mm TV HON. JOHN LEAVITT STEVENS was born in Mt. Vernon, Maine, in 1S20. He was editor for many years of the Kennebec Journal, a leading political news- paper of Maine. In 1889 lie was appointed b}' President Harrison Minister to the Hawaiian Islands, his title soon after being changed to that of Minister Plen- ipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary. He resigned this position in the spring of 1893. Mr. Stevens had the degree of LL/.D. conferred upon him by Tuft's College in 1883. I RICHES AND MARVELS ...OF... HAWAII A CHARMING DESCRIPTION OF Her Unique History, Strange People, Exquisite Climate, Wondrous Volcanoes, Luxurious Productions, Beautiful Cities, Corrupt Monarchy, Rev- olution, Provisional Government and Annexation. ...BY... HON. JOHN L STEVENS, Ex-U. S. Minister, ...AND... PROF. W. B. OLESON, of Honolulu, 15 Years President of Kahemahema College. Profusely Enriched with Rare and Beautiful Photographs, ILLUSTRATING EVERY PHASE OF LIFE AND SCENERY IN THOSE MARVELLOUS ISLANDS; WITH EX- PLANATIONS OF EACH PREPARED BY NIISS NELLIE WL. STEVENS. PHILADELPHIA, PA.: EDGEVVOOD PUBLISHING COMPANY, Publishers. Copyrighted by the Edgewood Publishing Co., 1900. OS- LIST OF SUBJECTS. HISTORICAL SKETCH. Discovery of the Islands. Ancient Canoe Journeys, Origin of Hawaiians. An Ancient Race. The Common People. The Priesthood. System of Tabu. Social Customs. Future Life. Bones of the Chiefs. Sorcery. Disastrous Wars. Cook's Discovery. Proximity to America. Size of the Group. Captain Cook's Death. Worshipped as a God. Vancouver's Visits. British Protectorate. Kamehameha the Great. His Enterprise. His Personal Prowess. His Conquest of the Group. Centralizing Policy. Distilling Rum. His Death. Idolatry Abolished. Coming of the Missionaries. Destruction of Idols. Kapiolani's Heroism. Missionary Success. The Hope of Hawaii. THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. The Kanaka. Occupation of Kanakas. Ease in Gaining a Livelihood. Principal Food Staple. Value and Productiveness of Taro. Native Indolence. Luxurious Kanakai. Preparation of Poi. The Hawaiian not a Farmer. Master of Wind and Wave. The Sea His Schoolmaster. Rare Ingenuity. Superstitious but Brave. Kan.^kas as Cow-Boys. Hawaiian Horse Women. Hawaiian Visiting. Dwellings. Hospitality. A Native Feast. Preparation for a Feast. Action, but Reaction. Fondness for Nature. Guiding Principle in All Feasts. Come, Let Us Eat. Eat, Drink and Be Merry. Hawaiian Swimmers. Surf-Bathing. Lost Arts. Clothed, and in His Right Mind. The Flower Girls. A Genuine Politician. Decrease of Hawaiians. Half-Castes. Amalgamation. Growth of Foreign Element. Causes of Decrease. Ability to Read and Write.. American Sentiment. Religion. Hawaiians and New Hawaii. Liquid Sunshine. Equable Climate. Healihfulness. Indigenous Plants. Ownership of Land, Land Awards. Crown Lands. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. Foreign Enterprise. Beneficent Mission of American Capital. Labor Problems. Co-operative Cane Planting. Leasehold System. Cane Fields. Sugar Making. (5) A^ooo'> LIST OF SUBJECTS. Rice Growing. Coffee Growing. Diversified Industries. Reciprocity Treaty. Benefits to the United States. HONOLULU Honolulu, the Cajiital. First Glimjise of Honolulu. Birds-Eye View. Honolulu from the Sea. Genius of the Foreigner. Size of Honolulu. Public Buildings. Public Works. Population of Honolulu. Portuguese Colony. Pleasure Resorts. Charitable Institutions. Administration of Justice. Benefits to Hawaii. Not an Unmixed Blessing. Commercial Importance. Political Importance. AND OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST. Education. Taxation. Harbor of Honolulu. Street Scenes. The Garden Isle. The Leper Colony. Liberal Treatment of Lepers. The Valley of Death. Off to Windward. Lahaina and the Whale Trade. Windward Hawaii. Beautiful Hilo. Cocoanut Island. VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. Volcanic Origin, Fissures in Earth's Crust. Depth of Surrounding Sea. Artesian Borings. Sudsidence and Upheaval. Relative Age of Islands. World Building. Mokuaweoweo, the Terrible. Great Interior Plain. The Lava Flow of 1855. The Lava Flow of 1859. The Lava Flow of 1880. The Hilo Viaduct. The Forges of Vulcan. Kilauea. Floor of the Crater. The Lake of Fire. The Goddess Pele. At Closer Range. Remarkable Disappearance of Fires. Sulphur Deposits. From Chaos to Paradise. Earthquakes of 1868. Legend of Halai. Heathen Oblation.";. THE HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. Kamehameha's Arbitrary Reign. Reaction Sets In. Growth of PoliticarPrivilege. Basis of Political Unrest. The First Constitution. Constitution of 1852. Perils from W^ithout. French Aggressions. English Aggressions. Real Intent of Foreign Interference. Effect of Foreign Interference. Return to Autocratic Rule. Constitution of 1864. Segregation of Lepers. Annexation Sentiment. Elective Kings. Kalakaua Unpopular. Political Effect of Reciprocity. Hawaii for Hawaiians. Revival of Heathenism. Debasing the Electorate. The Bauble Bursts. Reform Movement. Constitution of 1887. Queen Liliuokalani. Natural Sequence of Events. EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. Ignominious Failure. Counter Revolution. Provisional Government. C. B. WILSON. — Mr. C. B. Wilson was brought into prominence during the recent revolution in Hawaii from being chief marshal under the monarchial govern- ment, and the strong personal friend of the ex-Queen. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, A Group of Natives Beating the Taro Plant into Flour Alligator Pears . Along the VVailuku River Boiling Crater of a Volcano Beautiful Palms . Captain Gilbert C. Wiltse Cocoanut Palms . C. B. Wilson Doomed to Death Doctor McGrew's Residence Ex-Queen Liliuokalani Great Rush of Boiling Lava into the Water Gathering of the Cane Government Building . Hawaiian Hotel . Hon. John Leavitt Stevens Hawaiian Picnic . Hula Girls , Hon. Lorrin A. Thurston lolani Palace Judge Wideman's Residence J. A. Cummings . Kauai, the River Waimea Kaneohe Valley . Mausoleum of Lunalilo Making Poi Mangoes Natives with their Surf Boards Night-Blooming Cereus Princess Kaiulani Picnic Grounds of Hilo Prof. W. B. Alexander Papaia Tree Queen Kapiolani PAGE 95 29 183 105 271 III 7 23 139 281 193 117 2S7 2 61 67 315 227 155 17 265 199 39 73 127 83 237 221 325 243 331 (9) lO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Residence of C. R. Bishop . Residence of Mr. Waterliouse Steamer Australia Services at Oahu Prison San Ford Ballard Dole . The Provisional Government The Lava Bed of Hawaii . The Hawaiian Woman in Pau The Flower Women of Honolulu Troops Drilling in the Government Sq' Tree Ferns The Great Crater of Kilauea The Present Seat of Government Umbrella Tree . PAGE 169 337 45 293 3"3 205 89 177 309 249 215 3-; 7 259 HISTORICAL SKETCH. DISCOVERY OF THE ISLANDS. The visit of Capt. Cook to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, from which time their discovery is commonly reckoned, was not by any means the first appearance of white men on those Islands. There are well authenticated Spanish charts of the Pacific, on which appear a group of islands in the latitude of the Hawaiian group, although ten degrees of longitude too far east. This discrepancy is accounted for by the dependence of those early navigators on "dead reckoning" for their longitude, chronometers not having then been invented. It is well known that the Spaniards were the earliest navi- gators of the Pacific, and there is a general agreement that Juan Gaetano discovered the group as early as i^^^. There were many traditions among the natives of the appearance among them of strange people previous to this date. Among them, very likely, were members of ship- wrecked Spanish crews, driven out of their course, and possibly stranded on those shores. It is a matter of history that a Japanese junk with four men on board reached the island of Oahu in 1823. Other similar arrivals may have preceded this. This fact, of the drifting of small boats for long distances on the Pacific, abundantly 11 ,2 HISTORICAL SKETCH. attested in recent years even, is suggestive of the way in which the islands were originally peopled. ANCIENT CANOE JOURNEYS. Nothing is more pronounced in the traditions and meles, or historic songs, of the Hawaiians than the intrepid canoe journeys to and from Hawaii and other Pacific islands. Thus, these meles speak of lands from which Hawaii-loa, a famous fisher- man and navigator, sailed to the east and discovered Hawaii and Maui, the two largest islands of the Hawaiian group. These voyages were mainly between Hawaii and Kahiki, supposed to be Tahiti, a name which later came to be a general term for foreign lands. Alexander, in his " History of the Hawaiian People," says : " It is probable that those ancient navigators had large canoes, built up of planks sewed together, and decked over, in part at least, with capacity to hold live-stock and stores for a long voyage. They were bold and expert seamen, inured to hardship, and had a respectable knowledge of the positions of the principal stars, and of their rising and setting at different times of -he year. The fact that they made those journeys is indisputable." ORIGIN OF HAWAIIANS. The motive for these voyages from Hawaii to the westward was undoubtedly linked with the fact that it was from thence that the first settlers of Hawaii came. Pomander, in his " Polynesian Races," abundantly demonstrates the racial affinities of the HISTORICAL SKETCH. 13 aboriginal inhabitants of the Pacific islands from New- Zealand to Hawaii. All these people "speak dialects of the same language, have the same physical features, the same manners and customs, the same general system of tabu, and similar traditions and religious rites. The names of the principal gods, the stories told of the demigod Maui, of the origin of fire, about the deluge, and many others, are common to all these islands."* Men, like Fornander, who have made a special comparative study of the physical appearance and language of the Pacific islanders, and of the people of Madagascar, Philippine Islands, and the Malayan Archipelago, conclude that all these allied races originally came from southwestern Asia. AN ANCIENT RACE. Human bones have been found in the Hawaiian Islands underneath ancient coral beds and lava flows, and one authority has estimated that the group must have been inhabited as early as 500 A. D. However that may be, it is known that the islands were densely populated when first discovered by white men. For a barbarous race it was highly organized into orders, with a system of checks, and with laws and religious ceremonies, long anterior to the advent of foreigners. The government was a feudal one, each island having its high chief, with subordinate chiefs in every district, who, in turn, had inferior chiefs in every hamlet. These chiefs * Alexander. 14 HISTORICAL SKETCH. were the nobility, and in stature and bearing and prowess were tar removed from the common people. THE COMMON PEOPLE. The latter were sub- divided into castes, — canoe-builders, and notably fisher- men, being accorded especial distinction among the makaainanas or common people, who were at best mere tenants subject to the slightest whims of their chiefs. These people cultivated the land, and in great companies and for set periods under command of the chiefs, built the great fish walls along the coasts, and the immense heiaus or temples, and the extensive paved roads, all of which can be seen, in a more or less preserved condition, in many parts of the group. When the taro of the common people was nearly ripe, the chief would confiscate the larger part and the best of the crop by causing a tabu stick to be placed in the loi or taro patch. Thereafter it would be certain death, even for the cultivator, to take a single taro for his own use. Certain kinds of taro, notably a pink variety, were specially sacred to the use of the chiefs. THE PRIESTHOOD. Hardly inferior in rank to the chiefs, and certainly no more merciful toward the common people, were the haughty and powerful priests whom even high chiefs sometimes feared, and always cautiously regarded, lest they should come under their dread sorcery. The ancient religion was a species of idolatry, with oppressive restrictions, and with human sacrifices- Ha- HISTORICAL SKETCH. 15 waiians peopled the sea and the sky, and their dark valleys, and the volcanoes, with vindictive and malignant spirits, who in the form of man-eating sharks and disas- trous volcanic upheavals, and the more dreaded form of disease, sought out their victims with a hatred that could be placated only by the most assiduous and subservient resort to the arts of the kahuna or priest, whose incantations served quite as much to terrorize the poor native as all the imaginary demi-gods in the air about him. The idols were hideous. When priests wanted victims for sacrifice they went into ambush, and, deceiving some passer-by with piteous cries for help, killed him when he came to their relief. When a chief died, or a heiau was to be consecrated, or a canoe was to be built, victims must be sacrificed, and the common people in abject terror would flee to the woods for safety. To manifest mourning for a dead chief, the people resorted to all manner of bodily disfigurement, knocking out their front teeth, shaving one side of the face and head, and tattooing their tongues and bodies. " They threw off for the time all clothing and all restraints of decency, and appeared more like demons than human beings. Houses were often burned, property was plundered, revenge taken for old forgotten injuries, and a state of anarchy prevailed, according to the testimony of eye-witnesses. Even as late as 1823, at Keopuolani's death, many natives fled to 1 6 HISTORICAL SKETCH. the mountains, while others carried their effects into the missionaries' inclosures and begged permission to remain there, hoping to find a sanctuary within their premises amidst the general devastation which they expected would follow her decease." SYSTEM OF TABU. The tabu system was a com- plicated device for perpetuating the prestige and power of the priests. It has been well described as "a vast net- work of regulations and penalties." These penalties were summary and extreme. For instance, two young girls of high rank were seen eating a banana, which was forbidden fruit to women. Thereupon their immediate guardian was immediately put to death. Some penalties were cruel in the extreme, as when, for instance, a little child had her eye scooped out for daring to taste a banana. There was a tragically grotesque side to some of the special tabus on particular occasions. Thus imagine a pall of absolute noiselessness over a village for twenty-four hours, under a penalty of instant death to any who uttered a sound; even "the dogs had to be muzzled, and the fowls were shut up in calabashes" or immense poi-bowls. SOCIAL CUSTOMS. There were ceremonies in end- less variety affecting every incident in life, except that of marriage. Alexander says, " It is a significant fact that while every other act in life was accompanied with pray- ers and sacrifices to the gods, there were no religious J. A. CUMMINGS.— J. A. Cummings, a large sugar planter, is a perfect type of the Hawaiian half-white. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs during the latter part of the reign of King Kalakaua, being dismissed with other members of the cabinet when Liiiuokalani became Queen. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 19 ceremonies connected with marriage. Not even the favor of the aumakuas (spirits of departed ancestors) was in- voked. It was entered upon with less ceremony than fishing or planting." "A fisherman could not use a new net or fishing-rod without prayer and sacrifice to his patron god." But the relation most vitally affecting the life of any race, was so lightly regarded as to be more than suggestive of the cause of the loss of national virility. Thus ''the husband could dismiss his wife without any ceremony. Polygamy was allowed in all ranks, but prac- ticed mostly by the chiefs. The state of society will not bear description." " Infanticide was fearfully prevalent, and there were few of the older women at the date of the abolition of idolatiy who had not been guilty of it. It was the opinion of those best informed that two-thirds of all the children born were destroyed in infancy by their parents. They were generally buried alive, in many cases in the very houses occupied by their unnatural parents. On all the islands the number of males was much greater than that of females, in consequence of the giris being more frequently destroyed than the boys. Among the common people old age was despised. The sick and those who had become helpless from age were sometimes abandoned to die or were put to death. Insane people were also sometimes stoned to death." FUTURE LIFE. While a certain element of vagueness 20 HISTORICAL SKETCH. characterized their conception of a future life, the Hawaiians recognized a distinction in the lot of the dead, l^hus the lower world, into which the spirits of men were supposed to leap at death, " was divided into distinct king- doms, the upper one ruled by Wakea, and the lower by Milu. The region of Wakea, the ancestor of the race, was a quiet and peaceful realm of comparative comfort, reserved for the select few. Wakea was possessed of higher tabus and greater power than Milu, and only ad- mitted those who had been scrupulous in observing the religious rites and tabus during life. Milu was said to have been an ancient chief of Hamakua, Hawaii, notorious for his wickedness during life, who afterwards became king of a realm of darkness and misery, below that of Wakea, to which the great majority of the dead were destined. Their food consisted of lizards and butterflies, but there were streams of water of which they could drink, and spreading kou trees beneath which they re- clined. Milu's province was also said to be a noisy and disorderly place, where lawless akuas kept up wild games all night." With a finer national spirit, like the poetic conceptions of the North American Indians of the happy hunting grounds, some of the traditions allied the more heroic spirit and feats of the race to the conditions of existence after death. Thus their noble chiefs were conducted by HISTORICAL SKETCH. 21 one of the gods to a heaven in or beyond the clouds. Some said the souls of heroes went to " the hidden land of Kane, which seems to have been a sort of Fata Morgana or fairy island in the west. It was said that mariners sometimes saw in the distance a beautiful island abounding in cocoanut trees, but it was all unsubstantial and ghostly, and receded before them, like the mirage of the desert." BONES OF THE CHIEFS. "The deified bones of the chiefs," writes Alexander, "were generally carefully concealed in the most secret and inaccessible caves. Before death they made their most trusty attendants swear to conceal their bones so that no one could ever find them. ' I do not wish,' said a dying chief, * that my bones should be made into arrows to shoot mice with (a favorite pastime of the chiefs) or into fish-hooks.' " There is a legend that after the death of Pae, an ancient chief in the famous Waipio valley, his devoted servants, in accordance with his request, took his bones secretly to a small cave in the perpendicular face of the precipice, and just under the waters of the Hiilawe Falls, which leap from this point 1700 feet into the valley below. There they felt that the precious bones were safe, as only two of them knew of the place. One day, while looking at the rushing waters, a famous magician suddenly turned to the King at his side, saying, "I see two young men passing 22 HISTORICAL SKETCH. and re-passing through the Hiilawe waters, and the rain- bow above shows they are aliis." The King ridiculed the idea, but some days after the same magician, standing with the King, said, "There are the chiefs again in the Hiilawe waters." Then the King sent his most sure- footed mountaineers with ropes to examine the place, with the result that the cave was found, together with the skeleton of Pae, wrapped in his feather cloak, and the skeleton of one of his faithful attendants who had been killed, that his chief might have company to the other wodd. Out of the thigh bone of Pae a large hook for deep sea fishing was made, which is now in the Museum at Honolulu. " It was an extremely lucky hook," writes Mrs. Nakuina, an authority in Hawaiian folk lore, " and seemed to have a kind of power to attract fish. Battles have been fought, lost and gained for the possession of this hook." SORCERY. Hawaiians were the victims of a most cruel and depressing system of sorcery. It is doubt- ful whether all the evils connected with the tabu and ceremonial system combined were as pernicious and en- slaving as the thraldom placed on the common people by the sorcerers. They were feared and hated, and were sometimes stoned to death or beheaded by order of a chief. The anaana sorcerer was able to pray a person to DOOMED TO DEATH. This picture illustrates a ver^^ thrilliugepisodr in Hawaiiau history. When the great Kamehanieha was gaining by conquest and strategy the control of all the smaller tribes and nations, he induced a brilliant young prince of Oahau to betray his people into surrender, upon discovery of Avhich the young prince was sentenced to death, and the picture represents him giving his last counsel and instructions to his sister Ijefore his execution. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 25 deatn. " In order to effect his purpose, it was absolutely essential for him to secure something connected with the person of the intended victim, as the parings of the nails, a lock of the hair, etc., which was termed the maunu or bail. For this reason the chiefs always kept their most faithful servants around them, who carefully buried or burned every thing of the kind or sunk it out at sea." Secretly but subtly this anaana type of sorcery is still practiced among Hawaiians. So great is the fear of the Kahuna, who is supposed to possess this power, that more or less intelligent natives, while under the medical care of the best physicians of Honolulu, will surreptitiously call in the Kahuna and submit to his incantations to break the spell that they imagine themselves to be under. The medical fraternity, who come constantly into contact with this survival of heathenish superstition, agree that the Kahunas are largely responsible for the high death rate among Hawaiians. Speaking of the effect on the people, Alexander says, " The sorcerer sometimes used poison to accomplish his ends, but the power of imagination and of superstitious fear was often sufficient to make the victimi give up all hope and to pine away till he died." . DISASTROUS WARS. For three hundred years pre- vious to the coming of Capt. Cook, in the language of Judge Fornander, a careful student of that period, there " was an era of strife, dynastic ambitions, internal and ex- 26 HISTORICAL SKETCH. ternal wars on each island, with all their deteriorating con- sequences of anarchy, depopulation, social and intellectual degradation, loss of liberty, loss of knowledge, loss of arts." The forces that had been fostered by a cruel and licentious and degrading barbarism were sapping the vitality of the race. The rapid decline in virility and number had set in, and even the beneficent forces of a Christian civilization, fifty years later, seemed almost powerless to stay the momentum. This period closes with a burst of heroism that was at the same time a dismal prophecy of the future of the race. The famous battle of the sand-hills near Wailuku, Maui, was like a Thermopylae to that proud and superior race who formed the real nobility of the land. When Kalaniopuu sent his picked regiment of noble chiefs, the famous Alapa, stal- wart, unflinching heroes every man of them, with spears set, across the sand-hills to meet the chiefs of Maui in open combat, he unintentionally struck a death-blow to his race. These men were the physical and intellectual leaders of a nation that needed every one of them in its struggle to survive. Their brawn and brain and vitality typified the enduring forces in an otherwise shattered and enfeebled race. As they march in perfect discipline over those fateful plains, the flower of the land, their enemies rise about them in ambush in overpowering numbers, and leave not a man alive to tell the tale of their heroic HISTORICAL SKETCH. 27 struggle. It was a tine example of heroism, but at what awful cost to the physical stamina and fioer of an already stricken race. COOK'S DISCOVERY. To Capt. Cook belongs the credit of the discovery of the islands in the sense that it was he who first made them known to the world. His tragic death drew the attention of the English-speaking race. Before his arrival at the islands in 1778, this group was the loneliest bit of land in all the great oceans. It was out of the course taken by navigators in the Pacific, and it was by the merest accident that in setting sail from the Society Islands, 2^00 miles to the south of Hawaii, on his way to discover a northern passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, sailing almost due north, on January 18, 1778, he discovered the island of Oahu. So far as proximity to any other land in the North Pacific is concerned, Hawaii will always maintain its unique loneliness, for it is the only land between America and Asia north of latitude 20° and south of the Aleutian Islands, and is from 1200 to 1800 miles from the nearest groups to the south, and more than 2200 miles from the Samoan Islands, the nearest group of importance. PROXIMITY TO AMERICA. From San Francisco, as a centre, let a thread representing 2080 miles be swung on a map as in drawing a circle, and it will strike Honolulu, the capital of the Hawaiian Islands, on the south-west; 28 HISTORICAL SKETCH. the Alaska peninsula on the north-west; the Mississippi River on the east; the city of Houston, Texas, on the south-east ; and the isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, on the south. These facts reveal the proximity of Hawaii to the American coast, showing, as they do, that Chicago and the Nicaragua Canal that is to be, are more distant from San Francisco than Hawaii is. One can sail 1^00 miles due west from Honolulu, three times the distance from Buffalo, N. Y., to Chicago, and thence following a great circle sail due north and arrive at United States territory in Alaska. And in all that distance there is no other land, but rather only a vast ocean already teeming with a commerce that is only a prophecy of what is to be. This comparative proximity to our own coast, in the cir- cumstances, lends additional weight to the words of that far-seeing statesman, Wm. H. Seward, who in the United States Senate in i8p said, "The Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands, and the vast region beyond will become the chief theater of events in the world's great hereafter." In the furtherance and protection of commerce, contiguous territory is less advantageous than land that is reasonably proximate while yet out on the ocean's highways. That Hawaii would constitute a most important American out- port in the growing commerce of the Pacific can not be doubted on geographical considerations alone. SIZE OF THE GROUP. There are eight inhabited ALONG THE WAiLUKU kiVHK.— It is difficult to imagine any scenery more lovely than that which bo'-ders the Wailuku River on the island of Hawaii. Starting en the slopes of Mauna Kea, sometimes dashing in foam- ing cataracts over cliffs more than a hundred feet in height. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 31 islands, viz., Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau, comprising an area of 6,700 square miles, or about ^00 square miles greater than the combined areas of the States of Rhode Island and Con- necticut. They extend from northwest to southeast over a distance of about three hundred and eighty miles, or about the distance from Rochester to New York City. The largest island is Hawaii, which has given its name to the group. The various islands are separated by channels varying in width from six to sixty miles. Now there has grown up an extensive system of inter-island steamers numbering over twenty in 1891, fitted up with dynamos for electric lighting, and several of them having superior accommodations for the growing passenger traffic. For- merly the only means of communication was by canoes, an actual incident having occurred to illustrate this less than two years ago ; when a member, elected to fill a vacancy in the legislature, not being content to wait for the steamer in his eagerness to take his seat, hired men to row him in a canoe from Hilo, Hawaii, to Honolulu, a distance of over 200 miles 1 CAPT. COOK'S DEATH. The verdict of the later historians, being possessed of all the facts in the case, seems to be that Cook courted his death by his abuse of the hospitality of the natives. They brought to him every day " a liberal supply of hogs and vegetables, while several 32 HISTORICAL SKETCH. canoe-loads of provisions were daily sent to the ships, for which no return was ever made." Instead, "the violations of tabu and the abandoned conduct of their guests were such as to disgust even heathens, while the lavish con- tributions levied upon the people for their support began to be felt as a heavy burden." The breach widened when Cook, needing fuel, allowed his men to take the fence around one of the heiaus, which was carried aboard together with twelve idols from the temple, despite the protestations of the priests. The natives retaliated by stealing a boat, and frequent collisions occurred, not only embittering the natives, but resulting, finally, in the un- provoked killing of a chief, which so infuriated some of the chiefs and their followers that an attack was immediately made on Cook and some of his men, who were on shore, causing Cook's death and that of four of his men, and the loss of seventeen lives by the natives, five of whom were chiefs. WORSHIPPED AS A GOD. Whatever may be said of Cook's record elsewhere, it is indisputable that he knowingly accepted oblations and worship from the sim- ple natives of Kalakekua Bay, who deemed him to be an incarnation of their god Lono. Writes Jarves : " He moved among them an earthly deity, observed, feared, and worshipped. In mere courtesy even he seems to have been outdone by the untutored savage, for when. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 33 with great formality, the king, on one occasion, placed his own magnificent feather cloak upon Cook's shoulders, and a feather helmet on his head, and laid five or six other beautiful cloaks at his feet. Cook, in response to this royal expression of regard and good-will, took the king's party aboard his vessel, and presented the noble chief with a linen shirt and a cutlass! To be sure, Cook left seeds of melons, and pumpkins, and onions at Niihau, but his men "left behind them diseases un- known before, which spread through the group, causing misery and death to the people." VANCOUVER'S VISITS. Of quite another stamp was the benevolent and judicious Vancouver, who visited the islands twelve years after the death of Cook. He refused to sell arms and ammunition to the natives, being "struck with the evidence of the decrease in population, and with the insatiable desire of the natives to obtain fire-arms." He used his good offices in reconciling Kame- hameha to his favorite queen, and sought to allay .the strife between Kamehameha and Kahekili, king of Maui. He landed sheep and cattle and had a tabu laid on them for ten years, so as to promote their increase. He intro- duced orange trees and grape vines and other useful plants and seeds, and gave Kamehameha, so soon to be the head of the nation, "much valuable advice in regard to his intercourse with foreigners, the management of his 34 HISTORICAL SKETCH. kingdom, the discipline of his troops, etc. He also told him of the one true God, Creator and Governor of all the world, that their tabu system was wrong, and that he would ask the king of England to send him a teacher of the true religion." BRITISH PROTECTORATE. As of current interest, I quote from Alexander's History of the Hawaiian Peo- ple: "On the 2ist of February, 1794, a grand council of the chiefs was held on board of the 'Discovery,' for the purpose of placing Hawaii under the protection of Great Britain. They reserved, however, the right to regulate all their own internal affairs. On the 2^th Lieut. Puget hoisted the British flag on shore, and took possession of Hawaii in the name of his Britannic Majesty. A salute was then fired, and the natives shouted, ' Kanaka no Beritano ' ('We are men of Britain ')." This cession was never rati- fied by the Home Government, but the transaction was a noteworthy one, as indicating both a love for independ- ence, and a desire for the support of a strong nation. KAMEHAMEHA THE GREAT. It is doubtful, all things considered, whether any other savage race ever produced a man of such prowess in war, and of such statesmanship and rare judgment in the art of govern- ment in time of peace. Kamehameha was the last of those ancient feudal chiefs who, by reason of physical and intellectual superiority, were born to lead their people. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 35 Before his conquest of the group was complete, there were left but a mere handful of those shrewd and power- ful chiefs whose deeds are the boast of Hawaiians; and before his death even these had passed away, and he was left alone, a fact in keeping with the native signification of his name, viz., "The lone or solitary one." He was born and bred amid the shouts of war, and is supposed to have been present at the death of Capt. Cook, and also to have been among the reserves when that fatal yet famous charge of the Alapa was made over the sand-hills of Wailuku. HIS ENTERPRISE. Nothmg commends this great man more than his spirit of enterprise in the arts of peace. Thus, before he actively entered on his career of conquest, he spent several years " in quietly cultivating and improv- ing his lands, building canoes, and fishing. Several of his public works are still to be seen, such as a tunnel by which a water-course is carried through a ridge of rock in Niulii, besides a canoe landing in Halaula, a fishpond, etc." After his conquest of the other islands, " he exerted him- self to promote agriculture, to encourage industry, and thus to repair the ravages of his wars." Later in his reign " there was a famine in Hawaii, caused by the neglect of agriculture while the people had been forced to spend their time in cutting sandal-wood for the chiefs. Kame- hameha set his retinue to work in planting the ground, 3^ HISTORICAL SKETCH. and also set an example of industry himself. The piece of ground which he tilled is still pointed out. As an illustration of his foresight, it is said that he forbade the cutting of young sandal-wood, and instructed his bird- catchers not to strangle the birds from which they plucked the choice yellow feathers for royal cloaks, but to set them free, that other feathers might grow in their place." HIS PERSONAL PROWESS. What Kamehameha was in actual conflict we never shall know, except that he was greatly feared in battle, and wherever he moved rallied men to renewed attack. "Vancouver relates that in a sham fight he saw six spears cast at once at Kame- hameha I., of which he caught three, parried two, and avoided the sixth by a quick movement of his body." Doubtless this skill in warfare accounts for his survival when so many who fought at his side fell victims to the spears of the enemy. HIS CONQUEST OF THE GROUP. Having sub- dued his rivals on his own island of Hawaii, with a great armada of war-canoes he easily subdued Maui and Molo- kai, and thence proceeded to the subjugation of Oahu. A tradition reports his army as numbering 16,000 men. During the voyage to Oahu, Kaiana, a noted chief, through affront at not being invited to a council of war, separated himself from Kamehameha's forces, landed on the opposite side of the island, and joined the forces of Kalanikupule, HISTORICAL SKETCH. ^ the king of Oahu. Kaiana was made the leader of the Oahu forces in the battle the next day, but when he was killed by a cannon-ball, his troops, though making a brave resistance, retreated up the Nuuanu Valley. They were hotly pursued, the howitzers that Kamehameha had se- cured from foreign vessels making havoc among the re- treating forces. Some climbed up the ridges on either side and escaped, while others were driven headlong over the precipice to the rocks, 1 200 feet below. Kamehameha was not merciful in the day of battle. He was in all respects a genuine heathen to the day of his death. He gained control of his own island by a treacherous slaughter of a rival chief who had been invited by Kamehameha to a friendly conference. In the sanguinary battle in lao val- ley, five years before the conquest of Oahu, Kamehameha showed no quarter, and the Maui warriors, struck with ter- ror at the deadly fusillade of the two field-pieces managed by white men in Kamehameha's army, were driven over precipices and chased to the high peaks and crags of the mountain, where they were starved into surrender. It was said that the stream in the valley was choked with corpses of the slain, whence the battle was called, " Ke- paniwai " (the damming of the waters). CENTRALIZING POLICY. In subduing the kings of the various islands, Kamehameha confiscated all the lands, dividing them among his friends as suited his whim. The J S HISTORICAL SKETCH. king of Kauai, who sought peace with Kamehameha by the cession of his island, was permitted to retain his lands, holding them in fief during his lifetime on condition that Kamehameha's son should inherit them. DISTILLING RUM. "The art of distilling rum was introduced by some Botany Bay convicts before the year 1800." The mascerated roots of the Ki plant were al- lowed to ferment in water, and when distilled, the liquor called Okolehao, was almost pure alcohol. The chiefs all had their stills, very primitive, to be sure, and drunkenness became prevalent. Kamehameha at first drank to excess, but later abandoned it altogether. " Near the end of his life he summoned all the leading men of Hawaii to a great assembly at Kailua, at which he ordered all the stills to be destroyed, and forbade the manufacture of any kind of liquor." HIS DEATH. When the priests wanted human sac- rifices in his last illness, so that the gods would prolong his life, he refused his consent. He died at the age of eighty-two years, in 18 19. After his death, "according to custom, all law was suspended, and all restraints taken away. The conduct of the people forbids description." IDOLATRY ABOLISHED. The turmoil and restless- ness induced by almost continuous warfare during a period of three hundred years, had a demoralizing effect on the faith of the Hawaiians in their ancient institutions ■«'v*^75PC r ' ■^ ^ *l V •SB ^. '^Jt_ MAUSOLEUM OF LUNALILO. Luiuililo wa.s the last, wlio claiiufil ilcsecul iVuiu the Kaniehamehas, to rule in Hawaii. He was called ths "Well Beloved" by his peo- ple. The Lunalilo Mausoleum stands near the entrance of the Kawaihao Church. The grounds are always tilled with e.Kquisite flowers, lovingly cared for by the natives. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 41 of idolatry and the tabu system. The turpitude of white men in their disregard of sacred things, and their appar- ent exemption from harm and penalty of any kind, shook the faith of natives in the existence and power of their gods. The unfaltering allegiance of Kamehameha to the gods of his fathers, united to his controlling will in all national affairs, was probably all that kept the system from crumbling sooner. Be that as it may, no sooner was his son Lilioliho well seated on the throne, than he himself in a drunken carousal violated the tabu, and the system already tottering, crumbled to pieces with its own weight. Excesses of all kinds followed as a natural result. The stern repressions and complicated ceremonies being abolished, with nothing but the personal will of a dissi- pated King as a substitute, the people carried their liberty into license, and another element was set at work to hasten the decrease of the race. COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES. The effect of the breaking down of the tabu system and the abandon- ment of the idols was to leave the people without any religion. Had not a new force come to the nation from outside at this juncture it is altogether probable that there would have been a return to idolatry, but with larger lati- tude to the individual in the very directions most harmful to the longevity of the race. The missionaries from America arrived at this critical period and brought the 42 HISTORICAL SKETCH. gospel of glad tidings for the salvation of the people. The old religion having come under the condemnation of the nation, and been cast aside as worse than useless, the providence of God brings to the shores of the emancipated people, in the persons of the American missionaries, a religion of hope and life and spiritual power to take its place. The same month of the year, October, 1819, that idolatry was abolished, the first missionaries, Messrs. Bingham and Thurston, set sail from Boston for the voy- age around Cape Horn. " Probably none of you will live to witness the downfall of idolatry," was one of the last words said to them previous to their embarking for the long journey. Imagine the startling effect on these men, five months later, as they anchored off Kailua Bay, when Hopu, their Hawaiian companion, who had been carried away on a whaler, and been educated in New England, and was now to act as their interpreter, brought the tidings from shore, " Hawaii's idols are no more." "The first pupils of the missionaries," writes Alexan- der, "were the chiefs and their favorite attendants, and the wives and children (half castes) of foreigners. At first their teaching was entirely in English, but by degrees they devoted their time and energies more and more to the task of mastering the Hawaiian language, and of reducing it to writing, until the> made it their chief me- dium of instruction." HISTORICAL SKETCH. 