A BABEL OF TONGUES.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 11 September 1912, Page 7

A BABEL OF TONGUES.

Honolulu to-day; is ,a decided mixture of nationalities and a babel of tongues. It has 14,000 Hawaiians, 12,000 Japanese, 6300 Chinese, 5400 Portuguese, 4300 Americans, British, and Germans, 800 Porto Ricans, 1000 Coreans, and 1200 other nationalities. j In a short ride on the street cars — electric, if you please, and furnishing, very good service—one can easily see [representatives- of five or six nationali- | ties ,and Hear as many different lanI guages spoken. First come the natives, swarthy in complexion, with noses, lips and ears that might suggest American negroes, but with straight black hair and a copper color that recall the American Indian and proclaim the Polynesian. Their language is very simple. To one who hears it for the first time comes the conviction that the aborigines expressed their sentiments in primitive vowel sounds, to which some consonants have been added. Each vowel is sounded as in Latin, and the words are easily pronounced by one who is patient and wishes to speak distinctly. The pronunciation will be all the better if the speaker will draw out almost drawl, the vowel sounds, for which reason the language is well suited to the doleful Hawaiian wail. Say,for example, "Hoo-noo-lun-lun,** and let the .word sing itself, . .". s-