1HE IRRIGATION AGE. 



125 



the matter entirely harmless, the king and nobles learned to read and 

 write and such progress was made in education on the island that at the 

 end of two years, or in 1824, over two thousand people had mastered the 

 wonderful arts of reading and writing. 



Uncivilized nations as a rule are not so eager to acquire education, 

 but rsgard the art of writing as a species of witchcraft or an evidence of 

 supernatural power. In one of Kipling's stories he tells of an east In- 

 dian being sent with a note, the contents of which were that the bearer 

 should receive a certain number of lashes for a crime he had committed. 

 The governor, to whom the order was presented, promptly executed it 

 and sent the poor Indian back with the note. Realizing that the contents 

 of the bit, of paper had some connection with the beating from which he 

 still smarted, he determined to put it out of harm's way and fearing the 

 anger of the gods if he destroyed it, he climbed to the top of a very high 

 tree and there placed the magic paper where it would cast no more wierd 

 spells for his undoing. 



PINEAPPLE PLANTATION. 



But to return to Hawaii and its public schools. Years and years 

 ago children from San Francisco were sent to Honolulu to take advan- 

 tage of the suparior educational facilities of the latter place. This was 

 before Chicago was thought of. In 1840 a law was made providing that 

 wherever "parents having fifteen or more children suitable to attend 

 school live close together, "a school should be established. Those who 

 are born on the islands are compelled by law to go to school. The books 

 used are similar to those used in the United States. 



One of the "last of the Kamehamehas,"the Princess Pauahi, who 

 is now the wife of Hon. C. R. Bishop, of San Francisco, founded the 

 Kamehameha Schools, which are devoted particularly to manual training 

 and industrial education. Owing to the mild climate, the public school 



