Coolies Sawing Planks ®hr Nrut Amrrira AND ®ljr Jar East A Picturesque and Historic Description of these Lands and Peoples By G. Waldo Browne Author of “ Paradise of the Pacific ,” “ Pearl of the Orient etc. With a General Introduction by EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M. Author of “ History of Our Country “ People's History of the United States,” “ Youth's History of the United States,” etc. With the following Special Articles IjauiaU Bv the Honorable HENRY CABOT LODGE J By Major-General JOSEPH WHEELER By His Excellency KOGORO TAKAHIRA (Cbtna By the Honorable JOHN D. LONG (Cuba By General LEONARD WOOD |Jnrtn 2Ur0 By the Honorable CHARLES H. ALLEN Illustrated by about 1,200 Photogravures, Colored Plates, Engravings & Maps MARSHALL JONES COMPANY BOSTON Copyright , iqoi By Dana Estes & Company All rights reserved Copyright , /907 By Marshall Jones Company Colonial llrtw Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Slmonds & Co. Boston. Mass., U. S. A. CONTENTS VOLUME I CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. HAWAII General Introduction, Edward S. Ellis, A. M. . Hawaii, Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge . Captain Cook’s Discovery The Island Wonderland A Picturesque People The Napoleon of the Pacific .... Ancient Hawaiian Religion .... The Last Defenders of the Old Faith Missionary Work The Hawaiian Magna Charta .... Rise of the Republic Industrial Progress The Japanese and Contract Labour in Hawaii The Chinese in Paradise Annexation Vistas of Oahu Grim Molokai Picturesque Maui The Island Builder PAGE xiii xxi 1 13 21 36 55 64 77 86 99 115 126 134 145 156 167 173 183 ill FULL PAGE ENGRAVINGS. Coolies Sawing Planks. Photogravure Natives Preparing Poi, Hawaii. Coloured Pineapple Garden, Oahu Foliage and Flowers ok the Night -blooming Native Straw Hut, Hawaii. Coloured Kipahulu Landing, Maui Landing through the Surf . Cocoanut Island .... Lei Women, Hawaii. Coloured Natural Arch at Onamea, Hawaii Surf Boat at Waikiki. Coloured View near the Needles, Iao Valley Kaapena Pool .... Waialua Falls, on Kauai . Naval Row, Honolulu Harbour IIanapepe Falls, Kauai A Hawaiian Hula Dancer. Coloured Fern and Flower Growth, Volcano Road Natives Making Poi Grass House and Lulu Diamond Head, from the Punch - bom Diamond Head TnE Punch -bowl .... Hawaiian Children. Coloured Royal Palace .... Hawaiian Girls’ Style of Dressing Rice Fields, Moanalua Valley . Waianae Coffee Plantation, Oaiiu Japanese Plantation Barber. Coloured Grass House and Natives Makee Island . Rice Cultivation Avenue of Palms Barking Sands Palms at Waikiki Shrimp Fisherman, Hawaii. Coloured Old Track to the Volcano from Hilo Oahu Prison Cerecs Frontispiece Facing Page 1 “ 3 “ 10 “ 16 “ 20 “ 24 “ 27 “ 32 “ 36 “ 40 “ 44 “ 48 “ 52 « 56 “ 57 <> 64 66 72 76 80 88 92 96 104 112 120 128 132 136 140 144 148 152 156 160 168 176 vi FULL FAGE ENGRAVINGS Crater of Haleakala, Maui Facing Page 184 Layson Island Birds “ 192 COLOURED MAP Hawaii Facing Page 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME I. Pacific Mail Steamer Australia PAGE 1 Riding Bullocks . . PAGE 42 Hawaiian Chief • 2 Hanalei River . . . 43 Captain Cook • 4 The Needles, Iao Valley 44 Hawaiian Coat of Arms . • 5 Cascades .... • • 45 Scene on Maui . • 6 Scene on Volcano Road . • • 46 Ancient Pagan Temple, Hawaii 7 Sulphur Banks, Volcano . • • 47 Cocoanut Island, Coral Reefs 8 Honolulu from Punchbowl 50 Murder of Captain Cook 9 Fort Street, Honolulu 51 Monument to Captain Cook 11 Around Kaena Point 53 Shore near Hilo 13 Hula, or Dancing -girls . 54 Hanapepe Falls, Kauai 14 Breadfruit .... 55 Waikaui Falls, Maui 15 Ieie Vine 56 Honolulu Harbour from Govern- Fern Growth 59 ment Building 16 Umbrella Tree, Cocoanut Island . 60 Highest Point in the Crater OF Wood Scene, Volcano Road 61 Kilauea 17 Hawaiian with Mask 62 Ohia, Hawaiian Apple 18 Hula Girls 64 Ohelo ..... 19 Natives Preparing Food 65 Taro Patch 20 Banana Patch . 67 Cocoanut Grove 21 Wine Palm .... 69 Hawaiian Chief of Olden Times Bathing Pool, Nuuanu Valley 70 with Feather Helmet 22 Waipio Landing . • 71 A Young Girl . 23 Wildwood Tangle on Volcano Road 72 Outrigger Boats 24 On the Road from Hilo to the War Canoe, Olden Time . 25 Volcano • • 73 Native Boats 26 Near the Pali . • • 74 Interior of Native House 29 Series of Cascades . • • 75 Liliuokalani, 1883, Heir Apparent 30 Lauhala, or Screw Palm 77 Native Grass House 31 Lava Lake .... • • 78 Riding the Surf 32 View near Hilo • • 80 View near Hilo • 33 Diamond Head . • • 81 Palm Grove 34 Fern Tree .... • • 82 Statue of Kamehameha I. • 36 Mormon Settlement, Lanai • • 83 Hilo Bay .... o 37 Native Shrimp Catcher . 84 Nawiliwili, Kauai • 38 Screw Palm, or Pandanus 87 Iao Valley . . • 40 Birthplace of Princess Ruth, Ha- Wunano Bluff . • 41 WAII .... 88 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. viii in State ..... 105 King Kalakaua 106 Queen Liliuokalani .... 107 Corridor of Palace .... 108 U. S. S. Boston at Honolulu . . 109 Executive Building, Honolulu . 110 Queen’s Guard and Barracks . Ill PAGE PAGE Wailua Falls, Kauai . . 89 Hanalei River and Rice Fields 135 Date Palm Avenue, Hospital Umbrella Tree, Cocoanut Island . 136 Grounds . . 90 Bamboo Tree . . . . . 137 Mangoes . • 91 Nuuanu Street, Honolulu 138 Honolulu in 1840 • . 92 Wild Ginger ..... 139 Gathering Sugar-cane • • . 93 A Lanai, or Veranda 140 Honolulu Harbour . • • • 95 Street in Honolulu . . . . 141 Valley of Maui • • • 96 Bishop Museum . . . . . 142 Waipio Valley . • • • 97 Avenue of Palms, Private Garden 143 Taro Roots • • • 99 Royal Palm Avenue 144 Queen Emma • • 100 Nuuanu Avenue . . . . 145 Lunalilo Home . • • 102 Government Building 146 King Kalakaua . • • 103 President Dole . . . . . 147 Queen Kapiolani . • 104 Nuuanu Street, Honolulu • . 148 Royal Funeral — Kalakaua Lying Proclamation of Republic, July 4, 1894 .... Waikiki Road along the Bea Bishop Hall, Oahu College Diamond Head U. S. Cruiser Philadelphia Hawaiian Feast Merchants’ Country Houses Station House . . 112 Lava Heap . • 157 Royal Collection of Curios • 113 Y. M. C. A. Building . 159 Queen’s Bedroom • 114 Waianae • 160 Prince Leleiokoku • 115 Queen’s Hospital . 162 Private Residence, Hawaii • 116 Princess Kaiulani in X ATION AL Native Style of Riding . • 117 Costume 163 Gathering Sugar-cane . 118 Lava Pile . . 164 Banana Blossom and Fruit . 119 Street in Honolulu, Royal Fu- G. A. R. Section in Cemetery, neral Procession 165 Honolulu • . 120 Landing Cattle . 168 Sugar Mill 121 Akaka Falls, Hilo, 510 Feet High 169 Rice Fields, Hanalei • 122 Lava Buttress . 171 Kindergarten, Former Home of Lava Lake . . 172 Queen Emma . . 123 Pacific Institute . 173 Steam f.rs Plying b e t w e e n THE Chasm Opened after Collapse of Islands .... . 124 Lava Crust . . 175 Honolulu Railway Station . 125 Silver Plant . 176 Japanese Village near Hilo 127 Taro Plant . 177 Japanese, Hawaii 128 Room in Volcano House . 179 Canf. Field, Waianae • 129 Volcano House . . 180 Japanese Houses • 130 The Pali . 181 Japanese Woman • 131 Crater of Kilauea . . 182 Japanese Houses • 132 Princess Kaiulani . . 183 Kukui Trees • 133 1 Crater Wall, Ivilauf.a . 184 Public Library . . . • , 134 1 Rainbow Falls, Hilo . 185 149 150 151 152 153 154 156 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IX Lava Flow Descent at Lava Barking Sands Lake, Kilauea PAGE 186 187 189 Kamehameha School New Road to the Pali page . 190 . 191 PREFATORY NOTE. In the preparation of a work of this kind, which requires the consultation of so many authorities, it is difficult to specify one’s indebtedness in all cases. The author desires to express his obligations in that part of his work which treats of the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands to Daggett’s “Legends of Hawaii,” Carpenter’s “America in Hawaii,” Musick’s “Our New Possession,” “Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen,” Clare’s “Hawaii Nei,” Foreman’s “History of the Philippines,” Worcester’s “The Philippine Islands and Their People,” Lala’s “The Philippine Islands,” and other books, while he has had frequent recourse to the Reports of the United States Gov- ernment. Those works most often consulted upon Japan have been Murray’s “Story of Japan,” Griffis’s “The Mikado’s Empire,” Riordan’s “Sunrise Stories,” Lowell’s “Soul of the Far East,” and Baxter’s “In Bamboo Lands.” The author has been materially assisted in the part devoted to China by the works of Colquhoun, Thomson, Boulger, Lord Charles Beresford, Mrs. Bishop, Miss Scidmore, and several others, aside from many miscellaneous papers and documents. For aid in illustrating the work, the publishers wish to express their thanks to Hon. Gorham D. Gilman, who generously allowed them such selections as they desired from his extensive collections of photographs on Hawaii, probably the largest in the country, and to Professor Fryer, of the University of California, for similar courtesies in relation to the illustrations of China. xi GENERAL INTRODUCTION. BY EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M F OR more than one hundred years, the United States of America was confined to the American continent. Through the travail and bloody sweat from Lexington, in 1775, to the surrender at Yorktown, in 1781, the thirteen colonies were engaged in the struggle for existence, for life, for independence. The war of 1812 was necessary to demonstrate the right of the United States to a membership among the brotherhood of nations. The crucial test of all came a half-century later, when the house divided against itself had yet to prove that it should not fall. Such proof was given with a grandeur, with a majesty, and with a completeness of triumph and accomplishment that placed our country among the very foremost in the van of civilisa- tion, of progress, of humanity, and all that tends to make a people truly great. When the Constitution was adopted, the settled portions of the United States fringed the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. The western boundary was the Mississippi River. Beyond the Father of Waters stretched an expanse of mountain, river, and prairie, far exceeding in area the region which constituted the original United States. Then followed the acquisition of Florida, Louisiana