43 DESTRUCTION OF IDOLS. In 1822, Kaahumanu, Kamehameha's favorite queen, conducted a crusade against the old religion, from what motive, it would be difficult to say, and as a result " Kamehameha's poison-god, Kalai- pahoa was burned at Hilo, and at Kailua, one hun- dred and two idols, collected from various hiding places, were consumed in one bonfire. Feasting, dancing, and revelry went on together with the burning of idols." It was not until three years after this that Kaahumanu was converted to the Christian religion. KAPIOLANI'S HEROISM. " Kapiolani," writes Alex- ander, "was one of the noblest characters of her time. Though at one time intemperate and dissolute, Kapiolani became an example to her countrywomen of virtue and refinement, and excelled them all in the readiness with which she adopted civilized habits and sentiments. In December, 1824, she determined to break the spell of the belief in Pele, the dread goddess of the volcano. In spite of the strenuous opposition of her friends, and even of her husband, she made a journey of about one hundred and fifty miles, mostly on foot, from Kealakekua to Hilo, visiting the great crater of Kilauea on her way, in order to defy the wrath of Pele, and to prove that no such being existed. On approaching the volcano, she met the priest- ess of Pele, who warned her not to go near the crater, and predicted her death if she violated the tabus of the 44 HISTORICAL SKETCH. goddess. * Who are you ? ' demanded Kapiolani. * One in whom the goddess dwells,' she replied. Then Kapiolani quoted passages from the Scriptures, setting forth the char- acter and power of the true God, until the priestess was silenced, and confessed that the akua or deity had left her. Kapiolani then went forward to the crater, where, in full view of the grand and terrific action of the inner crater, she ate the berries consecrated to Pele, and threw stones into the burning lake, saying : * Jehovah is my God. He kindleth these fires. I fear not Pele. If I perish by her anger,, then you may fear Pele ; but if I trust in Jehovah, and he preserves me when breaking her tabus, then you must fear and serve him alone.' They then united in singing a hymn of praise to the true God, and knelt in adoration to the Creator and Governor of the universe." This has been well called " one of the greatest acts of moral cour- age ever performed." MISSIONARY SUCCESS. Eight years after their land- ing, the missionaries numbered thirty-two, having 440 native assistants, 12,000 church attendants, and 26,000 pupils in the various schools. Some of the leading chiefs were the most efficient co-workers with the missionaries in arousing a great national interest in Christian truth. The wanton and disgraceful conduct of officers and men of English and American vessels was the darkest incident in this transition period of abandonment of HISTORICAL SKETCH. 47 heathenism and acceptance of the Christian religion. Maddened by the restraints put upon them by the au- thorities, thus preventing the accomplishment of their lusts, these infamous men resorted to threats and vio- lence, and on several occasions the lives of missionaries were saved only by the opportune and forcible inter- vention of the natives. The great revival of 1838-^9 is memorable in the annals of missionary effort, writes Dr. Bartlett of that remarkable awakening: "There were congregations of four, five and six thousand persons. The missionaries preached from seven to twenty times a week, and a sense of guilt in the hearers often broke forth in groans and loud cries. Probably many indiscretions were com- mitted, and there were many spurious conversions. But, after all allowances, time showed that a wonderful work was wrought. During the six years from 1838 to 1843 inclusive, twenty-seven thousand persons were admitted to the churches. The next twenty years added more than 20,000 other members to the churches, making the whole number received up to 1863 some ^0,000 souls. Many of these had then been excommunicated, in some instances, it was thought, too hastily; many thousands had gone home to heaven; and in 1863, some 20,000 stili survived in connection with the churches. At length came the time when the islands were to be recognized 48 HISTORICAL SKETCH. as nominally a Christian nation, and the responsibility of their Christian institutions was to be rolled off upon themselves." THE HOPE OF HAWAII. When the missions were withdrawn, it was well that there was growing up in the land a class of men wise enough and courageous enough to undertake for Hawaii in its new development, a work no less noble than that of the missionary fathers, — a work calling for much of the same self-sacrificing devotion, and the same exposure to ridicule and malignant hatred, but characterized by a genuine interest in the welfare of the native people, and by a purpose to secure for them in common with all others the blessings of a progressive republican government. The best and most honorable men among the native Hawaiians are allied in spirit and purpose, publicly an- nounced, with the present leaders of Hawaiian affairs. In the New Hawaii the fruitage of the past is not to be lost. The forces of civilization and of Christianity are the domi- nant forces in this period of tense political strain. Chris- tianity saved the Hawaiian race from complete collapse and disappearance from the earth, and the principles that underlie Christian civilization that are now battling against a drift back to barbarism and the supremacy of a rene- gade white element, are the only ground of hope for the Hawaiian race in the future. « THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. THE KANAKA. The aborigine, or Kanaka, or, as he is more properly called, the native Hawaiian, is the most interesting personage in Hawaii. The peculiar garb, and the dislocated jargon of the Chinese and Japanese are met with on every hand, but these can be seen and heard elsewhere. The same can be said of the Portuguese immigrants, in some respects the most thrifty and promis- ing element in the peopling of New Hawaii. But the Kanaka, the original occupant of the country, the genuine son of the soil, is far and away the most interesting personage in that beautiful land of sunshine. No enterprise seems to be able to get along without him, and you meet his familiar face at every turn. It is on the whole, an attractive face, and, except on the most unto- ward occasions, it lights up with rare kindliness, and wins you with its smile. It is this benignant approachableness that puts the Kanaka in touch with the stranger at first sight. To be sure, civilization has taught him to put a com- mercial value on this natural aptitude for good nature, and he puts it to good use in his laudable efforts to help you ashore, for a consideration, when the steamer comes up to 49 50 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. the wharf; or in his cheerful and confident expectancy that you will buy his wares when you pass his stand. As a consequence, Hawaiians uniformly make courteous and obliging clerks, though their cleverness at the counter has rarely been followed by promotion to the counting-room. The native Hawaiian fails as a business man. He gets along fairly well with a fruit stand, or a fish stall, or a diminutive curio shop, but there have been few instances where he has successfully conducted any kind of busi- ness, requiring banking and a credit system. It is not to be expected of him. The mercantile spirit has been the product of centuries of progress in dickering, and this experience has not fallen to the lot of the unsophisticated Hawaiian. OCCUPATION OF KANAKAS. There are, however, few occupations in which Hawaiians are not found. They are painters, carpenters, blacksmiths, machinists, engineers, teamsters, sailors, clerks, book-keepers, editors, market- men, dairy-men, farmers, cattle-raisers, sugar planters, fishermen, school teachers, clergymen, and government officials. They are lawyers and judges; and the great majority of compositors and pressmen in the half-a-dozen printing offices of Honolulu are Hawaiians. The heavy work in the foundries, and in lading and unlading vessels, is largely done by Hawaiians. That most essential service in inter-island traffic, viz., the manning of the boats to ^ ^ ^ 2 = S S^ § -^ S - - §-**■ = I 2 ^ 2 St/ — ^ -^ I '^ i* ^ si '^ H ■-' y ~ r C if- ,y r: ^ .£ < s s :<: •« .:£ '- « Si O 5^ TIIK XATIVK HAWAIIAN. 53 convey passengers and freight to and fri^ni the steamers and the \-arious landings is altogether done by Hawaiians. This is a most hazardous employment, requiring strength, skill, courage and hardihood. Sometimes these men will battle for hours, in wind and rain and an angry sea, to effect a landing at a dangerous point. At certain seasons of the year there is hardly a return trip of the inter-island steamers to Honolulu that does not bring one or more of these freighters or whale-boats more or less badly ** stove up." All the deep-sea fishing is carried on by Hawaiians. They go in their apparently frail canoes out of sight of Honolulu, but they rarely fail to return. This is quite remarkable, for there are strong currents passing the islands that would easily bear them away beyond all hope of rescue. These men swim like fish, and the capsizing of a canoe is an indifferent matter to them. This accounts for the comparati\'ely small loss of life on the island coasts, and how^ it is that boats are "stove up" but not lost. The men jump into the water, right the boat and row it to the steamer, even in a badly leaking condition. It requires men of nerve and agility to bear the brunt of such toil, and the Hawaiians are nowhere put to a severer test with such credit to themselves. The census of 1890 show^s that there are 996 mechan- ics in a total Haw-iiian male population over i^ years of 54 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. age of 1 1 , 1 3 5", or about one in every eleven. This certainly is a good showing. It shows their capacity, under favor- able conditions, to take their share of the work that must be done. It shows, not what is characteristic of the race, but the part the race might play in the material develop- ment of the land were all Hawaiians living under similar conditions. The mechanic class are to be found mainly at Honolulu and at the plantation centers, where they must compete with others and adjust themselves to the con- ditions in which they find themselves or go to the wall. EASE IN GAINING A LIVELIHOOD. The sea has done more for the native, in developing skill and ingenuity, than the land. The comparative ease with which Hawaiians on their own land can secure their ordinary food supply has undoubtedly interfered with their social and industrial advancement. Poi has proved the greatest obstacle to the advancement of Hawaiians. The ease with which tarn, the vegetable from which poi is made, can be grown, relieves the native from any genuine struggle for life, and unfits him for sustained competition with men from other lands, who know what hardship is, and who have learned how to get their own food in the face of strenuous competition in an overcrowded population. PRINCIPAL FOOD STAPLE. The taw, or Cob- casta antiqiLomm, a water plant, is the chief food staple among the natives. It is generally grown in bis or tare THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 55 patches, being land surrounded by turf sides into which water can be run from irrigating ditches. The taw is planted in hills, and grows in the water, care being exer- cised as to the time of running the water on and the depth at which it is kept. In the moist climate of Hilo taw is successfully grown on the uplands. A taw crop requires about twelve or fourteen months to mature, but being planted at odd times throughout the year, a native can always have food at hand in abundance. Thus an acre of land is more than sufficient to grow the food supply for quite a family. VALUE AND PRODUCTIVENESS OF TARO. The value of taro as a food is only equaled by its productive- ness. Thus it has been carefully estimated, by men en- gaged in the business of cultivating taro on a large scale, that an acre of land will yield on an average 28,000 pounds of cooked and pounded taro per annum. At the liberal allowance of four pounds per day per man, or three- fourths of a ton per annum, that yield would sustain eighteen men for the twelve months. This simply cor- roborates in figures the general statement that a small piece of land will abundantly supply the wants of quite a family, accustomed to taro as their main food supply. NATIVE INDOLENCE. This fact makes against the native, inasmuch as it largely takes away the motive for the acquisition of more land, and leads him to be content 56 THE NATIVr: HAWAIIAN. with what he has. Moreover, his little plot of ground furnishes him with the major part of his food at a mini- mum expenditure of toil. At most it only requires an occasional hour or so to keep his taro patch free from weeds and in a thrifty condition. Aside from an occasion- al day of fishing, the ease with which he can secure the necessities of life naturally leaves him with much time on his hands. This he spends leisurely as suits his whim. Sometimes he jogs off to town on his $i^ pony to get the niihou or news, or to loaf away the day at the boat- landing, or on the post-office steps. Sometimes, and more frequently, he passes away the balmy hours in innocuous desuetude, lying prone on the grass for hours in some convenient shade, indifferent to all but creature comfort. The happy thought that it is meal-time alone arouses him from the delicious monotony of just comfortably breathing and letting everything take care of itself. To be sure he varies his existence by an occasional incursion into the woods, returning bedecked with leis or wreaths of some fragrant vine or flowers, and with his patient pony loaded down with bunches of bananas and a bag of luscious oranges found growing wild within a convenient distance from his home. LUXURIOUS KANAKA! One day to him is as another. The struggle for life does not fret his soul, nor fill his thought with "the winter of its discontent." THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 57 To-day's food can be had for the picking, and to-morrow's as well, and why should he not bask in the sunshine of an almost perfect climate, and smile on nature as she smiles on him ? He obeys literally the injunction, " Take no thought for the morrow I " To-day's comfort fills his horizon, and there is only one date in his almanac. He carries about with him a convenient history of the past that never ruffles his equanimity, and he accepts no re- sponsibility for the future. He does not need to get in his vegetables for winter or to calculate the cost of an ulster. PREPARATION OF POL However, freely as he may regale himself on oranges, bananas, and cocoanuts just as they come to his hand, he can not eat his taro raw. He must cook it and scrape it and pound it, and, after allow- ing it to ferment slightly, he must mix it with water to the proper consistency. Taro thus treated is called poi. It is the national dish, and indeed is a most wholesome article of food. It is much more palatable than flour paste, to which it is so often likened, and foreigners learn to like it in one form or another. It is excellent in case of sick- ness, being easily digested and withal very nourishing. At Wailuku it is now manufactured into a flour that is used for making puddings, cakes, muffins and a variety of appetizing dishes. An effort is being made to introduce it into this country as a food for invalids. Without doubt, poi in its various forms is an ideal food. Much as it has 58 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. operated to retard the development of the Hawaiian race on account of the ease with which it can be obtained from a small plot of land, the Hawaiian, in turn, has much to be grateful for, that his staple article of food never pro- duces indigestion or induces dyspepsia and kindred afflic- tions. We may pity the man in whose sky is no light of progress, who is content with what is, and never seeks for something better, but such a man may much more and fittingly pity the victim of all the latest refinements in bread -making. THE HAWAIIAN NOT A FARMER. While the Kanaka's taro is growing, so also are his pigs and chickens. In one way or another they manage to get fat without any forcing process or much expenditure of time or energy on the part of the proprietor. In fact, the Hawaiian is not a farmer. He puts himself down as such when the census man comes around, and he certainly does know how to grow a crop of taro. But even in this respect, it is a question whether the Chinaman does not beat him, as he easily does beat him in all other farming. Thus the Chinaman is a fine market gardener. The Kanaka, on the other hand, knows next to nothing about gardening. The Kanaka does not successfully compete with the Chinese and Portuguese in growing bananas. The latter exported bananas in the year 1890 to the value of ^176,3^1. There is a lack of persistence and of forethought in the Hawaiian THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 59 character, induced very likely by his easy conditions, that militate against him when competing with the farmers of other lands. This is to be regretted, and it is to be hoped that the competition he now begins to rub up against may arouse in him a new spirit. MASTER OF WIND AND WAVE. The moment he decides he must "go a-fishing," the Kanaka becomes a new being. Alertness and judgment and enthusiasm mark his every movement. He makes his preparations with great patience and minuteness. He overlooks noth- ing that will contribute to his success. His canoe is put in trim, his lines are all inspected, and his whole house- hold is enlisted in the capture of crabs on the rocks and in their hiding holes. He seems guided by instinct as well as by skill in thus securing his bait. It is a fascinating sight to watch the Kanaka launch his canoe, and guide it with his paddle as he rides supreme on the threatening swell that breaks with revengeful roar behind him just as he slips gracefully from its crest. This is his element. He laughs at the raging beach-combers as he deftly turns between them, and races his canoe through a strip of unbroken water out of reach of dan- ger and into deep water. It takes a moment only, and you are spell-bound at his prowess. No more to you is he the indolent native who lay so comfortably on the velvety manienie grass yonder by the grass-house. Now 6o THE NATIVE HAWAIIAX. he is a hero, with a manual skill little less than marvelous in the face of those madly-rushing breakers. THE SEA HIS SCHOOLMASTER. This contest with the sea, necessitated by the craving for what the sea could supply, has, from early days, been the real stim- ulus in the natural development of Hawaiian character. It has called out skill and courage and sagacity and ingenuity, and the ability to endure hardship and not suc- cumb. It has promoted a knowledge of navigation, and led to a minute and accurate observation of winds and currents and channels, and lent scope and fervor to the imagination, and set aflame the poetic spirit of the race. The old meles or songs are replete with references to the sea, as are also some of the most cherished tradi- tions. The sea is the Hawaiian's classic. Out of it have come the seven wonders of his legendary world, and off on it have gone, nevermore to return, the adventuresome spirits of his race, aglow with the ardor of discovery and conquest. RARE INGENUITY. A fine collection of ancient Ha- waiian fishing tackle and appliances is to be seen in the celebrated Bishop Museum at Honolulu. The array would have warmed the soul of good old Isaac Walton could he have had access to it. It certainly entitles the Ha- waiian to high rank among the world's fishermen. Be- fore the advent of the white man with his iron and 7Z i it • X _o i) :3 SP o «> GO _o u g a .^ 0) § • ^ a A c3 o o ^ m 4> cS ^ w ,« +3 «I-C ;::^ 50 O ^ 50 A ai O a) .9 60 +2 'ft o P4 2 «M ,a H • rH 'a3 . ^ ,a d a; aj -fi l-H a tH ^ .o o 0^ a u a; J^ o aj THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 6^ thread, the native, put to his own resources, had found material for his lines and hooks and spears and nets. For his lines and nets, he used the fiber of the olona, a plant growing in the valleys; and for hooks, he used bone and mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell. The latter were cut out with his stone implements, and made ol many styles as to size and shape, so as to suit the whim of the fisher, and to meet the needs of his trade. The spears were made of shark's teeth, and were used by divers under water. The early Hawaiians were skill- ful also in the use of large nets, capturing great numbers of fish by their skillful maneuvers. SUPERSTITIOUS BUT BRAVE. Superstition played no small part in the fishing of the early days. Human bones were preferred for fish hooks, especially those of high chiefs, to whom prayers were offered to bless the fisher in attracting fish to his hook. Oblations were offered to their fish gods fcr security and success in this hazardous calling. It is not probable that superstition plays any prominent part in the fishing of to-day, but the aptitude, and acquaintance with the sea, and with the habits and haunts of fish, that have descended from one generation to another, have made the Kanaka a skillful and intrepid man on the deep seas, where he is acknowledged to be facile princeps. KANAKAS AS COW-BOYS. In early days there 64 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. were no horses. They were introduced in 1803, by Capt. Cleveland on a voyage from California to China. They have since so increased in numbers that they run wild in droves on the slopes of Mauna Kea, and the native is an exceedingly poor man who does not own some kind of a horse. He is more likely to have two or three than to be without entirely. Naturally this has led him into an em- ployment in which he revels, viz., that of a cow-boy on the numerous cattle ranches on the various islands. In this work he is well nigh indispensable, manifesting great dexterity and endurance in the saddle. He is exceedingly vain of his accomplishments and calling, however, and his broad sombrero, and gigantic spurs that can be heard, as he rides, for an eighth of a mile, and his coiled lasso, the end of which he swings from one side to another of his horse's flanks, and his air of bravado, — these are the de- light of the boys of Honolulu, who like to imitate his unique costume, and transform themselves into beings of the same order. Elsewhere boys always reach a point where they want to go to sea. In Hawaii few of them grow to manhood without sooner or later catching the cow-boy's contagious spirit, and learning to lass a bipi on the run. HAWAIIAN HORSE WOMEN. The Hawaiian women are famous riders. They uniformly ride astride, and on gala days they dash through the streets in companies THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 65 of eight or ten, with wreaths about their necks and hats, and with their red and yellow pa-us streaming behind. These pa-us are breadths of brilliantly-colored cloth, made into long streamers, and securely fastened at the pommel so as to trail freely on either side, as the riders gallop along. The picturesque and novel effect of these bright colors, together with the vivacity and rollicking good humor of the riders, and their easy gracefulness in the saddle, add not a little to the uniqueness of an Hawaiian holiday. There is in these women of the tropics a physi- cal self-possession, whether on land or on the sea, in the saddle or in the surf, in a common print holoku, or Mother Hubbard gown, or in costly silks, that is truly remarkable. HAWAIIAN VISITING. The Hawaiian is a veritable Communist at heart. Instead of grasping for all he can get, he divides with his neighbor, and confidently expects his neighbor to divide with him. It is not an uncommon thing for a whole houseful of his friends to drop down on him for entertainment and accommodation for a week or two at a time, and he gives them royal welcome. When they are gone, he, in turn, takes his household with him, and makes a similar descent, in the utmost good nature, on some one else. DWELLINGS. In Honolulu the natives all live in wooden houses, as, for the most part, they do in tne 66 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. country districts. These houses are constructed so that the basement has large openings, and is high enough to live in. Here the owner lives, making his bed on native mats spread on the ground, and cooking his food in an improvised stove made by cutting out the top and part of one side of a kerosene oil can. On the floor above are his parlor and bed-rooms. The latter are covered with Chinese matting, and are furnished with table, chairs, and an immaculate bed, with an elaborately worked quilt, and a mosquito net. This bedroom is for display and for guests. HOSPITALITY. The natural hospitality of the Ha- waiians is gracious in the extreme. They can not do too much to manifest their good-will and desire for your comfort. It is not surprising that this kindly spirit has been imposed upon and been taken advantage of, so that it is more cautiously extended than formerly. In this matter there has been in recent years a lamentable lack of recognition of favors thus bestowed free-handed. The natural impulse of Hawaiians, according to their ability, to hospitably entertain strangers is highly creditable to their race. Anglo-Saxons must blush for the advantage taken of this disposition by men of their own race. The effects of such abuse have entailed disease and physical enfeeble- ment, and confused the moral sense, never any too strong, and needing toning up rather than weakening. ^ o > C3 c3 o ji ■'^ ^ ^ 3 is .S "^ -d -^ ' .2 Ml s s § a ^ .2 .S ^ T3 a I i ^ 'o « .S . ^ a yj « 'r: o i' ft -H ^ r- Q :^ a «^ .2 a r3 ^ THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 69 A NATIVE FEAST. A luau or native feast is a no- table affair. I know of nothing to which it can be compared, and it is interesting in every detail from prep- aration to consummation. It is rarely under the au- spices of a single individual but of several who combine forces possibly to lend dignity to the occasion, but probably to give it a popular cast and to add to the quantity and variety of edibles. Thus some become re- sponsible for the supply of poi ; others for the beef and pork and fish; others for the Kulolo, a much esteemed pudding made of grated cocoanut and taro, and the milk of the cocoanut, sweetened and baked ; others still agree to furnish the poi-palau, a somewhat similar com- pound of poi and sweet potato; while still others engage to supply ripe and luscious watermelons, and sometimes oranges, bananas and other fruits. One of the most pe- culiar dishes is that of limu, a fresh-water moss, that is in much esteem as a relish. I ought not to omit, also, the roasted and salted Kukui nuts, so prized as a condiment. PREPARATION FOR A FEAST. The great event is the preparation and cooking of the food in the imu or oven. This imu is a round hole, dug in the ground, and from two to three feet deep. Great care is selected in getting stones to be heated in this oven, for the den- ser ones will explode in the great heat. Parties busy themselves in gathering these stones, and the necessary 70 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. wood, and in otherwise arranging for the successful cooking of the food. Other parties attend to the prep- aration of the food for the oven. The beef and pork are cut into convenient pieces and wrapped up together with fresh young taro leaves, and over all the tough ki leaves are bound, and with a deft turn or twist fastened securely. The taro leaves, when thus cooked, absorb the juices of the beef and pork, and constitute the chief tid-bit of native culinary art. The fish are wrapped in the same way. While this part of the preparation is going on, the fires have been lighted at the imu. Kind- ling is first put in the hole, and on top are piled the wood and stones, and the fire is kept burning for seve- ral hours. Then, the wood being consumed, the stones are taken out with a hoe, macerated trunks of banana plants are put in to generate steam, and the bundles of food and the stones and banana plants are put into the imu in layers, the whole being covered with banana leaves to protect the food, and with dirt sufficient to keep the steam from escaping. The mass is then al- lowed to steam for five or six hours, and when taken out is put on the table piping hot; every person having a bundle of his own, or more if he wishes it. The most far-famed cuisine can not furnish more deliciously-cooked meats than those that come steaming from a well-man- aged Hawaiian imu. THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 71 ACTION, BUT REACTION. It will be seen that a luau entails a good deal of labor, but there is a certain eclat about such occasions that gives the requisite zest, and natives rarely spare themselves at such times. If such industrial spurts could be transformed into systematic and continuous application it would be highly advantageous to the race. Ordinarily, however, the native lives on the memory of such a good time, instead of providing himself with more substantial food by the labor of his hands. Every such spurt involves a reaction that makes a native averse to any further immediate attention to work, either for himself or for others. Employers of labor complain about these periodic distractions, seriously inconveniencing them at times, but they have to adjust themselves to the fact that natives will have feasts, and that they will not report for work for days afterwards. FONDNESS FOR NATURE. The native is a lover of nature, and no matter how taxing the toil of a luau may be, he will go to the woods for maile, a fragrant vine, and for ferns and ki and other plants suitable for decoration. He is enthusiastic in making his tables, if ferns spread on the ground can be called such, just as attractive as pos- sible, and he hangs festoons of ferns and maile all around the booth that keeps out the tropic sunshine. GUIDING PRINCIPLE IN ALL FEASTS. The Ha- waiian is royal in his hospitality, and is generous even to -, THL: iXATlVK HAWAIIAN. the sacrificing of his last chicken, when the tired traveler stops for food and shelter. 1 certainly have never known elsewhere such prodigal and lavish hospitality as Ha- waiians accord their friends and guests at their famous luaus. These feasts, so far as I have been able to judge, are entirely dependent, in each instance, on the disposition of certain particular pigs to get fat. Thus there can be no feast without them, but when they are ripe for it, as it were, it is wholly immaterial what day is selected to celebrate. 1 once excused two boys from school, at their mother's request, that they might go home to a luau in celebration of the anniversary of their father's death, which occurred one year previous. When they returned to school it was unnecessary for them to say, as however they did, what was so evident in every chubby wnnkle of satisfaction, viz., that they had had " a good time." I do not know that it had occurred to them to be sufficiently grateful that their father had so conveniently died the year before ; probably their analysis did not go so far. But they were certainly in a high state of ecstacy at their remarkable good fortune in having any sort of occasion for the killing of the pig. COME, LET US EAT I Such an array of edibles as a luau brings together might well cause even Solomon's feast boards to bend in despair. This may be the reason why a genuine, old-fashioned luau is always spread on ferns and ki leaves on the ground. It thus comes about 5 >. an S ■r. ^ ,2 fe -d < ^ ^ U - r- ri3 ^ OJ ^ - ^ a '5 0) 1=1 4^ q3 O u 1 a 3 C3 $ ^ >i « OJ a "^ Ci ^ ^ ■Oj ^ CS g ^ a ^ ;>i p^ c 4^ 'S if M ^g" +i » o 'Eh P ^ ^ P S tt-H S Vh O ^ 3 o o 1 03 .o •Jl 'J} & s % 3 O ^ ^ +-' Sh 02 iJ 7" ■3 Hi ,11 1 H % r* i" ,14 ,4^ S o 'c3 O >:^ s ^ a 'l '^ >i Oi Oj 1 ^ ri5 rjg rP ^ 2:; i) 5C p 1 C CC! 'Ci W .3 "/4 2 i> -< CS ^j f^ S Ih _s O !3 THE NATiVK HAWAIIAN. 75 that he who would eat on these festive occasions must have a stevedore's skill to stow away his legs, and forget he has a back. He must also eat with his fingers, for really, after all, one can not do anything with a fork at a luau. You must untie your bundle of meat, and after having got your fingers oily and sticky there is nothing more to do but to plunge them into the poi and eat like your neighbors. The whole world is kin when you scooch on the grass and eat broiled fish with your fingers. All the viands are before you, and you eat according to the whim of the moment, there being but one course, albeit a very comprehensive one, and you are expected to slight no part of it. EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY. After all, the cnief feature of a luau is the people. Utmost jollity and good nature prevail. Every one's face is aglow, and every one's mouth open, and the viands disappear like the dew before the sun. Every one talks as he eats, and with a fingerful of poi in mid-air, here and there, a big Kanaka laughs and shakes his fat sides as he jabbers . away in the most irresistible style. In such scenes, "eat, drink and be merry" is philosophy enough, and the only philosophy that can be understood. HAWAIIAN SWIMMERS. Every visitor to Honolulu has noted the ease and self-possession of Hawaiian boys in the water near the wharves at the departure of ocean 76 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. steamers. It is the stereotyped thing for tourists to snap ten-cent pieces into the water, and watch the boys dive for the money. They never fail to get it, and on some occasions a particular boy will have quite a mouthful of dimes before the steamer gets fairly under way. Sometimes sharks come into Honolulu harbor, but the natives always manage to know when a shark is about, and they rarely get caught. When pursued by one, if brought to bay, the native will peer down into the water with his keen eyes intent on the tactics of his pursuer. The shark must turn before he can snap at his expected victim, and just as he turns, the native dives, and the great jaws come together with nothing between them. This is repeated till relief comes, much to the perplexity of the clumsy fish. When prepared for such an encounter, the native, as he dives, jabs his knife into a vulnerable spot in the shark's anatomy, and usually wins the day, either by killing his foe or by driving him off. SURF-BATHING. Surf-bathing is heroic sport. It was formerly practiced in honor of kings and chiefs, but is on its own account a right royal sport, in every sense of the word. It consists in riding a long plank, carefully shaped, and with ends rounded, on the crest of great bil- lows rolling shorewards. The skill consists in "taking" the wave at an opportune moment, and in keeping the THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 'y-r surf-board in such relation to the movement of the billow that the latter will propel the rider at a tremendous speed toward the shore. Expert surf-riders will rise as they rush along, until they stand erect with folded arms, com- plete masters of the waves, whom they seem to drive before them like horses in a race. Surf-riding, though not so frequently witnessed as formerly, is nevertheless yet to be seen on special occasions. LOST ARTS. Many of the ancient games are lost arts to the present generation, who have substituted instead base ball and foot ball and boating. In all these they are among the best. This comparatively insignificant fact in- dicates what is taking place in other and more important matters, viz., the evolving of a New Hawaii wholly allied to modern thought and modern methods. One can but feel sad, however, when anything truly heroic passes out of the ken of man. CLOTHED, AND IN HIS RIGHT MIND. There is a more or less popular impression that Hawaiians are, to a fault almost, economical as to the quantity of their wear- ing apparel, and not as discreet as they might be in its disposition on the person. This is a very natural mis- apprehension, inasmuch as the popular mind makes no discrimination as to things "way out in the Pacific," and so classes all the inhabitants of the various South Pacific groups with the Hawaiians, and lays on the latter all the y?> THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. sins of the South Seas. The Hawaiian has his demerits, but semi-nudity is not one of them. So far as a certain doubtful class of photographs is concerned, it may be said of the Hawaiian that he is "clothed and in his right mind." He does not always wear broadcloth or sport a silk hat, but he wears good honest clothes and so do his wife and children. He does not fret himself about shoes, though he has them and wears them to church and whenever he thinks proper. His daughter, walking into town for shopping purposes, will carry her shoes and stockings under her arm till she nears the town, when she will stop by the roadside and put them where they belong. His wife, on occasion, will pay fifty cents for a ride in a hack, without any sense of incongruity, albeit she does so barefooted. Probably the best dressed ladies and gentlemen of Honolulu are as likely to be on a given occasion Hawaiians as foreigners. There is among the poorer natives the same love of color, and the same glaring innovations on taste, as characterize other nationalities. But among the better educated Hawaiians there is a singular aptitude for appropriate adorning of the person, and "the style" is sedulously cultivated. THE FLOWER GIRLS. The flower-girls of Hono- lulu are worthy of mention. They come early in the morning to one of the thoroughfares, spread their mats on THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 79 the side-walk, and string their flowers into leis or wreaths for sale to the passer-by. On steamer days the sale is considerable, for one of the singular customs is to throw leis around the necks of departing friends. Many of these leis are beautiful, being made of plumeria blossoms, a creamy white flower of delicious perfume. Great inge- nuity is shown in the combinations of flowers and parts of flowers in the manufacture of these wreaths. Occasion- ally, to guy some young man, he is literally swathed in leis, from his hat to his knees, and looks more like an animated conservatory than a human being. A GENUINE POLITICIAN. The Hawaiian is a born politician. He likes to talk, and a discussion is the delight of his heart. But what is more to the purpose, if he has had some advantages, he is able to play skillfully on the sensibilities of his people, and in gaining his end good nature counts for more than logic. He is shrewd and knows every avenue to the hearts of his countrymen. He is politic in his approaches, and turns every incident to his advantage, regardless of inconsistencies and with no intelligent regard for the future. All Hawaiians love the excitement of an election, and there are few stay-at- homes. As a legislator the Hawaiian is deficient in origi- nating legislation, but is sharp to see its bearing when some one else introduces it. Most of the pernicious measures that have been brought before various legislatures in re- So THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. cent years were suggested and formulated by interested foreigners. The Hawaiian is not constructive. He is a good debater, aside from defective logic, and a fluent talker, and is just the material to make a demagogue of or to fall prey to demagogic arts. DECREASE OF HAWAIIANS. The last official cen- sus, taken in 1890, shows that the total population at that time was 89,990. If we group the half-castes, number- ing 6186, with the pure Hawaiians, numbering 3443 6' ^^ have a total of 40,622, or just 4^ per cent, of the total population of the country. In other words, ^^ per cent, of the population has come from abroad. Out of twenty men, therefore, representing the ratio of the races, nine would be Hawaiian, six would be Asiatics, and five would represent Americans and various European nationalities. Without going back to the rough estimate made by Capt. Cook at the time he visited the Islands, when he placed the population at 400,000, it is approximately cor- rect to use for comparison the figures obtained in the year 1832, when the population was ascertained to be 130,313. Now the figures of the last census, including half-castes among the natives, show a decrease since 1832 of 89,691 or an average annual decrease of 1^46. Since i860 the decrease has been 26,362, or about 40 per cent, of the population thirty years ago. Notwithstanding the notable increase in the number of half-castes, accord- THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 8i ing to the census of 1890, the actual decrease of natives and half-castes combined in the six years since 1884, amounted to 4366. While this decrease has been steadily going on, receiving its impetus long before the discovery of the islands by white^men, although greatly accelerated be- tween the years i82>-i8^3, when it reached the alarm- ing total of 77,081, or an average annually of 3,8^4, the foreign population since 18^3, when it first appears in the census, exclusive of Asiatics and Polynesians, increased, as per census of 1890, to 19,418 or 916 per cent. HALF-CASTES. It is questionable as to the justice of classing the half-caste element with the native. There are marked divergences, in spite of political affiliations, which call for a distinct grouping of these two classes. In fact it is claimed, with a good degree of justice, that the half-caste element really belongs to the new order in the social and physical regeneration that is transform- ing the Old Hawaii into the New. Thus, while the native Hawaiians decreased ^^78 from 1884 to 1890, the half- castes in the same time increased 1968. Or to put it into percentages, the natives in those six years decreased 14 per cent, and the half-castes increased 47 per. cent. AMALGAMATION. The conclusion is irresistible that the vitality of the native race is at the ebb, and that its future, like that of many other lands, lies in amalgamation 82 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. with other races. In this process it is a problem what elements in native character will be perpetuated in the new order. Shall the heroism and hardihood and simple faith and intrepid stalwartness of the race, at its best, survive and characterize the new order, or shall the easy indolence, and the lack of systematic application and the physical exuberance of the race, color the new combina- tion? This is a question that forces itself to the front^ in face of the fact that while the natives numbered 34,436 in 1890, the half-castes numbered 6186, or i^ per cent, of the combined population of the two. Should the cen- sus of 1896 maintain anything like the ratio of change shown in the census of 1890, the half-caste element would then be approximately 10,000, and the native Ha- waiian barely 29,000. GROWTH OF FOREIGN ELEMENT. These figures assume increased interest when the rapid growth of the for- eign population is considered. An increase of this element in thirty-seven years of over 900 per cent, is prophetic of a speedy supremacy of the foreign element, even in point of numbers. Even in the six years from 1884 to 1890, the children of foreign parents, born in Hawaii, exclusive of Asiatic, increased 184 per cent. CAUSES OF DECREASE. The New Hawaii, politic- ally, socially and industrially, is rapidly emerging from the conditions that have so hampered its progress and growth NATIVES WITH THEIR SURF BOARDvS —The exciting pastime of surf riding is enjoyed by both sexes. To be a successful performer the swimmer requires immense nerve and long practice. The surf board is made of koa wood of light weight, kept higlily polished, and is about eight feet long by a foot and a half wide. THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 85 rn the past. The sad element in it all is what seems .'ike the inevitable disappearance of the native race. It seems like cruelty to undertake in these last days a diag- nosis of the conditions that have induced such a pitiful decimation of the race. Undoubtedly the movement had its source, and gathered tremendous momentum in the conditions of life antecedent to the advent of foreigners. Contact with seamen, who bid good-by to God and self- restraint in rounding Cape Horn, accelerated the decrease by the introduction of diseases that soon poisoned the race. The mere change of conditions, from barbarism to civilization, has had its blighting effect on the physical vi- tality of this people, for such change requires readjustments that have not always been intelligently made. These largely depend on the individual, but the effect is vital to the race to which he belongs. The contact of the race with the Chinese has been distinctly disadvantageous to Hawaiians. There are those who still are sanguine that the decrease will yet be stayed, and that new conditions helpful to the increase of the race are coming into exist- ence. Thus, in the district of Kona, on the island of Hawaii, the Board of Education has noted a remarkable increase in the number of native children, five and six to a family being not an uncommon thing. It is noted that in this district the Hawaiians are more by themselves, and less subjected to certain conditions connected with prox- 86 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. imity to centres of mixed population. It is also argued that adverse conditions have in other respects largely spent their force, and that a period of race recuperation may now be expected to set in. No one who has lived among Hawaiians, and has learned to love them for their many good traits, can but hope that this interesting people may survive and make an honored place for themselves in the future of that land, as their fathers, in so many instances, carved out an heroic career in the past. ABILITY TO READ AND WRITE. It is rarely the case that an Hawaiian can be found who does not know how to read and write. They have half a dozen news- papers in their own language, which is still commonly used among them, although the instruction in the schools of all grades is almost wholly in the English language, and few natives under twenty years of age can be found who are not able to understand and use English sufficient for ordinary purposes. The text-books in their schools are all American, and up to the times. The teachers are to a large extent Americans, this being especially true in the more advanced schools, where it is unusual to find in- structors of any other nationality. This has always been the case, and to this fact must be credited the ready adop- tion of American ideas and sentiment and the kindly feeling of Hawaiians of all classes toward the United THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 2>7 States as Hawaii's nearest neighbor, and uniformly its best friend, in all its intercourse and contact with other nations. AMERICAN SENTIMENT. This Americanism of Ha- waiians manifests itself on the Fourth of July, which is by far the most popular holiday of the year, being cele- brated with a gusto, as it is awaited with an interest that characterizes none of the days commemorative of events in their own history. Moreover, the schools, by the use of American text-books, foster a knowledge of American history, and supply a fund of general information pertain- ing to the growth and progress of the United States, that has stimulated an interest in everything American. The excitement over a Presidential election in the United States laps over into Hawaii, and it is doubtful whether the peo- ple in some of our territories manifest a more genuine interest or concern in the result than these sons of the tropics. RELIGION. The Hawaiian is not an indifferentist in religion. His religious instincts may carry him to ex- tremes from modern Christianity to a resuscitated heath- enism, and he may not be able himself to tell where he belongs at times. He needs a rudder to guide him in these respects, as in many others. He is not peculiar in this, as the world goes, and it simply indicates in Hawaii, as elsewhere, the disposition to take up with what is S8 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. novel, — with a nuhou, as the Hawaiian expresses it, with a " fad " as we Anglo-Saxons more concisely put it. The great majority of Hawaiians, however, are adherents to Christianity, either as Catholics or Protestants. It is in the sphere of religious life and effort that Hawaiians have displayed the finest courage and steadfastness and win- someness of character. The political and social changes of the last twenty years have borne heavily on the work of the churches, scattered as they are all over the group, hardly the smallest hamlet being without its church build- ing and organization. Deprived as the native ministers have been in these later years of the sagacious counsel of the missionaries who have passed from the scene of their former labors, these Hawaiian pastors have nobly, and at great sacrifice, labored for the spiritual advancement of their people. There are, in many an humble pulpit in out- of-the-way places on those islands, modern types of a heroism akin to the brave deed of the immortal Kapiolani, who, in the trying days when Hawaiian heathenism ral- lied for its final contest with Christianity, defied the god- dess Pele, on the brink of the boiling lake of lava, and cast her commanding influence against the priests and their superstitions, and led her people to accept the new faith. Whatever the years may bring to Hawaii and her people, the world will never forget the strain of heroism in her history. THE HAWAIIAN WOMAN IN PAU.— The Hawaiian woman is in her element on horseback; the flowing folds of the gorgeously colored "Pan," draping the horse on both sides, her head and neck bedecked with flowers, she makes a brilliant picture on gala days. Sometimes thirty or forty at once go dashing through the streets of the city, their horses at full gallop, up hill and down at breakneck pace. THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. 91 HAWAIIANS AND NEW HAWAII. The evolution of political and industrial forces within her borders has introduced to the world a New Hawaii. What is to be the place of the aborigine in this new order ? Plainly, it is to be just what the native Hawaiian will make for him- self. It needs to be cleady understood that the native Hawaiian has been a full sharer in every constitutional gain achieved under Anglo-Saxon leadership. There is not the slightest distinction in Hawaii on the ground of color. There is the most cordial fellowship between Ha- waiians and foreigners, notwithstanding radical political differences, especially in the city of Honolulu. There has been for years vital political union between the present rulers of Hawaii and the best of native Hawaiians, and in the present movement for annexation there are vigorous native annexation clubs representing at least twenty-five per cent, uf the native voting population. Those who are acquainted with Hawaiian indisposition to take sides on a matter of doubtful issue appreciate the meaning of these figures. It is likely that reasonable delay in the organiza- tion of a permanent government will win over a majority of Hawaiians whose rights are to be carefully guarded, and whose privileges are to be enlarged rather than diminished. But what of the native aside from political privilege? Again, he has every encouragement and help to maintain a 92 THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN. place for himself. He is offered singularly favorable op- portunities for industrial training in the Kamehameha Manual Training Schools. These are privileges not yet accorded to students of any other nationality. He has, moreover, every incentive in the perfect freedom afforded him in all his relations. He has none of the race obstacles to overcome which in other lands prove such a hindrance to individual freedom. The New Hawaii will emancipate the Hawaiian from a spirit of obsequiousness toward royal personages which has proved harmful to the freest de- velopment of political independence, and it will also com- pel him to look out for himself. The Hawaiian to-day would be a better man and citizen if he had learned the lesson of taking care of himself. Under the rule of chiefs he had no option. He could not act for himself. So under the monarchy he did not outgrow his feeling of dependence, which has been mis- takenly fostered by foreigners of benevolent intent, who have perpetuated in some degree the relationship of the old chiefs and have helped the native to school his children, and to bury his dead, and to furnish him means to start a new enterprise. Competition now will put the Kanaka to his mettle. He will have a fair chance. He cannot claim more. If he maintains his place, it will be by putting his strength and skill to the test, and by per- sistence and pluck winning success as others win it. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. LIQUID SUNSHINE. The Hawaiians have no word for "weather," for they have nothing of the kind. The days are pretty much the same the year around. The sun shines or the rain falls or the wind blows, but none of them in an uncomfortable way. In fact in Hilo, on the large island of Hawaii, the sun shines through the rain, making what people call "liquid sunshine." It is rarely that the sun or the wind or the rain, or all combined, interfere with business or even with out-door work. There are storms of rain, to be sure, that last for several days, during which there is a heavy downfall, but these storms are not common, occurring seldom more than once or twice in a year, and there are always great "junks" of sunshine just before and after that make you feel that you have had a sort of celestial bath rather than a spell of weather. Ordinarily, however, the rain and the sunshine are on better and more intimate terms and run along together throughout the year, one keeping the air warm enough, and the other keeping it from getting too warm, so that the climate well-nigh reaches perfection. Such is the elevation of the interior of the Islands, that it is possible, with a comparatively slight change of loca- 93 94 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. tion, to secure a decided change in temperature. Residents avail themselves of this advantage, and go to the hills when they feel the need of a tonic. With the further development of the Islands, in the matter of roads and convenient means of transportation, larger advantage still will be taken of this opportunity, close at hand, to break the monotony of continual summer by a few weeks in the bracing atmosphere of the mountain slopes. At sea-level the extremes of heat and cold are ^^° and 89° Fahrenheit. The thermometer rarely touches either point. When it falls to ^3° it is because of an exception- ally clear sky at night in January, permitting the cold winds from the mountains to blow, unobstructed by the usual bank of heavy clouds that hug the ridges. The ther- mometer rises to 89° at mid-day only when people in the United States are suffering from the excessive heat of the nineties and over. The mean daily temperature for January, for a series of years, has been 7 1 °, while for July it has been only seven degrees higher, or 78°. EQUABLE CLIMATE. The equableness of the cli- mate is remarkable, but the comparatively low tempera- ture for a tropical country is still more remarkable. Thus Key West, Florida, which is ^° 16" farther north, has a mean temperature throughout the year of 76°, while that of Honolulu is only 7^°. Havana, Cuba, although two degrees farther north, has a mean temperature of tour ALLIGATOR PEARS.—The Alligator, or as it is more usually called, the Avo- cado Pear, is common in the West Indies and Mexico. When introduced into the Hawaiian Islands it was found that it couid be easily cultivated there. The trees grow to a large size, and are very prolific. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 97 degrees warmer than that of Honolulu. The causes of this equable and comfortable climate are to be found largely in the isolated insular position of Hawaii. The surrounding ocean, both by evaporation and by means of cold currents from the north, greatly modifies the tem- perature of what might otherwise be an uncomfortably hot climate. The lofty mountain structure of the Islands, inducing, as it does, a liberal rain-fall in the higher re- gions, also operates to reduce heat and to maintan an equable temperature throughout the year. Another effect- ive element in securing this result is the trade-wind, cool and moist for nine months of the year, bringing health and refreshment to all that breathe. The land breezes at night are a considerable factor in producing a grateful change between day and night temperatures, so that the hours of sleep are in a marked degree comfortable and refreshing. These various causes, always operating, produce a uniform result, and, as a consequence, the Islands have a charming climate, suited to the residence of a population from more temperate climes, with none of the disadvan- tages which attend life in so many other tropical lands. HEALTHFULNESS. Moreover, the climatic conditions and the structure of the Islands are favorable to health. The soil is porous, the land slopes seaward on every hand, and the numerous streams serve to cleanse the land of all 98 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. offensive matter productive of disease. The winds bear seaward, also, deleterious matter, thus performing a double office in the interest of good health. Diseases of colder climates, not being accompanied in Hawaii by the same aggravating conditions, are not as contagious nor as viru- lent, and some of them are practically unknown. Epi- demics are not of frequent occurrence, and the more fatal diseases are especially sporadic. It is comparatively easy to maintain an effective quarantine, and the distance from other land on every side is in itself not a small protection against the introduction of disease. The mortality report for the city of Honolulu for the year 1892 shows a death rate of ^0.60. These figures alone would indicate that Honolulu was a decidedly un- healthful city. But it should be noted that this large percentage is due to the alarming mortality among Ha- waiians, which for the two years, 189 1-2, amounted each year to 39 per cent, of the native population resident in Honolulu. During the same years the mortality among the Americans and British residents varied from 14 per cent, to 18 per cent. Among the Portuguese, and the Asiatics, subjected to the same conditions as Hawaiians, as to location and dwellings, the mortality in 1891 was only 18 per cent, and 19 per cent, respectively. So that, aside from the excessive mortality among Hawaiians, due to causes not operative among other nationalities, and not CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 99 related to general health conditions, it will be seen that Honolulu is a remarkably healthful city. What is true of Honolulu, in this respect, is also true of all other localities. In this connection, it is well to note the disastrous inroads made by the cholera in 180^, when one-half of the native population of Oahu died; by the measles in 1848, when it was estimated that one-tenth of the entire native population of the Islands died ; and by the small- pox in 18^3, which carried away about three thousand natives. The measles and small-pox have on several occasions since been epidemic on the Islands, but because of better quarantine regulations, and by reason of greater intelligence among the people, there has been no repetition of this first disastrous contact of the natives with imported diseases. These dismal records belong to the past. The present decrease of the race is painful to contemplate, but it has little to do with the climate, and has no relation to the desirability of a residence in this land of apparent con- tradictions. Hawaii has a climate unsurpassed, and is, in every respect, a desirable resort for those wishing to avoid the extreme heat and cold of more northern climes, and a veritable haven for invalids, where they may prolong their lives and enjoy out-door exercise amid perpetual bloom and loveliness. INDIGENOUS PLANTS. The humid atmosphere of loo CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. the mountain ranges induces a most luxuriant growth of trees and vines, and an almost impenetrable thicket or jungle covers a large part of the interior of Hawaii, especially. Here are forests of magnificent trees whose wood is beautifully marked and colored and takes a high polish. Mammoth tree ferns thirty feet high lend added beauty to these tropical forests, but the ie ie vine is by far the most luxuriant and gorgeous plant of Hawaiian jungles. These are all indigenous plants, and it is in such places, wild and well-nigh inaccessible, that one gets a glimpse of the beauty and reckless exuberance of tropical growth. Writes Miss Sinclair, in her " Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands : " " The Hawaiian flora seems (like the native human inhabitant) to grow in an easy, careless way, which, though pleasingly artistic, and well adapted to what may be termed the natural state of the Islands, will not long survive the invasion of foreign plants and changed conditions. Forest fires, animals, and agriculture, have so changed the Islands, within the last fifty or sixty years, that one can now travel for miles, in some districts, with- out finding a single indigenous plant; the ground being wholly taken possession of by weeds, shrubs, and grasses, imported from various countries. It is remarkable that plants from both tropical and temperate regions seem to thrive equally well on these Islands, many of them spread- ing as if by magic, and rapidly exterminating much of the CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. loi r.ative flora." While all this is true out in the open, and on the borders of the woodlands, it is in no sense true of Hawaiian forests, where indigenous trees and vines still hold undisputed sway. The wonderful productiveness of the Hilo district is due not to its fertile soil but to the unfailing water supply from the vast wooded swamp just above that district. Here is a vast belt of primitive forest massed below in a net-work of vines that can be passed through only by cutting. Below is a deep, rich soil con- stantly being borne by thousands of streams to the sloping lands along the coast. This is the forest primeval, which must be seen to get any appreciable idea of the indigenous plant growth of this group. Writes Miss Sinclair : " For many years the iliahi or sandal-wood tree was one of the principal sources of revenue of the Hawaiian kings and chiefs. So vigorously did they prosecute the business of cutting and exporting it, that they exhausted the supply, and to-day it is a very rare tree, although frequently found as a shrub. It retains its scent in a wonderful manner, even small pieces being quite fragrant after a lapse of forty or fifty years." Bananas, yams, taro and other edible plants are found growing wild in all the valleys of the wooded sections. Many plants, formerly used by the natives for making fish- nets, and kapa or native cloth and ropes, still are found in the valleys and on the slopes of wooded hills. I02 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. OWNERSHIP OF LAND. Formerly all the lands belonged to the kings and chiefs. The common people, however, had the privilege, hedged about by a system of tabus and traditions, of going to the woods for what they wanted. " Great numbers of the inhabitants," writes Miss Sinclair, "went into the mountain districts annually, for various purposes, such as canoe-making, bird-catching, wood cutting, gathering medicinal herbs, and many other pursuits of pleasure or profit." This privilege was a small return for what was at best practical serfdom. Ideas of land ownership have been at best a slow growth in the native mind. After the abolition of the tabu-system, a dependent relation still was recognized that has survived in a measure even to the present time, so that natives continue to live on land and claim privileges which they never have had any legal right to. LAND AWARDS. So strong was the disposition of the common people to adhere to the old system of de- pendence on the pleasure of chiefs for land and its use, that many of them did not avail themselves of the oppor- tunity granted in 1847 by Kamehameha III. to gain title, through a land commission, to the lands at that time oc- cupied by them. In a population of over 100,000, only about 11,000 claims were recorded. This indisposition to become owners of land has in later days shown itself in a readiness to part with such lands rather than work CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 103 them. This fact must be borne in mind in any compre- hensive consideration of the drift of Hawaiians away from the soil to an uncertain life and employment in the city. But it must also be borne in mind that 9 per cent, of the entire native population, counting men, women and children, are actual land-owners, according to the census of 1890; or, excluding the women and children, 2^ per cent, of the native male population over fifteen years of age, representatives of the households of the race, are land-owners, or one man in four, either owning the land in his own name or in that of his wife or of some one of his children. Such a fact condemns at once the cheap statement that Hawaiians have been robbed of their land. In many instances they still own some of the very best land in the country, and in some instances receive a prof- itable revenue by leasing such lands to plantations and rice planters. CROWN LANDS. In the great maneie or division of lands under Kamehameha III., those lands reserv- ed by the king for his own use and the use of his heirs are known as Crown Lands. These lands are very extensive, capable of improvement that would greatly increase their value, and while hitherto the in- come has been one of the perquisites of royalty, it is now proposed, as rapidly as possible, to divide this vast estate into homesteads for the encouragement of small I04 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. farming, preference being given in the assigment of lands to native Hawaiians. There are three estates comprising a large part of the land available for farming. The lands known as Crown Lands form one of these, the government lands or lands held by the government as a source of revenue and for the public good form another, and the Bishop estate forms the third. The government lands are already being sub- divided and leased or sold outright to intending settlers, the purpose being to stimulate ownership in the soil and to aid the development of small industries. The Bishop estate is the most valuable one of the three, probably, and is being steadily enhanced in value by improvements. This estate is held in trust by trustees who manage the estate and expend the income in sustaining the now renowned Kamehameha Schools. This estate was the bequest of Princess Pauahi, the wife of Hon. C. R. Bishop, to whose beneficence her husband has generously added a large sum in defraying the expense of erecting some of the handsome buildings on the school grounds. It is felt by some that this estate should ultimately and gradually be broken up and sold, just as is being done with govern- ment lands, and as it is proposed to do with the Crown Lands. FOREIGN ENTERPRISE. A very considerable por- tion of the land now under cultivation was comparatively BEAUTIFUL PALMS. It is difficult to give any idea of the luxuriant growth and beauty of the trees and flowers that border the streets of Honolulu. No photographer, in colorless black and white, can do justice to the gardens of the tropics with their graceful palms and the soft shading of the many varieties of foliage. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 107 valueless until foreign enterprise and capital reclaimed it. Much of it was arid and so forbidding that in some cases it had never come under cultivation until within a very few years. These lands were worthless for Hawaiian farming and would have remained an unproductive area had it not been for foreign capital and energy and grit. Thus the largest plantation at Spreckelsville, the two re- markable plantations at Ewa and Makaweli, to say nothing of others, show what American enterprise can accomplish in the face of grave difficulties. At Spreckelsville, an immense area of sandy plain was brought under cultivation by the digging of an irrigating ditch conveying water from mountain streams seventeen miles away. The original ditch of this kind was con- structed for the Haiku lands in 1878 at a cost of ^80,000. It was over thirteen miles long, the larger part being dug through dense woods, provisions for the small army of workers being transported to the camps, as they moved onward, by means of roads cut through the virgin forests. Two hundred men were employed on this ditch and it required a year to build it, but, when finished, it brought water on to lands that now constitute one of the best sugar estates on the Islands. An enterprise requiring a larger expenditure and encountering greater difficulties was the Makaweli ditch on the island of Kauai. The water for this ditch is taken from a large stream just below the loS CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. beautiful Hanapepe falls. The ditch is thirteen and a half miles long. In the first seven miles from the point where the water is taken from the stream, there were 16,000 feet of ditching, two miles of which was through the solid rock; 12,000 feet of wooden fluming, requiring 6oo,oqo feet of redwood lumber ; 6,000 feet of steel piping, forty inches in diameter, and from one-eighth to five-sixteenths of an inch in thickness; and over one thousand feet of tunneling through solid rock. Four substantial iron bridges carry the pipe across the canyon, three with a span of 100 feet each, and one with a span of 140 feet. Several inverted siphons were used, one being 400 feet deep and 1900 feet long. The entire cost was ^1^,013. The capacity of the ditch is 60 cubic feet per second, or 5,184,000 gallons per day. An ancient crater was utilized as a storage reservoir, having a capacity of 4^,000,000 gallons, being 900 feet across at the top and 30 feet deep. The land made avail- able for cultivation by the construction of this ditch is about 7000 acres in extent, making the cost for the original outlay about ^22 per acre. Nothing but dauntless energy could have undertaken and consummated such an enter- prise. The man who did it is the originator of the Haiku ditch, — a man who has individually done more for the industrial development of Hawaii than any other person, albeit the son of a missionary. Beginning as a poor man, CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 109 and more than once jeopardizing all his gains by daring schemes, demanding large capital and indomitable energy, it is doubtful whether he could have contributed, in any other way, a larger permanent blessing to the land of his birth than he has by his phenomenal success in converting large waste areas into waving fields of cane. The Ewa plantation is on land that was unsuitable even for pasturage until American capital and enterprise conceived the project of irrigating those barren plains by means of artesian water, pumped into flumes, and borne to the fields as wanted. Accordingly twenty-four artesian wells were sunk, in close proximity, and enormous pumps erected, and there is now a supply from this source with- out any indications of a decrease in the flow, of 20,000,000 gallons per day. BENEFICENT MISSION OF AMERICAN CAPITAL. It may truthfully be said that American capital and enter- prise have largely exerted themselves in Hawaii in making lands productive that were unproductive, and in doing this native land holdings have not been affected, except as they have appreciated in value due to their proximity to a market for their products thus created almost at their door. The industrial development of Hawaii under American leadership marks an epoch hardly less phenomenal than the great religious awakening under the devoted labors of American missionaries. This development was rapid, no CLLAIATK, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. under the forcing stimulus of the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, and revolutionized the industrial relations of the country. So rapid was this development that it was not altogether in wise directions. Some vital problems are yet unsettled, and others are still to be met, incidental to this marvelous expansion of Hawaii's agri- cultural resources. LABOR PROBLEMS. Cane growing by the planta- tion system has meant to Hawaii what it has to other sugar-growing countries, viz., the employment of an ig- norant class of laborers working at low wages, and the ignoring and crippling of small industries so essential to the wholesome growth of agricultural communities. To properly man the plantations, Chinese, Japanese and Por- tugese laborers have been imported into Hawaii, the latter soon leaving the plantations for other employment, nota- bly small farming. The Japanese have returned in large numbers to their own country, and yet counted in 1891 about 17,000, the Chinese population at that time being about 1^,000, although in 1889 they numbered over 19,000. So long as the Chinese and Japanese remained on the sugar and rice plantations there was no labor agitation in Hawaii. But when, in 188^, the Chinese began to invade other occupations, followed later by a like invasion, on a smaller scale, by the Japanese, the Asiatic question be- came the leading political issue. It was not whether COCOANUT PALMS— The Cocoanut Palms are natives of all the Islands in the Pacific. They are found where nothing else can grow, fringing the shores of the smallest coral reefs that rise above the ocean. The long slender trunks often reach the height of a hundred feet. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 113 Asiatics should be tolerated, but whether Anglo-Saxon civilization should protect itself against threatened sub- mergence. Restrictive legislation was the immediate out- come, but the real problem remains yet for solution. A vigorous, intelligent and influential element in the foreign population of Hawaii are convinced that the true policy in that land is to build up a thrifty, law-abiding community of small farmers. Hon. S. B. Dole, the President of the Provisional Government, indicated this conviction in re- marks made by him before the Advisory Council in May, 1893. " It is easy to understand," he says, "that certain radical changes in the land policy of the Hawaiian Islands would cause havoc in important established enterprises, especially if abruptly made. On the other hand, it is a matter of rapidly growing sentiment in the Hawaiian com- munity that a liberal policy of opening for settlement suit- able portions of the public lands by actual occupiers, has become a necessity to the social and industrial progress of our varied population. This sentiment is emphasized by a rapidly increasing demand for land in small parcels for cultivation and residence. It is the desire of the executive, if circumstances permit, to inaugurate a comprehensive policy of opening public land for settle- ment and cultivation in answer to this public demand, which, without interfering with established industrial enterprises, may lay the foundation for individual wel- 114 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. fare and contentment, and therefore of enhanced public prosperity." CO-OPERATIVE CANE PLANTING. In line with this sentiment, successful experiments have been under- taken by sugar planters to modify even the plantation system, so as to relieve the country from the necessity of importing cheap labor under the contract system. The co-operative system of cane-growing as managed at Ewa plantation for the past two years is likely to be extended. The individual receives thus a larger income than when working for wages, and the owners have lost nothing by the change. The system in brief consists in the assign- ment to each individual of a piece of land for cultivation, the plantation owner furnishing lodging for the man and his family, medicine and medical attendance, first equip- ment of tools, water for irrigating, seed cane, and the privilege of procuring fuel by the tenant for himself. The employer, likewise, clears, plows, harrows, and fur- rows the land preparatory to planting. The tenant, on his part, plants, cultivates, cuts, and delivers the cane on the cars for transportation to the mill. All the work is under the supervision of the manager, in the sense that, irrespective of the hours of labor, the work done must be satisfactory to the interests of the plantation. One-fourth of the gross receipts from the land thus assigned goes to the laborer, after deducting advances made to him. Else- CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 115 where than at Ewa, co-operative cane-planting has been experimented with and with uniform success. This presages a radical change in the labor system of Hawaiian plantations. The great advantage of the co- operative plan lies in stimulating an individual interest in this important industry and in attaching to the soil a permanent class of farmers. Successfully adapted to all plantations it would obviate the necessity of importing laborers from abroad, and would conserve the interests of Anglo-Saxon civilization. LEASEHOLD SYSTEM. The location on the land of a class of farmers, identified with the industrial interests of the owners of such land, means ultimately the acqui- sition by lease of lands thus worked, and perhaps their ownership in due course in fee simple. One scheme that has been broached aims at a complete reorganization of the plantation system. It provides for the gradual dis- memberment of the large sugar estates into leaseholds of from five to twenty or thirty acres each, according to locality. These leaseholds are to be taken up by respon- sible laborers who wish to make the getting of such a home dependent on their industry, frugality and enter- prise. Such leaseholds could be leased for a term of years, with proper conditions that would secure the inter- ests of the mill-owners, and not operate against the in- terests of the industrious planter. Eventually, the planter ii6 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. becoming attached to the land, and the mill-owner rec- ognizing the reliability of the tenant, the land could be deeded over to the tenant. This would hardly prove too expensive an inducement for the mill-owners to offer to planters, considering the value of permanent settlers on the land, engaged in cane-growing. The urgent reforms needed in Hawaii, and likely soon to be accomplished, are (i) the placing of more of its people on land of their own, thus encouraging thrift and contentment and social progress, and (2) the management of the chief industry so as to contribute toward the same general result. These are popular reforms in Hawaii. There is a natural hesitancy as to the method of accomplishing what there is general unanimity in agreeing to be Hawaii's ultimate social and industrial constitution. This little country is at work on serious problems, affecting the social and indus- trial status of its population, but it is at work on right lines, and its intelligent and influential citizens may be counted on to serve their adopted land in these directions as ably as they have in others. CANE FIELDS. Sugar is king in Hawaii much as wheat is in the Northwest. It is not the only crop that can be raised, or that is raised, but it is at present the most available and profitable one, and therefore engages the capital of the country and furnishes work to the largest number. Thus, in 1890, there were i8,95'9 laborers em- o & CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 119 ployed on the plantations. This does not include skilled laborers or those dependent for wages or salary on the prosperity of this industry, not directly connected with plantation work. The land under cane cultivation in 1890 amounted to 64,149 acres, located on the four islands of Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. This land is divided into about sixty plantations, producing each from 300 to 13,000 tons of sugar per annum, the total product in 1893 amount- ing to 152,621 tons. When we go out into the country, however, we forget about figures and rather marvel at the extensive fields of growing cane, at the steam plows and steam cultivators, at the complicated system of irrigation, at the steam cars and portable railways, at the magnificent flow of artesian water, at the costly flumes, and well appointed mills equipped with the latest improved machinery, and the novel expe- dients for shipping sugar on a dangerous coast, and the whole atmosphere of doing things on a large scale in a land of otherwise small things. Think of passing through cane that yields ten tons of sugar per acre 1 That means not less than one hundred tons of plant growth to the acre, for at the rate of eight and a half tons of cane, as carried to the mill, per ton of sugar, as generally estimated, we should have eighty-five tons, and the tops and stools left in the field would certainly make fifteen tons more. Such a yield, however, is exceptional, occurring only on I20 CLLMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. specially rich alluvial soil, the ordinary yield being only about three tons per acre. As it requires from eighteen to twenty months for a crop to mature, it will be understood why the annual output as stated in the census of 1890 is only about two tons per acre. It is an inspiring experience to ride through a cane-field a thousand or more acres in extent. In such a trip, at the busiest season, one can see the cane in all stages of growth, and note all the varied work of planting, cultivat- ing, irrigating, stripping, cutting, transporting to the mill, and clearing for the new crop. Here is a gang of China- men, slashing right and left as they cut the cane for the mill. 