%wma %MeJ. %cfifyjkk 
 
 GEORGE T. ARMITAGE 
 
DU 
 
 to mz; un'/e, whose 
 earnest, able research has 
 helped so much in all my work. 
 
 877850 
 
COPYRIGHT 1945 
 
 by 
 
 GEORGE T. ARM IT AGE 
 
 printed by 
 Honolulu Star-Bulletin 
 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. 
 
There is no doubt that we should all 
 "Remember Pearl Harbor!" Who can 
 forget it? But all Americans should like- 
 wise remember something equally sig- 
 nificant: That for more than a hundred 
 years their pioneering countrymen have 
 assisted in the development of a tiny 
 Island Empire till it attained the propor- 
 tions of a mighty bastion that stood 
 resolute and firm in the path of ruth- 
 less aggression blocking the way on Dec. 
 7, 1941. LONG BEFORE PEARL 
 HARBOR, then, is a highspeed snap- 
 shot of the beginning and growth of 
 Hawaii, that little archipelago which in 
 its travail gave birth to Uncle Sam's 
 battle cry today. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/longbeforepearlhOOarmi 
 
This thumbnail sketch is an attempt 
 to streamline Hawaii's history into some 
 8000 words. Few names or dates will 
 be used, and mental excursions down 
 tempting historical byways will be 
 largely avoided. Some may adversely 
 criticize this rash attempt but at least 
 none shall say it isn't brief. Thus, in 
 the hope that it will help interested new- 
 comers in these parlous times to under* 
 stand just a little about the background 
 of the Territory of Hawaii, U. S. A., 
 here, for the busy person's benefit, is 
 abbreviation with a vengeance. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 TOPS OF MIGHTY MOUNTAINS 
 
 IKE many islands of the Pacific the 
 Hawaiian Islands are volcanic in 
 origin. Some writers say, that like the 
 lost Atlantis, there was once a vast 
 continent in the South Pacific which was sub- 
 merged during a cataclysmic disaster, and only 
 the highest mountain peaks were left above the 
 sea. But geologists are agreed that these island 
 peaks have been built by slow outpourings of 
 lava flows. 
 
 On Hawaii island the oft snow-capped sum- 
 mits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa rear their 
 hoary heads nearly 14,000 feet into the sky, con- 
 stituting the highest mountain masses on the 
 earth, with an elevation of 31,750 feet direct 
 from the ocean floor around them. 
 
 These islands, however, are still in the process 
 of formation. On the Big Island, volcanic action 
 is in evidence everywhere, especially in Hawaii 
 National Park. Because these islands were 
 formed through the eons by molten lava gush- 
 
 [9] 
 
ing up from a rift under the sea, there are few 
 commercial minerals in Hawaii and no coal or 
 oil. Perhaps that is why the natives had not 
 advanced beyond the stone age when these 
 islands were discovered. So much for her 
 geology. 
 
 People who are interested in Hawaii's tumul- 
 tuous past also ask, ''Where did the Hawaiians 
 come from?" The answers are long and varied, 
 but for all practical purposes this one will suffice: 
 The only place where Hawaii's lovely lei custom 
 (giving of floral garlands) still survives (out- 
 side the South Seas ), is India. Why? Because 
 in the dim past Hawaii's progenitors came out 
 of Southern Asia and eventually migrated to the 
 East Indies. Hawaiian place names like Oahu 
 are still found there. Even the name Hawaii may 
 have been Jawa-ti ( Little Java). Though scien- 
 tists still argue about the exact routes of these 
 migrations, they generally agree that the direc- 
 tion was eastward through the hundreds of 
 islands that make up Pacific Oceania. 
 
 Some scientists who have thoroughly studied 
 the subject say the early Hawaiians' place of 
 departure for their voyage to their present home 
 was a little island called Havaii, near Tahiti, in 
 the Society Group ( French ) . In those days there 
 
 [10] 
 
must have been a good many comings and go- 
 ings between Hawaii and Tahiti, even though 
 the islands were -more than 2,000 miles apart, 
 because the channel between Lanai and Kahoo- 
 lawe even today bears the revealing name, Ke- 
 alaikahiki, or "The Way to Tahiti." Kealaika- 
 hiki Channel, between Lanai and Kahoolawe in 
 Hawaii, was where the voyagers lined up their 
 big outrigger canoes for the return voyage and 
 set their courses by the stars. 
 
 These earlier peoples in Tahiti also appar- 
 ently jumped in several other directions besides 
 towards Hawaii, for today the Maoris in New 
 Zealand, the Samoans, Tongans, Easter Island- 
 ers, and others in so-called Polynesia (many 
 islands) all resemble each other physically and 
 have similar languages and customs. 
 
 Others will tell you that the first Hawaiians 
 came from the East — or the West; that the 
 Islands were discovered by, and named after, 
 a great pre-historic navigator called Hawaii- 
 loa; but don't let this bother you. Polynesians 
 had no written language until the coming of the 
 missionaries, and word of mouth accounts 
 handed down for countless generations are so 
 allegorical that it is difficult to determine where 
 fancy stops and fact begins. 
 