Territory, and, later, the countries obtained by the conquest of Mexico, and, finally, the immense purchase of Alaska from Russia, our traditional friend. Thus far, it will be noted, our acquisition of territory was restricted to the conti- nent itself. It is a fact, of which perhaps not all are aware, that the present popula- tion of the United States can be expanded twelve-fold before its density will equal that of some of the most prosperous countries of Europe. But for the Spanish- American war, it is not conceivable that the out-reaching of the United States, or the ‘•'earth hunger,” as it has been aptly termed, would have extended beyond either of the enclosing oceans. To our north lies Canada, so immovably chained to the mother country that not a link can be severed; south of the Rio Grande our tropical neigh- bour has acquired a prosperity and power, under the admirable rule of its President, which ensure an indefinite continuance of the greatness that has lifted it to a plane never before attained, and scarcely dreamed of by its most patriotic sons. Never was there a more holy war than that in which the United States engaged for the liberation of Cuba. For more than a century her people had been ground into the very dust by the brutality of the most merciless nation in the world. Spain, from the very hour that her explorers first set foot on American soil, proved a ouxse xiii XIV INTRODUCTION. and a blight, and the inherent ferocity of the Spaniard quickly shrivelled into idiocy. When the wit of a child would have taught the groping visitors to cultivate the good- will of the simple-minded natives, who were eager to show their friendship, and to provide plentiful food for the starving intruders, the latter, in pure wantonuess, murdered, massacred, and tortured to the utmost limit of human ingenuity. Balboa, in the early years of the sixteenth century, was guided across the isthmus by a devoted band of Indians who willingly acted as slaves for him and his companions, and risked their lives to secure the indispensable food for them. Then, when Balboa climbed the rocky height on the western shore and looked out over the limitless expanse of the South Sea, and was thrilled and overcome by the thought that he was the first white man that had gazed upon the vastest ocean of the globe, he sank upon his knees, thanked God for his mercies, and then, like true Spaniards, he and his men turned about and cut and slashed the Indians to death. The horrible crime of Balboa was repeated by all the Spanish explorers, without exception, who came after him. The story is one long, ghastly record of cruelty, treachery, crime, blood, and idiocy. Providential indeed was it for the future of our country that the interest of Spain was diverted to the far south, and that the United States was colonised by the English, the Dutch, the Swedes, and the French, — peoples who were sturdy, honest, enterprising, and who believed to a practical extent in the Golden Rule. Had it been otherwise, and had Spain been our mother, the history of Cuba, with all its terrifying atrocities, miseries, and failures, would have been our own. The first conflict between the young Giant of the West and the decaying monarchy of Spain could have but one issue. The Titan blows of the resistless hammer crushed the paste jewel to powder, and the war, lasting but a few months, humbled the pride of the decrepit kingdom deeper even than when the lusty sons of Albion and the storms of a wrathful heaven sent the Grand Armada to the bottom of the ocean. The forces of Castile were driven out of Cuba by the cyclonic heroism of the American regulars and volunteers; Admiral Cervera’s fleet was riddled like so much pasteboard; the campaign in Porto Rico resembled an opera boufte ; and Admiral Dewey, sailing into Manila Bay on that memorable May morning in 1898, smote the opposing fleet and forts with his unerring cannon, as if they were so many children’s toys, set up to be demolished by those to whom the task was the merest sport itself. If Spain had acted the zany for centuries, the time now came when her own exist- ence forbade her to play it longer. The Treaty of Paris followed, and by its terms the United States became sovereign over the Philippines, Porto Rico, Guam (the largest of the Ladrone Islands), and subsequently acquired the ownership of the island and harbour of the Samoan island of Tutuila. Thus was ushered in the era of ex- pansion, and our country gained a prestige and momentous interest in the Far East which give to the present work a value of the highest importance. The first step of our country, however, toward its entrance into the ranks of Powers INTRODUCTION. xv whose interests touch both hemispheres, was taken during the progress of the Spanish- American war by the annexation of Hawaii. In answer to a petition from the islands, Congress passed an act, on July 7, 1898, to annex them, and the formal ceremony of raising the United States flag took place on the 12th of the following August. This group was formerly known as the Sandwich Islands, and includes eight inhabited and four uninhabited islands, which are situated about one-third the distance between San Francisco and Sydney, Australia. They are the most important of all the Pacific islands, and their acquisition by the United States was not only valuable, but a neces- sity, in order to prevent their falling into the possession of some other power which, in case of war, would have used them with disastrous effect to our interests. These islands were first opened to the world by American whalemen, and, with the decline of that industry and the increase of general commerce, they became recruiting ports to the merchant marine. Americans own nearly all the fertile area, and the larger part of their commerce is with our own country. Hawaii is one of the greatest sugar- producing countries in the world. Although the transition of these islands from their independent form of govern- ment to a possession of the United States was attended at first with some friction, yet on the whole the change was effected quietly, and the government to-day is of the most orderly and praiseworthy character. As evidence of the prosperity of the islands under the new regime, the exports from the United States to Hawaii nearly doubled in the year following annexation. In the year ending June 30, 1905, our trade with the islands amounted to $47,865,235, of which nearly three-quarters was sugar imported from the island ports. Among the other products of the islands are rice, fruits and nuts, coffee, hides and skins, and copra or dried cocoanut. The goods imported by the islands include wheat flour and all kinds of manufactured articles. The natives of Hawaii are called Kanakas, and are rapidly dying off, but their places are more than filled by a new population. There was danger at one time of the islands being overrun by Chinese coolies, but they are now excluded. Emigrants are mainly composed of Portuguese, Americans, and Japanese, and the increased produc- tiveness of the islands is due to their industry and enterprise. Few countries have a more interesting history than Hawaii. Leaving the vague, misty traditions running backward for centuries, it is shown in the following pages that the discovery of this group of islands was accidentally made by the famous English navigator, Captain Cook, who, in the month of January, 1778, sighted the island of Oahu, followed a few days later by the discovery of other islands. Captain Cook, however, did not see Hawaii until the following year, when, sad to say, like many another pioneer, his life paid the forfeit of his great achievement. A singular fact, having no real connection with the incidents just narrated, is that the widow of Captain Cook survived his death for more than half a century. Since Hawaii is now an integral part of the great Republic, all relating thereto is XVI INTRODUCTION. of the highest interest and value. The author of “The Far East” sets forth in accurate, well-chosen, and graphic language the fullest information regarding the topography of the islands, all that is known of their history, the numerous productions, the facilities, the picturesque people, their social and civil condition, the cities, towns, and settlements, and, indeed, all that the student or immigrant can possibly wish to know. The Treaty of Paris made the island of Porto Rico an American possession. It ranks fourth in size among the West Indies, has a length of ninety-five miles from east to west, and about thirty-five from north to south. Since its population is esti- mated at nearly a million, it will be seen that it is one of the most thickly settled regions in the world. San «J uau, on the northern coast, is the capital, while Ponce, in the south, is the largest port. It exports a fine quality of coffee, sugar, and tobacco, and imports manufactured goods, flour, and fish. Porto Rico, in 1905, exported goods to the United States to the amount of $15,033,145, importing nearly as much, its total business with the United States now being seven times as great as in 1901. Another possession acquired by the United States through the Spanish-American war was Guam, the largest of the Ladroue Islands. Its area, however, is so insignifi- cant that its importance is due to its being a convenient telegraph and coaling station on the voyage from Hawaii to the Philippines. The island and harbour Tutuila, Samoa, passed by treaty of Great Britain and Germany into the hands of the United States in 1899. The island has only a few thousand inhabitants, and possesses little commercial importance, but it has one of the best harbours of the Pacific, and gives to us a fine coaling station on the route from San Francisco to Australia. The greatest and most valuable possession secured to the United States by the Treaty of Paris was the immense group of islands known as the Philippines. These are more than a thousand in number, with a land area exceeding a hundred thousand square miles, or greater than the combined extent of the six New England States and the State of New York. From north to south, they extend fully a thousand miles, with a breadth of six hundred from east to west. Naturally, many of the islets are uninhabited. The