# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hawaii

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​HAWAII (Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands), a Territory of the United States of America, consisting of a chain of islands in the North Pacific Ocean, eight inhabited and several uninhabited. The inhabited islands lie between latitudes 18° 54′ and 22° 15′ N., and between longitudes 154° 50′ and 160° 30′ W., and extend about 380 m. from E.S.E. to W.N.W.; the uninhabited ones, mere rocks and reefs, valuable only for their guano deposits and shark-fishing grounds, continue the chain several hundred miles farther W.N.W. From Honolulu, the capital, which is about 100 m. N.W. of the middle of the inhabited group, the distance to San Francisco is about 2100 m.; to Auckland, New Zealand, about 3810 m.; to Sydney, New South Wales, about 4410 m.; to Yokohama, about 3400 m.; to Hong-Kong, about 4920 m.; to Manila, about 4890 m. The total area of the inhabited islands is 6651 sq. m., distributed as follows: Hawaii, 4210; Maui, 728; Oahu, about 600; Kauai, 547; Molokai, 261; Lanai, 139; Niihau, 97; Kahoolawe, 69.
All the islands are of volcanic origin, and have been built up by the eruptive process from a base about 15,000 ft. below the sea to a maximum height (Mauna Kea) on the largest island (Hawaii) of 13,823 ft. above the sea; altogether there are forty volcanic peaks. Evidence of slight upheaval is occasionally afforded by an elevated coral-reef along the shore, and evidence of the subsidence of the S. portion of Oahu for several hundred feet has been discovered by artesian borings through coral-rock. In some instances, notably the high and nearly vertical wall along the N. shore of the E. half of Molokai, there is evidence of a fracture followed by the submergence of a portion of a volcano. With the exception of the coral and a small amount of calcareous sandstone, the rocks are entirely volcanic and range from basalt to trachyte, but are mainly basalt. Cinder cones and tufa cones abound, but one of the most distinguishing features of the Hawaiian volcanoes is the great number of craters of the engulfment type, i.e. pit-craters which enlarge slowly by the breaking off and falling in of their walls, and discharge vast lava-flows with comparatively little violence. The age of the several inhabited islands, or at least the time since the last eruptions on them, decreases from W. to E., and on the most easterly (Hawaii) volcanic forces are still in operation. That those to the westward have long been inactive is shown by the destruction of craters by denudation, by deep ravines, valleys and tall cliffs eroded on the mountain sides, especially on the windward side, by the depth of soil formed from the disintegrated rocks, and by the amount as well as variety of vegetable life.
Hawaii Island, from which the group and later the Territory was named, has the shape of a rude triangle with sides of 90 m., 75 m. and 65 m. Its coast, unlike that of the other islands of the archipelago, has few coral reefs. Its surface consists mainly of the gentle slopes of five volcanic mountains which have encroached much upon one another by their eruptions.
Mauna Loa (“Great Mountain”), on the S., is by far the largest volcano in the world; from a base measuring at sea-level about 75 m. from N. to S. and 50 m. from E. to W., it rises gradually to a height of 13,675 ft. On its E.S.E. side, at an elevation of 4000 ft. above the sea (300 ft. above the adjoining plain on the W.) is Kilauea, from whose lava-flows the island has been extended to form its S.E. angle. To the N.N.E. of Mauna Loa, and blending with it in an intervening plateau, is Mauna Kea (“White Mountain,” so named from the snow on its summit), with a much smaller base but with steeper slopes and a crowning cinder cone 13,823 ft. above the sea, the maximum height in the Pacific Ocean; blending with Mauna Loa on the N.N.W. is Mauna Hualalai, 8269 ft. in height; and rising abruptly from the extreme N.W. shore are the remains of the oldest mountains of the island, the Kohala, with a summit 5505 ft. in height. On the land side the Kohala Mountains have been covered with lava from Mauna Kea, and form the broad plains of Kohala, having a maximum elevation of about 3000 ft.; on the ocean side, wherever this lava has not extended, erosion has gone on until bluffs 1000 ft. in height face the sea and the enormous gorges of Waipio and Waimanu, with nearly perpendicular walls as much as 3000 ft. high and extending inland 5-6 m., have been formed. Mauna Kea is not nearly so old as the Kohala Mountains, but there is no record of its eruption, nor have its lavas a modern aspect. The last eruption of Mauna Hualalai was in 1801. Mauna Loa and Kilauea are still active. Cinder cones are the predominant type of craters on both Mauna Kea and the Kohala Mountains, and they are also numerous on the upper slopes of Mauna Hualalai; but the more typically Hawaiian pit or engulfment craters also abound on Mauna Hualalai and Mokuaweoweo, crowning the summit of Mauna Loa, as well as Kilauea, to the S.E. of it, are prominent representatives of this type. Kilauea is the largest active crater in the world (8 m. in circumference) and is easily accessible. Enclosed by a circular wall from 200 to 700 ft. in height is a black and slightly undulating plain having an area of 4.14 sq. m., and within this plain is a pit, Halemaumau, of varying area (about 2000 ft. in diameter in 1905), now full of boiling lava, now empty to a depth of perhaps 1000 ft. When most active, Halemaumau affords a grand spectacle, especially at night: across the crust run glowing cracks, the crust is then broken into cakes, the cakes plunge beneath, lakes of liquid lava are formed, over whose surface play fire-fountains 10 to 50 ft. in height, the surface again solidifies and the process is repeated. According to an account of the natives, a violent eruption of Kilauea occurred in 1789, or about that time, and deposits of volcanic sand, large stones, sponge-like scoria (pumice) and ashes for miles around are evidence of such an eruption. Since the Rev. William Ellis and a party of American missionaries first made the volcano known to the civilized ​world in 1823, the eruptions have consisted mainly in the quiet discharge of lava through a subterranean passage into the sea. In the eruptions of 1823, 1832, 1840 and 1868 the floor of the crater rose on the eve of an eruption and then sank, sometimes hundreds of feet, with the discharge of lava; but since 1868 (in 1879, 1886, 1891, 1894 and 1907; and once, before 1868, in 1855) this action has been confined to Halemaumau and such other pits as at the time existed.
Mokuaweoweo, on the flat top of Mauna Loa, is a pit crater with a floor 3.7 sq. m. in area and sunk 500–600 ft. within walls that are almost vertical and that measure 9.47 m. in circumference. Formerly, on the eve of a great eruption of Mauna Loa, this crater often spouted forth great columns of flame and emitted clouds of vapour, but in modern times this action has usually been followed by a fracture of the mountain side from the summit down to a point 1000 ft. or more below where the lava was discharged in great streams, the action at the summit diminishing or wholly ceasing when this discharge began. The first recorded eruption of Mauna Loa was in 1832; since then there have been eruptions in 1851, 1852, 1855, 1859, 1868, 1880–1881, 1887, 1896, 1899 and 1907. The eruptions of 1868, 1887 and 1907 were attended by earthquakes; in 1868 huge sea waves, 40 ft. in height, were raised, and, as they broke on the S. shore, they destroyed the villages of Punaluu, Ninole, Kawaa and Honuapo. But the eruptions of Mauna Loa have consisted mainly in the quiet discharge of enormous flows of lava: in 1859 the lava-stream, which began to run on the 23rd of January, flowed N.W., reached the sea, 33 m. distant, eight days later, and continued to flow into it until the 25th of November; and the average length of the flows from seven other eruptions is nearly 14 m. The surface of the upper slopes of Mauna Loa is almost wholly of two widely different kinds of barren lava-flows, called by the Hawaiians the pahoehoe and the aa. The pahoehoe has a smooth but billowy or hummocky surface, and is marked by lines which show that it cooled as it flowed. The aa is lava broken into fragments having sharp and jagged edges. As the same stream sometimes changes abruptly from one kind to the other, the two kinds must be due to different conditions affecting the flow, and among the conditions which may cause a stream to break up into the aa have been mentioned the greater depth of the stream, a sluggish current, impediments in its course just as it is granulating, and, what is more probable, subterranean moisture which causes it to cool from below upward instead of from above downward as in the pahoehoe. The natives are in the habit of making holes in the aa, and planting in them banana shoots or sweet-potato cuttings, and though the holes are simply filled with stones or fern leaves, the plants grow and in due time are productive. Another curious feature of Mauna Loa, and to some extent of other Hawaiian volcanoes, is the great number of caves, some of them as much as 60 to 80 ft. in height and several miles in length; they were produced by the escape of lava over which a crust had formed. In the midst of barren wastes to the S.E. and S.W. of Kilauea are small channels with steam cracks, along which appears the only vegetation of the region.
Maui, lying 26 m. N.W. of Hawaii, is composed of two mountains connected by an isthmus, Wailuku, 7 or 8 m. long, about 6 m. across, and about 160 ft. above the sea in its highest part.
Mauna Haleakala, on the E. peninsula, has a height of 10,032 ft., and forms a great dome-like mass, with a circumference at the base of 90 m. and regular slopes of only 8° or 9°. It has numerous cinder cones on its S.W. slope, is well wooded on the N. and E. slopes, and has on its summit an extinct pit-crater which is one of the largest in the world. This crater is 7.48 m. long, 2.37 m. wide, and covers 19 sq. m.; the circuit of its walls, which are composed of a hard grey clinkstone much fissured, is 20 m.; its greatest depth is 2720 ft. At opposite ends are breaks in the walls a mile or more in width—one about 1000 ft., the other at least 3000 ft. in depth—through which poured the lava of probably the last great eruption. From the floor of the crater rise sixteen well-preserved cinder-cones, which range from more than 400 ft. to 900 ft. in height. Along the N. base of the mountain are numerous ravines (several hundred feet deep), to the bottom of which small streams of water fall in long cascades, but elsewhere on the eastern mountain there is little erosion or other mark of age. That the mountainous mass of western Maui is much older is shown by the destruction of its crater, by its sharp ridges and by deeply eroded gorges or valleys. Its highest peak, Puu Kukui, rises 5788 ft. above the sea, and directly under this is the head of Iao Valley, 5 m. long and 2 m. wide, which has been cut in the mountain to a depth of 4000 ft. This and the smaller valleys are noted for the beauty of their tropical scenery.
