +within the bounds of his own place. The large estates were formerly the +property of the chiefs. They are the old "lands." But when the kuliana law +was made, the common people were allowed to take out for themselves such +small holdings as they held in actual cultivation. These kulianas they +still hold; and thus it often happens that within the bounds of a large +estate fifty or sixty families will live on their little freeholds; +and these form a natural and cheap laboring force for the plantation or +rancho. + +On the Island of Niihau, I was told, there are still about three hundred +native people. The sheep are allowed to run at large on the island, there +being no wild animals to disturb them; at lambing and shearing times the +proprietors hire their native tenants to do the necessary work; and these +people at other times fish, raise water-melons and other fruits, and make +mats which are famous for their fine texture and softness, and sell at +handsome prices even in Honolulu. + +Where, as is the case almost universally, the relations between the +stockman and the native people are kindly, there is a reciprocity of good +offices, and a ready service from the people, in return for management and +protection by the great proprietor, which is mutually agreeable, and in +which the proprietor stands in some such relation to the people as the +chief in old times, though of course with not a tithe of the power the +ancient rulers had. + +At Kauai you will also see rice growing. This is one of the products which +is rapidly increasing in the Islands. Of rice and paddy, or unhulled rice, +the exports were in 1871, 417,011 pounds of the first, and 867,452 of +the last. In 1872 there were exported 455,121 pounds of rice and 894,382 +pounds of paddy. + +The taro patches make excellent rice fields; and it is an industry in +which the Chinese, who understand it, invest their savings. They employ +native labor; and it is not uncommon to find that a few Chinese have hired +all the taro patches in a valley from their native owners, and then +employ these natives to work for them; an arrangement which is mutually +beneficial, and agreeable besides to the Hawaiian, who has not much of +what we call "enterprise," and does not care to accumulate money. The +windward side of the Islands of Oahu and Kauai produces a great deal of +rice, and this is one of the products which promises to increase largely. +The rice is said to be of excellent quality. + +[Illustration: IMPLEMENTS. _a_, Calabash for _poi_.--_b_, Calabash for +fish.--_c_, Water bottle.--_d_, _Poi_ mallets.--_e_, _Poi_ trough.--_f_, +Native bracelet.--_g_, Fiddle.--_h_, Flute.--_i i_, Drums.] + +Kauai contained once the most important coffee-plantations; and the large +sugar-plantation of Princeville at Hanalei was originally planted +in coffee. But this tree or shrub is so subject to the attacks of a +leaf-blight that the culture has decreased. Yet coffee grows wild in many +of the valleys and hills, and here and there you find a small plantation +of a few hundred trees which does well. The coffee shrub thrives best in +these Islands among the lava rock, where there seems scarcely any soil; +and it must be sheltered from winds and also from the sun. I have seen +some young plantations placed in the midst of forests where the trees gave +a somewhat dense shade, and these seemed to grow well. + +[Illustration: GRASS HOUSE.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE HAWAIIAN AT HOME: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. + + +As we rode one day near the sea-shore I heard voices among the rocks, and +sending the guide ahead with the horses, I walked over to the shore +with the lady and children who were my companions. There we saw a sight +characteristic of these islands. Three women decently clothed in a garment +which covered them from head to foot, and a man with only a breech-clout +on, were dashing into the surf, picking up sea-moss, and a little univalve +shell, a limpet, which they flung into small baskets which hung from their +shoulders. They were, in fact, getting their suppers, and they were +quite as much surprised at our appearance as we at theirs. They came out +politely, and showed the children what was in their baskets; the man, +understanding that our horses had gone ahead, kindly volunteered to pilot +us over the rocks to a village near by. I do not imagine that he was +embarrassed at his lack of clothing, and after the first shock of surprise +I am quite sure we were more inclined to admire his straight muscular +figure and his shining dark skin than to complain of his nakedness. +Presently, however, he slipped away into the bush, and re-appeared in a +hat, and a shirt which was so short that even my little girl burst into +laughter at this ridiculous and futile effort toward decency; and thus +arrayed, and with the kindly and gracious smile which illuminates a +Hawaiian's face when he puts himself to some trouble on your account, this +funny guide led us to our horses. + +In the evening I related this incident to our host, an old resident, and +said, "I suppose this man could read?" "Read!" he replied; "he can read +and write as well as you. I know him very well; he is a prosperous man, +and is to be the next justice of the peace in that district. He doubtless +went home and spent the remainder of the afternoon in reading his +newspaper." + +Native life in the Islands is full of such contrasts, and I found, on +examining the labor contracts on several sugar-plantations, that almost +without exception the working people signed their own names. + +According to a census taken in December, 1872, the Hawaiian Islands +contained 56,897 souls, of whom 51,531 were natives and half-castes, and +5366 were foreigners. In six years the native population had decreased +7234, and the foreigners had increased 1172. Since 1866, therefore, the +Islands have lost 6062 souls. + +Of the foreigners the Chinese are the most numerous, outnumbering all the +other foreign nationalities together except the Americans. Chinese have +been brought over here as coolie laborers on the plantations. They readily +intermarry with the native women, and these unions are usually fruitful +of healthy and bright children. It is said that the Chinese insist upon +taking better care of their children than the native women, uninstructed, +usually give them, and that therefore the Chinese half-caste families +are more thrifty than those of the pure blood Hawaiians. Moreover, the +Chinaman takes care of his wife. He endeavors to form her habits upon the +pattern of his own; and requires of her the performance of fixed duties, +which add to her happiness and health. In fact, the number of half-castes +of all races has increased thirty per cent. in the last six years. + +The native population is admirably cared for by the authorities. The +Islands are divided for various governmental purposes into districts; +and in every district where the people are much scattered the government +places a physician--a man of skill and character--to whom it gives a +small salary for attending upon the common people, and he is, I believe, +expected to make a tour of his district at stated intervals. Of course he +is allowed to practice besides for pay. The sugar planters also usually +provide medical attendance for their laborers. + +The Government maintains a careful guard over the schools. A compulsory +education law obliges parents, under fixed penalties, to send their +children to school; and besides the common or primary schools, there are a +number of academies, most of which receive some help from the Government, +while all are under Government supervision. The census gives the number of +children between six and fifteen years of age at 6931; and there are 324 +teachers, or one teacher for every twenty-seven children in the whole +group. Attendance at school is, I suspect, more general here than in any +other country in the world. The last report of W.P. Kamakau, the President +of the Board of Education, made in March, 1872, returns 8287 children +actually attending upon 245 schools of various grades, 202 being common +schools. Under this system there is scarcely a Hawaiian of proper age who +can not both read and write. + +Churches they maintain by voluntary effort, and their contributions are +very liberal. They take a pride in such organizations. Dr. Coan's native +church at Hilo contributes $1200 per year to foreign missions. + +There are no beggars, and no public paupers except the insane, who are +cared for in an asylum near Honolulu, and the lepers, who are confined +upon a part of Molokai. The convicts and the boys in the reform school +contribute to their own support by their labor. The Queen's Hospital is +only for curable cases, and the people take care of their own infirm, aged +and otherwise incapable dependents. + +It seems to me that very unusual judgment has been shown in the manner +in which benevolent and penal institutions have been created and managed +among these people; for the tendency almost everywhere in countries which +call themselves more highly civilized is to make the poor dependent +upon charity, and thus a fatal blow is struck at their character and +respectability. Here, partly of course because the means of living are +very abundant and easily got, but also, I think, because the government +has been wisely managed, the people have not been taught to look toward +public charity for relief; and though we Americans, who live in a big +country, are apt to think slightingly of what some one called a toy +kingdom, any one who has undertaken to manage or organize even a small +community at home will recognize the fact that it is a task beset by +difficulties. + +But in these Islands a state, a society, has been created within a quarter +of a century, and it has been very ably done. I am glad that it has been +done mainly by Americans. Chief-justice Lee, now dead, but whose memory +is deservedly cherished here; Dr. Judd, who died in August, 1873; Mr. C.C. +Harris, lately Minister of Foreign Relations, and for many years occupying +different prominent positions in the Government; Dr. J. Mott Smith, lately +the Minister of Finance; Chief-justice Allen, and Mr. Armstrong, long at +the head of the Educational Department, the father of General Armstrong, +President of the Hampton University in Virginia, deserve, perhaps, the +chief credit for this work. They were the organizers who supplemented the +labors of the missionaries; and, fortunately for the native people, they +were all men of honor, of self-restraint, of goodness of heart, who knew +how to rule wisely and not too much, and who protected the people without +destroying their independence. What they have done would have given them +fame had it not been done two thousand miles from the nearest continent, +and at least five thousand from any place where reputations are made. + +Of a total native population of 51,531, 6580 are returned by the census +as freeholders--more than one in every eight. Only 4772 are returned +as plantation laborers, and of these probably a third are Chinese; 2115 +returned themselves as mechanics, which is a very large proportion of +the total able-bodied population. I believe that both freeholders and +mechanics find employment on the plantations as occasional laborers. + +A people so circumstanced, well taught in schools, freeholders to a large +extent, living in a mild and salubrious climate, and with cheap and proper +food, ought not, one would say, to decrease. There are, of course, several +reasons for their very rapid decrease, and all of them come from contact +with the whites. These brought among them diseases which have corrupted +their blood, and made them infertile and of poor stamina. But to this, +which is the chief cause, must be added, I suspect, another less generally +acknowledged. + +The deleterious habit of wearing clothes has, I do not doubt, done much to +kill off the Hawaiian people. If you think for a moment, you will see +that to adopt civilized habits was for them to make a prodigious change in +their ways of life. Formerly the maro and the slight covering of the tapa +alone shielded them from the sun and rain. Their bodies became hardy +by exposure. Their employments--fishing, taro-planting, tapa-making, +bird-catching, canoe-making--were all laborious, and pursued out-of-doors. +Their grass houses, with openings for doors and windows, were, at any +rate, tolerably well ventilated. Take the man accustomed thus to live, +and put shoes on his feet, a hat on his head, a shirt on his back, and +trowsers about his legs, and lodge him in a house with close-shutting +doors and windows, and you expose his constitution to a very serious +strain, especially in a country where there is a good deal of rain. Being, +after all, but half civilized, he will probably sleep in a wet shirt, or +cumber his feet with wet shoes; he will most likely neglect to open his +windows at night, and poison himself and his family with bad air, to the +influence of which, besides, his unaccustomed lungs will be peculiarly +liable; he will live a less active life under his changed conditions; and +altogether the poor fellow must have an uncommonly fine constitution to +resist it all and escape with his life. At the best, his system will be +relaxed, his power of resistance will be lessened, his chances of recovery +will be diminished in the same degree as his chances of falling ill are +increased. If now you throw in some special disease, corrupting the blood, +and transmitted with fatal certainty to the progeny, the wonder is that a +people so situated have not died out in a single generation. + +In fact they have died out pretty fast, though there is reason to believe +that the mortality rate has largely decreased in the last three years; +and careful observers believe even that in the last year there has been +an actual increase, rather than a decrease in the native and half caste +population. In 1832 the Islands had a population of 130,315 souls; in +1836 there were but 108,579; in 1840, only 84,165, of whom 1962 were +foreigners; in 1850, 69,800, of whom 3216 were foreigners; and in 1860, +62,959, of whom 4194 were foreigners. The native population has decreased +over sixty per cent. in forty years. + +In the same period the foreigners have increased very slowly, until there +are now in all 5366 foreigners and persons born here, but of foreign +parentage, on the Islands. You will see that while the Hawaiians have so +rapidly decreased that all over the Islands you notice, in waste fields +and desolate house places, the marks of this loss, foreigners have not +been attracted to fill up their places. And this in spite of the facts +that the climate is mild and healthful, the price of living cheap, the +Government liberal, the taxes low, and life and property as secure as in +any part of the world. One would think that a country which offers all +these advantages must be a paradise for poor men; and I do not wonder that +in the United States there is frequent talk of "annexing the Islands." +But, in fact, they offer no advantages, aside from those I have named, to +white settlers, and they have such serious natural disabilities as will +always--or, at least, for the next two or three millions of years--repel +our American people, and all other white settlers. + +In the first place, there is very little of what we call agricultural +land on the Islands. They are only mountains rising from the sea, with +extremely little alluvial bottom, and that usually cut up by torrents, and +water-washed into gulches, until it is difficult in many parts to find +a fair field of even fifty acres. From these narrow bottoms, where they +exist, you look into deep gorges or valleys, out of which issue the +streams which force their way through the lower fields into the sea. +These valleys are never extensive, and are always very much broken and +contracted. They are useless for common agricultural purposes. In several +the culture of coffee has been begun; but they are so inaccessible, the +roads into them are so difficult, and the area of arable soil they contain +is, after all, so insignificant, that, even for so valuable a product as +coffee, transportation is found to be costly. + +But it is along and in the streams which rush through the bottoms of these +narrow gorges that the Hawaiian is most at home. Go into any of these +valleys, and you will see a surprising sight: along the whole narrow +bottom, and climbing often in terraces the steep hill-sides, you will see +the little taro patches, skillfully laid so as to catch the water, either +directly from the main stream, or from canals taking water out above. + +Such a taro patch oftenest contains a sixteenth, less frequently an eighth +of an acre. It consists of soil painfully brought down from above, and +secured by means of substantial stone walls, plastered with mud and +covered with grass, strong enough to resist the force of the torrent. Each +little patch or flat is so laid that a part of the stream shall flow over +it without carrying away the soil; indeed, it is expected to leave some +sediment. And as you look up such a valley you see terrace after terrace +of taro rising before you, the patches often fifty or sixty feet above the +brawling stream, but each receiving its proper proportion of water. + +Near by or among these small holdings stand the grass houses of the +proprietors, and you may see them and their wives, their clothing tucked +up, standing over their knees in water, planting or cultivating the crop. +Here the Hawaiian is at home. His horse finds its scanty living on the +grass which fringes the taro patches; indeed, you may see horses here +standing belly deep in fresh water, and feeding on the grasses which grow +on the bottom; and again you find horses raised in the drier parts of +the islands that do not know what water is, never having drunk any thing +wetter than the dew on the grass. Among the taro patches the house place +is as narrow as a fishing schooner's deck--"two steps and overboard." If +you want to walk, it must be on the dikes within which the taro land is +confined; and if you ride, it must be in the middle of the rapid mountain +torrent, or along a narrow bridle-path high up on the precipitous side of +the mountain. + +Down near the shore are fish ponds, with wicker gates which admit the +small fry from the sea, but keep in the large fish. Many of these ponds +are hundreds of acres in area, and from them the Hawaiian draws one of +his favorite dishes. Then there may be cocoa-nuts; there are sure to be +bananas and guavas. Beef costs but a trifle, and hogs fatten on taro. The +pandanus furnishes him material for his mats, and of mats he makes his +bed, as well as the floor of his house. + +In short, such a gorge or valley as I have tried to describe to you +furnishes in its various parts, including the sea-shore, all that is +needed to make the Hawaiian prosperous; and I have not seen one which +had not its neatly kept school-house and church, and half a dozen framed +houses scattered among the humbler grass huts, to mark the greater wealth +of some--for the Hawaiian holds that the wooden house is a mark of thrift +and respectability. + +But the same valley which now supports twenty or thirty native families in +comfort and happiness, and which, no doubt, once yielded food and all the +appliances of life in abundance to one or two hundred, would not tempt any +white man of any nation in the world to live in it, and a thousand such +gorges would not add materially to the prosperity of any white nation. +That is to say, the country is admirably adapted to its native people. +It favors, as it doubtless compelled and formed, all their habits and +customs. But it would repel any one else, and an American farmer would not +give a hundred dollars for the whole Wailuku Valley--if he had to live in +it and work it--though it would be worth many thousands to the natives if +it were once more populous as of old. + +As you examine the works of the old Hawaiians, their fish ponds, their +irrigation canals, their long miles of walls inclosing ponds and taro +fields, you will not only see the proofs that the Islands were formerly +far more populous than now, but you will get a respect for the feudal +system of which these works are the remains. + +The Hawaiian people, when they first became known to the world, were +several stages removed from mere savagery. They had elaborated a tolerably +perfect system of government and of land tenure, which has since been +swept away, as was inevitable, but which served its day very well indeed. +Under this system the chiefs owned every thing. The common people were +their retainers--followers in war and servants in peace. The chief, +according to an old Hawaiian proverb, owned "all the land, all the sea, +and all the iron cast up by the sea." + +[Illustration: HAWAIIAN WARRIORS.] + +The land was carefully parceled out among the chiefs, upon the plan of +securing to each one from his own land all that he and his retainers +needed for their lives. What they chiefly required was taro ground, the +sea for fish, the mulberry for tapa, and timber land for canoes; but they +required also _ti_ leaves in which to wrap their parcels, and flowers of +which to make their _les_, or flower necklaces. And I have seen modern +surveys of old "lands" in which the lines were run very irregularly, and +in some cases oven outlying patches were added, because a straight line +from mountain to sea was found to exclude some one product, even so +trifling as the yellow flowers of which _les_ are often made. + +On such a "land," and from it, the chief and his people lived. He appears +to have been the brains and they the hands to work it. They owed him two +days' labor in every seven, in which they cultivated his taro, cleaned his +fish pond, caught fish for him, opened paths, made or transported canoes, +and did generally what he required. The remainder of the time was their +own, to cultivate such patches of taro as he allowed them to occupy, or to +do what they pleased. For any important public work he could call out all +his people, and oblige them to labor as long as he chose, and thus were +built the surprisingly solid and extensive walls which inclose the old +fish ponds, and many irrigating canals which show not only long continued +industry, but quite astonishing skill for so rude a people. + +The chief was supreme ruler over his people; they lived by his tolerance, +for they owned absolutely nothing, neither land, nor house, nor food, nor +wife, nor child. A high chief was approached only with abject gestures, +and no one dared resist his acts or dispute his will. The sense of +obedience must have been very strong, for it has survived every change; +and only the other day a friend of mine saw a Hawaiian lady, a chiefess, +but the wife of an American, and herself tenderly nurtured and a woman of +education and refinement, boxing the ears of a tall native, whom she had +caught furiously abusing his wife, and the man bore his punishment as +meekly as a child. "Why?" "He knows I am his chief, and he would not dare +raise even an angry look toward me; he would not think of it, even," was +her reply, when she was asked how she had courage to interfere in what was +a very violent quarrel. Yet the present law recognizes no allegiance due +to a chief. + +When the young king Lunalilo returned to the palace after the coronation, +the pipe-bearer, an old native retainer, approached him on his knees, +and was shocked at being ordered to get up and act like a man. The older +natives to this day approach a chief or chiefess only with humble and +deprecatory bows; and wherever a chief or chiefess travels, the native +people along the road make offerings of the fruits of the ground, and +even of articles of clothing and adornment. One of the curious sights +of Honolulu to us travelers, last spring, was to see long processions of +native people, men, women, and children, marching to the palace to +lay their offerings before the king, who is a high chief. Each brought +something--a man would walk gravely along with a pig under his arm; after +him followed perhaps a little child with half a dozen bananas, a woman +with a chicken tied by a string, a girl with a handkerchief full of eggs, +a boy with a cocoa-nut, an old woman with a calabash of poi, and so on. +In the palace yard all this was laid in a heap before the young king, who +thereupon said thank you, and, with a few kind words, dismissed the people +to their homes. + +As an illustration of the power of the old chiefs, as well as of the +density of the population in former times, it is related that when the +wall inclosing a certain fish pond on the windward side of Oahu was to be +built, the chief then ruling over that land gave notice that on a certain +day every man, woman, and child within his domain must appear at a +designated point, bearing a stone. The wall, which stands yet, is half a +mile long, well built, and probably six feet high; and it was begun and +completed in that one day. + +[Illustration: LUNALILO.] + +I was shown, on Kauai, a young man of insignificant appearance, and of no +particular merit or force of character. To him an old woman recently dying +had by a will, written out for her by a friend of my own, left all her +property--a taro patch, a house, and some other land. My friend asked +why. He is my chief, was the reply; and sure enough, on inquiry my friend +discovered, what he had not before known, that the man was a descendant +of one of the chief families, of whom this old woman had in her early days +been a subject. + +As the chief was the ruler, the people looked to him for food in a time of +scarcity. He directed their labors; he protected them against wrong from +others; and as it was his pride that his retainers should be more numerous +and more prosperous than those of the neighboring chief, if the head +possessed brains, no doubt the people were made content. Food was +abundant; commerce was unknown; the chief could not eat or waste more than +his people could easily produce for him; and until disturbing causes came +in with Captain Cook, no doubt feudalism wrought satisfactory results +here. One wonders how it was invented among such a people, or who it was +that first had genius enough to insist on obedience, to make rules, to +prescribe the tabu, and, in short, to evolve order out of chaos. + +The tabu was a most ingenious and useful device; and when you hear of the +uses to which it was put, and of its effectiveness, you feel surprised +that it was not found elsewhere as an appurtenance of the feudal +machinery. Thus the chief allowed his people to fish in the part of the +ocean which he owned--which fronted his "land," that is to say. He tabued +one or two kinds of fish, however; these they were forbidden to catch; but +as a fisherman can not, even in these islands, exercise a choice as to the +fish which shall enter his net or bite at his hook, it followed that the +tabued fish were caught--but then they were at once rendered up to the +chief. One variety of taro, which makes poi of a pink color, was tabued +and reserved for the chiefs. Some birds were tabued on account of their +feathers; one especially, a black bird which has a small yellow feather +under each wing. The great feather cloak of Kamehameha I., which is +still kept as a sign of royalty, is made of these feathers, and contains +probably several thousand of them, thus gathered, two from each bird. + +Further, a tabu prohibited women from eating with men, even with their +husbands; and when, on the death of the first Kamehameha, his Queen +Kahumanu, an energetic and fearless virago, dared for the first time to +eat with her son, a cry of horror went up as though "great Pan was dead;" +and this bold act really broke the power of the heathen priests. + +A tabu forbade women to eat cocoa nuts and some other articles of food; +and the prohibition appears to have been used also to compel sanitary and +other useful restraints, for I have been told that a tabu preserved girls +from marriage until they had attained a certain age, eighteen, I believe; +and to this and some other similar regulations, rigorously enforced in the +old times, I have heard old residents attribute the fertility of the race +before foreigners came in. + +[Illustration: KAMEHAMEHA I.] + +He who violated a tabu was at once killed. Capital punishment seems to +have been an effective restraint upon crime among these savages, contrary +to the theories of some modern philosophers; probably it was effective for +two reasons, because it was prompt and because it was certain. One wonders +how long the tabu would have been respected, had a violator of it been +lodged in jail for eighteen months, allowed to appeal his case through +three courts, and at last been brained amidst the appeals for mercy of +the most respectable people of his tribe, and had his funeral ceremonies +performed by the high-priest, and closed with a eulogy upon his character, +and insinuations against the sound judgment and uprightness of the chief +who ordered the execution. + +The first Kamehameha, who seems to have been a savage of considerable +merit, and a firm believer in capital punishment, subdued the Islands to +his own rule, but he did not aim to break the power of the chiefs over +their people. He established a few general laws, and insisted on peace, +order, and obedience to himself. By right of his conquest all lands were +supposed to be owned by him; he gave to one chief and took away from +another; he rewarded his favorites, but he did not alter the condition of +the people. + +[Illustration: QUEEN OF KAMEHAMEHA I.] + +But as traders came in, as commerce began, as money came into use, the +feudal system began to be oppressive. Sandal-wood was long one of the +most precious products of these islands--their Chinese name, indeed, is +"Sandal-wood Islands." The chiefs, greedy for money, or for what the ships +brought, forced their unhappy retainers into the mountains to gather this +wood. Exposed to cold, badly fed, and obliged to bear painful burdens, +they died in great numbers, so that it was a blessing to the Islanders +when the wood became scarce. Again, supplies of food were sold by the +chiefs to the ships, and this necessitated unusual labor from the people. +One famous chief for years used his retainers to tow ships into the narrow +harbor of Honolulu, sending them out on the reef, where, up to their +middle in water, they shouldered the tow-line. + +Thus when, in 1848; the king, at the instance of that excellent man and +upright judge, Chief-justice Lee, gave the kuliana rights, he relieved the +people of a sore oppression, and at a single blow destroyed feudalism. +The kuliana is the individual holding. Under the kuliana law each native +householder became entitled to the possession in fee of such land as +he had occupied, or chose to occupy and cultivate. He had only to make +application to a government officer, have the tract surveyed, and pay a +small sum to get the title. It is creditable to the chiefs that, under the +influence of the missionaries, they consented to this important change, +fully knowing that it meant independence to the common people and an end +of all feudal rights; but it must be added that a large part of their +lands remained in their hands, making them, of course, still wealthy +proprietors. + +Thus the present system of land tenure on the Islands is much the same as +our own; but the holdings of the common people are generally small, and +the chiefs, or their successors in many cases foreigners, still maintain +their right to the sea fisheries as against all who live outside the old +boundaries of their own "lands." + +The families of most of the great chiefs have become extinct. Their wealth +became a curse to them when foreigners came in with foreign vices and +foreign luxuries. They are said to have been remarkable as men and women +of extraordinary stature and of uncommon perfection of form. I have been +told of many chiefesses nearly or quite six feet in height, and many +chiefs from six feet two inches to six feet six, and in one case six feet +seven inches high. There is no reason to doubt the universal testimony +that they were, as a class, taller and finer-looking than the common +people; but the older missionaries and residents believe that this arose +not from their being of a different race, but because they were absolutely +relieved from hard work, were more abundantly and carefully fed, and used +the lomi-lomi constantly. It is supposable, too, that in the wars which +prevailed among the tribes the weaklings, if any such were among the +chiefs, were pretty sure to be killed off; and thus a natural selection +went on which weeded out the small and inefficient chiefs. + +Their government appears to have been a "despotism tempered by +assassination," for great as was the respect exacted by a chief, and +implicit as was the obedience he commanded, if he pushed his tyranny too +far, his people rose and slew him. Thus on Kauai, in the lower part of +the Hanapepe Valley, a huge cliff is shown, concerning which the tradition +runs that it was once the residence of the chief who ruled this valley. +This person, with a Titanic and Rabelaisian humor, was accustomed to +descend into the valley in the evening, seize a baby and carry it to his +stronghold to serve him as a pillow. Having slept upon it he slew it next +morning; and thus with a refinement of luxury he required a fresh baby +every evening. When patience had ceased to be a virtue, according to our +more modern formula, the people went up one night and knocked his brains +out; and there was a change of dynasties. + +[Illustration: ANCIENT GODS OF HAWAII.] + +The Hawaiian of the present day reads his Bible and newspaper, writes +letters, wears clothes, owns property, serves in the Legislature or +Parliament, votes, teaches school, acts as justice of the peace and even +as judge, is tax collector and assessor, constable and preacher. In spite +of all this, or rather with it, he retains the oddest traces of the habits +and customs of another age. For instance, he will labor for wages; but +he will persistently and for years give away to his relations all his pay +except what he needs for his actual subsistence, and if he is prosperous +he is pretty sure to have quite a swarm of people to support. A lady told +me that having repeatedly clothed her nurse in good apparel, and finding +this liberal soul, every time, in a day or two reduced to her original +somewhat shabby clothing, she at last reproached her for her folly. "What +can I do?" the woman replied; "they come and ask me for the holaku, or the +handkerchief, or whatever I have. Suppose you say they are yours--then +I will not give them away." Accordingly, the next new suit was formally +declared to belong to the mistress: it was not given away. An old woman, +kept chiefly for her skill in lomi-lomi by an American family, asked her +master one day for ten dollars. He gave her two five-dollar gold pieces, +and, to his amazement, saw her hand them over immediately, one to a little +girl and one to a boy, who had evidently come to get the money--not for +her use at all. A cook in my own family asked for the wages due him, which +he had been saving for some time; he received forty-four dollars, and gave +the whole amount at once to his father-in-law, who had come from another +island on purpose to get this money. Nor was it grudged to him, so far as +any of us could see. "By-and-by, if we are poor and in need, they will do +as much for us," is the excuse. + +As you ride along in the country, you will see your guide slyly putting a +stone or a bunch of grass on a ledge near some precipice. If you look, you +will see other objects of the same kind lying there. Ask him about it and +he will tell you, with a laugh, that his forefathers in other times did +so, and he does the same. It is, in fact, a peace offering to the +local divinity of the place. Is he, then, an idolater? Not at all; not +necessarily, at least. He is under the compulsion of an old custom; and +he will even tell you that it is all nonsense. The same force leads him +to treat with respect and veneration a chief or chiefess even if abjectly +poor, though before the law the highest chief is no better than the common +people. + +They are hearty and even gross feeders; and probably the only +christianized people who live almost entirely on cold victuals. A Hawaiian +does not need a fire to prepare a meal; and at a _luau_, or feast, all the +food is served cold, except the pig, which ought to be hot. + +Hospitable and liberal as he is in his daily life, when the Hawaiian +invites his friends to a _luau_ he expects them to pay. He provides for +them roast pig, poi, baked ti-root, which bears a startling resemblance in +looks and taste to New England molasses-cake; raw fish and shrimps, limu, +which is a sea-moss of villainous odor; kuulaau, a mixture of taro and +cocoa-nut, very nice; paalolo, a mixture of sweet-potato and cocoa-nut; +raw and cooked cuttle-fish, roast dog, sea-eggs, if they can be got; and, +if the feast is something above the ordinary, raw pickled salmon with +tomatoes and red-pepper. + +The object of such a luau is usually to enable the giver to pay for his +new house, or to raise money for some private object of his own. Notice +of the coming feast is given months beforehand, as also of the amount each +visitor is expected to give. It will be a twenty-five cent, or a fifty +cent, or a dollar luau. The pigs--the centre-piece of the feast--have +been fattening for a year before. The affair is much discussed. It is +indispensable that all who attend shall come in brand-new clothing, and a +native person will rather deny himself the feast than appear in garments +which have been worn before. A few of the relatives of the feast-giver act +as stewards, and they must be dressed strictly alike. At one luau which I +had the happiness to attend the six men who acted as stewards were arrayed +in green cotton shirts and crimson cotton trowsers, and had green wreaths +on their heads. I need not say that they presented a truly magnificent +appearance. + +To such a luau people ride thirty or forty miles; arriving often the +evening beforehand, in order to be early at the feast next day. When they +sit down each person receives his abundant share of pig, neatly wrapped in +ti-leaves; to the remainder of the food he helps himself as he likes. They +eat, and eat, and eat; they beat their stomachs with satisfaction; they +talk and eat; they ride about awhile, and eat again; they laugh, sing, +and eat. At last a man finds he can hold no more. He is "pau"--done. He +declares himself "mauna"--a mountain; and points to his abdomen in proof +of his statement. Then, unless he expects a recurrence of hunger, he +carefully wraps up the fragments and bones which remain of his portion +of pig, and these he must take with him. It would be the height of +impoliteness to leave them; and each visitor scrupulously takes away +every remaining bit of his share. If now you look you will see a calabash +somewhere in the middle of the floor, into which each, as he completes his +meal, put his quarter or half dollar. + +In the evening there are dancing and singing, and then you may hear and +see the extremely dramatic meles of the Hawaiians--a kind of rapid chant, +the tones of which have a singular fascination for my ears. A man and +woman, usually elderly or middle-aged people, sit down opposite each +other, or side by side facing the company. One begins and the other +joins in; the sound is as of a shrill kind of drone; it is accompanied by +gesticulations; and each chant lasts about two or three minutes, and ends +in a jerk. The swaying of the lithe figures, the vehement and passionate +movements of the arms and head, the tragic intensity of the looks, and the +very peculiar music, all unite to fasten one's attention, and to make this +spectacle of mele singing, as I have said, singularly fascinating. + +The language of the meles is a dialect now unused, and unintelligible even +to most of the people. The whole chant concerns itself, however, with a +detailed description of the person of the man or woman or child to which +or in whose honor it is sung. Thus a mele will begin with the hair, which +may be likened in beauty to the sea-moss found on a certain part of Kauai; +or the teeth, which "resemble the beautiful white pebbles which men pick +up on the beach of Kaalui Bay on Maui;" and so on. Indeed an ancient +Hawaiian mele is probably, in its construction, much like the Song of +Solomon; though I am told that the old meles concerned themselves with +personal details by no means suitable for modern ears. A mele is always +sung for or about some particular person. Thus I have heard meles for the +present king; meles for a man or woman present; meles for a chief; and on +one occasion I was told they sang a mele for me; and I judged, from the +laughter some parts of it excited, that my feelings were saved by my +ignorance of the language. + +On all festive occasions, and on many others, the Hawaiian loves to dress +his head with flowers and green wreaths. Les or garlands are made of +several substances besides flowers; though the most favorite are composed +of jasmine flowers, or the brilliant yellow flowers of one kind of ginger, +which give out a somewhat overpowering odor. These are hung around the +neck. For the head they like to use wreaths of the maile shrub, which has +an agreeable odor, something like that of the cherry sticks which smokers +like for pipe stems. This ornamentation does not look amiss on the young, +for to youth much is forgiven; but it is a little startling, at a luau, +to see old crones and grave grandfathers arrayed with equal gayety; and I +confess that though while the flowers and leaves are fresh the decorated +assembly is picturesque, especially as the women wear their hair flowing, +and many have beautiful wavy tresses, yet toward evening, when the +maile has wilted and the garlands are rumpled and decaying, this kind of +ornamentation gives an air of dissipation to the company which it by no +means deserves. + +Finally, the daily life of the Hawaiian, if he lives near the sea-coast +and is master of his own life, is divided between fishing, taro planting, +poi making, and mat weaving. All these but the last are laborious +occupations; but they do not make hard work of them. Two days' labor every +week will provide abundant food for a man and his family. He has from five +to ten dollars a year of taxes to pay, and this money he can easily earn. +The sea always supplies him with fish, sea-moss, and other food. He is +fond of fussing at different things; but he also lies down on the grass +a good deal--why shouldn't he?--he reads his paper, he plays at cards, +he rides about a good deal, he sleeps more or less, and about midnight he +gets up and eats a hearty supper. Altogether he is a very happy creature, +and by no means a bad one. You need not lock your door against him; and an +election and a luau occasionally, give him all the excitement he craves, +and that not of an unwholesome kind. + +What there is happy about his life he owes to the fine climate and the +missionaries. The latter have given him education enough to read his Bible +and newspaper, and thus to take some interest in and have some knowledge +of affairs in the world at large. They and their successors, the political +rulers, have made life and property secure, and caused roads and bridges +to be built and maintained; and the Hawaiian is fond of moving about. The +little inter-island steamer and the schooners are always full of people +on their travels; and as they do not have hotel bills to pay, but live on +their friends on these visits, there is a great deal of such movement. + +It would hardly do to compare the Hawaiian people with those of New +England; but they will compare favorably in comfort, in intelligence, +in wealth, in morals, and in happiness with the common people of most +European nations; and when one sees here how happily people can live in a +small way, and without ambitious striving for wealth or a career, he +can not but wonder if, after all, in the year 2873, our pushing and +hard-pushed civilization of the nineteenth century will get as great +praise as it gets from ourselves, its victims. + +[Illustration: HAWAIIANS EATING POI.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL. + + +Commercial relations form and foster political alliances, especially +between a weak state and a strong one. The annual report for 1872 of +imports and exports, made up by the Collector-general of the Hawaiian +Kingdom, shows how completely the Islands depend upon the United States. + +Of 146 merchant vessels and steamers entered at Hawaiian ports during +1872, 90 were American, only 15 were English; 6 were German, 9 belonged +to other nations, and 26 were Hawaiian. Of a total of 98,647 tons of +shipping, 73,975 were American, 6714 Hawaiian, and but 7741 British. Of 47 +whaling vessels calling at Island ports during the year, 42 were American, +2 Hawaiian, and 3 British. + +Of a little less than 16,000,000 pounds of sugar exported during the +same year, 14,500,000 were sent to the United States; of 39,000 pounds +of coffee 34,000 were sent to us; of 1,349,503 pounds of rice and paddy +exported, 1,317,203 pounds came to the United States. All the cotton, all +the goat-skins, nearly all the hides, all the wool, the greater part +of the peanuts and the pulu, in short, almost the whole exports of the +Islands, are sent to the United States. + +On the other hand, of $1,234,147, the value of duty-paying merchandise +imported during 1872 into the Islands, $806,111 worth came from the United +States, $155,939 from Great Britain, and $205,396 from Germany. Besides +this, of the total value of bonded goods, $349,435, the large amount +of $135,487 was brought from sea by whalemen, almost all of whom were +Americans; and $99,567 worth was goods from the United States; or $235,000 +of American products against $21,801 of British, and $23,904 of German +importation, in bond. + +It is plain that the Island trade is so largely in our hands that no other +nation can be said to dispute it with us. If our flag flew over Honolulu +we could hardly expect to have a more complete monopoly of +Hawaiian commerce than we already enjoy. Moreover, almost all the +sugar-plantations--the most productive and valuable property on the +Islands--are owned by Americans; and the same is true of the greater +number of stock farms. + +Our political predominance on the Islands is as complete as the +commercial. In the present cabinet all the ministers except one are +Americans. This was true also of the cabinet of the late king. Of the +Supreme Court, two of the judges are Americans, and one is German. Almost +all the executive and administrative offices are in the hands of Americans +or Hawaiians. + +Nor can any foreign power rightly find fault with this state of things. +What the Islands are they are because of American effort, American +enterprise, American capital. American missionaries civilized them; +Americans gave them laws wisely adapted to the customs and habits of +their people; American enterprise and Boston capital established the sugar +culture and other of the important industries; perhaps I ought to add that +American sailors spread among the Islands the vices and diseases which, +more than all else, have caused the rapid decrease of the population, +and to combat and check which added toil and trouble to the labors of the +American missionaries. + +The government of the Hawaiian Islands consists of a king and a +Parliament. The Parliament meets once in two years; and under the late +king consisted of but a single House. The present king has promised to +call together two Houses, of which but one will be elected. The other +consists of "Nobles," who are nominated or created by the king for life, +but have no title nor salary unless they are called to office. By the +Constitution the reigning king appoints his successor, but his nomination +must be confirmed by the Nobles. As, however, he may at pleasure increase +the number of Nobles, the appointment virtually rests with him. If he dies +without naming a successor, the Parliament has the right and duty to elect +a new sovereign. + +There is a slight property qualification for voters, and a heavier one for +members of Parliament. + +The revenue of the Government, which amounts to about half a million +per annum, is derived from the various sources specified in the official +returns of the Minister of Finance, which I copy below. It must be +understood that this report covers two years: + +The balance in the Treasury at the close of the last +fiscal period (March 31, 1870) was . . . . . . . . $61,580.20 + +And there has been received from Foreign Imports 396,418.15 + " " " Fines, Penalties, and Costs 47,289.13 + " " " Internal Commerce 98,982.51 + " " " Taxes 215,962.51 + " " " Fees and Perquisites 22,194.45 + " " " Government Realizations 124,071.37 + " " " Miscellaneous Sources 60,038.23 + ----------- $964,956.35 + ----------- + $1,026,536.55 + +The expenditures during two years are detailed thus in the same report: + +For Civil List . . . . . . . . $50,000.00 + " Permanent Settlements . . . . 18,000.00 + " Legislature and Privy Council . . 15,281.63 + " Department of Judiciary . . . . 73,562.61 + " " Foreign Affairs and War 98,028.24 + " " Interior . . . . 396,806.41 + " " Finance . . . . 141,345.29 + " " Attorney-general . 88,412.17 + " Bureau of Public Instruction . . 88,347.79 + ----------- $969,784.14 +Balance on hand March 31, 1872 . . . . . . . $56,752.41 + ------------ + $1,026,536.55 + +The internal taxes include the property tax, which is quite low, one and +a half per cent. Every male adult pays a poll tax of one dollar, a school +tax of two dollars, and a road tax of two dollars. The following is the +detail of the internal taxes for the two years 1870-72: + +Real Estate and Personal Property $97,685.11 +Horses . . . . . . . . . 53,006.00 +Dogs . . . . . . . . . . 22,271.40 +Mules . . . . . . . . . . 6,140.00 +Carriages . . . . . . . . 3,125.00 +Poll . . . . . . . . . . 27,841.00 +Native Seamen . . . . . . . 