Nuhou, Volume II, Number 13, 9 September 1873 — Lanai [ARTICLE]

Lanai

' "• • .aj be ā iaore iaterestiDg tbeme to ub than to t:nyboāy elee, ae we are, when at home there s of all we survey; etill, for all that, wemuet be pardoned at this time fbr a mention of the >iand, as we have been epending two weeks there, and don't know what else to write about; and r artbermore, notwithBtandmg our interest in its .011, it is still, we believe, one of the Sandwich lfilapds, and has some things within its borders ,nd oq its shores that ought to eommenā itto the ntereet of thc ecientlet 3 if not the speeuMoi\ Being honored by a visit of the Oommissioner "of France and hie lady, we liied home m order to assist in rendering more available the poor hospita!ities of the island. We ktnded from the Kilauea in Maalaea Bav on t.he morning of the 19th of August 5 at 3 P. M. Our hostess, who had been watchlng on the hills for the eteamer, wae at the beach to reeeive us at ihat early hour, and lead us to a cottage by the situated on the brink of a bluflT, or longgea wall that overlooke tW bay, and though some feet high, yet when the Kona etorm sends ite buge billows to strike againBt the , base of' this it often sei!ds its spray into the cottāge loor. This is a fishing and bathiag resort, and here our visitors were pleased tb spend a day, . ud to eamp for a niglit, as the weather was •;Mld, and afforded a pleagant profepeet for fishing» . We are not anglers,'hpt inelineel to fish, unless "r would be for men. But we took pleasure on ■his oeeasion to note what tast treasures are in the aiid so \yorthy of ōur afctention. On *?hij? rocky•' eodst ; : ".6f Lanai, whieh is lined with ivcs, and ponds, and gulfs, and little straits of -.•u. where the tide is ever Burging and breaking . }il pouring over erests in easeadcs, and bufieting and out of the hollow ehambers of the eoral '. 4iore,"you -ean seo anywhere in the fretted yet lueid brine s\varms of the sel<u'odermes or hard -kinned ānd pavty colored fish of tropie seas. The beauty in our sea caves js more wonderful han that of our mountain groves. Just glanee u the aniholoa with its transverse bars of red and white on the tail, anil then a body of the loveliest tzure, a perleet trieolor, the banner of Franee, ind won from the sea by her standard bearer in *hese isles> But the a-awa with its pale gold and pink sides and delicate emerald back, now elaims •<ur attention for the palm of beauty ; but we are laz?iled by the and purple tints of the <.m(pialuīthe and. -golden seale of the with the jet £tndgold of ihehumukumu, and then beaides With the sparkle and glitter of other jeauiiful balist& that are not to tempted oup , f the«ea with our bait of erab, or !impet, or eeL And now a few words about the eels, or puhjs our ehores. We have some fbur or five speiēs, and one ls a terrible fellow y , a gmyieh, nottled, wide jawed, Bhort, thiek, voracioue, lamprey, and exaet|y like the mura?na whieh were rhe deiight of the #pieures of old Imperial Rome v Our lamprey, like that of the Mēdlterranean, is fbtmd in rocky shoals, and io the eoral ponds isoLated by the low ti<je. lle m a tshort ? thiekj eea -nāke, mā like his Kuuopeau congeuer, vers often ī)affies āll the eBbrts of the fisherman, he will >wallow the hook and bite the line in two; he > ! - * v3ll foree himse]f out of a net; and if you have z<)t him with a stout hv.K>k mā line, you muet r dv hinfTv> pieees hefore you e,ui drag hiin out of he hole in the roeks in whieh he has *et and himself, Hur (K\Msionally he i* found w;»y li\uu his r vky fn*tness and then aur Ila-

waiian neplune has a ehanee at t!m wlt!i !jJs| trident, and he eeldom misses Btroke. ' i Thie dangeroue eel, the puhipako, inspiro* Koiue , terrdt among H&waiians, He will take off* a toe or stiap a pieee out of an expose(l naked foot> if he gets a ehanee, We onee saw him reach forth bis hlideous head from nnderneath a rook and blfe at a !adj'e naked foot as she stepping ovcr the roek, bnt fortunately hia motjon« are vcry elowVand in this inBtance, a shout and a blow of a eane dieappoiDted him of hld montbful. Wbere he is found no erahs or are to be wen in tbe pool near by. He ctevoure everjthing, and like hh aneīent kinsman the murīena, will devour raan if he gets a ehanee. Ah, what hideous reflectionB this awakene, ae we recall the stories of o!d Rome; the thon6ands of eel ponde or cisterns of Ca3aar, Lieiniue Crassue and Pollion, where tbe muroena were fed with condemned enniinale, or slaves tbat had committed no enme. We ean look into tbese square stone walled welle, and we see some foul remnant of a corpse afioa-t, and the horrid mura?na S(|uirming among entrails and devouring the heart or tearing the laet Testige of faee away ; but there is sometbing more fearful elill, a stout man pinioned and dragged to tbe brink of thc awful pit, and he is moaning and begging, but onlj for the inercy of being killed before being cast into this slough of liorrors ; but the gorgeous epicure who has ordered his fate ,believes that tbe appetite of his eels is beightened bj t|ie sfcruggles of a victim, and therefore bis fellow man is cast down alive, and his struggles attract to hiin the voracious munena who leavc the still corpse iu order to tear with their fangs tbeir living bait. And we look witli beart siekemng upon a fish that woukl tear us and feed 011 us alive, even like the carrion bird that out the eyes of the dying man on the battle field. > (Ho he eonliniieā.)