'Yonder a long train of cars is being backed by a locomotive through the tall cane to be loaded for the mill. Here is a field dotted with Japanese in their airy garb, planting the seed cane. Yonder some noisy Hawaiians are driving bullock carts with bags of plant cane. This may be a plantation and these may be coolies, but man who works by the sweat of his brow has nowhere an easier lot or is better paid for his labor at its true value than right here on these cane-fields of Hawaii. With a proper adjustment of conditions favorable to a permanent residence, the same work now done by Chinese and Japanese could be profitably done by many American farmers at greater advantage to their pockets and peace of mind than by continued toiling in the homeland in an CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 121 uphill struggle with winter and mortgage and a failure of crops. SUGAR-MAKING. The heaviest investment of capi- tal in the sugar business is in the mill. The progress in mill methods and machineiy has been marvellous in the history of sugar-making in Hawaii. From the crude wooden affair run by mules, to the elaborate and per- fected maceration or diffusion plants, now installed in all the mills, is a notable advance. The diffusion process is in highest favor, though there are strong advocates of the maceration system. The latter consists in grinding to ex- tract the bulk of the juice, and then, after having subjected the crushed cane to a thorough saturation with steam, in regrinding the mass to secure all the additional juice pos- sible. The diffusion process consists in cutting the cane by means of revolving knives into thin slices, which in turn are submitted to hydraulic and steam pressure, prac- tically expelling about 97 per cent, of the sugar. After the juice is thus extracted it passes through filters into clarifiers, where it is heated and skimmed, passing thence into the quadruple effect from large connected boilers. These boilers ordinarily hold four thousand gallons, and the amount boiled every twenty-four hours is not far from 385,000 gallons. From these boilers the syrup passes into cooling tanks ; thence into vacuum pans, where it is boiled until it granulates, passing finally into large containers. 122 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. From these containers it passes into centrifugals, which free it of all molasses or syrup, and the sugar, all ready for bagging, drops into the bin below. Day and night in grinding-time the work goes steadily on. Each mill has its electric plant, and every convenience for the econom- ical manufacture of this great staple. The fitting climax of the work in the field and in the mill is in the person of the comfortable Kanaka teamster who, perched on his load of sugar just bagged, regales himself with a juicy stick of cane. What a contrast between our labored processes of procuring our sweetening, and his getting at once to the marrow of things! RICE GROWING. The rice fields are all in the hands of the Chinese. They do not own the land, to be sure, but they do monopolize the business. This is not because they have crowded out others by competition, but because they are the only ones who understand rice-growing, or who care to have anything to do with it. It is not an un- profitable crop, but an exacting one in ways not altogether agreeable. Thus, after the necessary plowing and har- rowing, the rice fields are submerged, and all the work thereafter must be done in the water. Chinamen take to this work like ducks, though ordinarily they have a cat's dread of water. It is interesting to compare the methods of cultivation and the means employed on a rice swamp with the CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 123 methods and means used on a sugar plantation. On the latter, advantage is" taken of every labor-saving device, and the methods are modern and in keeping with agri- cultural progress. On, or rather in, a rice swamp, the tools and appliances are crude and primitive, and the methods are those followed probably a thousand years ago in conservative China. Chinese buffaloes, a sort of half-cow and half-pig, who never have known in any preceding generation what it was to do anything else, leisurely toil along with the crudest kind of a wooden plow turning the rich soil to the air. One small field is thickly sown with rice seed, so that the plants are about six inches high when the time for planting arrives, making a solid carpet of green, so peculiar that it reminds one of the old hymn : — "Sweet fields beyond 'le swelling flood Stand dressed in living green." These plants are carried in great bales on the backs of Chinamen to the fields where the planting is going on. Here the bales are broken up, each man taking enough for a row and planting with one hand by stoop- ing and pushing a half-dozen plants, root down, into the mud below the surface of the water. Chinese exactness shows itself here in the accuracy with which these rows are kept straight and at equal distances apart. All the culti- 124 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. vating is done by hand without tools of any kind. Finally, after the rice matures, and the water has been drained off for the ripening of the straw, the Chinamen harvest their crop with little hand-sickles, an infantile operation that makes one dream of Eden. After a day of drying in the sun, the rice is bundled up by hand, a bale hung on each end of a stick, which is lifted to the shoulders of a China- man, and a procession of twenty or more thus ladened, move in a dog-trot to the threshing floor, a quarter of a mile away. The operations on a rice field are engrossing because so unique, but one always comes away with a sensation of tiredness and a new conception of the an- tiquity of man. COFFEE GROWING. The soil in a great many parts of Hawaii, which is unfitted for sugar or rice growing, is admirably adapted to the growth of coffee. As a result of the investigations conducted by experts from other coffee countries, renewed stimulus has been given to the coffee industry. At last reports over two thousand acres had been planted in accordance with improved methods, and this industry bids fair in the near future to become second only to that of sugar. The excellent feature about coffee planting is that it can be successfully carried on by small farmers, thus encouraging the settlement of that class on lands now lying fallow but capable under cultivation of sustaining a large population. This industry has for many CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 125 years furnished the main support of large numbers of natives in Kona, Hawaii. The coffee from that district is celebrated for its fine flavor, and commands a high price in Honolulu. DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES. Thoughtful men in Hawaii have for many years agitated the subject of divers- ifying the industries of the country. So long as capital could be advantageously invested in sugar growing, little more came of the discussion than attempts to ascertain what productive plants were suited to the climate, and what ones could probably be cultivated profit:.bly. Now that capital finds less remunerative returns in cane grow- ing, it is more inclined to test the merits of other enter- prises. This accounts, in part, for th: renewed interest in coffee culture. A law recently establishing a Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry, provides for free public lectures and the distribution of information useful to agriculturists, stock-raisers and others ; also the securing from abroad of such knowledge, seeds, and plants as may be beneficial to the agricultural and commercial interests of the Islands, the collection and dissemination of knowledge on textile fibers, the utility of island woods, or other products, and to aid forest conservation. It also provides for experimental cul- tivation for public benefit, the offering of premiums for encouragement of new agricultural enterprises, the utiliza- tion of waste products, and the eradication of injurious 126 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. insects and weeds. Thus at various points hopeful ex- periments are now being conducted in the cultivation of sisal, the chocolate tree, nutmeg, rubber and camphor The ramie plant grows luxuriantly. Hawaii is without question on the threshold of a new industrial development fraught with most encouraging and far-seeing results to the political and social prosperity of that land. When the country is no longer dependent on a singL staple, and a larger proportion of its people are on land of their own, raising profitable crops that can be exported to the common advantage, Hawaii will in all respects become one of the most favored spots in the world. All this is probable and that too within a com- paratively short period. RECIPROCITY TREATY. In 1876 a treaty between Hawaii and the United States was ratified, which admitted Hawaiian sugar into United States ports free of duty. The motive on the part of the United States was ostensibly to strengthen the commercial relations between the two countries, but political considerations had weighty influ- ence in the United States Senate, both when the treaty was originally negotiated and particularly when it was renewed seven years later. It was admitted by advocates of the treaty that Hawaii received by far the greater com- mercial advantage under the operation of this treaty, but it was successfully urged that it was of utmost importance A1ANGOES. — The Mangoe is an Kast Indian fruit, growing at the Islands in such abundance that immense quantities are allowed to decay every season. The Hawaiian Mangoe has but little of the turpentine flavor of the Indian variety, is sweet, juicv and fragrent. There are nv.mcrois varieties, differing in size, color and flavor. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 129 to maintain such relations with Hawaii as would pre- clude any closer alliance of that country with any foreign power. The result has justified the concessions made by that treaty, for American influence and sentiment overtop everything else in Hawaii. This is true among all classes, there being a distinctly favorable sentiment toward the United States, and a conviction of the ultimate absorption of the Islands by this country, even among those who oppose such policy at this time. BENEFITS TO THE UNITED STATES. Commer- cially the benefits to this country have not been insignifi- cant. Thus, the total commerce between Hawaii and the United States, in 1891, amounted to ^19,002,809. Of this sum the imports into the United States were valued at ^13,89^,^97, while the exports to Hawaii amounted to only ^^,107,212. That is, Hawaii sent to the United States ^8,788,38^ worth more than she received back in trade. Of this sum, however, only ^912,7^0 was exported to Hawaii in gold, leaving an unaccounted-for balance of ^7,87^,63^ as apparent loss to Hawaii in this single year's trade. The probability is that much of this can be ac- counted for as dividends to American stockholders in Ha- waiian plantations, and as borrowed capital repaid, and as investments in the United States. The least that can be said about it is that, inasmuch as this balance never found its way back to Hawaii, it must have remained in the I30 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. United States, and this country profited to just that degree in its trade with little Hawaii. That the record for 1891 was not exceptional, may be seen in the fact that there was a similar balance in the trade with Hawaii for the ten years previous to 189 1, averaging $^,7^2,014 per annum. However interesting it may be to speculate on what be- came of this large amount, we know it did not go back and that it did remain in this country. This must enter into any consideration of the benefits received by the United States under its Reciprocity Treaty with Hawaii. Another less elusive class of benefits which, however, do not figure in any table of exports and imports, are such facts as these : that the carrying trade is and has been dur- ing all the years since the ratification of this treaty, almost altogether in American bottoms ; that the numerous inter- island steamers necessitated by the increased production have been built in the United States ; that the bulk of the insurances has been in American companies; and that large sums have been spent during all these years by Hawaiian residents in the United States in ways that do not appear in custom-house statistics. The benefits which the United States received under this treaty in 1891, for instance, consisted partly in building up an export trade with Hawaii, ranking second in the exports from San Fran- cisco ; and in receiving from Hawaii an import trade rank- ing first in the imports into San Francisco, being double CLIMATE. SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 131 the trade from China or Japan, three times that from Great Britain, four times that from Central America, and double that from Mexico, South America, Australia and the Indies combined. Relatively to population, there is no foreign country in the world with which America has so large a commerce. BENEFITS TO HAWAII. Under the operation of the treaty of reciprocity between the two countries, the pro- duction of sugar increased from 26,072,429 pounds in 1876 to 2^9,798,462 pounds in 1890, or over 996 per cent. During the same period, the production of the second great staple, rice, increased from 2,2^9,324 pounds to 10,- ^79,000 pounds, or 468 per cent. This phenomenal in- crease, under the stimulus of the special tariff exemption of the treaty, brought large benefits to Hawaii in the development of unused land ; the reclamation of wild and barren areas ; the erection of costly mills ; the construction of inter-island steamers ; the furnishing of profitable em- ployment to its people; the increase of its revenue, and the consequent improvement of its harbors and roads ; and the building of expensive railroads, thus opening up new territory that can be utilized for small farming, but which was before too inaccessible to induce settlement. NOT AN UNMIXED BLESSING. The treaty, how- ever, has not proved an unmixed blessing to the Islands. It has produced a sort of congestion of capital in a single 132 CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. great industry, thus crippling small industries and di^ couraging the opening of new ones. It has directed at- tention towards industrial development to the practical ignoring of the more vital questions of a permanently beneficial immigration and a liberal homestead policy. It has made the Islands commercially dependent on the United States, a dependence which, in view of existing tariff laws, is of questionable advantage to Hawaii. It has proved a sort of commercial forcing process, the ben- efits of which have largely accrued to the United States, while the evils have been wholly borne by Hawaii. It is to the overcoming and rectification of these evils that the thoughtful men of that country are now directing them- selves. There is a keen appreciation of the social prob- lems that have grown up with mushroom rapidity, and quite as laudable a purpose, and one as likely of accom- plishment, within reasonable limits, as is called out in this great country by similar problems. COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. The census of 1890 shov/s that the exports of Hawaii "are now, and have been for some years past, larger in proportion of its population than those of any other country in the world, Australia standing next on the list. In the last ten years we have, with an average population of not more than eighty thou- sand, exported produce worth, in round numbers, ninety- nine millions of dollars, or an average of nearty one hundred NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS. Probably there is no better place in the world to see the night-bloomiug cereus in all its glorious beauty than Honolulu. At the sea- son of its blossoming thousands of flowers open in a single night. The flowers often measure twelve inches in diameter, averaging much larger than tho usual hot-house specimens. CLIMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 135 and twenty-five dollars per annum for every man, woman and child in this country." It is not their productiveness, however, but their location that gives to the Hawaiian Islands their unique commercial importance. " Situated as they are, in mid-ocean, in the direct channels of the great and growing commerce between the western coast of America and New Zealand, Australia, the Indies, China and Japan, the islands afford safe as well as most convenient harbors, not only for shelter, repairs and equipment, but for supplies to all the ships that traverse the Pacific." This strategic position of Hawaii is appreciated at its true value by the two nations most vitally concerned. Thus, the London Times : " The narrow land-locked inlet or lagoon named Pearl River Harbor is in itself small in ab- solute extent, but it is of inestimable value to any civilized nation possessing it and using it for naval purposes." In a report to the National Board of Trade in 1883, its specially appointed committee said: "Already far-seeing men look forward to the day when the commerce of the Pacific shall rival that of the Atlantic. With our long stretch of coast upon that ocean and its finest harbors in our posses- sion, the United States must guard jealously her interests there." POLITICAL IMPORTANCE. To the United States the commercial and political value of Hawaii is of admitted importance. The industrial development of those Islands 136 CLLMATE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. has been the product of political considerations which compelled the United States to foster its interests there. Those political considerations are as pertinent now as they ever have been. American statesmen have foreseen the ultimate certainty of a closer alliance of Hawaii, and our State Department has accordingly, under several adminis- trations, definitely instructed its representative to favorably receive overtures looking toward annexation. This known disposition of the United States to seek closer commercial union grounded on political considerations has had fruitage in the Americanizing of sentiment in Hawaii, until now that community is the only genuinely American one out- side our political borders. It has a larger and more intel- ligent American population, relatively, than any of our territorial acquisitions possessed at the time of their an- nexation, from Florida to Alaska. Its civil institutions and its political privileges, and its social and industrial organiza- tion are more in harmony with our government and insti- tutions than those of any territorial acquisition thus far made in our history. It is essentially American territory, lacking only the formal declaration to make it technically what it is in reality, Hawaii, U. S. A. "The possession of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States would make them a means of defence to our coast, and would give us a convenient naval and commercial station."— Senator Dolph. HONOLULU, HONOLULU, THE CAPITAL. What Havana is to Cuba, Honolulu is to the rest of Hawaii. Here are con- centrated the business and political and social forces that control the life and progress of this nation in the sea. That Honolulu is wholly dependent on the industrial en- terprises throughout the country goes without saying. It is not a manufacturing centre, for here is nothing in the raw and crude form that can be profitably manufactured. There are no metals or minerals or, as yet, fibrous plants or food plants whose manufacture is undertaken in this unique city. Coal and iron, and hay and grain, and man- ufactured goods of all descriptions come from abroad, mainly from California. There are iron foundries in Hon- olulu, but they are wholly dependent on the agricultural necessities of the country, and could not keep running a day were it not for the demand thus created for their products. The productive wealth of the land is in its agricultural operations exclusively. It is peculiarly an agri- cultural country, and Honolulu gains its importance solely as a distributing centre or depot of supplies. Were there not a large agricultural country tributary to Honolulu, it would not even have a name to live. 137 138 HONOLULU. FIRST GLIMPSE OF HONOLULU. This peculiar dependence of Honolulu on the country is apparent to tne stranger at first glance. Warehouses and lumber yards and commercial houses abound, but there is a singular absence of mills and factories and productive establish- ments. You will find two foundries and a rice mill and two planing mills, and your list is complete. If you walk along the wharves you will find bags of grain, and boxes of shoes, and crates of crockery, and cases of dry goods, and machinery of all descriptions, and furniture, and bricks, and cement, things which cities ordinarily produce in their marketable form, and in every instance you will see by their marks that these goods are from abroad. Honolulu does not produce any of these. She simply handles them. Look again, and the bags of rice, and sugar, and coffee, and the bundles of hides, and bunches of bananas, that are marked for export, and the only articles of export of any considerable value, are none of them products of Honolulu industry, but have all come from the strictly agricultural sections. You are impressed with Honolulu as a busy distributing centre; not as a productive centre, in the sense that it independently contributes products for export or products that obviate the necessity of importing from abroad. BIRD'S-EYE VIEW. This impression is enhanced as one looks down on the city from the top of Punch ? •2 a ■& >. -^ p, .r: = X ;^ r: « ■■— IS * — n -M - rH ^ *^ bfc -= -t J2 " p s c » 5 is --S -^ a: C "o -c ] S -I ^ ^ S 5 -^ ^ .2 a -i^ ^ HONOLULU. 141 Bo^\i, an extinct crater immediately back of the central portion of Honolulu. A fine roadway, winding about the slopes, affords the finest view of Honolulu obtain- able. When the summit is reached a scene of sur- passing beauty and interest spreads out before you on every hand. Back of you lie the hills, bathing their crests in clouds, three and four thousand feet above sea level. To the west rise the wonderful Waianae Mountains, re- splendent in the glories of a tropic sunset. In the low- lands, between you and those far-away hills, lie the rice fields innumerable, distinct in the distance, adorned with a green unsurpassed even by the wider stretches of cane fields just beyond the lovely lochs of Pearl River. To the east rises grim old Leahi, popularly known as Dia- mond Head, the pride of Honolulu, and certainly the rarest bit of detached mountain scenery in the Islands. Other hills or peaks may be wild and weird and have their peculiar attraction for the tourist, but Leahi is like the great Kamehameha in the lonely grandeur and dignity and at times surpassing beauty of its outlines. With your back to the mountains, you look out on the broad Pacific, which seems smooth enough to justify its mild cognomen, but which on occasion is turbulent beyond description, filling Honolulu with the roar of its breakers, and skirting the island with a fringe of foam. Below you, so near that you can cast a stone on to some of their roofs, lies Hono- 142 HONOLULU. lulu, immersed in a wealth of foliage, so that streets are hidden, and the houses show only a bit of color in the en- compassing green of palms and other exotic plants. The city lies like a bird with outspread wings, its business portion answering to the body of the bird, and the resi- dence portion stretching like wings around Punch Bowl towards the northeast up the beautiful and historic Nu- uanu Valley, and toward the southeast in the direction of the cocoanut-fringed shores of Waikiki. Within a radius of less than five hundred feet from the corner of King and Fort Streets are located the firms through whose books pass at least nine-tenths of the business transactions of the Islands. This does not mean that the capital of the country is controlled by these firms, but that it serves the purpose of the country that its business should be transacted thus at a common centre where, by common consent, the banks and importing houses are located, where the only improved harbor is situated, and where the government is administered, and the whole round of commercial and government transactions is con- ducted. From Punch Bowl one gets, with the remark- able combination of landscape, a vivid conception of the essentially clerical functions of Honolulu as compared with the enormously productive record of the outlying country on Oahu and the other islands. Honolulu is a necessary link in the chain of cause and effect. The country is HONOLULU. 143 thoroughly dependent on Honolulu as its best medium of communication with the outside world, but it is as a medium and not as a producing community that it main- tains its primacy in the mercantile and industrial opera- tions of the nation. HONOLULU FROM THE SEA. As seen from the top of Punch Bowl, Honolulu is charming in its beauty. It is hardly less so as it appears from the deck of an in- coming steamer. Snuggled at the foot of wondrously picturesque hills, rising abruptly into a continuous range of dark blue background, lapped by the waves of a per- petual summer sea, the city, as seen from outside the reef, is beautiful in itself and in its setting. Leahi, or Diamond Head, seems like some mighty sphinx or lion couchant, guarding in grim silence the leisurely approach to an earthly paradise. The balmy air, and the dark-lying hills, and the abundant vegetation, and the emerald green at the harbor bar, and the softness and depth of the blue skies, and the generous sunshine bathing all the land- scape, greet the stranger with a tropic welcome. He knows he is in the tropics at last, for the palms wave over him, and the air is fragrant with magnolia and plu- meria and stephanotis. And yet it is impossible for him to be ashore five minutes without realizing that, after all, the enginery and propelling power in this wonderful land is not tropical but Anglo-Saxon. Wherever there is 144 HONOLULU. directing energy, or organizing power, or enterprise, or action, or application, there the Anglo-Saxon is the moving spirit. He is in the church, the school, the counting- room ; on the railroad and the steamer ; at the dry-dock and the foundry; in the lumberyard, at the mill, on the tow-boat. He is at the wharf when you land, on the street as you pass, at the hotel when you register. Nothing goes on successfully without him. He fills your teeth, and cuts your hair, and mends your shoes, and builds your house, and shoes your horses, and mends your coffee-pot, and sells you furniture and medicines, and hardware, and fits your clothes, and takes your pic- ture, and you rub against him everywhere, at least where anything is going on. He wears a summer suit twelve months in a year, but rarely looks tropical in any particu- lar. There is a seeming incongruity between the luxuriant tropic growth of plants and trees, and the presence of people from a northern clime who yield with less grace to the amenities of tropic costume than do Yankees in Havana. GENIUS OF THE FOREIGNER. Such is the Anglo- Saxon whose home is in this land of sunshine. And yet, though he retains to the full his race characteristics, and walks or sits beneath the palms and gorgeous flow- ering trees as he would beneath the elms and maples of his native land, seeming indeed to be a foreigner in the HONOLULU. 145 presence of this unique vegetation, he is yet its author, having made Honolulu what it is by his enterprise in in- troducing foreign plants and in encouraging their growth. Most people do not realize this. They do not know that when the white man came, Honolulu was a treeless, sandy plain, with a fringe of cocoanut trees along the shore. Honolulu, as it is to-day, is the creation of the foreigner. It is his handiwork. Great trees that look as though they might have had fifty years of growth were planted by people who are barely middle-aged. Walk into one of the numerous yards where plants and trees and vines are growing, as though on their native soil, and you will find that every one of them has been im- ported within a comparatively recent period. Almost every quarter of the subtropical world has been laid under tribute. Here is the rubber tree, the banyan, the baobab, the litchee, the avocado, the mango, and palms innumer- able. Here are also the brilliant and gaudy bougainvillaea, the prolific plumeria, the night-blooming cereus, and the bright and attractive crotons. We have in this a pleasing and truthful illustration of the beneficent transformations that the enterprise of foreigners has effected in Hawaii. From the days of Vancouver, the foreign residents have been tireless in aiding the introduction of ornamental and useful plants, and greatly to the advantage of the people and the country. The enterprise of foreigners in intro- 146 HONOLULU. ducing new plants, has been very effectually supplemented by some of the wealthier Hawaiians, who, it must be con- fessed, bear off the palm for attractive and well-kept grounds. SIZE OF HONOLULU. The city is long and narrow, being about three miles long on the seaside and about half a mile wide, and extending nearly two miles into Nuuanu Valley, on the land side, with an average width of about half a mile. The houses are rarely occupied by more than a single family, and in general the yards about each dwelling are ample. This affords an agreeable roominess which accounts for the disparity between the apparently extensive area and the comparatively small population of the city, the latter being barely twenty-five thousand. The streets are broad and ample, except in the older and business sections, where, of all places, they should be wide, but where, in fact, they are lamentably narrow and unsuited to the city's needs. The private residences are attractive and are every year being constructed more in accordance with the privileges of the climate. The lanai or veranda is the distinctive feature in Honolulu house construction. It is being gradually evolved into a novel room of three sides, broad and airy, and open on one side, with a protecting screen that can be lowered as required. An afternoon tea on a lanai, open towards one's garden, or perchance towards the sea, with orchids and choice ferns HONOLULU. 147 for decorations, and a delicious breeze for inspiration, is one of the treats of tropical life. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. All the machinery of govern- ment, excepting that of the most purely local nature, is located at Honolulu. There is no municipal government. All authority and legislation and responsible administration centres at the capital. The public buildings used for government purposes are chiefly the Executive building, formerly the Palace ; the Judiciary building, formerly the Government building, and the Station-house. These buildings are all constructed of cement concrete, and are all creditable buildings, the two former being handsome structures, with ample and ornamental grounds. The Oahu prison belongs to the old order, being built, as was customary in early days, of slabs of coral concrete, cut for the building from the reef. Many of the buildings in the business section are built of brick, as is also the Hon- olulu Library building, and that of the Y. M. C. A., as well as the large native church called Kaumakapili. The Ma- sonic Hall, the Safety Deposit building, the handsome Central Union Church, are all built of the Kamehameha stone, a hard basaltic lava quarried on the grounds of the Kamehameha School, in the construction of whose build- ings it was first brought into use. PUBLIC WORKS. Honolulu has been dependent until the past year on a system of storing surface water 148 HONOLULU. for its water supply. Large reservoirs have been con- structed in the Upper Nuuanu Valley, and these have proved adequate in the supply of water for fire purposes as well as for drinking and irrigation of lawns, until within recent years. The success at Ewa plantation in employ- ing enormous pumps in sending artesian water into the cane fields, has led the government to install a large pump and to utilize artesian water for the city supply, and with admirable results. The city is lighted by electric arc-lights, the electricity being generated by dynamos run by turning water from the Nuuanu reservoirs into the mains at night. A private corporation furnishes incan- descent lighting for stores and residences, and two tele- phone companies number between them over i^oo sub- scribers in a total population of 2^,000. Probably no other place in the world enjoys such telephone facilities in proportion to its population. Marketing, committee- work, gossiping, prescribing for patients, and all manner of routine belonging to household and social needs, is done by means of the convenient telephone. This, of course, has its drawbacks. One does not like to break away from the company of friends at the dinner table, especially if you happen to be the host, to answer through the telephone another friend's question, "What is Miss Smith's address in the States?" Nor is it conducive to the fullest enjoyment of that first sound sleep before o s -- u !- " O *^ "" S ^ U ^ *-" •;i O to i' 3 2 2 5 ■> " o > >» 11 "^ -3 n n oj 1) - be "o S S S3 & OJ to" -> lU 4» 1^^ ^: t;i 1> — j:: -^ -^ > fX 5 -t; -; o o r=5 Ul "* ^ a> 2 o 't; 'l^ rt CO _S "- '^ « ti c 'H »-• . -^ K O ' ^ 0) ^'-^'32 Ch rt &, ;^l >, a, rt 11 3 J^ -^ >. u •4 ;^'' 3 ^ 1-1 cr 1—1 >, u ^n ° a ^ B c ^ o ^ u 3 ^ 3 r/l 3 OJ ^'i ^ ••-' ct! C 1 n 1 pa rr u ^ u r/) W ■^ p5 u ff) n! ^ ■g H OJ Cli 5 u c3 e^ ■r; V i^ 5 3 Di " •-^ 1; u ^ ^ n ^ *—^ ^ ;jh s ^ tt a! E H HONOLULU. 179 here abound ! It is a paradise for the botanist and the lover of nature. All this is due to the abundant rains that make Hilo a veritable garden of delight. Think of an annual rainfall of one hundred and fifty-five inches or one inch less than thirteen feet 1 Stand three good-sized boys, one above another, and the upper boy's eyes could not see above the surface of such a mass of water. And yet Hilo is healthful, and a delightful place to live in. It is here that Mauna Kea bursts out in the morning light in all the glory of his rugged outlines. It is hither that the pilgrims come to visit Kilauea, for Hilo is the gate-way to a not distant inferno that men must reach by passing first through Paradise. COCOANUT ISLAND. Mokuola or Cocoanut Island, just across the bay from Hilo, is a gem of beauty. Its Clustered cocoanut trees make a grove underneath which famous picnics are held. The rough-leaved pandanus trees and the black lava rocks on one side are in striking contrast with the soft manienie grass and the light green water of the cosy cove and the sandy white beach, where the children make their castles in the sand. The native word, Mokuola, means island of life or health, and was given to this beautiful spot because of a certain rock under water in the cove which possessed life or health- giving properties. Any one who was ill, so the story goes, by swimming under water three times around this i8o HONOLULU. rock would be healed of his sickness. Natives come to this spot even now to gain exemption from various diseases. This island was the scene of a legendary exploit in which Kalanikupule, the last king of Oahu, figures in a more heroic role than in that last fatal encounter at Nuuanu Pali. It seems that he was enamored of a beautiful prin- cess, the reputed daughter of Kamehameha, who guarded her with jealous eye and spurned the lover's suit. Learning that Kamehameha was staying at Mokuola with his daugh- ter and some of his bravest chiefs, Kulanikupule sailed with a few chosen warriors from Oahu, stealing by night along the Hamakua and Hilo coast in his war-canoe, and arriving at Mokuola when Kamehameha and his warriors were soundly sleeping. Stepping lightly ashore and pick- ing his way among the prostrate forms, he reached the slumbering princess, raised her to his arms, steathily re- treated, gained his canoe and started proudly on his home- ward trip, arriving safely at Oahu, while Kamehameha chagrined and angry chafed and fumed at the audacity and triumph of his foe. The romance of Mokuola still survives. The waters of Hilo Bay still part before the prows of skiffs, and peals of laughter and song are wafted from the magic shores across the moonlit waves. Love still treads tne bleaching sands, a willing captive now. VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. VOLCANIC ORIGIN. The Hawaiian Islands are of volcanic origin. The coral reefs that everywhere abound have been raised on a substratum of lava, and are recent as compared with the general structure of the group. The islands are volcanic peaks and ridges that have been pushed up above the surrounding seas by the profound action of the interior forces of the earth. It must not be supposed, however, that this action has been a violent perpendicular thrust upward over a very limited locality, for the mountains continue to slope at about the same angle under the sea and for great distances on every side, so that the islands are really the crests of an extensive elevation, estimated to cover an area of about 2000 miles in one direction by 1^0 or 200 miles in the other. The process has been a gradual one of up-building probably, by means of which the sea has been receding as the land has steadily risen. Some idea of the mighty forces that have been at work beneath the sea and above it can be gained by considering the enormous mass of material now above the sea-level. Thus, the bulk of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the group, has been estimated by the Hawaiian Surveyor General as containing 2600 cubic 181 1 82 VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. miles of lava rock above sea-level. Taking the area of Hng^and at ^0,000 square miles, this mass of volcanic matter would cover that entire country to a depth of 274 feet. We must remember, however, that what is above sea-level is only a fraction of the amount that sweeps down below the waves hundreds of miles on every side. FISSURES IN EARTH'S CRUST. The generally ac- cepted theory of volcanic action proceeds on the assump- tion that the earth's interior is in a molten condition, and that the molten mass finds outlets through great fissures in the earth's crust. The Hawaiian Islands have been built up about a series of such fissures which are still open, the molten currents still finding vent at Kilauea and Mokuaweoweo on the island of Hawaii. What the forces have been that originally produced the fissures continues to be matter of debate. The authorities do not agree, either, as to the forces that sustain this mighty upheaval that has brought these remarkable islands to the surface and pushed their loftiest peaks into the sky almost three miles above the level of the sea. We simply know that the ocean bed has subsided and that the land has risen. Some have advocated the theory that the subsidence of the sea bottom is due to the withdrawal of the molten mass that supported it. This theory makes the volcanic action the cause of the subsidence of the ocean bed. Others advocate the theory that the uressure that bears a bn be 3 _g i: T .3 « « H ^ « rH bC r^ '' 'o p <1> c t- 3 -^ ? a be 'I' 0) s ;=: 60 f-l O ^' & L^' ^ o ^ • s oj ^ bf ^ ^ O ^ '1-4 ' J> -^15^ ~o ^ S^ fl5 0- -^ .22 =3 5h g flj a a ^ ® In" (U 'c; <^ [o 5 s t. > ^ ^ •^ rfi 'r^ ^ IK rt fe- S 5 'd 7 2 « H ■'- 3 '-I C/l i^Ksdn -^^s.Vl. = b/3 a (/: X Im VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 207 but the lava in the various lakes of Kilauea is never quiescent and is frequently in violent ebullition. This volcano is a pit five or six hundred feet deep, and eight miles in circumference. What a pit it is 1 Down on its floor men look no larger than crows. As we descend, those cliffs at our left beetle over us as though they really were falling. And when the floor is reached and we look up it quite strains the muscles of one's neck. Why, several boastful American cities could be dumped into that pit and never a monument or steeple of them all would show above its rim. Its floor is as black as though a fire had swept across its prairie-like surface, but it glistens and shimmers in the sunshine like a floor of glass. It does not appear so level on nearer approach, but is like an immense ice-floe, the great cakes and slabs of lava being piled up in endless confusion. FLOOR OF THE CRATER. I take my first step on the glistening surface and it crackles under foot like the thin icy crust on snow. The lava, cooling rapidly, forms a thin layer of the nature of glass, hard and sharp but exceedingly brittle. Underneath this vitreous shell the denser lava congeals more slowly, and is heavy as stone, whereas the crust is light as charcoal and nearly as porous. How it sparkles on its nether side! In the sunlight it gives back all the colors of the precious stones — ^amethyst, beryl, ruby, sapphire and emerald. Its surface is com- 2oS VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. paratively smooth, but turn it and the light penetrates millions of opaline cells. This wafer-like crust in some places is only a treacherous covering of concealed fissures and cavities. Crunch, crunch we go in Indian file on our weary three-mile walk. Here is a place where the lava spread out its long fingers like the tentacles of a devil- fish. Here we are reminded of the great hawsers of an ocean steamship, so exactly are all the ropy twistings imi- tated. I break off a small cone, a few inches high, and it is a nest of sulphur crystals. I put my hand into a crack and it is uncomfortably warm. I step on one end of a large slab of lava and it breaks like ice, giving me a fall of six inches or more, — a. thing which somewhat startles me. The smoke rises ahead of us, but we can see nothing more. What will be our sensations when we reach that awful caldron and look down on its rest- less, heaving surface 1 A mile back the guide whets the excitement of the occasion by running to a hillock that is unusually black and glistening, and which proves to be decidedly warm. " That was last night," he says, with beaming face. THE LAKE OF FIRE. The guide leads across fissures that are multiplying about us, and from which hot air rises. This place looks as though it might vomit liquid lava any moment. Here we teeter on a broad cake, that