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THE LATE HONORABLE PAUL ISENBERG TO WHOSE MEMORY “THE MASTER
PLANTER” WAS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.
—
The Master Planter
Life in the Cane
Fields of Hawaii
By
JAMES W. GIRVIN
WitH NOWE Ss By
LEVERETT H. MESICK
HONOLULU. HAWAII:
PRESS OF THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE CO., LTD.
1910
BEQUEST OF
Di. WALTER 2. STEINER
JAN. 20, 194g
a
COPYRIGHT 1910
By THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE COMPANY
LIMITED
CONTENTS.
PAGE
DEDICATION vil
PostHuMous (Introduction) ix
CHAPTER,
ile
ER.
XIII.
St ow ae Ele
‘
A New Home in a New Tae and the Introduction
of the Hero
California in “The Days of Old, the Days of Gold, ae
Days of Forty-Nine” ;
San Francisco, Like Rome, Sits sot Geek We
Hills
Off for the Islands—Sight of Dyan Head Consens
for an Uncomfortable Voyage 3
Honolulu as it was in Days of Yore—Grass Houses and
Many Things That Would be Curios Now .
“Kansas” is Busy Investigating the Business Possibilities
—Lively Times in the Days of the Whaler Man
Honolulu and the Churches of the Old ecm) Hero
Again at Sea, but Alone
Lahaina, the Former Capital of the ae ren (Atle Dis-
couragements for the Man From Kansas
Iao, the Yosemite of the Islands—Derivation of the
Hawaiian Word for Law—Wailuku and its Defini-
tion 5 é “ 4 A - :
At Wailuku “Kansas” is Advised to “Keep on Trying”
in Spite of the Disheartening Outlook
The Missionaries Had Trouble too—Our Hero Has
Work at Last, but as “Shipped Man” ?
Sociability on the Plantation and at Church—‘And He
Proves to be a Jewel”—“Kansas” Making Headway
Some Interesting Details of Plantation Work—The En-
trancing Haleakala Trip and What it Reveals
iil
XIV.
ZV:
XVI.
XVIT.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI,.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX,
Contents.
PAGE
Phases of Plantation Life—Native Language and Lore—
Native Divisions of Land—Dyestuffs Used by the
Hawaiians : A A : 5 A
More Hawaiian Lore—Land Tenure—Tabu System—Pri-
mitive Tools and Patient Labor—Where Fell the
Chivalry of Hawaii
The Hawaiians: Whence Came They and the Flora of
Their Islands ?—Their Knowledge of Medicine and
Surgery : : : :
Hawaiian Hospitality and Customs—Pageantry of a
Royal Tour Around the Island of Oahu
The Transformation of “Kansas’—From “Shipped Man”
to Plantation Manager in Eleven Months
Hawaii Leads the World in Scientific Sugar Cane Cul-
tivation
The New Manager Makes Innovations that Startle the
Silurians
Treating of the One-Time Contract Labor Conditions on
the Sugar Plantations
Our Hero Has a Name at Last—and an 1 Old- Time Friend
Appears with Abundant Capital
Madam Takes a Native Maiden Into Her Hibiisenetl
and Has an Interesting Character Study
Madam Interests Herself in the Natives, and Learns
Many of Their Peculiarities
The Happy Marriage of Kamaka Is Followed ia ee a
Too Frequent Sequel—Piquancy of Native Cooking
Mrs. Breed Learns How to Prepare and Preserve the
Many Delicious Native Fruits ,
Madam Embellishes Her Home With Native one eat
Attract the Charmed Attention of Visitors
The Oace Obscure “Kansas” Becomes Owner and
Manager of an Immense Sugar Estate :
Capital and Labor as Yokefellows—A Codperative
Scheme that Worked—Christ Quoted
Fascinating Small Farming Applied to a Big Plantation—
Wheat, Corn, Potatoes, Butter, Chickens, Honey .
58
63
126
129
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXII.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.
XLIII.
XLIV.
XLV.
XLVI.
L’Envor
Contents.
Vv
PAGE
“And of All That Thou Shalt Give Me I Will Surely
Give the Tenth Unto Thee.”—Gen. 28 :22 d
The Baleful Effects of Alcohol on the Native—The Olla
a Temperance Aid
The Telephone Publicly Used on Maui eae It icone
General in the United States
The Primal Curse Applied to Cane Cui linen te:
turing and Marketing the Sugar é :
Native Labor Becoming Scarce, Experiments With Many
Peoples Were Made—A Political Review
The Chinese and Their Relation to Hawaii—Vices and
Virtues of This People : a .
A Resume of the History of the Hawaiian Islands—
From the Rise to the Fall of the Monarchy
Our Hero in Review Again—Experiments With Elec-
tricity—Mention of Noble Men and Women of
Hawaii
The Silver Wedding < of ie Brees Was Coe He
a Luau and Hookupu of Grand Proportions .
The Hawaiian Language—Its Lack of Harsh Consonants
Makes It Easily Adaptable to Music
The Education of Children in the Hawaiian rede
An Original Perplexing Question Well Solved
Religion of the Early Hawaiians and Why the People
Were Ready to Receive Christianity—Evidence of
Early Civilization : : A :
Debasement and Decimation of Hawaiians Due to White
Refuse of Civilization Who Preceded Missionaries
Life in Hawaii and What It Stands for to People Who
Call the Islands “Home” ; ; ‘ ‘
Metal Being Unknown to the Ancient Hawaiians, the
Art of Weaving Entered Into Their Every Utility
A Brief History of the Sugar Industry of the Hawaiian
Islands—Sugar Cane Indigenous to the Soil .
131
135
138
140
144
148
I51
155
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DEDICATION.
This book is most respectfully dedicated to the memory of the
late Honorable Paul Isenberg.
A man who rose from the ranks in the cultivation of sugar on
the Hawaiian Islands. A man whose broad sympathies reached
out to the laborer of every nationality, and whose hand was always
open to assist any one in distress. A man for whom the Ha-
waiians had the greatest respect and veneration, and who did
much for their advancement by his example, assistance and advice.
A man of that Teutonic race which will eventually dominate the
globe from its inherent love of and maintenance of the purity of
their homes and their observance of the Sabbath day.
THe AUTHOR.
:
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POSTHUMOUS.
In the year 1906, Mr. James W. Girvin was Librarian for
the Hawaiian Gazette Company. Through my connection
with the same company, I became well acquainted with Mr.
Girvin, and he unfolded to me, at divers times, a mind stored
brimful of useful knowledge. Any leisure moment I had I
considered well spent in converse with him, especially upon
affairs Hawaiian, of which he was a veritable walking en-
cyclopedia. At that time he was working on the closing
chapters of “The Master Planter,” and through our intimacy
I learned much of his ideas and aims in regard to the book;
and evidently won his confidence, for he submitted the manu-
script to me for criticism and correction from a typographical
standpoint.
The press work upon the book was well under way at the
time of Mr. Girvin’s accidental death from drowning on the ~
llth of December, 1906. Of course, the work came to a
sudden standstill then. Later it was decided to publish the
book, following Mr. Girvin’s known ideas in regard to it as
closely as possible—and a large package of proofsheets and
manuscript, just as Mr. Girvin had left it, was entrusted to
me for disentanglement and completion. I found the closing
words had not been written, or if written were not found—
so I have supplied them.
A surprisingly large number of books have been published
with something Hawaiian for subject matter—generally in-
dicative of a wide-spread romantic interest in these “Isles
of the Blest.” Mr. Girvin’s “The Master Planter,” on the
ibe
x Posthumous.
contrary, may be regarded as an antonym to romantic—exact,
historical, unadorned.
It seems almost incredible that so much information could
be crowded into a given space as appears in this book, and
the continuity of the plot not be irreparably broken. In
breaking the story up into chapters and giving them head-
lines, I am aware that limp justice has been done, for a single
caption could not well cover more than a single paragraph
in many cases—as one umbrella makes a miserable mess of
covering more than one person in a rainstorm. The story in
its entirety strikes me as a delightful pot-pourri, some new
fragrance being encountered at almost every turn. There is
something in the story for everyone. It is an encyclopedia
of things Hawaiian; cross-indexed it would be almost in-
valuable as a hand-book of Hawaii.
The hero of the story is a composite character, exemplify-
ing the sterling worth of the pioneers to Hawaii, who made
of it the most advanced cane sugar producing country in
the world. Mr. Girvin made the story of “The Master
Planter” the vehicle for conveying to the public a great fund
of useful information that he had gathered in many years of
keen observation. The dedication is his.
A composite character—yes, but the trait given to “Kan-
sas” of acquiring so much diversified knowledge of the peo-
ple and the country, will very well fit the author himself.
Nearly four years have elapsed since Mr. Girvin’s death,
and in that space of time kaleidoscopic changes have taken
place in affairs Hawaiian. Ordinarily, a book written four
or more years ago about Hawaii would need rewriting now.
Not so with “The Master Planter,’ however; its statements
remain facts, and will have the same abiding value as has a
standard encyclopedia.
Leverett H. MEsIck.
Honolulu, 1910.
THE LATE JAMES W. GIRVIN, AUTHOR.
THE MASTER PUANTER
CHAPTER)
A NEW HOME IN A NEW COUNTRY, AND THE INTRODUCTION OF
THE HERO.
WAY back in the early sixties, in a little cabin in one of the
A ravines leading into Grass Valley, Nevada County, Cali-
fornia, there lived a small family, the history of the head
of which it is the intention to relate in the following chapters.
Our hero had come from Kansas, and the miners, addicted to
giving nicknames, had dubbed him “Kansas” from his hailing
from that State; but in reality he had lived there only five years,
having emigrated from the northern part of the State of New
York. He was a tall, dark-whiskered man of thoughtful mien
and reflective mood, while his wife was a sprightly little lady
of a most cheerful disposition. The young couple had a child
born to them in Wichita, but the little girl sickened and died,
and the parents felt that Kansas could no longer be home to
them, so they turned their faces westward. They had accumu-
lated a little sum of money, and could have done well enough but
for the spirit of unrest which took possession of them after “the
light of the household” had gone out. They had a friend in
Grass Valley whose glowing description of California, and
especially of that region, determined them to cast in their fortunes
and grow up with the State.
After a long and weary journey from the end of the then
uncompleted railroad they arrived at their goal. Their friend
was not to be found, he having drifted after the ignis-fatuus of
rich reports in a distant field, as so many of the miners did. The
surrounding country pleased them, and at this season was covered
with innumerable species of wild flowers such as they had never
seen in the east. Although an horticulturist by study and pro-
fession he saw colors such as he had never seen before. Brown,
Z The Master Planter; or
green, and drab lilies growing wild, yuccas ten feet high covered
with a cloud of iridescent bells, flowers whose brilliancy could
be matched nowhere on this mundane sphere, and the whole sur-
face of the undulating country clothed with a carpet of small
flowers to even name which would require chapters. The cli-
mate was invigorating and the scenery grand beyond description.
They decided to settle there. His occupation had been that of
gardener, and he quickly determined that there was more money
to be made in supplying the various neighboring mining camps
with vegetables than in gold digging, and the income would be
more certain.
An old man who had acquired a large tract of land was pleased
to give him as much as he would cultivate for a nominal share of
the products. A rough little shanty, abutting a ridge, went with
the claim and was to be their future home. It was sheltered
beneath the umbrageous branches of one of the grand old live-
oaks which dotted the plain and hillsides. Here the young
couple proceeded to make their home with as much cheerfulness
and unanimity as the birds which built their nests amidst the
leaves of the perennial tree which covered them. Little by little
they gathered around them the necessities of life and for home
comfort. Women were comparatively scarce in that part, and
many of the miners made a detour from the highway, nominally
to ask for a drink of water, but in reality to see the little bird-
nest with the Eastern robin in it.
Quite a number of the miners succeeded in obtaining the privi-
lege of taking their meals at Madam’s table, for which they gladly
paid fifty per cent. more than they could have lived for at the mill
boarding house. During the summer the table was spread under
the shelter of the shady live-oak branches, and by winter a fine
commodious addition had been added to the house. The home-
made bread, butter, and buttermilk were luxuries to be had no-
where else, and the refining influence of a good woman was ap-
preciated by those who were permitted to enroll themselves as of
“Kansas’s” household. His cows, chickens, eggs and garden-
truck had a market limited only by the supply he was able to
produce. He found the soil to be excellent, and that everything
planted produced abundantly. By hauling some of the pulver-
ized tailings from the mill and spreading it on the adobe soil he
supplied to that clay its corrective, and the yield of beets, onions,
potatoes and vegetables was something marvelous. Some of his
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 3
mangel wurtzel beets, planted for cow feed, weighed more than
150 lbs., and pumpkins grew so thickly that it was possible to
walk over a field by stepping from one pumpkin to another.
There were some drawbacks, however, in the form of vermin.
The air teemed with birds and insects and the ground had its
myriads of gophers and squirrels, while from the plain came up
the cotton-tail and the jack-rabbit to devour anything green. His
strawberries, raspberries and other small fruit were preyed upon
by the quail, catbirds and others, whilst his melons were sought
after by badgers and other quadrupeds. Deer frequently came
down at night and revelled in his corn and cereals.
Game was plentiful, and grizzly and brown bear threat-
ened not only to decimate his pig-pen and calf-yard and honey-
stands, but to make life a burden. Indians straggling through
the country frightened Madam, but were harmless. The table
was rarely without venison, quail, pheasant or other game. The
miners united with “Kansas” in pursuing the bears, mountain
lions and fur-bearing ferz, and they became somewhat scarcer.
Madam was sorry sometimes to see the song birds destroyed, but
self protection is the first law of nature. In the early mornings,
and at even, the air would be redolent with harmony from in-
numerable meadow larks and thrushes. Every bush in the chap-
paral on the hillsides had its colony of bird life.
The long table out of doors was frequently surrounded with
men, who, judged by their rough appearance, were Ali Baba’s
forty thieves, while from their conversation, which was extremely
edifying, their antecedents could be discerned. Naturally, from
their occupation as miners, geology and the origin and formation
of the globe was frequently the theme of debate and conjecture.
Still there was no subject which was not discussed. Sometimes
politics was introduced, to the disgust of Madam, as that subject
led to wrangles from which neither edification nor profit was to
be obtained. The men were from different parts of the East and
naturally disagreed. Some were Southerners, one of them hay-
ing brought two slaves with him who were regularly paying him
their wages on a promise of emancipation on receipt of the cost of
bringing them out and to their value as estimated at home.
“Kansas” had been one of th radicals in his late place of resi-
dence, and it is well understood that in the State of Kansas there
is to be found no one who does not take an active interest in
everything pertaining to politics. The throes at the birth of that
4 The Master Planter.
State had threatened to dismember the Union, and the war which
was then raging was considered one of the outcomes of it.
Madam almost decided to discontinue keeping boarders, and
eventually succeeded in reducing the number to a few who could
control themselves in the heat of political debate. Their Chinese
cook and laborers appeared to be thoroughly at home in this
strange land, and when Madam undertook to give them lessons in
English on Sunday afternoons she had a class which appreciated
her kindness.
GVA Th ER it
CALIFORNIA IN “THE DAYS OF OLD, THE DAYS OF GOLD, THE DAYS
OF FORTY-NINE.”
ALIFORNIA, covering ten degrees of latitude, has surprised
the people of the United States not only in its mineral re-
sources, but in the fertility of its soil and the exuberance
of thought of its inhabitants. Within those ten degrees of lati-
tude, which by the way have proven in the Old World to have
contained the cradle of the human race, and today hold the ruins
of the world’s earliest civilization, can be found a greater variety
of the fauna and flora of the globe than in any other part.
The appreciation which the early settlers had of its marvelous
climate, scenery and possibilities was indelibly stamped on it by
the manner in which they named different localities. We find
Paradise, Banner, Golden Gate, Silver City, Loveland, Wood-
land, Greenville, Bloody Gulch, Dead Horse, Grizzly Flat,
Antioch, Acme, etc., etc., and the earlier Spanish settlers used up
the whole calendar of Saints in naming the different points and
localities in this great State, and finally in despair at the paucity
of the calendar dubbed a bay Todos Santos (all Saints). Rough
men, made hardier still through their contact with the Plutonic
rocks from which they obtained the auriferous metals, named
many places in accord with some obstacle which attracted their
attention, as Whiskeyville, Dead Man’s Gulch, Eureka, Sacra-
mento, etc.
Drawn thither by the prospect of acquiring speedy wealth
from mining, people of all grades of intellectual culture and from
every nation under the sun can be found. It was a common
thing to find men who could speak many languages as well as
men who were conversant with the classics. Although a little
book of fifty-two leaves was the most common, the man who
found his intellectual treat in the Bible, Shakespeare, Horace,
Virgil, or some of the scientific works was freely met with. All
appeared equally rough, and it was only on close inspection that
the diamond was discovered. Rough in appearance, wild in
6 The Master Planter; or
action, and coming from different parts of the States and of the
world, still men of similar thought and inclinations naturally
drifted together, as the magnet will draw particles of iron from
sand made up of grains of disintegrated rocks of every class.
Men of every profession and trade made up the army which
crossed the plains in search for gold. Amongst them there natur-
ally predominated those who had followed farming or manual
labor. These were observant of the natural facility of the soil
to produce crops, and also of the ready market for the products.
The claims made by the Spaniards prevented much of the land
from being acquired by these agriculturists, but little by little
many little holdings were acquired and small orchards and gar-
dens began to be cultivated.
Our hero’s small ranch appeared like an oasis in a desert, for
California in the dry season has a most desolate and burnt-up
appearance. He had brought out a small stream from the canon
(or canyon) above the premises, and all shrubbery and trees as
well as the vegetables planted by him throve remarkably from the
supplied water.
“Kansas” had excavated a cellar into the hillside, against which
the house abutted, and had put down a drive well therein from
which a deliciously pure water was obtained. Having procured
an olla, one of those earthern vessels which the Spaniards had
introduced into the country, and which the Indians made from
clay and carried about for sale, and which on account of its
porosity materially aided in cooling the water, he hung it to a
limb of the live-oak. Thirsty travelers from all directions de-
bouched from the main road to get a drink of this cooling water,
and gradually the place became so central that when necessity
for establishing a postoffice was felt, “Kansas” station was fixed
upon as the most convenient for the miners in that whole region.
Our young couple prospered in every way, and not only made
money from their own exertions, but, having grub-staked several
prospectors, “Kansas” was fortunate in being able to sell out of
several claims to good advantage. The healthiness of the climate
was remarked, and they had enjoyed life as much as could be ex-
pected from the isolation Madam was compelled to endure. To
make money alone was not the height of their ambition, and
“Kansas” did not feel that it was justice to his wife to seclude
her in a mountain camp. After four years residence in Grass
Valley he determined to move to San Francisco. During their
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. V4
residence in the mountains a boy and a girl had been born to
them, which materially added to the mother’s cares. He had
acquired the quarter section, which he first rented from the old
ranch owner, and now disposed of his holdings and the fine site
for a good round sum. His intention was to either establish
himself as a florist in San Francisco or engage as a scenic gar-
dener with some of the wealthy nabobs of that metropolis.
CRA ER Til
SAN FRANCISCO, LIKE ROME, SITS PROUDLY UPON HER HILLS.*
from the best works to be obtained, and was thoroughly
familiar with the requisities of different soils in the mat-
ter of correctives, manures, and fertilizers. Being farmer-born
he appreciated the lectures at the agricultural college he had at-
tended, and during his practice of several years in Kansas and in
California he had the opportunity of testing many of the teach-
ings he had received and also of watching his own experiments.
He knew that for the best results from planting it was as neces-
sary that plants should have their proper plant food as that ani-
mals should have food that would digest. Also, that it was as
requisite that this food should have reached its correct stage of
fermentation to promote assimilation before being absorbed by
the rootlets of the various plant-life.
Being somewhat of an artist and designer, he had drawn many
plans of flower gardens adapted to the embellishment of homes of
lovers of beauty in that line. Some of the colored designs which
his portfolio contained were models of carpet gardening, laby-
rinthine walks bordered with vari-colored plants, which enclosed
beds of brilliant flowers. Many happy hours he and his wife
spent in designing parterres of beautiful flowers, grasses, border
plants, etc. This was done as much for pastime as to have on
hand a collection of designs or patterns as guides in selecting the
most appropriate for different situations. One of his ambitions
was to obtain the supervisorship of some large grounds where,
with a free hand, he might make a showing of what esthetic cul-
66 K ANSAS” had made a study of the science of agriculture
* She ‘‘sat,’’ for a large part of the city of San Francisco, including
practically all of the business portion, was destroyed by earthquake and
fire following it on the 18th and 19th of April, 1906. A monetary loss
of $400,000,000 was caused; and many human lives were lost, the exact
number will never be known. Phenix-like the city has risen from its
ashes, and now, 1910, in about four and one-half years after its destrue-
tion, is better built than the old city was.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 9
ture could effect. He did not overlook the immense market
which the love of the masses for cut flowers and potted plants af-
forded, but kept that in the background, as it were, as a matter
of secondary consideration.
Arrived in San Francisco he proceeded to endeavor to enlist
some of the wealthy property owners in a scheme to ornament
their homes, he to undertake the supervision of a number of such.
He recognized the natural possibilities of the city, on account of
its being built on many hills, for ornamental gardening. Al-
though the soil of the sand dunes of the whole peninsula on
which the city was built was poor, that was a matter which might
easily be corrected; and the lay of the land was much better for
scenic effect than would be that of a level country. After meet-
ing many of the property holders and showing them his plans he
found, and was surprised at it, that so few cared for the matter,
and all were satisfied with such slight improvements as their
wives might make. A few gave him encouragement, and thought
such a scheme of cooperating in maintaining a trained gardener
as somewhat in advance of the present system,—but there were
not enough to warrant his undertaking the work.