5,894.00 + ----------- + $215,962.51 + +Among the licenses the monopoly of opium selling brings the Government +$22,248, a prodigious sum when it is considered that there are but +2500 Chinese in the Islands; these being the chief, though not the only +consumers. There is, besides, a duty of ten per cent. on the opium when +imported, and the merchant must make his profit. I had the curiosity +to look a little into the opium consumption. It is said that its use is +slowly spreading among the natives, particularly where these are employed +with Chinese on the plantations. But the quantity used by the Chinese +themselves is prodigious. I was shown one man, a cook, whose wages, +fourteen dollars per month, were entirely spent on opium; and whose master +supplied the poor creature with clothes, because he had nothing left out +of his pay. In other cases the amount spent was nearly as great. + +Eight thousand two hundred and sixty-five dollars were also realized for +awa licenses. Awa is a root the use of which produces a frightful kind +of intoxication, in which the victim falls into stupor, his features +are contorted, and he has seizures resembling epilepsy. The body of the +habitual awa drinker becomes covered with white scales; and it is said +that awa drinking predisposes to leprosy. The manner of preparing awa +is peculiarly disgusting. The root is chewed by women, and they spit out +well-chewed mouthfuls into a calabash. Here it settles, and the liquor is +then drunk. It is said that in old times the chiefs used to get together +the prettiest young girls to chew awa for them. + +The king receives a salary of $22,500 per annum; the cabinet ministers and +the chief-justice receive $5000, and the two associate justices $4000 +per annum. These are the largest salaries paid; and in general the public +service of the Islands is very cheaply as well as ably and conscientiously +conducted. There is an opportunity for retrenchment in abolishing some of +the offices; but the saving which could thus be effected would after all +not be great. The present Government means, I have been told, to undertake +some reforms; these will probably consist in getting the king to turn the +crown lands into public lands, to be sold or leased for the benefit of the +treasury. They are now leased, and the income is a perquisite of the king, +a poor piece of policy, for the chiefs from among whom a sovereign is +selected are all wealthy; the present king, for instance, has an income +of probably $25,000 per annum from private property of his own. It is also +proposed to lessen the number of cabinet ministers; but this will scarcely +be done. They are but four in number now, having charge of Foreign +Affairs, Finance, and the Interior and Law Departments. + +There is a debt of about $300,000 which is entirely held within the +kingdom; and the public property is of value sufficient to pay three times +this sum. It is probable, however, that, like many other governments, +the Hawaiian ministry will have to deal with a deficit when the next +Legislature meets; and this will probably bring reform and retrenchment +before them. There is not much hope of increasing the revenue from new and +still untouched sources, for there are but few such. + +The taxable industries and wealth of the Islands can not be very greatly +increased. Finding yourself in a tropical country, with a charming and +equable climate, and with abundant rains, you are apt to think that, given +only a little soil, many things would grow and could be profitably raised. +It is one of the surprises of a visitor to the Hawaiian group to discover +that in reality very few products succeed here. + +Coffee was largely planted, and promised to become a staple of the +Islands; but a blight attacked the trees and proved so incurable that +the best plantations were dug up and turned into sugar; and the export of +coffee, which has been very variable, but which rose to 415,000 pounds +in 1870, fell to 47,000 pounds in the next year, and to 39,276 pounds in +1872. + +Sea-island cotton would yield excellent crops if it were not that a +caterpillar devours the young plants, so that its culture has almost +ceased. Only 10,000 pounds were exported in 1872. The orange thrives in so +few localities on the Islands that it is not an article of commerce: only +two boxes were exported last year, though San Francisco brings this fruit +from Otaheite by a voyage of thirty days. A burr worse than any found +in California discourages the sheep-raiser in some of the Islands. The +cacao-tree has been tried, but a blight kills it. In the garden of Dr. +Hillebrandt, near Honolulu, I saw specimens of the cinnamon and allspice +trees; but again I was told that the blight attacked them, and did not +allow them to prosper. Wheat and other cereals grow and mature, but they +are subject to the attacks of weevil, so that they can not be stored or +shipped; and if you feed your horse oats or barley in Honolulu, these have +been imported from California. Silk-worms have been tried but failed. Rice +does well, and its culture is increasing. + +Moreover, there is but an inconsiderable local market. A farmer on +Maui told me he had sent twenty bags of potatoes to Honolulu, and so +overstocked the market that he got back only the price of his bags. Eggs +and all other perishable products, for the same reason, vary much in +price, and are at times high-priced and hardly attainable. It will not do +for the farmer to raise much for sale. The population is not only divided +among different and distant islands, but it consists for much the largest +part of people who live sufficiently well on taro, sweet-potatoes, fish, +pork, and beef--all articles which they raise for themselves, and which +they get by labor and against disadvantages which few white farmers would +encounter. + +For instance, the Puna coast of Hawaii is a district where for thirty +miles there is so little fresh water to be found that travelers must bring +their own supplies in bottles; and Dr. Coan told me that in former days +the people, knowing that he could not drink the brackish stuff which +satisfied them, used to collect fresh water for his use when he made the +missionary tour, from the drippings of dew in caves. Wells are here out +of the question, for there is no soil except a little decomposed lava, and +the lava lets through all the water which comes from rains. There are +few or no streams to be led down from the mountains. There are no fields, +according to our meaning of the word. + +Formerly the people in this district were numbered by thousands: even +yet there is a considerable population, not unprosperous by any means. +Churches and schools are as frequent as in the best part of New England. +Yet when I asked a native to show me his sweet-potato patch, he took me +to the most curious and barren-looking collection of lava you can imagine, +surrounded, too, by a very formidable wall made of lava, and explained +to me that by digging holes in the lava where it was a little decayed, +carrying a handful of earth to each of these holes, and planting there in +a wet season, he got a very satisfactory crop. Not only that, but being +desirous of something more than a bare living, this man had planted a +little coffee in the same way, and had just sold 1600 pounds, his last +crop. He owned a good wooden house; politely gave up his own mats for me +to sleep on; possessed a Bible and a number of other works in Hawaiian; +after supper called his family together, who squatted on the floor while +he read from his Scriptures, and, after singing a hymn, knelt in family +prayers; and finally spent half an hour before going to bed in looking +over his newspaper. This man, thoroughly respectable, of good repute, +hospitable, comfortable in every way so far as I could see, lived, +and lived well, on twenty or thirty acres of lava, of which not even a +Vermonter would have given ten cents for a thousand acres; and which was +worthless to any one except a native Hawaiian. + +Take next the grazing lands. In many parts they are so poorly supplied +with water that they can not carry much stock. They also are often +astonishingly broken up, for they frequently lie high up on the sides of +the mountains, and in many parts they are rocky and lava-covered beyond +belief. On Hawaii, the largest island, lava covers and makes desolate +hundreds of thousands of acres, and on the other and smaller islands, +except, perhaps, Kauai, there is corresponding desolation. Thus the area +of grazing lands is less than one would think. But on the other hand, +cattle are very cheaply raised. They require but little attention; and the +stock-owners, who are now boiling down their cattle and selling merely +the hides and tallow, are said to be just at this time the most prosperous +people on the Islands. Sheep are kept too, but not in great flocks except +upon the small island of Niihau, which was bought some years ago by two +brothers, Sinclair by name, who have now a flock of fifteen or eighteen +thousand sheep there, I am told; on Molokai and part of Hawaii; and upon +the small island of Lanai, where Captain Gibson has six or eight thousand +head. + +One of the conspicuous trees of the Hawaiian forests is the Kukui or +candle-nut. Its pale green foliage gives the mountain sides sometimes a +disagreeable look; though where it grows among the Ko trees, whose leaves +are of a dark green, the contrast is not unpleasant. From its abundance +I supposed the candle-nut might be made an article of export; but the +country is so rough that the gathering of the nuts is very laborious; and +several persons who have experimented in expressing the oil from the nut +have discovered that it did not pay cost. Only two thousand pounds +of Kukui nuts were exported in 1872. + +Sandal-wood was once a chief article of export. It grows on the higher +mountain slopes, and is still collected, for 20,232 pounds were exported +in 1872, and a small quantity is worked up in the Islands. The cocoa-nut +is not planted in sufficient quantities to make it an article of commerce. +Only 950 nuts were exported last year. Of pulu 421,227 pounds were +shipped; this is a soft fuzz taken from the crown of a species of fern; +it is used to stuff bedding, and is as warm, though not as durable, as +feathers. Also 32,161 pounds of "fungus," a kind of toad-stool which grows +on decaying wood, and is used in China as an article of food. + +There has been no lack of ingenuity, enterprise, or industry among the +inhabitants. The Government has imported several kinds of trees and +plants, as the cinnamon, pepper, and allspice, but they have not +prospered. Private effort has not been wanting either. But nature does not +respond. Sugar and rice are and must it seems continue to be the staples +of the Islands; and the culture of these products will in time be +considerably increased. + +This, it appears to me, decides the future of the Islands and the +character of their population. A sugar or rice plantation needs at most +three or four American workmen aside from the manager. The laboring +force will be Hawaiians or Chinese; for they alone work cheaply, and will +content themselves in the situation of plantation laborers. It is likely, +therefore, that the future population of the Islands will consist largely, +as it does now, of Hawaiians and Chinese, and a mixture of these two +races; and, no doubt, these will live very happily there. + +[Illustration: NATIVE HAY PEDDLER.] + +For farming, in the American sense of the word, the Islands are, as these +facts show, entirely unfit. I asked again and again of residents this +question: "Would you advise your friend in Massachusetts or Illinois, a +farmer with two or three thousand dollars in money, to settle out here?" +and received invariably the answer, "No; it would be wrong to do so." +Transportation of farm products from island to island is too costly; there +is no local market except Honolulu, and that is very rapidly and easily +overstocked; Oregon or California potatoes are sold in the Islands at +a price which would leave the local farmer without a profit. In short, +farming is not a pursuit in the Islands. A farmer would not starve, for +beef is cheap, and he could always raise vegetables enough for himself; +but he would not get ahead. Moreover, perishable fruits, like the banana, +have but a limited chance for export. The Islands, unluckily, lie to +windward of California; and a sailing vessel, beating up to San Francisco, +is very apt to make so long a passage that if she carries bananas they +spoil on the way. Hence but 4520 bunches were shipped from the Islands in +1872--which was all the monthly steamer had room for. + +These circumstances seem to settle the question of annexation, which is +sometimes discussed. To annex the Islands would be to burden ourselves +with an outlying territory too distant to be cheaply defended; and +containing a population which will never be homogeneous with our own; a +country which would neither attract nor reward our industrious farmers and +mechanics; which offers not the slightest temptation to emigration, except +a most delightful climate, and which has, and must by its circumstances +and natural formation continue to have, chiefly a mixed population of +Chinese and other coolies, whom it is assuredly not to our interest to +take into our family. I suppose it is a proper rule that we should not +encumber ourselves with territory which by reason of unchangeable natural +causes will repel our farmers and artisans, and which, therefore, will not +become in time Americanized. If this is true, we ought not to annex the +Hawaiian Islands. + +Moreover, there is no excuse for annexation, in the desire of the people. +The present Government is mild, just, and liked by the people. They can +easily make it cheaper whenever they want to. The native people are very +strongly opposed to annexation; they have a strong feeling of nationality, +and considerable jealousy of foreign influence. Annexation to our own or +any other country would be without their consent. + +As to the residents of foreign birth, a few of them favor annexation to +the United States; but only a few. A large majority would oppose it as +strenuously as the native people. Most of the planters see that it would +break up their labor system, demoralize the workmen, and probably for +years check the production of sugar. + +One thing is certain, however. If the Islands ever offer themselves to any +foreign power, it will be to the United States. Their people, foreign as +well as native, look to us as their neighbors and friends; and the king +last summer blurted out one day when too much wine had made him imprudent, +this truth: that if annexation came, it must be to the United States. + +As I write a negotiation has been opened with the United States +Government, for the purpose of offering us Pearl River in exchange for a +reciprocity treaty. Pearl River is an extensive, deep, and well-protected +bay, about ten miles from Honolulu. It would answer admirably for a naval +station; and if the United States were a second-rate power likely to be +bullied by other nations, we might need a naval station in the Pacific +Ocean. In our present condition, when no single power dares to make war +with us, and when, unless we become shamelessly aggressive, no alliance of +European powers against us for purposes of war is possible, the chief use +of distant naval stations appears to me to be as convenient out-of-the-way +places for wasting the public money. Pearl River would be an admirable +spot for a dozen pleasant sinecures, and the expenditure of three or four +millions of money. It seems to me, therefore, that it would be a dear +bargain. For the accommodation of merchant steamers and ships and their +repair, Honolulu offers sufficient facilities. There are ingenious +American mechanics there who have even taken a frigate upon a temporary +dry-dock, and repaired her hull. + +[Illustration: HULA-HULA, OR DANCING-GIRLS.] + +But justice, kindly feeling, and a due regard for our future interests in +the Pacific Ocean ought to induce us to establish at once a reciprocity +treaty with the Hawaiian Government. We should lose but little revenue; +and should make good that loss by the greater market which would be opened +for our own products, in the Islands. Such a treaty would bring more +capital to the Islands, increase their prosperity, and, at the same time, +bind them still more closely and permanently to us. It would pave the way +to annexation, if that should ever become advisable. + +The politics of the Hawaiian Kingdom are not very exciting. In those +fortunate Isles the Legislature troubles itself chiefly about the horse +and dog tax. The late king, who was of an irascible temper, did not always +treat his faithful Commons with conspicuous civility. He sometimes told +them that they had talked long enough and had better adjourn; and they +usually took his advice. The present king, who belonged to "his majesty's +opposition" during the late reign, has yet to develop his qualities as a +ruler. He has shown sound judgment in the nomination of his cabinet; +and he is believed to have the welfare of the people at heart. He is +unmarried; but is not likely to marry; and he will probably nominate a +successor from one of the chief or ruling families still remaining. The +list from which he can choose is not very long; and it is most probable, +as this is written, that he will nominate to succeed him Mrs. Bernice +Pauahi Bishop, wife of the present Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mrs. +Bishop is a lady of education and culture, of fine presence, every way fit +to rule over her people; and her selection would be satisfactory to the +foreign residents as well as to the best of the Hawaiian people. + +[Illustration: HAWAIIAN STYLE OF DRESS.] + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE LEPER ASYLUM ON MOLOKAI. + + +So much has been said and written of late about the disease called leprosy +and its ravages in the Sandwich Islands that I had the curiosity to visit +the asylum for lepers at Molokai, where now very nearly all the people +suffering from this disease have been collected, under a law which directs +this seclusion. + +The steamer _Kilauea_ left Honolulu one evening at half-past five o'clock, +and dropped several of us about two o'clock at night into a whale-boat +near a point on the lee side of Molokai. Here we were landed, and +presently mounted horses and rode seven or eight miles to the house of a +German, Mr. Meyer, who is the superintendent of the leper settlement, and +also, I believe, of a cattle farm which belongs to the heirs of the late +king. + +Mr. Meyer has lived on Molokai since 1853. He is married to a Hawaiian, +and has a large family of sons and daughters who have been carefully and +excellently brought up, I was told. Mrs. Meyer, who presided at breakfast, +is one of those tall and grandly proportioned women whom you meet among +the native population not infrequently, who enable you to realize how it +was that in the old times the women exercised great influence in Hawaiian +politics. She seemed born to command, and yet her benevolent countenance +and friendly smile of welcome showed that she would probably rule gently. + +From Mr. Meyer's we rode some miles again, until at last we dismounted at +the top or edge of the great precipice, at the foot of which, two thousand +feet below, lies the plain of Kalawao, occupied by the lepers. At the +top we four dismounted, for the trail to the bottom, though not generally +worse than the trail into the Yosemite Valley, has some places which would +be difficult and, perhaps, dangerous for horses. + +From the edge of the Pali or precipice the plain below, which contains +about 16,000 acres, looks like an absolute flat, bounded on three sides by +the blue Pacific. Horses awaited us at the bottom, and we soon discovered +that the plain possessed some considerable elevations and depressions. It +is believed to have been once the bottom of a vast crater, of which the +Pali we clambered down formed one of the sides, the others having sunk +beneath the ocean, leaving a few traces on one side. It has yet one +considerable cone, a hill two hundred feet high, a well-preserved +subsidiary crater, on whose bottom grass is now growing, while a +little pool of salt water, which rises and falls with the tide, shows a +connection with the ocean. A ride along the shore showed me also several +other and smaller cones. + +The whole great plain is composed of lava stones, and to one unfamiliar +with the habits of these islanders would seem to be an absolutely +sterile desert. Yet here lived, not very many years ago, a considerable +population, who have left the marks of an almost incredible industry in +numerous fields inclosed between walls of lava rock well laid up; and in +what is yet stranger, long rows of stones, like the windrows of hay in a +grass field at home, evidently piled there in order to secure room in the +long, narrow beds thus partly cleared of lava which lay between, to plant +sweet-potatoes. As I rode over the trails worn in the lava by the horses +of the old inhabitants, I thought this plain realized the Vermonter's +saying about a piece of particularly stony ground, that there was not room +in the field to pile up the rocks it contained. + +Yet on this apparently desert space, within a quarter of a century more +than a thousand people lived contentedly and prosperously, after their +fashion; and this though fresh water is so scarce that many of them must +have carried their drinking water at least two or even three miles. And +here now live, among the lepers, or rather a little apart from them at +one side of the plain, about a hundred people, the remnant of the former +population, who were too much attached to their homes to leave them, and +accepted sentence of perpetual seclusion here, in common with the lepers, +rather than exile to a less sterile part of the island. + +When we had descended the cliff, a short ride brought us to the house of +a luna, or local overseer, a native who is not a leper; and of this house, +being uncontaminated, we took possession. + +By a law of the kingdom it is made the duty of the Minister of the +Interior, and under him of the Board of Health, to arrest every one +suspected of leprosy; and if a medical examination shows that he has the +disease, to seclude the leper upon this part of Molokai. + +Leprosy, when it is beyond its very earliest stage, is held to be +incurable. He who is sent to Molokai is therefore adjudged civilly dead. +His wife, upon application to the proper court, is granted a decree of +absolute divorce, and may marry again; his estate is administered upon +as though he were dead. He is incapable of suing or being sued; and his +dealings with the world thereafter are through and with the Board of +Health alone. + +In order that no doubtful cases may be sent to Molokai there is a hospital +at Kalihi, near Honolulu, where the preliminary examinations are made, and +where Dr. Trousseau, the skillful physician of the Board of Health, son of +the famous Paris physician of the same name, retains people about whom he +is uncertain. + +The leper settlement at Molokai was begun so long ago as 1865; but the law +requiring the seclusion of lepers was not enforced under the late king, +who is believed to have been himself a sufferer from this disease, and +who, at any rate, by constantly granting exemptions, discouraged the +officers of the law. Since the accession of the present king, however, it +has been rigidly enforced, and it is this which has caused the sudden and +great outcry about leprosy, which has reached even to the United States, +and has caused many people, it seems, to fear to come to the Islands, as +though a foreigner would be liable to catch the disease. + +You must understand that the native people have no fear of the disease. +Until the accession of the present king lepers were commonly kept in the +houses of their families, ate, drank, smoked, and slept with their own +people, and had their wounds dressed at home. If the disease were +quickly or readily contagious, it must have spread very rapidly in such +conditions; and that it did not spread greatly or rapidly is one of +the best proofs that it is not easily transmitted. When I remember how +commonly, among the native people, a whole family smokes out of the same +pipe, and sleeps together under the same tapa, I am surprised that so few +have the disease. + +There are at this time eight hundred and four persons, lepers, in the +settlement, besides about one hundred non-lepers, who prefer to remain +there in their ancient homes. Since January, 1865, when the first leper +was sent here, one thousand one hundred and eighty have been received, +of whom seven hundred and fifty-eight were males and four hundred and +twenty-two females. Of this number three hundred and seventy-three +have died, namely, two hundred and forty-six males and one hundred and +twenty-seven females. Forty-two died between April 1 and August 13 of the +present year. The proportion of women to men is smaller than I thought; +and there are about fifty leper children, between the ages of six and +thirteen. Lepers are sterile, and no children have been born at the +asylum. + +So great has been the energy and the vigilance of the Board of Health and +its physician, Dr. Trousseau, that there are not now probably fifty lepers +at large on all the islands, and these are persons who have been hidden +away in the mountains by their relatives. In fact if there was ever any +risk to foreign visitors from leprosy, this is now reduced to the minimum; +and as the disease is not caused by the climate, and can be got, as +the widest experience and the best authorities agree, only by intimate +contact, united with peculiar predisposition of the blood, there is not +the least ground for any foreign visitor to dread it. + +When a leper is sent to Molokai, the Government provides him a house, and +he receives, if an adult, three pounds of paiai or unmixed poi, per day, +and three pounds of salt salmon, or five pounds of fresh beef, per week. +Beef is generally preferred. + +They are allowed and encouraged to cultivate land, and their products are +bought by the Health Board; but the disease quickly attacks the feet and +hands, and disables the sufferers from labor. + +There are two churches in the settlement, one Protestant, with a native +pastor, and one Catholic, with a white priest, a young Frenchman, who has +had the courage to devote himself to his co-religionists. + +There is a store, kept by the Board of Health, the articles in which are +sold for cost and expenses. The people receive a good deal of money from +their relatives at home, which they spend in this store. The Government +also supplies all the lepers with clothing; and there is a post-office. +The little schooner which carried me back to Honolulu bore over two +hundred letters, the weekly mail from the leper settlement. + +For the bad cases there is a hospital, an extensive range of buildings, +where one hundred patients lay when I visited it. These, being helpless, +are attended by other lepers, and receive extra rations of tea, sugar, +bread, rice, and other food. + +Almost every one strong enough to ride has a horse; for the Hawaiians can +not well live without horses. Some of the people live on the shore and +make salt, which you see stored up in pandanus bags under the shelter of +lava bubbles. When I was there a number were engaged in digging a ditch +in which to lay an iron pipe, intended to convey fresh water to the denser +part of the settlement. + +Such is the life on the leper settlement of Molokai; a precipitous cliff +at its back two thousand feet high; the ocean, looking here bluer and +lovelier than ever I saw it look elsewhere on three sides of it; the soft +trade-wind blowing across the lava-covered plain; eternal sunshine; a mild +air; horses; and the weekly excitement of the arrival of the schooner from +Honolulu with letters. There is sufficient employment for those who can +and like to work--and the Hawaiian is not an idle creature; and altogether +it is a very contented and happy community. The Islander has strong +feelings and affections, but they do not last long, and the people here +seemed to me to have made themselves quickly at home. I saw very few sad +faces, and there were mirth and laughter, and ready service and pleasant +looks all around us, as we rode or walked over the settlement. + +And now, you will ask, what does a leper look like? Well, in the first +place, he is not the leper of the Scriptures; nor, I am assured, is the +disease at all like that which is said to occur in China. Indeed, the +poor Chinese have been unjustly accused of bringing this disease to the +Islands. With the first shipload of Chinese brought to these Islands +came two lepers "white as snow," having, that is to say, a disease very +different from that which now is called leprosy here. They were not +allowed to land, but were sent back in the ship which brought them out. + +The Hawaiian leprosy, on the other hand, has been known here for a quarter +of a century, and men died of it before the first Chinese were brought +hither. The name Mai-Pakeh was given it by an accident, a foreigner saying +to a native that he had a disease such as they had in China. There are but +six Chinese in the Molokai leper settlement, and there are three white men +there. + +The leprosy of the Islands is a disease of the blood, and not a skin +disease. It can be caught only, I am told, by contact of an abraded +surface with the matter of the leprous sore; and doubtless the familiar +habit of the people, of many smoking the same pipe, has done much to +disseminate it. + +Its first noticeable signs are a slight puffiness under the eyes, and a +swelling of the lobes of the ears. To the practiced eyes of Dr. Trousseau +these signs were apparent where I could not perceive them until he laid +his finger on them. Next follow symptoms which vary greatly in different +individuals; but a marked sign is the retraction of the fingers, so that +the hand comes to resemble a bird's claw. In some cases the face swells +in ridges, leaving deep furrows between; and these ridges are shiny and +without feeling, so that a pin may be stuck into one without giving pain +to the person. The features are thus horribly deformed in many instances; +I saw two or three young boys of twelve who looked like old men of sixty. +In some older men and women, the face was at first sight revolting and +baboon-like; I say at first sight, for on a second look the mild sad eye +redeemed the distorted features; it was as though the man were looking out +of a horrible mask. + +At a later stage of the disease these rugous swellings break open into +festering sores; the nose and even the eyes are blotted out, and the body +becomes putrid. + +In other cases the extremities are most severely attacked. The fingers, +after being drawn in like claws, begin to fester. They do not drop off, +but seem rather to be absorbed, the nails following the stumps down; and I +actually saw finger-nails on a hand that had no fingers. The nails were on +the knuckles; the fingers had all rotted away. + +The same process of decay goes on with the toes; in some cases the whole +foot had dropped away; and in many the hands and feet were healed over, +the fingers and toes having first dropped off. But the healing of the sore +is but temporary, for the disease presently breaks out again. + +Emaciation does not seem to follow. I saw very few wasted forms, and those +only in the hospitals and among the worst cases. There appears to be an +astonishing tenacity of life, and I was told they mostly choke to death, +or fall into a fever caused by swallowing the poison of their sores when +these attack the nose and throat. + +Those diseased give out soon a very sickening odor, and I was much obliged +to a thoughtful man in the settlement, who commanded the lepers who had +gathered together to hear an address from the doctor to form to leeward +of us. I expected to be sickened by the hospitals; but these are so well +kept, and are so easily ventilated by the help of the constantly blowing +trade-wind, that the odor was scarcely perceptible in them. + +You will, perhaps, ask how the disease is contracted. I doubt if any one +knows definitely. But from all I heard, I judge that there must be some +degree of predisposition toward it in the person to be contaminated. I +believe I have Dr. Trousseau's leave to say that the contact of a wounded +or abraded surface with the matter of a leprous sore will convey the +disease; this is, of course, inoculation; and he seemed to think no other +method of contamination probable. I was careful to provide myself with a +pair of gloves when I visited the settlement, to protect myself in case I +should be invited to shake hands; but I noticed that the doctor fearlessly +shook hands with some of the worst cases, even where the fingers were +suppurating and wrapped in rags. + +There are several women on the Islands, confirmed lepers, whose husbands +are at home and sound; one, notably, where the husband is a white man. On +the other hand, a woman was pointed out to me who had had three husbands, +each of whom in a short time after marrying her became a leper. There +are children lepers, whose parents are not lepers; and there are parents +lepers, whose children are at home and healthy. + +There are three white men on the island, lepers, two of them in a very bad +state. So far as I could learn the particulars of their previous history, +they had lived flagitiously loose lives; such as must have corrupted their +blood long before they became lepers. In some other cases of native lepers +I came upon similar histories; and while I do not believe that every case, +or indeed perhaps a majority of cases, involves such a previous career of +vice, I should say that this is certainly a strongly predisposing cause. + +As to the danger of infection to a foreign visitor, there is absolutely +none, unless he should undertake to live in native fashion among the +natives, smoking out of their pipes, sleeping under their tapas, and +eating their food with them; and even in such an extreme case his risk +would be very slight now, so thoroughly has the disease been "stamped out" +by the energetic action of Mr. Hall, the Minister of the Interior, Mr. +Samuel G. Wilder, the head of the Board of Health, and Dr. Trousseau, its +physician. In short, there is no more risk of a white resident or traveler +catching leprosy in the Hawaiian Islands than in the city or State of New +York. + +[Illustration: NATIVE PIPE. NECKLACE OF HUMAN HAIR.] + +I have heard one reason given why this disease has been more frequent in +the last ten years. Ten or twelve years ago the Islands were visited by +smallpox. This disease made terrible ravages, and the Government at once +ordered the people to be vaccinated. There seems to be no doubt that the +vaccine matter used was often taken from persons not previously in sound +health; this was perhaps unavoidable; but intelligent men, long resident +in the Islands, believe that vaccination thus performed with impure matter +had a bad effect upon the people, leaving traces of a resulting corruption +of their blood. + +The choice of the plain of Kalawao as the spot on which to seclude the +lepers from all the Islands was very happy. It can not be said that to an +agile native the place is inaccessible, for there are, no doubt, several +points in the great precipice where men and women could make their +way down or up; and there are instances of women swimming around the +precipitous and surf-beaten shore, seven or eight miles, to reach husbands +or friends in the settlement to whom they were devotedly attached. But +it is easily guarded, and, for all practical purposes, the seclusion is +perfect. + +A singular tradition, related to me on the island, points to its use for +such a purpose and gives a sad significance to the leper settlement. It is +said that in the time of the first Kamehameha, the conqueror and hero of +his race, upon an occasion when he visited Molokai, an old sorceress or +priestess sent him word that she had made a garment for him--a robe of +honor--which she desired him to come and get. He returned for answer a +command that she should bring it to him; and when the old hag appeared, +the king desired her to tell him something of the future. She replied that +he would conquer all the Islands, and rule over them but a brief time; +that his own posterity would die out; and that finally all his race would +be gathered together on Molokai; and that this small island would be large +enough to hold them all. + +It is probable, of course, that this tale is of recent origin, and that no +priestess of Kamehameha the First possessed so fatal and accurate a gift +of prophecy; but the tale, told me in the midst of the leper asylum, +pointed to the gloomy end of the race with but too plain a finger. The +Hawaiians, once so numerous as to occupy almost all the habitable parts +of all the Islands, have so greatly decreased that they might almost find +their support on the little island of Molokai alone. Happily the decrease +has now ceased. + +The great Pali of Molokai, one of the most remarkable and picturesque +sights of the Islands, stretches for a dozen miles along its windward +coast. It is a sheer precipice, in most parts from a thousand to two +thousand feet high, washed by the sea at its base, and having, in most +parts, not a trace of beach. This vast wall of rock is an impressive +sight; here the shipwrecked mariner would be utterly helpless; but would +drown, not merely in sight of land, but with his hands vainly grasping for +even a bush, or root, or a projecting rock. + + + + +NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: + +ITS AGRICULTURAL VALLEYS, DAIRIES, FORESTS, + +FRUIT-FARMS, ETC. + +[Illustration: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.] + + +[Illustration: A CALIFORNIA VINEYARD.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY: A GENERAL VIEW, WITH HINTS TO TOURISTS AND +SPORTSMEN. + + +The State of California extends over somewhat more than ten degrees of +latitude. If it lay along the Atlantic as it lies along the Pacific coast, +its boundaries would include the whole shore-line from Cape Cod to Hilton +Head, and its limits would take in the greater portion of ten of the +original States. + +It contains two great mountain ranges--the Sierra Nevada and the Coast +Range. These, running parallel through the State, approach each other so +closely at the south as to leave only the narrow Tejon Pass between them; +while at the north they also come together, Mount Shasta rearing its +splendid snow-covered summit over the two mountain chains where they are +joined. + +Inclosed within these mountain ranges lies a long, broad, fertile valley, +which was once, no doubt, a great inland sea. It still contains in the +southern part three considerable lakes--the Tulare, Kern, and Buena +Vista--and is now drained from the south by the San Joaquin River, flowing +out of these lakes, and from the north by the Sacramento, which rises near +the base of Mount Shasta. These two rivers, the one flowing north, the +other south, join a few miles below Sacramento, and empty their waters +into the bay of San Francisco. + +That part of the great inland plain of California which is drained by the +Sacramento is called after its river. It is more thickly inhabited than +the southern or San Joaquin Valley, partly because the foot-hills on its +eastern side were the scene of the earliest and longest continued, as well +as the most successful, mining operations; partly because the Sacramento +River is navigable for a longer distance than the San Joaquin, and thus +gave facilities for transportation which the lower valley had not; and, +finally, because the Sacramento Valley had a railroad completed through +its whole extent some years earlier than the San Joaquin Valley. + +The climate of the Sacramento Valley does not differ greatly from that of +the San Joaquin, yet there are some important distinctions. Lying further +north, it has more rain; in the upper part of the valley they sometimes +see snow; there is not the same necessity for irrigation as in the lower +valley; and though oranges flourish in Marysville, and though the almond +does well as far north as Chico, yet the cherry and the plum take the +place of the orange and lemon; and men build their houses somewhat more +solidly than further south. + +The romance of the early gold discovery lies mostly in the Sacramento +Valley and the adjacent foot-hills. Between Sacramento and Marysville lay +Sutter's old fort, and near Marysville is Sutter's farm, where you may +still see his groves of fig-trees, under whose shade the country people +now hold their picnics; his orchards, which still bear fruit; and his +house, which is now a country tavern. + +Of all his many leagues of land the old man has, I believe, but a few +acres left; and of the thousands who now inhabit and own what once was +his, not a dozen would recognize him, and many probably scarcely know +his name. His riches melted away, as did those of the great Spanish +proprietors; and he who only a quarter of a century ago owned a territory +larger than some States, and counted his cattle by the thousands--if, +indeed, he ever counted them--who lived in a fort like a European noble of +the feudal times, had an army of Indians at his command, and occasionally +made war on the predatory tribes who were his neighbors, now lives upon a +small annuity granted him by the State of California. He saved little, I +have heard, from the wreck of his fortunes; and of all who were with him +in his earlier days, but one, so far as I know--General Bidwell, of Chico, +an able and honorable gentleman, once Sutter's manager--had the ability to +provide for the future by retaining possession of his own estate of twenty +thousand acres, now by general consent the finest farm in California. + +As you go north in California the amount of rain-fall increases. In San +Diego County they are happy with ten inches per annum, and fortunate if +they get five; in Santa Barbara, twelve and a half inches insure their +crops; the Sacramento Valley has an average rain-fall of about twenty +inched, and eighteen inches insure them a full crop on soil properly +prepared. In 1873 they had less, yet the crops did well wherever the +farmers had summer-fallowed the land. This practice is now very general, +and is necessary, in order that the grain may have the advantage of the +early rains. When a farmer plows and prepares his land in the spring, lets +it lie all summer, and sows his grain in November just as the earliest +rain begins, he need not fear for his crop. + +There is less difference in climate than one would suppose between +the Sacramento and the San Joaquin valleys. Cattle and sheep live +out-of-doors, and support themselves all the year round in the Shasta +Valley on the north as constantly as in Los Angeles or any other of the +southern counties. The seasons are a little later north than south, but +the difference is slight; and as far north as Red Bluff, in the interior, +they begin their harvest earlier than in Monterey County, far south but +on the coast. Snow rarely lies on the ground in the northern counties more +than a day. The best varieties of the foreign grapes are hardy everywhere. +Light frosts come in December; and in the flower-gardens the geranium +withers to the ground, but springs up from the roots again in March. The +eucalyptus flourishes wherever it has been planted in Northern California; +and as far north as Redding, at the head of the valley, the mercury very +rarely falls below twenty-five degrees, and remains there but a few hours. + +[Illustration: WINE VATS.] + +As you travel from Marysville, either northward or southward, you will see +before and around you a great wide plain, bounded on the west by the blue +outlines of the Coast Range, and on the east by the foot-hills of the +Sierra: a great level, over which as far as your eye can reach are +scattered groves of grand and picturesque white oaks, which relieve the +solitude of the plain, and make it resemble a well-planted park. Wherever +the valley is settled, you will see neat board fences, roomy barns, and +farm-houses nestling among trees, and flanked by young orchards. You will +not find a great variety of crops, for wheat and barley are the staple +products of this valley; and though the farms here are in general of 640 +acres or less, there are not wanting some of those immense estates for +which California is famous; and a single farmer in this valley is said to +have raised on his own land last year one-twentieth of the entire wheat +crop of the State. + +Northwest of Marysville the plain is broken by a singularly lovely range +of mountains, the Buttes. They rise abruptly from the plain, and their +peaks reach from two to three thousand feet high. It is an extremely +pretty miniature mountain range, having its peaks, passes, and canons--all +the features of the Sierra--and it is well worth a visit. Butte is a word +applied to such isolated mountains, which do not form part of a chain, and +which are not uncommon west of the Mississippi. Shasta is called a butte; +Lassen's Peaks are buttes; and the traveler across the continent hears the +word frequently applied to mountain. It is pronounced with the _u_ long. + +Along the banks of the Sacramento there are large quantities of land which +is annually overflowed by the river, and much of which is still only used +for pasturage during the dry season, when its grasses support large herds +of cattle and sheep, which are driven to the uplands when the rains begin +to fall. But much of this swamp and tule land has been drained and diked, +and is now used for farm land. It produces heavy crops of wheat, and +its reclamation has been, and continues to be, one of the successful +speculations in land in this State. It will not be long before the shores +of the Sacramento and its tributaries will be for many miles so diked that +these rivers will never break their bounds, and thus a very considerable +area will be added to the fertile farming lands of the State. + +Already, however, the Yuba, the Feather, and the American rivers, +tributaries of the Sacramento, have been leveed at different points for +quite another reason. These rivers, once clear and rapidly flowing within +deep banks, are now turbid, in many places shallow, and their bottoms have +been raised from twenty to thirty feet by the accumulation of the washings +from the gold mines in the foot-hills. It is almost incredible the +change the miners have thus produced in the short space of a quarter of a +century. The bed of the Yuba has been raised thirty feet in that time; and +seeing what but a handful of men have effected in so short a period, the +work of water in the denudation of mountains, and the scouring out +or filling up of valleys during geological periods becomes easily +comprehensible. + +All our Northern fruits thriftily in the Sacramento Valley, and also +the almond, of which thousands of trees have been planted, and a few +considerable orchards are already in bearing. The cherry and the plum do +remarkably well, the latter fruit having as yet no curculio or blight; and +the canning and drying of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, and pears +are already, as I shall show in detail farther on, a considerable as well +as very profitable business. Dried plums, in particular, sell at a price +which makes the orchards of this fruit very valuable. Excellent raisins +have also been made, and they sell in the open market of San Francisco +for a price very little less than that of the best Malaga raisins. The +climate, with its long dry summer, is very favorable to the drying and +curing of every fruit: no expensive houses, no ovens or other machinery, +are needed. The day is not distant when the great Sacramento plain will +be a vast orchard, and the now unoccupied foot-hills will furnish a large +part of the raisins consumed in the United States. For the present the +population is scant, and cattle, horses, and especially sheep, roam +over hundreds of thousands of acres of soil which needs only industrious +farmers to make it bloom into a garden. + +[Illustration: TRAINING A VINE.] + +The farmer in this State is a person of uncommon resources and ingenuity. +I think he uses his brains more than our Eastern farmers. I do not mean to +say that he lives better, for he does not. His house is often shabby, even +though he be a man of wealth, and his table is not unfrequently without +milk; he buys his butter with his canned vegetables in San Francisco, and +bread and mutton are the chief part of his living, both being universally +good here. But in managing his land he displays great enterprise, and has +learned how to fit his efforts to the climate and soil. + +The gathering of the wheat crop goes on in all the valley lands with +headers, and you will find on all the farms in the Sacramento Valley the +best labor-saving machinery employed, and human labor, which is always the +most costly, put to its best and most profitable uses. They talk here of +steam-plows and steam-wagons for common roads, and I have no doubt the +steam-plow will be first practically and generally used, so far as the +United States are concerned, in these Californian valleys, where I have +seen furrows two miles long, and ten eight-horse teams following each +other with gang-plows. + +Withal, they are somewhat ruthless in their pursuit of a wheat crop. You +may see a farmer who plows hundreds of acres, but he will have his wheat +growing up to the edge of his veranda. If he keeps a vegetable garden, he +has performed a heroic act of self-denial; and as for flowers, they must +grow among the wheat or nowhere. + +Moreover, while he has great ingenuity in his methods, the farmer of the +Sacramento plain has but little originality in his planting. He raises +wheat and barley. He might raise a dozen, a score, of other products, many +more profitable, and all obliging him to cultivate less ground, but it +is only here and there you meet with one who appreciates the remarkable +capabilities of the soil and climate. Near Tehama some Chinese have in +the last two years grown large crops of pea-nuts, and have, I was told, +realized handsome profits from a nut which will be popular in America, +I suppose, as long as there is a pit or a gallery in a theatre; but the +pea-nut makes a valuable oil, and as it produces enormously here, it will +some day be raised for this use, as much as for the benefit of the +old women who keep fruit-stands on the street corners. It would not be +surprising if the Chinese, who continue to come over to California in +great numbers, should yet show the farmers here what can be done on small +farms by patient and thorough culture. As yet they confine their culture +of land mainly to vegetable gardens. + +To the farmer the valley and foot-hill lands of the Sacramento will be the +most attractive; and there are still here thousands of acres in the hands +of the Government and the railroad company to be obtained so cheaply +that, whether for crops or for grazing, it will be some time before the +mountainous lands and the pretty valleys they contain, north of Redding, +the present terminus of the railroad, will attract settlers. But for the +traveler the region north of Redding to the State line offers uncommon +attractions. + +The Sacramento Valley closes in as you journey northward; and at +Red Bluff, which is the head of navigation on the river, you have a +magnificent view of Lassen's Peaks on the east--twin peaks, snow-clad, and +rising high out of the plain--and also of the majestic snow-covered crag +which is known as Shasta Butte, which towers high above the mountains to +the north, and, though here 120 miles off, looks but a day's ride away. + +Redding, thirty miles north from Shasta, lies at the head of the +Sacramento Valley. From there a line of stage-coaches proceeds north +into Oregon, through the mass of mountains which separates the Sacramento +Valley in California from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The stage-road +passes through a very varied and picturesque country, one which few +pleasure travelers see, and which yet is as well worth a visit as any part +of the western coast. The Sacramento River, which rises in a large +spring near the base of Mount Shasta, has worn its way through the high +mountains, and rushes down for nearly a hundred miles of its course an +impetuous, roaring mountain stream, abounding in trout at all seasons, +and in June, July, and August filled with salmon which have come up here +through the Golden Gates from the ocean to spawn. The stage-road follows +almost to its source the devious course of the river, and you ride along +sometimes nearly on a level with the stream, and again on a road-bed cut +out of the steep mountain side a thousand or fifteen hundred feet above +the river; through fine forests of sugar-pines and yellow pines many of +which come almost up to the dimensions of the great sequoias. + +The river and its upper tributaries abound in trout, and this region is +famous among Californian sportsmen for deer and fish. Many farm-houses +along the road accommodate travelers who desire to stay to enjoy the fine +scenery, and to hunt and fish; and a notable stopping-place is Fry's Soda +Spring, fourteen hours by stage from Redding, kept by Isaac Fry and his +excellent wife--a clean, comfortable little mountain inn, where you get +good and well-cooked food, and where you will find what your stage ride +will make welcome to you--a comfortable bath. The river is too cold for +bathing here in the mountains because of the snow-water of which it is +composed. About ten miles south of Fry's lies Castle Rock, a remarkable +and most picturesque mountain of white granite, bare for a thousand feet +below its pinnacled summit, which you see as you drive past it on the +stage. + +Fry's lies in a deep canon, with a singular, almost precipitous, mountain +opposite the house, which terminates in a sharp ridge at the top, one of +those "knife-edge" ridges of which Professor Whitney and Clarence King +often speak in their descriptions of Sierra scenery. If you are a mountain +climber, you have here an opportunity for an adventure, and an excellent +guide in Mr. Fry, who told me that this ridge is sharp enough to straddle, +and that on the other side is an almost precipitous descent, with a fine +lake in the distance. If you wish to hunt deer or bear, you will find +in Fry an expert and experienced hunter. He has a tame doe, which, I was +told, is better than a dog to mark game on a hunt, its sharp ears and +nose detecting the presence of game at a great distance. If you are +a fisherman, there are within three minutes' walk of the house pools +abounding in trout, and you may fish up and down the river as far as you +please, with good success everywhere. In June and July, when the salmon +come up to spawn, they, too, lie in the deepest pools, and with salmon +eggs for bait you may, if you are expert enough with your rod, take many a +fat salmon. + +[Illustration: A BOTTLING-CELLAR.] + +It is astonishing to see how the salmon crowd the river at the spawning +season. The Indians then gather from a considerable distance, to spear and +trap these fish, which they dry for winter use; and you will see at this +season many picturesque Indian camps along the river. They set a crotch of +two sticks in a salmon pool, and lay a log from the shore to this crotch. +Upon this log the Indian walks out, with a very long spear, two-pronged at +the end and there armed with two bone spear-heads, which are fastened to +the shaft of the spear by very strong cord, usually made of deer's sinews. +The Indian stands very erect and in a really fine attitude, and peers into +the black pool until his eye catches the silver sheen of a salmon. Then +he darts, and instantly you see a commotion in the water as he hauls up +toward the surface a struggling twenty-five or thirty pound fish. The +bone spear heads, when they have penetrated the salmon, come off from the +spear, and the fish is held by the cord. A squaw stands ready on the shore +to haul him in, and he is beaten over the head with a club until he ceases +to struggle, then cleaned, and roasted on hot stones. When the meat is +done and dry it is picked off the bones, and the squaws rub it to a fine +powder between their hands, and in this shape it is packed for future use. + +From one of these pools a dozen Indian spearmen frequently draw out four +hundred salmon in a day, and this fish forms an important part of their +food. Of course they kill a great many thousand female salmon during the +season; but so far, I believe, this murderous work has not been found to +decrease the number of the fish which annually enter the river from the +ocean, and go up to its head waters to spawn. + +If you visit this region during the last of June or in July, you may watch +the salmon spawning, a most curious and remarkable sight. The great fish +then leave the deep pools in which they have been quietly lying for some +weeks before, and fearlessly run up on the shallow ripples. Here, animated +by a kind of fury, they beat the sand off the shoals with their tails, +until often a female salmon thus labors till her tail fins are entirely +worn off. She then deposits her eggs upon the coarse gravel, and the +greedy trout, which are extravagantly fond of salmon eggs, rush up to eat +them as the poor mother lays them. They are, I believe, watched and beaten +off by the male salmon, which accompanies the female for this purpose. +When the female salmon has deposited her eggs, and the male salmon has +done his part of the work, the two often bring stones of considerable size +in their mouths to cover up the eggs and protect them from the predatory +attacks of the trout. + +And thereupon, according to the universal testimony of the fishermen of +these waters, the salmon dies. I was assured that the dead bodies often +cumber the shore after the spawning season is over; and the mountaineers +all assert that the salmon, having once spawned up here, does not go down +to the ocean again. They hold that the young salmon stay in the upper +waters for a year, and go to sea about eighteen months after hatching; and +it is not uncommon, I believe, for fishermen hereabouts to catch grilse +weighing from two to four pounds. These bite sometimes at the fly. The +salmon bite, too, when much smaller, for I caught one day a young salmon +not more than six inches long. This little fellow was taken with a bait +of salmon eggs, and his bright silvery sides made him quite different from +the trout which I was catching out of the same pool. His, head, also +had something of the fierce, predatory, hawk-like form which the older +salmon's has. + +Fry is an excellent fisherman himself, and knows all the best pools within +reach of his house, and, if you are a mountaineer, will take you a dozen +miles through the woods to other streams, where you may fish and hunt for +days or weeks with great success, for these woods and waters are as yet +visited by but few sportsmen. + +And if you happen to come upon Indian fishermen on your way--they are all +peaceful hereabouts--you may get the noble red man's opinion of the +great Woman Question. As I stood at the road-side one day I saw an Indian +emerging from the woods, carrying his rifle and his pipe. Him followed, +at a respectful distance, his squaw, a little woman not bigger than a +twelve-year-old boy; and _she_ carried, first, a baby; second, three +salmon, each of which weighed not less than twenty pounds; third, a wild +goose, weighing six or eight pounds; finally, a huge bundle of some kind +of greens. This cumbrous and heavy load the Indian had lashed together +with strong thongs, and the squaw carried it on her back, suspended by a +strap which passed across her forehead. + +When an Indian kills a deer he loads it on the back of his squaw to carry +home. Arrived there, he lights his pipe, and she skins and cleans the +animal, cuts off a piece sufficient for dinner, lights a fire, and cooks +the meat. This done, the noble red man, who has calmly or impatiently +contemplated these labors of the wife of his bosom, lays down his pipe and +eats his dinner. When he is done, the woman, who has waited at one side, +sits down to hers and eats what he has left. + +"Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." Miss Anthony and +Mrs. Cady Stanton have good missionary ground among these Indians. One +wonders in what language an Indian brave courts the young squaw whom he +wishes to marry; what promises he makes her; what hopes he holds out; +with what enticing views of wedded bliss he lures the Indian maiden to the +altar or whatever may be the Digger substitute for that piece of church +furniture. One wonders that the squaws have not long ago combined and +struck for at least moderately decent treatment; that marriages have not +ceased among them; that there has not arisen among the Diggers, the Pit +River Indians, and all the Indian tribes, some woman capable of leading +her sex in a rebellion. + +But, to tell the truth, the Indian women are homely to the last degree. +"Ugly," said an Oregonian to me, as we contemplated a company of +squaws--"ugly is too mild a word to apply to such faces;" and he was +right. Broad-faced, flat-nosed, small-eyed, unkempt, frowzy, undersized, +thickset, clumsy, they have not a trace of beauty about them, either young +or old. They are just useful, nothing more; and as you look at them and +at the burdens they bear, you wonder whether, when the Woman's Rights +movement has succeeded, and when women, dressed like frights in such +Bloomer costume as may then be prescribed, go out to their daily toil like +men, and on an equality with men--when they have cast off the beauty which +is so scornfully spoken of in the conventions, and have secured their +rights--whether they will be any better off than these squaws. When you +have thoughtfully regarded the Indian woman perhaps you will agree with +Gail Hamilton that it is woman's first duty to be useless; for it is plain +that here, as in a higher civilization, when women consent to work as men, +they are sure to have the hardest work and the poorest pay. + +[Illustration: INDIAN RANCHERIA.] + +As you ascend the Sacramento you near Mount Shasta, and when you reach +Strawberry Valley, a pretty little mountain vale, you are but a short ride +from its base. It is from this point that tourists ascend the mountain. +You can hire horses, guides, and a camp outfit here, and the adventure +requires three days. You ride up to the snow-line the first day, ascend to +the top the following morning, descend to your camp in the afternoon, and +return to the valley on the third day. Mount Shasta has a glacier, almost, +but not quite, the only one, I believe, within the limits of the United +States. The mountain is an extinct volcano. Its summit is composed of +lava, and if your eye is familiar with the peculiar shape of volcanic +peaks, you can easily trace the now broken lines of this old crater as you +view the mountain from the Shasta plain on the north. + +There are many extremely pretty valleys scattered through these mountains, +and these are used by small farmers, and by sheep and cattle owners who +in the winter take their stock into the lower valleys, but ascend into the +mountains in May, and remain until October. This is also a timber region, +and as it is well watered by permanent streams you see frequent saw-mills, +and altogether more improvement than one expects to find. But, proceeding +further north you come upon a large plain, the Shasta Valley, in which +lies the considerable town of Yreka, notable during the last winter and +spring as the point from which news came to us about the Modoc war. + +From Yreka you may easily visit the celebrated "lava beds," where the +Indians made so stubborn and long-continued a defense against the United +States troops; and at Yreka you may hear several opinions upon the merits +of the Modocs and their war. You will hear, for instance, that the Indians +were stirred up to hostilities by mischievous and designing whites, that +white men were not wanting to supply them with arms and ammunition, and +that, had it not been for the unscrupulous management of some greedy and +wicked whites, we should not have been horrified by the shocking incidents +of this costly Indian trouble, in which the United States Government for +six months waged war against forty-six half-starved Modocs. + +The Shasta Valley is an extensive plain, chiefly used at present as +a range for cattle and sheep. But its soil is fertile, and the valley +contains some good farms. Beyond Yreka gold mining is pursued, and, +indeed, almost the whole of the mountain region north of Redding yields +"the color;" and at many points along the Upper Sacramento and the +mountain streams which fall into it, gold is mined profitably. One day, +at the Soda Spring, several of us asked Mr. Fry whether he could find +gold near the river. He took a pan, and digging at random in his orchard, +washed out three or four specks of gold; and he related that when he was +planting this orchard ten years ago he found gold in the holes he dug for +his apple-trees. But he is an old miner, and experience has taught him +that a good apple orchard is more profitable, in the long run, than a poor +gold mine. + +A large part of the Sacramento Valley is still used for grazing purposes, +but the farmers press every year more and more upon the graziers; and the +policy of the Government in holding its own lands within what are called +"railroad limits"--that is to say, within twenty miles on each side of the +railroad--for settlement under the pre-emption and homestead laws, as well +as the policy of the railroad company in selling its lands, the alternate +sections for twenty miles on each side of the road, on easy terms and with +long credit to actual settlers, prevents land monopoly in this region. +There is room, and cheap and fertile land, for an immense population +of industrious farmers, who can live here in a mild climate, and till +a fertile soil, and who need only intelligence and enterprise to raise +profitably raisins, orchard fruits, castor-oil, peanuts, silk, and a +dozen other products valuable in the world's commerce, and not produced +elsewhere in this country so easily. It is still in this region a time of +large farms poorly tilled; but I believe that small farms, from 160 to 320 +acres, will prove far more profitable in the end. + +The progress of California in material enterprises is something quite +wonderful and startling. A year brings about changes for which one can +hardly look in ten years. It is but eighteen months ago that the idea of a +system of irrigation, to include the whole of the San Joaquin Valley, was +broached, and then the most sanguine of the projectors thought that to +give their enterprise a fair start would require years, and a great number +of shrewd men believed the whole scheme visionary. But a few experiments +showed to land-owners and capitalists the enormous advantages of +irrigation, and now this scheme has sufficient capital behind it, and +large land-holders are offering subsidies and mortgaging their lands +to raise means to hasten the completion of the canal. Two years ago +the reclamation of the tule lands, though begun, advanced slowly, +and arguments were required to convince men that tule land was a safe +investment. But this year eight hundred miles of levee will be completed, +and thousands of acres will bear wheat next harvest which were overflowed +eighteen months ago. Two years ago the question whether California could +produce good raisins could not be answered; but last fall raisins which +sold in the San Francisco market beside the best Malagas were cured by +several persons, and it is now certain that this State can produce--and +from its poorest side-hill lands--raisins enough to supply the whole +Union. Not a year passes but some new and valuable product of the soil is +naturalized in this State; and one who has seen the soil and who knows the +climate of the two great valleys, who sees that within five, or, at most, +ten years all their overflowed lands will be diked and reclaimed, and all +their dry lands will be irrigated, and who has, besides, seen how wide is +the range of products which the soil and climate yield, comes at last to +have what seems to most Eastern people an exaggerated view of the future +of California. + +But, in truth, it is not easy to exaggerate, for the soil in the great +valleys is deep and of extraordinary fertility; there are no forests to +clear away, and farms lie ready-made to the settlers' hands; the range of +products includes all those of the temperate zone and many of the torrid; +the climate is invigorating, and predisposes to labor; and the seasons are +extraordinarily favorable to the labors of the farmer and gardener. The +people have not yet settled down to hard work. There are so many chances +in life out there that men become overenterprising--a speculative spirit +invades even the farm-house; and as a man can always live--food being +so abundant and the climate so kindly--and as the population is as yet +sparse, men are tempted to go from one avocation to another, to do many +things superficially, and to look for sudden fortunes by the chances of +a shrewd venture, rather than be content to live by patient and continued +labor. This, however, is the condition of all new countries; it will pass +away as population becomes more dense. And, meantime California has gifts +of nature which form a solid substratum upon which will, in a few years, +be built up a community productive far beyond the average of wealthy or +productive communities. This is my conclusion after seeing all parts of +this State more in detail than perhaps any one man has taken the trouble +to examine it. + +[Illustration: PIEDRAS BLANCAS.