Oahu.
The next day at four, I took my customary
seat, surrounded by my little group, and resumed my
narrative.
About ten miles from Kahuku, at Hauula,
is a church with a native pastor, Mr. Kuaia.
We attended a meeting there, and afterward dined at
his house. He is a well-educated and gentlemanly
man, and his wife an interesting woman. They
live in a neat grass house, furnished simply but comfortably
in American style. The dinner passed off in a
very satisfactory manner. They had pretty wreaths
prepared for us; some were made of a small orange-colored
apple, others of yellow marigolds strung on a cord.
After dinner we rode another ten miles, and were tired
enough with our long day’s ride to sleep well.
The next morning we rode over to the
house of a friend to see the lassoing of cattle.
The house was on quite an eminence, so that we had
a good view of a level plain before it. A herd
of cattle were driven into the valley, and three gentlemen
on trained horses, with lassos in their hands,
each selected their animal, and started in pursuit.
It seemed as if in an instant the creature knew it
was hunted, for it would move from place to place,
and then start on a run, endeavoring to elude its
pursuers; but the horseman, never for a moment losing
sight of his prey, galloped on, turning this way and
that as the creature did, until near enough, and then
the lasso sped through the air coiling round and round
the poor animal’s legs, generally throwing him
on his knees. Then the hunter leaped from his
saddle, the intelligent horse standing still, and
the lasso was drawn tighter and tighter until the animal
fell on his side. Finally, a rope was tied round
the hind legs, and the work was done. It was
very exciting, as once in a while a horse would stumble
and fall, sometimes throwing his rider; and oftentimes
the chase was long, the animal eluding the hunter’s
grasp just as he thought he had cornered him.
“Oh, I wish I had been there!” said Harry.
Yes, I don’t doubt that you
would have enjoyed it; but I felt so sorry for the
poor cattle that it tired me.
In the afternoon, we young people
went on an excursion of about twenty miles on horseback
to see the Falls of Ka Liuwaa. After passing about
eight miles on the beach, we turned up a mountain ravine;
two miles more brought us to the end of our ride.
We dismounted and had a lunch, sitting in the branches
of a fallen kukui-tree, and drinking water from a
cup made of a taro leaf. We took off our riding-skirts,
threw them over the saddle, and leaving our horses
in the care of a native man, walked up the narrow
gorge, or gulch, as they call it here, seldom more
than one or two hundred feet wide, with precipitous
sides rising sometimes a thousand feet above us.
At times we were just on the edge of the stream, but
as often jumping from rock to rock in the very bed
of the brook. Towards the termination of the
gorge, is a place in the rock called “The Canoe,”
a half-circle gouged right down the precipice as smooth
as if chiseled out, about fifty feet wide, and a thousand
feet deep.
“Why do they call it ’The Canoe’?”
asked Willie.
There is a story connected with it,
as with everything on these islands. One of their
gods was angry with another god, and sought to kill
him. I believe the latter, who was running away,
slipped his canoe down the rock, making the groove
I have described, and escaped to the sea.
Soon we came to the fall itself, and
here the precipices on each side were one and two
thousand feet high. The fall is about a hundred
feet, running through a narrow gulch from a lake above,
and probably never was seen by a foreign eye.
It was a lovely and romantic place. The water
fell into a small, but deep, circular pond. Exquisite
varieties of ferns and mosses grew upon the rocks
lining its sides, and no sound was heard but the plashing
of water.
Some of the natives are said to have
a superstitious fear of the place, the remains of
their old religion; and the way up was lined with
offerings, consisting of a leaf with a few stones piled
on it. I don’t believe they are much afraid,
for they laughed if the stones were thrown over.
The next day we rode on fifteen miles
to Kaneohe. Here we met Rev. Mr. Parker’s
people. On our way we passed several rice-fields.
Rice is grown in wet places, like the taro. It
looks very much like grain as you see it in the distance,
but it is of a very brilliant green.