He abandoned the idea, and turned his attention to establishing
a garden, one of the New Jersey style of florists’ gardens, wherein
he could raise flowers and potted plants for sale. On looking
into this field, however, he found that it was pretty well worked
and the city fairly supplied. Real estate and rents were high
and he could not locate himself. Turning his attention to the
humble yet lucrative work of raising vegetables for the market,
he found this was very largely done by Italians on the outskirts
of the city as well as by farmers on the Sacramento and San
Joaquin rivers, great quantities coming in by steamers every
morning. Without much capital he knew he could not compete
in supplying the city markets, and he would be again burying his
wife in the country.
He then turned his attention to other means of providing for
his family, and in his peregrinations became quite familiar with
the geography of the city and its environments. He tramped
over Russ Hill, viewed the city from Telegraph Hill and Black
Point, and made the tour of the Presidio and Fort Point. No
observing person can survey San Francisco and its noble bay
and fine waterways without arriving at the conclusion that it will
be the theatre of an immense commercial future. Looking at it
10 ’ The Master Planter.
from an artistic standpoint, there is no part of the world that is
more beautiful. From Telegraph Hill, as the observer turns on
a pivot, the vista, on a clear day, is truly magnificent.
Apparently the atmosphere of central California is as pure as
in any region on the face of the globe, for the eye can discern
points at great distances. San Francisco has been endowed with
many advantages, and if man will only make use of them it will
assuredly be the center of commerce which will control the trade
of the countries which border on the Pacific. The great fresh-
water ways flowing towards it will force on her the wealth of the
immense agricultural provinces watered by them. The great num-
bers of men who were attracted to the State by the discovery of
gold, were largely composed of men from the rural walks of life.
These quickly discerned the great wealth the State had in her
agricultural lands, and soon abandoned the search for the auri-
ferous metals.
Many of the large Spanish grants were subdivided and the
cattle driven off, and the lands turned into orchards, vineyards
and farms. In early days most of the foodstuffs was brought
around the Horn, or from Chili, or the islands of the Pacific. In
a few years the Eastern immigrants had fgodstuffs to export, and
agriculture began to vie with mining for the first place.
Grand as was the outlook for the future city, our hero tried in
vain to place himself. In his travels or tramps along the water-
front he frequently saw vessels discharging cargoes of sugar and
molasses, and tropical fruits, from the Sandwich Islands, and
talked with the officers about the prospects there for a working
man. Although he received but little encouragement from them,
he concluded that a country which produced such large quantities
of sugar might be made to yield a living, at least, to a couple who
were willing to work.
He and his wife made as much of a study of the Islands as
was possible from the few descriptive works on Hawaii to be
found in the public libraries, and decided to go there and try their
fortunes. It was a leap in the dark, but they had ample means
to return if the country should not prove satisfactory.
CHAP ER IV
OFF FOR THE ISLANDS—SIGHT OF DIAMOND HEAD COMPENSATES
FOR AN UNCOMFORTABLE VOYAGE.
O save their little hoard they resolved to economize in every
way, and to that end engaged passage in the steerage on
a small bark which made regular trips to the port of Hono-
lulu. They had never traveled on the sea before, and looked for-
ward to the trip as to a picnic when one camps out for a season.
They laid in a little stock of provisions and comforts, and took
up their quarters on board the evening before the vessel was to
sail. Early in the morning the vessel was towed to sea, and after
the bar was crossed they began to realize the immensity of the
ocean. Their quarters were rude and uncomfortable; it was cold
and miserable, and, to add to the discomfort, all four were
wretchedly seasick. The great strong man seemed to be the most
affected, and could not help his family. Fortunately, a kindly
lady in the cabin, who was an islander, a daughter of a mission-
ary, and a good sailor, had noticed the children and devoted her-
self to their comfort.
For three days the sky was overcast, and alternate showers and
squalls added to the wretchedness of the voyage. Many a time,
during those three days, did the miserable couple wish they were
back on terra firma. Then came the genial weather and sun-
shine, together with the trade winds, and they began to feel better
and enjoy the trip, and help themselves. They began to really
enjoy the voyage, and sitting on deck they learned very much of
the islands from those who were returning residents. Not hav-
ing had the opportunity in San Francisco of meeting islanders,
their information was indeed very meager. From the mission-
ary lady they heard much of the hardships of the early mission,
and of the success in converting the natives to Christianity. Also
of the ravages caused to the aboriginal population by the intro-
duction of disease and rum by sailors. Much also of the char-
acter of the natives, and of their innate hospitable reception of
aliens from any land.
12 The Master Planter; or
From the stories told, a very good impression of the natives
was obtained. ‘“‘Kansas” became quite intimate with a man who
had passed several years on the islands, and who described the
cultivation of sugar and told of the opportunities for investments.
It appeared that only a large capital would warrant any one in
going into that industry, and from his remarks it appeared, also,
there was no other that a white man could make a success at.
When fifteen days out, the island of Maui was sighted, the cap-
tain saying that the mountain thereon, Haleakala, was ten thou-
sand feet high, and visible from a great distance. Sailing along
they passed the island of Molokai, and had a fine view of its
precipitous mountain range. Then the island of Oahu approached,
and the beautiful valleys thereon opened up one by one with en-
chanting beauty. Rounding Diamond Head, the town of Hono-
lulu, together with the forest of masts in its harbor, appeared.
The great forest of cocoa palms which fringed the shore, to-
gether with the wealth of foliage of lesser umbrageous trees,
created a pleasing impression of the tropical beauty of the place.
From the deck of the vessel the panorama presented was a most
charming one. The difference between the gloomy, forbidding
and sunburnt coast of California, which they had just left, and
the verdure-covered peaks of the Island of Oahu, was like the
awakening from a dismal nightmare. With an artistic and al-
most prophetic eye our hero could see a brilliant future for Hono-
lulu. Diamond Head, which they had just rounded, stood out in
bold relief, and no one asked why it had been called Diamond
Head, as that was the natural name for it, its clear-cut, precipitous
sides reminding one more of the facets of a cut diamond than of
anything else. Far ahead of the ship could be seen another
range of mountains similar in appearance to that at the rear of
the city. At the margin of the neck of land which connected the
two ranges lay a loch, called Pearl Harbor, upon whose smooth
waters the sun glistened. Many valleys, whose sides were cov-
ered with verdure of different shades, opened towards the sea,
giving promise of enchanting drives and points to lure the sight-
seer.
Although our hero and his family had forgotten the hardships
and misery of the first part of the trip, and were enjoying to the
full the balance of the voyage, they, with the cabin passengers,
were glad to get ashore.
“Kansas” was a brave man, and was not intimidated by what
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawait. 13
he had learned of the unlikelihood of succeeding on the islands.
Although the impression he obtained was that there was a great
distinction made between rich and poor, and that the prospects
for a poor man were not bright, he did not apply it to himself.
He had never felt poverty, and had always been able to make
provision for his wife and family. In Kansas and California,
they were not considered poor, the masses being of their own
class. He had been well educated in the public schools, had been
a year at an agricultural college and had taught school two win-
ters before he had met the young woman who had agreed to
take him for better or for worse, and they had gone west. Now
they were to live in a country where there was a marked dis-
tinction between those who had the possession of money, accident-
ally or otherwise, and those who had none. This they could not
realize. It did not disturb them very much, as they had within
themselves all that was necessary to make life happy, and they
merely sought the opportunity to make a living by their own ex-
ertions. Also, they were in a foreign country, which they soon
found out, as their baggage was thoroughly examined by customs
officers, and “Kansas” was compelled to pay two dollars for a
permit to land. There were no hotels nor hotel runners, and they
hired a push-cart to carry their effects to a lodging house in a
part of the city where rents were low.
Everything seemed strange to them, and in some respects the
city appeared like a frontier town. Half naked kanakas carrying
sticks over their shoulders, with bundles of dried grass or cala-
bashes filled with poi (the staple of life of the Hawaiian), shocked
the woman. Numbers of Chinese thronged the streets, and car-
ried on innumerable dirty looking restaurants and small shops.
The narrow, crooked and winding streets, lined with houses of all
descriptions, from those built of rough coral slabs, to frame struc-
tures of all imaginable styles of architecture, and with over-
hanging verandas, gave one an impression of a place which had
grown up, and not been laid out, as the majority of American
towns and cities have been. Many rude sailors thronged the
streets, forming the crews of the innumerable whaleships in the
harbor. Their actions and language, and the heedlessness with
which they rode through the city on horses, alarmed our new-
comers. The food at the restaurants was good, but they soon
found it inconvenient to take the children out three times a day
14 The Master Planter.
along the narrow, thronged and ill-kept sidewalks. Finally they
obtained lodgings at the Sailors’ Home, a fine building which
was kept by a delightful old American lady, who seemed like a
mother to all.
CEA TE Riv
HONOLULU AS IT WAS IN DAYS OF YORE—GRASS HOUSES AND MANY
THINGS THAT WOULD BE CURIOS NOW.
S they got opportunities to see more of the city, they found
A that there were many homes of refinement situated on the
main avenue leading up Nuuanu Valley. These were set
well back from the street, and were surrounded by a wealth of
tropical foliage, and gave the tourist an impression of home and
comfort. They climbed Punchbowl, a hill 500 feet high in the
rear of the city, from where they obtained a magnificent view of
the city, its harbor, and the whole surrounding country. The
spires of churches loomed up through the foliage which covered
everything.
The prospect was entrancing. Grass houses of the natives
looked like last year’s haystacks, but were by no means numer-
ous, they having been superseded largely with frame structures.
Cocoa palms here and there had prominence over the lower forms
of shrubbery, and bore the appearance of frayed-out umbrellas.
A glamour seemed to have possessed cur travelers, for they were
charmed with everything in view. They were reminded of the
saying of one of the passengers, “that any one who lives on the
islands for a time will assuredly come back.’ The balmy air, the
evenness of the temperature, the geniality of expression on the
faces of all the conglomerate inhabitants, and the pleasant sur-
roundings must be chargeable with this restful, homelike impres-
sion.
The harbor was small, but seemed adequate for the business
of the port. Business appeared to be brisk, and a spirit of con-
tentment possessed all with whom they came in contact. The
natives, especially the women, were decked out in the most brilliant
colors of silks and prints. Both men and women wore leis (wreaths)
of flowers or ferns around their hats, the latter being principally
home-made from cocoa or other palm leaves. It was quite com-
mon to see bare feet peeping from under silk gowns, probably
from the comfort of going barefooted. Carriages were not very
16 The Master Planter; or
numerous, although drays for carrying merchandise were quite
common. It was a frequent sight to see natives seated on push
carts, together with their household effects, being moved from
ene part of the city to another. Gangs of prisoners working on
the street, in parti-colored garments, under the charge of a turn-
key, were continually on the move. It was also the rule to hire
out prisoners to private individuals, as gardeners or chore-men.
Amongst the prisoners a few white men were seen, but they were
principally natives or Chinese. Evidently, there was no peni-
tentiary where prisoners could be kept employed within walls at
the manufacture of merchantable wares, as in cities on the main-
land. Uniformed native police and soldiers appeared to be quite
numerous.
The meat and fish markets seemed to be well stocked and
well patronized. It was quite a treat to visit the fish market,
where both were sold, and watch the manner of selling and de-
livery of the wares. The market was always interesting, from
the great variety of curious and beautifully colored fishes, varie-
ties which were strange to the markets on the mainland. To note
how quickly a native salesman would wrap up fish in a couple
of leaves, which afforded a handle for carrying the package and
at the same time a vehicle, dish, or mode for cooking the same,
when the buyer had arrived at home.
On visiting the houses of natives, who always welcomed the
stranger, our travelers were surprised at the simplicity of the
domestic arrangements. To make a fire in a small hole sur-
rounded with stones and place a saucepan over it, as the miners
did, was the only way (excepting the cooking of taro) what cook-
ing they did was performed. Many kinds of fish were eaten
raw, but this did not have the repulsive features about it that
one wouid expect. When properly cleaned and cut up in lumps
there was no blood and gurry, and on trying it they found that
it was as delicious as raw oysters, and equally digestible.
It was quite common to see natives carrying coffee or tea-pots
from Chinese restaurants, somewhat the way some of our people
“rush the growler” in the East. Saddle horses appeared to be
very numerous, and men and women rode equally astride. It
did not appear to be unbecoming for women to ride astride, as
they had invented a garment for the purpose. It was wrapped
around the hips and extended down the inner side of the leg,
and was held in place by the great toe in the stirrup. Generally
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 7)
they were made of the most brilliant colors to be had, and a caval-
cade of native women galloping through the streets made a very
pretty sight.
For a tropical country the markets afforded very little variety
of fruits. Oranges, breadfruit, ohias (mountain apples),
bananas, and a few guavas, were all that was noticeable, whereas
in the West Indies a hundred kinds of fruit would be offered.
There appeared to be considerable drunkenness on the streets,
and even amongst the native men and women, although it was a
serious misdemeanor to furnish liquor to them. The police ap-
peared to be quite active, and on the slightest manifestation of
inebriety in a sailor, he would be taken to the station house,
from whence he did not depart until he contributed his share
towards the support of the government.
A small foundry and machine shop seemed to be very busy
turning out sugar machinery, but it was said that most of that
used on the islands was imported.* There was a very large fleet
of small schooners which plied between the islands, and one
steamer, although for speed the schooners were preferable. Great
quantities of produce came in regularly, and the wharves pre-
sented a busy sight where these small craft were discharging their
cargoes of oranges, rice, corn, pigs and cattle. The natives were
great travelers, and the decks of these small vessels appeared to
be as full of passengers as it was possible.
Large quantities of lumber were being piled up along the
wharves, and the change from grass houses to frame buildings
had set in all over the islands. There appeared to be no attempt
to export tropical fruits, nor in fact anything but sugar, rice, and
whalebone and oil. The discovery of rock oil, or petroleum, and
*This is one of many industries in which Hawaii has forged ahead
wonderfully, ever abreast of the world’s progress. The Honolulu Iron
Works is not only now manufacturing practically all the sugar mill
machinery used in the phenomenally-enlarged sugar industry of the
group, but is building and erecting mills in Mexico and the Far East
in competition, with the world. At this time (1910) the biggest sugar
mill in the world is being built at the Honolulu Iron Works for the
Philippines and will be in operation in 1911; by biggest is meant the
largest rollers, not the capacity of the mill. A mill in Cuba is said to
have the greatest output capacity, with our own Puunene, on Maui,
second. Nearly two dozen of the Hawaiian mills are to the credit of
this wide-awake concern. An order is now in hand, from Japanese
sources, for the sixth big mill for Formosa.
18 The Master Planter.
the numerous uses it could be applied to in illuminating and for
machinery, was said to have reduced the price of whale oil, and
that industry would cease. The merchants talked over the mat-
ter, and it did not appear as if there was anything which could
take its place.
The rock-bound coast of most of the islands, and the lack of
harbors, Honolulu being the only true harbor in the archipelago,
gave the impression that the cultivation of sugar must be limited.
Coffee, cotton and tobacco had been tried, but for various reasons
success in any of them was not prognosticated. The district of
Kona, on Hawaii, produced a magnificent, aromatic coffee, but
it was said that the scarcity of hands for picking it and the low
prices of Central American and Brazilian coffee, with which it
would have to contend in the market, would prevent the industry
from ever assuming large proportions.
“Kansas” tramped the streets and made numerous acquaint-
ances, and his Yankee style of making inquiries into every pos-
sible matter was remarked. He studied the maps of the different
islands, and was given all possible assistance in the survey office.
From the surveyors, who had tramped over the different locali-
ties, he learned very much.
CHAP PE Raval
“KANSAS” IS BUSY INVESTIGATING THE BUSINESS POSSIBILITIES—
LIVELY TIMES IN THE DAYS OF THE WHALER MAN.
HE principal food of the natives was taro (arum esculen-
tum), and it was also used in every home. He studied
the cultivation of it, and found that it was raised in
patches which were diked about with earth or stone embank-
ments at great expense. It was raised in water, that is, after the
patches were dried up and dug up and the tops of the plant set
in mud the water was turned on and it was kept flooded until
nearly ripe, probably 12 or 14 months, and then pulled and
the tops cut off for future planting, and the roots sold in sacks
or made into poi, a paste made by washing, cooking and mash-
ing the taro and mixing with water. It was a very wholesome
food, and our travelers liked taro in any form, either as plain
boiled, baked, made into cakes, or as poi. “Kansas” soon saw
that he could not compete with the natives in the cultivation of
taro, as it required weeding and working as well as any other
vegetable, and this could only be done by wading in mud, the
best way of doing which was the native style, i. e., naked, with a
breech clout on.
He saw the love of all classes for flowers and knew that he
could make a success of that business, although the natives were
very good natural gardeners, and in their little patches raised
great quantities. He tramped up Nuuanu Valley, where a small
sugar plantation was being carried on. In conversation with
the owner he was proffered work, but at a very small salary.
When he told that he had a wife and two children to support, the
planter said they had no accommodations for a white woman on
the place, and “Kansas” could not live on the pay.
He went over the Pali, the great precipice which was said to
be the scene of Kamehameha First’s last battle in subjugating
the islands, and visited two sugar estates on the Koolau side.
At both places he was nicely received, and at either of them he
could have obtained work, but neither of them had accommoda-
20 The Master Planter; or
tions for a white woman, and the pay offered was very small.
Still, the more he saw of sugar the more he was interested in_its
culture, and was sure that he could make a success of it if he
could only catch on. He and his wife talked over all matters
that he learned in his peregrinations, and she could not under-
stand why there should be much objection to a man who had a
family.
They felt that they had made a grievous mistake in coming to
the islands, but she saw his inclination to the sugar industry,
and they determined that he should see more of the country be-
fore deciding to return to California. He had taken note of the
Chinese gardens, which as a rule consisted of several taro patches,
dried up and cultivated by hand, as there was no room for a
plow. They paid very high rentals for these lands, especially
those near to the city limits, and they packed their produce from
door to door, in baskets carried on long sticks or poles across
the shoulders. He always had admired the indefatigable
industry of the Chinese, but never thought to be brought into
competition with it. They worked very hard, and even in the
night might be seen watering their little vegetable gardens.
There was no room for him in the gardening industry, which he
so well understood. He saw the love of flowers and greenery
displayed in the homes of the foreign population, and knew that
he could make money at potting plants and ferns,—but the sugar
cultivation was what he wished to get into.
He and his wife endeavored to see all they could of Honolulu,
but there were not many public conveyances. Occasionally he
induced an old skipper to take his wife out in a rambling old
chaise, which looked as if it had come out in the ark, and that
Noah, himself, just over a drunken spell, was driving it. It was
a good deal better than staying at home, as walking in the
tropics, to one not used to it, is very trying. Saddle horses were
very numerous, and he induced his wife to learn to use the saddle.
The old lady at the Home gladly took charge of the children
at times, and they were enabled to get about and see somewhat
of the surroundings of the city. They climbed to the top of
Punchbowl, from where they obtained a magnificent view of the
whole adjacent country. Far to the west a charming vista pre-
sented. An immense field of emerald, at certain parts of which
the sea was enclosed, forming lagoons, appeared to afford agri-
cultural possibilities. This great slope was well watered by
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 21
numerous streams from the range of mountains which was the
backbone of the island of Oahu.
On riding over these lands he found they were only cultivated
in the valleys or near the margin of the lagoons, and was told
that the balance of the land was very poor soil and was very
shallow. The taro, sweet potatoes and bananas which throve so
luxuriously in that region, were brought up to the city in boats.
The roads were merely horse-trails, and, except one, barely
wide enough for running gear. He did not believe that lands
which produced so heavy a crop of weeds was poor soil, and
judged that it was the system of ownership which prevented
them from being cultivated. If he had seen the land at another
season when all would be burnt up for lack of water, he might
not have come to the same conclusion. The verdant appearance
was caused by the dense growth of the indigofera aml
plant which had been brought from India with the expectation
of cultivating and making indigo. The discovery of the art of
making indivo from chemicals had destroyed that hope. He
tested the soil and found in many places it was but 12 to 18
inches in depth, covering a strata of coral. Evidently it had been
upheaved from the sea and was slowly being covered with
alluvion.
They galloped across the plains to Waikiki and watched the
natives disporting in the sea. To sit under a hau tree and watch
the king and his people riding the surf on boards or in canoes
was one of the treats. Surely, of all aquatic sports, this must be
the one which afforded the greatest amusement. The dexterity
with which they handled their surf-boards, and fearlessness with
which they rode waves that threatened certain destruction, was
a most fascinating sight to a stranger.
Either the novelty of tropical life or the beauty of all the sur-
roundings, had a charm for “Kansas” and his wife which made
them feel that they would strive to make a home on the islands.
The stores where whaling captains obtained their supplies were
naturally resorts for these hardy men, and here they delighted
to congregate and hear and tell stories of their experiences in
the Arctic. It is said that here they have killed more and greater
whales than ever were taken, and that the described perils were
as vividly depicted as an appreciative audience could wish. To
visit from ship to ship was called “gamming,”’ and in calm
weather, when no whales were in sight, it was a very common
Zz The Master Planter; or
occurrence for “the old man” to call away a boat and pull to
one of the vessels in the neighborhood for the sake of passing
an hour or two in exchanging gossip or to test the neighbor’s
cuisine. A lot of these captains delighted to renew their ac-
quaintance in Honolulu, and would sit around by the hour
“swapping yarns.’ The chairs they occupied bore the marks of the
knives of the “old skippers” who, unconsciously, in their interest
in the recitals, whittled away at the arms or wooden seats. One
storekeeper, to protect his furniture, drove tacks in every possible
spot, but the next season the skippers industriously proceeded to
dig out the tacks with their valuable pocket knives.
Absentmindedness appeared to be a feature with some of these
whaler men. A story is told of one of them who came in coat-
less, and, having purchased a coat and paid for it, he joined the
circle of yarn spinners. Presently he threw off the garment in
his excitement of telling a good one. Then he remembered that
he came in to buy a coat, and proceeded to fit himself out again.