Kahoolawe is a small island 6 m. S.W. of Maui. It is 14 m. long by 6 m. wide. Its mountains, which rise to a height of 1472 ft., are rugged and nearly destitute of verdure, but the intervening valleys afford pasturage for sheep.
Lanai is another small island, 7 m. W. of Maui, about 18 m. long and 12 m. wide. It has a mountain range which rises to a ​maximum height, S.E. of its centre, of about 3480 ft. The N.E. slope is cut by deep gorges, and at the bottom of one of these, which is 2000 ft. deep, is the only water-supply on the island. On the S. side is a rolling table-land affording considerable pasturage for sheep, but over the whole N.W. portion of the island the trade winds, driving through the channel between Maui and Molokai, sweep the rocks bare. Kahoolawe and Lanai are both privately owned.
Molokai, 8 m. N.W. of Maui, extends 40 m. from E. to W. and has an average width of nearly 7 m. From the S.W. extremity of the island rises the backbone of a ridge which extends E.N.E. about 10 m., where it culminates in the round-topped hill of Mauna Loa, 1382 ft. above the sea. Both the northern and southern slopes of this ridge are cut by ravines and gulches, and along the N. shore is a steep sea-cliff. At the E. extremity of the ridge there is a sudden drop to a low and gently rolling plain, but farther on the surface rises gradually towards a range of mountains which comprises more than one-half the island and attains a maximum height of 4958 ft. in the peak of Kamakou. The S. slope of this range is gradual but is cut by many straight and narrow ravines, in some instances to a great depth. The N. slope is abrupt, with precipices from 1000 to 4000 ft. in height. Extending N. from the foot of the precipice, a little E. of the centre of the island, is a comparatively low peninsula (separated from the mainland by a rock wall 2000 ft. high), on which is a famous leper settlement. The peninsula forms a separate county, Kalawao.
Oahu, 23 m. N.W. of Molokai, has an irregular quadrangular form. It is traversed from S.E. to N.W. by two roughly parallel ranges of hill separated by a plain that is 20 m. long and in some parts 9 to 10 m. wide. The highest point in the island is Mauna Kaala, 4030 ft., in the Waianae or W. range; but the Koolau or E. range is much longer than the other, and its ridge is very much broken; on the land side there are many ravines formed by lateral spurs, but to the sea for 30 m. it presents a nearly vertical wall without a break. The valleys are remarkable for beautiful scenery,—peaks, cliffs, lateral ravines, cascades and tropical vegetation. There are few craters on the loftier heights, but on the coasts there are several groups of small cones with craters, some of lava, others of tufa. The greater part of the coast is surrounded by a coral reef, often half a mile wide; in several localities an old reef upheaved, sometimes 100 ft. high, forms part of the land.
Kauai, 63 m. W.N.W. of Oahu, has an irregularly circular form with a maximum diameter of about 25 m. On the N.W. is a precipice 2000 ft. or more in height and above this is a mountain plain, but elsewhere around the island is a shore plain, from which rises Mount Waialeale to a height of 5250 ft. The peaks of the mountain are irregular, abrupt and broken; its sides are deeply furrowed by gorges and ravines; the shore plain is broken by ridges and by broad and deep valleys; no other island of the group is so well watered on all sides by large mountain streams; and it is called “garden isle.”
Niihau, the most westerly of the inhabited islands, is 18 m. W. by S. of Kauai. It is 16 m. long and 6 m. wide. The western two-thirds consists of a low plain, composed of an uplifted coral reef and matter washed down from the mountains; but on the E. side the island rises precipitously from the sea and attains a maximum height of 1304 ft. at Paniau. There are large salt lagoons on the southern coast.
Climate.—The climate is cooler than that of other regions in the same latitude, and is very healthy. The sky is usually cloudless or only partly cloudy. The N.E. trades blow with periodic variations from March to December; and the leeward coast, being protected by high mountains, is refreshed by regular land and sea breezes. During January, February and a part of March the wind blows strongly from the S. or S.W.; and at this season an unpleasant hot, damp wind is sometimes felt. More rain falls from January to May than during the other months; very much more falls on the windward side of the principal islands than on the leeward; and the amount increases with the elevation also up to about 4000 ft. The greatest recorded extremes of local rainfall for a year within the larger islands range from 12 to 300 in. For Honolulu the mean annual rainfall (1884–1899) was 28.18 in.; the maximum 49.82; and the minimum 13.46. At sea level the daily average temperature for July is 76.4° F., for December 70.7° F.; the mean annual temperature is about 73° F.—68° during the night, 80° during the day—and for each 200 ft. of elevation the temperature falls about 1° F., and snow lies for most of the time on the highest mountains.
Flora.—The Hawaiian Islands have a peculiar flora. As a result of their isolation, the proportion of endemic plants is greater here than in any other region, and the great elevation of the mountains, with the consequent variation in temperature, moisture and barometric pressure, has multiplied the number of species. Towards the close of the 19th century William Hillebrand found 365 genera and 999 species, and of this number of species 653 were peculiar to this part of the Pacific. The number of species is greatest on the older islands, particularly Kauai and Oahu, and the total number for the group has been constantly increasing, some being introduced, others possibly being produced by the varying climatic conditions from those already existing. Among the peculiar dicotyledonous plants there is not a single annual, and by far the greater number are perennial and woody. Hawaiian forests are distinctly tropical, and are composed for the most part of trees below the medium height. They are most common between elevations of 2000 and 8000 ft.; there are only a few species below 2000 ft., and above 8000 ft. the growth is stunted. The destruction of considerable portions of the forests by cattle, goats, insects, fire and cutting has been followed by reforesting, the planting of hitherto barren tracts, the passage of severe forest fire laws, and the establishment of forest reserves, of which the area in 1909 was 545,746 acres, of which 357,180 were government land. In regions of heavy rainfall the ohia-lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), a tree growing from 30 to 100 ft. in height, is predominant, and on account of the dense undergrowth chiefly of ferns and climbing vines, forms the most impenetrable of the forests; its hard wood is used chiefly for fuel. The koa (Acacia koa), from the wood of which the natives used to make the bodies of their canoes, and the only tree of the islands that furnishes much valuable lumber (a hard cabinet wood marketed as “Hawaiian mahogany”), forms extensive forests on Hawaii and Maui between elevations of 2000 and 4000 ft. The mamane (Sophora chrysophylla), which furnishes the best posts, grows principally on the high slopes of Mauna Kea and Hualalai. Posts and railway ties are also made from ohia-ha (Eugenia sandwicensis). In many districts between elevations of 2000 and 6000 ft., where there is only a moderate amount of moisture, occur mixed forests of koa, koaia (Acacia koaia), kopiko (Straussia oncocarpa and S. hawaiiensis), kolea (Myrsine kauaiensis and M. lanaiensis), naio or bastard sandalwood (Myoporum sandwicense) and pua (Olea sandwicensis); of these the koaia furnishes a hard wood suitable for the manufacture of furniture, and out of it the natives formerly made spears and fancy paddles. The wood of the naio when dry has a fragrance resembling that of sandalwood, and is used for torches in fishing. The kukui (Aleurites triloba) and the algaroba (Prosopis juliflora) are the principal species of forest trees that occur below elevations of 2000 ft. The kukui grows along streams and gulches; from its nuts, which are very oily, the natives used to make candles, and it is still frequently called the candlenut tree. On the leeward side, from near the sea level to elevations of 1500 ft., and on ground that was formerly barren, the algaroba tree has formed dense forests since its introduction in 1837. Forests of iron-wood and blue gum have also been planted. Sandalwood (Santalum album or freycinetianum) was once abundant on rugged and rather inaccessible heights, but so great a demand arose for it in China, where it was used for incense and for the manufacture of fancy articles, that the supply was nearly exhausted between 1802 and 1836; since then some young trees have sprung up, but the number is relatively small. Other peculiar trees prized for their wood are: the kauila (Alphitonia ponderosa), used for making spears, mallets and other tools; the kela (Mezoneuron kauaiense), the hard wood of which resembles ebony; the halapepe (Dracaena aurea), out of the soft wood of which the natives carved many of their idols; and the wiliwili (Erythrina monosperma), the wood of which is as light as cork and is used for outriggers. In 1909, on six large rubber plantations, mostly on the windward side of the island of Maui, there were planted 444,450 ceara trees, 66,700 hevea trees, and 600 castilloa trees. About the only indigenous fruit-bearing plants are the Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chilensis) and the ohelo berry (Vaccinium reticulatum), both of which grow at high elevations on Hawaii and Maui. The ohelo berry is famous in song and story, and formerly served as a propitiatory offering to Pele. The number of fruit-bearing trees, shrubs and plants that have been introduced and are successfully cultivated or grow wild is much greater; among them are the mango, orange, banana, pineapple, coconut, palm, grape, fig, strawberry, litchi (Nephelium litchi)—the favourite fruit of the Chinese—avocado or alligator pear (Persea gratissima), Sapodilla pear (Achras sapota), loquat or mespilus plum (Eriobotrya japonica), Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), papaw (Carica papaya), resembling in appearance the cantaloupe, granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis) and guava (Psidium guajava). Most of the native grasses are too coarse for grazing, and some of ​them, particularly the hilo grass (Paspalum conjugatum), which forms a dense mat over the ground, prevent the spread of forests. The pili grass (Heteropogon contortus) is also noxious, for its awns get badly entangled in the wool of sheep. The native manienie (Stenotaphrum americanum) and kukai (Panicum pruriens), however, are relished by stock and are found on all the inhabited islands; the Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), a June grass (Poa annua), and Guinea grass (Panicum jumentorum) have also been successfully introduced. The Paspalum orbiculare is the large swamp grass with which the natives covered their houses. On the island of Niihau is a fine grass (Cyperus laevigatus), out of which the beautiful Niihau mats were formerly made; it is used in making Panama hats. Mats were also made of the leaves of the hala tree (Pandanus odoratissimus). The wauke plant (Broussonetia papyrifera), and to a less extent the mamake (Pipturus albidus) and Boehmeria stipularis, furnished the bark out of which the famous kapa cloth was made, while the olopa (Cheirodendron gaudichaudii) and the koolea (Myrsine lessertiana) furnished the dyes with which it was coloured. From several species of Cibotium is obtained a glossy yellowish wool, used for making pillows and mattresses. Ferns, of which there are about 130 species varying from a few inches to 30 ft. in height, form a luxuriant undergrowth in the ohia-lehua and the koa forests, and the islands are noted for the profusion and beautiful colours of their flowering plants. Kalo (Colocasia antiquorum, var., esculenta), which furnishes the principal food of the natives, and sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum), the cultivation of which has become the chief industry of the islands, were introduced before the discovery of the group by Captain Cook in 1778. Sisal hemp has been introduced, and there is a large plantation of it W. of Honolulu.