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WINE AND RAISINS--PROFITS OF DRYING FRUITS. + + +I have now seen the grape grow in almost every part of California where +wine is made. The temptation to a new settler in this State is always +strong to plant a vineyard; and I am moved, by much that I have seen, to +repeat here publicly advice I have often given to persons newly coming +into the State: Do not make wine. I remember a wine-cellar, cheaply built, +but with substantial and costly casks, containing (because the vineyard +was badly placed) a mean, thin, fiery wine; and on a pleasant sunny +afternoon, around these casks, a group of tipsy men--hopeless, +irredeemable beasts, with nothing much to do except to encourage each +other to another glass, and to wonder at the Eastern man who would not +drink. There were two or three Indians staggering about the door; there +was swearing and filthy talk inside; there was a pretentious tasting of +this, that, and the other cask by a parcel of sots, who in their hearts +would have preferred "forty-rod" whisky. And a little way off there was a +house with women and children in it, who had only to look out of the door +to see this miserable sight of husband, father, friends, visitors, and +hired men spending the afternoon in getting drunk. + +I do not want any one to understand that every vineyard is a nest of +drunkards, for this is not true. In the Napa and Sonoma valleys, in +the foot-hills of the Sierra, at Anaheim and elsewhere in the southern +country, you may find many men cultivating the grape and making wine in +all soberness. But everywhere, and in my own experience nearly as often, +you will see the proprietor, or his sons or his hired men, bearing the +marks of strong drink; and too often, if you come unexpectedly, you will +see some poor wretch in the wine-house who about four o'clock is maudlin. + +[Illustration: POINT ARENA LIGHT-HOUSE.] + +Seeing all this, I advise no new settler in the State to make wine. +He runs too many risks with children and laborers, even if he himself +escapes. + +In giving this advice, I do not mean to be offensive to the great body of +wine growers in California, which numbers in its list a great many +able, careful, and sober men, who are doing, as they have done, much and +worthily for the prosperity of the State and for the production of good +wine, and whose skill and enterprise are honorable to them. But the best +and most thoughtful of these men will bear me out when I say that wine +growing and making is a business requiring eminent skill and great +practical good sense, and that not every one who comes to California with +means enough to plant a vineyard ought to enter this business or can in +the long run do so safely or profitably. + +Fortunately, no one need make wine, though every man may raise grapes; +for it is now a fact, established by sufficient and practical trial, +that raisins, equal in every respect to the best Malaga, can be made in +California from the proper varieties of grapes, and can be sold for a +price which will very handsomely pay the maker, and with a much smaller +investment of capital and less skill than are required to establish a +wine-cellar and make wine. The vineyard owners already complain that they +can not always readily sell their crude wine at a paying price; but the +market for carefully-made raisins is, as I am told by the principal fruit +dealers in San Francisco, open and eager. To make wine requires uncommon +skill and care, and to keep it so that age shall give it that merit which +commands a really good price demands considerable capital in the necessary +outlay for casks. While the skillful wine-maker undoubtedly gets a large +profit on his vines, it begins to be seen here that there is an oversupply +of poorly-made wine. + +But any industrious person who has the right kind of grapes can make +raisins; and raisin-making, which in 1871 had still a very uncertain +future in this State, may now safely be called one of the established and +most promising industries here. + +In 1872 I ate excellent raisins in Los Angeles, and tolerable ones in +Visalia; but they sell very commonly in the shops what they call +"dried grapes," which are not raisins at all, but damp, sticky, +disagreeable things, not good even in puddings. This year, however, I +have seen in several places good native raisins; and the head of the +largest fruit-importing house in San Francisco told me that one +raisin-maker last fall sold the whole of his crop there at $2 per box +of twenty-five pounds, Malagas of the same quality bringing at the +same time but $2.37-1/2. There is a market for all well-made raisins +that can be produced in the State, he said, and they are preferred to +the foreign product. + +At Folsom, Mr. Bugby told me he had made last year 1700 boxes of raisins, +and he was satisfied with the pecuniary return; and I judge from the +testimony of different persons that at seven cents per pound raisins will +pay the farmer very well. The Malaga and the White Muscat are the grapes +which appear here to make the best raisins. Nobody has yet tried the +Seedless Sultana, which, however, bears well here, and would make, I +should think, an excellent cooking raisin. + +For making raisins they wait until the grape is fully ripe, and then +carefully cut off the bunches and lay them either on a hard clay floor, +formed in the open air, or on brown paper laid between the vine rows. They +do not trim out poor grapes from the bunches, because, as they assert, +there are none; but I suspect this will have to be done for the very +finest raisins, such as would tempt a reluctant buyer. The bunches require +from eighteen to twenty-four days of exposure in the sun to be cured. +During that time they are gently turned from time to time, and such as are +earliest cured are at once removed to a raisin-house. + +This is fitted with shelves, on which the raisins are laid about a foot +thick, and here they are allowed to sweat a little. If they sweat too much +the sugar candies on the outside, and this deteriorates the quality of the +raisin. It is an object to keep the bloom on the berries. They are kept in +the raisin-house, I was told, five or six weeks, when they are dry enough +to box. It is as yet customary to put them in twenty-five pound boxes, +but, no doubt, as more experience is gained, farmers will contrive other +parcels. Chinese do all the work in raisin-making, and are paid one dollar +a day, they supplying themselves with food. There is no rain during the +raisin-making season, and, consequently, the whole outdoor work may be +done securely as well as cheaply. + +Enormous quantities of fruit are now put up in tin cans in this State; +and you will be surprised, perhaps--as I was the other day--to hear of an +orchard of peach and apricot trees, which bears this year (1873) its first +full crop, and for one hundred acres of which the owners have received ten +thousand dollars cash, gold, selling the fruit on the trees, without risk +of ripening or trouble of picking. + +Yet peaches and apricots are not the most profitable fruits in this State, +for the cherry--the most delicious cherries in the world grow here--is +worth even more; and I suspect that the few farmers who have orchards +of plums, and carefully dry the fruit, make as much money as the cherry +owners. There has sprung up a very lively demand for California dried +plums. They bring from twenty to twenty-two cents per pound at wholesale +in San Francisco, and even as high as thirty cents for the best quality; +and I am told that last season a considerable quantity was shipped +Eastward and sold at a handsome profit in New York. + +The plum bears heavily and constantly north of Sacramento, and does not +suffer from the curculio, and the dried fruit is delicious and wholesome. + +Some day the farmers who are now experimenting with figs will, I do not +doubt, produce also a marketable dried fig in large quantities. At San +Francisco, in October, 1873, I found in the shops delicious dried figs, +but not in great quantities, nor so thoroughly dried as to bear shipment +to a distance. The tree nourishes in almost all parts of the State. +Usually it bears two and often three crops a year, and it grows into a +noble and stately tree. + +I am told that when Smyrna figs sell for twenty to thirty cents per pound, +California figs bring but from five to ten cents. The tree comes into full +bearing, where its location is favorable, in its third or fourth year; and +ought to yield then about sixty pounds of dried figs. I suspect the cost +of labor will control the drying of figs, for they must be picked by hand. +If they fall to the ground they are easily bruised, and the bruised part +turns sour. + +They are dried in the shade, and on straw, which lets the air get to every +part. Irrigation is not good after the tree bears, as the figs do not dry +so readily. Birds and ants are fond of the fruit; and in one place I was +told the birds took almost the whole of the first crop. There are many +varieties of the fig grown in this State, but the White Smyrna is, I +believe, thought to be the best for market. There are no large plantations +of this tree in the State, but it is found on almost every farm and +country place, and is a very wholesome fruit when eaten green. + +When the farmers of the Sacramento Valley become tired of sowing wheat, +and when the land comes into the hands of small farmers, as it is now +doing to some extent, it will be discovered that fruit-trees are surer and +more profitable than grain. A considerable emigration is now coming into +California; and I advise every one who goes there to farm to lose no time +before planting an orchard. Trees grow very rapidly, and it will be many +years before such fruits as the cherry, plum, apricot, or the raisin-grape +are too abundant to yield to their owners exceptionally large profits. + +[Illustration: SHIPPING LUMBER, MENDOCINO COUNTY.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE TULE LANDS AND LAND DRAINAGE. + + +While you are talking about redeeming the New Jersey marshes these +go-ahead Californians are actually diking and reclaiming similar and, in +some cases, richer overflowed lands by the hundred thousand acres. + +If you will take, on a map of California, Stockton, Sacramento, and San +Francisco for guiding points, you will see that a large part of the land +lying between these cities is marked "swamp and overflowed." Until within +five or six years these lands attracted but little attention. It was known +that they were extremely fertile, but it was thought that the cost and +uncertainty of reclaiming them were too great to warrant the enterprise. +Of late, however, they have been rapidly bought up by capitalists, and +their sagacity has been justified by the results on those tracts which +have been reclaimed. + +These Tule lands--the word is pronounced as though spelled "toola"--are +simply deposits of muck, a mixture of the wash or sediment brought down +by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers with the decayed vegetable matter +resulting from an immense growth of various grasses, and of the reed +called the "tule," which often grows ten feet high in a season, and decays +every year. The Tule lands are in part the low lands along the greater +rivers, but in part they are islands, lying in the delta of the Sacramento +and San Joaquin rivers, and separated from each other by deep, narrow +"sloughs," or "slews" as they are called--branches of these rivers, in +fact. Before reclamation they are overflowed commonly twice a year--in the +winter, when the rains cause the rivers to rise; and again in June, when +the melting of the snows on the mountains brings another rise. You may +judge of the extent of this overflowed land by the following list of the +principal Tule Islands: + + Acres. + +Robert's Island.......................67,000 +Union Island..........................50,000 +Grizzly Island........................15,000 +Sherman Island........................14,000 +Grand Island..........................17,000 +Ryer Island...........................11,800 +Staten Island..........................8,000 +Bacon Island...........................7,000 +Brannan Island.........................7,000 +Bouldin Island.........................5,000 +Mandeville Island......................5,000 +Venice Island..........................4,000 +Tyler Island...........................4,000 +Andros Island..........................4,000 +Twitchell Island.......................3,600 +Sutter Island..........................3,000 +Joyce Island...........................1,500 +Rough and Ready Island.................1,500 +Long Island............................1,000 + + In all...........................217,400 + +These are the largest islands; but you must understand that on the +mainland, along the Sacramento and its affluents, there is a great deal of +similar land, probably at least twice as much more, perhaps three times. + +The swamp and overflowed lands were given by Congress to the State; and +the State has, in its turn, virtually given them to private persons. It +has sold them for one dollar per acre, of which twenty per cent. was paid +down, or twenty cents per acre; and this money, less some small charges +for recording the transfer and for inspecting the reclamation, is +returned by the State to the purchaser if he, within three years after the +purchase, reclaims his land. That is to say, the State gives away the land +on condition that it shall be reclaimed and brought into cultivation. + +During a number of years past enterprising individuals have undertaken +to reclaim small tracts on these islands by diking them, but with not +encouraging success, and it was not until a law was passed empowering the +majority of owners of overflowed lands in any place to form a reclamation +district, choose a Board of Reclamation, and levy a tax upon all the land +in the district, for building and maintaining the dikes or levees that +these lands really came into use. + +[Illustration: A WATER JAM OF LOGS.] + +Now, this work of draining is going on so fast that this year nearly six +hundred miles of levee will be completed among the islands alone, not +to speak of reclamation districts on the main-land. There seems to be +a general determination to do the work thoroughly, the high floods of +1871-72 having shown the farmers and land-owners that they must build high +and strong levees, or else lose all, or at least much, of their labor and +outlay. During the spring of 1872 I saw huge breaks in some of the levees, +which overflowed lands to the serious damage of farmers, for not only is +the crop of the year lost, but orchards and vineyards, which flourish on +the Tule lands, perished or were seriously injured by the waters. + +Chinese labor is used almost entirely in making the levees. An engineer +having planned the work, estimates are made, and thereupon Chinese foremen +take contracts for pieces at stipulated rates, and themselves hire their +countrymen for the actual labor. This subdivision, to which the perfect +organization of Chinese labor readily lends itself, is very convenient. +The engineer or master in charge of the work deals only with the +Chinese foremen, pays them for the work done, and exacts of them the due +performance of the contract. + +The levee stuff is taken from the inside; thus the ditch is inside of the +levee, and usually on the outside is a space of low marsh, which presently +fills with willow and cotton-wood. You may sail along the river or slough, +therefore, for miles, and see only occasional evidences of the embankment. + +The soil is usually a tough turf, full of roots, which is very cheaply cut +out with an instrument called a "tule-knife," and thrown up on the levee, +where it seems to bind well, though one would not think it would. At +frequent intervals are self-acting tide-gates for drainage; these are made +of the redwood of the coast, which does not rot in the water. The rise and +fall of the tides is about six feet. The levees have been in some places +troubled with beaver, which, however, are now hunted for their fur, and +will not long be troublesome. There is no musk-rat--an animal which would +do serious damage here. The tule-rat lives on roots on the land, but is +not active or strong enough to be injurious. + +The levee is usually from six to eight feet broad on top, with the inside +sloping; but I was told that experience had shown that the outside should +be perpendicular. It is not unusual for parts of a levee to sink down, +but I could hear of no case of capsizing. The Levee Board of a district +appoints levee-masters, whose duty it is to look after the condition +of the work, and on the islands I visited there were gangs of Chinamen +engaged in repairing and heightening the embankments. + +You land at a wharf, and, standing on top of the levee, you see before you +usually the house and other farm buildings, set up on piles, for security +against a break and overflow; and beyond a great track of level land, two +or three or five feet below the level of the levee, and, if it has but +lately been reclaimed, covered with the remnants of tules and of grass +sods. + +When the levee is completed, and the land has had opportunity to drain +a little, the first operation is to burn it over. This requires time and +some care, for it is possible to burn too deep; and in some parts the fire +burns deep holes if it is not checked. If the land is covered with dry +tules, the fire is set so easily that a single match will burn a thousand +acres, the strong trade-wind which blows up the river and across these +lands carrying the fire rapidly. If the dry tules have been washed off, +a Chinaman is sent to dig holes through the upper sod; after him follows +another, with a back-load of straw wisps, who sticks a wisp into each +hole, lights it with a match, and goes on. At this rate, I am told, it +cost on one island only one hundred dollars to burn fifteen hundred acres. + +When this work is done you have an ash-heap, extremely disagreeable to +walk over, and not yet solid enough to bear horses or oxen. Accordingly, +the first crop is put on with sheep. First the tract is sowed, usually +with a coffee-mill sower or hand machine, and, I am told, at the rate of +about thirty pounds of wheat to the acre, though I believe it would be +better to sow more thickly. Then comes a band or flock of about five +hundred sheep. These are driven over the surface in a compact body, and at +no great rate of speed, and it is surprising how readily they learn what +is expected of them, and how thoroughly they tramp in the seed. Dogs are +used in this work to keep the sheep together, and they expect to "sheep +in," as they call it, about sixteen acres a day with five hundred animals, +giving these time besides to feed on the levee and on spare land. + +Tule land thus prepared has actually yielded from forty to sixty bushels +of wheat per acre. It does not always do so, because, as I myself saw, +it is often badly and irregularly burned over, and probably otherwise +mismanaged. The crop is taken off with headers, as is usual in this State. + +For the second year's crop the land is plowed. A two-share gang-plow is +used, with a seat for the plowman. It is drawn by four horses, who have to +be shod with broad wooden shoes, usually made of ash plank, nine by eleven +inches, fastened to the iron shoes of the horse by screws. + +The soil does not appear to be sour, and no doubt the ashes from the +burning off do much to sweeten it where it needs that. But several years +are needed to reduce the ground to its best condition for tillage, and the +difference in this respect between newly-burned or second-crop lands and +such matured farms as that of Mr. Bigelow on Sherman Island--who has been +there eight or nine years--is very striking. + +It seemed to me that the farmers and land-owners with whom I spoke knew +"for certain" but very little about the best ways to manage these lands, +and that the advice of a thorough scientific agriculturist, like Professor +Johnson of Yale, would be very valuable to them. Now, they know only that +the land when burned over will bear large crops of wheat; and, of course, +in all practical measures for economically putting in and taking off a +wheat crop the Californian needs no instructor. + +The soil seemed to me, so far as they dig into it--say six feet deep--to +be, not peat, but a mass of undecayed or but partly decayed roots, +strongly adhering together, so that the upper part of a levee, taken of +course from the lowest part of the ditch, lay in firm sods or tussocks. +These, however, seem to decay pretty rapidly on exposure to the air. +The drainage is not usually deeper than four feet, and in places the +water-level was but three feet below the surface. The newly reclaimed land +being very light, suffers from the dry season, and is often irrigated, +which, as it lies below the river-level, can be quickly and cheaply done. + +Sherman Island was one of the earliest to be reclaimed, and there I +visited the fine farm of Mr. Bigelow--a New Hampshire man, I believe, and +apparently a thorough farmer. He has lived on tule land ten years, and +his fields were consequently in the finest condition. Here I saw a +three-hundred-acre field of wheat, as fine as wheat could be. He thought +he should get about forty-five bushels per acre this year. He had got, he +told me, between sixty-five and seventy bushels per acre, and without any +further labor the next year brought him from the same fields fifty-two +bushels per acre as a "volunteer" or self-seeded crop. + +Here I saw luxuriant red clover and blue grass, and he had also a field +of carrots, which do well on this alluvial bottom, it seems. But what +surprised me more was to find that apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, +apricots--all the fruits--do well on this soil. With us I think the pear +would not do well on peat; but here it withstood last year's flood, which +broke a levee and overflowed Mr. Bigelow's farm, and the trees do not +appear to have suffered. He had also wind-breaks of osier willow, which of +course grows rapidly, and had been a source of profit to him in, yielding +cuttings for sale. + +Timothy does not do well on tule land, as its roots do not push down deep +enough, and the surface of such light soils always dries up rapidly. Mr. +Bigelow told me that he once sowed alfalfa in February with wheat, and +took off forty-five bushels of wheat per acre, and a ton and a half of +alfalfa later; and pastured (in a thirty-acre field) twenty-five head of +stock till Christmas on the same land, after the hay was cut. + +They have one great advantage on the tule lands--they can put in their +crops at any time from November to the last of June. + +It was very curious to sit on the veranda at the farm-house, after dinner, +with a high levee immediately in front of us almost hiding the Sacramento +River, and with a broad canal--the inner ditch--full of fresh water, +running along the boundary as far as the eye could reach, the level of +the levee broken occasionally by tide-gates. The prospect would have been +monotonous had we not had at one side the lovely mountain range of which +Mount Diablo is the prominent peak. But the great expanse of clean fields, +level as a billiard-table, and in as fine tilth as though this was a model +farm, was a delight to the eye, too. + +It may interest grape-growers in the East to be told that of what we call +"foreign grapes," the Muscat of Alexandria succeeds best in these moist, +peaty lands. It is the market grape here. Trees have not grown to a great +size on the tule lands, but bees are very fond of the wild-flowers which +abound in the unreclaimed marshes, and, having no hollow trees to build +in, they adapt themselves to circumstances by constructing their hives on +the outside or circumference of trees. + +[Illustration: MOUNT HOOD, OREGON.] + +Fencing costs here about three hundred and twenty dollars per mile. The +redwood posts are driven into the ground with mauls. Farm laborers receive +in the tules thirty dollars per month and board if they are white men, but +one dollar a day and feed themselves, where they are Chinese. + +On Twitchell Island I found an experiment making in ramie and jute, Mr. +Finch, formerly of Haywards, having already planted twenty-six acres of +ramie, and intending to put seven acres into jute, for which he had the +plants all ready, raised in a canvas-covered inclosure. He raised ramie +successfully last year, and sold, he told me, from one-tenth of an acre, +two hundred and sixty three pounds of prepared ramie, for fifteen cents +per pound. He used, to dress it, a machine made in California, which +several persons have assured me works well and cheaply, a fact which ramie +growers in Louisiana may like to know; for the chief obstacle to ramie +culture in this country has been, so far, the lack of a cheap and +rapidly-working machine for its preparation. It struck me that Mr. Finch's +experiment with ramie and jute would promise better were it not made on +new land from which I believe only one crop had been taken. + +When these tule lands have been diked and drained, they are sold for from +twenty to twenty-five dollars per acre. Considering the crops they bear, +and their nearness to market--ships could load at almost any of the +islands--I suppose the price is not high; but a farmer ought to be sure +that the levees are high enough, and properly made. To levee them costs +variously, from three to twelve dollars per acre. + +The tule lands which lie on the main-land, and which are equally rich with +the islands, are usually ditched and diked for less than six dollars per +acre; and this sum is regarded, I believe, by the State Commissioners +as the maximum which the owners are allowed to borrow on reclamation +land-bonds for the purpose of levee building. + +I spoke awhile back of the existence of beavers in the tule country. Elk +and grizzly bears used also to abound here, and I am told that on the +unreclaimed lands elk are still found, though the grizzlies have gone to +the mountains. One of the curiosities hereabouts is the ark, or floating +house, used by the hunters, which you see anchored or moored in the +sloughs: in these they live, using a small boat when they go ashore to +hunt, and floating from place to place with the tide. On one of these arks +I saw a magnificent pair of elk horns from an animal recently shot. + +[Illustration: COAST VIEW, MENDOCINO COUNTY.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SHEEP-GRAZING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. + + +In the last year I have received a good many letters from persons desirous +to try sheep-farming in California, and this has led me to look a little +closely into this business as it is conducted in the northern parts of +California. + +There is no doubt that the climate of California gives some exceptional +advantages to the sheep-grazer. He need not, in most parts of the State, +make any provision against winter. He has no need for barns or expensive +sheds, or for a store of hay or roots. His sheep live out-of-doors all +the year round, and it results that those who have been so fortunate as +to secure cheaply extensive ranges have made a great deal of money, even +though they conducted the business very carelessly. + +It ought to be understood, however, by persons who think of beginning with +sheep here, that the business has changed considerably in character within +two or three years. Land, in the first place, has very greatly risen in +price; large ranges are no longer easily or cheaply obtained, and in the +coast counties of Southern California particularly large tracts are now +too high-priced, considering the quality of the land and its ability to +carry sheep, for prudent men to buy. + +Moreover, Southern California has some serious disadvantages for +sheep-grazing which the northern part of the State--the Sacramento Valley +and the adjoining coast-range and Sierra foot-hills--are without, and +which begin to tell strongly, now that the wool of this State begins to +go upon its merits, and is no longer bought simply as "California wool," +regardless of its quality. Southern California has a troublesome burr, +which is not found north of Sacramento, except on the lower lands. In +Southern California it is often difficult to tide the sheep over the fall +months in good order, whereas in the northern part of the State they +have a greater variety of land, and do this more easily. The average of +southern wool brings less by five or six cents per pound than that of the +Sacramento Valley; and this is due in part to the soil and climate, and in +part to the fact that sheep are more carefully kept in the northern part +of the State. + +Many of the sheep farmers in the Sacramento Valley have entirely done away +with the mischievous practice of corraling their sheep--confining them +at night, I mean, in narrow, crowded quarters--a practice which makes and +keeps the sheep scabby. They very generally fence their lands, and thus +are able to save their pasture and to manage it much more advantageously. +They seem to me more careful about overstocking than sheep farmers +generally are in the southern part of the State, though it should be +understood that such men as Colonel Hollester, Colonel Diblee, Dr. Flint, +and a few others in the South, who, like these, have exceptionally fine +ranges, keep always the best sheep in the best manner. But smaller tracks, +sown to alfalfa, are found to pay in the valleys where the land can be +irrigated. + +In Australia and New Zealand sheep inspectors are appointed, who have +the duty to examine flocks and force the isolation of scabby sheep; and +a careless flock-master who should be discovered driving scabby sheep +through the country would be heavily fined; here the law says nothing +on this head, but I have found this spring several sheep owners in the +Sacramento Valley who assured me that they had eradicated scab so entirely +from their flocks that they dealt also by isolation with such few single +specimens as they found to have this disease. + +Moreover, I find that the best sheep farmers aim to keep, not the largest +flocks, but the best sheep. There is no doubt that the sheep deteriorates +in this State unless it is carefully and constantly bred up. "We must +bring in the finest bucks from Australia, or the East, or our own State," +said one very successful sheep farmer to me; "and we must do this all the +time, else our flocks will go back." "It is more profitable to keep fewer +sheep of the best kind than more not quite so good. It is more profitable +to keep a few sheep always in good condition than many with a period of +semi-starvation for them in the fall," said another; and added, "I would +rather, if I were to begin over again, spend my money on a breed worth six +dollars a head, than one worth two or three dollars, and I would rather +not keep sheep at all than not fence." He had his land--about twenty-five +thousand acres--fenced off in lots of from four to six thousand acres, and +into one of these he turned from six to eight thousand sheep, leaving them +to graze as they pleased. He had noticed, he told me, that whereas the +sheep under the usual corral system feed the greater part of the day, no +matter how hot the sun, his sheep in these large pastures were lying down +from nine in the morning to four or five in the afternoon; and he often +found them feeding far into the night, and rising again to graze long +before daylight. They were at liberty to follow their own pleasure, having +water always at hand. An abundant supply of water he thought of great +importance. + +[Illustration: INDIAN SWEAT-HOUSE.] + +Of course, where the sheep are turned out into fenced land no shepherds +are required, which makes an important saving. One man, with a horse, +visits the different flocks, and can look after ten or fifteen thousand +head. + +The farmer whom I have quoted does not dip his sheep to prevent or cure +scab, but mops the sore place, when he discovers a scabby sheep, with a +sponge dipped into the scab-mixture. + +He gets, he told me, from his flock of ten thousand merinoes, an average +of seven pounds per head of wool, and he does not shear any except the +lambs, in the fall. It is a common but bad practice here to shear all +sheep twice a year; and where, as is too often the case, a flock is very +scabby, no doubt this is necessary. + +He had long sheds as shelter for his ewes about lambing-time, so as to +protect them against fierce winds and cold rain storms; and he saved every +year about two hundred tons of hay, cut from the wild pastures, to feed +in case the rain should hold off uncommonly late. His aim was to keep the +sheep always in good condition, so that there should never be any weak +place in the wool. His sheds cost him about one dollar per running foot. +The sheep found their own way to them. + +I find it is the habit of the forehanded sheep-grazers in the Sacramento +Valley to own a range in the foot-hills and another on the bottom-lands. +During the summer the sheep are kept in the bottoms, which are then dry +and full of rich grasses; in the fall and winter they are taken to the +uplands, and there they lamb, and are shorn. Where the range lies too far +away from any river, they drive the sheep in May into the mountains, where +they have green grass all summer; and about Red Bluff I saw a curious +sight--cattle and horses wandering, singly or in small groups, of their +own motion, to the mountains, and actually crossing the Sacramento without +driving; and I was told that in the fall they would return, each to its +master's rancho. I am satisfied that, except, perhaps, for the region +north of Redding, where the winters are cold and the summers have rain and +green grass, and where long-wooled sheep will do well, the merino is the +sheep for this State; and "the finer the better," say the best sheep men. +Near Red Bluff I saw some fine Cotswolds, and in the coast valleys north +of San Francisco these and Leicesters, I am told, do well. + +A great deal of the land which is now used for sheep will, in the next +five, or at most ten years, be plowed and cropped. There is a tendency to +tax all land at its real value; and, except with good management, it will +not pay to keep sheep on land fit for grain and taxed as grain land, which +a great deal of the grazing land is. As the State becomes more populous, +the flocks will become smaller, and the wool will improve in quality at +the same time. + +I have seen a good deal of alfalfa in the Sacramento Valley, but I have +seen also that the sheep men do not trust to it entirely. They believe +that it will be better for sheep as hay than as green food; and this +lucerne grows so rankly, and has, unless it is frequently cut, so much +woody stalk, that I believe this also. It makes extremely nice hay. + +Every man who comes to California to farm ought to keep some sheep; and he +can keep them more easily and cheaply here than anywhere in the East. + +For persons who want to begin sheep-raising on a large scale and with +capital the opportunities are not so good here now; but there are yet fine +chances in Nevada, in the valley of the Humboldt, where already thousands +of head of cattle, and at least one hundred thousand sheep, are now fed by +persons who do not own the land at all. I am told extensive tracts could +be bought there at really low prices, and with such credit on much of it +as would enable a man with capital enough to stock his tract to pay for +the land out of the proceeds of the sheep. The white sage in the Humboldt +Valley is very nutritious, and there is also in the subsidiary valleys +bunch-grass and other nutritious food for stock. Not a few young men have +gone into this Humboldt country with a few hundreds of sheep, and are now +wealthy. The winters are somewhat longer than in California, but the sheep +find feed all the year round; and they are shorn near the line of the +railroad, so that there is no costly transportation of the wool. Mutton +sheep, too, are driven to the railroad to be sent to market, and for +stock, therefore, this otherwise out-of-the-way region is very convenient. + +Riding through the foot-hills near Rocklin--where I had been visiting +a well-kept sheep-farm--I saw a curious and unexpected sight. There are +still a few wretched Digger Indians in this part of California; and what I +saw was a party of these engaged in catching grasshoppers, which they boil +and eat. They dig a number of funnel-shaped holes, wide at the top, and +eighteen inches deep, on a cleared space, and then, with rags and brush, +drive the grasshoppers toward these holes, forming for that purpose a +wide circle. It is slow work, but they seem to delight in it; and their +excitement was great as they neared the circle of holes and the insects +began to hop and fall into them. At last there was a close and rapid +rally, and half a dozen bushels of grasshoppers were driven into the +holes; whereupon hats, aprons, bags, and rags were stuffed in to prevent +the multitudes from dispersing; and then began the work of picking them +out by handfuls, crushing them roughly in the hand to keep them quiet, +and crowding them into the bags in which they were to be carried to their +rancheria. + +"Sweet--all same pudding," cried an old woman to me, as I stood looking +on. It is not a good year for grasshoppers this year; nothing like the +year of which an inhabitant of Roseville spoke to me later in the day, +when he said, "they ate up every bit of his garden-truck, and then sat on +the fence and asked him for a chew of tobacco." + +The sheep ranges of the northern interior counties are less broken up than +in the coast counties farther south; and it is better and more profitable, +in my judgment, to pay five dollars per acre for grazing lands in the +Sacramento Valley than two dollars and a half for grazing lands farther +south and among the mountains. The grazier in the northern counties has +two advantages over his southern competitor: first, in the ability to buy +low-lying lands on the river, where he can graze from three to six or even +ten sheep to the acre during the summer months, and where he may plant +large tracts in alfalfa; and, secondly, in a safe refuge against drought +in the mountain meadows of the Sierras, and in the little valleys and +fertile hill-slopes of the Coast Range, where there is much unsurveyed +Government land, to which hundreds of thousands of sheep and cattle are +annually driven by the graziers of the plain, who thus save their own +pastures, and are able to carry a much larger number of sheep than they +otherwise would. + +Moreover, nearness to the railroad is an important advantage for the +sheep-farmer; and I found that the most enterprising and intelligent sheep +men in the northern counties send their wool direct by railroad to the +Eastern States, instead of shipping it to San Francisco to be sold. + +Finally, much of the land now obtainable for grazing in the Sacramento +Valley, at prices in some cases not too dear for grazing purposes, is of +a quality which will make it valuable agricultural land as soon as the +valley begins to fill up; and thus, aside from the profit from the sheep, +the owner may safely reckon upon a large increase in the value of his +land. This can not be said of much of the grazing land of the southern +coast counties, which is mountainous and broken, and fit only for grazing. + +Of course I speak here of the average lands only. There are large tracts +or ranchos in the southern coast counties, such as the Lampoe rancho +of Hollester & Diblee, and lands in the Salinas Valley, which are +exceptionally fine, and to which what I have said of the coast panchos +generally does not apply. + +[Illustration: ANOTHER COAST-VIEW, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE CHINESE AS LABORERS AND PRODUCERS. + + +As I crossed from Oakland to San Francisco on a Sunday afternoon last +July, there were on the ferry-boat a number of Chinese. They were decently +clad, quiet, clean, sat apart in their places in the lower part of the +boat conversing together, and finally walked off the boat when she came to +land as orderly as though they had been Massachusetts Christians. + +There were also on the boat a number of half-grown and full-grown white +boys, some of whom had been fishing, and carried their long rods with +them. These were slouchy, dirty, loud-voiced, rude; and, as they passed +off the boat, I noticed that with their long rods they knocked the hats of +the Chinese off their heads, or punched them in the back, every effort of +this kind being rewarded with boisterous laughter from their companions. +Nor did they confine their annoyance entirely to the Chinese, for they +jostled and pushed their way out through the crowd of men and women very +much as a gang of pickpockets on a Third Avenue car in New York conducts +itself when its members mean to steal a watch or two. + +These rowdies were "Hoodlums;" and it is the Hoodlums chiefly who clamor +about the Chinese, and who are "ruined by Chinese cheap labor." The +anti-Chinese agitation in San Francisco has led me to look a little +closely into this matter, and I declare my belief that there are not a +hundred decent men who work for a living in that city engaged in this +crusade against the Chinese. If you could to-day assemble there all who +join in this persecution, and if then you took from this assemblage all +the Hoodlums, all the bar-room loafers, and all the political demagogues, +I don't believe you would have a hundred men left on the ground. That is +to say, the people who actually earn the bread they eat do not persecute +the Chinese. + +If an Eastern reader suggests that it argues a lack of public spirit +in the decent part of the community to allow the roughs to rule in this +matter, I take leave to remind him of the time, not very long ago, when +the same combination of Hoodlum and demagogue mobbed negroes in New York, +and threatened vengeance if colored people were allowed to ride in the +street-cars. Here, as there then, there are unfortunately newspapers +which ignorantly pander to this vile class, and help to swell the cry of +persecution. And here, as in New York a few years ago, it results that +the proscribed race is hardly dealt with, not only by the roughs, but +sometimes in the courts, and gets scant and hard justice dealt out to it. +The courageous and upright action of Mayor Alvord in vetoing the inhuman +and silly acts of the city supervisors, which, by-the-way, has made him +one of the most popular men in California, for the moment shamed the +demagogues and silenced the rowdies; but there are means of annoying the +Chinese within the law, which are still used. For instance, there is an +ordinance declaring a fine for overcrowding tenement-houses, and requiring +that in every room there shall be five hundred cubic feet of air for each +occupant, and for violating this a fine of ten dollars is imposed. This +ordinance is enforced only against the Chinese--so I am assured on the +best authority, and they only are fined. But justice would seem to demand +not only that the law should be enforced against all alike, but that the +owner of the property should be made liable for its misuse as well as the +unfortunate and ignorant occupants. + +The Chinese quarter in San Francisco consists, for the most part, of a lot +of decayed rookeries which would put our own Five Points to the blush. The +Chinese live here very much as the Five Points' population lives in New +York. And here, as there, respectable people--or people at any rate who +would think themselves insulted if you called their respectability in +question--own these filthy and decayed tenements; live in comfort on the +rent paid them by the Chinese; perhaps go to church on Sunday, and, no +doubt, thank God that they are not as other people. It is very good +to fine a poor devil of a Chinaman because he lives in an overcrowded +tenement; but what a stir there would be if some enterprising San +Francisco journal should give a description of these holes, and the +different uses they are put to, and add the names and residences of the +owners. + +California has, according to Cronise--a good authority--40,000,000 acres +of arable land. It has, according to the last census, 560,247 people, of +whom 149,473 live in San Francisco, and yet nowhere in the United States +have I heard so much complaint of "nothing to do" as in San Francisco. +One of the leading cries of the demagogues here is that the Chinese are +crowding white men out of employment. But one of the complaints most +frequently heard from men who need to get work done is that they can +get nobody to do it. A hundred times and more, in my travels through the +State, I have found Chinese serving not only as laborers, but holding +positions where great skill and faithfulness were required; and almost +every time the employer has said to me, "I would rather, of course, employ +a white man, but I can not get one whom I can trust, and who will stick +to his work." In some cases this was not said, but the employer spoke +straight out that he had tried white men, and preferred the Chinese as +more faithful and painstaking, more accurate, and less eye-servants. + +A gentleman told me that he had once advertised in the San Francisco +papers for one hundred laborers; his office was besieged for three days. +Three hundred and fifty offered themselves, all presumably ruined by +Chinese cheap labor; but all but a dozen refused to accept work when they +heard that they were required to go "out of the city." + +The charge that the Chinese underbid the whites in the labor market is +bosh. When they first come over, and are ignorant of our language, habits, +customs, and manner of work, they no doubt work cheaply; but they know +very accurately the current rate of wages and the condition of the labor +market, and they manage to get as much as any body, or, if they take less +in some cases, it is because they can not do a full day's work. It is a +fact, however, that they do a great deal of work which white men will +not do out here; they do not stand idle, but take the first job that is +offered them. And the result is that they are used all over the State, +more and more, because they chiefly, of the laboring population, will work +steadily and keep their engagements. + +Moreover, the admirable organization of the Chinese labor is an +irresistible convenience to the farmer, vineyardist, and other employer. +"How do you arrange to get your Chinese?" I asked a man in the country who +was employing more than a hundred in several gangs. He replied: "I have +only to go or send to a Chinese employment office in San Francisco, and +say that I need so many men for such work and at such pay. Directly up +come the men, with a foreman of their own, with whom alone I have to deal. +I tell only him what I want done; I settle with him alone; I complain +to him, and hold him alone responsible. He understands English; and this +system simplifies things amazingly. If I employed white men I should +have to instruct, reprove, watch, and pay each one separately; and of a +hundred, a quarter, at least, would be dropping out day after day for +one cause or another. Moreover, with my Chinese comes up a cook for every +twenty men, whom I pay, and provisions of their own which they buy. Thus I +have nobody to feed and care for. They do it themselves." + +This is the reply I have received in half a dozen instances where I made +inquiry of men who employed from twenty-five to two hundred Chinese. Any +one can see that, with such an organization of labor, many things can be +easily done which under our different and looser system a man would not +rashly undertake. So far as I have been able to learn, such a thing as +a gang of Chinese leaving a piece of work they had engaged to do, unless +they were cheated or ill-treated, is unknown. Then they don't drink +whisky. With all this, any one can see that they need not work cheaply. +To a man who wants to get a piece of work done their systematic ways are +worth a good deal of money. In point of fact, they are quick enough to +demand higher wages. + +[Illustration: A SAW-MILL PORT ON PUGET SOUND.] + +Of the population of Califoraia when the census of 1870 was taken, 49,310 +were Chinese, 54,421 were Irish, 29,701 were Germans, and 339,199 were +born in the United States. In an official return from the California State +prison, the number of convicts in 1871, the last year reported, is given +at 880; of whom 477 were native born, 118 were Chinese, 86 were Irish, +29 were German. This gives, of convicts, one in every 635 of the whole +population of the State; one in 711 