In the thrilling excitement of listening to some startling story,
the coat was discarded and he became wrapped up in the narra-
tive. Again he remembered the object of his visit to the store,
and he purchased another coat. This was repeated three times
during the evening. When closing time came he was handed
back the amount he had over-paid. It went to show that sailors
and their money are soon parted. Some of them did not, how-
ever, leave their business shrewdness on the other side of Cape
Horn, where they were said to have left their consciences, and
instances are told of storekeepers being induced to put in a bill
for fifty sacks of potatoes, against the ship, whereas in fact a
gold watch was the merchandise which was delivered.
A glimpse into “Liberty Hall” or “the National’ saloons
would show how the sailor made his hard earned money fly, and
give the reader somewhat of an idea of the effect of rum and
white man’s influence on the native race. The latter was a two-
storied structure with a large saloon on the ground floor, while
the second story had two bars in constant occupation during the
whale season. Music and dancing enticed the sailors, and numer-
ous native women sat around ready to be partners, either for
round or square dances. The latter were most in vogue, as more
of the awkward sailors could take part in them than in waltzes
or polkas. The caller controlled the dance, and at the end of the
fifth figure would call out, “March your partner to the bar,” and
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawai. Za
men and women would find themselves lined up to the bar as
many as a hundred at a time. Drinks were twenty-five cents
each, and when Jack threw down his dollar or a twenty or even
a fifty dollar “slug” in payment for his and partner’s gin, there
would be no change back.
Some told ‘““Kansas” at the Home that they repented, when at
sea, of having squandered their hard-earned money, even saying
that with comrades in the fo’c’s’le they had gone down on their
knees and solemnly vowed to God never to touch liquor again,
and to save their money for their families at home who were de-
pendent on them. They were so improvident as to even part with
their spare clothing, and go to sea without a sufficiency to shield
themselves from the miseries of the Arctic cold. Here they
would be compelled to apply to the “slop chest,” and were again
robbed, as the ‘“‘shoddy” dealt out to them was not worth one-
fourth the amount charged up for it against their share of the
season’s catch.
CHAR TE RuUV il
HONOLULU AND THE CHURCHES OF THE OLD DAYS—OUR HERO
AGAIN AT SEA, BUT ALONE.
HEY visited the native churches, as well as the foreign, and
remarked that the populace was at least a church-going
one. The large native churches were filled to repletion,
and they felt repaid by their observations of the congregations.
The dress of both men and women was unique, to say the least.
Some of the women were dressed in silks, their hats were of the
latest style and their colored kid gloves were quite conspicuous.
Others were dressed in gaudy colored calicoes, and wore their
native hats with wreaths of ferns or flowers. The men appeared
to love to display silk hats, broadcloth clothes, and all felt that it
was necessary to wear shoes that could squeak, probably to show
their newness. However, whatever their peculiarities of dress
were, it was apparent that they were devout worshippers, as was
attested by the volume of sound when a hymn was given out.
Evidently the natives are natural musicians, as the singing was
excellent, all parts in the melodies being well sustained. The
language seems to be well adapted to song, as much so as the
Italian. The preacher, a white man, was very much in earnest,
and the congregation appeared to be much interested.
Our travelers could not understand any part of the service,
except the tunes, which were exceedingly familiar, such as “From
Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” “Rock of Ages,” etc., to which the
missionaries had adapted Hawaiian words. A matter which
caught their attention was the continual wheezing and coughing
all over the vast congregation, and which must have been more
or less distracting to the worshippers. Evidently it was the sign
of the pulmonary diseases which have decimated the population
of the islands, the change from nudity to wearing clothes
weakening the cuticle and making the party susceptible to colds
and influenza, formerly so freely repelled by a skin inured to sun
and rain.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 25
There were two foreign churches in the city, one a very large
one on Fort street, where the most of the fashionable people at-
tended. The pastor in charge was a very eloquent speaker, and
was worthy of the large salary it was said he received. The choir
was well trained and was not, as in the East, composed of paid
singers. Of two of the sopranos one has since made a national
reputation as an opera singer.
Our travelers felt more at home in a little church in the rear
of the Sailors’ Home, called the Seaman’s Bethel. The earnest
old preacher seemed like a father to his congregation, and was
interested in the personal welfare of each member. He often
talked with “Kansas” and his wife, and gave them great encour-
agement of ultimate success on the islands. In both churches,
however, they were taken by the hand by members and made
welcome to the city, and asked to call at the different homes.
They needed more than the “glad hand” just then, and it was
all depending on his exertions. For his wife’s sake he was ex-
tremely anxious to live in Honolulu, and to that end sought em-
ployment of any nature. Had he a trade or profession he could
have done very well, as wages to mechanics were good and em-
ployment was easy to be obtained. As an ordinary laborer he
could not earn sufficient to keep them.
Much as they admired the churches, Sunday schools and so-
ciety of the city, and strong as was their desire to make a home
in Honolulu, all his attempts to do so met with no success, and
they determined that he should visit some of the other islands.
This was their first separation, and they felt very sad over it,
and determined it should be but a short one. “Man proposes
and God disposes,” is an old saying, and in this instance was a
true one. He decided to go first to Lahaina, on Maui, and after
seeing that island go to Hawaii. Traveling on inter-island ves-
sels 1s quite expensive, and he asked the captain of a little
schooner if he might take a deck passage. The captain said that
“white men did not travel that way, but if he was hard up he
would give him a passage.” He denied being so poor as to be
unable to pay his passage and was finally permitted to pay two
dollars for a “deck passage” to Lahaina, the captain telling him
that he would have to provide his own food and blankets, and
that they frequently made the trip in a night, but were sometimes
two or three days. Taking his roll of blankets and a package of
lunch, he bade his wife and little ones a sad farewell.
26 The Master Planter.
Again he was at sea, but this time on a little bobbing schooner,
whose action was so different from that of the noble bark on
which they had arrived that he soon succumbed to the mal de
mer. Lying on deck with the spray dashing over him, and the
wind blowing down onto him from the foresail, surrounded by
kanakas, wahines and sea-sick Chinamen, and feeling so wretched,
he thought he had reached the lowest round of the ladder. Now
and then the schooner would ship a sea, often caused by the
wheelman to make the deck passengers squeal; and the com-
bination of pigs, sour smelling poi, calabashes, traveling tins,
wet children crying, and sick Chinamen was almost more than
human nature could bear. Then when the breeze died out the
schooner would roll in the trough of the sea, and the sails would
slat about, exposing the passengers to the blazing tropical sun.
Our hero paid very little attention to the view of Molokai or
Lanai as the schooner either drifted up the channel or wallowed
in the trough of the sea, at times in close proximity to either of
these islands. Why a man should go to sea at all, when the
United States was still “large enough to give us all a farm,” he
could not comprehend; and he there decided that he would go
back to that fair land as soon as Providence would let him.
The resolutions of a sea-sick man are probably based on the
action of the changing positions of the molecules which compose
the brain, and are as permanent as the beautiful pictures seen in
the ordinary kaleidoscope. Oh, the misery of those two nights
up the channel to Lahaina! it burned an impression on his soul
never to be effaced. Afterwards he felt grateful that he had been
so horribly sick, as his sense of wretchedness was thereby
blunted. On the second morning the schooner came to her an-
chorage at Lahaina, and innumerable clamorous boat boys
swarmed her decks, vieing with each other for the privilege of
carrying the passengers ashore.
CAE TE. RIV El
LAHAINA, THE FORMER CAPITAL OF THE KINGDOM—MORE DIS-
COURAGEMENTS FOR THE MAN FROM KANSAS.
ROM the anchorage, which is in the roadstead, Lahaina ap-
i peared to be embowered in trees, amongst which the bread-
fruit, cocoanut, kukui and mango maintained the suprem-
acy. Situated at the base of a serrated range of mountains,
which were clothed in verdure from the peaks to the sea, it pre-
sented the most charming aspect. Many grass huts and a few
frame houses lined the beach for a distance of more than four
miles, from which it appeared that the inhabitants preferred to
live near the shore. On going ashore, however, our hero was
surprised to find that the umbrageous foliage concealed the great-
er part of the town. Streets there were along which adobé build-
ings, in every stage of decay or dilapidation, ranged themselves.
The first impression the visitor gained was that when a build-
ing fell there it was a public improvement. Lahaina had been
the capital, and in its day boasted of the “halepiula,” or palace of
the king. Evidently, the foreigner had brought there, in earliest
days, the art of building houses from adobé, as practiced by the
Spaniards in California. These buildings, when kept in repair
and the scoving or surface of plaster maintained, present a hand-
some appearance, but when the thatched roof is allowed to fall
off or get out of repair, are very quickly destroyed by the fierce
tropical rains.
The coming of the schooner had apparently brought out all
the inhabitants of the town and the surrounding country, and our
hero was surprised to note the great number of horses and riders
dressed in the gayest of colors. He afterwards learned that
every man, woman and child owned a horse, pasturing it on any
one’s land. The natives appeared very friendly, none failing to
wish him a hearty “aloha.” He found lodgings in a house sur-
rounded with canefields, and after getting a bath and change of
clothing proceeded to find a restaurant. His first impressions of
Lahaina were extremely pleasant, and he hoped to be able to find
28 The Master Planter; or
employment there and to get his beloved family again with him,
never to part again. Chinese restaurants were numerous, but he
found an old Dutch baker who kept a coffee shop, and who had
the reputation of making the best bread on the islands. Perhaps
he did not do justice to that first meal? The baker thought he
was hungry.
On the way up to the sugar mill to seek employment, he did
not fail to notice the thriftiness of the cane on either side of the
road, and the innumerable stalks which sprang from one hill. It
was all under irrigation and grew in trenches where the water
was permitted to settle away. Arrived at the mill, he met one of ”
the owners, who talked freely with him of the news of the main-
land and of the war and the prospects. After asserting his capa-
bilities as a farmer, he made inquiry as to the possibilities of get-
ting employment. He was promptly answered that they had no
work for him, firstly because he did not understand the work, nor
the language, and could not therefore act as a luna or overseer,
and they would not let a white man work in the fields as a com-
mon laborer. Neither could they place him as a teamster or as a
laborer in the sugar house. They had natives for teamsters, and
Chinamen for dryers and packers, and the only white men on the
place were the overseers and mechanics. He told the planter that
he was a practical farmer, and could do any part of the agricul-
tural work on the plantation. That he was extremely anxious to
get work, as he had a wife and two children in Honolulu to sup-
port, and that he would be content with a very small salary until
such times as his services were appreciated. The planter in-
formed him that there were no accommodations on the place for a
white woman, and they could not employ him.
Crestfallen, he walked away down towards the beach, where he
chatted with an American storekeeper. On inquiry as to the con-
sumption of vegetables and from whence they came, he was as-
sured that they did not use much in that line, and that beef and
Lanai mutton and taro were the mainstay of Lahaina. Taro
grew prolifically in the concealed valleys back of the town, and
potatoes came from Kula on the other side of the island.
He seemed to be balked at every turn. He remarked that he
saw overseers riding round herding Chinese and natives, and he
reckoned he could do that kind of work, or handle the plow.
“Ah, my dear sir,” said the storekeeper, “you cannot talk the
language, and, moreover, there is not a plow on the plantation.”
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 29
Was it possible this great crop of cane was planted by hand
labor? Yes, the lands which aggregated this great plantation
were all trenched by shovel and mattock. The expense was enor-
mous, but he was informed that one planting was sufficient from
which to cut cane for five years, and there was some that had
not been replanted in sixteen years. The second and succeeding
crops were called rattoons, which, if well cared for and frequently
irrigated, produced almost as much as that from the first planting.
Our hero reckoned he would have the proper kind of plow at
work if he was the owner. He suggested that he could learn the
language and cane culture.
“No doubt of that,” said the merchant, “but you will find that
planters are not breaking in white men.”
Poor white men were looked at suspiciously, unless they were
mechanics. There certainly seemed no show for him. He wan-
dered around the plantation observing the manner in which the
cane was planted and studying the plant itself. Also he ascended
towards Lahainaluna, the college where native graduates
from the common schools were finished off. He noted the source
of the streams which irrigated the fields, and saw that Lahaina
was most aptly situated for an immense rich plantation. On call-
ing at the college he was pleasantly entertained by the principal,
and shown through the rooms, and the nature of the studies of
the young men. The teaching was in native, and the scholars
appeared very intelligent. They did their own planting of taro
and sweet potatoes, and their friends furnished them some fish
and meats, and altogether the tuition and living cost very little.
Many of the graduates obtained employment as surveyors, and
some went into law or the pulpit, the majority, however, drifting
back to their ordinary mode of life.
Lahaina appeared to have every advantage for sugar culture,
not only from its rich soil, abundance of water and proximity to
the landing, but from the natural lay of the land, the cane getting
the benefit of the sun until the last minute of the day. The heat at
midday was something remarkable, but the mornings and even-
ings were delightful. In the evening he met an old missionary,
one of the class he had read so much of in his earlier days. He
was invited to call and met the missionary’s wife and daughter.
They chatted familiarly with him, heard of his wife and little
ones with sympathetic ears, and could not realize the barrier
which stood between him and an opportunity to earn a liveli-
30 The Master Planter; or
hood. The house was one of those old adobe or stone buildings,
carefully whitewashed, and having green blinds. Standing back
from the street it had the appearance of comfort and home.
In after years, in riding to Lahaina on jury duty or court busi-
ness, it seemed to loom up as a place where true rest from the
heat of the road or business cares was certain. They showed him
many curios from the northern seas, presented by their whaling
friends, and also many rare shells and curios from the south,
which had been sent by brother missionaries. They admitted
that he was the stamp of a man the country was in need of, and
urged him to keep up his courage and he would get an opportun-
ity to show his worth. The old missionary remarked “That Ha-
Waii was a country where a man found his level sooner than in
any other.”
How we do love sympathy? It appeared that the few words
of sympathy extended to him by these old people had done him
more good than anything that had happened since his arrival at
Honolulu. They invited him to breakfast, but he declined on
the ground that he wished to make an early start for the other
side of the island. They said their boys were engaged as over-
seers on some of the plantations over there, but knew they could
be of no assistance, as they were not sure of their own tenure of
office, in that it had been decided to reduce the number of em-
ployees.
“yb a aes ae
Sate eS
= ea
Var wes
AA
a he
-_
a
ents
7 oo
ae
mee tt
Bp ies
et On ar, ws
ee
erie
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 35
numerous inhabitants have been superseded by Asiatics and
whites.
Fine stone churches, each with a handful of members, stand as
monuments to the labor of the early missionaries in each village.
This also is the history of every district on the islands. Imported
cattle have denuded the mountains of verdure as far up as they
could climb, and reduced the water supply by destroying the rain
and cloud-catching evergreens.
Nature will soon recover, however, if the cause is removed. It
is said that in old times great numbers of cocoanut palms grew
along the sea coast, below this district, not one of which is seen
today. All had been destroyed in the frequent internecine wars,
and the sugar planter finds the trunks embedded deep in the
alluvion carried down by the furious torrents which take place
almost annually. The harbor of the district, Kahului, is a very
beautiful one, and yet has not the necessary protection from the
sea to make it a safe one at all seasons. The fishing rights of
the chiefs of the different lands, bordering on the sea, were most
strictly enforced, and the natives being expert fishermen regularly
fed the fish to encourage them in coming. From the sea the range
of mountains with the extensively cultivated lands in the fore-
ground, makes one of the prettiest pictures of island scenery.
CHAPTER K
AT WAILUKU “KANSAS” IS ADVISED TO “KEEP ON TRYING’ IN
SPITE OF THE DISHEARTENING OUTLOOK.
RRIVING at Wailuku, and securing good lodgings and get-
ting refreshed, our hero strolled down to the sugar mill.
The manager was a very pleasant man, invited him in
and showed him the whole working of the establishment—
the grinding, liming to correct acidity, boiling in open train,
distributing into coolers for crystallization, and packing in kegs
for the market. Here all seemed to go like clockwork. The mill
was on a side hill, and half of the cane of the plantation had to
be carted across the valley and up the hill. Once up, the whole
process was down, down to the very cooper shop where the keg-
ging was done.
“Did it pay to haul; would it not be better to have the mil]
lower down?” queried our hero.
“Yes,” the manager said, “but the mill was here, and we can-
not make up our minds to make the change.”
This man appreciated the man from Kansas, and invited him to
dinner and to spend the evening. He is a bachelor, and will be
glad of company. Then comes the after-dinner chat on the ve-
randa. The Kansas man finds it takes longer to bring cane to
maturity in Wailuku than in Lahaina, as they preferred the native
red cane which was slower in growth than the small yellow cane
used there.
“Would it not pay to try the Lahaina cane?” asked “Kansas.”
“No,” said the manager, “we are perhaps prejudiced against it;
any way we think the cane we have is the best adapted to this
section.” ;
The Lahaina cane is richer in saccharine matter, but it is so
small.
During the conversation the manager heard the whole story of
our hero’s adventure to the islands, and realized his trouble.
“You will have an up-hill fight, my friend,” said he. “This is
not a poor man’s country. Of course the poor are the most nu-
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. SY/
merous, but how are you going to get a start with the weight
around your neck which you have in the form of a wife and fam-
ily? They must live, and you cannot get any pay worth speaking
of short of two years hence.”
Then the Kansas man told him of the waste and lack of econ-
omy, and of intelligent culture he had observed, etc., etc. The
manager replied, “What you say is true, and we have not got
down to Eastern economy and methods yet; but the profits are so
large that we can afford to overlook those little things.”
“Some day you will not overlook anything,” said “Kansas”;
“all will be needed in competition.” Then he asked if the man-
ager could give him employment.
“No,” said he, “although I believe you are competent and will
eventually succeed. I have run over the whole field and do not
see where I could place you. There is nothing but the most de-
meaning work I could set you at, and I would not do that.”
“What yould you advise?” said “Kansas.”
“Keep on trying. Go to Waihee and see their plant. They
may be able to place you, but I understand they have a whole
lot of missionary boys there and have orders to cut down their
force. Anyhow, I should keep on trying.”
It looked very blue for this practical man, that he could not
get an opportunity to show his worth.
CHAPTER VA!
THE MISSIONARIES HAD TROUBLE, TOO—OUR HERO HAS WORK AT
LAST, BUT AS “SHIPPED MAN.”
HE next morning our hero started for Waihee, a distance of
three or four miles. Walking through the fields, he took
note of the careful manner in which the cultivation was
done, the plow being used everywhere, and the cane laid out in
rows in most systematic manner, so that while getting the full
benefit of the irrigation it also was open to trade winds so far
as possible. He was overtaken by a man riding a mule, who
accosted him in a friendly manner and conversed with him in re-
gard to his impressions of the country and especially of the fields.
“Kansas” replied that what he saw came nearer to his idea of a
proper method of cultivation than on any other plantation.
“T am glad to hear you say so,” said the rider; “I am the man-
ager of Waihee plantation, but one of the missionaries of La-
haina laid out the plowing and planting, and is overseeing the
cultivation.”
The rider asked him if he was interested in sugar. He replied
that he was deeply interested; and then as they went along told
him the story of his great desire to learn the business, and of his
capabilities in the farming line. The manager said, “You are the
kind of man we want, and we would like very much to have you
and your family settled with us and form part of the small society
at Waihee; but, unfortunately, I am not able to give you employ-
ment, as I have orders to cut down my list of employees, and must
even part with my brother-in-law.”
He invited him into the mill and showed him through the
whole works. It was truly the best mill and plantation on the
islands. Everything was on a large scale. It had the most land,
the most water, the best management, and in many ways was
the best property our hero had seen on the islands. He was in-
vited to dinner, and met the manager’s nice family, and talked
over his own prospects. The manager advised him to persevere
and he would assuredly catch on somewhere.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 39
“The sugar industry is in its infancy,” said he, “and not one-
third of the land on the islands adapted to its culture is under
cultivation. It is bound to be the coming industry and main-
tenance of the islands, and will take the place of whaling.”
As our hero parted with him and his wife and family, all of
them wished him god-speed and success, and invited him to come
again ; and they would be pleased to learn of his locating himself.
Sadly he walked back to Wailuku, in a very depressed state
of mind, and could not understand why he should be debarred
from working at his beloved vocation. Then he wrote fully to
his wife, explaining at length the attempts he had made, and
giving a terse description of the beautiful country, depicting the
horrors of the sea trip and his disappointment in obtaining work.
He spent several days in Wailuku, and tramped the valley and
looked over the surrounding country. He became acquainted
with two old missionaries, and from them learned very much of
the manners and customs and history of the Hawaiians, as well
of the history of the mission and their early trials. One of these
came out as a teacher and devoted his life to inculcating the
native youth, especially girls, in the rudiments of education, being
aided by his amiable wife in teaching the details of home keep-
ing, as sewing, washing, cooking, and all the little arts the knowl-
edge whereof has made our mothers the true helpmeets they
have been to their husbands. He had also introduced cotton and
endeavored to cultivate it and manufacture cloth.
The other missionary was a preacher, and conducted services in
the stone cburch in the village, as well as maintaining a theologi-
cal school from which native missionaries were graduated, several
of whom were sent on missions to the South Seas, while others
occupied pulpits in the islands,
Judging from their erudition and kindly natures, it is certain
that if these men had not felt called to give their lives to leading
the heathen of the Sandwich Islands to the light, they would have
risen to eminence amongst their fellowmen of the Eastern States.
In their homes he was made welcome, and when they became
acquainted with his abilities and character he was encouraged by
them to persevere in his endeavors to learn sugar culture, and the
requisite knowledge of the vernacular of the country. Towards
the latter he was given very valuable assistance and directions
as to how to learn the language the quickest.
Having more than a week to wait for an answer to his letter,
40 The Master Planter; or
he took every advantage of the time, in company with the aged
preacher, to study the language; and during that time he learned
very much of the hardships the early missionaries passed through.
The preacher had been one of the fourth reinforcement of the
Mission to the Hawaiian Islands, making with his wife nineteen
in all, on board a vessel which was six months in coming around
Cape Horn. After a passage which must have been one of misery
from the exceedingly cramped quarters on board, but which was
never referred to by him other than to speak of the beauties of
such lands as they saw, and of the extreme kindness of the cap-
tain and officers of the vessel, they landed at Honolulu, and were
almost immediately sent off to the Marquesas Islands as prime
missionaries.
