File:Sandwich island notes (1854) (14768378805).jpg

Identifier: sandwichislandno01bate (find matches)
Title: Sandwich island notes
Year: 1854 (1850s)
Authors: Bates, George Washington
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Harper
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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'Flowing as it does, by numerous dwell-
ings, and watering scores of taro beds ; affording drink to the
people, and convenience for canoe-sailing, it is of more value
to the inhabitants than though it were a second Pactolus.
The bosom of this tranquil stream has been the scene of
many a loving embrace, and of many a final avowal, by the
youthful Hawaiians of many generations. Sailing along in
their swift canoes beneath the sun-lit sky, or when Nature was
bathed in the more poetic light of the moon and her attendant
orbs, the zephyrs alone caught those vows and their soft and
languishing responses. The undefinable emotions which Cu-
pid breathes in the bosoms of his votaries are not, and can not
be, confined within the luxurious bowers of haughty potentates.
Not merely do they sway the houri, who glide with smooth
steps and soul-beaming eyes through the immortal saloons in
Mohammed's paradise; not merely does love solitarily hover
amid the damask curtains and perfumed couches of an Orient-
al harem ; in all probability, it glows as intensely in the bos-

Text Appearing After Image:

WAIMEA, FROM THE FORT: KAUAI


WAIMEA HARBOR. 231
—————————————————

oms of the young Hawaiians, as it did in the soul of Sappho
when she composed her matchless Odes, or died so tragical
a death for the love of Phaon.
Several times I have seen a muscular youth, sitting opposite
his lovely inamorata, moving his light canoe over the calm
waters of this stream, and drinking in the soul-fire that beam-
ed in her eyes. It was a bright scene ! And his own eyes
seemed as bright, and his arm as strong and active, while he
paid her his attentions, as though the Golden Age—of which
whe love frequently to dream—had come back with all its glory
and purity to this fallen world. But most of this bright im-
agery is mutable and of short duration, and there are not a
few who can say,

" Alas! our young affections run to waste,
Or water but the desert, whence arise
But weeds of dark luxuriance, tares of haste,
Rank at the core, though tempting to the eyes;
Flowers whose wild odors breathe but agonies,
And trees whose gums are poison; such the plants
Which spring beneath her steps as Passion flies
O'er the world's wilderness, and vainly pants
For some celestial fruit forbidden to our wants."

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