principal islands are twelve in number. Luzon, the most north- erly, is as large as the State of Ohio, and contains the city of Manila, the metropolis of the Philippines, while Mindanao, the most southerly island, is of slightly less extent. The chief products of these islands are tobacco, sugar, hemp, and coffee. Tobacco has been grown for more than a century, and the export of cigars to Europe amounts to a hundred millions a year. The famous Manila hemp is produced from the fibre of a species of banana, and is also used as paper stock. Our exports to the Philippines were only $1,150,613 in 1899, but in the fiscal year 1905 they had increased to $5,761,498, while the imports rose from $3,840,894 to $15,668,026. The natural wealth of these islands is prodigious. Stretching through fifteen degrees of latitude, with mountains of considerable elevation, with numerous streams INTRODUCTION. xvn and fertile valleys, these productions display the choicest richness of the torrid and temperate zones. In the depths of the vast forests are found the most valuable species of woods, such as cedar, ebony, ironwood, mahogany, logwood, sapan-wood, gum-trees, and scores of other kinds of woods, unknown on the American continent. The panave and malave are two woods which have been exposed to the action of water for hundreds of years, without showing the slightest deterioration. Probably the most attractive and useful tree is the bamboo, which seems to grow everywhere, and sup- plies an endless variety of needs. It is the chief material in the construction of bridges, houses, and even churches, while from it are made baskets, mats, chairs, vessels for liquids, measures for grain, musical instruments, household utensils, vehicles, rafts to float on the rivers, and head-gear. Indeed, there seems to be no vegetable production so calculated to meet the general wants of man. The tender shoots of the bamboo are considered a delicacy by the inhabitants, and the horses and cattle are fond of the leaves. One variety of the cane contains a stone said to be a sovereign remedy for many of the ills of the flesh, while still another kind produces a gum which is a specific for inflamed eyes. Though it would seem, from what has been stated, that the bamboo is the most valuable native tree of the Philippines, yet the inhabitants gain a larger income from the cocoanut-palm, which is universally cultivated. The demand of the foreign market for the fruit is never fully met, and there is no part of the tree itself which is not utilised. The framework of the native dwellings is made from the smooth trunk, the roof from its leaves, and the chairs and tables from its wood. The fibre of the tree furnishes the native with the mats on which he sleeps; its nuts form his meat; the shells his household utensils, while the value of the “milk in the cocoanut” is prover- bial. The sap yields an oil which, in a cool climate, becomes a solid, and is made into soap and candles. It may be said that every hut and house in the interior is illumi- nated by means of cocoanut-oil. Moreover, the delicate flowering stalk affords a delicious beverage, known as the tuba, and the most comfortable of raiments is made from its fine, fibrous particles. Another highly useful plant is a species of bush rope, which sometimes attains the astonishing length of one thousand feet. It may be described as a natural rope or cord, with no end to its diversified uses. The mango is the most important fruit of the Archipelago. Its meat is creamy and delicious, and the tree grows to a great size. Two, and sometimes three, pickings are obtained every year. There are over fifty varieties of bananas. The pctpau; yields a fruit resembling in shape and flavour the melon ; guavas, tamarinds, pineapples, lemons, huge oranges, the custard-apple, citron, breadfruit, strawberry, and other products peculiar to the tropics flourish in great luxuriance. A remarkable fruit found in the western islands is the durien, — a dainty, delicious production which, however, bears only once in twenty years. Investigations made since our acquisition of the Philippines have brought to light numerous plants and herbs of great medicinal INTRODUCTION. xviii value. A striking proof of the amazing fertility is afforded by the common sight, seen on the same plot of land, of the planting, cultivating, and harvesting, going on in alternation. In the words of the author, “From the great storehouse of natural treasures of Luzon, the largest and richest of these pearls of the Pacific, to the hundreds of smaller gems, all resplendent in a vegetation which clothes not only the plains and the lowlands, but the mountains and the seashore, with a verdure of many hues and never-fading gloss, the florist finds his paradise, and the botanist his wonderland.” Although the Philippine group for centuries has poured treasures into the lap of Spain that are beyond estimate, yet it would be unjust to overlook the many serious drawbacks which must be encountered by every settler among the islands. Our sol- diers, who have spent weary months in the attempt to crush the rebellion led by Aguinaldo, tell of the seasons described as “six months of mud, six months of dust, six months of everything.” The northern islands are swept by the Chinese typhoons, which in one season destroyed four thousand houses and three hundred people. Earth- quakes are so numerous that multitudes of lives are lost every year from that cause. In 1863, one-half of the city of Manila was tumbled into ruins, and more than three thousand of its inhabitants were killed or injured. Tidal waves have been equally destructive to life and property. Fever, malaria, and other tropical diseases are common, and the heat is especially oppressive to unacclimated persons, women and children being particularly subject to the perils of the climate. The experience of our soldiers in Cuba and in the Philippines, where sanitary conditions have been bad, has been attended with many fatalities. Such men, from natural carelessness, are certain to suffer severely. Still, the Philippines are not as unhealthful as would be supposed from the foregoing statements. When American thrift and enterprise shall have had time in which to introduce modern systems of sanitation, the improvement in health will be marked and decisive. Animal life in the Philippines is less prominent than in many other countries of the same latitude. The wildcat, wild boar, buffalo, hog, deer, and monkey abound in the forests. The reptiles and venomous insects are a pest, the most prominent being frogs, lizards, snakes, centipedes, gigantic spiders, tarantulas, hornets, beetles, ants horned toads, and enormous bats. Some of the bats have a spread of six feet, with bodies as large as cats. One of the deadliest of all serpents is the manapo, whose bite is as fatal as that of the East Indian cobra. It is occasionally encountered in the rice fields, but, fortunately, it is quite rare. Crocodiles of huge size abound in the fresh water streams, and a species of cobra is sometimes seen in Samor and Mindanao. Ants and mosquitoes form an almost intolerable pest. The white ants work in the dark, and destroy the hardest pieces of furniture. It is said that the whole framework of a house has been known to collapse from the ravages of these insects. Every few years, swarms containing numberless millions of locusts sweep the country bare of all the crops, with the single exception of the hemp plantations, which are exempt. The only INTRODUCTION. xix way by which the natives even up matters with the locusts is to eat them, and they are considered such a delicacy that, in many instances, the parish priest has prayed for their coming. The Philippines contain more than six hundred species of birds. Some of these have wonderfully brilliant plumage but among them all there is not one sweet singer. The game birds include the snipe, pheasant, pigeons, ducks, woodcocks, and various waterfowls. It is impossible, in an introduction of this character, to do more than outline in the vaguest and most imperfect manner the wealth of subjects treated in the pages that follow. As we have already intimated, the acquirement of Porto Rico, Hawaii, a portion of the Ladrones, and the immense Archipelago in the Far East, gives an inter- est and value to all the knowledge obtainable regarding them. Their history, their .natural productions and capabilities, their inhabitants, their attractions, their advan- tages and disadvantages as a field for American enterprise, are of the deepest moment to the citizens of the United States. That the field thus opened to our commerce, trade, and industry is of vast and far-reaching importance is self-evident. To meet the widespread demand for full and accurate information regarding our possessions in the Far East, these volumes are now offered to the American public. Edward S. Ellis. HAWAII. BY HON. HENRY CABOT LODGE, UNITED STATES SENATOR. In the year 1893 the Hawaiian question was one of the leading issues of our politics. Mr. Cleveland then undertook to reverse the traditional policy of the United States in regard to the islands, parties divided over the question, the deposed queen found eager partisans, and the successful leaders of the revolt against her were warmly defended and as earnestly attacked. Five years later, in the midst of a war which furnished an argument so conclusive upon the subject that no man could successfully gainsay it, the islands were annexed to the United States. With annexation actually accomplished, the Hawaiian question came to an end, and it was all so natural, and, indeed, so inevi- table, that it now requires an effort to understand how there could ever have been any difference of opinion in regard to it. The islands have come so easily into our system, and so obviously belong there, that once ours they have been in a measure for- gotten, and, while the country has been filled with discussion in regard to Porto Rico and the Philippines, Hawaii has dropped out of sight. This is due, of course, to the fact that the islands for more than fifty years had been practically ruled by Americans, and had become thoroughly Americanised by the New England missionaries, who had settled there in the first half of the