Like many of the Polynesians, the Sandwich Islanders have an absurd liking for pigs and dogs, carrying them about and feeding them when young, as if they had been children. Even when the animals attain their full growth, they are petted to no small extent. The “Haöle” narrates an amusing example of the extreme tenderness which the Hawaiian women evince for these animals, and the artist has represented the description in [engraving No. 2], on the preceding page. He was travelling through the island, and noticed a group of women sitting under the shade of a pandanus tree, and surrounding something in which they seemed to be greatly interested. On coming closer, he found that the object of their attention was an enormous hog.
The women were taking it to market, a task which usually devolves upon them, and had to drive the animal for a considerable distance over lofty mountains, a task which could not occupy them less than thirty-six hours. To produce the hog in good condition was evidently their principal object, and they would therefore hurry it as little as possible, coax it along, rather than drive it, by day, and sleep by its side at night. It so happened that the day was a very warm one, and the hog, which was in very good condition, was oppressed with its own fat, with the heat and the fatigue of the journey. Accordingly, the women had led their charge to a shady spot, taken off their only garments, soaked them in water, and spread them over the panting animal, which uttered occasional grunts of satisfaction at the coolness caused by the wet garments, and the continual fanning which the women kept up with leaves.
When the pig is of smaller size, and the market is near at hand, so that there is no danger the animal may get out of condition, a much simpler plan is followed, the legs of the pig being tied together, and a pole run between them, which is lifted on the shoulders of two or four men, according to the weight of the animal.
Although the Sandwich Islanders will eat dogs, pigs, and cats too, when they can afford themselves the luxury, they are so fond of them while living that a man will sooner resent an injury done to his dog or pig than to his child. When travelling, accompanied by their dogs, they treat the animals just like children, taking them in their arms, and carrying them over any rough or muddy places, lest perchance the poor animals should hurt or soil their feet. It is possible that this extraordinary predilection may arise from the fact that none of these animals are indigenous, but have been introduced by Europeans.
It will be seen that the women do not spend their lives in idleness. Indeed, though they are not treated with the harshness that too often falls to the lot of women in uncivilized countries, they do a very fair share of the work. The cooking, for example, is entirely their business, and they are as great adepts at procuring as at cooking food. For example, if a stranger should call at the house of a native, the wife is sure to come out, pass her hand over him, and inquire whether he is hungry. Should he reply in the affirmative, she or another girl runs out to one of the fish ponds, launches a small canoe, and in a very short space of time she has caught some fish, broiled them, cooked some taro, and laid them on plantain leaves before the guest.
These fish ponds are very common in Hawaii, and are mostly made by the women. They are formed by taking advantage of the coral beach, which has numerous small bays or inlets with comparatively narrow mouths. Across the mouths of these bays the natives pile pieces of coral rock so as to prevent any fish from escaping. They are deepened as occasion may require, and it is not an uncommon thing to see a number of women up to their waists in mud and water busily employed in cleaning out a fish pond, and evidently enjoying the work rather than thinking it a hardship. While they are thus at work on land, their husbands and brothers are equally hard at work on sea, catching the fish which are to be transferred to the pond.
The natives rely much for their supplies of food on these ponds, as fish forms a considerable portion of their diet, pork and fowls being too expensive to be considered anything but luxuries, and only to be eaten constantly by the rich. The ponds vary much in size, but are generally of considerable dimensions. Few of them cover less than an acre of ground, while others are a hundred times as large. One or two of the largest are very ancient, and may be considered as historical monuments, the coral blocks which shut them off from the sea being of such enormous size as to tell of the time when the kings or principal chiefs were absolute, and could command any amount of human labor.
Even at the present time the natives rely much on their fish ponds for their supplies of food, and the size of the pond is an invariable test of the rank and wealth of the owner. They are watched as carefully as game preserves in our own country, and suffer as much from poachers, who, however, seldom escape detection.
While, therefore, the women do their share of the work, their life is by no means a laborious one, because there is so little work to be done. The taro patch has to be prepared and cultivated, but this is not a very laborious task; the fish ponds have to be made and left in order, the cooking has to be done, and the bark cloth to be made. Of all these tasks the second is the hardest, and this is rather considered as an amusement than a labor, the women being so amphibious in their habits that to spend half the day in mud and water is no hardship to them, as is seen by the merry talk and laughter that accompany the work.
Mr. Bennett mentions one instance in which a woman was badly treated by her husband. Being in a state of intoxication, he ordered her to carry him on her back up one of the precipices with which these islands abound. In spite of the almost perpendicular rocks, which are in that spot so steep that the white visitors could barely climb up them without any burden at all, the woman undertook the task, and succeeded in reaching the summit in safety.