Over seventy varieties of seaweeds, growing in the fresh-water pools and in the waters near the coast, are used by the natives as food. These limus, as they are called by the Kanakas, are washed, salted, broken and eaten as a relish or as a flavouring for fish or other meat. The culture of such algae may prove of economic importance; gelatine, glue and agar-agar would be valuable by-products.
Fauna.—A day-flying bat, whales and dolphins are about the only indigenous mammals; hogs, dogs and rats had been introduced before Cook’s discovery. Fish in an interesting variety of colours and shapes abound in the sea and in artificial ponds along the coasts. There are some fine species of birds, and the native avifauna is so distinctive that Wallace argued from it that the Hawaiian Archipelago had long been separated from any other land. There were native names for 89 varieties. The most typical family is the Drepanidae, so named for the stout sickle-shaped beak with which the birds extract insects from heavy-barked trees; Gadow considers the family American in its origin, and thinks that the Moho, a family of honey-suckers, were later comers and from Australia. The mamo (Drepanis pacifica) has large golden feathers on its back; it is now very rare, and is seldom found except on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, about 4000 ft. above the sea. The smaller yellow feathers, once used for the war cloaks of the native chiefs, were furnished by the oo (Moho nobilis) and the aa (Moho braccatus), now found only occasionally in the valleys of Kauai near Hanalei, on the N. side of the island; scarlet feathers for similar mantles were taken from the iiwi (Vestiaria coccinea), a black-bodied, scarlet-winged song-bird, which feeds on nectar and on insects found in the bark of the koa and ohia trees, and from the Fringilla coccinea. In the old times birds were protected by the native belief that divine messages were conveyed by bird cries, and by royal edict forbidding the killing of species furnishing the material for feather cloaks, contributions towards which were long almost the only taxes paid. Thus the downfall of the monarchy and of the ancient cults have been nearly fatal to some of the more beautiful birds; feather ornaments, formerly worn only by nobles, came to be a common decoration; and many species (for example the Hawaiian gallinule, Gallinula sandwicensis, which, because of its crimson frontal plate and bill, was said by the natives to have played the part of Prometheus, burning its head with fire stolen from the gods and bestowed on mortals) have been nearly destroyed by the mongoose, or have been driven from their lowland homes to the mountains, such being the fate of the mamo, mentioned above, and of the Sandwich Island goose (Bernicla sandwicensis), which is here a remarkable example of adaptation, as its present habitat is quite arid. This goose has been introduced successfully into Europe. A bird called moho, but actually of a different family, was the Pennula ecaudata or millsi, which had hardly any tail, and had wings so degenerate that it was commonly thought wingless. The turnstone (Strepsilas interpres) arrives in the islands in August after breeding in Alaska. There are no parrots. The only reptiles are three species of skinks and four of the gecko; the islands are famed for their freedom from snakes. Land-snails, mostly Achatinellidae, are remarkably frequent and diverse; over 300 varieties exist. Insects are numerous, and of about 500 species of beetle some 80% are not known to exist elsewhere; cockroaches and green locusts are pests, as are, also, mosquitoes, wasps, scorpions, centipedes and white ants, which have all been introduced from elsewhere.
Soil.—The soil of the Territory is almost wholly a decomposition of lava, and in general differs much from the soils of the United States, particularly in the large amount of nitrogen (often more than 1.25% in cane and coffee soil, and occasionally 2.2%) and iron, and in the high degree of acidity. High up on the windward side of a mountain it is thin, light red or yellow, and of inferior quality. Low down on the leeward side it is dark red and fertile, but still too pervious to retain moisture well. In the older valleys on the islands of Kauai, Oahu and Maui, as well as on the lowland plain of Molokai, the soil is deeper and usually, too, the moisture is retained by a heavy clay. In some places along the coast there is a narrow strip of decomposed coral limestone; often, too, a coral reef has served to catch the sediment washed down the mountain side until a deep sedimentary soil has been deposited. On the still lower levels the soil is deepest and most productive.
Agriculture.—The tenure by which lands were held before 1838 was strictly feudal, resembling that of Germany in the 11th century, and lands were sometimes enfeoffed to the seventh degree. But in the “Great Division” which took place in 1848 and forms the foundation of present land titles, about 984,000 acres, nearly one-fourth of the inhabited area, were set apart for the crown, about 1,495,000 acres for the government, and about 1,619,000 acres for the several chiefs; and the common people received fee-simple titles for their house lots and the pieces of land which they cultivated for themselves, about 28,600 acres, almost entirely in isolated patches of irregular shape hemmed in by the holdings of the crown, the government or the great chiefs. Generally the chiefs ran into debt; many died without heirs; and their lands passed largely into the hands of foreigners. At the abolition of the monarchy in 1893, the crown domains were declared to be public lands, and, with the other government lands, were by the terms of annexation turned over to the United States in 1898. They had been offered for sale or lease in accordance with land acts (of 1884 and 1895—the latter corresponding generally to the land laws of New Zealand) designed to promote division into small farms and their immediate improvement. In 1909 the area of the public land was about 1,700,000 acres. In 1900 there were in the Territory 2273 farms, of which 1209 contained less than 10 acres, 785 contained between 10 and 100 acres, and 116 contained 1000 acres or more. The natives seldom cultivate more than half an acre apiece, and the Portuguese settlers usually only 25 or 30 acres at most. Of the total area of the Territory only 86,854 acres, or 2.77%, were under cultivation in 1900, and of this 65,687 acres, or 75.6%, were divided into 170 farms and planted to sugar-cane. In 1909 it was estimated that 213,000 acres (about half of which was irrigated) were planted to sugar, one half being cropped each year. The average yield per acre of cane-sugar is the greatest in the world, 30 to 40 tons of cane being an average per acre, and as much as 101/4 tons of sugar having been produced from a single acre under irrigation. The cultivation of the cane was greatly encouraged by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which established practically free trade between the islands and the United States, and since 1879 it has been widely extended by means of irrigation, the water being obtained both by pumping from numerous artesian wells and by conducting surface water through canals and ditches. The sugar farms are mostly on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai, at the bases of mountains; those on the leeward side have the better soil, but require much more irrigating. The product increased from 26,072,429 ℔ in 1876 to 259,789,462 ℔ in 1890, 542,098,500 ℔ in 1899 and about 1,060,000,000 ℔ (valued at more than $40,000,000) in 1909. Nearly all of it is exported to the United States. Rice was the second product in importance until competition with Japan, Louisiana and Texas made the crop a poor investment; improved culture and machinery may restore rice culture to its former importance. It is grown almost wholly by Japanese and Chinese on small low farms along the coasts, mostly on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. In 1899 the product amounted to 33,442,400 ℔; in 1907 about 12,000 acres were planted, and the crop was estimated to be worth $2,500,000. Coffee of good quality is grown at elevations ranging between 1000 to 3000 ft. above the sea; the Hawaiian product is called Kona coffee—from Kona, a district of the S. side of Hawaii island, where much of it is grown. In 1909 about 4500 acres were in coffee, the value of the crop was $350,000; and 1,763,119 ℔ of coffee, valued at $211,535, were exported from Hawaii to the mainland of the United States. A few bananas and (especially from Oahu) pineapples of fine quality are exported; since 1901 the canning of ​pineapples has been successfully carried on, and in the year ending May 31, 1907, 186,700 cases were exported, being packed in nine canneries. Oranges, lemons, limes, figs, mangoes, grapes and peaches, besides a considerable variety of vegetables, are raised in small quantities for local consumption. In 1909 the exports of fruits and nuts to the continental United States were valued at $1,457,644. An excellent quality of sisal is grown. Rubber trees have been planted with some success, particularly on the eastern part of the island of Maui; they were not tapped for commercial use until 1909. In 1907 there were vanilla plantations in the islands of Oahu and Hawaii. Tobacco of a high grade, especially for wrappers, has been grown at the Agricultural Experiment Station’s farm at Hamakua, on the island of Hawaii, where the tobacco is practically “shade grown” under the afternoon fogs from Mauna Kea. Cotton and silk culture have been experimented with on the islands; and the work of the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station is of great value, in introducing new crops, in improving old, in studying soils and fertilizers and in entomological research. Honey is a crop of some importance; in 1908 the yield was about 950 tons of honey and 15 tons of wax. The small islands of Lanai, Niihau and Kahoolawe are devoted chiefly to the raising of sheep and cattle—Niihau is one large privately owned sheep-ranch. There are large cattle-ranches on the islands supplying nearly all the meat for domestic consumption, and cattle-raising is second in importance to the sugar industry. It was estimated in 1908 that there were about 130,500 cattle and about 99,500 sheep on the islands. The “native” cattle, descended from those left on the islands by early navigators, are being improved by breeding with imported Hereford, Shorthorn, Angus and Holstein bulls, the Herefords being the best for the purpose. In the fiscal year 1908, 359,413 ℔ of wool (valued at $58,133) and 928,599 ℔ of raw hides (valued at $87,599) were shipped from the Territory to the United States.