nineteenth century, and by their descendants. But it would be most unfortunate if, on account of our familiarity with the islands so closely connected with us for so long a time, and because they have so smoothly and quietly become a part of our system, we should overlook their value and their meaning to us, — past, present, and in the time to come. Among the new possessions which have come to us in these last three years, so crowded with great events, none is more important to our future than Hawaii. This seems a very strong statement in view of the almost incalculable importance of the Philippines to our position, both military and commercial, in the East. And yet, although the statement is strong, it is not overdrawn, and the Philippines themselves have greatly enhanced the value of Hawaii. The Hawaiian Islands are rich, very fertile, capable of producing most valuable crops of sugar, coffee, and bananas, and of sustaining a large and prosperous population. This intrinsic worth is, however, the least part of their value to us. Look at the map, and their importance, their vital importance, to the United States becomes at once apparent. The largest of the Pacific XXI XXII HAWAII. island groups, Hawaii, lies far away to the north and east of the Polynesian chain of islands, and almost in the centre of the great ocean which stretches from China to California. The master of Hawaii can reach more quickly to more essential points east and west, north and south, than any one else in the Pacific. In Hawaii, also, is Pearl Harbour, one of the two deep-water and naturally sheltered harbours to be found in all the islands, the other being Pago-Pago, in Tutuila, which is also in our possession, but far inferior in geographical position to that in Oahu. With moderate improvement Pearl Harbour would shelter a navy, and with comparatively small expenditure can be made impregnable. A foreign nation holding Oahu and Pearl Harbour would be not only a constant menace to America, but in the event of war would have an advantage in attacking our Pacific coast which it would be almost impossible to overcome. The mere possession of the islands by the United States is a great protection, and if we fortify them and create a naval station there no enemy would dare to assail the Pacific coast, with Pearl Harbour, so easily made impregnable, behind them. The strategic im- portance of the islands is, moreover, as obvious commercially as from a military and naval point of view. Hawaii has well been called the “crossroads of the Pacific,” and although the shortest route to Japan from San Francisco, sailing on a great circle, is just south of the Aleutian Islands, Honolulu is none the less the central point for the intersection of steamship routes and ocean cables between America, on the one side, and Polynesia, Australia, the Philippines, and Southern China on the other. Islands possessing the military and commercial importance which has just been in- dicated deserve to be well known and thoroughly understood by the people who have so lately added them to their domain. Very fortunately it is possible not only to write the history of these islands fully and accurately, but that history is picturesque and inter- esting in a very high degree. Their old name of the Sandwich Islands, now happily extinguished, carries us back to an English eighteenth century minister who was him- self a remarkably stupid and worthless nobleman, but whose title and office are asso- ciated with some of the most important voyages of discovery made at that period. The death of Captain Cook is indissolubly associated with Hawaii in the tragic ending of a narrative of adventure which has charmed generations of children to a degree second only to that enjoyed by Robinson Crusoe. Then we meet with Vancouver, and then comes the career of Kamehameha I., a man of real genius, both military and civil, who consoli- dated the islands under one government and founded the monarchy which has endured down to our own time. Next comes the arrival of the American missionaries, the devel- opment of the islands under their influence, and the gradual intertwining of the fate of the islands with that of the United States. From this period we trace the steady growth of the American influence in Hawaii and the seemingly narrow escape of the islands from the domination of European powers. We meet, as we proceed, with the great name of Webster, who warned foreign states of American interest in these islands, and of Marcy preparing to annex them just on the eve of a civil war which drove all policies, but the one desperate determination to save the country, from the HAWAII. xxm hearts and the minds of the people. Then comes the gradual reawakening of interest in Hawaii, the reciprocity treaty which placed them practically within our control, the Harrison treaty of annexation, and at last the movement which in the shock of another war brought about their final acquisition by this country. The history of Hawaii ought to be read now by all Americans, and the story of the natives and of our own people who went among them so many years ago should become familiar to us all, for it is now one of the most interesting chapters in the westward march of the United States. . Natives Preparing Poi, Hawaii PACIFIC MAIL STEAMER AUSTRALIA. THE FAR EAST. HAWAII. CHAPTER I CAPTAIX COOK’S DISCOVERY. T HE seafarer crossing the Pacific Ocean under the imaginary line of the Tropic of Cancer, sailing from Cape St. Lucas, at the southern extremity of Lower California, clue west for over eight thousand miles, or one-third of the distance around the globe, meets with only a solitary spot of land in all that long water journey. Should he traverse the sea in a. slightly northwesterly direction, from Panama to Japan, he would make a trip of equal length and loneliness, passing midway on his voyage the same ocean isle as before. If he should start from San Fran- cisco, bound to Queensland, he would again compass his stupendous passage l 9 TIIE FAR EAST. greeted by the same lonely sentinel of the mighty deep. But this time he would find soon after passing this spot innumerable islands, isles, and coral reefs scattered all along his way. On the north, however, not a speck dots the watery expanse until the polar lands are reached. This breakwater of the Central Pacific, which old ocean has tried in vain to swallow for numberless ages, is Kauai, the most northerly of the Hawaiian Islands. Forming a happy resemblance to a huge cornucopia of 300 miles curve from northwest to southeast, between latitude 18° 55' and 22° 20' N., and longitude 154° 55' and 160° 15' W., this group of islands is the most northerly cluster of the Poly- nesian Archipelago. While numbering twelve in all, four of these islands are really nothing but the brown heads of rocky pillars thrust forbiddingly above the surface of the deep, and the fifth is too small and meagre in its re- sources to afford a population, which leaves the poet’s “seven sunny isles of the southern seas.’’ Beginning with the point of this horn of plenty and running southward the list of eight comprises Niiliau, 80 square miles in area ; Kauai, 590 miles; Oahu, 600 miles; Molokai, 270 miles; Maui, 760 miles; Lanai, 150 miles; Kahoolawe, Go miles; Hawaii, 4,210 miles in extent. The entire group contains G.740 square miles, or about the amount of territory of the State of Massachusetts, Hawaii having almost two-thirds of the whole area . 1 be written history of the Hawaiian Islands covers a period of less than a century and a quarter, beginning with the discovery of Captain Cook in 1778. Running into this from the centuries before there is another story told by the tongue, the traditions of an uncivilised race. Behind these iiawaii PINEAPPLE HARDEN. OAHU. 4 T1IE FAR EAST. vague accounts of warlike deeds and religious mysticisms, there is yet another era portrayed on the scrolls of the silent ages. This takes us back into the misty past thousands of years, — back to a period when all the waters were locked in crystal prisons, and plant and animal life were unknown. The war of the elements ensued ; the ice king retreated before the equatorial god ; the silence of the solitude was broken by the grinding and crashing of the glaciers. The white pinnacles of the ice- floes melted away, and in their place of desolation rose the mountains of a productive land ; instead of the icy fields and frozen spikes came fertile valleys, with trees, plants, and flowers ; in place of the bitter cold, the balmy climate ; on the scene of life- lessness, a race of human beings. This is the mysterious and awe- inspiring picture of the birth of a world. Captain Cook’s discovery of this group of islands was an accident. The British govern- ment, pleased with this great navigator’s previous voyages of exploration in the then un- known Pacific Ocean, with the counsel and assistance of Lord Sandwich of the Admiralty, fitted him out for a third trip, placing under his command the two ships Resolution and Discovery.. He sailed from Plymouth, England, July 12, 177(), only eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independ- ence by the representatives of the thirteen colonies of America. Captain Cook s orders were to revisit the islands of the southern seas, where he had twice wintered, “ to disseminate and naturalise ” some of the useful animals of Europe in that remote region, and to find a northern passage to the Atlantic Ocean. Tie cruised around in the Polynesian Archi- pelago for a year and a half, leaving on the different islands those domestic CAPTAIX COOK. HAWAII. animals which have proved of such value to the inhabitants. Then he sailed from the Society Islands on his way to the north. On the eighteenth of January, 1778, he sighted the island of Oahu, and, sailing along its southwestern coast, the next day he discovered the islands of Niihau and Kauai. The following morning, January 20th, he anchored at Waimea, on the shore of Kauai, a place noted in the traditions of the natives as having been the battle-ground of ancient kings. As the vessels sailed up the coast, the inhabitants of the island began to appear in large groups, alarmed and mystified over the arrival of the strange ships. In such numbers did