After supper we sat by candlelight in the parlour, and
he showed me his photograph album. At eight he took a large Bible,
put on glasses, and read a chapter in Hawaiian; after which he knelt
and prayed with profound reverence of manner and tone. Towards the
end I recognized the Hawaiian words for "Our Father." {148} Here in
Waipio there is something pathetic in the idea of this Fatherhood,
which is wider than the ties of kin and race. Even here not one is
a stranger, an alien, a foreigner! And this man, so civilized and
Christianized, only now in middle life, was, he said, "a big boy
when the first teachers came," and may very likely have witnessed
horrors in the heiau, or temple, close by, of which little is left
now.
This bedroom is thoroughly comfortable. Kaluna wanted to sleep on
the lounge here, probably because he is afraid of akuas, or spirits,
but we have exiled him to a blanket on the parlour lounge.
I.L.B.
LETTER X.--(continued.)
We were thoroughly rested this morning, and very glad of a fine day
for a visit to the great cascade which is rarely seen by foreigners.
My mule was slightly galled with the girth, and having a strong
fellow feeling with Elisha's servant, "Alas, master, for it was
borrowed!" I have bought for $20 a pretty, light, half-broken bay
mare, which I rode to-day and liked much.
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