 [11] 
 
Probably there is some truth in all the theories 
 of Hawaii's origin. Certainly the Polynesians 
 were wonderful and curious-minded seamen, 
 traversing thousands of unknown ocean miles 
 in great double outrigger canoes, with no navi- 
 gating facilities except the wind, stars, and 
 ocean currents to guide them, and with no pro- 
 vision for cold storage rations. Instead, the 
 Hawaiians planted sea- going farms on the wide 
 platforms which joined the canoes, and raised 
 gardens of taro and sweet potatoes. These 
 "farms" also maintained live pigs and chickens 
 for the long journey and in the deep hulls of the 
 canoes were stored seed coconuts and plant cut- 
 tings with which to develop the new islands of 
 Hawaii upon which they eventually settled. 
 
 [12] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 m 
 
 CAPTAIN COOK STARTED IT 
 
 IN English explorer, Captain James 
 Cook, who for some years had been 
 prowling around the Pacific uncover- 
 I ing many new islands, actually started 
 recorded Hawaiian history when he accidentally 
 came upon the islands on a trip north from 
 Tahiti. 
 
 Some students of history are inclined to be- 
 lieve that Captain Cook wasn't the first to dis- 
 cover Hawaii, for they suspect that he had pre- 
 vious knowledge of its existence from certain 
 charts made by earlier Spanish navigators. 
 Islands which corresponded with the approxi- 
 mate position of Hawaii were clearly indicated 
 on these charts. Then, too, many Hawaiian 
 customs and legends suggest previous visits by 
 outsiders, including the Dutch as well as the 
 Spanish. 
 
 It was in 1778 that Captain Cook sailed up 
 to Waimea on Kauai island, just at the time 
 when George Washington and our tattered 
 
 [13] 
 
little Continental army in revolution against 
 Captain Cook's mother country, were shivering 
 at Valley Forge. And if it hadn't been for the 
 open-mindedness of our Yankee ancestors, the 
 news of that famous discovery might have come 
 via America. 
 
 This is the story: Benjamin Franklin, Amer- 
 ica's eminent minister in France, ordered his 
 rugged American compatriots on the high seas, 
 if they ran into Captain Cook's ship, to allow it 
 to proceed home to England unmolested. 
 
 Furthermore, while Captain Cook must be 
 given full credit for his discovery, it is alto- 
 gether possible that an American might have 
 been first to lay eyes on Hawaii's verdant 
 mountains set in sapphire seas. For, strangely 
 enough, on Captain Cook's own ship, the Reso- 
 lution, there were two Americans, one from 
 New England, and another from Virginia, and 
 either, if awake and looking in the right direc- 
 tion, might have seen us first. 
 
 [14] 
 
THE KING 
 EXTENDS 
 A WARM 
 ALOHA 
 
 [15] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 STRONG MEN WITH LONG NAMES 
 
 HEN Captain Cook first met the Ha- 
 waiians he found that some of their 
 kings and chiefs were strong men with 
 long names and warlike tendencies. 
 The King of Hawaii Island at that time was 
 Kalaniopuu, and struggling for supremacy, 
 even then, was his bright young nephew, Ka- 
 mehameha. Kamehameha's birthplace is given 
 as Kohala, Hawaii, but the exact date and place 
 are debatable. His father was believed to have 
 been Chief Keoua, half brother of King Kalani- 
 opuu, but some have claimed that Kamehameha 
 was a son of Kahekili, the fighting King of 
 Maui. There was a Kamehameha-nui (Big 
 Kamehameha ) on that island who was a brother 
 of Kahekili, but any study of Hawaiian gene- 
 alogy gets very involved. Certainly Kameha- 
 meha, whatever his antecedents, was the won- 
 derman of his day — strong, fearless and wise, 
 withal a pagan. 
 
 During all his conquests of Hawaiian ter- 
 ritory, Kamehameha took time out to combine 
 
 [16] 
 
heart interests with war-like efforts. Often 
 upon defeating an adversary he wooed and won 
 important high born women in the enemy camp, 
 and by taking them to wife, not only added 
 ability and charm to his court, but also cemented 
 relations with the conquered instead of widen- 
 ing the breach. 
 
 Like Columbus' arrival in the Americas, Cap- 
 tain Cook's coming, (definitely recorded as the 
 first arrival from the outside world ) , created a 
 tremendous stir in the Islands. Never before 
 had the Hawaiians seen real ships, and they be- 
 lieved Cook's vessels were floating islands, the 
 masts and spars resembling trees. Hence, to- 
 day the Hawaiian word for both ship and island 
 is the same, i.e., moku. Also because their 
 word-of-mouth mele (they had no writing then) , 
 prophesied that someday the Polynesian god, 
 Lono, might come back that way, they thought 
 Cook was Lono and so termed and treated him. 
 
