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the house of pride and other tales of hawaii-第16部分
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peasant。
He was precisely thata Chinese peasant; born to labour in the
fields all his days like a beast; but fated to escape from the
fields like the prince in a fairy tale。 Ah Chun did not remember
his father; a small farmer in a district not far from Canton; nor
did he remember much of his mother; who had died when he was six。
But he did remember his respected uncle; Ah Kow; for him had he
served as a slave from his sixth year to his twenty…fourth。 It was
then that he escaped by contracting himself as a coolie to labour
for three years on the sugar plantations of Hawaii for fifty cents a
day。
Ah Chun was observant。 He perceived little details that not one man
in a thousand ever noticed。 Three years he worked in the field; at
the end of which time he knew more about cane…growing than the
overseers or even the superintendent; while the superintendent would
have been astounded at the knowledge the weazened little coolie
possessed of the reduction processes in the mill。 But Ah Chun did
not study only sugar processes。 He studied to find out how men came
to be owners of sugar mills and plantations。 One judgment he
achieved early; namely; that men did not become rich from the labour
of their own hands。 He knew; for he had laboured for a score of
years himself。 The men who grew rich did so from the labour of the
hands of others。 That man was richest who had the greatest number
of his fellow creatures toiling for him。
So; when his term of contract was up; Ah Chun invested his savings
in a small importing store; going into partnership with one; Ah
Yung。 The firm ultimately became the great one of 〃Ah Chun and Ah
Yung;〃 which handled anything from India silks and ginseng to guano
islands and blackbird brigs。 In the meantime; Ah Chun hired out as
cook。 He was a good cook; and in three years he was the highest…
paid chef in Honolulu。 His career was assured; and he was a fool to
abandon it; as Dantin; his employer; told him; but Ah Chun knew his
own mind best; and for knowing it was called a triple…fool and given
a present of fifty dollars over and above the wages due him。
The firm of Ah Chun and Ah Yung was prospering。 There was no need
for Ah Chun longer to be a cook。 There were boom times in Hawaii。
Sugar was being extensively planted; and labour was needed。 Ah Chun
saw the chance; and went into the labour…importing business。 He
brought thousands of Cantonese coolies into Hawaii; and his wealth
began to grow。 He made investments。 His beady black eyes saw
bargains where other men saw bankruptcy。 He bought a fish…pond for
a song; which later paid five hundred per cent and was the opening
wedge by which he monopolized the fish market of Honolulu。 He did
not talk for publication; nor figure in politics; nor play at
revolutions; but he forecast events more clearly and farther ahead
than did the men who engineered them。 In his mind's eye he saw
Honolulu a modern; electric…lighted city at a time when it
straggled; unkempt and sand…tormented; over a barren reef of
uplifted coral rock。 So he bought land。 He bought land from
merchants who needed ready cash; from impecunious natives; from
riotous traders' sons; from widows and orphans and the lepers
deported to Molokai; and; somehow; as the years went by; the pieces
of land he had bought proved to be needed for warehouses; or coffee
buildings; or hotels。 He leased; and rented; sold and bought; and
resold again。
But there were other things as well。 He put his confidence and his
money into Parkinson; the renegade captain whom nobody would trust。
And Parkinson sailed away on mysterious voyages in the little Vega。
Parkinson was taken care of until he died; and years afterward
Honolulu was astonished when the news leaked out that the Drake and
Acorn guano islands had been sold to the British Phosphate Trust for
three…quarters of a million。 Then there were the fat; lush days of
King Kalakaua; when Ah Chun paid three hundred thousand dollars for
the opium licence。 If he paid a third of a million for the drug
monopoly; the investment was nevertheless a good one; for the
dividends bought him the Kalalau Plantation; which; in turn; paid
him thirty per cent for seventeen years and was ultimately sold by
him for a million and a half。
It was under the Kamehamehas; long before; that he had served his
own country as Chinese Consula position that was not altogether
unlucrative; and it was under Kamehameha IV that he changed his
citizenship; becoming an Hawaiian subject in order to marry Stella
Allendale; herself a subject of the brown…skinned king; though more
of Anglo…Saxon blood ran in her veins than of Polynesian。 In fact;
the random breeds in her were so attenuated that they were valued at
eighths and sixteenths。 In the latter proportions was the blood of
her great…grandmother; Paahaothe Princess Paahao; for she came of
the royal line。 Stella Allendale's great…grandfather had been a
Captain Blunt; an English adventurer who took service under
Kamehameha I and was made a tabu chief himself。 Her grandfather had
been a New Bedford whaling captain; while through her own father had
been introduced a remote blend of Italian and Portuguese which had
been grafted upon his own English stock。 Legally a Hawaiian; Ah
Chun's spouse was more of any one of three other nationalities。
And into this conglomerate of the races; Ah Chun introduced the
Mongolian mixture。 Thus; his children by Mrs。 Ah Chun were one
thirty…second Polynesian; one…sixteenth Italian; one sixteenth
Portuguese; one…half Chinese; and eleven thirty…seconds English and
American。 It might well be that Ah Chun would have refrained from
matrimony could he have foreseen the wonderful family that was to
spring from this union。 It was wonderful in many ways。 First;
there was its size。 There were fifteen sons and daughters; mostly
daughters。 The sons had come first; three of them; and then had
followed; in unswerving sequence; a round dozen of girls。 The blend
of the race was excellent。 Not alone fruitful did it prove; for the
progeny; without exception; was healthy and without blemish。 But
the most amazing thing about the family was its beauty。 All the
girls were beautifuldelicately; ethereally beautiful。 Mamma Ah
Chun's rotund lines seemed to modify papa Ah Chun's lean angles; so
that the daughters were willowy without being lathy; round…muscled
without being chubby。 In every feature of every face were haunting
reminiscences of Asia; all manipulated over and disguised by Old
England; New England; and South of Europe。 No observer; without
information; would have guessed; the heavy Chinese strain in their
veins; nor could any observer; after being informed; fail to note
immediately the Chinese traces。
As beauties; the Ah Chun girls were something new。 Nothing like
them had
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