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The same expressions were also uttered on occasion of an injury, surprise, the death of a favorite animal, or even any trivial disappointment. Its signification is, alas! to sigh or to have a deep affection.' Mourners were frequently hired; and the same party could be seen one moment buried, apparently, in the deepest affliction, and, in another, reveling in boisterous mirth about their food, while their places were supplied by a fresh set.

turned their course again seaward, or they nimbly slipped off their boards, which the force of the waves threw far up the rocks.

The pahe was a game in great vogue. It consisted in throwing, or rather glancing, heavy darts, from two to five feet in length, along a level floor, prepared with great care for this purpose. The skill consisted in the nearness to certain marks at which the darts were cast. Analogous to this was the ulu Moku-moku, or boxing, was a favorite maika, a species of bowling, in which a national game, regulated by certain circular stone, highly polished, with flat laws, for the proper execution of which sides, was used. The konane was an managers were appointed, and umpires intricate game of drafts, played with to decide upon rival claims. A spirit of colored stones, upon a great number of clanship inspired the champions, who squares. The puhenehene consisted in usually belonged to different chiefs. secreting a stone so adroitly, in the full The victor in one engagement paced gaze of all present, as to deceive the the ring in triumph, until another an- watchers in their guess as to the hiding tagonist appeared. The final conqueror place; five loose bundles of cloth were received the highest honors. These boxing matches were often attended with fatal results. The spectators delighted in blows that brought blood, and stimulated the combatants with shouts and yells of applause, dancing and other wild expressions of delight, until, as it frequently happened, many were slain. Foot races were common; the king's messengers attained great speed, frequently making the circuit of Hawaii, three hundred miles of bad road, in eight or nine days.

prepared for this design, under one of which the stone was slipped.

Hakoohu, wrestling; loulou, a trial of strength by hooking the fingers; honuhonu, swimming with the hands only, the feet being fast interlocked; uma, a trial of the strength of the arms; lelekawa, leaping from precipices into water; lelekoali, rope swinging ; kulakulaiwrestling in the sea-were sports in high repute. The ume, kilu and papuhene, were of an impure nature, and engaged in only under veil of night.

In general, games were seldom practiced except for the purpose of gambling, to which they were inordinately addicted. In betting, every article of clothing or property was staked, and their interest only stayed by the exhaustion of their means, when violent passions were usually aroused, and fierce brawls too often ensued.

Sliding down steep hills, on a smooth board, was a common amusement; but no sport afforded more delight than bathing in the surf. Young and old, high and low, of both sexes, engaged in it, and in no other way could they show greater dexterity in their aquatic exercises. Multitudes could be seen when the surf was highest, pushing boldly seaward, with their surf-board in ad- Dances (hula) were of various characvance, diving beneath the huge combers, ter, sometimes interspersed with chants as they broke in succession over them, relating to the achievements of the past until they reached the outer line of or present rulers, or in honor of the breakers; then laying flat upon their boards, using their arms and legs as guides, they boldly mounted the loftiest, and, borne upon its crest, rushed with the speed of a race-horse towards the shore; from being dashed upon which, seemed to a spectator impossible to be avoided. But a dexterous movement

gods. Such was the hula alaapupa. The dancers were decorated with necklaces of human hair, supporting ornaments of bone, or whale's teeth. Bracelets and buskins of net-work, thickly set with the teeth of dogs or hogs, encircled their wrists and ankles. Their motions were sometimes active, sometimes slow

ing.

and graceful, and in perfect time with ed elsewhere. The dances of the youth the music of rude drums, made from were reported to be graceful and pleaslarge calabashes, with apertures at the top, or hollow logs tastefully carved and covered at the ends with shark's skin. The former were alternately beaten with the palms of the hands, and struck on the ground on which cloth was laid. The gesticulations of the musicians were violent, and they also joined in the chants.

A Musician.

Dancing was as universal as swimming; all, of every age and character engaging in it, though it was more commonly practiced, by professional dancers in honor of the gods, or for the amusement of the chiefs. The dances of the latter consisted in a variety of uncouth motions and twistings of the body, of too lascivious a nature to bear description, and were generally preparatory to brutal revels. Their costumes were in con

Children's Dance.

The ceremonies observed on the death of any prominent personage, were extremely barbarous. The hair was shaved, or cut close, teeth knocked out and sometimes the ears were mangled.— Some tatooed their tongues in a corresponding manner to the other parts of their bodies. These customs were intended to keep alive the memory of the deceased among his immediate relatives and retainers, and by many, the affection was estimated by the amount of bodily pain endured. Frequently the flesh was cut or burnt, eyes scooped out, and other even more painful personal outrages inflicted. But these usages, however shocking they may appear, were innocent, compared with the horrid saturnalia which immediately followed the death of a chief of the highest rank. Then the most unbounded license prevailed; law and restraint were cast aside, and the whole people appeared more like demons than human beings. Every vice and crime was allowed. Property was destroyed, houses fired, and old feuds revived and revenged. Gambling, thefts and murder were as open as the day; clothing was cast aside as a useless incumbrance; drunkenness and promiscuous prostitution prevailed throughout the land, no women, excepting the widows of the deceased, being exempt from the grossest violation.There was no passion, however lewd, or desire, however wicked, but could be gratified with impunity, during the continuance of this period, which, happily from its own violence, soon spent itself. No other nation was ever witness to a custom, which so entirely threw off all moral and legal restraints, and incited the evil passions to unresisted riot and wanton debauchery.

