HAWAII. 



[letter XIX. 



relished. I have seen it on foreign tables, salted, under the 

 name of squid.* 



We passed on to beautiful creatures, the kihi-kihi, or sea- 

 cock, with alternate black and yellow transverse bands on his 

 body ; the hmalea, like a glorified mullet, with bright green, 

 longitudinal bands on a dark shining head, a purple body of 

 different shapes, and a blue spotted tail with a yellow tip. The 

 o/iua too, a pink scaled fish, shaped like a trout ; the opzikai, 

 beautifully striped and mottled ; the mullet and flying fish as 

 common here as mackerel at home; the hala, a fine pink- 

 fleshed fish, the albicore, the bonita, the manini striped black 

 and white, and many others. There was an abundance of 

 opilu or limpets, also the fipi, a small oyster found among the 

 coral ; the ula, as large as a clawless lobster, but more beautiful 

 and variegated; and turtles which were cheap and plentiful. 

 Then there were purple-spiked sea urchins, black-spiked sea 

 eggs or wana, and ina or eggs without spikes, and many other 

 curiosities of the bright Pacific. It was odd to see the pearly 

 teeth of a native meeting in some bright-coloured fish, while 

 the tail hung out of his mouth, for they eat fish raw, and some 

 of them were obviously at the height of epicurean enjoyment. 

 Seaweed and fresh-water weed are much relished by Hawaiians, 

 and there were four or five kinds for sale, all included in the 

 term limu. Some of this was 'baked, and put up in balls weigh- 

 ing one pound each. There were packages of baked fish, and 

 dried fish, and of many other things which looked uncleanly 

 and disgusting ; but no matter what the package was, the leaf 

 of the Ti tree was invariably the wrapping, tied round with 

 sennet, the coarse fibre obtained from the husk of the cocoa- 

 nut. Fish, here, averages about ten cents, per pound, and is 

 dearer than meat ; but in many parts of the islands it is cheap 

 and abundant. 



There is a ferment going on in this kingdom, mainly got up 

 by the sugar planters and the interests dependent on them, and 

 two political lectures have lately been given in the large hall of 

 the hotel in advocacy of their views ; one, on annexation, by 

 Mr. Phillips, who has something of the oratorical gift of his 

 cousin, Wendell Phillips ; and the other, on a reciprocal treaty, 

 by Mr. Carter. Both were crowded by ladies and gentlemen, 



* This monster is a cephalopod of the order Dibratichiata, and has eight 

 flexible arms, each crowded with 120 pair of suckers, and two longer 

 feelers about six feet in length, differing considerably from the others in 

 form. 