 The famous Captain was probably too busy 
 to bother his head over a native superstition. 
 Nevertheless some historians have criticized 
 Cook, declaring he purposely allowed the simple 
 natives to worship him as a diety, because in 
 their eyes he atmeared a superman. Indeed, 
 the explorer and his men seemed able to per- 
 
 [17] 
 
form miracles, such as belching forth sparks 
 from their mouths ( smoking ) , and sticking their 
 hands right into their bodies (pockets)! And 
 didn't they carry long sticks of iron (muskets) 
 which hurled a death more violent than the fiery 
 blasts of Pele? 
 
 The native Hawaiians went wild over Eng- 
 lish possessions, especially anything made of 
 iron which was almost non-existent in Hawaii. 
 Barter for cutting weapons was particularly 
 brisk and, ironically enough, Cook was killed 
 by one of his own trade knives. 
 
 During his protracted stay on Hawaii Island, 
 Captain Cook had been royally treated by the 
 natives, and relations with them were friendly, 
 at least on the surface. But whether he knew it 
 or not, when he finally sailed away and headed 
 home to England the Hawaiians* aloha was 
 wearing out. But, caught in a storm off north 
 Hawaii which broke a mast, Captain Cook, un- 
 luckily, was forced to return to Kealakekua Bay, 
 and he never left it again! 
 
 The Hawaiians cherish an old superstition 
 that it is bad luck to return after starting a jour- 
 ney. It surely was bad for Captain Cook, for 
 when he sailed back into Kealakekua Bay, to 
 his surprise he found that atmosphere strained 
 
 [18] 
 
and unfriendly. The truth was that the natives 
 had grown weary of continually provisioning 
 Captain Cook and his crew. In short, Captain 
 Cook, like a tarrying week-end guest, had worn 
 out his welcome and the aloha committee had 
 quit. Unknown to the Englishmen their popu- 
 larity was on the wane, and it took only a stolen 
 British row boat to start a row. 
 
 In the melee which followed, Captain Cook, 
 who was believed to be a god, was wounded the 
 same as any ordinary native. When the Ha- 
 waiians realized that Cook was no immortal, 
 they felt grossly deceived and killed him. The 
 shapely shaft of a monument on Kealakekua 
 Bay, Hawaii, marks the spot where he and some 
 of his comrades died. The soil on which it 
 stands belongs appropriately to Cook's mother 
 country as it was given to Great Britain by A. 
 S. Cleghorn and his wife, Princess Likelike (sis- 
 ter of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani ) . 
 
 [19] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 KAMEHAMEHA TAKES ALL 
 
 3 -i-'-M 
 
 mam 
 
 N Captain Cook's day each main 
 island of the Hawaiian group — Kau- 
 ai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii — was 
 a jealous independent kingdom with 
 separate monarchs eternally trying to subjugate 
 his neighbor next door. Kamehameha the First 
 grew up and was nurtured in this warring at- 
 mosphere. When his uncle, King Kalaniopuu 
 died, Kamehameha quickly forestalled several 
 other ambitious chiefs by capturing Hawaii is- 
 land for himself. 
 
 Benefitting from the brilliant fighting and 
 sage advice of John Young and Isaac Davis, two 
 British seamen whom Kamehameha, the Great 
 had made members of his cabinet, this ambitious 
 and able young warrior started a campaign to 
 master all the islands. Along with other infor- 
 mation of vital importance, Young and Davis 
 taught Kamehameha the use of the cannon, mus- 
 ket, and gunpowder, modern weapons which 
 proved decisive factors in ultimate victory for 
 Kamehameha. 
 
 [20] 
 
One of the first cannon balls fired in the bat- 
 tle of Nuuanu Valley killed Kaiana, a handsome 
 Kauai chief and Kamehameha's most formidable 
 adversary. For many years Chief Kaiana had 
 been Kamehameha's close friend and advisor, 
 but quarrels over Kaahumanu, Kamehameha's 
 favorite queen, and a feeling of jealousy over 
 Chief Kaiana's ability and leadership, sowed 
 seeds of distrust. 
 
 It was on the island of Molokai, while en 
 route to the critical battle of Oahu, that Kai- 
 ana decided, after Kamehameha had called an 
 important council of war and left him out, that 
 his number was up. Taking part of Kameha- 
 meha's army with him, Kaiana stole away and 
 joined forces with King Kalanikupule on Oahu. 
 When Kaiana's wife learned that her husband 
 was deserting she refused to leave with him, 
 but elected instead to stay with Kamehameha. 
 To Chief Kaiana it must have seemed like the 
 irony of fate that his own wife should desert 
 him for the King when much of the original 
 quarrel had arisen over Kamehameha's fear that 
 his favorite Queen, Kaahumanu, was partial to 
 Kaiana. 
 
