Nuhou, Volume I, Number 6, 9 December 1873 — The Dullness at Native Feasts [ARTICLE]

The Dullness at Native Feasts

Is noticed by all ft)reigners. It was obserYed at! the la;rge feast on the 2«th November. There • were perhaps or:e fchousand natives assembled to' do honor fco an imporfcanfc anniYersary ; and who! be it said to their credifc, passed fche day without! a sign of drunkennehs or dieorderly conduct, and' yefc with a surprising dullness. We say surprising; i these poople are Polynesians, and! evidenfcly more eonsfcifcuted fbr vivaci fcy and gaiety,! than for and refiecfcion. This exfcreme! dullness of Hawaiian public feasts t seems unnat-! urai. ,• It is true they eat very hearfcily; but simply squatfcing on a mat, and eating a bellyful of pork and poi, does nofc alfcogether >atisfy a Hawaiiao. He appears fco be so 6afcisfied whiist the foreigners arc around ; bufc give him a ehanee, or perhaps he takes a ehanee, and how he gives himsell up to licenfcious hula, whieh is somefching of a contrast to the ordinary respectable dullness of a fea«t. Whafc people ean leasfc, and not desire mpfcion, or emotion fco fo]low after? and kindred races need mueh more fcl|an we do; and they will have ifc, in a wiid savag9 fashion, if fchey cannofc gefc it in a fcasteful civilized way. It would have been well to haye Bome painsifcosubsfcifcufce our various graceful dances for tlie hula. The people who adopfced our clofching would have as readily adopted our amusements; bufc as amusement was taboo licenfciousnese had to steāl a ehanee fco satisfy nature. We tbink if feasts, were aecompanied by good music, and wound up by scorcs gay yoting couples trippjng gracefully on feativc boards, there would bc no more ifcch for fche hula, and there would not be; such infcolerable dulln9ss at native .W e b«lieve fchafc a good dancing scliool for the people woukl be bettcr tlinn a hospital for the preservation of the race.