the natives rush to the water’s edge, as the first boat started for the shore, Captain Cook ordered a volley of shot to be fired over their heads. One of the excited mob was killed, but, as the firing was not continued, the natives received their visitors in a friendly manner. Pres- ents were exchanged, and the newcomers were highly pleased with what they saw. After staying on this island a few days, and laying in a fresh stock of water and provision, the English ships headed away to Niihau, where they remained until February 2d. Believ- ing he had discovered a group of islands, Captain Cook named them for his patron, Lord Sandwich, and set sail for the polar regions, on what he fondly anticipated was his homeward voyage. In sight of the beach at Waimea is still pointed out a large, flat rock, bearing the mark of a broad arrow, claimed to have been made by Captain Cook to designate the place of his first landing. In the village are three other stones with similar markings made by the English commander for the same purpose. His northern voyage proving a disappointment, though he explored the coast of Alaska, Bering Strait, and the Arctic Ocean until finding his progress stopped by the ice-fields, Captain Cook was glad to return to the HAWAIIAN COAT OF ARMS. f, THE FAR EAST. south, where lie might spend the approaching winter, to resume his search for the northern passage another summer. On the morning of November 26th, he sighted for the first time the island of Maui, and he anchored at Wailua. The news of his visit to Kauai seemed to have preceded him here, for he was greeted by a larger crowd than before, that considered him as a god, and his followers as supernatural beings. TIis ships were thought to be moving islands, which could send forth thunder and lightning at the command of their master. The natives showed no signs of hostility. After laying off Maui several days, during which time he had a brisk trade with the inhabitants, Captain Cook sailed along the coast until, on the thirtieth, he discovered the island of Hawaii. Judging this to be larger and of more importance than the others, he decided to make its circuit, which took him seven weeks before he dropped anchor in the ill-fated bay of Kealakekua. lie bad called at numerous villages on his trip, and everywhere had been treated with generosity and loaded with HAWAII. divine honours. Here over a thousand canoes swarmed in the waters around his ships, most of them crowded with people, and laden with the richest tributes the land afforded, choice fowls and hogs, fruits and vege- tables of many kinds and rare excellence. In all that vast number not a weapon was to be seen, one and all having come to pay their free and spontaneous worship to the newcomers. No sooner had the English commander and a portion of his crews gone ashore, than the natives an- nounced a season of festivi- ties and sacrificial ceremonies to their visitors. Captain Cook was looked upon as the reincarnation of their god Lono, whose return to the earth their high priests bad prophesied, and he was es- corted to the heiau or temple built in his honour, while the people and chiefs, even to the king, prostrated them- selves before him. Captain Cook and his reckless tars quickly caught the spirit of their tempters, and for eighteen days they revelled in the prodigal sim- plicity of their worshippers. There, under the dome of the sleeping Hualalai, on the rich lava beds budded by this mighty volcano in the centuries unrecorded, and fringed with tall, sinuous, dark-crested cocoa-palms, half concealing the sea below, unrestrained nature ran riot with itself. Then the visitors grew overbearing and independent. The temple of the gods was turned into an observatory ; the consecrated platform was transformed into a sail-loft ; the sacred palisades ol the heiau were carried away to be used as fuel to cook the food of these newcomers ! At first 8 THE FAR EAST. amazed, the spectators became indignant. It had been enough that their rich presents had been reciprocated by a few hatchets and knives, and their magnificent gifts of feather mantles and helmets had been taken without thanks. Though they prudently remained peaceful, it must have been with secret pleasure that they saw the ships sail away with their visitors on February 4th. The joy of the islanders proved short-lived. Off Kawaihae the ship COCOANUT ISLAND, CORAL REEFS. Resolution sprung a foremast in buffeting a gale, and Captain Cook returned to his old anchorage to repair the damage. Carpenters were sent ashore to work upon the injured mast, when the natives treated them coldly. r I he king was away, but the priests remained friendly, and the sailors did not hesitate to show their authority, which further incensed the people. Some of them stole a pinnace for its iron fastenings, which so angered Captain Cook that he resolved to capture the king, who had returned, and hold him as a hostage until the stolen property had been restored. Protected by a body-guard of his marines, Cook went at once to OAHU lf'ainiea Ba Halolivi V 0 \A'oftana Bay \ ^jLLncoka Oio Point “A^^W^Ikano qj{£ II ARDOR \ jtA^'.Mokapu Point „A vJ"\ Mokoixa I. .C^V °oV A*-T „ V < >/ \Xailua Day > xc Ss '6/ MILES pfi A HONGKONG, u ,nakakai Landing . v>""^° P u * MAUI miles WailukiKj^ji^^ ? I KaluiuTTV N i p n e i n L e u K a, u tt . i Maalnea Bay ) K iheiyV Knena Point. Honopux Fivo Noedlcs^ ( 120 feet) Keoinuku^ LAHAINA Keanao* Landing^ Nabikuo .leok®! 1 *' 1 lCoP'^jan^ ^Kauiki Head •Klau I. LANAI Waiakoa Hamoa Work. I HONOLULU Statute Mile. WAILUKU. cHA NNBL KAHOtH-AWE Moloki '"an/oa Kcalaikahaki l Point Honoipnj Landing. ''' Scales. Statute Miles, 21 *= 1 Inch. Kohala JarborW Mahubona jandingl Hunokaa 1 _ .. Kawaihae Cs /_ ? KOHALA fL U Katimola , McNally & 0o.’i New 11 * 14 Map of Ha Copyright, 1008. by Rand, McNally & Co. PaauHo Kaival Lsupahyf’l tairS^vA /PapaaloaV, Laiumiio Table Ilonokaope Bay lvaal au Poinui HokalauV'V Honomuu-}, Pepeckeooi Papaikou! HAMAKUA \ Kllioto . Mahewalti Pointj Papilla Point r Nawili Pointer Makoloa Point/ I Kahala Point P A . .. n d\T»6 4 Lclolwi Point ' Konlia 0 KAWAIHAU n ^Kapaao/ iKapaa Landing KAUAI iHualalai Keaholo Point! Wawahiwaa Point 1- * Kaiwi Point Kailua Bay Kamoa Poir ’ / W A I) Kalehumakak ' Mann Pointf Mona Walj; Table /Land Kailua rl VHolualoa t \ KONA IpKeauhou £ 0 Koalakekua ’Ilanamaiilu Bay NIIHAU Konolo Point’ ilitoili Harbor ftntjli Landing Kekah^ Via' 1 Kurtis MountainvL Pauwai Point Kena Point s' Mauna Loa 18,675 Keikiwaha Po i Cooks Monument ^pNnpoopoo 1 Pnko P Cooks A nchoragirk Pahau Point! Kaumuhonu V Volcano Hous Kilauea i&t 4,000 ^ 'Cape Kawaliiou Honauuay Bay£l Hookenav Kauhako Bay$\ Lepean on Rock . Kauli oa Point 1 Halfway House YOKOHAMA J *PAN, honqxonq. Coauliou >«/ M/les man/ la, ~ Pahala " A a (ja m pac 7 p,-c Western Islands punaluu Landing OLoc Landing ip Hanamalo^, Honuapo. HAWAII Waiobinu 1 Points ON SAME SCALE AS MAIN MAP. MARSHALL JONES COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON HAWAII. 0 the home of the aged king, who, like his priests, still kept his faith with them, and enticed him to go on board the ship. Already the natives had swarmed in the waters about the vessels, and the officer left in command ordered that a shot be fired to frighten them off. One of the shots took effect in a chief. Meanwhile the chiefs and people on the shore were protesting against the treatment accorded their king. The islanders were now armed with spears and hatchets, and so threatening did the mob become that Captain Cook advanced with all MURDER OF CAPTAIX COOK. ( From a rare old print.) haste possible. Upon reaching the beach a tall islander sprang in front of him, declaring that he had killed his brother. Thereupon Cook fired but missed him. At that moment some one from the wild rabble threw a stone, which struck Captain Cook and brought a groan from him. He now fired his second pistol, killing his man this time. But the cry of anguish coming from his lips caused one of his assailants to shout : “ He feels pain ! He is not a god ! ” The islanders now rushed upon the seamen so furiously that they were ompelled to beat a disorderly retreat, four of their number being killed. 10 THE FAR EAST. FOLIAGE AND FLOWERS OF THE NIGIIT-BLOOMING CEUEUS. HAWAII. 11 The others escaped by swimming to the boats, leaving their commander surrounded by the excited natives. He signalled to his men to stop firing and come to his assistance. At that moment a chief ran up behind him and plunged an iron dagger through his body. He fell face downward in the water, his body seized and dragged away by the infuriated mob. Firing was resumed by the seamen, but the king called off his people and the scene became quiet. Captain Clark, now in command, as soon as he deemed it expedient, sent ashore for the body of Captain Cook, though MONUMENT TO CAPTAIN COOK. only a portion of his lower limbs was to be found. The incensed island- ers had burned the rest, except the heart, which was eaten by some ehildren through mistake, which gave rise to the story that the natives were cannibals. Now that the unhappy affair was over, the people showed genuine sorrow over the untimely fate of the great navigator, whose memory is revered to this day by the Hawaiians. Captain Cook was a brave and efficient officer, doing more than all others toward enlightening the world in regard to the islands of that remote quarter of the globe ; but he was quick-tempered, and possessed unbridled imperiousness, which brought him his death at 12 THE FAR EAST. the hands of those who had gratuitously provisioned his ships, and every- where lavished upon him the attention and worshipfulness due to a god. If carrying to the enlightened world a knowledge of their existence, these visitors Avere to leave with these simple people a disease which was to render sad havoc in their numbers and happiness. The importance Captain Cook attached to his discovery of these islands is told in his own words, the last entry he made in his journal kept of that long and eventful voyage : “ We could not but be struck with the singularity of this scene ; and perhaps there were few on board who now lamented our having failed finding a northern passage home last summer. To this disappointment