THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 
 
 AND PEOPLE.
 
 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AND PEOPLE. 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 DELIVERED AT THK 
 
 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 
 
 I'MiKR TIIF. AUSPICES OF THF. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AND OF 
 
 TICK ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SOCIKTIF.S 
 
 OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 FEBRUARY g-rn, 1884, 
 
 CAPT. C. E. BUTTON, U. S. A., 
 
 U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 JUDD A DETWEILER, PRINTERS. 
 1884.
 
 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AND PEOPLE. 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : 
 
 The Hawaiian Islands are the summits of a gigantic sub- 
 jharine mountain range. If the waters of the Pacific were 
 removed from their vicinity we might behold a range of 
 mountains as long as our Appalachian system, from Lake 
 Champlain to Chattanooga and quite as wide, with summits 
 five times as high as Mt. Washington. The summits of 
 Mauua Loa and Mauna Kea are nearly 14,000 feet above 
 the ocean, and their bases are from 15,000 to 18,000 feet 
 beneath it. Referred to the bottom of the ocean those 
 mountains are higher than the Himalayas. Standing upon 
 the northeastern coast of Hawaii the crest of Mauna Kea 
 is less than twenty miles away, and is nearly three miles 
 above us. At a distance of about thirty miles at sea the 
 ocean floor is about three and a half miles below us. I am 
 not aware of any other place in the world where, along a 
 line less than fifty miles in length, may be found a differ- 
 ence in altitude of more than six miles. 
 
 The Hawaiian group consists of four larger and four 
 smaller islands. The largest island is named Hawaii. It 
 lias a length of about ninety miles and a width of seventy 
 miles. Its area is very nearly 4,000 square miles, being a 
 
 GEOGRAPHY
 
 little less than two-thirds of the area of the entire group. 
 It is not, however, the most |M>pulous, for that distinction 
 belongs to the island of Oahu, on which is situated the 
 principal town and capital, Honolulu, which is the center 
 of trade and the seat of the government. 
 
 Only a small portion of each island is capable of sustain- 
 ing a dense population. The interiors are mountainous and 
 generally rough, craggy, and cut with profound gorges of 
 the wildest description. The habitable portions are near 
 the sea-coast, forming a ring around each island ; but only 
 a jwirt of each ring is habitable or cultivable. Some por- 
 tions are intensely arid and barren ; others are covered 
 with recent Hoods of lava, and still others are bounded by 
 lofty rocky coasts, and trenched with ravines so deep and 
 abrupt that access is difficult. Generally speaking, the 
 proportion of habitable area is singularly small. But those 
 l>ortions which are well favored are probably capable of 
 sustaining as dense a population a* any tracts in the world. 
 
 The climate of these islands is the climate of Paradise. 
 It is never hot, and, except at considerable altitudes, it is 
 never cold. Rarely has the thermometer been known 
 to reach 90 on the sea-coast, or to fall below (55. The 
 temj>erature in most localities may be averaged the year 
 round as varying between 7o and <S.). But while the 
 temperature of any given locality is very uniform, there is 
 wonderful variety in the climate as we pass from one place 
 to another. Indeed, there are almost as many climates as 
 there are square leagues. As a rule the windward or east- 
 ern sides are very rainy and the leeward sides very dry. On 
 the eastern coast of Hawaii the annual rainfall varies from
 
 150 to 250 inches. On the northwest coast of the same 
 island it is probably less than the twentieth part of those 
 amounts. The islands being situated within the trade-wind 
 belt, the wind blows constantly from the east and northeast 
 during the greater part of the year, and is only subject to 
 brief interruptions during midwinter. Violent storms occur 
 only in the winter time, and these, coming once or twice a 
 year from the southwest, are known as konas, which means 
 in the native language the southwest. During a stay of 
 six months on the islands I only heard a single peal of 
 thunder. 
 
 These islands are all of volcanic origin. They are com- 
 posed of basaltic lavas, and no other rocks are found there 
 excepting a few consolidated coral sands, which are rem- 
 nants of old sea-beaches upheaved from 50 to 200 feet. In 
 the two westerly islands the volcanic activity has long been 
 extinct. Most of the ancient craters have been obliterated, 
 and the volcanic piles built up during the periods of activ- 
 ity have been greatly ravaged tmd wasted by subsequent 
 erosion. Next to the plateaus and canon country of the 
 Kocky Mountain region, it would be difficult to find any- 
 where more impressive and suggestive example* of the 
 wasting and slow destruction of the laud than those pre- 
 sented by these islands. We find there grand illustrations 
 of the two methods by which the general process of erosion 
 accomplishes its work. First, is the action of the rains, fol- 
 lowed by the decomposition of the massive rocks and their 
 conversion into soil, and also the action of running water 
 and general decay of the rock masses, resulting in the for- 
 mation of ravines and mountain gorges of the most impos-
 
 ing grandeur; secondly, we find the slow but incessant in- 
 roads made by the waves of the ocean upon a sea-coast, 
 gradually wearing back the cliffs and slowly paring away 
 the rocky shore, until, after the lapse of thousands of years, 
 the sea has eaten its way several miles into the land. Thus 
 we have on the one hand very striking examples of one way 
 in which mountains are built, and we have on the other hand 
 equally striking examples of the ways in which those moun- 
 tains are destroyed. 
 