His wife described the horror of life there, which fortunately
for them was limited to but eight months, as the English mission
had undertaken that field. The people were of the lowest type of
humanity, nude, rude, uncouth, cannibals, thieves, and were terri-
ble. On their return to Hawaii they were stationed on Kauai
for nine years, where he learned the language thoroughly and
labored assiduously amongst the people with great success. On
his health failing there he was sent to take charge of Lahainaluna ©
academy until 1849, when he was given a year’s rest, which he
occupied in surveying on the mountainous region of Maui and
aiding the natives in procuring titles to their allodial estates.
In 1856 he accepted a call to the church at Wailuku, where
our hero met him. He had supervision of several churches in
the district, and journeyed from one to the other on an ambulat-
ing old horse, on what was called ‘the missionary trot.” He was
beloved by all who met him, and the vilest white man or the
lowest native had a good word to say of him. His salary, or
stipend, was exceedingly limited; but they were enabled to rear
a family of nine children, all of whom received educations above
the average. The old gentleman was of Kentucky stock, and
fearless in denouncing any crookedness on the part of the king
or those in authority, and yet withal so liberal in his views that
no one could take offense.
At the golden wedding of the old couple, which is spoken of
in a later chapter, his oldest son, in an address to the parents,
said: “By example much more than by precept, you have taught
us to live for something higher than what the world counts suc-
cess, and to seek the favor of God more than the praise of men.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 41
We thank you that you have taught us to be rather than to
seem, to abhor all that is false and all that is sordid or base; and
to cultivate charity, forbearance, humility, and other old-fashioned
virtues,
“And thus to bear without abuse
The grand old name of gentleman,
Defamed by every charlatan
And soiled by all ignoble use.”
Truly a character whose name should be enrolled on the scroll
of fame, and one whom all men should hold up before them as
an ideal to which they should aspire to shape their lives.
The following week “Kansas” received an answer from his wife,
which electrified him. Quick-witted woman; loving helpmate;
she writes, “We have enough to live on for two years, even if you
should not do a stroke of work during that time. Get a job ona
plantation on any terms, and learn the language and the business.
I can earn a living, if necessity compels it, where I am.” She
always appreciated her husband and had taken him “for better
or for worse,” but so far had found him “for better.”
Now he determined the course he should pursue, and we will
see in the following chapters whether she was wise or otherwise.
A woman’s instinct is often better than a man’s deeply thought
out scheme.
The following morning our hero waited on the Wailuku
manager, and tendered him his services, in any capacity, and at
any figure he should offer. The latter flatly refused to employ
him, saying he could not endure seeing a white man of his stand-
ing at menial work, suitable only for coolies, and he had no other
to give him.
He was loth to leave Wailuku, where he could have the com-
panionship and instruction of the preacher in whose company he
delighted, and on whose every expression he hung as we have
seen students in our colleges following the lecture of a great pro-
fessor. He called on the preacher and told him of his resolution,
and was iatvited to call at the parsonage whenever he might come
to Wailukw.
Bidding his new friend and his charming wife farewell, our
hero tore hitnself away. With his roll of blankets on his back
“Kansas” trudged across the Wailuku sand dunes and plains and
ascended toward Makawao. Makawao is the name of a large
42 The Master Planter; or
part of the western slope of East Maui, and has the reputa-
tion of being one of the dreariest parts of the islands, being
windswept by a zephyr which from old times was called “Ka ua
ukiukiu o Makawao,” (the whistling rain of Makawao),
Notwithstanding its bleakness, Makawao was noted for the
richness of its soil, and its concomitant good crops, as well as
the healthfulness of its inhabitants. It was a weary, hot walk,
but our hero now had much to occupy his thoughts, and as he
toiled through the red dust and heat he dwelt with delight on
the instructive conversations he had enjoyed with the preacher.
Resolutions and plans for the future were formulated, the suc-
cess of which would depend upon circumstances. Towards noon
he came to a plantation and sought out the owner, amongst the
intricacies of the mill, to whom he applied for work of any kind.
Many of his appearance had tramped the road before, and the
planter had good cause to look on them suspiciously. After
scanning his appearance and questioning him somewhat as to his
wish to do land-work, for all loose white men were presumed to
be runaway sailors, he was told that he could have work, “but,”
said the planter, “no one works here who is not shipped, and if
you are willing to ship your job is ready for you.”
He would not take him unless he signed a contract to work a
definite time at so much per month, and to do any kind of work
he was set at, either in the day or night. “Kansas” now found
that he had obtained what he had so long sought, viz: the oppor-
tunity to learn the business of sugar planting, and all that implied,
and determined to accept the terms, no matter what they were.
The terms offered were “eight dollars per month and found, ten
hours’ work per diem, to work by day or night as directed,
twenty-four dollars in advance, and to engage for one year.”
The contract was signed in duplicate and acknowledged, and
“Kansas” was bound to work or be imprisoned.
He was shown a room, about 10 by 12, in a cottage having
two such rooms and a veranda in common. A bed, table, chair
and wash-stand completed the furniture. The cottage faced
towards West Maui, and from the veranda one of the most
glorious pictures of ever-changing scenery presented itself. He
soon freed himself from the superfluous real estate collected on
the long tramp, and after his ablution and a little rest felt that
he was going to like his new home. Naturally it appeared bar-
ren and cheerless, but he knew he could soon surround himself
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 43
with the few necessary comforts, and felt grateful for his suc-
cess.
At dinner time he went in with the mechanics, and had a good,
hearty meal, and was told that he was not expected to go to work
until the morning, He passed the afternoon in walking about
the premises, and taking note of the mill and surroundings. The
planter told his wife that “he had shipped another white man,
and that he would prove either a jewel or a devil.” She remarked
that his “runaway sailors had not proven to be of much value as
farm hands.”
The next morning “Kansas” was set at piling firewood, and
he put in a good day’s work. The climate was cool and bracing,
and he felt that he could do as much work per diem there as in
California or Kansas. The wood piling initiation lasted but a
few days, when he was set to work with a Portuguese mason
building stone walls, of which there were miles on this planta-
tion. Stone walls had a two-fold purpose, viz: to clear the land
of rock, which protruded in many places, or to make partitions
between fields wherein cattle were kept. The Portuguese was a
good workman, and the novice took his first lessons in masonry
willingly. The most of the walls were built by building suitable
rocks as a base and placing the upper stones on in such regular
manner that they would stand for all time. Often near the gates
mortar was used in building, to give the work a clean cut appear-
ance, so our hero learned stone-wall building, with and without
mortar, and this lesson was not lost on him.
After three weeks of this out-door work he was set to washing
the floors of the sugar-house. There was no other road, he had
to do as others did, and bravely and good naturedly, in his bare
feet, he plied the bucket and swab. It was a wretched mill,
poorly planned, and its machinery was in keeping with it. Novice
as he was, he could not help noticing that the bagasse, as the
trash or pulp which came through the rollers was called, was not
as dry as it should be, and a large percentage of the cane juice
was thus lost. This bagasse was thrown out and spread on the
ground surrounding the mill, and there by hand-turning dried
in the sun for use as fuel, in addition to the large quantities of
firewood hauled in from the forests. It was the endeavor to
produce as much No. I sugar as possible, and this caused the
molasses tank to fill rapidly. Molasses was of very little value
on account of the high freight and heavy duty at San Francisco.
4+ The Master Planter; or
The darkey sugar-boiler was a very careful man, and watched
the cane as it came to the mill, and tried to separate that which
was rat-eaten or borer-punctured, as those stalks were sour and
affected the whole mass with which they blended. Still they had
to go through, and it required a much larger weight of lime to
be used to correct the acidity ; and also, as a consequence, a cor-
respondingly less proportion of No. 1 sugar could be obtained.
He strained all the juice which came through the rollers, and
anything which went through his screen rose to the surface of
the first clarifier, where heat was applied. He seemed to be
quite secretive in regard to the quantity of lime to be applied, and
how he arrived at the proper weight to be used. He made good
sugar, if it was a poor mill, and that satisfied his employer. He
watched the men working at the train, as the row of open kettles
was called, and kept them continually sweeping the surface with
long paddles. He also pursued the firemen to keep up a regular
flame, a very difficult matter where they had to feed the furnace
continually with dried bagasse.
Paddling, bailing, and skimming seemed very hot work, as
the poorly-ventilated mill appeared to be filled with steam from
the boiling juice. The mill-men were all natives, who seemed
willing to turn their hands to anything. They chaffed the man
from Kansas and told him he could not stand their work. They
wore only pants made of denims, and the perspiration poured
down their breasts and backs. He “reckoned he could do any-
thing that a kanaka could do,” and this remark being quoted to
his employer, he found himself set at “sugar boiling,” as the
boys called it in derision. The sugar-boiler was the best paid
man on the plantation, but skimmers of boiling pots received but
seven or eight dollars per month. After a few days he found it
very agreeable work and far from being unhealthy. How his
wife cried as she read his weekly letter wherein he graphically
described his life on the plantation. He made no complaints of
the hardships he endured, on the contrary, described every thing
in a humorous vein; but she could read between the lines, and in
imagination followed him as he stood in the cloud of steam
skimming the train, or, barefooted, washing the gummy floors.
He had described the process of drying sugar, and she could
see him bare-footed and bare-armed tramping in the coolers
where the boiled juice had crystallized, digging it up and filling
it into tubs, which by the help of a native were carried to a cen-
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 45
trifugal and dumped in. This machine was about the size of a
large wash-tub, and had wire-gauze sides and turned on a spindle
at the rate of 1600 to 2000 revolutions per minute.
The centrifugals were enclosed in an iron frame to prevent
accident in event of explosion. Still accidents happened some-
times, from the carelessness of the men or from the slipperiness of
the floors, caused by the dripping of the syrup. Should a man
become over-balanced and fall into the centrifugal while it was
in motion, it would be almost certain death. Such an accident
happened to a poor kanaka who worked in company with our
hero.
Our man felt that death had come very near to him that time,
and imagined the consequences to his wife and little ones should
he have been the victim of such a catastrophe. When his wife
read of the accident she wrote him that he was her all, and
although she had the greatest confidence in him and his careful-
ness, she urged him for her sake to be careful. The local papers
made a great ado about the acccident, one editor insinuating that
the planter was not wholly guiltless of manslaughter in allowing
the floors to become so sloppy. It had a good eirect,/ mi @hat
thereafter the floors were kept in somewhat better condition.
The works were closed for the day and the floors and mill
cleaned up.
CHAR TERT
SOCIABILITY ON THE PLANTATION AND AT CHURCH—“AND HE
PROVES TO BE A JEWEL” —‘“KANSAS” MAKING HEADWAY.
HE planter’s wife, a most estimable lady, was accustomed to
visiting the makahiki houses, as the quarters was called,
to look after the comfort of the men and women. During
our hero’s first week she called on him, and told him that ser-
vices were held in the church in Makawao, and he was welcome
to the use of a horse to go there if he chose. He took her at
her word, and the following Sunday morning found him on the
road to church. It was an exceedingly interesting service to
him, although the sermon was more or less prosaic. Although
all were strangers to him, they had the same old hymns to which
he had been accustomed in his New England home, and he gladly
joined in the praise service. He had a rich baritone voice; and
the lady who played the little reed organ seemed to throw her
whole soul into it.
The small congregation appeared to pay the strictest attention
to the sermon, and was very devout. After the service there
seemed to he a great deal of handshaking and pleasant chit-chat
amongst the neighbors, but our hero was unnoticed. Not en-
tirely unnoticed, however, as several asked who he was; one
planter, who was a great lover ot music, remarked that he had a
very fine voice. His employer’s wife told that “it was another
deserting whaler whom her husband had shipped.”
When “Kansas” was untying his horse the preacher’s daughter
came up and offered her hand, saying, “You appear to be a
stranger in our community, but we are very glad to see you.”” He
offered to assist her to her horse, and she accepted the courtesy.
He opened the gate for her, and as she passed out touched his
hat to her, but she wheeled her horse about and remarked, “We
live a mile or so above here, and have an abundance of figs, if
you would like some.”” He mounted his horse and was soon be-
side her. Some of the iadies remarked, “That is just like Mary,
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 47
she speaks to every one.” However, he had a pleasant chat with
an intelligent lady, which he never forgot. He told her that he
was a contracted laborer on plantation. She said,
“We are glad that you have come to live in our neighborhood,”
and hoped he would come regularly to church. He promised her
that he would do so, as it made a pleasant break in the week, re-
marking that he considered the keeping of the Sabbath Day holy
(or wholly) was one of the great reasons why the Anglo-Saxon
race had taken such a lead in the world’s civilization.
Arrived at the parsonage he was told that he was welcome to all
the figs he wished—and they were truly delicious. Those large
purple figs, how he revelled in them; they certainly are the most
delicious of any on the islands. He was invited in to lunch, and
met the aged preacher and his amiable wife, and spent an hour in
conversation that to him was most instructive. The old gentle-
man had lived long on the islands, and he and his son and
daughter had felt it their duty to go home and take part in the
Sanitary Commission in the war. In his old age the parson had
thought it advisable to marry again, and in the East had found a
suitable mate to share his declining years. As fate would have
it, a second family, of two, sprung up to add to their pleasures.
However, we are not giving the history of each of the delightful
people he met.
On his way down the long, tedious road he communed with
himself, recailing the kindness of the mission family at Lahaina,
and that of the two at Wailuku, and of the close friendship which
had sprung up between himself and the preacher at the latter
place; all their hearty invitations to him to come again when pass-
ing. They had made no class distinction of him in their asso-
ciation. He felt that the thought he was harboring, that
the rich made an incisive distinction between themselves and the
poor laboring class, was erroneous. Was not the distinction
purely mythical on his part? Was it not engendered from over-
hearing on the wharves in San Francisco and in Honolulu such
remarks? He feared he himself was the originator of such a
fancied distinction. He knew of the extreme hospitability of
the planters between themselves, as he had noted the frequent
arrivals and departures of travellers at the plantation, and con-
cluded that they were somewhat right in being reserved in taking
to their firesides people of whose antecedents they knew nothing.
48 The Master Planter; or
For his part he would keep on in the even tenor of his way and
mind his own business.
That afternoon the planter’s wife visited the quarters, and
brought some religious papers for his use. She remarked, “I see
you are accustomed to going to church; I could tell by your
familiarity with the hymns.”
“Yes,’”’ he answered, “it makes the day pass quicker when one
goes to hear a sermon, and besides the incentive to spruce up
keeps a man from getting lazy.” She hoped he would go regu-
larly, and try to induce the mechanics to come. However, she
offered him the use of the library at the house, provided he did
not soil the books. Her kindness was so much greater than he
expected that he felt that he was misjudging the entire com-
munity. He thanked her for the use of the books, and assured
her he would be very careful of them. Here indeed was a treat.
What cared he for the men who looked down upon him on
account of his poverty, and being a “shipped man,” when he
could have the company of such men as Tyndall, Lyell, Huxley,
Darwin, Hugh Miller, and a host of other scientific writers, as
well as of atithors of works of fiction too numerous to mention?
It put new life into him to look forward to the pleasant nights
he would have in such company. The work was hard and the
hours long, but neither as hard or long as he had been accustomed
to in Kansas and California.
The planter had a very valuable library, selected with good
judgment by some one who knew what was necessary to keep
in the country. Of works on the steam engine, chemistry, botany,
political economy, history, geography, etc., etc., there was a
plethora, besides a number of periodicals. This privilege of using
the library was a gift which for once was appreciated to its fullest
extent. It was like a shower of rain on a thirsty soil. Never in
his life before could he comprehend so thoroughly what he found
in books. Day by day he worked away at the mill, doing all kinds
of work, from firing up, cleaning boiler tubes, cleaning the en-
gine, skimming, drying sugar, feeding the mill or turning trash
in the mill grounds in company with native men and women.
Sometimes he would be sent with the teams into the woods
towards the rainy side of the island, for firewood, during which
trips he learned much of the nature of the Hawaiian forests and
of that part of the island. He saw the effect of the pasturing
of cattle amongst the large trees. They destroyed the dense
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 49
tropical under-growth which preserved the moisture, and in a few
years large trees died. It could be but a matter of a few years
when the windward slopes of Haleakala would be denuded, and
this barrenness would affect the rainfall most injuriously to the
balance of the islands. Sometimes the gang of teamsters would
be placed under his charge, and he could not but notice with what
reluctancy they obeyed his orders. He was of the same contracted
class as themselves, even if he was a white man. Still he got the
work out of them, and with a little tact succeeded in getting back
early in the day with satisfactory loads.
Little by little his employer came to lean on him for service
of many kinds, and he was frequently on horse-back in all parts
of the estate, either with a gang of men or carrying orders for
changes to the different overseers. This gave him a great in-
sight into cane at different stages of growth, and into the extent
of the estate. He could see the absolute waste in the attempts
to cultivate cane on parts which had proven valueless, and also
he could discern the necessity for correctives and fertilizers to
certain soils. In so broad an estate there must naturally be a
variety of soils. To treat all alike, therefore, would be wasteful
and reprehensible. Still this was exactly what was going on.
Fortunate indeed was the planter, that prices of sugar ruled so
high and wages were so low. Nature had done so much in sup-
plying a rich soil, brilliant sunlight, and wind, and ample rain,
if man only had the requisite knowledge to take advantage of
those blessings. ‘Kansas’ noted the errors made or permitted,
and also made note of what he would have done if he was the
owner. Of course it would be out of place for him to offer sug-
gestions, but at times he did so when opportunity favored it, or
when his opinion was asked.
His employer told, at the table, that he had said “that ‘Kansas’
would either prove to be a jewel or a devil, and he proves to be a
jewel!” His wife remarked that “Kansas” was a great reader.
Her husband said, “I do not care how much he reads, as long as
he does my work well, and I must say he is the only white trash
I have ever met who does well and quickly everything that is
entrusted to his care. I sent him with the teams over into the
forest for wood and he was back here in half a day, whereas any
luna I ever sent before always managed to keep the boys and
cattle away until night. He can build a stone wall as good as
50 The Master Planter,
Portuguese Joe. Bob White says he knows as much of the prin-
ciples of the steam engine as he does, and I guess he is right
about that, although Bob is pretty handy when anything is broken
down. I have an idea that the fellow could boil sugar. Old John
has to go to Lahaina on the jury next week, and | have a notion
to give ‘Kansas’ a show to see what he can do in that line.”
CHAPTER: X11]
SOME INTERESTING DETAILS OF PLANTATION WORK—THE EN-
TRANCING HALEAKALA TRIP AND WHAT IT REVEALS.
HE following week, when John was off to Lahaina, our hero
was set at sugar boiling, although under the eye of the
planter, who was himself a master hand. He got along
famously, in fact he was surprised that there was so little in it.
As the juice came in from the rollers he skimmed or rather
strained it, for naturally much fungus which grows on all cane,
came over as well as detritus of other descriptions. Judging by
the taste and color of the juice, he could tell if acid prevailed in
injurious percentage. In such case lime was applied, but great
care was used in this respect, as the chemical action of the lime
on the saccharine matter prevented crystallization to some extent,
and also changed the nature of the product.
When heat was applied in the container in which the juice was
received it caused all extraneous matter to rise to the surface,
from whence it was skimmed, and the heated juice was again
strained before going into the first of the train of boiling pots.
Here it was boiled and evaporated to a certain consistency, deter-
mined by the saccharometer, and finally its proof density was
determined by hand-testing. It was then conveyed to large tanks,
which were probabiy 15 inches deep, and presented a large surface
to the atmosphere, where it was allowed to crystallize, and from
whence it was carried to the centrifugals.
Patience, watchfulness, and prompt action to arrest the graining
at the proper stage—that was all, excepting the prime necessity
of keeping all the kettles scrupulously clean and free from fer-
mentation. For two days the planter fumed and puffed about
the mill, which was as much as he could endure, and the third day
he was off to the port of Kahului, where his vessels lay at anchor.
He said, “Now ‘Kansas’, be careful and do not burn that sugar,
a strike is worth more than your year’s wages!” and he departed
leaving our hero in charge of the mill and all the men therein.
52 The Master Planter; or
There was no sugar burned there, and if the planter had been
a little more observing he would have noticed that the output was
a little larger for the next three days. He had taken note of old
John’s watching for rat-eaten or borer-punctured cane, or that
which had not reached its proper stage of ripeness, and set such
aside to be either destroyed or ground together. He soon learned
from the color of the juice, as well as the taste, the requisite
weight of lime to use as a corrective to the acidity. By the
saccharometer he discerned the difference in the density of the
juices from different fields, and formed an opinion of the causes
of the difference.
He was too good a farmer not to know that sugar is made in
the fields, and not by any chemical concoction in the mill. The
essentiality of preserving the crop at the mill and curtailing all
waste there was also very apparent. Where proper cultivation
was used, and the cane kept clean, that is, stripped regularly of
the older leaves within which the borer lays its eggs, and where
the puncturing is done by it, the yield of juice was not only greater
but its percentage of saccharine matter was much higher.
Our hero reveled in the delights of every part of sugar culti-
vation—the plowing, manuring, cultivating, stripping, and har-
vesting the crop. ‘The different stages of labor he went through,
instead of being laborious, irksome and unpleasant were done by
him with a cheerfulness and earnestness and watchfulness which
could produce none other than an appreciation by his employer,
and which would create a lasting impression on his part.
The bracing climate of Makawao, and his care of his person,
combined to ensure him good health, and he grew robust and
tough in all his muscles. J[*requent long and hard rides made
him a good horseman, and every opportunity was taken by him
to learn the geography of the island as far into the Koolau
country as the district of Hana. Situated at such an elevation
as he was, he had a continual view of West Maui and the beauti-
ful villages along that range of mountains, together with their
whitewashed mills and churches. It truly was one of the most
beautiful landscapes to be found in any part of the world, with
its variegated colors, the sea and the land, the light and shade,
and the view into the great valleys.
