THE KINGDOM OF HAWAII

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 28, 1889

THE KINGDOM OF HAWAII.

IN 1778 Captain Cook, on a voyage of exploration, discovered a small group of islands between the nineteenth and twenty-second degrees of north latitude. He called them the Sandwich Islands, in honor of Lord Sandwich, one of the principal patrons of this expedition. Cook was killed in the following year by a native chief, for inhumanly abusing his hospitality and murdering several of the natives for committing trivial thefts. A fine monument has been erected to his memory on the island of Hawaii, over the spot where he was killed.

The group is always called the Hawaiian Islands by the natives and residents, being so named by the great chief Kamehameha I. Previous to his time each island was ruled by a chief of its own choosing. These Aliis were constantly at war with each other, and, true to their savage instinct, all prisoners were brutally tortured and sometimes eaten. Kamehameha, who was then ruler of the island of Hawaii, conceived the idea of conquering all the other islands and uniting them under one head. After a great deal of hard fighting he succeeded and became ruler. Two white men were with him throughout these troublesome times. To their intelligence and experience he owed his success, both on the battle-field and in the council. By their vigilance his life was preserved several times from the knife of the assassin, and they assisted him in framing just laws for the government of his newly-acquired territory.

The name of Kamehameha I. is held in great reverence by all the natives, and his birthday, the 11th of June, is celebrated as a national holiday throughout the kingdom. The crown was successively worn by a line of four lineal descendants. Upon the demise of Kamehameha V., the royal strain having run out, David Kalakaua was elected king. He is a large, corpulent man, of commanding appearance, very dark, and with black, curly hair and side-whiskers. His consort, Queen Kapiolani, is also very stout and dark. She is one year his senior. The king being childless, the next to succeed him is his sister, Princess Lilinokalani, who is married to Governor J. O. Dominis, an Englishman.

The next in line of succession after Mrs. Dominis is the twelve-year-old Princess Kaiulani, daughter of the king's deceased younger sister, Princess Likelike, who was married to Archibald Cleghorn, a Scotchman. The royal palace is the finest building on the islands. It is three stories high, with cool verandas on all sides, and surrounded by beautiful grounds covering several acres, where can be seen tropical trees, shrubs, and flowers of every variety.

The principal products of these islands are sugar, rice, bananas, cocoanuts, wool, and hides. No country in the world is better adapted to the production of sugar than these islands. Louisiana, our great sugar-producing State, yields an average of little over one ton to the acre, while Hawaii Nei leads with five tons. The cane is produced from cuttings and not from seed as some may suppose. It takes from nine to eighteen months to mature, and requires a great deal of water. When ready for the mill it is cut with a chopping-knife by coolie or Japanese laborers, and requires a great many men, as it is all cut by hand. It is then thrown on to bullock carts or a train of cars and drawn to the mill. Here it passes between two immense iron rollers weighing about four tons each, the juice running into large troughs, whence it passes into the vacuum pan, a large iron boiler heated by steam, and from which, as the name suggests, all air is excluded. It is here boiled till it becomes a thick, black-looking liquid, when it is transferred to the centrifugals. These revolve with terrific speed, separating the sugar from the molasses, the latter passing through a screen to the bottom of the centrifugal, where it is drawn off and barreled. The sugar is yet in a raw state and has to be shipped to the United States, where it is refined. The machinery of a sugar mill is very expensive, $100,000 not being too high an estimate for the cost of a complete mill. The yearly production of sugar is about 100,000 tons, representing an annual revenue of $10,000,000.

The plantation of the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company, controlled by Claus Spreckels, and situated on the island of Maui, is the second largest in the world.

The form of government is a limited constitutional monarchy, under three heads—the executive, represented by the king and four cabinet ministers; the legislative, consisting of the house of nobles and representatives. This body frames all the laws of the kingdom and appropriates all monies for Government expenses. In fact, it is a counterpart of our own Congress. Under the third head is the judicial department, consisting of a chief justice and four associate justices. All the cabinet ministers, justices, and heads of departments are white men.

Until the revolution of June 30, 1887, the king had power enough to keep at least two Kanakas in the cabinet, but since that time the Hawaiian has about as much to say how his country shall be governed as the American Indian has about that of the United States. This may seem hard at first thought, but it is nevertheless right. The foreigners, by their capital and energy, have acquired and developed all the resources of Hawaii. They represent nine-tenths of all its wealth, and ten-tenths of its intelligence. To have their most cherished schemes for the enlightenment of the country ignored, the revenues which they paid into the treasury for the support and internal improvement of the country frittered away in needless trifles, and corruption pervading every department of the Government, was more than they could stand. The king himself was corrupt, accepting a bribe from a Chinaman of $71,000 in lieu of a license for the sole privilege of selling opium, and which he promised to obtain for that person. The Legislature has since compelled the king to refund this sum to the Chinaman.