 Travelers in the lofty volcanic islands of the Pacific have 
 frequently noted with some surprise the singularly sharp, 
 angular, abrupt features of their mountain scenery. It is 
 very impressive in the Fijis and Samoa, in the Ladroneand 
 Caroline, and Society groups. But none of them rival in 
 wildness and grandeur the still loftier islands of Hawaii. 
 Gorges little inferior to Yosemite in magnitude are rather 
 numerous. But in a certain sharpness of detail and ani- 
 mation in the sculpture they are quite unique. The island 
 of Kauai and the western portion of the island of Maui 
 consist of old volcanic piles as high as Mt. Washington, 
 and much broader and longer. They are literally sawed to 
 pieces by many immense canon-like gorges, which cut 
 them to their foundations. Over all is spread a mantle of 
 tropical vegetation, in comparison with which the richest 
 verdure of our temperate zone is but the garb of poverty. 
 Whoever reads Shakespeare's Tempest and visits the Ber- 
 mudas will be disenchanted from some of the most pleasing 
 illusions of the play. But, if Shakespeare could only have 
 known the eastern shores of Maui or Hawaii and made 
 them the scenes of his play, it .would have had, if possible, 
 another claim to immortality.
 
 7 
 
 This wealth of verdure and splendor of scenery usually 
 occur upon the windward sides of the islands, for upon 
 those sides are found the cause which produces them. This 
 cause is the copious rainfall brought by the perpetual trade 
 winds. Nothing can be more pleasing to the lover of beautiful 
 scenery than a ride along the windward coasts of Maui and 
 Hawaii. The land terminates in cliffs, varying from 200 
 to 500 feet in height, plunging down almost vertically into 
 the Pacific. The long heavy swell driven for thousands of 
 miles before the trade-wind breaks with great force against 
 these iron walls. The surface above slopes upwards towards 
 the mountainous interior, at first with a gentle acclivity 
 which becomes steeper inland, and at length precipitous. 
 This platform is gashed at short intervals by true canons, 
 which head far up the mountain slopes, and open seawards 
 in the great terminal wall. A mile or two inland from the 
 brink of the cliff-bound shore is a forest so dense that it can be 
 penetrated only by hewing a way through it or following a 
 path already hewn. To describe the glories of this tropical 
 vegetation is impossible. Only those who have beheld it 
 can conceive of its splendor and luxuriance. Yet there is 
 one unrivaled feature of the island vegetation, which has 
 no parallel elsewhere than in the Pacific and Austral islands, 
 and which may be mentioned. This is the ferns. There 
 are more than 300 species of them in the Hawaiian Islands, 
 and the most conspicuous are tree-ferns, which grow in 
 amazing abundance and sumptuousness. They often cover 
 the sides of the ravines, forming a thicket which is quite 
 impenetrable, and become a mantle of green velvet, so deep, 
 rich, and exquisitely patterried that it makes an imperial 
 robe seem ridiculous.
 
 Hut there arc contrasts. There are portions of the islands 
 where the features have at first sight no more in common 
 with those just spoken of, than if they belonged to another 
 planet. The beautiful or grand scenery is found in those 
 parts where the volcanic activity has long been dormant. 
 The contrasted portions are those where the volcanoes are 
 still in action, or have recently put out their fires. 
 
 The southern half of the great island Hawaii is covered 
 by the two grandest volcanoes in the world Mauna Loa 
 and Kilauea. The great central pile is Mauna Loa, which is 
 certainly the monarch of modern volcanoes. Its name 
 signifies the Great Mountain. No other in the world ap- 
 proaches it in the vastuess of its mass or in the magnitude 
 of its eruptive activity. There are many volcanic peaks 
 higher in air, but these are planted upon elevated platforms of 
 stratified rock, where they appear as mere cones, of greater 
 or less si/e. Regarding the platforms on which they stand 
 as their true bases, the cones themselves, and the lavas 
 which have emanated from them, never approach the mag- 
 nitude of Mauna Loa. JEtna and all it* adjuncts are im- 
 measurably inferior ; while Shasta, Hood, and Ranier, if 
 melted down and run together into one pile, would still fall 
 much below the volume of the island volcano. In the 
 greatness of its eruptions, Mauna Loa is also without a 
 rival. Some of the volcanoes of Iceland have been known 
 to disgorge at a single outbreak volumes of lava quite 
 equal to them. But in that island such extravasations are 
 infrequent, and a century has now elapsed since any such 
 have been emitted. The eruptions of Mauna Loa are all 
 of great volume, and occur irregularly, with an average in-
 
 terval of about eight years. Any one of its moderate erup- 
 tions represents more lava than Vesuvius has outpoured 
 since the last days of Pompeii. The great flow of 1855 
 would nearly have built Vesuvius, and those of 1859 and 
 1881 were not greatly inferior. 
 
 The Hawaiian volcanoes are in some respects abnormal. 
 The most distinctive of their characteristics is the singu- 
 larly quiet and undemonstrative methods of their erup- 
 tions. Rarely ai-e these portentous events attended by any 
 of that explosive action which is manifested by all other 
 volcanoes. In only one or two instances within the historic 
 period have they been accompanied by earthquakes and sub- 
 terraneous rumblings. The vast jets of steam blown mile? 
 high, hurling cinders and lapilli far and wide, and filling, 
 the heavens with vapor, dust, and ashes, have never been 
 observed here. Home action of the sort is indeed repre- 
 sented sometimes, but only in a feeble way. Ordinarily the 
 lava spouts forth in stupendous quantities, but as quietly as 
 water from a fountain. So mild are the eruptive forces 
 that the observer may stand to the windward of one of 
 these mighty fountains, and so near it that the heat will make 
 the face tingle, yet without danger. Usually the outbreak 
 takes place without warning, and even without the knowl- 
 edge of people in the vicinity, who first become aware of it 
 at nightfall, when the whole heavens are aglow with the 
 reflected light, and the fiery fountains are seen playing. As 
 the news spreads, hundreds of people flock to it to witness 
 the sublime spectacle, and display as much eagerness to ap- 
 proach the scene of an eruption as the people of other coun- 
 tries show to get away from one.
 
 10 
 
 All this is in strongest contrast with the ordinary volcano. 
 At the other extreme is such an eruption as that which 
 happened last August at Krakatoa, in the Straits of Sunda. 
 With the published details of this catastrophe you are all 
 familiar. Appalling as it was, the eruption of Sumlnnvu, 
 on the Island of Rumatra, in 1815, must have been if we 
 can rely upon the accounts of it even more energetic and 
 destructive. The eruption of Coseguina, in Nicaragua, in 
 1835, appears to have been of the same character, or upon 
 a scale quite equal; while once or twice in a century 
 Cotapaxi shakes the chain of the Andes through half 
 its length, fills the sky with dust, and converts noonday 
 into midnight for a hundred miles around. The eruptions 
 of ^Etna have all been on a smaller scale, but still sufficient 
 to fill all Sicily with terror. Vesuvius is usually regarded 
 as a very obstreperous vent, but its performances are mere 
 Fourth of July fire-works in comparison with these Day-of- 
 Judgment proceedings at Humbawa, Krakatoa, and Cota- 
 paxi. 
 
 The explosive agent in these terrible convulsions is steam. 
 In their original seat, miles deep in the earth, the lavas contain 
 considerable quantities of water ; but the condition of this 
 
 9 
 
 water is such as we have, at the surface of the earth, no expe- 
 rience Avith, except as we observe it in volcanoes. It is water 
 red hot, or even yelloAv hot, and under a pressure hundreds of 
 times greater than that of the steam in a locomotive boiler 
 a pressure probably comparable to that exerted by gun- 
 powder in a poAverful cannon. Under the enormous pres- 
 sure, occurring at a depth of several miles within the earth, 
 Avater is absorbed bv the lavas in much the same way as
 
 II 
 
 water itself absorbs ammonia gas, or as wine absorbs car- 
 bonic acid. When the lavas rise to the surface where the 
 pressure is removed their explosive energy becomes terri- 
 ble. The steam is given off as the uncorked bottle of wine, 
 gives off its gas, only a thousand times more violently and 
 energetically. So densely charged with vapor of water are 
 some lavas that when, as in the case of Krakatoa, a vent is 
 found, the explosive energy becomes so prodigious that the 
 lava is blown into fine dust and dissipated in the surround- 
 ing atmosphere. Although this extreme of explosive activ- 
 ity is far too common for the comfort and safety of the 
 human race, it is by no means the most frequent. The 
 more ordinary type of volcano is one in which the explo- 
 siveness is not so intense as to blow the whole of the ejected 
 matter into impalpable dust, but blows it into pellets termed 
 lapilli. These grains of lapilli are of all sizes, from that of 
 a kernel of wheat up to those of cannon balls, and some- 
 times weighing a hundred tons or more. With a majority 
 of volcanoes, whether active or extinct, the greater part of 
 the material ejected is cast into the air in this fragmeiital 
 form. Falling back around the orifice, they build up a 
 fairly regular cone, with a cup on the summit. This is 
 termed a cinder cone. Most of the volcanic piles of the 
 world are crowned with cinder cones, the principal bulk of 
 which consists of lapilli and scoriaceous lumps, with some 
 massive portions of flowing lava streams mixed in. It is 
 probable that quite half of the volcanic material now visi- 
 ble upon the globe consists of accumulations of such frag- 
 mental matter. 
 
 To this general method of extravasation Mauua Loa and
 
 12 
 
 Kilaut'Ji are very remarkable exceptions. They consist 
 almost wholly of massive sheets and Hoods of lava. On 
 Mauna Loa there are but the most insignificant traces of 
 fragmental products, and on Kilauea there are only a 
 do/.eu or two of small cinder cones. The lavas of these great 
 volcanoes flowed quietly out in enormous deluges, running 
 sometimes for mouths, or even a whole year, with only the 
 least possible signs of explosive action throughout the entire 
 duration of the flows. 
 
 One consequence of this quiet method of eruption has 
 been to give to these colossal piles a wholly exceptional 
 form among volcanoes. Instead of a huge cone crowning 
 the apex of Mauna Loa, its summit is nearly a flat plain, 
 five and a half miles long and nearly four miles wide. 
 Within this plain is sunken a pit three miles long, two miles 
 wide, and a thousand feet in depth. In the floor of this pit, 
 at certain times, may be seen a lake of red hot liquid lava, 
 varying in size from time to time, but occasionally as large 
 as thirty or forty acres. At intervals of fifteen or twenty 
 minutes a column of liquid lava of great brilliancy, as large 
 and as high as the Washington monument will be when it 
 is completed, is shot upwards and falls back into the lava 
 pool in a fiery spray. This grand display is sometimes kept 
 up for months, and is generally terminated by an eruption. 
 When an outbreak occurs it does not take place usually at 
 the summit, but a fissure suddenly opens in the side of the 
 mountain, out of which a sheet of lava spouts hundreds of 
 feet into the air, and, falling, collects into a mighty river of 
 fire half a mile in width, and rushes at first with great ve- 
 locity down the slope. After running some miles it reaches
 
 more level ground, where it spreads out in great lakes or 
 fields. It also cools on the surface, which gradually freezes 
 over. But it is still hot within, and beneath its hardened 
 covering the liquid rivers are still running, and at the 
 edges and along the front of the great sheet the limpid lava 
 constantly breaks forth, pushing out fiery rivulets in ad- 
 vance, and latei'ally. These rivulets are shot out, in quick 
 succession, here, there, and everywhere, gradually covering 
 the ground by repeated offshoots. It soous blackens and 
 hardens, but only to be covered by another and another 
 belch. The later progress of the stream is slow. When 
 the lava first leaves the vent it may run ten or fifteen miles 
 an hour. But later on the stream may advance less than a 
 hundred yards in a day. In November, 1880, a great erup- 
 tion broke forth near the summit of Mauna Loa, and the 
 lava poured out in heavy streams unceasingly for eleven 
 months. There were three great .streams flowing in as many 
 directions, and the larger one extended from the vent a 
 distance of nearly fifty miles. It reached the outskirts of 
 the beautiful little town of Hilo, whose inhabitants had 
 abandoned all hope that their village would escape, and 
 had removed their portabl^ property. But the flow stopped 
 just at the edge of the village. 
 
 The massive and highly liquid character of the flows 
 from Mauna Loa are the causes which have given this 
 mountain its peculiar form. It is in contrast with all other 
 volcanoes by virtue of its flat and gently-sloped profiles. 
 It is a gently rising dome, whose slopes are only about 
 seven degrees, while its longer onas are only four degrees. 
 Most volcanoes have slopes ranging all the way from fifteen
 
 14 
 
 degrees to thirty and even forty degrees. The liquid lavas 
 run off' from the summit and upper dome, and distribute 
 themselves at immense distances. But if fragmental prod- 
 ucts were ejected in any quantity they would pile up 
 around the orifices from which they were ejected, and thus 
 form steep conical hills. 
 
 The ascent of Mauna Loa is a feat wholly unworthy of 
 the name of mountaineering. It is necessary, however, to 
 procure a guide who knows the way, otherwise the journey 
 is pretty sure to prove more interesting than was expected. 
 Many of the lava streams are masses of huge clinkers of the 
 most angular and cruel aspect imaginable ; indeed, the hum- 
 mocks of an arctic ice field are good traveling in compari- 
 son ; and only a guide familiar with the mountain knows 
 how to avoid them. 
 
 Just east of Mauna Loa, about twenty or twenty-five 
 miles, is the far-famed volcano Kilauea. This has been 
 visited and described so often that little needs to be said 
 here. It contains a great pit similar to that on Mauna Loa, 
 and somewhat larger, though not so deep. 
 
 Within it are the great lakes of fire always burning. 
 The lake at the summit of Mauna Loa is frozen over and 
 silent, without a trace of volcanic activity, for several years 
 at a time, and is open only for several months or sometimes 
 a year or so before a great eruption. But at Kilauea the 
 lava lakes are always aflame and have been so ever since 
 the earliest traditions of the natives. Forty years ago there 
 was a pit within a pit, and in the lowest deep was a lava 
 pool half a mile or more in diameter always boiling, spout- 
 ing, and flaming. At the present time the inner pit is
 
 15 
 
 quite filled up with solid lava, and a large conical pile of 
 rocks is built up over the site of this former lake. Within 
 this pile of rocks, however, is the remnant of this lake, now 
 about ten acres in area. Half a mile distant is a second lake 
 which is easily visited, and it is an exhilarating sight to 
 stand at night upon the brink of it and Avatch the boiling, 
 surging, and swirling of six acres of melted lava. At brief 
 intervals the surface darkens over by the formation of a 
 black solid crust with streaks of fire around the edges. 
 Suddenly a network of cracks shoots through the entire 
 crust, and the fragments turn down edgewise and sink, leav- 
 ing the pool one glowing expanse of exactly the appearance 
 of so much melted cast-iron. The heat and fusion of this 
 lake is maintained in spite of the enormous loss of heat by 
 radiation by the constant ascent of large quantities of in- 
 tensely hot vapors from the depths of the earth. 
 
 An hour's lecture, ladies and gentlemen, leaves no time 
 for rhetoric and graceful transitions from one theme to an- 
 other. Having shoveled out to you, so to speak, some 
 incoherent remarks concerning points of special interest in 
 the islands, I proceed at once to a subject, which will, 1 
 hope, prove more interesting, and that is the people who 
 inhabit them. 
 
 When we were boys and girls our general idea of the 
 inhabitants of the Pacific Islands was that they were typical 
 savages. What savages were we knew pretty well, or thought 
 we knew ; for, had we not all read Robinson Crusoe ? We 
 thought of them as naked, black creatures, whose principal 
 occupation was blowing conch shells, brandishing thigh 
 bones, and dancing a horrible cancan around a fire where a
 
 i6 
 
 human carcass was roasting. But we were mistaken. The 
 Polynesians, as a rule, were not savages, though many of 
 the white people who first visited them were so. 
 
 In the Pacific Islands two very distinct races are found. 
 Of one race the Hawaiiausor Tahitians may be regarded as 
 the type. This race peoples also the Society, Samoan, Navi- 
 gators, and Friendly groups, and includes the Maoris of New 
 Zealand. All these islanders have the same physical features, 
 similar social cults, and speak dialects of the same language. 
 The difference between the language of a Hawaiian and of 
 a Society islander is not greater than that between the 
 German and the Dutch. The difference between the lan- 
 guage of a Hawaiian and a Maori is less than between the 
 Dutch and the English. This and the community <>f 
 physical type establishes the identity of race sufficiently. 
 The western islands of the Pacific are occupied by a race 
 which has such apparent affinity with the negritos of Papua 
 or New Guinea as to raise a very strong presumption of 
 their community, and the supposition is corroborated by 
 many other circumstances. Of the two races, the first 
 mentionedis much superior physically, mentally, and mor- 
 ally, and of all branches of that race the noblest is the 
 Hawaiian. 
 
 Physically they are rather large, and have a light brown 
 color, straight hair, and are handsomely formed, of good 
 bearing, and well featured. The women also are pleasing 
 and comely. There is nothing about them savoring of the 
 squaw, hag, or wench, which is almost universal among so 
 many of the primitive dark-skinned races, and they are not 
 without beauty, even according to the taste of the white
 
 17 
 
 man, if he is willing to admire a robust type of feminine 
 grace as easily as he does the "pale, pious, pulmonary" 
 persuasion. Among the Hawaiians the old kings and chiefs 
 seemed to form a distinct caste and a breed greatly superior 
 to the common herd. They were very large, and some- 
 times almost gigantic in size, and of very impressive form 
 and bearing. Their color was lighter, and they were of 
 more massive frames. 
 
