I am probably the most sensitive man in Hawaii to-night—especially about sitting down in the presence of my betters. I have ridden fifteen or twenty miles on horse-back since 5 P.M. and to tell the honest truth, I have a delicacy1 about sitting down at all.
An excursion to Diamond Head and the King’s Coacoanut Grove2 was planned to-day—time, 4:30 P.M.—the party to consist of half a dozen gentlemen and three ladies. They all started at the appointed hour except myself. I was at the Government prison, (with Captain Fish and another whaleship- skipper, Captain Phillips,) and got so interested in its examination that I did not notice how quickly the time was passing. Somebody remarked that it was twenty minutes past five o’clock, and that woke me up. It was a fortunate circumstance that Captain Phillips was along with his “turn out,” as he calls a top-buggy that Captain Cook brought here in 1778, and a horse that was here when Captain Cook came. Captain Phillips takes a just pride in his driving and in the speed of his horse, and to his passion for displaying them I owe it that we were only sixteen minutes coming from the prison to the American Hotel—a distance which has been estimated to be over half a mile. But it took some fearful driving. The Captain’s whip came down fast, and the blows started so much dust out of the horse’s hide that during the last half of the journey we rode through an impenetrable fog, and ran by a pocket compass in the hands of Captain Fish, a whaler of twenty-six years experience, who sat there through the perilous3 voyage as self-possessed as if he had been on the euchre-deck of his own ship, and calmly said, “Port your helm—port,” from time to time, and “Hold her a little free—steady—so—so,” and “Luff—hard down to starboard!” and never once lost his presence of mind or betrayed the least anxiety by voice or manner. When we came to anchor at last, and Captain Phillips looked at his watch and said, “Sixteen minutes—I told you it was in her! that’s over three miles an hour!” I could see he felt entitled to a compliment, and so I said I had never seen lightning go like that horse. And I never had.
The landlord of the American said the party had been gone nearly an hour, but that he could give me my choice of several horses that could overtake them. I said, never mind—I preferred a safe horse to a fast one—I would like to have an excessively gentle horse—a horse with no spirit whatever—a lame4 one, if he had such a thing. Inside of five minutes I was mounted, and perfectly5 satisfied with my outfit6. I had no time to label him “This is a horse,” and so if the public took him for a sheep I cannot help it. I was satisfied, and that was the main thing. I could see that he had as many fine points as any man’s horse, and so I hung my hat on one of them, behind the saddle, and swabbed the perspiration7 from my face and started. I named him after this island, “Oahu” (pronounced O-waw-hee). The first gate he came to he started in; I had neither whip nor spur, and so I simply argued the case with him. He resisted argument, but ultimately yielded to insult and abuse. He backed out of that gate and steered8 for another one on the other side of the street. I triumphed by my former process. Within the next six hundred yards he crossed the street fourteen times and attempted thirteen gates, and in the meantime the tropical sun was beating down and threatening to cave the top of my head in, and I was literally10 dripping with perspiration. He abandoned the gate business after that and went along peaceably enough, but absorbed in meditation11. I noticed this latter circumstance, and it soon began to fill me with apprehension12. I said to my self, this creature is planning some new outrage13, some fresh deviltry or other—no horse ever thought over a subject so profoundly as this one is doing just for nothing. The more this thing preyed14 upon my mind the more uneasy I became, until the suspense15 became almost unbearable16 and I dismounted to see if there was anything wild in his eye—for I had heard that the eye of this noblest of our domestic animals is very expressive17.
I cannot describe what a load of anxiety was lifted from my mind when I found that he was only asleep. I woke him up and started him into a faster walk, and then the villainy of his nature came out again. He tried to climb over a stone wall, five or six feet high. I saw that I must apply force to this horse, and that I might as well begin first as last. I plucked a stout18 switch from a tamarind tree, and the moment he saw it, he surrendered. He broke into a convulsive sort of a canter, which had three short steps in it and one long one, and reminded me alternately of the clattering19 shake of the great earthquake, and the sweeping20 plunging21 of the Ajax in a storm.
And now there can be no fitter occasion than the present to pronounce a left-handed blessing22 upon the man who invented the American saddle. There is no seat to speak of about it—one might as well sit in a shovel- -and the stirrups are nothing but an ornamental23 nuisance. If I were to write down here all the abuse I expended24 on those stirrups, it would make a large book, even without pictures. Sometimes I got one foot so far through, that the stirrup partook of the nature of an anklet; sometimes both feet were through, and I was handcuffed by the legs; and sometimes my feet got clear out and left the stirrups wildly dangling25 about my shins. Even when I was in proper position and carefully balanced upon the balls of my feet, there was no comfort in it, on account of my nervous dread26 that they were going to slip one way or the other in a moment. But the subject is too exasperating27 to write about.
A mile and a half from town, I came to a grove of tall cocoanut trees, with clean, branchless stems reaching straight up sixty or seventy feet and topped with a spray of green foliage28 sheltering clusters of cocoa- nuts—not more picturesque29 than a forest of collossal ragged30 parasols, with bunches of magnified grapes under them, would be.
I once heard a gouty northern invalid31 say that a cocoanut tree might be poetical32, possibly it was; but it looked like a feather-duster struck by lightning. I think that describes it better than a picture—and yet, without any question, there is something fascinating about a cocoa-nut tree—and graceful33, too.