“Kansas” was not always confined to the plantation, and on
more than one occasion had been detailed to travel with a party
to Ulupalakua, a fine plantation owned by Capt. Makee, situated
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawai. 53
on the other shoulder of the great mountain. This was at an
elevation from 1800 to 2500 feet above sea level, and where they
were entirely dependent on the rainfall for their crop and for
living purposes. The owner was truly one of nature’s noblemen,
and delighted in entertaining his neighbors or strangers from all
parts of the world. He was very broad in his views and liberal
to a degree. He was always pleased to have an opportunity to
converse with men from whom he might possibly learn some-
thing, and was no respecter of men’s clothing.
The first time “Kansas” was there the Captain noticed with
what assiduity he cared for the horses, apparently being as solici-
tous for their welfare as for himself. He, although anxious that
the stock should have water, saw that they did not get much until
they were cool enough from their journey, that it would not in-
jure them. Then he took care that they had plenty of rich cane
tops, and fed them himself.
These little matters attracted the Captain’s attention, and he
took the first opportunity to get into conversation with our hero.
Like all the old sea-dogs, he was addicted to an early cup of
coffee, and seeking out ‘Kansas’ he invited him to partake of
coffee and johnny-cake with him.
“Kansas” had climbed to Prospect Hill, a knoll planted to
eucalyptus by the owner’s directions, and from where a good
view of Ulupalakua plantation and the vicinity was to be obtained.
He was asked as to his opinion of the site for a plantation, and
of the soil. The Captain was surprised to note the wealth of
knowledge that this hostler had in regard to agricultural matters
in general, and of the notice he had taken of the immediate sur-
roundings.
During the three days the party remained there the Captain,
without any apparent neglect of his guests, sought as much as
possible of ’Kansas’s” company. At other times, when he visited
there, he was made as welcome as if he was one of the nabobs of
the islands: and when Capt. Makee visited Makawao, he asked
for “Kansas” and showed him every courtesy, to the astonish-
ment of both his empioyer and the mechanics of the place. We
will see in later chapters how this acquaintance ripened into
friendship, and to the Captain’s financial benefit. “Kansas” was
frequently at Wailuku and Waihee, and renewed his acquaint-
ance with those whom he had learned to appreciate in those
villages.
54 The Master Planter; or
At one time he was sent with a party to Haleakala, the huge
mountain, 10,000 feet high, at the base of which his plantation
was situated. The party consisted of a U. S. Geological Com-
missioner, two islatiders and the guide, a missionary’s son, who
lived well up the mountain and was familiar with the intricacies
of the numerous trails which crossed and recrossed each other in
a thousand directions. They started early in the day and at even-
ing were at the summit.
From this point the view is grand, all the islands of the group
being in sight, the overhanging cloud effect entrancing the tourist
and chaining him to the spot. The horses were quickly tethered,
and a large lot of firewood collected from the scrubby growth of
brittle shrubs which covers the surrounding country. After the
sunlight had diminished the cold was intense, and the party
bivouacked in a cave at a little distance below the summit. Hav-
ing disposed of supper, the party grouped themselves about the
fire at the entrance to the cave, when “‘volcanoes and their causes”
were discussed.
The Commissioner had traveled over Yucatan, Mexico and the
southwestern States and Territories of the Union; had visited
and followed the wonderful Colorado river from its source to its
mouth in the Gulf of California, and had formed his theories of
subterranean forces.
He had visited Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Mauna Kea
on the island of Hawaii, and remarked on the peculiar absence of
many of the volcanic products found in other parts of the world.
He reasoned on the difference between aa and pahochoe, forma-
tions in the flows on Hawaii. Spoke of the rapidity with which
these corroded, disintegrated and dissolved, and of their forming
soil of the finest character in so short a period.
Our hero was entranced with the conversation, and although
it was his duty to “fire up” and care for the trembling horses, he
was loth to leave the circle of discerning educated gentlemen long
enough to properly attend to these. The Commissioner noted
with what interest he listened to the conversation, and, as the
fleas drove sleep from the eyes of the weary party, he continued
the conversation on through the night. It was “a feast of reason
and flow of soul” which needed no artificial stimulant to sustain.
At dawn they were on top of the mountain watching for the
coming of the glorious orb of day. This is one of the grandest
sights it is in the power of man to obtain. The face of the earth
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 55
was buried in cloud, excepting the pinnacle upon which the party
stood. Presently the bright rays of the rising sun pierced the
eastern horizon sufficiently to lighten up the whole upper surface
of the downy strata which covered mother earth, and then the
brilliant disc seemed to burst from the shroud which enfolded it,
and Sol, in all his glory, began his diurnal journey. Rising majes-
tically, he appeared to draw up with him a large part of the
downy strata he had cleft, which presently appeared to fall back
to its place, as a saucer might adhere to a cup. The upper sur-
faces of the clouds are by no means level, in fact present the
appearance of an undulating country covered with snow.
A slight breeze occurring cleared away the portion of clouds
which covered the immense crater of Haleakala, and exposed to
view what the Commissioner denominated the largest caldera
known. He used this term in contradistinction to volcano, in
that a caldera may be described as a pit in which numerous vol-
canic cones have been formed.
The Commissioner purposed visiting the floor of the caldera,
from which journey some of the party excused themselves, as
the ascent therefrom would be more of a task than their weak
lungs could stand. The atmosphere. at this elevation, is exceed-
ingly rare, and some complained of nausea.
It was arranged that our hero should accompany the Commis-
sioner and another member of the party, the guide offering to take
charge of the horses. The balance of the party proposed secur-
ing some specimens of the silver sword (argyroxiphium Sand-
qwicense), which is found only at this elevation. Flocks of wild
goats also attracted their attention, and promised some good
shooting.
The party began the descent into the crater, and went with such
Titan strides down the black scoriz of which the sides were com-
posed, that they were soon on the floor. Many of what appeared
to be sand-dunes from the top of the mountain were found to
be craters, some of which were 500 feet in height. They wan-
dered around some, and the feasibility of riding into the crater
was discovered and the Commissioner determined to send for the
horses and ride out on the Koolau side.
Our hero proffered to go and bring the party, and leaving one
canteen of water he commenced the ascent. He found that what
took but a few minutes to descend required much longer time
to ascend. The rarity of the atmosphere, which made exertion
56 The Master Planter; or
difficult, the great heat of the sun, from which there was no
shelter, and the ever-moving scoriz, made his task a hard one.
However, Yankee grit “will get there,” as the boys say, and he
was soon on the summit. The party refused to go farther with
the Commissioner, and taking the guide with them left our hero,
with the water, provisions, and three horses.
Riding round to the entrance of the opening, and leading the
other horses and baggage, he finally reached the party on the floor.
They now started for the windward side of the island, through
the crater, and having reached the Kaupo gap at an elevation of
7600 feet, were forced to camp. The lack of water for the horses
was the only drawback. There is a hole where water may be
found at most seasons, but they were unable to discover it.
Bright and early in the following morning they began the descent,
and after riding through a most precipitous country arrived at
the sea. Turning easterly they arrived at Hana long after night-
fall, the whole party badly used up.
The Commissioner kept up the interest in the ride by calling
attention to the peculiar formation of the innumerable precipi-
tous gulches which they crossed, the great tree-ferns with their
weird and wonderful fronds. The sides of these gulches or
ravines were densely covered with vegetation, over which climbed
the ieie, wild nasturiiums, and convolvulus vines. Many moun-
tain-apple trees were seen, peculiar in that their magenta blos-
soms grew immediately from the trunk or large limbs rather than
from the ends of branches. The smali valleys in those ravines all
appeared to have more or less signs of cultivation or of having
been cultivated. Several native houses were passed, the inhabi-
tants invariably inviting the travellers to rest and eat. At one
house, newer than the others, they took lunch, the native prepar-
ing chicken in a marvelously short time. Here the gentlemen
submitted themselves to the operation of Jomilomi, which they
admitted was very restful. It is merely a kneading of the mus-
cles by hands which are accustomed to the operation.
At Hana the gentleman with the Commissioner decided that he
could not undertake a return journey, and they agreed to return
in a boat to Haiku. They directed “Kansas” to lead the horses
back to Makawao, and he started away by the lower road through
the Koolau country, arriving at Makawao after a two days’ jour-
ney of danger and difficulty. Crossing many of the streams was
very risky at times, as those streams were subject to sudden rises
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawai. 57
of water, and there were no bridges. He felt thankful for a
safe return, and vet amply repaid for all his care and anxiety
by the store of knowledge he had acquired, not only from the
Commissioner and his companion, but from the knowledge of that
well watered country, the sources of whose streams he had wit-
nessed. He had also made the acquaintance of the Commissioner,
which was not only renewed in a few days, but which in after
years in Washington proved mutually agreeable.
CHAP DE RXV
PHASES OF PLANTATION LIFE—NATIVE LANGUAGE AND LORE—
NATIVE DIVISIONS OF LAND—DYESTUFFS USED
BY THE) HAWAIIANS.
UR man was sent, the boiling season being over
for a time, into the fields with a gang of men
to clear away the fields and prepare the rattoon
or volunteer crop. The fields were run over with fire
and all the superfluous leaves and weeds destroyed and
the cane given a chance to again sprout. As this plantation was
not under irrigation, and the cane was planted at different eleva-
tions, some of it was ripe whilst other parts were just being
planted. With a gang he undertook stripping, which is one of
the hardest jobs on the plantation, not only on account of the ex-
treme heat in the center of a field, but from the sharp serrated
leaves of the cane whose edges cut like a saw and knife com-
bined, when by accident the Teaves are not properly grasped, or
a jerk of the arm throws the back of the hand against a project-
ing leaf. He worked as faithfully at this stripping as at any
other work he had been set at, and soon found that by attacking a
stalk systematically and grasping the leaves firmly from the base
upward, they all came away freely.
He saw the utility of the work, for the eggs of the borer could
be seen in many a leaf stalk ready to be hatched and get in its
deadly work on the cane. Also, the cane appeared to thrive better
when the effete leaves were removed and the wind had an oppor-
tunity to clear away the hairlike fungus which covered the stalk
at the base of the leaves. The natives jeered him, and challenged
him to race across the field. He found that he could not compete
with some of the older hands, who were adepts at the work, and
with one sweep could clean a stalk. Still he persevered and soon
became quite quick at the work. The leaves, being stripped, were
thrown in between the rows, and after the cane was cut fire was
allowed to run over the field, cleaning it of all trash and vermin.
In this our agriculturist felt that a great waste was committed,
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 59
for although the ashes was a very good complement to the soil
and the fire a grand vermin exterminator, he contended that it
would pay well to carry all to a small valley and there make a
great pile of compost against planting time.
It was noticeable the rankness with which the cane grew in
certain valleys where the rains were slow in percolating the soil,
also on some slopes where the actinic rays of the sun could
operate to best advantage. He frequently studied out what would
be the difference in the total crop of this plantation if water could
be obtained to put it all under irrigation. He had made frequent
Sunday excursions into the woods, or wet country, on the wind-
ward side of the island, and had crossed the innumerable valleys,
both above and below, which lay between the plantation and
the Hana district, and had noticed the loss of water in those
ravines by percolation. He came to the conclusion that by tapping
those streams at a good elevation water could be brought round to
the leeward in supply only limited by the aqueduct, and probably
sufficient to irrigate ten times the land under cultivation, and
make the aggregate product four times what it was. He kept
his counsel against the future, but his Yankee brain was at work.
He had now worked ten months on the plantation, and felt
competent to fill any position. He had very little company on
the ranch among the employees, as the hands cared very little for
the work or improvements in it. Still, some of them passed their
evenings at his cottage, and made use of his numerous papers
and magazines. Whenever any fancied improvement could be
made he had made note of it in a memorandum book carried for
that purpose, a custom which he had pursued for many years. He
believed in nailing a passing thought, and in enlarging upon it
when writing up his daily journal. When he heard a new word
amongst the native hands he invariably looked it up in his dic-
tionary, and this course improved his knowledge of the vernacu-
lar in a remarkable degree, and in after years proved of great
value to him.
The native language was the medium of conversation between
the Chinese and other laborers, and a perfect knowledge of it was
necessary. He had systematically and diligently studied it from
the time he first met the preacher at Wailuku. He had procured
a phrase book, a grammar, and a Hawaiian-English English-
Hawaiian dictionary, and being acquainted with the Spanish and
French languages he easily acquired the proper pronunciation.
60 The Master Planter; or
Still he always felt that he had learned more from the New Testa-
ment, which was printed in parallel columns of Hawaiian and
English. It had been translated from the Greek direct, with
which he was also familiar, by a master hand, and by the time he
had read it through he was spoken of by the natives as one who
spoke their language as fluently as they did.
He often surprised the younger generation by using words
with which they were not familiar. He learned many of the
meles, or chants, from the elder Hawaiians, who had received
them from those whose duty it was to learn and pass down
the genealogies and history of chiefs by song and saga. He
was surprised at the extent of the vocabularies of some of
even the common laborers who went with him to the woods.
They could tell the name of every tree, plant or weed that
grew there. They could enumerate hundreds of kinds of fishes,
some of which had different names at different ages.
When it became bruited abroad that “Kansas” was a Ha-
waiian scholar, his company was sought by some of the
chiefs and kahunas, or doctor priests. At the house of a
chief named Hikiau, who had been a warrior and favorite of
Kamehameha, he frequently met some of the old-time people
who freely discussed with him the arts and sciences of the
ancient Hawaiians. They described their weapons of war,
and from what woods made, and where those woods were ob-
tained. Also the woods best adapted to the manufacture of
culinary vessels and for the few agricultural implements re-
quired.
Their knowledge of the medicinal properties of certain
herbs, and of the vegetable poisons, was quite extensive, of
which he invariably made note. He was much surprised to
note their knowledge of dyes and pigments used in dying
their cloth and in painting their canoes, etc. To illustrate
their knowledge of paints, his notes show that to make oil
they expressed the kernels of the kukui nut by means of a
lever. The residue was burned and the dense smoke arising
therefrom was caught in an inverted calabash, from which
came their fine lamp-black. In tatooing they used the green
juice of the covering of the kukui, mixed with the pulverized
carbonized shell of the same. This made an indelible black.
For a yellow dye the turmeric root was used. Certain flowers
were used to obtain the bright pinks and reds, although by
no means lasting. Sepia from the squid was also used as a
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 61
dye. To dye black they frequently steeped the kapa* (made
from the wauke) in taro patches, the oxide of iron therein
contained giving them a permanent color.
These discussions with the natives were exceedingly inter-
esting, and he seldom passed a Sunday afternoon without
learning something of the wisdom of the natives. Their
divisions of land were so peculiar that he made diligent study
into the origin of title to real property, and even took the
trouble to visit, in company with one acquainted, the crater
of Haleakala to see what was the matrix from which the
boundary lines of all the divisions of East Maui were ob-
tained. It was a large flat stone, called Pohakupalahalaha,
the cracks, natural or artificial, radiating from the center of
which, on being extended, were held to be boundary lines for
the different ahupuaas, as the divisions were called. It was
a remarkably simple division, and as it had supernatural au-
thority for its embellishment, was respected by all. Thus
germinating at a single point in the center of the island, and
widening out at the sea, there was given to each chief and his
tribe a land which would supply all the simple necessaries of
life. At the seafront he had his fishing rights; a little above
land suitable for cultivating taro and sweet potatoes; then the
woods for his yams, canoes and fuel; farther up his indis-
pensible ti land; then his hardwood land for weapons and
domestic and agricultural implements; then his grass land
for thatching his house; and finally the land of the fragrant
sandal- wood for barter. In the bordering ravines grew the
bamboc, so useful for house building and for fishing purposes,
as well as the wauke and olona,t from which he made his
cloth, twine and nets.
The ancient tenure of real property was very insecure and
depended largely on the whim of the chiefs who, with their
prone rode rough-shod over the common people. “Hemo
’ (you are out) if said by a chief would throw a man and
ae family onto the world from lands they had occupied for
generations. The feudal system prevailed in all its severity
* Kapa, a cloth (sometimes called tapa) made generally, from the
inner bark of the wauke, a species of the mulberry.
+ Olona, a shrub, the bark of which when dressed resembles bleached
hemp or flax, and is made into small cords. Olona is also the name of
the cord itself. The name is also given to animal tendons or ligaments.
62 The Master Planter.
and absoluteness. Of course all this was now changed since
the Great Mahele, or division of lands under Kamehameha
Ill. He called on all chiefs and commoners to bring in their
proofs of ownership or of residence and cultivation, and give
them up to him; he then issued Royal Patents to such as made
satisfactory proofs of title by prescription, they paying into the
treasury a commutation and the cost of surveying.
Clear PER Vv.
MORE HAWATIAN LORE: LAND TENURE—TABU SYSTEM—PRIMITIVE
TOOLS AND PATIENT LABOR—WHERE FELL THE
CHIVALRY OF HAWAITI.
HE titles given at the Great Division of lands were allodial,
that is, free from military burden and other service to an
overlord or chief, excepting such taxes as the regular
legislature might impose, the government, however, re-
serving any minerals which might be discovered. To the
chiefs were granted such ahupuaas or large divisions as they
had inherited or possessed, excepting such lands as had or
would be awarded to the common people within the peripheries
thereof.
Many chiefs induced their people to refrain from applying
for lands, promising to allow them to live on them for ever.
At the same time a law was passed that in event of the
grantee and his heirs dying out, the small lands should not
escheat to the government but to the owner of the ahupuaa
in which they were situated.
Islands were divided into districts, mokus, ahupuaas, ilis,
kalanas, kuleanas and leles, and in Honolulu into house lots.
Fishing rights were another peculiar feature of the ancient
government, and many such remain to this day. A chief
would claim a certain fish amongst all which frequented the
waters opposite his land, and when the fisherman brought
in his catch the konohiki, or agent of the chief, would insist
on that one kind of fish as his perquisite. Otherwise the sea
was open to all.
Again the king took all the flotsam and jetsam which came
to the coasts of any part, and whale bone or teeth was his
especial perquisite.
The tabu system was very onerous and burdensome on the
people. A particular bird would be ordered to be tabued to
the king, or a chief, and woe betide the bird-catcher who did
not make returns of all such as was caught by the bird-lime
64 The Master Planter; or
smeared on the trees by him. Women were not permitted to
eat many things that it was proper for men—as pork, fish of
some kinds, bananas, cocoanuts, etc. Of course, they did do
so, but had to do it surreptitiously, and many were put to
death when informed on by enemies.
The men did most of the work of cultivating and prepar-
ing the food, and in this respect differed from the Indians of
North America. In fact, women, amongst the Hawaiians, stood
on a higher plane than among other races.
The origin of a distinction between chiefs and commoners
was told to “Kansas” in this way, viz.: that originally all men
were chiefs and some fell from their high estate and became
vagabonds and servants or slaves amongst strangers, and mul-
tiplied. This is the opposite of the white man’s theory, viz.:
that all were commoners, but by physical superiority some
succeeded in getting their fellows down or to cause them-
selves to be looked up to.
The konohiki of the chief would ruthlessly take the poor
man’s pig or fowls without any thought of remuneration, and
his taro would be sequestered whenever it pleased the chief
or his satellites to take it. A man could never know what was
his own, whether it was his wife or daughter, animal or
product of his labor. Notwithstanding all the hardship which
the people endured and the absolutism under which they
lived, they throve and multiplied and probably would have
kept on doing so but for the advent of the white man and the
introduction by him of disease, rum, a superficial demand for
luxuries, and the breaking up of their homes.
When first the white man came he found the natives a hospi-
table, friendly race, willing to be led to the right and respecting
the superior wisdom of the stranger. They are still a hospitable,
kindly people, who are in no ways malicious or vindictive.
One of the phases of life amongst the ancient Hawaiians
was their indefatigable perseverance and application in work-
ing up tools, weapons, and culinary vessels from the hardest
of woods with the simple instruments of stone which they
had. A certain quality of flint was found on the higher eleva-
tions on the mountains of Hawaii and Maui, which they
deftly split and tied to the fork of a small branch of a tree
and used as an adze. This was their main tool, and with it
was- fashioned the remarkably symmetrical calabashes and
canoes so largely used by them. In cutting down the im-
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 65
mense trees from which their canoes were made, the labor,
with such instruments, was enormous. Stone axes and poi-
pestles were, by these flint adzes, fashioned from hard vol-
canic stones, as well as maika* stones, which they used in a
favorite game,
When an enemy conquered a part of an island and felt they
could not hold it, they ruthlessly destroyed any fruit trees, as
the cocoanut or breadfruit. This was an enormous task, but
they would sit around the bole of the tree, as many as could
get near it, and the incessant tunking at it with their blunt
instruments would bring the monarch to the ground. As
sample of rude barbarism this is only excelled by the modern
bombarding of cities and the destruction of the homes of non-
combatants of our day.
The canoes and calabashes, having been shaped by the rude
tool, were finished by hand. Pumice stone from the volcano
was used to rub down the inequalities left by the tool, and
shark skin, and breadfruit leaves were used for the final
polish. These calabashes were so symmetrically made, that
although round bottomed they could be filled with water
without tilting. Better work cannot be done on a lathe by
an experienced turner.
Printing by moveable blocks was well understood by old Ha-
waiians. That is, innumerable blocks with exceedingly beau-
tiful designs, were kept by experts by which they applied rare
patterns to the quilts and cloaks or capes of the chiefs. Our
hero has seen hundreds of these printing blocks, and learned
from the natives the pigments used by them in making the
colored inks which they applied in making the beautiful pat-
terns on those garments. Some were oil colors and others
water-colors, both of which were prepared by rubbing up the
pigment between smooth stones, and then, mixing with either
water or oil, they were applied in the same manner as we have
seen wallpaper manufacturers apply their designs by hand.
A native friend of “Kansas” had a large collection of these
beautiful designs, which evidently had been made not only
by natural artists but by an infinitude of labor from bamboo
or hard woods.