of the native born; one in 417 of the +Chinese; one in 632 of the Irish born; and one in 1024 of the Germans. +That is to say, of the different nationalities the Germans contribute the +fewest convicts, the native born next, the Irish next, and the Chinese the +greatest number proportionately. + +But pray bear in mind the important fact that the Chinese here are almost +entirely grown men; they have no families here, and but a small number of +women, almost all of whom are, moreover, prostitutes. + +If, then, you would compare these figures rightly you would have to leave +out of the count the women and children of all the other nationalities; +it would, perhaps, then appear that the Chinese furnish a much smaller +proportion of criminals than the above figures show; and this in spite of +the well-known fact that Dame Justice commonly turns a very cold shoulder +toward a Chinaman. I wonder that the comparison shows so favorably for +them. + +It is said that they send money out of the country. I wonder who sends the +most, the Chinaman or the white foreigner? If one could get at the sums +remitted to England, Ireland, and Germany, and those sent to China, I +don't know which would be the greater. + +But a Chinese, to whom I mentioned this charge, made me an excellent +answer. He said: "Suppose you work for me; suppose I pay you; what +business I what you do with money? If you work good for me, that all +I care. No business my what you do your pay." Surely he was right; the +Chinaman may send some part of his wages out of the country, though not +much, for he must eat, must be clothed and lodged, must pay railroad and +stage fares, must smoke opium, and usually gamble a little. When all this +is done, the surplus of a Chinaman's wages is not great. But suppose he +sent off all his pay; he does not and can not send off the work he has +done for it, the ditches he has dug, the levees he has made, the meals he +has cooked, and the clothes he has washed and ironed, the harvest he has +helped to sow and gather, and the vegetables he has raised; the cigars, +and shoes, blankets, gloves, slippers, and other things he has made. These +remain to enrich the country, to make abundance where, but for his help, +there would be scarcity, or importation from other States or countries. + +But lately it is asserted that the Chinese have brought or will bring +the leprosy hither. This is a genuine cry of anguish and terror from the +Hoodlums; for, bear in mind that, according to the best medical opinion +in the Sandwich Islands, where this disease is most frequent and has been +most thoroughly studied, it is communicated only by cohabitation or the +most intimate association. If you ask a policeman to pilot you through +the Chinese quarter of San Francisco between eight and eleven o'clock any +night, you will see the creatures who make this outcry. They are Hoodlums, +gangs of whom per ambulate the worst alleys, and pass in and out of the +vilest kennels. + +I was curious to know something about the "Chinese Companies" of which +one frequently hears here, and which exercise important powers over their +countrymen all over the State. What follows concerning these organizations +I derived from conversation with several Chinese who speak English, and +with a missionary who labors among them. + +There are six of these companies, calling themselves "Yong Wong," +"Howk Wah," "Sam Yup," "Yen Wah," "Kong Chow," and "Yong Woh." They +are benevolent societies; each looks after the people who come from the +province or district for whose behalf it is formed. + +When a ship comes into port with Chinese, the agents of the companies +board it, and each takes the names of those who belong to his province. +These then come into the charge of their proper company. That lodges, and, +if necessary, feeds them; as quickly as possible secures them employment; +and, if they are to go to a distant point, lends them the needed +passage-money. The company also cares for the sick, if they are friendless +and without means; and it sends home the bones of those who die here. + +[Illustration: CAPE HORN, COLUMBIA RIVER.] + +Moreover, it settles all disputes between Chinese, levies fines upon +offenders; and when a Chinaman wishes to return home, his company examines +his accounts, and obliges him to pay his just debts here before leaving. + +The means to do all this are obtained by the voluntary contributions of +the members, who are all who land at San Francisco from the province which +a company represents. + +In the Canton company, "Sam Yup," I was told that the members pay seven +dollars each, which sum is paid at any time, but always before they go +home. + +"Suppose a man does not pay?" I asked a Chinese who speaks English very +well. He replied, "Then the company loses it; but all who can, pay. Very +seldom any one refuses." + +"Suppose," said I, "a Chinaman refuses to respect the company's decision, +in case of a quarrel?" He replied, "They never refuse. It is their own +company. They are all members." + +Naturally there are sometimes losses and a deficit in the treasury. This +is made up by levying an additional contribution. + +"Do the companies advance money to bring over Chinese?" "No," was the +reply, "the company has no money; it is not a business association, +but only for mutual aid among the Chinese here." Nor does it act as +an employment office, for this is a separate and very well organized +business. It sends home the bones of dead men, and this costs fifteen +dollars; and wherever the deceased leaves property or money, or the +relatives are able to pay, the company exacts this sum. + +It is evident that the Chinese in California keep up a very active +correspondence with San Francisco as well as with China. They "keep +the run" of their people very carefully; and the poorer class, who have +probably gone into debt at home for money to get over here, seem to pay +their debts with great honesty out of their earnings. It is clear to me +that the poorer Chinese command far greater credit among their countrymen +than our laboring class usually receives, and this speaks well for their +general honesty. + +I do not mean to hold up the Chinaman as an entirely admirable creature. +He has many excellent traits, and we might learn several profitable +lessons from him in the art of organizing labor, and in other matters. But +he has grave vices; he does commonly, and without shame, many things which +we hold to be wrong and disreputable; and, altogether, it might have been +well could we have kept him out. + +The extent to which they carry organization and administration is +something quite curious. For instance, there are not only organized bands +of laborers, submitting themselves to the control and management of a +foreman; benevolent societies, administering charity and, to a large +extent, justice; employment societies, which make advances to gangs and +individuals all over the State; but there is in San Francisco a society or +organization for the importation of prostitutes from China. The existence +of this organization was not suspected until during last summer some of +its victims appealed to a city missionary to save them from a life of +vice. Thereupon suit was brought by Chinese in the courts for money which +they claimed these women owed; and, on an examination, I was told, no +attempt was made to conceal the fact that a regularly formed commercial +organization was engaged in either buying or kidnapping young women in +China, bringing them to San Francisco, there furnishing them clothing and +habitations, and receiving from them a share of the money they gained by +prostitution. + +But the Chinaman is here; treaty laws made by our Government with his give +him the right to come here, and to live here securely. And this is to be +said, that if we could to-day expel the Chinese from California, more than +half the capital now invested there would be idle or leave the State, many +of the most important industries would entirely stop, and the prosperity +of California would receive a blow from which it would not recover for +twenty years. They are, as a class, peaceable, patient, ingenious, and +industrious. That they deprive any white man of work is absurd, in a State +which has scarcely half a million of people, and which can support ten +millions, and needs at least three millions to develop fairly its abundant +natural wealth; and no matter what he is, or what the effect of his +presence might be, it is shameful that he should be meanly maltreated and +persecuted among a people who boast themselves Christian and claim to be +civilized. + +[Illustration: SAW-MILL.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MENDOCINO COAST AND CLEAR LAKE--GENERAL VIEW. + + +Some of the most picturesque country in California lies on or near +the coast north of San Francisco. The coast counties, Marin, Sonoma, +Mendocino, Humboldt, Klamath, and Del Norte, are the least visited by +strangers, and yet with Napa, Lake, and Trinity, they make up a region +which contains a very great deal of wild and fine scenery, and which +abounds with game, and shows to the traveler many varieties of life and +several of the peculiar industries of California. + +Those who have passed through the lovely Napa Valley, by way of Calistoga, +to the Geysers, or who have visited the same place by way of Healdsburg +and the pretty Russian River Valley, have no more than a faint idea of +what a tourist may see and enjoy who will devote two weeks to a journey +along the sea-coast of Marin and Mendocino counties, returning by way of +Clear Lake--a fine sheet of water, whose borders contain some remarkable +volcanic features. + +The northern coast counties are made up largely of mountains, but +imbosomed in these lie many charming little, and several quite spacious, +valleys, in which you are surprised to find a multitude of farmers living, +isolated from the world, that life of careless and easy prosperity which +is the lot of farmers in the fat valleys of California. + +In such a journey the traveler will see the famous redwood forests of this +State, whose trees are unequaled in size except by the gigantic sequoias; +he will see those dairy-farms of Marin County whose butter supplies not +only the Western coast, but is sent East, and competes in the markets of +New York and Boston with the product of Eastern dairies, while, sealed +hermetically in glass jars, it is transported to the most distant military +posts, and used on long sea-voyages, keeping sweet in any climate for at +least a year; he will see, in Mendocino County, one of the most remarkable +coasts in the world, eaten by the ocean into the most singular and +fantastic shapes; and on this coast saw-mills and logging camps, where +the immense redwood forests are reduced to useful lumber with a prodigious +waste of wood. + +He will see, besides the larger Napa, Petaluma, Bereyessa, and Russian +River valleys, which are already connected by railroad with San Francisco, +a number of quiet, sunny little vales, some of them undiscoverable on any +but the most recent maps, nestled among the mountains, unconnected as +yet with the world either by railroad or telegraph, but fertile, rich in +cattle, sheep, and grain, where live a people peculiarly Californian in +their habits, language, and customs, great horsemen, famous rifle-shots, +keen fishermen, for the mountains abound in deer and bear, and the streams +are alive with trout. + +He may see an Indian reservation--one of the most curious examples of +mismanaged philanthropy which our Government can show. And finally, the +traveler will come to, and, if he is wise, spend some days on, Clear +Lake--a strikingly lovely piece of water, which would be famous if it were +not American. + +For such a journey one needs a heavy pair of colored blankets and an +overcoat rolled up together, and a leather bag or valise to contain the +necessary change of clothing. A couple of rough crash towels and a piece +of soap also should be put into the bag; for you may want to camp out, and +you may not always find any but the public towel at the inn where you dine +or sleep. Traveling in spring, summer, or fall, you need no umbrella or +other protection against rain, and may confidently reckon on uninterrupted +fine weather. + +The coast is always cool. The interior valleys are warm, and during the +summer quite hot, and yet the dry heat does not exhaust or distress one, +and cool nights refresh you. In the valleys and on much-traveled roads +there is a good deal of dust, but it is, as they say, "clean dirt," and +there is water enough in the country to wash it off. You need not ride on +horseback unless you penetrate into Humboldt County, which has as yet +but few miles of wagon-road. In Mendocino, Lake, and Marin, the roads +are excellent, and either a public stage, or, what is pleasanter and but +little dearer, a private team, with a driver familiar with the country, +is always obtainable. In such a journey one element of pleasure is its +somewhat hap-hazard nature. You do not travel over beaten ground, and on +routes laid out for you; you do not know beforehand what you are to see, +nor even how you are to see it; you may sleep in a house to-day, in the +woods to-morrow, and in a sail-boat the day after; you dine one day in +a logging camp, and another in a farm-house. With the barometer at "set +fair," and in a country where every body is civil and obliging, and where +all you see is novel to an Eastern person, the sense of adventure adds a +keen zest to a journey which is in itself not only amusing and healthful, +but instructive. + +[Illustration: WOOD-CHOPPER AT WORK.] + +Marin County, which lies across the bay from San Francisco, and of which +the pretty village of San Rafael is the county town, contains the most +productive dairy-farms in the State. When one has long read of California +as a dry State, he wonders to find that it produces butter at all; and +still more to discover that the dairy business is extensive and profitable +enough--with butter at thirty-five cents a pound at the dairy--to warrant +the employment of several millions of capital, and to enable the dairy-men +to send their product to New York and Boston for sale. + +For the coast journey the best route, because it shows you much fine +scenery on your way, is by way of Soucelito, which is reached by a ferry +from San Francisco. From Soucelito either a stage or a private conveyance +carries you to Olema, whence you should visit Point Reyes, one of the most +rugged capes on the coast, where a light-house and fog-signal are placed +to warn and guide mariners. It is a wild spot, often enveloped in fogs, +and where it blows at least half a gale of wind three hundred days in +the year. + +Returning from Point Reyes to Olema, your road bears you past Tomales Bay, +and back to the coast of Mendocino County; and by the time you reach the +mouth of Russian River you are in the saw-mill country. Here the road runs +for the most part close to the coast, and gives you a long succession +of wild and strange views. You pass Point Arena, where is another +light-house; and finally land at Mendocino City. + +Before the stage sets you down at Mendocino, or "Big River," you will have +noticed that the coast-line is broken at frequent intervals by the mouths +of small streams, and at the available points at the mouths of these +streams saw-mills are placed. This continues up the coast, wherever a +river-mouth offers the slightest shelter to vessels loading; for the +redwood forests line the coast up to and beyond Humboldt Bay. + +When you leave the coast for the interior, you ride through mile after +mile of redwood forest. Unlike the firs of Oregon and Puget Sound, this +tree does not occupy the whole land. It rears its tall head from a jungle +of laurel, madrone, oak, and other trees; and I doubt if so many as fifty +large redwoods often stand upon a single acre. I was told that an average +tree would turn out about fifteen thousand feet of lumber, and thus even +thirty such trees to the acre would yield nearly half a million feet. + +The topography of California, like its climate, has decided features. +As there are but two seasons, so there are apt to be sharply-drawn +differences in natural features, and you descend from what appears to you +an interminable mass of mountains suddenly into a plain, and pass from +deep forests shading the mountain road at once into a prairie valley, +which nature made ready to the farmer's hands, taking care even to +beautify it for him with stately and umbrageous oaks. There are a number +of such valleys on the way which I took from the coast at Mendocino City +to the Nome Cult Indian Reservation, in Round Valley. The principal of +these, Little Lake, Potter, and Eden valleys, contain from five to twelve +thousand acres; but there are a number of smaller vales, little gems, big +enough for one or two farmers, fertile and easily cultivated. + +A good many Missourians and other Southern people have settled in this +part of the State. The better class of these make good farmers; but the +person called "Pike" in this State has here bloomed out until, at times, +he becomes, as a Californian said to me about an earthquake, "a little +monotonous." + +The Pike in Mendocino County regards himself as a laboring-man, and in +that capacity he has undertaken to drive out the Indians, just as a still +lower class in San Francisco has undertaken to drive out the laboring +Chinese. These Little Lake and Potter Valley Pikes were ruined by Indian +cheap labor; so they got up a mob and expelled the Indians, and the result +is that the work which these poor people formerly performed is now left +undone. + +As for the Indians, they are gathered at the Round Valley Reservation to +the number of about twelve hundred, where they stand an excellent chance +to lose such habits of industry and thrift as they had learned while +supporting themselves. At least half the men on the reservation, the +superintendent told me, are competent farmers, and many of the women are +excellent and competent house-servants. No one disputes that while they +supported themselves by useful industry in the valleys where were their +homes they were peaceable and harmless, and that the whites stood in no +danger from them. Why, then, should the United States Government forcibly +make paupers of them? Why should this class of Indians be compelled to +live on reservations? + +Under the best management which we have ever had in the Indian Bureau--let +us say under its present management--a reservation containing tame or +peaceable Indians is only a pauper asylum and prison combined, a nuisance +to the respectable farmers, whom it deprives of useful and necessary +laborers, an injury to the morals of the community in whose midst it is +placed, an injury to the Indian, whom it demoralizes, and a benefit only +to the members of the Indian ring. + +Round Valley is occupied in part by the Nome Cult Reservation, and in part +by farmers and graziers. In the middle of the valley stands Covelo, one +of the roughest little villages I have seen in California, the +gathering-place for a rude population, which inhabits not only the valley, +but the mountains within fifty miles around, and which rides into Covelo +on mustang ponies whenever it gets out of whisky at home or wants a spree. + +The bar-rooms of Covelo sell more strong drink in a day than any I have +ever seen elsewhere; and the sheep-herder, the vaquero, the hunter, and +the wandering rough, descending from their lonely mountain camps, make +up as rude a crowd as one could find even in Nevada. Being almost without +exception Americans, they are not quarrelsome in their cups. I was told, +indeed, by an old resident, that shooting was formerly common, but it +has gone out of fashion, mainly, perhaps, because most of the men are +excellent shots, and the amusement was dangerous. At any rate, I saw not a +single fight or disturbance, though I spent the Fourth of July at Covelo; +and it was, on the whole, a surprisingly well-conducted crowd, in spite +of a document which I picked up there, and whose directions were but too +faithfully observed by a large majority of the transient population. This +was called a "toddy time-table," and I transcribe it here from a neat +gilt-edged card for the warning and instruction of Eastern topers. + + TODDY TIME-TABLE. + + 6 A.M. Eye-opener. 3 P.M. Cobbler. + 7 " Appetizer. 4 " Social Drink. + 8 " Digester. 5 " Invigorator. + 9 " Big Reposer. 6 " Solid Straight. +10 " Refresher. 7 " Chit-chat. +11 " Stimulant. 8 " Fancy Smile. +12 " Ante-lunch. 9 " Entire Acte _(sic)_. + 1 P.M. Settler. 10 " Sparkler. + 2 " A la Smythe. 11 " Rouser. + 12 P.M. Night-cap. + GOOD-NIGHT. + +My impression is that this time-table was not made for the latitude of +Covelo, for they began to drink much earlier than 6 A.M. at the bar, near +which I slept, and they left off later than midnight. It would be unjust +for me not to add that, for the amount of liquor consumed, it was the +soberest and the best-natured crowd I ever saw. I would like to write +"respectable" also, but it would be ridiculous to apply that term to +men whose every word almost is an oath, and whose language in many cases +corresponds too accurately with their clothes and persons. + +From Round Valley there is a "good enough" horseback trail, as they call +it, over a steep mountain into the Sacramento Valley; but a pleasanter +journey, and one, besides, having more novelty, is by way of Potter +Valley to Lakeport, on Clear Lake. The road is excellent; the scenery is +peculiarly Californian. Potter Valley is one of the richest and also +one of the prettiest of the minor valleys of this State, and your way +to Lakeport carries you along the shores of two pleasant mountain +lakelets--the Blue Lakes, which are probably ancient craters. + +Two days' easy driving, stopping overnight in Potter Valley, brings you +to Lakeport, the capital of Lake County, and the only town I have seen in +California where dogs in the square worry strangers as they are entering +the place. As the only hotel in the town occupies one corner of this +square, and as in Californian fashion the loungers usually sit in the +evening on the sidewalk before the hotel, the combined attack of these +dogs occurs in their view, and perhaps affords them a pleasing and +beneficial excitement. The placid and impartial manner with which the +landlord himself regards the contest between the stranger and the +town dogs will lead you to doubt whether his house is not too full to +accommodate another guest, and whether he is not benevolently letting +the dogs spare him the pain of refusing you a night's lodging; but it is +gratifying to be assured, when you at last reach the door, that the dogs +"scarcely ever bite any body." + +Clear Lake is a large and picturesque sheet of water, twenty-five miles +long by about seven wide, surrounded by mountains, which in many places +rise from the water's edge. At Lakeport you can hire a boat at a very +reasonable price, and I advise the traveler to take his blankets on board, +and make this boat his home for two or three days. He will get food +at different farm-houses on the shore; and as there are substantial, +good-sized sail-boats, he can sleep on board very enjoyably. Aside from +its fine scenery, and one or two good specimens of small Californian +farms, the valley is remarkable for two borax lakes and a considerable +deposit of sulphur, all of which lie close to the shore. + +At one of the farm-houses, whose owner, a Pennsylvanian, has made himself +a most beautiful place in a little valley hidden by the mountains which +butt on the lake, I saw the culture of silk going on in that way in +which only, as I believe, it can be made successful in California. He +had planted about twenty-five hundred mulberry-trees, built himself an +inexpensive but quite sufficient little cocoonery, bought an ounce and +a half of eggs for fifteen dollars, and when I visited him had already +a considerable quantity of cocoons, and had several thousand worms then +feeding. + +It was his first attempt; he had never seen a cocoonery, but had read all +the books he could buy about the management of the silk-worm; and, as +his grain harvest was over, he found in the slight labor attending the +management of these worms a source of interest and delight which was alone +worth the cost of his experiment. But he is successful besides; and his +wife expressed great delight at the new employment her husband had found, +which, as she said, had kept him close at home for about two months. +She remarked that all wives ought to favor the silk culture for their +husbands; but the old man added that some husbands might recommend it to +their wives. + +Certainly I had no idea how slight and pleasant is the labor attending +this industry up to the point of getting cocoons. If, however, you mean to +raise eggs, the work is less pleasant. + +This farmer, Mr. Alter, had chosen his field of operations with +considerable shrewdness. He planted his mulberry-trees on a dry side-hill, +and found that it did not hurt his worms to feed to them, under this +condition, even leaves from the little shrubs growing in his nursery rows. +His cocoonery was sheltered from rude winds by a hill and a wood, and thus +the temperature was very equal. He had no stove in his house, the shelves +were quite rough, and the whole management might have been called careless +if it were not successful. + +I believe that the country about Clear Lake and in the Napa and Sonoma +valleys will be found very favorable to the culture of the silk-worm; +but I believe also that this industry will not succeed except where it is +carried on by farmers and their families in a small way. + +[Illustration: MOUNT HOOD, OREGON.] + +Boat life on Clear Lake is as delightful an experience as a traveler or +lounger can get anywhere. The lake is placid; there is usually breeze +enough to sail about; and you need not fear storms or rainy weather in the +dry season. If it should fall calm, and you do not wish to be delayed, you +can always hire an Indian to row the boat, and there is sufficient to +see on the lake to pleasantly detain a tourist several days, besides fine +fishing and hunting in the season, and lovely views all the time. + +Going to the Sulphur Banks on a calm morning, I hired an Indian from a +rancheria upon Mr. Alter's farm to row for us, and my Indian proved to be +a prize. His name was Napoleon, and he was a philosopher. Like his greater +namesake, he had had two wives. Of the first one he reported that "Jim +catchee him," by which I was to understand that he had tired of her, +and had sold her to "Jim;" and he had now taken number two, a moderately +pretty Digger girl, of whom he seemed to be uncommonly fond. As he rowed +he began to speak of his former life, when he had served a white farmer. + +"Him die now," said Napoleon; adding, in a musing tone, "he very good man, +plenty money; give Injun money all time. Him very good white man, that +man; plenty money all a time." + +Napoleon dwelt upon the wealth of his favorite white man so persistently +that presently it occurred to me to inquire a little further. + +"Suppose a white man had no money," said I, "what sort of a man would you +think him?" + +My philosopher's countenance took on a fine expression of contempt. +"Suppose white man no got money?" he asked. "Eh! suppose he no got +money--him dam fool!" And Napoleon glared upon us, his passengers, as +though he wondered if either of us would venture to contradict so plain a +proposition. + +The sulphur bank is a remarkable deposit of decomposed volcanic rock and +ashes, containing so large a quantity of sulphur that I am told that at +the refining-works, which lie on the bank of the lake, the mass yields +eighty per cent. of pure sulphur. The works were not in operation when I +was there. + +Several large hot springs burst out from the bank, and gas and steam +escape with some violence from numerous fissures. The deposit looks very +much like a similar one on the edge of the Kilauea crater, on the island +of Hawaii, but is, I should think, richer in sulphur. Near the sulphur +bank, on the edge of the lake, is a hot borate spring, which is supposed +to yield at times three hundred gallons per minute, and which Professor +Whitney, the State Geologist, declares remarkable for the extraordinary +amount of ammoniacal salts its waters contain--more than any natural +spring water that has ever been analyzed. + +There is abundant evidence of volcanic action in all the country about +Clear Lake. A dozen miles from Lakeport, not far from the shore of the +lake, the whole mountain side along which the stage-road runs is covered +for several miles with splinters and fragments of obsidian or volcanic +glass, so that it looks as though millions of bottles had been broken +there in some prodigious revelry; and where the road cuts into the side +of the mountain you see the osidian lying in huge masses and in boulders. +Joining this, and at one point interrupting it, is a tract of volcanic +ashes stratified, and the strata thrown up vertically in some places, as +though after the volcano had flung out the ashes there had come a terrific +upheaval of the earth. + +The two borax lakes lie also near the shore of Clear Lake; the largest +one, which is not now worked, has an area of about three hundred acres. +Little Borax Lake covers only about thirty acres, and this is now worked. +The efflorescing matter is composed of carbonate of soda, chloride of +sodium, and biborate of soda. The object of the works is, of course, to +separate the borax, and this is accomplished by crystallizing the borax, +which, being the least soluble of the salts, is the first to crystallize. + +The bottom of the lake was dry when I was there; it was covered all over +with a white crust, which workmen scrape up and carry to the works, where +it is treated very successfully. My nose was offended by the fetid stench +which came from the earth when it was first put in the vats with hot +water; and I was told by the foreman of the works that this arose from +the immense number of flies and other insects which fly upon the lake +and perish in it. Chinese are employed as laborers here, and give great +satisfaction; and about eight days are required to complete the operation +of extracting the borax in crystals. + +Earth containing biborate of lime is brought to this place all the way +from Wadsworth, in the State of Nevada--a very great distance, with +several transhipments--to be reduced at these works; and it seems that +this can be more cheaply done here than there, where they have neither +wood for the fires nor soda for the operation. + +Clear Lake is but twelve hours distant from San Francisco; the journey +thither is full of interest, and the lake itself, with the natural wonders +on its shores, is one of the most interesting and enjoyable spots in +California to a tourist who wishes to breathe fresh mountain air and enjoy +some days of free, open-air life. + +The visitor to Clear Lake should go by way of the Napa Valley, taking +stage for Lakeport at Calistoga, and return by way of the Russian River +Valley, taking the railroad at Cloverdale. Thus he will see on his journey +two of the richest and most fertile of the minor valleys of California, +both abounding in fruit and vines as well as in grain. + +As there are two sides to Broadway, so there are two sides to the Bay of +San Francisco. On the one side lies the fine and highly-cultivated Santa +Clara Valley, filling up fast with costly residences and carefully-kept +country places. Opposite, on the other side of the bay, lies the Russian +River Valley, as beautiful naturally as that of the Santa Clara, and +of which Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, and Cloverdale are the chief +towns. It is a considerable plain, bounded by fine hills and distant +mountains, which open up, as you pass by on the railroad, numerous +pretty reaches of subsidiary vales, where farmers live protected by the +projecting hills from all harsh sea-breezes, and where frost is seldom if +ever felt. + +As you ascend the valley, the madrone, one of the most striking trees +of California, becomes abundant and of larger growth, and its dark-green +foliage and bright cinnamon-colored bark ornament the landscape. The +laurel, too, or California bay-tree, grows thriftily among the hills, and +the plain and foot-hills are dotted with oak and redwood. This valley is +as yet somewhat thinly peopled, but it has the promise of a growth which +will make it the equal some day of the Santa Clara, and the superior, +perhaps, of the Napa Valley. + +[Illustration: INDIANS SPEARING SALMON, COLUMBIA RIVER.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN INDIAN RESERVATION. + + +A part of Round Valley, in Mendocino County, is set apart and used for an +Indian reservation; and, under the present policy of the Government, an +attempt has been made to gather and keep all the Indians of the northern +coast of California upon this reserve. In point of fact they are not +nearly all there. One thousand and eighty-one men, women, and children, +according to a census recently taken, or nearly one thousand two hundred +according to the Rev. Mr. Burchard, the Indian agent, are actually within +the reservation lines; and about four hundred are absent, at work for +themselves or for white men, but have the right to come in at any time to +be clothed and fed. + +Round Valley is a plain surrounded by high mountains. The plain is mostly +excellent agricultural land; the mountain slopes are valuable for grazing. +The reservation contains, it is said, sixty thousand acres; but only a +small part of this is plain, and the reservation occupies about one-third +or perhaps only a quarter of the whole valley. The remainder is held by +white farmers; and there is a rude little town, Covelo, in the centre of +the valley, about a mile and a half from the reservation house. + +The reservation has a mill, store-houses, the houses of the agent and his +subordinates, two school-houses, and the huts of the Indians; the latter +are either rough board one-roomed shanties, or mere wigwams built by the +owners of brush, with peculiar low entrances, into which you must creep on +all-fours. These they prefer for summer use, and I found that a number +of the board-shanties were empty and the doors nailed up, their owners +sensibly preferring to live in brush houses during the hot weather. + +When I arrived at the agency the Indians were receiving their ration of +flour, and, as they gathered in a great court-yard, I had an opportunity +to examine them. They are short, dark-skinned, generally ugly, stout, and +were dressed in various styles, but always in such clothing as they get +from the Government; not in their native costume. Among several hundred +women I saw not one even tolerably comely or conspicuously clean or neat; +but I saw several men very well dressed. They carried off their rations +in baskets which they make, and which are water-tight. The agent or +superintendent, Mr. Burchard, very obligingly showed me through the camp, +and answered my questions, and what follows of information I gained in +this way. + +The Indian shanties contain a fire-place, a bed-place, and sometimes +a table; once I saw a small store-room; and on the walls hung dresses, +shoes, fishing-nets, and other property of the occupants. The agent +pointed out to me that in most of the houses there were bags of flour +and meal stowed away, and remarked, "Whatever they may say against the +President, no one can say that he does not make the Indians comfortable;" +and it is true that I saw everywhere in the camp the evidence of abundant +supplies of food and sufficient clothing in the possession of the Indians. +The superintendent said to me, "They have plenty of every thing; they have +often several bags of flour in the house at once; no man can say they are +wronged." + +The earthen floors of the houses were usually cleanly swept; there are +wells at which the people get water; the school-houses are well furnished, +and as good as the average country-school, and the Indians seem to suffer +no hardship of the merely physical kind. The agent, Mr. Burchard, seems to +be a genuinely kind person, simple-hearted, and, I should think, honest; +and his assistants, whom I saw, struck me as respectable men. Indeed, +several persons in the valley, unconnected with the reservation, told me +that under Mr. Burchard's rule the Indians were much better treated than +by his predecessor. I suppose, therefore, that I saw one of the most +favorable examples of the reservation system. + +In what follows, then, I criticise the reservation system, so far, at +least, as it applies to the Indians of California, and not the management +at Round Valley; and I say that it is a piece of cruel and stupid +mismanagement and waste for which there is no excuse except in the +ignorance of the President who continues it. + +Most of the Indians of these northern coast counties, as well as those of +Southern California, have for some years been a valuable laboring force +for the farmers. They were employed to clear land, to make hay, and +in many other avocations about the farm; they lived usually in little +rancherias, or collections of huts, near the farm-houses; the women washed +and did chores for the whites about the houses; and there has been, for at +least half a dozen years, no pretense even that their presence among the +whites was dangerous to these. Mr. Burchard told me himself that more than +half the Indian men at Round Valley were competent farmers, and that +the Indian women were used at the agency houses as servants, and made +excellent and competent house-help. + +Scattered through Potter, Little Lake, Ukiah, and other valleys, they were +earning their living, and a number of farmers of that region have assured +me that it was a serious disadvantage to them to lose the help of these +Indians. Nor was it even necessary to speak their language in order to +use their labor, for the agent told me that, of the Potter Valley tribe, +nine-tenths speak English; of the Pitt Rivers, four-fifths; of the Little +Lakes, two-thirds; of the Redwoods, three-quarters; of the Concows and +Capellos, two-thirds. The Wylackies and Ukies speak less; they have been, +I believe, longer on the reservation. As I walked through the Indian camp, +English was as often spoken in my hearing as Indian. + +The removal of the useful and self-supporting part of the Indian +population to the reservation was brought about by means which are a +disgrace to the United States Government. There is in all this northern +country a class of mean whites, ignorant, easily led to evil, and +extremely jealous of what they imagine to be their rights. Among these +somebody fomented a jealousy of the Indians. It was said that they took +the bread out of white men's mouths, that their labor interfered with +the white men, and so forth. In fact, I suspect that the Indians were +too respectable for these mean whites; and you can easily find people in +California who say that it is to the interest of the Indian Bureau to make +the whites hate the Indians. + +The Indians were an industrious and harmless people; even the squaws +worked; the Indian men had learned to take contracts for clearing land, +weeding fields, and so forth; and many of them were so trustworthy that +the farmers made them small advances where it was necessary. They were not +turbulent, and I was surprised to be told that drunkenness was rare among +them. + +After secret deliberations among the mean whites, incited by no one knows +who, and headed by the demagogues who are never found wanting when dirty +work is to be done, a petition was sent to the State Superintendent of +Indian Affairs at San Francisco for the removal of the Indians; but the +more decent people immediately prepared and sent up a counter-petition, +stating the whole case. This was in the spring of 1872. + +I do not know the State Indian agent, but I am told that he hesitated, did +not act, and, in May of the same year, a mob, without authority from him +or from any body else, without notice to the Indians, and without even +giving these poor creatures time to gather up their household goods or to +arrange their little affairs, drove them out of their houses, and sixty +miles, over a cruel road, to the reservation. + +[Illustration: CHISTOOK WOMAN AND CHILD.] + +Against this act of lawless violence toward peaceable and self-supporting +men and women, who are, I notice, officially called "the nation's +unfortunate wards," the proper officer of the United States Government, +the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, did not protest, and for it no one +has ever been punished. + +But this was not all. The Indians being thus driven out, a meeting was +called, at which it was announced that if they dared to return they would +be killed; and, in fact, three unfortunates, who ventured back after some +months to see their old homes, were shot down in cold blood; and, though +the men are known who did this, for it no one has ever been punished. +Why should they be? The mob was only carrying out the prevailing "Indian +policy," and the United States Government looked on with its hands folded. + +It happens that the Indians of these little valleys are a mild race, not +prone to war. When the white settlers first came to this region they lived +unmolested by the Indians, who were numerous then, and might easily have +"wiped out," to use a California phrase, the intruding white men. It +happens that the Indians of the interior are braver and more warlike; and, +accordingly, among them there were forty-five resolute Modocs, unwilling +to be driven to a reservation, defying the United States for half a year. +But from what I have written one can see how the Modoc war came about; +for it arose from an attempt to force Captain Jack on to the Klamath +Reservation--an attempt made, not by United States troops, as it ought +to have been if it was to be done, but in their absence, and by men who +purposely and carefully kept the military ignorant of what they intended +to do; for there exists the utmost jealousy on the part of the Indian +agents, of the War Department and the military authorities; and I repeat +that the removal of the Modocs was planned and attempted to be carried +out by the Indian Bureau officers, they keeping the military in careful +ignorance of their designs. + +I do not say too much when I say that if General Schofield had been +informed and consulted beforehand, there would have been no Modoc war, and +General Canby and Mr. Thomas might have been alive to-day. + +Accordingly, these "unfortunate wards of the nation" are driven on the +reservation. If their agent happens to be honest and kindly, like Mr. +Burchard, they get enough to eat and to wear. If he is not, they do not +fare quite so well. Captain Jack said he was "tired of eating horse-meat." + +But if you are a guardian, and have a ward, you are not satisfied if your +ward, presumedly an ignorant person in a state of pupilage, merely has +enough to eat and to wear. You endeavor to form his manners and morals. +Well, the Indian camp at Round Valley is in a deplorable state of +disorder. No attempt is made to teach our wards to be clean or orderly, +or to form in them those habits which might elevate, at least, their +children. The plain around the shanties is full of litter, and overgrown +with dog-fennel. As Mr. Burchard, the superintendent, walked about with +me, half-grown boys sat on the grass, and even on the school-house steps, +gambling with cards for tobacco, and they had not been taught manners +enough to rise or move aside at the superintendent's approach. As we +sat in the school-house, one, two, three Indian men came in to prefer +a request, but not one of them took off his hat. We entered a cabin and +found a big he-Indian lying on his bed. "Are you sick?" inquired Mr. +Burchard, and the lazy hound, without offering to rise, muttered "No; me +lying down." + +The agent, in reply to my questions, said that they gambled a good deal +for money and beads during the week, but he had forbidden it on Sundays; +and he would not allow them to gamble away their clothing, as they +formerly did. + +There are about eighty scholars on the school-list, and about fifty attend +school. Was there any compulsion used? I asked, and he said No. Now surely +here, if anywhere, one might begin with a compulsory school-law. + +Did he attempt to regulate the conduct of the growing boys and girls? No. + +Do the Indians marry on the reservation? No. One chief has two wives; men +leave their wives, or change them as they please. + +What if children are born irregularly? Well, the reservation feeds and +supports all who are on it. Nobody suffers. + +Are the women often diseased? Yes, nearly all of them. + +Have you a hospital, or do you attempt to isolate those who are diseased? +No; the families all take care of their sick. The doctor visits them in +their shanties. (Bear in mind this reservation was established, and has +had Indians on it since 1860.) + +Do the Indians have to ask permission to go to the town? No; they go when +they please. + +Is there much drunkenness? No; singularly little. + +Do you attempt to make them rise at any specified hour in the morning? No. + +Have you a list or roster of the Indians who belong on the reservation? +No. + +How many Indians own horses? I do not know. + +On Sunday there is preaching; the audience varies; and those who do not +come to church--where the preaching is in English--play shinny. + +Is not all this deplorable? Here is a company of ignorant and +semi-barbarous people, forcibly gathered together by the United States +Government (with the help of a mob), under the pretense that they are the +"unfortunate wards of the nation;" and the Government does not require the +officers it sets over them to control them in any single direction where +a conscientious guardian would feel bound to control his ward. How can +habits of decency, energy, order, thrift, virtue, grow up--nay, how can +they continue, if in the beginning they existed, with such management? +Captain Jack and his forty-five Modocs were at least brave and energetic +men. Can any one blame them, if they were bored to desperation by such a +life as this, and preferred death to remaining on the reservation? + +Nor is this all. Of the two thousand acres of arable land on the +reservation, about five hundred are kept for grazing, and one thousand +acres are in actual cultivation this year--seven hundred in grain and +hay, one hundred and ninety-five in corn, and one hundred and nine +in vegetables. A farmer, assistant-farmer, and gardener manage this +considerable piece of land. When they need laborers they detail such men +or women as they require, and these go out to work. They seldom refuse; +if they do, they are sent to the military post, where they are made to saw +wood. Not one of the cabins has about it a garden spot; all cultivation +is in common; and thus the Indian is deprived of the main incentive to +industry and thrift--the possession of the actual fruits of his own toil; +and, unless he were a deep-thinking philosopher, who had studied out for +himself the problems of socialism, he must, in the nature of things, be +made a confirmed pauper and shirk by such a system, in which he sees no +direct reward for his toil, and neither receives wages nor consciously +eats that which his own hands have planted. + +In the whole system of management, as I have described it, you will +see that there is no reward for, or incentive to, excellence; it is all +debauching and demoralizing; it is a disgrace to the Government, which +consents to maintain at the public cost what is, in fact, nothing else but +a pauper shop and house of prostitution. + +And what is true of this reservation is equally true of that on the Tule +River, in Southern California, which I saw in 1872. In both, to sum up the +story, the Government has deprived the farmers of an important laboring +force by creating a pauper asylum, called a reservation; and, having +thus injured the community, it further injures the Indian by a system of +treatment which ingeniously takes away every incentive to better living, +and abstains from controlling him on those very points wherein an upright +guardian would most rigidly and faithfully control and guide his ward. + +To force a population of laboring and peaceable Indians on a reservation +is a monstrous blunder. For wild and predatory or unsettled Indians, like +the Apaches, or many tribes of the plains, the reservation is doubtless +the best place; but even then the Government, acting as guardian, ought to +control and train its wards; it ought to treat them like children, or at +least like beasts; it ought not only to feed and clothe them, but also +to teach them, and enforce upon them order, neatness, good manners, and +habits of discipline and steady labor. This seems plain enough, but it +will never be done by "Indian agents," selected from civil life, be these +ministers or laymen. + +An army officer, methodical, orderly, and having the habit of command, +is the proper person for superintendent of a reservation; for drill +and discipline, regular hours, regular duties, respectful manners, +cleanliness, method--these are the elements of civilization that are +needed, and which an army officer knows how to impress without harshness, +because they are the essence of his own life. But under our present Indian +policy the army is the mere servant of the Indian agent. If it were not +for the small military force at Camp Wright, Mr. Burchard, the agent, +could not keep an Indian on his reservation. But the intelligent, +thoroughly-trained, and highly-educated soldier who commands there +has neither authority nor influence at the reservation. He is a mere +policeman, to whom an unruly Indian is sent for punishment, and who +goes out at the command of the superintendent, a person in every way his +inferior except in authority, to catch Indians when no mob is at hand to +drive them in. + +A true and humane Indian policy would be to require all peaceable Indians +to support themselves as individuals and families among the whites, which +would at once abolish the Round Valley and Tule River reservations; to +place all the nomads on reservations, under the control of picked and +intelligent army officers, and to require these to ignore, except for +expediency's sake, all tribal distinctions and the authority of chiefs; +to form every reservation into a military camp, adopting and maintaining +military discipline, though not the drill, of course; to give to every +Indian family an acre of ground around its hut, and require it to +cultivate that, demanding of the male Indians at the same time two or +three days of labor every week in the common fields, or on roads and +other public improvements within the reservation during the season when +no agricultural labor is required; to curb their vices, as a parent would +those of his children; to compel the young to attend schools; to insist +upon a daily morning muster, and a daily inspection of the houses and +grounds; to establish a hospital for the sick; and thus gradually +to introduce the Indian to civilization by the only avenue open to +savages--by military discipline. + +Under such a system a reserve like that of Round Valley would not to-day, +after thirteen years of occupation, be a mass of weeds and litter, with +bad roads, poor fences, and an almost impassable corduroy bridge over a +little ditch. On the contrary, in half the time it would be a model of +cleanliness and order; it would have the best roads, the neatest cottages, +the cleanest grounds, the most thorough culture; and when the Indians had +produced this effect, they would not fail to be in love with it. + +Nor is it impossible to do all this with Indians. But it needs men used to +command, well educated, and with habits of discipline--the picked men +of the army. At present, an Indian reservation differs from an Indian +rancheria or village only in that it contains more food, more vice, and +more lazy people. + +[Illustration: VIEW ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE REDWOODS AND THE SAW-MILL COUNTRY OF MENDOCINO. + + +Some years ago, before there was a wagon-road between Cloverdale and +Mendocino City, or Big River, as it is more commonly called up here on +the northern coast, the mail was carried on horse--or, more usually, on +mule--back; and the mail-rider was caught, on one stormy and dark night, +upon the road, and found himself unable to go farther. In this dilemma +he took refuge, with his mule and the United States mails, in a hollow +redwood, and man and mule lay down comfortably within its shelter. They +had room to spare indeed, as I saw when the stage-driver pointed out the +tree to me and kindly stopped until I examined it. + +At a road-side inn I found they had roofed over a hollow stump, and used +it as a capacious store-room. + +All these were large trees, of course; but there is no reason to believe +that they were the biggest of their kind; and when you have traveled for +two or three days through the redwood forests of the northern coast of +California you will scarcely be surprised at any story of big trees. + +The redwood seems to be found only near the coast of California; it needs +the damp air which comes from the sea and which blows against the mountain +slopes, which the tree loves. The coast, from fifty miles north of San +Francisco to the northern border of Humboldt County, is a dense redwood +forest; it is a mountainous and broken country, and the mountains are cut +at frequent intervals by streams, some but a few miles in length, others +penetrating into the interior by narrow canons forty or fifty miles, and +dividing in their upper waters into several branches. + +The man who wondered at the wisdom of Providence in causing great +rivers to flow past large cities would be struck with admiration at +the convenient outflow of these streams; for upon them depends the +accessibility of the redwood forests to the loggers and saw-mill men who +are busily turning these forests into lumber. At the mouth of every stream +is placed a saw-mill; and up these little rivers, many of which would +hardly aspire to the dignity of creeks in Missouri or Mississippi, loggers +are busy chopping down huge trees, sawing them into lengths, and floating +them down to the mills. + +The redwood has the color of cedar, but not its fragrance; it is a soft +wood, unfit for ship-building, but easily worked and extraordinarily +durable. It is often used in California for water-pipes, and makes +the best fence posts, for it never rots below ground. Moreover, it is +excellent material for houses. When varnished, it keeps its fine red +color, but without this protection it slowly turns black with exposure to +the air. It is a most useful lumber, and forms a not unimportant part of +the natural wealth of California. + +The saw-mills are mostly on so large a scale that about every one grows up +a village or town, which usually contains several saloons or grog-shops, +one or two billiard-rooms, a rude tavern or two, a doctor or two, several +stores, and, in some cases, a church. There are, besides, the houses of +those mill-men who have families, shanties for the bachelors, and usually +one or two houses of greater pretensions, inhabited by the owners or local +superintendents. + +Not easily accessible, these little saw-mill ports are rarely visited by +strangers, and the accommodations are somewhat rude; but the people are +kindly, and the country is wonderfully picturesque, and well repays a +visit. + +The absolute coast is almost barren, by reason of the harsh, strong winds +which prevail during the greater part of the year. The redwood forests +begin a mile or two back from the sea. The climate of this part of the +coast is remarkably equal, cool but not cold, all the year round; they +have fires in the evening in July, and don't shut their doors, except in +a storm, in December. They wear the same clothing all the year round, and +seldom have frost. But when you get out of the reach of the sea, only a +mile back, you find hot weather in July; and in winter they have snow, +quite deep sometimes, in the redwoods. + +Where the little saw-mill rivers enter the sea, there is usually a sort +of roadstead--a