Minerals.—The islands have large (unworked) supplies of pumice, sandstone, sulphur, gypsum, alum and mineral-paint ochres, and some salt, kaolin and sal-ammoniac, but otherwise they are without mineral wealth other than lava rocks for building purposes.
Manufactures.—The manufactures are chiefly sugar, fertilizers, and such products of the foundry and machine shop as are required for the machinery of the sugar factories. Most of the manufacturing industries, indeed, are maintained for supplying the local market, there being only three important exceptions—the manufacture of sugar, the cleaning of coffee and the cleaning and polishing of rice. The manufacture of sugar, which began between 1830 and 1840, has long been much the most important of the manufacturing industries: thus in 1900 the value of the sugar production was $19,254,773, and the total value of all manufactures, including custom work and repairing, was only $24,992,068. Next to sugar, fertilizers were the most important manufactured product, their value being $1,150,625; the products of the establishments for the polishing and cleaning of rice were valued at $664,300. Of the total product in 1900, only 18.5% (by value) is to be credited to the city of Honolulu. The growth of manufacturing is much hampered by the lack of labour. Excellent water power is utilized on the island of Kauai in an electric plant.
Communications.—There are good wagon roads on the islands, some of them macadamized, built of the hard blue lava rock. Hawaii had in 1909 about 200 m. of railway, of which the principal line is that of the Oahu Railway & Land Company (about 89 m.), extending from Honolulu W. and N. along the coast to Kahuku about one-half the distance around Oahu; another line from Kahuku Mill, the most northerly point of the island, S.E. to Honolulu, was projected in 1905; on the island of Hawaii is the Hilo Railroad (about 46 m.), carrying sugar, pineapples, rubber and lumber; other railways are for the most part short lines on sugar estates and in coffee-producing sections of the islands of Hawaii and Maui. Each of the larger islands has one or more ports which a local steamboat serves regularly, and Honolulu has the regular service of seven trans-Pacific lines (the American-Hawaiian Steamship Co., the Canadian-Australian Steamship Co., the Matson Navigation Co., the Oceanic Steamship Co., the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., the Mexican Oriental and the Toyo Kisen Kaisha); it is a midway station for vessels between the United States (mainland) and Australia and Southern Asia. In 1908 five steamship companies were engaged in traffic between island ports and the mainland (including Mexico). Honolulu has cable connexion with San Francisco and the East, and the several islands of the group are served by wireless telegraph.
Commerce.—The position of the archipelago, at the “cross-roads” of the North Pacific, has made it commercially important since the days of the whale fishery, and it has a practical monopoly of coaling, watering and victualling. Its main disadvantage is the lack of harbours—Honolulu and Pearl Harbor are the only ones in the archipelago; but under the River and Harbour Act of 1905 examinations and surveys were made to improve Hilo Bay on the island of Hawaii. Pearl Harbor is the U.S. naval station, and a great naval dock, nearly 1200 ft. long, was projected for the station in 1908. Within recent years commerce has grown greatly in volume; it has always been almost entirely with the United States. In 1880 the value of imports from the United States was $2,086,000, that of exports to the United States was $4,606,000; in 1907 the value of shipments of domestic merchandise from the United States to Hawaii was $5,357,907, and the value of shipments of domestic merchandise from Hawaii to the United States was $31,984,433, of which $30,111,524 was the value of brown sugar, $133,133 the value of rice, $601,748 the value of canned fruits, $124,146 the value of green, ripe or dried fruits, $117,403 the value of hides and skins, and $105,515 the value of green or raw coffee. The shipments of foreign merchandise each way are relatively insignificant. In the fiscal year 1908 the exports from Hawaii to foreign countries were valued at $597,640, ten times as much as in 1905 ($59,541); the imports into Hawaii from foreign countries were valued at $4,682,399 in the fiscal year 1908, as against $3,014,964 in 1905.
Population.—The total population of the islands in 1890 was 89,990; in 1900 it was 154,001, an increase within the decade of 71.13%; in 1910 it was 191,909. In 1908 there were about 72,000 Japanese, 18,000 Chinese, 5000 Koreans, 23,000 Portuguese, 2000 Spanish, 2000 Porto Ricans, 35,000 Hawaiians and part Hawaiians and 12,000 Teutons. Of the total for 1900 there were 61,111 Japanese, 25,767 Chinese and 233 negroes; of the same total there were 90,780 foreign-born, of whom 56,234 were natives of Japan, and 6512 were natives of Portugal. There were in all in 1900, 106,369 males (69.1%; a preponderance due to the large number of Mongolian labourers, whose wives are left in Asia) and only 47,632 females. About three-fifths of the Hawaiians and nearly all of American, British or North European descent are Protestants. Most of the Portuguese and about one-third of the native Hawaiians are Roman Catholics. The Mormons claim more than 4000 adherents, whose principal settlement is at Laie, on the north-east shore of Oahu; the first Mormon missionaries came to the islands in 1850. The population of 1910 was distributed among the several islands as follows: Oahu, 82,028; Hawaii, 55,382; Kauai and Niihau, 23,952; Kalawao, 785; and Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokai, 29,762. The population of Honolulu district, the entire urban population of the Territory, was 22,907 in 1890, 39,306 in 1900, and 52,183 in 1910.
The aboriginal Hawaiians (sometimes called Kanakas, from a Hawaiian word kanaka, meaning “man”) belong to the Malayo-Polynesian race; they probably settled in Hawaii in the 10th century, having formerly lived in Samoa, and possibly before that in Tahiti and the Native population. Marquesas. Their reddish-brown skin has been compared in hue to tarnished copper. Their hair is dark brown or black, straight, wavy or curly; the beard is thin, the face broad, the profile not prominent, the eyes large and expressive, the nose somewhat flattened, the lips thick, the teeth excellent in shape and of a pearly whiteness. The skull is sub-brachycephalic in type, with an index of 82.6 from living “specimens” and 79 from a large collection of skulls; it is never prognathous. Most of the people are of moderate stature, but the chiefs and the women of their families have been remarkable for their height, and 400 pounds was formerly not an unusual weight for one of this class. This corpulence was due not alone to over-feeding but to an almost purely vegetable diet; stoutness was a part of the ideal of feminine beauty. The superiority in physique of the nobles to the common people may have been due in part to a system of massage, the lomi-lomi; it is certainly contrary to the belief in the bad effects of inbreeding—among the upper classes marriage was almost entirely between near relatives.
The Rev. William Ellis, an early English missionary, described the natives as follows: “The inhabitants of these islands are, considered physically, amongst the finest races in the Pacific, bearing the strongest resemblance to the New Zealanders in stature, and in their well-developed muscular limbs. The tattooing of their bodies is less artistic than that of the New Zealanders, and much more limited than among some of the other islanders. They are also more hardy and industrious than those living nearer the equator. This in all probability arises from their salubrious climate, and the comparative sterility of their soil rendering them dependent upon the cultivation of the ground for the yam, the arum, and the sweet potato, their chief articles of food. Though, like all undisciplined races, the Sandwich Islanders [Hawaiians] have proved deficient in firm and steady perseverance, they manifest considerable intellectual capability. Their moral character, when first visited by Europeans, was not ​superior to that of other islanders; and excepting when improved and preserved by the influence of Christianity, it has suffered much from the vices of intemperance and licentiousness introduced by foreigners. Polygamy prevailed among the chiefs and rulers, and women were subject to all the humiliations of the tabu system, which subjected them to many privations, and kept them socially in a condition of inferiority to the other sex. Infanticide was practised to some extent, the children destroyed being chiefly females. Though less superstitious than the Tahitians, the idolatry of the Sandwich Islanders was equally barbarous and sanguinary, as, in addition to the chief objects of worship included in the mythology of the other islands, the supernatural beings supposed to reside in the volcanoes and direct the action of subterranean fires rendered the gods objects of peculiar terror. Human sacrifices were slain on several occasions, and vast offerings presented to the spirits supposed to preside over the volcanoes, especially during the periods of actual eruptions. The requisitions of their idolatry were severe and its rites cruel and bloody. Grotesque and repulsive wooden figures, animals and the bones of chiefs were the objects of worship. Human sacrifices were offered whenever a temple was to be dedicated, or a chief was sick, or a war was to be undertaken; and these occasions were frequent. The apprehensions of the people with regard to a future state were undefined, but fearful. The lower orders expected to be slowly devoured by evil spirits, or to dwell with the gods in burning mountains. The several trades, such as that of fisherman, the tiller of the ground, and the builder of canoes and houses, had each their presiding deities. Household gods were also kept, which the natives worshipped in their habitations. One merciful provision, however, had existed from time immemorial, and that was [the puuhonuas] sacred inclosures, places of refuge, into which those who fled in time of war, or from any violent pursuer, might enter and be safe. To violate their sanctity was one of the greatest crimes of which a man could be guilty.” The native religion was an admixture of idolatry and hero-worship, of some ethical but little moral force. The king was war chief, priest and god in one, and the shocking licence at the death of a king was probably due to the feeling that all law or restraint was annulled by the death of the king—incarnate law. The mythic and religious legends of the people were preserved in chants, handed down from generation to generation; and in like poetic form was kept the knowledge of the people of botany, medicine and other sciences. Name-songs, written at the birth of a chief, gave his genealogy and the deeds of his ancestors; dirges and love-songs were common. These were without rhyme or rhythm, but had alliteration and a parallelism resembling Hebrew poetry. Drums, gourd and bamboo flutes, and a kind of guitar, were known before Cook’s day.