may be the only thing between us and the liquid lava. VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 209 How hollow our feet sound as we step from cake to cake! I hear what sounds like the sea madly booming in a deep cavern. I hear the sizzling of steam. The swash of the surf, and the grinding and crackling of a river breaking up in spring are sounds that become more distinct at each step. The heat is intense. All the way the sun has shone with steady glare, and its rays have been sent back into our faces from the glass-like surface. But now the heat is dry and burns with its breath. Louder and louder are the sounds so strangely mixed. A report deep as of a cannon is followed by a rattle of musketry. Just then, we run a few steps to the left, and Halemaumau, the house everlasting, the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, whose fire is not quenched, lies all exposed to view. At the farther end is a red-hot cave into which the lava booms and splashes, and from whose roof hang numberless orange-colored stalactites, just in process of formation, the ends of the longer ones anon bathed in the ebbing and glowing cur- rent, and dripping like melting icicles. Yonder is an island, behind which there is exceptional disturbance. The great surface heaves like billows and, dashing against the walls which inclose the lake, spatters them with great clots of melted stone. Again the lake is as immobile as though frozen. At such limes visitors look with disdain at the brown congealed surface. Where is the turbulent sea of 2IO VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. fire ? they exclaim. Hardly does such a complaint escape when crack I and a seam opens clear across the lake, and a yellowish-red liquid oozes out that looks like boiling molasses. The activity increases. A dozen fountains begin to play. The whole surface palpitates, the cracks multiply, and like a mighty tide the current sets in behind the island, fountains playing at many points over the rapidly changing lake. Halemaumau, now everywhere broken and boiling, begins to rise. The lava moves about in indescribable currents, crowds the narrow passage back of the island, halts a moment, and tips one-third of the mass into the seething lake. It is like the launching of an iron-clad. Liquid tongues of fire leap up and close over it, the gi'eat cakes of congealed lava slide over the place where it disappeared, and the mighty mass continues throbbing until gradually the surface congeals again, and all action seems to cease. As one stands in the hot breathings of that busy caldron, it is easy to recall the graphic imagery of T. B. Aldrich: — " I saw wild figures there, Sometimes it was a castle With turrets all agleam ; A draw bridge, stretching like an arm Across the molten stream ; Gonfalons, and warriors Encased in armor red; And all the legends I had heard Came trooping thro' my head." VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 211 THE GODDESS PELE. When there is unusual com- motion in Kilauea, myriads of thread-like filaments float in the air and fall upon the cliffs, making deposits much resembling matted hair. A single filament over fifteen inches long was picked up by me from my Hilo veranda, having sailed in the air from Mokuaweoweo, a distance of fifty miles. This is the famous Pele's Hair, being the glass-like product of volcanic fires. It resembles Prince Rupert's Drops, and the tradition is that whenever the vol- cano becomes active, it is because Pele, the goddess of this pit, emerges from her fiery furnace and shakes her vitreous locks in anger. This fabled being, according to Emerson, in a paper on The Lesser Hawaiian Gods, "could at times assume the appearance of a handsome young woman, as when Kamapuaa, to his cost, was smitten with her charms when first he saw her with her sisters at Kilauea." This Kamapuaa was a gigantic hog who "could appear as a handsome young man, a hog, a fish, or a tree." "At other times the innate character of the fury showed itself, and Pele appeared in her usual form as an ugly and hateful old hag, with tattered and fire-burnt garments, scarcely concealing the filth and nakedness of her person. Her bloodshot eyes and fiendish counte- nance paralyzed the beholder, and her touch turned him to stone. She was a jealous and vindictive monster, de- lighting in cruelty, and at the slightest provocation over- 212 VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. whelming the unoffending victims of her rage in wide- spread ruin." AT CLOSER RANGE. Notwithstanding the terrific eruptions that have traced their tale of destruction over a large part of Hawaii, it is comparatively safe to venture on to the surface, underneath which a molten tide is rush- ing, or to stand within reaching distance of the palpitating but viscid surface of some of the smaller lakes in the crater of Kilauea. There are premonitory symptoms of approaching eruption that give ample warning to experi- enced persons. Do you wish to study the movement of great lava-flows? Here is a tiny stream, moving slug- gishly on the floor of the crater, and we seat ourselves within three feet of it and watch its progress. The dark crust, only partially congealed at the front of the stream, swells and swells until it opens and exudes molten matter sufficient to cover a square foot, which in turn congeals and grows blacker until the pressure of the heated mass in the conduit underneath again lifts up the crust and spreads itself as before. The direction of the flow de- pends wholly upon the location of the weakest spots in the congealed surface. If that is always at the front, the pressure will cause the lava to go up hill rather than down a steep slope close at hand, down which it certainly would go were the congealed crust on that side weaker than in front. VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 213 Do you wish to hear the weird, uncanny voices from the bottomless pit ? Come with me to yonder cone, fif- teen feet high, that is puffing like a fire-engine. We go up to it, and find that its base is hot and that lava is oozing out of an opening in the side. We thrust our canes into the steam-hole and the cone trembles and roars as though it would blow us out of existence. Just beyond we climb up another cone, and peer down into its interior as well as we can in the face of hot currents and puffs that almost scorch us. Those mumblings and sibilant sounds may well be the language of intangible and hideous furies in the bowels of the earth. Do you wish to touch with your cane the surface of a small lake that is not in ebullition ? Then come with me to South Lake. We clamber over bowlders and slabs of lava that not many weeks ago were a seething mass, and the hot air seems hotter and the way more hazardous when suddenly we find ourselves at the edge of an omi- nously quiet pond of lava, whose surface trembles and whose edges show the highly-heated, orange-colored liquid glowing underneath. We watch with fascination those peculiar palpitations and quiverings so characteristic of viscid bodies at high temperature. The white heat below that thin crust is little less than 3000° Fahrenheit, and yet such an excellent non-conductor is the congealed surface that, although almost beaten back by the heat, we 2 14 VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. actually press that surface with our canes, holding our hats before our faces. REMARKABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF FIRES. The great lake of Halemaumau has been in constant action for ages, and is still the largest active volcano in the world. But in March, 1886, the fires in that ancient caldron totally disappeared, and the immediate vicinity sank to a depth of nearly six hundred feet. As related by Thrum, in a pamphlet on The Suspended Activity of Kilauea, " Dis- tant rumbling noises were heard, accompanied by a series of earthquakes, forty-three in number. With the fourth shock, which was quite severe, the brilliancy of New Lake disappeared, and towards 3 A. M. the fires in Halemaumau disappeared also, leaving the whole crater in darkness. With the dawn the shocks and noises ceased, and revealed the changes which Kilauea had undergone in the night. All the high cliffs surrounding Halemaumau and New Lake, which had become a prominent feature in the crater, had vanished entirely, and the molten lava of both lakes had disappeared by some subterranean passage from the bottom of Halemaumau. There was no material change in the sunken portion of the crater except a continual falling in of rocks and debris from its banks, as the contraction from its former intense heat loosened their compactness and sent them hurling some 200 or 300 feet below, giving forth at times a boom as of distant thunder, THE GREAT CRATER OF KILAUEA.— On the island of Hawaii is {he largest active volcano in the world. The crater of Kilauea is on the slopes of Mauna Loa, four thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is nine miles in circumference, with a depth, at present, of five hundred feet. VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 217 followed by clouds of cinders and ashes shooting up into *he air 100 to 300 feet, proportionate, doubtless, to the size of the newly fallen mass." This remarkable recession of the liquid lava in Hale- maumau presented a vivid illustration of the dying throes of exhausted volcanoes. The Rev. Mr. Baker, probably the most adventuresome explorer of Hawaiian volcanoes, actually descended into that crumbling pit to a point within what he judged to be fifty feet of the bottom. But Hale- maumau had only taken an intermission, and in two short months signs of returning life became frequent and un- mistakable, and in June culminated in the sudden out- break of a lake that has since then steadily increased in activity. SULPHUR DEPOSITS. The vicinity of Kilauea is marked by fissures and cracks and steamholes that have been formed by the violence of earthquakes and the per- sistent pressure of imprisoned gases. Over some of these fissures and holes deposits of sulphur are found, in one instance forming an extensive bed that well repays a visit Such a visit impresses one with the awe that steadily grows in the presence of these hidden forces of the earth. We come to a large bank or mound of decomposed sul- phur crystals, between which and a precipice of basalt we pick our way, anon charmed at the purity and beauty of crystals freshly formed at the mouths of vent-holes. 2iS VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. scalded it may be by the steam that does not congeal, so that we can know when to be on our guard, and pro- foundly shaken in our confidence in things terrestrial as turning the corner of a bowlder we hear unearthly and half-human gurglings under our feet. Really we seem to be nearer the bottomless pit than when looking down upon the fires in Halemaumau, three miles away. FROM CHAOS TO PARADISE. Some one has called attention to a remarkable contrast that can be seen at Kilauea at certain seasons of the year. When the heavy gases hang at night in clouds like reflectors over the glow- ing lakes of Kilauea, clear and beautiful in the unclouded sky shines the incomparable Southern Cross. As we turn from that great pit, a stronger contrast is close at hand. Ample accommodations in a modern-built hotel have afforded us the comforts of easy beds and of well-spread tables, but our eyes have looked out upon the devasta- tion and lurid lights of a terrible abyss from every door and window. We can ride over a good road in a carriage from our hotel to charming Hilo, thirty miles away, and a moment's ride puts that " Deep Hades of the seven Phlegethons " behind us and completely out of sight, and ushers us into a new world of luxuriant tropic verdure. We can not forget nor wholly shut out from our thoughts the scenes left behind, but the memory of them serves to enhance VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 219 the enjoyment of this truly delightful ride. Tall tree-terns bend Denevolently over the ample roadway, and the fra- grance of the woods, and the grateful shade and the occa- sional fluttering of timid birds, and the rare glimpses of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa with their cloaks of snow, render this ride a memorable one. Its attractiveness in- creases as the road nears Hilo. The last woods are dense and high, and there is a truly tropical profusion of vegeta- tion. At last Hilo, with its incomparably beautiful bay, and its grand mountains, and its quiet, shaded streets, and its seclusion from the noisy world, welcomes the tired traveler to all the blessings of an earthly Paradise. After a bath in one of those wonderful Hilo tubs, into which and out of which the limpid streams are forever flowing, you seat yourself on the veranda in a reclining chair where the fragrant odors of roses and plumerias suffuse the air, and listen to the tales of host and hostess about the famous lava-flows and the earthquake experiences of a generation. EARTHQUAKES OF 1868. This eruption was the most remarkable and disastrous one in the history of the Islands. Writes Alexander, "On the 27th of March an eruption began in the summit crater of Mauna Loa, at- tended by a long series of earthquake shocks. At length, en the 2^th of April, a terriric earthquake took place, which shook down every stone wall and nearly every house in 220 VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. Kau, and did more or less damage in every part of Hawaii. Immediately after this earthquake a tremendous wave, forty or fifty feet high, rolled in upon the coast of Kau, sweeping away all the villages from Kaalualu to Keau- hou, and destroying some cocoanut groves. Over eighty persons perished in a few minutes, and the survivors were left destitute and suffering." In the words of Mr. Coan: "The shock filled all Kau, Hilo and Puna with awe and consternation. It seemed as if the very pillars and frame-work of creation would break. For three min- utes, while it continued, I had scarcely a hope for our house or for our town. One. woman was killed near us by a falling bank that buried her. Scores of people escaped as by a miracle, while the rocks were falling around them. The sea came in up to Front Street, and threatened to overwhelm all along the shore. That was a fearful night ; people left their houses and walked the streets or clus- tered under trees or camped in the fields watching foi the morning." In the district of Kau there were said to have been over two thousand shocks from March 28th to April i ith. '* Earthquakes are to me more terrific than volcanic erup- tion," writes Mr. Coan, " because they come so suddenly, giving no warning and no time to escape, while men may usually walk deliberately away from a lava stream, taking many of their precious things with them." Eye-witnesses VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. 223 jf the shocks in Kau, where they were most severely felt, describe them as throwing persons from their feet, and as serving horses and other animals in the same way. Wrote Mr. Lyman, " First the earth swayed to and fro, north and south, then east and west, round and round, then up and down and in every imaginable direction for several minutes, everything crashing around us, the trees thrashing about as if torn by a mighty rushing wind. It was impossible to stand; we had to sit on the ground, bracing with hands and feet to keep from rolling over." LEGEND OF HALAI. It was but natural that such surroundings should develop among the early aborigines a belief in the malignancy of their gods. There are legends, however, that show that there were glimpses of a finer spirit of beneficent service wrought by their deities, as when "Maui sprang upon the sun and broke oft some of his rays, so that he was thereafter obliged to travel at a slower pace through the heavens and furnish a day of sufficient length for kapa drying and other domestic cares." Back of Hilo are three cone craters in a line to the sea. Distressed by a long-continued drought, a Kahuna an- nounced that some one must offer himself as a sacrifice in order to secure rain. One of the most beloved prin- cesses thereupon offered herself and was burned alive. Shortly afterwards one of these hills rose in the place where the sacrifice was made. " Our princess is a god 224 VOLCANOES AND LAVA FLOWS. and is walking to the sea for water for our land," said the people, as another hill rose a little nearer the sea. Later, the last hill, Halai, came up, and then, after patient waiting by the expectant people, copious rains descended and every one rejoiced because their deified princess had reached the sea, and filled the clouds till they burst with welcome showers. HEATHEN OBLATIONS. In 1881, when the roar- ing river which had threatened to overwhelm beautiful Hilo had well-nigh expended its energy and was slowly spreading out but making little progress forward, another princess, neither young nor beautiful, a woman of the grossest physique and of the densest mind, encamped with her retainers on one of these craters close to the lava stream, and performed heathen rites to avert the impend- ing disaster. There was none of the heroic in her act or in any of the surroundings. She broke bottles of brandy on the black lava, and made the goddess Pele presents of silk handkerchiefs and other trifles, and for two weeks conducted incantations on a generous scale. Shortly after the lava ceased flowing altogether. ' The legend of the princess who sacrificed herself, and the act of the princess whose superstition convinced her of the efficacy of incantations, were alike the product of infantile imagination, as compared with the grander con- ception of mighty forces working by design. HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. KAMEHAMEHA'S ARBITRARY REIGN. Kame- hameha I. was a conqueror, subjugating everything to his personal will. So long as he lived, his iron will and mas- terful spirit prevailed over all opposition. He was, more- over, possessed of statesmanlike qualities. He saw the need of buttressing the newly organized monarchy, and so insisted on all the minute requirements of the tabu system relative to the sacredness of the king's person. He likewise made himself supreme by claiming personal ownership of all the land, which he dextrously assigned to his favorite chiefs, to hold at his pleasure, thus attach- ing them to his cause. He moreover made it well-nigh impossible for ambitious chiefs to establish themselves in successful opposition to his rule by assigning each chief land, not in one district but in several, thus avoiding con- centration of power in the hands of any but himself. He shrewdly retained about his person those chiefs whom he distrusted, limiting thus their temptation to sedition. He was an arbitrary ruler, strong, sagacious, alert, but a thorough pagan and a believer in the sacredness of kings. He came to his supreme control through conflict and the disastrous rout of his foes, organizing order and respect 225 2 26 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. for authority in the midst of confusion and internecine warfare ; but, while his conquest brought peace to a war- scourged land, it introduced no new privileges for the common people, but bound them rather in closer sub- serviency to king and chiefs and priests. There was one ruler instead of many, but not the slightest exemption for the people from the burdens of an irksome serfdom. REACTION SETS IN. When the strong hand of Kamehameha unloosed its grasp, it mattered little who came after him. He incarnated in himself the oppressive system that had exhausted itself in its excesses, and when he closed his eyes in death the spell was broken, and the nation broke away from all arbitrary restraints. Kame- hameha's son no sooner found himself at the head of the nation than he threw the weight of his example into the scales against a perpetuation of the tabu system. Kame- hameha's two queens urged the son on to the course that proved popular even among the priests of the old order, and forthwith the nation swung out from under the irk- some restraints of organized heathenism into the utmost license of personal depravity regardless of all conse- quences. This was an opportune moment for the intro- duction of the new forces, individual and social, that came with the Gospel missionaries. But it was a fatal blow to centralized and organized authority. A less violent transi- tion would have conserved the interests of the monarchy. i lOLANI PALACE. — One of the most conspicuous buildings of Honolulu is the lolani Palace, the former residence of the ruler of Hawaii, now used by the present government. It is of pretty, modest architecture, built of brick and covered with cement. It stands in spacious grounds, filled with many varieties of palms and other tropical foliage. HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 229 Although the king himself was the apostle and guide into the lawlessness and dissipation that ensued, his course was in effect a blow at the political prestige of the mon- archy. Henceforth there was to be constant pressure for larger privileges, a pressure that even the throne could not ignore without further loss of prestige and of power. GROWTH OF POLITICAL PRIVILEGE. The cen- tury from 179^, when Kamehameha acquired by conquest the sovereignty of the Islands, to 1893, when the mon- archy in the person of Liliuokalani collapsed by its - own act, marks a gradual growth of political privilege accom- panied by futile attempts to retain royal prerogatives, and in some instances to regain what had been lost. The century, however, is also marked by voluntary conces- sions from the throne that indicated wise statesmanship and a liberal and progressive spirit, notably in the career of Kamehameha III. For twenty-four years Kamehameha the Great held the nation as in a vise. His son, during a short reign of five years, by his dissipation and weak- ness, encouraged turbulence and a rebellious spirit. The accession of Kauikeaouli, the second son of Kamehameha, ushered in a reign that proved in many respects the most beneficent in Hawaiian history. Great credit must be accorded this enlightened prince for so heartily recognizing the principle of popular rights. He might have obstructed and delayed the emancipation of his people, but with his 2r,o HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. large resources as a natural leader he chose to promote the condition of the common people, ihe indirect in- fluence of Gospel teaching induced conditions that he was wise to improve, but which would have brought about inevitably the same results without his aid, albeit not so rapidly and peaceably. BASIS OF POLITICAL UNREST. It was during the reign of Kamehameha III. that the great religious awak- ening occurred. From the terrorism of the ancient tabu system, the common people came out into the light and liberty of a Christian civilization. The profound influence exerted upon the emancipated people 'by the stimulus of new ideas and by personal contact with the remarkable men forming the American mission, can not be overesti- mated as affording the basis for political advancement. Schools sprang up all over the nation. Books were scat- tered among the people. Brought face to face with the great and uplifting truths of the Christian religion, the common people were taught to think, and encouraged to decide and act and helped to bear responsibilities. Politi- ■ cal advancement has more than once in history been built up on the basis of religious progress and enlightenment. The marvellous changes wrought in the nation under Kamehameha III. are inexplicable except as the religious awakening and the consequent intellectual and moral de- velopment of the people furnish the basis. The king was HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 231 affected by the apparent readiness of the common people for a more progressive government, as he was also con- strained by the social and industrial necessity of a read- justment in the ownership of land. He was in touch with his times, and his reign, the longest of any Hawaiian monarch, covering a period of twenty-nine years, was the golden era of the Hawaiian race. THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. Though the first Ha- waiian Constitution was the free gift of Kamehameha III. to his people, it is worthy of note that he was aided in its drafting by graduates of the highest school in the nation, whose acquired ideas of government had marked influence in shaping that instrument. The king thus conceded to his subjects at the outset a share in formulating the funda- mental law of the land. By this constitution a legislative branch of the government was constituted, consisting of fifteen hereditary nobles and seven representatives, elected by the people. For the first time, Hawaiian subjects were thus accorded a legitimate participation in the govern- ment. The granting of this constitution naturally led to legislation improving the condition of the people, and equalizing the burdens of taxation. Thus all arbitrary taxes and all arbitrary forced labor were done away with, and the right of individuals distinctly outlined. The spirit of this constitution may be inferred from the follow- ing quotation : " Protection is hereby assured to the per- 232 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. sons of all the people, together with their lands, their building lots, and all their property, while they conform to the laws of the kingdom, and nothing whatever shall be taken from any individual except by express provision of the law." That the mass of the people did not com- prehend the importance of this concession made it none the less a remarkable advance in popular rights, laying the foundations for subsequent concessions of even greater political privilege. Whatever its effect on the monarchy, it was a wise and patriotic measure. CONSTITUTION OF 18^2. The constitution of 1840 came directly from the king as a gratuitous grant to his people. Twelve years of constitutional government, albeit crudely organized and administered, was like an era of education to the people in the rights and privilges of citi- zenship, and so, when steps were taken in 18^2 to draft a new and better constitution, we are hardly surprised to note that it was the legislature that provided for a com- mission for that purpose. We are not surprised greatly to note also that in this commission the king, the nobles, and the representatives were each given a voice, being each represented by a commission of their own. The nature of this constitution likewise shows the prodigious strides taken in constitutional privilege. In two important par- ticulars the constitution of i8p was a great advance on that of 1840. The representatives were increased in HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 233 number, and were allowed the privilege of sitting in a separate house, with their own parliamentary organiza- tion. The adoption of this constitution by nobles and representatives, and its signature by the king, fairly inau- gurated a liberal constitutional government under auspi- cious conditions. Thus far we have sound political evolution without any of the conflicts and antagonisms that have elsewhere marked the progress of constitutional government. But the basis had been laid for friction that was sure to follow under less progressive and patriotic monarchs. PERILS FROM WITHOUT. It was during the reign of Kamehameha III. that the nation passed through the strain of foreign interference which, on several occa- sions, endangered the autonomy of Hawaii. It was fortunate that the king was patriotic and discreet, for a headstrong or a vacillating or a cowardly ruler, in spite of shrewd and weighty counsel, would have precipitated the downfall of the monarchy and wrecked the indepen- dence of the nation. This foreign interference had its real source in the mutual jealousies of France and England, both nations being busily engaged in acquiring new pos- sessions in the Pacific. Both nations were undoubtedly encouraged in their encroachments by the absence, at that time, of any pronounced policy on the part of the United States toward those islands. The practical failure of either 234 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. nation to impair the sovereignty of Hawaii was due mainly to the helpful counsel and service of foreign resi- dents, and to the timely recognition by the United States of the autonomy of Hawaii and of its purpose to sustain that autonomy. FRENCH AGGRESSIONS. The ostensible reason for French interference in the government of Hawaii was the protection of French residents in the enjoyment of reli- gious privileges. The king and the chiefs in 1837 "issued a severe ordinance rejecting the Catholic religion, which forbade the teaching of that religion, or the landing of any teacher of it except in cases of necessity." This position, however, under the pressure of better counsels from Pro- testant missionaries and others, was abandoned and an edict of toleration was issued June 17, 1839. On July 9, 1839, the French frigate Artemise, Capt. Laplace, arrived at Honolulu, for the purpose of putting an end "to the ill-treatment to which the French have been victims at the Sandwich Islands." Without making any investiga- tion, Laplace formulated several demands, exacting the immediate payment of twenty thousand dollars as a guar- antee of future good conduct towards France. *' If the king and chiefs refuse to sign the treaty I present, war will immediately commence, and all the devastations and calamities which may result shall be imputed to them alone." Foreign residents came to the aid of the HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 235 government in loaning money to meet this demand. Tliat the ostensible reason for these demands was not the real one appears in the fact that Laplace, two days afterwards, insisted on the unconditional signing of a new treaty affording French residents privileges not accorded to other foreign residents. Three years later similar demands were formulated by Capt. Mallet, of the French corvette Em- buscade. "The king made a courteous and dignified reply," writes Alexander, " assuring Capt. Mallet that com- plete religious toleration was secured by the constitution and laws of his kingdom, and that if there had been any instances of abuse, they were not authorized by the gov- ernment, and that the courts of justice were open to all, and would afford redress if appealed to. In conclusion, he informed Capt. Mallet that an embassy had been sent to France to ask for a new treaty." Seven years later Admiral De Tromelin submitted ten demands, the king at once responding, " that the courts of the kingdom were open for the redress of all grievances, and that until justice had been denied by them there could be no occasion for diplomatic interference." The French Admiral immediately took possession of the fort, dismantling it, confiscating all the shipping and destroying everything in the governor's house. This French occupation lasted for ten days, after which the admiral sailed away. Two years later the French Commissioner again presented the same tea 2^.6 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. ■o demands. This led to the preparation of a proclamation by the king, from which we quote : " Finding our rela- tions with France so oppressive to my kingdom, so incon- sistent with its rights as an independent state, and so obstructive of all our endeavors to administer the govern- ment of our islands with equal justice with all nations and equal independence of all foreign control, and des- pairing of equity and justice from France, hereby proclaim as our royal will and pleasure that all our islands and ali our rights as sovereign over them are from date hereof placed under the protection and safeguard of the United States of America until some arrangement can be made to place our said relations with France upon a footing compatible with my rights as an independent sovereign under the laws of nations and compatible with my treaty engagements with other foreign nations; or, if such ar- rangements be found impracticable, then is our wish and pleasure that the protection aforesaid under the United States of America be perpetual." The knowledge that this proclamation was drawn up, and waiting only the inser- tion of the date to make it operative, led to the with- drawal of the French demands, which have never since been presented. ENGLISH AGGRESSIONS. The ostensible reason for English interference was to secure the protection of English residents in certain land-claims, which, with a i PRINCESS KaIULANI.— She is the daughter of Mr. Cleghorn, a Scotchman, who has resided in Honolulu for many years, and Like-Like, a sister of the ex-Queeii Liliuokalani. Like-Like died in 18S7. She was appointed heir apparent to the throne of Hawaii by Liliuokalani in 1891. HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 239 single exception, were afterward acknowledged to be un- just. On February 10, 1843, the British frigate Carysfort, commanded by Lord George Paulet, arrived at Honolulu. Lord Paulet, a few days after, sent peremptory demands accompanied by the threat that if they were not immedi- ately complied with, " coercive steps would follow." The King responded that ambassadors had been sent to Eng- land with full power to settle ail difficulties, but that he would comply with the demands made until the British government should be heard from. Subsequent pressure from Lord Paulet convinced the King that the seizure of the Islands was intended, and he accordingly ceded them temporarily, pending an appeal to the British government. Just forty-nine years after the cession to Vancouver, the British colors were again hoisted, and a British Commis- sion assumed control of the government. This continued for five months, until the arrival of Admiral Thomas, who disavowed the seizure of the Islands by Paulet, and on July 31st restored again the Hawaiian flag, causing the British men-of-war to salute it with twenty-one guns. REAL INTENT OF FOREIGN INTERFERENCE. Writing in 1873, Hon. S. N. Castle, a man long in confiden- tial relations with the different sovereigns, and on intimate terms with foreign representatives at Honolulu, said, " It has been stated to the writer that Capt. Laplace, in 1839, did not expect that the ^20,000 demanded by him could 240 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. be raised, and that in failure thereof he would take posses- sion, as he had just done at Tahiti. Such is also believed to have been the intention of Capt. Mallet in 1842. The occupation by the British in 1843 was to anticipate French occupation, which they believed to have been determined upon, as was stated by one of the British Commissioners to the writer at the time. That occupation, however, having taken place, would have continued, as stated by Lord Aberdeen to Mr. Richards, if the Admiral had not already restored the flag. And it is stated that the Admiral was moved to do this when he did, because Lord Paulet did not send his despatches to him as he should have done, but sent them directly to the foreign office." Edward Everett, then American Minister to England, wrote from London to the State Department, August i^, 1843, "Had France got possession of the islands, she would certainly have retained them. Had intelligence been received here of Lord George Paulet's occupation of them before the promise was given to recognize them, England, I think, would not have given them up." It is worthy of note that Commodore Kearney, of the United States frigate Constellation, arriving at Honolulu on the 6th of July, issued a protest against the cession, and when his vessel was visited by Governor Kekuanaoa and the young chiefs, he saluted them under the Hawaiian flag, thus greatly irritating Lord Paulet. It is also worthy HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 241 of record that Dr. Judd, the King's confidential counsellor, fearing the seizure of the royal archives, secretly removed them to the royal tomb, where, in the words of Jarves, "surrounded by the former sovereigns of Hawaii, and using the coffin of Kaahumanu for a table, for many weeks he nightly found an unsuspected asylum for his labors in behalf of the Kingdom." EFFECT OF FOREIGN INTERFERENCE. The French and English aggressions, covering a period of twelve years, and terminating only about three years before the death of Kamehameha III., led to three distinct results affecting the future of Hawaii. In the first place, the na- tion recognized its inability to cope with serious difficulties without the advice and aid of its foreign residents. To these men largely belongs the credit of preserving the monarchy and of maintaining the autonomy of Hawaii. But, in the second place, it is clear that in spite of the effective service rendered by these men, Hawaii demon- strated its inability to maintain its national existence inde- pendent of the protection of some strong foreign power. In the light of these events, Hawaiian independence was a figment, and men came to realize this both in Hawaii and in the United States. In the third place, the king became discouraged on account of the demands made upon him by foreign powers, and himself became an ad- vocate of annexation to the United States as a solution of 242 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. all governmental difficulties. During his reign his people had decreased in number fifty per cent. This discouraging fact, added to the perils threatening the national existence, brought many to look forward to annexation as inevitable and to be desired. We have elsewhere spoken of the broad-minded statesmanship of Kamehameha III. in granting homesteads to the common people. In every way he contributed to the political and industrial advancement of his people, and deserves honor above all the sovereigns of Hawaii, not even excepting the great Kamehameha himself. In the early years of his reign he was dissipated, but later he recovered himself and wrought wisely for his people. Oppressed by the decadence of the race, and the extinc- tion of the chiefs and the perplexities of government, he relapsed into the excesses of his youth and died amid the universal mourning of the nation. RETURN TO AUTOCRATIC RULE. The close of the brief and uneventful reign of Kamehameha IV. ushered in the sway of the imperious and self-willed Kamehameha V., the last of the Kamehameha dynasty. Writes Alexander, " He had inherited somewhat of the first Kamehameha's strength of will and practical shrewdness, and had shown considerable administrative ability as Minister of the Inte- rior during the previous reign. He had been opposed to some of the liberal reforms of Kamehameha III.'s reign, PAPAIA TREE— The tall straight stem of the Papaia runs up to a height trom twenty to thirty feet, its small, greenish white flowers are hardly noticeable amongst the green foliage. At the base of the long-stemmed leaf is the fruit, in all stages of develop- ment. The Papaia when ripe looks much like a small vellow pumpkin, with the flavor of this vegetable blended with that of a musk melon. HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 245 believing that his countrymen were not yet fitted to enjoy such privileges. His reign was marked by bitter party contests. It was his policy to place able men who were in sympathy with his views at the head of affairs, and to give them a steady support." It was characteristic of the man that he began his reign by refusing to take the oath to support the constitution. That product of Kamehameha Ili.'s liberal statesmanship had never commended itself to the new king and he used the first opportunity to modify its provisions, hitting upon the device of a constitutional convention, elected by the people. Unwilling to ignore the suffrage rights of the people, perhaps, because he feared the antagonisms that would thus be awakened, perhaps, because he felt con- fident that he could employ to his own advantage the an- cient reverence for chiefs, he shrewdly undertook to gain his point at the ballot-box, and so went among the people 'Electioneering, explaining and defending the changes he wished to make in the constitution. CONSTITUTION OF 1864. "The convention met July 7, 1864, being composed of sixteen nobles and twenty-seven elected delegates, presided over by the king in person. After a week's debate it was decided that * the three estates' should sit together in one chamber. The next question was whether the convention had the right to proceed to make a new constitution, which was finally 246 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. decided in the affirmative. After a long discussion on the proposed property qualification for voters, the king's patience broke down, and on the 13th of August, 1864, he declared the constitution of 1852 abrogated, and pro- rogued the convention." The people submitted with as good grace as possible, but a similar usurpation of extra- constitutional power, thirty years later, accomplished the downfall of the monarchy. Kamehameha V. set the gait for those who were to follow him in breaking down the prestige and power of the throne by resorting to reac- tionary and arbitrary measures. Just one week after the prorogation of the convention, the king, on his own authority, promulgated a constitution in accordance with his ideas. That constitution remained in force until the encroachments of Kalakaua, under cover of its authority, induced a popular uprising that resulted in the compul- sory promulgation of the liberal constitution of 1887. SEGREGATION OF LEPERS. The imperious rule of Kamehameha V. was not without beneficial effects. Leprosy first made its appearance in 1853, but it had spread to such an extent in 1864 that segregation became necessary for the public safety. It is doubtful whether a weaker or less autocratic king could have successfully put into operation the laws necessitated by rigid segrega- tion of the lepers. Segregation never has had popular approval. The opposition to it under Kalakaua made it I HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 247 politic for him to adopt a less vigorous policy and to ignore its requirements. Kamehameha V., however, was auto- crat enough to carry through any measure that met his approval. He saw the wisdom of restricting the dread disease and so ordered it to be done. This was a vast benefit to the nation, though later the political necessities of Kalakaua made the policy well-nigh inoperative. It is doubtful whether after his reign a policy of segregation could have been successfully instituted up to the present time, so unpopular has the policy always been. While we recognize his wisdom, and congratulate Hawaii on this act of personal autocracy to which he was urged by foreign counsel, we are not blind to the effect of that action in pit- ting the people against the throne, and in thus hastening the downfall of the monarchy. Great good was accom- plished by Kamehameha V.'s course in this delicate duty, but among his unthinking and impressionable subjects that course was obnoxious and counted as an active factor in lessening loyalty to the crown. ANNEXATION SENTIMENT. The action of Kame- hameha III. in taking steps at the close of his reign for the annexation of the Islands to the United States was the initial point in a discussion of this question throughout the reign of Kamehameha V. There were advocates of a reciprocity treaty between the two countries, but there was a strong sentiment favorable to annexation. There 248 HAWAIIAN MONARCMY. was marked opposition both in Hawaii and in the United States Senate to a treaty of reciprocity on the score that it would operate against the annexation of the Islands, which was deemed more desirable. Wrote Secretary Seward to the American Minister at Honolulu, September 12, 1867: "Circumstances have transpired here which induce the belief that a strong interest, based upon a desire for annexation of the Sandwich Islands, will be active in opposing a ratification of the reciprocity treaty. It will be argued that the reciprocity will tend to hinder and defeat an early annexation, to which the people of the Sandwich Islands are supposed to be now strongly inclined. It is proper that you should know that a lawful and peaceful annexation of the islands to the United States, with the consent of the people of the Sandwich Islands, is deemed desirable by this government; and that if the policy of annexation should really conflict with the policy of reci- procity, annexation is in every case to be preferred." The sentiment favorable to annexation here referred to, is again mentioned in Minister Pierce's letter to Secretary Hamilton Fish, February 17, 1873, two months after the death of Kamehameha V.: "Annexation of these islands to the United States, and a reciprocity treaty between the two countries are two important topics of conversation and warm discussion among government officials and foreign residents." TREE FERNS.