curve of the shore, not enough to make a harbor, but +sufficient to give anchorage and a lee from the prevailing north-west +wind, which makes it possible, by different devices, to load vessels. +There are rivers in Humboldt County where nature has not provided even +this slight convenience, and there--it being impossible to ship the +lumber--no saw-mills have been established. + +Vessels are frequently lost, in spite of all precautions; for, when the +wind changes to south-west, the whole Pacific Ocean rolls into these +roadsteads; and, when a gale is seen approaching, the crews anchor their +ships as securely as they can, and then go ashore. It has happened in +Mendocino harbor, that a schooner has been capsized at her anchorage by a +monstrous sea; and Captain Lansing told me that in the last twenty years +he had seen over a hundred persons drowned in that port alone, in spite of +all precautions. + +The waves have cut up the coast in the most fantastic manner. It is +rock-bound, and the rock seems to be of varying hardness, so that the +ocean, trying every square inch every minute of the day for thousands +of years, has eaten out the softer parts, and worked out the strangest +caverns and passages. You scarcely see a headland or projecting point +through which the sea has not forced a passage, whose top exceeds a +little the mark of high tide; and there are caves innumerable, some with +extensive ramifications. I was shown one such cave at Mendocino City, into +which a schooner, drifting from her anchors, was sucked during a heavy +sea. As she broke from her anchors the men hoisted sail, and the vessel +was borne into the cave with all sail set. Her masts were snapped off like +pipe-stems, and the hull was jammed into the great hole in the rock, where +it began to thump with the swell so vehemently that two of the frightened +crew were at once crushed on the deck by the overhanging ceiling of the +cave. Five others hurriedly climbed out over the stern, and there hung on +until ropes were lowered to them by men on the cliff above, who drew them +up safely. It was a narrow escape; and a more terrifying situation than +that of this crew, as they saw their vessel sucked into a cave whose depth +they did not know, can hardly be imagined outside of a hasheesh dream. +The next morning the vessel was so completely broken to pieces that not a +piece the size of a man's arm was ever found of her hull. + +[Illustration: LUMBERING IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY--PREPARING LOGS.] + +I suppose all saw-mills are pretty much alike; those on this coast not +only saw lumber of different shapes and sizes, but they have also planing +and finishing apparatus attached; and in some the waste lumber is worked +up with a good deal of care and ingenuity. But in many of the mills there +is great waste. It is probably a peculiarity of the saw-mills on this +coast, that they must provide a powerful rip-saw to rip in two the larger +logs before they are small enough for a circular saw to manage. Indeed, +occasionally the huge logs are split with wedges, or blown apart with +gunpowder, in the logging camps, because they are too vast to be floated +down to the mill in one piece. The expedients for loading vessels are +often novel and ingenious. For instance, at Mendocino the lumber is loaded +on cars at the mill, and drawn by steam up a sharp incline, and by horses +off to a point which shelters and affords anchorage for schooners. +This point is, perhaps, one hundred feet above the water-line, and long +wire-rope stages are projected from the top, and suspended by heavy +derricks. The car runs to the edge of the cliff; the schooner anchors +under the shipping stage one hundred feet below, and the lumber is slid +down to her, a man standing at the lower end to check its too rapid +descent with a kind of brake. When a larger vessel is to be loaded, they +slide the lumber into a lighter, and the ship is loaded from her. The +redwood is shipped not only to California ports, but also to China and +South America; and while I was at. Mendocino, a bark lay there loading for +the Navigator Islands. + +A large part of the lumbering population consists of bachelors, and for +their accommodation you see numerous shanties erected near the saw-mills +and lumber piles. At Mendocino City there is quite a colony of such +shanties, two long rows, upon a point or cape from which the lumber is +loaded. + +I had the curiosity to enter one of these little snuggeries, which +was unoccupied. It was about ten by twelve feet in area, had a large +fire-place (for fuel is shamefully abundant here), a bunk for sleeping, +with a lamp arranged for reading in bed, a small table, hooks for clothes, +a good board floor, a small window, and a neat little hood over the +door-way, which gave this little hut quite a picturesque effect. There +was, besides, a rough bench and a small table. + +It seemed to me that in such a climate as that of Mendocino, where they +wear the same clothes all the year round, have evening fires in July, and +may keep their doors open in January, such a little kennel as this meets +all the real wants of the male of the human race. + +This, I suspect, is about as far as man, unaided by woman, would have +carried civilization anywhere. Whatever any of us have over and above such +a snuggery as this we owe to womankind; whatever of comfort or elegance +we possess, woman has given us, or made us give her. I think no wholesome, +right-minded man in the world would ever get beyond such a hut; and I +even suspect that the occupant of the shanty I inspected must have been in +love, and thinking seriously of marriage, else he would never have nailed +the pretty little hood over his door-way. So helpless is man! And yet +there are people who would make of woman only a kind of female man! + +As you travel along the coast, the stage-road gives you frequent and +satisfactory views of its curiously distorted and ocean-eaten caves and +rocks. It has a dangerous and terrible aspect, no doubt, to mariners, but +it is most wonderful, viewed from the shore. At every projection you see +that the waves have pierced and mined the rock; if the sea is high, you +will hear it roar in the caverns it has made, and whistle and shriek +wherever it has an outlet above through which the waves may force the air. + +The real curiosity of this region is a logging camp. The redwood country +is astonishingly broken; the mountain sides are often almost precipitous; +and on these steep sides the redwood grows tall and straight and big +beyond the belief of an Eastern man. The trees do not occupy the whole +ground, but share it with laurels, dogwood, a worthless kind of oak, +occasionally pine, and smaller wood. It is a kind of jungle; and the +loggers, when they have felled a number of trees, set fire to the brush +in order to clear the ground before they attempt to draw the logs to the +water. + +[Illustration: VICTORIA HARBOR, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND.] + +A logging camp is an assemblage of rude redwood shanties, gathered about +one larger shanty, which is the cook-house and dining-hall, and where +usually two or three Chinamen are at work over the stove, and setting +the table. The loggers live well; they have excellent bread, meat, beans, +butter, dried apples, cakes, pies, and pickles; in short, I have dined in +worse places. + +A camp is divided into "crews;" a crew is composed of from twenty to +twenty-six men, who keep one team of eight or ten oxen busy hauling the +logs to water. + +A "crew" consists of teamsters, choppers, chain-tenders, jack-screw +men (for these logs are too heavy to be moved without such machinery), +swampers, who build the roads over which the logs are hauled, sawyers, +and barkers. A teamster, I was told, receives seventy dollars per month, a +chopper fifty dollars, chain-tenders and jack-screw men the same, swampers +forty-five dollars, sawyers forty dollars, and barkers, who are usually +Indians, one dollar a day and board besides, for all. The pay is not bad, +and as the chances to spend money in a logging camp are not good, many of +the men lay up money, and by-and-by go to farming or go home. They work +twelve hours a day. + +A man in Humboldt County got out of one redwood tree lumber enough to make +his house and barn, and to fence in two acres of ground. + +A schooner was filled with shingles made from a single tree. + +One tree in Mendocino, whose remains were shown to me, made a mile of +railroad ties. Trees fourteen feet in diameter have been frequently found +and cut down; the saw-logs are often split apart with wedges, because the +entire mass is too large to float in the narrow and shallow streams; and I +have even seen them blow a log apart with gunpowder. + +A tree four feet in diameter is called undersized in these woods; and so +skillful are the wood-choppers that they can make the largest giant of the +forest fall just where they want it, or, as they say, they "drive a stake +with the tree." + +To chop down a redwood-tree, the chopper does not stand on the ground, but +upon a stage sometimes twelve feet above the ground. Like the sequoia, +the redwood has a great bulk near the ground, but contracts somewhat a +few feet above. The chopper wants only the fair round of the tree, and +his stage is composed of two stout staves, shod with a pointed iron at one +end, which is driven into the tree. The outer ends are securely supported; +and on these staves he lays two narrow, tough boards, on which he stands, +and which spring at every blow of his axe. It will give you an idea of the +bulk of these trees, when I tell you that in chopping down the larger ones +two men stand on the stage and chop simultaneously at the same cut, facing +each other. + +They first cut off the bark, which is from four to ten, and often fifteen +inches thick. This done, they begin what is called the "undercut"--the cut +on that, side toward which the tree is meant to fall; and when they have +made a little progress, they, by an ingenious and simple contrivance, +fix upon the proper direction of the cut, so as to make the tree fall +accurately where they want it. This is necessary, on account of the great +length and weight of the trees, and the roughness of the ground, by reason +of which a tree carelessly felled may in its fall break and split +into pieces, so as to make it entirely worthless. This happens not +unfrequently, in spite of every care. + +So skillful are they in giving to the tree its proper direction that they +are able to set a post or stake in the ground a hundred feet or more from +the root of the tree, and drive it down by felling the tree on top of it. + +"Can you really drive a stake with a tree?" I asked, and was answered, "Of +course, we do it every day." + +The "under-cut" goes in about two-thirds the diameter. When it is finished +the stage is shifted to the opposite side, and then it is a remarkable +sight to see the tall, straight mass begin to tremble as the axe goes in. +It usually gives a heavy crack about fifteen minutes before it means to +fall. The chopper thereupon gives a warning shout, so that all may stand +clear--not of the tree, for he knows very well where that will go, and in +a cleared space men will stand within ten feet of where the top of a tree +is to strike, and watch its fall; his warning is against the branches of +other trees, which are sometimes torn off and flung to a distance by the +falling giant, and which occasionally dash out men's brains. + +At last the tree visibly totters, and slowly goes over; and as it goes the +chopper gets off his stage and runs a few feet to one side. Then you hear +and see one of the grandest and most majestic incidents of forest life. +There is a sharp crack, a crash, and then a long, prolonged, thunderous +crash, which, when you hear it from a little distance, is startlingly like +an actual and severe thunder-peal. To see a tree six feet in diameter, +and one hundred and seventy-five feet high, thus go down, is a very great +sight, not soon forgotten. + +The choppers expressed themselves as disappointed that they could not just +then show me the fall of a tree ten or twelve feet in diameter, and over +two hundred feet high. In one logging camp I visited there remained a +stump fourteen feet high. At this height the tree was fourteen feet in +diameter, perfectly round and sound, and it had been sawn into seventeen +logs, each twelve feet long. The upper length was six feet in diameter. +Probably the tree was three hundred feet long, for the top for a long +distance is wasted. + +So many of the trees and so many parts of trees are splintered or broken +in the fall, that the master of a logging camp told me he thought they +wasted at least as much as they saved; and as the mills also waste a +good deal, it is probable that for every foot of this lumber that goes to +market two feet are lost. A five-foot tree occupies a chopper from two +and a half to three and a half hours, and to cut down a tree eight feet in +diameter is counted a day's work for a man. + +When the tree is down the sawyers come. Each has a long saw; he removes +the bark at each cut with an axe, and then saws the tree into lengths. +It is odd enough to go past a tree and see a saw moving back and forward +across its diameter without seeing the man who moves it, for the tree +hides him completely from you, if you are on the side opposite him. Then +come the barkers, with long iron bars to rip off the thick bark; then the +jack-screw men, three or four of whom move a log about easily and rapidly +which a hundred men could hardly budge. They head it in the proper +direction for the teamsters and chain-men, and these then drag it down to +the water over roads which are watered to make the logs slide easily; and +then, either at high tide or during the winter freshets, the logs are run +down to the mill. + +The Maine men make the best wood-choppers, but the logging camp is a +favorite place also for sailors; and I was told that Germans are liked as +workmen about timber. The choppers grind their axes once a week--usually, +I was told, on Sunday--and all hands in a logging camp work twelve hours a +day. + +The Government has lately become very strict in preserving the timber +on Congress land, which was formerly cut at random, and by any body who +chose. Government agents watch the loggers, and if these are anywhere +caught cutting timber on Congress land their rafts are seized and sold. +At present prices, it pays to haul logs in the redwood country only about +half a mile to water; all trees more distant than this from a river are +not cut; but the rivers are in many places near each other, and the belt +of timber left standing, though considerable, is not so great as one would +think. + +Redwood lumber has one singular property--it shrinks endwise, so that +where it is used for weather-boarding a house, one is apt to see the +butts shrunk apart. I am told that across the grain it does not shrink +perceptibly. + +Accidents are frequent in a logging camp, and good surgeons are in demand +in all the saw-mill ports, for there is much more occasion for surgery +than for physic. Men are cut with axes, jammed by logs, and otherwise +hurt, one of the most serious dangers arising from the fall of limbs torn +from standing trees by a falling one. Often such a limb lodges or sticks +in the high top of a tree until the wind blows it down, or the concussion +of the wood-cutter's axe, cutting down the tree, loosens it. Falling from +such a height as two hundred or two hundred and fifty feet, even a light +branch is dangerous, and men sometimes have their brains dashed out by +such a falling limb. + +When you leave the coast for the interior, you ride through mile after +mile of redwood forest. Unlike the firs of Oregon and Puget Sound, this +tree does not occupy the whole land. It rears its tall head from a jungle +of laurel, madrone, oak, and other trees; and I doubt if so many as fifty +large redwoods often stand upon a single acre. I was told that an average +tree would turn out about fifteen thousand feet of lumber, and thus even +thirty such trees to the acre would yield nearly half a million feet. + +[Illustration: PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +DAIRY-FARMING IN CALIFORNIA. + + +The great valleys of California do not produce much butter, and probably +never will, though I am told that cows fed on alfalfa, which is a kind of +lucerne, yield abundant and rich milk, and, when small and careful farming +comes into fashion in this State, there is no reason why stall-fed cows +should not yield butter, even in the San Joaquin or Sacramento valleys. +Indeed, with irrigation and stall-feeding, as one may have abundance of +green food all the year round in the valleys, there should be excellent +opportunity for butter-making. + +But it is not necessary to use the agricultural soil for dairy purposes. +In the foot-hills of the Sierras, and on the mountains, too, for a +distance of more than a hundred miles along and near the line of the +railroad, there is a great deal of country admirably fitted for dairying, +and where already some of the most prosperous butter ranchos, as they call +them here, are found. And as they are near a considerable population of +miners and lumber-men, and have access by railroad to other centres of +population, both eastward and westward, the business is prosperous in this +large district, where, by moving higher up into the mountains as summer +advances, the dairy-man secures green food for his cows the summer +through, without trouble, on the one condition that he knows the country +and how to pick out his land to advantage. + +Another dairy district lies on the coast, where the fogs brought in by the +prevailing north-west winds keep the ground moist, foster the greenness +and succulence of the native grasses during the summer, at least in the +ravines, and keep the springs alive. + +Marin County, lying north of San Francisco, is the country of butter +ranches on the coast, though there are also many profitable dairies +south of the bay, in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. In fact, dry +as California is commonly and erroneously supposed to be, it exports a +considerable quantity of butter, and a dairy-man said to me but recently +that, to make the business really prosperous, the State needed a million +or two more inhabitants, which means that the surplus product is now so +great that it keeps down the price. No small quantity of this surplus goes +East, as far as New York; and it is one of the curiosities of production +and commerce that, while California can send butter to the Atlantic, it +buys eggs of Illinois. One would have thought the reverse more probable. + +Marin County offers some important advantages to the dairy-farmer. The +sea-fogs which it receives cause abundant springs of excellent soft water, +and also keep the grass green through the summer and fall in the gulches +and ravines. Vicinity to the ocean also gives this region a very equal +climate. It is never cold in winter nor hot in summer. In the milk-houses +I saw usually a stove, but it was used mainly to dry the milk-room after +very heavy fogs or continued rains; and in the height of summer the +mercury marks at most sixty-seven degrees, and the milk keeps sweet +without artificial aids for thirty-six hours. + +The cows require no sheds nor any store of food, though the best dairymen, +I noticed, raised beets; but more, they told me, to feed to their pigs +than for the cows. These creatures provide for themselves the year round +in the open fields; but care is taken, by opening springs and leading +water in iron pipes, to provide an abundance of this for them. + +The county is full of dairy-farms; and, as this business requires rather +more and better buildings than wheat, cattle, or sheep farming, as well as +more fences, this gives the country a neater and thriftier appearance than +is usual among farming communities in California. The butter-maker must +have good buildings, and he must keep them in the best order. + +But, besides these smaller dairy-farms, Marin County contains some large +"butter ranches," as they are called, which are a great curiosity in their +way. The Californians, who have a singular genius for doing things on +a large scale which in other States are done by retail, have managed to +conduct even dairying in this way, and have known how to "organize" the +making of butter in a way which would surprise an Orange County farmer. +Here, for instance--and to take the most successful and complete of these +experiments--is the rancho of Mr. Charles Webb Howard, on which I had the +curiosity to spend a couple of days. It contains eighteen thousand acres +of land well fitted for dairy purposes. On this he has at this time nine +separate farms, occupied by nine tenants engaged in making butter. To let +the farms outright would not do, because the tenants would put up poor +improvements, and would need, even then, more capital than tenant-farmers +usually have. Mr. Howard, therefore, contrived a scheme which seems to +work satisfactorily to all concerned, and which appears to me extremely +ingenious. + +[Illustration: POINT REYES.] + +He fences each farm, making proper subdivisions of large fields; he opens +springs, and leads water through iron pipes to the proper places, and +also to the dwelling, milk-house, and corral. He builds the houses, which +consist of a substantial dwelling, twenty-eight by thirty-two feet, +a story and a half high, and containing nine rooms, all lathed and +plastered; a thoroughly well-arranged milk-house, twenty-five by fifty +feet, having a milk-room in the centre twenty-five feet square, with a +churning-room, store-room, wash-room, etc.; a barn, forty by fifty +feet, to contain hay for the farm-horses; also a calf-shed, a corral, or +inclosure for the cows, a well-arranged pig-pen; and all these buildings +are put up in the best manner, well painted, and neat. + +The tenant receives from the proprietor all this, the land, and, cows to +stock it. He furnishes, on his part, all the dairy utensils, the needed +horses and wagons, the furniture for the house, the farm implements, and +the necessary labor. The tenant pays to the owner twenty-seven dollars +and a half per annum for each cow, and agrees to take the best care of the +stock and of all parts of the farm; to make the necessary repairs, and to +raise for the owner annually one-fifth as many calves as he keeps cows, +the remainder of the calves being killed and fed to the pigs. He agrees +also to sell nothing but butter and hogs from the farm, the hogs being +entirely the tenant's property. + +Under this system fifteen hundred and twenty cows are now kept on nine +separate farms on this estate, the largest number kept by one man being +two hundred and twenty-five, and the smallest one hundred and fifteen. Mr. +Howard has been for years improving his herd; he prefers short-horns, +and he saves every year the calves from the best milkers in all his herd, +using also bulls from good milking strains. I was told that the average +product of butter on the whole estate is now one hundred and seventy-five +pounds to each cow; many cows give as high as two hundred, and even two +hundred and fifty pounds per annum. + +Men do the milking, and also the butter-making, though on one farm I found +a pretty Swedish girl superintending all the indoor work, with such skill +and order in all the departments, that she possessed, so far as I saw, the +model dairy on the estate. + +Here, said I to myself, is now an instance of the ability of women to +compete with men which would delight Mrs. Stanton and all the Woman's +Rights people; here is the neatest, the sweetest, the most complete dairy +in the whole region; the best order, the most shining utensils, the nicest +butter-room--and not only butter, but cheese also, made, which is +not usual; and here is a rosy-faced, white-armed, smooth-haired, +sensibly-dressed, altogether admirable, and, to my eyes, beautiful Swedish +lass presiding over it all; commanding her men-servants, and keeping every +part of the business in order. + +Alas! Mrs. Stanton, she has discovered a better business than +butter-making. She is going to marry--sensible girl that she is--and she +is not going to marry a dairy-farmer either. + +I doubt if any body in California will ever make as nice butter as this +pretty Swede; certainly, every other dairy I saw seemed to me commonplace +and uninteresting, after I had seen hers. I don't doubt that the young +man who has had the art to persuade her to love him ought to be hanged, +because butter-making is far more important than marrying. Nevertheless, +I wish him joy in advance, and, in humble defiance of Mrs. Stanton and her +brilliant companions in arms, hereby give it as my belief that the pretty +Swede is a sensible girl--that, to use a California vulgarism, "her head +is level." + +The hogs are fed chiefly on skim-milk, and belong entirely to the tenant. +The calves, except those which are raised for the proprietor, are, by +agreement, killed and fed to the pigs. The leases are usually for three +years. + +The cows are milked twice a day, being driven for that purpose into a +corral, near the milk-house. I noticed that they were all very gentle; +they lay down in the corral with that placid air which a good cow has; and +whenever a milkman came to the beast he wished to milk, she rose at once, +without waiting to be spoken to. One man is expected to milk twenty cows +in the season of full milk. On some places I noticed that Chinese were +employed in the milk-house, to attend to the cream and make the butter. + +The tenants are of different nationalities, American, Swedes, Germans, +Irish, and Portuguese. A tenant needs about two thousand dollars in money +to undertake one of these dairy-farms; the system seems to satisfy those +who are now engaged in it. The milkers and farm hands receive thirty +dollars per month and "found;" and good milkers are in constant demand. +Every thing is conducted with great care and cleanliness, the buildings +being uncommonly good for this State, water abundant, and many +labor-saving contrivances used. + +At one end of the corral or yard in which the cows are milked is a +platform, roofed over, on which stands a large tin, with a double +strainer, into which the milk is poured from the buckets. It runs through +a pipe into the milk-house, where it is again strained, and then emptied +from a bucket into the pans ranged on shelves around. The cream is taken +off in from thirty-six to forty hours; and the milk keeps sweet thirty-six +hours, even in summer. The square box-churn is used entirely, and is +revolved by horse-power. They usually get butter, I was told, in half an +hour. + +The butter is worked on an ingenious turn-table, which holds one hundred +pounds at a time, and can, when loaded, be turned by a finger; and a +lever, working upon a universal joint, is used upon the butter. When +ready, it is put up in two-pound rolls, which are shaped in a hand-press, +and the rolls are not weighed until they reach the city. It is packed in +strong, oblong boxes, each of which holds fifty-five rolls. + +The cows are not driven more than a mile to be milked; the fields being +so arranged that the corral is near the centre. When they are milked, they +stray back of themselves to their grazing places. + +[Illustration: COLUMBIA RIVER SCENE.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +TEHAMA AND BUTTE, AND THE UPPER COUNTRY. + + +General Bidwell, of Butte County, raised last year on his own estate, +besides a large quantity of fruit, seventy-five thousand bushels of +wheat. Dr. Glenn, of Colusa County, raised and sent to market from his +own estate, two hundred thousand bushels. Mr. Warner, of Solano County, +produced nine thousand gallons of cider from his own orchards. A +sheep-grazer in Placer County loaded ten railroad cars with wool, the clip +of his own sheep. For many weeks after harvest you may see sacks of wheat +stacked along the railroad and the river for miles, awaiting shipment; for +the farmers have no rain to fear, and the grain crop is thrashed in the +field, bagged, and stacked along the road, without even a tarpaulin to +cover it. + +In 1855, California exported about four hundred and twenty tons of wheat; +in 1873, the export was but little less than six hundred thousand tons. In +1857, six casks and six hundred cases of California wine were sent out of +the State; in 1872, about six hundred thousand gallons were exported. In +1850, California produced five thousand five hundred and thirty pounds of +wool; in 1872, this product amounted to twenty-four million pounds. Thirty +million pounds of apples, ten million pounds of peaches, four and a half +million pounds of apricots, nearly two million pounds of cherries, are +part of the product of the State, in which the man is still living who +brought across the Plains the first fruit-trees to set out a nursery; +while four and a half million of oranges, and a million and a half of +lemons, shipped from the southern part of the State, show the rapid growth +of that culture. + +In the northern counties, of which Tehama and Butte are a sample, they are +usually fortunate in the matter of late as well as early rains; but +close under the coast range the country is dryer, as is natural, the high +mountain range absorbing the moisture from the north-westerly winds. They +begin to plow as soon as it rains, usually in November, and sow the +grain at once. Formerly the higher plains were thought to be fit only for +grazing; but even the red lands, which are somewhat harder to break up, +and were thought to be infertile, are found to bear good crops of grain; +and this year these lands bear the drought better than some that were and +are preferred. Lambing takes place here in February, and they shear in +April. The grazing lands abound in wild oats, very nutritious, but apt to +run out where the pastures are overstocked. Alfilleria is not found so far +north as this; alfalfa has been sown all over the valley in proper places, +and does well. They cut it three times in the year, and turn stock in on +it after the last cutting; and all who grow it speak well of it. + +Red Bluff is one of the oldest towns in the valley; it stands at the head +of navigation on the Sacramento, and was, therefore, a place of importance +before the railroad was built. The river here is narrow and shoal, and it +is crossed by one of those ferries common where the rapid current, +pushing against the ferry-boat, drives it across the stream, a wire cable +preventing it from floating down stream. The main street of the town +consists mainly of bar-rooms, livery-stables, barber-shops, and hotels, +with an occasional store of merchandise sandwiched between; and, if you +saw only this main street, you would conceive but a poor opinion of the +people. But other streets contain a number of pleasant, shady cottages; +and, as I drove out into the country, the driver pointed with pride to the +school-house, a large and fine building, which had just been completed at +a cost of thirty thousand dollars, and seemed to me worth the money. The +town has also water-works; and the people propose to bridge the Sacramento +at a cost of forty thousand dollars, and to build a new jail, to cost +fifteen thousand dollars. Such enterprises show the wealth of the people +in this State, and astonish the traveler, who imagines, in driving +over the great plain, that it is almost uninhabited, but sees, in a +thirty-thousand dollar school-house in a little town like Red Bluff, that +not only are there people, but that they have the courage to bear taxation +for good objects, and the means to pay. + +From Red Bluff two of the great mountain peaks of Northern California +are magnificently seen--Lassen's Peaks and Shasta. The latter, still +one hundred and twenty miles off to the north, rears his great, craggy, +snow-covered summit high in the air, and seems not more than twenty miles +away. Lassen's Peaks are twins, and very lonely indeed. They are sixty +miles to the east, and are also, at this season, glistening with snow. +Between Lassen's and the Sacramento, some thirty miles up among the +mountains, there is a rich timber country, whose saw-mills supply the +northern part of the valley with lumber, sugar-pine being the principal +tree sawed up. The valley begins to narrow above Red Bluff, and the +foot-hills and mountains still abound in wild game. Hunters bring their +peltries hither for sale; and this has occasioned the establishment +at this point of a thriving glove factory, which turned out--from an +insignificant looking little shop--not less than forty thousand dollars' +worth of gloves last year. Two enterprising young men manage it, and they +employ, I was told, from fifty to eighty women in the work, and turn out +very excellent buckskin gloves, as well as some finer kinds. Such petty +industries are too often neglected in California, where every body still +wants to conduct his calling on a grand scale, and where dozens of ways to +prosperity, and even wealth, are constantly neglected, because they appear +too slow. + +This whole country is only about four years in advance of the lower or San +Joaquin Valley, and the influence of climate and soil in bringing trees to +bear early was shown to me in several thrifty orchards, already beginning +to bear, on ground which four years ago was bought for two dollars and +fifty cents per acre. The habit of raising wheat is so strong here, that +almost every thing else is neglected; and I remember a farm where the +wheat field extended, unbroken, except by a narrow path leading to the +road, right up to the veranda of the farmer's house. His family lived on +canned fruits and vegetables; and except here and there a brilliant poppy, +which stubborn Dame Nature had inserted among his wheat, wife and children +had not a flower to grace mantle or table. I confess that it pleased me +to hear this farmer complain of hard times, because, as he said, the +speculators in San Francisco made more money from his wheat than he did. +If the speculators in San Francisco teach the farmers in California to +grow something besides wheat, they will deserve well of the State. + +The upper waters of the Sacramento run through mountain passes, and +between banks so steep that for miles at a time the river is inaccessible, +except by difficult and often dangerous descents; and an old miner told me +that when this part of the river, between where Redding now lies and its +source, near Mount Shasta, was first "prospected" for gold, the miners or +explorers had to build boats and descend by water, trying for gold by the +way, because they could not get down by land. In those days, he said, if a +company of miners could not make twenty dollars a day each, the "prospect" +was too poor to detain them; and they made but a short stay at most points +on the Upper Sacramento. + +The country was then full of Indians; and it was very strange, indeed, to +hear this miner--a thoroughly kind-hearted man he was, and now the father +of a family of children--tell with the utmost unconcern, and as a matter +of course, how they used to shoot down these Indians, who waylaid them at +favoring spots on the river, and tried to pick them off with arrows. + +I remember hearing a little boy ask a famous general once how many men he +had killed in the course of his wars, and being disappointed when he heard +that the general, so far as he know, had never killed any body. I suppose +a soldier in battle but rarely knows that he has actually shot a man. But +one of these old Indian fighters sits down after dinner, over a pipe, and +relates to you, with quite horrifying coolness, every detail of the death +which his rifle and his sure eye dealt to an Indian; and when this one, +stroking meantime the head of a little boy who was standing at his knees, +described to me how he lay on the grass and took aim at a tall chief +who was, in the moonlight, trying to steal a boat from a party of +gold-seekers, and how, at the crack of his rifle, the Indian fell his +whole length in the boat and never stirred again, I confess I was dumb +with amazement. The tragedy had not even the dignity of an event in this +man's life. He shot Indians as he ate his dinner, plainly as a mere matter +of course. Nor was he a brute, but a kindly, honest, good fellow, not in +the least blood-thirsty. + +[Illustration: STREET IN OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.] + +The poor Indians have rapidly melted away under the fervent heat of +forty-rod whisky, rifles, and disease. This whole Northern country must +have been populous a quarter of a century ago; General Bidwell and other +old Californians have told me of the surprisingly rapid disappearance of +the Indians, after the white gold-seekers came in. It was, I do not doubt, +a pleasant land for the red men. They lived on salmon, clover, deer, +acorns, and a few roots which are abundant on mountain and plain, and of +all this food there is the greatest plenty even yet. If you travel toward +Oregon, by stage, in June, July, or August, you will see at convenient +points along the Sacramento parties of Indians spearing and trapping +salmon. They build a few rude huts of brush, gather sticks for the fire, +which is needed to cook and dry the salmon meat; and then, while the men, +armed with long two-pronged spears, stand at the end of logs projecting +over the salmon pools, and spear the abundant fish, the squaws clean the +fish, roast them to dryness among the hot stones of their rude fire-place, +and finally rub the dried meat to a powder between their hands, or by the +help of stones, when it is packed away in bags for winter use. + +What you thus see on the Sacramento is going on at the same time on half +a dozen other rivers; and I am told that these Indians come from +considerable distances to this annual fishing, which was practiced by them +doubtless a long time before the white men came in. Not unfrequently +in these mountains you will find a castaway white man with a half-breed +family about him; "squaw-men" they are called, as a term of contempt, by +the more decent class. + +As you drive by the farm-houses on the road, you may commonly see venison +hanging on the porch; and every farmer has a supply of fishing-rods and +lines, so that you can not go amiss for trout and venison. Few of them +know, however, that a trout ought to be cooked as quickly as possible +after he is caught; and if you do not take care, your afternoon fish will +appear on the table next day as corned trout, in which shape I have no +liking for it. + +The Shasta Valley contains a good deal of excellent farming land, but +it is used now chiefly for cattle and sheep, and in many parts of it +the grazing is very fine. There are a number of lesser valleys scattered +through the mountains hereabouts. Indeed, the two ranges seem to open out +for a while, and Scott's Valley on the west, and the Klamath Lake country +to the east and north-east from Yreka, are favorite grazing regions. Here +there is occasional snow in the winter, and some cold weather; the spring +opens later and the rains last longer. The streams in all this region bear +gold, and miners are busy in them. Yreka, in the Shasta Valley, is the +centre of a considerable mining district, and therefore a busy place, even +without the Modoc war, which gave it a temporary renown during the winter +and spring. Now that the Modoc war is closed, no doubt the famous lava +beds will attract curious visitors from afar. They can be reached in +thirty-six hours from Yreka; and that place is distant thirty-six hours +from San Francisco. + +Aside from the public lands still open in small tracts of eighty and +one hundred and sixty acres to pre-emption by actual settlers, under +the homestead law, and the railroad lands, to be had in sections of +six hundred and forty acres, the Sacramento Valley contains a number of +considerable Spanish grants; and the following account of these, which I +take from the San Francisco _Bulletin_ will give an Eastern reader some +idea of the extent of such grants, their value, and how they are used: + +"The first large tract of land north and west of Marysville is the Neal +grant, containing about seventeen thousand acres. This grant is owned by +the Durham estate and Judge C.F. Lott, though Gruelly owns a large slice +of it also. The Neal grant is mostly composed of rich bottom-lands; nearly +all of it is farmed under lease; the lessees pay one-quarter to one-third +of the crops as rent. They do very well under this arrangement. + +"The next grant on the north is that of Judge O.C. Pratt. It contains +twenty-eight thousand acres of bottom-land. Butte Creek skirts it on one +side for a distance of seventeen miles, and a branch of that creek runs +through the centre. Nearly six thousand acres are covered with large +oak-trees. There are about one hundred miles of fences on this rancho; +there are about ten thousand sheep, twelve hundred head of cattle, and two +hundred horses on it; the land has been cultivated or used as pasturage +for about fourteen years. About ten thousand acres of it, I am informed, +would readily sell in subdivisions for fifty dollars per acre; ten +thousand acres would sell for about thirty dollars, and eight thousand +acres at twenty dollars per acre. There are many tenants on this tract, +having leases covering periods of three to five years; rent, one-fourth of +the crop raised; the owner builds fences and houses for the lessees. The +average quantity of wool annually grown on this rancho is sixty thousand +pounds; beef cattle, two hundred and fifty head; value of produce received +as rent from tenants, twelve thousand dollars per year. Judge Pratt is +willing to sell farms of one hundred and sixty to three hundred and twenty +acres at about the rates named, and on easy terms. + +"The Hensley grant, lying north of Judge Pratt's rancho, contains five +leagues. It was rejected by the United States Courts, and was taken up +by, and is covered with, settlers, who own one hundred and sixty to three +hundred and twenty acres each, worth forty to sixty dollars per acre. +Little or none of that land is for sale, the owners being too well +satisfied with their farms to sell them, even at the highest ruling rates. + +"General Bidwell's rancho adjoins Judge Pratt's. It contains about twenty +thousand acres, of which about one-quarter is of the best quality, and +would readily sell at fifty to sixty dollars per acre. About five thousand +acres more, lying along the Sacramento River, are subject to overflow. +That portion is very rich grazing land, and is worth fifteen to twenty +dollars per acre. The other ten thousand acres lie near the foot-hills; +they are extremely well adapted to grape culture, and are worth five to +twelve dollars per acre. General Bidwell is not willing to sell. + +"The next rancho on the west is owned by John Parrot. It contains about +seventeen thousand acres, and lies on the east bank of the Sacramento +River. It contains about four thousand acres of first-class wheat or corn +land; the remainder is composed of excellent pasturage; there are only a +few thousand sheep, and a few cattle and horses on this rancho. It has for +several years been cultivated by Morehead and Griffith, under a private +arrangement with the owner. It is understood that Parrot would sell, +either in a body or in small tracts, to desirable purchasers; his prices +would probably range from fifteen to fifty dollars per acre. + +"The next large rancho is that of Henry Gerke, living twenty miles above +Chico. It now contains about eighteen thousand acres, of which a large +portion is suitable for wheat or corn growing, and grazing purposes. One +of the largest and finest vineyards in the State is on this rancho; and +the wine it produces has a large sale in the State. The most of Gerke's +land is devoted to wheat raising; eighteen hundred tons of wheat were +raised on it last year, and about twenty-two hundred tons this year. It is +mostly tilled by tenants. The land is worth from twenty to fifty dollars +per acre. The owner would sell the whole rancho, but it is not known +whether he would sell in small tracts or not. He has a standing offer of +six hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for the land, vineyards, and +improvements. + +"General Wilson owns several thousand acres of the original Gerke grant. +His land is altogether devoted to wheat growing, and is worth forty +dollars per acre. + +"A.G. Towne's grant adjoins Gerke's on the north and west. It now contains +about twelve thousand acres; much of it is devoted to wheat growing, and +is worth fifteen to forty dollars per acre, or an average all round of +twenty-five dollars. + +"At Tehama, on the west side of the Sacramento River, is Thome's grant. +It contains about twenty thousand acres, one-third of which is of the very +best quality of wheat land, the remainder good grazing. It is understood +that this land can be bought either as a whole or in small farms. The +best of it is worth about forty-five dollars an acre; the body of it about +twenty dollars. + +"The next grant, on the north, is that of William G. Chard. It is nearly +all cut up and owned in small farms. Colonel E.J. Lewis, a well-known +politician, is one of the largest owners on the Chard tract. He is +extensively engaged in wheat raising. + +"Ide's grant is adjacent, on the north; it is also mostly divided and +owned in small tracts of one hundred and sixty to four hundred acres each. + +"The Dye grant lies east of and opposite to Red Bluff. It was originally +a large grant, but has been partially subdivided. It contains some good +bottomland, but is mostly adapted to grazing. + +"The most northerly grant in the State is that formerly owned by the late +Major Redding. It is partially subdivided. Like the Dye grant, it contains +some rich bottom-land, but, like it, is mostly adapted for grazing and +grape growing. Haggin and Tevis lately bought (or hold for debt) about +fifteen thousand acres of this rancho, which are worth about one hundred +thousand dollars, or about seven dollars per acre. It is understood from +inquiries made from the owners of these two last named tracts, that they +are willing to sell grain lands at about an average of thirty dollars per +acre." + +Of course these grants make up, in the aggregate, but a small part of the +arable land of the Sacramento Valley. + +[Illustration: "TACOMA," OR MOUNT RAINIER.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TOBACCO CULTURE--WITH A NEW METHOD OF CURING THE LEAF. + + +The manufacture of cigars is one of the largest industries of San +Francisco. Last year the Government received taxes on 78,000,000 cigars +made in the State of California, and in September alone taxes were paid +on 8,000,000. But, though the State has thousands of acres of land well +fitted to produce tobacco, and though the "weed" has been grown here for +twenty years or more with great success, so far as getting a heavy crop is +concerned, I doubt if even 1,000,000 of cigars have, until this fall, been +made of tobacco raised in California. + +There has, however, been no lack of efforts to produce here tobacco fit to +manufacture into cigars and for smoking and chewing purposes. The soil in +many parts of the State is peculiarly adapted to this plant; the climate, +mild and regular, favored its growth and hastened its perfection. The best +seed was procured from Connecticut, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, and Cuba. +But for many years the product was rank, coarse, and fitter for sheep-wash +than for any other purpose. + +Meantime, however, not a few men familiar with the old processes of +raising and curing the plant have tried their best ingenuity to improve +the quality. It was thought that the soil was too rich, because the +tobacco makes a rapid and heavy growth; but planting on thinner or older +soil did not answer. Several methods of curing were contrived, and there +is now reason to believe that the one known as the Culp process, from the +name of its patentee, will produce the desired result. I had heard and +read so much about it, and about the merit of the tobacco produced by +it, that I went down to Gilroy, seventy or eighty miles south of San +Francisco, to see what had really been accomplished. The account I give +below will probably interest many tobacco growing and manufacturing +readers, while it will, I fear, painfully affect the spirits of the +anti-tobacconists; for there is reason to believe that tobacco will become +presently one of the most important and valuable crops of this State. + +I must premise that I am not an expert in tobacco, nor familiar with the +methods pursued in the East. I have seen a tobacco-field and the inside of +a Connecticut curing-house, and that is about all. I give, therefore, not +opinions, but facts. + +Gilroy stands in a long and broad plain, a very rich piece of alluvial +bottom, with water so abundant that artesian wells are easily bored and +very common. At the depth of one hundred and thirty feet they get flowing +wells, and it happened in one case of which I heard that the water came up +with such force as to prevent the casing going down into the well, and +the pressure of the water broke away the ground, enlarged the bore of the +well, and threatened to flood a considerable area, so that the farmers +gathered in force, and by means of an iron caisson loaded with stones, and +with many cart-loads of stones besides, plugged up the dangerous hole. + +The land is a deep alluvial loam, easily worked, and here, and in some +neighboring valleys, many tobacco growers have been engaged for the +last ten or twelve years. Mr. Culp, who was a tobacco grower, and, if I +understood him rightly, also a manufacturer in New York for some years +before he came here, and who appears, at any rate, to be a very thorough +farmer and a lover of clean fields, has planted tobacco here for fifteen +years. He has a farm of about seven hundred acres, four hundred of +which have this year been in tobacco. From him and others I learned the +following particulars of the way in which they cultivate the plant in +California. + +They sow the seed from the 1st to the 10th of January, and sometimes even +in December. The beds are prepared and sown as in the East, except that +they do not always burn the ground over, which, if I remember rightly, +is invariably done in Missouri and Kentucky. In this season, the days are +always warm enough for the little plants; but there are light frosts at +night, and they are protected against these by frames covered with thin +cotton cloth. + +The fields are plowed--by the best growers--ten inches deep; cross-plowed +and harrowed until the soil is fine, and then ridged--that is to say, two +furrows are thrown together. This saves the plants from harm by a heavy +rain, and also makes the ground warmer, and is found to start the plants +more quickly. + +Planting in the fields begins about the 8th of April; and the plants are +set a foot apart in the rows, the rows being three feet apart, if they are +from Havana seed; if Connecticut or Florida, they stand eighteen inches or +two feet apart in the rows. + +They had grown, besides Havana and Florida, for their crop, Latakia, +Hungarian, Mexican, Virginia, Connecticut-seed Standard, Burleigh, White +Leaf, and some other kinds, by way of experiment. + +Cultivators and shovel-plows are used to keep the soil loose and clean; +if the weather should prove damp and cold, the shovel-plow is used to make +the ridges somewhat higher. They go over the fields twice in the season +with these tools, using the hoe freely where weeds get into the rows. Last +year, in twenty-six days after they were done planting, they had gathered +two bales of tobacco. This, however, is not common, and was done by very +close management, and on a warm soil. + +All the tobacco growers with whom I spoke assert that they are not +troubled with that hideous creature, "the worm." They attribute this in +part to the excellence of their soil, and partly to the abundance of birds +and yellow jackets. They do not "worm" their crop, it seems, which must +give them an enviable advantage over Eastern growers. + +They do not always "top" the Havana, and they do very little "suckering." +If the ground is clean, they let the suckers from the root grow, and these +become as large and heavy as the original plant. They believe that the +soil is strong enough to bear the plants and suckers, and that they get a +better leaf and finer quality without suckering. + +The planting is continued from April until the latter part of July, so as +to let the crop come in gradually; the last planting may be caught by an +early frost, but whatever they plant before the 1st of July is safe in +any season. Cutting begins about the 4th of June, and this year they were +cutting still on the 19th of October. The earlier cut plants sprout again +at once, and mature a second and even a third crop. Mr. Culp told me that +he had taken four crops of Havana in one year from the same field, and I +saw considerable fields of third crop just cut or standing; but in some +cases the frost had caught this. "If the soil is in perfect order, we can +here make a crop of Havana in forty days from the planting," said he. + +One man can prepare and take care of ten acres here, keeping it in good +order. For planting and cutting, of course, an extra force is used. One +man can set out or plant three thousand plants in a day of Havana; of the +other kinds from fifteen hundred to two thousand. + +The tobacco is cut with a hatchet; if it is Havana, the toppers usually +go just ahead of the cutters in the field, or they may be a day ahead. +Florida is topped ten days or two weeks before cutting. You must remember +that after April they have no rain here, so that all field work goes on +without interruption from the weather, and crops can be exposed in the +field as a planter would not dare do in the East. Up to the cutting, the +methods here differ from those used in the East, only so far as climate +and soil are different. + +When the plant lies in the field Mr. Culp's peculiar process begins; and +this I prefer to describe to you as nearly as I can in his own words. +He said that tobacco had long been grown in California even before the +Americans came. He had raised it as a crop for fifteen years; and before +he perfected his new process, he was able usually to select the best of +his crop for smoking-tobacco, and sold the remainder for sheep-wash. +One year two millions of pounds were raised in the State, and, as it was +mostly sold for sheep-wash, it lasted several years, and discouraged the +growers. Tobacco always grew readily, but it was too rank and strong. They +used Eastern methods, topping and suckering, and as the plant had here a +very long season to grow and mature, the leaf was thick and very strong. + +The main features of the Culp process are, he said, to let the tobacco, +when cut, wilt on the field; then take it at once to the tobacco-house and +pile it down, letting it heat on the piles to 100 degrees for Havana. +It must, he thinks, come to 100 deg., but if it rises to 102 deg. it is ruined. +Piling, therefore, requires great judgment. The tobacco-houses are kept +at a temperature of about 70 degrees; and late in the fall, to cure a late +second or third crop, they sometimes use a stove to maintain a proper heat +in the house, for the tobacco must not lie in the pile without heating. + +[Illustration: INDIAN CRADLE, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.] + +When it has had its first sweat, it is hung up on racks; and here Mr. +Culp's process is peculiar. He places the stalk between two battens, +so that it sticks out horizontally from the frame; thus each leaf hangs +independently from the stalk; and the racks or frames are so arranged that +all the leaves on all the stalks have a separate access to the air. + +The tobacco-houses are frame buildings, 100 x 60 feet, with usually four +rows of racks, and two gangways for working. On the rack the surface +moisture dries from the leaf; and at the proper time it is again piled, +racked, and so on for three or even four times. The racks are of rough +boards, and the floor of the house is of earth. + +After piling and racking for three weeks, the leaves are stripped from the +stalk and put into "hands," and they are then "bulked," and lie thus about +three months, when the tobacco is boxed. From the time of cutting, +from four to six months are required to make the leaf ready for the +manufacturer. + +"Piling" appears to be the most delicate part of the cure, and they have +often to work all night to save tobacco that threatens to overheat. Mr. +Culp thinks the dryness of the climate no disadvantage. I was told +that they find it useful sometimes to sprinkle the floors of the +tobacco-houses. + +I saw racks, too, in the fields--portable, and easily carried anywhere; +and on these a great quantity of Florida tobacco, used for chewing and +smoking, had been or was getting cured. It was piled in the field where it +was cut, and the whole curing process, up to "bulking," is carried on in +the open air. Havana "fillers" they also cure in the field, as the fine +color is not needed for that. + +Mr. Culp thought his method of horizontal suspension allowed the juices +from the stalk to be carefully distributed among the leaves. He told me +that a fair average crop was about 1500 pounds of Havana, or 2500 pounds +of Florida, per acre, of merchantable leaf. In favorable localities this +was considerably exceeded, he said. For chewing-tobacco, the cut plant is +piled but once. + +For four hundred acres of tobacco, about one hundred and twenty-five +Chinese were employed in cutting and curing. After planting and up to the +cutting season they had but fifty men employed. The Chinese receive one +dollar a day and board themselves, living an apparently jolly life in +shanties near the fields. + +They get their Havana seed from Cuba. The Patent Office seed did not +do well. They do not like to risk seed of their own plants. He used +home-grown seed for nine years; he could not say that there was a serious +deterioration or change in the quality of the tobacco, but a singular +change in the form of the leaf took place. That from home-grown seed gets +longer, and the veins or ribs, which in Havana tobacco stand out at right +angles from the leaf stalk, take an acute angle, and thus become longer +and make up a greater part of the leaf. Of Florida tobacco the home-grown +seed comes true. + +In summer the roads get very dusty in California, and this dust is a +disadvantage to the tobacco planter. On the Culp farm I found they were +planting double rows of shade trees along the main roads, and graveling +the interior roads; also, they seem to feel the high winds which sweep +through the California valleys, and were planting almonds and cotton-woods +for windbreaks in the fields. It seemed odd to see long rows of +almond-trees used for this purpose. + +This process has so far won the confidence of experts in tobacco in this +State, that a company with large capital has undertaken not only the +raising of tobacco by its method, but also the manufacture into cigars, +and plug, smoking, and fine-cut chewing-tobacco. They are just beginning +operations in Gilroy, on a scale which will enable them to manufacture all +the tobacco grown this year on about six hundred acres, and they mean to +plant next year one thousand acres, and expect that from fifteen hundred +to two thousand acres will be planted and cured by others under licenses +from the patentee. Commercially, of course, their undertaking is yet an +experiment, though excellent cigars and tobacco have been made already; +but the year 1874 will decide the result; and if it should prove as +successful as is hoped, and as there is good cause to believe it will, +a new and very profitable branch of agriculture will be opened for the +farmers of this State; for tobacco will grow in almost all parts of it. + +[Illustration: RUNNING THE ROOKERIES--GATHERING MURRE EGGS.