When the islands first became known to Europeans, the Hawaiian family was in a stage including both polyandry and polygyny, and, according to Morgan, older than either: two or more brothers, with their wives, or two or more sisters with their husbands, cohabited with seeming promiscuity. This system called punalua (a word which in the modern vernacular means merely “dear friend”) was first brought to the attention of ethnologists in 1871 by Lewis H. Morgan (who was incorrect in many of his premises) and was made the basis of his second stage, the punaluan, in the evolution of the family. These conditions did not last long after the coming of the missionaries. Descent was more commonly traced through the female line. As regard cannibalism, it appears that the heart and liver of the human victims offered in the temples were eaten as a religious rite, and that the same parts of any prominent warrior slain in battle were devoured by the victor chiefs, who believed that they would thereby inherit the valour of the dead man. Under taboo as late as 1819 women were to be put to death if they ate bananas, cocoa-nuts, pork, turtles or certain fish. In the days of idolatry the only dress worn by the men was a narrow strip of cloth wound around the loins and passed between the legs. Women wore a short petticoat made of kapa cloth (already referred to), which reached from the waist to the knee. But now the common class of men wear a shirt and trousers; the better class are attired in the European fashion. The women are clad in the holoka, a loose white or coloured garment with sleeves, reaching from the neck to the feet. A coloured handkerchief is twisted around the head or a straw hat is worn. Both sexes delight in adorning themselves with garlands (leis) of flowers and necklaces of coloured seeds. The Hawaiians are a good-tempered, light-hearted and pleasure-loving race. They have many games and sports, including boxing, wrestling (both in and out of water), hill-sliding, spear-throwing, and a game of bowls played with stone discs. Both sexes are passionately fond of riding. They delight to be in the water and swim with remarkable skill and ease. In the exciting sport of surf-riding, which always astonishes strangers, they balance themselves lying, kneeling or standing on a small board which is carried landwards on the curling crest of a great roller. All games were accompanied by gambling. Dances, especially the indecent hula, “danse du ventre,” were favourite entertainments.
Even at the time when they were first known to Europeans, they had stone and lava hatchets, shark’s-tooth knives, hardwood spades, kapa cloth or paper, mats, fans, fish-hooks and nets, woven baskets, &c., and they had introduced a rough sort of irrigation of the inland country with long canals from highlands to plains. They derived their sustenance chiefly from pork and fish (both fresh and dried), from seaweed (limu), and from the kalo (Colocasia antiquorum, var. esculenta), the banana, sweet potato, yam, bread-fruit and cocoa-nut. From the root of the kalo is made the national dish called poi; after having been baked and well beaten on a board with a stone pestle it is made into a paste with water and then allowed to ferment for a few days, when it is ready to be eaten. One of the table delicacies of former days was a particular breed of dog which was fed exclusively on poi before it was killed, cooked and served. Like other South Sea Islanders they made an intoxicating drink, awa or kava, from the roots of the Macropiper latifolium or Piper methysticum; in early times this could be drunk only by nobles and priests. The native dwellings are constructed of wood, or occasionally are huts thatched with grass at the sides and top. What little cooking is undertaken among the poorer natives is usually done outside. The oven consists of a hole in the ground in which a fire is lighted and stones made hot; and the fire having been removed, the food is wrapped up in leaves and placed in the hole beside the hot stones and covered up until ready; or else, as is now more common, the cooking is done in an old kerosene-oil can over a fire.
The Hawaiian language is a member of the widely-diffused Malayo-Polynesian group and closely resembles the dialect of the Marquesas; Hawaiians and New Zealanders, although occupying the most remote regions north and south at which the race has been found, can understand each other without much difficulty. Various unsuccessful attempts have been made to prove the language Aryan in its origin. It is soft and harmonious, being highly vocalic in structure. Every syllable is open, ending in a vowel sound, and short sentences may be constructed wholly of vocalic sounds. The only consonants are k, l, m, n and p, which with the gently aspirated h, the five vowels, and the vocalic w, make up all the letters in use. The letters r and t have been discarded in favour of l and k, as expressing more accurately the native pronunciation, so that, for example, taro, the former name of the Colocasia plant, is now kalo. The language was not reduced to a written form until after the arrival of the missionaries. A Hawaiian spelling book was printed in 1822; in 1834 two newspapers were founded; and in 1839 the first translation of the Bible was published.
In spite of moral and material progress—indeed largely because of changes in their food, clothing, dwellings and of other “advantages” of civilization—the race is probably dying out. Captain Cook estimated the number of natives at 400,000, probably an over-estimate; in 1823 the American missionaries estimated their number at 142,000; the census of 1832 showed the population to be 130,313; the census of 1878 proved that the number of natives was no more than 44,088. In 1890 they numbered ​34,436; in 1900, 29,834, a decrease of 4602 or 13.3% within the decade. To account for this it is said that the blood of the race has become poisoned by the introduction of foreign diseases. The women are much less numerous than the men; and the married ones have few children at the most; two out of three have none. Moreover, the mothers appear to have little maternal instinct and neglect their offspring. It is, however, thought by some that these causes are now diminishing in force, and that the “fittest” of the race may survive. The part-Hawaiians, the offspring of intermarriage between Hawaiian women and men of other races, increased from 3420 in 1878 to 6186 in 1890 and 7835 in 1900.
The pressing demand for labour created by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 with the United States led to great changes in the population of the Hawaiian Islands. It became the policy of the government to assist immigrants from different countries. In 1877 arrangements were made for the importation of Immigration. Portuguese families from the Azores and Madeira, and during the next ten years about 7000 of these people were brought to the islands; in 1906–1907 there was a second immigration from the Azores and Madeira of 1325 people. In 1900 the total number of Portuguese in the islands, including those born there, was not far from 16,000, about 2400 of whom were employed in sugar plantations. They have shown themselves to be industrious, thrifty and law-abiding. In 1907 2201 Spanish immigrants from the sugar district about Malaga arrived in Hawaii, and about the same number of Portuguese immigrated in the same year. The Board of Immigration, using funds contributed by planters, was very active in its efforts to encourage the immigration of suitable labourers, but the general immigration law of 1907 prohibited the securing of such immigration through contributions from corporations. Persistent efforts have also been made to introduce Polynesian islanders, as being of a cognate race with the Hawaiians, but the results have been wholly unsatisfactory. About 2000, mainly from the Gilbert Islands, were brought in at the expense of the government between 1878 and 1884; but they did not give satisfaction either as labourers or as citizens, and most of them have been returned to their homes. There never existed any treaty or labour convention between Hawaii and China. In early days a limited number of Chinese settled in the islands, intermarried with the natives and by their industry and economy generally prospered. About 750 of them were naturalized under the monarchy. The first importation of Chinese labourers was in 1852. In 1878 the number of Chinese had risen to 5916. During the next few years there was such a steady influx of Chinese free immigrants that in the spring of 1881 the Hawaiian government sent a despatch to the governor of Hong Kong to stop this invasion. Again, in April 1883, it was suddenly renewed, and within twenty days five steamers arrived from Hong Kong bringing 2253 Chinese passengers, followed the next month by 1100 more, with the news that several thousand more were ready to embark. Accordingly, the Hawaiian government sent another despatch to the governor of Hong Kong, refusing to permit any further immigration of male Chinese from that port. Various regulations restricting Chinese immigration were enacted from time to time, until in 1886 the landing of any Chinese passenger without a passport was prohibited. The number of Chinese in the islands had then risen to 21,000. The consent of the Japanese government to the immigration of its subjects to Hawaii was obtained with difficulty in 1884, and in 1886 a labour convention was ratified. Subsequently the increase of the Japanese element in the population was rapid. It rose from 116 in 1884 to 12,360 in 1890 and 24,400 in 1896. Most of these were recruited from the lowest classes in Japan. Unlike the Chinese, they show no inclination to intermarry with the Hawaiians. The effect of making Hawaii a Territory of the United States was to put an end to all assisted immigration, of whatever race, and to exclude all Chinese labourers. No Chinese labourer is allowed to enter any other Territory of the Union from Hawaii; and the act of Congress of the 26th of February 1885, “to prohibit the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labour in the United States, its Territories and the District of Columbia,” and the amending and supplementary acts, are extended to it. But in the treaty of 1894 between the United States and Japan there is nothing to limit the free immigration of Japanese; and several companies have been formed to promote it. The system of contract labour, which was abolished by the act of Congress in 1900, and under which labourers had been restrained from leaving their work before the end of the contract term, concerned few labourers except the Japanese. Various methods of co-operation or profit-sharing are in successful operation on some plantations.
