Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & Protectorate

In Short

This book offers an expansive, impressionistic tour of myths, ghost stories, and folk traditions originating from the Caribbean and the Pacific, specifically Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. By cataloging the legends that defined these lands—from the volcanic divinity of Pele to the dark buccaneer tales of the West Indies—the work aims to acquaint an American audience with the heritage of its new protectorates. It functions as both a travelogue of the imagination and a historical record of how colonial expansion encountered indigenous and syncretized belief systems.

The Story

The narrative arc begins in the Caribbean, where the sea holds the memories of buccaneers, mermaids, and the tragic ghosts of early colonial conflict. The tone is set by the maritime superstitions of pirates, who bargain with witches and carry familiars, and by the sorrowful echoes of the aboriginal populations who were largely displaced by Spanish arrival. The text moves from these dark accounts of conquest—such as the uprising of the Ozama people in their water-hidden caves—to the legends of discovery, including Columbus’s own confused encounters with manatees he mistook for mermaids. The Caribbean section concludes with the intricate, often violent folk-history of Cuba, where figures like the stern administrator Tacon and the complex heroine Isabella represent the tension between Spanish authority and the islanders' resilient spirit.

As the scope shifts to the Pacific, the reader enters the expansive world of Hawaiian mythology. Here, the scale of the stories widens to include the demi-god Maui, whose physical presence dwarfs the landscape, and the formidable fire-goddess Pele, whose presence in the volcanoes demands reverence and fear. The narrative explores the rituals of death, including the strategic burial of kings, and the magical objects that hold the power to summon gods or change the course of a battle.

The final movement of the book enters the Philippines, where the traditional, animistic beliefs of the people collide with Catholic iconography. The stories here frequently highlight the intersection of faith and the mundane, illustrating a society where saints are treated with human-like familiarity and where miracles are often indistinguishable from superstition or political maneuvering. The text concludes with accounts of the "Christianizing" of those who resisted, such as the trader Wong, and the clever, often cynical ways local officials managed both bandits and the spiritual expectations of their populace. The book ends not with a grand resolution, but with a series of vignettes that reveal the endurance of older, local customs beneath the surface of the new political reality.

How It Unfolds

Maritime legends emerge The book opens with tales of the Caribbean, detailing how sea-faring pirates navigated the supernatural and how early explorers misinterpreted the natural world as a landscape of monsters and deities.

Tragedy of the islands The narrative pivots to the human cost of colonial encounters, describing the displacement of indigenous peoples and the emergence of hybrid myths born from the suffering of the enslaved and the conquered.

Divine intervention in Hawaii The setting shifts to the Pacific, where the stories emphasize the titanic forces of nature, with demi-gods manipulating the sun, the volcanoes, and the very structure of the islands themselves.

The shifting of the sacred The final section examines the Philippine islands, where ancient devil-worship and animism persist alongside the imported religious structures, leading to a unique, often ironic blending of traditions.

The closing of the era The work finishes by observing how these local legends survive the transition of power, serving as a repository for the people's history that official, "material" records often fail to capture.

The People

The book presents a cast of characters who exist on the blurry line between history and myth. Maui, the Hawaiian demi-god, functions as a force of nature who shapes the world to fit human needs, even capturing the sun to finish his chores. Pele, the "Volcano Princess," stands as the volatile, central figure of Hawaiian spiritual life, representing the destructive and creative power of the earth.

In the Caribbean, the figure of the buccaneer Lewis serves as an archetype of colonial greed, aided by a feline familiar that symbolizes his moral decay. Opposing these forces of exploitation are figures like the queen of the Ozamas, Zameaca, and her son Diaz, who represent the internal struggle for sovereignty against the relentless hunger of the Spanish. Isabella of Bayamo offers a contrast as a "queen" of civil society, maintaining dignity and charity amidst the approaching chaos of revolution. In the Philippines, the trader Wong highlights the human cost of cultural assimilation; he is a man of integrity caught between his ancestral worship and the forced piety of his conquerors, illustrating how individuals navigate the pressure to abandon their heritage to survive.

In Its Own Voice

"Within an hour the gale abated."

This line follows an account of a pirate holding a witch to her bargain in the middle of a life-threatening storm.

"To take it from the craters was dangerous."

This warning introduces the myth of how the demi-god Maui sought to steal the secret of fire from the volcanic gods.

"The statue of St. Joaquin at Gusi is remarkable because every year it runs away and spends two weeks with its wooden wife, the figure of St. Ann, at Molo."

This observation highlights the peculiar, humanized nature of religious icons within the folk-tradition of the Philippines.

What It's Really About

The book explores the tension between indigenous identity and the imposition of foreign rule. It argues that the true history of a people lies not in its official colonial dates or names, but in its fables, which reveal the "ancient state of the people" and their underlying values. The recurring theme is the survival of the human spirit through storytelling, even when that spirit is being suppressed by religious or military force. It asks how a culture maintains its internal logic—its "devil-worshipping" or "volcano-honoring"—when it is subjected to the rigid, often hypocritical moral codes of outsiders. The stories ultimately suggest that folklore is the most durable form of resistance.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the history of ideas or the intersection of colonialism and folklore will find this collection particularly valuable. The prose is warm and descriptive, offering a window into how the American public at the turn of the century conceptualized its new, far-flung territories. The text carries the distinct flavor of its time, reflected in its sometimes detached, curious, and occasionally patronizing tone toward the "primitive" customs it describes.

Today’s reader should approach the book as a historical document that captures a specific moment of American expansionism, rather than as a modern sociological study. Its value lies in its preservation of fragmented tales that might otherwise have been lost to history. While the length and the sheer volume of stories can feel overwhelming, the book is best read in short bursts, allowing the reader to savor the vivid, often surreal imagery of the islands. It is a work for those who appreciate the persistence of the "little people," the "water caves," and the "magic spears" that serve as the bedrock of human memory. It is a poignant, if imperfect, effort to map the soul of lands that were, in 1900, at the center of a global shift in power.