 At the time of the discovery of these islands by Capt. 
 Cook, in 1776, these people were by no means savages. 
 Their social system was as much above savagery on the one 
 hand as it was below civilization on the other. A careful 
 study of their habits and customs discloses the very inter- 
 esting fact that their social organization bore a striking 
 similitude to that of Europe in the 10th and llth centuries. 
 It was a feudal system almost exactly. They had kings 
 who were in all strictness hereditary suzerains. Under 
 them were chiefs who owed them fealty, and who held lands 
 and titles by a tenure which can hardly be distinguished 
 from enfeoffment, and which, at all events, was a truly 
 feudal tenure ; for it carried with it the recognition of the 
 principle that the allodium was vested in the king alone, 
 and the tenure was gi-anted to the chief as a vassal in con- 
 sideration of military service. The common people were 
 mere villeins, bound to the soil, though in some sort as ten- 
 ants at will. The islands were divided up into several king- 
 doms, over each of which a king reigned, whose power was 
 very absolute ; in all things he was lord paramount. The 
 kingdom was subdivided into tracts, for which the term now 
 used in the islands is simply the word " lands." These 
 3
 
 i8 
 
 lauds were lorded over by chiefs, of whom there were sev- 
 eral grades. They were subdivided again and again down 
 to the smallest holdings, of a fraction of an acre, tenanted 
 by the lower classes, and all were marked oft' by metes and 
 bounds. 
 
 The power of the king was absolute, and limited only by 
 the endurance of his subjects. Life and death, as well as 
 property, were subject to his will ; and yet there was a 
 division of power. To make the parallel with mediaeval 
 Europe more complete the power of the king was rivaled, 
 and in some cases even overborne, by the power of a priest- 
 hood ; and the priests enforced their sway with a spiritual 
 weapon of resistless potency. The weapons of Rome were 
 many, chief among which were excommunication, the inqui- 
 sition, and the interdict. The Hawaiian priest had a 
 weapon more powerful than them all. It was the tabu. 
 This word has been adopted, metaphorically, into the Eng- 
 lish and many other languages. But few people compre- 
 hend its significance in the places where it originated. The 
 word means prohibited or forbidden, and a great deal more 
 besides. Almost anything might be tabu. The penalty 
 of violating a tabu was always death. The institution de- 
 rived its power from the fact that there Avas not a native in 
 all Polynesia who did not devoutly believe that even if the 
 king or priests did not cause him to be killed for violating 
 a tabu the gods certainly would. 
 
 In respect to the arts possessed by these people they were 
 few and simple. The islands contained no metals and very 
 few substitutes for it, except stoiie, and not the best kinds 
 of stone for implements at that. Considering the want of
 
 19 
 
 materials, however, their arts were hardly to be despised. 
 They made many articles of wood with surprising neatness. 
 Their only substitutes for cloth were a fabric made of a 
 peculiar bark, macerated in water and pounded out as 
 thin as paper, and mats woven from the fibres of the pan- 
 dan us with no little skill. Their houses were large, com- 
 modious structures made of grass, often neatly woven, and 
 attached to a frame work of poles. They were scrupulously 
 neat within, and matting of pleasing aspect was used abun- 
 dantly. They were wonderfully expert fishermen, and had 
 devices suited for capturing each kind of fish. More than 
 that, they had fish-ponds and preserves for rearing select 
 varieties. 
 
 Agriculture was practiced systematically. They con- 
 structed canals for irrigating, the remains of which are still 
 visible in numerous places. Their chief vegetable was the 
 root of the taro plant, a species of arum to which the calla 
 lilies belong. It may not be generally known that this is 
 probably the most prolific food plant in the world. Hum- 
 boldt gives that distinction to the banana, but the banana is 
 nowhere in the comparison ; for a square yard and a half 
 planted with taro will yield food enough to support a man 
 for a year. This plant is poisonous when raw, but cooking 
 completely destroys the poisonous quality and renders it 
 very wholesome. The Hawaiians first bake it and then 
 pound it, gradually adding water, which is kneaded in like 
 oil in a mayonaise, and when fully prepared it is of a con- 
 sistency very much like mayonaise. In that state it is 
 termed poi; and to this day the natives regard it as we do
 
 20 
 
 bread, and it serves still as their favorite food. Many of 
 the white residents also have become exceedingly fond of it. 
 The primitive Hawaiian* were very bold and skillful 
 navigators. There can be no question that they frequently 
 visited in their little canoes the Society Islands and Tahiti, 
 south of the equator, and 2,400 miles distant from Hawaii. 
 How they could cross such vast wastes of ocean seems at 
 first mysterious; but they had a knowledge of astronomy 
 such as we sometimes marvel at in the old Egyptians and 
 Chaldeans. They knew the planets and had names for tHe 
 brighter stars. They also had a good calendar. Their 
 year was 365 days long, and began when the Pleiades rose 
 at sunset. They had twelve months, of which eleven had 
 thirty days each, and the twelth thirty-five days. They had 
 also a prmitive arithmetic and a system of numerals in 
 which they could number up into the hundreds of thou- 
 sands. It was partly decimal and partly tesseral. 
 
 The religion of this people was in some respects analogous 
 to that of the Greeks. Their gods were hero gods, and of 
 many grades. Indeed, it is quite literal to say that the 
 woods were full of them. Every locality, every conspicu- 
 ous rock or tree, had its tutelar, corresponding perhaps to 
 the Grecian fauns and dryads. They also had animal gods, 
 most notably the shark god, and the divinity of the volcano 
 of Kilauea was a female named Pele. The amount of myth 
 and legendary lore in which these divinities figured was 
 something amazing. We have for some years been finding 
 out that our own Indians were rich in myths, if nothing 
 else. But the extent of such lore among the Hawaiians
 
 21 
 
 quite siirpasse* anything known of other primitive peoples. 
 Many of them are highly poetical and ingenious. 
 
 The origin of the Polynesian race has always been a mys- 
 tery. There is very little light thrown upon it as yet by 
 ethnological research. The view most favored is that they 
 came from the East Indies at a remote period. That the 
 larger islands of the Pacific have been inhabited for many 
 centuries is an inference which finds considerable support. 
 Attempts have been made to ascertain whether the language 
 has any affinity to known languages of southeastern Asia, 
 but the results are little better than negative. Some coinci- 
 dences have been found, or supposed to have been found, 
 but it does not seem that they are any better or more sig- 
 nificant than such as may be frequently discovered between 
 two languages which are surely known to have absolutely 
 nothing in common. Coincidences between legends and 
 customs have also been discovered. But ethnologists of 
 the present day have come to attach less importance to 
 them, if possible, than to languages. Thus the manners 
 and customs, and also the legends, of the Maoris of New Zea- 
 land have very little in common with those of the Hawaiians. 
 Yet the absolute identity of physical type and the virtual 
 identity of their languages is tantamount to proof of a com- 
 mon race. And primitive peoples, world over, are con- 
 stantly surprising us by furnishing correspondences in 
 legends and peculiar customs, when it is absolutely certain 
 that they are widely distinct. On the other hand, there is 
 good ground for believing that if the Polynesians did not 
 come from some known Asiatic or East Indian stock, thev 
 may at least have communicated with them in one way or
 
 22 
 
 another. When the islands were discovered by Captain 
 Cook pig* were very "abundant there, and the animal was 
 for all the world an East Indian variety. The peculiar 
 tusks, the portentously long snout like an icthyosaurus, and 
 ears set in the middle of its body, give us pretty reliable 
 testimony as to its origin. They also had dogs, and cer- 
 tainly 110 dog could have come either from America or 
 Australia. Finally, and even more conclusively, they had 
 common hens and chickens, which are certainly of Asiatic 
 origin. What people brought these animals to the islands 
 is a question. I have already mentioned to you that the 
 Hawaiian*; often made voyages to Tahiti in their little 
 canoes, a distance of 2,400 miles ; and their ancient poems 
 and legends are full of vague accounts of voyages to even 
 greater distances. They knew of the Samoau and Tonga 
 islands, which are more than 3,000 miles away and further 
 westward. Possibly also they knew of New Zealand, but 
 the evidence of that is not so clear. But I have never 
 learned that anything in their poetry or traditions indicated 
 a knowledge of either America or Asia. While therefore 
 it is not impossible that they may have had communication 
 with Asia, there is no other evidence of it than the fact 
 that domestic animals of Asiatic origin were found among 
 them. 
 
 The transition of this people from barbarism to civiliza- 
 tion has been wonderfully rapid and complete. It is a very 
 remarkable fact, too, that it is the only dark-skinned race 
 that has ever been brought into full contact and relation 
 with civilization, without war and generations of bloodshed, 
 ending in subjugation. The reasons are many. Prominent
 
 23 
 
 among them are the following : In the first place there can 
 be little question that it is the finest and most intelligent 
 race of dark-skinned people in the world. In the second 
 place it is due in a great measure to the wisdom, tact, and 
 good sense of the missionaries, through whom this civiliza- 
 tion was imparted. But it seems to me that the third reason 
 is still more potent, and this was the great ability, wisdom, 
 and good sense of the kings of the line of the Kameha- 
 mehas and the absolute power they originally held over 
 their people. 
 
 Fortunately also, at the time of the advent of white men, 
 the control of the islands had already been consolidated 
 into the hands of one man, who was fully capable of wielding 
 it. If the lot of the first Kamehameha had been cast in 
 Europe instead of the remotest islands of the sea, he would 
 have figured as one of the conspicuous figures of history. 
 Originally a little kinglet of a district at the north end of 
 Hawaii, he gradually conquered the whole of that island, 
 and finally the whole group. No king in history ever knew 
 better how to rule his people. Brought into contact with 
 civilization he grasped its meaning with a breadth of com- 
 prehension, which is perhaps without example among 
 barbarians. He knew 7 instinctively how resistless was its 
 power, and how inexorably it croAvds the weaker races to 
 the wall. But he had the wisdom, not only to avert the 
 destruction of his own power and the obliteration of the 
 nationality of his people, but actually to draw strength from 
 it, and make it his servant instead of his master. The 
 greatest achievement of his life was the work of his declining 
 years, and it was an achievement of surpassing skill. He
 
 24 
 
 broke completely the secular power of the priesthood. He 
 lind the BAgaoity to discover alone :in<l unaided the grandest 
 truth in political science, and one which white men never 
 discovered until three or four centuries ago. That great 
 truth was that Church and State had better let each other 
 alone. We need not wonder, however, that he discovered 
 it, for the kings of Europe understood it well enough ; indeed 
 they were about the only ones who did. The marvel was 
 that this barbarian should have had the courage and address 
 to make the truth a practical reality, and put it into execu- 
 tion. It is one thing to perceive the foolishness of supersti- 
 tion, and quite another to break down a whole religion. 
 When Kamehameha began his career the priesthood was 
 far more powerful than he. AVhen he died they were as 
 powerless in secular matters as the Pope now is in Italy. 
 The finishing stroke was given when his dead body, as yet 
 unburied, was awaiting the obsequies. His widow and son 
 deliberately broke many of the most sacred tabus, and 
 enjoined the same sacrilegious acts upon their households 
 and followers. They were promptly obeyed, and the ex- 
 ample was followed by the whole nation. Next the temples 
 were despoiled, the images of the gods broken and burned, 
 and the priest* themselves driven into the forests and jun- 
 gles. 
 
 An act so sweeping and revolutionary as the trampling 
 under foot of the most binding superstition or religious 
 conviction that ever held sway over the human race, would 
 never have been ventured, if the people had not been 
 gradually wrought up to it. In truth, Kamehameha had 
 first revolutionized the whole social and political condition
 
 25 
 
 of his people, and had elevated them immensely against the 
 influences of a priestcraft which was all the time striving 
 to hold them down. When the issue came the King tri- 
 umphed, and the priest was overthrown. It was probably 
 this change which prepared the Hawaiian people for what 
 followed. It established the kingly power independently 
 of a priesthood, and left the people without a religion. 
 
 The year following this important event the missionaries 
 landed there for the first time. They soon secured the good 
 will of the second Kamehameha, and found their work a 
 comparatively easy one. To the missionaries is due the 
 credit of having been the agents through whom civilization 
 was imparted to the islands. Those who are specially de- 
 voted to the interests of foreign missions have been in the 
 habit of regarding the Hawaiian Islands as a signal in- 
 stance of the triumph of Protestant propagandism. On the 
 whole, there is a large measure of justice in this claim. 
 But, on the other hand, a closer view will probably dis- 
 close to the impartial mind the fact that, while the amount 
 of Christian proselytism has been very considerable, the 
 outside view of it is somewhat overdrawn. There are cer- 
 tainly many devout Christians among the Hawaiians, but 
 there are also many who cherish their old religion, and the 
 greater part of them are more or less tinctured with their 
 ancient superstitions. But whatever doubts may arise as 
 to the complete success of the propaganda, there can be 
 none as to their success in imparting civilization. Fortu- 
 nately they had to deal with and through a succession of 
 kings who were men of pre-eminent sense and of practical 
 
 wisdom, and who knew how to manage their subjects. 
 4
 
 26 
 
 They were kings in the best possible signification. Royalty 
 was inborn in them, and the loyalty of their subjects was 
 such that the loyalty of an Englishman is a feeble senti- 
 ment in comparison. The Kamehamehas, from the II to 
 to V, inclusive, were quick to recognize the advantages of 
 civilization, and had wonderful tact in discriminating bo- 
 tween good and bad advice. The missionaries proved to 
 be discreet and judicious advisers, and gradually the tran- 
 sition from barbarism to civilization was effected safely, step 
 by step; the government was transformed into a constitu- 
 tutional monarchy, the feudal tenure of lands was changed 
 to fee simple. Statute laws were enacted and codified, and 
 suffrage was made as broad and liberal as in America. 
 Perhaps the most important step was compulsory educa- 
 tion, which is provided for by the State, and to-day it is 
 hard to find a native who cannot read, write, and cipher. 
 
 The economic condition of the Hawaiian is probably 
 superior at the present time to that of any other tropical 
 people in the world; and, on the whole, I think it quite 
 safe to say that it is but very little surpassed, if at all, by 
 that of the working classes of America. He has even more to 
 eat and better food, plenty of beef, pork, and fish, and could 
 have an abundance of flour if he desired it, but he prefers 
 his taro. He owns his property in fee ; he makes laws and 
 executes them ; he reads and writes ; he has but one wife ; 
 he tills the soil and tends flocks; sometimes he accumu- 
 lates wealth, and sometimes he does not ; he makes his will 
 in due form, dies and receives a Christian burial. In no 
 land in the world is property more secure. Indeed, I have 
 yet to learn of any where it is equally secure from burglary,
 
 27 
 
 rapine, and thievery or those subtler devices by which the 
 cunning get possession of the property of the less astute 
 without giving an equivalent for it. The few relics of bar- 
 barism remaining are of the most harmless description, and 
 probably quite as good for him as anything he might adopt 
 in place of them. 
 
 Unfortunately the population is rapidly decreasing. A 
 century ago a fair estimate would probably have been over 
 150,000. To-day the native population is 45,000 to 50,000. 
 The causes of this decrease are many. It has usually been 
 attributed to diseases brought by contact with the whites. 
 While it is indisputable that such diseases have in a 
 measure contributed to the result, I believe there is still 
 another cause at work tending to the same result, which is 
 as follows: The Hawaiian is the most amiable and social 
 creature in the world. Life without plenty of society is 
 intolerable to him. He'is also fond of display of giving 
 feasts, of treating, and extravagantly fond of dress, horses, 
 and sport. His instinct is to leave the country and crowd 
 into the towns. This is as common among the women as 
 among the men. But to live in town, or to indulge in dis- 
 sipation, requires money, and therefore a family is a burden , 
 especially to women, who are so fond of gaiety. There is, 
 therefore, a deliberate and willful curtailment of the birth- 
 rate ; and in my judgment this has been not much less po- 
 tent in reducing the population than the abnormal increase 
 in the death-rate. 
 
 The government of the islands is now a constitutional 
 monarchy. The king is the chief executive officer, and his 
 powers, though in theory no greater than those of the
 
 28 
 
 English sovereign, air in reality much more extensive and 
 effectual. The legislative branch consists of a representa- 
 tive assembly elected biennially by the people, and a house 
 of nobles limited by the constitution to twenty members. 
 The nobles are appointed for life by the king, but their 
 titles are not hereditary. The judiciary is organized upon 
 a plan somewhat similar to that of New York State, though 
 considerably simpler. At the head of the judicial branch 
 is the chief justice or chancellor and two vice-chancellors, 
 who perform the functions of a supreme court and final 
 court of appeals. They have also original jurisdiction in 
 a wide range of subjects, and indeed in almost all important 
 cases of whatsoever nature. Each of these justices holds 
 circuit courts in various parts of the kingdom, at which 
 cases are tried both originally and on appeal. There are 
 also lower courts in which petty cases are tried, and in 
 which more important ones may originate. The higher 
 judges are white men truly learned in the law, and they 
 have reflected honor upon their profession and upon their 
 adopted country. All of them are Americans, and re- 
 ceived their education and training in law in the 
 United States. The primary judges are in some cases 
 whites, in others natives. The native judges were for- 
 merly appointed by the chancellor, but are now appointed 
 by the crown. There is generally much difficulty in finding 
 men of native birth who possess the requisite legal knowledge 
 and experience. Their intentions are always of the best, 
 but their tendency is to construe law in accordance with 
 their own notions of abstract justice rather than upon legal 
 principles, and few of them are capable as yet of under-
 
 2 9 
 
 standing the value and significance of precedents. But 
 the higher courts are always open to appeal. The adminis- 
 tration of law is excellent, and will on the whole compare 
 favorably with any country in the world. The respect of 
 the native for statute law is very great, and the sheriff, 
 policeman, or tax gatherer, has no more difficulty in exe- 
 cuting his process than in England or Massachusetts ; indeed, 
 he has, if anything, less difficulty. 
 
 The statutory code is in general modeled after that of 
 New York, though it is apparent that in matters of detail 
 many minor differences were at the first and still are neces- 
 sary. But the underlying principles are identical. The 
 tenure of real estate, the laws relating to liens and mort- 
 gages, to wills and inheritance of property, to bankruptcy 
 and debt, to marriage and divorce, to partnership and cor- 
 porations, are founded upon those of New York State. 
 The system of jurisprudence is also fundamentally the same. 
 There are many differences of detail and these are some- 
 times wide, but never so wide as to constitute differences of 
 principle. The processes of the courts are more frequently 
 summary, and their action is much more speedy and direct. 
 Devices for protracting and complicating litigation have 
 not as yet been developed to any great extent. 
 
 All laws are enacted by the legislature, which regulates 
 taxation and customs, and appropriates specifically for all 
 public expenditures. In theory the powers of this body 
 are very nearly the same in their broader features as those 
 of one of our State legislatures. The members of the lower 
 house are elected biennially and are mostly natives. In 
 practice, however, there is a wide difference. In England
 
 3 
 
 and America the representative body dominates everything 
 
 and everybody, especially the chief magistrate. In Hawaii 
 the king dominates the representative body. This arises 
 from the fact that this people has always been intensely 
 loyal to the king for scores of generations, and the habit of 
 unquestioning submission to the royal will is far too strongly 
 settled and ingrained to be readily shaken off. The want 
 of experience in self-government on the part of the people, 
 and the habit of absolute command 011 the part of the kings, 
 will suggest the explanation of the great influence, which 
 the king holds over the legislature. 
 
 At the present time the condition of the people of the 
 islands is one of great prosperity, and they are rapidly ad- 
 vancing in wealth and general improvement. The reciproc- 
 ity treaty now existing between the islands and the United 
 States has been mutually beneficial. Large amounts of 
 American capital have been invested there in sugar planta- 
 tions, and in the commerce with the little kingdom. The 
 result has been to give abundant employment to the entire 
 population. Wages are high, and all the produce of the 
 islands brings good prices. Thus the condition of the na- 
 tives has been greatly improved. They are no longer idlers, 
 but the recipients of well-earned wages and incomes. They 
 are rapidly replacing their primitive grass houses with neat 
 frame buildings, built in the regular California cottage 
 style. They have adopted civilized clothing, hats, boots, 
 and shoes, and the women cultivate the fashions as eagerly as 
 our own farmers' wives and daughters, and it is by no means 
 uncommon to see them clothed in silks or delicate woolen 
 fabrics, or white lawns made in scrupulous regard to the
 
 latest numbers of Harpers Bazaar. They wear them as 
 easily and naturally as the mulattoes, or quadroons in our 
 own country. The women of rank are ladies who are com- 
 petent to sustain with grace and dignity all the appearances 
 of cultivated society, though it would be expecting too much 
 to look for any high degrees of mental culture according to 
 the rigorous standard of the great white nations. Both, 
 men and women, however, are quick to catch the externals 
 of social customs and refinement. The better culture, 
 however, will come in time as wealth, and the comforts and 
 luxuries of civilized life increase among them. 
 
 One of the most important agencies, and perhaps the most 
 important, has been the enforcement of edxication.^ Common 
 schools are sustained at public expense, and a college for 
 the higher education has been established. Unfortunately 
 the natives have never been taught to speak the English 
 language, and this has been a serious obstacle in the way of 
 their intellectual advancement. It is far easier for aAvhite 
 man to acquire the Hawaiian language than for the 
 Hawaiian to acquire English, and as a consequence few of 
 the natives are able to converse or read except in their own 
 tongue. On the other hand, the white residents can con- 
 verse easily with the natives, and some of them have ob- 
 tained an excellent knowledge of the Hawaiian language, 
 while almost all the whites can at least use an intelligible 
 jargon. The defect is in some measure offset by the exten- 
 sive use of books and newspapers printed in the Hawaiian 
 language, and by a postal system which, under the circum- 
 stances, is a highly creditable one to the nation. By means 
 of the newspapers the natives are kept fully informed about
 
 32 
 
 their own affairs, ami receive considerable knowledge of 
 the great far-off' world beyond the sea. That the papers 
 and postal system have been of great potency and utility to 
 them is sufficiently apparent. 
 
 Whoever wishes for a delightful and instructive journey 
 will do well to visit these islands. They are only seven 
 days' sail from San Francisco in a first-class steamer, and 
 across an ocean which is rarely troubled with storms. He 
 will find scenery as beautiful as any in the world, and as 
 novel as it is beautiful. He will find charming society 
 among his own people residing there, and unbounded hos- 
 pitality. If he is philosophically disposed he Avill find 
 many instructive subjects for his contemplation. If, with- 
 out forgetting for a moment the splendor of the civilization 
 in which he has been reared, he can rise above its preju- 
 dices, and if he is able to study men and human society 
 from a relative rather than an arbitrary standpoint, and 
 judge them according to the fundamental principles of 
 human nature, he will find his own humanities greatly en- 
 larged, and he will be much instructed and benefited. 

 
 UNIVERSITY CF CAfjn 
 
 THE 
 
 KSITY OF CAU