The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-12-06
Hawaii's Original Inhabitants
Came From America.
ESQUDIAU OR AZTEC ANCESTRY.
Ideas of a sailor Lecturer And His
Unique Proofs For the Same-Im-
portant Question of Winds and Cur
rents Not Considered BY Historians.

Captain II. G.. Morse, late OF the
steamer Alameda, has developed into
lecturer since his retirement. His
first appearance will be in Sap Fran
cisco on November 22d.
Captain Morse commenced his long
and eventful career back in 1914 on a
thirty-t ton schooner, which was en-
gagged in the fishing trade on the
Eastern coast, says the : +. Chroni-
Gle. Since then he has sailed the
Mediterranean, spent four years in
the pepper trade on the west coast OF
Sum atra, has been engaged in the fur
trade on the east coast of Siberia, and
has made many trips to the coral ISL
ands of the Pacific, besides innumer-
able visits to every inhabitable spot
in the broad Pacific ocean.
During his long career at sea Cap
tam Morse has bad an opportunity
for observing and studying the queer
people who inhabit the many groups
of small islam DIS with which the broad
Pacific is fiecked, and at his lecture
he will develop an interesting idea
in respect TO their origin. Captain
Morse disputes the theory advanced
by most writer's, that the inhabitants
of the Society islands, the Hawaiian
islands and the other island groups in
the tropics came originally from Asia.
He has satisfied himself that they
came from America, and he Is full OF
| inte lligent arguments in support of
| his theory.
"In the first place." said Captain
Morse, in speaking of the matter,
| 1--WE have every reason TO believe that
the natives of the Sandwich islands
came originally from the Society ISL
ands. They have a tradition, which
has been handed down by their fore
fathers, that the progenitors of their
race came in canoes from the south
ward. Now in my estimation, it
would have been impossible for the
natives OF the Society islands to have
made their way eastward from the
coast of Asia in small canoes, when
the winds and currents are all against
| them.
'I do not believe that the important
question of winds and currents was
considered by the historians VINO have
attempted to settle this matter. The
trade winds in the tropics blow from
| the east and strike the equator at an
angle of forty-five degrees To be
more specific, the trade winds north
Of the equator blow from the north
east Below the equator they blow
| from the southeast. The currents in
! the tropics follow the direction of the
trade winds-that is, from east to west.
| Now, all the islands referred to are in
the tropics, and 1t stands to reason
| that the slight canoes in which these
| ancient navigatOrs travelled must have
gone with the winds and currents.
That the inhabitants of the islands
| off the cast Aft nf Asia from
Asia, there is no doubt We find on
! the Marshall and Solomon Islands an
| entirely different race of people from
| those who Inhabit the islands further
east. They are as black as jet, and
their hair is short and curly. The
natives of the Society and Sandwich
Islands are light-cOmpIexioned and
! their hair is long and straight.
| "These are not the only facts in
support Of the theory that the people
! in question are the descendants of the
native Americans. There is lot of
Old stone work in the Hawaiian ISL
and5 which bears q striking resem-
bIance to similar work found in Mex
leo. In the big Mexican Museum are
many relics Of the AZtecs which have
a striking resent bIance to relics of past
generations of HawaiiaDs. 1t SEE ms
to me very plausible that at some re-
u1Oto IihiSs ages oSpj thO loiobNS
have referred to were part of the
American continent, for / cannot con-
ceiVe how any canoe, built of the
largest trees then growing, could sur
viVe the storms and rough weather
such as are encountered on the Pacific.
However, in whatever way the ma
tives of the Pacific islands might have
reached those isolated places, | am
satisfied that they came from the
coast of America, and not from the
coast of Asia"