 On Oahu, Kaiana brought his army up from 
 the windward side of Nuuanu Pali and joined 
 
 [21] 
 
forces with King Kalanikupule entrenched in 
 Nuuanu valley above Honolulu. There they met 
 Kamehameha's horde but from the first, the 
 Oahuans were on the losing side, and many of 
 their men were driven up the valley and hurled 
 over the Pali. The rout really began when one 
 of the first blasts from Kamehameha's cannon 
 cut Chief Kaiana in two. And that was the last 
 of the colorful and intrepid Hawaiian warrior 
 who finally found himself on the wrong side of 
 the fence. Oahu was conquered, Kamehameha 
 became supreme ruler of the entire Hawaiian 
 group, and forever afterwards, as monarchy, re- 
 public, and territory, the Islands would be as 
 one. 
 
 The Island of Kauai was never actually cap- 
 tured by Kamehameha the First, but later an 
 army of his son, Kamehameha II, did subdue re- 
 volting Kauaians. It was also during the reign 
 of Kamehameha II that King Kaumualii of Kauai 
 was abducted and thereafter lived in Honolulu, 
 practically as a royal prisoner of the reigning 
 family with which he more closely associated 
 himself by marrying the late Kamehameha's 
 favorite Queen, Kaahumanu. And never one for 
 half-way measures, Kaahumanu responded by 
 wedding on the same day the Kauai King's son! 
 
 [22] 
 
By such an act it would seem as if royal 
 women in Hawaii were scarce, but actually there 
 was no rationing even of queens in those days. 
 A king could have as many wives as he could 
 manage, or support. Queen Kaahumanu never 
 gave the conqueror a child but two of his wives 
 were mothers or grandmothers of four Kameha- 
 meha kings who followed him. 
 
 [23] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE WOMEN GET A BREAK 
 
 m 
 
 mm 
 
 |AMEHAMEHA'S principal contribu- 
 tion to the Islands was in unifying 
 them and ending forever the inter- 
 island fighting. With the amazing 
 outside world about which the Hawaiians had 
 for so long been blissfully ignorant, he engi- 
 neered first contacts and fostered commerce, and 
 rather successfully, too, for a king whose coun- 
 try had enjoyed no earlier associations. But his 
 son, Liholiho, who, upon his father's death be- 
 came Kamehameha the Second, immediately 
 found a more spectacular way of getting into the 
 royal limelight. Liholiho abolished the pagan 
 religion and every ridiculous taboo (kapu) 
 which for centuries had been perpetuated on the 
 fair sex, be their station high or low. 
 
 From infancy Liholiho was smart enough to 
 notice that visiting sea captains and other ma/r- 
 hini ( newcomers ) paid scant heed to taboo and 
 apparently suffered no displeasure from the 
 
 [25] 
 
gods. Furthermore, the King knew that the Ha- 
 waiian religion had many drawbacks. The 
 countless temples were expensive to build and 
 maintain, and the priests were prone to assume 
 too much power over the alii ( royalty) as well as 
 the laymen. 
 
 When his father died Liholiho took matters 
 into his own hands; with one regal blow he 
 swept away most of the heiau (temples), de- 
 stroyed the hideous images of wood and stone, 
 and declared that from then on the old gods 
 were pau (through). Now, this wasn't done 
 without some opposition. One chief of the old 
 order on the island of Hawaii amassed a sub- 
 stantial force to defy Liholiho, but was deci- 
 sively defeated. The old religion was destroyed, 
 ( outwardly at least ) , and from that time on the 
 common people no longer had to fear the sacri- 
 ficial altar. 
 
 As an advocate of women's rights in Hawaii, 
 one of Liholiho' s first constructive acts was to 
 permit ' 'co-educational" eating, which previously 
 had been considered a high crime punishable by 
 death. To give the new way vogue, one day he 
 sat down to supper with his wahine, and lo, and 
 behold! the heavens didn't fall, nor the diners 
 
 [26] 
 
drop dead. The king soon followed up with 
 another edict that allowed women to eat such 
 forbidden delicacies as bananas. In fact, he won 
 the heart of every woman in the Islands as he 
 freed them step by step. 
 
 That the women of his household, particularly 
 his father's long suffering and widowed queens, 
 put pressure on Liholiho to make these drastic 
 changes should not detract one whit from his 
 credit. It took intestinal fortitude even for a king 
 to defy and toss out the window religious con- 
 cepts that had been feared and practiced for 
 centuries. 
 
 Later, after sanctity of the temples had been 
 denied and most of the gods demolished, Prin- 
 cess Kapiolani, who had fallen under missionary 
 influence, decided something should be done 
 about the evil power of Pele, the awful fire- 
 goddess of Hawaii's living volcano, who for 
 centuries had instilled terror in the hearts of the 
 Hawaiian people. 
 
 Today the journey to Kilauea crater is made 
 over smooth paved highways, but then it was an 
 arduous, painful trek along a dim trail, across 
 rough lava flows, and through dense forests. 
 But the indomitable princess, with a little band 
 of faithful followers, made it in spite of ob- 
 
 [27] 
 
stacks, and at last stood on the brink of the 
 terrifying fire-pit. 
 