Early the next morning we left for
Honolulu. Soon after we started, our baggage-horse
ran away. One of the bags which he bore got loose
and frightened him. Our horses saw him coming
with one bag swinging back and forth under his body,
and began to be uneasy, so we turned them off to the
side of the road, and he rushed past us. The gentlemen
and natives started in pursuit. The poor horse
crossed a river, and was finally caught in a taro-patch.
Our bags were torn to pieces, and many of their contents
scattered over the plain; some were wet through or
stained with the green mud from the taro-fields.
“Did you find all your things?” asked
Harry.
Almost everything; the poor horse
looked sadly jaded and tired, but he had to carry
the baggage the rest of the way.
We rode up a precipitous ascent two
or three thousand feet high, by a zigzag road cut
into its sides. The adjacent precipices are some
of them much higher. Over one of these Kamehameha
I. drove the defeated warriors of Oahu, in his last
battle on the island. That was savage warfare.
The precipice up which we rode is called “The
Pali,” or precipice; it is at the head of Nuuanu
valley. The finest approach to it is from Honolulu.
Masses of rock rise high above you on either side,
while a beautiful panorama of hills, valleys, cottages,
winding streams, and verdant plantations all opens
to your astonished eye, and bounding the distant view
is the ocean.
Riding down Nuuanu valley, we were
again surrounded by our Honolulu friends. Our
tour of the Hawaiian Islands was ended.
The next day, May 30, the steamer
Kilauea came into port, bringing missionaries from
the other islands to attend the general meeting appointed
to be held in Honolulu in the month of June.
The meeting opened June 3, and every
morning and afternoon there were business meetings
until the 16th, when the examination of Oahu College
at Punahou commenced. It was a fine examination, the
same studies as in our New England academies.
It lasted through two days, and on the third day there
was an exhibition in the evening at the stone church.
The house was prettily decorated, the king lending
his royal reception-flag for the occasion, an enormous
banner forty feet long. This was suspended by
the four corners from the ceiling, forming a sort of
canopy over the platform. There were also American,
French, British, Spanish, and Hawaiian flags, together
with wreaths, mottoes, and bouquets. The church
was crowded with foreigners and natives. The speeches
were good, the young men doing themselves credit,
and the singing was fine; indeed, there are some superior
singers in Honolulu. Commencement ended, as in
our own country, with the president’s levee.
Everybody seemed to be present, and to enjoy themselves,
and did ample justice to the abundant collation spread
in the college hall. The evening closed with patriotic
songs, and thus ended the college year of 1863.
General meeting was resumed after
the exercises at Punahou were concluded. Almost
every missionary was present, and had brought a part
or the whole of his family. The Pastor of the
Foreign Church, the Seamen’s Chaplain, President
of Oahu College, native pastors and delegates were
all present. It was delightful to witness the
harmony pervading this large body, and to see how
strong the Christian and missionary tie that bound
them together. There they sat day after day,
exchanging their opinions, discussing questions, and
settling matters of great importance to them and the
people, meeting and praying together, and it seemed
as if the spirit of Christ rested upon them; for no
jar or discord was allowed to enter.
The work of the Lord in those islands
is very great. There are now only 67,000 inhabitants,
and yet in these forty-three years in which the mission
has been in operation there have been 52,413 converts,
and 19,679 are now connected with the churches.
Surely, this may be called a Christian nation.
There was another “Cousins’ Meeting”
on the evening of June 6th. I wish you could
peep in upon one of these gatherings. Thirty
or forty young people together, all united by the missionary
tie, the ladies wearing light or white muslins, with
gay belts and sashes, flowers in their hair, and happy,
joyous, faces; the gentlemen with a rose in their
button-hole, in summer dress; windows, doors, and blinds
all open; and after the business of the meeting is
over, numerous happy couples promenading to and fro
on the piazza. All this gives a festive look,
and one has a feeling of interest not felt in gatherings
in our own land. At parties there, one never
expected a greater variety of refreshments than cake,
coffee, and strawberries; so they can be conducted
without much expense, and little companies are the
order of the day. Then it is so easy getting
about; no cold winter snows to trudge through, no
chilling wind to guard against; everybody has a horse
or vehicle of some kind, or his next neighbor has,
and is willing to be neighborly.
But we must leave Honolulu parties,
and go to an American supper.