The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 14, 1898, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SU TEMPLES. llectec WORE MERCIFUL? % % % IS WAR | Figures Which Shcw That More Men Were Killed in Ba'tle in O.den Times and the Pe-centage of Dead Was Greater ‘ of th terri- | Than in Modern Engagements. ’ FX r shots a minute!” cess was hter must had been | | ecution. of throwing capabl y les took place of death- | the advent of the story of with intense f 2 stat s, 5,000 camp fol- e ey S At , were skillfully surrounded and an_entirely nt r’ ) A ; to pieces b arge force of Teu- from 't Al tons under not one of the unfortunat nts of Romulus, | believe ing to tell the tale. was often far g 1t Chalons, Attila, engagements. ainous multitude e e allied the battle of Ma. met the alli n nks and Goth hundred thousand strong. s stre | 700,000. T night befor flict a < skirmish” place outlying plc which over ops wer .4, but the following ing the plain was strewn with the of the slain to the number of dead were count- | 1 quarter of a million! 18 forc 000 men; a di the wind when at seems incomp | disciplined legions of nember that through | of victory w anese were value but little types of d ammuni- | time. It is worthy of | Some of the of ancient umber of the slain in | showed a proportion of dead or wa r s of | ibled that cannot be accounted for | the total of those k in battle dur- \less we accept the v ing the entire Civil War of £ those days 1 though it has been computed that at million men carried arms in | urse of the struggle between the rth ond the Scutl | f the epoch-making c ght at Tours, in th 5 ed in the driving back of 0ss the Pyrenees, which they had crossed, under the leadership of Abd ah an, with the intention by one b troke of conquering Frankland and crushing the rising faith of Christianity that was striding rapid- ly through Westcon Europe. At the head of 400,000 Arab troops Abderrah- man arrived at Tours witaout encoun- tering the s htest opposition, and pro- ceeded to en p at a little distance from the nei Roms city. The thoroughly alarmed Christians had meanwhile assembled und ~ the banner :NEW HORSELESS C. ARRIAGES, COMMON SIGHTS NOW IN BANNER IN WHICH THE STONES WERE CARRIED TO BUILD THE i THE SACRIFICE. of t ard Martel, and vi 4 foliowers the cham- pion of Ch endom aetermined to give battle to the saracen. The cause of the cross prevailed against the almost s of the heathen, was accompanied by ble wholesale destruction of hed. of the enormous lists of E ‘ne battles of the early could b2 muidplied without difficulty. but sufficient has been said to show tha. for every man killed in a modern fight hundreds and even | thousands pa’d the penalty in the mighty hand-t--hand strugg.es of an- cient days, when primitive spears and arrows took the pl of the mathe- se weapons of to-day. fabl= can be made wing the percentages of slain in a numbe the most important battles of history: TABLE OF PE Troops Engaged. 70,000 ). Dethmold Chalons Waterloo . Gettysburg. Antietam Ping Yang Port Arthur Atbara ... Manila Bay *Information doubtful. The last name on the list brings up LONDON AND PARIS. thoughts of the great victory in which the illustrious Nelson played such a memorable part. At Trafalgar, in 1805, a British fleet of 33 ships of the line and 4 frigates (the armored cruisers of modern fleets), engaged a combined ;Frem h and Spanish battle | 40 ships and 5 frigates, and of the con- flict which ensued M. Thiers has said | that “such a scene of horror at sea had | never been witnessed in the memory of man.” | A single broadside from the Tem- eraire, a British ship, swept 200 men | from the decks of the Redoubtable and hurled them into eternity. This par- ticular French ship numbered 572 dead |in a crew of 680 officers and men, only | eight officers escaping of the forty on | board. At the close of the terrible | struggle 17 French and Spanish ships had been captured and one blown up, and between killed, wounded, drowned and prisoners the losses of the allies amounted to nearly 7000 men; on the English ships 1 Jack Tars had sur- rendered their lives. How ludicrous seems the vaunted destructiveness of the modern engines of war, when four- teen Spanish ships, in their own harbor and backed up by strong shore bat- teries, could not make the slightest im- pression on the gallant Dewey's six large vessels nor even Lill a single man! And the recently published re- sults show that the awful destruction that was done among the boats of the Dons was accompanied by the death of but 78 of the sailors and marines that manned them. array of | AUGUST 14, 1898 23 ANCIENT TEMPLES THAT UNCLE SAM - HAS ANNEXED WITH HAWAIL So Highly Are the Ruins Esteemed by the Natives That Money Was Set Aside for Their Preservation and Now the Islanders Want to Know What Is to Become of Them. NCLE SAM came into posses- sion of some wonderful ancient heathen temples when he an- nexed Hawaii, and curious tour- ists and scientists are begin- ning to ask what he is going to do with them. Native Hawailans regard them as something much more than histori- cal landmarks, something to link the | past with the nresent, and for years the native kingdom has appropriated money for their careful preservation. | Father Damien, the leper priest of sev- and con- Molokai, made a careful study of eral of these interesting temples gathered a great deal of material cerning their history. The following is one of the legends | obtained and written by him con- cerning the Heiau in the Mapulahu | Gulch on that island. He obtained it | from one of the oldest natives on the island: A company of spirits who brought over the stones of this Heiau from Wailau, a gulch on the other side of the island. Each spirit got only one stone to build this im- mense Heiau. The name of the company of spirits was “Kamenehuni.” Whatever the legend may be there is ample evidence