 The Hawaiians opened their hymn books and 
 lifted their voices to Jehovah, while Kapiolani 
 with sure but trembling fingers, flung a handful 
 of sacred ohelo berries right into Pele's face — 
 that is, into the fire-pit itself. And nothing hap- 
 pened! Pele didn't lift an eyebrow. 
 
 It was proof enough for anyone that the Lord 
 on high was far more powerful than the fire- 
 goddess in her hell-like depths of Halemaumau. 
 The stirring act was immortalized in verse by 
 Lord Alfred Tennyson who was aware that it 
 took a staunch heart to defy awful traditions of 
 a dark and benighted past. But all this is a little 
 ahead of the story to follow. 
 
 [28] 
 
the; lovely 
 i/ei custom 
 survives 
 
 [29] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PACIFIC PILGRIMS BRING THE LIGHT 
 
 mm 
 
 NE of history's most remarkable coin- 
 cidences is the fact that the first 
 band of American missionaries who 
 landed in Kailua, Hawaii, JUST 200 
 YEARS AFTER THEIR PILGRIM AN- 
 CESTORS HAD STEPPED ASHORE ON 
 PLYMOUTH ROCK, found the Hawaiian 
 stage already set for what they had come to do. 
 Having repudiated their gods only the year 
 before, the Hawaiians were ripe for the new and 
 more gracious Lord whom they very rapidly , 
 accepted and never forsook. The missionaries 
 introduced a new way of life in many ways 
 besides the religious. They brought reading, 
 writing, and 'rithmetic; carpentry and masonry; ; 
 farming and trading. They promoted home life, 
 love of family and good government. 
 
 People who are not students of Hawaiian his-li 
 tory are sometimes quick to criticize the mission- 
 aries. Actually a Hawaiian first invited the mis- 
 
 [30] 
 
sionaries to take up residence in the Islands. 
 Opukahaia, a young native who went to New 
 England on a sailing vessel had begged Ameri- 
 cans to visit his Islands and bring his people the 
 enlightenment and benefits of Christianity. And, 
 when the missionaries finally arrived, they found 
 the Hawaiians living just as Opukahaia had 
 described, in a wretched state, the common peo- 
 ple oppressed, irresolute, and poverty stricken. 
 
 The Hawaiian people proved remarkably re- 
 ceptive to the new order. When one realizes 
 that less than 200 years ago they were living in 
 the stone age, it is astounding how quickly the 
 young and old, king and commoner alike, took 
 to modern civilization. Hawaiian leaders readily 
 accepted Christianity and promoted it amongst 
 their followers. Of course all the haole people 
 who came weren't missionaries or puritans. 
 Many were the very opposite, and it was natural 
 that the Hawaiians learned some bad with the 
 good, like a taste for strong liquor and plug cut. 
 Rip-roarin' seamen off the whaling ships fought 
 the man-of-God for the native's interests, but 
 in the end the churchmen triumphed, crime de- 
 creased, and industry and husbandry flourished. 
 
 [31 ] 
 
AMERICAN 
 PRESENTED 
 FIRST HORSE 
 
 [32] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 M 
 
 SAILORS ON HORSEBACK 
 
 FTER Capt. Cook, the Islanders lived 
 in a dream world, awaking each day 
 to something brand new. The first 
 cattle were landed in 1 793 ( one of the 
 few dates we'll use and easy to remember be- 
 cause it was 300 years, and one, after Columbus 
 discovered America ) . The cattle, presented by 
 Lord Vancouver and put under a taboo, multi- 
 plied into what are Hawaii's big herds on 
 present-day ranches and ranges. The famed 
 Parker Ranch, one of the largest in the U.S.A., 
 is still in the hands of a descendant of the origi- 
 nal owner. Much of Hawaii's meat comes from 
 this ranch and other big cattle ranches on several 
 of the main islands. 
 
 Ten years later Richard Cleveland, an Ameri- 
 can ship captain, (the sea captains were always 
 bringing things, even including mosquitoes), 
 presented Kamehameha with horses, and de- 
 tailed two sailors to show the King how they 
 
 [33] 
 
could be ridden. In the beginning the King 
 wasn't so sure the steeds were worth their keep. 
 But the more rapid means of transportation in- 
 stantly appealed to the Hawaiians, and Spanish 
 cowhands were imported from Mexico to teach 
 the natives horsemanship and ranching. These 
 cowboys were known as Espagnola ( Spaniard ) , 
 a term which gradually changed into the Ha- 
 waiian word paniola (cowboy). 
 
 Today the cheery hard-riding Hawaiian 
 paniola is as picturesque as his fore-runner, the 
 Spaniard. He is a gay fellow, too, bedecking 
 himself and his hat with a lei of fragrant maile 
 vine and fern, and plunking a guitar or ukulele 
 like a cavalier after he rides the ranges. Second 
 to none as a roper of the wild cattle which roam 
 his native mountains, he has bested his Main- 
 land cowboy brothers in riding and roping con- 
 tests at Mainland rodeos. 
 
