Rice — Haz^mian Legends 5 



would recite or chant for two or three hours at a stretch, and when he 

 had finished, his auditor would start at the beginning of the chant and go 

 through the whole of the inele or story without missing or changing a 

 word. These trained men received through their ears as we receive through 

 our eyes, and in that way the ancient Hawaiians had a spoken literature, 

 much as we have a written one. Mr. Rice has several times seen per- 

 formances similar to the one described, where the two men were complete 

 strangers to each other. 



To the readers of this collection of Hawaiian legends the following 

 biographical information will be of interest : 



William Hyde Rice, the only son of William Harrison and Mary Hyde 

 Rice, was born at Punahou, Honolulu, Hawaii, on July 23, 1846. .^.t that 

 time his parents, who had come to the islands as missionaries in 1840, 

 were teachers at the school which had been established at Punahou in 

 1842 for the children of missionaries. 



In 1854 the family moved to Lihue, Kauai, where the greater part of 

 Mr. Rice's life has been spent. Besides his sisters his only young com- 

 panions were Hawaiian boys, from whom as well as from his nurse, he 

 readily learned the language. After a few years of teaching at home 

 the boy was sent to Koloa, Kauai, to attend the boarding school of the 

 Rev. Daniel Dole, whose son, Sanford Ballard Dole, was one of the boy's 

 closest companions. Later, Mr. Rice attended Oahu College, Punahou, and 

 Braton's College in Oakland, California. 



Mr. Rice served in the House of Representatives from 1870 to 1872 

 (the year of his marriage to Miss Mary Waterhouse in Honolulu), 1873, 

 1882, 1887, 1889, and 1890, and as a member of the Senate from 1895 

 to 1898. He was one of the thirteen committeemen who waited upon 

 King Kalakaua, giving him twenty-four hours to sign the constitution, 

 and was Governor of Kauai under Queen Liliuokalani until after the 

 revolution in 1893. 



In the present translation Mr. Rice has received much able and sympa- 

 thetic assistance from Miss Katherine Mclntyre in a secretarial capacity, 

 extending over a period of several years. Miss Ethel Damon has been 

 of inestimable value in her sound judgments and encouragement, and it 

 has been my privilege to assist my grandfather during the past year. No 

 one who has only read these legends can fully appreciate the charm of 

 them as told by Mr. Rice in person. Many of them he still recites word 

 for word in Hawaiian. One of the most vivid memories of my childhood 

 will always be that of hearing my grandfather tell these legends, as he 

 pointed out to us the places mentioned in the stories. 

 Lihue, January, 1923. Edith J. K. Rice. 