we owed our having it in our power to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to enrich our voyage with a discovery which, though last, seemed in many respects to be the most important that had hitherto been made by Europeans, throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean.” The memory of this great, but unfortunate, navigator is preserved by a white concrete monument, erected by some of his fellow countrymen on the spot, as nearly as could be ascertained, where he fell. It bears the following inscription : “ In memory of the great circumnavigator, Captain James Cook, R. N., who discovered these islands on the 18th of January, 1778, A. D., and fell near this spot on the 14th of February, 1770. This Monument was erected in November, A. D. 1874, by some of his countrymen.” Thus, while the united colonies of America were fighting their first war for independence with the mother country, a son of the latter discovered and explored those islands in the distant sea which were destined to become eventually a part of the rising republic. SHORE NEAR HILO. CHAPTER II. TIIE ISLAND WONDERLAND. T HE last and largest island discovered by Captain Cook was called by the natives Hawaii, — meaning “ Fiery Java,” and pronounced as if spelled Hah-wah-ee, accent on second syllable, — and this name lias very appropriately been adopted as a designation for the entire group in place of that of the Sandwich Islands. The coasts of these islands are often bold, rocky, and precipitous, cliffs rising for hundreds of feet perpendicularly from the water. Yet there are sheltered bays, and Oahu has one of the finest harbours in the world. There are at different places along the shores dangerous reefs, beautiful fringes of coral, or long, wide stretches of yellow beach, where the mur- muring tide kissed by the trade-winds plays at hide-and-seek with harmless glee. The larger portion of the surface of the islands is mountainous, two of the interior peaks reaching an altitude of nearly fourteen thousand feet ; but at their foot lie rich alluvial plains, plateaus, and valleys, with silvery streams leaping in cascades from the overhanging cliffs. With few excep- tions the mountainsides are clothed in dense growths of temperate zone 14 THE FAR EAST. sturdiness, while the lowlands abound with a tropical vegetation of a perpetual green. Evidence of the volcanic origin of these islands exists on every hand, from the dead and buried cones of Kauai to the living fires of Hawaii. By this it will be observed that the former, as well as being the most northerly, is the oldest of the series. This theory is supported by the fact that only two cones remain on this isle, and these on the southeastern slope. All others have been destroyed by the march of years, and their IIANAPEPE FALLS, KAUAI. slopes covered with dense forests. The land having undergone longer change, is more arable, the soil deeper, and the vegetation more bountiful than on the other islands. Encircled by beaches of silvery brightness, with valleys and hillsides painted by nature’s brush a green that never fades, Kauai is the “ Garden Isle.” Lying in a westerly direction, about fifteen miles distant, is Niiliau, resembling it in physical features. This island is sparsely settled, its inhabitants being formerly noted for the manufacture of mats made from a sort of rush which grows only on this island and Kauai, and is now the largest sheep range among the islands. HAWAII. 15 Kaula, southwest from Kauai, is a barren rock, which is the resort of innumerable aquatic birds, whose eggs are sometimes sought by the inhabi- tants of the windward islands. Oahu, the following island on the southeasterly course, produces more recent and numerous indications of its volcanic formation ; but here are valleys of great fertility, and a mountain range of rugged appearance. On account of its fine harbour at Honolulu, it is known as the “ Mistress of the Sea.” WAIKAUI FALLS, MAUI. Maui, next in order, attests its younger age, having several craters, the largest and highest of which is Haleakala, “the house of the sun,” which lifts its bulky crest ten thousand feet into the air, beiny; the largest extinct volcano in the world. Maui is the “ Switzerland of the Hawaiian Islands.” South of Maui, separated by a channel of only a few miles in width, is Kahoolawe, with its lowlands, except for a species of coarse grass, almost destitute of plant life. It is uninhabited, stock owners of Maui, to which island it no doubt sometime belonged, having it as pasturage for their flocks. 16 THE FAR EAST. Between these two islands rises a rocky barrier, Molokini, used as a place for the fishermen to spread their nets. Lanai, separated from Maui by a channel of ten miles in width, has but recently become valuable for sheep raising and sugar growing. East-southeast of Oahu is a chain of volcanic mountains nearly equal in elevation to those of Maui, which form in the main the island of Molokai, a long, irregular ridge, with little level land and few plantations, and the unenviable reputation of being the lazaretto of exiled lepers. The youngest and mightiest of the group is the one from which it gets its name, unfinished Hawaii, still smoking, still exhibiting to the wondering HONOLULU HARBOUR FROM GOVERNMENT BUILDING. beholder the sublime agency of its creation. This island is famous for its physical grandeur and volcanic exhibitions. The legends of the Hawaiians, reaching back over a thousand years, fail to mention any activity of vol- canic force on the other islands. The fires of Maui’s mammoth house of the sun burned out before man beheld its riven walls, while concerning the erup- tions of the lower and lesser craters the ancient historian is equally silent. What a grand, yet terrible, spectacle it must have been when all the flues of these mountain furnaces were aglow with their liquid flame, which in their bombardment of the sky fairly set ablaze the moonless heavens and the eight Hawaiian seas ! But if tradition fails to describe the activity of the volcanoes of the other islands, it is very vivid in its pictures of Hawaii’s volcanic outbreaks. Mauna Kea (the white mountain), Manna Native Straw Hut, Hawaii HAWAII. 17 Loa (the long mountain), Mauna Haulalai (offspring of the sun) at irregular intervals have each displayed their awful energies in convulsions that have rocked the island like a cradle on the deep and Hung their molten contents down the slopes to the sea. A still more realistic representative of the fiery powers is the ever active Kilauea, with a crater nearly nine miles in circumference, the largest constant volcano in the world. With a uniformity and salubrity of climate unsurpassed, the mean tem- perature never rising above ninety or sinking below sixty degrees, and whose southern languor is con- tinually refreshed by the ozone breath of the polar seas; with plains and slopes of remarkable fer- tility covered with vast cane-fields and sugar plan- tations, groves of kingly palms, sturdy ironwoods, delicate tamarinds, feathery algarobas, star-eyed or- anges, dusky ohicis, snowy candlenuts, sunlit papaias , umbrageous bread f ruits, flowering mangoes, wine- palms, slender cocoa-palms, hardy pomegranates, . . , T . . , HIGHEST POINT IN THE CRATER OF KILAUEA. twisted rictus and wide- spreading umbrella-trees, of plants and vegetables, the fan-leafed banana, tree-like plantain, giant fern, clinging azella, nutritive yam, bulburous taro , crimson strawberry, and many others, the united offerings of the tropical and temperate zones growing side by side ; with a flora that does not stop by decorating the rich alluvial deposits of the valleys in a bewil- dering array of flowers and reminders of flowers, but fringes the brinks of the chasms with the scarlet vine ie-ie and spans the abyss with a net- work of gold and bronze vines tipped with trumpet-shaped blossoms, tints 18 TIIE FAR EAST. the mist of the waterfalls with the rainbow hues of the convolvuli , or crim- sons with the transparent leaves of the oliia the fiery floods of the craters ; with gorgeous vines and trailers, magenta blossoms and passion flowers, embowering the homes of the many races of men living here in harmony and contentment ; with a landscape clothed in a perpetual green, and mountain-tops floating like white and brown islands in cloudland ; with their summer seas reflecting the azure of the southern skies ; with its beaches of a dazzling- whiteness fringed with cocoa- palms ; over all an indescribable charm of solitude and drowsy peacefulness, to him who looks for the sunny side of nature the Hawaiian Islands are the “ Paradise of the Pacific,” the Wonderland of the World. In vivid contrast to Oahu’s Edenic valleys and Maui’s pic- turesque slopes rises the weather side of Hawaii, lighted by that huge lamp trimmed by no mortal hand, but kept bright against burning sun and waxing moon from time immemorial, and overlooked by the moun- tain monarch with foot bathed in the sea and whitened head swathed in the clouds. Every- where the grandeur and sublimity of the scene strikes the beholder with wonder akin to awe. He gazes on the corrugated streams of congealed lava, on the broken domes of volcanoes long since burned out, on the furnace fires of Kilauea, sees with his own eyes the startling evidence of the internal powers that have builded the mountains, watches the crim- son fountains play on the surface of the lake of fire and the fantastic figures dancing in ghoulish glee at their escape from the Plutonian dun- HAWAII. 