About a dozen cottages, some frame and the others of native grass, nestled sleepily in the shade here and there. The grass cabins are of a grayish color, are shaped much like our own cottages, only with higher and steeper roofs usually, and are made of some kind of weed strongly bound together in bundles. The roofs are very thick, and so are the walls; the latter have square holes in them for windows. At a little distance these cabins have a furry34 appearance, as if they might be made of bear skins. They are very cool and pleasant inside. The King’s flag was flying from the roof of one of the cottages, and His Majesty35 was probably within. He owns the whole concern thereabouts, and passes his time there frequently, on sultry days “laying off.” The spot is called “The King’s Grove.”
Near by is an interesting ruin—the meagre remains36 of an ancient heathen temple—a place where human sacrifices were offered up in those old bygone days when the simple child of nature, yielding momentarily to sin when sorely tempted9, acknowledged his error when calm reflection had shown it him, and came forward with noble frankness and offered up his grandmother as an atoning37 sacrifice—in those old days when the luckless sinner could keep on cleansing38 his conscience and achieving periodical happiness as long as his relations held out; long, long before the missionaries39 braved a thousand privations to come and make them permanently40 miserable41 by telling them how beautiful and how blissful a place heaven is, and how nearly impossible it is to get there; and showed the poor native how dreary42 a place perdition is and what unnecessarily liberal facilities there are for going to it; showed him how, in his ignorance he had gone and fooled away all his kinfolks to no purpose; showed him what rapture43 it is to work all day long for fifty cents to buy food for next day with, as compared with fishing for pastime and lolling in the shade through eternal Summer, and eating of the bounty44 that nobody labored45 to provide but Nature. How sad it is to think of the multitudes who have gone to their graves in this beautiful island and never knew there was a hell!
This ancient temple was built of rough blocks of lava46, and was simply a roofless inclosure a hundred and thirty feet long and seventy wide—nothing but naked walls, very thick, but not much higher than a man’s head. They will last for ages no doubt, if left unmolested. Its three altars and other sacred appurtenances have crumbled47 and passed away years ago. It is said that in the old times thousands of human beings were slaughtered48 here, in the presence of naked and howling savages49. If these mute stones could speak, what tales they could tell, what pictures they could describe, of fettered51 victims writhing52 under the knife; of massed forms straining forward out of the gloom, with ferocious53 faces lit up by the sacrificial fires; of the background of ghostly trees; of the dark pyramid of Diamond Head standing54 sentinel over the uncanny scene, and the peaceful moon looking down upon it through rifts55 in the cloud-rack!
When Kamehameha (pronounced Ka-may-ha-may-ah) the Great—who was a sort of a Napoleon in military genius and uniform success—invaded this island of Oahu three quarters of a century ago, and exterminated56 the army sent to oppose him, and took full and final possession of the country, he searched out the dead body of the King of Oahu, and those of the principal chiefs, and impaled57 their heads on the walls of this temple.
Those were savage50 times when this old slaughter-house was in its prime. The King and the chiefs ruled the common herd58 with a rod of iron; made them gather all the provisions the masters needed; build all the houses and temples; stand all the expenses, of whatever kind; take kicks and cuffs59 for thanks; drag out lives well flavored with misery60, and then suffer death for trifling61 offences or yield up their lives on the sacrificial altars to purchase favors from the gods for their hard rulers. The missionaries have clothed them, educated them, broken up the tyrannous authority of their chiefs, and given them freedom and the right to enjoy whatever their hands and brains produce with equal laws for all, and punishment for all alike who transgress62 them. The contrast is so strong—the benefit conferred upon this people by the missionaries is so prominent, so palpable and so unquestionable, that the frankest compliment I can pay them, and the best, is simply to point to the condition of the Sandwich Islanders of Captain Cook’s time, and their condition to-day.
Their work speaks for itself.
点击收听单词发音
1 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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2 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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3 perilous | |
adj.危险的,冒险的 | |
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4 lame | |
adj.跛的,(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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5 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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6 outfit | |
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
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7 perspiration | |
n.汗水;出汗 | |
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8 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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9 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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10 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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11 meditation | |
n.熟虑,(尤指宗教的)默想,沉思,(pl.)冥想录 | |
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12 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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13 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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14 preyed | |
v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 );掠食;折磨;(人)靠欺诈为生 | |
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15 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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16 unbearable | |
adj.不能容忍的;忍受不住的 | |
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17 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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19 clattering | |
发出咔哒声(clatter的现在分词形式) | |
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20 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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21 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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22 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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23 ornamental | |
adj.装饰的;作装饰用的;n.装饰品;观赏植物 | |
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24 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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25 dangling | |
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口 | |
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26 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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27 exasperating | |
adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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28 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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29 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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30 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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31 invalid | |
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的 | |
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32 poetical | |
adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
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33 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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34 furry | |
adj.毛皮的;似毛皮的;毛皮制的 | |
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35 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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36 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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37 atoning | |
v.补偿,赎(罪)( atone的现在分词 );补偿,弥补,赎回 | |
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38 cleansing | |
n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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39 missionaries | |
n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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40 permanently | |
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
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41 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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42 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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43 rapture | |
n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜 | |
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44 bounty | |
n.慷慨的赠予物,奖金;慷慨,大方;施与 | |
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45 labored | |
adj.吃力的,谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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46 lava | |
n.熔岩,火山岩 | |
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47 crumbled | |
(把…)弄碎, (使)碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 衰落; 坍塌; 损坏 | |
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48 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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50 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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51 fettered | |
v.给…上脚镣,束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 writhing | |
(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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53 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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54 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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55 rifts | |
n.裂缝( rift的名词复数 );裂隙;分裂;不和 | |
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56 exterminated | |
v.消灭,根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57 impaled | |
钉在尖桩上( impale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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59 cuffs | |
n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打,拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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60 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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61 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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62 transgress | |
vt.违反,逾越 | |
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