A
majestic wahine with small, bare feet, a grand, swinging, deliberate
gait, hibiscus blossoms in her flowing hair, and a le of yellow
flowers falling over her holuku, marching through these streets, has
a tragic grandeur of appearance, which makes the diminutive, fair-
skinned haole, tottering along hesitatingly in high-heeled shoes,
look grotesque by comparison.
On Saturday, our kind host took Mrs. D. and myself to the market,
where we saw the natives in all their glory. The women, in squads
of a dozen at a time, their Pa-us streaming behind them, were
cantering up and down the streets, and men and women were thronging
into the market-place; a brilliant, laughing, joking crowd, their
jaunty hats trimmed with fresh flowers, and leis of the crimson ohia
and orange lauhala falling over their costumes, which were white,
green, black, scarlet, blue, and every other colour that can be dyed
or imagined. The market is a straggling, open space, with a number
of shabby stalls partially surrounding it, but really we could not
see the place for the people. There must have been 2000 there.
Some of the stalls were piled up with wonderful fish, crimson,
green, rose, blue, opaline--fish that have spent their lives in
coral groves under the warm, bright water.
Pages:
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331