19 geons of the inner earth, until he exclaims in dismay, “The Inferno of the World ! ” The indigenous plants are the banana, plantain, cocoanut, breadfruit, oliia (native apple), sugar-cane, arrowroot, sweet potato, taro, strawberry, raspberry, and the sacred berry olielo. The imported plants are lime, orange, mango, tamarind, papaia, guava, and all edible products except those named above. If prodigal in her floral gifts nature was extremely chary in her bestowal of wild and domestic creatures, and the fauna of the islands a hundred years ago was limited to dogs, swine, mice, lizards, owls, bats, snipe, plover, ducks, a species of geese peculiar to the place, and a few varieties of birds of simple song and not very bril- liant plumage. It seems prob- able that animal life was almost entirely lacking here when first peopled by tin* human race. The natives accounted for the remarkable uniformity and salubrity of the climate by the following legendary tale of the early days of the islands : A .powerful demi-god ruling over Maui, and having his dwelling on Haleakala, got angry because the sun shone every morning on the mountains of Hawaii before it did on his abode. Thereupon he caused to be made a huge net, which he carried one night and spread it quite over his rival. As a result the rising sun got entangled in the meshes of Maui’s big web, which had been woven so cunningly that the harder the sun tried to break away the more his rays got mixed up in the gauze-like structure. Maui 20 TIIE FAR EAST. watched the struggle with a merry twinkle in his eye, and when the sun had got tired of his futile efforts, he offered to set him free if he would promise to shine on him and Mauna Loa alike, never too hot or too cold, and never allowing mist or cloud to obscure the favoured islands. The sun was fain to obtain his freedom upon such easy terms, and, agreeing to Maui’s demands, received his liberty. Ever since he has bestowed his favour with wonderful equality on the seven islands, so that they have TARO PATCH. been blessed with their remarkable climate and temperature. Fogs or mists have never risen to mar the sun’s splendour, and lest he should forget his promise and shine too fervidly on his children of the sea, he made a compact with the north wind to keep perpetual vigil over him. inviv ‘oniunvi a'inHv.iiH COCOANUT GROVE. CHAPTER III. A PICTURESQUE PEOPLE. C APTAIN COOK estimated the population of these islands to be not less than four hundred thousand, and that Hawaii alone contained considerably over one hundred thousand inhabitants. These people were not savages, as we are apt to apply the term, but bar- barians of a milder and more progressive type. In personal appearance they were generally above medium stature, well formed, with muscular limbs, frank countenance, and features often resembling the Europeans. An early writer in describing them said : “ Their gait is graceful and sometimes stately. The chiefs in particular are tall and stout, and their personal appearance is so much superior to the common people that some have imagined them a distinct race. This, however, is not the fact ; the great care taken of them in childhood, and their better living, have proba- bly occasioned the difference. Their hair is black or brown, strong, and 21 22 the far east. frequently curly ; their complexion is neither yellow like the Malay nor red like the American Indian, but a kind of olive and sometimes reddish brown. Their arms and other parts of the body are often tattooed, but, except in one of the islands (Kauai), this is by no means as common as in many parts of the southern sea.” They belonged to a branch of the Polynesian race, which was undoubt- edly of Aryan stock, migrating at a remote period from Asia Minor through India, Sumatra, and Java to the Southern Pacific Islands, from thence advancing slowly north- ward to New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, and Hawaii. These facts are well substantiated by the close affinity of the names of localities, men, and physical objects, with the general con- struction of the several lan- guages, so that a person master- ing one can easily understand the others. Early accounts of the people have been preserved through an order of priesthood, which caused to be committed to memory the more prominent affairs of each family, so that handed down from father to son successively the deeds and gene- alogies of the chiefs could be traced for over forty generations. These traditions, a picturesque background for its romantic modern history, make Hawaii a wonderland in verity. Their legends peopled the sea and sky with all sorts of weird spirits and the volcanic craters of the island world with demons of fantastic figures and terrible demeanour ; they scintillated with deeds of prowess and chivalry, if wilder and more barbarous, none the less valorous than those performed by the mailed knights of the continental world ; their warriors, without shields or fear of death, sprang to battle under the wings of the great white bird of HAWAIIAN CHIEF OF OLDEN TIMES WITH FEATHER HELMET. HAWAII. 23 Kane, as defiantly as the rugged vikings of Northland followed the dusky ravens of Odin; their sailors, in frail craft and under the sole guidance of the sun and stars, navigated the seas for thousands of miles, and achieved conquests in far distant lands ; one of their boldest mariners, in the eleventh century, reached the western shore of America, and carried back to his native isles as captives three of its inhabi- tants ; their kings and priests were men of mighty stature, proving by their genealogies a descent from Adam and a kinship with the gods. These sages describe a re- nowned chief by the name of Hawaii, a great fisherman and navigator in ancient times, who, on one of his long cruises, discovered two islands that pleased him so well he returned and brought there his wife and family. The islands he named Maui, for his wife, and Hawaii-loa for himself, and this family, the legend claims, were the first inhabitants of the islands. While this statement is to be looked upon with suspicion, there is a very clear account of an emigration from Samoa in the sixth century under a chief named Nanaula. This chief, after trouble with some of his relatives in regard to ruling his native isle, gathered a portion of his most adventurous followers about him ; and in double canoes, large enough to hold from fifty to one hundred persons, this party, accompanied by their priests, taking with them their gods, dogs, swine, fowls, and seeds, set forth into the unknown sea on a voyage of discovery. They reached Oahu and Kauai, which they found unpeopled, and took peacefid posses- sion. They were soon followed by a few others from Samoa and Tahiti, when immigration ceased for over four hundred years. A YOUNG GIRL. 24 THE FAR EAST. Then another warlike chief of Samoa, known as Nanamoa, not satisfied with fighting at home, set out on a voyage of conquest, eventually coming to the Hawaiian Islands. A long and desperate struggle with the descend- ants of Nanaula for a supremacy followed. Other incursions succeeded, one of which brought from Samoa Paao, a high priest, and Pili, a warlike chief, and Hawaii passed under the sovereignty of these two. Intercourse was maintained with the southern islands for one hundred and fifty years, OUTRIGGER BOATS. according to all accounts, an unusually active period, filled with romantic adventures, wild conquests, and perilous vo}'ages at sea. Isolated and environed by water, dependent to a considerable extent upon the fruits of the sea for their living, the inhabitants of the Pacific islands naturally partook of a maritime character. The Hawaiian was in his true element when disporting in the tide, or daring the dangers of old ocean in his craft with its curved prow and clumsy-looking outrigger. The building of their seagoing craft, with the tools the mechanic had to use, required no small amount of time, skill, and perseverance. Thus the builder of a canoe became a person of great importance, and the I LANDING THROUGH TDK SURF. HAWAII. 25 launching of his craft an event celebrated with a feast and the sacrifice of a human life. There were several classes, as well as sizes and shapes of canoes . 1 The principal chiefs had boats from fifty to seventy-five feet in length, two feet in width, and from three to four feet in depth. The sterns were often ornamented with crude carvings of grotesque figures. The size and decorations were supposed to indicate the rank and dignity of the chief. WAR CANOE, OLDEN TIME. Next to these were the sacred craft of the priests, their ornaments set off with feathers. Small houses were built on these, containing the image of some god, usually in the shape of a bird, and many coloured feathers decked the place. Here the prayers for the welfare of the little fleet were offered, and offerings made to Lono, the god of the waters. Not inferior in size, though less ornamented, were the stoutly built war canoes. With these the sterns were made lower and covered so as to afford protection from the darts and missiles of the enemy. The bottom 1 This name seems to hare originated with the natives of America, and, since the discovery of this continent by Columbus, to have been applied indiscriminately to the smaller water craft of the uncivilised races wherever found. — Author. 26 THE FAR EAST. was round, with the upper sides narrow, and the prow curved like the neck of a swan and finished to represent the head of some bird. In order to give the rowers and sail-managers more room and security than on the narrow edges, a sort of grating made from the strong wood of the breadfruit-tree was placed over the hull. The fighting men were stationed on a platform in the forepart of the boat. Ordi- narily these craft were about sixty feet in length, and capable of carrying fifty warriors. There were single canoes built in very much the same style as the others, hewn from the trunk of some tree, with rounded sides and sharp NATIVE BOATS. ends. Then there were the big double canoes, made from two tree-trunks, and sometimes over a hundred feet in length. The very largest of the canoes were made from the trees that had drifted down there from the northwest coast of America, some giant pine caught by a gale and borne thither, a present of the waves attributed by them to be a gift from the gods. One of the single-trunk canoes has been known to be over a hundred feet in length. In case of the double- trunk canoe the builders had often to wait years before a proper mate to the one coming first would be sent to their shores. The coming of such was an event of great rejoicing, and a feast followed with a sacrifice made to the gods. The canoes always bore particular names, which designated some HAWAII. 27 COCO AN UT ISLAND. 