Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/128

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100
PEARL OYSTER INDUSTRY.

the head of the inlet is a run of very fine fresh water, and provisions are here cheap and plentiful. There are many divers employed here, diving for the pearl oysters, which are found in great plenty. We saved them much trouble and labor by presenting the King with an oyster dredge we had on board, with which Tameameah was highly delighted. The reef, or flat, extends from this inlet to Barber's point which is about eight miles to the westward, and from thence several miles to sea in a S. W. direction. Round Barber's Point to the north is the bay and village of Y-eni (Waianae); and a little further to the N. W. stands the village of Y-rooa (Waialua); on the west end of the island is the village and bay of Wymea. There are no harbours on the N. E. side of the island, and only two large villages. As I before observed, the women are not allowed to enter the men's eating-houses, or even to appear on the inside of the fence, on pain of death. Neither men nor women are allowed to eat in the sleeping-houses; the women are prohibited from eating pork, cocoanuts, bananas, plantains, and many other things, which are used as offering to the gods, and it is considered a profanation if a woman should touch anything so offered. They are not even allowed to touch anything that goes inside of the men's eating house; they have their own vessels to eat and drink out of; and they must have a separate fire, at which to cook their victuals; the men's fire being called yahee taboo (ahi kapu), or prohibited fire, from which they cannot even light their pipes, though both young and old are