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HAWAII
PAST AND PRESENT
By
WILLIAM R. CASTLE, JR.
Author of "The Green Vase"


With Illustrations
And A Mapg
REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION


NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1917




COPYRIGHT 1913, 1917, BY
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY




to
MY FATHER
Lifelong friend of the Hawaiian People;
foremost among those who have laboured
for the upbuilding of the Islandshis unselfish devotion is the
inspiration of his
children


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I




PREFACE


THIS book has a double purpose: to tell those who
stay at home something about Hawaii, the youngest of American Territories; and to help those who
are going there to plan their trip intelligently.
Baedeker has not yet extended his labours to the
Pacific Islands, and no guidebook is available for
the traveller. Many books have been written about
special phases of Hawaii-its history or its commerce or its industry-but none has attempted to
give concisely a survey of its history, its present
conditions, and its natural beauty. This book,
therefore, falls naturally into two divisions, the
first part explanatory, the second, as well as may
be, descriptive.
The information it contains has been gathered
from most diverse sources, books, pamphlets, and
even railroad folders, the whole checked by my
own personal knowledge. The facts, I am sure,
are accurate. The descriptions are largely from
my own observations, and I have tried not to fall
into the error of exaggeration so common in books
of this kind.
The very comprehensiveness of the book has
made it difficult to write. It would have been easy
to devote all the space to discussion of industrial
conditions, or of the Hawaiian people, or of the
Volcano, but this would have been to write an essay
vii




viii


PREFACE


for specialists. It would have been still easier
to tell of my own boyhood experiences, of thrilling climbs over the mountains in search of landshells, of amusing experiences on the funny little
old inter-island boats, but this would have resulted
only in another "Diary," this time of a quite
ordinary boy. I have tried, however, to keep myself in mind in so far as to tell things as I myself
have seen them, expressing so far as possible in
the descriptions my own feelings about the scenes
described. And I hope the book may do something
toward stirring in others an interest in Hawaii, an
interest which, with fuller knowledge, must issue
in something of the affection for the Islands that
is felt by all of us who have there spent our
childhood days.
I have drawn freely on Dr. W. D. Alexander's
excellent book, "A Brief History of the Hawaiian
People," and on Mr. C. W. Baldwin's clear and
accurate " Geography of the Hawaiian Islands,"
and to the authors of both these books I want to
express my thanks for the cordial permission they
have given me to make use of the result of their
study. Most of all I must thank my father, who
has read my manuscript and who, from his almost
inexhaustible knowledge of Hawaiian affairs, has
made suggestions without which this book would
hardly have been possible.
W. R. CASTLE, JR.




CONTENTS
CHAPTER.PAG
I  INTRODUCTION...... 1
II THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE... 13
III  HISTORY TO 1898..... 30
IV HAWAII AS A TERRITORY.  58
V COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.  65
VI THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII.85
VII  HONOLULU...... 102
VIII  OAHU........ 7
IX  KAUAI....... 149
X MOLOKsAI AND MAUI...162
XI HAWAII........182
XII THE VOLCANOES....11
XIII  ISLAND LIFE......234
APPENDIX...        249
INDEX......   257




tj~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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ILLUSTRATIONS


Statue of Kamehameha I
Hawaiian grass house, Kona,
Hawaii.
Hawaiian surf-riding
Ascending Pali road six miles
N. E. of Honolulu
Executive Building, formerly
the Royal Palace, Honolulu
Diamond Head and Waikiki
from Punch Bowl
Sugar cane in flower; will be
ripe and ready to grind in
from six to eight weeks
Pineapple plantation, Wahiawa, Oahu
Oahu College grounds, showing Royal Palm Avenue
and one of the school buildings   
Hilo Bay and town, Mauna
Kea, 14,000 feet high, in
the background.
Waianae Mountains across
rice field, Oahu.
xi


Frontispiece
Facing page  8
4"    "   20
cc   c;   34
c     Cc"  46
" " 58
4      (  58
"     "   70
~   ~   70
4c   c"   90
cc    C  112
4     C4'  134
cc    "  158




xii


ILLUSTRATIONS


Bridge over crack on floor of
crater...
Scene at Onomea on east
coast of Hawaii
Visitors scorching p o s t a l
cards and letters in lava
in Kilauea communicating
with internal fires
Hawaiian "pounding poi"
Hawaiian lei and flower sellers, Honolulu
Map Hawaii..


Facing page 170
cc   c" 186
o     A"s 202
c;"s" 218
9"    "   538
("    "   48




CHAPTER I


INTRODUCTION
AT the time of their annexation to the United
States much was heard of the Hawaiian Islands
as the Key to the Pacific, a name which, unlike
most tags, seems to be a fairly accurate description. Situated between 19~ and 23~ north latitude
and between 154~ 40' and 162~ west longitude,
they are at the junction of the principal steamer
routes across the Pacific and indeed are the only
land of any extent within a radius of two thousand
miles. This situation gives them, inevitably, great
strategic and commercial importance. To the
north the nearest land is Alaska with the chain
of the Aleutian Islands, 2,000 miles away; to the
east, the North American Continent, 2,000 miles;
and to the west, the Philippine Islands, 4,500
miles. Honolulu is distant 2,100 miles from San
Francisco, 2,460 miles from Victoria, B. C., 4,700
from Manila, 3,400 from Yokohama, 3,810 from
Auckland, and 4,410 from Sydney. It is served
from San Francisco and the Orient by ships of
the China Mail, and of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha of
Japan; from British Columbia and Australia by
steamers of the Canadian-Australian and the Oce



2    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


anic Steamship Co. There are also local boats
running between the Islands and San Francisco.
As the steamers on all these lines have adequate
passenger accommodations and as the five or six
day passage from San Francisco is usually smooth,
the Islands are easily accessible, and, as their attractions become better known, will inevitably be
more and more the resort of tourists.
The Hawaiian group consists of twelve islands,
of which the principal, and indeed the only inhabited, islands are, in order of their size: Hawaii,
Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Niihau, and
Kahoolawe. They were formed by lava poured
out from a fissure in the earth's crust which extended for about two thousand miles along the
bottom of the ocean. To the northwest these lava
mountains reached only to the surface of the
water, just appearing in Midway, Nekkar, Ocean,
and other islets and never forming important land
until Kauai, the most northwesterly of the Hawaiian group, was built far above sea level. On
this island the volcanic fires first went out and
so were successively extinguished on island after
island toward the southeast until Hawaii was
reached. This island is still in the process of
building. Erosion is therefore greatest on Kauai,
and, with the exception of parts of those islands
which have little or no water, least on Hawaii. All
the islands of the group were originally lofty and




INTRODUCTION


$


gently sloping mountains, but these have been
worn by streams on the leeward side into deep
ravines and valleys, and on the windward sides
have been literally cut away by rains and winds,
so that the mountains are now precipitous, rising
from the sea in sheer cliffs, hundreds and even
thousands of feet high.
Geologically the Islands are composed of two
kinds of lava rock, one completely fused and very
hard, the other only partly fused (tufa), which
was thrown out by the ancient volcanoes in masses
and in smaller particles. Tufa decomposes under
the action of erosion much more quickly than does
the solid lava, but this, after centuries of wear
and tear by the weather and of being broken by
the roots of plants that somehow find means of life
even on very recent lava flows, makes a far richer
soil. Where there is not too much rain it becomes
a deep red earth, the best n the Islands for agricultural purposes excep the sedimentary soil in
the valley bottoms and along the coast. The only
non-volcanic rock, a certain amount of sandstone
and of coral, is the result of the uplifting of
ancient reefs.
In climate the Hawaiian Islands are exceptionally favoured. The northeast trade winds blow for
nine months in the year, and ocean currents, also
from the northeast, further moderate the temperature so that it averages 10~ lower than in any




4    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


other region in the same latitude, at sea level from
600 to 85~, with a mean of about 74~, and proportionally lower as one ascends to higher elevations. There are no cyclones, and thunderstorms
are very rare. The rainfall is much greater on
the windward than on the lee sides of the Islands,
the average rainfall of Honolulu being, for example, 35 inches, and of Hilo, 150 inches. In
some districts the average falls as low as two
inches, and in some rises as high as 300 inches.
This necessarily results in a much more luxuriant
vegetation on the windward slopes, wherever excess
of rain has not washed away the soil, but the
mountain forests extend well down the southern
and western slopes, and artesian wells, combined
with an excellent system of irrigation, permit cultivation in almost all parts.
The flora is varied and very beautiful. There
are, first, the indigenous plants, growing wild on
the mountains, among them many ornamental and
useful trees, such as the koa, or Hawaiian mahogany, which is extensively used for furniture, and
the ohia, which is very hard, takes a high polish,
and is used for furniture, floors, and panelling, as
well as for railroad ties and permanent fenceposts. The koa is a wonderful golden brown in
colour, full of light and shadows, and exquisitely
grained. The ohia is darker, in texture more like
the teak-wood of the Orient. The second group




INTRODUCTION


5


of plants are those which were introduced from
the south by early Hawaiian voyagers. Useful
plants they were,-cocoanuts, bananas, breadfruit, taro, sugar-cane, mulberries, and fibre
plants for the manufacture of mats, ropes, and
fish-nets. Of the third group are the plants now
growing wild but introduced more recently from
abroad, such as the guava, orange, mango, and
algaroba tree, which last forms almost impenetraable forests near the seacoast. Every effort is being made by both Federal and Territorial officials
toward intelligent conservation of already existing forests and toward reforestation. Many barren spaces have already been reclaimed with heavy
planting of algaroba, eucalyptus, ironwood, and
other trees.
In animal life the Islands are not so rich. At
the time of their discovery dogs, hogs, mice, and
domestic fowls, beside wild fowls and migratory
birds, were the only animals. Of reptiles there
were only a few harmless lizards. Snakes were
and are unknown. There were about seventy
varieties of wild birds, however, many of which,
owing to the recession of the forests, have become
extinct.  Insects, including the mosquito (the
malarial mosquito is fortunately unknown), have
since been brought in, and, with the careless introduction of foreign plants, certain blights, for
which the natural enemies have been discovered




6    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


in time to prevent any wholesale destruction of
vegetation. The most distinctive form of animal
life, and the only one peculiar to the Islands,
is the land-shells (achatinella), of which there
are 800 species. These shells, which grow on
the leaves and bark of forest trees, and on
ferns, grasses and shrubs, are often exquisite in
colouring. There are also unique ground shells.
The population of the islands has fluctuated
greatly, decreasing from perhaps 250,000 in 1778
to 57,985 in 1878, since when it has steadily increased until at the present day it is approximately 230,000.* Of this number only 24,120 are
of pure Hawaiian blood, with 14,800 of mixed
Hawaiian and Caucasian or Asiatic blood. Of the
remainder, 22,650 are Portuguese, 5,080 Porto
Rican, 4,210 Spanish, 25,600 other Caucasian
(principally American), 21,770 Chinese, 91,490
Japanese, 15,220 Filipino, and 5,270 of different
or mixed races. In 1910, the native-born population numbered 98,157 and the foreign-born 93,752.
From this table it is clear that the increase of population common to all the islands of the group has
been principally due to the importation of labourers, since the Portuguese and Porto Ricans as well
as the Orientals have been introduced to work on
the plantations. Of these the Portuguese generally
turn at last to independent agricultural pursuits,
settle permanently in the country, and become
*Board of Health estimate, 1915.




INTRODUCTION


7


good citizens. Many of the Orientals also become
merchants or lease land to raise fruit or vegetables
on their own account, but the great majority are
a floating population who have left home only
temporarily to earn money. An encouraging
sign, except in one respect, is the steady growth
of the native-born population. During 1915 the
birth rate among all races except the Hawaiian
was materialy in excess of the death rate. But
among pure Hawaiians there were, sadly enough,
888 deaths as against only 533 births, a decrease
only partly compensated by the fact that of partHawaiians there were 779 births as against 188
deaths. The race, as a pure race, must inevitably
disappear, but it may well be that the traces of
Hawaiian blood in the future inhabitants of the
Territory will add dignity and grace and gentleness. This seems now to be the case among those
of mixed Hawaiian and Oriental lineage, and sometimes, especially among the women, is it true of
the children of Hawaiians and Caucasians. The
population of the Islands must always be very
cosmopolitan, but this does not mean that they
cannot be a strong outpost of American civilisation, since the climate, unlike that of the Philippines, for example, is wholly favourable to the
growth of a preponderantly Caucasian population.
This very mixture of races makes the Islands,




8    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


from the point of view of the tourist, far more
interesting than they would otherwise be. Most
of the primitive Hawaiian life has disappeared
for ever, and the people themselves are, of necessity, more sophisticated in outlook. They have,
however, kept their simplicity of manner and with
it many of the customs so deeply rooted in their
nature. Their love of colour is ineradicable. Universally they wear wreaths or "leis" of flowers
or of feathers. The women dress in the " holoku,"
a kind of Mother Hubbard gown that is often of
bright red or blue or purple. Still, especially in
the country districts, the men sit in front of their
houses pounding "poi," the national dish. On
holidays a cavalcade of riders passes, the women
astride, wearing "paus," which are strands of
brilliant cloth wound around the legs and streaming out behind the horses like wings. The fishermen cling to the picturesque but heavy dug-out
canoe with its huge outrigger of lighter wood.
Still, when a chief dies, the ancient wailing makes
nights and days tragically musical. And when
one does not see the Hawaiians themselves there
are the Chinese and Japanese and Koreans to make
one realise that Honolulu is also a gateway to the
Orient. In the city are lines of deep, dark shops
where Chinamen sit stolidly on carved teak-wood
stools before their queer baskets and rows of
lacquered boxes and rolls of silk; noisy corners




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INTRODUCTION


9


where voluble Japanese congregate to bargain and
to discuss excitedly all sorts of profound or trivial
questions. Through the streets trudge the Oriental market-gardeners, their wares displayed in two
flat, round, open baskets suspended from each end
of a long pole-lettuce and purple eggplant and
white, twisted lotus roots, or little tins of the scarlet
strawberries that fruit the whole year round. Or
on the plantations one sees them-these sturdy
men of the East-cutting the cane with long, keen
knives and loading it on little cars to be carried
to the mill; or in the mill itself, stripped to the
waist, working among the great engines and vats;
or, after work is over, playing the hose on each
other, quite naked, before their cottages in the cool
of the day. Even the Caucasians, the Americans
and English and Germans, are obviously the denizens of another land. Their white linen suits and
muslin dresses, their skins tanned with the tropical
sun, the very freedom of their motions, differentiate them from their brothers and sisters in the
north. But here there is no suggestion of illness,
as in so many tropical countries. There is no
fever in the clean trade winds. They are as sturdy
physically as ever their fathers and mothers were
at home. Their children do not have to be sent
away like the children of those who are expatriated
to India, but grow up as strong as the children
of the home land. All this makes them not restless




10   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


sojourners in a foreign country, but rather adventurers who have found a new home and broader
opportunity.
Hawaii is a land of law and order. Different
as it may be in its outward aspects, one feels it
to be essentially an outpost and a distant centre
of American civilisation.  Partly  consciously,
partly unconsciously, the missionaries saw to
that. English is the official language, even though
in the courts and in the legislature speeches are
by  courtesy  translated into Hawaiian.  The
schools are conducted in English. American enterprise has built up the country, although much
British and German capital is also invested. The
Hawaiian people themselves have so absorbed the
essential ideals of America that one feels the country, with all its superficially un-American traits,
to rest on a thoroughly American foundation. The
complexity of races gives a picturesqueness that
is utterly absent from a blatant Western town.
There is all the vigour of young American life, but
with an added grace and stability brought about
through contact with other more conservative peoples. The Islands give an admirable example of
colonisation which has been able to inspire with
its own ideals, its own strength, while it has not
imposed such slavish following of externals as
would destroy sense of individuality and as would
cause irritation through forcing an alien race to




INTRODUCTION


11


abandon customs that are not incompatible with
progress.
Every American interested in the achievements
of his own country ought to see this youngest Territory, since here, better than anywhere else, can
he appreciate the assimilative and uplifting power
of the best American traditions. It is, moreover,
an older civilisation than that of California, more
suggestive of the Atlantic seaboard than of the
Pacific. And this is natural, since the first settlers,
the missionaries, came from the Eastern States
and came, moreover, not in a spirit of gain and
of conquest, but for the express purpose of giving
to a new land the best that they had known in an
old one. They held fast to their own ideals, but
were fortunately able to see that there might be
other and different ideals which could exist side,
by side with theirs. It is true that they destroyed
much. that was picturesque. They insisted, for
example, on trousers and skirts as a necessary
adjunct of Christianity, but skirts and trousers,
whether considered as insignia of Christianity or
of decency, seem inevitably to follow in the wake
of civilisation.  Beyond this, however, beyond
Christianising  and educating, the missionaries
were willing to admit that God made the climate
and that neither tropical customs nor tropical
architecture need conform strictly to those of
New England. For a hundred years the predomi



12     HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT~
nant influence has been American, and it is an
influence which has become the motive power of
the land, so that we have really, to-day, a bit of
America that is no less American because it holds
as surface decoration some of the colour and some
of the strangeness of other lands.
Add to all this, which might be called the intellectual interest of the place, a climate always mild,
but never cruelly hot, such physical traits as superb mountains glowing with tropical colour, that
spring straight from the shining sea, a varied and
a beautiful flora, the greatest active volcanoes in
the world, and there seems truth in the other
name that has long been given the Islands, "The
Paradise of the Pacific."




CHAPTER II


THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE
EARLY Hawaiian iistory is entirely legendary.
There was no written language, although certain
crude outline pictures and characters, apparently
depicting historical events, have recently been
found. These, however, have not yet been deciphered. The history, therefore, can be traced only
through ancient " meles " or songs, poems without
rhyme or metre, but strictly accented and often
several hundred lines in length, which were handed
down orally for many generations. Every high
chief had in his retinue professional bards who,
like the minstrels of England, kept alive the traditions of wars and of heroes and who, as well,
chanted love songs and dirges and composed poems
in honour of the chief.
The Islands were settled as early as 500 A. D.,
a fact proved by the discovery of human bones
under ancient lava and coral beds. The Hawaiian
people are clearly of the Polynesian race, all
branches of which can almost certainly be traced
back to the Island of Savaii in the Samoan group.
The Hawaiian language is but one dialect of the
Polynesian tongue. Indeed, so similar are these
13




14   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


dialects that an intelligent man, well versed in
Hawaiian, can understand almost everything
said by a Maori of New Zealand. Not only
the people, moreover, but the animals and plants
in Hawaii, are related to the islands of the southern Pacific. This means that the early settlers
must have come from the south and southwest,
whereas the prevailing winds and currents are
from the northeast. Wonderful this passage must
have been in any case, across two thousand miles
of open ocean in canoes; still more extraordinary
when the voyage was made against winds and
currents.
There were two periods of migration to Hawaii, but of the first there are few legends, although
to it are ascribed certain temples and the great
fish ponds along the coast of Molokai. In the
eleventh or twelfth century intercourse with the
south was renewed and in the songs are recorded
many voyages both to and from Tahiti or Samoa,
the voyagers travelling in fleets of canoes and
steering by the stars. The canoes were probably
built of planks, decked over, and large enough to
carry a certain amount of live stock. For some
unknown reason the period of this intercourse was
very short. During the next five hundred years
there are no legends of distant voyages, and ideas
of any country beyond the Hawaiian group became
indistinct. This time of isolation brought about,




THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


15


naturally, fixed national customs and a very definite and individual national religion.
In ancient times the people were divided into
three distinct classes, the nobility, the priests and
sorcerers, and the common people, and between
these classes were absolute and unalterable lines
of demarcation. The chiefs, or " alii," were supposed to be descended from the gods and their
office was, therefore, religious as well as political.
So sacred were the highest chiefs considered that
when they walked about the people all had to prostrate themselves. The courts comprised personal
attendants of the chief,-men of high rank only
on the father's side,-priests, diviners, storytellers, and dancers, who were trained to the art
from infancy. The chief owned all the land and
parcelled it out among the nobility, who, in turn,
distributed it among the common people. As often
as a chief died the land was redistributed. It was
the feudal system in its most literal and oppressive form, the only check on the power of the nobles
being that the people were not fixed to the soil, but
might move from place to place at will, thereby
entering the service of some other chief.
The priests, or " kahunas," were also a hereditary order exercising great power, not only because they were the medium of communication with
the gods, but because they, only, knew anything of
astronomy and medicine. The lower ranks of




16     HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
priests were sorcerers, able to pray people to
death-one of the few ancient beliefs still held
by many Hawaiians.    As to the religion itself,
four great gods were worshipped in different ways
by all Polynesians. According to the Hawaiian
interpretation, which does not differ materially
from others, the most powerful of these gods was
Kane, the creator of the world. He with his
brother Kanaloa once lived on the Island of Hawaii, where they made miraculously many of the
springs; they also introduced the banana and other
useful trees. Ku was a cruel god, delighting in
suffering and human sacrifice. Lono, of a slightly
lower rank, controlled the rains and had his own
particular order of priests. In addition to these
highest gods, all the forces of nature were deified;
the air, the rocks, the trees, were the expression
of invisible beings to whom reverence was due and
who must at all times be propitiated. There were
also gods of different localities, gods of different
professions, gods living in sharks and lizards and
owls. Most powerful among the minor deities, as
might be expected in a volcanic country, was Pele,
the goddess of fire. Near the volcanoes on Hawaii
she was most feared, and constant propitiation
was therefore necessary. She, with her sisters and
her brother, lived in the volcano; " The roaring
of the furnaces and the crackling of the flames
were the music of their dance and the red fiery




THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


17


surge was the surf in which they played." * There
were malignant and friendly elves in the woods;
there were demigods of every kind; there were
deified ancestors. Not an act of daily life could
be performed without reference to one or more of
these divine beings. It was this far-reaching superstition that gave rise to the tabu system, one of
the most elaborate devices of any heathen race.
This system was made up of minute regulations,
infringement of any one of which was considered
both as a sin against the gods and as a political
offence, 'since the office of the chiefs was religious
as well as secular. The following are a very
few of these tabus, which are enough to indicate their general character: Men and women
were compelled to eat in separate houses and
women were not allowed to eat with men or
to enter men's eating-houses on pain of death.
For women, also, certain food, such as bananas,
cocoanuts, and pork, was forbidden. A commoner was prohibited on pain of death from
crossing the shadow of a chief-a law which must
have been difficult to obey in the early morning or
late afternoon. Certain nights of the month were
tabu-the king spent the time in the temple, which
was closed to all other persons, nor during those
nights could women step into canoes. At certain
tabu periods no sound could be heard, no fire could
*EUlis: "Tour of Hawaii."




18   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


be lighted; dogs were muzzled and fowls tied up
in calabashes. For four days after the dedication
of a temple there could be no fishing, no bathing,
no pounding of poi, no work of any kind in the
locality.
All this system was elaborated by the priests
on the basis of tradition and was enforced by the
chiefs. Connected with it was an equally complicated religious ritual. The more important
temples consisted of great stone platforms surrounded by thick stone walls. The interior was
often terraced and occasionally there was an
inner court in which stood the principal idol. In
the centre of the main court was the oracle, an
obelisk of wicker work, within which the priest
stood when acting as intermediary with the gods.
In this court also were sacred houses in which the
king and priests lived during periods of tabu.
On the outer walls of the temple stood innumerable
hideous images, probably intended as human scarecrows to frighten away the over-inquisitive. In
addition to the temples were houses of refuge, to
which criminals of any grade could flee and receive
protection until the time of purification was
passed, when they could go out under the care of
the gods. The idols, after having certain ceremonies performed over them, became representatives of the gods and were reputed to have definite
powers imparted by their respective deities.




THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


19


Every family, moreover, had its private idol, the
power of which was very limited as compared with
that of the temple idols. The prayers composing
the temple ritual were, like the songs, handed
down orally through many generations. They
were in reality charms rather than prayers, and
had to be recited accurately to be effective,-a
very difficult task, since they were so long that they
often took hours to repeat and were in an ancient
dialect not much more understood by the common
people than in Russia is the old Slavonic tongue
of the Orthodox ritual. Human sacrifice, the supreme act of worship, was reserved for the most
solemn occasions only, such as the dedication of
a temple, the funeral rites of a chief, or the launching of a war canoe. The victims, who were secretly slain by the Mu, the official executioner,
were either prisoners of war or men who had infringed the tabu. Women, being inferior and
therefore not worthy to be offered to the gods,
were, in this instance at least, safe.
The common people, who were hardly more than
serfs, had little to make life happy unless they
were fortunate enough to be attached to a benevolent chief. All were liable to military service, and
wars, after the beginning of the fifteenth century,
were nearly continuous. Weapons consisted of
long and short spears, daggers, clubs, and slings.
There were no shields, but trained warriors be



20   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


came very expert in warding off attack. Vancouver says that in a sham battle he saw " six
spears cast at once at Kamehameha I, of which
he caught three, parried two, and avoided the sixth
by a quick movement of the body." After a battle
it was customary to give no quarter to the defeated
enemy. In spite of the wars, however, much time
was of necessity given to peaceful pursuits. As
there was no metal, tools were made of stone, or
sharks' teeth, or wood, yet with these rude implements the people carried on extensive agricultural
works, terraced the land when necessary, built irrigation ditches and tunnels, and constructed fields
for the growing of taro. This was their principal
crop, as it was, and is, the staple food. The best
of it, and indeed the larger proportion, grows in
fields which must be covered with water to the
depth of a few inches and which must, therefore, be
very carefully laid out. The root is boiled or
steamed until soft, pounded with stone pestles into
a paste, mixed with water, and allowed slightly to
ferment.  This is poi, the national food, very
healthful, and, to those who are accustomed to it,
very good. (It may be noted that the glutinous
qualities are such that it is used also as a paste
in hanging wallpaper.) In addition to taro, the
ancient Hawaiians cultivated sweet potatoes, yams,
and bananas. Of animal food they had only pork
and dogs. Fishing was, therefore, a most impor



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THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


21


tant industry, and the fishermen, who formed a class
by themselves, were expert in the use of hook and
line, net, and spear. Fish, too, were preserved in
huge fish ponds, which were made by building rock
walls, sometimes a mile or more in length, in rude
semi-circles into the sea, each end resting on the
shore. These walls were built close enough to prevent the fish from escaping, while the tide water
could still pass through them. Some of these fish
ponds are still in use, but the most interesting are
the ancient ones, now, owing to the subsidence of
the land, many feet under water, which one sees
from the hills of Molokai. Fish, meat, and vegetables were prepared in underground ovens. Meat
and fish were wrapped in leaves and laid on heated
stones; water was then poured into the cavity and
the whole covered, the food being cooked by steam.
Houses, varying in size according to the rank
of the owner, consisted of rough wooden frames,
tied together, and thatched over with grass or ti
leaves. The doors were low and narrow and there
were usually no windows. There was little or no
attempt at ornamentation. To some extent the
same style of house is used at the present day,
and, like the peasant cottage of Brittany, seems
the real expression of the land and of the native
character. As one finds them occasionally on the
southwest coast of the Island of Hawaii, nothing
could be lovelier than one of these gray-brown huts,




22   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


with tapering cocoanuts at one side, a great mass
of vivid green banana trees on the other, and behind, the red foothills. Civilisation seems to slip
away and one is conscious only of the old man
and the old woman sitting cross-legged in the
sun, busy with the same primitive tasks that occupied their ancestors hundreds of years ago. For
furniture they had only mats, those of finer quality
spread over the sleeping-platform at the end of
the room; calabashes and water bottles made of
gourds, which were sometimes decorated by burning; and bowls and platters of polished wood. At
night they burned kukui nuts (Aleuritis moluccana) for light. Their clothing was made of kapa,
or, as it is usually called, tapa, a kind of paper
cloth manufactured by the women from the bark
of certain trees.  This kapa was of different
grades, some as heavy as leather, some as fine as
linen. It was often dyed red, yellow, or brown, or
was stamped with designs carved on bamboo sticks
and dipped in the different coloured dyes. The
women wrapped strips of it about three feet
wide around the waist, and the men used it as
a "malo" or loin cloth.    It was also sometimes worn as a mantle by both men and women.
This simplicity of dress was more than compensated by the national love of ornament. Both men
and women wore wreaths of flowers or of brightcoloured feathers, or strings of orange-coloured




THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


23


pandanus fruit on head and neck. The chiefs wore
also hooks of walrus ivory suspended from the
neck on braids of human hair. No costume could
have been, after all, more appropriate than this
brightly-dyed kapa and these brilliant flowers
against the bronze skin, which seems in itself a
dress.
The Hawaiians were a sport-loving people.
Boxing, wrestling, foot racing, and bowling with
polished stone discs were among the favourite
amusements. Still to be seen, also, are the long
slides on steep hillsides, down which they darted
on wooden sleds. Swimming and diving were the
delight of all, chiefs and common people, and surf
riding remains to this day one of the favourite
sports. It is this surf riding, as popular now
with foreigners as with the natives, which makes
Waikiki, near Honolulu, unique among bathing
resorts. The surf rider takes a long, smooth, polished board and with it swims out a half-mile or
so from the shore. He then lies flat on his board
and swims rapidly toward shore until a roller
catches the board and carries him on its crest to
the beach. Expert surf riders can raise themselves to a standing position after the wave takes
them and so ride, standing, for hundreds of yards,
or as far as the wave will carry them. The game
has all the excitement of tobogganing without the
effort of dragging the toboggan uphill again, be



24   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


cause the swim out to sea, diving under the waves
as one goes, has almost the fun of the ride back.
For those who cannot swim the tamer sport of
surf riding in long Hawaiian canoes, the outriggers of which make an upset next to impossible, is
a good substitute.
Like this sport, Hawaiian dancing and wailing
for the dead remain to recall the older times. The
dancing, or hula, has degenerated into something
similar to the sensuous Oriental dance. The more
stately ancient dances are rapidly being forgotten.
When a chief dies the wailing is still heard,-a
piercing, rythmical lamentation, lasting for hours
or even days within and around the house of the
dead. It can never be forgotten, and somehow,
after one has heard it, one seems to recognise
always, even in the love songs that are chanted in
the moonlight outside of hotel windows, a strain
of the same hopeless sadness which is so fully
expressed in the dirges. And yet this music is a
moder   thing.  The first "Hawaiian song" was
written about 1868. The old music consisted in a
gamut of only four notes, used exclusively in gutteral chants, and one of the hardest tasks confronting the missionaries was to teach the people
to sing. When the four-note limit was reached
they only sang louder, instead of higher or lower.
The Hawaiian race is passing. No one knows
when the number of inhabitants was greatest, but
it is certain that the continuous wars which rav



THE HAWAIIN PEOPLE


25


aged the country for two centuries and over before
its discovery by Captain Cook had already reduced
the population by a large proportion. Foreigners
-even Captain Cook's own crew-introduced diseases unknown before. The people had never been
moral according to Anglo-Saxon standards, the
marriage tie being of the loosest, polygamy a common practice, and fidelity an unknown virtue.
'This meant that the diseases of civilisation could
do their worst. What made the situation even
more deplorable was the almost complete lack of
medical knowledge. It is true that the uses of
certain herbs were understood, but sickness, according to the common belief, was caused by evil
spirits and its cure was in sorcery. Relatives of
the sick man made offerings for him. If this did
not prove effective the sick man himself, whatever
his disease, was given a steam bath and then dipped
in the sea, or was made to eat pieces of squid. The
sorcerers, however, were more often employed to
make men sick than to relieve suffering, and so
absolute was the belief in evil spirits, so powerful
the imagination, that they were usually successful.
A man who knew that a kahuna was praying him
to death promptly died. The wonder is, not that
the population declined, but that it did not decline
even more rapidly.
At the time of the discovery of the Islands the
native population numbered, according to Cook,
432,000, but on what he based his data is not




0


26      HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
known; 250,000 is probably nearer the truth.
To-day there are about 25,000    pure-blooded
Hawaiians, abdut 40,000 including the part-Hawaiians. The race, already decimated by war,
decreased rapidly under the scourge of measles,
smallpox, venereal diseases, and strong drink.
Now that there is adequate medical knowledge, and
with the protection given to the Hawaiians by the
better class of white people, the race might again
increase were it not for intermarriage and infant
mortality. So general is this intermarriage that,
although the number of those with Hawaiian blood
is greater with every census, the number of pureblooded natives proportionally decreases. It is
a question of only a few generations before the
Hawaiians, as a people, will be only a memory, just
as their language will soon be extinct as a pure
tongue.
And in many ways this disappearance of the
race is sad, for the Hawaiians are a people with
a past that is often noble. In spite of their weaknesses and their follies they are very lovable. The
best of them are physically admirable, tall, wellformed, with high foreheads, good features, deep
chests, slender limbs. In colour they are something like the American Indian, although not as
red, and their high cheekbones and straight hair
accentuate the resemblance.  There is nothing
about them to suggest the negro, and they them



THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


27


selves consider him as an inferior being. Their
manners are excellent, their motions graceful.
Among the higher ranks, of whom the Queen is
a good example, there is a courtliness of demeanour
which recalls the salons of the old European aristocracy. They carry themselves well, walk firmly
and lightly. Nothing could be more physically
beautiful, more harmonious in line, than a Hawaiian fisherman, naked except for his loin cloth,
as he stands poised on a rock ready to cast his
net. He is classic in the moulding of his form,
in the perfection and symmetry of his muscular
development, insistently reminiscent of some Greek
bronze of an athlete stripped for the games.
The Hawaiians are also an intelligent people, so
that teaching them is a pleasure. Nor are they
merely imitative. They make good teachers in the
schools, good overseers on the plantations. They
never steal. They are honest and trustworthy.
They are affectionate and grateful for kindness.
Like children, however, they are emotional and
easily led, voting often, for example, against their
principles on the advice of some unscrupulous
agitator and keenly regretting afterwards what
they have done. They are now, as they always
have been, abnormally fond of games of chance,
and in the excitement of the moment will wager
everything they possess, which, fortunately for
them and unfortunately for "beasts of prey," is




28


THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


usually very little. Their most besetting sin is
what might be called moral laziness. On the plantations, for instance, they make splendid workmen,,accomplishing in a day, if working by the job,
twice the amount of hard labour that a Japanese
is willing to do, but when pay day comes they go
home and, forgetting to return in the morning,
fish a little, sleep and eat a great deal, until their
money is exhausted and their credit gone. Then,
with perfect cheerfulness, they go back to work.
According most satisfactorily with this habit is the
ancient custom, loyally adhered to even at present,
of dependence on a chief. The Queen has very
many who look to her for food and shelter because
their ancestors looked to her ancestors, and she,
as loyal to custom as they, supports them out of
her meagre resources.
It is often said that, except in case of intermarriage with the Chinese, the mixture of Hawaiian
with foreign blood does not result well. This is
no place to discuss the ethnological significance of
mixed marriages, but the facts would seem to show,
in the case of part-Hawaiians at least, that the'
early environment of the children was of more importance than their blood. The Chinese who married a Hawaiian woman was usually a hard working
man, a good family provider, who brought up his
children as well as he could. The Caucasian who
married a Hawaiian was, on the contrary, generally a shiftless ne'er-do-weel, in the early days




THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE


29


hardly more than a beach-comber. His children
grew up as best they might. They were, as a rule,
more energetic than their fathers and more intelligent than their mothers, but their good qualities
never had an opportunity to develop. Where early
environment has been good the children have usually responded well.  There are many partHawaiians in important public and private positions, but they are the exception rather than the
rule. They have had their opportunity and the
others have not. This makes even sadder the breaking up of the race because too often the moral
weakness is noted and imputed to the native blood,
not the physical strength; the love of gambling,
not the natural honesty; the vacillation, not the
loyalty; the trickiness, not the childlike simplicity.
Yet in most cases these unamiable qualities are
the result of early environment and the direct
inheritance from a useless father. An ethnologist
a few generations hence, in attempting to reconstruct from their mongrel descendants a picture of
the ancient Hawaiian race, will be in danger of
making them a people despicable and thoroughly
degraded. Those who have known them in their
integrity, like children faulty and volatile, but like
children eager to be taught and susceptible to
every good influence, will no longer be there to
defend them. The man who would see the remnants of a genial, kindly, affectionate race must
see them now or never.




CHAPTER III


HISTORY TO 1898
FROM the time of settlement to about the end of
the thirteenth century the Hawaiian Islands, divided almost from the first into independent kingdoms, seem on the whole to have been peaceful.
From this time on, however, strife became more
and more general, and after 1450 A. D. there were
continual wars, which had the inevitable effect of
lowering standards, materially, as well as intellectually and morally, and also of seriously decreasing the population. Many and barbarous
were the battles and, as no quarter was given the
conquered, whole districts were devastated and
depopulated. One chief after another, arrogant
and rapacious, led his brutal army from district
to district, from island to island. Sometimes a
chief gained control of a large part of the group,
only to lose what he had conquered through successful rebellion during his own lifetime; surely,.so far as the establishment of a dynasty was concerned, to lose it when, after his death, quarrels
broke out as to redistribution of land among the
competing nobles. In November, 1736, during one
of these ferocious and unnecessary civil wars,
30




HISTORY TO 1898


31


Kamehameha I was born, but before his work of
uniting the country under one sovereign was begun, the Islands were discovered by Captain Cook.
From old maps it is clear that the Spaniards had
known as early as the sixteenth century that there
was land somewhere in the vicinity of the Islands,
but the world had no information as to its exact
position and extent until Captain Cook, on a voyage of discovery to the northwest coast of America,
sighted the Island of Oahu on January 18th, 1778.
He saw soon afterwards the Islands of Niihau and
Kauai, and landed at Waimea Bay on the latter
island on the O2th. He then sailed to Niihau,
where he spent a week taking on provisions and
water, and trading. The general impression
among the natives seems to have been that Captain
Cook was a reincarnation of the god Lono, and
that his crew were supernatural beings. Runners,
who sailed in the swiftest canoes, and ran from
end to end of the successive islands, were sent to
carry to the different chiefs the news of these
strange arrivals. This is a translation of their
message: " The men are white; their skin is loose
and folding; their heads are angular; fire and
smoke issue from their mouths; they have openings
in the sides of their bodies into which they thrust
their hands and draw out iron, beads, nails, and
other treasures, and their speech is unintelligible.
This is the way they speak: 'a hikapalale, hika



32   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


palale, hioluai, oalaki, walawalaki, waiki poha.' " 
Apocryphal as this account may conceivably be,
it differs from similar accounts in history and fiction of the effect produced on the savage mind by
the first sight of civilised white men, in the extraordinary and probably authentic exposition of the
English language as it sounded to the astonished
ears of the Hawaiians. It will be noted that no
letters are used which are unknown in the native
tongue.
In the following November Captain Cook returned, and, after cruising about among the
Islands, in January set up winter quarters for
purposes of trade and for making observations, at
Kealakekua Bay, on the southwest coast of Hawaii.  The priests constituted themselves his
bodyguard, offered sacrifices to him in the temple,
and made the people worship him as a god. Large
quantities of provisions were supplied and there
was no more question of payment than there would
have been for offerings made to any other god.
But in this case the offerings were in large quantities and were continuous, so that, after the novelty had worn off, the heavy tax began to make
the people restless. The outrageous conduct of
the crew, also, over whom there seems to have
been no control, disgusted them, and only their
* Alexander: "Short History of the Hawaiian People,"
p. 107.




HISTORY TO 1898


33


terror of the priests kept them in subordination.
The departure of the strangers, therefore, after
about three weeks, was a time of great rejoicing
among the natives-a joy unfortunately shortlived, as the ships ran into a severe storm and
were compelled to return for repairs. The reception this time was very different. The priests
were still faithful, so provisions were grudgingly
supplied, but the people were convinced that the
white men were not gods, treated them with contempt, and finally became so bold as to steal a
ship's boat. In the fighting which ensued Captain
Cook was killed by being stabbed in the back with
an iron dagger. His body was held by the natives
and was that night given formal funeral rites.
His bones were deified. There is no doubt that
in this last affray the natives were the aggressors.
There is also no doubt that, had the sailors been
kept in check and the people been treated with
decent consideration, the final tragedy would not
have occurred. Stories, believed at the time and
by many believed to this day, that Captain Cook's
body was eaten, are absolutely groundless. The
Hawaiians were never at any time in their history
cannibals.
Captain Cook named this new land the Sandwich Islands, in honour of his patron, the Earl of
Sandwich, but it was a name never adopted officially and is gradually falling out of use the world




34   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


over. The discovery of the Islands was the inauguration of a new era in Hawaiian affairs.
Their isolation was over. New forces were henceforth to control their destiny, but it is sad that the
first gift of the white men was disease and that
the feeling for them left in the minds of the natives
was one of fear mingled with contempt.
The history of the next thirty years is the story
of the gradual conquest of the Islands by Kamehameha. Left, on the death of the old King, as
second in power on the Island of Hawaii, he was
soon involved in one of the endless civil wars, and
after many reverses succeeded in making himself
the most powerful chief in the island, not even
excepting the King, to whom he was nominally
subject.  In 1790 a great eruption of Kilauea,
which destroyed a large part of his rival's army
that was actually marching against him, convinced
Kamehameha that the goddess Pele was on his
side. It was, however, not a brilliantly successful
battle, but an act of gross treachery, culminating
in the murder of the King of Hawaii, which gave
him the sovereignty of the island. In 1795 dissensions in the leeward islands made Kamehameha
believe that the time had come to carry his conquests across the water. Tradition reports the
strength of his army as 16,000 men. Maui he took
with comparative ease, and Oahu after a fierce
struggle in Nuuanu Valley, where the survivors of




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HISTORY TO 1898


35


the opposing army were driven over the precipice
at the head of the valley. The invasion of Kauai
was prevented once by a storm which destroyed
many of the canoes which had already set sail,
once by a pestilence which carried off half of
Kamehameha's army. The island was finally, in
1810, voluntarily ceded by its king, who was, however, given permission to hold it in fief during his
lifetime on condition that he make Liholiho, Kamehameha's heir, his successor. The conquest of the
Islands was greatly facilitated by the facts that
Kamehameha was superior to other chiefs in the
number of his firearms and that he had in his
service two or three intelligent white men.
After the death of Captain Cook the Islands
were visited by successive expeditions, among
them those of the well-known navigators, Portlock and Dixon, and La Perouse, both in
1786. Captain Mears in 1787 took a high chief,
Kaiana, a friend of Kamehameha, on a visit to
China. On the whole, explorers were friendly,
but when the captains of ships visiting the
Islands did not treat the natives fairly reprisals
were often severe. Thus, for example, in 1789,
a sloop, the Fair American, was captured and the
crew killed. The sloop was for years used by
Kamehameha. Firearms were obtained by barter
and sometimes by theft. One explorer, Captain
George Vancouver, who had been sent out by the




36   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


British Government, made three visits to Hawaii
and has always been considered a benefactor of the
Hawaiian people. He refused to sell firearms; he
gave much good and sadly needed advice; he tried
to act as mediator between warring factions; and
landed cattle, which had been hitherto unknown,
but which now increased rapidly and were of great
benefit to the people. He it was, also, who superintended the construction of the first vessel built
in the Islands, the Britannia, which formed an important addition to Kamehameha's little navy. At
his instigation a council of the chiefs was held
in 1794, at which it was determined to place the
Islands under the protection of Great Britain, and
in February of the same year the British flag was
hoisted. If England had ratified this voluntary
cession the subsequent history of the group would
have been very different.
After the conquest of Oahu in 1795 Kamehameha's chief work consisted in consolidating the
government. All the power he centralised in his
own hands. He broke up the dangerous influence
of ambitious chiefs by apportioning to them land
in small scattered parcels instead of assigning
whole districts, as had been the custom, and by
keeping the more turbulent at the court as his
personal attendants. He promoted agriculture by
every means in his power, and so sternly reproved
and punished crime that serious offences became




HISTORY TO 1898


87


very rare. He made intelligent and successful
efforts to win the approval and co-operation of
foreigners. He supported rigorously the whole,
complex mass of the ancient tabu system, which
was probably wise, since there was nothing as yet
to replace the old religion, and the tabus were
of great service to him in upbuilding and perfecting the power of his own personal rule. He was
eminently judicious in the choice of his counsellors
and in his appointments. He left to his successor
a consistent, efficient governmental system, so
thoroughly centralised, its power so impressed on
the minds of the people, that even a weak king
and the sweeping changes of the next few years
did not affect its stability. For his power as a
warrior, still more for his sagacity as a ruler,
Kamehameha I is rightly considered the greatest
of the Hawaiians, and under similar conditiohs
would have been a great man in any country.     'n
At the time that the internal affairs of the
Islands were being put on a stable basis their
opportunities of contact with the outer world
became more frequent and their foreign relations
more important. During the first quarter of
the nineteenth century there grew up a large
trade in sandal-wood, which was bought at a
preposterously low figure, while at the same
time foreign articles were sold in Honolulu at exorbitant prices. The sandal-wood trade was so




88   HAWAII PAST ATND PRESENT


extensive and was carried on with so little thought
of the future that the trees were practically
exterminated and are even now very rare. Vast
quantities of rum were imported and stills for the
manufacture of a crude liquor, which was practically all alcohol, were set up on the different
islands, doing untold injury to the natives. At
this time also the Russians carried on an extensive
trade with the Islands and took an interest in
the country apparently dangerous to its independence. One trader went so far as to build
forts and to hoist the Russian flag, a proceeding
which was naturally intensely irritating to the
King. To insure the safety of Honolulu a fort
was constructed in a position commanding the
harbour. This old fort was long since destroyed,
but has left its name in Fort Street, which once
led to it and is now the principal business thoroughfare of the city.
Immediately after the death of Kamehameha I
the whole tabu system fell to pieces and with it
went the ancient religion, in which the majority of
the people had long since ceased'to believe. There
were, as might have been expected, some few who
at first refused to give up their gods, but it is
probable that even these were actuated largely by
political ambition, not by any real faith; there
was fighting in several places, but the new King
and the Queen Regent soon put down this incipient




HISTORY TO 1898


S9


insurrection. In general the fervour of renunciation was such that the chief priests themselves set
the example of burning the idols, and so complete
was the holocaust that but very few were saved.
Even the museums have found it difficult to obtain
fair specimens of ancient Hawaiian idols. Outwardly the destruction of the old religion was complete, but certain superstitions-were too deeply
rooted in the national character to be quickly
eradicated and have for generations influenced the
lives of the people, even affecting their understanding of the dogmas of Christianity. It is, however,
fair to say that in 1819 Hawaii was a land absolutely without a religion. The destruction of the
idols came about through realisation of their impotence, as manifested in the freedom from punishment of foreigners who made mock of the tabus
and who desecrated the temples. This voluntary
abolition of the old religion made much easier the
task of the American missionaries who arrived a
year later.
The coming of the missionaries was the real
beginning of civilisation in the Islands. Up to
1820 the outside world had given the Hawaiians
little beside trinkets, firearms, rum, and more
expert methods of deceit. Now it was to give to
them their part in the civilisation of Western nations, to teach them that this involved the acceptance of new and higher ideals of conduct, of a




40   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


religion to replace their outworn superstitions;
that it meant a life regulated according to civilised law. The missionaries undoubtedly went to
Hawaii fired with the desire to save souls in danger
of eternal damnation. They seem very quickly to
have realised that wholesale baptism, misunderstood, was less important than a general quickening of spirit, a training in the decencies of life.
They never neglected the religious side of their
teaching, but they also never neglected the secular
side. They learned the Hawaiian language; they
reduced it to writing and imported printing
presses; they did their best as doctors and taught
the elementary rules of health. At first only permitted to land on sufferance, they soon became
of prime importance to the chiefs, and were their
advisers on almost all questions. It is fair to them
to say that if this function seemed an undue extension of their religious duties-and their severest
critics never accuse them of anything else-they
were the only foreigners in the Islands who would
advise the chiefs impartially, and the only ones,
moreover, who would have advised in such fashion
as to save the dwindling remnants of the Hawaiian
race. They were pioneers seeking results in better men, not in riches for themselves; they were
trying to give the people their own standards of
decency and honour. This soon resulted in bitter
opposition from the foreign riffraff who infested




HISTORY TO 1898


41


the Islands, and especially from the ships that
called more and more frequently.
It was the fixed belief of ship captains in those
distant days that no laws, whether of God or man,
were in force west of Cape Horn. The call at
Hawaii for water and provisions was most of all
an opportunity for debauchery and unchecked
crime. Hawaiian women were sometimes captured
and carried off on cruises to the North. When a
whaler appeared off the coast many of the native
women fled to the mountains as their only sure
protection. It is easy to understand, therefore,
that when the King promulgated laws against immorality, laws evidently intended to be enforced,
the whaling crews considered themselves cheated
out of their rights and turned with rage against
the missionaries, whom they correctly held to be
responsible. In more than one instance brutal
attacks were made on missionaries in isolated stations, who were saved only by the devoted natives.
It is sad to think that the commander of a United
States frigate was among the most insolent in the
demand for the repeal of these laws against vice,
and that he permitted his men to attack both the
house of a chief and the mission premises in
Honolulu for the purpose of frightening the
Government into submission. Drink was carrying off the Hawaiians by hundreds, and when,
in recognition of the danger, a heavy duty




42   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


was laid on spirits, it was the commander of
a  French   frigate  who  gave  the King   a
few hours to decide whether he would abolish
the duty or undertake a war with France.
These outrages and many others of a similar kind
directed against efforts really to uplift the country were seconded by a party in Honolulu, a party,.
unfortunately, headed by the British consul who
was for years allowed to retain his post in spite
of repeated protests and requests for his removal
on the part of the Hawaiian Government.
Internal affairs, in the meantime, had been ably
managed by the Queen Regent, Kaahumanu, who
was a wife of Kamehameha I. The King, Liholiho,
or Kamehameha II, was weak and dissipated and
finally died while on a trip to England. The Queen
Regent held the power until her death, and then
appointed Kinau, a daughter of Kamehameha I,
who, although an able woman, was not as forceful
as Kaahumanu, to succeed her during the minority
of the young King. It seems to have been a wellestablished custom to have a woman hold, with the
King, the regal power. Kamehameha III also was
inclined to be of weak moral fibre, and every effort
was made by the lower class of foreigners to
destroy his health and to subvert his vaguely good
intentions by leading him into every form of dissipation.  He was, however, protected, as his
predecessor had not been, and his long reign




HISTORY TO 1898


48


(1824-1854) was, on the whole, a time of prosperity and of rapid progress. Education became
-general, laws were fixed, the troubles concerning
the Roman Catholic religion were brought to a
satisfactory conclusion by an edict of general
toleration.  These troubles, which at one time
threatened to produce international complications,
the King refusing to permit Catholic missionaries
to land, were occasioned largely by the fact that
Hawaiians had been accustomed for centuries to
look on religion as an integral part of the Government and, therefore, to consider a man who
professed a different creed from that of the King
as necessarily a rebel. To Kamehameha III also
is due the credit of giving to the kingdom a liberal
constitution, which allowed it to be ranked in the
company of civilised nations.
It was during this reign that a great impetus
was given to the development of property by the
enactment of laws concerning private ownership of land, which laws finally did away with the
ancient theory that the title of all lands rested in
the chief. A land commission decided that onethird of all the land was the property of the King,
one-third the property of the chiefs, and the final
third of the common people. The King, a few days
after this decision, turned over half of his share
to be forever used as Government land, his own
portion being called the Crown land. As many




44     HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
of the chiefs followed his generous example, the
Government came into possession of nearly a third
of the land of the Islands. The land commission
also undertook the arduous task of proving claims
and issuing titles. It being now possible to hold
real property in fee simple, to buy it and to sell
it, men who were at last owners instead of merely
tenants were willing to make extensive improvements. Foreigners also were able to acquire land
and were no longer considered as sojourners at the
will of the King.
Another important achievement was the success
of the King's commissioners in obtaining definite
recognition of Hawaiian independence by England,
France, and the United States, Daniel Webster
stating on behalf of the United States that " the
government of the Sandwich Islands ought to be
respected; that no power ought to take possession
of the Islands, either as a conquest or for the purpose of colonisation; and that no power ought
to seek for any undue control over the existing
government, or any exclusive privileges or preferences in matters of commerce." News of this foreign recognition was not received, however, before
Lord George Paulet, commanding H. M. S. Carysfort, had provisionally annexed the Islands to
Great Britain. He acted arbitrarily on the instigation of the deputy of that indefatigable troublemaker, the British consul, who, after this episode,




HISTORY TO 1898


45


was finally removed. The alleged reason for the
annexation given by Lord Paulet was the unwillingness of the Hawaiian Government to settle certain disputes in favour of British subjects. The
King, refusing to accede to any further demands,
said, "I will not die piecemeal; they may cut
off my head at once." The lowering of the Hawaiian flag and the hoisting of the British flag
in its place occurred on February 18th, 1844, and
for five months the Islands were governed by a
British commission. In July Admiral Thomas, in
command of Her Majesty's forces in the Pacific,
arrived in Honolulu, and with all possible ceremony promptly restored the Hawaiian flag. The
open space east of the town, where the restoration
was made, was set aside as a public park and is
called Thomas Square. It is interesting to note
also that in a speech at a great meeting of thanksgiving and rejoicing in the afternoon the King
used the words which were afterwards adopted as
the national motto: " Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i
ka pono," meaning "The life of the land is
perpetuated by righteousness." Except for an
absurd and meaningless occupation by France for
a few days in 1849, the autonomy of the Islands
was never again questioned.
At this time the different departments of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, were
created in substantially the form that they held




46   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


until the end of the monarchy. Trade increased
rapidly, and the sudden growth of California gave
a new and more easily accessible market. The
tragedy of this reign was the continued rapid
decrease in the population, measles and smallpox
carrying off thousands of the natives.
During the reign of Kamehameha IV (1854 -1863) the Queen's Hospital was established in
Honolulu. At the request of the King an English
bishop was sent to Honolulu as the royal chaplain,
this being the beginning of the Anglican mission.
The Prayer Book was admirably translated into
Hawaiian by the King himself. Many public improvements were carried out, such as the deepening and enlarging of the harbour of Honolulu and
the introduction of rice as an agricultural crop.
The reign began with every promise of good, but
the King, broken in health with sorrow over the
death of his only son, became more and more
feeble and died when only twenty-nine years old.
During the reign of his older brother, who succeeded him as Kamehameha V, a board of education and a bureau of immigration were inaugurated, and the introduction of foreign labourers
through the agency of the latter was a great
stimulus to agriculture. The production of sugar
and rice made great strides. The leper settlement
was started at Molokai, to check if possible the
dreadful disease, which had been brought in, prob



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HISTORY TO 1898


47


ably from the Orient, about 1850, and was spreading among Hawaiians in an alarming manner.
The Islands were made more accessible by the
starting of a line of steamers between San Francisco and Australia which made Honolulu a port
of call.
With the death of Kamehameha V, after a short
reign, the old royal line came to an end. The King
had not exercised his right of appointing a successor and, therefore, a general election was held,
in which Prince William  C. Lunalilo, who was
considered the chief of highest rank in the Islands,
was elected as sovereign. He died a year later,
not neglecting to appoint his successor, but declaring that the King ought to be elected by the
people.
In 1874, therefore, David Kalakaua, also a
high chief, was elected to succeed him.  The
triumph of his reign was the securing of a treaty
of commercial reciprocity by which Hawaiian
sugar and a few other products were admitted
free of duty into the United States. In return
Hawaii made a general remission of duties, and
later gave to the United States the exclusive use
of Pearl Harbour, as a coaling or naval station.
This treaty assured the prosperity of the Islands
and marked the definite establishment of the sugar
industry. Labourers were imported from China,
Japan, the Azores, and Maderia. From these At



48   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


lantic islands over ten thousand Portuguese migrated to Hawaii, where climatic conditions were
similar to what they were accustomed to and where
opportunities for remunerative industry were
greater. King Kalakaua was, however, unable to
read the signs of the times in the rapid decrease
of the native population and in the even more
rapid increase of the foreign population, and was
determined to restore to his government much of
the autocratic royal authority that had been voluntarily ceded in the constitution given by Kamehameha III. So strained did popular feeling run
that in 1887 there was a bloodless revolution, in
consequence of which the King was forced to sign
an even more liberal constitution, that made the
cabinet responsible only to the legislature, and
that prevented the legislators from holding any
other office. This reform, which was bitterly opposed by the personal adherents of the King, led
two years later to an insurrection, in which the
King himself, however, took no direct part, and
which was promptly quelled, with the loss of seven
men among the rebels. Kalakaua was a picturesque figure, personally affable and intelligent.
On a trip around the world, ostensibly to look
into the question of the importation of labourers,
he was everywhere treated with royal honour, was
universally liked, and was given the most friendly
aid in collecting information for the good of his




HISTORY TO 1898


49


own kingdom. In a book entitled "Around the
World with a King," this tour has been most
amusingly treated, although, it must be admitted,
with ungenerous sarcasm, by Mr. W. N. Armstrong, who accompanied him as Commissioner of
Immigration.
Kalakaua died in San Francisco in January,
1891, and his body was brought to Honolulu in
the U. S. S. Charleston. His sister, Liliuokalani,
whom he had nominated as his successor, was immediately proclaimed Queen. Even more than her
brother had been was she, unfortunately, eager to
remove the constitutional restrictions on the power
of the Crown, and her wishes were fervently seconded, if not actually induced, by unscrupulous
advisers, who saw in any political upheaval opportunities for their own aggrandisement. Political intrigue became the business of certain ambitious foreigners and Hawaiians of mixed blood,
whose purely selfish purposes were evident from
the fact that when the Queen was not with them
they intrigued with unabated ardour against her.
It was significant that the best of the Hawaiians,
as well as the better element of the white population, stood aloof from the struggles. During the
last week of the long legislative sessions of 1892
two obnoxious bills were passed, one licensing the
sale of opium, one granting a franchise to establish a lottery. Public feeling was intense, and




50   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT 


when it became known that a new constitution,
doing away with all restrictions on the royal authority, limiting the franchise to Hawaiians, and
destroying the guarantees of the judiciary, had
been drawn up and was about to be promulgated,
the leading citizens saw that decisive action had
become necessary. On January 17, 1893, a Provisional Government, having general legislative
authority, was established. Unfortunately, troops
were landed from the U. S. S. Boston to protect
the lives and property of American citizens, an
act that later gave to the royalists the claim which
so appealed to President Cleveland, that the royal
government had submitted only to the forces
of the United States. Alleging this landing as a
reason, the Queen surrendered her authority under
protest, pending her appeal to Washington. A
commission of the Provisional Government was immediately sent to the United States to negotiate a
treaty of annexation. Such a treaty was actually
drawn up by the Secretary of State, signed, and
submitted to the Senate.   It was not acted
upon before the end of the session, but in the
meantime a Provisional Protectorate of the Islands
was  proclaimed.   President Cleveland, immediately after his inauguration, withdrew the
treaty from the Senate, sent his personal representative to Honolulu* to take evidence, declared
the protectorate at an end, and later urged the
*Blount's status was exactly that of John Lind in Mexico.




