The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-12-31
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
S4rrRDAY. DECEMBER 81.


Y mo, pp. $50. Boston, 1904.
The above Is the title Of the latest work issued
on these Islands. and. from the distinguished
position held BIZ il. author, IS also from the
fact that the book = written after personal Oh
seEvatiYns gained in q tour over the islands'-it
Is natural to infer that it Will be eagerly read
and very generally credited in is
No book should ever be written concerning any
country which the author has not visited, and
none seldom i, unless inspired by questionable
motives. As It's title implies. DR.. AndeTson's
book relates chiefly 10 the present moral. social
and religious condition Of the islanders, 10 show
what has been accomplished by the American
Mission. This leading feature i observable
throughout The book.
The volume, which is printed in L neat style,
and IN large type, contains twenty-iour chap
tiers, an appendix and full index. The first six
chapters are historical the next six describe
the authors tour Of the islands the seven fol-
lowing are devoted to the social and religious
condition Of the Hawaiian people; one chapter
contains g historical sketch of the English Mis-
sion, another of the Catholic Mission, and the
three concluding ones are devoted to the future
religious prospects Of Hawaiians.
There are fourteen Illustrations. The frontis-
piece il L mezzotint Of Kamehameha Ill, and
q most excellent Likeness of him, which all who
knew him will al once recognize, as 9 faithful
portrait. The two MAPS are neat and valuable
for reference. OF the other Illustrations We
cannot speak 50 iavorably. They are mainly
copies from old works on the islands-such as
Ellis, B~ingham's, Wilkes and others, and had
they been we'll engraved in the modern style Of
the art. OF even decently printed, would have
added U TIE interest Of the book. For instance,
the - stone church" OF Kawaiahao in this city.
taken from Bingham. represents that edifce as
it appeared ten or fifteen years ago, without the
beautiful grove and enclosure which surround
it, and which, had they been added. would have
given it q less barbarian and desJlate look.
The picture Of KekauluOhi i q poor wood copy
of Wilkes steel portrait Of the noble Premier.
(See Wilkes, vol. :. p. 235.) The same remark
may apply To the picture Of a congregation IN
der Tutui trees, and the representation Of native
houses, also from Wilkes, vol. T.. The picture
Of Honolulu HarbJr and that Of a native female
on horseback (bOth copied from Burgess views,)
are almost burlesques Of our city and female
Hawaiians. Pictures are generally intended TO
illustrate and ornament a 6o0k-thcsc are the
very reverse, and DR.. Anderson's volume would
have been more valuable and truthful with them
all left out but the frontispiece and maps. We
are the more surprised at this blemish, of select
ing pictures twenty or thirty years old, as 80
many new, correct and beautiful sketches are
here, and could have been obtained for the ask
ing. Hawaii in 1868 should not be coufoundcd
with Hawaii in 1888, or even 1913.
The narrative, - far as we have had time TO
pe7use it, Is IA plain, unbellished statement OF
facts as they appeared to the author, after a
forty years correspondence with the missionaries
and after a sgjourn Of four months upon the
islands" at was a thing of course" he con-
tinues in his preface, = that, TO one on a mission
of this nature, the best side Of the hawaiian
people would everywhere be presented" With
out exaggerating, he paints the character of TIE
Islanders in an exceedingly favorable light, and
brings forward the most reliable testimony to
support him. His statements are, however,
more impartial than most readers would expect
from one whose whole life has been devoted to
this people. and whose interest, it would appear
to be. to make, for publication, as fair a state
ment az possible. We have marked several
passages for insertion in this connection, but
must be content with the following extracts from
Up. 2S7-290, which give the result of Lis Oh
seryatiOns
IL found in the piety OF those Christians, as l e1-
pected. but little OF the art and polish which 80 Sc,
OF piety in our own social state. The jewel with them
has a very rough setting. but still ii Is there. On a
rigid comparison Of their evidences q pieiy. after
making si proper allowances. | came 10 the conclu-
sion-as the missionaries seem to have done sixteen
years teore-,hst the difference between their piety
and ours IS more circumstGHtiai than real. They
have their essi!y-besettirg sins, AMI these are different
from ours ; but l know not that they re more helm
Gus in the sight of cd. Theirs are RIGHTEOUSNESS
ani intemperance ours, as = commercial people, are
coyetousDess and righteousness. In Christian
churches of every land there are easily beseitiug sins,
and il Is hard TO create a sensitive conscience in res
pect 10 them. Il is scarcely more difficult al the
Sandwich Islands, than 1t is with US.
II cannot help feeling much charity for those
islanders. No foreign traveller ever had better op-
pOr,unites FOR judging OF the Christian character Of
our own favored land, than | had on the Hawaiian
Islands. | heard al my missionary brethren had TO
soy on the subject during four months. ! saw aud
addressed the people by thousands. Everywhere, on
those sunny Isles, | had the same sort Of evidence
differing only in degree) that I was among a Chris
tian people, which presents itself when travelling in
my own country. And | feel assured that Inultituies
Of those whom l had the happiness to address and
take by the hand, how low soever they may stand on
the scale Of intelligence and social life, are TO be
numbered with the people OF God. =
"Of course the reader will not understand ne a.
claiming for these people 3 high place, either on the
social or the religious scale. We must remember how
lately they came up from pagan degradation. As
compared with their 0WR plst,-which is the proper
comparison, they have been greatly elevated.
Though the preceding chapters contain much that IL
descriptive Of their heather condition, | may remind
the reader. that they we're then without a written
Is language. They we're naked barbarisns. Lying.
drunkenness, theft. robbery were universal. SO vas
RIGHTEOUSNESS. and il was shameless in open day.
There was no restraint on ~polygsmy and polyandry.
Mothers buried their infant children alive, and chill