Our Little Hawaiian CousinWade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
General
Our Little Hawaiian Cousin
Wade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
Children -- Hawaii --Juvenile literature; Hawaii -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile literature
Auwae and Upa hold each other's hands tightly and do not speak. Surely
this is a wonderful sight. They will not forget it as long as they live.
They are so tired, however, that they are soon fast asleep in "white
people's beds," as they call them. They do not awake till the sun has
driven away the clouds which hang about the place in the early hours of
morning. Upa's father has already eaten breakfast and attended to his
business with the landlord.
He tells the children that horses are at the door to carry them down
into the crater; for they have begged him to let them see everything
possible.
What a ride this is down the rough, jagged side of the pit! The horses
pick their way step by step over the sharp broken lava. But even here
beautiful things are growing. There are delicate ferns, silvery grasses,
pink, white, and brilliant blue berries. It seems as though Mother
Nature wished to hide the frightful masses of black and gray lava.
Now the air gets very hot; steam and sulphur pour through great cracks
in the floor of the crater; the lava itself will burn if Auwae dares to
touch it with her fingers.
The floor of the crater, looking quite even from above, is broken up
into hills and valleys, immense ridges and rivers of lava which have
poured forth, one above the other, at different times.
After two hours of hard riding and walking, Auwae and Upa reach the lake
of living fire and look down, down, into its depths. But they cannot see
the bottom. Each throws in a garland of flowers as an offering to the
goddess Pele. They know she does not exist, but it is an old, old custom
of the people, and they have not quite grown out of the idea that it is
safest to do so.
For, look at the flames leaping up at this very moment! "People _may_ be
mistaken," thinks Auwae, "and the goddess may get angry if we are not
polite, and suddenly drown us in fire!"
It is dinner-time before the party get back to the hotel. They are
willing to rest all the afternoon under the tree-ferns near the house.
They lazily pick the ohele berries growing about them, as they tell the
village news to the landlord's family.
On the evening of the third day our little brown maiden finds herself
safe at home once more. She is very well, but quite lame and sore from
her long ride. Her mother says she shall have a lomi-lomi, and she will
feel all right again.
Auwae stretches herself out on a mat while an old woman of the village
pinches and pounds and kneads every part of her dear little body. Do you
suppose it hurts? Just try it yourself the first time you have a chance,
and when it is over see if you do not feel as limber and care-free as
Auwae does.
She dances about under the trees, and exclaims: "Oh, how nice it is to
be alive! What a lovely home I have! But I'm glad I've been to Kilauea,
though I would not like to live there."
At this moment she sees her father coming down the path to the house.
He was away when she got home, and she runs to welcome him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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