LEGENDS OF OLD HONOLULU. Published July, 1915.
[LEGENDS OF GHOSTS AND GHOST-GODS]. Jan., 1916.
LEGENDS OF HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES. Oct., 1916.
By William Drake Westervelt.
Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co., Boston.
12mo, $1.50, net; small, $1.00, net.
In the old days of our grandfathers, Oregon and Hawaii enjoyed quite a brisk trade. Friendships were made that lasted. Along this line of thought here is a book that will be welcomed gladly by Oregon readers. It is a collection of tales on Hawaiian Mythology skilfully edited by W. D. Westervelt of Honolulu and bound at the press of Geo. H. Ellis Co., Boston.—The Oregonian, Portland, Ore., Aug., 1916. [[212]]
In bringing together this collection Mr. Westervelt has done a favor to the residents of Hawaii and those visitors to its shores who take an interest in its original inhabitants.—The Bee, Omaha, Neb., June, 1916.
The Polynesian type is one of the most attractive that mankind has ever developed and the Hawaiian is typically Polynesian. The migration of the Polynesian race over the great ocean is one of the marvelous achievements of man, and the legends, incidentally, when not intentionally, throw much light on this movement. This volume of “Ghosts and Ghost-gods” is the second of a series of six which the author plans. Nowhere else in culture is legendary lore more ample or rich; nowhere else does human character present stranger contradictions; nowhere else does belief more nearly approach the wild-fantastic. No book in Mr. Westervelt’s series will more strikingly display these qualities than this one on ghosts and ghost-gods.—Sunday State Journal, Wis., June, 1916.
Unquestionably the most complete and entertaining disclosure of the rich treasure-store of mid-Pacific myth with which the English-speaking world has yet been favored. When the series is finished, there will have been little unsaid on a subject intensely attractive to the mythologist, the student of comparative religion and the ethnologist.—Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, June, 1916.
A student of mythology will find many links between these legends and those of far-distant lands. The book will have vital interest for all lovers of folk-lore who will find much information in these tales of ancient tribes.—Book News, Philadelphia, Dec., 1915.
While the book will be of especial interest to students of ethnology and to those who have visited Honolulu, the romantic charm which pervades the Pacific Archipelago gives the history universal attraction to the reading public.—Globe, Boston, Mass., Oct. 25, 1915.
A valuable addition to the world’s collection of folk-lore is made by Mr. W. D. Westervelt in “Legends of Old Honolulu.”—New York Times, Jan. 16, 1916.