The purchase of the Kaimiloa is another example of extravagance and corruption. She was purchased by the Government and remodeled and fitted up as a royal yacht and gunboat at an expense, including the purchase price, of $65,000. Last year she was sold at auction for $2,500. These and various other grievances brought on the revolution of June 30, 1887. A league composed of about 1,000 whites, ably supported by the Honolulu Rifles 300 strong, and well armed and equipped, took possession of Honolulu, the seat of government. A new constitution was drawn up, which the king was compelled to sign, thus legalizing the rebellion. The reform party was victorious without striking a blow, since which time it has ably conducted the affairs of the Government.

The native Hawaiian has many noble qualities to commend him to us. Warm-hearted, kind, and gentle, and as a rule strictly honest, he will divide his last dime or share his calabash with a stranger. His first salutation to the foreigner is, "Aloha nui ce," meaning, All my love to you. His last act when the tourist stands on the deck of the steamer, about to leave this beautiful spot, is to envelop himself with leis, or wreaths and garlands of beautiful flowers and fragrant herbs. Tears fill his eyes as he looks for the last time on those who, ere, perhaps, another day has passed, will laugh as they recall his simple-heartedness.

Of course the Kanaka has his vices, but they can nearly all be laid at the door of the foreigner. His love for liquor, especially gin, is great, and for this most of his earnings are spent. Then again he is very lazy and will lie all day on a grass mat under the shade of a tamarind or mango tree, until perhaps the sting of a scorpion or centipede arouses him from his dreams. In the water he is perfectly at home, swimming and diving in thorough enjoyment of the clear waters of the Pacific, warmed by the tropical sun, through the surf which breaks and foams on the coral reef surrounding the islands. His mate, the wahine, is tall, good-looking, and finely developed. Dressed only in a holoku of calico, greatly resembling the Mother Hubbard garment, barefooted, and wearing a straw hat of her own weaving, she strides through the streets or country roads, careless of everything and everybody. She rides horses astride like a man, smokes cigarettes when young, and a pipe as she grows old, and she is addicted to all the vices of the sterner sex, with a few added. In the water she is as much at home as her brother or husband.

The islands are of volcanic formation, the decomposed lava forming the soil, which is very rich and productive. On the hills and mountains the native grass grows luxuriantly, furnishing pasturage for numerous herds of cattle, while in the valleys thrive the opia, or mountain apple, the kukui, or candle-nut tree, the guava, cocoanut, banana, tamarind, water lemon, alligator pear, custard apple, papaia, pomegranate, orange, lemon, and numerous other trees, while beautiful palms, ferns, and shrubs, and sweet-smelling flowers, surround the houses.

Honolulu, a town of 20,000 people, is the metropolis. It has a fine, open harbor, protected from the ocean by a coral reef, through which a narrow channel leads to the bay. Here all the business of the Government is transacted, and it is the distributing-point for all the other islands. It is situated on the island of Oahu, one of the most rugged of all the group, and most replete with all that appeals to the eye of the sight-seer. Within six miles of Honolulu is the famous Pali, a cliff from 600 to 1,500 feet in height, and on the brink of which the tourist stands, gazing upon the plantations and fertile country hundreds of feet below, and down which he must descend by a zigzag road to reach the northern half of the island. Kamehameha fought a battle here and drove the enemy over this cliff. About 600 perished, and until a few years ago the bleached bones of the victims lay at the foot of the Pali Punchbowl hill.

One-half a mile from the city is another sight well worth seeing. It is an extinct volcano, about 400 feet high, the top or crater being concave in form and resembling a huge bowl. Where once the solid rock was melted, boiling and bubbling until it ran over and inundated the surrounding country with a liquid fire, now grows the algeroba, while horses and cattle feed on its succulent grasses. Diamond Head, another extinct volcano, and a prominent headland for mariners, resembles a huge sleeping lion, sculptured by the hand of nature. The beautiful Waikiki beach lying at its base, fringed with the feathery cocoanut palm and a beautiful sandy beach, on which the warm, clear rollers of the Pacific break and tumble, is the country home of the Honolulu business man.

Surrounded on all sides by an ocean whose breezes temper the climate, blessed with copious rains which keep the vegetation ever verdant, enriched with a productive soil, removed from a bustling and noisy world, and inhabited by people who always extend the hand of friendship to the stranger, the tourist and the invalid will always look back with unalloyed pleasure to his visit to Hawaii Nei. —Oakland Evening Tribune.