In This Way, Quite A Colony
Of Them Had Become Settled At San Diego, As Their Headquarters.
Some Of These Had Recently Gone Off In The Ayacucho And Loriotte,
And The Pilgrim Had Taken Mr. Mannini And Three Others, So That
There Were Not More Than Twenty Left.
Of these, four were on pay
at the Ayacucho's house, four more working with us, and the rest
were living at the oven in a quiet way; for their money was nearly
gone, and they must make it last until some other vessel came down
to employ them.
During the four months that I lived here, I got well acquainted
with all of them, and took the greatest pains to become familiar
with their language, habits, and characters. Their language,
I could only learn, orally, for they had not any books among them,
though many of them had been taught to read and write by the
missionaries at home. They spoke a little English, and by a sort
of compromise, a mixed language was used on the beach, which could be
understood by all. The long name of Sandwich Islanders is dropped,
and they are called by the whites, all over the Pacific ocean,
"Kanákas," from a word in their own language which they apply to
themselves, and to all South Sea Islanders, in distinction from
whites, whom they call "Haole." This name, "Kanaka," they answer to,
both collectively and individually. Their proper names, in their
own language, being difficult to pronounce and remember, they are
called by any names which the captains or crews may choose to
give them. Some are called after the vessel they are in; others
by common names, as Jack, Tom, Bill; and some have fancy names,
as Ban-yan, Fore-top, Rope-yarn, Pelican, etc., etc. Of the four
who worked at our house one was named "Mr. Bingham," after the
missionary at Oahu; another, Hope, after a vessel that he had been
in; a third, Tom Davis, the name of his first captain; and the fourth,
Pelican, from his fancied resemblance to that bird. Then there was
Lagoda-Jack, California-Bill, etc., etc. But by whatever names
they might be called, they were the most interesting, intelligent,
and kind-hearted people that I ever fell in with. I felt a positive
attachment for almost all of them; and many of them I have, to this
time, a feeling for, which would lead me to go a great way for the
mere pleasure of seeing them, and which will always make me feel a
strong interest in the mere name of a Sandwich Islander.
Tom Davis knew how to read, write, and cipher in common arithmetic;
had been to the United States, and spoke English quite well.
His education was as good as that of three-quarters of the Yankees
in California, and his manners and principles a good deal better,
and he was so quick of apprehension that he might have been taught
navigation, and the elements of many of the sciences, with the most
perfect ease.
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