For miles the steel wire cable extended up the slope supported at regular intervals by posts and crossbars about twenty to forty feet high, depending on the irregularity of the surface. A revolving wheel with a suspension hook onto which a bundle of cane was hitched would be sent down from the higher fields. Some wheels would turn faster than others and there was a tendency for certain ones to be bunched together in their downward coursing. Therefore, at certain intervals depending on the slope and grade, there were relay stations where a respacing of the downward flow of cane bundles was effected. Also at certain intervals there were signal posts where flags flew to transmit messages from the platform to regulate the flow of cane, for the procedure had to be adjusted according to the available number of empty loading cars.
Torao was sent to this plantation with two members from his native village, Umekichi Okawa and Yusaku Hirano, and seventeen other men. These three were about the same age and they had vowed to stick together in all the privations and tribulations they had to face in the new land. On arrival, they were taken to a camp near the factory which was called the "mill camp."
The accommodations that awaited them were much the same as on other plantations. Because of frequent rains, the barracks were built about eight feet above ground. A rectangular hall thirty by ten feet accommodated eight men. Each was accorded about four feet on the sleeping platform. They hung their work clothes and other apparel on the wall of the walking space.
The stories concerning life and treatment to be accorded them that they heard from men already working there were most disheartening. It happened that the "big luna" or the general overseer of the plantation was a virtual czar of this domain as the manager-owner left the running of the plantation completely in the hands of this brutal Scotsman, Frank MacCracken. He must have had a streak of sadism in his nature for the treatment of laborers was brutal in the extreme. The cruelty must have been unprecedented and unparalleled for there was an unenviable appellation attached to this "devil's plantation." All who came to this place considered it an act of fate."Shikataga nai" (it can't be helped) was muttered under a sigh.
For three years they were bound to this spot by the contract they had signed. In effect, it was slavery pure and simple for they could not leave the farm. Policemen of the Hawaiian kingdom were nothing more than guards whose duty was to track down runaway laborers and bring them back to their employers.
All contract laborers were to receive twelve and a half dollars a month. Housing and medical attention were to be provided by the employer. Ten percent was subtracted each pay day and this amount filled the coffers of the Emigration Company that had recruited them in Japan. There were two ways to eat. The majority of single men boarded at six dollars a month at some kitchen run by an enterprising couple, or did the cooking themselves. Examples of commodity prices were:
| 100 lb. sack of rice .... | $3.00 |
| 1 lb. of small fish (opelu)...... | .12 |
| 1 lb. beef ........ | .12 |
| 1 sack 50 lb. flour .... | .60 |
| 1 good-sized chicken.... | .20 |
In order for the cook to be able to prepare breakfast and fill the lunch cans, she had to get up at three o'clock in the morning. Unless her husband supplemented the larder with homegrown vegetables, and raised a pig on the slop that came from the kitchen, there was not much profit to show. A little pig was obtainable at five dollars and after four or five months it was worth twenty-five to thirty dollars which was really clear money.
A single man who denied himself in the extreme by preparing his own meals could not do much better. There was an exception now and then. Mohei Sato was from Fukushima-ken and was more literate than the average immigrant since he came from the snowy north. It was said that in the northeast provinces, the winters were so cold that the children were forced to remain indoors and obtain book learning. Be that as it may, he was above average intelligence, but his conduct was ludicrous. His nickname was "sugar bag." For working clothes, he cut himself a shirt and pants out of gunny sack. It was a strange sight to see him in this coarse brown apparel hobbling along in feet turbaned with the same material. The coarse fabrics must have irritated his skin terribly, but he endured it much like the medieval monks did. He lived on, according to gossip, rice, shoyu, and small dried fish called iriko. He was a wealthy man judging by the yardstick of the workers, although nobody envied him. He was made the butt of jokes by even small children. He showed no outward annoyance and seemed to live in a world all his own. But everyone was ashamed ten years later when he was the biggest contributor to the language school that was built by popular subscription. He was miserly but knew how to spend money when the cause was a worthy one.
Back in the old country there was an authentic story of a returnee from Hawaii who had two hundred and fifty dollars after the completion of three contract years. How one could save this sum in three years, from ten dollars a month before board was subtracted, was almost impossible to conceive, but facts were there and there was no factor of gambling as a possible outside source of income for this man.
The work began the morning following their arrival. Without a raincoat they were ordered out with the other hands to go "hoe hana-ing" —hoeing weeds and grass between the rows of young sugar cane. Luckily, it was a season of comparatively little rain and they hoped the weather would hold until the raincoats would be sewed and oiled by the woman who took the orders to make these for the new arrivals.
They started out at four-forty-five and labored until eleven when they were permitted to have lunch and a thirty minute rest. Then at four o'clock they were released from their toil. They had to walk home from the field which sometimes was three to four miles away. When the days were short it was almost dark when they returned.
There was a "luna" over them who directed their work and saw that nobody loafed. He was a Portuguese and not a bad sort, although in the presence of his superiors he tried to act hard-boiled to curry their favor. His softness and considerateness were only in a comparative and relative sense and the whole setup on the plantation was that of inhuman slave-driving tactics to get the most out of these human creatures.
Little heed was given to the human element, such as inequality in physique and endurance that existed among the different working men. Maximum work was to be exacted from all concerned. To see that each worked hard, a peculiar practice was in vogue. If a man did not soak his shirt with sweat by nine a.m., he might be sent home and the day did not count as a day worked. On wintry days one had to work very hard in order to sweat. Scottish thrift and meanness were extreme in their application.
After several weeks, it began to rain. Every day showers might be expected. It got cold in the winter months when Mauna Kea was capped with snow and the winds that blew from that direction were chilly. It seemed incongruous to be working in a tropical sugar cane field and be in constant view of a long range of mountains clad snowy white. In the early morning, the need of warm clothing was keenly felt.
On these wet days the men were sent out to the fields to do "holy-holy work"--pulling dried cane leaves that kept clinging to the stalk. The moisture made the detachment easy and the fine sticky cilia-like bristles at the edges of the leaves were soft and not damaging to the bare hands. The dried leaves were piled high between the rows of the sugar cane stalks which looked fresh and clean, stripped of their dried leaves.
On these cool mornings the work was brisk. Competitive spirit was keen among the men, and the going was rapid. The only thing that occasionally bothered them was the attack of yellow jackets that had their nests in the dry leaves, but even these were rendered less vicious by the rain. This work got to be very hot and wearisome as soon as the rain ceased and the afternoon sun beat heavily, for among the tall rows of cane there was no cooling relief from any refreshing breeze.
One morning a newcomer who did not appear very robust was taken sick and did not report to work. As was the usual routine, MacCracken made his rounds of the camps at about eight thirty in the morning to see if there were any malingerers. The really sick were to report for sick call at the dispensary, where castor oil and quinine were dispensed. On this