An interesting sociological problem is raised by the presence of the large Asiatic element in the population. The Japanese and Koreans, and in less measure the Chinese, act as domestic servants, work under white contractors on irrigating ditches and reservoirs, do most of the plantation labour and compete successfully with whites and native islanders in all save skilled urban occupations, such as printing and the manufacture, of machinery. The “Yellow Peril” is considered less dangerous in Hawaii than formerly, although it was used as a political cry in the campaign for American annexation. No success met the apparently well-meaning efforts of the Central Japanese League which was organized in November and December 1903 to promote the observance of law and order by the Japanese in the islands, who assumed a too independent attitude and felt themselves free from governmental control whether Japanese or American; indeed, after the League had been in operation for a year or more, it almost seemed that it contributed to industrial disorders among the Japanese. At about the same time Japanese immigration to Hawaii fell off upon the opening of new fields for colonization by the Russo-Japanese War, and Korean immigration was promoted by employers on the islands. From the first of January 1903 to the 30th of June 1905 Japanese immigrants numbered 18,027; Koreans 7388 (four Koreans to every ten Japanese); but in the last twelve months of this same period there were 4733 Koreans to 5941 Japanese (eight Koreans to every ten Japanese). Another fact which is possibly contributing to the solution of the problem is that the Japanese are leaving the islands in large numbers as compared with the Koreans. The Japanese leaving Hawaii between the 14th of June 1900 and the 31st of December 1905 numbered 42,313, or 4284 more than the number of Japanese immigrants arriving during the same period. The corresponding figures for Koreans during the same period are as follows: number leaving between the 14th of June 1900 and the 31st of December 1905, 721, or 6673 less than the Korean immigrants for the same period. The acceleration of the departure of the Japanese is shown by the fact that in the eighteen months (July 1904 to January 1906) occurred 19,114 of the 42,313 departures in the sixty-six months from July 1900 to January 1906. After 1906, owing to restrictions by the Japanese government, immigration to Hawaii greatly decreased. At the same time the number of departures was decreasing rapidly. The change in the character of the immigration of Japanese is shown by the fact that in the fiscal year 1906–1907 the ratio of female immigrants to males was as 1 to 8, in the fiscal year 1907–1908 it was as 1 to 2, and in the latter year, of 4593 births in the Territory, 2445 were Japanese.
Administration.—The Hawaiian Islands are governed under an Act of Congress, signed by the president on the 30th of April 1900, which first organized them as a Territory of the United States. The legislature, which meets biennially at Honolulu, consists of a Senate of 15 members holding office for four years, and a House of Representatives of 30 members holding office for two years. In order to vote for Representatives or Senators, the elector must be a male citizen of the United States who has attained the age of twenty-one years, has lived in the Territory not less than one year preceding, and is able to speak, read and write the English or Hawaiian language. No person is allowed to vote by reason of being in or attached to the army or navy. The executive power is vested in a governor, appointed by the president and holding office for four years. He must not be less than thirty-five years of age and must be a citizen of the Territory. The secretary of the Territory is appointed in like manner for a term of the same length. The governor appoints, by and with the consent of the Senate of the Territory, an attorney-general, treasurer, commissioner of public lands, commissioner of agriculture and forestry, superintendent of public works, superintendent of public instruction, commissioners of public instruction, auditor and deputy-auditor, surveyor, high sheriff, members of the board of health, board of prison inspectors, board of registration, inspectors of election, &c. All such officers are appointed for four years except the commissioners of public instruction and the members of the said ​boards, whose terms are as provided by the laws of the Territory; all must be citizens of the Territory. The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, 5 circuit courts, and 29 district courts, each having a jurisdiction corresponding to similar courts in each state in the Union; and, entirely distinct from these territorial courts, Hawaii has a United States district court. A Supplementary Act of the 3rd of March 1905 provides that writs of error and appeals may be taken from the Supreme Court of Hawaii to the Supreme Court of the United States “in all cases where the amount involved exclusive of costs or value exceeds the sum of five thousand dollars.” The Territory was without the forms of local government common to the United States until 1905, when the Territorial legislature divided it into five counties without, however, giving to them the usual powers of taxation. Each county has the following officers: a board of supervisors, a clerk, a treasurer, an auditor, an assessor and tax-collector, a sheriff and coroner, and an attorney. The members (from five to nine) of the board of supervisors are elected by districts into which the county is divided, usually only one from each. All county officers are elected for a term of two years. The act of 1900 provides for the election of a delegate to Congress, and prescribes that the delegate shall have the qualifications necessary for membership in the Hawaiian Senate, and shall be elected by voters qualified to vote for members of the House of Representatives of Hawaii. As usual, the delegate has a right to take part in the debates in the national House of Representatives, but may not vote.
Charities.—The principal public charity of the Territory is the leper asylum on a peninsula almost 10 sq. m. in area on the N. side of the island of Molokai. A steep precipice forms a natural wall between it and the rest of the island. The place became an asylum for lepers and the caring for them began to be a charity under government charge in 1866; but conditions here were at first unspeakably unhygienic, their improvement being largely due to Father Damien, who devoted himself to this work in 1873. The patients are almost exclusively native Hawaiians, and their number is slowly but steadily decreasing; in 1908 they numbered 791, and there were at Molokai 46 non-leprous helpers and 27 officers and assistants, including the Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in charge of the homes. In 1905 the United States government appropriated $100,000 for a hospital station and laboratory “for the study of the methods of transmission, cause and treatment of leprosy,” and $50,000 a year for their maintenance; the station and laboratory to be established when the territorial government should have ceded to the United States a tract of 1 sq. m. on the leper reservation. The cession was made soon afterward by the territorial government. In 1907–1908 a home for non-leprous boys of leprous parents was established at Honolulu. Another public charity of Hawaii is the general free dispensary maintained by the territorial government at Honolulu.
Education.—Education is universal, compulsory and free. Every child between the ages of six and fifteen must attend either a public school or a duly authorized private school. Consequently the percentage of illiteracy is extremely low. The school system is essentially American in its text-books and in its methods, thanks to the foundations laid by American missionaries. Between 1820 and 1824 the missionaries taught about 2000 natives to read. Several important schools were founded before 1840, when the first written laws were published. Among these was a law providing for compulsory education, and decreeing that no illiterate born after the beginning of Liholiho’s reign should hold office, and that no illiterate man or woman, born after the same date, could marry. The first Hawaiian minister of public instruction was the Rev. William Richards (1792–1847), who held office from 1843 to 1847, and was followed by Richard Armstrong (1805–1860), an American Presbyterian missionary, the father of General S. C. Armstrong. He laid stress on the importance of manual and industrial training during his term of office (1847–1855), and was succeeded by a board of education (1855–1865), of which he was first president; then an inspector-general of schools was appointed, Judge Abraham Fornander being the first inspector; in 1896 an executive department was created under a minister of public instruction and six commissioners; in 1900 a superintendent of public instruction was first appointed. English is by law the medium of instruction in all schools, both public and private, although other languages may be taught in addition. Formal instruction in Hawaiian ceased in 1898. The schools are in session forty weeks during the year. In 1908 there were 154 public schools with 18,564 pupils (27.06% of whom were Japanese, 20.89% Hawaiian, 13.54% part Hawaiian, 18.72% Portuguese and 10.63% Chinese) and 51 private schools with 4881 pupils. A normal school has been established at Honolulu, with a practice school attached to it. The territorial legislature of 1907 established the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawaii, and also founded a public library. The Honolulu high school does excellent work and has beautiful buildings and grounds. The Lahainaluna Seminary on west Maui, founded in 1831 as a training school for teachers, furnishes instruction to Hawaiian boys in agriculture, carpentry, printing and mechanical drawing. The boys in the industrial school (1902) at Waialee, on the island of Oahu, are taught useful trades. The teaching of sewing in the public schools has met with great success, and a simple form of the Swedish sloid was introduced into many of the schools in 1894. Lace work was introduced into the public schools in 1903. But the best industrial instruction is furnished by the independent schools, among which the Kamehameha schools take the first place. They were founded by Mrs Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831–1884), the last lineal descendant of Kamehameha I., who left her extensive landed estates in the hands of trustees for their support. They furnish a good manual and technical training to Hawaiian boys and girls, in addition to a primary and grammar school course of study, and exert a strong religious influence. There are six boarding schools for Hawaiian girls, supported by private resources. The most advanced courses of study are offered by Oahu College, which occupies a beautiful site near the beach just E. of Honolulu; it was founded in 1841 as the Punahou School for missionaries’ children, and was chartered as Oahu College in 1852. It is well equipped with buildings and apparatus, and has an endowment of about $300,000.
Finance.—The revenue of the Territory for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June 1908 amounted to $2,669,748.32, of which $640,051.42 was the proceeds of the tax on real estate, $635,265.81 was the proceeds of the tax on personal property; and among the larger of the remaining items were the income tax ($266,241.74), waterworks ($141,898.04), public lands (sales, $37,585.75; revenue, $122,541.71) and licences ($206,374.28). On the 30th of June 1908 the bonded debt of the Territory was $3,979,000; there was on hand net cash, without floating debt, $677,648.48.
History.—The history of the islands before their discovery by Captain James Cook, in 1778, is obscure. This famous navigator, who named the islands in honour of the earl of Sandwich, was received by the natives with many demonstrations of astonishment and delight; and offerings and prayers were presented to him by their priest in one of the temples; and though in the following year he was killed by a native when he landed in Kealakekua Bay in Hawaii, his bones were preserved by the priests and continued to receive offerings and homage from the people until the abolition of idolatry. At the time of Cook’s visit the archipelago seems to have been divided into three distinct kingdoms: Hawaii; Oahu and Maui; and Lanai and Molokai. On the death of the chief who ruled Hawaii at that time there succeeded one named Kamehameha (1736–1819), who appears to have been a man of quick perception and great force of character. When Vancouver visited the islands in 1792, he left sheep and neat cattle, protected by a ten years’ taboo, and laid down the keel of a European ship for Kamehameha. Ten or twelve years later Kamehameha had 20 vessels (of 25 to 50 tons), which traded among the islands. He afterwards purchased others from foreigners. Having encouraged a warlike spirit in his people and having introduced firearms, Kamehameha attacked and overcame the chiefs of the other kingdoms one after another, until (in 1795) he became undisputed master of the whole group. He made John Young (c. 1775–1835) and Isaac Davis, Americans from one of the ships of Captain Metcalf which visited the island in 1789, his advisers, encouraged trade with foreigners, ​and derived from its profits a large increase of revenue as well as the means of consolidating his power. He died in 1819, and was succeeded by his son, Lilohilo, or Kamehameha II., a mild and well-disposed prince, but destitute of his father’s energy. One of the first acts of Kamehameha II. was, for vicious and selfish reasons, to abolish taboo and idolatry throughout the islands. Some disturbances were caused thereby, but the insurgents were defeated.