HISTORY TO 1898


51


restoration of the Queen. To this, however, the
Provisional Government refused to accede, and,
as annexation seemed indefinitely postponed, took
immediate steps toward the framing of a constitution. On July 3, 1894, the Republic of Hawaii
was proclaimed, with Sanford B. Dole, a man who
throughout his life had been identified with all that
was least partisan and most upright in the Islands,
as the first President.
In 1895 there occurred an insurrection, again
planned by the disaffected part-Hawaiians rather
than by the full-blooded natives. It was put down
with the loss of very few lives, but resulted in a
trial for treason of the Queen and nearly two hundred others, to all of whom conditional pardons
were granted. This ended the internal troubles
of the Republic, but complications with Japan
concerning immigration grew more'and more difficult to cope with, and the only safety seemed to
be in annexation to the United States. Negotiations to this end were renewed immediately after
the inauguration of President McKinley. Whether
these negotiations under ordinary circumstances
would have been more successful than were their
predecessors is a question, but during the war
with Spain the strategical importance of the Islands to the United States becoming evident, a
joint resolution of annexation was put through
Congress on July 7, 1898. This was accepted by




52     HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
the Government of the Republic of Hawaii and
annexation became an accomplished fact on August 12th. Hawaii ceased to exist as an independent nation and became an integral part of the
United States.




CHAPTER IV


HAWAII AS A TERRITORY
UNDER the Republic of Hawaii many Hawaiians
had refused to take the oath of allegiance and had,
therefore, been unable to vote. Even the most intractable saw, however, that no dissatisfied element
in a United States Territory would have the remotest chance of carrying through a revolution.
Restoration of the monarchy suddenly became a
dead issue. But to the leaders such restoration had
never been more than an incident in the scramble
for personal power and, instructed by Americans
even more frankly rapacious than they were themselves, they saw in the control of the Territorial
Government political opportunities that were well
worth seizing. The Governor was appointed by
the President. That office was, at least for the
moment, therefore, out of reach, but the election
of a delegate to Washington and the control of
the home legislature were both worth striving for.
A so-called Home Rule party was promptly formed
-the meaningless name was intended to catch the
ignorant and disgruntled-and all Hawaiians were
urged by the agitators to cast their votes in the
coming elections. The victory of the new party
58




54   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


was overwhelming. It controlled the legislature
and it sent as Congressional Delegate Robert Wilcox, a confirmed intriguer, who had in the past
plotted against nearly everything, including the
monarchy itself, and who had led the abortive
insurrection of 1895. In Washington, to his great
surprise, he found himself an extremely unimportant personage. Congressmen preferred to consult the unofficial representative of the Honolulu
Merchants' Association and Chamber of Commerce, a man who really understood and would
tell the truth about Island conditions and needs.
Only a small amount of Hawaiian business was
transacted by Congress, and even with that little
the delegate's most staunch supporters were unable
to credit him. At home, in the meantime, the
Home Rule legislators were showing their incapacity. Bills of no importance were discussed at
great length, and so much time was spent by the
legislature of 1901 in the consideration of a bill
for the taxation of female dogs that it succeeded in immortalising itself under the name of
the "Lady Dog" Legislature. Its more absurd
measures were naturally vetoed by the Governor,
and the Home Rule party finally made itself so
ridiculous that although it still exists in name it
controls very few votes. Very soon, also, the two
regular American parties had properly organised
and have never been outnumbered by the Home




HAWAII AS A TERRITORY


55


Rulers except in the first election, that of 1900.
The votes cast for the Delegate to Congress at
that election were: Republican 3,856, Democratic
1,650, Home Rule 4,083. In 1910 the numbers
were: Republican 8,049, Democratic 4,503, Home
Rule 989. The Republicans, who have been in
the majority since 1902, sent as delegate Prince
Kuhio Kalanianaole, a nephew of the Queen of
King Kalakaua, and himself a chief by birth.*
As there is no prohibitive clause in the organic
act there is no reason why the Territory should
not eventually apply for admission to the Union
as a State.   There is every reason, on the
other hand, why such application should not be
made until conditions have become fixed and the
American population is greater.
This ultimate possibility was recognised by the
United States when the Islands were constituted
a Territory instead of a " possession" with a distinct form of government such as was devised for
Porto Rico and the Philippines. It was a possibility which Congress was willing to accept, since
they saw that Hawaii was already American in
language and institutions and that for it, in consequence, a Territorial Government was as proper
*In 1914 the islands went overwhelmingly Republican.
The Progressive Party proved as weak as in other sections
of America.




56   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


as for Arizona, whereas a people whose ideals and
language were Spanish must go through a long
period of probation before they were fit to take
their independent place in the American political
system. From the beginning the policy pursued
toward Hawaii has been a wise one. The Governors appointed have not been strangers, but
citizens of Honolulu thoroughly conversant with
Island problems. To a large extent this had
been the case with other eFederal appointments
until the Wilson administration came into power
and made purely political appointments.  The
result has been proper appreciation of Island
needs because of proper representation at Washington, and at home steady progress that would
not otherwise have been possible.
Looking at the matter purely from the Hawaiian
point of view, American annexation has been, in
d/          the main, of great benefit. One often hears the
remark, to be sure, "It was not this way before,"
-" before" always referring to the years prior
to 1898,-and certain it is that society, without the
court as a picturesque centre, with many of the
delightful English residents replaced by a purely
commercial class of Americans, has lost much of
its charm. Economically, also, the operation of
the Chinese exclusion law has caused serious difficulties to Island industries. In contrast to this,
however, the ever present, if perhaps unfounded,




HAWAII AS A TERRITORY


57


fear of seizure by Japan was at once removed.
Trade benefits, already enjoyed under the Reciprocity Treaty, were made certain for all time.
The very difficulty of the labour situation should
lead eventually to the forming of a more stable
population and of a more dependable labouring
class.
The aid of the Federal Government makes possible the prosecution of necessary public works,
which the limited resources of the Kingdom and of
the Republic did not permit. The Islands have long
been in dire need of adequate harbour facilities.
The work of dredging, deepening, and building
breakwaters is rapidly being carried on under appropriations of Congress, supplemented by grants
from Territorial funds. Honolulu harbour is good
but small, and is being enlarged to meet the
greater demands that have arisen since the completion of the Panama Canal, in the first year 402
ships. At Hilo a breakwater 9,000 feet long has
been contracted for, and docks are being constructed to accommodate the largest seagoing vessels. A breakwater at Kahului, the principal port
of Maui, is being built as an extension of one
already constructed by the local railway company.
Surveys are being made to decide what harbour on
Kauai is most suitable for extensive development.
It is intended eventually to have, on all the important islands, landing places which will afford
adequate shelter in all weather.




58    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


The transfer to Washington of all customs and
internal revenue receipts, approximately $1,250,000, seriously hampered Hawaii in the prosecution of necessary public works. To a limited extent, however, Congress had made up the deficiency
by appropriations for public buildings and harbour improvements. The work of dredging, deepening, and building breakwaters is being carried
on under these appropriations, supplemented by
Territorial funds. Honolulu harbour is good but
small, and is being enlarged, not only to meet present needs, but to satisfy the certain demands of
the future. At Hilo a breakwater 9,000 feet long
is being built by the Federal Government at an expense of nearly $2,000,000, and docks have been
constructed by the Territorial Government to accommodate the largest sea-going vessels.   A
breakwater at Kahului, the principal port of Maui,
has been built as an extension to one already constructed by the local railway company. On Kauai,
Nawiliwili has been selected as the site of a breakwater to make a deep-water port for that island.
It is intended to have eventually, on all the important islands, landing places which will afford
adequate shelter in all weather. So far, the most
notable work of the kind has been, of course, that
at Pearl Harbour, in process of being carried out
by the Navy Department.
The Territory has been, aside from its naval




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HAWAIIAS A TERRITORY


59


and military value, a paying investment for the
United States. The total amount spent by the
Federal Government for buildings and harbour
improvements, exclusive of army and navy expenditures, which are for national, not for local purposes, is less than $5,000,000, whereas it has taken
in, through customs receipts and internal revenue,
something like $20,000,000. The cost per annum
of collecting this revenue, including all salaries of
Federal officials and all other expenses, does not
exceed $125,000. The United States has, therefore, made a net cash profit out of Hawaii of approximately $15,000,000. The customs receipts
grew annually until the Democratic tariff came
into effect, but even in 1915 amounted to $1,019,534, a half-million less than in 1911. Imports
from the mainland have increased in value from
$12,000,000 in 1903 to $25,000,000 in 1914, and
all but a negligible proportion of the exports from
the Islands go to America, $62,000,000 in 1915
and less than $400,000 to all other countries.
By the terms of annexation, furthermore, both
the Government and Crown lands became the property of the United States, lands aggregating 163,200 acres, about 19,000 of which are suitable for
homesteads. It has always been a disputed question with regard to the Crown lands as to whether
or not some compensation should be made to the
Queen, the income of these lands having been at




60    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the personal disposition of the sovereign. Legal
opinion seems to hold, however, that the lands were
held by the Crown in virtue of office, and that the
transfer of the sovereignty carried with it transfer
of title. In spite of this, most inhabitants of the
Territory feel that it would not have been a straining of justice to give the Queen some compensation, and that the courtesy of the act would have
done away finally with any lingering resentment
among the Hawaiian people. Laws relating to
all public lands are enacted by Congress and have
been so framed as to offer every inducement to
bona-fide homesteading, and at the same time to
discourage occupancy for speculative purposes.
The amount of arable land is about 60,000 acres,
and it is rightly considered wiser to get whatever
income is possible by leasing than to allow it to
fall permanently into other hands than those of desirable settlers, men who will not only improve their
own holdings, but will raise community standards.
The schools in the Territory, all of which are
conducted in English, had enrolled in 1915 36,529
pupils, of whom 28,827 were in the public schools,
7,702 in the private. There was a total of 1,049
teachers, of whom over half were American. Education is compulsory and free, and is as efficient in
Hawaii, in all branches below those of the university, as it is in any part of the United States. It
was said a few years ago that, excluding the Ori



HAWAII AS A TERRITORY


61


entals, the proportion of illiterates in the Islands
was lower than in the State of Massachusetts. A
public library, toward which Mr. Carnegie gave
$100,000, has been built in Honolulu. By legislative enactment it has an income of $15,000 a year,
and began with books numbering some 20,000
volumes, including the important collection belonging to the Hawaiian Historical Society.
Efficient care is, of necessity, taken of the public health. This is essential, since Honolulu, with
its cosmopolitan population, its tropical climate,
its immigration from all parts of the world, its
situation at the junction of Pacific trade routes,
is peculiarly liable to infection. And the very
reasons which make it so liable are the same which
make freedom   from  disease imperative.  The
water supply and the sewage system are being extended in Honolulu, as indeed they are in all centres of population. The Board of Immigration
has almost unlimited powers in the inspection of
immigrants, of whom they send away hundreds
annually; the Board of Forestry and Agriculture
in passing on imported fruit; the Board of Health
in the cleaning up of unsanitary districts and in
the enforcement of pure-food laws. The legislature, realising the dangers, is very liberal in its
appropriations to cover this work. The counties
assist various hospitals, and the Territorial Government itself is interested financially in several




62    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


general hospitals, in four tuberculosis hospitals,
and in the dispensaries, and supports entirely the
insane asylum and the leper settlement on Molokai.
It is said that fear of leprosy deters some from
visiting the Islands, yet probably in no part of the
globe is there less danger of infection, because nowhere is the disease so well understood, nowhere
so well cared for, and nowhere are the patientseven those in whom there is even a suspicion of
leprosy-so rigorously isolated. The leper settlement is situated on a triangle of land on the
north side of Molokai, separated from the rest of
the island by practically impassable cliffs. Here,
during 1911, were treated 649 patients, of whom
559 were Hawaiians. There are in Honolulu a
receiving station and homes for non-leprous boys
and girls of leprous parents. Thoroughly scientific investigation of the disease is being conducted,
and it has lately been found possible artificially to
cultivate the bacillus, an advance in knowledge
which augurs well for the ultimate discovery of a
cure. Leprosy is only slightly contagious, if at
all; the method of transmission is unknown, and it
takes years to manifest itself,-facts which prove
the nonsense of frequent scare headlines in American newspapers about the disease. Many devoted
men and women have given their lives to service in
the leper settlement, and only two, beside Father
Damien, have contracted the disease. Stevenson's




HAWAII AS A TERRITORY


63


magnificent philippic, cruelly unfair to Dr. Hyde
as it was, has made the name of Father Damien
known and reverenced the world over. All honour
must be given to him as the pioneer, as the first
man willing to isolate himself for the benefit of
the unfortunate patients, a self-sacrifice even more
noble since he evidently expected to die a leper, as
he did. Because he took the disease, however, is
often the reason that he is praised, whereas, as a
matter of fact, he contracted leprosy only through
gross carelessness and because he did not take the
trouble to keep clean. Because he was the pioneer
he is a hero, but hardly less heroes are those who
have followed him, who have not contracted leprosy
because they have been reasonably careful and
willing to bathe. Lepers are never seen in the
Islands. Practically no Americans have become
lepers. The inhabitants of the Islands seldom think
of the disease except to glory in the splendid work
which is being done toward finding a cure.
Since Hawaii became a Territory it has grown
rapidly in population, its old industries have increased and new industries have been developed.
The trans-Pacific cable has put it into immediate
communication with the rest of the world, enabling
its business interests to keep constantly in touch
with the great marts of trade. It is fortunate in
having as the backbone of its population a force
of intelligent citizens who have loyally transferred




64      HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
their allegiance to the United States, but who love
their own little land and put its well-being above
all personal considerations. Its affaiis have been'
wisely conducted in Washington, so that it is justified in looking forward toward a bright future,
in which it will have its own honourabe share in
the progress of its mother country.




CHAPTER V


COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
THE Hawaiian Islands are industrially a busy and
progressive place, and, unlike other tropical countries, physical activity is not limited to the darkskinned races. The climate is such that Caucasians
can not only work in the open, but, for the sake
of health, need vigorous out-door exercise. The
result is that agricultural opportunities are limited
only by the extent of available land. The variety
of crops that can be raised, moreover, is almost
endless, ranging from the fully tropical near the
seashore to crops of the temperate zone on the
higher levels.
Only one industry has so far been developed to
somewhere nearly its full capacity. Most of the
large tracts of land suitable to the raising of
sugar-cane have been already taken up by the
plantations. These have not, however, fully utilized all the land available in the tracts they already control, and, if the sugar business continues
to prosper, there is no reason why the Islands
should not ultimately produce a crop of a million
tons. There was sugar-cane on the Islands when
they were discovered. The first exportation of
6&




66    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


sugar was made as far back as 1837. A man who
visited one of the primitive mills has described the
curious granite rollers used to extract the juice,
and the crude iron pans used as boilers,eadding, as
something hard to believe, that one mill was capable
of producing as many as 300 pounds of sugar in
a day. The great impetus to sugar production
was given by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1876,
which insured a market. Since then the industry
has steadily grown, until, in 1915, the fifty-five
plantations produced 645,652 tons of sugar, as
well as over 5,000,000 gallons of molasses, an increase during the thirteen years since annexation
of 260,000 tons. The value of incorporated and
private sugar properties is about $85,000,000.
About 200,000 acres of land, half of which is reclaimed land, are devoted to the growing of cane.
Artificial irrigation of many formerly arid tracts
is carried on by means of extensive series of artesian wells, from rhich water is pumped to the
higher fields, and by great irrigation ditches, from
which water from mountain streams is distributed
over thousands of acres. An immense amount of
fertilizer is used annually, and the plantations devote large sums to scientific study of soils and to
improvement, by hybridization, of the different
varieties of cane. Indeed, the scientific precision
with which the industry is conducted, the perfection of the machinery, the success in adapting dif



COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


67


ferent kinds of cane to different soils, and in raising these soils economically to their highest producing power, should be a lesson to agriculturists
the world over.
On the large irrigated plantations the soil is
ploughed to a depth of from two feet to thirty
inches, and the cane is planted in rows five to six
feet apart. The first crop is ready for the mill in
about eighteen months; it is followed by a rattoon
crop in fourteen months, and by another rattoon
crop about eighteen months later. In some places
the third rattoon crop is not profitable, but in
others so much new surface soil is washed down
from the mountains every winter that as much as
seven or eight rattoon crops are possible; furthermore, some of the newer, improved varieties of
cane are found to yield profitably seven or eight
rattoon crops, even without this new soil. The
land is now usually not allowed to rest between
crops, and no change crops are planted, since it
has been found more economical to make good the
deficiencies in the soil by heavy applications of
commercial fertilizer, as much as $40 worth sometimes being applied per acre per crop. As no
proper harvesting machinery has been invented to
cut the cane, which grows in tangled masses, this
work must be done by hand and the cane sent to
the mill on cars, or, where water is plenty and the
slope of the land sufficient, in flumes. It was for



68   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


merly a common practice, both before and after
harvesting, to burn the fields, the value of the small
amount of juice lost being incommensurate with
the expense of stripping the cane, and the quantities of dry leaves left on the fields interfering
with ploughing and cultivation; but "of recent
years the fertilizing value of the decaying leaves
has been found to be so great that burning has
been almost entirely abandoned. At the most
modern mills the cane is passed through from three
to five sets of three rollers each, which    so
thoroughly extract the juice that the refuse, or
bagasse, is fed directly into the boiler furnaces.
In some mills the cane is sliced by revolving
knives, or shredded into a substance resembling excelsior, before it is put through the rollers, and
this process results in an extraction as high as 98
per cent. of the sugar. The juice first goes into
liming tanks to correct acidity, thence into heaters
to coagulate the foreign matter, thence into the
settling tanks, and so into the evaporator, which
may have a capacity of 1,500 tons of juice per
twenty-four hours. From the evaporator, which
has reduced it seventy-five per cent. in volume, the
juice is forced to the top floor of the mill into the
vacuum pans, in which the grain of the sugar is
formed. Under the vacuum pans are the crystallisers, and, lastly, the sugar is sent for drying to
the centrifugals. As it drops out of these it is




COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


69


elevated into bins, from which it drops into bags,
and is ready for shipment.
The whole process, which is-intensely interesting, can most easily be seen in one of the great
mills near Honolulu, that of Ewa, Oahu, or the
Honolulu Plantation, this last being the only plantation which refines its own sugar. These three
plantations, which are among the most progressive
in the Islands, produced, respectively, in 1915, 30,126, 29,610, and 18,233 tons. The average yield
per acre on Ewa Plantation has run as high as
eight tons and a single acre has produced eleven
tons. This is the more remarkable when one realizes that the average yield throughout the Islands
is a little over four tons, being about six and a
half on irrigated land and over three and a half
on unirrigated land, and that the average yield
of the plantations in Cuba is only a little over two
tons. This comparison with Cuba is interesting in
showing the increased production resulting from
careful cultivation. In Cuba, where land and
labour are cheap and, plenty, none of the plantations are irrigaated and replanting is done only
once in from ten to twenty years. In Hawaii,
where land is valuable and American labour conditions prevail, the annual return per acre must of
necessity be higher. The largest plantation in the
Islands, and one of the largest in the world, is the
Hawaiian Commercial on Maui, which produces




70   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


between 50,000 and 60,000 tons a year. Many of
the plantations along the coast of Hawaii and on
Kauai are small, but they are often as prosperous
and progressive as any.
The great problem of the sugar planters is
labour, which must be comparatively cheap and,
to produce the best results, ought to be stationary.
The plantations have suffered immeasurably
through the exclusion of the Chinese, an exclusion
which here loses point since they do not, as labourers, compete with the whites. The Japanese are
excitable and restless. The Hawaiians and the
Portuguese are too few to supply the demand.
Field labourers get from $22 to $30 a month, and
are given, in addition, comfortable houses, fuel,
water, schooling for their children, medical attendance, and usually a piece of land to cultivate.
The wages of the most unskilled, therefore, amount
to about $40 a month. Furthermore, a new system has arisen and is growing in popularity.
Tracts of land are let out by the plantations to
companies of labourers, who do all the cultivation,
becoming partners in profits. When these companies do their work well each individual realizes
from $70 to $90 a month. In addition' to all this,
the plantations have installed a system whereby the
labourer receives, entirely aside from his particular
work or contract, a share of the profits, amounting, in good sugar years, to a considerable sum.




t   -U~i~ r.,;..               i......   i..............
S62,    ri. UI             and    y to
GH&n iii fiani SRix tE iflit MANx1




* *  *:   w
6 




COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


71


On well managed plantations profits are good in
good years, few being over-capitalized, but any
serious increase in the cost of production could
not be borne by many. The abolition of the duty
on raw sugar would permit perhaps a third of
them to continue, with greatly reduced profitswith no profits at all except in favourable yearswhereas it would undoubtedly kill the cane-sugar
industry of the Southern States and of Porto
Rico, and the beet-sugar industry of the West.
Some plantations would have prepared to go out
of business when the law reducing and finally abolishing the sugar duty was put through by the Wilson administration, had not the war caused unexpectedly high prices. The final retention of a
small duty has given the planters new hope.
The commercial cultivation of pineapples is an
industry of comparatively recent introduction, although pineapples for table use have been raised
for many years. It has, however, grown by leaps
and bounds so that it is now easily the second in
importance in the Islands. For the best development the pineapple requires an elevation of from
500 to 1,200 feet and a rainfall of 35 inches or
more. The plants are set out in numbers varying
from 2,500 to 12,000 to the acre, according to the
size of fruit desired. The first crop, of from 10
to 25 tons to the acre, matures in from eighteen
months to two years, and a rattoon crop, varying




72   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


from 8 to 18 tons, is harvested a year later. A
second rattoon crop is usually grown, after which
the fields must be reset. About 10,000 acres of
land are now devoted to the cultivation of pineapples and in 1915 there were exported canned
fruit to the value of $5,986,190 and fresh fruit
and pineapple juice worth $95,958. There are
eleven canneries in the Islands, that in Honolulu
being the largest in the world. In 1914 and 1915
the war, and production in excess of the market already created, caused a glut of fruit, resulting in
the loss of many thousand tons. The growers are,
however, sanguine as to the future and believe that
the set-back was only temporary. Hawaiian pineapples, both raw and canned, are said to have the
finest flavour of any grown. With the canneries
at hand the fruit now has, of course, a definite
market value and the time has gone by when a
passenger on an inter-island steamer could buy
from the canoes surrounding the ship at some port
of call a hundred delicious little pineapples for the
extravagant sum of one dollar.
These two, sugar and pineapples, are the principal agricultural industries of the Islands, with
sugar very far in the lead-too extravagantly in
the lead, perhaps, for safety. In calm weather a
ship does well enough with one anchor, but in a
storm it is more prudent to have several to windward. At present sugar is the Hawaiian anchor,




COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


73


and in comparison with it all other industries are
but fish-hooks attached to more or less slender
cords. It is very satisfactory, therefore, to note
the growing interest in other agricultural ventures, some of -which may eventually prove of
great value.
The cultivation of rice, carried on almost exclusively by Chinese and according to Chinese
methods, is almost as old -as sugar and long held
second place. Some 12,000 acres were at one time
devoted to this industry, but the number is steadily
decreasing. Although modern machinery is used
-in the cleaning and polishing of the crop, the
primitive field methods to which the Chinese cling
have enabled the planters of Texas and California
nearly to put the Hawaiian planters out of business. Furthermore, the decrease in the number of
resident Chinese since annexation has diminished
the demand in the Islands. The Japanese prefer
the flavour of rice grown in Japan, import it in
large quantities, and use it almost exclusively, although they have to pay about a cent a pound
more. The rents asked for land watered to the
extent that rice land must be are very high, and
Chinese labour is practically unobtainable. 'This
industry' is, therefore, clearly not likely to be revived, but what there is left of it adds greatly to
the picturesqueness and colour of Island life.
Water-buffaloes, strong, patient, deformed-look



74    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


ing creatures, and, more recently, scrawny little
broncho ponies do most of the work, both in the
fields and in threshing the grain. They are picturesque, but they are no match for modern
methods.
There are now about 8,000 acres in sisal, with
an annual output of several hundred tons of fibre.
That this will, in time, become an important industry is almost certain, since there are in the
Islands large tracts of comparatively arid land,
which is not suited for cane or pineapples, and is
therefore comparatively cheap, and where sisal,
which requires only a little water, will grow. The
Hawaiian fibre is of the highest quality and is
much preferred in the San Francisco market to
that coming from Mexico, where ninety-eight per
cent. of the sisal used in the United States is now
grown. Another young industry is the cultivation
of tobacco, of which the finest grades can be grown
successfully and economically. There are, at the
lowest estimate, some 30,000 acres with soil excellent for tobacco cuture, and with intelligent
management the industry should ultimately be one
of some importance. So far the growers have not
had the means to advertise properly and this is essential, since Hawaiian tobacco has a slightly different flavour from any other and must be well
introduced to get a proper start. This lack of
good advertising is probably the great reason why




COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


75


Hawaiian coffee is not now known by every man
who loves his good cup of coffee. A New York
dealer said not long ago that if the Hawaiian
agents, instead of being modest about their coffee and trusting that it would find a sale on its
own undoubted merits, had labelled it a fancy
grade and given it some euphonious name, they
could have got the highest prices and sold all that
could be raised. Hawaiian coffee has been raised
since 1817, but the low wholesale price has cut down
profits to a minimum and has discouraged the starting of new plantations. Hawaiian coffee, especially that grown in the district of Kona, is, -however, of such delicious flavour that if some cooperative association could be formed properly to
introduce it into the United States, there is no
reason why it should not become one of the most
attractive and best paying industries. Bananas
grow wild all through.the Islands and are also
cultivated for export. During 1915, for example,
283,144 bunches, valued at $147,021, were exported to San Francisco. The banana fruits about
a year and a half after planting and the tree is
then cut down to give room to the suckers which
spring from the roots. From 800 to 900 bunches
per acre is the usual crop. Over fifty varieties
are grown at various altitudes, but hardly more
than a half-dozen are so far known commercially;
especially is this true of the cooking varieties,