— The "Tree Fern" vies o/ith the pahn i.i iAT::ce aiu leaut}'. Nothing can be more exquisite than a grove of tliese trees, with their long feath- ery fronds shading from the darkest to the most delicate green. The rough brown trunk is nearl\ always covered with many small varieties of ferns. HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 251 The occasion of this agitation was the rapidly-grow- ing conviction that in the near future Hawaii must, from sheer inability, abandon its pretensions to an independent national existence and seek alliance with some strong nation. The last of the Kamehamehas was on the throne. No successor had been named by him. The order of high chiefs was about extinct. Changed social and indus- trial conditions were fast introducing new elements in the population. The native race was fast disappearing. The political evolution that had been proceeding so rapidly under Kamehameha III. had been brought to an abrupt halt by a single autocratic will, and no one knew what would follow his demise. There was ground for fore- boding that good government was about to be jeopardized. Even the king on his death-bed exclaimed : " What is to become of my poor country I There is no one to follow me. Queen Emma I do not trust; Lunalilo is a drunkard; and Kalakaua is a fool." Is it surprising that intelligent Hawaiians as well as foreign residents of all nationalities have foreseen the downfall of the monarchy, and have been casting about for forty years for the solution of the problem of government that most men saw was inevi- tably being thrust upon the nation ? Is it surprising that the best citizens have uniformly recognized that an alli- ance with the United States was the manifest destiny of Hawaii ? " 2^2 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. ELECTIVE KINGS. From feudal chiefs with abso- lute power over the bodies of landless commoners, to monarchs elected by modern political methods, was cer- tainly a remarkable transformation in little more than a generation. One week after the king's death, Lunalilo, one of the highest of surviving chiefs, appealed to the people in the approaching election to vote for members of the Legislature who should be instructed to elect him king. His rival, Kalakaua, likewise issued manifestoes of the most obsequious tenor, for the first time injecting into the elections the element of race hatred. He promised, if elected, to repeal the poll-tax, and to put native Hawaiians into the government offices. " Beware of the constitution of i8p and the false teaching of the foreigners." A wave of popular enthusiasm for **the people's king" resulted in the well-nigh unanimous election of Lunalilo to the throne, much to the discomfiture of Kalakaua, who forth- with sought to foster popular discontent at every oppor- tunity. To gain popularity, he fell in with the general disapproval of the segregation policy and of the proposed cession of Pearl River Harbor to the United States. He was supposed to have fomented the mutiny among the household troops, which Lunalilo with difficulty sup- pressed. After a year's brief reign, marked by popular agitation that greatly weakened the government and en- couraged political confusion, Lunalilo died and Kalakaua HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 253 was duly elected his successor. It was charged, and gen- erally believed, that he was elected by the use of bribes. KALAKAUA UNPOPULAR. As soon as it was known that the Legislature had elected Kalakaua to the throne, a large mob of natives besieged the court-house and assaulted the members. The mob was dispersed by United States troops from two men-of-war in the har- bor, and the same troops protected the newly-elected king against attack from his own people for a period of eight days thereafter. Kalakaua was a disciple of the auto- cratic Kamehameha V., adopting his ideas of absolutism, but retaining little of the former's practical good sense. Kamehameha V. ruled by the very dominance of his strong will; Kalakaua, built on a less noble plan, was com- pelled to resort to chicanery to accomplish his ends, being unscrupulous and insincere and without moral fiber. His people knew his character and did not trust him. His election was mainly due to American influence, his com- petitor. Queen Emma, the widow of Kamehameha IV., being wholly under English influence and strongly averse to closer commercial relations with the United States. Kalakaua was known as "the foreigner's king," both because of American influence securing his election, and because of American protection until he was established on the throne. The problem that faced him at the outset was how to conciliate his subjects and win their adhe- 254 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. rence. This was to be done without alienating the sup- port of foreign residents, at least until he had his own people back of him. A man of better instincts would have taken up this task in a patriotic spirit. Kalakaua was not competent to deal with the situation except in a way suicidal to the monarchy, and vastly injurious to his native subjects. POLITICAL EFFECT OF RECIPROCITY. The English residents, and Queen Emma's adherents in the Legislature, bitterly opposed the treaty of reciprocity with the 1 Jnited States, on the ground that it was a step toward annexation. One of the effects of the operation of mat treaty, however, was to silence the discussion of annex- ation, and thus to remove from the political arena one of the vexed questions of the day. This was contin- gent, however, on the duration of the advantages of said treaty, and later, when those advantages ceased, the ques- tion of annexation came inevitably to the front again. The remarkable financial benefits of the treaty had an effect also in encouraging a spirit of forbearance toward the monarchy in courses that otherwise would have been less leniently dealt with. On the other hand, the rapidly- increasing revenues evoked a spirit of extravagance in pu1)Iic expenditures that pandered to the king's whims, an/\ in turn furnished him with political leverage that he was not slow to utilize to his own advantage. He HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 255 became the agent of all political preferment. He became the centre of political bribery. He made it worth while for opponents to consult his wishes, and he was not averse to using public office as a reward for supporting his schemes. His hospitality was lavish, and he always had a large reti- nue of dependents who shared his good fortune. The effect of the reciprocity treaty, in one respect, was to fur- nish the king with means to overcome his unpopularity with his own people. The nation's prosperity was claimed to be due to his wise rule. Only the staunchest natives could withstand the seductions of his political rewards. HAWAII FOR HAWAIIANSl Up to the reign of Kalakaua Hawaiian kings had uniformly sought the coun- sel and service of able foreigners in the administration of the government. Only one Hawaiian, Lot Kamehameha, afterwards Kamehameha V., had held a cabinet position. Hawaiian sovereigns had been unwilling to forego the ser- vices of foreigners in offices of responsibility and trust. Foreigners, born in the country, and skilled in the Hawaiian language, were frequently elected to the Legislature by Hawaiian constituencies in preference to candidates of their own nationality. Kalakaua set himself to work to under- mine the confidence of natives in foreigners, hoping thus to curry popularity among his own people. Although he had put himself forward in his race with Lunalilo as the anti-American champion, he gladly depended on the 256 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. support of foreigners during the early years of his reign. Later, when i(. served his purpose, he did not fail to ap- peal again to race jealousy, seeking to create it where it had no previous existence. The political evolution of the race had been rapid, and he knew how to turn its next development to his own advantage. Before his election he was little better than other young Hawaiians about Honolulu, and the effect of his elevation to the throne was to encourage a belief among Hawaiians that the time had come for them to administer all offices of trust and responsibility. He seized the opportunity to win to him- self all ambitious Hawaiians by starting the cry " Hawaii for Hawaiians." He sedulously cultivated the intensest race hatred, constantly feeding it by secret agencies, and making it the decisive factor in elections. REVIVAL OF HEATHENISM. The most subtle political influence wielded by Kalakaua was his systematic encouragement of hundreds of Kahunas in reviving an- cient superstitions. The motive was a two-fold one. He sought to counteract the influence of the churches, inas- much as the Hawaiian churches condemned his immor- ality and were sources of opposition to many of his political schemes. He further sought to throw about himself something of the sacred regard in which ancient chiefs were held. Wherever he went his train of attend- ants chanted obscene songs and danced lewd dances. He HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 257 actually schemed to make himself the head of a Hawaiian Church. He organized a secret society with pagan rites, partly to pander to his depravity, but also to serve his political purposes. Few Hawaiians, even in the churches, had the stamina to resist the sinister influences emanating from the palace. Kalakaua attracted young Hawaiians by holding out the promise of public office. He held others to his schemes by shameless bribery. He stifled the op- position of some by rewards, and of others by intimida- tion. So effectively did he push his advantage in reviving ancient superstitions, that his influence permeated every hamlet, and those who dared to vote against his candi- dates did not dare to confess they had so voted. Kala- kaua's conquest of his people was not immediate, but it was well-nigh complete. Whatever spirit of unrest and agitation remained among the people he successfully turned against foreigners, and crystalized animosities that have since led the monarchy into collapse. DEBASING THE ELECTORATE. Political prefer- ment, race jealousy and superstitious sentiment, could none of them avail to overcome the stalwart and sturdy opposi- tion of some Hawaiians. These men were the hope of the race. The spirit shown by them in resisting the king's blandishments and in spurning his intimidations was what was needed in holding the race to a wise political develop- ment. But eventually Kalakaua triumphed over even these ^SS HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. men. He went personally to one country district with a company of soldiers, and by their votes defeated Filipo, the Lion of North Kona, Kalakaua's staunchest opponent in the Legislature. He stationed soldiers with side-arms in double rows at polling-places, intimidating voters an.i pushing men out of line who were suspected of opposi- tion to his schemes, thus forcibly preventing their voting. He appointed legislators to lucrative government positions while they continued to retain seats in the Legislature. These men he employed to carry through the Legislature pernicious and extravagant legislation in opposition to the will of the people. He used the royal franking privilege to pass through the custom-house, free of duty, liquors belonging to certain firms, for which service he received hundreds of cases of cheap gin, which he sent to every voting precinct to secure the election of his candidates to the Legislature. In the election of 1886, out of twenty- eight government candidates, twenty-six were office- holders. Wholesale bribery was of common occurrence. Out of this debasement of the electorate, Kalakaua emerged absolute ruler, with no recourse for the people except in open revolution. THE BAUBLE BURSTS. After reigning nine years, Kalakaua's coronation was observed with great ceremony. "Three years were spent in preparation for the great event, and invitations were sent to all rulers and potentates HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 261 on earth to be present in person or by proxy. This cere- mony was boycotted by a large part of the foreign com- munity, as an expensive and useless pageant, intended to aid the king's political schemes to make himself an absolute monarch. The printer of the Coronotion Hula programme, which contained the subjects and first lines of songs, was prosecuted and fined by the court on account of their gross and incredible obscenity." On the occasion of the king's fiftieth birthday, the legislature appropriated ^15,000 for a jubilee celebration. Orders were sent out for all office-holders to bring pres- ents. The Prime Minister capped the sheaf by presenting a pair of elephant's tusks, mounted on a stand of native wood, bearing the inscription, "The horns of the righteous shall be exalted." That evening a ball was held in the Palace, concluding with lewd dances, which gave offense even to the frequenters of the Palace. Laying claim to "the primacy of the Pacific," he bought an old vessel for ^20,000, expended ^^0,000 in repairs, appointed the principal of the Reform School admiral, and his pupils marines, and sent her off as a man-of-war with an embassy to establish a protectorate over Samoa. He sold exemptions to lepers, permitting them to go unmo- lested; he leased government lands to himself, contrary to law ; compelled the misapplication of road money, and, finally, accepted a bribe of ^79,000 from a Chinaman 262 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. named Aki, for an opium license, which he had already sold and delivered to another Chinaman, who had given the king a bribe of $80,000 for it. These rapidly culmi- nating events solidified public sentiment and brought the king to an abrupt halt. REFORM MOVEMENT. Under Kalakaua's baneful influence the native electorate lost its independence. It was utterly demoralized by the centralizing and corrupting influences of the Palace. It was no longer a potent factor in securing good government. Henceforth good govern- ment must depend on the active participation of intelligent foreign residents in the privileges of citizenship. With few exceptions they did not possess suffrage rights. The caprice of the crown led to the denial of naturalization to respectable foreigners of long residence. Such men as Dole and Thurston and Smith had the suffrage by right of birth, and being repeatedly returned to the Legislature by native constituencies, had been influential in defeat- ing or modifying some of the most pernicious schemes broached in the Legislature by the king's agents. Under the comparatively wholesome reign of the Kamehameha dynasty there had arisen no occasion for foreigners to feel the need of suffrage rights to protect their interests. The course of events under Kalakaua's expensive and puerile administration demonstrated the need of a corrective ballot in the hands of intelligent men who were identified with HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 263 the best interests of the land, and who could not be cajoled nor bribed nor intimidated. A secret league was formed, each member pledging to equip himself with a Springfield rifle and sixty rounds of ammunition, and to hold himself in readiness to obey the summons of a Council of Thirteen, to whom was entrusted the direction of the movement. The object was to establish a republic by dethroning Kalakaua. The Honolulu Rifles, a volunteer organization, was made up almost to a man of members of the league. On June 30th, 1887, the patience of the foreign element having exhausted itself, an enthusiastic mass meeting passed resolutions to the effect " that the administration of the Hawaiian government has ceased, through corruption and incompetence, to perform the func- tions and afford the protection to personal and property rights for which all governments exist," and exacting of the king specific pledges, within twenty-four hours, of future good conduct on the basis of a new constitution. It was expected that a struggle would ensue. No one expected the abject surrender by the king that followed. He sought to pass the control of things over into the hands of the diplomatic representatives. They refused to com- ply with his request, and advised him to satisfy tne demands of the committee of thirteen appointed by the mass meeting. Twenty minutes before the expiration of the allottea time ne sent his representative to the com- 264 HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. mittee to announce his compliance with the demands of the citizens. Henceforth the monarchy was on probation, its prestige was broken. Public opinion and not mon- archical autocracy was hereafter to guide the government. Any return to absolutism would be fatal to the throne. Such was the spirit engendered among foreign residents, the parties most directly and vitally interested in compe- tent and honest administration. Their position was ratified at the subsequent election by the native population, who, realizing that the power of the throne was broken, returned representatives from every district favorable to the new constitution and government. CONSTITUTION OF 1887. The Constitution, sub- seauently signed by the king, made every male resident of Hawaiian, American or European descent, after one year's residence, a legal voter. Other privileges were conferred, distinctly enlarging the measure of Hawaiian citizenship, and effectually removing the throne from in- terference in the government. Thus the nobles, or upper house, were made elective by the people, instead of ap- pointive by the sovereign as formerly. The absolute power of veto was taken away. No government official was eligible as a noble or representative, and no member of the Legislature could be appointed to any office of trust or emolument during the term for which he was elected. The king was retained as a figure-head, while HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. 267 the resDor.Tbilitv for the government was placed whollv on a Cat^inet. subject to removal only by vote of tne Lesfislature, elected by the people. Emerging thus from an era of bombastic display and political corruption and gross immorality, for six years Hawaii had a wise administration of affairs. The public revenue was turned into channels of public improvement. The harbor was deepened, good roads were built, new lands were opened for settlement, and all departments of the government felt the stimulus of a wise and energetic administration. The Australian ballot was adopted, use- less offices were abolished, the segregation of lepers was rigidly enforced, the method of collecting the taxes was systematized and made effective, and honest elections were secured. What Hawaiians could not secure lor themselves, foreign residents, under stress of royal aggres- sion, secured for themselves and for Hawaiians as well. This foreign population, that has been such a factor in the political evolution of Hawaii, has never taken united action except in behalf of good government. It has been moderate in its demands, humane in its action, patient with the frailties of an effete monarchy, and uniformly considerate of the political rights of native Hawaiians. QUEEN LILIUOKALANI. The death of Kalakaua in 1 89 1 brought Liliuokalani to the throne. It was expected she might follow the arbitrary example of Kamehameha V. 26S HAWAIIAN MONARCHY. and refuse to take the oath to support the Constitution. It was well-known that she hated that document and that sne was a believer in the absolute right of kings. Had sne refused, a republic would have been established at once. The attitude of the public mind was one of dis- trust, but of willingness to accord her a trial. Public sen- timent was essentially voiced in the general conviction, " She must keep inside her constitutional limits, or go I " When she put her foot on the Constitution January 14, 1893, and asserted her purpose to arbitrarily promulgate a new one, she dramatically caused the collapse. NATURAL SEQUENCE OF EVENTS. The down- fall of the Hawaiian Monarchy was in the natural sequence ot events, and could have been foretold with reasonaole certainty by any one at all acquainted with the forces at work in that little nation. The natural growth was toward the largest enjoyment of political rights by the people, ana the reasonable accommodation of the throne to the de- mands of this progressive movement. * But the monarchy grew rigid. It threw itself across the pathway. It sought to turn the wheels backward, and grew autocratic and arbitrary. With an almost insane temerity, it assumed the role of arbiter, ruled the other party out of court, pronounced judgment, and miseraDiy perished at its own nands. HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION Appointed by President Harrison United States Minis- ter to the Hawaiian Islands. John L. Stevens for the first time saw those beautiful emeralds of the North Pacific in September, 1889, when he entered on his official duties at Honolulu. He had not been long at the Hawaiian capital when he perceived how thoroughly an American city it is, how strong is American sympathy and how pre- dominating are American interests and opinions in all the Islands of the Hawaiian group. More than one year of careful study of the then existing complex facts Mr. Stevens found necessary to a correct understanding of the moral, commercial and political state of the Islands. Though he had had much previous experience and obser- vation among the nations of three continents, he found a condition of things in Honolulu unlike that he had ever known at any other national capital. He found an intel- ligent body of citizens, of European and American origin, sharing the good-will of many native Hawaiians, support- ing a semi-barbaric monarchy resting on no solid or nor- 269 270 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. mal foundation, dead in everything but its vices, coarsely luxuriant in its tastes and wishes, spreading social and political demoralization throughout the Islands. This semi-heathen and spurious government mechanism, called the Hawaiian Monarchy, was being chiefly supported by the taxes and toleration of those who could have no sin- cere loyalty to it, and who knew that it returned to the Islands nothing for the money it annually squandered on worse than useless expenditures. That such a barbaric and absurd counterfeit in the name of government and law as the Hawaiian monarchy had finally become in practice, was so long endured is a striking proof of the self-control and forbearance of the responsible citizens of the Islands. Suffice it to say, that such an abomination in the name of government, or for any other pretense or purpose, would not be allowed to exist sixty days in any of our American cities or States. Only very exceptional circumstances caused the responsible citizens and princi- pal tax-payers of the Islands so long to maintain this worse than useless monarchy. One year's careful obser- vation of the existing state of things brought me to the firm belief that it could not continue. The death of King Kalakaua, in 1890, and the accession of his sister to the little throne, revealed many facts and circumstances which showed how utterly vicious and demoralizing the mon- archy had become. Bad as had been the courtiers and favorite companions and advisers of this semi-barbaric i CAPTAIN GILBERT C. WILTSE was Dorn in New York in 1838. During the Civil War lie tooli part in engagements in Hampden Roads, between tlie "Congress" and " Merrimac," and was afterward in the engagement of the monitors at Fort Si:ir.ter. Captain Wiltse commanded the United States Ship " Boston," stationed at Honolulu during the recent revolution. HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 273 king, those whom his sister Liliuokalani immediately drew around her were certainly no better. The death of her brother, followed by that of her lawful husband, did not prevent her from appointing to the chief executive office of the Islands the Tahitian half-white, C. B. Wilson, who had long sustained discreditable relations to her, and whom she now installed in her palace, though he had a lawfully married wife, and the royal chamberlain paid out of the government treasury was always at his post to discharge palace duties. Even this astounding exhibi- tion of shame and the unworthy character of most of her white retainers and confidants the Hawaiian public endured without overt acts of protest and indignation. The biennial Legislature assembled in May, 1892. That body very soon asserted its constitutional prerogative in voting out a ministry that had consented to the mal- administration of the Queen and her palace favorite, who exercised dictatorial powers and rioted in official police corruption. Instead of appointing ministers possessing the confidence of the Legislative majority and of the business men of the Islands, Liliuokalani continued to select those of her own type of character, especially those whom she knew would retain her palace favorite in power. Three successive ministers of this description, in the course of a few weeks, were voted out by the Legislature, with a warm approval of all the best men of 274 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. the Islands. At last the Queen appeared to yield to the pressure of public opinion, and consented to the appoint- ment of four responsible men— Peter C. Jones, W. L Wilcox, Mark P. Robinson and Cecil Brown — three of them persons of wealth, all of them of good financial standing, fully sharing the public confidence. These gen- tlemen took their official places with reluctance and only from a sense of duty to the country. Known as the Wilcox-Jones Ministry, it was believed that they would safely carry the country through the following eighteen months, to the election and assemblage of the next Legis- lature. Fully sharing this belief, the United States Minister and Naval Commander left Honolulu January 4, 1893, in the United States cruiser " Boston," for Hilo and the Vol- cano, the distance of nearly three hundred miles. It was the first time for many months Mr. Stevens had felt it safe for the United States Minister and Naval Commander to be away from the Hawaiian capital. They were absent ten days. When they arrived in the harbor of Honolulu on their return from Hilo, in the forenoon of January 14th, there came to them the startling news that the Queen and the white adventurers who surrounded her, had, by intrigue and bribery, carried the lottery and opium bills through the Legislature, had forced out the Wilcox- Jones Ministry, had appointed in their places four of her palace retainers, two of whom the Legislature and the HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 275 responsible public had recently and repeatedly rejected, headed by the man who had carried the lottery and opium bills through the Legislature. In spite of numerous peti- tions and protests from all the Islands, both of whites and native Hawaiians, and the earnest remonstrance of the Chambers of Commerce and the principal financial men of the country, the Queen immediately signed the iniqui- tous bills, though she had previously given express implied pledges to the contrary. Both she and the adventurers who surrounded her, expected thus to obtain the money to carry on the government, by making Honolulu a fortress of lottery gamblers and opium smugglers amid the ocean, from which they could, by every mail steamer to the United States, send out the poison billets of chance, by which to rob the American people of their millions of money — a method of gaining silver and gold as wicked and audacious as that of the freebooters who once estab- lished themselves in the West Indian seas and made piratical forays on American commerce. But even this was not enough for the semi-barbaric Queen and the adventurers around her. To securely fortify themselves in their schemes of usurpation and robbery they must have a new Constitution. They were afraid the Supreme Court would decide their lottery bill unconstitutional. The Supreme Court therefore must be reconstructed so that the Queen could reappoint the judges, giving the final appeal to 276 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. the Queen herself. The new Constitution was to be pro- claimed in a way that the existing Constitution expressly prohibits. By the Constitution which Liliuokalani had sworn to maintain, that document could be amended or changed only in one way, which was by the vote of two successive Legislatures. Her four new ministers were in the plot. While the " Boston " was coming into the harbor of Honolulu, on the forenoon of January 14th, a crowd of the less responsible natives, especially those of the hoodlum elements of Honolulu, at the call of the Queen and her immediate supporters, were gathering in the Palace grounds. The Legislature was to be prorogued at twelve M. of that day. The revolutionary edict of Hawaii's misguided sovereign was ready to be proclaimed, rumors of which had already reached the public ear. The storm of public indignation began to gather. A few minutes before the appointed hour for the coup d'etat, immediately after the arrival of the United States Minister at the lega- tion from the " Boston," he was urged to go at once to the English Minister to ask him to accompany the Ameri- can Minister to the Queen and try to dissuade her from her revolutionary design. Mr. Stevens promptly sought to comply with this request, went immediately to the English Minister, who was ready to co-operate with the United States Minister, if there were any possibility of effecting HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 277 any good. Minister Stevens and Minister Wodehouse went immediately to the foreign office to seek access to the Queen in the customary manner. It was then nearly twelve o'clock, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs was not in his office. The hour of proroguing had arrived. That ceremony concluded, the Queen went immediately to the Palace, around which the mob and her retainers were gathering. It was thus too late for the American and English Ministers even to attempt to reason with the mis- guided woman who had already launched the revolution, which could not be arrested, though her cowardly min- isters of the lottery gang, who had just been appointed by her to aid her in her revolutionary designs, became alarmed and drew back. She scorned their cowardice and pushed on to her doom. After four hours of bitter and stormy wrangling in and outside of her Palace her attempted coup d'etat proved abortive, though she went upon the balcony and promised the excited crowd that she would renew her revolutionary scheme at a future tim.e. Saturday night of January 14th told every intelli- gent man in Honolulu that the Hawaiian monarchy was at an end — ^that the responsible persons of the Islands, the property-holders and the friends of law and order, must thereafter take charge of public affairs and establish a government in place of the interregnum which the fallen Queen had created. The great mass meeting of January 278 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. i6th, worthy of the best American towns, of the best American days, was held. It was made up of the best and chief men of the country — the owners of property, the professional and educated citizens, merchants, bankers, clerks, mechanics, teachers, clergymen. This assemblage was a unit in opinion and purpose. It was stirred by a common sentiment, the love of country and the desire for public order and public security. It took its measures wisely and prudently. Unanimously and with great enthusiasm it passed the following resolutions : — "I. Whereas Her Majesty Liliuokalani, acting in conjunction with certain other persons, has illegally and unconstitutionally and against the advice and consent of the lawful executive officers of the Government, attempted to abrogate the existing constitution and proclaim a new one in subversion of the rights of the people ; " 2. And whereas such attempt has been accompanied by threats of violence and bloodshed and a display of armed force, and such attempts and acts and threats are revolutionary and treasonable in character ; " 3. And whereas Her Majesty's cabinet have informed her that such contemplated action was unlawful and would lead to bloodshed and riot, and have implored and demanded of her to desist from and renounce such proposed action ; " 4. And whereas such advice has been in vain, and Her Majesty has in a public speech announced that she was desirous and ready to promulgate such constitution, the same being now ready for such purpose, and that the only reason why it was not now promulgated was because she had met with unexpected obstacles and that a fitting opportunity in the future must be awaited for the consumma- tion of such object, which would be within a few days ; HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 279 •* 5. And whereas at a public meeting of citizens held in Hono- lulu on the 14th day of January instant, a committee of thirteen, to be known as the * Committee of Public Safety ' was appointed to consider the situation and to devise ways and means for the mainten- ance of the public peace and safety and the preservation of life and property ; "6. And whereas such committee has recommended the calling of this mass meeting of citizens to protest against and condemn such action and has this day presented a report to such meeting denounc- ing the action of the Queen and her supporters as being unlawful, unwarranted, in derogation of the rights of the people, endangering the peace of the community, and tending to excite riot and cause the loss of life and destruction of property ; "Now, therefore, we, the citizens of Honolulu, of all nationalities and regardless of political party affiliations, do hereby condemn and denounce the action of the Queen and her supporters ; " And we do hereby ratify the appointment and indorse the action taken and report made by the said Committee of Safety ; and we do hereby further empower such committee to further consider the situation and further devise such ways and means as may be necessary to secure the permanent maintenance of law and order and the protection of life, liberty, and property in Hawaii." Its Committee of Public Safety requested the Minister of the United States to land the men of the "Boston," lest riot and incendiarism might burst out in the night, for no reliable police force longer existed, and whatever there was of this force was now in the control of the usurpers and the lottery gamblers, who had initiated the revolution. During the intervening hours of Saturday night, Sunday and Monday there was an intense feeling and great anxiety 28o HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. as to what might take place, and the American Minister had reached the conclusion that the gravity of the situation required him, in conformity to the rules and instructions of the Legation, to land the naval force, and he would have done so had not the Committee of Public Safety made the request. Monday afternoon of January i6th, he went on board the *' Boston," bearing the following note to Captain Wiltse : — " United States Legation, January i6, 1893. " In view of the existing critical circumstances in Honolulu, indicating an inadequate legal force, I request you to land marines and sailors from the ship under your command for the protection of the United States Legation and the United States Consulate, and to secure the safety of American life and property. " John L. Stevens. "To Captain Wiltse, U. S. N." The order of Captain Wiltse to Lieutenant-Commander Swin- burne, who commanded the naval battalion on shore, read as fol- lows, under the same date : — "You will take the command of the battalion, and land in Hono- lulu for the purpose of protecting our Legation and the lives and property of American citizens, and to assist in the preservation of public order. Great prudence must be exercised by both officers and men, and no action taken that is not fully warranted by the condition of affairs and by the conduct of those who may be inimical to the treaty rights of American citizens. You will inform me at the earliest practical moment of any change in the situation." It will be observed that Captain Wiltse's order goes farther than the note of Mr. Stevens, making the EX-QUEEN LILIUOKALAXI. Liliuokalani, whose name has now become so well known throughout America, as ex-queen of Hawaii, is of rather darker conipU-xiou than the ordinary native. With hirge, heavy frame and sh>\v movement, she has little of the traditional grace of the Hawaiian women, when confined in llu- garments of the European fashion. HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 2S3 preservation of public order the duty of the naval force, in case of necessity, of which the Minister and Naval Commander must be the judge. This is in exact accord- ance with the terms of the dispatch of Secretary Bayard to Minister Merrill, at a former revolutionary period in Hawaiian affairs. The terms of the Bayard dispatch is as follows : — " United States Department of State, ''Washington, July 12, 1887. *' In the absence of any detailed information from you of the late disorders in the domestic control of Hawaii and the changes which have taken place in the official corps of that government, I am not able to give you other than general instructions, which may be communicated in substance to the commander of the vessel or vessels of this government in the waters of Hawaii, with whom you will freely confer, in order that such prompt and efficient action may be taken as the circumstances may make necessary. ** While we abstain from interference with the domestic affairs of Hawaii, in accordance with the policy and practice of this Gov- ernment, yet, obstruction to the channels of legitimate commerce under existing laws must not be allowed, and American citizens in Hawaii must he protected in their persons and property, by the repre- sentative of their country's law and power, and no internal discord must he suffered to impair them. "Your own aid and council, as well as the assistance of the officers of the Government vessels, if found necessary, will therefore he promptly afforded to promote the reign of law and respect for orderly government in Hawaii. *}• 3|C 5jC 'I* 'I* 'f* *l* "T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State." 