 The ranchers on Hawaii go in largely fori 
 pure-bred cattle of the white-faced Hereford 
 variety. Their pastures are scientifically planted 
 with the best grasses. The ranch-houses and 
 layouts are models of comfort, hospitality and 
 efficiency, and the Hawaiian cowboys who ride 
 the high meadows are as happy in that environ- 
 
 [34] 
 
ment as they were down by their first love, the 
 sea. 
 
 Later, when Hawaii became a popular ship- 
 ping rendezvous, the Hawaiians showed as great 
 an adaptability for sailing before the mast as 
 riding the range. They became such desirable 
 seamen that every ship's captain was finally 
 obliged to post a $100 bond against each man's 
 return. If some such a penalty hadn't been ex- 
 acted, the Islands would soon have become a 
 manless Eden. 
 
 Today eminent sailors of native blood include 
 Samuel Wilder King and Victor K. Houston, 
 Captains in the IX S. Navy, both of whom 
 were former delegates to Congress. Other na- 
 tive sons of Hawaii likewise have attained high 
 rank, and served with distinction in the United 
 States Army. 
 
 [35] 
 
HAWAIIAN S 
 FIND TIME 
 FOR PLAY 
 
 [36] 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EARLY TARS TOOK TOWN APART 
 
 HE first two Kamehamehas — Father 
 and Son — started big business in Ha- 
 waii by selling out the Islands' sandal- 
 wood to English and Yankee fur 
 traders, who took the popular scented wood to 
 China for quick profit. But later and for fifty 
 years, Hawaii's extra pocket money, a forerun- 
 ner of the present century's lucrative and grow- 
 ing tourist trade, came from the hundreds of 
 whaling ships that each winter sought sanc- 
 tuary, supplies, and near tropic comforts in Ha- 
 waii. At times these ships were so thick in 
 Honolulu's harbor that they were moored solidly 
 together, and a person could walk from deck to 
 i deck across the harbor as on a wooden sidewalk. 
 And if any faint hearts think today's sailors are 
 j sometimes on the free and easy side, they should 
 have seen early-day before-the-masters in ac- 
 tion. Those lusty Jack Tars took over the town 
 and tore it at least partially apart, while the resi- 
 
 [37] 
 
dents of Honolulu hied themselves indoors and 
 pulled their storm windows in after them. 
 
 Speaking of tourists, who during the present 
 century have flocked to Hawaii in great ocean 
 liners and clippers, the first royal tourist to 
 journey away from Hawaii was Chief Kaiana, 
 already mentioned as the handsome ambitious 
 brother of a King of Kauai. Kaiana, who later 
 deserted the army of Kamehameha the First, 
 went to China and returned. The next royal 
 traveler was King Liholiho, Kamehameha the 
 Second, who would see London, but died there 
 of measles. Another Hawaiian monarch who 
 died abroad (in San Francisco, in 1891) was 
 the last king, Kalakaua. 
 
 A second son of the first Kamehameha was 
 called Kamehameha the Third, but he might well 
 have been termed "First*' himself because of the 
 many "firsts" chalked up during his reign. The 
 new Hawaii was just beginning to click under 
 Kamehameha the Third who was the most illus- 
 trious and longest ruling of the Kamehameha 
 line. Excepting his father, he accomplished 
 more for the Sandwich Islands than all the rest 
 of the rulers put together. Incidentally, Hawaii 
 was long known as the Sandwich Islands after 
 the Earl of Sandwich who was Lord of the Ad- 
 
 [38] 
 
miralty in England when Captain Cook found 
 the Islands. It was the same Sandwich who 
 invented and named that modern-day luncheon 
 delight. 
 
 Kamehameha the Third reigned from 1825- 
 1854, and here is his box score of imposing 
 "Firsts"; First laws published; Declaration of 
 Rights adopted; first legislature convened; Royal 
 School opened; first constitution proclaimed; first 
 ambassadors sent to Europe; Punahou School 
 started; first recognition of Hawaii's independ- 
 ence by the United States ( also by Great Britain 
 and France); restoration of independence by 
 England; and because of this the King in grati- 
 tude coined the phrase which has ever since been 
 the motto of Hawaii, "Ua man ke ea o ka aina i 
 ka pono," (The life of the land is preserved in 
 righteousness); first division of lands, (The 
 Great Mahele in 1848), giving common people 
 title to their property; protectorate offered U.S., 
 annexation suggested, and a duty free treaty 
 jprepared ( and not accepted); first steamer 
 arrived. A long reign and not always a merry 
 pne. 
 
 [39] 
 
KALAKAUA 
 BUILT HIS 
 OWN PALACE 
 
 [40] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 UNCLE SAM KEEPS THE PEACE 
 
 HE two brothers, Kamehameha the 
 Fourth and Fifth who followed on the 
 throne, were nephews of the Second 
 and Third Kamehamehas, and grand- 
 sons of the First. They were not outstanding. 
 Their times saw the wane of the whaling trade 
 and the beginning of what was destined to be- 
 come Hawaii's far bigger business — sugar, and 
 pineapple, the latter in the twentieth century 
 rivalling sugar, much to the surprise of some 
 old-time sugar men. 
 