* Maika, was a name given by ancient Hawaiians to a round, smooth
stone, and to the game in which it was played. The stone was also
called ulu or olohu. The game required much muscular exertion, and
the result was wagered upon.
66 The Master Planter; or
Those skilled in carving or sculpture were much respected
by the masses, and had the appellation “kahuna kalaiwaa,” or
one skilled in canoe making or other such work, and were
supposed to have occult powers.
Our hero asked such a one if he made gods. He replied
that formerly he did so but now he could not do it. On being
asked if there was no more demand for such, he answered
that some people still came to him, men who were kahunas
and lived on the superstitions of the credulous.
He said “that all the gods of the ancient times, whether
made of wood or feathers, or of stone, were ugly and fierce-
looking gods, and their power lay in the teachings of the
priests, who said they were angry or would be if any taboos
were broken or if they were opposed by any one. Our God,
said he, cannot be angry, he is a God of love. It is therefore
impossible to make a god which will be angry, as there is no
such thing. God made us all and he loves us the same as we
love and admire anything that we make with much labor,
and it would be only laughable to try to impersonate a being
so pleasant and who dwelt in the hearts of all his creatures.”
“Kansas” was surprised to hear such expressions from a
kanaka, probably a grandson of a veritable pagan, but as he came
nearer in thought to the people he found that the teachings
of the missionaries had taken a deeper hold on them than
many gave credit for. Having been brought up a Puritan, he
had been taught to fear God, and the threat of hell had been
constantly held up before him, and lo! and behold, away out
in the Pacific he was learning a broader religion.
To revert to canoe making, which was the largest industry
among the ancients: When it was determined to make a
canoe a skilled man was brought into the woods to select a
tree. Naturally he used a certain amount of incantation to
impress upon the people his supernatural powers, but in
reality he was shrewd in many ways. He would select a tree
suitable, first in being capable of being removed when the
work was complete. Secondly, one which was sound and of
the proper length in the main trunk; and of several would
take the one which was the easiest to work at.
In the tropical forests all large trees are covered with para-
sitical climbers, the cutting away of which with the rude in-
truments they had was almost as much labor as to fell the
mammoth. This done, while as many as could get near the
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 67
base hewed at it with their stone axes, others were above
working on the immense limbs. They made it fall in the
proper direction by hauling on it with ropes made of the ieie vine
—and then the real work began.
Only on some kinds of wood was fire used to gouge out the
interior; the main work was done with the flint adzes both
within and without. When finished and painted and to cele-
brate the great work, a feast followed, as we celebrate a birth-
day.
If we can imagine the immense fleet of canoes which Kala-
niopuu brought from Hawaii in his attempted conquering of
Maui, and which was said to be so enormous that the four-
mile beach between Makena and Kalepolepo was not long
enough for each canoe to put its prow on shore, and the men
had to climb over the canoes which could touch, we can have
some idea of the huge canoe-building enterprise which pre-
ceded the formation of this armada. Singularly, this armada
was even more disastrous to its promoters than the fate which
met the Spaniard in his attempt to subjugate the Anglo-Saxon,
for here fell the chivalry of Hawaii, from which shock it never
recovered. Six hundred chiefs fell in one battle, and with them
perished much of the learning and glory of the ancients.*
* Kalaniopuu, King of Western Hawaii, was born in 1752. In 1778 he
waged a disastrous war against Kahehili, King of Maui, and Kame-
hameha then fought as a soldier under his banner. Kalaniopuu died in
April, 1782, leaving his kingdom to his son, Kiwalao. About three
months later, in a battle between Kamehameha and Kiwalao and his
party at Keomo, Hawaii, Kamehameha triumphed, Kiwalao was slain,
and Keona became King of Kau and Puna.
CELULAR MER OOViA
THE HAWAIIANS: WHENCE CAME THEY AND THE FLORA OF THEIR
ISLANDS !—THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.
¢¢77 ANSAS” having studied botany in connection with his
business of gardening and nursery keeping, was prob-
ably more interested in the flora of the islands than
the ordinary visitor. He noted the great number of trees
and plants found on the islands which were similar to those
erowing on islands at great distances toward the South and
West. This group was isolated by nearly 2000 miles from
the nearest islands of the Pacific and from which these fiora
must have come. They had evidently been carried by the
people in olden times in their migrations, as otherwise their
presence could not be accounted for.
He had learned from the song and saga of the natives that
the first immigrants had come up from the Southern seas.
They had evidently brought with them such seeds or cuttings
of useful trees as they had been accustomed to, and whose
qualities, medicinal or otherwise, were requisite in their do-
mestic economy. The cocoa-nut, probably the most useful
to all savage races of all the fruit trees, could by no possible
current have been carried to these islands.* The same could
* This positive statement is open to criticism. It may be a fact that
cocoanuts were brought to these islands by people in boats, and that none
ever drifted here in ocean currents; still there seems to be authority for
the statement that boats adrift at sea have been brought to these shores,
by wind and currents, and if boats why not cocoanuts, or any other
flotsam? There is a legend that in early days a Japanese junk drifted
ashore at Waialua, on Oahu; and so late as 1898 a little schooner from
Tahiti, the ‘‘Tetautua,’’ which tried to make Penrhyn from Scilly island,
lost its course and reckoning, if it ever had any, and landed at Hookena,
Hawaii—more than 2,000 miles away—a strange land to the people
abroad. (Vide twelfth report of the Hawaiian Historical Society). In-
formation obtained from a legendary source may be taken with a ‘‘pinch
of salt’’; this applies to the junkstory, of course, but it also has relevancy
to the flora, and people, that were on these islands when written history
commenced. In other words, legends stand as we receive them, often,
only because we are unable to disprove them.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 69
be said of the bread-fruit, a seedless tree, only propagated
from shoots from the roots.
The dissemination of plants and trees amongst the various
atols, islands and archipelagoes of the Pacific is accounted for
in many ways, principally by currents, winds, birds, and lastly
and perhaps greatest, by human means. Very favorite trees
as the kou, milo, hau, kamani, kukui, ti, wauke, ohia, ai; and
amongst plants the sugar cane, yam, pia, awapuhi, olona,
banana, taro, ape, uala, calabash, bottle-gourd, and awa or
piper methysticum, are such as have no doubt been brought by the
original inhabitants.
The study of botany and the affinity of those on the Ha-
waiian Islands to similar growths found elsewhere, may be
of some aid in tracing the origin of this peculiar people.
Others have endeavored to trace their origin by studying and
comparing their language, manners and customs, religion,
and similarity of habits with peoples of continents or other
groups of islands, and have concluded that their ancestors
came from Asia through the chain of islands running south-
east from India to Australia.
The discovery of the Hawaiian archipelago and the migra-
tions which have followed would conclusively prove that a
greater knowledge of navigation and astronomy was possessed
by the ancients than we have given them credit for. All im-
migrants have named new localities in accordance with names
in the beloved land from which they emigrated. In America
we find Plymouth, New Bedford, New Orleans, Nuevo Leon,
etc., and by this means it is possible to trace the origin of
the early settlers of those places, even should literature be
utterly destroyed. We find in Hawaii names of districts
similar to those in the older islands of Java and Sumatra,
such as Hawaii (Java-iki), Hamakua, Koolau, Waimea, etc.
The fact of finding so many trees and plants similar to those
of the East Indies, which by no natural means could have been
carried to this distant, isolated group, would confirm the 1m-
pression that the Hawaiians emigrated from that part of the
world.
“Kansas” delighted to make use of his Yankee inquisitive-
ness, and make inquiry as to the names and various uses each
plant or tree was put to by the natives, and was continually
surprised to note the great knowledge they had of the flora
70 The Master Planter; or
of the islands. Naturally, amongst a people so circumscribed
as the Hawaiians, and whose horizon was so limited, their at-
tention would be turned to the resources of their own country.
Every thing that was edible was known to them, many of
which without the action of fire or condiments would be de-
leterious. Emergencies had caused them to use plants that
otherwise would not be eaten. Thus we find that the root of
the tree-fern was in times of famine resorted to to sustain life.
From the fronds of some fern a succulent greens was made. Taro,
itself, without cooking is extremely acrid and poisonous. In
a raw state, when grated, they used it as a medicine. Vessels
of clay they had not, and the only thing that would stand fire
was the cocoanut shell, wherein by dropping hot stones into
the water, boiling water was obtained. Baking in ti-leaves
and the large leaves of other plants was admirably conducted.
Salt was made by evaporating sea water, and sometimes this
was done by carrying the water in calabashes to great dis-
tances and there evaporating it.
Clay (Hawaiian equivalent, “palolo,’ sticky mud, adhesive
dirt) was much used in surgery in putting the broken limb in a
case and wrapping the whole in leaves. They boasted of their
great success in this line. It certainly is a great antiphlogistic,
and their action has been followed by our own surgeons. The
juices of some fruits, as the noni, were used as remedies to pre-
vent the falling of the hair.
The astringent and laxative qualities of many roots and
herbs were well known, and the kahunas practiced medicine
successfully, although such practice was accompanied with
considerable humbuggery and many incantations. Like
Christian Science believers, they considered it necessary to
first obtain the confidence of the patient and then treat his
malady, although, unfortunately, some of the believers in
Christian Science would attempt to cure without using the
remedies which the Creator has placed in their hands.
It would not be wise to attempt, in a book of this nature,
to recite all that “Kansas” learned of the medicinal virtues of
herbs and plants known to the Hawaiians, hundreds of which
he made note of. They were frequently inclined to invent
stories for his edification, and it was thought great fun to give
false information in the matter of the uses of vegetable
products.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 71
Life, to a native, appeared to be one round of frivolity, and
it was rarely that one was met who gave a thought to the
future or to laying up a contingency against a rainy day or old
age. Life in the tropics is notoriously easy, and in the old
times, when wants had not multiplied, the cultivation of a
small tract was sufficient to supply food for a large number
when eked out with the products of the sea, in the taking of
which the natives were adepts.
In another chapter a somewhat lengthy account will be
given of the food stuffs of the islanders and of the manner of
preparing them. “Kansas,” for his own amusement, edifica-
tion and pastime made a study of the prime necessaries of life
among the people, as well as of their knowledge of the arts
and sciences prior to the advent of the foreigner. To this he
had added the acquired knowledge of the working of the
feudal system, and of the origin of the titles to real property.
The study of these matters brought him into close relations
with some of the most advanced of the natives, and a great
increase of his knowledge of the vernacular, all of which
proved of much value to him, as we will notice in future
chapters.
CHAR PER xv it
HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY AND CUSTOMS—PAGEANTRY OF A ROYAL
TOUR AROUND THE ISLAND OF OAHU.
ERE the author takes the liberty of inserting a chapter
which has appeared in the Commercial Advertiser, and
which, although written by himself, was said to be the
best pen picture of Hawaiian hospitality and customs which
has appeared in print. The edition was soon exhausted, there
being many demands for it to send abroad.
Editor Advertiser:—I hand you herewith a description of a tour around
the Island of Oahu as told to me by my friend, the Hon. John A. Cum-
mins (one of the last of the Hawaiian Chiefs), which I am sure will be
of interest to many of your old-time subscribers, and also will show the
malihinis how the Hawaiian entertained.
Yours truly, JAS. W. GIRVIN.
On October 10th, 1875, I received a letter from Her Majesty
Queen Emma, stating that she wished to see me. As I had
opposed her election and she knew I had been very instru-
mental in securing the election of H. M. Kalakaua, on calling
at her house I was agreeably surprised at the pleasant recep-
tion she gave me. However, her husband, the late King Ka-
mehameha IV, and I had been schoolmates and intimate
friends, and during his reign I frequently entertained him at
Waimanalo, and on more than one occasion I had the oppor-
tunity of doing some kindness for Her Majesty. She made
no mention of the past opposition to her, but asked me to ac-
company her on a tour around the Island of Oahu.
I had always honored and respected Her Majesty above all
the Princes it had been my fortune to meet, and I have known
all from the days of Kamehameha III to the present time, and
I resolved to make her tour of the island one of great pleasure
and comfort to her as well as one of note in Hawaiian his-
tory. I am also a chief, descended on my mother’s side from
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawait. 75
the same line of chiefs in Puna, Hawaii, from which sprang
Kamehameha I, and Kalakaua.
Being familiar with the sports of the Hawatians and some-
what posted in Hawaiian mythology and occult mysteries, as
well as being an adept at fishing and the preparation of the
foods of the people, I knew I could make her tour a pleasant
one. At that time I had considerable resources at command,
being the konohiki, or lord of Waimanalo, and owner of hun-
dreds of horses and cattle.
The Queen asked me to fix a date convenient to me for the
beginning of the grand tour, and requested me to take charge
of all the details of the procession.
I decided that Guy Fawkes’ Day, the 5th of November,
should be the day of leaving Honolulu. Notices were put in
the papers and also posters sent to prominent parties in dif-
ferent parts of the island, fixing dates at which the cavalcade
would arrive, and I endeavored to meet all those arrangements.
On that day, in riding down Nuuanu avenue from Waima-
nalo at 6:30 a. m., I saw a great many men, women and chil-
dren carrying baskets and bundles of leis, some of ilima, some
of marigolds, some of lehua blossoms and of ahihi done up
in wrappers of ti-leaf and banana; lei lehua ahihi woven with
maile, hala fruit leis done up in solid bundles as pai-ai or
hard poi is put up, all being carried to their gracious Queen
Emma.
I had breakfast with Her Majesty and her mother, at which
were present Peter Kaeo, Kunuiakea, and other high chiefs,
at 7 a. m. At this hour the city and surrounding country
were covered with mist and a light rain was falling in the
valleys, and as the sun shone on them innumerable rainbows
and in some instances double rainbows were produced, which
some prognosticated to indicate an auspicious commencement
of our pageant.
I had brought in some of my best horses, and gave Her
Majesty an animal of fine pedigree named “Kekonikauaikana-
hele” for her sole use, and which she rode throughout the
journey. He appeared to realize that he was carrying royalty,
and, although cavorting from side to side and making as
much of an exhibition as a good horse can do, he was as
gentle as any lady could wish.
74 The Master Planter; or
Kuliouou and Makapuu.
After breakfast the cavalcade was put in order. It consisted
of one hundred and forty women, riding astride, dressed in
the brightest colors the stores of Honolulu afforded. The
pa-u or riding habit of the women consists of a long piece
of bright print wrapped around the hips and extending down
to the stirrup, from whence it flares out behind when the
horse is in motion.
The impression as we swept through the streets on our
dashing horses must have been gorgeous. Her Majesty and
myself led the procession, followed by her mother and other
chiefs. The streets of Honolulu were thronged with people to
witness the grand sight, and it would appear that the whole
city and many from the country had turned out to see the
departure. We rode down Nuuanu street and along King
and up into Beretania and thence out towards Kamoiliili. At
Kuliouou we were entertained at luncheon by Mr. and Mrs.
Pico. They had provided all the luxuries to which foreigners
are accustomed, and also a magnificent native luau. The food
was exceedingly plentiful and much more than was necessary,
even for so large a number. We got away from there at 1
p. m. and rode down across the plains of Kaea, Kamehame,
and along the paved way to the foot of Makapuu.
On Makapuu point stood the hula god Malei,* which was duly
saluted, and we descended the precipice. Here the royal party
saw a sight such as they had not expected, and such as will never
be seen in Hawaii again. Six mounted knights in red costume and
red visors, carrying torches, presented arms to the Queen. As
the procession wended its way onward every three hundred
yards an arch bearing a motto in the Hawaiian language pre-
sented itself, welcoming Her Majesty to the Koolaus. No two
of these mottos were alike, and some were from the ancient hid-
den tongue known only to the chiefs. These letters were con-
structed of combustibles and burned until the whole cavalcade
reached my home-place, ‘‘Mauna Rose,” a distance of four miles.
Waimanalo,
All the arrangements for welcoming the Queen had been made
by me or through my orders. Her arrival was welcomed by a
* A modern, powerful United States lighthouse stands there now.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawai. 73
corps of men blowing horns made from lauhala leaves. All the
residents of the neighborhood had assembled to see their be-
loved Queen, and as she passed lay prone on the ground out of
deference to old Hawaiian customs, although such usage had
passed and was not expected of them by Her Majesty.
I had erected two very large lanais which were covered with
cocoa palm leaves, either one of which would have seated 200
guests. At 5:30 p. m. Her Majesty, the chiefs, and the whole
party sat down to a feast of all the good things of which the
Hawaiians are so fond. At 8:30 p. m. the luau was over and
the hula began. I had made arrangements for illuminations
and fireworks, and rockets were fired from the precipitous moun-
tains in the rear. Blue lights and other pyrotechnics enlightened
the heavens and made the night brilliant, and three hundred
torches burned throughout the night. Three sets of hula dancers
and singers relieved each other through the night, and daylight
found the hula still fresh. This entertainment lasted three whole
days and nights. At 8 a. m. two tables sufficient to ac-
commodate two hundred guests were spread for breakfast. The
preparation of poi, fish of many kinds and served in many forms,
as dried, lawalued, fried, boiled, etc., had occupied the services
of several good stewards, and good stewards among the Ha-
waiians are adepts at such luaus.
Among the good things Hawaiians relish most is limu, or
sea-weed, and at this luau a great many kinds were served, to
mention the names of which would only be confusing. Naturally
foreign delicacies were not neglected, and tea, coffee, chocolate,
cake, bread and butter, meats of all kinds were served in pro-
fusion as called for at each feast, for it was a round of feasts.
After breakfast, on the first day, all parties proceeded to amuse
themselves in such manner as life in the country afforded. Prob-
ably half of the party went to the mountains to gather maile,
awapuhi, ohawai, palapalai and hala fruit to make leis for the
afternoon. The other half remained at home; and I prepared
some rare fishing sports. It was a great day with the fisher-
men, who excel in that part of the island.
Quantities of fish of many kinds were caught. Amongst these
were honu or turtle, ula, opihi, okala, uhu, palani, hee, ohua,
manini, kumu and others. Fisherman Malokea, and his large
gang of men and women with sweeping nets caught lots of moi,
sandfish, akule, and others, the sweepers covering a distance of
76 The Master Planter; or
five miles of beach from Muliwaiolena to Puukiloia. Her Ma-
jesty and most of the party had a sea-bath and witnessed sports
on the water before returning to Mauna Rose.
Puewai of Puha.
In the meantime I had a gang of men at work preparing to
open the bar at the mouth of Puha river. This bar or dam had
accumulated for some years and much water was backed up. I
had seen this opened on a former occasion, and the sports of the
natives in swimming the raging waters, and determined to give
Her Majesty and party a view of this ancient sport. To this end
I had a gang of men cut and carry away much of the embank-
ment so that but little would be required to bring down the flood.
An opening of 20 feet or more having been made in the dam
the water rushed out at the rate of 30 knots or more. The bore
or surge caused was very high, and only two men and two women
dared to play on this water-surf, called Pue-wai. One strong
man of fine form went across and back holding up the tip end
of his malo. This was the grand sport of the day and was the
subject of comment by all who witnessed it. Her Majesty pre-
sented each of these four with $100 and four pair of red blankets.
“Hee-Pue-Wai’” was a bye-word for several days thereafter.
At 4 o'clock p. m. the whole party, augmented by many from
the Koolau district, sat down to a bountiful and elaborate din-
ner. Four chief stewards looked after the welfare of the guests
and two chefs de cuisine took charge of the foreign part of the
entertainment. Amongst the provisions prepared were ten hogs,
one whole bullock cooked in different styles, ducks and turkeys
in quantity, also fish of all descriptions served in as many imagin-
able ways. During the night one table was kept supplied with
food and drinkables. On the second night the bonfires on the
mountains were kept up all night.
The second breakfast was not so well attended, many of the
guests having indulged too freely in fresh pork.
On the 7th I decided to give an exhibition of my trained
horses, and other sports were also introduced at Hunananiho. I
had then eleven horses under training, all of which were thor-
oughbreds; and four jockeys. The races were very good, and as
Hawaiians are lovers of the sport the whole party had a rare
treat.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. Ee
Every day while the Queen was at Waimanalo large quanti-
ties of fish of all descriptions were brought in. Her Majesty
was in good health and entered into the joys of the people, rid-
ing and driving around the country. I taught her to use the
rifle, and she did some excellent shooting, on several occasions
smashing a bottle at 140 yards, and could cut a twine with a
rifle ball at a long distance.
The people from all parts of the Koolaus kept arriving and
bringing in their hookupus, or gifts, of foodstuffs. New hula
dancers. also presented themselves as the reputation for the dis-
tribution of prizes spread throughout the island. I had to send
much of the eatables away to Judge Pii’s house at Kaneohe,
where the next station of the procession was to be. Notwith-
standing the great concourse of people to be entertained, my
work was made comparatively easy by the genial disposition of
the people and the faculty Hawaiians have of caring for them-
selves. The presence of the Queen forbade any rudeness or un-
due existence of spirit, or quarreling, amongst this large num-
ber of guests.
Kaneohe.
After another grand breakfast on the eighth, the whole party
being ready, we made a start for Kaneohe by way ok Aleles Jt
was a great crowd, all on horseback and all dressed in bright
colors, with beautiful leis. The cavalcade was led by six mounted
knights in red with burning torches. Many people stood on the
Pali to witness the course of the procession.
At the boundary of Wailea I had an immense bonfire. Here I
had erected an immense arch of fire fifteen feet high through
which each member of the party was compelled to ride. The
arch was covered with gunny sacks saturated with kerosene and
then covered with ieie vine. At high moon Her Majesty and I
rode through this hoop of fire followed by the balance of the pro-
cession. We thus left the boundary of my land, and were in
Kailua, from where we had a view of our own party on the plain
of Alele.
At Judge Pii’s house at Kaneohe great preparations for enter-
taining on a grand scale had been made. I had two men in
charge of the three hundred torches and pack horses for the
same. Two more cared for the eatables and drinkables, and four
7& The Master Planter; or
more bringing horses and a Concord buggy and double team of
black horses. Here the hula kept up all night, and no sleep
could be had.