284 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION Under the diplomatic and naval rules so plain and imperative, the United States Minister and the Naval Commander would have shamefully ignored their duty had they not landed the men of the " Boston," for the security of American life and property, even had the citi- zens of Honolulu and the Committee of Public Safety not requested them to do so. As American representatives, five thousand miles from their government, they could not have escaped their responsibilities, even had they desired to do so. Fortunately the commander of the '* Boston" and those under his command had no desire to shirk their duty. They appreciated the obligations of American pa- triotism and the honor of the American navy. The allurements of a semi-barbaric court and the various seductive efforts of the palace adventurers to conceal from them the real state of things, had not blinded their eyes to the condition of affairs in Honolulu. On shore, in perfect order, they stepped not an inch from the line of duty. They never lifted a finger in aid of the fallen monarchy or the rising provisional government. The former sought their aid, but neither the monarchists nor the supporters of the provisional government had the least assistance of force by Captain Wiltse and those under his command. All assertion to the contrary, by whomsoever uttered, are audacious falsehoods without a semblance of truth. All the official notes of Mr. Stevens and the written orders of HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 285 Captain Wiltse, as well as the testimony of the officers under his command, completely attest the truth of the above statement. To the same import is the following communication addressed to Minister Stevens by the fallen Queen, signed by herself and by the four ministers who had been closely identified with her in her revolutionary proceedings : — " The assurance conveyed by a royal proclamation by myself and ministers yesterday having been received by my native subjects and by them ratified at a mass meeting, was received in a different spirit by the meeting representing the foreign population and inter- ests in my kingdom. It is now my desire to give to Your Excel- lency, as the diplomatic representative of the United States of America at my court, the solemn assurance that the present consti- tution will be upheld and maintained by me and my ministers and no changes will be made except by the method therein provided. I desire to express to Your Excellency this assurance in the spirit of that friendship which has ever existed between my kingdom and that of the Government of the United States of America, and which I trust will long continue. " LILIUOKALANI, R. " Samuel Parker, Minister of Foreign Affairs. "Wm. H. Cornell, Minister of Finance. "John. F. COLBURN, Minister of Interior. *'A. P. Peterson, Attorney General. "lOLANi Palace, Honolulu, January 17, 1893." This earnestly pleading document from the fallen mon- arch and the terror-stricken lottery gang came to the American Minister more than twenty hours after the men 286 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. of the " Boston " had landed. This plainly implies that the fallen Liliuokalani and her confidants then knew, as they could not have failed to know, that Minister Stevens and the American Naval Commander had not taken part in her overthrow, which had already been accomplished. An hour later the fallen ministers went to the United States Legation and urged on Mr. Stevens the inquiry, if he could not use the United States' force to sustain the Queen. The answer of Minister Stevens was that the United States' soldiers were on shore for a pacific purpose, to protect American life and pr perty, and could not take sides in aid of a fallen monarch, nor with those who were then masters of the situation and were creating a new government. Of like import as to the non-intervention of the United States force, is the testimony of hundreds of the chief citizens of Honolulu, including judges, bankers, lawyers, college professors, clergymen, and others, who knew all the facts and circumstances relative to the fall of the Hawaiian monarchy and the establishment of the provisional government. Early in the afternoon of Janu- ary 17th, the Committee of Public Safety, having taken possession of the governm.ent building, issued the follow- proclamation : — PROCLAMATION. In its earlier history Hawaii possessed a Constitutional Government honestly and economically administered in the public interest. I V Tf d a> ^ tS ^ a 2 P Tj ^ 3 to 03 't; iC "^ _a ■/: -S O f- o r^a i; 0) '^ H .5 C rQ S CD tIJ^' '"' -(^ +^ d o '^ '''< h5 :- 1^ tc tl ^ '2 ^ s W S _^- « O J o >> -^ 3 o ^ HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 289 The Crown called to its assistance as advisers able, honest and conservative men whose integrity is unquestioned even by their political opponents. The stability of the Government was assured ; armed resistance and revolution unthought of, popular rights were respected and the privileges of the subject from time to time increased, and the pre- rogatives of the Sovereign diminished by the voluntary acts of the successive kings. With very few exceptions this state of affairs continued until the expiration of the first few years of the reign of His late Majesty Kalakaua. At this time a change was discernible in the spirit animating the chief executive and in the influences surrounding the throne. A steadily increasing disposition was manifested on the part of the King, to extend the Royal prerogatives ; to favor adven- turers and persons of no character or standing in the community ; to encroach upon the rights and privileges of the people by steadily increasing corruption of electors, and by means of the power and influence of oifice-holders and other corrupt means to illegitimately influence the elections, resulting in the final absolute control of not only the executive and legislative, but to a certain extent the judicial, departments of the government, in the interest of absolutism. This finally resulted in the revulsion of feeling and popular up- rising of 1887, which wrested from the King a large portion of his ill-gotten powers. The leaders of this movement were not seeking personal aggran- disement, political power or the suppression of the native govern- ment. If this had been their object it could easily have been accomplished, for they had the absolute control of the situation. Their object was to secure responsible government through a representative Cabinet, supported by and responsible to the people's elected representatives. A clause to this effect was inserted in the Constitution and subsequently enacted by law by the Legislature, specifically covering the ground that, in all matters concerning the 290 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION State the Sovereign was to act by and with the advice of the Cabi- net and only by and with such advice. The King willingly agreed to such proposition, expressed regret for the past, and volunteered promises for the future. Almost from the date of such agreement and promises, up to the time of his death, the history of the Government has been a con- tinual struggle between the King on the one hand and the Cabinet and the Legislature on the other, the former constantly endeavor- ing by every available form of influence and evasion to ignore his promises and agreements and regain his lost power's. This conflict upon several occasions came to a crisis, followed each time by a submission on the part of His Majesty, by renewed expressions of regret and promises, to abide by the constitutitnal and legal restrictions in the future. In each instance such promise was kept until a further opportunity presented itself, when the conflict was renewed in defiance and regardless of all previous pledges. Upon the accession of Her Majesty Liliuol o f o g 2 I o f^ 'S 'S H I > o o J . < c n o 2 ^ > ^ HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 305 treaty of annexation, February, 1893, the Senate Committee of Foreign Affairs acted as American statesmen in dealing with facts, events and interests as they found them. They came to the same conclusion as did the Democratic admin- istration in 1854, when Secretary Wm. L Marcy authorized Commissioner Gregg to negotiate a treaty of annexation, which that Commissioner did negotiate, though he exceeded his instructions as to the provisions of the treaty. The treaty of 18^4 failed through divided counsels at Honolulu. Marcy, the able Democratic leader of his time, a cool, sagacious statesman, in a dispatch to United States Min- ister Mason, at Paris. December 16, 18^1, speaking of the Hawaii Islands, said : — •'Both England and France are apprised of our deter- mination not to allow them to be owned by, or to fall under the protection of, either ot these powers or of any other European nation." Luther Severance, an able, safe, and sagacious man, well known to the country in his time, whom Daniel Webster honored, after four years' residence at Honolulu, came to the same conclusion as did Secretary Marcy. As far back as June, 1843, Secretary of State H, S. Legare, in a dispatch to Edward Everett, United States Minister at London, placed nearly as high an estimate of the value of the ultimate American possession of the Hawaiian Islands; he used this language : — 3o6 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. " If the attempts now making by ourselves, as well as by other Christian powers, to open the markets of China to a more general commerce be successful, there can be no doubt but that a great part of that commerce will find its way over the Isthmus. In that event it will be impossible to overrate the importance of the Hawaiian group as a stage in the long voyage between Asia and America. But without anticipating events which, however, seem inevitable, and even approaching the actual demands of an immense navigation, make the free use of those roadsteads and ports indispensable to us. 1 need not remind you, who are in so peculiar manner related to that most important interest, commercial and political, that our great nursery of seamen, the whale fishery, has for years past made this cluster of islands its rendezvous and resting-place. It seems doubt- ful whether even the undisputed possession of the Oregon Territory and the use of the Columbia River, or indeed, anything short of the acquisition of California (if that were possible), would be sufificient indemnity to us for the loss of these harbors." These views of Legare, Marcy, and other distinguished statesmen, were fully shared by Wm. H. Seward, who had remarkable foresight as to the vast future of American commerce in the Pacific, and looked forward to the an- nexation of Hawaii as necessary and inevitable, and would have urged it during his occupancy of the State Depart- ment had he found the Honolulu authorities ready for it. Under the date of Sept. 12, 1867, in a dispatch to United States Minister McCook at Honolulu, Secretary Seward wrote as follows : — "You will be governed in all your proceedings by a proper respect and courtesy to the Government and people of the Sandwich b HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 307 islands ; but it is proper that you should know, for your own liiformation, that a lawful and peaceful annexation of the Islands to the United States, with the consent of the people of the Sandwich Islands, is deemed desirable by this Government ; and that if the policy of annexation should really conflict with the policy of reci- procity, annexation is in every case to be preferred. " The bearer of this communication will remain for the present at Honolulu, and will conform himself in his proceedings there to your advice, co-operating with you confidentially ; and you will exercise your own discretion how far it may be necessary and when to instruct him in any of the matters contained in this dispatch. "I am, etc., WILLIAM H. Seward." in his annual message to Congress, December 9, 1868, President Johnson said : — *' It is known and felt by the Hawaiian Government and people that their Government and institutions are feeble and precarious ; that the United States, being so near a neighbor, would be unwill- ing to see the Islands pass under foreign control. Their prosperity is continually disturbed by expectations and alarms of unfriendly political proceedings, as well from the United States as from other foreign powers. A reciprocity treaty, while it could not materially diminish the revenues of the United States, would be a guaranty of the good-will and forbearance of all nations until the people of the Islands shall of themselves, at no distant day, voluntarily apply for admission into the Union." This passage in the message of the President was undoubtedly written by Secretary Seward. None have defended these views more ably than James G. Blaine, in a remarkable state paper during President Garfield's Administration. In another dispatch. 3o8 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. of Dec. I, 1 88 1, to United States Minister Comly at Hono- lulu, Secretary Blaine said: — " The decline of the native Hawaiian element in the presence of newer and sturdier growths must be accepted as an inevitable fact, in view of the teachings of ethnological history. And as retrogres- sion in the development of the Islands can not be admitted without serious detriment to American interests in the North Pacific, the problem of a replenishment of the vital forces of Hawaii presents itself for intelligent solution in an American sense — not in an Asiatic or a British sense. " There is little doubt that, were the Hawaiian Islands, by annexation or district protection, a part of the territory of the Union, their fertile resources for the growth of rice and sugar would not only be controlled by American capital, but so profitable a field of labor would attract intelligent workers thither from the United States." None have advocated the value of Hawaii to the United States more eloquently than John T. Morgan, the able Chairman of the Senate Committee of Foreign Affairs, who sees clearly the immense importance of future Amer- ican interests in the Pacific. The history of nations conclusively shows what the ablest expounders of international law plainly teach, that the annexation of foreign territory is an act of national sovereignty. This inherent, primal power of a nation ex- ists outside of and independent of the written constitutioa Every nation capable of maintaining its independence against internal and foreign attacks, is the master of its own ■'- o » it ^ >'. ~ = — - ^ >i •^ ■^ u ^ ^ O X K ^ > OC 3 jr-4 v-* O ^ iC o C5 05 X ^ ;< r^ —t 1-H ^ , "^ ;c ji ^^ "" 33 3 ET' -1^ r3 >> a 1/ V v; a — » 1-^ C - it s — TT ^ o r- ™ r^ io HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. 311 sovereignty and never abdicates it by any recorded formu- lary. The assumption of construing the constitution of the United States to be supreme against our national life, prosperity and absolutely independent authority, will never be admitted by patriotic Americans, nor by sagacious American statesmen. The opposition to the annexation of Hawaii by a special school of legal writers, is only a repe- tition of what has repeatedly occurred in American history since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. President Jefferson and those associated with him in acquiring the extensive territory of Louisiana, was obliged to confront this theory of the superiority of the constitution to national sovereignty. Though he was a strict constructionist of the constitution against the views of the school of Washington and Hamilton, he held the law of the nation's life to be supreme, and he promptly authorized the purchase of the vast domain, for fifteen millions of dollars, at the risk of a war with Spain and the threatened opposition of Great Britain. Equally strong constitutional objections were made to the acquisition of Texas, California, New Mexico and Alaska, which annexations were approved by the great statesmen of the Democratic, Whig, and Republican schools. The acquisition of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States is plainly a national necessity and a national duty. Does any thoughtful American citizen really believe tnat the American nation, planted between the two great 312 HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION. oceans, on a broad, sure base, such as no other nation in the world ever occupied, with its immense resources to feed the world's commerce, is to be shut up within its present boundaries? Those who have made history a serious study and understand the force of its irresistible logic, can not hold this restricted theory. To make sale of the enormous surplus products of their mines, their spin- dles, of their countless forms of machinery. American merchants and American ships must go abroad with all the agencies of a mighty commerce — a commerce which will dwarf in extent the combined trade of ancient Tyre and Caithage, and of modern Great Britain. This rich prize is now freely offered to the Unitea States. It can not be possible that the American people and the American statesmen will refuse to accept it. To spurn and reject this important and thoroughly American colony, planted by some of the most devoted of Ameri- can sons and daughters, fostered by American benevo- lence and sympathy, aided by a million dollars of private contributions, encouraged for more than sixty years by the American government — to abandon the people of this colony now at this crucial period of their history would be cowardice and inhumanity, which no self-respecting Chris- tian nation will be guilty of, the least of all the great Amer- ican nation, whose vast opportunity in the North Pacific, it would be a great want of wisdom and patriotism to ignore. EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. IGNO- MINIOUS FAILURE. PROVISIONAL GOV- ERNMENT STRONGER. There are in the history of human affairs many strange things, of whose causes and objects it is difficult to ac- count on any reasonable hypothesis. History is said to be philosophy speaking by example. If this be a sound axiom, there is certainly some very peculiar philosophy in this world. To an American — to any enlightened person of the present century of intelligence — the piece of history disclosed by the official documents which make the most of this chapter, must seem as absurd, if not as astonishing, as anything in the Arabian Nights or in the romance of Don Quixote. President Cleveland had been in the ex- ecutive chair only three days, nearly every hour of which had been occupied by the customary inaugural routine, without having had time to inform himself of the official data on file at the State Department and in possession of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, when he had resolved to reverse the policy of his predecessors toward Hawaii, and to restore the little monarchy, which 313 314 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. the responsible citizens of the Islands had found it absolutely necessary to abolish. Finding in Walter Q. Gresham, his Secretary of State, one fully sharing his views, the President appointed Col. James H. Blount, of Georgia, to go to Honolulu to make out a case against the Provisional Government and to prepare the way for the restoration of the dethroned Liliuokalani. Though the Senate was then in session, and the majority of that body were well informed as to the state of things in Hawaii, and the causes and justifications of the recent change in its government, the President did not take the Senate into his counsel, nor submit the appointment of Col. Blount to its approval. An unauthorized power was given the Presi- dent's Commissioner to outrank and command the United States Minister Plenipotentiary and the Admiral then on duty at Honolulu. Arriving at the Hawaiian capital late in March, 1893, Col. Blount immediately showed his strong prejudices against the course of the Harrison Administra- tion, and the officials who had been on duty at Honolulu during the exciting and eventful days of January and February. Though advised by highly respected Americans, living in Honolulu, to take his quarters where both the friends of the Provisional Government and the supporters of the fallen monarchy could have equally ready access to him, he elected to go to the hotel which had long been the royalist's headquarters, whose managers were HUN. LORRIN A. THURSTON, Hawaiian Minister at Washington, is a grand- son of one ot tiie pioneer missionaries to Hawaii. He is a lawyer and a graduate of the Columbia Law School. During the early struggles against the encroach- ments of King Kalakaua, Mr. Thurston edited one of the Honolulu daily papers, and was influential in crystallizing public sentiment. EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 317 thoroughly anti-American in their prejudices and plans, and where monarchical espionage of the newly-arrived Commissioner and those who called upon him, would be complete. Thus surrounded, Special Commissioner Blount turned a cold shoulder to his own respectable countrymen and took ex-parte testimony from the supporters of the fallen monarchy, those who had shared in its moral and financial abuses, and who were eager to give any testi- mony that might aid in the already matured scheme to restore the fallen Liliuokalani and the lottery and opium rings, who had encouraged her in the official infamy which had ended in her revolutionary attempt to over- throw the Hawaiian Constitution and led to her irrevocable downfall. In this wholly one-sided and partisan manner Mr. Blount obtained his data for the extraordinary report on which was based the extraordinary plan of President Cleveland and Secretary Gresham, to restore the semi- barbaric Queen and her palace favorite, Wilson, to rule over an intelligent and patriotic American colony, and those of other nationalities who are in full accord in spirit and purpose with that colony in supporting the Provisional Government and in seeking commercial and political union with the United States. How signally failed this astonishing design of restoring the justly dethroned monarch, is plainly told in the following official documents, which complete this chapter of Hawaiian 3i8 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. history. One compensation to the anxious and uii'eal ened American colony is, that the attempt to discredit and destroy the Provisional Government has greatly strength- ened its cause both at home and abroad, and its brave supporters know now that they have the earnest and active sympathy of a majority of the American people, and that their future destiny as a part of the American Union is sure. Another evidence that everything valuable in civilization and in government comes through trial and sacrifice. There appears below the text of the address of the United States Minister Albert S. Willis to the President of the Provisional Government of Hawaii on the occasion of his first official visit to the Hawaiian Executive ; the reply of President Sanford P. Dole to that address ; the letter of credence then presented by Minister Willis and the corre- spondence preceding and covering the demands that the President of the United States made through his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, 19th of Decem- ber, 1893, upon the Hawaiian Government. MINISTER WILLIS' REMARKS Upon the Presentation of his Credentials to the Provisional Government. Mr. President : — Mr. Blount, the late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to your Government, having resigned his office when absent from his post, I have the EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 19 honor now to present his letter of recall, and to express for him his sincere regret that he is unable in person to make known his con- tinued good wishes in behalf of your people, and his grateful appre- ciation of the many courtesies, both personal and official, of which, while here, he was the honored recipient. I desire at the same time to place in your hands the letter accrediting me as his successor. In doing this I am directed by the President to give renewed assurances of the friendship, interest and hearty good-will which our Government entertains for you and for the people of this Island realm. Aside from our geographical proximity and the consequent pre- ponderating commercial interests which center here, the present advanced civilization and Christianization of your people, together with your enlightened codes of law, stand to-day beneficent monu- ments of American zeal, courage and intelligence. It is not surprising, therefore, that the United States were the first to recognize the independence of the Hawaiian Islands, and to welcome them into the great family of free, equal and sovereign nations, nor is it surprising that this historic tie has been strength- ened from year to year, by important mutual reciprocities and agree- ments, alike honorable and advantageous to both Governments. Invoking that spirit of peace, friendship and hospitality which has ever been the shield and sword of this country, I now, upon behalf of the United States of America, tender to your people the right hand of good-will, which I trust may be as lasting as I know it to be sincere, expressing the hope that every year will promote and perpetuate that good-will to the honor, happiness and prosperity of both Governments. President Dole's Remarks. — President Dole replied, reading from manuscript in the language following: — Mr. Minister: — It is with much satisfaction that I receive the credentials you bring from His Excellency the President of the United States of America, accrediting you as Envoy Extraordinary 320 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. and Minister Plenipotentiary to represent that country at the capital or the Hawaiian Islands. Your assurances of the continued friendship of your Govern- ment for me and the Hawaiian people add to the gratification which a long experience of the generous consideration of the United States for this country has fostered. Permit me to assure you that we heartily reciprocate the expres- sion of interest and good-will which you, on behalf of the American people, have conveyed to us. Partly from proximity, partly from the leading influence of American citizens in the work of inaugurating Christian civilization and industrial enterprise in these islands, but still more from the repeated acts of friendly assistance which we have received from your Government during the past half century, we have become accustomed to regard the United States as a friend and ally, and have learned to look first to her for help in our emergencies. I regret the inability of your predecessor, Mr. Blount, to person- ally present his letter of recall and to afford me the opportunity to express to him my appreciation of the agreeable official and social relations that existed between him and our Government and people during his residence here. We congratulate ourselves, Mr. Minister, that the Government of the United States is to be represented by one who, we are assured, is familiar with the questions arising from the relations between the two Governments, and with whom we look for the maintenance of pleasant official intercourse. LETTER OF CREDENCE. GROVER Cleveland, President of the United States of America, To His Excellency, Sanford B. DOLE, President of the Provisional Govern- ment of the Hawaiian Islands. Great and Good Friend : I have made choice of Albert S. Willis, one of our distinguished citizens, to reside near the Government of EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 321 Your Excellency in the quality of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. He is well informed of the relative interests of the two countries, and of our sincere desire to cultivate to the fullest extent the friendship which has so long subsisted between us. My knowledge of his high character and ability gives me entire confidence that he will constantly endeavor to advance the interest and prosperity of both Governments, and so render himself acceptable to Your Excel- lency. I therefore request Your Excellency to receive him favorably and to give full credence to what he shall say on the part of the United States, and to the assurances which I have charged him to convey to you of the best wishes of this Government for the prosperity of the Hawaiian Islands. May God have Your Excellency in His wise keeping. Written at Washington this twenty-seventh day of September, in the year 1893. Your good friend, GROVER CLEVELAND. By the President. ALVEY A. ADEE, Acting Secretary of State. PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE. Department of Foreign Affairs, Honolulu, November 29, 1893. Sir: — Having received from our Minister at Washington, Hon. Lorrin A. Thurston, accredited to the Government of the United States of America, information of an official letter from Secretary of State, Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, to President Cleveland, which is of an unfriendly nature towards this Government, recommending hostile action by the President toward us, alleged copies of which letter have been published in the American press ; I desire to inquire of you whether the published reports of such letter of Secretary 3 12 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. Gresham are substantially correct ? If they are, I feel that it is due this Government that it should be informed of the intentions of your Government in relation to the suggestion contained in the said letter of Mr. Gresham. Accept the assurance of the profound consideration and high esteem with which I have the honor to be Your Excellency's Most obedient servant, (Signed) SanfORD B. DOLE, Minister of Foreign Affairs. His Excellency ALBERT S. WiLLlS, U. S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honolulu. Legation of the United States, Honolulu, December 2, 1893. Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 29th ult., inquiring as to the authenticity of a letter of Hon. W. Q. Gresham, Secretary of State, upon the Hawaiian question ; and stating that if the "published reports of such letter are sub- stantially correct" you "feel that it is due this (your) Govern- ment 'that it should be informed of the intentions of your (my) Government in relation to the suggestions contained in the said letter of Mr. Gresham.' " As to the letter of Mr. Gresham I have the honor to call your attention to the fact, as shown by you, that it is a communication from a member of the Cabinet to the President of the United States, and, being a domestic transaction, is not the subject of diplomatic representation. Answering your note further, I must express my sincere regret that it is not in my power at present to inform you of the views or intentions of the United States. The President earnestly desires a speedy settlement of your troubles, and will, in my opinion, be EFFORT TO RESIORE LILIUOKALANI. 323 ready to make known his purposes as soon as he is informed of cer- tain matters recently submitted to him. With high regard, I am Very respectfully, (Signed) ALBERT S. WILLIS, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, U. S. A. Hon. SANFORD B. Dole, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Department of Foreign Affairs, Honolulu, December 18, 1893. Sir : — I am informed that you are in communication with Liliuo- kalani, the ex-Queen, with a view of re-establishing the monarchy in the Hawaiian Islands, and of supporting her pretension6 to the sovereignty. Will you inform me if this report is true, or if you are acting in any way hostile to this Government ? I appreciate fully the fact that any such action upon your part, in view of your official relations with this Government, would seem impossible ; but as the information has come to me from such sources that I am compelled to notice it, you will pardon me for pressing you for an immediate answer. Accept the assurance of distinguished consideration, with which I have the honor to be, Sir, Your Excellency's obedient humble servant, (Signed) SanFORD B. DOLE, Minister of Foreign Affairs. His Excellency, ALBERT S. WILLIS, U. S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honolulu. Legation of the United States, Honolulu, Dec. 19, 1893. Sir: — I have the honor to inform you that I have a communica- tion from my Government which I desire to submit to the President "2 '> 24 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. and Ministers of your Government at any hour to-day which it may please you to designate. With high regard and sincere respect, I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, (Signed) ALBERT S. WILLIS, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, U. S. A. Hon. SaNFORD B. Dole, Minister of Foreign Affairs. THE INTERVIEW AND DEMAND. Foreign Office, Honolulu, December 19, 1893. Present : — President, Sanford B. Dole ; Hon. S. M. Damon, Min- ister of Finance ; Hon. J. A. King, Minister of Interior ; Hon. W. O. Smith, Attorney-General ; Hon. Albert S. Willis, Envoy Extraordi- nary and Minister Plenipotentiary, U. S. A. Mr. Willis : Will Mr. Jones be present at this interview ? President Dole : We wish to have him present, if you have no objection. Mr. Willis : Is he a stenographer ? President Dole : Yes, sir. Mr. Willis : No objection at all. Mr. President and Gentlemen : — The President of the United States has very much regretted the delay in the Hawaiian question, but it has been unavoidable. So much of it as has occurred since my arrival has been due to certain conditions precedent, compliance with which was required before I was authorized to confer with you. The President also regrets, as most assuredly do I, that any secrecy should have surrounded the interchange of views between our two Governments. I may say this, however, that the secrecy thus far observed has been in the interest and for the safety of all your people. I need hardly premise that the President's action upon the Hawaiian question has been under the dictates of honor and duty ; PROF. W. B. ALEXANDER, the son of an American Missionary is Uie bur veyor General of the Hawaiian Islands. He was born at the Islands, but was educated at Yale College. He was for seven years President of Oahu College at Honolulu, resigning to accept the position he now holds. He is the acknowleJir- I authority in historical, antiquarian and scientific matters pertaining to lla\\;:ii. EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 327 it is now, and has been from the beginning, absolutely free from prejudice and resentment and entirely consistent with the long- established friendship and treaty ties which have so closely bound together our respective Governments. The President deemed it his duty to withdraw from the Senate the treaty of annexation, which has been signed by the Secretary of State and the agents of your Government, and to dispatch a trusted representative to Hawaii to impartially investigate the causes of your revolution and to ascertain and report the true situation in these Islands. This information was needed the better to enable the President to discharge a delicate and important duty. Upon the facts embodied in Mr. Blount's reports, the President has arrived at certain conclusions and determined upon a certain course of action, with which it becomes my duty to acquaint you : — The Provisional Government was not established by the Ha- waiian people or with their consent or acquiescence, nor has it since existed with their consent. The Queen refused to surrender her powers to the Provisional Government until convinced that the Minister of the United States had recognized it as the de facto authority and would support and defend it with the military force of the United States, and that resistance would precipitate a bloody conflict with that force. She was advised and assured by her Ministers and leaders of the movement for the overthrow of her Government that if she surrendered under protest her case would afterwards be fairly con- sidered by the President of the United States. The Queen finally yielded to the armed forces of the United States, then quartered in Honolulu, relying on the good faith and honor of the President, when informed of what had occurred, to undo the action of the Minister and reinstate her and the authority which she claimed as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands. After a patient examination of Mr. Blount's reports the President 328 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. is satisfied that tfie movement against tlie Queen, if not instigated, was encouraged and supported by tlie representative of this Gov- ernment at Honolulu ; that he promised in advance to aid her enemies in an effort to overthrow the Hawaiian Government and set up by force a new Government in its place, and that he kept this promise by causing a detachment of troops to be landed from the " Boston " on the i6th of January, 1893, and by recognizing the Provisional Government the next day, when it was too feeble to defend itself, and the Constitutional Government was able to suc- cessfully maintain its authority against any threatening force other than that of the United States already landed. The President has, therefore, determined that he will not send back to the Senate for its action thereon, the treaty which he with- drew from that body for further consideration, on the ninth day of March last. In view of these conclusions I was instructed by the President to take advantage of an early opportunity to inform the Queen of this determination and of his views as to the responsibility of our Government. The President, however, felt that we by our original interference had incurred responsibility to the whole Hawaiian com- munity, and that it would not be just to put one party at the mercy of the other. I was, therefore, instructed at the same time to inform the Queen that when reinstated the President expected that she would pursue a magnanimous course by granting full amnesty to all who participated in the movement against her, including per- sons who are, or who have been, officially or otherwise connected with the Provisional Government, depriving them of no right or privilege which they enjoyed before the revolution of last January, and that all obligations created by the Provisional Government in due course of administration should be assumed. In obedience to the command of the President I have secured the Queen's agreement to this course, and I now deliver a writing signed by her and duly attested, a copy of which I will leave with EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 329 you. I will now read that writing. I will read from the original, leaving with you a certified copy : — " I, Liliuokalani, in recognition of the high sense of justice which has actuated the President of the United States, and desiring to put aside all feeling of personal hatred or revenge, and to do what is best for all the people on these Islands, both native and foreign- born, do hereby and herein solemnly declare and pledge myself that if reinstated as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands, that I will immediately proclaim and declare unconditionally and without reservation to every person who directly or indirectly par- ticipated in the revolution of January 17, 1893, a full pardon and amnesty for their offenses with restoration of all rights and immu- nities under the Constitution and the laws which have been made in pursuance thereof, and that I will forbid and prevent the adoption of any measures of prosecution or punishment for what has been done in the past by those setting up or supporting the Provisional Government. " 1 further solemnly agree to accept the restoration under the Constitution existing at the time of the said revolution, and that I will abide by and fully execute that Constitution with all the guar- antees as to person and property therein contained. " I furthermore solemnly pledge myself and my Government, if restored, to assure all the obligations created by the Provisional Gov- ernment in the proper course of administration, including all expen- ditures for military and police service ; it being my purpose, if reinstated, to assume the Government precisely as it existed on the day when it was unlawfully overthrown. "Witness my hand this eighteenth day of December, 1893. " Liliuokalani. "Attest: J. O. CARTER." It becomes my further duty to advise you. Sir, the Executive of the Provisional Government and your Ministers, of the President's 330 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. determination of the question which your action and that of the Queen devolved upon him, and that your are expected to promptly relinquish to her her constitutional authority. And now, Mr. Presi- dent and Gentlemen of the Provisional Government, with a deep^ and solemn sense of the situation and with the earnest hope that your answer will be inspired by that high patriotism which forgets all self-interest, in the name and by the authority of the United States of America, I submit to you the question : Are you willing to abide by the decision of the President ? I will leave this with you Mr. President, as your stenographer may not have got every word and it may help him. I will also leave the certified copy that I referred to, the agreement of the Queen. President Dole : The Government will take the matter under consideration and answer you as soon as they are ready. Mr. Willis : Yes, sir. Gentlemen, good day. PRESIDENT DOLE'S REPLY. Executive Building, Honolulu, December 23, 1893. Sir : Your Excellency's communication of December 19th, an- nouncing the conclusion which the President of the United States of America has finally arrived at respecting the application of this Government for a treaty of political union with that country, anA referring also to the domestic affairs of these Islands, has had