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE FARALLON ISLANDS. + + +If you approach the harbor of San Francisco from the west, your first +sight of land will be a collection of picturesque rocks known as the +Farallones, or, more fully, the Farallones de los Frayles. They are six +rugged islets, whose peaks lift up their heads in picturesque masses out +of the ocean, twenty-three and a half miles from the Golden Gate, the +famous entrance of San Francisco Bay. Farallon is a Spanish word, meaning +a small pointed islet in the sea. + +These rocks, probably of volcanic origin, and bare and desolate, lie in +a line from south-east to north-west--curiously enough the same line +in which the islands of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Island group have been +thrown up. Geologists say they are the outcrop of an immense granite dike. + +The southernmost island, which is the largest--just as Hawaii, the +southernmost of the Sandwich Island group, is also the biggest--extends +for nearly a mile east and west, and is three hundred and forty feet high. +It is composed of broken and water-worn rocks, forming numerous angular +peaks, and having several caves; and the rock, mostly barren and bare, +has here and there a few weeds and a little grass. At one point there is a +small beach, and at another a depression; but the fury of the waves makes +landing at all times difficult, and for the most part impossible. + +The Farallones are seldom visited by travelers or pleasure-seekers. The +wind blows fiercely here most of the time; the ocean is rough; and, to +persons subject to sea-sickness, the short voyage is filled with the +misery of that disease. Yet they contain a great deal that is strange and +curious. On the highest point of the South Farallon the Government has +placed a light-house, a brick tower seventeen feet high, surmounted by a +lantern and illuminating apparatus. It is a revolving white light, showing +a prolonged flash of ten seconds duration once in a minute. The light +is about three hundred and sixty feet above the sea, and with a clear +atmosphere is visible, from a position ten feet high, twenty-five and a +half miles distant; from an elevation of sixty feet, it can be seen nearly +thirty-one miles away; and it is plainly visible from Sulphur Peak on the +main-land, thirty-four hundred and seventy-one feet high, and sixty-four +and a half miles distant. The light-house is in latitude 37 deg. 41' 8" north, +and longitude 122 deg. 59' 05" west. + +On our foggy Western coast it has been necessary to place the light-houses +low, because if they stood too high their light would be hidden in +fog-banks and low clouds. The tower on the South Farallon is, therefore, +low; and this, no doubt, is an advantage also to the light-keepers, who +are less exposed to the buffetings of the storm than if their labor and +care lay at a higher elevation. + +As the Farallones lie in the track of vessels coming from the westward to +San Francisco, the light is one of the most important, as it is also one +of the most powerful on our Western coast; and it is supplemented by a +fog-whistle, which is one of the most curious contrivances of this kind +in the world. It is a huge trumpet, six inches in diameter at its smaller +end, and blown by the rush of air through a cave or passage connecting +with the ocean. + +One of the numerous caves worn into the rocks by the surf had a hole at +the top, through which the incoming breakers violently expelled the air +they carried before them. Such spout-holes are not uncommon on rugged, +rocky coasts. There are several on the Mendocino coast, and a number on +the shores of the Sandwich Islands. This one, however, has been utilized +by the ingenuity of man. The mouth-piece of the trumpet or fog-whistle is +fixed against the aperture in the rock, and the breaker, dashing in with +venomous spite, or the huge bulging wave which would dash a ship to pieces +and drown her crew in a single effort, now blows the fog-whistle and warns +the mariner off. The sound thus produced has been heard at a distance of +seven or eight miles. It has a peculiar effect, because it has no regular +period; depending upon the irregular coming in of the waves, and upon +their similarly irregular force, it is blown somewhat as an idle boy would +blow his penny trumpet. It ceases entirely for an hour and a half at low +water, when the mouth of the cave or passage is exposed. + +[Illustration: LIGHT-HOUSE ON THE SOUTH FARALLON.] + + +[Illustration: ARCH AT WEST END, FARALLON ISLANDS.] + +The life of the keepers of the Farallon light is singularly lonely and +monotonous. Their house is built somewhat under the shelter of the rocks, +but they live in what to a landsman would seem a perpetual storm; the +ocean roars in their ears day and night; the boom of the surf is their +constant and only music; the wild scream of the sea-birds, the howl of +the sea-lions, the whistle and shriek of the gale, the dull, threatening +thunder of the vast breakers, are the dreary and desolate sounds which +lull them to sleep at night, and assail their ears when they awake. In the +winter months even their supply vessel, which, for the most part, is their +only connection with the world, is sometimes unable to make a landing for +weeks at a time. Chance visitors they see only occasionally, and at that +distance at which a steamer is safe from the surf, and at which a girl +could not even recognize her lover. The commerce of San Francisco passes +before their eyes, but so far away that they can not tell the ships and +steamers which sail by them voiceless and without greeting; and of the +events passing on the planet with which they have so frail a social tie +they learn only at long and irregular intervals. The change from sunshine +to fog is the chief variety in their lives; the hasty landing of supplies +the great event in their months. They can not even watch the growth of +trees and plants; and to a child born and reared in such a place, a sunny +lee under the shelter of rocks is probably the ideal of human felicity. + +Except the rock of Tristan d'Acunha in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, I have +never seen an inhabited spot which seemed so utterly desolate, so entirely +separated from the world, whose people appeared to me to have such a +slender hold on mankind. Yet for their solace they know that a powerful +Government watches over their welfare, and--if that is any comfort--that, +thirty miles away, there are lights and music and laughter and singing, as +well as crowds, and all the anxieties and annoyances incidental to what we +are pleased to call civilization. + +But though these lonely rocks contain but a small society of human +beings--the keepers and their families--they are filled with animal life; +for they are the home of a multitude of sea-lions, and of vast numbers of +birds and rabbits. + +The rabbits, which live on the scanty herbage growing among the rooks, +are descended from a few pair brought here many years ago, when some +speculative genius thought to make a huge rabbit-warren of these rocks for +the supply of the San Francisco market. These little animals are not very +wild. In the dry season they feed on the bulbous roots of the grass, and +sometimes they suffer from famine. In the winter and spring they are fat, +and then their meat is white and sweet. During summer and fall they are +not fit to eat. + +They increase very rapidly, and at not infrequent intervals they +overpopulate the island, and then perish by hundreds of starvation and +the diseases which follow a too meagre diet. They are of all colors, +and though descended from some pairs of tame white rabbits, seem to have +reverted in color to the wild race from which they originated. + +The Farallones have no snakes. + +The sea-lions, which congregate by thousands upon the cliffs, and bark, +and howl, and shriek and roar in the caves and upon the steep sunny +slopes, are but little disturbed, and one can usually approach them within +twenty or thirty yards. It is an extraordinarily interesting sight to +see these marine monsters, many of them bigger than an ox, at play in the +surf, and to watch the superb skill with which they know how to control +their own motions when a huge wave seizes them, and seems likely to dash +them to pieces against the rocks. They love to lie in the sun upon the +bare and warm rocks; and here they sleep, crowded together, and lying upon +each other in inextricable confusion. + +[Illustration: SEA-LIONS.] + +The bigger the animal, the greater his ambition appears to be to climb +to the highest summit; and when a huge, slimy beast has with infinite +squirming attained a solitary peak, he does not tire of raising his +sharp-pointed, maggot-like head, and complacently looking about him. They +are a rough set of brutes--rank bullies, I should say; for I have watched +them repeatedly as a big one shouldered his way among his fellows, reared +his huge front to intimidate some lesser seal which had secured a favorite +spot, and first with howls, and if this did not suffice, with teeth and +main force, expelled the weaker from his lodgment. The smaller sea-lions, +at least those which have left their mothers, appear to have no rights +which any one is bound to respect. They get out of the way with an abject +promptness which proves that they live in terror of the stronger members +of the community; but they do not give up their places without harsh +complaints and piteous groans. + +Plastered against the rocks, and with their lithe and apparently boneless +shapes conformed to the rude and sharp angles, they are a wonderful, but +not a graceful or pleasing sight. At a little distance they look like huge +maggots, and their slow, ungainly motions upon the land do not lessen this +resemblance. Swimming in the ocean, at a distance from the land, they are +inconspicuous objects, as nothing but the head shows above water, and that +only at intervals. But when the vast surf which breaks in mountain waves +against the weather side of the Farallones with a force which would in +a single sweep dash to pieces the biggest Indiaman--when such a surf, +vehemently and with apparently irresistible might, lifts its tall +white head, and with a deadly roar lashes the rocks half-way to their +summit--then it is a magnificent sight to see a dozen or half a hundred +great sea-lions at play in the very midst and fiercest part of the boiling +surge, so completely masters of the situation that they allow themselves +to be carried within a foot or two of the rocks, and at the last and +imminent moment, with an adroit twist of their bodies, avoid the shock, +and, diving, re-appear beyond the breaker. + +As I sat, fascinated with this weird spectacle of the sea-lions, which +seemed to me like an unhallowed prying into some hidden and monstrous +secret of nature, I could better realize the fantastic and brutal wildness +of life in the earlier geological ages, when monsters and chimeras dire +wallowed about our unripe planet, and brute force of muscles and lungs +ruled among the populous hordes of beasts which, fortunately for us, +have perished, leaving us only this great wild sea-beast as a faint +reminiscence of their existence. I wondered what Dante would have +thought--and what new horrors his gloomy imagination would have conjured, +could he have watched this thousand or two of sea-lions at their sports. + +The small, sloping, pointed head of the creature gives it, to me, a +peculiarly horrible appearance. It seems to have no brain, and presents +an image of life with the least intelligence. It is in reality not without +wits, for one needs only to watch the two or three specimens in the great +tank at Woodward's Gardens, when they are getting fed, to see that they +instantly recognize their keeper, and understand his voice and motion. +But all their wit is applied to the basest uses. Greed for food is their +ruling passion, and the monstrous lightning-like lunges through the water, +the inarticulate shrieks of pleasure or of fury as he dashes after his +food or comes up without it, the wild, fierce eyes, the eager and brutal +vigor with which he snatches a morsel from a smaller fellow-creature, the +reliance on strength alone, and the abject and panic-struck submission +of the weaker to the stronger--all this shows him a brute of the lowest +character. + +Yet there is a wonderful snake-like grace in the lithe, swift motions of +the animal when he is in the surf. You forget the savage blood-shot +eyes, the receding forehead, the clumsy figure and awkward motion, as he +wriggles up the steep rocks, the moment you see him at his superb sport in +the breakers. It seemed to me that he was another creature. The eye looks +less baleful, and even joyous; every movement discloses conscious power; +the excitement of the sport sheds from him somewhat of the brutality which +re-appears the moment he lands or seeks his food. + +So far as I could learn, the Farallon sea-lions are seldom disturbed by +men seeking profit from them. In the egging season one or two are shot to +supply oil to the lamps of the eggers; and occasionally one is caught +for exhibition on the main-land. How do they catch a sea-lion? Well, they +lasso him, and, odd as it sounds, it is the best and probably the only way +to capture this beast. An adroit Spaniard, to whom the lasso or reata +is like a fifth hand, or like the trunk to the elephant, steals up to a +sleeping congregation, fastens his eye on the biggest one of the lot, and, +biding his time, at the first motion of the animal, with unerring skill +flings his loose rawhide noose, and then holds on for dear life. It is the +weight of an ox and the vigor of half a dozen that he has tugging at the +other end of his rope, and if a score of men did not stand ready to help, +and if it were not possible to take a turn of the reata around a solid +rock, the seal would surely get away. + +Moreover, they must handle the beast tenderly, for it is easily injured. +Its skin, softened by its life in the water, is quickly cut by the rope; +its bones are easily broken; and its huge frame, too rudely treated, +may be so hurt that the life dies out of it. As quickly as possible the +captured sea-lion is stuffed into a strong box or cage, and here, in a +cell too narrow to permit movement, it roars and yelps in helpless fury, +until it is transported to its tank. Wild and fierce as it is, it seems to +reconcile itself to the tank life very rapidly. If the narrow space of its +big bath-tub frets it, you do not perceive this, for hunger is its chief +passion, and with a moderately full stomach the animal does well in +captivity, of course with sufficient water. + +The South Farallon is the only inhabited one of the group. The remainder +are smaller; mere rocky points sticking up out of the Pacific. The Middle +Farallon is a single rock, from fifty to sixty yards in diameter, and +twenty or thirty feet above the water. It lies two and a half miles +north-west by west from the light-house. The North Farallon consists, in +fact, of four pyramidal rocks, whose highest peak, in the centre of the +group, is one hundred and sixty feet high; the southern rock of the four +is twenty feet high. The four have a diameter of one hundred and sixty, +one hundred and eighty-five, one hundred and twenty-five, and thirty-five +yards respectively, and the most northern of the islets bears north 64 deg. +west from the Farallon light, six and three-fifths miles distant. + +All the islands are frequented by birds; but the largest, the South +Farallon, on which the light-house stands, is the favorite resort of these +creatures, who come here in astonishing numbers every summer to breed; +and it is to this island that the eggers resort at that season to obtain +supplies of sea-birds' eggs for the San Francisco market, where they have +a regular and large sale. + +The birds which breed upon the Farallones are gulls, murres, shags, and +sea-parrots, the last a kind of penguin. The eggs of the shags and parrots +are not used, but the eggers destroy them to make more room for the other +birds. The gull begins to lay about the middle of May, and usually ten +days before the murre. The gull makes a rude nest of brush and sea-weed +upon the rocks; the murre does not take even this much trouble, but lays +its eggs in any convenient place on the bare rocks. + +[Illustration: THE GULL'S NEST.] + +The gull is soon through, but the murre continues to lay for about two +months. The egging season lasts, therefore, from the 10th or 20th of +May until the last of July. In this period the egg company which has for +eighteen years worked this field gathered in 1872 seventeen thousand nine +hundred and fifty-two dozen eggs, and in 1873 fifteen thousand two hundred +and three dozen. These brought last year in the market an average of +twenty-six cents per dozen. There has been, I was assured by the manager, +no sensible decrease in the number of the birds or the eggs during twenty +years. + +From fifteen to twenty men are employed during the egging season in +collecting and shipping the eggs. They live on the island during that time +in rude shanties near the usual landing-place. The work is not amusing, +for the birds seek out the least accessible places, and the men must +follow, climbing often where a goat would almost hesitate. But this is not +the worst. The gull sits on her nest, and resists the robber who comes for +her eggs, and he must take care not to get bitten. The murre remains until +her enemy is close upon her; then she rises with a scream which often +startles a thousand or two of birds, who whirl up into the air in a dense +mass, scattering filth and guano over the eggers. + +Nor is this all. The gulls, whose season of breeding is soon past, are +extravagantly fond of murre eggs; and these rapacious birds follow the +egg-gatherers, hover over their heads, and no sooner is a murre's nest +uncovered than the bird swoops down, and the egger must be extremely +quick, or the gull will snatch the prize from under his nose. So greedy +and eager are the gulls that they sometimes even wound the eggers, +striking them with their beaks. But if the gull gets an egg, he flies up +with it, and, tossing it up, swallows what he can catch, letting the shell +and half its contents fall in a shower upon the luckless and disappointed +egger below. + +[Illustration: SHAGS, MURRES, AND SEA-GULLS.] + +Finally, so difficult is the ground that it is impossible to carry +baskets. The egger therefore stuffs the eggs into his shirt bosom until +he has as many as he can safely carry, then clambers over rocks and down +precipices until he comes to a place of deposit, where he puts them into +baskets, to be carried down to the shore, where there are houses for +receiving them. But so skillful and careful are the gatherers that but few +eggs are broken. + +The gathering proceeds daily, when it has once begun, and the whole ground +is carefully cleared off, so that no stale eggs shall remain. Thus if a +portion of the ground has been neglected for a day or two, all the eggs +must be flung into the sea, so as to begin afresh. As the season advances, +the operations are somewhat contracted, leaving a part of the island +undisturbed for breeding; and the gathering of eggs is stopped entirely +about a month before the birds usually leave the island, so as to give +them all an opportunity to hatch out a brood. + +[Illustration: CONTEST FOR THE EGGS.] + +The murre is not good to eat. If undisturbed it lays two eggs only; when +robbed, it will keep on laying until it has produced six or even eight +eggs; and the manager of the islands told me that he had found as many as +eight eggs forming in a bird's ovaries when he killed and opened it in the +beginning of the season. The male bird regularly relieves the female on +the nest, and also watches to resist the attacks of the gull, which +not only destroys the eggs, but also eats the young. The murre feeds on +sea-grass and jelly-fish, and I was assured that though some hundreds had +been examined at different times, no fish had ever been found in a murre's +stomach. + +The bird is small, about the size of a half-grown duck, but its egg is +as large as a goose egg. The egg is brown or greenish, and speckled. When +quite fresh it has no fishy taste, but when two or three days old the +fishy taste becomes perceptible. They are largely used in San Francisco by +the restaurants and bakers, and for omelets, cakes, and custards. + +During the height of the egging season the gulls hover in clouds over the +rocks, and when a rookery is started, and the poor birds leave their nests +by hundreds, the air is presently alive with gulls flying off with the +eggs, and the eggers are sometimes literally drenched. + +There is thus inevitably a considerable waste of eggs. I asked some of the +eggers how many murres nested on the South Farallon, and they thought at +least one hundred thousand. I do not suppose this an extravagant estimate, +for, taking the season of 1872, when seventeen thousand nine hundred and +fifty-two dozen eggs were actually sold in San Francisco, and allowing +half a dozen to each murre, this would give nearly thirty-six thousand +birds; and adding the proper number for eggs broken, destroyed by gulls, +and not gathered, the number of murres and gulls is probably over one +hundred thousand. This on an island less than a mile in its greatest +diameter, and partly occupied by the light-house and fog-whistle and their +keepers, and by other birds and a large number of sea-lions! + +When they are done laying, and when the young can fly, the birds leave the +island, usually going off together. During the summer and fall they return +in clouds at intervals, but stay only a few days at a time, though there +are generally a few to be found at all times; and I am told that eggs in +small quantities can be found in the fall. + +The murre does not fly high, nor is it a very active bird, or apparently +of long flight. But the eggers say that when it leaves the island they do +not know whither it goes, and they assert that it is not abundant on the +neighboring coast. The young begin to fly when they are two weeks old, and +the parents usually take them immediately into the water. + +The sea-parrot has a crest, and somewhat resembles a cockatoo. Its numbers +on the South Farallon are not great. It makes a nest in a hole in the +rocks, and bites if it is disturbed. The island was first used as a +sealing station; but this was not remunerative, there being but very few +fur seal, and no sea-otters. This animal, which abounds in Alaska, and +is found occasionally on the southern coast of California, frequents +the masses of kelp which line the shore; but there is no kelp about the +Farallones. + +In the early times of California, when provisions were high-priced, the +egg-gatherers sometimes got great gains. Once, in 1853, a boat absent but +three days brought in one thousand dozen, and sold the whole cargo at a +dollar a dozen; and in one season thirty thousand dozen were gathered, and +brought an average of but little less than this price. + +[Illustration: THE GREAT ROOKERY.] + +Of course there was an egg war. The prize was too great not to be +struggled for; and the rage of the conflicting claimants grew to such +a pitch that guns were used and lives were threatened, and at last the +Government of the United States had to interfere to keep the peace. But +with lower prices the strife ceased; the present company bought out, I +believe, all adverse claims, and for the last fifteen or sixteen years +peace has reigned in this part of the county of San Francisco--for these +lonely islets are a part of the same county with the metropolis of the +Pacific. + +[Illustration: INDIAN GIRLS AND CANOE, PUGET SOUND.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE COLUMBIA RIVER AND PUGET SOUND--HINTS TO TOURISTS. + + +In less than forty-eight hours after you leave San Francisco you find +yourself crossing the bar which lies at the mouth of the Columbia River, +and laughing, perhaps, over the oft-told local tale of how a captain, +new to this region, lying off and on with his vessel, and impatiently +signaling for a pilot, was temporarily comforted by a passenger, an old +Californian, who "wondered why Jim over there couldn't take her safe over +the bar." + +"Do you think he knows the soundings well enough?" asked the anxious +skipper; and was answered, + +"I don't know about that, captain; but he's been taking all sorts of +things 'straight' over the bar for about twenty years, to _my_ knowledge, +and I should think he might manage the brig." + +The voyage from San Francisco is almost all the way in sight of land; and +as you skirt the mountainous coast of Oregon you see long stretches of +forest, miles of tall firs killed by forest fires, and rearing their bare +heads toward the sky like a vast assemblage of bean-poles--a barren view +which you owe to the noble red man, who, it is said, sets fire to these +great woods in order to produce for himself a good crop of blueberries. + +When, some years ago, Walk-in-the-Water, or Red Cloud, or some other +Colorado chief, asserted in Washington the right of the Indian to hunt +buffalo, on the familiar ground that he _must_ live, a journalist given to +figures demolished the Indian position by demonstrating that a race which +insisted on living on buffalo meat required about sixteen thousand acres +of land per head for its subsistence, which is more than even we can +spare. One wonders, remembering these figures, how many millions of feet +of first-class lumber are sacrificed to provide an Indian rancheria in +Oregon with huckleberries. + +On the second morning of your voyage you enter the Columbia River, and +stop, on the right bank, near the mouth, at a place famous in history and +romance, and fearfully disappointing to the actual view--Astoria. When +you have seen it, you will wish you had passed it by unseen. I do not +know precisely how it ought to have looked to have pleased my fancy, and +realized the dreams of my boyhood, when I read Bonneville's "Journal" and +Irving's "Astoria," and imagined Astoria to be the home of romance and of +picturesque trappers. Any thing less romantic than Astoria is to-day you +can scarcely imagine; and what is worse yet, your first view shows you +that the narrow, broken, irreclaimably rough strip of land never had space +for any thing picturesque or romantic. + +Astoria, in truth, consists of a very narrow strip of hill-side, backed by +a hill so steep that they can shoot timber down it, and inclosed on every +side by dense forests, high, steep hills, and mud flats. It looks like +the rudest Western clearing you ever saw. Its brief streets are paved with +wood; its inhabitants wear their trowsers in their boots; if you step off +the pavement you go deep into the mud; and ten minutes' walk brings you +to the "forest primeval," which, picturesque as it may be in poetry, I +confess to be dreary and monotonous in the extreme in reality. + +There are but few remains of the old trapper station--one somewhat large +house is the chief relic; but there is a saw-mill, which seems to make, +with all its buzz and fuzz, scarcely an appreciable impression upon the +belt of timber which so shuts in Astoria that I thought I had scarcely +room in it to draw a full breath; and over to the left they pointed out +to me the residence of a gentleman--a general, I think he was--who came +hither twenty-six years ago in some official position, and had after a +quarter of a century gained what looked to me from the steamer's deck like +a precarious ten-acre lot from the "forest primeval," about enough room to +bury himself and family in, with a probability that the firs would crowd +them into the Columbia River if the saw-mill should break down. + +On the voyage up I said to an Oregonian, "You have a good timber country, +I hear?" and his reply seemed to me at the time extravagant. "Timber?" he +said; "timber--till you can't sleep." When I had spent a day and a half at +anchor abreast of Astoria, the words appeared less exaggerated. Wherever +you look you see only timber; tall firs, straight as an arrow, big as the +California redwoods, and dense as a Southern canebrake. On your right is +Oregon--its hill-sides a forest so dense that jungle would be as fit +a word for it as timber; on the left is Washington Territory, and its +hill-sides are as densely covered as those of the nearer shore. This +interminable, apparently impenetrable, thicket of firs exercised upon my +mind, I confess, a gloomy, depressing influence. The fresh lovely green +of the evergreen foliage, the wonderful arrowy straightness of the trees, +their picturesque attitude where they cover headlands and reach down +to the very water's edge, all did not make up to me for their dreary +continuity of shade. + +Astoria, however, means to grow. It has already a large hotel, which the +timber has crowded down against the tide-washed flats; a saw-mill, which +is sawing away for dear life, because if it stopped the forest would +doubtless push it into the river, on whose brink it has courageously +effected a lodgment; some tan-yards, shops, and "groceries;" and if you +should wish to invest in real estate here, you can do so with the help of +a "guide," which is distributed on the steamer, and tells you of numerous +bargains in corner lots, etc.; for here, as in that part of the West which +lies much farther east, people live apparently only to speculate in real +estate. + +An occasional flash of broad humor enlivens some of the land circulars and +advertisements. I found one on the hotel table headed "Homes," with the +following sample: + + 221 ACRES, + + Four miles east of Silverton; frame house and a log house (can + live in either); log barn; 20 acres in cultivation; 60 acres + timber land; balance pasture land; well watered. We will sell + this place for $1575. Will throw in a cook stove and all the + household furniture, consisting of a frying-pan handle and + a broomstick; also a cow and a yearling calf; also one bay + heifer; also 8400 lbs. of hay, minus what the above-named + stock have consumed during the winter; also 64 bushels of + oats, subject to the above-mentioned diminution. If sold, + we shall have left on our hands one of the driest and + ugliest-looking old bachelors this side of the grave, which + we will cheerfully throw in if at all acceptable to the + purchaser. Old maids and rich widows are requested to give + their particular attention to this special offer. Don't pass + by on the other side. + + * * * * * + + HOME, SWEET HOME! + + Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Home! + + We still have a few more "Sweet Homes" for sale, consisting + of, etc., etc., etc. + + [Illustration: pointing finger] Title perfect--a Warrantee + Deed from the hub of the earth to the top of the skies, and + Uncle Sam's Patent to back us! + +A further-reaching title one could scarcely require. + +I don't know where I got the belief that the Columbia was a second-rate +river. There must have been some blunder in the geographies out of which I +got my lessons and my notions of the North-west coast at school. Possibly, +too, the knowledge that navigation is interrupted by rapids at the +Cascades and Dalles contributed to form an impression conspicuously wrong. +In fact, the Columbia is one of the great rivers of the world. It seems to +me larger, as it is infinitely grander, than the Mississippi. + +Between Astoria and the junction of the Willamette its breadth, its depth, +its rapid current, and the vast body of water it carries to sea reminded +me of descriptions I had read of the Amazon; and I suspect the Columbia +would rank with that stream were it not for the unlucky obstructions at +the Cascades and Dalles, which divide the stream into two unequal parts. + +[Illustration: SALEM, CAPITAL OF OREGON.] + +For ten miles above Astoria the river is so wide that it forms really a +vast bay. Then it narrows somewhat, and the channel approaches now one +and then the other of its bold, picturesque shores, which often for miles +resemble the Palisades of the Hudson in steepness, and exceed them in +height. But even after it becomes narrower the river frequently widens +into broad, open, lake-like expanses, which are studded with lovely +islands, and wherever the shore lowers you see, beyond, grand mountain +ranges snow-clad and amazingly fine. + +The banks are precipitous nearly all the way to the junction of the +Willamette, and there is singularly little farming country on the +immediate river. Below Kalama there are few spots where there is even room +for a small farmstead. But along this part of the river are the "salmon +factories," whence come the Oregon salmon, which, put up in tin cans, are +now to be bought not only in our Eastern States, but all over the world. +The fish are caught in weirs, in gill nets, as shad are caught on the +Hudson, and this is the only part of the labor performed by white men. The +fishermen carry the salmon in boats to the factory--usually a large frame +building erected on piles over the water--and here they fall into the +hands of Chinese, who get for their labor a dollar a day and their food. + +The salmon are flung up on a stage, where they lie in heaps of a thousand +at a time, a surprising sight to an Eastern person, for in such a pile +you may see many fish weighing from thirty to sixty pounds. The work +of preparing them for the cans is conducted with exact method and great +cleanliness, water being abundant. One Chinaman seizes a fish and cuts off +his head; the next slashes off the fins and disembowels the fish; it then +falls into a large vat, where the blood soaks out--a salmon bleeds like a +bull--and after soaking and repeated washing in different vats, it falls +at last into the hands of one of a gang of Chinese whose business it is, +with heavy knives, to chop the fish into chunks of suitable size for the +tins. These pieces are plunged into brine, and presently stuffed into the +cans, it being the object to fill each can as full as possible with fish, +the bone being excluded. + +The top of the can, which has a small hole pierced in it, is then soldered +on, and five hundred tins set on a form are lowered into a huge kettle of +boiling water, where they remain until the heat has expelled all the air. +Then a Chinaman neatly drops a little solder over each pin-hole, and after +another boiling, the object of which is, I believe, to make sure that the +cans are hermetically sealed, the process is complete, and the salmon are +ready to take a journey longer and more remarkable even than that which +their progenitors took when, seized with the curious rage of spawning, +they ascended the Columbia, to deposit their eggs in its head waters, near +the centre of the continent. + +I was assured by the fishermen that the salmon do not decrease in numbers +or in size, yet in this year, 1873, more than two millions of pounds were +put up in tin cans on the Lower Columbia alone, besides fifteen or twenty +thousand barrels of salted salmon. + +From Astoria to Portland is a distance of one hundred and ten miles, and +as the current is strong, the steamer requires ten or twelve hours to make +the trip. As you approach the mouth of the Willamette you meet more +arable land, and the shores of this river are generally lower, and often +alluvial, like the Missouri and Mississippi bottoms; and here you find +cattle, sheep, orchards, and fields; and one who is familiar with the +agricultural parts of California notices here signs of a somewhat severer +climate, in more substantial houses; and the evidence of more protracted +rains, in green and luxuriant grasses at a season when the pastures of +California have already begun to turn brown. + +Portland is a surprisingly well-built city, with so many large shops, so +many elegant dwellings, and other signs of prosperity, as will make you +credit the assertion of its inhabitants, that it contains more wealth in +proportion to its population than any other town in the United States. +It lies on the right bank of the Willamette, and is the centre of a +large commerce. Its inhabitants seemed to me to have a singular fancy +for plate-glass fronts in their shops and hotels, and even in the private +houses, which led me at first to suppose that there must be a glass +factory near at hand. It is all, I believe, imported. + +From Portland, which you can see in a day, and whose most notable sight is +a fine view of Mount Hood, obtainable from the hills back of the city, the +sight-seer makes his excursions conveniently in various directions; and +as the American traveler is always in a hurry, it is perhaps well to show +what time is needed: + +To the Dalles and Celilo, and return to Portland, three days. + +To Victoria, Vancouver's Island, and return to Portland, including the +tour of Puget Sound, seven days. + +To San Francisco, overland, by railroad to Roseburg, thence by stage to +Redding, and rail to San Francisco, seventy-nine hours. + +[Illustration: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.] + +Thus you may leave San Francisco by steamer for Portland, see the Dalles, +the Cascades, Puget Sound, Victoria, the Willamette Valley, and the +magnificent mountain scenery of Southern Oregon and Northern California, +and be back in San Francisco in less than three weeks, making abundant +allowance for possible though not probable detentions on the road. The +time absolutely needed for the tour is but seventeen days. + +Of course he who "takes a run over to California" from, the East, +predetermined to be back in his office or shop within five or six weeks +from the day he left home, can not see the Columbia River and Puget Sound. +But travelers are beginning to discover that it is worth while to spend +some months on the Pacific coast; some day, I do not doubt, it will be +fashionable to go across the continent; and those whose circumstances +give them leisure should not leave the Pacific without seeing Oregon and +Washington Territory. In the few pages which follow, my aim is to smooth +the way for others by a very simple account of what I myself saw and +enjoyed. + +[Illustration: VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA.] + +And first as to the Cascades and the Dalles of the Columbia. You leave +Portland for Dalles City in a steamboat at five o'clock in the morning. +The better way is to sleep on board this steamer, and thus avoid an +uncomfortably early awakening. Then when you do rise, at six or half past, +you will find yourself on the Columbia, and steaming directly at Mount +Hood, whose splendid snow-covered peak seems to bar your way but a short +distance ahead. It lies, in fact, a hundred miles off; and when you have +sailed some hours toward it the river makes a turn, which leaves the snowy +peak at one side, and presently hides it behind the steep bank. + +The little steamer, very clean and comfortable, affords you an excellent +breakfast, and some amusement in the odd way in which she is managed. Most +of the river steamers here have their propelling wheel at the stern; they +have very powerful engines, which drive them ahead with surprising speed. +I have gone sixteen miles an hour in one, with the current; and when they +make a landing the pilot usually runs the boat's head slantingly against +the shore, and passengers and freight are taken in or landed over the +bow. At the wood-pile on the shore you may generally see one of the people +called "Pikes," whom you will recognize by a very broad-brimmed hat, a +frequent squirting of tobacco-juice, and the possession of two or three +hounds, whom they call hereabouts "hound-dogs," as we say "bull-dog." And +this reminds me that in Oregon the country people usually ask you if you +will eat an "egg-omelet;" and they speak of pork--a favorite food of the +Pike--as "hog-meat." + +The voyage up the river presents a constant succession of wild and +picturesque scenery; immense rocky capes jut out into the broad stream; +for miles the banks are precipitous, like the Hudson River Palisades, only +often much higher, and for other miles the river has worn its channel out +of the rock, whose face looks bare and clean cut, as though it had been +of human workmanship. The first explorer of the Columbia, even if he was +a very commonplace mortal, must have passed days of the most singular +exhilaration, especially if he ascended the stream in that season when the +skies are bright and blue, for it seems to me one of the most magnificent +sights in the world. I am not certain that the wildness does not oppress +one a little after a while, and there are parts of the river where the +smoothly cut cliffs, coming precipitously down to the water's edge, and +following down, sheer down, to the river's bottom, make you think with +terror of the unhappy people who might here be drowned, with this cold +rock within their reach, yet not affording them even a momentary support. +I should like to have seen the rugged cliffs relieved here and there by +the softness of smooth lawns, and some evidences that man had conquered +even this rude and resisting nature. + +But for a century or two to come the traveler will have to do without +this relief; nor need he grumble, for, with all its rugged grandeur, the +scenery has many exquisite bits where nature has a little softened its +aspect. Nor is it amiss to remember that but a little way back from the +river there are farms, orchards, cattle, and sheep. At one point the boat +for a moment turned her bow to the shore to admit a young man, who brought +with him a wonderful bouquet of wild flowers, which he had gathered at +his home a few miles back; and here and there, where the hill-sides have a +more moderate incline, you will see that some energetic pioneer has carved +himself out a farm. + +Nevertheless it is with a sense of relief at the change that you at last +approach a large island, a flat space of ten or twelve hundred acres, +with fences and trees and grain fields and houses, and with a gentle and +peaceful aspect, doubly charming to you when you come upon it suddenly, +and fresh from the preceding and somewhat appalling grandeur. Here the +boat stops; for you are here at the lower end of the famous Cascades, +and you tranship yourself into cars which carry you to the upper end, a +distance of about six miles, where again you take boat for Dalles City. + +[Illustration: MAP OF PUGET SOUND AND VICINITY.] + +The Cascades are rapids. The river, which has ever a swift and impetuous +current, is nearly two miles wide just above these rapids. Where the bed +shoals it also narrows, and the great body of water rushes over the rocks, +roaring, tumbling, foaming--a tolerably wild sight. There is nowhere any +sudden descent sufficient to make a water-fall; but there is a fall of a +good many feet in the six miles of cascades. + +These rapids are considered impassable, though I believe the Indians used +sometimes to venture down them in canoes; and it was my good fortune to +shoot down them in a little steamer--the _Shoshone_--the third only, I was +told, which had ever ventured this passage. The singular history of this +steamboat shows the vast extent of the inland navigation made possible +by the Columbia and its tributaries. She was built in 1866 on the Snake +River, at a point ninety miles from Boise City, in Idaho Territory, and +was employed in the upper waters of the Snake, running to near the mouth +of the Bruneau, within one hundred and twenty-five miles of the head of +Salt Lake. + +When the mining excitement in that region subsided there ceased to be +business for her, and her owner determined to bring her to Portland. She +passed several rapids on the Snake, and at a low stage of water was run +over the Dalles. Then she had to wait nearly a year until high water on +the Cascades, and finally passed those rapids, and carried her owner, Mr. +Ainsworth, who was also for this passage of the Cascades her pilot, and +myself safely into Portland. + +We steamed from Dalles City about three o'clock on an afternoon so windy +as to make the Columbia very rough. When we arrived at the head of the +Cascades we found the shore lined with people to watch our passage through +the rapids. As we swept into the foaming and roaring waters the engine was +slowed a little, and for a few minutes the pilots had their hands full; +for the fierce currents, sweeping her now to one side and then to the +other, made the steering extraordinarily difficult. At one point there +seemed a probability that we should be swept on to the rocks; and it was +very curious to stand, as General Sprague and I, the only passengers, did, +in front of the pilot-house, and watch the boat's head swing against the +helm and toward the rocks, until at last, after half a minute of suspense, +she began slowly to swing back, obedient to her pilot's wish. + +We made six miles in eleven minutes, which is at the rate of more than +thirty miles per hour, a better rate of speed than steamboats commonly +attain. Of course it is impossible to drive a vessel up the Cascades, and +a steamboat which has once passed these rapids remains forever below. + +At the upper end of the Cascades a boat awaits you, which carries you +through yet more picturesque scenery to Dalles City, where you spend the +night. This is a small place, remarkable to the traveler chiefly for the +geological collection which every traveler ought to see, belonging to +the Rev. Mr. Condon, a very intelligent and enthusiastic geologist, +the Presbyterian minister of the place. You have also at Dalles City a +magnificent view of Mount Hood, and Mr. Condon will tell you that he has +seen this old crater emit smoke since he has lived here. + +There is no doubt that both Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens have still +internal fires, though both their craters are now filled up with ashes. +There is reason to believe that at its last period of activity Mount Hood +emitted only ashes; for there are still found traces of volcanic ashes, +attributable, I am told, to this mountain, as far as one hundred miles +from its summit. Of Mount St. Helens it is probable that its slumbering +fires are not very deeply buried. A few years ago two adventurous citizens +of Washington Territory were obliged, by a sudden fog and cold storm, to +spend a night near its summit, and seeking for some cave among the lava +where to shelter themselves from the storm, found a fissure from which +came so glowing and immoderate a heat that they could not bear its +vicinity, and, as they related, were alternately frozen and scorched all +night--now roasting at the volcanic fire, and again rushing out to cool +themselves in the sleet and snow. + +[Illustration: THE DUKE OF YORK. QUEEN VICTORIA. Puget Sound Chiefs.] + +The rocks are volcanic from near the mouth of the Willamette to and above +the Dalles, and geologists suppose that there have been great convulsions +of nature hereabouts in recent geological times. The Indians have +a tradition, indeed, that the river was originally navigable and +unobstructed where now are the Cascades, and that formerly there was a +long, natural tunnel, through which the Columbia passed under a mountain. +They assert that a great earthquake broke down this tunnel, the site +of which they still point out, and that the debris formed the present +obstructions at the Cascades. + +Oregon, if one may judge by the fossil remains in Mr. Condon's collection, +seems once to have been inhabited by a great number and variety of +pre-adamite beasts; but the most singular object he has to show is a very +striking ape's head, carved with great spirit and vigor out of hard lava. +This object was found upon the shore of the Columbia by Indians, after +a flood which had washed away a piece of old alluvial bank. The rock of +which it is composed is quite hard; the carving is, as I said, done with +remarkable vigor; and the top of the head is hollowed out, precisely as +the Indians still make shallow depressions in figures and heads which +they carve out of slate, in which to burn what answers in their religious +ceremonies for incense. + +But supposing this relic to belong to Oregon--and there is, I was told, +no reason to believe otherwise--where did the Indian who carved it get his +idea of an ape? The Indians of this region, poor creatures that they are, +have still the habit of carving rude figures out of slate and other +soft rocks. They have also the habit of cutting out shallow, dish-like +depressions in the heads of such figures, wherein to burn incense. But +they could not give Mr. Condon any account of the ape's head they brought +him, nor did they recognize its features as resembling any object or +creature familiar to them even by tradition. + +The Dalles of the Columbia are simply a succession of falls and rapids, +not reaching over as great a distance as the Cascades, but containing one +feature much more remarkable than any thing which the Cascades afford, and +indeed, so far as I know, found nowhere else. + +The Columbia above the Dalles is still a first-class river, comparable +in depth and width, and in the volume of its water, only with the Lower +Mississippi or the Amazon. It is a deep, rapidly-flowing stream, nearly a +mile wide. But at one point in the Dalles the channel narrows until it is, +at the ordinary height of the river, not over a hundred yards wide; and +through this narrow gorge the whole volume of the river rushes for some +distance. Of course water is not subject to compression; the volume of the +river is not diminished; what happens, as you perceive when you see this +singular freak of nature, is that the river is suddenly turned up on its +edge. Suppose it is, above the Dalles, a mile wide and fifty feet deep; +at the narrow gorge it is but a hundred yards wide--how deep must it be? +Certainly it can be correctly said that the stream is turned up on its +edge. + +The Dalles lie five or six miles above Dalles City; and you pass these +rapids in the train which bears you to Celilo early the next morning +after you arrive at Dalles City. Celilo is not a town; it is simply +a geographical point; it is the spot where, if you were bound to the +interior of the continent by water, you would take steamboat. There is +here a very long shed to shelter the goods which are sent up into this +far-away and, to us Eastern people, unknown interior; there is a wharf +where land the boats when they return from a journey of perhaps a thousand +miles on the Upper Columbia or the Snake; there are two or three laborers' +shanties--and that is all there is of Celilo; and your journey thither +has been made only that you may see the Dalles, and Cape Horn, as a bold +promontory on the river is called. + +What I advise you to do is to take a hearty lunch with you, and, if you +can find one, a guide, and get off the early Celilo train at the Dalles. +You will have a most delightful day among very curious scenery; will +see the Indians spearing salmon in the pools over which they build their +stages; and can examine at leisure the curious rapids called the Dalles. +A party of three or four persons could indeed spend several days very +pleasantly picnicking about the Dalles, and in the season they would shoot +hare and birds enough to supply them with meat. The weather in this part +of Oregon, east of the Cascade range, is as settled as that of California, +so that there is no risk in sleeping-out-of-doors in summer. + +There is a singularly sudden climatic change between Western and Eastern +Oregon; and if you ask the captain or pilot on the boat which plies +between the Cascades and Dalles City, he can show you the mountain range +on one side of which the climate is wet, while on the other side it is +dry. The Cascade range is a continuation northward of the Sierra Nevada; +and here, as farther south, it stops the water-laden winds which rush up +from the sea. Western Oregon, lying between the Cascades and the ocean, +has so much rain that its people are called "Web-feet;" Eastern Oregon, a +vast grazing region, has comparatively little rain. Western Oregon, except +in the Willamette and Rogue River valleys, is densely timbered; Eastern +Oregon is a country of boundless plains, where they irrigate their few +crops, and depend mainly on stock-grazing. This region is as yet sparsely +settled; and when we in the East think of Oregon, or read of it even, it +is of that part of the huge State which lies west of the Cascades, and +where alone agriculture is carried on to a considerable extent. + +You will spend a day in returning from the Dalles to Portland, and +arriving there in the