76    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


which are even better than those eaten raw. If a
market were created for these new kinds of banana
they could be raised very profitably and in quantities limited only by the amount of suitable land.
It is not improbable that as soon as assurance can
be had of the constant cultivation of 20,000 acres
or more, a special steamer service will be inaugurated to carry the fruit to the mainland, and a
crop of this size would fill at least a boat a month.
Other crops which have been planted to some extent and have grown well, which seem, therefore,
to offer good opportunities to intelligent farmers,
are cotton, producing here a more valuable and
finer lint than any grown in the Southern States
(this can only be grown commercially when there
has been discovered a parasite to destroy a boll
worm which is present); cassava; Manila hemp;
citrus fruits; corn; and forage plants. Serious
study of all these problems and development of
these various agricultural possibilities would be of
inestimable benefit to the Islands and would be also
excellent investments to those who carried them
through.
The ranching business, which is almost entirely
in the hands of Americans, uses as grazing lands
some three to four hundred thousand acres. Until
recently these ranches have supplied the home demand for beef, but the demand is increasing
rapidly and to keep up with it the ranchers are




COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


77


finding it necessary to plant large quantities of
forage plants to supply the cattle in time of
drought, since the grazing lands will not of themselves support much more stock. Sheep are raised,
but not yet in sufficient quantity entirely to meet
the demand for home consumption of mutton. Indeed, since the large increase in number of army
and navy men stationed in Hawaii there has been
extensive importation of mutton from New Zealand and Australia. Up to now, moreover, not
enough -attention has been paid to selection of
breeds of sheep which will produce the finest quality of wool. Much is at last being done in this
direction and the wool exported in the future
should be of much better grade than that exported
in the past. In 1911 enough hogs were for the
first time raised to supply the demand in the
Islands for pork, but the sudden increase in the
army again put the demand ahead of the supply.
Hogs are now being raised in larger and larger
quantities. Both horses and mules are imported
annually as draught animals, although the Island
ranches should and probably will furnish all that
are needed in the course of the next few years.
Poultry raising is carried on to some extent, but
quantities of chickens -and eggs are brought from
the mainland. Poultry diseases are as troublesome here as elsewhere, but are no more troublesome nor any harder to deal with. It would cer



78   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


tainly seem, therefore, that there is an excellent
opportunity for a few men who are experts in the
business.
The vital need of the Islands is to insure settlement of the labour problem on a satisfactory jbasis,
and the only proper settlement would seem to be
the creation of a class of independent small
farmers who might increase their income by working for the plantations at the busy times. The era
of unrestricted Oriental immigration is over, although the planters, during the last few years have
imported some 16,000 Filipinos, who have helped
to tide over the period of labour shortage. More
and more the balance must turn in favour of the
Caucasian labourers, who are brought in large
numbers annually, at great expense to the Territory and the planters, from southern Europe.
These men bring their families with them. They
cannot be expected, and ought not to be expected
to hoe cane all their lives. Their ambition to become independent land owners, to have their own
little farms and orchards as they would have hoped
some time to have them at home, property which
they can cultivate and finally leave to their children, ought to be realized within the Territory.
So far as land is concerned there is no difficulty,
but these men do not want land unless it can be
proved to them that they can make a little money
on their gardens. For this reason efforts are be



COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


79


ing made to test all kinds of crops; a central marketing agency, called the Territorial Market, has
been established at public expense in Honolulu and
in San Francisco. When these experiments have
demonstrated that small farming is profitable and
feasible as well in Hawaii as on the mainland, it is
hoped that the plantation labourers will work to
earn enough money to buy an upland farm, not
tickets to San Francisco. They and their children will come down to the cane fields to work in
harvesting the crop, just as the similar class of
small farmer works in the harvesting season in
California. In this way only will the problem of
labourers for the plantations be permanently settled, and, at the same time, the Territory will have
gained a steady and reliable population.
Manufacturing, aside from the manufacturing
processes connected with the production of sugar
and the canning of fruit, can never be of great
importance. This is inevitable, owing to the distance of the Islands from world markets, and still
more to the absence of coal and minerals. Only
one company, the Honolulu Iron Works, has, in
the face of these obstacles, worked itself into a
position of prime importance. This company has
a large plant and manufactures practically all the
machinery for the sugar mills and the pumping
stations, except, of course, those parts which are
controlled elsewhere by patent, Indeed, so well




80    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


known is the Honolulu Iron Works for its accurate and excellent work that it has orders for sugar
machinery from the Orient and even from Cuba.
This sucess is, however, an exception, brought
about by demands rising from local conditions, and
does not affect the truth of the statement that general manufacturing would be unprofitable.
In public service corporations the Islands can
take their place with any advanced community.
Honolulu has an unusually well equipped and well
conducted electric car service, with 24 miles of
track. The cars run to all parts of the city, are of
the most modern make and are thoroughly comfortable. A franchise for an electric line for the
town of Hilo has been granted, but the line has
not yet been constructed. It may, in general, be
said that the transportation problem in the towns
is working out just as it is in the cities of the
mainland. Jitneys and public and private automobiles crowd the streets of Honolulu much as
they do the streets of Chicago. The steam railroads in the Islands are capitalized at about $7,500,000, and have about 220 miles of road in
operation, this being exclusive of the thousand
miles of track owned and -operated by the sugar
plantations for their own use. The Oahu Railway and Land Company has 100 miles of track,
including the main line and its branches, and is
conected on the north side of the Island with some



COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


81


thing over 12 miles of track of the Koolau Railway. The Oahu Railway Company has excellent
terminal facilities and docks and offers good passenger and freight service. On Maui, the Kahului
Railroad Company operates some 16 miles of road,
connecting with 125 miles of plantation track.
On Hawaii the Hilo Railroad Company has built
about 90 miles of track. The line northward along
the coast, which was extremely difficult to build
on account of the deep gulches, will eventually
carry all the sugar of the district of Hilo for transportation to America, thus doing away with the
many dangerous plantation landings where sugar
is lowered over the cliff into small boats or run on
cables direct to the steamers.  These lines are
mainly for the transportation of freight, but as
their passenger service is also good, they make
easy of access some of the best scenery in the Territory.
Honolulu was one of the first cities anywhere to
have a general telephone service. The company
has now taken over also the control and management of inter-island wireless telegraphy. All important centres are equipped with electric lights,
and the capital is also supplied with gas. In so
far, therefore, as modern conveniences are concerned, the Islands are quite on a par with the
mainland.
Water transportation facilities are constantly




82     HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
increasing. The Inter-Island Steam Navigation
Company has a fleet of fourteen steamers, nine of
them passenger carriers, which call at all ports in
the Territory. They carry annually about 70,000
passengers and something over 400,000 tons of
freight. The steamers are small, but the Maunakea has accommodations for 153 cabin passengers,
and the Kilauea for 102. They are as well fitted
up as any boats of corresponding size and the service and table are good. This company controls
nearly all of the inter-island traffic. There are
local lines, with ships plying between the mainland
and the Hawaiian Islands, which operate chiefly
for the transportation of freight. One of these
lines, the Matson Navigation Company, has excellent passenger accommodations on three of its
larger steamers and is building another. The Oceanic Steamship Company has one passenger
steamer on a regular tri-weekly schedule between
San.Francisco and Honolulu. During the winter
the S. S. Great Northern, making the trip in four
days, runs on a regular passenger service between
San Francisco, San Pedro, Hilo and Honolulu,
stopping in Hilo long enough for tourists to make
a trip to the Volcano. Honolulu is also a port
of call for various foreign-owned lines of
steamers, which, however, owing to United States
navigation laws covering coastwise trade, are allowed to carry neither passengers nor freight to




COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY


83


or from the Islands except on payment of a heavy
fine. These laws do not apply to the steamers of
the Canadian-Australian Steamship Company,
which, taking passengers and freight to and from
Vancouver, are not acting as carriers between two
American ports. The Pacific Mail, an American
line formerly running between San Francisco and
the Orient, and controlling much of the Honolulu
passenger business, was driven out of business by
the La Follette shipping law. So far as freight
is concerned, the United States navigation laws
are of no particular hardship to Hawaii, as there
are enough American freight ships to handle the
business, but they are a serious inconvenience to
passengers, since there are not enough passenger
carriers to handle them with comfort. A suspension of the law relating to the carrying of passengers between the mainland and outlying possessions would not be a hardship to American companies, and would be for Hawaii relief from a particularly vexatious burden. Such suspension or
repeal would seem only fair, moreover, since the
possibility of outlying territories was not considered when the laws were enacted.
With the opening of the Panama Canal the shiping of the Islands has largely increased. Honolulu should become a great commercial centre,
since, being the only available port of call in the
North Pacific, it should do an immense business in




84   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the trans-shipment of freight and in the sale of
fuel. As a shipping centre, indeed, it has grown
in importance for several years. The tonnage entered in 1901 was 952,504; in 1915 it was 1,551,594, excluding the United States transport service,
which is very large, and in spite of the fact that
no German vessels were running. There is every
reason to believe that this amount will steadily increase. More and more steamers from Panama
will call at Honolulu for coal and other supplies,
and to meet this demand the traffic with California
will grow correspondingly.
As a mercantile centre, therefore, the future of
Honolulu seems as secure as does the agricultural
future of the group. It means a busy port, a
meeting ground for the ships and the people of
all nations, less of the calm always associated with
the tropics, more dirt and confusion, but with
these disadvantages it means more colour, more of
the cosmopolitan life that is so attractive to the
onlooker.




CHAPTER VI


THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII
As SOON as the Islands were annexed in 1898 it
became necessary for the United States not only to
organize the new Territory but to take such military measures as would make it a real protection
to the western seaboard. While the Philippines remained an American possession Hawaii must always be the most important station on the immensely long line of communication between the
Coast and Manila. Even should the Philippines
be ultimately abandoned, Hawaii must constitute,
not an outpost of American civilization, difficult to
defend, but rather a first line of defense and an invaluable aid in any offensive naval demonstration.
It demands no great intelligence to perceive the
advantages of a friendly supply station, either in
peace or war, part way across an ocean 5,000
miles wide.
The strategic importance of the Hawaiian Islands had, indeed, long been appreciated by American naval officers. There was found in the Archives Building in Honolulu a few years ago an
old letter written by Lieutenant Curtis, on board
the U. S. Frigate Constitutio —"Old Ironsides"85




86    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


to the Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affaird&. In
it he said: "Allow me to call your attention to the
importance of Pearl Harbour, the perfect security
of the harbour, the excellence of its water, the
perfect ease with which it can be made one of the
finest places in the Islands, all of which combine to
make it a great consideration. While the harbour
was clearing out fortifications could be built,
troops could be drilled, the forts might be garrisoned, Government storehouses built. The amount
of money to be expended will be but a feather in
comparison with the almost incalculable amount
of wealth that will result upon the completion of
these objects." So, for the last half-century and
more United States naval officers, one after another, have dwelt on the limitless strategic inportance of this remarkable harbour, which actually
came under American domination, not when the
Islands were annexed, under President McKinley,
but when the provisions of the Reciprocity Treaty
were extended to include control of the harbour,
during the administration of President Harrison.
Pearl Harbour, eight miles west of Honolulu, is
connected with the open sea by a narrow channel
only. It contains ten square miles of navigable
water, with thirty miles of deep water front that
is absolutely calm in any weather. The most important harbour in the Islands, it is as fine as any
on the Pacific slope of the mainland. The diffi



THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 87
culty in making it practicable lay in the shallow
bar at the entrance and in the tortuous channel
leading to the deep inner locks. In 1908 a contract was signed with a Hawaiian company for'
the dredging work, which included the removal of
the bar, the straightening of the channel, and excavation for a drydock. A good part of this extremely difficult work has been completed, and on
December 14, 1911, the United States Armoured
Cruiser California steamed through the entrance,
up the partly straightened four-and-a-half-mile
channel, and anchored in the inner harbour opposite the site of the drydock. This was the first
large vessel ever to enter the inner harbour.
Among the Admiral's invited guests were Queen
Liliuokalani and Judge Dole, first Governor of the
Territory-a pleasant commentary on the good relations between the antagonistic factions of a few
years ago.
Lieutenant Curtis saw, over a half-century ago,
that Pearl Harbour must determine the first
scheme of defense of the Islands. That this was
true was recognized by the several military commissions sent to Honolulu after annexation. It
was manifestly impossible and unnecessary to protect all the Islands, at least at first-impossible because of the great shore line, and unnecessary because they had, as yet, no really excellent harbours and were comparatively sparsely settled,




88   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


The south side of Oahu, including the city of
Honolulu, however, presented few initial difficulties. The back-bone of the Island, the precipitous mountains extending from the north-west to
the south-east extremities, were, for all practical
purposes, impassable. No party which could conceivably be landed on the north-east coast could
reach Honolulu. The west, again, was protected
by the detached mass of the Waianae Mountains,
and the only possible land approach, therefore, was
across the plains between the two ranges. It remained to guard against possible attack here, and
against probable attack, in case of war, from the
sea. It has now been decided by military authorities that eventually even the north side of the Island should be fortified, but this is, even now, not
of pressing importance. All this work had, of
course, as its main object, to make as nearly impregnable as might be with first-class fortifications, armed with the most powerful guns, and
adequately manned, the great naval base at Pearl
Harbour.
The first occupation by United States troops
occurred within a few weeks of annexation. On
August 16 and 17, 1898, the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry and the 3rd Battalion, 2nd U. S.
Volunteer Engineers, mobilized on account of the
Spanish War, arrived in Honolulu and established
Camp McKinley, in the vicinity of Kapiolani Park.




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 89


On April 18, 1899, these volunteer organizations
were relieved by Batteries A, I, K, and N, 6th U. S.
Artillery, of the regular army, commanded by
Major Samuel L. Mills, and since that time all
military affairs have, as a matter of course, been
conducted by members of the regular army.
Camp McKinley was never intended to be more
than a temporary affair, but was maintained for
several years while general defense plans were maturing and until permanent posts could be established. Of these the first to be occupied by troops,
in June, 1907, was Fort Shafter, situated on the
Kahuiki Military Reservation, three miles northwest of Honolulu. This reservation has an area
of 1,344 acres. Here are stationed the 2nd Infantry; Company I, 3rd Battalion of Engineers;
Field Company E, Signal Corps; Telegraph and
Telephone Platoon, Company M, Signal Corps;
here also is the School for Bakers and Cooks for
the instruction of the enlisted personnel of the
Department.   Suitable frame buildings, erected
some years ago, provide for one battalion of infantry; two battalions of infantry, one company
of engineers, and one and a half companies of
signal corps are still quartered in uncomfortable
board and batten shacks, with low, box-car roofs,
and this even though the camp is permanent and
will probably increase rather than decrease in size.
Similar, only half-satisfactory housing condi



90    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


tions exist at Schofield Barracks, occupied in
January, 1909. This great reservation, of 14,400
acres, is twenty-seven miles northwest of Honolulu
by rail, on the plateau between the two mountain
ranges. It is a cool, healthful situation, swept by
the trade winds. It commands the one possible
land approach to Honolulu and in number of
troops is the most important station in the Islands. Here are stationed the 1st Hawaiian Brigade (1st and 25th Regiments of Infantry), the
4th Cavalry, and the 1st Field Artillery. Concreate quarters have been provided for one regiment of infantry and for two squadrons of cavalry, but the remaining troops live as best they
may in board and batten shacks.
The coast defenses of Oahu include Forts Armstrong, De Russy, Kamehameha and Ruger, and
are under a single command. Fort Armstrong is
the saluting station for the port of Honolulu. It
is built on the Kaakaukukui Reef, one mile from
the centre of the city and at the entrance of the
harbour. Its area is 64 acres, and it has as garrison the 104th Company (Mine) of the Coast
Artillery  Corps.  Both officers and men are
wretchedly housed in temporary board and batten shacks, although the fort has been in use for
three years. Fort De Russy, with an area of 74
acres, is situated on the Waikiki Military Reservation, three miles southeast of the city. It is




~li~iY(ii'_ls~
a IT i B
II,t,,,
L

r
-





I   n     -,
4,I




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 91


garrisoned by the 10th and 55th Companies,
Coast Artillery Corps.  This post is on the
beach, in a rather warm situation, but for years
the troops have lived in tents and "temporary"
shacks, which are, however, at last being replaced
by proper frame quarters. It is obvious that when
a nation is suddenly called upon to occupy new
territory, to build extensive fortifications, and to
provide for large numbers of troops in entirely
new quarters, everything cannot be done at once.
But the United States has held Hawaii for nearly
twenty years, and almost from the beginning of
that time large garrisons were planned. Yet today there is decent accommodation for hardly half
the troops. For the uninformed outsider it is very
difficult to understand what political considerations could bring about this shameful neglect on
the part of the Government for the health, the
morals, and the physical well-being of its own servants. The soldier in the regular army cannot
escape from his surroundings as can a man in the
employment of a private corporation, and the least
the Government could do would be to make those
surroundings endurable. It would bring about a
reform very quickly if a corporation treated its
employees in the way that soldiers are treated in
Hawaii, and would gain great glory thereby, but
it cannot "afford" to do the same for its own employees. It is to be hoped that the belated trans



92      HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
formation of Fort De Russy will be the signal for
the building of suitable army quarters throughout
Hawaii.
Conditions at Fort Ruger are, fortunately, better than in most of the forts. The barracks and
some of the officers' quarters are of concrete and
are very satisfactory, but many of the officers still
live, with their families, in batten shacks. They
have done much, it is true, to disguise, on the outside, the inadequacy of their houses by planting
vines and shrubs, and the casual tourist would
probably exclaim at the "charming little cottages," but vines and shrubs outside are not much
help in the housekeeping which goes on inside.
Fort Ruger, comprising 732 acres, is situated on
the military reservation at Diamond Head, six
miles southeast of the centre of Honolulu. It
stretches over the narrow plateau extending back
from Diamond Head to the lower slopes of the
mountains, and commands the sea approach from
the mainland, around the southeast extremity of
Oahu. Connected with it, of course, are the extesive permanent fortifications of Diamond Head
itself, the crater of which forms a natural emplacement for concealed guns. These fortifications,
which make the hill a miniature Gibraltar, are
properly not open to visitors. At Fort Ruger are
stationed the 105th and the 159th Companies,
Coast Artillery Corps.




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 93
Fort Kamehameha, on the Queen Emma Site at
Pearl Harbour, has an area of 412 acres and is
nine miles west of Honolulu. It is headquarters of
the coast defenses of Oahu. It was first occupied
by troops in January, 1913. Good frame buildings have been recently completed, so that housing
conditions are satisfactory.  Here are stationed
the 13th Band, and the 68th, 75th, 91st and 143rd
Companies, Coast Artillery Corps. The fort is
on low, flat land, but is well drained and gets the
full benefit of the trade winds as they fall over
the mountains.
The Department Hospital, which is the general
hospital for the Hawaiian Department, is situated
near Fort Shafter, on the Kahuiki Military Reservation. It was built in 1906 as a 12-bed post hospital, and from this small beginning has grown
to be a group of detached buildings with a capacity of 300 beds, which, in emergency, can be expanded to 400 beds or more by utilizing, as is possible at any time of year in the Hawaiian climate,
the broad and roomy piazzas which surround every
building.
Until October, 1910, the different army posts
were independent of each other, reporting directly
to Headquarters of the Military Department of
California at San Francisco. In this month the
War Department issued orders consolidating all
Hawaiian posts into a single military district,




94    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


known as the District of Hawaii, and included in
the Department of California.  The first commander of the District was -Col. W. S. Schuyler,
5th Cavalry, who, after two months, was succeeded
for a short time by Lt.-Col. H. W. Wheeler, of the
same regiment. In November the President designated a General Officer to assume command, and in
January, 1911, Brig.-Gen. Montgomery M. Macomb, U. S. Army, arrived to take up the duties
of the position. Headquarters, first established at
Schofield Barracks, was transferred to Honolulu
on March 31, 1911. On October 1, 1911, the District of Hawaii was created a Military Department, known as the Department of Hawaii, and
was detached from the Departmeit of California,
but included in the Western Division, created at
the same time. This status remained until 1913,
when, in February, the designation was once more
changed, this time to the Hawaiian Department,
when the Islands were made an independent command, subordinate only to the War Department.
Brig.-Gen. Macomb remained in command, except
for a short period, until he was relieved, in April,
1913, by Brig.-Gen. Frederick Funston, who commanded until he was relieved by Brig.-Gen. Macomb, temporarily, in January, 1914. He was
superceded in March of the same year by Maj.Gen. W. H. Carter, who commanded the Department until relieved by Brig.-Gen. John P. Wisser
in November, 1915.




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 95


Thus it is that the recommendations made so
long ago by Lieutenant Curtis to the Hawaiian
Government have been carried out by the army of
his own country. And, as he suggested, the various fortifications have been built with Pearl Harbour as the strategical centre.  Here, however,
work is being carried on by the Navy Department,
A Naval Coal Depot was established in May,
1898, before annexation, the United States exercising the right granted by the Reciprocity Treaty.
In November, 1899, the Navy Department designated the property acquired under the President's
Executive Order,, Naval Station, Honolulu, which
title was changed in the following February to
Naval Station, Hawaii. 'The Station was at first a
coal depot, but soon began to be used for operations in connection with Midway Island, where a
marine detachment was stationed, for the purchase
of supplies, for the delivery of water and provisions for passing warships and transports, and
as an encampment of marines. Since 1908 it has
been the preliminary base in connection with the
immense development work at Pearl Harbour.
In anticipation of this work land was acquired
by condemnation proceedings in 1903 and 1904.
Dredging of the channel at the entrance of the
harbour was begun in 1908 and completed in 1910.
Before this was finished work on roads, sewers and
industrial buildings was under way. Seven great




96    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


industrial buildings have been erected, including
a forge shop, a power house, a foundry, repair
shops, and a storehouse. There are also an administration building, a coaling plant, a floating
crane, hospitals, a powder magazine, marine barracks, and officers' quarters.  The streets have
been paved, sea-walls built where necessary, and
general yard development is going on. Machinery
has been installed in the power-house and the shops,
and, although the Station is not yet in operation
as an industrial yard, it will soon be made a naval
base.
This depends largely on the completion of the
great dry-dock. The first plans were for the construction of a dry-dock 820 feet long, 110 feet
wide, and 35 feet deep, and a large part of the
work had been accomplished. But, unfortunately,
the engineering difficulties had been under-estimated, so that a few years ago the dock gave way
and all that had been built was ruined. This was,
of course, a serious set-back, but the collapse of
the first structure only brought about the determination to build an even larger dock, which might
serve to hold the largest ships either launched or
projected. Dry-Dock No. 1 is now being constructed of concrete and steel, and it is believed
that no mistake in plans has been made this time.
The dock will probably not be finished before the
end of 1917 and will cost about $5,000,000. All




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 97
this work at the Station has given employment to
thousands of American citizens and has been, as
well, a stimulus to industrial exterprises in Honolulu, both in the furnishing of material and in the
extension of transportation facilities.
All offices, with the exception of the Navy Pay
Office in Honolulu, are located at Pearl Harbour.
On this Station is based the 3rd Submarine Division, Torpedo Flotilla. Naval vessels stationed
here are the submarines K-4, K-5, K-6, and K-8,
the Station Tug Navajo, and the U. S. S. Alert,
and no additional vessels are expected. There is
seldom a time, however, when one or more ships of
the Pacific Squadron are not in port. A force of
about 400 men, including those in the marine
barracks, as well as the crews on board their ships,
is maintained in connection with Naval Station,
Hawaii, but this number will vary as needs arise.
The following' have been in command of the
Station since its establishment: Commander John
F. Merry (detached as Rear-Admiral), to July
81, 1902; Captain William H. Whiting, to February 24, 1903; Lieutenant-Commander Hugh
Rodman, to August 14, 1903 (temporary); Lieutenant-Commander A. P. Niblack, to August 21,
1903 (temporary); Rear-Admiral S. W. Terry, to
December 25, 1904; Rear-Admiral H. W. Lyon,
to June 25, 1906; Rear-Admiral S. W. Very, to
April 23, 1908; Rear-Admiral C. P. Rees, to De



98    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


cember 13, 1910: Rear-Admiral W. C. Cowles, to
February 6, 1913; Rear-Admiral C. B. T. Moore,
to July 17, 1915; and Rear-Admiral C. J. Boush.
Of the regular army about 11,000 are now stationed in Hawaii, and all the fortifications and
posts have been planned for a force of 20,000 -a force approaching in numbers the present ridiculously inadequate mobile army of the United
States. The comparison is absurd, not because
the number in Hawaii is too great, but because the
mobile army is too small. Only those with such
a twisted love of peace that they see in every gun
a threat of war, those who stupidly argue against
any form of preparedness, would deny the truth
of this statement; and only they will see in all the
costly military preparation in Hawaii a waste of
national funds. It is, in reality, a profoundly
foresighted expenditure, since the Pacific Ocean is
rapidly becoming the theatre where world powers
are striving for commercial and military supremacy. The Hawaiian Islands, situated at the crossroads of traffic, the only available stopping place
in the whole vast extent of the North Pacific, will
enable the United States absolutely to command
the ocean against an Asiatic or any other power
by making an overseas attack too dangerous to be
attempted. No modern war fleet would dare to
get 4,000 miles away from a base of supplies.
This impregnable oasis of the ocean, moreover,




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII 99


will insure the safety of the important trade routes
and will thus supplement the international value
of the Panama Canal.
Residents of Hawaii have shown, in their support of the National Guard, every willingness to
stand back of the Federal Government. The National Guard of [Hawaii now numbers over 5,000,
undoubtedly the largest proportional enrollment
in the United States, including, as it does, nearly
30 per cent. of the men eligible for service in the
Territory.
Up to 1915 the militia resembled that of any
state on the mainland which was not particularly
well prepared. The European war roused Hawaii
as, and rather more than, it roused the rest of
America. In August Samuel I. Johnson was appointed colonel, later brigadier-general, and he, a
man of boundless enthusiasm and military experience, made a canvass of all the Islands, instituted
a serious recruiting campaign which brought excellent results, approximately 5,000 men enlisting
in six weeks. Governor Pinkham, also, exerted his
official influence to promote the strength and efficiency of the Guard. There is now a full regiment on each of the larger Islands, Qahu, Hawaii
Maui, and Kauai. The engineer and signal corps
are on Oahu, where they could assist the army in
case of need; there is a separate cavalry company
on Hawaii, where the Parker Ranch supplies horses;., r,.s -




100   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


to men who have none of their own. The co-operation of employers, furthermore, might well be emulated by employers on the mainland. The plantations have given earnest support, not only in good
will, but in actual cash, in the assignment of land
for rifle-ranges, of warehouses for temporary armories, and in providing free transportation to their
employees to and from the general assembly points.
And not only the plantations, but the public in
general has been generous in support. The Guard
has now 236 officers, among whom are many of
the most influential men of the Territory.
Since conditions in Hawaii are, in some measure, unique, every effort is being made to bring
the militia, so far as possible, into intimate relation with the regular army. Captain Charles S.
Lincoln of the army is also a colonel in the Guard
and is in command of the 1st Infantry, stationed
in Honolulu. This policy of more or less formal
connection with the army, making the Hawaiian
militia something more in the nature of a Federal
Reserve, has the full approval of the War Department.
Hawaii has become the principal place in the
United States to study the Army and the Navy at
work. It is easy enough to find fault, but one who
has looked over the ground must admit that admirable results have been accomplished. The guns
~ arid the fortifications are of the most modern type;::




THE ARMY AND NAVY IN HAWAII           101
the Army is a well-disciplined, efficient fighting
force; the embryo navdl base at Pearl Harbour
has been planned to meet the needs of the future
as well as those of the present; the territorial
militia is large, and is rapidly being whipped into
shape as a valuable second line of defense. It now
remains for the Federal Government to see that all
troops are properly housed, that the Army is recruited as soon as possible to its intended strength,
and, not resting satisfied with what has already
been accomplished, to keep the post always up to
date and in readiness for any eventuality. America is sometimes more successful in creating than in
maintaining at maximum efficiency what is already
done.