the consideration of the Government. While it is with deep disappointment that we learn that the important proposition which we have submitted to the Government of the United States, and which was at first favorably considered by it, has at length been rejected, we have experienced a sense of relief that we are now favored with the first ofificial information upon the subject that has been received through a period of over nine months. QUEEN KAPIOLANI. — Kapiolani, wife of the King Kalakaua, a woman of the greatest amiability of character, is a granddaughter of the last king of Kauai. Her features are of the best Hawaiian type. Although able to converse in the Hawaiian language alone, and wilh shy, rather timid manners, she was a favorite with the foreigners who attended her husband's Court. EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 333 While we accept the decision of the President of the United States, declining further to consider the annexation proposition as the final conclusion of the present Administration, we do not feel inclined to regard it as the last word of the American Government upon this subject ; for the history of the mutual relations of the two countries, of American effort and influence in building up the Christian civilization which has so conspicuously aided in giving this country an honorable place among independent nations, the geo- graphical position of these Islands, and the important and, to both countries, profitable reciprocal commercial interests which have so long existed, together with our weakness as a sovereign nation, all point with convincing force to political union between the two countries as the necessary logical result from the circumstances mentioned. This conviction is emphasized by the favorable expres- sion of American statesmen over a long period in favor of annexa- tion, conspicuous among whom are the names of W. L. Marcy, William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish and James G. Blaine, all former Secretaries of State, and especially so by the action of your last Administration in negotiating a treaty of annexation with this Gov- ernment and sending it to the Senate with a view to its ratification. We shall therefore continue the project of political union with the United States as a conspicuous feature of our foreign policy, confidently hoping that sooner or later it will be crowned with success, to the lasting benefit of both countries. The additional portion of your communication, referring to our domestic affairs, with a view of interfering therein, is a new departure in the relations of the two Governments. Your informa- tion that the President of the United States expects this Government " to promptly relinquish to her (meaning the ex-Queen) her consti- tutional authority," with the question, "Are you willing to abide by the decision of the President ? " might well be dismissed in a single word, but for the circumstance that your communication contains, as it appears to me, misstatements, and erroneous conclusions based 334 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. thereon that are so prejudicial to this Government, that I can not permit them to pass unchallenged ; moreover, the importance and menacing character of this proposition make it appropriate for me to discuss somewhat fully the questions raised by it. We do not recognize the right of the President of the United States to interfere in our domestic affairs. Such right could be conferred upon him by the act of this Government, and by that alone ; or it could be acquired by conquest. This I understand to be the American doctrine, conspicuously announced from time to time by the authorities of your Government. President Jackson said, in his message to Congress, in 1836: " The uniform policy and practice of the United States is to avoid all interference in disputes which merely relate to the internal government of other nations, and eventually to recognize the authority of the prevailing party, without reference to the merits of the original controversy." This principle of international law has been consistently rec- ognized during the whole past intercourse of the two countries, and was recently re-affirmed in the instructions given by Secretary Gresham to Commissioner Blount, on March 11, 1893, and by the latter published in the newspapers in Honolulu, in a letter of his own to the Hawaiian public. The words of these instructions which I refer to are as follows : " The United States claim no right to interfere in the political or domestic affairs, or in the internal conflicts of the Hawaiian Islands other than as herein stated (re- ferring to the protection of American citizens), or for the purpose of maintaining any treaty or other rights which they possess." The treaties between the two countries confer no right of interference. Upon what then, Mr. Minister, does the President of the United States base his right of interference ? Your communication is without information on this point, excepting such as may be con- tained in the following brief and vague sentences : " She (the ex-Queen) was advised and assured by her Ministers and leaders of EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 335 the movement for the overthrow of her Government, that if she surrendered under protest, her case would afterward be fairly con- sidered by the President of the United States. The Queen finally yielded to the armed forces of the United States then quartered in Honolulu, relying on the good faith and honor of the President, when informed of what occurred, to undo the action of the Minister, and reinstate her and the authority which she claimed as the consti- tutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands." Also, "It becomes my further duty to advise you, Sir, the Executive of the Provisional Government, and your Ministers, of the President's determination of the question which your action and that of the Queen devolved upon him, and that you are expected to promptly relinquish to her her constitutional authority." I understand that the first quotation is referred to in the following words of the second : " which your action and that of the Queen devolved upon him " (the President of the United States), and that the President has arrived at his conclusions from Commissioner Blount's report. We have had, as yet, no opportunity of examining this document ; but, from extracts published in the papers and for reasons set forth hereafter, we are not disposed to submit the fate of Hawaii to its statements and conclusions. As a matter of fact, no member of the Executive of the Provisional Government has conferred with the ex-Queen, either verbally or otherwise, from the time that the new Govern- ment was proclaimed till now, with the exception of one or two notices which were sent to her by myself, in regard to her removal from the Palace, and relating to the guards which the Government first allowed her, and perhaps others of a like nature. I infer that a conversation with Mr. Damon, then a member of the Advisory Council, is reported by Mr. Blount to have had with the ex-Queen on January 17th, and which has been quoted in the newspapers, is the basis of this astounding claim of the President of the United States of his authority to adjudicate upon our rights as a Govern- ment to exist. Mr. Damon, on the occasion mentioned, was allowed Zz6 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. to accompany the Cabinet of the former Government, who had been in conference with me and my associates, to meet the ex- Queen ; he went informally, without instructions and without authority to represent the Government, or to assure the ex-Queen "that if she surrendered under protest her case would afterward be fairly considered by the President of the United States." Our ultimatum had been already given to the members of the ex -cabinet who had been in conference with us. What Mr. Damon said to the ex-Queen he said on his individual responsibility, and did not report it to us. Mr. Blount's report of his remarks on that occasion furnished to the Government its first information of the nature of those remarks. Admitting, for argument's sake, that the Govern- ment had authorized such assurances, what was "her case" that was afterward to "be fairly considered by the President of the United States? " Was it the question of her right to subvert the Hawaiian Constitution and to proclaim a new one to suit herself, or was it her claim to be restored to the sovereignty, or was it her claim against the United States for the alleged unwarrantable acts of Minister Stevens, or was it all these in the alternative ? Who can say ? But if it had been all of these, or any of them, it could not have been more clearly and finally decided by the President of the United States in favor of the Provisional Government than when he recognized it without qualification and received its accred- ited Commissioners, negotiated a treaty of annexation with them, received its accredited Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- potentiary, and accredited successively two Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to it ; the ex-Queen in the meantime being represented in Washington by her agent v/ho had full access to the Department of State. The whole business of the Government with the President of the United States is set forth in the correspondence between the two Governments and the acts and statements of the Minister or this Government at Washington and the Annexation Commissioners .STEA.MEK ALSIKALIA. The (Jceauif Company's steamship Australia makes the trip from San Francisco to the Hawaiian Islands every four weeks. This steamer carries the larger part of the tourists to Honolulu, as it is the only one that sails to that port alone, the other large ocean steamers merely stopping en route to Australia or Japan and China. EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 339 accredited to it. If we have submitted our right to exist to the United States, the fact will appear in that correspondence and the acts of our Minister and Commissioners. Such agreement must be shown as the foundation of the right of your Government to inter- fere, for an arbitrator can be created only by the act of two parties. The ex-Queen sent her attorney to Washington to plead her claim for reinstatement in power, or failing that, for a money allow- ance or damages. This attorney was refused passage on the Gov- ernment dispatch-boat, which was sent to San Francisco with the Annexation Commissioners and their message. The departure of this vessel was less than two days after the new Government was declared, and the refusal was made promptly upon receiving the request therefor, either on the day the Government was declared, or on the next day. If an intention to submit the question of the reinstatement of the ex-Queen had existed, why should her attorney have been refused passage on this boat ? The ex-Queen's letter to President Harrison, dated January i8th, the day after the new Government was proclaimed, makes no allusion to any understand- ing between her and the Government for arbitration. Her letter is as follows : — " His Excellency, BENJAMIN HARRISON, President of the United States. " My Great and Good Friend : — It is with deep regret that I address you on this occasion. Some of my subjects, aided by aliens, have renounced their loyalty and revolted against the constitutional Government of my kingdom. They have attempted to depose me and to establish a Provisional Government, in direct conflict with the organic law of this kingdom. Upon receiving incontestible proof that His Excellency, the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, aided and abetted their unlawful movements and caused United States troops to be landed for that purpose, I submitted to force, believing that he would not have acted in that manner unless by the authority of the Government which he represents. 340 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. " This action on my part was prompted by three reasons : The futility of a conflict with the United States ; the desire to avoid violence, bloodshed and the destruction of life and property, and the certainty which I feel that you and your Government will right whatever wrongs may have been inflicted upon us in the premises. " In due time a statement of the true facts relating to this matter will be laid before you, and I live in the hope that you will judge uprightly and justly between myself and-my enemies. This appeal is not made for myself personally, but for my people, who have hitherto always enjoyed the friendship and protection of the United States. " My opponents have taken the only vessel which could be obtained here for the purpose and, hearing of their intention to send a delegation of their number to present their side of this conflict before you, I requested the favor of sending by the same vessel an envoy to you, to lay before you my statement, as the facts appear to myself and my loyal subjects. " This request has been refused, and I now ask you that in justice to myself and to my people that no steps be taken by the Government of the United States until my cause can be heard by you. " I shall be able to dispatch an envoy about the 2d of February, as that will be the first available opportunity hence, and he will reach you with every possible haste, that there may be no delay in the settlement of this matter. " I pray you, therefore, my good friend, that you will not allow any conclusions to be reached by you until my envoy arrives. " I beg to assure you of the continuance of my highest con- sideration. " LILIUOKALANI R. "Honolulu, January i8, 1893." If any understanding had existed at that time between her and the Government to submit the question of her restoration to the EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 341 United States, some reference to such understanding would naturally have appeared in this letter, as every reason would have existed for calling the attention of the President to that fact, especially as she then knew that her attorney would be seriously delayed in reaching Washington. But there is not a word from which such an under- standing can be predicated. The Government sent its Commis- sioners to Washington for the sole object of procuring the confirmation of the recognition by Minister Stevens of the new Government, and to enter into negotiations for political union with the United States. The protest of the ex-Queen, made on January 17th, is equally with the letter, devoid of evidence of any mutual understanding for a submission of her claim to the throne, to the United States. It is very evidently a protest against the alleged action of Minister Stevens as well as the new Government, and contains a notice of her appeal to the United States. The document was received exactly as it would have been received if it had come through the mail. The endorsement of its receipt upon the paper was made at the request of the individual who brought it, as evidence of its safe delivery. As to the ex-Queen's notice of her appeal to the United States, it was a matter of indifference to us. Such an appeal could not have been prevented, as the mail service was in operation as usual. That such a notice and our receipt of it without comment, should be made a foundation of a claim that we had submitted our right to exist as a Government to the United States, had never occurred to us until suggested by your Government. The protest is as follows : — " I, Liliuokalani, by the grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom. "That I yield to the superior force of the United States of 342 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. America, whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu, and declared that he would support the said Provisional Government. " Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces and perhaps the loss of life, I do under this protest and impelled by said force, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands. " Done at Honolulu, the seventeenth day of January, A. D. 1893. " LILIUOKALANI, R. " Samuel Parker, Minister of Foreign Affairs. " Wm. H. CORNWELL, Minister of Finance. " JnO. F. COLBURN, Minister of the Interior. " A. P. Peterson, Attorney-General. " S. B. Dole and others composing the Provisional Govern- ment of the Hawaiian Islands. "(Endorsed.) Received by the hands of the late Cabinet, the seventeenth day of January, A. D. 1893. Sanford B. DOLE, Chairman of Executive Council of Provisional Government." You may not be aware, but such is the fact, that at no time until the presentation of the claim of the President of the United States of his right to interfere in the internal affairs of this country by you on December 19th, has this Government been officially informed by the United States Government that any such course was contem- plated. And not until the publication of Mr. Gresham's letter to the President of the United States on the Hawaiian question, had we any reliable intimation of such a policy. The adherents of the ex-Queen have indeed claimed from time to time that such was the case, but we have never been able to attach serious importance to their rumors to that effect, feeling secure in our perfect diplomatic EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 343 relations with your country, and relying upon the friendship and fairness of a Government whose dealings with us have ever shown full recognition of our independence as a sovereign power, without any tendency to take advantage of the disparity of strength between the two countries. If your contention that President Cleveland believes that this Government and the ex-Queen have submitted their respective claims to the sovereignty of this country, to the adjudication of the United States is correct, then, may I ask, when and where has the President held his court of arbitration? This Government has had no notice of the sitting of such a tribunal and no opportunity of presenting evidence of its claims. If Mr. Blount's investigations were part of the proceedings of such a court, this Government did not know it and was never informed of it ; indeed, as I have mentioned above, we never knew, until the publication of Secretary Gresham's letter to President Cleveland a few weeks ago, that the American Executive had a policy of interference under contemplation. Even if we had known that Mr. Blount was authori- tatively acting as Commissioner to take evidence upon the question of the restoration of the ex-Queen, the methods adopted by him in making his investigations were, I submit, unsuitable to such an examination, or any examination upon which human interests were to be adjudicated. As I am reliably informed, he selected his witnesses and examined them in secret, freely using leading ques- tions, giving no opportunity for a cross-examination and often not permitting such explanations by witnesses themselves as they desired to make of evidence which he had drawn from them. It is hardly necessary for me to suggest that, under such a mode of examination, some witnesses would be almost helpless in the hands of an astute lawyer, and might be drawn into saying things which would be only half-truths, and standing alone would be misleading or even false in effect. Is it likely that an investigation conducted in this manner could result in a fair, full and truthful statement of the case in point ? Surely the destinies of a friendly Government, 344 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. admitting by way of argument that the right of arbitration exists, may not be disposed of upon an ex-parte and secret investigation made without the knowledge of such Government, or an oppor- tunity by it to be heard, or even to know who the witnesses were. Mr. Blount came here as a stranger and at once entered upon his duties. He devoted himself to the work of collecting information, both by the examination of witnesses and the collection of statistics and other documentary matter, with great energy and industry, giving up substantially his whole time to its prosecution. He was here but a few months, and during that time was so occupied with this work that he had little opportunity left for receiving those impressions of the state of affairs which could best have come to him incidentally through a wide social intercourse with the people of the country and a personal acquaintance with its various communities and educational and industrial enterprises. He saw the country from his cottage in the center of Honolulu, mainly through the eyes of the witnesses whom he examined. Under these circumstances is it probable that the most earnest of men would be able to form a statement that could safely be relied upon as the basis of a decision upon the question of the standing of a Government ? In view, therefore, of all the facts in relation to the question of the President's authority to interfere, and concerning which the members of the Executive were actors and eye-witnesses, I am able to assure Your Excellency that by no action of this Govern- ment on the seventeenth day of January last, or since that time, has the authority devolved upon the President of the United States to interfere in the internal affairs of this country through any conscious act or expression of this Government with such an intention. You state in your communication: — "After a patient examination of Mr. Blount's reports, the Pres- ident is satisfied that the movement against the Queen, if not EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 345 instigated, was encouraged and supported by the representative of this Government at Honolulu; that he promised in advance to aid her enemies in an effort to overthrow the Hawaiian Government and set up by force a new Government in its place ; that he kept his promise by causing a detachment of troops to be landed from the "Boston," on the i6th of January, 1893, and by recognizing the Provisional Government the next day, when it was too feeble to defend itself, and the constitutional Government was able to suc- cessfully maintain its authority against any threatening force other than that of the United States already landed." Without entering into a discussion of the facts, I beg to state in reply that I am unable to judge of the correctness of Mr. Blount's report, from which the President's conclusions were drawn, as I have had no opportunity of examining such report. But I desire to specifically and emphatically deny the correctness of each and every one of the allegations of fact contained in the above-quoted statement ; yet, as the President has arrived at a positive opinion in his own mind in the matter, I will refer to it from his own stand- point. My position is briefly this : If the American forces illegally assisted the revolutionists in the establishment of the Provisional Government, that Government is not responsible for their wrong doing. It was purely a private matter tor discipline between the United States Government and its own officers. There is, I submit, no precedent in international law for the theory that such action of the American troops has conferred upon the United States authority over the internal affairs of this Government. Should it be true, as you have suggested, that the American Government made itself responsible to the Queen, who, it is alleged, lost her throne through such action, that is not a matter for me to discuss, except to submit that, if such be the case, it is a matter for the American Govern- ment and her to settle between them. This Government, a recog- nized sovereign power, equal in authority with the United States 346 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. Government and enjoying perfect diplomatic relations with it, can not be destroyed by it for the sake of discharging its obligations to the Queen. Upon these grounds, Mr. Minister, in behalf of my Government, I respectfully protest against the usurpation of its authority as sug- gested by the language of your communication. It is difficult for a stranger like yourself, and much more for the President of the United States, with his pressing responsibilities, his crowding cares and his want of familiarity with the condition and history of this country and the inner life of its people, to obtain a clear insight into the real state of affairs and to understand the social currents, the race feelings and the customs and traditions, which all contribute to the political outlook. We, who have grown up here, or who have adopted this country as our home, are con- scious of the difficulty of maintaining stable government here. A community which is made up of five races, of which the larger part but dimly appreciates the significance and value of representative institutions, offers political problems which may well tax the wisdom of the most experienced statesman. For long years a large and influential part of this community, including many foreigners and native Hawaiians, have observed with deep regret the retrogressive tendencies of the Hawaiian mon- archy, and have honorably striven against them, and have sought, through legislative work, the newspapers and by personal appeal and individual influence, to support and emphasize the representative features of the monarchy, and to create a public sentiment favorable thereto, and thereby to avert the catastrophe that seemed inevitable if such tendencies were not restrained. These efforts have been met by the last two sovereigns in a spirit of aggressive hostility. The struggle became at length a well-defined issue between royal prerogative and the right of representative government, and most bitterly and unscrupulously has it been carried on in the interests of the former. The King's privilege of importing goods for his own use 1 J3 2 S: « 3 ^ S PS'-' "^ 2 S ^■3-2 ? ■*-' OC o 4) § .i:^ 3 ^ '4 " ?3 5 H fl s 5 2 ? -2 y ^ ?r, 2: ^ -Z ■" t: 25 O 1; i, p 3 J 'Z ■^ c3 rt P X -5 M Sh +-■ , a, -1. :3 0* « *^ '^ +- o EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 349 without paying the duties thereon, was abused to the extent of admitting large quantities of liquors with which to debauch the elec- torate. He promoted the election of Government officers, both executive and judicial, to the Legislative Assembly, and freely ap- pointed to office elected members thereof. In the Legislature of 1886, of which I was a member, the party supporting the Govern- ment was largely in the majority, and nearly every member of such majority held some appointment from the Government, and some of them as many as two or three, thereby effectually placing the legis- lative branch of the Government under the personal and absolute control of the King. The constitutional encroachments, lawless extravagance and scandalous and open sales of patronage and privi- lege to the highest bidder by Kalakaua brought on at length the revolution of 1887, which had the full sympathy and moral support of all the diplomatic representatives in Honolulu, including Minister Merrill, who was, at that time, President Cleveland's Minister here. This revolution was not an annexation movement in any sense, but tended towards an independent republic, but when it had the mon- archy in \tz power, conservative counsel prevailed, and a new lease of life was allowed that institution on the condition of royal fidelity to the new Constitution which was then promulgated and greatly curtailed the powers of the sovereign. Kalakaua was not faithful to this compact, and sought as far as possible to evade its stipula- tions. The insurrection of 1889 was connived at by him, and the household guards under his control were not allowed to take part in suppressing it. The Princess Liliuokalani was in full sympathy with this movement, being a party to it, and furnishing her suburban resi- dence to the insurgents for their meetings. The arrangements were then made and the insurgents marched thence for their attack upon the Government. The affair was suppressed in a few hours of fighting, with some loss of life to the insurgents, by the party which carried through the revolution of 1887. The ex-Queen's rule was even more reckless and retrogressive 350 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. than her brother's. Less politic than he, and with less knowledge* of affairs, she had more determination and was equally unreliable and deficient in moral principle. She, to all appearance, unhesi- tatingly took the oath of office to govern according to the Constitu- tion, and evidently regarding it merely as a formal ceremony, began, according to her own testimony to Mr. Blount, to lay her plans to destroy the Constitution and replace it with one of her own creation. With a like disregard of its sanctions, she made the most determined efforts to control all the appointments to office, both executive and judicial. The session of the Legislature of 1892 was the longest that had ever occurred in our history, and was charac- terized by a most obstinate struggle for personal control of the Government and the Legislature on the part of the Queen ; this was strenuously resisted by the opposition. During this contest four ministerial cabinets were appointed and unseated, and the lottery franchise bill, which had been withdrawn early in the session for want of sufficient support, was at the last moment, when the opposition was weakened by the absence of several of its members, again brought forward and passed through the exercise of improper and illegitimate influences upon the Legislators, among which were personal appeals on the part of the Queen to them. The Cabinet which represented the opposition and the majority of the Legislature, which the Queen had been compelled to appoint, was unseated by similar means, and, with a new Cabinet of her own choice, the Legislature was prorogued. This lottery franchise was of a character corresponding with similar institutions which have been driven out of every State of the American Union by an indignant public sentiment. If it had been established here it would in a brief period have obtained full control of the Government patronage, and corrupted the social and political life of the people. Although the situation at the close of the session was deeply dis- couraging to the community, it was accepted without any intention of meeting it other than by legal means. The attempted coup d'etat EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. 351 of the Queen followed, and her ministers, threatened with violence, fled to the citizens for assistance and protection ; then it was that the uprising against the Queen took place, and, gathering force from day to day, resulted in the proclamation of the Provisional Government and the abrogation of the monarchy on the third day thereafter. No man can correctly say that the Queen owed her downfall to the interference of American forces. The revolution was carried through by the representatives, now largely reinforced, of the same public sentiment which forced the monarchy to its knees in 1887 ; which suppressed the insurrection of 1889, and which, for twenty years, had been battling for representative government in this country. If the American forces had been absent the revolution would have taken place, for the sufficient cause for it had nothing to do with their presence. I, therefore, in all friendship for the Government of the United States, which you represent, and desiring to cherish the good-will of the great American people, submit the answer of my Government to your proposition, and ask that you will transmit the same to the President of the United States for his consideration. Though the Provisional Government is far from being "a. great power " and could not long resist the forces of the United States in hostile attack, we deem our position to be impregnable under all legal precedents, under the principles of diplomatic intercourse and in the forum of conscience. We have done your Government no wrong ; no charge of discourtesy is or can be brought against us. Our only issue with your people has been that because we revered its institutions of civil liberty, we have desired to have them ex- tended to our own distracted country, and because we honor its flag, and deeming that its benefits and authoritative presence would be for the best interests of all of our people, we have stood ready to add our country, a new star, to its glory, and to consummate a union which we believed would be as much for the benefit of youf country as ours. If this is an offense, we plead guilty to it 552 EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANI. I am instructed to inform you, Mr. Minister, that the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands respectfully and unhesitat- ingly declines to entertain the proposition of the President of the United States that it should surrender its authority to the ex-Queen. This answer is made not only upon the grounds hereinbefore set forth, but upon our sense of duty and loyalty to the brave men whose commission we hold, who have faithfully stood by us in the hour of trial and whose will is the only earthly authority we recognize. We can not betray the sacred trust they have placed in our hands, a trust which represents the cause of Christian civilization in the interests of the whole people of these Islands. The success with which the Provisional Government has administered the affairs of Hawaii, and the dignity, ability and admirable temper with which President Dole dealt with the question in issue, whether raised by the Hawaiian royalists or by the United States officials, had gained a strong predominance of American public senti- ment. The fidelity and candor with which Minister Willis reported to the Government at Washington the real situa- tion at Honolulu, his strong endorsement of the character of the men constituting and supporting the Provisional Government, and the reluctance which he manifested to carry out extreme instructions, also tended to strengthen public opinion in a correct view of Hawaiian affairs. In the meanwhile the United States Senate, by formal resolution, instructed its Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate "whether any irregularities have occurred in the diplomatic or other intercourse between the United States and Hawaii in relation to recent political revolution in Hawaii." This Committee was authorized to send for persons EFFORT TO RESTORE LILIUOKALANL 353 and papers, and to administer oaths to witnesses. It made an extended and tliorough investigation, occupying several weeks, examining numerous witnesses, those whom the Committee deemed most competent to give testimony on the subject. Through its Chairman, the Hon. John T. Morgan, the majority of the Committee made an elaborate report. The following extracts from that document cover the main points which had been in controversy between the Provisional Government and the supporters of the fallen monarchy, and are conclusive as to what should be the future attitude and policy of the United States towards the American colony and its associates in Hawaii : — When a crown falls in any kingdom of the Western Hemisphere, it is pul- verized, and when a scepter departs, it departs forever ; and American opinion can not sustain any American ruler in the attempt to restore them, no matter how vir- tuous and sincere the reasons may be that seem to justify him. *********** The fact can not be ignored that this revolutionary movement of Liliuokalani, which had its development in the selection of a new cabinet to supplant one which had the support of all the conservative elements in the island, was set on foot and accomplished during the absence of the American Minister on board the ship " Boston " during the ten days which preceded the prorogation of the Legislature. The astonishment with which this movement was received by tlie American emi- grants and other white people residing in Hawaii, and its inauguration in the ab- sence of the " Boston " and of the American Minister, show that those people, with great anxiety, recognized the fact thatit was directed against them and their inter- ests and welfare, and that when it was completed they would become its victims. These convictions excited the serious apprehensions of all the white people in those islands that a crisis was brought about in which not only their rights in Hawaii, and under the constitution, were to be injuriously affected, but that the ultimate result would be that they would be driven from the islands or, remaining there, would be put at the mercy of those who chose to prey upon their property. This class of people, who were intended to be ostracised, supply nine- tenths of the entire tax receipts of the kingdom ; and they were conscious that the pur- pose was to inflict taxation upon them without representation, or else to confiscate their estates and drive them out of the country. This produced alarm and agita- tion, which resulted in the counter movement set on foot by the people to meet and overcome the revolution which Liliuokalani had projected and had endeavored to accomplish. Her Ministers were conscious of the fact that any serious resistance to her revolutionary movement (of which they had full knowledge before they were inducted into office) would disappoint the expectations of the Queen and would result in the overthrow of the executive government ; and, while they had evidently promised the Queen that they would support her in her effort to abolish 354 EFFORT TO RTSUORE LILIUOKALANL the constinition of 1887 and substitute one which they had secretly assisted in prepariiij:?, when the moment of the trial came they abandoned her — they broke faith with her. The Queen's Ministers took fright and gave information to the people of the existence of the movements and concealed purposes of the Queen and of her demands upon them to join her in the promulgation of the constitution, and they appealed to the Committee of Safety for protection, and continued in that attitude until they saw that the kindled wrath of the people would not take the direction of violence and bloodshed without the provocation of a serious necessity. Being satisfied that they could trust to the forbearance of the people, who were looking to the protection of their interests and had no desire for strife and bloodshed, they began to tmesse 'n a political way to effect a compromise between the people and the Queen, and they induced her to make the proclamation of her intentions to postpone the completion of her revolutionary purposes, which was circulated in Honolulu on Monday morning. These men, 'whose condixt can not be characterized as anything less than perfidious, hastened to give to the President of the United States false and misleading statements of the facts leading up to, attending, and succeeding this revolution. To do this they made deceptive and misleading statements to Mr. Blount. Upon them must rest the odium of having encouraged the Queen in her revolutionary intentions ; of having then abandoned her in a moment of apparent danger ; of having thrown themselves upon the mercy of the people, and then of making an attempt, through falsehood and mis- representation, to regain power in the Government of Hawaii, which the people would naturally forever deny them. ****** * **** The diplomatic officers of the United States in Hawaii have the right to much larger liberty of action in respect to the internal affairs of that country than would be the case with any other country with which we have no peculiar or special relations. ** * * * * * * ** * But the Government of the United States had the right to keep its troops in Honolulu until these conditions were performed, and the Government of Hawaii couid certainly acquiesce in such a policy without endangering its independence or detracting from its dignity. This was done, and the troops from the Boston camped on shore for several months. The precise hour when or the precise con- ditions under which the American Minister recognized the Provisional Govern- ment is not a matter of material importance. It was his duty, at the earliest safe period, to assist by his recognition in the termination of the interregnum, so that citizens of the United States might be safely remitted to the care of that govern- ment for the security of their rights. As foon as he was convinced that the Pro- visional Government was secure against overthrow, it was his duty to recognize the rehabilitated state. *********** Whether this was done an hour or two sooner or later could make no sub- stantial difference as to his rights or duties, if he was satisfied that the movement was safe against reversal. If no question of the annexation of Hawaii to the United States had existed, the conduct of the American Minister in giving official recognition to the Provisional Government would not have been the subject of adverse criticism. But the presence of that question and his anxious advocacy of annexation did not relieve him from the duty or abridge his right to call for the troops on the "Boston" to protect the citizens of the United States during an interregnum in the office of chief executive of Hawaii. They were not to be put into a state of outlawry and peril if the Minister had been opposed to annexation, nor could his desire on that subject in any way affect their rights or his duty. He gave to them the protection they had the right to demand, and, in respect of his action up to this point, so far as it related to Hawaii, his opinions as to annex- ation have not affected the attitude of the United States Government, and the committee find no cause of censure either against Minister Stevens or Capt. Wiltse, of the " Boston." University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. em> 3 1158 00288 8153 Un SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY " " 'lnl' 'iMIIMI' "ril|!'|l|lll|! r AA 000 978 514 8 1 hnUV, m]\ iiiiip''''^^'^i iL \imi 111!'