In the mechanical arts and agriculture, the Hawaiians manifested considerable ingenuity. With no better informity with their actions; garlands of struments than those of hard stone, shell flowers, necklaces of shells, and leis, or bone, they made large and fine cabeautiful wreaths, fabricated from red or noes, the longest of which were sixty yellow feathers, encircled the limbs of feet in length; built neat thatched the females. Both sexes were tatooed, houses; ingeniously carved wood and though not to such an extent as prevail- stone, and manufactured all that was

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necessary for their domestic purposes. | abash or gourd. From it, their drink

The mats made from rushes or from the leaves of the pandanus, were very useful, prettily dyed and of great size, fineness and beauty. They were used for beds, screens, partitions and sometimes for clothing. In their cloth, manufactured from the morus papyriferus, equal skill was displayed. It was of every quality, from a thick, heavy article, nearly impervious to wind or water, to a more delicate and almost transparent fabric. The colors were various, some so prettily stained as to resemble printed cloths. Bowls and dishes, made from the ko tree, were very beautiful and highly valued. But the most useful article, and one which can be applied to an almost endless variety of purposes, is the fruit of the cucurbita, the cal

Mestna ing vessels, dishes, masks

and musical instruments

were made. It still supplies the want of iron, glass, crockery and wooden ware. In journies it answers for a trunk; at home for a closet. They Water Calabash. are often prettily ornamented after the same patterns as their tapas, and are of every size, from the smallest water-cup, to the great poidish, capable of holding ten gallons.

The houses of the common orders were mere hovels, made of straw, thatched upon a light wooden frame. They were low, small and damp, and generally filthy within and without. Those of the chiefs were better and neatly kept.

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There were professed trades; some held together, and the thatch fastened men being expert in building canoes, on. As soon as the materials were others in carving and framing or thatch- gathered, holes were dug for the posts, ing houses, &c. To finish the corners the timbers of the roof grooved, and the or the roofs of houses, properly and whole frame set up. The thatchers then handsomely, was a difficult art and un- performed their part; and in this manderstood but by few. Generally, every ner a large house could be commenced man worked at all as his wants required. and finished within three days. The When a chief ordered a dwelling to be timber, which was often of great size, erected, his tenants were required to was brought from far in the interior. take part in the labor, though to each Burdens were carried on poles, supparty a distinct work was allotted.-ported on the shoulders of men; the While some went to the mountains to friction of which frequently caused large procure the timber for the frame, others callous swellings, greatly disfiguring the pulled grass for thatch, or made the form. twine with which the frame was to be

The best built houses lasted from ten

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to twelve years; the common not more | which were of great size and fine workthan half that time. For such a climate, manship. A vegetable poison was also they were well adapted to the wants of used. The herb containing it being the population, though, having no floors, stripped of its bark, and bruised, was obnoxious to damp and cold. Those of placed beneath stones where the fishes the chiefs were enclosed in large yards, frequented, which soon became affected, and were sometimes raised on a stone sickened and rose to the surface. embankment, which rendered them much soon as they were taken, they were more comfortable. Around the princi- cleaned, to prevent the poison from pal house or hall, as it had but one spreading. Fishes were usually eaten room, were the smaller huts, which raw, and in the state in which they were served for eating and sleeping apart- captured. ments and store-houses. The whole resembled a collection of hay-ricks.

Before a new house was occupied, a number of superstitious ceremonies were performed, to exorcise such evil spirits as desired to dispute the possession with the rightful owner. Offerings were made to the gods, and presents to the priests, who, uttering prayers, and performing divers rites, for a while resided in the house; the sanctity derived from their occupancy being considered as sufficient, ever after, to baffle all attempts of malignant beings, or the incantations of sorcerers.

Clothing was of the simplest nature. With the men, it consisted of a small strip of cloth, called the malo, wound around the loins, and passed between the legs; that of the women was the pau, a garment attached to the waist, and reaching to the knee. Young children, of both sexes, went naked, as also did their parents, whenever inclination prompted.

Poi, the principal article of diet, was prepared from the kalo plant. The roots, after being baked under ground, were mashed on a large platter, by a heavy stone pestle, or an instrument made of lava, resembling a stirrup, and were mixed with water, until a thick paste was formed. This is sometimes eaten in a sweet state, but generally put aside until it ferments, in which condition it is preferred. It is a highly nutricious substance, though, when solely used, has a tendency to produce acrid humors. The labor of its preparation, being too severe for females, is confined to the

men.