CHAPTER VII


HONOULUL
THE American tourist to the Hawaiian Islands
will probably take ship at San Francisco, although
the steamers from Vancouver are also good. He
must remember that from a United States port
it is possible to sail to Honolulu only on a ship
under American register, unless he has a through
ticket to the Orient and plans merely to stop over.
The first day or two out of San Francisco are
usually cold, so that heavy wraps are essential,
but as the rest of the trip is warm, rooms on the
starboard side, getting the trade winds, are
preferable.
After the hills of the Coast Range have dropped
below the horizon there is almost nothing to seea whale perhaps, or porpoises, but no land and
very rarely a passing ship. But to the man who
has never been in the tropics the ocean, so utterly
different from the North Atlantic, is a revelation.
There usually are no waves, as the Atlantic traveller knows waves, but the whole surface of the
sea sways gently in great, silent, lazy swells. Day
by day the blue grows more intense until it becomes
that brilliant, translucent, but seemingly not
102




HONOLULU


103


transparent, ultramarine that is seen only in tropical waters and that once seen is never forgotten.
On the sixth dsy there comes the restless feeling
that one always has on approaching land. The
ocean, near the Islands, loses its glassy surface,
which, after a long time, is uneasily suggestive of
the "painted ocean" in the "Ancient Mariner,"
ripples again as the ocean should, and breaks into
spurts of foam. The cloud-bank ahead finally
reveals the land beneath, and one sees the rocky
eastern end of the Island of Oahu.. To the left appears the long coast line of Molokai, but at no time
near enough to be interesting, except as being
more land. It is on the Island of Oahu, straight
ahead, that attention is riveted, on the barren
promontories, at the foot of which the surf marks
its feathery, ever changing line. On the point
reaching out furthest toward the east stands the
magnificent Makapuu Point Light, installed in
1909, one of the most powerful lights in the world,
and in a position. where it is vitally necessary to
mariners. All black this land looks, like rude piles
of huge volcanic, storm-beaten rocks. The north
side of the Island is shrouded with clouds, but, if
the day is propitious, as it usually is, the clouds
break again and again, revealing distant but enchanting glimpses of colour-the soft green of
cane fields, the vivid yellow of salt grasses along
the shore, and the purple blue of the precipitous




104  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


mountains across which the trade wind is blowing
masses of sparkling white and silver grey clouds.
But these are only glimpses, lost as the steamer
approaches the Island and, rounding the Point,
proceeds westward along the southern shore.
Oahu geologically is made up of two ranges of
mountains. Those in the southwestern part, the
Waianae Mountains, form a group dominated by
Kaala (4,040 feet), flat-topped, as though the
original volcanic cone had been blown away, as
it in fact may have been, since there are still
vestiges of an ancient crater. The Koolau Range,
forming the backbone of the Island, extends in an
unbroken chain from northwest to southeast. On
arriving from the north it is the geologically
younger end of this range that one sees first, barren because not yet has sufficient time elapsed to
allow erosion to do its full work of disintegrating
the ancient lava and forming fertile soil. As the
steamer rounds Koko Head, long and rounded, like
a gigantic mound of desert sand, so named because
of its blood-red colour in certain lights-koko
means blood in the Hawaiian language-there come
into view the shores of the great shallow bay of
Waialae. Here, at last, is vegetation. The beach
is fringed with cocoanut trees, and a little way
back the land rises abruptly, breaking into deep,
narrow, fertile valleys and rocky ridges that on
their higher slopes lose themselves in the verdure




HONOLULU


105


of the mountain tops. After a half-hour skirting
the coral reef that protects the bay from the great
swells of the Pacific, the boat passes another promontory, Leahi, or Diamond Head, and the city of
Honolulu comes into sight.
The tourist knows at last that-he is surely in
the tropics, knows, too, if he has travelled far,
that nowhere is there a more beautiful, peaceful
scene. The ocean outside the reef is blue-the
same blue that it has been for days, but darker,
so deeply dyed that it looks almost opaque, until
one gazes straight down and catches the twisted
sun rays that are gleaming far below the surface.
The reef makes a sharp line of white surf, and
beyond it the wide shoals are pink and green and
buff, accordingto the nature of the sea-bottom and
the angle of the light-a brilliant Oriental carpet
along the shore. The mile or two of gently rising
land between the beach and the spurs of the mountains is a mass of trees, the green line of them
broken only by the roofs of the houses. This
vegetation, a little monotonous in colour, as an
artist would have made it to lead from the brilliance
of the sea to the still more brilliant mountains,
extends from the suburb of Waikiki, clinging about
the foot of Diamond Head, past the city itself,
westward,. until the misty green of cane fields
carries it insensibly into the still more misty, palebluish purple of the distant Waianae Mountains.




106  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


Back of the city, to right and left, stretches the
Koolau range of mountains, not very high (3,105
feet is the highest), but seeming higher than is
the case because toward the top they rise sharply;
because there is the space of a few miles only from
sea level to their crests; because the quality of the
atmosphere and the clouds that hover almost
always over and above their summits give them
that crystal blue which the mind naturally associates with far vistas of lofty peaks. It is on the
slopes of these mountains that one finds the
hot exaggeration of tropical colour-the yellow
splotches that are kukui trees, the grey of fern
masses, the emerald of ohia and banana trees, made
more brilliant through contrast with dashes of
brick red earth.
The picture is never for two days the same.
Sometimes there is an opalescent mist that is not
really mist, but rather a denser atmosphere which
fuses the colours. Occasionally the clouds hang
sullenly over the mountains and the water along
the shore is black, with streaks of pale green.
Another day the trade wind is blowing-and this
is true three-quarters of the time-the air sparkles,
the mountains shine against a sky clean swept
except where the great, lazy, cream-white and
pearl-grey clouds, gathering somewhere beyond
the hills, pile through the gaps and then make
veils of sudden showers high in the valleys, or,




HONOLULU


107


sailing onward toward the south, disintegrate and
disappear. The traveller knows the approach to
San Francisco, to Southampton, to Madeira. The
first view of Honolulu, as the steamer rounds Diamohd Head, is in its own way quite equal to these;
remains always in memory as a vision, lovely and
radiant and supremely satisfying.
The harbour of Honolulu is not large. The
entrance is 40 feet deep and 200 feet wide; the
inner harbour shoals up from 40 feet to shallow
depths. It is 900 feet wide, but this width is
being extended to 1,200 feet. The name Honolulu
means "quiet haven," and is appropriate, since
there are few severe storms and no weather affects
the safety of the harbour, which, in consequence,
is usually crowded with shipping. As the steamer
enters the channel people watch the Japanese and
Hawaiian fishing boats, usually dories painted
some bright colour, that contrast with the grey
tenders of the men-of-war. Near the dock the
water is alive with Hawaiian boys swimming about
and shouting, ready to dive for nickels and dimes,
not one of which do they miss. They are marvellously dexterous swimmers and give incoming
passengers amusement that is pleasanter and more
unusual than looking at the undoubtedly practical
but also undoubtedly ugly warehouses and United
States Government storehouses which line the
shore. Not much more attractive in looks is the




108  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


nearby quarantine station. This, however, is an
excellent modern station under Federal control
and is capable of caring for SO sick people, 100
first cabin and 300 second cabin passengers, 600
immigrants, and 1,600 troops. Nor is the dock
more suggestive of an exotic tropical city. White
linen suits on the men, sometimes the sickly smell
of sugar, always Hawaiian women with wreaths"leis" they are called-of flowers to sell, at least
make one realise, however, that one is not landing
in a northern port. The piles of coal, the dust,
the hurry are alike in all ports where commerce is
of more importance than is the sensation-hunting
tourist.
Nor is the first glimpse of the city more reassuring. Indeed it may as well be admitted that
Honolulu is, architecturally, very bad; that in the
business portion, where vines and trees do not hide,
the ugliness is sometimes depressing. There are
fine modern business blocks, as completely fireproof
and as completely uninspired as any in Chicago.
Next to them may be low, shoddy wood or brick
buildings.  Some of the newer buildings, and
especially, let it thankfully be said, public buildings, such as the fire station, built of blue-grey
Hawaiian stone, would be pleasant to look at anywhere, but in general the business part of the city
is in that sad intermediate state which is neither
trimly new nor picturesquely old. It pleases only




HONOLULU


109


those who live there, and then not aesthetically, but
as its growth indicates material progress. This
accusation of commonplaceness is true only, however, when one takes the city as a whole. Single
glimpses are often wonderfully attractive-the fish
market with its piles of gaudy fish, every colour of
the rainbow, the different booths presided over by
Hawaiians or Orientals; the sidewalk on Hotel
Street, lined with Hawaiian flower-sellers with
their basketfuls of cut flowers and their leis of
every colour, laid in rows on the sidewalk; or some
queer corner giving a vista up the Nuuanu stream;
or some little wooden house lost under a great mass
of bougainvillea.  These, fortunately, are the
things which one never forgets. In a month the
commonplaceness is gone, but the beauty and the
strangeness remain.
Honolulu, a city of over 60,000 inhabitants,
stretches for several miles on the narrow plain
between sea and mountains, reaches up into the
valleys, and sometimes actually climbs the steep
hillsides. The most thickly settled portion is on
the slopes of Punch Bowl-so named from the
shape of its crater-a comparatively recent cone,
500 feet high, thrown up by some expiring volcanic
action between the spurs of the mountains and the
ocean. At its base, a little to the westward, lies
the business portion of the city; huddled on its
higher slopes is the Portuguese settlement; to the




110  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


east, as far as the suburb of Waikiki, and to the
west, in the mouth of Nuuanu Valley and beyond
in parts of the Palama region, are the houses of
the better class of citizens. One who intends to
stay more than a day or two in Honolulu should
drive as soon as possible to the top of this hill,
because from here one can get the best idea of the
topography of city and surrounding country.
The streets, in so far as the uneven character
of the land permits, are laid out at right angles.
Fort Street and Nuuanu Avenue running from
the sea toward the mountains, and King, Hotel,
and Beretania* Streets, more or less parallel to
the coast, give, as being the principal thoroughfares, sufficient indication of the street plan. All,'
after leaving the business centre, pass between
luxuriant gardens, which are never shut in by
walls, but are enclosed only by low hedges, usually
of red flowering hibiscus. In many parts of the
city the streets are bordered with tropical flowering trees that are a glory in the late spring months.
An admirable electric car service covers the entire
district of Honolulu, traversing or crossing all
the main streets.
This car service, which makes distance unimportant, makes also less important the situation of
the hotel chosen by the tourist.  In the city
proper the Young Hotel, a modem stone building,
*The Hawaiian word for Britannia.




HONOLULU


111


and the Royal Hawaiian, standing in its own little
tropical garden, are the best. There are good
hotels also at Waikiki, and these, with the Pleasanton, near the mouth of Manoa Valley, are to
be recommended for a prolonged stay. The Pleasanton, a residence that has been converted into
a hotel, is surrounded by large and really beautiful
grounds.*
Of public buildings the first in importance is
the Executive Building, formerly the Royal Palace. This stands near the centre of the city, on
King Street, in its own open park. It is used now
as the offices of the Governor and of Territorial
officials and contains also the chambers of the
Senate and House of Representatives. Built in
1880 of brick and stucco, much over-ornamented,
to suit the King's ideas of beauty, it follows no
recognised style of architecture, would be in any
northern city amazingly ugly, but standing alone
as it does, with no other buildings as contrast, approached on all four sides by short avenues of
superb royal palms, surrounded by splendid great
trees and gay shrubs, cream-coloured, its wide,
cool galleries giving an effect of lightness, it has
an appropriateness that makes it almost beautiful. It is best on public holidays, when flags and
bunting, flowers and brightly dressed women give
the effect of gaiety that it so often had years ago
*For list of hotels and prices see Appendix, pp. 231, 232.




112  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


when the King held public receptions or entertained his friends at native feasts.  One could
never take the little Court quite seriously and
the impermanent "World's Fair" quality of the
building that so suited the playing at royalty and
that still suits the sunshine of the tropics, makes
it less suitable as the theatre of legislative squabbles and as the source of heavily serious gubernatorial messages. It was as the palace of a king,
unimportant in the world's sight but immensely
important in his own, that the building's outward
purport was best fulfilled.. The interior has dignity.  The entrance hall, with its portraits of
kings and queens and princes, is simple and stately,
as is the excellently proportioned Chamber of
Representatives, formerly the throne-room, at the
right of the hall. The dining-room, receptionrooms, and bedrooms have been changed beyond
recognition in being remodelled to suit office needs.
Around this building centres much of the later
history of the Islands. It was the scene of the
insurrection of 1889. On its steps the body of
King Kalakaua, brought home from San Francisco, was met by the Queen Dowager and the new
Queen, Liliuokalani. Here, in January, 1893, the
Queen, after dissolving the legislature, let it be
known that she was about to promulgate a new
constitution-the fact which was the immediate
cause of the revolution that resulted in the estab



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HONOLULU


113


lishment of the Republic. Here, in her old throneroom, in 1895, the Queen was tried for treason.
Here to-day the Territorial laws are enacted.
Opposite the Executive Building stands the
Court House, formerly the Government Building,
where the legislature of the Kingdom held its sessions. The Court House is a long, two-story building, its two wings connected by verandas lined
with Ionic columns. In front, among the palm
trees, stands the statue of Kamehameha I, a spear
in his hand, the cloak of royal yellow feathers over
his shoulder, and a helmet of feathers on his head.
The original bronze, of which this is a replica, was
lost at sea, but years later was recovered and sold
to the Hawaiian Government. It now appropriately stands in Kohala, on the Island of Hawaii,
the last home of the great King. These two, the
Executive Building and the Court House, form
the civic centre, and, with the new Carnegie Library, the spacious Mission Memorial Building,
and the old Mission Church, just to the east, the
picturesque centre as well.
Kawaiahao Church, with the mausoleum of King
Lunalilo beside it, is the impressive monument
of early missionary labour.  It was dedicated
in 1842 and was the royal chapel until the coming
of the English Mission twenty years later. Built
of blocks of coral, it is in shape a rectangle. Over
the main entrance is a low, square tower, which




114  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


used to have an inappropriate wooden spire.
White, surrounded with huge algaroba trees,
through the filmy leaves of which perpetual sunlight plays, it typifies in its Puritanic dignity
and rigorous simplicity the lasting work of its
founders. Behind it, in a cemetery as unpretentious as they were themselves, most of these founders are buried. Beyond, in the section of the town
formerly known as the Mission, what remain of
their houses are clustered. One of these, the Cooke
homestead, which was the first frame house built
in the Islands, is now a missionary museum. The
Castle homestead, greatly enlarged from the
original, one-story plaster cottage, is now used
by the Y. W. C. A. Whatever one may think
of missionary work in general, whatever absurd
tales one may hear of the self-seeking of these particular missionaries, the imagination and the heart
must be touched by this plain old church and these
pathetic little old houses where, nearly a hundred
years ago, a band of devoted men and women,
desperately poor, separated by six months from
home and friends, gave up their lives to what they
believed was God's work. That their children and
their grandchildren chose, most of them, to remain
in this land of their birth and to enter secular
life; that they have largely guided politics and
business, has been a lasting blessing to the Islands.
Their presence only has made the people capable




HONOLULU


115


of becoming normally and naturally American
citizens.
Kawaiahao, which still has the largest Hawaiian
congregation in the Islands, and where the services are still conducted in the Hawaiian language,
is the only church in Honolulu built in a style
characteristic of the tropics, a style which should
be equally characteristic of Honolulu. Central
Union (corner Beretania and Richards Streets),
a non-sectarian church, the place of worship of
most of the descendants of the missionaries, and
the strongest numerically and financially in the
city, is built of grey-blue native stone, but is
architecturally characteristic of a New England
town during the period, about twenty or thirty
years ago, when buildings were most unprepossessing. St. Andrew's Cathedral (Emma Street),
formerly the property of the Church of England
and the seat of an English bishop, who was Royal
Chaplain, now under a bishop of the American
Episcopal Church, is a simple and beautiful building in a style which people are pleased to call
Victorian Gothic. The Roman Catholic Cathedral
(F1'ort Street) is a plain, square coral building,
which is rapidly being ruined in appearance by
the application on the outside of what is believed
to be Gothic ornamentation. Like all small American cities, Honolulu has, too, meeting-houses representing most of the normal and abnormal of




'116  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the Christian denominations. With one or two
exceptions these buildings are unsubstantial and
hideous, but are fortunately inconspicuous.
The excellent school system of the city is appropriately housed.  The public grammar and
high school buildings, most of them comparatively
new, are built according to approved methods of
school-house construction, and in their outward
appearance suggest a hopeful reaction in the direction of suitable architecture. They are long, low,
and cool-looking, in a style adapted from the Spanish, which is admirably suited to the surroundings.
One older school is established in the Bishop homestead on Emma Street, the house where Mrs.
Bishop, the last of the royal line of Kamehameha,
died in 1884. It has not been changed and still
looks like an expensive private house of forty
years ago, but is worth a visit because of its
historic associations and because of the beauty of
its grounds. A little further up the same street,
opposite the gloriously tropical gardens of Judge
Dole, are the new concrete buildings of the old
royal school where formerly the chiefs were educated.
Mrs. Bishop, who was the finest type of Hawaiian woman, refused the throne to which she
was heir and at her death left her large property
for educational purposes. It has been used in
building the Kamehameha School for Hawaiians,




HONOLULU


117


situated about two miles west of the city. Mr.
Bishop, a man of power, charm, and loyalty, has
supplemented her gift by adding to the school
equipment a biological laboratory, by generous
endowment, and by building the great Museum.
Kamehameha is a semi-military school, with a
membership of about 250 Hawaiian and partly
Hawaiian boys. Across the street from the boys'
school is situated a girls' school, with about 125
pupils. The large group of buildings of native
stone, the walls covered with vines, would compare favourably with the buildings of any American school, and in their setting of trees, with the
nearby mountains as a background, are unique.
Here the boys are taught trades as well as elementary subjects. To see them marching to chapel
in the morning, neat and manly in their grey
uniforms, to watch them working at their desks or
in the lathe or forge shops, or playing football
on the campus, makes one understand why it is
that the school turns out the most useful class of
native citizens.
Another school or group of schools for Hawaiians and Orientals is the Mid-Pacific Institute, situated in Manoa Valley. The best known of this
group is the Kawaiahao Seminary, now established
in a large building of rough stone in a high, cool
site, which is in every way preferable to the old
situation on King Street, near Kawaiahao Church.




118  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT.


This school was started by the missionaries and
has educated many of the best Hawaiian women.
Another school in this group is the Mills Institute,
established about twenty-five years ago by Mr. F.
W. Damon for the education of Chinese and
Japanese youth. It has now broadened its scope
to cover other nationalities. The Mid-Pacific Institute, with 400-500 students, which represents
work of a semi-missionary character, occupies
about 75 acres of land, and is housed in excellent
stone buildings.
Among other schools is Oahu College, or, as it
is familiarly called, Punahou, situated on Punahou
Street, at the mouth of Manoa Valley. The city
has grown out and surrounded it now, but when
the school was started by the missionaries for the
education of their children and the children of
other foreigners in the Islands it was well out in
the country. At Punahou most of the girls and
boys who go annually to American colleges are
prepared. The school has well-equipped buildings
in a park of 90 acres and over 700 students. The
great algaroba trees at the entrance are the finest
in Honolulu; there are beautiful avenues of royal
palms; a pond of wonderful pink and blue water
lilies; orchards of various tropical fruits; and all
this in one of the coolest situations near the city.
On the hill back is the splendid athletic field where
most of the football and baseball games of the city




HONOLULU


119


are played. The Honolulu Military Academy
does good work, as do also St. Andrew's Priory
and Iolani College, Church schools, St. Louis College, a Roman Catholic school, and the College of
Hawaii, a government institution.
A building of real interest, constructed of brown
tufa stone from Punch Bowl and surrounded by
striking gardens, is Lunalilo Home. This was
established by bequest of King Lunalilo as a home
for aged and indigent Hawaiians, and here about
a hundred of them live on and on. Some are blind;
some deaf; all are decrepit. They sit in the sun
under the palm trees and talk of times seventy
years ago, quarrel happily and vociferously, and
sometimes marry-these octogenarians and nonogenarians. They have plenty to eat, comfortable
quarters, a weekly excursion to church in an omnibus, and, life having become something nearly
approximate to Heaven, they see no valid reason
for changing their state. Not seldom do they
pass the century mark and many remember, or
claim to remember, the death of the first Kamehameha.
Another monument to the generosity of a sovereign is the Queen's Hospital, near the centre of
the city. In 1859, by large donations and by
personal solicitation of Kamehameha IV and Queen
Emma, the money for this institution was raised.
It is well worth a visit on account of the beauty




120  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


of its grounds, which are almost a jungle of
tropical growth and contain many uncommon
plants. The winding avenue of date palms could
not be surpassed, and directly behind the palms
are masses of most luxuriant and often sweetsmelling vegetation. If one could only look out
from the jungle on wastes of golden sand instead
of on busy streets it would be easy to imagine oneself in Count Landon's garden in Biskra.
There are in Honolulu two public collections of
the highest importance and interest, the Bishop
Museum at Kamehameha School and the Aquarium
at Waikiki. The Museum, covering all aspects of
the islands of the Pacific, zoological, geographical,
ethnological, and historical, has become, under the
able management of Mr. William T. Brigham,
one of the great world museums. Its collections,
which are admirably arranged, are of incomparable value to the student of science, and-which
is not always the case-are keenly interesting to
the layman. Here one sees the ancient royal regalia, superb yellow feather cloaks and helmets,
as well as kahilis, the great feather standards of
every colour, which were the insignia of rank.
These regalia, which had been inherited by Mrs.
Bishop, formed the nucleus of the Museum collections. Passing from the room where these are, one
sees weapons of all kinds; implements of stone and
of wood and of bone; life-sized groups illustrating




HONOLULU


121


the tenacious but nevertheless passing customs of
the Hawaiians, as well as the life of other Pacific
islands; innumerable birds, many of them extinct;
land-shells with their exquisite colouring; specimens of flora and of fauna. The Museum is distinctly divided into a Hawaiian and a Polynesian
section, but the collections are being so rapidly
augmented and are so often changed that no guide
can be given. There are attendants to show people
about and there are handbooks. The Museum is
open daily, except Sunday, and ought not to be
omitted by any one who is visiting Honolulu.
In its more limited way, the Aquarium at Waikiki-open every day-is of equal interest. It is
said to be second in importance to the aquarium at
Naples, but certainly far surpasses it in the
beauty of its collection. The fish are indescribably beautiful, and some of them-which is one
of the delights of an aquarium-are indescribably
funny in their actions and in their expressions.
And the queer Hawaiian names also are sometimes
amusing. One queer little fish, for example, is
named the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa. The brilliance of their colours, the extraordinary blending
and striping and spotting, seemingly impossible
in their combinations, yet always resulting in harmony, might well be the life study of an artist,
whether sane or " futuriste." One feels that these




122  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


fish have absorbed all the vivid colours of the sunshot tropical sea which was their home.
The Aquarium is at the edge of Kapiolani Park.
Here there are charming drives and walks along
palm-lined avenues, between canals and ponds filled
with red and white and blue and pink water lilies
or with masses of the pale lavender water hyacinth,
across rustic bridges to little islands dotted with
fan palms, between masses of brilliant-leaved cro,
tons or of hibiscus or of oleanders. And always
through the trees there are glimpses of the distant
blue mountains, always, when the wind is at rest,
there is the murmur of the sea. The park covers
about 125 acres, and with proper financial support
could be made one of the loveliest gardens in existence. As it is, it looks and is unkempt; many of
the plants are allowed to spread too much and are
not properly cared for, but no lack of care can
destroy the colour of the flowers nor the charm
of the frame. The city controls other smaller
parks, but in the tropics, where every house, however humble, has its garden, there is not the imperative need for breathing space that there is
in most cities, and as down-town parks Thomas
Square, of five or six acres, and Emma Square, of
hardly more than an acre, serve as public gardens
and places for band concerts. The other public
parks are laid out, therefore, primarily as playgrounds and athletic fields.




iv


HONOLULU                  12l
Private gardens line all the streets, their lux,
uriant trees and shrubbery happily masking the
houses themselves, most of which make no pretense
to anything but comfort. People live out of doors,
and the result is that broad vine-covered verandas
or " lanais "-the Hawaiian term is used universally-are the most noticeable and characteristic
features of many of the houses. The glory of the
gardens is their palms-royal palms and dates
principally, but also wine palms and fan palmsand their flowering trees. In the spring the Poinciana regia makes huge flaming umbrellas of orange
or scarlet or crimson; the Golden Shower, sometimes a stately tree, is hung-with its thousands
of loose clusters of yellow bells; the Cacia nodossa
spreads its great sheaves of shellpink and white
blossoms like a glorified apple-tree; the Pride of
India is a mist of lavender. But at all times of
the year these trees look well, and in addition to
them there are gigantic banyans throwing cool
purple masses of shade; algarobas with their feathery leaves through which the sunlight is pleasantly
diluted and the insignificant flowers of which supply the tons of honey exported annually to England. Near the coast the ancient indigenous hau,
half-tree, half-creeper, builds natural summerhouses. So thickly does this tree grow that there
is fantastic truth in Mark Twain's statement that
when the hao is massed at the foot of a low cliff




124  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


cattle walk from the cliff brink into its topmost
branches and roost comfortably, like hens. Nor
is there altogether falsehood in his other statement that the' cocoanut-trees which fringe Hawaiian shores look like feather-dusters struck by
lightning. They do, and yet no tree is more
stately than this slender spire, crowned high in
the air with its cluster of graceful leaves. Stories
of monkeys throwing down the nuts are only
untrue because there are no monkeys. The Hawaiians, however, run up the trees almost as
monkeys would to gather the fruit. The vines in
Honolulu are no less striking than are the flowering trees and are in bloom more continuously.
Bougainvillea, magenta or brick-red or cherry
colour, grows to the tops of the highest trees and
makes mounds of colour over many an unsightly
barn; the bignonia grows as an impenetrable curtain of brilliant orange; there are walls of purple
or yellow alamander; the "yellow vine," another
bignonia, climbing high into the trees, drops its
long, restless fringes of lemon-yellow flowers; the
less common beaumontia holds up its pearl-white
cups, pencilled with pink on the outside, each as
large as a teacup. Other less noticeable vines, such
as the ivory stephanotis and ylang-ylang, make the
air about them heavy with their sweetness. And
beneath all these the shrubs add still other colours.
The hibiscus is cultivated as nowhere else, many




HONOLULU


125


working over it as the Dutch work over their
tulips. The commonest form is the single scarlet,
but there are single pink and white and yellow
flowers, and others cut like coral and of the shade
of coral. There are double ones, too, of pale
chrome or vivid gold, or of pink, and white, and
crimson like finest peonies. There are shrubs of
all descriptions with coloured foliage; there are
plumarias of white or orange-yellow growing out
of bare branches that look like cactus; there are
oleanders of all colours, and poinsettias that grow
to the size of small trees. The stone wall around
two sides of Oahu College is covered thickly with
night-blooming cereus, and the spectacle on a
moonlight night when thousands of the great white
flowers are open at once is indescribably beautiful.
Only the normal garden flowers are rare, and this
not through any fault of soil or climate-Honolulu
used to rival California in its roses-but because
of plant pests that have been introduced from
Japan and the American continent. These are
gradually being controlled, and within a few years
every Honolulu garden will again be a garden of
roses. Still, there are asters the year round, carnations, African daisies of all colours, most of the
annuals, gladioli, and lilies, so one is not at a loss
to find flowers for the house.
Perhaps the best of these private gardens are
those along Nuuanu Avenue, which was settled




