EFFECTS OF SORCERY. 197 pule anana, prayer of sorcery, some other incantation of a similar kind, or into the equally insidious influence of secret poison. Of the power of this superstition we had a proof in a native of our own household. A thief was put to flight from our yard one day while we were at dinner; this lad joined in the chase, and seized the culprit, but lost his hold by the tearing of his kihei, or outer garment. The thief was greatly exasperated; and immediately engaged a sorcerer to pray the boy to death. Information of this reached the lad in the course of the afternoon; and we soon perceived him to be troubled by the intelligence, though he attempted with us to ridicule the superstition. 66 We The next morning he did not make his appearance with the other boys: and upon inquiry from them, they said he was sick. We asked the nature of his sickness; to which they replied " mai no i ka pule anana paha”—that he was sick from the prayer of sorcery perhaps.' found him lying in one corner of his house, pale with fear, and trembling like an aspen leaf, and discovered that he had not slept during the night we were satisfied that the whole arose from terror; and compelled him, notwithstanding his declarations that he was too sick, to come from his retreat-diverted his mind-set him at work-and before noon he was as full of life and spirits as ever-laughed at his fears, and began to defy the power of the pule anana! The whole race are subject, from ignorance and superstition, to a bondage of terror. Not only do the eclipse and the earthquake-the burstings of a thunderbolt, and the eruptions of a volcano-fill them with apprehension and dismay; but to them, the darkness of the night is the covert of demons going about, "seeking whom they may devour;" and the least unusual sound that breaks upon its silence, is interpreted into the prowlings of spirits ready to destroy. As the wind has sighed through the tops of the cocoanut tree in the silence of the night, or the sounds of the surf, breaking on the reef, have bellowed along the shore, I have seen fears gathering on the faces of the natives of our household, while with troubled and inquisitive look, 198 RECOLLECTIONS OF HOME. and half suppressed breath, they have exclaimed, "He akua!—He akua aore maitai!”—“a god—an evil god!" -and the simple and plaintive notes of an Eolian harp, fixed in a window of the Mission House at Oahu, had such an effect on the mind of an islander belonging to the establishment—although the cause of the sounds had been explained to him—that it was necessary to remove the instrument, because he could not sleep! CHAPTER XI. RECOLLECTIONS OF HOME. There has and my Mission House, Lahaina, March 1, 1824. not been a period, my dear M- since H self left America, when the privilege of writing to those we love-of making known to them the particulars of our situation, and of imparting the thoughts and feelings of our hearts-has appeared more precious than the present, when, from the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Richards, at Oahu, we are left entirely alone on one of the specks of desolation that constitute this solitary group. The want of all society, except that of our own little family, predisposes in an unusual degree to frequent recollections of home: and we have never perhaps thought more, spoken more, and felt more, concerning yourself and family, and the many other objects of our warm remembrance, than at the passing time. The weather, too, to-day, is of a character to recall to our minds scenes in which we have often had a part, when a gloomy sky and driving storm have shut us within the walls of our houses; and by interrupting the ordinary engagements without doors, have made us, in an especial manner, dependent on the family circle and fireside, for our pleasure and amusement. Indeed, the present aspect of every thing without, is one principal reason why I have taken up my pen; it is so totally different from all we have witnessed, except in one or two instances, since we arrived at the Islands, that it is more worthy of notice than any thing that is just now taking place. Instead of my own language, however, I will make use TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER. 199 of a few lines from a "Sea Sketch," which occurs to my mind. They are highly descriptive of the actual state of things around us, and will convey, I think, a correct and lively image of the scene,— -"Dark and portentous clouds o'erhang the sea, The wild waves curl their bleak and foamy heads-- We have before us the reality of every image here presented; and none in more conspicuous and beautiful exhibition, than "the vessel" on the " surgy tide," with "bellied sails," against the "opposing blast." The young prince is slightly indisposed, and, notwithstanding the violence of the storm, a schooner has been despatched for the chiefs at Oahu, and is plunging her way through the channel under a press of sail that buries her almost in every wave she meets. Monday, March S. Mr. and Mrs. Richards returned from Oahu, in the Haaheo o Hawaii, on Saturday morning. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop came with them. They have been passing the winter at Tauai, with Mr. Whitney; and sailed this morning for Hawaii, as permanent associates of Mr. and Mrs. Thurston at Kairua, the principal town of the island, and the residence of the governor. Karaimoku and Kaahumanu, who are the regents of the Islands, in the absence of the king, despatched the barge to the windward, expressly for the purpose of returning Mr. and Mrs. Richards to Lahaina, and of carrying Mr. and Mrs. Bishop to their station at Hawaii. A mark of kindness sufficiently indicative of their good will to the Mission. Until the present time, the hymns used in the native worship have been in manuscript. An edition is now printed, and Mr. Richards has brought a quantity for distribution at Lahaina. The knowledge of their arrival has 200 SITUATION IN A STORM. spread rapidly through the settlement, and our houses are thronged with eager applicants for them. The richest treasure could scarce be received with greater enthusiasm than these, "himeni paiia,"-stamped hymns, as they are called. March 13. Late at night. The tempestuous cha racter of this month is as marked here, as in most other parts of the world, notwithstanding the general and almost uninterrupted serenity of the rest of the year. I am now writing in the midst of one of the most violent storms I ever witnessed. For the first time since our residence on the Islands, the "artillery of haven" is playing so near our dwellings, as to turn the admiration we have felt in its more distant peals, into momentary terror. An incessant glare of lightning breaks through the chinks of our door and windows, and the various loop-holes of our house, while the wind and rain rush upon us from every part of the roof and sides, and threaten our hut with instant destruction. The water, to the depth of a foot, is running in a rapid current through B- -'s room, forming a small wing to ours, and Mr. Richard's house is entirely overflowed. The raging of the tempest as it rushes from the ocean, the tumult of the waters, the thundering of the surf on the reef, and its heavy lashings along the shore, the wrenching, bending, and cracking of our huts, as the gale sweeps over and around them, make a total of circumstances, that would present rather a gloomy picture to our friends, who have known the desolating storm only by the sound as it "howl'd o'er their steady battlements." We are seeking a partial refuge from the rain under our umbrellas; and H has been sitting for hours with C————— in her arms-watching the motion of the rafters in the contentions of the wind-ready to make an escape with him from the ruins of our cabin. March 18. Our friend Hoapiri, in a call after dinner to-day, told us that some of his men who had just come from the mountains, reported a ship in the Morokai channel. Feeling disposed for a ramble, I took the glass, and proceeded up the mountain two or three miles, to ascertain in what direction the vessel, said to be in sight, was pro INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICA. 201 ceeding. I soon descried the sail, and perceived it to be the native brig Waverley. Finding myself in the vicinity of a couple of lofty mounds, that form a prominent feature in the scenery to the north of Lahaina, I extended my walk to them. They form the opposite sides of an ancient crater, still bearing strong marks of the action of fire, though the bottom is covered with grass. On the top of the highest elevation, there is an irregular enclosure, with a number of large conical heaps of stone at the corners and along the sides. From its situation and general appearance, I judged it to be the ruins of an hei-au; in which impression I was soon afterwards confirmed by the melancholy evidence of several skulls, and various bones of the human body, but partially buried beneath the fragments of lava with which the area was covered. In returning, after descending a precipice of fifty or sixty feet, I followed the windings of a deep and romantic glen-scarce a hundred yards wide-filled with taro, sugar cane, and bananas; and through which the largest mountain stream, that waters the plantations of Lahaina, makes its rapid course. Both sides were overhung by monstrous ledges of black rock; in many clefts of which, whole families were living without any defence from the weather, by night or by day, but such as nature had provided. Before I reached home, the Waverley had come to an anchor. Shortly after, Captain Smith and Mr. Dana, of Honoruru-who have chartered the brig for a voyage to the Society Islands and New Zealand, called on us; and, much to our joy, put into our hands a large packet of letters and papers from America. They were brought by the Parthian, Captain Rogers, of Boston, arrived within a few days at Oahu. You may judge of the interest with which they were received, from the fact that the tea table, at which we were just taking our seats when the gentlemen entered, was standing in statu quo till after ten o'clock. Disease and death, it appears, are still carrying on their work of destruction among those we have known; and dispensations, which with the most touching eloquence say to the lover of the world, "Turn ye, turn ye at my reproof," |
