Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882; Sailors; Seafaring life; Voyages and travels
During the four months that I lived here, I got well acquainted
with all of them, and took the greatest pains to become familiar
with their language, habits, and characters. Their language I
could only learn orally, for they had not any books among them,
though many of them had been taught to read and write by the
missionaries at home. They spoke a little English, and, by a sort
of compromise, a mixed language was used on the beach, which could
be understood by all. The long name of Sandwich-Islanders is
dropped, and they are called by the whites, all over the Pacific
Ocean, ``Kanakas,'' from a word in their own language,--
signifying, I believe, man, human being,-- which they apply to
themselves, and to all South-Sea-Islanders, in distinction from
whites, whom they call ``Haole.'' This name, ``Kanaka,'' they
answer to, both collectively and individually. Their proper names
in their own language being difficult to pronounce and remember,
they are called by any names which the captains or crews may
choose to give them. Some are called after the vessel they are in;
others by our proper names, as Jack, Tom, Bill; and some have
fancy names, as Ban-yan, Fore-top, Rope-yarn, Pelican, &c., &c. Of
the four who worked at our house, one was named ``Mr. Bingham,''
after the missionary at Oahu; another, Hope, after a vessel that
he had been in; a third, Tom Davis, the name of his first captain;
and the fourth, Pelican, from his fancied resemblance to that
bird. Then there was Lagoda-Jack, California-Bill, &c., &c. But by
whatever names they might be called, they were the most
interesting, intelligent, and kind-hearted people that I ever fell
in with. I felt a positive attachment for almost all of them; and
many of them I have, to this day, a feeling for, which would lead
me to go a great way for the pleasure of seeing them, and which
will always make me feel a strong interest in the mere name of a
Sandwich-Islander.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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