W aikane.
After breakfast the next morning the procession took up
its way to Waikane, to Mr. Kamealoha’s place. I drove the
Queen behind my black span and her mother followed in her
carry-all. Good humor and joviality sat on every feature, and
with oli and mele the procession made its way to its desti-
nation at the next station. Her Majesty appeared very much
gratified at the numerous expressions of good will, and once
remarked to me that if I had caused her to be elected she as-
suredly would have appointed me one of her ministers. I
replied that although my father was an Englishman, he be-
lieved it was for the best interests of the country that there
should be a king at the head of the nation rather than a
Queen, and that it was preferable that American influence
should sway the throne rather than English, as we feared it
would be if we elected Her Majesty. Also that I had asked
her what her wishes were on a former occasion, and she had
assured me that she did not contemplate being a candidate
for election to the throne. Arriving at Kamealoha’s place,
through six magnificent arches of evergreen, we found prepa-
rations to entertain a thousand people. Her Majesty and
party were here assured of a most hearty welcome. Without
being tautological, I can say that the immensity of leis of
hala-fruit and others that were prepared for our adornment
was stupendous. To describe the great fish prepared in many
styles, both raw, dried and cooked, the hogs, poultry and
delicious comestibles would take more space than I can af-
ford, although not more than the love displayed by her peo-
ple deserves. Notwithstanding the immense number to be
fed, the hookupus, or gifts of food, had increased the store
of provisions to such an extent that from there I was com-
pelled to send by the schooner “Rob Roy,” to Her Majesty’s
residence in Honolulu, nine live hogs, eight bundles of dried
mullet, six barrels poi, two dozen fowls, etc. Kamealoha
had two large thatch houses and a large school house at his
command for sleeping quarters, and had erected an immense
lanai for the luau. He was a well-to-do citizen, and as gen-
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 79
erous and hospitable as any whom we met on the grand tour.
At night the torches burned and the hula went on, and
joviality and free intercourse was the rule.
Kahana.
After breakfast the next day, all feeling refreshed, the pro-
cession proceeded on its way, to Kahana. [Before arriving
there the cavalcade passed through a region where melons
grew profusely, and the residents passed to those of the party
who would accept, goblets of fermented melon juice and ti-
root cider, which both refreshed and inspirited them.
Here a Chinese, Apakana, and his Hawaiian wife, Mary, a
sister of Kamakini, received us all very warmly and had made
great preparations for our entertainment. To see two hun-
dred horses tied out in the grounds and their accoutrements
on fences and trees, alone was a novelty. This foreigner, Apa-
kana, seemed to vie with the Hawaiians in his endeavor to
entertain Her Majesty and suite in form commensurate with
her rank. The feast he and his wife spread out was ample
for twice the number of our party, although our numbers ap-
peared to steadily increase. There was a plethora of poi,
sweet potatoes, rice, hogs, fish, raw and cooked; more than
enough for five hundred people for four days. Here we saw
the largest oios, a most delicious fish, which we had on the
grand tour. Crowds of people joined us here, some leading
pack-horses loaded with melons, sugar cane, bananas, cocoa-
nuts, dried fish, etc. Excepting Her Majesty and a few others,
all went in bathing in the large river there.
Punaluu.
After a late breakfast the procession took up its journey
to Punaluu. Here were three very large thatch houses. The
natives there had a hui, or ownership in common, and we
remained with them two days, but were no burden to them
as we carried so large a store of provisions. The hula and
speech-making was kept going continually, and it was the
noisiest place. we found in the grand tour, even the Chinese
adding to the din with their firecrackers. The feasting ap-
peared to be continuous. The provisions multiplied to such
an extent that I was compelled to send a schooner from there
80 The Master Planter; or
to Honolulu with ten bags rice, ten barrels poi, ten bags sweet
potatoes, ten hogs and pigs and two dozen fowls.
We left there on Wednesday morning, intending to make
Lane’s place at Hauula that night, and had forwarded much of
our provisions and paraphernalia there. When about to start
from Punaluu one of the principal natives, Keaunui, invited
the Queen to take a surf-ride in his two and one-half fathom
canoe. He was a very large and fine-looking man, and had a
great local reputation. He had about fifty fathoms of small
line and two horses, the intention being to pull the canoe just
inside the breakers, parallel with the beach for a distance of
four miles. The beach terminated at his house, where he had
prepared a fine luau for the Queen and party. Her Majesty
declined to go in the canoe with Keaunui, but said she would
go with me, having more confidence in my care of her. We
got out of the buggy and I purchased 125 fathoms of line at
a Chinese store, and one of my boys took the kinks out of it.
I had it made fast close to the fore out-rigger of the canoe so
that it forced the canoe out about 100 fathoms. I had nothing
on but a malo and broad-brimmed straw hat. The Queen
left her shoes and stockings and got into the canoe and sat
down, holding firmly by the out-rigger. The beach was
crowded with people to witness the great sight of a Queen
taking a perilous ride in the surf. I had two good horses at
the end of the long rope and gave the canoe a strong shove
cut to sea and jumped in at the same time. The horses went
full speed along the beach. I turned my paddle up and kept
the canoe out the full length of the rope, and the speed must
have been thirty knots. Then I played with the Queen, dip-
ping the out-rigger into the sea, which threw the spray over
us, causing a rainbow to those on the beach. The Chinese
left their rice fields to see this great surf-riding. In the canoe
the Queen only was visible. We had the rushing of the surf
and the speed of the horses to propel us, and flew through the
water. Her Majesty enjoyed the perilous surf ride, although
she was wet through and through when we landed at Keau-
nui’s house. Eight strapping kanakas lifted the canoe and
both of us out of the sea and carried us up to the house at
Kapaka, Koolauloa. Although Keaunui had his feast ready,
we had to go up to Kaliuwaa waterfalls to bathe and get the
brine off and change our clothing. The natives carried both
the Queen and myself to Kaliuwaa. Kekela, the Queen’s
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 81
mother, remained at Kapaka until our return. This waterfall
is also one of the historical points on the Island of Oahu,
about which many legends are told. After swimming, high
jumping, diving and other sports in which the large crowd
joined in the beautiful pool there, refreshing drinks were
passed around amidst great hilarity. The pool is about fifty
feet across, very cold and quite deep.
Hauula and Laiemaloo.
On our return to Keaunui’s we enjoyed the great feast he
had prepared. He had every Hawaiian luxury that could be
desired. We left there quite late, but many of our party had
gone ahead to Hauula, Mr. Lane’s place. We did not arrive
until 10 p. m., and the whole party were tired. I stirred them
all up and got the hula people to make a noise. Mr. Lane
and wife were very much annoyed at us for being so slow in
arriving, as the luau had been ready some hours before. How-
ever, they got up a nice breakfast for all the next morning
and we got the procession started for Laiemaloo. Here J. W.
Kupau entertained us. He had eight large houses and one
large lanai. At this place was the great hula man, Kapuao-
kahala, and his three daughters. He had the reputation of
being the best hula player in Hawaii-nei. We remained here
two nights and had a grand time. All the residents of the
neighborhood flocked to see the royal train, and they camped
out under the hau and hala trees. There was an abundance of
fat hogs and pigs, beef, poultry and fish. There was much
steam: consumed by the camp-followers, so as to keep every-
thing going lively. The different kinds of hula, as puniu,
alaa, papa, uliuli, paili, paiumauma, etc., were witnessed as
performed by this old-time hula master.
I had to take this crowd of hula singers to Honolulu with
us to keep up the merriment of the party, and sent the old
crowd back to their homes in Kaneohe, Mokapu, Kailua and
Kaaawa. This new party of hula singers and performers got
the whole procession in good humor. Here the Queen bought
lots of blankets and calico for the poor people, and many
shirts called uewahine, and gave to them after breakfast
on the second day. We got away for Kahuku, where Judge
Kaluhi entertained us. This is the land of the hala tree. We
had four very large houses, and all the walks around and from
82 The Master Planter; or
house to house were covered with matting called ue. Every
one took care of his own horse and all were welcome. The
viands were most abundant. At night I had all the torches
burning, which lighted up all Kahuku. Our party by this
time had increased to over three hundred, and the number of
visitors and friends from the neighborhood was very large.
At the midnight luau I sent word around among the peo-
ple that there should be no one leaving here for Waimea or
Waialua who had not a wreath of hala-fruit, and that we
would leave after breakfast on the morrow. This caused a
scramble to the woods in the dark to gather the fruit for the
leis. By daybreak every one had a hala lei on and we got
away for Waialua. Her Majesty, her mother, and I drove in
carriages, but the hundreds were on horseback. In all our
traveling we had had no rain, but now we struck a heavy
shower near Judge Kalanipoo’s house at Waimea, where we
stopped and enjoyed his hospitality. He had more than suff-
cient food prepared for all our 300 and odd people. The
weather cleared up and we got off to Waialua. Judge Ka-
lanipoo sent two ox-carts loaded with provisions on ahead,
which were left at Ukoa-makaha, Waialua, at Kaleikini’s
place. Her Majesty and I led the procession, but I had two
of my best horsemen as out-riders, who maintained discipline.
Great preparations had been made by Kaleikini, assisted by
Mrs. Apakana, for entertaining the great party.
Waialua, Waipo and Moanalua.
We remained at Waialua four days. No sooner had we
arrived than the natives, men, women and children, and loaded
ox-carts from all directions began to arrive with their hoo-
kupus. I had more provisions than I knew what to do with.
Some of these were for myself, but I passed them all over to
the Queen. Amongst the hookupus was a box of white geese,
marked on the outside “Keoni Kamaki.” Taking it for
sranted it was for me, I gave it to the Queen. It developed
afterwards that the case was for John Dominis, whose native
name was similar to mine. I had many of my own people
with me and made them care for the goods. At 8 p. m. all
sat down to one of the best dinners I ever saw. After the
Queen’s table was over another was set, and so on all through
the night. Of course the hula kept up and was as noisy as
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaut. 8&3
it could be. Owen and John and James Holt, who owned a
large ranch in the vicinity, helped very much in arranging
for the comfort of this great crowd.
The Queen had a head steward who had twenty men under
him, ten of whom guarded by day and ten by night. My
torch bearers renewed their stock of kerosene at every Chi-
nese store throughout the route and looked after their work well.
From Waialua I took the opportunity to ship by the schooner
“Tuka” ten barrels poi, ten sacks sweet potatoes, eight bun-
dles dried anae, three dozen turkeys, four dozen fowls, eleven
large hogs, eleven small pigs, four sheep and one dozen white
geese to be delivered at Her Majesty’s house in Honolulu,
directing that there should be given from these to the King
and each of the chiefs a share of each commodity shipped.
The hookupus kept on coming in during each day of our stay.
The inhabitants of Waialua district were exceedingly kind
to the Queen and her party. Bundle after bundle of maile
leis and leis of maile laulii o koiahi. Natives from distant
Waianae brought to Her Majesty quantities of their famous
fine-flavored cocoanuts, called poka-i. Four days in Waialua
seemed to. me to be too much, but it did not seem that way
to the people, as they appeared to enjoy themselves very
much, Every meal was crowded with them. Bathing parties
were in the sea at all times, as were fishing coteries, while
others were visiting the uplands. It was curious to me to
note that I had no trouble with this army of friends, but they
were well disciplined and polite. Assuredly Waialua never
saw such a sight before and never will again. Every surf-
board in the vicinity was in use, and there were some rare
actors amongst this mass of people, who hailed from all parts
of the island.
On the morning of the fourth day, after another great break-
fast, the cavalcade was formed for the ride towards Honolulu.
It was one of the most beautiful sights ever seen, to look back
on the procession from the uplands; and Her Majesty was
continually looking back at the bright colored procession
which followed us, four abreast. There were three hundred
women with gaudy leis of bright flowers and maile wreaths,
their horses also being decked out with evergreens. The
horses pranced and looked well, the women looked fat and
smiling and every face was wreathed in smiles.
84 The Master Planter.
Only the Hawaiian language can describe the joy of the
return pilgrimage. It was a long ride to Waipio, but we got
there safely and put up at the house of one of the Queen’s re-
tainers. He also had a sufficiency to eat, but there was no
rest, as the quarters were limited and the noise fearful. After
breakfast the cavalcade pushed on to Moanalua to Her High-
ness Keelikolani’s house, where great preparations had been
made to entertain so vast a multitude which had still farther
swollen by numbers who had come out from Honolulu to es-
cort us home. An immense lanai had been constructed of
cocoanut leaves, a beautiful structure. Here all the Ha-
waiian luxuries were ready for a final luau on an exceedingly
grand scale. I never saw such an abundance of leis made of
lehua blossoms, and cannot imagine where they came from.
Just as the party were ready to partake of the viands a very
heavy shower of rain, accompanied with thunder and light-
ning, fell, which drenched every one to the skin. Still we
determined to sit through it. I should state that we were
here joined by about two hundred people on horseback from
town.
After the luau we resumed our march towards town, the
Queen on “Kekonikauaikanahele” and I on “Taiehu,”’ which
was a most beautiful white horse with red spots the size of
a dime. Her Majesty and the horse were covered with leis
of lehua and pikaki, and every one of the seven or eight hun-
dred were likewise bedecked with leis. We led the proces-
sion, followed by the whole cavalcade, along King street, up
Richards and along Beretania to Her Majesty’s house. All
dismounted and bade Her Majesty farewell, and I took my
men home to Waimanalo, having been fifteen days on the
merriest, wildest jaunt of my life.
I am sure I have neglected to tell much of the fun that
went on at each resting place, but the whole was an Hawaiian
holiday according to the ancient custom of enjoyment, and
it is unlikely that such could ever be repeated.
CPAP PER 2. Li
THE TRANSFORMATION OF “KANSAS’—FROM “SHIPPED MAN” TO
PLANTATION MANAGER IN ELEVEN MONTHS.
NE evening, as he sat reading, the Chinese steward from the
house rushed in, and in a very excited manner told him,
“Mamma (the planter’s wife) wanted him to go there
quick, bossy he fall down dead.” Our hero felt that something
very serious had happened at the house, and in a few strides he
was there. Here he found everything in confusion, the ladies
wringing their hands and crying, excepting mamma, and she
was on Pie floor chafing her husband’s hands, bathing his
face and calling for remedies, and especially urging them to
send for “Kansas.” When he appeared she appealed to him
to save her husband.
“Oh, you can do it,” she said, “he had such confidence in
you and said that when anything went wrong to call on you.’
“Kansas” found that the planter had fallen from his chair
while sitting quietly amidst his family, in what appeared to
be an apoplectic fit, and was dead from heart failure. fale
quickly stripped the clothing from the prostrate man’s chest
and applied his ear to endeavor to learn any signs of life.
He fancied he detected a slight murmur of the heart, and
some pulsation at the wrist. ie used cold water copiously,
and finding life not extinct took out his knife and opened a
vein in the man’s arm and bled him quite freely. His patient
immediately began to show signs of life, and very soon they
were enabled to get him into bed.
One of the servants had gone for the doctor, who lived at
a distance of about four miles. When the doctor arrived, he
approved all that our hero had done, and freely commended
him for his prompt action. The doctor said it was a fit of
apoplexy, and it was extremely fortunate that there was some
one on the spot who had the nerve and knowledge to act as
“Kansas” had done, as it had undoubtedly saved the planter’s
life.
86 The Master Planter; or
Mamma said openly, “Yes, papa said that if any kind of
trouble came to call on ‘Kansas’; he thinks ‘Kansas’ knows
more about anything than anybody.”
Our hero felt flattered; but he had had some experience in
accidents, and had read of similar cases. The ladies made
remarks which showed that they had taken notice of him, al-
though he had not had the honor of an introduction, nor of
conversing with them. Mamma could not refrain from ex-
pressing her joy at the restoration of her husband from ap-
parent death, and from her language he knew that he had
often been the theme of conversation in the home.
After a few days the planter was able to be out on the
veranda, but the doctor ordered that he should leave the
plantation and go abroad for a year at least, saying that a re-
currence of the fit would probably prove fatal. His wife
abetted the doctor and pleaded with her husband to take her
East, which he had promised to do at many times, although
each succeeding year found him no better prepared to leave
the islands than the former one. He said he would go but
had no one to leave in charge of the plantation. He had de-_
pended so much on himself, that now in his emergency, there
was no one whom he could leave in charge.
His wife said, “There is ‘Kansas,’ you say he knows every-
thing, and you owe your life to him.”
“Yes,” he replied, “ ‘Kansas’ would do, but it looks so ab-
surd to put a contract laborer in charge of a plantation.”
It was Hobson’s choice, however. He sent for “Kansas”
and made him the proposition that he take the managership of
the plantation. What was his surprise when the man firmly
replied that he could not do it, that he had other plans in
view when his year was out.
“But we will cancel the contract now, and I will pay you
one hundred dollars per month from this on,” said the planter.
“Still I could not do it,” said “Kansas,” “I have other
views and plans, and time is passing. I really came to you on
an apprenticeship, and not for pay. My wife and family are
looking forward to our reunion, and I have by your assistance
made a thorough study of the sugar industry, and now that
my apprenticeship draws to a close I feel that I must go into
the business on my own account.”
Here was a revelation.
“Why, where is your wife?” said mamma.
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 87
“With our children in Honolulu, and they can hardly wait
until my time is up,” replied “Kansas.”
“You are an enigma,” said mamma; “if I had known you
were a married man and that your family was in this country,
I should certainly have insisted on bringing them here.
“We could not well live on eight dollars a month,” said
“Kansas,” “and like Abraham of old, I was afraid to admit
that I had a wife, for fear I would get no employment; I had
tried that too often before.”
“I knew you had a wife,” said the planter, “for my captain
told me that he had talked with her about you in Honolulu,
but I did not give the matter any weight.”
“Kansas,” said the planter, “I will make you a fair proposi-
tion. Now bring your family here, take the home and all as
it stands, carriages and all, manage the plantation, and I will
pay you three thousand dollars per year for three years.”
“Well, Mr. ——-———.,, your proposition appears to be fair,
and it certainly is as good as forty-five hundred dollars a year,
but it is your proposition. Here is mine: You are content
with your present receipts, are you not?”
ses, ‘said the planter.
“Now,” said “Kansas,” “I propose to accept your offer, with
the addition that you give me, besides, fifty per cent. of all
I shall raise in excess of what you have done during the past
season.”
“T accept the terms,” said the planter, feeling that he was
dealing with a stronger mind than his own.
A lawyer was sent for and a contract, embodying the speci-
fied terms, was drawn up and executed in duplicate. First
the original contract was produced and cancelled. The plant-
er’s wife begged “Kansas” to give her the contract, as she
wanted to have it framed. ‘Oh, no,” said our hero, “that repre-
sents eleven months of servitude, and my wife will prize it
more than you.”
He then went to Honolulu to get his wife and family, and
he could not help feeling the vast difference between the cabin
fare and comfort as compared with the trip of misery he had
on deck a year ago. The meeting with his wife will not be de-
scribed. She could hardly realize that this sunburned, swarthy
man was the same individual she had taken for better or for
worse SO many years ago.
She was now to rank as a planter’s wife, and his draft was
88 The Master Planter.
to be honored to the extent of thousands. How did it all come
about? She felt that all their cares were ended, and that he
only received a just reward of merit. He knew that they were
only at the foot of the ladder, and that years of labor and care
were ahead of him.
After a week’s stay in Honolulu, where they purchased such
necessaries as would be needed, and where he presented his
letters of introduction to the agents, they took passage for Ka-
hului. They were met by the planter with carriages and
driven up to the ranch. They were the cynosure of all the
beach-combers of Kahului.
“Wall, I swow,” said one old blatherskite, “if that ain’t H’s
bullock driver.”
“T’ll be jiggered,” said another, “if you couldn’t knock me
down with a feather.”
All united in saying that he was a hard-working man, and
as smart as a steel trap; but they seemed to think it could not
be right for a bullock driver and a “shipped hand” to be ele-
vated to the position of manager of a plantation. One said
he was a millionaire in disguise, and had merely played it on
the old man to acquire a knowledge of the extent of the re-
sources of the plantation. Another said that he had bought
the plantation, and that Farwell, who made out the papers,
had said as much as that.
The planter and his wife welcomed “Kansas” and his wife
and the two families became quite intimate during the in-
terval prior to the departure of the old planter and his house-
hold on their long journey.
GHAR CE RES
HAWAII LEADS THE WORLD IN SCIENTIFIC SUGAR CANE CULTI-
VATION.
and his family a loving farewell, and met “Kansas’s”
wife and little ones.
“Oh, Mrs. H., said she, “I knew all about ‘Kansas’s’ wife
and family, and it was a mutual understanding that I should
say nothing about them to any one.”
“Well, Mary,” said Mrs. H., “you are the one woman of
my acquaintance who can keep a secret.”
Mrs. H. emphatically asserted what she would have done if
she had known that “Kansas” had a wife and little ones in
Honolulu, and from her well-known friendly, hospitable char-
acter we can readily believe she would have taken radical
measures to bring this pair together long ere this. However,
they admitted that after the experience he had had he was
justified in pursuing the course he did, until such times as
he could have a chance of making his value known.
Many of the neighboring planters came to bid adieu to
their old friends, and on being introduced to his successor they
extended the right hand of fellowship and welcomed him
to the society of the community. ‘‘Kansas” could not help re-
calling the expression of the old missionary in Lahaina, “Ha-
waii-nei is a country where a man finds his level sooner than
in any other.” The past year had been of inestimable value
to him in so many more ways than if he had come in at the
top instead of working his way up. Not only had his knowl-
edge of the cultivation of sugar been thoroughly acquired, but
being unharassed by the necessary interruptions of the care
of a family, his general knowledge had been greatly expanded
through his studies and observation. His acquaintance with
the language of the people and the geography of the surround-
ing country must inure to his benefit in the coming years of
his management.