28 TIIE FAR EAST. important incident connected with the craft, or some peculiar character- istic of the boat or its owner. The navigators of those days had a certain knowledge of the heavens, and the five planets, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, were known to them as “ the wandering stars,” while they grouped the fixed stars in constellations. They calculated the transit of the sun and fixed the equatorial line. With such understanding and a trained observation of the winds and currents, the floating debris of the deep, and the flight of birds, they were enabled to make their long, dubious voyages with comparative surety. The social and civil condition of the ancient Hawaiians smacked more of despotism than that of any other Polynesian race. The inhabitants were divided into three classes : the nobility, consisting of the kings and chiefs of different ranks ; the priests (kahunas), including also sorcerers and doctors ; the common people (Makaainana), or labourers. Between the first and last existed a wide gap, which was of a sacred and religious character. The chiefs claimed descent from the gods, and were allied with invisible powers. In support of this they compared their stature and physique with the common people, which was striking proof of what they said. As late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Hawaii boasted of such kings as Kiha, Liloa, Umi, and Lono, each eight or nine feet in height, and correspondingly broad of shoulder and girth. Beyond these rises the gigantic figure of Kana, the son of Hina, whose height was measured by paces. The chiefs were the sole owners of the soil, and considered not only that the land was theirs, but all which grew upon it, the fish swimming in the sea, the time and the production of those under them. This was according to the belief that the king, of superior birth, naturally owned everything. He allowed certain portions to be held by his chiefs in trust, on the condition that they render him tribute and military support. Then these chiefs in turn divided their territory among under-chiefs, who in a smaller way paid a like return to them that they gave the king. These divisions and sub-divi- sions never reached to the toilers, the slaves of the soil, who did the brunt of the work, and must feel amply rewarded if privileged to live as poor tenants. HAWAII. 29 The head chief of an island was styled moi, and his prestige and power were usually inherited. Of so much importance was he, that when he went abroad he was attended by a body-guard, the foremost of which bore plumed staffs of bright colours. Did he go by canoe, his sails were painted red, and he was the only person who could wear the feather cloak and helmet. The common people were expected to prostrate them- selves on the ground as he and his retinue passed. It was the signing of his death-warrant for a common person to remain standing at the INTERIOR OF NATIVE HOUSE. mention of the king’s name, at the mere taking past him of the monarch’s food, water, or raiment ; to put on any article of dress belonging to him, to enter his presence without permission, to cross his shadow or even that of his dwelling. If a man dared to enter, after due consent from his sovereign, the latter’s abode, he must crawl flat upon the ground, and depart in the same humble manner. Lacking metals of all kinds, the early Hawaiians made their implements of war or industry from wood, bone, or stone, — axes, adzes, hammers of stone, spades of wood, knives of flint and ivory. Needles were made of thorns or bones, and spears and daggers of hardened wood. With such 3(1 TIIE FAR EAST. tools as these they felled trees, from which they built their temples, canoes and barges, dwellings, manufactured cloth and cordage, made walls of hewn stone, built roads and fish-ponds, and tilled the soil. They wove mats, cloths, sails, and from the inner bark of the paper mulberry beat out a thin cloth called kapa, which they sometimes ornamented with figures and made in different colours. They ate the flesh of nearly everything living in the sea, as well as that of swine, dogs, and fowls, yams, sweet potatoes, fruits, berries, and several kinds of seaweed, besides the staple of their foods, poi, a sort of fermented paste made from taro, a bulbous root very similar to an Indian turnip. They drank an intoxicating bev- erage made from the sweet root of the ti plant , 1 and a stupefying liquor from the aiva root. They did their cooking by wrapping their food in ti leaves and plac- ing it in an underground oven. Their household utensils con- sisted of shells, gourds, cala- bashes of different sizes and shapes, and platters made of wood. They lighted their homes with the oily nuts of the ku-kui, or candlenut-tree. The dress of the Hawaiian consisted simply of a narrow mciro fastened around the loins for the male, a pau or skirt reaching from the waist to the knees for the female. These skirts were invariably made of five thick- nesses of kapa, and when the weather was cool a short cape was thrown over the shoulders. Generally the heads of both sexes were uncovered. Besides the maro the king wore on state occasions the royal mantle, the mamo, so called for the little bird that furnished the feathers to make it. This mantle reached from the neck to the ankle, and it took over ten thousand feathers to make it. As each bird had but two of the kind of 1 Introduced by Botany Bay convicts at beginning of present century. HAWAII. 31 feathers desired, one under either wing, it took at least five thousand of them to afford the material for this costly garment. The chiefs wore short capes of yellow feathers mixed with red. The colour of the priests and gods was red. The nobility had feather head- dresses, and charms of bones suspended from the neck. Some of them tattooed their faces, breast, and thighs, while flowers were the universal ornament. At festivals, feasts, and other gatherings, all wore garlands of beautiful and fragrant leaves, crowns of flowers resting on the head, and wreaths encircling the neck. This beautiful custom still prevails. NATIVE GitASS HOUSE. The dwellings of the common people were constructed of upright posts planted in the ground, with cross beams and rafters, roof and sides con- structed of twigs woven together and tilled in with a thatch of grass. The houses of the nobility were larger, stronger, and frequently sur- rounded by wide verandas. These buildings were built so the main entrance faced the east, the home of Kane, the supreme god. These homes consisted of six separate dwellings or apartments; first, the heiau, or idol house; second, the mau, or eating-house of the males, from which the females were prohibited from entering; third, the hale-noa , or the house of the women, which men could not enter ; fourth, the hale-aina, 32 THE FAR EAST. or eating-house of the wife ; fifth, the kna, or wife’s working-house ; sixth, the hcih-pea, or nursery of the wife. The poorer classes followed as near as possible this plan, though they had often to use screens for partitions. The Hawaiians enjoyed athletic sports of all kinds, running, boxing, jumping, wrestling, swimming, diving, and other games, but the two pas- times which delighted them most were holua and surf-riding. The former consisted of coasting on long, narrow sledges down steep descents, with RIDING THE SURF. the rider lying prone and borne on with the velocity of the wind. He who reached the foot first was the victor. These sportsmen did not require a snow path over which to fly on their strange sleds, but found the best race-courses over slopes covered with dried grass or over lava- floored tracks. The goddess of the volcano, Pele, was supposed to delight in these contests, coming disguised in some earthly form. As may be imagined, she always became a dangerous rival. Kahawali, a Hawaiian prince, once raced with her when she was impersonating a beautiful young woman. Lei Women, Hawaii . . . HAWAII. o 9 OO On the first trip he outdistanced her, and when she asked for a second trial, claiming that her papa (sled) was inferior to his, he laughed at her and started alone down the descent. Hearing wild shouts and great confu- sion, he saw that she was pursuing him, riding on the crest of a lava wave. In his desperation he fled for the sea, where she could not follow' him. But she threw stones after him, making the water so hot he perished. To him who doubts this tale the stones are pointed out on the beach, and the track of the lava stream is shown. Their musical instruments v r ere the pahus, or drums of different sizes, the ohe, or bamboo flute, the liokio, or rude clarionet, and a few r ruder instruments than even these. They had several dances, of which the hula, par- ticipated in by males and females, was the most popular. In their mourning customs the Hawaiians showed their wildest nature, often resorting to the most extravagant performances, excus- ing all by saying that grief had so unseated their reason as to make them not responsible. The masses buried their dead in caves, hut the bones of the kings were dis- posed of with the utmost care. There v r ere royal burial-places at Hon- aunau, and on Maui at Tao valley ; but not always did the remains of the kings receive sepulture at those places. On account of the fear that some one would make fish-hooks or other instruments out of them, for the charm they were supposed to give, all sorts of expedients were re- sorted to by faithful friends to conceal the hones. The year was divided into twelve months of thirty da}^s each. The days w'ere named instead of being numbered. As their division gave but 34 THE FAR EAST. three hundred and sixty days to the year, they consecrated to Lono, the god of the elements, the balance, so as to complete the sidereal year regu- lated by the Pleiades. The new year began with the winter solstice. They had the lunar month by which they regulated their feasts. The seasons were two, wet and dry. In counting they calculated by four and its multiples. They had no written language, and their oral speech contained the PALM GROVE. sounds of but twelve letters, five vowels and seven consonants, as follows : a, e, i, o, u, and h, k, 1, m, n, p, w. To these r, t, and b are sometimes, added by writers, but the r takes the sound of 1, the t of k, and b of p. A is pronounced usually as in father ; e as in they ; i as in marine ; o as in mole ; u as in im