 One of the first sugar ventures was on the 
 island of Kauai when three young men from 
 New England leased 980 acres of land and be- 
 gan planting. Although these young men and 
 others who followed failed in their first attempts 
 at sugar raising, by the time of America's Civil 
 War, sugar was definitely established as the 
 Islands' most important industry. 
 
 Out of the sugar business came the birth of 
 big business which in turn developed and mod- 
 
 [41] 
 
ernized the Islands. Today sugar represents an 
 investment of many millions with profits shared 
 by nearly 20,000 stockholders. Sugar plus pine- 
 apple means Hawaii. Hawaii has the ideal cli- 
 mate for both crops, each thriving at different 
 levels and one a perfect complement to the other. 
 Hawaii has also developed the latest scientific 
 methods in producing them. Though sugar is a 
 world commodity and the demand remains rela- 
 tively constant, Hawaii's sugar crop represents 
 but a small percentage of the world's supply, 
 while her canned pineapple constitutes at least 
 75% of the earth's annual crop. 
 
 The rapid development of these two agricul- 
 tural giants, and the failure of many others like 
 cotton, sisal, silk, rubber, and tobacco, have been 
 the glow and wane of the forge that has tem- 
 pered and fused Hawaii. The many different 
 peoples, mostly from the Orient, that have been 
 needed in the development and maintenance of 
 these industries, have come to Hawaii during 
 the past century, and have become welded into 
 the modern American way of life. So peacefully 
 and harmoniously has this welding taken place 
 that the Territory is well termed when it is called 
 the "melting pot." 
 
 [42] 
 
During her swaddling-clothes days, Little 
 Red Riding Hood Hawaii was constantly men- 
 aced by some Big Bad Wolf old-world power. 
 England had her three times — by discovery, by 
 cession, and by force — but always gave her 
 back. France almost took her over once; Russia 
 made a pass or two at the lovely little lady but 
 left nothing to show for it but Fort Street in 
 Honolulu and two Russian Forts on Kauai, one 
 at Hanalei and another star-shaped affair still 
 visible at Waimea. Even Japan threatened the 
 tiny Hawaii and extracted an indemnity. But 
 Uncle Sam, ultimately to take the prodigy under 
 his wing, was always comfortably in the offing, 
 keeping the peace and demanding fair play for 
 his struggling little friend way out there alone 
 in the Pacific. 
 
 [43] 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CAME THE MERRY MONARCH 
 
 m 
 
 UNALILO was the next king after 
 Kamehameha the Fifth. Although dis- 
 tantly related to the Kamehamehas, 
 he won his throne by popular election, 
 and ruled just long enough — a little over a year 
 — to quell one incipient mutiny. And because he 
 thought his mother had been slighted Lunalilo 
 decreed that he be buried all alone in the little 
 "Lunalilo Ka Moi" ( Lunalilo the King ) tomb by 
 the old Kawaiahao Hawaiian church on King 
 Street. Then came the Merry Monarch, the last 
 King of Hawaii, Kalakaua. 
 
 Kalakaua had visions of grandeur and a yen 
 to be King in his own right. But times had 
 changed and when he found that he could only 
 be a constitutional monarch, he set out to have 
 a good time, and let the boys in the other room — 
 the counting room — do the worrying. He went 
 off to the Mainland, had a grand reception in 
 Washington, D.C., engineered the reciprocity 
 treaty which got Uncle Sam's famed Pearl Har- 
 
 [45] 
 
bor started, and really put Hawaiian sugar — 
 now free of duty — on its feet- Kalakaua took a 
 trip around the world, came back and built him- 
 self a palace, the present capitol building (and 
 the only throne room in the United States), 
 bought a regal jewel-studded crown — set it on 
 his own head, and struck off numerous ribbons 
 and orders for his friends. He went riding on 
 the new Oahu Railroad that was rolling the 
 milled sugar to the docks for refining in Califor- 
 nia, and even started his own "King's Navee," 
 one ship, which made a single trip to Samoa and 
 pau (finished). 
 
 He had a grand time and his last words — 
 when he died in 1891 in San Francisco — were 
 scratchily recorded on a new fangled doo-dad 
 called a phonograph. 
 
 Unlike her brother, Queen Liliuokalani who 
 followed him couldn't read the constitutional 
 handwriting on the wall. She tried almost im- 
 mediately to revert to the good old feudal days 
 when a queen had only to cry, "Out with you!" 
 and out you went forthwith. The Islands under 
 American leadership had grown too modern, too 
 strong, and too important to the peace and secu- 
 rity of the United States and the Pacific for that 
 sort of opera bouffe rule and the Queen not only 
 
 [46] 
 
lost her palace but was locked up in it. She was 
 withal a gracious sovereign who in retirement 
 forgave her deposers and lived happily to a ripe 
 old age, always the beloved Queen. 
 