On the 31st of March 1820 missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions—two clergymen, two teachers, a physician, a farmer, and a printer, each with his wife—and three Hawaiians educated in the Cornwall (Connecticut) Foreign Missionary School, arrived from America and began their labours at Honolulu. A short time afterwards the British government presented a small schooner to the king, and this afforded an opportunity for the Rev. William Ellis, the well-known missionary, to visit Honolulu with a number of Christian natives from the Society Islands. Finding the language of the two groups nearly the same, Mr Ellis, who had spent several years in the southern islands, was able to assist the American missionaries in reducing the Hawaiian language to a written form. In 1825 the ten commandments were recognized by the king as the basis of a code of laws. In the years 1830–1845 the educational work of the American missionaries was so successful that hardly a native was unable to read and write. A law prohibiting drunkenness (1835) was followed in 1838 by a licence law and in 1839 by a law prohibiting the importation of spirits and taxing wines fifty cents a gallon; in 1840 another prohibitory law was enacted; but licence laws soon made the sale of liquor common. Missionary effort was particularly fruitful in Hilo, where Titus Coan (1801–1882), sent out in 1835 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, worked in repeated revivals, induced most of his church members to give up tobacco even, and received prior to 1880 more than 12,000 members into a church which became self-supporting and sent missions to the Gilbert Islands and the Marquesas. In 1823 Keopuolani, the king’s mother, was baptized; and on a single Sunday in 1838 Coan baptized 1705 converts at Hilo. In 1864 the American Board withdrew its control of evangelical work.
In 1824 the king and queen of the Hawaiian Islands paid a visit to England, and both died there of measles. His successor, Kamehameha III. ruled from 1825 to 1854. In 1839 Kamehameha III. signed a Bill of Rights and in 1840 he promulgated the first constitution of the realm; in 1842 a code of laws was proclaimed; by 1848 the feudal system of land tenure was completely abolished; the first legislature met in 1845 and full suffrage was granted in 1852, but in 1864 suffrage was restricted. Progress was at times interrupted by the conduct of the officers of foreign powers. On one occasion (July 1839) French officers abrogated the laws (particularly against the importation of liquor), dictated treaties, extorted $20,000 and by force of arms procured privileges for Roman Catholic priests in the country; and at another time (February 1843) a British officer, Captain Paulet of the “Carysfort,” went so far as to take possession of Oahu and establish a commission for its government. The act of the British officer was disavowed by his superiors as soon as known.
These incidents led to a representation on the part of the native sovereign to the governments of Great Britain, France and the United States, and the independence of the islands (recognized by the United States in 1842) was recognized in 1844 by France and Great Britain. In 1844 John Ricord, an American lawyer, became the first minister of foreign affairs. A new constitution came into effect in 1852. It was the aim of Kamehameha III. and his advisers to combine the native and the foreign elements under one government; to make the king the sovereign not of one race or class, but of all; and to extend equal and impartial laws over all inhabitants of the country. Kamehameha IV. and his queen, Emma, ruled from 1855 to 1863 and were succeeded by his brother, Kamehameha V., who died in 1872, and in whose reign a third (and a reactionary) constitution went into effect in 1864, by mere royal proclamation. Lunalilo, a grandson of Kamehameha I., was king for two years, and in 1874, backed by American influence, Kalakaua was elected his successor, in preference to Queen Emma, a member of the Anglican Church and the candidate of the pro-British party. Kalakaua considered residents of European or American descent as alien invaders, and he aimed to restore largely the ancient system of personal government, under which he should have control of the public treasury. On the 2nd of July 1878, and again on the 14th of August 1880, he dismissed a ministry without assigning any reason, after it had been triumphantly sustained by a test vote of the legislature. On the latter occasion he appointed C. C. Moreno, who had come to Honolulu in the interest of a Chinese steamship company, as Premier and minister of foreign affairs. This called forth the protest of the representatives of Great Britain, France and the United States, and aroused such opposition on the part of both the foreigners and the better class of natives that the king was obliged, after four days of popular excitement, to remove the obnoxious minister. During the king’s absence on a tour round the world in 1881, his sister, Mrs Lydia Dominis (b. 1838), also styled Liliuokalani, acted as regent. After his return the contest was renewed between the so-called National party, which favoured absolution, and the Reform party, which sought to establish parliamentary government. The king took an active part in the elections, and used his patronage to the utmost to influence legislation. For three successive sessions a majority of the legislature was composed of office-holders, dependent on the favour of the executive. Among the measures urged by the king and opposed by the Reform party were the project of a ten-million dollar loan, chiefly for military purposes; the removal of the prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquor to Hawaiians, which was carried in 1882; the licensing of the sale of opium; the chartering of a lottery company; the licensing of kahunas, or medicine men, &c. Systematic efforts were made to turn the constitutional question into a race issue, and the party cry was raised of “Hawaii for Hawaiians.” Adroit politicians flattered the king’s vanity, defended his follies and taught him how to violate the spirit of the constitution while keeping the letter of the law. From 1882 till 1887 his prime minister was Walter Murray Gibson (1823–1888), a singular and romantic genius, a visionary adventurer and a shrewd politician, who had been imprisoned by the Dutch government in Batavia in 1852 on a charge of inciting insurrection in Sumatra, and had arrived at Honolulu in 1861 with the intention of leading a Mormon colony to the East Indies. To exalt his royal dignity, which was lowered, he thought, by his being only an elected king, Kalakaua caused himself to be crowned with imposing ceremonies on the ninth anniversary of his election (Feb. 12, 1883).
Kalakaua was now no longer satisfied with being merely king of Hawaii, but aspired to what was termed the “Primacy of the Pacific.” Accordingly Mr Gibson addressed a protest to the great powers, deprecating any further annexation of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and claiming for Hawaii the exclusive right “to assist them in improving their political and social condition.” In pursuance of this policy, two commissioners were sent to the Gilbert Islands in 1883 to prepare the way for a Hawaiian protectorate. On the 23rd of December 1886 Mr J. E. Bush was commissioned as minister plenipotentiary to the king of Samoa, the king of Tonga and the other independent chiefs of Polynesia. He arrived in Samoa on the 3rd of January 1887, and remained there six months, during which time he concluded a treaty of alliance with Malietoa, which was ratified by his government. The “Explorer,” a steamer of 170 tons, which had been employed in the copra trade, was purchased for $20,000, and refitted as a man-of-war, to form the “nest-egg” of the future Hawaiian navy. She was renamed the “Kaimiloa,” and was despatched to Samoa on the 17th of May 1887 ​to strengthen the hands of the embassy. As R. L. Stevenson wrote: “The history of the ‘Kaimiloa’ is a story of debauchery, mutiny and waste of government property.” At length the intrigues of the Hawaiian embassy gave umbrage to the German government, and it was deemed prudent to recall it to Honolulu in July 1887. Meanwhile a reform league had been formed to stop the prevailing misrule and extravagance; it was supported by a volunteer military force, the “Honolulu Rifles.” The king carried through the legislature of 1886 a bill for an opium licence, as well as a Loan Act, under which a million dollars were borrowed in London. Under his influence the Hale Naua Society was organized in 1886 for the spread of idolatry and king-worship; and in the same year a “Board of Health” was formed which revived the vicious practices of the kahunas or medicine-men.
The king’s acceptance of two bribes—one of $75,000 and another of $80,000 for the assignment of an opium licence—precipitated the revolution of 1887. An immense mass meeting was held on the 30th of June, which sent a committee to the king with specific demands for radical reforms. Finding himself without support, he yielded without a struggle, dismissed his ministry and signed a constitution on the 7th of July 1887, revising that of 1864, and intended to put an end to personal government and to make the cabinet responsible only to the legislature; this was called the “bayonet constitution,” because it was so largely the result of the show of force made by the Honolulu Rifles. By its terms office-holders were made ineligible for seats in the legislature, and no member of the legislature could be appointed to any civil office under the government during the term for which he had been elected. The members of the Upper House, instead of being appointed by the king for life, were henceforth to be elected for terms of six years by electors possessing a moderate property qualification. The remainder of Kalakaua’s reign teemed with intrigues and conspiracies to restore autocratic rule. One of these came to a head on the 30th of July 1889, but this “Wilcox rebellion,” led by R. W. Wilcox, a half-breed, educated in Italy, and a friend of the king and of his sister, was promptly suppressed. Seven of the insurgents were killed and a large number wounded. For his health the king visited California in the United States cruiser “Charleston” in November 1890, and died on the 20th of January 1891 in San Francisco. On the 29th of January at noon his sister, the regent, took the oath to maintain the constitution of 1887, and was proclaimed queen, under the title of Liliuokalani.
