The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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It Is Said That This Valley Had 2000 Inhabitants
Forty Years Ago, But They Have Dwindled To 117.
The former estimate
is probably not an excessive one, for nearly the whole valley is
suitable for the culture of kalo, and a square mile of kalo will
feed 15,000 natives for a year.
Two women were shrimping in the river, the children were swimming to
school, blue smoke curled up into the still air, kalo was baking
among the stones, and a group of women sat sewing and making leis on
the ground. The Waimanu day had begun; and it was odd to think that
through the long summer years days dawned like this, and that the
people of the valley grew grey and old in shrimping and sewing and
kalo baking. All Waimanu shook hands with me, the kindly "Aloha"
filled the air, and the women threw garlands over us both. I could
hardly induce my host to accept a dollar and a half for my
entertainment. From the dizzy summit of the pali, where the sun was
high and hot, I looked my last on the dark, cool valley, slumbering
in an endless calm, the deepest, greenest, quaintest cleft on all
the island.
The sun was fierce and bright, the ocean had a metallic glint, the
hot breath of the kona was scorching. My hands, swollen from
mosquito bites, could not be stuffed into my gloves, and inflamed
under the sun, and my wet boots baked and stiffened on my feet.
Hananui plaited a crown of leaves for my hot head, which I found a
great relief.
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