Hawaii

Mun Ki and Nyuk Tsin are impressed by the grand buildings in Honolulu. Janders & Whipple is the largest emporium, but Hoxworth & Hale Shipping owns the biggest business enterprise. Whipple leads the two immigrants to his home where they will work as cook and housekeeper, respectively.

Before too long, the Chinese couple figure out ways of increasing their income. Mun Ki starts a gambling parlor for the Chinese and Hawaiians, while Nyuk Tsin grows produce that she sells on the streets of town. Over time, the couple bears four sons. Dr. Whipple is appalled that Mun Ki decides to deliver each baby himself, but this is apparently a Chinese custom. Although Nyuk Tsin gives birth to the boys, she is known as their auntie, while their “real” mother is Mun Ki’s official wife overseas.

Meanwhile, the New Englanders in Hawaii have become influential shipping and merchant tycoons. Micah Hale and his siblings are embarrassed when their father, Abner, starts attacking Chinese Buddhist temples just as he once attacked the sacred images of Hawaiian idols. Whipple warns Abner that the old missionary families don’t want to upset the Chinese. Abner is quick to point out that the immigrants are needed for commercial reasons while the Hawaiians were not. Abner’s children try to persuade him to leave Lahaina and move to Honolulu, but he refuses to abandon the graves of Jerusha and Malama. He judges his children harshly and will have little to do with them:

He rejected his oldest son Micah for having married a part-Hawaiian. He scorned David for refusing to become a minister. He despised Lucy for having married young Hewlett, who although he was pure white was nevertheless half-brother to half-castes. And he ignored Esther, his baby, for having married a Whipple who had publicly made fun of missionaries (700).

One day, Abner is found dead near the grave of his wife, and the Chinese are appalled that the father of the richest families in Honolulu would be abandoned in such a manner.

During this same period, Noelani also grows infirm. While Rafer is an attentive and devoted husband, his wife wastes away from a mysterious illness that perplexes Dr. Whipple. She has apparently decided it is time for her to go. After her death, Rafer pays more attention to his own children but considers them all to be bean counters with no sense of adventure. He only warms to his grandson, Whipple “Whip” Hoxworth.

Ignoring Whip’s parents, Rafer decides to make a man of the boy. At 13, Whip is brought by Rafer to a brothel for sexual initiation. At 14, Whip is sent off to sea before the rest of the Hoxworths can intervene. Rafer tells the family, “‘A man of daring, schooled at sea and in commerce and in knockdown fights …’ He rose from the table and left in disgust. ‘Such men don’t come cheap. Nobody turns them out in large quantities’” (731).

Over time, Nyuk Tsin decides that she wants to buy a plot of land. Mun Ki is opposed, saying that they will return to China soon. Mun Ki’s plan is to leave Nyuk Tsin in the Hakka village and keep their boys with his official wife. For this reason, Nyuk Tsin tells Whipple that she intends to stay in America even if Mun Ki goes back to China. Moved by her plight, Whipple offers her a free plot of land.

Nyuk Tsin’s plans are interrupted when Mun Ki shows signs of leprosy. He goes to a quack herbalist whose treatment does not help him. The law requires all lepers to be transported to a colony on the island of Molokai, where they will certainly die. Nyuk Tsin volunteers to go with him as his caretaker, or kokua. Their four children are placed with a Hawaiian couple named Kimo and Apikela, who promise to care for them. Whipple is obligated to inform the authorities about Mun Ki’s condition, but he waits a few hours to give the couple time to flee if they choose. When the police arrive, Nyuk Tsin and Mun Ki are gone.