126  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


early, and those in the vicinity of Oahu College,
although this general division does not mean that
there are not good gardens in all parts of the
city. One of the most satisfactory places, from
the picturesque point of view, is Washington Place,
the home of the Queen, near the Hawaiian Hotel.
It surpasses most because the house is as good
as the garden, and both express the tropics.
The house has wide lanais, supported by high
white columns, something in the Southern colonial
style, and is simple and dignified. Around it are
great trees that shut away the street, that keep
the house always cool. The whole has an air of
retirement expressive of the attitude of the Queen
herself.
There are everywhere beautiful single gardens,
stately avenues of royal palms, masses of colour,
street after street made beautiful by the devoted
work of the "Outdoor Circle," but what the visitor
carries away as something which can never be forgotten is not the impression so much of any single
spot as of the whole; of one great garden where
many men have built their habitations-a garden
in an amphitheatre of glorious mountains over
which march columns of clouds that gleam white
against the blue of the sky; a garden looking out
over a shining, tropical ocean, peaceful, happy in
the sunshine; an oasis, small but perfect, in the
immense desert of the Pacific,




CHAPTER VIII


OAHU
THE Island of Oahu, halfway between Kauai and
Maui, contains 598 square miles and is the third
in size of the group. The shore line is extremely
irregular and the Island, therefore, has more harbours than any of the others. The low coastal
plains are usually uplifted coral reefs and there is
also much growing coral around the Island. There
are two mountain ranges, one running the length
of the Island from northwest to southeast, the
other forming the southwestern portion. These
ranges, very differently affected by erosion, give
varied scenery. Honolulu, the only important
town, is the natural centre for excursions, most of
which can be made in half a day or a day by
carriage or by automobile.*
First to be seen are some of the many valleys
cutting the leeward slope of the principal mountain range, valleys of infinite variety, and all
beautiful. Of these the most accessible and thoroughly characteristic are Manoa, the first valley
to the east, and Nuuanu, back of the city. Manoa
*For prices, which are regulated by law, see Appendix,
p. 233.
127




128  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


is very broad, with an undulating floor running
back to the base of the mountains, which rise
abruptly. Konahuanui (3,105 feet), at the left,
is the highest peak of the range, and Olympusunfortunate misnomer-at the right, appears only
a little lower. From the mountains long ridges
descend gently to the plain, the sides of the valley,
however, being steep and rocky. The lower part
of Manoa, which is reached by the electric cars, is
being rapidly built over, but beyond the houses
are taro patches, groves of banana, masses of
wild guava, and jungles of lantana. Nothing could
be more serenely lovely than the semicircle of
mountains, the green of all tints-yellow of kukui,
neutral of lehua and ferns, and emerald of ohiashading into blue as the hills rise higher. The
trade wind clouds drifting across the summits disperse in misty showers that keep the valley always
fresh and yet hardly obscure the sunlight.
Very different is Nuuanu Valley. This is a narrow cut through the mountains, affording the only
route, except that around the coast, to the windward side of the Island. An excellent road winds
up the valley; after it leaves the lower, inhabited
part, between fields of long grass that ripple in
the wind like waves, between lines of tropical trees
and rocks overgrown by vines. Behind there is
always the ocean and on either side, and ahead,




OAHU


129


the mountains, apparently blocking the way.
After a rain hundreds of miniature waterfalls
spray over the sides of the valley, only to be
blown away before reaching the bottom. Quite
suddenly, about six miles from the city, one reaches
the Pali, the precipice 1,200 feet high, over which
the conqueror Kamehameha drove the army of
the King of Oahu. On turning a sharp corner the
south side of the Island is gone and one looks down
on the windward coast. It is one of the most
unexpected and amazingly beautiful views in the
world. The narrow northern coastal plain is buttressed on one side by the abrupt precipitous mass
of mountains, and on the other is washed by the
sea. Little islands along the shore break the even
surface of the water. The plain is dark with wild
guava bushes, or tinted by the yellow-green of
cane fields, or checkered with the grey of pineapples, or cut with great red gashes where the
earth is exposed. The mountains reach on and on,
at first bare, bleak precipices, then torn into sombre gorges, deep purple-blue, forbidding and fascinating. One looks and looks, and the colours shift,
and the islets glow more brightly or are blurred
for an instant in a sudden spray of rain, and the
sea changes ceaselessly like a great opal, and the
surf makes white, waving fringes on the yellow
sand. Gradually one becomes conscious that the
road, which seemed suddenly to end, continues




130  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


down the mountains, cut in tortuous line around
the precipices. And then one inevitably goes on a
little further in order to look back and so to
get the full, overwhelming impression of the towering cliffs. Little mountains these are, when compared to the Alps, and yet in all Switzerland there
is no view more wonderful, more varied, more
memorable than this, because there is no view
that more stirs the imagination. Later, when the
scene has become a memory, one asks oneself why
this is, and the answer is, perhaps, the Sea. The
far, naked horizon, the tireless surge of the waters,
the consciousness that for thousands of miles to
the north and to the west there is nothing but this
endless, breathing ocean-the power of it; and
against this seemingly resistless force only the
ragged volcanic mountains of a lonely island,
breasting winds and waves. There is something
to inspire in the thought. And then, if it was
afternoon, the sun shot golden spears of light
through the clouds over the western mountains,
making the plain between the dark gorges and the
sea all radiant, and the gold glimmered on the
waves. So later one can realise that, after all,
it is not the conflict, but the harmony of these
elemental forces that is so impressive.
No view in Oahu is as spectacularly beautiful,
as stirring, as that sudden vision from the Pali.




OAHU


131


Others are as lovely, more peaceful, perhaps more
permanently satisfying. Pre-eminent among these
is the prospect from Mt. Tantalus, back of
Honolulu, where people are beginning to build
summer cottages. From behind Punch Bowl the
road (lately open to automobiles) winds upward
along the lower ridges, which have been reforested
with eucalyptus, Australian wattle, and other
trees, skirts the last steep cone of the mountain,
and loses itself in the native forest, almost a
jungle, that covers a maze of tiny valleys and
old volcanic cones. From the slopes of Tantalus
one gets the whole sweep of ocean from Diamond
Head, and beyond, to Barber's Point, the southern
end of the Island. Just below, Punch Bowl holds
up its empty crater. West and east from the
city stretch the undulating plains with their diversity of vegetation. Far to the right is the silver
line of Pearl Harbour, and beyond it the faint
blue mass of the Waianae Mountains. Through
trees on the nearer ridges Diamond Head stands
out, yellow-brown against the metallic blue of the
sea. From almost everywhere one sees it-this
hill guarding the eastern approach-low, long, and
kindly, dignified as an ancient, titanic lion asleep,
its forepaws washed by the waves. One grows to
love it and to look for it as the key-note and
index of every view. At the Pali an hour at a
time is enough. It is a framed picture, clear-cut




132  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


and masterly in the drawing, exciting to the imagination, but finally almost tiring in its perfection. The view from Tantalus has no frame
except the horizon. One looks away from the
mountains but feels them as a background. There
is always something new to be discovered in the
picture. There is a serenity about it that is
infinitely restful. Jean Jacques Rousseau would
have sobbed violently and loudly,at the Pali. On
Tantalus he would have smiled, if he knew how to
smile, or if tears were his inevitable method of
expression, they would at least have been silent,
happy tears.
There are many drives or automobile trips to
be made near Honolulu. One, passing through
Waikiki, follows the corniche road around Diamond Head, to Waialae, with its excellent school
for boys whose parents believe in military training, its wild and beautiful valley (only to be
reached on horseback), and its great cocoanut
groves; then back through the new residence district of Kaimuki. Good roads lead into some of
the valleys and to the new residence sections on the
heights to the west and the east of the city. A
delightful drive is westward to Moanalua, with
its queer little twin craters, one half-filled by a
salt lake, its rice fields, its excellent polo ground,
and its gardens, one of which, that of Mr. S. M.
Damon, is large, admirably laid out, and well kept,




OAHU


138


and is often open to the public, as are the great
private gardens of Italy.
The railway that will eventually make the circuit of the Island, after leaving Honolulu, passes
through Moanalua, cuts across the cane fields of
the Honolulu Plantation, makes almost the circuit
of Pearl Harbour, passes Oahu and Ewa Plantations, rounds Barber's Point, and, from Waianae,
follows the western shore of the Island through
Waialua to Kahuku, the northwestern point, and
then, turning eastward, ends about ten miles beyond the point. From the windows of the train
(the left-hand side is best) one gets as good an idea
of this part of the Island as can be obtained on a
three-hour railroad trip. A few miles from Honolulu one reaches Pearl Harbour, with its ten or
more square miles of deep water, perhaps the finest
land-locked harbour in the world. Its shores are
low, deeply indented, sloping gradually upward
at the north and west. In places the cane fields
extend to the very edge of the water. In places
there are bits of almost barren plain where only
lantana grows-the pest of the Islands, that on
the mainland is so tenderly cultivated in many
a garden for the sake of its pretty mauve and
pink or white and scarlet flowers. In the harbour
are low islands, bare, or spotted with trees and
occasional houses. On the flat eastern banks are
the government buildings, barracks and shops, and




134  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the great drydock. On the Peninsula, in the
western part of the harbour, is a colony of
summer cottages, each with its trees and garden,
where many Honolulu people go for week-ends to
enjoy the excellent bathing and boating. Nothing could be prettier than the view from here, across
the still water, dotted with sailboats and canoes
and, now that the dredging of the entrance has
been finished, bearing great grey battleships and
cruisers; across the water to the cloud-capped
mountains beyond the cane fields, and far to the
eastward Diamond Head, distant but still beautiful, jutting into the sea.
From Pearl Harbour the train cuts across
the broad cane fields of the Ewa Plantation,
fields that in the flowering season are a sea of
waving pale violet plumes, like feathery pampas
flowers. The huge mill and pumping stations of
the plantation may be visited. Beyond, on the
barren plains that slope upward to the Waianae
Mountains, there are fields of sisal, each plant
looking like a rosette of spears protruding from
the ground. Through scrub algaroba forests,
where honey bees are raised, the railroad passes
around the southern end of the Island to a very
narrow plain, sometimes hardly more than a causeway between mountains and ocean, and across the
mouths of broad valleys which run deep into the
heart of the range. In these valleys is grown




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OAHU


135


most of the cane of the Waianae Plantation. At
the end of the mountains, on the western sea, is
Waialua, a pretty little village between the two
ranges, where, on the beach, a delightful hotel
serves good luncheons and provides clean, comfortable quarters for those who can stay a few
days to enjoy the splendid surf bathing or to go
goat shooting in the mountains.  The view of
Kaala, with its surrounding peaks and gorges, is
very good from the beach in front of Haleiwa
Hotel. The Waialua Plantation is large and is,
for Oahu, unusually picturesque on account of
the hills and ravines over which the cane grows.
The ditches which carry water from the mountains,
and the reservoir supplying them, are interesting
pieces of engineering work.
Beyond Waialua, again along the narrow seaboard, the surf dashes almost to the windows of the
cars. The mountains, not so high, are more rugged
and barren. Over the rocks in one place, however,
one catches a glimpse of the tops of eucalyptus trees and fields of pineapples. Along
the rocky shore Hawaiian fishermen are often
seen, bronze in colour, dressed only in the
ancient loin cloth, casting their nets into
the waves. They come probably from Waimea,
where, in a valley a few miles beyond Waialua, is one of the few remaining primitive




136  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


Hawaiian settlements. In this valley Lieutenant
Hergst, of the British supply ship Doedalus,
and his companion, Mr. Gooch, were murdered.
Their ship had stopped for water and the two had
wandered inland to explore the country. It was
at a time (1792) when the Hawaiians were particularly bitter against foreigners.  The little
valley, with its ruined temple and its grass houses,
is more typical of Hawaii before 1800 than anything in the Island. The air grows cooler as the
hills recede, the breeze fresher, until, at the north
point of the Island, there is a steady, strong wind
blowing in across the ocean from the northeast, a
wind full of life, a sea wind, purer than any other.
It tatters the leaves of the cane on the Kahuku
Plantation, but does not hurt the cane itself, and
the moisture of it brings out all the colours in
trees and flowers. The manager of the plantation
is a New England man, and back of his house are
masses of wonderful hollyhocks, almost the only
ones on the Island.
The automobile road from Honolulu around the
Island follows the line of the railroad to Kahuku,
except from Pearl Harbour to Waialua, where,
instead of following the coast, it crosses the
plateau between the two mountain ranges. Here,
at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, are stationed
U. S. Cavalry, Artillery and Infantry, and at
almost all hours of the day troops may be seen




OAHU


'137,


drilling on some part of the plain. On the other
side of the road from the encampment are thousands of acres of pineapples, the fruit from which
is sent to all parts of the world. Further on, the
road climbs down and up again through grim,
barren gorges that have been torn out by centuries
of sudden rainstorms. The largest of these gulches
is Kipapa, the scene of one of the bloodiest of
ancient battles. Beyond the dam which holds back
the water for the Waialua Plantation the road
descends in long turns to the Haleiwa Hotel, and
from here to Kahuku follows once more the line
of the railroad.
The northern point of the Island marks the end
of the first half of the one-day automobile trip of
ninety miles around this part of the Island. It
is, perhaps, the more varied, but certainly the
less beautiful half of a trip that in European
guidebooks would be double starred. Six miles
beyond Kahuku the road passes Laie, the Mormon
settlement. Several hundred Mormons live here,
most of them Hawaiians, who raise sugar cane to
be ground at the Kahuku mill, and who practise
their religion more strictly in accord with the civil
law than is reputed to be the case among the
Mormons in Utah. The coast soon becomes narrower; the mountains rise more perpendicularly;
the valleys are more like canions. One of them,
Kaliuwaa, is so narrow that at the base of the




138  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


waterfall at its southern end only a thin lozenge
of sky is visible. A side excursion on foot to this
valley is well worth the rough walk of about two
miles. It is filled with ohia trees, which are often
laden with their red, somewhat tasteless, but cool
and refreshing fruit. Natives, on entering the
gorge, always pick the large polished leaves of
the ohia and lay them crossed on the ground as
a charm to prevent rocks falling from the cliffs.
The waterfall itself is thin and high, sliding in a
groove down the solid rock. There is a legend to
account for this groove that the demigod Kamapuaa, in trying to escape from a king who was
chasing him for stealing chickens, fled into the
valley and, reaching its precipitous end, dragged
his canoe up the face of the rock, thus marking
it forever.
The ocean on this northern side of the Island
seems to be of a quite different character. Instead of a choppy sea, variegated in colour, as
on the southern shore, it is an even, deep blue, and
stately billows like those in mid-ocean roll in, to
sweep noiselessly over the broad beaches of white
sand. The hills press more and more closely to
the water, except where the flat valley bottoms
give space for the cultivation of rice and taro.
Glimpses up these valleys reveal a more luxuriant
vegetation than on the leeward slopes, because the
mountains intercept much of the rainfall.




OAHU


189


It is not until reaching Kualoa Point that one
gets the most glorious view-the reverse of that
seen from Nuuanu Pali. Kaneohe Bay, deep, protected by coral reefs, and dotted with islands,
many of which are the peaks of submerged volcanic
hills, lies straight ahead beyond another, shorter
point. Between sea and mountains is a broken
plain. There are no more valleys, the mountains
rising like a continuous, blue, crenellated wall to
beat back the wind and to catch the water in the
clouds that drift in from sea. This wall of
rock, which, beyond the Pali, reaches out into the
sea at Mokapu Point, looks almost semicircular,
and it is possible that instead of being the work
of erosion only, it is the magnificent ruins of some
stupendous ancient crater, the other half of which
has sunk into the sea. The less spectacular theory,
that it is the result of centuries of beating by
wind and rain, may be true, but whatever the
causes the final panorama is superb.
The road clings to the shore. The mountains
grow more and more impressive, partly through
contrast, as they are seen across the tender green
of rice fields or the grey of pineapples, partly
because they really become higher as one travels
southeastward. More and more is the imagination
stirred; more and more is there mystery in the
blacker shadows that reach over the plain. One
believes the Hawaiian legend that on a certain




140  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


night of every year the conqueror Kamehameha
marches with his ghostly army along the face of
these hills and that all those who see the glimmer
of the spears in the moonlight and who hear the
trampling of the feet must surely die. At Ahuimanu-in English the " gathering place of birds "
-there is an old house, at the end of a branch
road leading for a couple of miles directly away
from the shore. It was built by the first French
Bishop of Honolulu as a place to which he might
retire for meditation and prayer. It stands close
to the foot of the precipices and is shadowed with
aged trees. From its windows one looks up and
up until the rocks are hidden in the clouds. They
might reach the sky for all one knows, and one
very soon gets to believe that they do. Only for
a few hours does the sun reach this solitary farmhouse. The only sounds are the murmur of
streams and the roar of the wind as it strikes the
mountain wall. It is a sombre spot in a way, and
yet there is an unworldly, almost superhuman
fascination about it that somehow sets off this
secluded corner of the Island as something quite
apart from all the rest. It is shut in, a place in
which to dream-the Bishop knew what he was
doing when he built-whereas the southern slopes
are full of sunshine in which are all the simple
realities of life.
The road turns away from the sea at last,.




OAHU


141


crosses a plain covered with pineapples and leads
straight toward the precipice, which is no less
abrupt here than elsewhere, though not so high.
The ascent would seem impossible were it not that
one can see the road-a line twisting and turning
around the rough face of the rocks. And a good
road it proves to be, in spite of the hairpin turns,
which in late years have been eliminated as much
as is humanly possible. As one ascends the view
grows broader, less detailed, more full of blending
colours. The wind roars through the gap above.
A long curve around the face of the cliff that juts
out from the main range, rocks rising perpendicularly at the left of the road and at the right
descending in a sheer drop of several hundred feet,
one last look over blue ocean, variegated plain,
and dark blue mountains, and then suddenly
through the gap with the wind and before one
lies peaceful Nuuanu Valley, descending gently to
the city and the southern sea. In an instant the
whole character of the scene has changed. It is
no longer grand, but lovely; black mountain
shadows are left behind, and before are sunshine
and waving yellow grasses. No one since Dr.!
Johnson, with his definition of mountains as " considerable protuberances," could make the circuit
of Oahu without enthusiasm, and even Dr. Johnson, though he pretended to despise, had a habit
of seeking out wild scenery in which to spend his




142  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


holidays. No motor excursion of a hundred miles
covers more varied or more beautiful country
than does this.
The trip around the shorter, southeastern end
of the Island can only be made as a whole on
horseback, since the Waimanalo Pali at the eastern
point has only a trail across it. It is an interesting drive, however, along the shore eastward from
Honolulu. Beyond Diamond Head is the wide,
sandy plain of Waialae, with its algaroba trees
and its cocoanuts; back of it deep valleys cut into
the mountains. Beyond, at Niu, which is the last
of the fertile valleys, there are interesting ancient
burial caves easily reached from the road by a
five minutes' scramble up the ridge. Koko Head,
like Diamond Head and Punch Bowl, an old mud
volcano, here juts into the ocean. From it, unless
the day is misty, one gets a good view of the Island
of Molokai across the channel, of the little Island
of Lanai, with the higher mountains of west Maui
between. Koko Head itself is absolutely barren,
as is the land beyond it, a mass of rocks and lava
sand. Just under Koko Head to the east is a wonderful little horseshoe-shaped bay, very deep and
often very rough, as the waves from the channel
sweep through its narrow mouth. This is a
favourite goal for the exciting sport of shark
fishing. The sharks are caught with spears attached to heavy cord and, after being speared,




OAHU


143


make a tremendous fight for liberty. Very few of
them are man-eaters, but the possibility of only
one makes a man as cautious about swimming in
an unprotected bay like this as the presence of a
single man-eating tiger would make him cautious
about wandering through the woods at night.
Fortunately the shark hates shallow water, since
in it he must turn over, either to attack or to
defend himself, and the result is that no sharks
cross the coral reefs which protect many parts of
the Islands. Swimming at Waikiki and at other
bathing resorts is, therefore, as safe as swimming
in Y. M. C. A. pools. A story widely believed that
sharks attack only white men, avoiding the darkskinned natives, is false. The natives certainly
are less easily seen in the water, and the legend
may have arisen from the fact that the Hawaiians
are fearless. They are marvellous swimmers and
will sometimes dive under a shark and stab it in
the belly, the only vulnerable part, except the nose.
The fact remains, however, as has been sadly
proved more than once, that if a man-eater happens to see a Hawaiian who has got too far away
from his canoe no agility can save him.
Beyond Koko Head a new carriage road winds
upward over the wild desolation of rocks to the
hill above the great lighthouse at Makapuu Point,
at the extreme eastern end of the Island. From
here the roughest kind of trail leads down the




144    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
Waimanalo Pali, directly over the water. Soon
after reaching the bottom of the cliffs the trail
strikes another carriage road that winds over a
beautiful rolling seaboard and then, avoiding the
cape which marks the eastern boundary of the
great Koolau half-basin, it strikes back through
the hills to the foot of Nuuanu Pali. This trip is
a very short one as compared to that around the
northern end of the Island-thirty miles as
against nearly a hundred-but takes as long on
account of the difficult pass. It is perhaps as
beautiful, but is somewhat a repetition of the
other trip, except for the barren plains beyond
Koko Head. The trip to Waimanalo may best be
taken as a side trip from the foot of Nuuanu Pali,
and the excursion to the lighthouse and back to
Honolulu made on a separate day, thus avoiding
the really dangerous trail at Makapuu Point.
For those able to take rough walks Oahu offers
innumerable opportunities. First and easiest, because of the good trails, are the many tramps
that can be taken in the vicinity of Mt. Tantalus,
back of Honolulu. An excellent trail branches to
the left from the Tantalus Road just behind
Punch Bowl. It follows the right-hand ridge of
Pauoa, a shallow valley that extends only two or
three miles into the mountains. Across the valley,
on the western ridge, is Pacific Heights, a recently




OAHU


I 145


formed residence section, reached by a good road.
The bottom of the valley is lovely to look down
upon, with its kitchen gardens and its bright
green taro patches, the whole terraced and laid
out in rectangles. The trail winds along the face
of the ridge, now in the open, now through bits of
forest; drops a little to cross the marshy plateau,
overgrown with guavas, at the head of the valley;
turns to the left, climbs again for a short distance,
and comes out suddenly and unexpectedly over
Nuuanu Valley, about two-thirds of the way from
Honolulu to the Pali. Here there is an almost
sheer drop of a thousand feet or more, which is,
however, overgrown with trees and ferns and vines.
The view of the valley is superb, and looking to
the right one can see through the gap to the
ocean on the other side of the Island. From here
the trail turns toward the mountains again and
continues northeastward, always overlooking Nuuanu Valley or the gorges that lead into it, and
always winding its way upward through magnificent native forests. There are great kukui trees
with leaves like the maple, but larger and cream
coloured underneath; huge ferns that arch their
fronds over the path; the ie-ie vine with its yellow
candles surrounded by whorls of scarlet leaves;
clumps of wild bananas; lehua trees with their
flowers like pink flames; shrubs of mokihana, the
berries and leaves of which are as sweet and




146  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


as pungent as lavender. At last the path emerges
from the forest on to a knife-like ridge that leads
to the main mountain mass. Here one looks down
a dizzy height into Nuuanu on one side, southward
over the maze of hills back of Tantalus, and on
the other side into Manoa Valley and the distant
round crater of Diamond Head. Straight ahead
is the peak of Konahuanui, a hard but safe climb
of an hour, with a clearly defined trail. From
Honolulu to the foot of the peak and back would
take five to six hours. From here another path
leads around the head of Manoa Valley to Olympus
and so, with a stiff but wonderful climb, down the
windward side of the range into Koolau. This
trip, returning by way of Nuuanu Pali, is a long
day's tramp. Another trail branches off after
passing the head of Manoa, and crossing a knife
ridge-not safe for those unused to mountain
climbing-leads into the head of Palolo Valley and
to a queer little crater, overgrown with ferns,
which seems lost in the mountains. From here
this trail turns south and leads along the ridge to
Kaimuki, a new residence section back of Diamond
Head. The round trip takes about nine hours.
These are only a few of hundreds of invigorating walks, but there are few others with well-defined
trails. The mountains are public lands; there is
little danger of getting lost or of running into
serious difficulty, unless one actually attempts to




OAHU


147


cross the range. The only rule when in doubt as
to the way home is to go toward the sea-in general southwestward-and always to keep on top
of the ridges. This may mean an occasional long
detour, but the valley bottoms are almost certain
to have waterfalls which are quite impassable. It
is always a temptation to go down into the valley,
where the way looks easier, but it means invariably
a very hard climb to get back again to the top
of the ridge. Although the greatest altitude is
only 4,000 feet, the peaks are steep, and many
of them give real mountain work. On the main
range these peaks are usually covered with ferns,
vines, and tough-shrubs, which make the climbing
easier for the amateur, but not safer, because he
is more careless. In the Waianae Range many of
the points are of bare rock that is a test for the
most expert. From the northeast side of the
Island the precipices are inaccessible, except in a
very few places, but from any point on the southern and western sides the crest of the range can
be reached by walkers who are willing to fight
their way through masses of undergrowth-an
undertaking safe in almost no other tropical
country. For the strong walker the field is, therefore, almost inexhaustible.
Aside from Honolulu itself, and the drives in
its environs, there is one trip, that around the
Island by automobile, which should not be missed




14;8   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
by any one who visits the Territory. Omitting the
walks, there is certainly enough to fill every
moment of one's time for a week, but only those
who stay longer and who are willing to go out of
the beaten track can realise the full beauty of
Oahu or understand its charm.