In fishing, they were very expert, catching their prey either by hooks made from pearl-shells, or in nets, some of

The manners and customs of these savages are too well known to require enlarged description. If their arts were few and simple, so were their wants. The skill displayed in supplying them, is sufficient to excite admiration, and exhibits mechanical abilities, which since, under better auspices, have greatly improved.

A small commerce, through the medium of barter, was maintained between some of the islands. The tapas of Oahu were exchanged for the canoes and paddles of Kauai. On Hawaii, a heavy, strong tapa, called mamake, suitable for cold weather, was manufactured and supplied to the other islands. At stated periods, markets or fairs were held in various places. The most celebrated resort was the banks of the Wailuku river, in the district of Hilo, Hawaii. Here, inhabitants from all portions of the island assembled, to make exchanges of property. Certain districts were noted for the goodness of their tapas; others, for their mats, live stock, or excellence of their poi, or dried fish. The pedlers cried their wares, which were exhibited in piles on either side of the stream, according to certain rules.— When a bargain was in negotiation, the articles were deposited on a particular rock, where they could be mutually examined in the presence of inspectors, who were appointed as arbiters in cases of dispute, and also acted as a police for the preservation of order, receiving a remuneration for their services. A toll was required from all who crossed the river.

The Hawaiian method of computation resembled the ancient Atzec. It was simple and regular, and sufficient for the wants of an unlettered race, which

seldom had occasion to express any English terms; thus, one hundred accomplex combination of numbers. From commodated to the Hawaiian idiom, is one to ten was as follows, akahi, alua, haneli; thousand, tausani; million, miliakolu, aha, alima, aono, ahitu, awalu, ona, &c. eiwa, umi; eleven, was ten and one, The knowledge and use of medicinal umikumamakahi, kumama being the con- herbs, was said to have been a gift from junctive; twelve, umikumamalua, and the gods to a man, named Koleamoku, so on until twenty, which was expressed who taught them to two disciples. After by a new term, iwakalua; twenty-one, their death they were deified and to iwakaluakumamakahi, etc.; thirty was them the prayers of the doctors were kanakolu; thirty-one, kanakolukumama- addressed. The doctors were a diskahi, etc.; forty, kanaha; they then tinct class of priests or sorcerers, who commenced with one, and counted to generally confined the knowledge of forty again. A combination of terms their art to their own families, and thus were sufficient to express all numbers made the employment, which was lucrashort of four hundred, for which a new tive, hereditary. They were called kaword was required. Fifty was kanaha huna lapaau mai, man or priest to heal me ka umi, forty and ten; sixty, akahi sickness;' their practice was a comkanaha me ka iwakalua, one forty and pound of superstitious ceremonies, and twenty, and so on; eighty was elua ka- an injudicious use of medicines and surnaha, two forties; one hundred was elua gery. Their materia medica consisted kanaha me ka iwakalua, two forties and exclusively of vegetable substances, vatwenty; six hundred, hookahi lau a me na riously prepared; sometimes by being kanaha elima, one four hundred and five cooked, but often simply bruised with a forties; ten thousand, alua mano me na stone. Their knowledge of the medilau elima, two 4000's and five 400's.* cinal properties of herbs was considerable, though fatal results frequently ensued from their prescriptions. They feigned a knowledge of internal disorders by external examination, and also the power to ward off sickness. Healthy individuals frequently fell vicfour units made 1 kauna, 4 tims to their pretended skill, being in1 kanaha, 40 duced to take large quantities of a li1 lau 400 quid, compounded from the pulp and 1 mano, 4000 1 kini, 40,000 stems of the calabash vine, which opeUmi kini, ten 40,000's 1 lebu, 400,000 rates as a powerful cathartic. Patients Beyond this last number, their ideas were steamed over ovens of hot stones, became confused; though the term naor held over the smoke of fires prepared Friction lowale, which means, out of sight, from green succulent herbs. or lost, was sometimes employed, as exwas greatly used to mitigate minor pressing ten lehu, or four millions. pains; stones of twelve pounds weight Numbers beyond their power of reckoning or exceedingly great and indefinite, were expressed by the repetition of the words kini and lehu, as kinikini, lehulehu. To reduce English computation to the Hawaiian, it is only necessary to divide by four, and vice versa, to multiply by the same number. This ancient method is now rapidly giving way to the decimal system, introduced by the missionaries in their schools. The larger numbers are formed from the

In this system four is assumed as the lowest collection of numbers, and the basis of classification; the regular scale being graduated from four to four hundred thousand; each step multiplied by ten. Thus:

Aha kahi
Umi kauna, ten 4's

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Umi kanaha, ten 40's

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Umi lau,

ten 400's

ten 4000's

Umi mano,

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* Hawaiian Spectator, vol. 2, p. 91.

and upwards, were rolled over the afflicted parts, or violent manual exercise employed. In setting limbs they were sometimes successful, though more from accident than skill; but in all complicated fractures, or dangerous illnesses, their services were worse than useless.

An individual, who hired one of this class, was supposed to have it in his power to afflict his enemies with painful diseases, and even cause their deaths: also, to be enabled to discover the author of his own maladies, and retort

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