 The Queen's many talents included a mastery 
 of music, and in the end she will probably be 
 longer and better remembered by the world for 
 her internationally sung "Aloha Oe" (Farewell 
 to Thee) which, by the way, was written as 
 much as a love song as a famous farewell. 
 
 [47] 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 AMERICA'S WESTERN GATE 
 
 FTER Queen Liliuokalani was eased 
 out, and while the United States was 
 trying to decide whether or not to 
 accept these strutting Islands as a 
 State, the queenless country tried a short term as 
 a Republic with Hon. Sanford B. Dole as first 
 and only president. With their strategic value 
 greatly enhanced by the Spanish American war, 
 Uncle Sam finally accepted the Islands as a Ter- 
 ritory, (Hawaii had hoped to join the Union as 
 a State), and the long flirtation between big, 
 bluff, benign America and tiny, tempting Hawaii 
 was over. A legislature elected by the people 
 was established, President Dole became the first 
 of nine governors appointed to date by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. Honorable Ingram 
 M. Stainback, the present governor, is the ninth. 
 
 The marriage of Hawaii and America has 
 been a grand success, and the two republics 
 have lived happily and profitably together. 
 There have been the usual family tiffs, and little 
 
 [48] 
 
Hawaii used to think that Uncle Sam treated 
 her more as an orphan than a spouse, but now- 
 adays the Territory usually gets her due. And 
 why not? She is bigger than some states ( Con- 
 necticut, Rhode Island, Delaware); more popu- 
 lous than others ( Nevada, Wyoming, Delaware 
 and Vermont); she pays more federal income 
 than many individual states; and her cultural 
 growth and military importance take a back seat 
 to none of them. America knows now, since 
 Pearl Harbor, that at Hawaii, Uncle Sam's mili- 
 tary might truly guards — and — holds her West- 
 ern Gate. 
 
 Hawaii is about 300 miles long (the main 
 chain of eight inhabited islands), almost 14,000 
 feet high; nearly a half million strong. She has a 
 real valuation of about a half a billion dollars, 
 and in her tiny area of over 6,400 square miles 
 produces an annual crop, principally sugar and 
 pineapple, that sells for well over $100,000,000, 
 a trade benefit of noble proportions for all the 
 States as well as herself. Thus Hawaii is a 
 spouse well worth loving — and living with on 
 equal terms as a full partner. 
 
 [49] 
 
UNION STREET 
 WHEN CITY 
 WAS YOUNG 
 
 [50] 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 FOUR "KINGS" DON'T ALWAYS WIN 
 
 ACK in the early days of high finance, 
 Claus Spreckels, Island sugar broker 
 and banker baron, thought he held 
 Hawaii and King Kalakaua in the 
 hollow of his hand. The usual story of a big 
 poker game in which Kalakaua and he were the 
 principal contestants has it that Kalakaua 
 claimed a large pot with four kings, showing 
 | three and naming himself as the fourth. But 
 other accounts have it that Spreckels made the 
 kingly claim, naming himself as the fourth, 
 (uncrowned, of course). Kalakaua, the real king, 
 never forgave his pseudo and high-sounding 
 friend for that irreverent boast, and the sugar 
 
 I baron was gradually squeezed out. Hawaii and 
 hospitality are synonymous, but "you can't 
 
 ! crowd a friend too far." 
 
 Hawaii has not only developed financial 
 
 II value, but she has created a culture for herself 
 I that any section of Mainland America might 
 
 [51] 
 
well envy. Artists flock to Honolulu to paint the 
 brilliant flowers and blue and purple seas, writers 
 sing her praises and build their homes along the 
 shores and beaches. Scientists come from afar 
 to study her agricultural methods. Students of 
 the South Seas, Asia, and the West have built 
 an Institute of Pacific Relations at the Univer- 
 sity of Hawaii. In Hawaii merges the culture of 
 the East and West but her hundred thousand 
 school children troop to the public schools to 
 study Americanism. 
 
 Hawaii is as modern as they come, with elec- 
 tric ice boxes, air conditioning, trolley buses, 
 automatic phones, daily newspapers, movies, 
 night clubs, lodges, churches; Hawaii is a good 
 place to live — a good place to spend a vacation 
 or indulge in an avocation. 
 
 Island people are a friendly, congenial sort 
 with a natural workable philosophy. They know 
 from experience that the different races can get 
 along; that in a busy life there is still room for 
 recreation and play — a hula and a song, polo 
 and fishing, surfing and golf, even a symphony 
 orchestra, Community theater and Community 
 Chest. Intensely loyal and patriotic Americans, 
 they are none the less inordinately proud of 
 
 [54] 
 
vhat Mark Twain called, "The loveliest fleet of 
 glands that lies anchored in any ocean," and 
 [lad to share its delights. 
 
 HONOLULU'S 
 FIRST MULE- 
 DRAWN CAR 
 
 [55] 
 
THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES