“ There never existed any treaty or labour convention between Hawaii and China. In early days a limited number of Chinese settled in the islands, intermarried with the natives and by their industry and economy generally prospered. About 750 of them were naturalized under the monarchy. The first importation of Chinese labourers was in 1852. In 1878 the number of Chinese had risen to 5916. During the next few years there was such a steady influx of Chinese free immigrants that in the spring of 1881 the Hawaiian government sent a despatch to the governor of Hong Kong to stop this invasion. ”

“ The cultivation of the cane was greatly encouraged by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which established practically free trade between the islands and the United States, and since 1879 it has been widely extended by means of irrigation, the water being obtained both by pumping from numerous artesian wells and by conducting surface water through canals and ditches. The sugar farms are mostly on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai, at the bases of mountains; those on the leeward side have the better soil, but require much more irrigating. ”

“ An excellent quality of sisal is grown. Rubber trees have been planted with some success, particularly on the eastern part of the island of Maui; they were not tapped for commercial use until 1909. In 1907 there were vanilla plantations in the islands of Oahu and Hawaii. Tobacco of a high grade, especially for wrappers, has been grown at the Agricultural Experiment Station’s farm at Hamakua, on the island of Hawaii, where the tobacco is practically “shade grown” under the afternoon fogs from Mauna Kea. Cotton and silk culture have been experimented with on the islands ”

“ In 1908 there were 154 public schools with 18,564 pupils (27.06% of whom were Japanese, 20.89% Hawaiian, 13.54% part Hawaiian, 18.72% Portuguese and 10.63% Chinese) and 51 private schools with 4881 pupils. A normal school has been established at Honolulu, with a practice school attached to it. The territorial legislature of 1907 established the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawaii, and also founded a public library. The Honolulu high school does excellent work and has beautiful buildings and grounds. ”

“ In the older valleys on the islands of Kauai, Oahu and Maui, as well as on the lowland plain of Molokai, the soil is deeper and usually, too, the moisture is retained by a heavy clay. In some places along the coast there is a narrow strip of decomposed coral limestone; often, too, a coral reef has served to catch the sediment washed down the mountain side until a deep sedimentary soil has been deposited. On the still lower levels the soil is deepest and most productive. ”

“ In the exciting sport of surf-riding, which always astonishes strangers, they balance themselves lying, kneeling or standing on a small board which is carried landwards on the curling crest of a great roller. ”

“ Most of the Portuguese and about one-third of the native Hawaiians are Roman Catholics. The Mormons claim more than 4000 adherents, whose principal settlement is at Laie, on the north-east shore of Oahu; the first Mormon missionaries came to the islands in 1850. The population of 1910 was distributed among the several islands as follows: Oahu, 82,028; Hawaii, 55,382; Kauai and Niihau, 23,952; Kalawao, 785; and Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokai, 29,762. The population of Honolulu district, the entire urban population of the Territory, was 22,907 in 1890, 39,306 in 1900, and 52,183 in 1910. ”

“ The age of the several inhabited islands, or at least the time since the last eruptions on them, decreases from W. to E., and on the most easterly (Hawaii) volcanic forces are still in operation. That those to the westward have long been inactive is shown by the destruction of craters by denudation, by deep ravines, valleys and tall cliffs eroded on the mountain sides, especially on the windward side, by the depth of soil formed from the disintegrated rocks, and by the amount as well as variety of vegetable life. ”

“ The Hawaiians are a good-tempered, light-hearted and pleasure-loving race. They have many games and sports, including boxing, wrestling (both in and out of water) , hill-sliding, spear-throwing, and a game of bowls played with stone discs. Both sexes are passionately fond of riding. They delight to be in the water and swim with remarkable skill and ease. ”

“ Hawaiian forests are distinctly tropical, and are composed for the most part of trees below the medium height. They are most common between elevations of 2000 and 8000 ft.; there are only a few species below 2000 ft., and above 8000 ft. the growth is stunted. The destruction of considerable portions of the forests by cattle, goats, insects, fire and cutting has been followed by reforesting, the planting of hitherto barren tracts, the passage of severe forest fire laws, and the establishment of forest reserves, of which the area in 1909 was 545,746 acres, of which 357,180 were government land. ”

