Under Hawaiian skies, a narrative of the romance, adventure and history of the Hawaiian Islands, a complete historical account, by Albert Pierce Taylor.

54

UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES

checkers, played with colored stones upon a board, usually a
stone with tiny holes cut in and arranged as a checker board;
loulou, a trial of strength by hooking the fingers; honohonu,
swinmming with the hands only, the feet being fast interlocked;
uma, a trial of strength with the arms; leleawa, leaping from a
precipice into the sea; lelekowali, rope-swinging; kulakulai, wrestling in the sea; all these were favorite sports.
Their weapons for warfare were few and simple. They consisted of spears, daggers and clubs, made of very tough and
hard wood, highly polished. They used slings, also, manufactured
from human hair, or the filres of the cocoanut tree, and with
these thev threw small smooth stones with great force and precision.
The Mamo (the name is taken from that of a bird), or feather
war-cloak of Kamtehameha I, occupied nine generations of kings
in the fabrication, and it is now kept in a hermetically sealed
steel and glass case at the Bishop Museum, in Honolulu. Each
bird furnishedl but two feathers of bright yellow, one under each
wing, so tlat an immense nunmber of birds were requireld o be
caught to furnish the materials for this macgnificent mantle, four
feet long, with eleven and a half feet spread at the bottom. The
lalor exl)ele(led ill procuring the feathers, the birds being found
only in the most mountainous parts of the Islands-and the time,
J)atience and skill required for the manufacture of this "Golden
Mantle," would make its nominal value equal to that.of some of
the mlost costly gems in the former crowns of Europe.
Tlhe were an industrious people. The chiefs always took the
lead in any industrial project so as to keep the respect and
allegiance of the people. They were soil tillers. They were
skillful and daring fishermen with a thorough knowledge of the
habitat and lhabits of fishes; the seasons of their migrations,
spawningl, etc.; and they had stringent laws and regulations for
the taking of fish, looking toward their conservation. Alas, the
wrhite man, with his alleged superior knowledge, prevailed upon
chief and commoner to throw down their wholesome restrictions,
as savoring of superstition, with the result that fishes are more