CHAPTER IX


KAUAI
KAUAI, the most northerly island of the group, a
steamer trip of one night from Honolulu, has an
area of 547 square miles. It is very nearly circular, has a regular shore line, without important
harbours, and is made up of the mountain mass of
Waialeale, 6,000 feet high. This is not, however,
a great dome like any one of the mountains on
Hawaii. Kauai is geologically the oldest of the
islands, and as a result its mountain has been
cut by erosion into hundreds of separate peaks
and valleys. The soil washed down has formed
lowlands near the shore, except on the northwest
side, where there are great sea cliffs of naked rock
rising to a height of 2,000 feet. The west central
part of the Island is an enormous bog, so nearly
impassable that it makes the ascent of the central
peak extremely difficult. It forms, however, an
inexhaustible watershed for the southern and
southwestern slopes. Over this bog there is usually dense fog-practically the only fog in the
Islands-a characteristic which makes exploration
of the interior even more difficult. Indeed very
little was known of it until recently, when the
149




150  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


plantations penetrated inland in search of a
permanent water supply. The northern part of
the Island is very rainy, Hanalei having a rainfall equal to that of Hilo. The Island used to be
densely wooded, but there are at present no forests
except on the higher mountain slopes, as cattle
first destroyed them on the lowlands and the
ground has since been appropriated for the cultivation of sugar, rice, and pineapples. Abundant
rainfall or water supply, combined with the extreme fertility of the soil, keeps everything green,
and has rightly given to Kauai the name of the
Garden Island. As the'roads are excellent and the
distances short, the principal points of interest
can be covered in a five-day round trip from
Honolulu, a trip tremendously worth taking by
those who are not afraid of a rough night at sea.
There are comfortable hotels at Hanalei, Lihue,
and Waimea.
Landing at Waimea, on the southwestern side of
the Island, where Captain Cook first stepped on
Hawaiian territory, arrangements can readily be
made for seeing the Island. Short excursions may
be taken from Waimea itself as follows: Fifteen
miles to the northwest, over a good road, at the
extreme western point of the Island, are a line of
windblown sand hills called the Barking Sands.
The wind on the sands makes them rustle like silk;
to slide down them produces a sound like thunder;




XKAUAI


151


to stamp on them makes them cry out in different
cadences. This sand is a natural curiosity existing in very few places, and is amusing to grown
people as well as to children. Near the sands, at
Polihale, is a famous old Hawaiian bathing beach
-one of the " lucky places "-which, besides being
an ideal place for a swim, is still supposed by the
natives to bring special good fortune to all who
enter the water. The great upland plains beyond,
one of the dryest and most beautiful spots in the
Islands, may soon be set aside as a permanent Government reserve. Another trip, which takes the
better part of a day, is back through the Waimea
Gulch as far as Puukapele, 3,600 feet high, where
is obtained the best view of the surrounding country. This valley, originally a fissure in the mountain, cuts across all the ridges that run southwest
from the central mass and leads far into the interior of the Island. The trip, which must be
made on horseback, leads through magnificent
scenery, between the mighty walls of the valley,
which, on account of the vivid colourings of the
rocks, has been called the Grand Canon of the
Colorado in miniature. The canion part of the
valley is 3,000 feet deep and about a mile wide,
the sides precipitous, ending in sharp peaks and
cut by grim gorges. In the decomposing rocks
the colours are as vivid as though volcanic fires
were still at work.  Another excursion of six




152  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


miles, which can be made by carriage, is to the
Olokele Ditch, the great engineering work that
revealed the Olokele Cafion, the existence of which
was barely known a few years ago. The last part
of the ditch is a six-mile tunnel carried through
the precipices on the sides of the valley. The
road which leads to the valley only allows one to
look down into the canion, with its bluffs of painted
rock rising from the narrow, twisting gorge at the
bottom. This, too, is suggestive of the Grand
Cafion, except for the trees which somehow cling
to its almost perpendicular sides wherever a
crevice gives a chance for their roots to take hold.
At Waimea itself, a picturesquely situated village,
which used to be the capital of the Island and had
a large native population, there is little of particular interest except the ruins of the Russian fort
on the headland overlooking the harbour. This
was built in 1815 by Russian traders, ostensibly
for the King of Kauai, but over it flew the Russian
flag, and it was undoubtedly intended as the first
step toward annexation of the Island by Russia.
An excellent road leads from Waimea southeastward and eastward to Lihue.    It passes first
through MAakaweli, the largest plantation in the
Island, and the second of those forming a belt
around it. This plantation occupies land which
was originally a dry plain, but water was brought
from the Hanapepe Valley and by ditch from the




KAUAI


153


Olokele Cation, and there is now abundance at all
seasons of the year. A carriage road leads five
miles into the Hanapepe Valley, and an easy trail
of five miles more brings one to the Falls, which
are very beautiful, as they have a large volume of
water and are 250 feet high. Beyond Hanapepe
the main road turns inland, but at Lawai a branch
road leads southeast to serve the pretty little village of Koloa, passing first through the eight miles
of property of the McBride Sugar Company.
This was among the first plantations seriously
to introduce small homesteading among its employees. Part of the uplands back of the plantation was divided into five-acre lots, which were
assigned to European immigrants on terms of very
easy payment. These homesteads, on which pineapples are the principal crop, are cultivated
largely by the women and children, while father
and older boys work in the plantation fields. Indeed, on most of the Kauai plantations this plan
of homesteading, or some form  of co-operative
labour, has been tried with striking success. At
the Kilauea Plantation, on the north side of the
Island, there are Portuguese labourers who have
been connected with the property for over thirty
years. The village of Koloa is in itself uninteresting, but two miles from it is the Spouting Horn,
a curious rock formation on the shore, where the
waves rush into a cave and force intermittent jets




154  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


of water high into the air through a narrow
crevice above the inner end. It is much more
active than are most spouting horns, and is a
perpetual fountain well worth seeing. The Haupu,
or Hoary Head Ridge, 2,000 feet high, runs
eastward from the central mountain to the sea, and
the end of it, the highest point, forms a bold
promontory rising perpendicularly out of the
ocean a few miles south of Lihue. This ridge,
which was formerly part of the backbone of the
mountain, has been intersected by erosion and
through this gap runs the main road to the eastern
side of the Island.
Lihue itself, twenty-six miles from Waimea, is
the county seat. The town, which has a large
German settlement, is beautifully situated on both
banks of the Nawiliwili Gulch. Back of it is a
curious tufa cone, the Kilohana crater, which was
thrown up long after volcanic activity had ceased,
indeed after erosion had done much of its work.
Material ejected from this crater covered the
region for a radius of several miles, so that streams
had to make new channels for themselves, flowing
finally into the rivers to the north and to the south.
From this cone, which is easily accessible on horseback or on foot, there is a splendid panorama of
ocean and mountain, cultivated field and forest, of
the whole lovely plain that' makes the east side
of the Island. A few miles north of Lihue the




KAUAI


155


Wailua Valley is noted for its beautiful waterfalls, and both the upper and lower falls, with
their surrounding of verdure-covered crags, well
repay the horseback trip of ten miles necessary
to visit them. The lower part of the river is
navigable for small boats, and canoe trips between
its banks, that are overgrown with shrubs and
vines to the edge of the water, are always popular
with residents of Lihue. Perhaps this is even more
so since the drive of six miles to the mouth of the
river is one of the finest of the many marine drives
in the Islands.
This is the first part of the excellent automobile
road that follows the shore for thirty-four miles
to Hanalei. It leads northward through rice fields
and plantations, past Anahola, where rugged, inaccessible bluffs meet the beating of waves and
the strong sweep of trade winds at the northeastern corner of the Island, to Kilauea, and then
turns westward, following the northern shore.
Hanalei, a thriving village, is one of the most
picturesque spots to be found anywhere. Like
Waimea and Lihue, it may be'reached by steamer
direct from Honolulu, and, with its good hotel, is
a comfortable centre for excursions. From the
steamer one looks up the broad, fertile valley that
extends between its steep boundaries for miles back
into the mountains. Down its sides fall innumerable silver, thread-like waterfalls, that now disap



156  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


pear behind thick foliage, now leap over sheer
precipices, to dissolve in mist before they reach
the floor of the valley. Perhaps the loveliest view,
however, is that looking down from the east bank
as one approaches from Lihue, because here one
gets the full expanse of the level valley bottom,
with its broad river, the largest in the Islands,
winding serenely between fields of vivid green
rice, between little clusters of Hawaiian houses,
where the natives have lived for generations and
still live, peacefully unconscious of the march of
civilisation, of the turmoil of the world outside.
One overlooks also the horseshoe bay, with the
ocean beyond, and to the left sees deep into the
verdure-covered valleys, over the ridges to the
cloud-capped mountain in the distance. At Hanalei is another famous bathing beach, and for those
who prefer there is here also good fresh-water
swimming in the river.
A beautiful drive westward leads, after five
miles, to the mouth of the glorious Wainiha Valley. Before reaching it, however, one crosses, on
a bridge, the stream of the Lumahai Valley. This
bridge has done away with the last of the old
ferries, which were formerly a characteristic feature of travel on Kauai. It is a region of legend.
The Waikoko River-the Water of Blood-recalls
by its name a sanguinary battle of ancient times.
The Wainiha Valley is one of the finest and deepest




KAUAI


157


of Hawaiian canions. It cuts into the mountain
for some fifteen miles, almost intersecting the
highest point of the Island and reaching nearly
to the head-waters of the Olokele and Hanapepe
streams, which flow into the sea on the other side
of the Island. Toward the upper part of Wainiha
the perpendicular rock walls are four thousand
and more feet in height. Nowhere in the Islands,
except in west Maui, is there such a titanic fissure
in the mountains, nowhere more stupendous precipices. A carriage road extends two miles into the
valley and is continued for several miles by a
trail which at one point leads up the western
ridge to a height of about 4,000 feet. At the end
of the carriage road is the station of the Kauai
Electric Company, which sends power through its'
wires, strung on poles, to all parts of the Island.
So excellent is the plant that electricity is used
commercially in Kauai to a far greater extent than
elsewhere in the group, many of the pumping stations on the southern shores being run by power
from Wainiha. A splendid tramp of a day or two
may be taken through the wildest of tropical forests along this pole-line, the best access to the
trail being, however, from Lihue on the southeast.
Walkers should bear in mind that on Kauai it is
wise always to keep to well-defined trails or to take
a guide, since the formation of the Island is such
that it is very easy to get lost. Just beyond the




158  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


Wainiha Valley, and reached by a good carriage
road, is Haena Point, with its interesting caves.
They are at sea level and extend for a long distance through old lava channels under the cliffs.
One is filled with fresh water. The rock formations of the sides and the roofs are fantastic, with
their queer stalactites and their rope-like columns
of twisted lava that might almost have served as
models for the columns in the cloister of St. Paul's
outside the walls of Rome. The light refracted
through the water is wonderfully softened and
coloured, just as it is in the grottoes at Capri.
In one of the caves a canoe has been placed for
the use of visitors. The carriage road extends
only a mile or two beyond the Point, reaching
then the wild, precipitous, and little explored
section of the Island known as Napali.
Here the cliffs, in places over 2,000 feet high,
fall sheer into the sea, leaving not a vestige even
of beach, nor a pathway along the water. These
cliffs are cut by innumerable ragged gorges, which
extend, however, only a short distance inland, ending abruptly at the ridge back of the Wainiha
Valley and a little further south at that back of the
Waimea Valley. At the heads of these gorges are
often broad basins, like little craters, and along
their precipitous sides are spires of rock like the
needles of the Alps, both the effect of erosion.
Toward the southern part of this region the




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CKAUAI


159


gorges become the narrowest of caiions, entering
the sea through mere slits in the rocky wall. The
Kalalau Valley, the most important in Napali, and
in the centre of the section, used to have a large,
if isolated, population, but to-day only a few poor
huts are left. A favourite tramp from Hanalei is
along the shore penetrating Napali as far as
Hanakapiai. Beyond this point the trail is very
difficult, but runs on, up and down across the
gorges as far as the Kalalau Valley. From here
the only possible way to continue around the
Island is by canoe for seven or eight miles to
the end of the cliffs. The canoe trip of twenty
miles along the whole of the district is a thrilling
experience, but can, of course, be taken only in
the calmest weather.  Occasionally one of the
inter-island steamers makes the circuit of Kauai,
and no trip in the Islands can show finer scenery.
The bluffs and cafnons are all bare of vegetation
near the sea-walls and towers of ancient rock,
awe-inspiring in their majesty and in their solitude. They are of lava, weathered by the ages
into grey and purple and yellow and orange. In
the pockets are patches of bright red soil, and here
and there huge rocks protrude that are black and
glistening, like coal. From the ocean one sees back
of all this desolation the green of the forests and
the yellow of upland grasses half hidden in the
mountain mists. Napali is an ideal region for




160  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the sportsman. (A shooting permit is necessary
and should be obtained in Lihue.)  Wild goats
climb over all the ridges. The shores swarm with
fish. Camping trips are always practicable; the
natives are always friendly, willing for small pay
to act as guides, packers, and cooks. The district
is perhaps the wildest in the Island, as little known
as any, magnificent in its scenery, which is so
different from any other, so insistently suggestive
of solitude and of remoteness from the world, that
the Hawaiians have invested almost every part of
it with some strange legend of the ancient gods
and demigods.
The excellent road, already ninety miles long,
which is planned ultimately to circle the Island, is
still broken by the thirty miles and more of the
cliffs and gorges of Napali. The trip around the
entire Island can be made only, therefore, if the
sea is calm enough to permit of a long canoe trip,
but as elsewhere the roads are excellent, Kauai is
an ideal place for driving and motoring. Regular
excursions are arranged in connection with the
sailings of the inter-island steamers, and these give
a good impression of the country. The climate is
so pleasant, however, the scenery so fine, and the
people so hospitable, that Kauai is the best of the
Islands for camping trips and it is only by getting
back into the mountains that one comes to understand the charm of the old Hawaiian life, to realise




KAUAI


161


the enthusiasm of Kauai people for their own
land, and to appreciate the name they have given
it of the Garden Island.
The little island of Niihau, a part of the county
of Kauai, lying seventeen miles west of the larger
island, and containing 97 square miles, is a private
estate, used largely for ranching purposes. Only
a few people live on it now, but it must have been
an important centre of population in 1778, as
Captain Cook's ships remained there for several
days taking on water and provisions. Niihau is
principally known to the outsider to-day for the
chains made from tiny white shells which are found
on the beaches, and for the Niihau mats. The
Hawaiians braid large quantities of mats, but
none are so soft and fine as those made from the
rushes which grow in the marshes of this insignificant island.




CHAPTER X


MOLOKAI AND MAUI
THE channel between Oahu and Molokai is twentythree miles wide. Steamers to Maui and Hawaii
cross it and then skirt the lee shore of Molokai,
which is an island forty miles long and only ten
wide. This lee shore, by far the less interesting,
is the only one usually seen by travellers. One
of the smaller inter-island steamers leaves Honolulu every Tuesday afternoon, and, after calling
at all the ports on Molokai, at most of those on
the south side of Maui, and at Lanai, reaches
Honolulu again on Sunday morning. Fine as the
scenery on this trip is, however, the voyage can
be recommended only to those for whom the sea
has no terrors, as for a good part of the time
the water is certain to be rough and many of the
landings are difficult. There is much on Molokai
that is of real interest, but there are no hotels, no
good carriage roads, so that the only practicable
way to visit it is on a camping expedition. For
this arrangements must be made in Honolulu,
where shooting permits must also be obtained.
Hunting is excellent, as the Island is full of goats.
The west end of Molokai is comparatively bar162




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


'163


ren for lack of water, being in general occupied
as a cattle and sheep ranch.     The landing
for this part of the Island, and indeed the natural
centre for all excursions, is Kaunakakai, a dreary
and desolate village surrounded by dusty and withered scrub algaroba. The east end of the Island is
fertile, and here the mountains rise to a height of
about 5,000 feet. The southern shore is protected
by coral reefs, which in two or three places have
formed good harbours. Along this shore fishing
is still an important industry, although the walls
of the ancient fish ponds, which can be seen from
the hills, have either sunk below the surface of
the water or have fallen to pieces. Along the
north shore the bluffs drop into the sea, being
especially fine on the northeastern side, where a
large part of the mountains must have broken off
and disappeared in the ocean. In this region, in
two magnificent valleys hardly accessible except
from the sea, Pelekunu and Wailau, there are
settlements of Hawaiians who live much as they
lived before the discovery of the Islands. They
even keep many of the ancient traditions which are
elsewhere lost, and indeed throughout the Island
the natives are inclined to be superstitious. The
powerful Poison God, saved somehow from   the
burning of idols in 1819, was kept on Molokai
by a priest, or kahuna, until the latter part of
the nineteenth century. The power of this god tot




164  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


bring sickness and death has never been satisfactorily explained. It probably was made-it
may still be in existence-of some extremely
poisonous wood, which only the kahuna knew how
to handle safely. Certain it is that its effects
cannot be explained as the result only of the
imagination. In these lonely valleys the natives
make a living by raising taro for the Leper Settlement. This settlement, which gives to Molokai
its melancholy celebrity, is on a triangle of land,
made probably by some ancient lava flow, which
juts into the sea on the north of the Island. A
steep and dangerous path, always guarded, leads
up the bluff behind it, and is the only means of
access to the rest of the Island. The lepers carry
on a certain amount of agricultural work themselves, but are really supported by the Government. Their houses are comfortable; the hospitals
are of the best; everything is done to make the
unfortunate people happy. The Settlement is
very pretty as one sees it from the deck of a
steamer or looks down on it from the hills, but
it is a spot too sad to be visited by any but medical
men, who go for the purpose of information. For
the ordinary traveller it is a place to avoid as he
would avoid the leprosarium at Panama or anywhere else.
To the hunter Molokai is most alluring. Landing at Kaunakakai, he may, if he is a friend




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


165


of the owners of the Moloka Ranch, hunt deer
among the algaroba groves fringing the shore.
Hither the deer have been driven to save
the  native  woods  in  the  mountains.   Or
else  he  goes  eastward,  where  the  mountains are higher and the gulches more precipitous, where wild goats scramble over the highest rocks and give an opportunity for really skilful shooting. From these peaks the views are
marvellous-the rocky coast to the south, with its
lines of ancient fish ponds under the shallow
water; endless cliffs and gorges to the north, inaccessible, tremendous; the misty mountains of
Oahu to the northwest; and to the east the fine
serrated pile of west Maui across a narrow blueblack strip of water. It is to this Island, since
Molokai lacks roads and inns, that the traveller
naturally proceeds.
Maui is, in size, the second island of the group,
containing 728 square miles. It is really a double
island, the northwestern and much smaller part
being as old as Oahu, or perhaps as Kauai, and
showing, therefore, great erosion; the southeastern, comparatively recent part, being entirely
taken up by the great and only superficially
eroded dome of Haleakala. These two parts are
connected by a low plain or isthmus, formed by
lava flows from the east, which gradually filled
the channel that originally separated the two




166  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


islands. On this low plain are sand dunes, sometimes 100 feet high, which, before the plain was
cultivated, used to move slowly across from north
to south as they were driven by the wind. The
Island has a population of 30,000, and on it are
some of the most important of the Hawaiian
plantations. Industries are diversified and experiments with new crops are continually being made.
There is already extensive pineapple planting
above Haiku on the northern slope of Haleakala,
and in the region to the east large rubber plantations have been set out. There is no carriage road
around the Island, although one is in process of
construction, and some of the finest scenery is,
therefore, accessible only on horseback.
The first landing on Maui is Lahaina, an open
roadstead on the west coast, which is, however,
well protected, except during the rare Kona or
southwesterly storms.  The district, although
having little rainfall, is watered by streams from
the high mountains behind. The village of Lahaina, the oldest white settlement in the Islands,
used to be the capital of the group. Its prosperity
was due to the fact that it was the regular port
of call for whaling ships, of which there were
sometimes fifty or more anchored off shore. This
prosperity was, however, precarious, and brought
with it disease and death, since the sailors were
allowed free run of the town without any kind




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


167


of supervision on the part of the ship captains.
It was here, therefore, that the most acute of
the troubles occurred when the King promulgated
laws against vice. The village has dwindled away
and is now strung out along the shore, most of
its original site being occupied by the cane fields
of the Pioneer Mill Company. Some two miles
above the town the Lahainaluna Seminary, established in 1831, still maintains its position among
the most successful of the Hawaiian industrial
schools. The old missionary home, now maintained as a social settlement, in its grove of ancient trees, is a picturesque landmark of elder days.
Aside from its beautiful situation and its dry, temperate climate, there is little to detain one long
in Lahaina.
Northward, a carriage road follows the shore
to Honolua, where there is a large cattle ranch.
The scenery along this road is fine, with mountains
rising ruggedly at the right and the blue peaks of
Molokai thrusting themselves up from the water
across the narrow channel. Beyond the end of
the road, as one nears the northern point of the
Island, the general formation of the cliffs and
valleys is something like that of the Napali section on Kauai, but the precipices are neither as
high nor as vividly coloured, and they lack the
sense of remoteness and of solitary grandeur which
makes Napali unique. Sometime the road will con



168  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


tinue around to Wailuku, but at present the trip
can only be taken on horseback, a ride of about
fifteen miles through a wild country, which is cut
into tremendous gorges and crowned with innumerable pinnacles of bare rock. The regular carriage road from Lahaina to Wailuku, a distance
of twenty-three miles, leads along the shore to the
southeast. After passing a small sugar plantation, Olowalu, it winds along high above the sea,
its line cut in the face of the steep, barren hills,
climbs the shoulder of the mountain-always as
near the ocean as possible-before dropping to
the isthmus which connects the two parts of the
Island. The view from the top of this shoulder
is magnificent. Below are miles of level country
covered by the cane of the Hawaiian Commercial
Sugar Company, the largest sugar plantation in
the Islands. The extent of the fields makes it easy
to realise that the Plantation produces 60,000
tons of sugar every year. The different fields
make great blotches of different shades of green,
those in flower of a mauve grey. The huge mill
sends out its streamers of black smoke. Immediately to the right and far to the left is the ocean;
unruffled, its colours melting into each other
insensibly off the southern shore; deep blue with
specks of white off the northern. And straight
ahead, back of the cultivated fields, in a long, bare,
upward sweep, rises the stupendous dome of




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


169


Haleakala, " the house built by the sun," 10,000
feet high, its summit floating blue and immeasurably calm above the little industries of men, above
the encircling ring of clouds. It is the first sight
of a really great Hawaiian mountain. From here
to Wailuku the road leads through the cane fields
across the level plain-a plain that seems like a
broad highway leading between endless mountain
masses from the southern to the northern ocean.
In a battle near Wailuku, which is now an
attractive town of some 3,000 inhabitants, Kamehameha completed the conquest of Maui. It is
said that the waters of the stream flowing from
lao Valley back of the town were dammed by
corpses,  and  that  this is the   origin  of
the name Wailuku, "water of strife."     The
town is now the county seat. It is a pleasant
place to stay in, principally because of its situation, with the rugged mountains of west Maui
behind it and in front Haleakala looming up
across the plain. In its way Iao Valley, reached
by a drive of a few miles, is quite as fine as the
Yosemite. Its perpendicular walls are as high
and give the impression of being even higher,
since the floor is narrower. Unlike most Hawaiian
gulches, Iao, after the narrow entrance is passed,
broadens into an amphitheatre, the sides of which
are broken with great rock bastions, ridges that
spring from the sides of the mountain. These




170  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


precipices are thickly wooded with trees and
shrubs of every imaginable shade. At the head
of the valley, to the right, the massive peak of
Puu Kukui, 5,780 feet high, dominates all the
lower spires and domes. Here, surrounded by
inaccessible mountain walls, one gets again, as so
often in the Islands, a sudden sense of complete
isolation. It seems impossible that a few miles
of macadam road lead back to civilisation. The
only reality is the encircling precipices. Even
to speak seems an intrusion on the silence of this
predestined solitude, and the shriek of an automobile horn is an abomination. In Iao also the
feeling of being on an island is gone. It is far
more as though one had penetrated some beautiful
and lonely mountain range in the middle of a continent. Indeed, the traveller who has been so
far afield will find that it recalls insistently one
of the beautiful valleys back of Kutais on the
warm, southern slope of the Caucasus.
High on the ridge back of Puu Kukui, between
the Waihee and Honokohau valleys-the former
is as beautiful as Iao, but not so easy of
access-is a very tiny but perfect crater, Eke,
by name. It was originally, of course, at the
top of a mountain, but the winds and rains of
thousands of years have carried away most of its
support, so that it hangs now in mid-air, suspended on its narrow ridge, a position probably




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MOLOKAI AND MAUI


171


unique for a crater. So steep are the walls which
support it, so tangled with tropical growth the
lower ridges, that only one white man has ever
succeeded in reaching its rim. And this is but a
sample of the climbing in the west Maui mountains, with their tempting peaks, each with its
glorious view-all baffling except to the most expert because of their matted vegetation and of the
angle at which they shoot into the air. Nothing
anywhere could surpass the outlook from the top
of Puu Kukui, with superb gorges running on all
sides to its base, with the mighty dome of Haleakala in the distance and all around the blue-black
ocean.
The landing for Wailuku, about four miles to
the east, is Kahului, a flourishing village that has,
however, much of the raw newness of a Western
mining town. It is the port of shipment for
sugar from the Hawaiian Commercial and other
plantations, and behind its breakwater the largest
steamers can find safe anchorage. It is the necessary starting point for a trip to east Maui, and
for the incomparably interesting excursion to the
top of Haleakala, with its huge extinct crater.
The ascent of the mountain, with the return trip,
takes two days, not including the descent into the
crater. The distance to the summit from Paia,
the eastern terminus of the Kahului Railroad, is
about twenty-two miles. The first seven miles, to




172  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


Makawao, a pretty village at an elevation of 1,500
feet, and the social centre of the district, is done
by carriage or automobile. It is possible, at extra
expense, to continue in the same way to Idlewilde,
which, in spite of its name, is a delightful spot
4,500 feet above sea level. From here it is necessary to continue the ascent on horseback. Here
a stop is made for luncheon or supper, as the case
may be; here refreshments are provided for use
on the mountain top, and costumes and blankets
for the trip may be rented if necessary. Warm
clothing and overcoats are essential, as it is often
very cold, and ladies, who are required to ride
astride, should also be provided with short skirts
and leggings, or divided skirts. At the summit is
a newly built concrete rest house, provided with
cot beds, where the night may be spent in comparative comfort by those who are not affected by the
altitude. Since no one lives here, all food and comforts must be carried from below. On the regular
excursions they are provided as a matter of course.
The pleasant horseback ride from Idlewilde, across
great upward-swinging plains, past herds of cattle that recognise men as men only when they are
on horseback, and might possibly prove trodblesome to the pedestrian, is interesting principally
because one more and more realises the altitude.
The cultivated fields below shrink, and at the same
time the ocean spreads wider and wider and always




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


173


more definitely blue. Or, if it is night-and most
people make the ascent by night, so that sunrise
may not be too many long hours away-the land
is an indistinguishable grey, and the ocean is jet
black, and overhead the stars seem very many
and very near. In the vast silence, so different
in quality from the troubled silence of the lowlands, one can almost hear the crisp rustle of their
sparkling. It is no wonder that so many Oriental
monasteries are built high on the mountains of
Asia Minor. Lofty solitudes seem always most
open to celestial influences, and perhaps it was
with the consciousness of the near presence of the
gods that the Hawaiians named this mountain not
Haleokala, "house of the sun," but Haleakala,
"Chouse built by the sun," thus making the sun
god's connection with it more intimate.
On a dark night the summit of the mountain is
merely the end of rising ground-or more than
that, the end of everything, since straight ahead
yawns a pit, which is the crater. Nor by moonlight is it satisfactory, since the indistinct outlines only make one long to see more. In general
it may be said that, except to the imagination of
poets, mountains by moonlight, unless they are
snow mountains and are very near, are disappointing. It is true that here on Haleakala the moon
seems to hang lower and to be more silvery than
anywhere else, but its brightness brings out clearly




174    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
only the hut and the rocks that are close at hand.
The proper thing to do is to build a fire and to
persuade the guide to tell stories of the mountain
-stories, it may be, of quite modern experiences,
of hunting and camping in the crater, or of the
rescue of foolish strangers who try to find paths
up the rocky walls and are marooned on treacherous landslides; or, perhaps, if the guide is Hawaiian, of some of the elder, legendary history,
of the time when the fire goddess Pele broke
through the wall of the crater at the great Koolau
gap and fled from Maui forever, across the water
to Hawaii. And then it is wise to try to sleep
until the sunrise.
Dawn comes quickly in the tropics, and even
more quickly on a mountain top. When the first
faint light appears the party takes its position
at the edge of the crater. The stars grow pale,
as though they were strewing their own brightness over all the sky. Then the light reaches
downward and is reflected from below, from the
upper surfaces of cloudbanks that were invisible
a moment before. They shine whiter and whiter,
revealing black chasms that cut across them. And
then, as there comes a hint of saffron in the sky,
what seem three more lofty clouds to the southeast take on solidity with their morning colours
and resolve themselves into the three dome-like
mountains of Hawaii. The black rim of water at




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


175


the eastern edge of the world grows sharper as
the green and red behind become more intense; the
tips of the Hawaii mountains first gleam golden
in the sunlight, and then suddenly the sun itself
springs over the horizon, and all the colours of the
cloud tops vanish in white daylight. But far below
it is still night. The ocean, except to the east, is
still black through the cloud rifts. The fields
below are still dark, and the west Maul mountains
are sombre. There is something unreal and very
wonderful in standing thus in the golden light
above the clouds, above the world asleep, alone
with the beautiful snow-capped Hawaii mountains
that surge high above the surf-like clouds across
the channel. Then as the light glides down the
mountain, picking out forests and fields and villages, and turning the black sea blue, as the horizon, that is the rim of a great bowl, pales, and
fuses at last in the misty sky, one turns to look
at the wonder near at hand, at the vast crater
at one's feet.
The extinct crater of Haleakala is 20 miles in
circumference, 7 1-2 miles long, and 2 1-3 miles
wide. Where one stands, in front of the rest house,
there is an almost perpendicular drop of 2,000
feet to the floor of the ancient volcano. The
apparently tiny cones at the bottom are, in reality,
good-sized hills, one of them 700 feet high. This
crater is by far the largest in the world. Except




~


176    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
for the still active crater on Mauna Loa, Hawaii,
Haleakala is the only intact summit crater in the
Islands. In all other cases such craters were probably filled to the brim by the final volcanic activity,
and subsequent erosion has completely done away
with all semblance of the original form.   On
Maui, however, some great geological fault caused
the sides of the mountain in two places to slip
into the sea, leaving two huge gaps in the rim of
the crater, through which the last lava flowed
away, instead of piling itself up and up until it
filled the bowl.
Most travellers will be satisfied with the view
into the crater. For those who wish to descend,
a trip necessitating a day and comfortably filling
two days, there is a difficult trail of about three
miles along the rim, which is continued, by an
easy trail, into the crater. The floor is covered
with lava sand and is practically bare of vegetation, except at the eastern end, where there is a
low growth of trees. There are almost no signs
of erosion, since it seldom rains at this altitude.
Scattered throughout the crater are many silver
swords (Argyroxiphium), a kind of plant found
nowhere else. They are polished silver in colour,
looking like rosettes of long, thin swords, growing
three or four feet high and bearing panicles of
flowers something like a yucca. The leaves last
indefinitely. On the floor of the crater the evenly




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


177


formed cones are interesting, thirteen in all, seven
of them sand hills. There is a so-called bottomless pit which is an ancient blowhole; a natural
bridge across a fissure which marked one of the
eruptions; there are many tiny craters; curious
lava and crystalline formations. But above all
there is the impressive magnitude of the wholethe stupendous walls, broken in places by landslides, the miles of rolling desert country that seem
rather to be at the bottom of some great Sahara
valley than to be the floor of a volcano. Haleakala
must have been awe-inspiring almost to stupefaction when its cones were spouting fire and when
rivers of scarlet, molten lava crawled along its
floor. It is quite as superb in the desolation of
its death.
From Paia, where one leaves the railroad to
make the ascent of Haleakala, another most interesting excursion is to the eastward, along the north
side of the Island, through a region which was
almost impenetrable until the recent opening of a
long irrigation ditch. The distance from Paia to
Hana, at the eastern end of Maui, is forty-seven
miles, a good two days' trip, although the first
eighteen or twenty miles may be made by carriage. There is then a horseback trail of a few
miles, once more ten or twelve miles of good road,
then another trail for a few miles which connects
with the road running around the eastern end of




178  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the Island. After leaving Paia the road passes
through the rich, rolling country of Haiku, thickly
planted with pineapples. Beyond Huelo there is
an excellent paved trail following the line of the
ditch through the wild jungle of this, the wettest
part of the Island. It winds in and out, always
at an elevation of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, following the contours of the ragged gulches which cut
into the mountain from  the sea.  Often it is
actually blasted out of the sides of precipices
where one looks down a sheer 1,000 feet to the
valley bottoms, with the sea beyond. The Keanae
Valley, inhabited only by Hawaiians and, until the
trail was built, accessible only from the sea, leads
up into the Koolau gap and into the crater of
Haleakala.  The   ascent is gradual, leading
through magnificent scenery and splendid, untouched native forests. On either side of the gap,
at the entrance to the crater, the precipices tower
ruggedly thousands of feet into the air, forming
the stately gateway through which the Fire Goddess left her ancient home. A few miles beyond
this valley the trail, still winding along the precipices and crossing the gulches at their narrow
upper ends, always through beautiful tropical
growth, reaches Nahiku, the centre of the new
Hawaiian rubber industry.* From here around
the eastern end of the Island there is a good carriage road, part of it following the line of a
*The rubber industry was found to be a failure.




