Now, while I
am writing, my tears are dropping down for you; now my
tears are my friends, and my affection to you, O thou
who wilt forever be loved. Here, also is this: consent
thou to my desire, and write me, that I may know your
love. My love to you is great, thou splendid flower of
Lana-kahula."
Cheever seems to accept these letters as proof that love is universal,
and everywhere the same. He overlooks several important
considerations. Were these letters penned by natives or by
half-castes, with foreign blood in their veins and inherited
capacities of feeling? Unless we know that, no scientific deduction is
allowable. These natives are very imitative. They learn our music
easily and rapidly, and with the art of writing and reading they
readily acquire our amorous phrases. A certain Biblical tone,
suggesting the Canticles, is noticeable. The word "heart" is used in a
way foreign to Polynesian thought, and apart from these details, is
there anything in these letters that goes beyond selfish longing and
craving for enjoyment? Is there anything in them that may not be
summed up in the language of appetite: "Thou art very desirable--I
desire thee--I grieve, and weep, and refuse to eat, because I cannot
possess thee now?" Such longing, so intense and fiery[191] that it
seems as if all the waters of the ocean could not quench it,
constitutes a phase of all amorous passion, from the lowest up to the
highest.
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