evening can set out the next morning for Olympia, +on Puget Sound, by way of Kalama, which is the Columbia River terminus +for the present of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It is possible to go +by steamer from Portland to Victoria, and then return down Puget Sound to +Olympia; but to most people the sea-voyage is not enticing, and there are +but slight inconveniences in the short land journey. The steamer leaving +Portland at six A.M. lands you at Kalama about eleven; there you get +dinner, and proceed about two by rail to Olympia. It is a good plan to +telegraph for accommodations on the pretty and comfortable steamer _North +Pacific_, and go directly to her on your arrival at Olympia. + +Puget Sound is one of the most picturesque and remarkable sheets of water +in the world; and the voyage from Olympia to Victoria, which shows you the +greater part of the Sound, is a delightful and novel excursion, specially +to be recommended to people who like to go to sea without getting +sea-sick; for these land-encircled waters are almost always smooth. + +When, at Kalama, you enter Washington Territory, your ears begin to be +assailed by the most barbarous names imaginable. On your way to Olympia +by rail you cross a river called the Skookum-Chuck; your train stops at +places named Newaukum, Tumwater, and Toutle; and if you seek further, you +will hear of whole counties labeled Wahkiakum, or Snohomish, or Kitsap, or +Klikatat; and Cowlitz, Hookium, and Nenolelops greet and offend you. They +complain in Olympia that Washington Territory gets but little immigration; +but what wonder? What man, having the whole American continent to chose +from, would willingly date his letters from the county of Snohomish, or +bring up his children in the city of Nenolelops? The village of Tumwater +is, as I am ready to bear witness, very pretty indeed; but surely an +emigrant would think twice before he established himself either there or +at Toutle. Seattle is sufficiently barbarous; Steilacoom is no better; and +I suspect that the Northern Pacific Railroad terminus has been fixed at +Tacoma--if it is fixed there--because that is one of the few places +on Puget Sound whose name does not inspire horror and disgust. + +[Illustration: NANAIMO, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND.] + +Olympia, which lies on an arm of Puget Sound, and was once a town of +great expectations, surprises the traveler by its streets, all shaded with +magnificent maples. The founder of the town was a man of taste; and he +set a fashion which, being followed for a few years in this country of +abundant rains, has given Olympia's streets shade trees by the hundred +which would make it famous were it an Eastern place. + +Unluckily, it has little else to charm the traveler, though it is the +capital of the Territory; and when you have spent half an hour walking +through the streets you will be quite ready to have the steamer set off +for Victoria. The voyage lasts but about thirty-six hours, and would be +shorter were it not that the steamer makes numerous landings. Thus you +get glimpses of Seattle, Steilacoom, Tacoma, and of the so-called saw-mill +ports--Port Madison, Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, and Port Townsend--the +last named being also the boundary of our Uncle Samuel's dominions for +the present, and the port of entry for this district, with a custom-house +which looks like a barn, and a collector and inspectors, the latter of +whom examine your trunk as you return from Victoria to save you from the +sin of smuggling. + +From Port Townsend your boat strikes across the straits of San Juan de +Fuca to Victoria; and just here, as you are crossing from American +to English territory, you get the most magnificent views of the grand +Olympian range of mountains and of Mount Regnier. Also, the captain will +point out to you in the distance that famous island of San Juan which +formed the subject or object, or both, of our celebrated boundary dispute +with great Britain, and you will wonder how small an object can nearly +make nations go to war, and for what a petty thing we set several kings +and great lords to studying geography and treaties and international law, +and boring themselves, and filling enterprising newspapers with dozens +of columns of dull history; and you will wonder the more at the stupid +pertinacity of these English in clinging to the little island of San Juan +when you reach Victoria, and see that we shall presently take that dull +little town too, not because we want it or need it, but to save it from +perishing of inanition. + +It is something to have taste and a sense of the beautiful. Certainly the +English, who discovered the little landlocked harbor of Victoria and chose +it as the site of a town, displayed both. It is by natural advantages one +of the loveliest places I ever saw, and I wonder, remote as it is, that +it is not famous. The narrow harbor, which is not so big as one of the +big Liverpool docks, is surrounded on both sides by the prettiest little +miniature bays, rock-bound, with grassy knolls, and here and there shady +clumps of evergreens; a river opening out above the town into a kind of +lake, and spanned by pretty bridges, invites you to a boating excursion; +and the fresh green of the lawn-like expanses of grass which reach into +the bay from different directions, the rocky little promontories with +boats moored near them, the fine snow-covered mountains in the distance, +and the pleasantly winding roads leading in different directions into the +country, all make up a landscape whose soft and gay aspect I suppose is +the more delightful because one comes to it from the somewhat oppressive +grandeur of the fir forests in Washington Territory. + +In the harbor of Victoria the most conspicuous object is the long range of +warehouses belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, with their little trading +steamers moored alongside. These vessels bear the signs of traffic with a +savage people in the high boarding nettings which guard them from stem to +stern, and which are in their more solid parts pierced for musketry. Here, +too, you see a queer little old steamboat, the first that ever vexed +the waters of the Pacific Ocean with its paddle-wheels. And as your own +steamer hauls up to the wharf, you will notice, arrayed to receive you, +what is no doubt the most shocking and complete collection of ugly women +in the world. + +These are the Indians of this region. They are very light-colored; +their complexion has an artificial look; there is something ghastly and +unnatural in the yellow of the faces, penetrated by a rose or carmine +color on the cheeks. They are hideous in all the possible aspects and +varieties of hideousness--undersized, squat, evil-eyed, pug-nosed, tawdry +in dress, ungraceful in every motion; they really mar the landscape, so +that you are glad to escape from them to your hotel, which you find a +clean and comfortable building, where, if you are as fortunate as the +traveler who relates this, you may by-and-by catch a glimpse or two of +a fresh, fair, girlish English face, which will make up to you for the +precedent ugliness. + +Victoria hopes to have its dullness enlivened by a railroad from the +mainland one of these days, which may make it more prosperous, but will +probably destroy some of the charm it now has for a tourist. It can hardly +destroy the excellent roads by which you may take several picturesque +drives and walks in the neighborhood of the town, nor the pretty views you +have from the hills near by, nor the excursions by boat, in which you can +best see how much Nature has done to beautify this place, and how little +man has done so far to mar her work. + +Silks and cigars are said to be very cheap in Victoria; and those who +consume these articles will probably look through the shops and make a +few purchases, not enough to satisfy, though sufficient to arouse the +suspicions of the Collector of Customs at Port Townsend. If you use your +time well, the thirty-six hours which the steamer spends at Victoria will +suffice you to see all that is of interest there to a traveler, and you +can return in her down the Sound, and make more permanent your impressions +of its scenery. + +You will perhaps be startled, if you chance to overhear the conversation +of your fellow-passengers, to gather that it concerns itself chiefly with +millions, and these millions run to such extraordinary figures that you +may hear one man pitying another for the confession that he made no more +than a hundred millions last year. It is feet of lumber they are speaking +of; and when you see the monstrous piles of sawdust which encumber the +mill ports, the vast quantities of waste stuff they burn, and the huge +rafts of timber which are towed down to the mills, as well as the +ships which lie there to load for South America, Tahiti, Australia, and +California, you will not longer wonder that they talk of millions. + +Some of these mills are owned by very wealthy companies, who have had the +good fortune to buy at low rates large tracts of the best timber lands +lying along the rivers and bays. A saw-mill is the centre of quite a +town--and a very rough town too, to judge from the appearance of the men +who come down to the dock to look at the steamer, and the repute of the +Indian women who go from port to port and seem at home among the mill men. + +Having gone by sea to Oregon, I should advise you to return to California +overland. The journey lies by rail through the fertile Willamette Valley, +for the present the chief agricultural country of Oregon, to Roseburg, and +thence by stage over and through some of the most picturesque and grand +scenery in America, into California. If you are curious in bizarre social +experiments, you may very well stop a day at Aurora, thirty miles below +Portland, and look at some of the finest orchards in the State, the +property of a strange German community which has lived in harmony and +acquired wealth at this point. + +Salem, too, the capital of Oregon, lying on the railroad fifty miles below +Portland, is worth a visit, to show you how rich a valley the Willamette +is. And as you go down by stage toward California you will enjoy a long +day's drive through the Rogue River Valley, a long, narrow, winding series +of nooks, remote, among high mountains, looking for all the world as +though in past ages a great river had swept through here, and left in its +dry bed a fertile soil, and space enough for a great number of happy and +comfortable homes. + +May and June are the best months in which to see Oregon and Puget Sound. +With San Francisco as a starting-point, one may go either to Portland or +to Victoria direct. If you go first to Victoria, you save a return journey +across Puget Sound, and from Olympia to Kalama, but you miss the sail up +the Columbia from Astoria to Portland. The following table of fares will +show you the cost of traveling in the region I have described: + + Time. Fare. +From San Francisco to Portland................... 3 days $30 00 +From San Francisco to Victoria................... 3 " 30 00 +From Portland to Celilo.......................... 1 day 7 00 +Excursion tickets, good from Portland to Celilo and +back............................................. 3 days 10 00 +From Portland by Olympia to Victoria............. 3 " 12 25 +From Portland to San Francisco by railroad and +stage............................................ 79 hours 42 00 + +Meals on these journeys are extra, and cost from half a dollar to +seventy-five cents. They are generally good. All these rates are in +coin. On the steamer from San Francisco to Portland or Victoria meals are +included in the fare. + +When you are once in Portland, a vast region opens itself to you, if you +are an adventurous tourist. You may take boat at Celilo, above the Dalles, +and steam up to Wallula, where you take stage for Elkton, a station on +the Pacific Railroad, in Utah; this journey shows you the heart of the +continent, and is said to abound in magnificent scenery. I have not made +it, but it is frequently done. If you have not courage for so long an +overland trip, a journey up to the mouth of Snake River and back to +Portland, which consumes but a week, will give you an intelligent idea of +the vastness of the country drained by the main body of the great Columbia +River. + +The great plains and table-lands which lie east of the Cascades, and are +drained by the Columbia, the Snake, and their affluents, will some day +contain a vast population. Already enterprising pioneers are pushing into +the remotest valleys of this region. As you sail up the Columbia, you will +hear of wheat, barley, sheep, stock, wool, orchards, and rapidly growing +settlements, where, to our Eastern belief, the beaver still builds his +dams, unvexed even by the traps and rifle of the hunter. + +[Illustration: ANCIENT HAWAIIAN IDOL.] + + + + +APPENDIX. + +CONTRIBUTIONS OF A VENERABLE SAVAGE TO THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE HAWAIIAN +ISLANDS.[A] + +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF M. JULES REMY, BY WILLIAM T. BRIGHAM. + + [I am indebted to Mr. William T. Brigham, of Boston, the + translator of the following "Contributions of a venerable Savage," + and the author of a valuable treatise on the volcanoes of the + Sandwich Islands, as well as of several memoirs on the natural + history of the Islands, for his kind permission to use this very + curious fragment, with his additions, in my volume. The original + I have not been able to lay my hands on. It gives a picturesque + account of the Hawaiian people before they came into relations + with foreigners. It should be remembered by the reader that + Mr. Remy is a Frenchman, and that his relations with the Roman + Catholic missionaries somewhat colored his views of the labors of + the American missionaries on the Islands. + + The "contributions" in this translation of Mr. Brigham were + privately printed by him some years ago, and the following note + by him explains their origin. It will be seen that Mr. Brigham + translated the Mele, or chant of Kawelo, from the original.] + +One evening, in the month of March, 1853, I landed at Hoopuloa, on the +western shore of Hawaii. Among the many natives collected on the beach +to bid me welcome and draw my canoe up over the sand, I noticed an old +man of average size, remarkably developed chest, and whose hairs, +apparently once flaxen, were hoary with age. The countenance of this +old man, at once savage and attractive, was furrowed across the +forehead with deep and regular wrinkles. His only garment was a shirt +of striped calico. + +A sort of veneration with which his countrymen seemed to me to regard him +only increased the desire I at first felt to become acquainted with +the old islander. I was soon told that his name was Kanuha, that he +was already a lad when Alapai[1] died (about 1752), that he had known +Kalaniopuu, Cook, and Kamehameha the Great. When I learned his name +and extraordinary age, I turned toward Kanuha, extending my hand. This +attention flattered him, and disposed him favorably toward me. So I +resolved to take advantage of this lucky encounter to obtain from an +eye-witness an insight into Hawaiian customs before the arrival of +Europeans. + +A hut of pandanus had been prepared for me upon the lava by the care of +a missionary. I made the old man enter, and invited him to partake of my +repast of poi,[2] cocoa-nut, raw fish, and roast dog. While eating the poi +with full fingers, Kanuha assured me that he had lived under King Alapai, +and had been his runner, as well as the courier of Kalaniopuu, his +successor. So great had been Kanuha's strength in his youth that, at the +command of his chiefs, he had in a single day accomplished the distance +from Hoopuloa to Hilo, more than forty French leagues. When Cook died, in +1779, the little children of Kanuha's children had been born. When I spoke +of Alapai to my old savage, he told me that _it seemed to him a matter of +yesterday_; of Cook, _it was a thing of to-day_. + +From these facts it may be believed that Kanuha was not less than one +hundred and sixteen years old when I met him on this occasion. This +remarkable example of longevity was by no means unique at the Hawaiian +Islands a few years since. Father Marechal knew at Ka'u, in 1844, an +aged woman who remembered perfectly having seen Alapai. I had occasion to +converse at Kauai with an islander who was already a grandfather when he +saw Captain Cook die. I sketched, at this very Hoopuloa, the portrait of +an old woman, still vigorous, Meawahine, who told any who would hear her +that her breasts were completely developed when her chief gave her as wife +to the celebrated English navigator. + +Old Kanuha was the senior of all these centenaries. I took advantage of +his willing disposition to draw from him the historical treasures with +which his memory was stored. Here, in my own order, is what he told me +during a night of conversation, interrupted only by the Hawaiian dances +(_hulahula_), and by some pipes of tobacco smoked in turn, in the custom +of the country. + + +OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY WITH THE ANCIENT HAWAIIANS. + +The soil was the property of the king, who reserved one part of it for +himself, assigning another to the nobles, and left the rest to the first +occupant. Property, based on a possession more or less ancient, was +transmitted by heritage; but the king could always dispose, according to +his whims, of property of chiefs and subjects, and the chiefs had the same +privilege over the people. + +Taxes were not assessed on any basis. The king levied them whenever it +seemed good to him, and almost always in an arbitrary way. The chiefs +also, and the priests, received a tribute from the people. The tax was +always in kind, and consisted of: + +Kalo, raw and made into poi; Potatoes (_Convolvulus batatas_, L.) many +varieties; Bananas (_maia_) of different kinds; Cocoa-nuts (called _niu_ +by the natives); Dogs (destined for food);[3] Hogs; Fowls; Fish, crabs, +cuttle-fish, shell-fish; Kukui nuts (_Aleurites moluccana_) for making +relishes, and for illumination; Edible sea-weed (_limu_); Edible ferns +(several species, among others the _hapuu_); Awa (_Piper methysticum_, +Forst.); Ki roots (_Cordyline ti_, Schott.), a very saccharine vegetable; +Feathers of the _Oo_ (_Drepanis pacifica_), and of the _Iiwi_ (_Drepanis +coccinea_): these birds were taken with the glue of the _ulu_ or +bread-fruit (_Artocarpus incisa_); Fabrics of beaten bark (_kapa_) +and fibre of the _olona_ (_Boehmeria_), of _wauke_ (_Broussonetia +papyrifera_), of _hau_ (_Hilasens tiliasens_), etc.; Mats of Pandanus and +of Scirpus; Pili (grass to thatch houses with); Canoes (_waa_); Wood for +building; Calabashes (serving for food vessels, and to hold water); Wooden +dishes; Arms and instruments of war, etc., etc. + +A labor tax was also enforced, and it was perhaps the most onerous, +because it returned almost regularly every moon for a certain number of +days. The work was principally cultivating the _loi_, or fields of kalo, +which belonged to the king or chiefs. + +The Hawaiian people were divided into three very distinct classes; these +were: + +1. The nobility (_Alii_), comprising the king and the chiefs of whatever +degree; + +2. The clergy (_Kahuna_), comprising the priests, doctors, prophets, and +sorcerers; + +3. Citizens (_Makaainana_), comprising laborers, farmers, proletaries, and +slaves. + + +THE NOBILITY. NA'LII. + +The chiefs or nobles were of several orders. The highest chief bore the +title of _Moi_, which may best be rendered by the word majesty. In a +remote period of Hawaiian history, this title was synonymous with _Ka +lani_, heaven. This expression occurs frequently in ancient poems: _Auhea +oe, e ka lani? Eia ae_. This mode of address is very poetic, and quite +pleasing to the chiefs. + +The Moi was still called _kapu_ and _aliinui_. To tread on his shadow +was a crime punished with death: _He make ke ee malu_. The chief next the +throne took the title of _Wohi_. He who ranked next, that of _Mahana_. +These titles could belong at the same time to several chiefs of the +blood-royal, who were called _Alii kapu, Alii wohi_. The ordinary nobility +furnished the king's aids-de-camp, called _Hulumanu_ (plumed officers). + +By the side of the nobility were the _Kahu alii_, literally guardians of +the chiefs, of noble origin by the younger branch, but who dared not claim +the title of chief in the presence of their elders. The Kahu alii of the +male sex might be considered born chamberlains; of the female, ladies of +the bed-chamber. + +There were five kinds of Kahu alii, which are: Iwikuamoo, Ipukuha, +Paakahili, Kiaipoo, Aipuupuu. + +These titles constituted as many hereditary charges reserved for the +lesser nobility. The functions of the Iwikuamoo (backbone of the chief) +were to rub his lord on the back, when stretched on his mat. The Ipukuha +had charge of the royal spittoons. The Paakahili carried a very long plume +(_kahili_), which he waved, around the royal person to drive away the +flies and gnats. The duties of this officer were continual and most +fatiguing, for he must constantly remain near the person of his master, +armed with his kahili, whether the king was seated or reclining, eating +or sleeping. The Kiaipoo's special charge was to watch at the side of his +august chief during sleep. The Aipuupuu was the chief cook, and, besides, +performed functions similar to those of steward or purveyor. + +There were, besides, other inferior chiefs, as the _Puuku_, attendants of +the house or palace; _Malama ukana_, charged with the care of provisions +in traveling; _Aialo_, who had the privilege of eating in the presence of +the chief; and, at the present day, the _Muki baka_, who had the honor of +lighting the king's pipe and carrying his tobacco-pouch. + +Although the people considered these last four orders as belonging to the +nobility, it seems that they were of lower rank than the citizens favored +by the chiefs. + +Finally, the king had always in his service the _Hula_, who, like the +buffoon or jester of the French kings, must amuse his majesty by mimicry +or dancing. The _Kahu alii_, or _Kaukaualii_, as they are now styled, +are attendants or followers of the high chiefs by right of birth. They +accompany their masters everywhere, almost in the same manner that +a governess follows her pupil.[4] From the throne down nobility was +hereditary. The right of primogeniture was recognized as natural law. +Nobility transmitted through the mother was considered far superior to +that on the father's side only, even if he were the highest of chiefs. +This usage was founded on the following proverb: _Maopopo ka makuahine, +aole maopopo ka makuakane_ (It is always evident who the mother is, but +one is never sure about the father). Agreeably to this principle, the +high chiefs, when they could not find wives of a sufficiently illustrious +origin, might espouse their sisters and their nieces, or, in default of +either of these, their own mother. Nevertheless, history furnishes us +several examples of kings who were not noble on the maternal side.[5] + + +THE CLERGY. NA KAHUNA. + +The priests formed three orders: + +1. The _Kahuna_ proper. 2. The _Kaula_, or prophets. 3. The _Kilo_, +diviners or magicians. + +The priesthood, properly so called (_Kahuna maoli, Kahuna pule_), was +hereditary. The priests received their titles from their fathers, and +transmitted them to their offspring, male and female, for the Hawaiians +had priestesses as well. The priest was the peer of the nobility; he had +a portion of land in all the estates of the chiefs, and sometimes acquired +such power as to be formidable to the alii. In religious ceremonies, the +priests were clothed with absolute power, and selected the victims for the +sacrifices. This privilege gave them an immense and dangerous influence in +private life, whence the Hawaiian proverb: The priest's man is inviolable, +the chief's man is the prey of death, _Aole e make ko ke kahuna kanaka, o +ko ke 'lii kanaka ke make_. + +The kahuna, being clothed with supreme power in the exercise of his +functions, alone could designate the victim suitable to appease the anger +of the gods. The people feared him much for this prerogative, which gave +the power of life and death over all, and the result was that the priest +had constantly at his service an innumerable crowd of men and women wholly +devoted to him. It was not proper for him to choose victims from a people +who paid him every imaginable attention. But among the servants of the +alii, if there were any who had offended the priest or his partisans, +nothing more was necessary to condemn to death such or such an attendant +of even the highest chief. From this it may be seen how dangerous it was +not to enjoy the good graces of the kahuna, who, by his numerous clan, +might revolutionize the whole country. History affords us an example +in the Kahuna Kaleihokuu of Laupahoehoe, who had in his service so +considerable a body of retainers that he was able in a day, by a single +act of his will, to put to death the great chief Hakau, of Waipio, and +substitute in his place Umi, the bastard son (_poolua_) of King Liloa, +who had, however, been adopted by Kaleihokuu. Another example of this +remarkable power is seen in the Kahuna of Ka'u, who massacred the high +chief Kohookalani, in the neighborhood of Ninole, tumbling down upon him a +huge tree from the top of the _pali_ (precipice) of Hilea. + +The _Kahuna_, especially those of the race of Paao, were the natural +depositaries of history, and took the revered title of _Mo'olelo_, or +historians. Some individuals of this stock still exist, and they are all +esteemed by the natives, and regarded as the chiefs of the historical +and priestly caste. The sacerdotal order had its origin in Paao, whose +descendants have always been regarded as the _Kahuna maoli_.[6] Paao +came from a distant land called Kahiki. According to several chiefs, his +genealogy must be more correct than that of the kings. Common tradition +declares that Paao came from foreign countries, landing on the north-west +shore of Hawaii (Kohala), at Puuepa, in the place where, to this day, are +seen the ruins of the Heiau (temple) of Mokini, the most ancient of all +the temples, and which he is said to have built. The advent of Paao and +his erection of this heiau are so ancient, according to the old men, that +Night helped the priest raise the temple: _Na ka po i kukulu ae la Mokini, +a na Paao nae_. These sayings, in the native tongue, indicate the high +antiquity of Paao.[7] + +To build the temple of Mokini, which also served as a city of refuge, Paao +had stones brought from all sides, even from Pololu, a village situated +four or five leagues from Mokini or Puuepa. The Kanakas formed a chain the +whole length of the route, and passed the stones from one to another--an +easy thing in those times--from the immense population of the +neighborhood. + +Paao has always been considered as the first of the Kahuna. For this +reason his descendants, independently of the fact that they are regarded +as _Mookahuna_, that is, of the priesthood, are more like nobles in the +eye of the people, and are respected by the chiefs themselves. There are, +in the neighborhood of Mokini, stones which are considered petrifactions +of the canoe, paddles, and fish-hooks of Paao. + +At Pololu, toward the mountain, are found fields of a very beautiful +verdure. They are called the pastures, or grass-plots, of Paao (_Na mauu a +Paao_). The old priest cultivated these fields himself, where no one since +his time has dared to use spade or mattock. If an islander was impious +enough to cultivate the meadow of Paao, the people believe that a terrible +punishment would be the inevitable consequence of that profanation. +Disastrous rains, furious torrents, would surely ravage the neighboring +country. + +Some Hawaiians pretend that there exists another sacerdotal race besides +that of Paao, more ancient even than that, and whose priests belonged at +the same time to a race of chiefs. It is the family of Maui, probably +of Maui-hope, the last of the seven children of Hina,[8] the same who +captured the sea-monster Piimoe. The origin of this race, to which Naihe +of Kohala pretends to belong, is fabulous. Since the reign of Kamehameha, +the priests of the order of Maui have lost favor. + +The second class of the clergy was composed of the prophets (_Kaula_), +an inoffensive and very respectable people, who gave vent to their +inspiration from time to time in unexpected and uncalled-for prophesies. +The third order of the clergy is that of _Kilo_, diviners or magicians. +With these may be classed the _Kilokilo_, the _Kahunalapaau_ and +_Kahunaanaana_, a sort of doctors regarded as sorcerers, to whom was +attributed the power of putting to death by sorcery and witchcraft.[9] The +Kahunaanaana and the Kahunalapaau have never been considered as belonging +to the high caste of Kahuna maoli. + +The Kahunaanaana, or sorcerers, inherited their functions. They were +thoroughly detested, and the people feared them, and do to this day. When +the chiefs were dissatisfied with a sorcerer, they had his head cut off +with a stone axe (_koipohaku_), or cast him from the top of a pali. + +The doctors were of two kinds. The first, the Kahunalapaau proper, +comprised all who used plants in the treatment of disease. Just as the +sorcerers understood poisonous vegetables, so the doctors knew the simples +which furnished remedies to work cures. The second kind comprised the +spiritual doctors, who had various names, and who seem to have been +intermediate between priests and magicians, sharing at once in the +attributes of both. They were: + +_Kahuna uhane_, the doctors of ghosts and spirits; + +_Kahuna makani_, doctors of winds; + +_Kahuna hoonohonoho akua_, who caused the gods to descend on the sick; + +_Kahuna aumakua_, doctors of diseases of the old; + +_Kahuna Pele_, doctors or priests of Pele, goddess of volcanoes. + + +All the doctors of the second kind are still found in the islands,[10] +where they have remained idolaters, although they have been for the most +part baptized. There is hardly a Kanaka who has not had recourse to them +in his complaints, preferring their cures and their remedies to those +of the foreign physicians. Laws have been enacted to prohibit these +charlatans from exercising their art; but under the rule of Kamehameha +III., who protected them, these laws have not been enforced. + + +THE CITIZENS. NA MAKAAINANA. + +The class of _Makaainana_ comprises all the inhabitants not included in +the two preceding classes; that is to say, the bulk of the people. + +There were two degrees of this cast: the _kanaka wale_, freemen, private +citizens, and the _kauwa_ or servants. The Hawaiian saying, _O luna, o +lalo, kai, o uka a o ka hao pae, ko ke 'lii_ (All above, all below, the +sea, the land, and iron cast upon the shore, all belong to the king), +exactly defines the third class of the nation, called makaainana, the +class that possesses nothing, and has no right save that of sustenance. + +The Hawaiians honored canoe-builders and great fishers as privileged +citizens. The chiefs themselves granted them some consideration; but it +must be confessed that the honorable position they occupied in society was +due to their skill in their calling rather than to any thing else. These +builders were generally deeply in debt. They ate in advance the price of +their labor, which usually consisted of hogs and fowls, and they died of +starvation before the leaves ceased to sprout on the tree their adze had +transformed into a canoe. + +The _kauwa_, servants, must not be confounded with the _kauwa maoli_, +actual slaves. A high chief, even a wohi, would call himself without +dishonor _ke kauwa a ke 'lii nui_, the servant of the king. At present, +their excellencies the ministers and the nobles do not hesitate to sign +their names under the formula _kou kauwa_, your servant; but it is none +the less true, for all that, that formerly there were among the common +people a class, few in number, of slaves, or serfs, greatly despised by +the Hawaiians, and still to our days so lowered in public opinion that a +simple peasant refuses to associate with the descendants of this caste. + +They point the finger at people of kauwa extraction, lampoon them, and +touch the soles of their feet when they speak of them, to mark the lowness +of their origin. If they were independent, and even rich, an ordinary +islander would deem himself disgraced to marry his daughter to one of +these pariahs. + +The slaves were not permitted to cross the threshold of the chiefs' +palace. They could do no more than crawl on hands and knees to the door. +In spite of the many changes infused into Hawaiian institutions, the kauwa +families remain branded with a stigma, in the opinion of the natives, and +the laws, which accord them the same rights as other citizens, can not +reinstate them. + +It seems certain that the origin of slavery among the Hawaiians must +be sought in conquests. The vanquished, who were made prisoners, became +slaves, and their posterity inherited their condition. + +From time immemorial the islanders have clothed themselves, the men with +the _malo_, the women with the _pau_. The malo is bound around the loins, +after having passed between the legs, to cover the pudenda. The pau is a +short skirt, made of bark cloth or of the ki leaves, which reaches from +the waist half down to the knees. The old popular songs show clearly that +this costume has always been worn by the natives. To go naked was regarded +as a sign of madness, or as a mark of divine birth. Sometimes the kings +were attended by a man sprung from the gods, and this happy mortal alone +had the right to follow, _puris naturalibus_, his august master. The +people said, in speaking of him, _He akua ia_, he is a god. + +_Kapa_, a kind of large sheet in which the chiefs dressed themselves, was +made of the soaked and beaten bark of several shrubs, such as the wauke, +olona, hau, oloa. Fine varieties were even made of the kukui (_Aleurites +moluccana_). In ancient times it was an offense punishable with death for +a common man to wear a double kapa or malo. + +The Hawaiians have never worn shoes. In certain districts where lava is +very abundant, they make sandals (_kamaa_) with the leaves of the ki and +pandanus. They always go bare-headed, except in battle, where they like +to exhibit themselves adorned with a sort of helmet made of twigs and +feathers. + +The women never wear any thing but flowers on their heads. Tattooing was +known, but less practiced than at the Marquesas, and much more rudely. + +The Hawaiians are not cannibals. They have been upbraided in Europe as +eaters of human flesh, but such is not the case. They have never killed a +man for food. It is true that in sacrifices they eat certain parts of the +victim, but there it was a religious rite, not an act of cannibalism. So, +also, when they ate the flesh of their dearest chiefs, it was to do honor +to their memory by a mark of love: they never eat the flesh of bad chiefs. + +The Hawaiians do not deny that the entrails of Captain Cook were eaten; +but they insist that it was done by children, who mistook them for the +viscera of a hog, an error easily explained when it is known that the body +had been opened and stripped of as much flesh as possible, to be burned +to ashes, as was due the body of a god. The officers of the distinguished +navigator demanded his bones, but as they were destroyed,[B] those of a +Kanaka were surrendered in their stead, receiving on board the ships of +the expedition the honors intended for the unfortunate commander. + +The condition of the women among the ancient Hawaiians was like that of +servants well treated by their masters. The chiefesses alone enjoyed equal +rights with men. It is a convincing proof that women were regarded as +inferior to men, that they could in no case eat with their husbands, and +that the kapu was often put upon their eating the most delicious food. +Thus bananas were prohibited on pain of death. Their principal occupations +consisted in making kapa, the malo and pau, and in preparing food. + +Marriage was performed by cohabitation with the consent of the relations. +Polygamy was only practiced by the chiefs. Children were very independent, +and although their parents respected them so much as seldom to dare lay +hands on them, they were quite ready to part with them to oblige a friend +who evinced a desire for them. Often an infant was promised before birth. +This singular custom still exists, but is much less frequent. + +They had little regard for old men who had become useless, and even killed +them to get them out of the way. It was allowable to suffocate infants to +avoid the trouble of bringing them up. Women bestowed their affection upon +dogs and pigs, and suckled them equally with their children. Fleas, lice, +and grasshoppers were eaten, but flies inspired an unconquerable horror; +if one fell into a calabash of poi, the whole was thrown away.[11] + +The Hawaiians practiced a sort of circumcision, differing from that of +the Jews, but having the same sanitary object. This operation _(mahele)_ +consisted in slitting the prepuce by means of a bamboo. The mahele has +fallen into disuse, but is still practiced in some places, unbeknown to +the missionaries, upon children eight or ten years old. A sort of priest +(kahuna) performs the operation.[12] + +The Hawaiian women are always delivered without pain, except in very +exceptional cases. The first time they had occasion to witness, in the +persons of the missionaries' wives, the painful childbirths of the white +race, they could not restrain their bursts of laughter, supposing it to +be mere custom, and not pain, that could thus draw cries from the wives of +the Haole (foreigners). + +The ancient Hawaiians cared for their dead. They wrapped them in kapa +with fragrant herbs, such as the flowers of the sugar-cane, which had the +property of embalming them. They buried in their houses, or carried +their bodies to grottoes dug in the solid rock. More frequently they were +deposited in natural caves, a kind of catacombs, where the corpses were +preserved without putrefaction, drying like mummies. It was a sacred duty +to furnish food to the dead for several weeks. Sometimes the remains were +thrown into the boiling lava of the volcanoes, and this mode of sepulture +was regarded as homage paid to the goddess Pele, who fed principally on +human flesh. + + +THE STORY OF UMI; HIS BIRTH AND YOUTH. + +Liloa reigned over the island of Hawaii. In the course of one of his +journeys through the province of Hamakua, he met a woman of the people +named Akahikameainoa, who pleased him, and whose favors he claimed as +supreme chief. + +Akahikameainoa was then in her menses, so that the malo of the king was +soiled with the discharge. Liloa said to the woman: "If you bring into the +world a man-child, it shall belong to me; if a girl, it shall be yours. +I leave with you as tokens of my sovereign will my _niho palaoa_ (whale's +tooth), and my _lei_. Conceal these things from all eyes; they will one +day be a souvenir of our relation, a proof of the paternity of the child +who shall be born from our loves." + +That would, indeed, be an unexceptionable testimony, for by the law of +kapu a wife could not, under pain of death, approach her husband while in +her courses. The soiled malo and the time of the child's birth would give +certain indications. + +Akahikameainoa carefully concealed the royal tokens of her adultery, +saying nothing to any one, not even to her husband. The spot where she +hid them is known to this day as _Huna na niho_, the hiding place of the +teeth. + +Liloa then held his court at Waipio in all the splendor of the time. +Besides a considerable troop of servants, he had in attendance priests +(kahuna), prophets (kaula), nobles, and his only son, Hakau. The palace +was made merry night and day by the licentious motions of the dancers, and +by the music of the resounding calabashes. + +Nine moons after her meeting with the king, Akahikameainoa gave birth to +a man-child, which she called Umi, and brought up under the roof of her +husband, who believed himself the father. The child developed rapidly, +became strong, and acquired a royal stature. In his social games, in the +sports of youth, he always bore away the palm. He was, moreover, a great +eater: _Hao wale i ka ai a me ka ia_.[13] In a word, Umi was a perfect +Kanaka, and a skillful fighter, who made his comrades suffer for it. +At this time he conceived a strong affection for two peasants of the +neighborhood, Koi of Kukui-haole and Omakamau, who became his _aikane_. + +One day his supposed father, angry at his conduct, was about to punish +him: "Strike him not," exclaimed Akahikameainoa, "he is your lord and +chief! Do not imagine that he is the son of us two: he is the child of +Liloa, your king." Umi was then about fifteen or sixteen years old. + +His mother, after this declaration, startling as a thunder-bolt, went and +uncovered the tokens Liloa had left as proof, and placed them before her +husband, who was motionless with fear at the thought of the high treason +he had been on the point of committing. + +In the mean time, Liloa had grown old, and Akahikameainoa, deeming the +moment had arrived, invested Umi with the royal malo, the niho palaoa, and +the lei, emblems of power, which high chiefs alone had the right to wear. +"Go," said she to him then; "go, my son, present yourself at Waipio to +King Liloa, your father. Tell him you are his child, and show him, in +proof of your words, these tokens which he left with me." + +Umi, proud enough of the revelation of his mother, at once departs, +accompanied by Koi and Omakamau. + +The palace of Liloa was surrounded by guards, priests, diviners, and +sorcerers. The kapu extended to the edge of the outer inclosure, and no +one might pass on penalty of death. Umi advanced boldly and crossed the +threshold. Exclamations and cries of death sounded in his ears from all +sides. Without troubling himself, he passed on and entered the end door. +Liloa was asleep, wrapped in his royal mantle of red and yellow feathers. +Umi stooped, and, without ceremony, uncovered his head. Liloa, awakening, +said, "_Owai la keia_?--Who is this?" "It is I," replied the youth; "it is +I, Umi, your son." So saying, he displays his malo at the king's feet. +At this token Liloa, while rubbing his eyes, recognized Umi, and had him +proclaimed his son. Behold, then, Umi admitted to the rank of high chief, +if not the equal of Hakau, his eldest son, at least his prime minister by +birth--his lieutenant. + +The two brothers lived at court on an equal footing. They took part in the +same amusements, wrestling, drawing the bow, plunged with eagerness into +all the noble exercises of the country and the time. The people of Umi's +suite matched themselves with those of Hakau in the combat with the long +lance _(pololu)_, and the party of Umi was always victorious, compelling +Hakau to retire in confusion. + +Liloa, perceiving that his last hour was drawing near, called his two +children to him, and said to them, "You, Hakau, will be chief, and you, +Umi, will be his man." This last expression is equivalent to viceroy or +prime minister. The two brothers bowed, in token of assent, and the +old chief continued: "Do you, Hakau, respect your man; and do you, Umi, +respect your sovereign. If you, Hakau, have no consideration for your +man, if you quarrel with him, I am not disturbed at the results of your +conduct. In the same way, Umi, unless you render your sovereign the homage +you owe him, if you rebel against him, it will be for you two to decide +your lot." Soon after, having made known his last wishes, Liloa gave up +the ghost. + +Umi, who was of a proud and independent character, foreseeing, no doubt, +even then, the wicked conduct of his brother, would not submit to him, +and refused to appear in his presence. Giving up his share of power, +he departed from Waipio with his two _aikane_, and retired into the +mountains, where he gave himself up to bird-catching. + +Hakau then reigned alone, and ruled according to his fancy. Abusing his +authority, he made himself feared, but, at the same time, detested by his +people. He brought upon himself the censure of the chief attendants of his +father, whom he provoked by all sorts of humiliations and insults. If he +saw any one of either sex remarkable for good looks, he had them tattooed +in a frightful manner for his good pleasure. + +Meanwhile Umi, who had a taste for savage life, had taken leave of his +favorites, and wandered alone in the midst of the forests and mountains. +One day, when he descended to the shore at Laupahoehoe, in the district +of Hilo, he fell in love with a woman of the people, and made her his +companion without arousing a suspicion of his high birth. Devoting +himself, then, to field labor, he was seen sometimes cultivating the +ground, and sometimes going down to the sea to fish. + +By generous offerings, he knew how to skillfully flatter an old man named +Kaleihokuu, an influential priest, who at last adopted him as one of his +children. Umi always kept at the head of the farmers and fishermen, and +a considerable number, recognizing his physical superiority, voluntarily +enrolled themselves under his orders and those of his foster-father; +he was only known by the name of Hanai (foster-child) of Kaleihokuu. +Meditating probably, even then, a way of acquiring supreme power, Umi +exerted himself to gain the sympathies of the people, in whose labors he +took an incredible part. There are seen to this day, above Laupahoehoe, +the fields which Umi cultivated, and near the sea can be seen the heiau, +or temple, in which Kaleihokuu offered sacrifices to the gods. + +Hakau continued to reign, always without showing the least respect to the +old officers of Liloa, his father. Two old men, high chiefs by birth, and +highly honored under the preceding reign, had persisted in residing near +the palace at Waipio, in spite of the insults to which the nearness of the +court exposed them. One day when they were hungry, after a long scarcity +of food, they said to one of their attendants: "Go to the palace of Hakau. +Tell his Majesty that the two old chiefs are hungry, and demand of him, in +our name, food, fish, and awa."[14] The attendant went at once to the king +to fulfill his mission. Hakau replied with foul and insulting terms: "Go +tell the two old men that they shall have neither food, fish, nor awa!" +The two chiefs, on hearing this cruel reply, commenced to deplore their +lot, and regret more bitterly than ever the time they lived under Liloa. +Then rousing themselves, they said to their attendant, "We have heard of +the foster-son of Kaleihokuu, of his activity, courage, and generosity. +Lose no time; go directly to Laupahoehoe, and tell Kaleihokuu that two +chiefs desire to see his adopted son." The servant went with all speed +to Laupahoehoe, where he delivered his master's message. Kaleihokuu told, +him, "Return to your masters, tell them that they will be welcome, if +they will come to-morrow to see my foster-son." The old men, at this news, +hastened to depart. Arrived at the abode of Kaleihokuu, they found no one, +except a man asleep on the mat. They entered, nevertheless, and sat down, +leaning their backs against the walls of the pandanus house. "At last," +said they, sighing, "our bones are going to revive, _akahi a ola na iwi_." +Then, addressing the slumbering man, "Are you, then, alone here?"--" Yes," +replied the young man; "Kaleihokuu is in the fields."--"We are," added +they, "the two old men of Waipio, come expressly to see the priest's +foster-son." + +The young man rises without saying a word, prepares an abundant repast--an +entire hog, fish, and awa. The two old men admired the activity and skill +of the youth, and said to themselves, "At all events, if the foster-son +of Kaleihokuu were as vigorous a stripling as this, we should renew our +life!" The young unknown served them food, and made them drunk with awa, +and, according to the usage of those times,[16] gave up to them the women +of Kaleihokuu, that his hospitality might be complete. + +The next morning the old men saw Kaleihokuu, and said to him, "Here we +have come to become acquainted with your foster-son. May it please the +gods that he be like that fine young fellow who entertained us at your +house! Our bones would revive."--"Ah, indeed," replied Kaleihokuu; "he who +has so well received you is my _keiki hanai_. I left him at the house on +purpose to perform for you the duties of hospitality." The two old men, +rejoiced at what they learned, told the priest and his adopted son the ill +treatment they had received at the court of Hakau. No more was needed to +kindle a war at once. + +At the head of a considerable troop of people attached to the service of +Kaleihokuu, Umi went by forced marches to Waipio, and the next day Hakau +had ceased to reign. He had been slain by the very hand of the vigorous +foster-son of the priest. + + +THE REIGN OF UMI. + +Umi ruled in place of Hakau. His two aikane, Koi and Omakamau, had joined +him, and resided at his court. Piimaiwaa of Hilo was his most valiant +warrior. _Ia ia ka mama kakaua_--to him belonged the baton of war, a +figurative expression denoting the general-in-chief. Pakaa was one of the +favorites of Umi, and Lono was his kahuna. + +While Umi reigned over the eastern shores of the island, one of his +cousins, Keliiokaloa, ruled the western coast, and held his court at +Kailua. It was under the reign of this prince, about two centuries before +the voyage of Captain Cook, that a ship was wrecked near Keei, in the +district of Kona, not far from the place where the celebrated English +navigator met his death in 1779. It was about 1570[C] that men of the +white race first landed in the archipelago. One man and one woman escaped +from the wreck, and reached land near Kealakeakua. Coming to the shore, +these unfortunates prostrated themselves on the lava, with their faces to +the earth, whence comes the name Kulou, a _bowing down_, which the place +which witnessed this scene still bears. The shipwrecked persons soon +conformed to the customs of the natives, who pretend that there exists to +our day a family of chiefs descended from these two whites. The Princess +Lohea, daughter of Liliha,[16] still living, is considered of this origin. +Keliiokaloa, who reigned over the coast where this memorable event took +place, was a wicked prince, who delighted in wantonly felling cocoa-nut +trees and laying waste cultivated lands. His ravages induced Umi to +declare war against him. + +He took the field at the head of his army, accompanied by his famous +warrior, Piimaiwaa; his friends, Koi and Omakamau; his favorite, Pakaa; +and Lono, his Kahuna. He turned the flanks of Mauna Kea, and advancing +between this mountain and Hualalai, in the direction of Mauna Loa, arrived +at the great central plateau of the island, intending to make a descent +upon Kailua. Keliiokaloa did not wait for him. Placing himself at the head +of his warriors, he marched to meet Umi. The two armies met on the high +plain bounded by the colossi of Hawaii, at the place which is called _Ahua +a Umi_. + +Two men of the slave race, called Laepuni, famous warriors of Keliiokaloa, +fought with a superhuman courage, and Umi was about to fall under their +blows, when Piimaiwaa, coming to his rescue, caused the victory to incline +to his side. Although history is silent, it is probable that the king of +Kailua perished in the battle. + +This victory completely rid Umi of his last rival; he reigned henceforth +as sole ruler of Hawaii; and to transmit to posterity the remembrance of +this remarkable battle, he caused to be erected on the battle-field, by +the people of the six provinces, Hilo, Hamakua, Kohala, Kona, Ka'u, and +Puna, a singular monument, composed of six polyhedral piles of ancient +lava collected in the vicinity. A seventh pyramid was raised by his nobles +and officers. In the centre of these enormous piles of stone he built +a temple, whose remains are still sufficiently perfect to enable one to +restore the entire plan. The whole of this vast monument is called, after +the name of its builder, the Heaps of Umi--_Ahua Umi_. + +Umi built another temple at the foot of Pohaku Hanalei, on the coast of +Kona, called _Ahua Hanalei_. A third temple was also erected by him on +the flank of Mauna Kea, in the direction of Hilo, at the place called +Puukeekee. Traces of a temple built by the same king may also be +recognized at Mauna Halepohaha, where are found the ruins of Umi's houses +covered with a large block of lava.[17] + +They give Umi the name of King of the Mountains. Tradition declares that +he retired to the centre of the island, through love for his people, and +these are the reasons which explain the seclusion to which he devoted +himself. It was a received custom in Hawaiian antiquity that the numerous +attendants of the chiefs, when traversing a plantation, should break +down the cocoa-nuts, lay waste the fields, and commit all sorts of havoc +prejudicial to the interests of proprietors or cultivators. To avoid a +sort of scourge which followed the royal steps, Umi made his abode in the +mountains, in order that the robberies of his attendants might no longer +cause the tears of the people to flow. In his retreat Umi lived, with his +retainers, upon the tribute in kind which his subjects brought him from +all parts of the coast. In time of famine, his servants went through the +forest and collected the _hapuu_, a nourishing fern which then took the +place of poi. + +Umi, however, did not spend all his time in the mountains. He came to +live at various times on the sea-shore at Kailua. He employed everywhere +workmen to cut stones, to serve, some say, in the construction of a +sepulchral cave; according to others, to build a magnificent palace. +Whatever may have been their destination, the stones were admirably +hewn.