“ The king was war chief, priest and god in one, and the shocking licence at the death of a king was probably due to the feeling that all law or restraint was annulled by the death of the king—incarnate law. The mythic and religious legends of the people were preserved in chants, handed down from generation to generation ”

“ William Ellis, an early English missionary, described the natives as follows: “The inhabitants of these islands are, considered physically, amongst the finest races in the Pacific, bearing the strongest resemblance to the New Zealanders in stature, and in their well-developed muscular limbs. The tattooing of their bodies is less artistic than that of the New Zealanders, and much more limited than among some of the other islanders. They are also more hardy and industrious than those living nearer the equator. ”

“ Human sacrifices were slain on several occasions, and vast offerings presented to the spirits supposed to preside over the volcanoes, especially during the periods of actual eruptions. The requisitions of their idolatry were severe and its rites cruel and bloody. Grotesque and repulsive wooden figures, animals and the bones of chiefs were the objects of worship. Human sacrifices were offered whenever a temple was to be dedicated, or a chief was sick, or a war was to be undertaken ”

“ Rice was the second product in importance until competition with Japan, Louisiana and Texas made the crop a poor investment; improved culture and machinery may restore rice culture to its former importance. It is grown almost wholly by Japanese and Chinese on small low farms along the coasts, mostly on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. In 1899 the product amounted to 33,442,400 ℔; in 1907 about 12,000 acres were planted, and the crop was estimated to be worth $2,500,000. Coffee of good quality is grown at elevations ranging between 1000 to 3000 ft. ”

“ Fauna.—A day-flying bat, whales and dolphins are about the only indigenous mammals; hogs, dogs and rats had been introduced before Cook’s discovery. Fish in an interesting variety of colours and shapes abound in the sea and in artificial ponds along the coasts. [3] There are some fine species of birds, and the native avifauna is so distinctive that Wallace argued from it that the Hawaiian Archipelago had long been separated from any other land. ”

“ Niihau, the most westerly of the inhabited islands, is 18 m. W. by S. of Kauai. It is 16 m. long and 6 m. wide. The western two-thirds consists of a low plain, composed of an uplifted coral reef and matter washed down from the mountains; but on the E. side the island rises precipitously from the sea and attains a maximum height of 1304 ft. at Paniau. There are large salt lagoons on the southern coast.
Climate.—The climate is cooler than that of other regions in the same latitude, and is very healthy. The sky is usually cloudless or only partly cloudy. ”

“ The small islands of Lanai, Niihau and Kahoolawe are devoted chiefly to the raising of sheep and cattle—Niihau is one large privately owned sheep-ranch. There are large cattle-ranches on the islands supplying nearly all the meat for domestic consumption, and cattle-raising is second in importance to the sugar industry. ”

“ As regard cannibalism, it appears that the heart and liver of the human victims offered in the temples were eaten as a religious rite, and that the same parts of any prominent warrior slain in battle were devoured by the victor chiefs, who believed that they would thereby inherit the valour of the dead man. Under taboo as late as 1819 women were to be put to death if they ate bananas, cocoa-nuts, pork, turtles or certain fish. In the days of idolatry the only dress worn by the men was a narrow strip of cloth wound around the loins and passed between the legs. ”

“ The natives are in the habit of making holes in the aa, and planting in them banana shoots or sweet-potato cuttings, and though the holes are simply filled with stones or fern leaves, the plants grow and in due time are productive. Another curious feature of Mauna Loa, and to some extent of other Hawaiian volcanoes, is the great number of caves, some of them as much as 60 to 80 ft. in height and several miles in length; they were produced by the escape of lava over which a crust had formed. ”

“ In 1900 the total number of Portuguese in the islands, including those born there, was not far from 16,000, about 2400 of whom were employed in sugar plantations. They have shown themselves to be industrious, thrifty and law-abiding. In 1907 2201 Spanish immigrants from the sugar district about Malaga arrived in Hawaii, and about the same number of Portuguese immigrated in the same year. ”