to prove where the | stones came from which went to form | this building. It is said that they were passed over the mountain from the other side of the island by natives standing In a row about sfx feet apart and handing them from one to the other. As the structure is 400 feet long and 200 feet broad with an average height of 10 feet some idea may be formed of the enormous population that must have existed upon Molokai at that pel- riod. It took nearly 30,000 cubic yards of material to build this temple. At present the inhabitants of the Hawalifan Islands are Christians, but they still have a certain reverence for these old temples and look upon them as the great connecting link between the past and the present. The first mention in clvilized records of these buildings appears to have been about 1819. Travelers and missionaries were beginning to enter the country and the most striking objects were naturally the immense piles of stone, totally dif-| ferent from any other buildings in the | world. 3 At this time Kamehameéha I had suc- | ceeded in conquering and subduing the natives of the adjoining islands and their chiefs had been compelled to ac- knowledge his supreme - authority as king, and these people, for the first time | in their history, were to be united un- der one government. It took nearly forty years to accom- plish this unity, but Kamehameha was a man of iron and well deserves the | rame he bears in Hawalian history, ‘“the conqueror.” During these years of conquest and bloodshed a great change was coming | over these most interesting people, and | the last acts of heathenism, accom- panied by horrible human sacrifices and other abominable customs, were passing away. Some doubt formerly existed as to whether cannibalism ever prevailed in the Hawalilan group or was practiced at any time. ways manifested a degree of shame, herror and confusion when spoken to The natives themselves al- | and it was but the work of a very few years to tear down the last barriers of heathenism. Of those times there still remain in perfect preservation. as relics of the horrible past, the stcne temples or “‘Helaus,” which bring to mind the aw- ful state of things existing a century ago. Of the most interesting of these hea- thenish buildings, one is on the island of Molokai. It was built some centuries | ago and is considered one of the oldest | temples in the Hawalian group. The | other one Is on the west or Kona coast of Hawaii, is the last one ever built, being erected a little over a hundred | years ago. | " In 1791 Kamehameha I, during his wars of subjugation, to show his vener- ation of the gods ind to secure a con- tinuance of their iavor and strengthen his kingdom, engaged in building a very large temple at Kawaihae for -the worship of Kaili, the god of war, and for offering human and other sacrifices. It was built on a hill and called Puuha- koloa. While he was engaged in erect- ing this temple, which was consecrated with human blood, some/of his warriors were conquering the southern part of Hawaii, where his own relative, Keona, was then King. . Keona soon after- ward became disheartened and sur- rendered himself and his warriors in the hope of receiving life and mercy. He, however, with many of his lesser chiefs upon the subject, and this led the great navigator, Captain Cook. and his -| officers, without any direct evidence, to believe in its existence, but later voy- ANCIENT TEMPLE OF ILIILIOP and men, were slain and their bodies | sacrificed on the altar of the new tem- | ple. | PTnis was the last human sacrifice Ol IN THE M@PULAHU VALLEY ISLAND OF MOLOKAL This is one of the oldest temples on the island; just how many centuries ago it was built archaeologists have not vet determined. Like the other tem- ples, stone across the fsland. Father Damien made a careful study and left considerable memoranda regarding it. the legend declares that this one was built by each native carrying a of this temple LAST HEATHEN TEM It was erected shortly before the a marks the place where the last human The cross indicates the position of th were killed. This was in 1791, after K of the opposing chiefs. Keona, a pet is said to have been among the vietim: war. agers disputed this conclusion. Their own historians, however, and the gen- eral acknowledgment of the people have fairly established the custom be- yond a doubt, though it appears to haye somewhat abated previous to Cook’s visit, and had gradually decreased un- til scarcely a vestige of any of the hor- rible custom remained. There can be no doubt this humanizing improvement, so different from their other habits, was the result of the example and in- struction received from the earliest white visitors, as well as a self-convic- tion of its own abomination. A strong public sentiment of disgust in regard to it prevailed at that time, and it was highly creditable to them as a nation and distinguished them from their more savage contemporaries of the other groups of the Pacific. It was in this state of transition that the early settlers found these islanders, PLE BUILT dvent of Christianity on the island and sacrifice was offered up to the gods. e sacrificial stone where the victims amehameha I had subjugatéd the last ty king and one of his own relatives, s offered up to placate Kaili, the god of IN HAWAIL ever made on the Hawalian Islands. The victims were executed in the pres- ence of Kamehameha himself, who stood at the door of the house within a stone inclosure to witness this slaugh- ter. There are a few other Heiaus still in excellent preservation, one of which is near Kohala, on Hawaii, and another at Kealekakoa Bay, which is said to have been used by Captain Cook to re- pair his sails, and by whom the sandal- wood altar had been removed. It was from this temple that Kalaniopuu, then King, took the three-headed god, “Lo- no,” off to Captain Cook's vessel, the Discovery. Whether