Old "Mr. Bingham" Spoke Very Little English - Almost
None, And Neither Knew How To Read Nor Write; But He Was The
Best-Hearted Old Fellow In The World.
He must have been over fifty
years of age, and had two of his front teeth knocked out, which was
done by his parents as a sign of grief at the death of Kamehameha,
the great king of the Sandwich Islands.
We used to tell him that he
ate Captain Cook, and lost his teeth in that way. That was the only
thing that ever made him angry. He would always be quite excited
at that; and say - "Aole!" (no.) "Me no eat Captain Cook! Me
pikinini - small - so high - no more! My father see Captain Cook!
Me - no!" None of them liked to have anything said about Captain
Cook, for the sailors all believe that he was eaten, and that,
they cannot endure to be taunted with. - "New Zealand Kanaka eat
white man; - Sandwich Island Kanaka - no. Sandwich Island Kanaka
ua like pu na haole - all 'e same a' you!"
Mr. Bingham was a sort of patriarch among them, and was always
treated with great respect, though he had not the education and energy
which gave Mr. Mannini his power over them. I have spent hours in
talking with this old fellow about Kamehameha, the Charlemagne
of the Sandwich Islands; his son and successor Riho Riho, who died
in England, and was brought to Oahu in the frigate Blonde, Captain
Lord Byron, and whose funeral he remembered perfectly; and also
about the customs of his country in his boyhood, and the changes
which had been made by the missionaries. He never would allow that
human beings had been eaten there; and, indeed, it always seemed
like an insult to tell so affectionate, intelligent, and civilized
a class of men, that such barbarities had been practised in their
own country within the recollection of many of them. Certainly,
the history of no people on the globe can show anything like so
rapid an advance. I would have trusted my life and my fortune in
the hands of any one of these people; and certainly had I wished
for a favor or act of sacrifice, I would have gone to them all,
in turn, before I should have applied to one of my own countrymen
on the coast, and should have expected to have seen it done,
before my own countrymen had got half through counting the cost.
Their costumes, and manner of treating one another, show a simple,
primitive generosity, which is truly delightful; and which is often
a reproach to our own people. Whatever one has, they all have.
Money, food, clothes, they share with one another; even to the
last piece of tobacco to put in their pipes. I once heard old
Mr. Bingham say, with the highest indignation, to a Yankee trader
who was trying to persuade him to keep his money to himself - "No!
We no all 'e same a' you!
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 115 of 324
Words from 59509 to 60011
of 170236
