03-05-2008, 07:50 AM
The link to the Titus Coan story on a UH web site is http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/COAN/coan-intro.html. It's a web version of Coan's autobiography scanned and transcribed by his grandson. I found it very interesting for the most part with the descriptions of the "rivers of fire" that Coan witnessed. What was also evident in many places was Coan's toward the kanaka maoli, the native population, who rather fell beneath his good wishes to the extent they were not on his religious side. For instance, in looking up information on the 1840 flow that likely passed over our property I found this, which also gives some flavor of his writing:
quote:
After years of kind instructions with the hope of leading them to appreciate the love of God and the value of a true Christianity, they remained the same hardened beings. My patience and desire to lead them to "the Lamb of God" continued; but thinking of what the Saviour said to His disciples about "shaking off the dust of their feet," I resolved on a trial, hoping to win them into a better way...They settled near the borders of the lava stream, and in the year 1853 the small-pox fell among them (the only place in Puna where the disease went), and a large part of them died. There was no physician within eighteen miles, and the poor creatures knew not what to do. Some bathed in the sea to cool the burning heat, and perished, and some crawled out into the jungle and there died, and were torn and partly eaten by swine. They had fled from the devouring fire only to meet, if possible, a more painful doom, and it reminds one of the words of Jeremiah uttered against the stubborn Moabites: "He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare."
That the small-pox should find them and no one else in Puna seems remarkable; but these are the facts. A number of these villagers were visiting in Honolulu when the fearful disease raged there. They thought to escape it by returning home, but unknown to them the destroyer had already seized them and they perished in their wild, secluded jungle. I visited this scene of sorrow and desolation, gathered the stricken remnant of the sufferers, spoke words of condolence, and encouraged them to come with their sins and sorrows to the Saviour. They seemed subdued, welcomed their pastor, and were, I trust, "saved yet so as by fire."