these monuments of the past ages will be kept in preserve by Uncle Sam, now that we have pos- session of the islands, remains to be proved. CAPTAIN C. E. G. JACKSON. ARE CLE HE horseless carriage Is at last declared to be a success. It is true that this vehicle is hardly likely to ever come into general use in San Francisco on account of the hills, but in most of the big cities of the world the horse is destined to soon become a curiosity, pernups only to be seen in menageries and museums. The clatter of hoofs over cobbles and asphalt is about to give place to the whiz of the electric niotor, the puff of the gasoline engine and the soft rattle of the coal oil loco- motive. And the general verdict of thinking men is that it is well. For the last ten years horseless car- riages have merely been in the experi- mental stage. In a number of cities they have been put on the streets to replace cabs, but people have looked upon them as curiosities ard the pa- tronage has not been what was ex- pected. A number of wealthy men have bought them for their own use or amusement, but heretofore the number. of horses displaced has hardly been worth counting. Now all is changed. The principal work at developing the horseless carriage has been done in Parisand London. Most of the machines on New York's streets were of foreign make, although g number of natiye ones HORSELESS GARRIAGES ARING THE WAY held their own with them. There were only a few in use, but they competed successfully with the cabs and received a fair amount of patronage. It is as- serted that this would have been more if the horseless carriages were more plentiful. As it was they attracted so much curious attention many people disliked them. Were they in general use this objection would be removed. And they are going to be in general use, in Paris at least, within the next few months, or as fast as the machines can be built, for the big cab company over there has decided to adopt them entirely. The few that have been in operation in Paris during the last three years demonstrated to the cabmen that they could be made more profitable than horses if certain improvements were made. But how to get the improve- ments was another matter that was at last overcome by offering large prizes to builders of the vehicle in order to stimulate them to greater efforts. This plan has borne good fruit, for last year a number of big improve- ments showed up. Again the cabmen offered prizes and the “exhibition” has Jjust closed, the result being a number of carriages that answered all require- ments and stood all tests. The judzes pronounced at least a dozen to be “per- feot,” but have not yet decided as tolthe lith the which one is the very best. But the cab company has decided to adojt them, feeling sure of success on account of the perfection of so many. The cabmen who have encouraged this work have formed themselves into an organization known as the auto- moblle club. At the exhibition that has just closed twenty-six vehicles were put throuzh the tests despite the severity of the pr me, which made obligatory a daily run of thirty-six miles, at a mini- mum, within a period of sixteen hours. The vehicles admitted to the compe- tition figured in the following six cate- gorfes: 1. (a) Closed carriages for two per- sons. (b) Open carriages, with hood, for two persons. (c) Mixed carriages for two persons, capable of being in- stantaneously closed or opened. 2. (a) Carriages for four persons, with space for baggage, sixty-flve pounds to each person. (b) Open carriages, with hood, for four persons. 3. Closed carriages for six persona, with space for baggage, sixty-five pounds to each person. The vehicte had to be so constructed that all l..e passengers should be com- fortably installed therein,. and had to be provided with an odometer or a kilo- metric counter with two brakes, one progressive and the other instantane- ous. Out of the twenty-six vehicles booked sixteen were electric and ten gasoline. The first of June was devoted to an examination of the conditions of estab- lishment and of the system and run- ning of the vehicles. From June 2 to June 10 the carriages had to make nine specific itineraries, the same for all. On ts of the first of June were repeated, in order to ascer- tain the disturbances that had been in- troduced into the running of the ve- hicles by a service of nine consecutive days. On the 12th, the day of the grand prize, the carriages went to Versallles, a distance of about twelve miles, and returned through the Bois de Boulogne, in order to figure in the classic return of this very Parisian solemnity, In the nine itineraries commissioners accompanied each vehicle and carefully noted upon a service sheet all the inci- dents of the dafly trip, the real speed upon a level and upon certain knowa gradients, ete. The jury consisted of twelve memsa bers, six selected from members of the club and six selected by the competi- tors. The report of this jury has, up to the present, not been made known. In London the tendency of the horses less carriage seems to be in the direcs tion of large vehicles to replace the om- nibuses. The cabmen who were at the exhibition and tests in Paris have ex- pressed themselves as delighted with the machine and have decided to adopt it in some modified form. There are to be steam omnibuses, motor omnibuses and ‘‘petrol” cabs. As regards the first, the steam is creat- ed by a slow combustion stove, which consumes only a very small quantity of coke or petroleum. These omnibuses are of 20 horsepower, to be increased presently to 30 horsepower. One vehi- cle will, it is asrerted, carry twenty- eight passengers, and, where necessary, is ca%nble of being fastened to another omnibus of equal capacity. The cost per passenger is stated to amount to one-tenth of a cent per mile; speed from eight to ten miles an hour, to be increased to fifteen miles an hour.