Sandwich Islands

“ To the heathen the book of nature is a sealed book. Where the word of God is not, the works of God fail either to excite admiration or to impart instruction. The Sandwich Islands present some of the sublimest scenery on earth, but to an ignorant native—to the great mass of the people in entire heathenism—it has no meaning. As one crested billow after another of the heaving ocean rolls in and dashes upon the unyielding rocks of an iron-bound coast, which seems to say, “Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther,” the low-minded heathen is merely thinking of the shellfish on the shore. ”

“ Though not a native, as intimated by the chairman, I have visited the Sandwich Islands, that peaceful land, that beautiful land, that far-off home of profound repose and soft indolence, and dreamy solitude, where life is one long slumberous Sabbath, the climate one long, delicious summer day, and the good that die experience no change, for they but fall asleep in one heaven and wake up in another. ”

“ Contrary to the general practice of the countries that had hitherto been discovered in the Pacific Ocean, the people of the Sandwich Islands have not their ears perforated; nor have they the least idea of wearing ornaments in them, though, in other respects, they are sufficiently fond of adorning their persons. ”

“ A like difficulty is liable to be encountered relative to the Sandwich Islands. A particularly smart boy might, indeed, be expected to inform us, as the outcome of a hastily-formed opinion, that the Sandwich Islands were so called because a shipwrecked crew who once found a refuge thereon continued to support themselves until such time as they were rescued by a passing vessel upon sandwiches. ”

“ To any one viewing a map that shows the full extent of the Pacific Ocean, with its shores on either side, two striking circumstances will be apparent immediately. He will see at a glance that the Sandwich Islands stand by themselves, in a state of comparative isolation, amid a vast expanse of sea; and, again, that they form the centre of a large circle whose radius is approximately—and very closely—the distance from Honolulu to San Francisco. ”

“ I favor this policy because I want my country to become a power in the Pacific. All my life I have wanted this country to own the West Indies, the Bermudas, the Bahamas and Barbadoes. They are our islands. They belong to this continent, and for any other nation to take them or claim them was, and is, a piece of impertinence and impudence.
So I would like to see the Sandwich Islands annexed to the United States. They are a good way from San Francisco and our Western shore, but they are nearer to us than they are to any other nation. ”

“ If there were a bathtub, a few banana trees and a fire-spitting mountain around, I would think myself in the Sandwich Islands.
"Talking of sandwiches," he added, "hustle into your tailor-mades and come out for a bite. You must be fearfully hungry—working on a day like this?" ”

“ Mariner also witnessed several instances of this. The Sandwich-island women have so many severe and impolitic restrictions with regard to food, that it would be unreasonable perhaps to expect that they should on all secure occasions be very faithfully strict: the punishment for such offences, however, is death. It is very well worth while to compare the state of the women in the Sandwich islands with that of the women of Tonga: it will afford an interesting proof how much a line of conduct, influenced by liberality and respect towards females, is productive of morality. ”

“ In consequence of the advances which the Sandwich Islands have made in civilization, commerce, and the arts, there is considerable intercourse with them, especially by the Americans; and their voyages to them, and from thence to China, whither they carry the sandal wood, &c. which they obtain there, as well as their voyages from the north-west coast of America with furs to China, must soon detect any isles that may still be unknown in this part of the Pacific Ocean. ”

“ The present century has witnessed in the Sandwich Islands what is probably the most remarkable instance of civilization in the history of the world. A little more than one hundred years ago Captain Cook was killed by the natives, who, though not cannibals, were as degraded as any tribe on the face of the earth. The story of this people is too familiar to need repetition. The first missionary visited the islands in 1820. In 1853, just one generation later, the American Board of Foreign Missions declared that the people were Christianized, and withdrew its support from the churches. ”

“ Not a score of them returned to their island homes—the rest perished under the lash and brutality of their cruel taskmasters.
Towards 1870 the demand for South Sea Islanders became very great. They were wanted in the Sandwich Islands, in Tahiti and Samoa; for, naturally enough, with their ample food supply, the natives of these islands do not like plantation work, or if employed demand a high rate of pay. ”

“ To this he gave the name by which they were long afterwards known—the Sandwich Islands. After a stay in this region of eight principal islands and many islets, with its wonderful volcanoes (the highest of which is snow-crowned and 13,823 feet in altitude) , its peculiar vegetation, and its Polynesian people, he passed on to the exploring of the western and north-western coasts of North America, with the results which have been described in my book on the Pioneers in Canada. ”

“ There are some exceptions, however. In the Sandwich Islands, as is well-known, the hereditary right of rule might fall to a woman as well as to a man, and there have been, in these islands, a number of queens. ”