“ Another public charity of Hawaii is the general free dispensary maintained by the territorial government at Honolulu.
Education.—Education is universal, compulsory and free. Every child between the ages of six and fifteen must attend either a public school or a duly authorized private school. Consequently the percentage of illiteracy is extremely low. The school system is essentially American in its text-books and in its methods, thanks to the foundations laid by American missionaries. Between 1820 and 1824 the missionaries taught about 2000 natives to read. ”

“ The greater part of the coast is surrounded by a coral reef, often half a mile wide; in several localities an old reef upheaved, sometimes 100 ft. high, forms part of the land.
Kauai, 63 m. W.N.W. of Oahu, has an irregularly circular form with a maximum diameter of about 25 m. On the N.W. is a precipice 2000 ft. or more in height and above this is a mountain plain, but elsewhere around the island is a shore plain, from which rises Mount Waialeale to a height of 5250 ft. The peaks of the mountain are irregular, abrupt and broken; its sides are deeply furrowed by gorges and ravines ”

“ Infanticide was practised to some extent, the children destroyed being chiefly females. Though less superstitious than the Tahitians, the idolatry of the Sandwich Islanders was equally barbarous and sanguinary, as, in addition to the chief objects of worship included in the mythology of the other islands, the supernatural beings supposed to reside in the volcanoes and direct the action of subterranean fires rendered the gods objects of peculiar terror. ”

“ In 1909 the area of the public land was about 1,700,000 acres. In 1900 there were in the Territory 2273 farms, of which 1209 contained less than 10 acres, 785 contained between 10 and 100 acres, and 116 contained 1000 acres or more. The natives seldom cultivate more than half an acre apiece, and the Portuguese settlers usually only 25 or 30 acres at most. Of the total area of the Territory only 86,854 acres, or 2.77%, were under cultivation in 1900, and of this 65,687 acres, or 75.6%, were divided into 170 farms and planted to sugar-cane. ”

“ The Hawaiian language is a member of the widely-diffused Malayo-Polynesian group and closely resembles the dialect of the Marquesas; Hawaiians and New Zealanders, although occupying the most remote regions north and south at which the race has been found, can understand each other without much difficulty. ”

“ Captain Cook estimated the number of natives at 400,000, probably an over-estimate; in 1823 the American missionaries estimated their number at 142,000; the census of 1832 showed the population to be 130,313; the census of 1878 proved that the number of natives was no more than 44,088. In 1890 they numbered 34,436; in 1900, 29,834, a decrease of 4602 or 13.3% within the decade. To account for this it is said that the blood of the race has become poisoned by the introduction of foreign diseases. The women are much less numerous than the men; and the married ones have few children at the most ”

“ In the old times birds were protected by the native belief that divine messages were conveyed by bird cries, and by royal edict forbidding the killing of species furnishing the material for feather cloaks, contributions towards which were long almost the only taxes paid. Thus the downfall of the monarchy and of the ancient cults have been nearly fatal to some of the more beautiful birds ”

“ There are no parrots. The only reptiles are three species of skinks and four of the gecko; the islands are famed for their freedom from snakes. Land-snails, mostly Achatinellidae, are remarkably frequent and diverse ”

“ She had a new constitution drawn up, practically providing for an absolute monarchy, and disfranchising a large class of citizens who had voted since 1887; this constitution (drawn up, so the royal party declared, in reply to a petition signed by thousands of natives) she undertook to force on the country after proroguing the legislature on the 14th of January 1893, but her ministers shrank from the responsibility of so revolutionary an act, and with difficulty prevailed upon her to postpone the execution of her design. ”

“ The superiority in physique of the nobles to the common people may have been due in part to a system of massage, the lomi-lomi; it is certainly contrary to the belief in the bad effects of inbreeding—among the upper classes marriage was almost entirely between near relatives. ”

“ Kilauea is the largest active crater in the world (8 m. in circumference) and is easily accessible. Enclosed by a circular wall from 200 to 700 ft. in height is a black and slightly undulating plain having an area of 4.14 sq. m., and within this plain is a pit, Halemaumau, of varying area (about 2000 ft. in diameter in 1905) , now full of boiling lava, now empty to a depth of perhaps 1000 ft. ”