[18] In our days the Calvinistic missionaries have used them in the +erection of the great church of Kailua, without any need of cutting them +anew. There are still seen, scattered in various places, the hewn stones +of King Umi, _na pohaku kulai a Umi_. It is natural to suppose that they +used to hew these hard, and very large stones with other tools than those +of Hawaiian origin. Iron must have been known in the time of Umi, and its +presence is explained by the wrecks of ships which ocean currents may have +drifted ashore. It is certain that they were acquainted with iron long +before the arrival of Cook, as is proved by the already cited passage from +an old romance: _O luna, o lalo, kai, o uka, a o ka hao pae, ko ke'lii_. + +Umi, some time before his death, said to his old friend Koi: "There is +no place, nor is there any possible way to conceal my bones. You must +disappear from my presence. I am going to take back all the lands which +I have given you around Hawaii, and they will think you in disgrace. You +will then withdraw to another island, and as soon as you hear of my death, +or only that I am dangerously sick, return secretly to take away my body." + +Koi executed the wishes of the chief, his _aikane_. He repaired to +Molokai, whence he hastened to set sail for Hawaii as soon as he heard of +Umi's death. He landed at Honokohau. On setting foot on shore, he met a +Kanaka, in all respects like his dearly-loved chief. He seized him, killed +him, and carried his body by night to Kailua. Koi entered secretly the +palace where the corpse of Umi was lying. The guards were asleep, and Koi +carried away the royal remains, leaving in their place the body of the old +man of Honokohau, and then disappeared with his canoe. Some say that he +deposited the body of Umi in the great pali of Kahulaana, but no one knows +the exact spot; others say that it was in a cave at Waipio, at Puaahuku, +at the top of the great pali over which the cascade of Hiilawe falls. + +From time immemorial it was the custom at Hawaii to eat the flesh of +great chiefs after death, then the bones were collected in a bundle, and +concealed far out of the way. Generally it was to a faithful attendant, a +devoted _kahu_, that the honor of eating the flesh of his chief belonged +by a sentiment of friendship, _no ke aloha_. If they did not always eat +the flesh of high chiefs and distinguished personages, they always took +away their dead bodies, to bury them in the most secret caves, or in most +inaccessible places. But the same care was not taken with chiefs who had +been regarded as wicked during their lives. The proverb says of this: +_Aole e nalo ana na iwi o ke 'lii kolohe; e nalo loa na iwi o ke 'lii +maikai_--The bones of a bad chief do not disappear; those of a good chief +are veiled from the eyes of all the world. + +The high chiefs, before death, made their most trusty attendants swear to +conceal their bones so that no one could discover them. "I do not wish," +said the dying chief, "that my bones should be made into arrows to +shoot mice, or into fish-hooks." So it is very difficult to find the +burial-place of such or such a chief. Mausoleums have been built in some +places, and it is said that here are interred the nobles and kings; but +it would seem that there are only empty coffins, or the bodies of common +natives substituted for those of the personages in whose honor these +monuments have been raised. + + +THE HISTORY OF KEAWE. + +Whatever the historian, David Malo, may say, it is very doubtful whether +there were several chiefs of the name of Keawe. It is probable that there +was only one high chief of this name, that he was the son of Umi, and was +called Keawe the Great--_Keawe nui_ _a Umi_. David Malo was interested, as +the natives know, in swelling the genealogy of the alii, and he wished to +flatter both nobility and people by distinguishing Keawe nui, of the race +of Umi, from another Keawe. There are two Keawe, as seven Maui, and nine +Hina. It is not, indeed, so long a period from Umi to the present era, +that we can not unveil the truth from the clouds which surround, it. + +The people, in general, only speak of one Keawe, who inherited the power +of his father Umi. He was supreme ruler in the island of Hawaii, and is +even said to have united, as Kamehameha has since done, all the group +under his sceptre. Kamehameha conquered the islands by force of arms; +Keawe had conquered them by his travels and alliances. While he passed +through the islands of Maui, Molokai, and Oahu, he contracted marriages +everywhere, as well with the women of the people as with the highest +chiefesses. These unions gave him children who made him beloved of all +the high chiefs of that time. He was regarded at Maui and Oahu as supreme +king. The king of Kauai even went so far as to send messengers to declare +to him that he recognized his sovereignty. Such is the origin of Keawe's +power. + +By his numerous marriages with chiefesses and common women without +distinction, this king has made the Hawaiian nobility, the present alii +say, bastard and dishonored. The chiefs descended from Keawe conceal their +origin, and are by no means flattered when reminded of it. From Keawe +down, the genealogies become a focus of disputes, and it would be really +dangerous for the rash historian who did not spare the susceptibilities of +chiefs on this subject. + +The principle on which those who condemn the conduct of Keawe rests is the +purity of the blood of the royal stock, required by ancient usages, whose +aim was to preserve the true nobility without alloy. Disdaining this rule, +Keawe contracted numerous marriages, which gave him as mothers of his +children women of low birth. The posterity of this chief, noble without +doubt, but of impure origin, likes not to have its lame genealogy +recalled. It is with the sensitiveness of the Hawaiians on this subject, +as with many other things in this world: they attack bitterly the amours +of Keawe, and seem to forget that Umi, their great chief, whose memory +they preserve with so much care, was of plebeian blood by his mother. + +It seems certain that King Keawe usually resided at the bay of Hoonaunau, +in Kona. The heiau of Hoonaunau, where may still be seen the stakes of +ohia (_Metrosideros_) planted by Keawe, is called _Hale a Keawe_--The +house built by Keawe. It served also as a City of Refuge.[19] + + +VARIOUS DOCUMENTS ON THE PROVINCE OF KA'U. + +The people of Ka'u are designated in the group under the name of _Na Mamo +a ke kipi_--The descendants of the rebellion. The province of Ka'u has +always been regarded as a land fatal to chiefs. At the present day +an inhabitant of Ka'u can be distinguished among other natives. He is +energetic, haughty in speech, and always ready to strike a blow when +occasion presents. He is proud, and worships his liberty. Several Hawaiian +chiefs have been killed by the people of Ka'u, among others Kohaokalani, +Koihala, etc. + + +THE HISTORY OF KOHAOKALANI. + +He was, according to tradition, the most important chief on the island, +and reigned in royal state at Hilea. He it was who built the heiau +situated on the great plain of Makanau. The sea worn pebbles may still be +seen, which Kohaokalani had his people carry up on to the height, about +two leagues from the shore. These pebbles were intended for the interior +pavement of the temple. The people, worn out by the great difficulty of +transportation, tired of the yoke of royalty, and incited by disloyal +priests, began to let their discontent and discouragement show itself. A +conspiracy was soon formed by these two classes leagued against the chief, +and a religious ceremony offered an occasion to rid themselves of the +despot. + +The temple was completed, and it only remained to carry a god up there. +This divinity was nothing but an ohia-tree of enormous size, which had +been cut down in the forest above Ninole. At the appointed day the chief +priests and people set to work to draw the god to his residence. In order +to reach the height of Makanau there was a very steep pali to be ascended. +They had to carry up the god on the side toward Ninole, which was all the +better for the execution of their premeditated plan. Arrived at the base +of the precipice, all pulled at the rope; but the god, either by the +contrivance of the priests, or owing to the obstacles which the roughness +of the rock presented, ascended only with great difficulty. "The god +will never come to the top of the pali," said the Kahuna, "if the chief +continues to walk before him; the god should go first by right of power, +and the chief below, following, to push the lower end; otherwise we shall +never overcome his resistance." The high chief, Kohaokalani, complied with +the advice of the priests, placed himself beneath the god, and pushed +the end from below. Instantly priests and people let go the cord, and the +enormous god, rolling upon the chief, crushed him at once. The death of +Kohaokalani is attributed chiefly to the Kahuna. + + +THE HISTORY OF KOIHALA. + +Koihala reigned at Ka'u. He was a very great chief--perhaps the entire +island recognized his authority. An abuse of power hastened his death. +He had commanded the people of Ka'u to bring him food upon the plain of +Punaluu, at the place known under the name of Puuonuhe. A party of men set +out with pounded kalo (_paiai_, differing from poi in not being diluted), +bound up in leaves of ki, called _la'i_ (a contraction for _lau-ki_). When +they arrived at the top of the plateau, which is very elevated, they found +that the chief had set out for Kaalikii, two leagues from Puuonuhe, and +that he had left orders for them to bring him the provisions in this +distant place. The bearers hastened toward Kaalikii. As soon as they +came there, orders were given for them to proceed to Waioahukini, half +a league's walk in the same direction, and beneath the great pali of +Malilele, on the shore. They went on. Arrived at Waioahukini, they were +ordered to go and join the chief at Kalae. There they had to climb again +the great pali, and two leagues more to go. When they reached the cape of +Kalae, the most southern point of the Hawaiian group, they were sent to +seek the chief at the village of Mahana; but he had left for Paihaa, a +village near Kaalualu, a little bay where the native vessels now anchor. +There, at last, they must find the tyrant. Exasperated, dying of hunger, +indignant at the cruel way in which the chief made sport of their pains, +the bearers sat down on the grass and took counsel. First they decided to +eat up the food, without leaving any thing for the chief who entertained +himself so strangely in fatiguing his people _(hooluhi howa_). They +moreover determined to carry to him, instead of kalo, bundles of stones. +The trial of Koihala is ended, his insupportable yoke is about to fall. + +The determined conspirators, after satisfying their hunger, set off, and +soon arrived, with humble mien, in the presence of the chief, between +Paihau and Kaalualu. "Prince," said they, "here are your servants with +provisions." They humbly laid at his feet their bundles wrapped in la'i. +The wrappers were opened, and the scene changes. These people, apparently +half dead, became in an instant like furious lions, ready to devour their +prey. They armed themselves with stones, and showered them upon Koihala +and his company, who perished together. + +Two other high chiefs of the island were exterminated by the same people. +One was killed at Kalae, beaten to death by the paddles of fishermen; the +other was stoned at Aukukano. + +These revolts against the chiefs have given birth, to several proverbial +expressions, applied to the district of Ka'u. Thus it is called _Aina +makaha_--Land of torrents: a nation which removes and shatters every +thing like a torrent; _Ka'u makaha_--Ka'u the torrent; _Ka lua kupapau +o na'lii_--The sepulchre of the high chiefs; _Aina kipi_--The rebellious +land. + + +LEGEND OF KALEIKINI. + +He was a chief of the olden time. + +On the sea-shore, between Kaalikii and Pohue, the waves were ingulfed +beneath the land, and shot into the air by a natural aperture some fifty +feet from the shore. The water leaped to a prodigious height, disappeared +in the form of fine rain, and fell in vapor over a circuit of two leagues, +spreading sterility over the land to such an extent that neither kalo nor +sweet-potatoes could be grown there. The chief Kaleikini closed the mouth +of the gulf by means of enormous stones, which he made the natives roll +thither. It is plainly seen that this blow-hole has been closed by human +hands. There still remains a little opening through which the water hisses +to the height of thirty or forty feet. + +Kaleikini closed at Kohala, on the shore of Nailima, a volcanic mouth like +that of Ka'u. + +On the heights of Honokane, he silenced the thunders of a water-fall by +changing its course. At Maui Hikina, he secured the foundations of the +hill of Puuiki, which the great tides had rendered unstable. To do this, +he put into the caverns of Puuiki a huge rock, which stopped the tumults +of the sea, and put an end to the trembling of the hill. + +For these feats of strength, and many others like them, Kaleikini was +called _Kupua_--Wizard.[D] + + +DOCUMENTS ON THE PROVINCE OF PUNA. + +According to common tradition, the district of Puna was, until two +centuries ago, a magnificent country, possessing a sandy soil, it is true, +but one very favorable to vegetation, and with smooth and even roads. The +Hawaiians of our day hold a tradition from their ancestors, that their +great-grandparents beheld the advent of the volcanic floods in Puna. Here, +in brief, is the tradition as it is preserved by the natives: + + +LEGEND OF KELIIKUKU. + +This high chief reigned in Puna. He journeyed to the island of Oahu. There +he a prophet of Kauai, named Kaneakalau, who asked him who he was. "I am," +replied the chief, "Keliikuku of Puna." The prophet then asked him what +sort of a country he possessed. The chief said: "My country is charming; +every thing is found there in abundance; everywhere are sandy plains which +produce marvelously."--"Alas!" replied the prophet, "go, return to your +beautiful country; you will find it overthrown, abominable. Pele has made +of it a heap of ruins; the trees of the mountains have descended toward +the sea; the ohia and pandanus are on the shore. Your country is no longer +habitable." The chief made answer; "Prophet of evil, if what you now tell +me is true, you shall live; but if, when I return to my country, I prove +the falsity of your predictions, I will come back on purpose, and you +shall die by my hand." + +Unable, in spite of his incredulity, to forget this terrible prophecy, +Keliikuku set sail for Hawaii. He reached Hamakua, and, landing, traveled, +home by short stages. From the heights of Hilo, at the village of +Makahanaloa, he beheld in the distance all his province overwhelmed in +chaotic ruin, a prey to fire and smoke. In despair, the unfortunate +chief hung himself on the very spot where he first discovered this sad +spectacle. + +This tradition of the meeting of Keliikuku and Kaneakalau is still +sometimes chanted by the Kanakas. It was reduced to metre, and sung by the +ancients. It is passing away in our day, and in a few years no trace of it +will remain. + +Whether the prediction was made or not, the fact is that Puna has been +ravaged by volcanic action. + + +LEGEND OF THE CHIEF HUA. + +The high chief Hua, being in Maui, said to Uluhoomoe, his kahuna, that +he wished for some _uau_ from the mountains (a large bird peculiar to +the island of Hawaii). Uluhoomoe replied that there were no uau in the +mountains--that all the birds had gone to the sea. Hua, getting angry, +said to his priest: "If I send my men to the mountains, and they find any +uau there, I will put you to death." + +After this menace, the chief ordered his servants to go to bird-hunting. +They obeyed; but instead of going to the mountains (_mauka_), they set +snares on the shores (_makai_), and captured many birds of different +kinds, among others the uau and ulili. Returning to the palace, they +assured the chief that they had hunted in the mountains. + +Hua summoned his kahuna, and said to him: "There are the birds from the +mountains; you are to die." Uluhoomoe smelled of the birds, and replied: +"These birds do not come from the mountains; they have an odor of the +sea." Hua, supported by his attendants, persisted in saying, as he +believed truly, that they came from the mountains, and repeated his +sentence: "You are to die." Uluhoomoe responded: "I shall have a witness +in my favor if you let me open these birds in your presence." The chief +consented, and small fish were found in the crops of the birds. "Behold my +witness," said the kahuna, with a triumphant air; "these birds came from +the sea!" + +Hua, in confusion, fell into a terrible rage, and massacred Uluhoomoe +on the spot. The gods avenged the death of the priest by sending a +distressing famine, first on the island of Maui, then on Hawaii. Hua, +thinking to baffle the divine vengeance, went to Hawaii to escape the +scourge; but a famine more terrible yet pursued him there. The chief +vainly traversed every quarter of the islands; he starved to death in the +temple of Makeanehu (Kohala). His bones, after death, dried and shrunk in +the rays of the burning sun, to which his dead body remained exposed. +This is the origin of the Hawaiian epigram always quoted in recalling the +famine which occurred in the reign of Hua, an epigram which no one has +understood, and which has never been written correctly: + +_Koele na iwi o Hua i ka la_--The bones of Hua are dry in the sun.[E] + +On the island of Hawaii are many places called by the name of this +celebrated chief. At Kailua, in the hamlet of Puaaaekolu, a beautiful +field, known by the name of Mooniohua, recalls one episode of Hua's +misery. Here it was that, one day, running after food which he could never +attain, he fell asleep, weary with fatigue and want. The word Mooniohua is +probably a corruption of _Moe ana o Hua_--The couch of Hua. + + +THE STORY AND SONG OF KAWELO. + +Kawelo, of the island of Kauai, was a sort of giant; handsome, well made, +muscular, his prodigious strength defied animate and inanimate nature. In +his early youth, he felt a violent passion kindle in his bowels for the +Princess Kaakaukuhimalani, so that he sought in every way to touch her +heart. But the princess, too proud, and too high a lady, did not deign to +cast her eyes upon him. + +Despairing of making her reciprocate his love, Kawelo poured into his +mother's bosom his grief and his tears. "Mother," said he, "how shall I +succeed in espousing this proud princess? What must I do? Give me your +counsel." + +"My son," replied his mother, "a youth who wishes to please ought to make +himself ready at labor, and skillful in fishing; this is the only secret +of making a good match." + +Kawelo too eagerly followed his mother's advice, and soon there was not +on the island a more indefatigable planter of kalo, nor a more expert +fisherman. But what succeeds with common women is not always the thing +to charm the daughters of kings. Kaakaukuhimalani could make nothing of a +husband who was a skillful farmer or a lucky fisherman; other talents are +required to touch the hearts of nobles, and hers remained indifferent, +insensible to the sighs of Kawelo. Nobles then, as to-day, regarded +pleasure above all things; and a good comedian was worth more to them than +an honest workman. + +In his great perplexity, Kawelo consulted an old dancing-master, who told +him, "Dancing and poetry are the arts most esteemed and appreciated by +those in power. Come with me into the mountains. I will instruct you, +and if you turn out an accomplished dancer, you will have a sure means of +pleasing the insensible Kaakaukuhimalani." Kawelo listened to the advice +of the poet dancing-master, and withdrew into the mountains to pursue his +duties. + +He soon became a very skillful dancer, and an excellent reciter of the +mele; so the fame of his skill was not slow in extending through all the +valleys of the island. + +One day when Kaakaukuhimalani desired to collect all the accomplished +dancers of Kauai, her attendants spoke to her of Kawelo as a prodigy in +the art, who had not his equal from one end to the other of the group, +from Hawaii to Niihau. "Let some one bring me this marvel!" cried the +princess, pricked with a lively curiosity. The old and cunning preceptor +of the mountains directed his pupil not to present himself at the first +invitation, in order to make his presence more ardently desired. Kawelo, +understanding the value of this advice, did not obey until the third +request; he danced before the princess with a skill so extraordinary that +she fell in love with him, and married him. So Kawelo found himself raised +to princely rank. + +The happy parvenu had three older brothers. They were: Kawelomakainoino, +with fierce look and evil eye; Kawelomakahuhu, with unpleasant countenance +and angry expression; Kawelomakaoluolu, with a lovable and gracious face. +All three were endued with the same athletic strength as their younger +brother. + +Jealous of the good fortune which a princely marriage had brought their +brother, they resolved to humble him for their pleasure. Taking advantage +of the absence of Kaakaukuhimalani, they seized Kawelo and poured a +calabash of poi over his head. Poor Kawelo! The paste ran down from his +head over all his body, and covered him with a sticky plaster which almost +suffocated him. Overwhelmed with shame at having to undergo so humiliating +a punishment, Kawelo fancied that he could no longer live at Kauai; he +determined to exile himself, and live in Oahu. + +He had already embarked in his canoe and prepared to set sail with some +faithful friends, when he saw his wife on the shore. Seated beneath the +shade of a kou (_Gordia sebestena_) Kaakaukuhimalani waved her hand to +Kawelo, crying: + +Hoi mai Toi mai kaua! Mai hele aku oe! + +Return, Return with me! Go not away from me! + +Kawelo, touched with love for his wife, but immovably determined to leave +his island, chants his adieu, which forms the subject of the first canto. + + PAHA AKAHI. + + Aloha kou e, aloha kou; + Ke aloha mai kou ka hoahele + I ka makani, i ka apaapaa + Anuu o Ahulua. + Moe iho uei au + I ka po uliuli, + Po uliuli eleele. + Anapanapa, alohi mai ana ia'u + Ke aa o Akua Nunu. + Ine ee au e kui e lei + Ia kuana na aa kulikuli. + Papa o hee ia nei lae. + E u'alo, e u'alo + Ua alo mai nei ia'u + Ka launiu e o peahi e; + E hoi au e, e hoi aku. + + CANTO I. + + Thou lovest me still! Oh yes + Thou lovest me; thou, + The companion who has followed me. + In the tempest and in the icy + Winds of Ahulua. I, alas! + Sleep in dark night, in dark + And sombre night. My eyes + Have seen the gleaming flashes + Of the face of the god Nunu. + If I resist, I am smitten as by + The thunder-bolts of the deepening storm. + Go, daughter of Papa, away from this + Headland; cease thy lamentations; + Cease to beckon to me + With thy fan of cocoa-nut leaves, + I will come again. Depart thou! + + +On his arrival at Oahu, Kawelo was well received by the king of that +island, Kakuihewa, who loaded him with favors, and even accorded him great +privileges, to do honor to his wonderful strength. Kawelo did not forget +himself in the midst of the pleasures his strength procured him. He had +vengeful thoughts toward Kauai for the injury he had received from his +brothers. Retiring to a secluded place, and concealing himself as much as +possible from the notice of Kakuihewa, he secretly set about recruiting a +small army of devoted men for an expedition against the island of Kauai. +When he had collected enough warriors, he put to sea with a fleet of light +canoes. Hardly had he left the shore of Oahu, when the marine monster, +Apukohai, met him--an evil omen. He was but the precursor of another +monster, Uhumakaikai, who could raise great waves and capsize canoes. The +oldest sailors never fail to return to land at the first appearance of +Apukohai; all the pilots then advised Kawelo to go back with all speed. +But the chief, full of determination which nothing could shake, would not +change his course; he persisted in sailing toward his destination. This is +the subject of the second canto. + + PAHA ELUA. + + O ka'u hoa no ia, + E hoolulu ai maua i ka nahele, + I anehu au me he kua ua la + I oee au me he wai la. + I haalulu au me he kikili la. + I anei wau me he olai la. + I alapa au me he uila la. + I ahiki welawela au me he la la. + Melemele ka lau ohia, + Kupu a melemele, + I ka ua o na' pua eha, + Eha, o na ole eha eha, + O na kaula' ha i ke kua + No paihi, o ka paihi o main. + A Haku, Haku ai i ka manawa, + E Pueo e kania, + Manawai ka ua i ka lehua, + E hoi ka ua a ka maka o ka lehua; + La noho mai; + E hoi ka makani + A ka maka oka opua + La noho mai + E hoi ke kai a manawai + Nui ka oo, la noho mai. + E kuu e au i kuu wahi upena + Ma kahi lae: + E hei ka makani la'u. + E kuu e au i kuu wahi upena + Ma ka' lua lae, + E hei ka ino ia 'u + E kuu e au e kuu wahi upena + Ma ka 'kolu lae, + E hei ke kona ia 'u + E kuu e au e kuu wahi upena + Ma ka' ha lae, + E hei luna, e hei lalo, + E hei uka, e hei kai, + E hei Uhumakaikai. + I ke olo no Hina, + E hina kohia i ka aa, + Uhumakaikai. + + CANTO II. + + I had a friend with whom + I lived peacefully in the wilderness. + I swung like a cloud full of rain, + I murmured like a rivulet, + I shook like a thunder-bolt, + I overturned every thing like an earthquake, + I flashed as lightning, + I consumed like the sun. + Yellow was the ohia leaf; + Unfolding, it turned yellow + Under the rain of the four clouds, + In the month of the four _ole_, + When the fisherman, four ropes + Upon his back, enjoyed calm and fair weather. + Be Lord, be lord of the weather. + O Owl, whose cries give life! + Send down the rain upon the lehua; + Let the rain come again upon + The buds of the lehua. Rest, O Sun! + Let the wind fly + Before the face of the clouds. + Rest, O Sun! + Return, O Ocean of the mighty waters; + Great is thy tumult! Sun rest here. + Rest, O Sun! I will cast my net + At the first headland; + I shall catch the wind. + I will cast my net + At the second headland; + I shall catch a tempest. + I will cast forth my net + At the third headland; + I shall get the south wind. + I will cast forth my net + At the fourth headland; + I shall take above, below, + Land and sea-- + I shall take Uhumakaikai. + At a single word of Hina + He shall fall; hard pressed + Shall be the neck of Uhumakaikai. + + +In the sixteenth verse of this second canto Kawelo invokes the owl, which +the Hawaiians regarded as a god. In extreme perils, if the owl made +its cries heard, it was a sign of safety, as the voice of this bird +was sacred; and more than once has it happened that men, destined to be +immolated on the altar of sacrifices as expiatory victims, have escaped +death merely because the owl (_Pueo_) was heard before the immolation. It +is easy to understand, after this, the invocation that Kawelo made to Pueo +when he found himself in combat with the terrible Uhumakaikai. + +In the third canto Kawelo endeavors to destroy the monster. He commences +by saying that he, a chief (_ka lani_), does not disdain to work as a +simple fisherman. Then he pays a tribute to those who have woven the +net he is going to use to capture the monster of the sea. The olona +(_Boehmeria_), a shrub whose bark furnishes the Hawaiians with an +excellent fibre, was regarded as a sort of deity. Before spinning its +fibres, they made libations, and offered sacrifices of hogs, fowls, etc. +Kawelo refers to all this in his song. + + PAHA EKOLU. + + Huki kuu ka lani + Keaweawekaokai honua, + Kupu ola ua ulu ke opuu. + Ke kahi 'ke olona. + Kahoekukama kohi lani. + O kia ka piko o ke olona, + Ihi a ka ili no moki no lena, + Ahi kuni ka aala, + Kunia, haina, paia, + Holea, hoomoe ka Papa, + Ke kahi ke olona, + Ke kau ko opua, + Ke kea ka maawe + Kau hae ka ilo ka uha, + Ke kaakalawa ka upena: + O kuu aku i kai, + I kai a Papa; ua hina, + E hina, kohia i ka aa + O Uhumakaikai. + + CANTO III. + + I, a chief, willingly + Cast my net of olona; + The olona springs up, it grows, + It branches and is cut down. + The paddles of the chief beat the sea. + Stripped off is the bark of the alona, + Peeled is the bark of the yellow moki. + The fire exhales a sweet odor; + The sacrifice is ready. + The bark is peeled, the board[F] is made ready, + The olona is carded, + And laid on the board. + White is the cord, + The cord is twisted on the thigh, + Finished is the net! + Cast it into the sea, + Into the sea of Papa; let him fall, + Let him fall, that I may strangle the neck + Of Uhumakaikai. + + +After having exterminated Uhumakaikai, the conqueror sailed unmolested +toward Kauai, to defeat his other enemies. Kawelo had on this island two +friends, who were at the same time his relations; they were the chiefs +Akahakaloa and Aikanaka. When these chiefs learned that their cousin +intended to return to Kauai, they enrolled themselves in the ranks of his +enemies, and prepared to make a vigorous resistance to his landing. It was +on perceiving their armies upon the shore that Kawelo commenced his fourth +_paha_. + + PAHA EHA. + + O oe no ia, e ka lani Akahakaloa, + Kipeapea kau ko ohule ia + Kulamanu. + Konia kakahakaloa: + I kea a kau io k'awa + Kiipueaua. + Hahau kau kaua la. + E Aikanaka. + Kii ka pohuli + E hoopulapula + Na na na. + E naenaehele koa + Kona aina. + + CANTO IV. + + Ah! it is then you, chief Akahakaloa. + A roosting-place is thy bald head become + For the gathering birds. + Disobedient Akahakaloa; + Thou appearest as a warrior + Offshoot of Kiipueaua. + Defeat has come upon you in the + Day of battle, O Aikanaka! + You require transplanting-- + Yes, a nursery of warriors-- + You do, indeed. + Unfruitful of warriors + Is his country. + + +In the following song Kawelo exhorts his two old friends, Kalaumaki +and Kaamalama, who had followed him to Oahu, to fight bravely in the +approaching battle. The return of Kawelo was expected, and, foreseeing it, +the islanders had taken advantage of his absence to roll, or carry, to the +bank of the Wailua River immense quantities of stones. The relatives +and friends of Kawelo, who had remained at Kauai during his exile, had +themselves assisted in these warlike preparations, ignorant of their +object. It is on beholding the hostile reception prepared for him that +Kawelo chants the fifth song--a proclamation to his army. + + PAHA ELIMA. + + E Kaamalama, + E Kalaumaki, + E hooholoia ka pohaku; + E kaua ia iho na waa; + He la, kaikoonui nei; + Be auau nei ka moana; + He kai paha nei kahina 'lii[G] + Ua ku ka hau a ke aa; + Be ahu pohaku + I Wailua. + O ua one maikai nai + Ua malua, ua kahawai, + Ua piha i ka pohaku + A Kauai. + He hula paha ko uka + E lehulehu nei. + He pahea la, he koi, + He koi la, he kukini; + I hee au i ka nalu, a i aia, + Paa ia'u, a hele wale oukou: + E Kaamalama, + E Kalaumaki, + Ka aina o Kauai la + Ua hee. + + + CANTO V. + + O Kaamalama! + O Kalaumaki! + Behold how they heap stones. + Let us draw our canoes ashore; + This is a day when the surf rolls high; + The ocean swells, the sea perchance + Portends another deluge. + Piles of pebbles are collected; + A heap of stones + Has the Wailua become. + This beautiful sandy country + Is now full of pits like the bed of a torrent; + And all Kauai + Has filled it with rocks. + A dance perchance brings hither + This great multitude; + Games or a race-- + Games indeed. + If I cast myself upon the surf, + I am caught: you will go free. + O Kaamalama, + O Kalaumaki, + Fled is the land + Of Kauai! + + +The combat has commenced. The people of Kauai rain showers of stones upon +the landing troops. Kawelo, buried beneath a heap of stones, but still +alive, compares himself to a fish inclosed on all sides by nets, and then +to the victims offered in sacrifices. He then begins his invocations to +the gods. + + PAHA AONO. + + Puni ke ekule o kai + Ua kaa i ka papau + Ua komo i ka ulu o ka lawaia. + Naha ke aa o ka upena, + Ka hala i ka ulua. + Mohaikea. + Mau ia poai ia o ke kai uli. + Halukuluku ka pohaku + A Kauai me he ua la. + Kolokolo mai ana ka huihui + Ka maeele io'u lima, + Na lima o Paikanaka. + E Kane i ka pualena, + E Ku lani ehu e, + Kamakanaka! + Na'u na Kawelo, + Na ko lawaia. + + CANTO VI. + + The ekule of the sea is surrounded; + Stranded in a shallow, + It is within the grasp of the fisherman. + Broken are the meshes of the net + Within the hala and ulua. + A sacrifice is to be offered. + Surrounded are the fish of the blue sea. + The rocks fall in showers-- + A storm of the stones of Kauai. + The coldness of death creeps over me. + Numb are my limbs, + The limbs of Paikanaka. + O Kane of the yellow flower; + O Ku, ruddy chief; + Kamakanaka! + It is I, Kawelo, + Thy fisherman. + + +Left for dead beneath the heap of stones, Kawelo, perceiving his danger, +continues his prayer. + + PAHA EHIKU. + + Ku ke Akua + I ka nana nuu. + O Lono ke akua + I kama Pele. + O Hiaka ke akua + I ka puukii. + O Haulili ke akua + I ka lehelehe + Aumeaume maua me Milu. + I'au, ia ia; + I'au, ia ia; + I'au iho no: + Pakele au, mai make ia ia. + + CANTO VII. + + O divine Ku, + Who beholdest the inner places. + O Lono, divine one, + Husband of Pele. + O holy Hiaka, + Dweller on the hills. + O Haulili, god + Ruling the lips! + We two have wrestled, Milu and I. + I had the upper hand; + I had the upper hand; + Then was I beneath: + I escaped, all but killed by him. + + + PAHA EWALU. + + He opua la, he opua, + He opua hao walo keia, + Ke maalo nei e ko'u maka. + He mauli waa o Kaamalama. + Eia ke kualau + Hoko o ka pouli makani, + Oe nei la, e Kaamalama + Ke hele ino loa i ke ao. + Ua palala, ua poipu ka lani, + Ua wehe ke alaula o ke alawela, + He alanui ia o Kaamalama. + Oe mai no ma kai, + Owau iho no ma uka; + E hee o Aikanaka + I ke ahiahi. + E u ka ilo la i ko' waha; + Ai na koa i ka ala mihi. + Ai pohaku ko' akua. + Ai Kanaka ko maua akua. + Kuakea ke poo + I ka pehumu. + Nakeke ka aue i ka iliili. + Hai Kaamalama ia oe, + Hae' ke akua ulu ka niho. + Kanekapualena; + E Ku lani ehu e; + Kamakanaka, + Na'n na Kawelo + Na ko lawaia. + + CANTO VIII. + + Here is a cloud, there another. + This cloud bears destruction; + I have seen it pass before my eyes. + The obscure cloud is the canoe of Kaamalama. + This is the tempest, + Wind in the darkness; + Thou art the sun, Kaamalama, + Rising clouded in the dawn. + Dark and shaded are the heavens, + A warm day begins to dawn. + This is the path of Kaamalama. + Thou art from the sea, + I, indeed, beneath the land mountain. + Fly, O Aikanaka, + In the evening! + Maggots shall fatten in thy mouth; + The soldiers eat the fragrant mihi. + Thy god is a devourer of rocks; + Our god eats human flesh. + Bleached shall be thy head + In the earth-oven. + Thy broken jaw shall rattle on the beach pebbles. + Kaamalama shall sacrifice you, + The god's tooth shall grow on the sacrifice. + O Kane of the yellow flower; + 0 Ku, bright chief; + Kamakanaka, + I am Kawelo, + Thy fisherman. + + +In the following canto Kawelo reproaches and menaces the chief Kaheleha, +who had deserted him for Aikanaka. + + PAHA AIWA. + + Kulolou ana ke poo o ka opua, + Ohumuhumu olelo una la'u: + Owau ka! ka ai o ka la na. + E Kaheleha o Puna + Kuu keiki hookama + Aloha ole! + O kaua hoi no hoa + Mai ka wa iki + I hoouka'i kakou + I Wailua; + Lawe ae hoi au, oleloia: + Haina ko'u make + Ia Kauai. + E pono kaakaa laau + Ka Kawelo. + Aole i iki i ka alo i ka pohaku. + Aloha wale oe e Kaheleha + O Puna. + A pa nei ko'poo i ka laau, + Ka laulaa o kuikaa. + Nanaia ka a ouli keokeo. + Papapau hoa aloha wale! + Aikanaka ma, + Aloha, + Aloha i ka hei wale + O na pokii. + + CANTO IX. + + The head of the cloud bears down + And whispers a word in my ear: + It is I! the food of a rainy day. + O Kahelaha, of Puna, + My adopted son, + Heartless fellow! + We two were comrades + In times of poverty; + In the day of battle + We were together at Wailua. + It might be said + My death was proclaimed + In Kauai. + Good to look upon + Is the strength of Kawelo. + He knows not how to throw stones. + Farewell to you, Kaheleha + Of Puna. + Thy head is split by my spear, + A spliced container! + The whitening form is to be seen. + O Aikanaka, loving only in name, + To you and yours, + Farewell! + Farewell to the ensnared, + The youngest born. + + +History declares, and this ninth canto confirms it, that Kaheleha of Puna, +Kawelo's friend from his youth, and one of his powerful companions in +arms at the descent on Wailua, believed that Kawelo was mortally wounded +beneath the shower of stones that had covered him, and this belief had +induced him to go over to the camp of Aikanaka. Verses fourteen to sixteen +are the words that Kawelo reproaches Kaheleha with saying before his +enemies. Kaheleha was slain by the hand of Kawelo at the same time with +Aikanaka. + + PAHA UMI. + + Me he ulu wale la + I ka moana, + O Kauai nui moku lehua; + Aina nui makekau, + Makamaka ole ia Kawelo. + Ua make o Maihuna 'lii, + Maleia ka makuahine; + Ua hooleiia i ka pali nui, + O laua ka! na manu + Kikaha i lelepaumu. + Aloha mai o'u kupuna: + O Au a me Aalohe, + O Aua, a Aaloa, + O Aapoko, o Aamahana. + O Aapoku o Aauopelaea: + Ua make ia Aikanaka. + + CANTO X. + + Like a forest rising abruptly + Out of the ocean, + Is Kauai, with flowery lehua; + Grand but ungrateful land, + Without friends or dear ones for Kawelo. + They have put to death Maihuna, + As also Malei, my mother. + They have cast from a great pali + Both of them! Were they birds + To fly thus in the air? + Love to you, oh my ancestors: + To you, Au and Aaloha, + To you, Aua and Aaloa, + Aapoko and Aamahana, + Aapoku and Aauopelaea, + Who died by the hand of Aikanaka. + + +Maihuna was the father of Kawelo, and Aikanaka was his first cousin. The +latter put to death all the family of Kawelo, after having employed them, +with the other inhabitants of Kauai, in collecting the stones which were +to repulse his cousin. It was before the great battle of Wailua that +Kawelo's family was put to death. + +In the last canto the hero reproaches his friends for abandoning him in +the day of danger. At the sight of his old friends, whose bodies he +had pierced with many wounds in punishment, he cries: "Where are those +miserable favorites?" He had transfixed them with his lance--that lance +made, he says, for the day of battle. + +He compares Aikanaka to a long lance because of his power; he reproaches +him with having betrayed himself, who was comparatively but a little +lance--a little bit of wood (_laau iki_); then he ironically remarks that +Kauai is too small an island for his conquered friends. + + PAHA UMIKUMAMAKAHI. + + Auhea iho nei la hoi + Ua mau wahi hulu alaala nei + Au i oo aku ai + I ka maka o ke keiki + A Maihuna? + He ihe no ka la kaua. + Pau hewa ka'u iu + Me kau ai, + Pau hewa ka hinihini ai + A ka moamahi. + Komo hewa ko'u waa + Ia lakou. + O lakou ka! ka haalulu + I ka pohaku i kaa nei, + Uina aku la i kahakaha ke one, + Kuu pilikia i Honuakaha. + Makemake i ka laau nui, + Haalele i kahi laau iki. + He iki kahi kihapai + Ka noho ka! i Kauai, + Iki i kalukalu a Puna. + Lilo Puna ia Kaheleha + Lilo Kona ia Kalaumaki, + Lilo Koolau ia Makuakeke, + Lilo Kohala ia Kaamalama, + Lilo Hanalei ia Kanewahineikialoha. + Mimihi ka hune o Kauluiki ma. + Aloha na pokii i ka hei wale. + + CANTO XI. + + Where just now are those chiefs, + Rebellious and weak, + Whom the point of the spear + Has transfixed--the spear of the + Son of Maihuna? + The spear made for the day of battle. + Stolen was my fish, + And the vegetable food-- + Stolen the food raised by + The conqueror. + Mischievously did you + Sink my canoes. + O wretches! ye trembled + When the rocks rolled down, + At the noise they made on the sand. + When I was in danger at Honuakaha, + Ye who desire long lances + And despise those that are small, + Too small a place was Kauai, + Your dwelling; + Small was the kalukalu of Puna. + Puna shall belong to Kaheleeha, + Kona to Kalaumaki, + Koolau to Makuakeke, + Kohala to Kaamalama, + Hanalei to Kanewahineikialoha. + The poverty of Kauluiki and his friends grieves me. + Farewell, little ones caught in the net! + + +Here ends all that we were able to collect of this original and very +ancient poetry. Tradition relates that Kawelo became king of Kauai, and +reigned over that island to an advanced age. + +When old age had lessened his force, and weakened his power, his subjects +seized him and cast him from the top of a tremendous precipice. + +[Illustration: THE TARO PLANT.] + + + + +NOTES. + +[Additions by the translator are inclosed in brackets.] + +(1.) The name of Alapai is not found in the genealogy published by David +Malo. Nevertheless, we have positive information from our old man and +other distinguished natives that Alapai was supreme chief of Hawaii +immediately before Kalaniopuu. + +(2.) Poi is a paste made of the tuberous root of the kalo (_Colocasia +antiquorum_, var. _esculenta_, Schott.). More than thirty varieties of +kalo are cultivated on the Hawaiian Islands, most of them requiring a +marshy soil, but a few will grow in the dry earth of the mountains. The +tubers of all the kinds are acrid, except one, which is so mild that it +may be eaten raw. After it is freed from acridity by baking, the kalo is +pounded until reduced to a kind of paste which is eaten cold, under the +name of poi. It is the principal food of the natives, with whom it takes +the place of bread. The kalo leaves are eaten like spinach (_luau_), and +the flowers (spathe and spadix), cooked in the leaves of the cordyline +(_C. terminalis_, H.B.K.), form a most delicious dish. It is not only as +poi that the tubers are eaten; they are sliced and fried like potatoes, +or baked whole upon hot stones. It is in this last form that I have eaten +them in my expeditions. A tuber which I carried in my pocket has often +been my only provision for the day. + +In Algeria, a kind of kalo is cultivated under the name of _chou caraibe_, +whose tubers are larger, but less feculent. [In China, smaller and much +less delicately flavored tubers are common in the markets.] + +(3.) The Hawaiians have always been epicures in the article of dog-meat. +The kind they raise for their feasts is small and easily fatted, like pig. +They are fed only on vegetables, especially kalo, to make their flesh more +tender and delicately flavored. Sometimes these dogs are suckled by the +women at the expense of their infants. The ones that have been thus fed at +a woman's breast are called _ilio poli_, and are most esteemed. + +(4.) The Kahualii are still genuine parasites in the Hawaiian nation. They +are, to use the language of a Catholic missionary, the Cretans of whom +Paul speaks: "Evil beasts, slow bellies;" a race wholly in subjection to +their appetite, living from day to day, always reclining on the mat, or +else riding horses furiously; having no more serious occupation than to +drink, eat, sleep, dance, tell stories; giving themselves up, in a word, +to all pleasures, lawful and unlawful, without scruple or distinction of +persons. The Kahualii are very lazy. They are ashamed of honest labor, +thinking they would thus detract from their rank as chiefs. Islanders of +this caste are almost never seen in the service of Europeans. When their +patron, the high chief of the family, has made them feel the weight of +his displeasure, these inferior chiefs become notoriously miserable, worse +than the lowest of the Kanakas (generic name of the natives). + +(5.) [Kamehameha IV. and V. were only noble through their mother, +Kinau, the wife of Kekuanaoa. They were adopted by Kamehameha III. +(Kauikeaouli).] + +(6.) The old historian Namiki, an intelligent man, and well versed in the +secrets of Hawaiian antiquity, has left precious unedited documents, which +have fallen into our hands. His son, Kuikauai, a school-master at Kailua, +one of the true historico-sacerdotal race, has given us a genealogy of his +ancestors which ascends without break to Paao. + +(7.) A tradition exists, mentioned by Jarves, that Paao landed at +Kohoukapu before the reign of Umi. According to the same author, Paao was +not a Kanaka, but a man of the Caucasian race. However this may be, every +one agrees that Paao was a foreigner, and a _naauao_ (scholar; literally, +a man with enlightened entrails, the Hawaiians placing the mind and +affections in the bowels). + +(8.) Hina, according to tradition, brought into the world several sons, +who dug the palis of Hulaana. It may be asked whether _Hina_, which means +_a fall_, does not indicate a deluge (Kaiakahinalii of the Hawaiians), +or some sort of cataclysm, and whether the islanders have not personified +events. + +(9.) It is, however, improbable that there were ever genuine sorcerers +among the Hawaiians, in the sense that word has among Christians. It may +have happened, and indeed it happens every day, that people die after +the machinations of the kahuna-anaana; but it is more reasonable to refer +these tragical deaths to the use of poison, than to attribute them to the +incantations of the sorcerers. It is moreover known that there are on the +group many poisons furnished by trees, by shrubs and sea-weeds; and the +kahuna-anaana understood perfectly these vegetable poisons. The many known +examples of their criminal use inclines us to believe that these kahuna +were rather poisoners than magicians. [Kalaipahoa, the poison-god, was +believed to have been carved out of a very poisonous wood, a few chips of +which would cause death when mixed with the food.] + +(10.) During the summer of the year 1852, while I was exploring the island +of Kauai, I was near being the victim, under remarkable circumstances, of +an old kahuna named Lilihae. I was then residing under the humble roof +of the Mission at Moloaa. Lilihae had been baptized, and professed +Christianity, although it was well known that he clung to the worship of +his gods. He was introduced to me by the missionaries as a man who, by his +memory and profession, could add to my historical notes. I indeed obtained +from him most precious material, and in a moment of good nature the old +man even confided to me the secret of certain prayers that the priests +alone should know. I wrote down several formulae at his dictation, only +promising to divulge nothing before his death. The old man evidently +considered himself perjured, for after his revelations he came no more to +see me. + +Some days had passed after our last interview, and I thought no more of +him. All at once I lost my appetite and fell sick. I could eat nothing +without experiencing a nausea, followed immediately by continual vomiting. +Two missionaries and my French servant, who partook of my food, exhibited +almost the same symptoms. Not suspecting the true cause of these ailments, +I attributed them to climate and the locality, and especially to the +pestilent winds which had brought an epidemic ophthalmia among +the natives. Things remained in this condition a fortnight without +improvement, when one morning at breakfast a marmalade of bananas was +served. I had hardly touched it to my lips when the nausea returned with +greater violence; I could eat nothing, and soon a salivation came on which +lasted several hours. In the mean while a poor Breton who had established +himself on the island some years ago, and had conformed to savage life, +came to see me. Bananas were scarce in the neighborhood, and he found that +I had a large supply of them, and I offered him a bunch. Fortin, it was +his name, on his way back to his cabin with my present, broke a banana +off the bunch and commenced to eat it. He felt under his tooth a hard +substance, which he caught in his hand. To his great surprise, it was a +sort of blue and white stone. He soon felt ill, and fortunately was able +to vomit what he had swallowed. Furious, and accusing me of a criminal +intention, he returned to my quarters to demand an explanation. I examined +the substance taken from the banana, and found that it was blue vitriol +and corrosive sublimate. The presence of such substances in a banana was +far from natural. I took other bunches of my supply, and found in several +bananas the same poisons, which had been skillfully introduced under the +skin. After some inquiries I found, from Fortin's own wife, that similar +drugs had been sometimes seen in the hands of Lilihae, who had bought them +of a druggist in Honolulu for the treatment of syphilis. The riddle was at +once completely solved. A few days passed, and Lilihae killed himself by +poison, convinced that all his attempts could not kill me. In his native +superstition, he was satisfied that the gods would not forgive his +indiscretion, since they withheld from him the power of taking my +life; and he could devise no simpler way to escape their anger, and the +vengeance of my own God, than to take himself the poison against which +I had rebelled. It was discovered that Lilihae had, in the first place, +tried native poisons on me, and finding them ineffective, he thought that +my foreign nature might require exotic poisons, which he had accordingly +served in the bananas destined for my table. He went, without my +knowledge, into the cook-house where my native servants kept my +provisions, and, under pretext of chatting with them, found means to +poison my food. The unfortunate kahuna died fully persuaded that I was +a more powerful sorcerer than he. It was to be feared that, when he +discovered his impotency, he would intrust the execution of his designs +to his fellows, as is common among sorcerers; but his suicide fortunately +removed this sword of Damocles which hung over my head. + +(11.) At the present day, useless old men are no longer destroyed, nor are +the children, whom venereal diseases have rendered very rare, suffocated; +but they do eat lice, fleas, and grasshoppers. Flies inspire the same +disgust, and the women still give their breasts to dogs, pigs, and young +kids. + +(12.) [This operation is certainly still practiced extensively, if not +universally; and the ancient form of _kakiomaka_, or slitting the prepuce, +has given way, generally, to the _okipoepoe_, or the complete removal of +the foreskin. The operation in a case that came under my notice on the +island of Oahu was performed with a bamboo, and attended with a feast and +rejoicings; the subject was about nine years old.] + +(13.) The islanders, who admire and honor great eaters, have generally +stomachs of a prodigious capacity. Here is an example: To compensate my +servants, some seven in number, for the hardships I had made them endure +on Mauna Kea, I presented them with an ox that weighed five hundred pounds +uncooked. They killed him in the morning, and the next evening there was +not a morsel left. One will be less astonished at this when I say that +these ogres, when completely stuffed, promote vomitings by introducing +their fingers into their throats, and return again to the charge. [It is +equally true that the Kanakas will go for a long time without much food, +and it can not be said they are a race of gluttons.] + +(14.) Awa (_Piper methysticum_) grows spontaneously in the mountains of +the Hawaiian group. The natives formerly cultivated it largely [and +since the removal of the strict prohibition on its culture fields are not +uncommon]. From the roots the natives prepare a very warm and slightly +narcotic intoxicating drink. It is made thus: women chew the roots, and +having well masticated them, spit them, well charged with saliva, into +a calabash used for the purpose. They add a small portion of water, and +press the juice from the chewed roots by squeezing them in their hands. +This done, the liquid is strained through cocoa-nut fibres to separate all +the woody particles it may contain, and the awa is in a drinkable state. +The quantity drunk by each person varies from a quarter to half a +litre (two to four gills). This liquor is taken just before supper, or +immediately after. The taste is very nauseous, disagreeable to the +last degree. One would suppose he was drinking thick dish-water of a +greenish-yellow color. But its effects are particularly pleasant. An +irresistible sleep seizes you, and lasts twelve, twenty-four hours, or +even more, according to the dose, and the temperament of the individual. +Delicious dreams charm this long torpor. + +Often when the dose is too great or too small, sleep does not follow; but +in its place an intoxication, accompanied by fantastic ideas, and a strong +desire to skip about, although one can not for a moment balance himself +on his legs. I felt these last symptoms for sixty hours the first time I +tasted this Polynesian liquor. The effects of awa on the constitution of +habitual drinkers are disastrous. The body becomes emaciated, and the skin +is covered, as in leprosy, with large scales, which fall off, and leave +lasting white spots, which often become ulcers. + +(15.) This usage still exists in certain families toward great personages +or people they wish especially to honor; but it is disappearing every +day. Formerly when a Kanaka received a visit from a friend of a remote +district, women were always comprised in the exchange of presents on that +occasion. To fail in this was regarded as an unpardonable insult. The +thing was so inwrought in their customs, that the wife of the visitor did +not wait the order of her husband to surrender her person to her host. + +(16.) [Liliha was the wife of Boki, governor of Oahu under Kamehameha II.] + +(17.) The most curious thing which attracts the traveler's eye in the +ruins of the temples built by Umi is the existence of a mosaic pavement, +in the form of a regular cross, which extends throughout the whole length +and breadth of the inclosure. This symbol is not found in monuments +anterior to this king, nor in those of later times. One can not help +seeing in this an evidence of the influence of the two shipwrecked white +men whose advent we have referred to. Can we not conclude, from the +existence of these Christian emblems, that about the time when the great +Umi filled the group with his name, the Spanish or Portuguese shipwrecked +persons endeavored to introduce the worship of Christ to these islands? +Kama of Waihopua (Ka'u) has given us, through Napi, an explanation of +the four compartments observed in the temple of Umi, represented by the +following figure; but if we accept this explanation of Kama, it is as +difficult to understand why this peculiarity is observed in the monuments +of Umi, and not in any other heiau; as, for example, Kupalaha, situated in +the territory of Makapala; Mokini, at Puuepa; Aiaikamahina, toward the sea +at Kukuipahu; Kuupapaulau, inland at Kukuipahu-mauka. The remains of these +four remarkable temples are found in the district of Kohala. Not the least +vestige of the crucial division is to be seen. The god Kaili [see the +first page of the Appendix], a word which means a theft, was not known +before the time of Umi. [The temple of Iliiliopae, at the mouth of +Mapulehu Valley, on Molokai, is divided as in the diagram, and the same is +true of many other heiau; and as it seems to have been the usual form, it +is not probable that the form of the cross had any thing to do with it.] + + + +----------------------------------+------------------+ + | Place of the god Kaili. | Place of the god Ku. | + +----------------------------------+------------------+ + | Place of the priest Lono. | Place of the chief Umi. | + +----------------------------------+------------------+ + +(18.) It does not seem improbable that a premature death removed the +foreigner who could have given Umi the idea of an art until then unknown; +and had the foreigner lived longer, these curious stones would have +served to build an edifice of which the native architects knew not the +proportions. + +(19.) [The cities of Refuge were a remarkable feature of Hawaiian +antiquity. There were two of these _Pahonua_ on Hawaii. The one at +Honaunau, as measured by Rev. W. Ellis, was seven hundred and fifteen feet +in length and four hundred and four feet wide. Its walls were twelve feet +high and fifteen feet thick, formerly surmounted by huge images, which +stood four rods apart, on their whole circuit. Within this inclosure were +three large heiau, one of which was a solid truncated pyramid of stone one +hundred and twenty-six feet by sixty, and ten feet high. Several masses of +rock weighing several tons are found in the walls some six feet from the +ground. During war they were the refuge of all non-combatants. A white +flag was displayed at such times a short distance from the walls, and here +all refugees were safe from the pursuing conquerors. After a short period +they might return unmolested to their homes, the divine protection of +Keawe, the tutelary deity, still continuing with them.] + + +[Footnote A: The original _Recits d'un Vieux Sauvage pour servir a +l'histoire ancienne de Hawaii_ was read on the 15th of December, 1857, to +the Society of Agriculture, Commerce, Science, and Arts of the Department +of the Marne, of which M. Remy was a corresponding member, and published +at Chalons-sur-Marne in 1859. The translation is perfectly literal, and +the Mele of Kawelo has been translated directly from the Hawaiian, M. +Remy's translation being often too free. A portion of this work was +translated several years since by President W.D. Alexander, of Oahu +College, and published in _The Friend_, at Honolulu, by William T. +Brigham.] + +[Footnote B: This was not true. Liholiho carried some to England, and the +rest were probably hidden in some of the many caverns on the shores of +Kealakeakua Bay.--_Trans_.] + +[Footnote C: The Hawaiian Islands were discovered in 1555, by Juan +Gaetano, or Gaytan.--_Trans_.] + +[Footnote D: Kaleikini may be considered the Hawaiian Hercules.] + +[Footnote E: The more common form is, _Koele na iwi o Hua ma i ka la_--Dry +are the bones of Hua and his company in the sun.--_Trans_.] + +[Footnote F: On which the bark is beaten to make kapa.] + +[Footnote G: The Hawaiians have a tradition of an ancient deluge, called +Kaiakahinalii.] + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern California, Oregon, and the +Sandwich Islands, by Charles Nordhoff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, *** + +***** This file should be named 13222.txt or 13222.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/2/13222/ + +Produced by Ronald Holder and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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