“ They agree with Fanny too, who does not suffer from her rheumatism, and with Lloyd also. And the interest of the islands is endless; and the sea, though I own it is a fearsome place, is very delightful. We had applied for places in the American missionary ship, the MORNING STAR, but this trading schooner is a far preferable idea, giving us more time and a thousandfold more liberty; so we determined to cut off the missionaries with a shilling.
The Sandwich Islands do not interest us very much; we live here, oppressed with civilisation, and look for good things in the future. ”

“ I may as well here mention, that there is a great number of these Sandwich Islanders swarming all along the coast of California, between which and the Sandwich Islands a very smart trade is carried on by the natives and the Americans. The vessels employed to perform the voyage are always double manned, and once on the shores of California, usually half if the crew deserts. Accustomed to a warm climate and to a life of indolence, they find themselves perfectly comfortable and happy in the new country. ”

“ The people have no love nor veneration for their idols, and they believe that their idols’ chief pleasure is in tormenting and punishing them.
One of the most remarkable objects I have met with in the Sandwich Islands is what may properly be called a city of refuge. It is a sort of morai, surrounded by strong walls, with an entrance on each side. In the interior are temples and numerous houses, in which the priests and occasional occupants reside. Here, whatever crime a fugitive may have committed, if he can reach it he is safe. ”

“ Forster remarks that in the Society Islands the lower classes often suffer from a scarcity of food which never extends to the upper classes. In the Sandwich Islands the flesh of such animals as they have is eaten principally by the chiefs. ”

“ After touching at some of the South Sea islands, he proceeded northwards, and discovered the group which he named the Sandwich Islands; hence proceeding to the northwest coast of America, he traced along all that coast, as far as latitude 74°, where their progress was stopped by an impenetrable mass of ice, extending between the north-east point of Asia and the north-west point of America. ”

“ Recent soundings have shown, that the Sandwich Islands rise from a sea which is 3,000 fathoms or 18,000 feet deep; while there is a depth of at least 2,000 fathoms all across to California on one side, and to Japan on the other. Between the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, and Australia, the depth is about 1,300 fathoms, and between Sydney and New Zealand 2,600 fathoms; showing, in every case, a general accordance between the depth of sea and the approximation of the several faunas. ”

“ At the Sandwich Islands, the potent institution of the Taboo, together with the entire paganism of the land, was utterly abolished by a voluntary act of the natives some time previous to the arrival of the first missionaries among them.
The next most striking change in the Tahitians is this. From the permanent residence among them of influential and respectable foreigners, as well as from the frequent visits of ships-of-war, recognizing the nationality of the island, its inhabitants are no longer deemed fit subjects for the atrocities practised upon mere savages ”

“ The bare idea may be laughed at; but it is no more preposterous than that the Canary Islands received their name from the birds that are found there in such plenty. The question at issue furnishes an example as to how a name may be perpetuated in different ways. Thus, Captain Cook named the Sandwich Islands in compliment to John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich and First Lord of the Admiralty, who took his title from Sandwich, or, as the etymology of this place implies, the “sand town,” one of the ancient Cinque Ports in Kent. ”

“ In the island of Matavai it is impossible to give an adequate idea of the joy of the natives on our arrival. The shores everywhere resounded with the name of Cook; not a child that could lisp "Toote" was silent.
Before proceeding to the northern hemisphere we passed a cluster of isles which Captain Cook distinguished by the name of Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich. They are not inferior in beauty to the Friendly Islands, nor are the inhabitants less ingenious or civilised. ”

“ For the Sandwich Islands abundant material exists, more particularly in the work of the native writer, Malo. I give the list commonly found in other authors also [805] , together with the explanations which Malo has obtained from old Hawaiians well versed in the calendar, in the first place those of O. K. Kapule of Kaluaha, Molokai, and secondly, in the case of some months, those of Kaunamoa, of whose dwelling-place we are told nothing more than that he was a Hawaiian. ”

“ The southernmost island, which is the largest—just as Hawaii, the southernmost of the Sandwich Island group, is also the biggest—extends for nearly a mile east and west, and is three hundred and forty feet high. ”

“ Although no new discoveries, strictly speaking, are recorded, the work will not be found altogether destitute of useful nautical information; the account of the reef to the southwest of Halibut Island, upon which the ship was wrecked, and the numerous rocks that lie near the coast of Aliaski, will show what ought to be avoided; and in the account of the south coast of Wahoo, will be found a description of the only harbours in the Sandwich Islands.
From the humble situation held by the author, a distrust may be entertained of his qualifications to relate the facts which fell under his notice ”