M ARY, the old parson’s daughter, came to bid the planter
90 The Master Planter; or
After the planter and his family had left, our hero got down
to business in earnest, and the following chapters will show
how he succeeded under his second contract. He knew that
sugar was made in the field and that the technicalities of the
mill and office were secondary. With maps before him of the
fine estate of which he was the manager, and with the payroil
and estimates which he had at hand, he proceeded to plan a
campaign as scientifically as though it were a game of chess
He did not intend to let things go at haphazard.
That labor was becoming scarcer he knew from the conver-
sation overheard between visiting planters, and that its price
would go up was a certainty. There was therefore a necessity
of meeting this dilemma. He must make the land yield more,
and he must save a larger percentage of the crop. The estate
was a very large one, and the question presented was whether
it was not better to confine the cultivation to a smaller tract,
thereby producing a larger yield, or to go on as it had been
and scatter his hands over the great acreage with no larger
returns,
Had the lands been under irrigation, where the rattoons,
when well cultivated, are almost equal to first crop, he would
have decided to put in as much as he could get water for. As
the main standby of this plantation must be the first planting,
he decided to merely put in the acreage that he could cultivate
well, and to waste no labor on rattoons unless in certain locali-
ties where the lay of the land warranted an outlay. He knew
from what he had gathered from the Commissioner’s conver-
sation on Haleakala that the whole soil was alluvion, and that
the leaf mould from decayed ferns, and decomposed lava were
continually being washed down by the tropical rains and
would enrich the lower lands forever.
He knew of the dearth of the rains for surface moisture, but
felt that he could partially correct that by adding to the soil
its complement, at but a slight expense. His decision was
made that he would aid nature by correcting the soil. His
agents were overwhelmingly surprised to receive from him an
order for a thousand tons of gypsum, to be procured at Los
Angeles, at a figure not to exceed $3.50 per ton, f. 0. b. As
his letter was explicit and definite, they obeyed his instruc-
tions, and in a short time his carts were carrying from Kahului
gypsum to be ground and spread along in the trenches when
planting. He bought a pair of French burs, formerly used in
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. Ot
a flour-mill at Wailuku, and having power to spare, he set
them up at the mill to grind the gypsum. Gypsum, you know,
is 46% sulphuric acid, 33% lime, and 21% water, in round
numbers. To a soil that was largely alluvion, made up of
leaf mould and decomposed lava, lime was a complement.
The action of the sulphuric acid tended to retain water that
the rootlets might take up the plant food necessary for the
growth of the cane.
Our readers will recall the anecdote of Franklin’s endeavors
to persuade his neighbors to use Plaster of Paris on their
lands. Plaster of Paris is merely calcined gypsum. They
ridiculed him, but one of them granted his permission to try
it on a certain field of wheat. The wily old gentleman sprin-
kled it freely along the field near the road, and long before
harvest passers could read in letters in the higher grain,
Kae Ke Kaew KKK Kh Kh Kh Kh Kh Kh KK Kh KK Kk
* x
* “THIS FIELD WAS PLASTERED.” *
* *
TORK KOKO K KOR EE KEKE EK KKK KR Re
To this day every farmer in Pennsylvania uses plaster from
some mine in the vicinity, and many have learned that its ef-
fect is just as good on the soil when not calcined as when it has
been subjected to the action of fire and the water driven out
of it.
But to the soil of this Makawao plantation the lime was ex-
actly what was wanted. To fertilize a crop extending over so
much acreage as was under cultivation on this estate would
require an immensity of capital, but our hero believed it would
some day be done, and in the meanwhile he determined to
correct the acidity of the soil in some localities, to manure as
much as possible, and to fertilize as far as he could. Towards
manuring he collected all the effete leaves and hauled them
to a mulch hole into which triturated the surplus water from
the mill, which had been led in pipes from Kaluanui for the
house and mill, to which he added whatever other waste ma-
terial he could collect; and succeeded in preparing quite a
pile of compost against the next season. To this he added the
droppings from the cattle and sheep, collected from the fields.
After the soil had been plowed and cross-furrowed, and
92 The Master Planter; or
trenched by a mould-board, he spread the manure in the
trenches immediately previous to planting. The seed of cane,
so-called, is really a piece of the cane, and is a foot or more
in length. Probably the best seed is the part nearest the
ground, and like any other plants, vegetables or fruits, the
best results are to be obtained from the best selected seed.
The richness of the lower or butt end of the stalk in saccharine
matter caused the planters to use the upper or valueless part.
In the matter of seed he also knew that it is nature’s law that
seed from a distant field produced better cane than the re-
planting of a space with seed which had grown on the spot,
and the attempt was made by him to import seed from La-
haina and elsewhere, and his theory proved correct.
Although much of the land on this estate was virgin soil, he
knew that to make it produce to its highest capacity it was
as necessary to fertilize the plant on it as it was in older cul-
tivated lands. After the cane was up he supplied each hill
with a fertilizer, a composition of apatite, guano and potash
salts, although he did not fail to first correct and manure the
soil.
At the stage when the cane is about six inches above ground
such a fertilizer had a marvellous effect. It appears to compel
the cane to grow. The great liar of Lahaina said “that he was
unable to sleep at nights from the noise made by the crackling
of the joints of the cane in its growth in the field adjoining
his house.”
Rats are a great enemy of the cane, and their gnawings
cause much loss directly and indirectly on a large plantation.
If the rat would confine its attention to a particular stalk
until that was eaten and then attack others, the attention of
the planter would not be so much diverted to him, but they do
not so confine their attacks, and apparently nibble at several
before the appetite is satisfied. “Kansas” felt that it paid to
keep a Chinaman or two continually employed with a score of
rat terriers, who reported daily to the bookkeeper, showing the
tails of his captures each day. Cane thus rat-eaten does not
fall as a rule, but continues to grow. One-half of the stalk
would sour, from the admission of air where the rind or skin
was broken and the other half be sweet. To correct this acidity
at the mill required the use of lime, an over-use of which has
the effect of preventing proper crystallization and of convert-
ing grape sugar into glucose. Cane soured by the borer is sim-
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawau. 95
ilar to that which is rat-eaten, and the expense of frequently
stripping the older leaves at the base is very great.
Some planters argued that it were cheaper to stand the loss
from the action of the borer than to pursue expensive strip-
ping. Such a line of conduct can only result in giving the
borer the opportunity to multiply immeasurably, and would
not only be injurious to any particular plantation, but also to
those in the vicinity. It is the same principle on which mu-
nicipal governments demand of all inhabitants a cleanliness
in their surroundings for sanitary reasons. The good agricul-
turist will not only keep his fields free from weeds, but will
also persevere in his endeavors to exterminate such pests of
insect or animal life as militate against the welfare of his
crops for his own sake,
Different planters have varied opinions in regard to the de-
tails of cultivation of cane. One for instance, whose lands
were under irrigation, insisted that it was unnecessary to
plow the whole land and that to trench across the plain merely
where the cane was to be planted was sufficient. He held that
such procedure involved the use of less water, holding that
disturbed soil would by capillary attraction absorb more water.
He was unacquainted with the action of the air and its benefi-
cent effect on plant life. The skin formed on lands, during
non-use, largely prevents the circulation of the life-giving air
to the rootlets, which aids much in causing the fermentation
necessary for the production of plant-food found in the soil.
In studying animal economy it is discovered that the animal
is merely different from the plant in that its rootlets (the vill
of the intestines) are on the inside instead of outside. That the
food masticated, digested, and converted into life-sustaining
matter must by fermentation (which is life forming) be in a
proper state for absorption, or such absorption by the villi will
be abortive. Should the food which is taken into the animal
system be mixed with certain chemicals, salicylic acid for
instance, which is destructive to the animalculae produced dur-
ing fermentation, no benefit will accrue to the animal.
The whole theory of life is that one life lives on another.
In plant life it is similar, and the food to be properly digested
or assimilated must be in the right stage. The action of air
and water on soils has the peculiar tendency of promoting
the very life-giving food upon which the plant depends. To
contend, therefore, that the prevention of the underground cir-
904 The Master Planter.
culation of the air is as beneficial as the promotion of such
circulation, betrays an ignorance unaccountable in the farmer
of the nineteenth century.
Our agricultural colleges teach these matters, and farmers’
sons on returning from school find their parents practicing
them, although unable to give reasons for such methods,
farther than “custom has shown it to be the most advantag-
eous.” Lazy, or pseudo-economical farmers, who know that
nature’s laws require that land must lie idle at least one year in
seven, who fail to plow up such land prior to giving it the
requisite rest, never realize the crops that the intelligent cul-
tivator does.
Some fearful mistakes have been made by parvenu, or par-
ties who have acquired large capital in other walks in life, who
have gone into sugar culture and attempted to direct the culti-
vation their way. However, they received their lessons, and
with burnt fingers have retired. There is probably no business
wherein the losses occasioned by mistakes or ignorance are
greater than that of sugar culture, and few agricultural pur-
suits which reward the educated farmer to the extent that it
does. To know the nature of this grass, for it belongs to
the grass family, the soil best adapted to the different varie-
ties of it, to properly cultivate and nurse the soil by adding
its complement, manure and fertilizer, and finally to preserve
the whole juice of the plant in its crystallized form and then
to obtain the highest market price for the product, might
well engage the study of the thoughtful man. Every boor is
not cut out for a planter, although many have made miserable
attempts.
Probably in no part of the tropical world has so much scien-
tific study been given to sugar as in the Hawaiian Islands, and
the success attained has warranted the time and expense de-
voted to it. Cane grows well at all elevations below 2000 feet,
but at the higher altitudes it takes longer to bring to maturity.
The raising of sugar has been conducive to making landings
on precipitous coasts where in former days it was not thought
to be practicable to land, and therefore has done much toward
developing the whole islands.
CHAPT ERY AX
THE NEW MANAGER MAKES INNOVATIONS THAT STARTLE THE
“SILURIANS.”
UR hero methodically and systematically arranged the
gangs of men under the different lunas or overseers,
each luna knowing the previous evening what his par-
ticular line of work was to be on the following day. By this
system no time was lost. He also found it economical to
carry the men on carts to the fields when working at a dis-
tance, rather than have them straggling along to the place of
work, arriving more or less tired. He became acquainted with
each man in his employ, and they all knew that he was in-
terested in them and their families. It paid in other ways than
pecuniarily to be acquainted with them. His wife visited the
quarters. and encouraged the wives in many little ways in
which a whole-hearted woman can well do, and they grew
to love her. A little care in regard to the homes of the men
returned fourfold the expense put out on them. Instead of the
long series of rooms, separated by rough board partitions,
w here no privacy could be had and which “could never be made
to feel like home, there soon grew up little villages of cheap
homes. Soon each of these cottages had its little garden, for
which seed was freely provided. Tn after pages we will show
a further improvement in these homes,
Fruits grow very freely in the tropics where any shelter
can be obtained. The papaia, one of the most healthful of
the tropical fruits, produces luxuriously, and within one year
from planting the seed the gardener may expect a crop, and
one which will be continuous for some years to come. When
the fruit has reached its growth, and just before ripening, it
makes one of the most wholesome vegetables. When ripe, its
daily use contributes towards digestion, and is very much
sought after by those who know its value. On the sheltered
side of house or high stone walls it produces the best results.
Chickens and pigs are very fond of it, and it is very fatten-
96 The Master Planter; or
ing to the latter, while its seed appears to cause the former to
lay eggs abundantly. Its cultivation has been neglected, but
on this plantation each laborer had a few trees in his little garden.
The Chinese are great consumers of vegetables, and were
delighted at having a little patch of garden given them wherein
they could raise their greens, melons, cucumbers, squash, etc.
Without water it was difficult to do much, but they readily
accustomed themselves to the climate and such as proved best
were cultivated. There was nothing on the ranch that “Kan-
sas” thought beneath him, and that he did not try to improve.
It had a fine herd of cattle, but like other places, the singular
anomaly existed that milk and butter were scarce on the
planter’s table. He speedily rectified this, and in a few months
his agents were selling Makawao butter at fifty cents a pound.
Also, every family had a quart of milk delivered at its door.
This was a small affair compared to the innumerable herd of
hand-fed calves he was raising for work cattle and for beef.
One of the treats to a visitor was to be taken to the milking
paddock and see the breaking in of cows which had never
been hand-milked, and the feeding of the calves. The natives
made very good dairymen, and after being instructed by
“Kansas” as to the manner in which he wished the stock to
be cared for, were able to conduct this part of the estate
without much direct supervision. When a cow was to be
milked, she found it was useless to make any objections. The
native would fasten her head securely and then, having pushed
her up against a wall, he would thrust his head into her side,
and then resistance was useless on her part. In two or three
days the most obstreperous animal would submit willingly to
be milked. The calves were kept in a field apart from their
mothers, and when the cow was milked as much as was con-
sidered sufficient the milker would call the name of the calf,
and to note how quickly “Pain-Killer,’ “Nigger,” “Puakea,”
“Rose,” or whatever its appellation was, would separate itself
from the herd of calves and come to the gate, was surprising
and instructive. The facility with which calves learned the
names given them was always as much of a marvel as the
ingenuity of the natives in naming them. These names stuck
to them: through life, and a tourist would be amused to note a
team of three yoke of cattle denominated, perhaps “Abraham”
and “Lincoln” and “Nigger” or “Puakea” and “Rose” and “Mo-
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 97
lasses,” until the combinations could but arouse the risibilities of
the observer.
Plowing by means of cattle was not to “Kansas’s’” liking,
and he was the first on the islands to change the system to
horse and mule work, firstly because the latter were so much
easier fed, and secondly because the latter were so much more
tractable and quicker in the work. Still all these changes
took time, and eventually both cattle and horses were dis-
pensed with, except in parts where it was most convenient to
use horses,
He established a nursery shortly after taking charge, and
from this was enabled to set out thousands of trees along the
miles of stone fences. These soon began to attract attention,
some old silurians predicting that he would bring the planta-
tion to grief through the amount of money and time spent on
tree-planting. The little church, the school house, the neat
laborers’ cottages, all kept well whitewashed, presented from
a distance a beautiful picture against the green slope whereon
the plantation was situated.
During his management he took the different overseers into
his confidence, and in a nice way inculcated ideas in the mat-
ter of handling men. All the laborers were under contract and
their work was compulsory to a degree, but he tried to eliminate
any show of force and would have his officers lead rather than
coerce them. This contract system had arisen under the laws
regulating the whaling business, which were no doubt very ap-
plicable to the merchant marine, but “Kansas” felt that it was
not quite the thing for agricultural service.
Theoretically it is right that men should fulfill their agree-
ments when they go into them voluntarily, and civilly we compel
men to do so under penalty of pecuniary loss or sometimes by in-
junctions of court. Still, there was in this system much _ that
smacked of slavery, and gave critics of the system a handle for
condemning the products of the islands on account of their being
produced under it. Sometimes the “shipping” was not wholly
volunteer and coercion was used to make men “ship” or renew
their articles of agreement. And again the very character of the
natives was such that they lived without any foresight, and when
difficulties overtook them they did not hesitate to “ship” for a
long term to get an advance to assist a relative or friend—and
the nos was seldom benefited by the sum of money he ob-
tained.
CHARMER 5201
TREATING OF THE ONE-TIME CONTRACT LABOR CONDITIONS ON
THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS.
O our hero the contract which he signed had been, as it was
to many others, merely an imaginary line, as we speak
of the equator, and which in no way interfered with his
liberties. It did, however, bring him within the class dominated
“contracted men,” and amongst the free mechanics he was looked
down upon; although “Kansas” had not felt the weight of his
“contract” in any manner, farther than the possession of a feel-
ing that he was legally bound and could not wriggle out from
under it if he was so inclined. As a matter of fact it was to
him, and to 95/100 of the men, and women too, an imaginary
line which bounded his liberties. To those who entered into the
contract without compulsion, either moral or physical, it was no
mental burden.
The native population, knowing they always had the dernier
ressort of “shipping,” as signing a contract was called, when they
got into difficulties flew to the sugar planter for an “advance” to
pay off some pressing debt, or the burial expenses of a relative
or friend. This was the planter’s opportunity, and he invariably
secured himself by taking an acknowledged obligation that the
party would agree to work a certain length of time at a definite
rate. The majority of planters treated their men well, and
seldom had occasion to quote to them the penalty prescribed by
law in cases where there was a refusal to perform duty.
Planters, however, are human, and amongst them and their
overseers there was a variety. Some parvenu would “ride at
every opportunity,” as the boys say, i. e., he would seldom miss
the chance of nagging his men and telling them what he would
do with them in case they were not on hand in the morning, or
if the slightest lapse from the full quota of their duties was dis-
cernible. Planters frequently put men in as lunas, or overseers,
who had been sailors, and of all the men to “ride,” a man who
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawaii. 99
has been before the mast for years and whose head has daily been
shampooed with a belaying pin in the hands of a brutal mate,
such a one will take the prize.
The native is a good-natured, willing and apt laborer, and a
man of a very forgiving or forgetting disposition. Rarely one
is found who is revengeful or malicious. Constant nagging will
even spoil such dispositions. Frequently on plantations, when
a man was haled to court and inquiry made into the cause of thé
desertion of labor, it developed that the perpetual “driving” of
the luna had resulted in the man becoming uninterested in his
work, and a temptation offering, he had failed to put in an ap-
pearance in the morning. In the first instance the judge would
remand the culprit to his work, (costs payable by the delinquent).
On a repetition of the offense the penalty would be a fine of five
dollars, in either instance the culprit to be imprisoned until such
times as he was willing to obey. In a third repetition the fine
would be ten dollars.
A local resident could not contract for a longer term than
five years, but a contract made abroad could be made for ten
years, to date from the day of his arrival in the country. On
the death of the employer, the contract was cancelled by opera-
tion of law, but this was avoided by the employer having a part-
ner (real or fictitious), in which case the contract was not af-
fected by the death. Many plantations kept stores, and, while
making a profit on goods furnished to laborers, managed to keep
them in debt, and at the end of one contract a man would be in-
duced to “ship” again to get an advance to square the debt. By
this process the continuance of the contract would be interminable.
Frequently a native would contract to get the means to buy
a horse, and the uncontrollable desire to possess a horse and
gratify his desire for riding would entail many years of servi-
tude. Planters, like the rest of humanity, were not all martinets,
and generally speaking were kind to their men.
Occasionally a planter would forget himself so far as to ex-
pose his innate contemptible disposition by an act or language
which brought obloquy on the whole contract system. One,
for instance, who was enraged at a Norweigian contract laborer,
for some infraction of duty, peremptorily ordered him “to roll a
large rock up a hill and down again” until it pleased the planter
to order him to desist.
This exhibition of power over a man had a far-reaching influ-
100 The Master Planter; or
ence in bringing the whole system into disrepute. White men
did not like to work on a plantation where they would be even
suspected of being “shipped.” Our hero knew that he was de-
spised by men inferior to him in education, the only standard he
would use in gauging men, and whose private lives were far
from being such as should be held up as ideals for the young to
follow. Probably had they known his intention in assuming the
“yoke of servitude” they might have been more tolerant, but to
him it had been a mere incident. He and his employer had been
on sociable terms almost from his initiation, and he had often been
consulted by him on matters pertaining to cultivation and to the
best adapted form of agricultural implements.
“Slaves will talk,” is an old Roman saying, and is as true in
modern times. The different plantations were canvassed by the
mechanics at the meal hours, and the rumors of their respective
good or ill-management was discussed. Some of the men had
worked on other plantations, and depicted the miserable quarters
provided for the laborers, some holding that the work cattle and
mules had better quarters. The houses were mere shells, shelters
from the sun, wind and rain, put up without the slightest regard
for sanitation or privacy. Naturally, men could never be brought
to look on them as homes or take an interest in improving their
surroundings.
Our hero found that a slight outlay for cheap, pretty wall paper
was much appreciated. That a little investment in climbing vine
seeds soon spoke for itself in the manner in which outhouses
were covered. Natives and Chinese alike vied with each other in
making pretty arches and ornamentations for their verandas.
The native women, proverbially noted for their love of flowers,
were easily induced to plant little parterres of phlox, carnations,
crocus, tuberose, fuchsias, and others for which the elevation
and climate were admirably adapted. He showed them many
little tricks in gardening, and their appreciation of such interest
in them was shown by their adapting tubs and cans of infinite
variety as flower pots wherein little palms and vines garnished
their homes within and without. Some natives who had been ac-
quainted with the woods brought therefrom peculiar ferns and
rare vines which had never been cultivated in the gardens of the
rich.
To recite the numerous minor and greater improvements which
he instituted would take more space than necessary. Many of
Life in the Cane Fields of Hawa. 101
them were subjects of comment by his neighbors, and the factors
in Honolulu were kept duly posted of “infringements” on what
they considered the correct method of managing such an estate.
The owner in the East was written to, and many times he was on
the point of writing and insisting on a resumption of the former
pseudo-economical management, but his wife intervened and re-
minded him of his obligation to “Kansas” and of his perfect
confidence in him when on Maui. As yet he had not assailed the
mill, but he purposed putting in such labor-saving machinery as
would be up-to-date in economy as he considered necessary.
Finally he wrote the owner of his intentions, and the reasons
therefor, and received a prompt reply ‘“‘to touch nothing in the
mill, as it pleased the owner to carry that as it had been.” Now
our hero felt that he had run against a stone wall, and he must
wade through another grinding season and see at least a third
of his crop go up the chimney or into the molasses drain, or be
lost through lack of complete expressing. It was a very sad state
of affairs, and he felt peculiarly handicapped as he could not, by
the appliances they had, make a showing of what his ingenuity
had done in the way of better cultivation, etc. He itched to be
the owner and have unlimited capital to do with as his experience
warranted.
CHAPTER XXTI
OUR HERO HAS A NAME AT LAST—AND AN OLD-TIME FRIEND AP-
PEARS WITH ABUNDANT CAPITAL.
HE new manager retired to his office evening by evening
and planned the work of this estate, and was gradually
getting every part of it into producing as it should; and
now he must stop building castles in the air and, metaphorically,
put a ball and chain on his leg.
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