The history of her reign shows that it was her constant purpose to restore autocratic government. The legislative session of 1892, during which four changes of ministry took place, was protracted to eight months chiefly by her determination to carry through the opium and lottery bills and to have a pliable cabinet. She had a new constitution drawn up, practically providing for an absolute monarchy, and disfranchising a large class of citizens who had voted since 1887; this constitution (drawn up, so the royal party declared, in reply to a petition signed by thousands of natives) she undertook to force on the country after proroguing the legislature on the 14th of January 1893, but her ministers shrank from the responsibility of so revolutionary an act, and with difficulty prevailed upon her to postpone the execution of her design. An uprising similar to that of 1887 declared the monarchy forfeited by its own act. A third party proposed a regency during the minority of the heir-apparent, Princess Kaiulani, but in her absence this scheme found few supporters. A Committee of Safety was appointed at a public meeting, which formed a provisional government and reorganized the volunteer military companies, which had been disbanded in 1890. Its leading spirits were the “Sons of Missionaries” (as E. L. Godkin styled them), who were accused of using their knowledge of local affairs and their inherited prestige among the natives for private ends—of founding a “Gospel Republic” which was actually a business enterprise. The provisional government called a mass meeting of citizens, which met on the afternoon of the 6th and ratified its action. The United States steamer “Boston,” which had unexpectedly arrived from Hilo on the 14th, landed a small force on the evening of the 16th, at the request of the United States minister, Mr J. L. Stevens, and a committee of residents, to protect the lives and property of American citizens in case of riot or incendiarism. On the 17th the Committee of Safety took possession of the government building, and issued a proclamation declaring a monarchy to be abrogated, and establishing a provisional government, to exist “until terms of union with the United States of America shall have been negotiated and agreed upon.” Meanwhile two companies of volunteer troops arrived and occupied the grounds. By the advice of her ministers, and to avoid bloodshed, the queen surrendered under protest, in view of the landing of United States troops, appealing to the government of the United States to reinstate her in authority. A treaty of annexation was negotiated with the United States during the next month, just before the close of President Benjamin Harrison’s administration, but it was withdrawn on the 9th of March 1893 by President Harrison’s successor, President Cleveland, who then despatched James H. Blount (1837–1903) of Macon, Georgia, as commissioner paramount, to investigate the situation in the Hawaiian Islands. On receiving Blount’s report to the effect that the revolution had been accomplished by the aid of the United States minister and by the landing of troops from the “Boston,” President Cleveland sent Albert Sydney Willis (1843–1897) of Kentucky to Honolulu with secret instructions as United States minister. Willis with much difficulty and delay obtained the queen’s promise to grant an amnesty, and made a formal demand on the provisional government for her reinstatement on the 19th of December 1893. On the 23rd President Sanford B. Dole sent a reply to Willis, declining to surrender the authority of the provisional government to the deposed queen. The United States Congress declared against any further intervention by adopting on the 31st of May 1894 the Turpie Resolution. On the 30th of May 1894 a convention was held to frame a constitution for the republic of Hawaii, which was proclaimed on the 4th of July following, with S. B. Dole as its first president. Toward the end of the same year a plot was formed to overthrow the republic and to restore the monarchy. A cargo of arms and ammunition from San Francisco was secretly landed at a point near Honolulu, where a company of native royalists were collected on the 6th of January 1895, intending to capture the government buildings by surprise that night, with the aid of their allies in the city. A premature encounter with a squad of police alarmed the town and broke up their plans. There were several other skirmishes during the following week, resulting in the capture of the leading conspirators, with most of their followers. The ex-queen, on whose premises arms and ammunition and a number of incriminating documents were found, was arrested and was imprisoned for nine months in the former palace. On the 24th of January 1895 she formally renounced all claim to the throne and took the oath of allegiance to the republic. The ex-queen and forty-eight others were granted conditional pardon on the 7th of September, and on the following New Year’s Day the remaining prisoners were set at liberty.
On the inauguration of President McKinley, in March 1897, negotiations with the United States were resumed, and on the 16th of June a new treaty of annexation was signed at Washington. As its ratification by the Senate had appeared to be uncertain, extreme measures were taken: the Newlands joint resolution, by which the cession was “accepted, ratified and confirmed,” was passed by the Senate by a vote of 42 to 21 and by the House of Representatives by a vote of 209 to 91, and was signed by the president on the 7th of July 1898. The formal transfer of sovereignty took place on the 12th of August 1898, when the flag of the United States (the same flag hauled down by order of Commissioner Blount) was raised over the Executive Building with impressive ceremonies.
The sovereigns of the monarchy, the president of the republic and the governors of the Territory up to 1910 were as follows: ​Sovereigns: Kamehameha I., 1795–1819; Kamehameha II., 1819–1824; Kaahumanu (regent), 1824–1832; Kamehameha III., 1832–1854; Kamehameha IV., 1855–1863; Kamehameha V., 1863–1872; Lunalilo, 1873–1874; Kalakaua, 1874–1891; Liliuokalani, 1891–1893. President: Sanford B. Dole, 1893–1898. Governors: S. B. Dole, 1898–1904; George R. Carter, 1904–1907; W. F. Frear, 1907.
Authorities.—Consult the bibliography in Adolf Marcuse, Die hawaiischen Inseln (Berlin, 1894); A. P. C. Griffen, List of Books relating to Hawaii (Washington, 1898); C. E. Dutton, Hawaiian Volcanoes, in the fourth annual report of the United States Geological Survey (Washington, 1884); J. D. Dana, Characteristics of Volcanoes with Contribution of Facts and Principles from the Hawaiian Islands (New York, 1890); W. H. Pickering, Lunar and Hawaiian Physical Features compared (1906); C. H. Hitchcock, Hawaii and its Volcanoes (Honolulu, 1909); Augustin Kramer, Hawaii, Ostmikronesien und Samoa (Stuttgart, 1906); Sharp, Fauna (London, 1899); Walter Maxwell, Lavas and Soils of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1898); W. Hillebrand, Flora of the Hawaiian Islands (London, 1888); G. P. Wilder, Fruits of the Hawaiian Islands (3 vols., Honolulu, 1907); H. W. Henshaw, Birds of the Hawaiian Islands (Washington, 1902); A. Fornander, Account of the Polynesian Race and the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I. (3 vols., London, 1878–1885); W. D. Alexander, A Brief History of the Hawaiian People (New York, 1899); C. H. Forbes-Lindsay, American Insular Possessions (Philadelphia, 1906); José de Olivares, Our Islands and their People (New York, 1899); J. A. Owen, Story of Hawaii (London, 1898); E. J. Carpenter, America in Hawaii (Boston, 1899); W. F. Blackman, The Making of Hawaii, a Study in Social Evolution (New York, 1899), with bibliography; T. G. Thrum, Hawaiian Almanac and Annual (Honolulu); Lucien Young, The Real Hawaii (New York, 1899), written by a lieutenant of the “Boston,” an ardent defender of Stevens; Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s Story (Boston, 1898); C. T. Rodgers, Education in the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1897); Henry E. Chambers, Constitutional History of Hawaii (Baltimore, 1896), in Johns Hopkins University Studies; W. Ellis, Tour Around Hawaii (London, 1829); J. J. Jarves, History of the Sandwich Islands (Honolulu, 1847); H. Bingham, A Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands (Hartford, 1848); Isabella Bird, Six Months in the Sandwich Islands (New York, 1881); Adolf Bastian, Zur Kenntnis Hawaiis (Berlin, 1883); the annual Reports of the governor of Hawaii, of the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station, of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Experiment Station, of the Board of Commissioners on Agriculture and Forestry, and of the Hawaii Promotion Committee; and the Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society.
* ↑ Among the minor phenomena of Hawaiian volcanoes are the delicate glassy fibres called Pele’s hair by the Hawaiians, which are spun by the wind from the rising and falling drops of liquid lava, and blown over the edge or into the crevices of the crater. Pele in idolatrous times was the dreaded goddess of Kilauea.
* ↑ The Chinese name for the Hawaiian Islands means “Sandalwood Islands.”
* ↑ Partly described by T. S. Streets, Contributions to the Natural History of the Hawaiian and Fanning Islands, Bulletin 7 of U.S. National Museum (Washington, 1877). Several new species are described in U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Document, No. 623 (Washington, 1907).
* ↑ So Lesson called the family from the native name in 1831; Cabanis (1847) suggested Acrulocercus.
* ↑ The entomological department of the Hawaii Experiment Station undertakes “mosquito control,” and in 1905–1906 imported top-minnows (Poeciliidae) to destroy mosquito larvae.
* ↑ These and other title-holders received corresponding rights to the use of irrigation ditches, and to fish in certain sea areas adjacent to their holdings.
* ↑ Large numbers of Japanese immigrants have used the Hawaiian Islands merely as a means of gaining admission at the mainland ports of the United States. For, as the Japanese government would issue only a limited number of passports to the mainland but would quite readily grant passports to Honolulu, the latter were accepted, and after a short stay on some one of the islands the immigrants would depart on a “coastwise” voyage to some mainland port. The increasing numbers arriving by this means, however, provoked serious hostility in the Pacific coast states, especially in San Francisco, and to remedy the difficulty Congress inserted a clause in the general immigration act of the 20th of February 1907 which provides that whenever the president is satisfied that passports issued by any foreign government to any other country than the United States, or to any of its insular possessions, or to the Canal Zone, “are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labour conditions therein,” he may refuse to admit them. This provision has been successful in reducing the number of Japanese coming to the mainland from Hawaii.
* ↑ These are: the county of Hawaii, consisting of the island of the same name; the county of Maui, including the islands of Maui, Lanai and Kahoolawe, and the greater part of Molokai; the county of Kalawao, being the leper settlement on Molokai; the city and county of Honolulu (created from the former county of Oahu by an act of 1907, which came into effect in 1909), consisting of the island of Oahu and various small islands, of which the only ones of any importance are the Midway Islands, 1232 m. from Honolulu, a Pacific cable relay station and a post of the U.S. navy marines; and the county of Kauai, including Kauai and Niihau islands.
* ↑ Their discovery in the 16th century (in 1542 or 1555 by Juan Gaetan, or in 1528 when two of the vessels of Alvaro de Saavedra were shipwrecked here and the captain of one, with his sister, survived and intermarried with the natives) seems probable, because there are traces of Spanish customs in the islands; and they are marked in their correct latitude on an English chart of 1687, which is apparently based on Spanish maps; a later Spanish chart (1743) gives a group of islands 10° E. of the true position of the Hawaiian Islands.
* ↑ The first horses were left by Captain R. J. Cleveland in 1803.
* ↑ The first Roman Catholic priests came in 1827 and were banished in 1831, but returned in 1837. An edict of toleration in 1839 shortly preceded the visit of the “Artemise.”