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


179


paved road built by the kings of Maui in the sixteenth century. The village of Hana at the eastern point is situated on a charming little bay
protected by two headlands. That to the south,
Kauiki Head, is an ancient crater and was a
famous fort in olden times. When Kamehameha
invaded Maui this stronghold withstood his attacks for two years, long after the rest of the
Island had been subjugated. Beyond Hana the
road extends south and west for a few miles only,
and a rough trail leads around the southern slope
of the mountain to Makena landing. The country
here is protected from the trade winds, and the
plains, little cut by streams and rising more steeply
than on the northern slopes, are used only for
grazing purposes. The ranchers have a trail
which leads upwards through the abrupt Kaupo
gap, the break in the southern wall of the mighty
summit crater.
Makena, except for the queer little crescentshaped island of Molokini, the remains of a tiny
volcano five miles off shore, is a place of no
interest, but the road connecting it with Makawao
and the northern slopes of east Maui, and with
Kahului on the isthmus, leads through the beautiful district of Kula, across the great western
shoulder of Haleakala. This Kula district, high,
with only a moderate rainfall, but with very rich
soil, is an excellent farming region and has a




180  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


climate as nearly perfect as one could wish. People are beginning to build on these cool, beautiful
uplands, where the air is pure and delicious, where
there are no high winds, where flowers and vegetables and trees of every kind can be raised with
almost no care, and where society, centering about
the village of Makawao to the northward, is made
up of intelligent, well-informed people. If there
were only a hotel, as there must be sometime, the
region would surpass all other parts of the Islands
as a place for a summer holiday.
Maui, with its extremely rugged western end,
and its dome-like eastern end, is an island with
perhaps more diversity of scenery than any of
the others. It is easily accessible. At Lahaina
and Wailuku, the latter being the natural centre
for excursions, there are good hotels. Iao Valley,
with its cafion-like walls, its marvellous colours,
and its lonely sublimity, would be worth the effort
necessary to visit the Island if there were nothing
else to see. The extinct crater of Haleakala,
unique in its desolate, dead magnificence, and the
glorious view of the Hawaii mountains across the
clouds as the sunlight touches them in the early
morning, is a sight memorable to the most hardened and unemotional of men. It is one of those
great, amazing experiences of life which can no
more be described than they can be forgotten.
Even the wonder of Kilauea is surpassed by the




MOLOKAI AND MAUI


181


wonder of this mighty crater, in which Vesuvius
would be only a deeper depression, barren, alone,
and eternally silent in the high quiet spaces on the
summit of its huge mountain. It dominates Maui,
makes of it a land of inexpressible fascination.
Two small islands to the south are of little or
no interest. Lanai, opposite Lahaina, with an
area of 139 square miles, is a single cone 3,400
feet high. On it are springs, one running stream,
and some low forest growth, but no cultivation.
The Island is given over to cattle and sheep
ranches. Kahoolawe, off Makena, covers 69 square
miles and is surrounded by cliffs on the north and
east. It is almost barren, supporting only goats,
which have destroyed the vegetation. It formerly
supported a few native fishermen and herdsmen,
but is now uninhabited. These little islands would
not be worth mention except that one likes to know
their names as the steamer passes between them
and Maui on its way to Hawaii.




CHAPTER XI


HAWAII
LARGER than all the other Islands together, the
youngest geologically, Hawaii consists of three
huge, gently rising mountains, connected by a high
plateau. Except at the northern end, therefore,
where the Kohala Range juts out from the mass
of the Island, the scenery is of a very different
character from that of the islands to the northwest, comparing in general outlines only to the
vast eastern end of Maui. The Island, a little
smaller than the State of Connecticut, and distinctly larger than Porto Rico, covers 4,015
square miles.  As the three great mountains,
Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, rise, respectively, 13,825 feet, 13,675 feet, and 8,269 feet,
the climate ranges from sultry tropical heat near
the shore (notably in the district of Puna)
through all gradations of temperature to what is
nearly perpetual snow. In winter the snow comes
well down the two higher mountains; in summer it
is permanent only in sheltered nooks near their
summits. The Island has a population of 55,382,
and settlements are numerous in all parts except
in the southeast and on the upland plains.
182




HAWAII


183


There are two ways of reaching Hawaii from
Honolulu-either by steamers of the Inter-Island
Steamship Company to Hilo, or to the Kona and
Kau ports on the lee side of the Island; or by the
larger ships of the Matson Navigation Company,
which ply between San Francisco and Hcnolulu,
making a side trip to Hilo about twice a month.
The Inter-Island boats sail twice a week to Hilo
and once a week to Kona and Kau, and are,
therefore, more likely to fit conveniently into the
traveller's itinerary.
Steamers for Hilo usually touch first in Hawaii
at Kawaihae, near the northern part of the west
coast, a forlorn village, barren, windswept,
so dusty that it is often unpleasant, because
of the dust in the air, to stand on the
deck toward the shore, even though the steamer
lies a half-mile from the landing. But sometimes in the early morning or late afternoon
the view of two of the great mountains is magnificent-Mauna Kea thrusting its snow-capped
peak over the red plains, and nearer the
barren mass of Hualalai scarred with black lava
flows, its green base blotched with the darker shade
of shrubbery and low trees. Mahukona, a few
miles to the north, the landing for Kohala, is
equally barren, and with its dingy warehouses
looks even more dreary than do the red plains back
of Kawaihae. A short railroad runs from this




184  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


landing to Kohala, but the steamers do not now
stop long enough for passengers to make the trip.
Except in the rare southwesterly or westerly
storms, these landings are always smooth. The
wind from the land seems sometimes to blow even
the ripples from the surface of the sea. It is a
short relief, however, as the steamer proceeds immediately around the north point of the Island
and along the windward coast, where the water is
usually boisterous. Here the scenery is very wonderful. Waipio Valley with its broad mouth and
its precipitous sides, and the other valleys near
it almost as impressive, is succeeded by cliffs reaching in a line, broken only by the gulches, for
seventy-five miles. These cliffs rising directly from
the sea are covered with verdure, and over them at
short intervals tumble lovely waterfalls. Behind
them is the pale green carpet of sugar cane stretching back to the forest belt, that in its turn gives
place to the bare uplands which are dominated by
the snowy crest of Mauna Kea. The cliffs give
way only when the ship reaches Hilo Bay-Hilo,
or the "new moon," so called from the long crescent
of the bay. The Inter-Island steamers go to a
dock, and larger vessels anchor outside in calm
water, which assures an easy landing in small
boats. New docks at present building will give
berths for all steamers.
Hilo, the chief city of Hawaii, is a town of




HAWAII


185


about 7,000 inhabitants. It is the distributing
centre for the districts of Hilo and Puna. From
here the sugar produced along the coast is sent
direct to San Francisco and New York. Beautifully situated on its broad, smooth bay, with the
two superb mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna
Kea as background, with a richness of tropical
vegetation unknown in Honolulu, it deserves a
longer visit than the two or three hours usually
given to it. People who are jealous of Hilo say
that it rains there eight days in the week and
five weeks in the month, and indeed there are seldom
many successive clear days. But as compensation
there is little dust in Hilo, and the variety and
luxuriance of foliage and flowers are a delight. The
old dingy court-house, almost hidden in a grove
of huge trees, is wonderfully picturesque. Private
houses are almost invisible behind their crowded
gardens. There is a charming park where band
concerts are often held, but for recreation people
go to Cocoanut Island in the bay. On its rocky
shores the surf-bathing is wonderful, and one dives
into the water and swims about under the cocoanut
trees that seem to stretch out over the water to
get breathing space, so crowded is the little island.
A mile back from the town Rainbow Fall breaks
from a mass of trees and ferns to fall eighty feet
into a dark cave pool, from which it rushes, in
foam and spray, between high, rocky walls that




186  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


are always draped with morning-glories. It is
almost a miniature replica of the great fall at
Tivoli. In the sunshine it seems literally garlanded with rainbows. Another drive, of six miles,
northward along the coast, takes one through cane
fields and clumps of gleaming vegetation in the
valley bottoms to the Onomea Arch, a perfect
natural archway under a cliff, against which the
waves dash perpetually. Four miles back from
Hilo, into the edges of the great forest belt, is
the Kaumana Cave, a tube extending for miles
under an old lava flow.   The stalactites and
stalagmites, the folds of rock that look like crumpled velvet, the tree roots pushing downward
through the rock in their work of breaking up the
solid lava, the brilliant colours where the water
has filtered through, the streaks of iridiscent
enamel on the cave sides-all make it intensely
interesting. In the town itself the Hilo Boarding
School, where Hawaiian boys are given manual
training, where experiments are made in the treatment of different native woods, is well worth an
hour's visit. It is even more interesting as being
the school on which General Armstrong modelled
Hampton Institute in Virginia. These things are
all accessible by carriage, all should be seen, and
all cannot be seen if Hilo is considered merely as
a stopping place on the road to the Volcano.
This is usually the case, since the tourist goes




I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I




-         x




HAWAII


187


normally to Hawaii only to see Kilauea. Now
that a macadamised road has been constructed
around the Island the man who has the time ought
to make the circuit. It is as varied in scenery
as is the short one-day trip around Oahu, but the
variety is totally different-one might be in another part of the world. To the amateur geologist
it is usually a new experience to be on an island
that is in the making; to the botanist an endless
field of exploration is open; to the student of agriculture there is opportunity to study the cultivation or possibilities for cultivation of most crops
of the tropics and temperate zones; and for the
mere sightseer there are snow-capped mountains,
tangled tropical forests, deserts, ancient and recent lava flows, wild canfons, hundreds of waters
falls, serene upland pastures, quaint vestiges of
primitive Hawaiian life. Hilo, where automobiles
and carriages can most readily be hired, is the
natural starting point for the excursion. Dust
coats, rain coats, and heavy wraps should be provided, as one is likely to encounter all kinds of
weather. The roadside inns are simple, but everywhere one can find clean, comfortable quarters, and
decent food at moderate prices, and everywhere
people are hospitable.
The start from Hilo, even if one is going direct
to the Volcano, should be made before S o'clock;,
The distance is only a little over thirty miles, but '




188  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


to hurry is to miss half the charm of the ride. The
road immediately after leaving Hilo crosses the
Waiakea River, here a lazy stream, winding its
slow way to the ocean between banks overgrown
with bamboo and oleanders and bananas. The
road then begins to wind upward through fields
of cane, past a queer little forest of hala trees
or screw pines, through cane fields again, of the
Olaa Plantation, and so into the district of Puna,
that, near the coast, is one of the warmest and
wettest parts of the Islands. The forest has been
cleared away to make room for cane, but vestiges
of it still remain, a few splendid scattered trees
that seem now like outposts of the great forest
which raises its high blue walls beyond the plantation fields. If the day is clear the far distant
summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa appear
and disappear behind the nearer hills. Nine miles
from Hilo at the Olaa Mill a road turns to the
southeast from the main highway and makes an
interesting side trip through the Puna district.
(A branch line of the Hilo Railroad taps the same
region.) Of interesting sights on this branch
road may be mentioned the warm spring at Kapoho, which makes a pool some 60 feet long, 30
feet wide, and 25 feet deep in a cleft of lava rock,
and in which the clear, buoyant water is always. at blood heat. In the forest near at hand are: ' many interesting lava casts. The liquid lava years




HAWAII


189


ago piled up around the trunks of trees, hardened
before the trees were burned away, and were left
standing as gigantic vases in which now are growing ferns and shrubs and sometimes small trees.
A long section of the Puna coast has evidently
sunk, as there are dead stumps of cocoanut trees
rising from the water. Along the coast in several
places are strewn great boulders, which were
thrown up by the tidal wave of 1868. Near
Kapoho also is Green Lake, a lovely pond in a
volcanic cone, where the limpid water is always
emerald in colour. It is circled with forests of
palms and shrubbery, among which used to be
found in great abundance the exquisite pink begonia, which is indigenous to Hawaii, but which
is unfortunately almost extinct. Not far away
is the ancient heiau, or temple of Wahaula,
one of the most important of Hawaiian temples.
In the Bishop Museum in Honolulu is a miniature
model of this temple as it would look were it completely restored. The only industry of the region
of particular interest is the saw-mill, where huge
ohia trees are cut into railroad ties to be sent to
America. A peculiarity of the wood is that it is
very hard, becoming with age so impenetrable that
it is impossible even to drive a nail.
Starting again from the Olaa Mill the road to
the Volcano House soon enters the forest, and rises
in a gentle grade, sometimes for miles in a straight




190  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


line between the giant trees. At places the forest
on either side is practically impenetrable, assuming the character of a real tropical jungle, but
of course without snakes or wild animals. The
trees are close together, and clinging to them are
vines-water-lemon vines with their juicy yellow or
purple fruit that is very good to eat, fantastic
vines, with huge shining leaves or whorls of tough,
hairy spines, vines interlaced from tree to tree,
forming the closest of screens. Ferns of all kinds
mat the ground, and springing from them, forcing
themselves between underbrush and vines, the tree
ferns reach their graceful fronds thirty feet into
the air. Masses of Hawaiian raspberries with
fruit as large as plums, but bitter in taste, and
of thimble-berries, with their spicy scarlet fruit,
tumble over the embankment on either side of the
road. At intervals deep rectangles have been cut
into the forest and planted with coffee or bananas
or other fruits. Through the natural hedges in
front of these clearings one catches glimpses of
picturesque cottages overgrown with vines and
reached from the road on paths made of the rough,
springy trunks of tree ferns laid close together.
There was once a rush to the Olaa region. Bits
of forest were cleared with immense labour in
order to plant coffee, but the climate has been
found not to develop the best quality of berry,
and so many of the cottages then built are now




HAWAII


191


used by residents of Hilo as summer houses or as
week-end retreats. The railroad, which most people take in going to the Volcano, ends at the
twenty-second mile, and its passengers are transferred to a motor omnibus for the rest of the trip.
After about the twenty-fifth mile post the trees
begin to dwarf a little; open spaces with only a
low scrub growth like heather become more and
more frequent. There are still occasional clumps
of ancient koa trees with their crescent-shaped
leaves and their mighty trunks, but the fan palms,
of which there are many in the lower forests, have
disappeared. In places the ground is covered
with stag-horn fern, a coarse brake, stiff and impenetrable, which needs very little soil, and which
is gradually covering geologically recent lava
flows, and with its strong roots is breaking them
up, thus accomplishing the first step in the progress of disintegration. There is rock everywhere,
scattered stones, and bits of old flows protruding
from the ground. The air becomes much cooler,
as the road has ascended nearly 4,000 feet. Sometimes one gets a whiff of sulphur or sees a faint
wisp of steam hanging over a clump of ferns, but
there is no other indication of the nearness of an
active volcano. Then the road turns sharply to
the right and in a few minutes swings in through
beds of brilliant flowers to the door of the Volcano
House on the brink of the great crater of Kilauea.




192  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


The Volcano and the surrounding country,
which are too important to be merely incidental
to a trip around Hawaii, are described in the next
chapter.
In continuing the circuit of the Island, the road
leads around the western, highest wall of the
crater, at first straight toward the stupendous
dome of Mauna Loa, its broad, rounded summit
seemingly a short three or four miles away in the
clear morning air, whereas it is in reality twentyAve miles as the bird flies.  The round trip,
however, may be made in three days on a
good and very interesting trail which passes
through splendid forests and crosses some of the
country where volcanic activity has been most
recent.  There is a rest house at 10,000 feet
elevation.  Turning almost immediately to the
southward, the road enters a barren stretch
of country called the Kau Desert. It is
made up of lava flows, one on top of another,
some very recent, and what little soil there is,
is probably poisoned by the clouds of sulphurous smoke blown across it from the Volcano. This
desert reaches to the sea, since many of the flows,
notably that of 1868, broke out only twelve miles
from shore and fell over the low cliffs into the
water. Like all deserts, this of Kau has its fascination, but it is quite different from others, since
its predominating colours are black and grey and




HAWAII


193


blue, unlike the sage green and brown of Arizona
or the gold and pink of North Africa. Beyond
the desert the road passes through a rich grazing
country, and then once more through sugar plantations where the cane is carried to the mill in
flumes, sufficient water being obtained by driving
shafts high on the mountain side. This region has
not the great forests of the windward slopes as a
background. Instead there is always the impressive upward swing of the bare land, green and
brown except where distant lava flows look like
sharp black shadows streaking the higher reaches
of Mauna Loa. One is usually impressed in the
Islands with the smallness of it all, with the nearness of the encompassing ocean. In Kau there is
none of this feeling. The majesty of the great
mountain meets and equalises the majesty of the
sea, which here takes its place as a beautiful frame,
without encroaching on the picture itself. After
passing Pahala, one of the largest and best plantations in the district, and the one which plants cane
at higher levels than any other, the road drops
down to the shore at Honuapo, a picturesque village which is the landing place for those who
choose to reach the Volcano from the leeward
side of the Island, going to the Volcano House by
motor and then by continuing to HIilo not
retracing their steps. Honuapo is the principal
seaport of the district of Kau, which district, in




194  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


spite of its lack of valleys and therefore of running streams, and in spite of its immense lavacovered areas, still supports two flourishing plantations and is an excellent grazing country. In
olden times it had a large native population living
principally near the shore, who, by tapping underground rivers, obtained abundance of good water.
The district is rich in Hawaiian folk-lore.
Turning due west from Honuapo, thus avoiding
the long south point of the Island, the road makes
a long four-mile ascent to Waiohinu, which appears suddenly, a village surrounded with splendid
trees and overgrown with rich vegetation-a
startling contrast after the endless, dry reaches
of Kau. This village is the seat of government
for the district, and besides two churches, a court
house, and jail, has a thoroughly comfortable inn.
Through the village runs the only stream in a
stretch of 150 miles along the coast. Still proceeding westward, the road climbs in long curves and
loops to an altitude of about 2,000 feet and then
crosses another twenty miles of wild and desolate
country, devastated by four recent eruptions from
Mauna Loa. In the short intervals between the
flows a sparse forest growth has held its own, and
everywhere growing in the crannies of the lava are
ferns, wild flowers, and morning-glories.
The district of Kona is reached before passing
out of this region of lava flows, the last of which




HAWAII


195


to the westward is the glistening new flow of 1907.
On reaching Kona one cannot help feeling a change
in the atmosphere that seems to produce a change
in the whole aspect of the country. It is commonly
said that the trade winds make the climate of the
Islands, yet in Kona the trade winds do not blow,
and there the climate is perhaps pleasanter than
anywhere else. The coastline runs north and
south, but to the east the mass of Mauna Loa and
to the north the dome of Hualalai cut off the passage of the winds. Instead of the trades, therefore, a gentle west wind blows in all day from the
sea, piling its moisture in a bank of clouds against
the high lands to the east. As this bank spreads
seaward, preceding the sun, there are often showers
in the late afternoon or night. Always toward
sundown the sea breeze dies away, and in its place
springs up a breeze from the mountain, cold and
refreshing, which blows all night. With such a
climate Kona might be called almost abnormally
healthful, and there is an old Hawaiian saying
that " in the district people never die; they dry
up and blow away."
Kona, the soil of which is made up entirely of
decomposed lava flows, is very hilly, but without
gulches or streams. On account of its regular
rainfall, it is one of the richest and most productive in Hawaii. Near the shore there is a narrow
strip of very dry land, bordered by an abrupt




196  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


slope, above which are the upland plains, cool,
bracing, and plentifully watered. Along these
uplands, two miles or more from the shore, runs
the main road, with branches down to the landings.
Everything grows here, even though the land appears in places to be only a mass of loose rock.
Agriculturally the difficulty lies in expense of
transportation and distance from a market, which
makes the raising of perishable crops unprofitable.
The chief industry is the raising of coffee, the
best in the Island coming from Kona, and the fields
of neat little trees, dressed in their dark, shining
green leaves, or in a mantle of snow-white blossoms,
or studded with carmine berries, are always wonderfully attractive. There are fields, too, of pineapples, of sisal on the dry coast. Vanilla twines
around the trunks of trees. Tobacco has lately
been planted, and the. flourishing plantations,
which produce a very superior quality of leaf,
give every promise of success. A rocky country
it is, but radiant with a very varied vegetation;
beautiful with the great, misty slopes of Mauna
Loa to the east, and of Hualalai, not so high, but
appearing so because it is steeper, to the north.
Kona abounds also in places of interest. At
Honaunau are the remains of an ancient city of
refuge occupying the six or seven acres of a low
lava point on the south side of the bay. The walls,
of which those on the south and east have been re



HAWAII


197


stored, are about twelve feet high and eighteen
feet thick. One temple stood on a platform of
rock facing the bay, and below it was another and
larger temple, parts of which, including two sacrificial altar stones, still remain. This is one of the
most famous of the Hawaiian ruins. It is comparatively well preserved, and is impressive in
its surroundings as well as for its size and history.
Many thousands would hardly equal the number
of those who must have been saved from death by
its protecting walls in the centuries that have
gone. A few miles further up the coast is Napoopoo, where Captain Cook landed and traded with
the natives, and across the bay is Kaawaloa, where
he was killed. Here, among the cocoanut trees
near the shore, where it can be seen from passing
vessels, has been put up a plain shaft of concrete
bearing the following inscription: "In Memory
of the Great Circumnavigator Captain James
Cook, R. N., who discovered these islands on the
18th of January, A.D. 1778, and fell near this
spot on the 14th of February, A.D. 1779. This
monument was erected in November, A. D. 1874, by
some of his fellow countrymen." A few miles north
of here on the beach road is the famous battle-field
of Kekuaokalani, where, after the ancient religion
was abolished, certain rebels under a chieftain
fought to restore the gods. They were decisively
beaten by Kamehameha II, with whom were the




198  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


high priest of the old religion and many of the
more enlightened chiefs. The drive of eighteen miles
along the main road from Napoopoo northward
to Kailua has the reputation of being one of the
finest in the Territory. One rapidly approaches
Hualalai, and Mauna Loa, as it recedes, seems to.
loom up higher than ever. The road is well above
the sea, so that the horizon is distant, the boundary of a great mirror of placid blue water. At
Keauhou, a little more than halfway, there is a
splendidly preserved stone slide down a steep hillside-the best relic remaining of the popular
ancient Hawaiian sport of coasting. Extending
all through the district is an old stone wall, built
by enforced labour on command of the chiefs to
exclude animals from the agricultural lands on the
higher levels. Kailua itself, the chief landing for
north Kona, is a village on the seashore. Its most
striking feature is a large stone church built in
1835, when the surrounding country was thickly
populated. Here also is a square, plain, wooden
building surrounded with broad verandas-the
old palace of the kings. Kailua is hot but attractive with its cocoanuts and groves of other trees,
and if a steamer happens to be off port it is always
interesting to watch cattle being embarked. They
are tied by their horns to the outer sides of a
rowboat and so half-dragged, half-swimming, are
carried out to the ship, where they are hoisted




HAWAII


199


to the decks with pulleys. It is a method which
might well appear primitive to those accustomed
to the operations of the Chicago Stock Yards.
Near Kailua, and indeed all through this region,
one sees the quaint old grass houses, relics of a
hundred years ago, that are even now occasionally
built in the old style.
From Kailua the road skirts the west slope of
Hualalai. The mountain rises gently at first, but
ends in a steep incline, which makes the ascent
difficult. There are small craters at the top, but
no volcanic activity has occurred since 1801,
when a lava flow broke out on the lower slopes a
few miles north of Kailua. Kamehameha threw a
lock of his hair into the lava to appease the wrath
of Pele. On the sides of the mountain are several
yawning pits, the vents of ancient lava streams.
Except on the north side, which is nearly bare,
the slopes are thinly wooded, among the trees being
clumps of the cheromoya, or custard apple, a
delicious tropical fruit with a rich and yet very
delicate flavour.  It is unknown in commerce
because it does not keep. Through an excellent
ranching country and groves of indigenous
Hawaiian trees the road winds its way, turning
eastward about ten miles from Kailua and then,
after twelve miles, striking across country toward
Waimea in the district of Kohala. On the northerly slope of Hualalai the road crosses a lava




200  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


flow so old that there is no tradition of its bursting
out, and yet it looks as fresh, the folds of lava as
polished, as though it had hardly cooled. In many
respects it is the most interesting of all Hawaiian
flows, presenting impressive evidences of tremendous force and power. A few miles north of Hualalai, where the road again strikes the vast slopes
of Mauna Loa, here fifty miles or more distant
from the summit, the great flow of the eruption of
1859 is crossed. This flow broke out near the
mountain top, and for months pressed on steadily
toward the sea, destroyed finally the fishing village
of Kiholo, filled completely the greatest and most
celebrated of Hawaiian fish ponds, and before it
ceased pushed out into the sea a rocky point of
several hundred acres.
Waimea lies 3,000 feet above sea level on the
plateau between Mauna Kea and the Kohala Mountains. It is eleven miles from the seaport of Kawaihae to the west, and seventeen miles from the
Honokaa Landing directly east in the district of
Hamakua. Mails and passengers for this district
are usually landed on the west coast and carried
overland, since on the Hamakua coast there are
no harbours and the landings, disagreeable enough
at any time, are impossible in rough weather. The
side trip from Waimea to the desolate west coast
is hardly worth taking, as the road descends
through grazing lands similar to those in the direc



HAWAII


201


tion of Kona, and there are neither lava flows nor
forests to relieve the monotony. The only thing
of interest at Kawaihae is a heiau, or temple, built
by Kamehameha in 1791. This was one of the
largest of the heiaus, and is far less ruined than
are most. With Waimea as a centre the side trip
to the north, on the contrary, is well worth the
extra day or two which must be devoted to it.
The town of Kohala is the centre of population
for the district and is the seat of the district court.
It is prettily situated, and has an unusually large
percentage of white people as well as a large Chinese population. Near here Kamehameha was
born, and here he spent the last years of his
life, so the original of his statue in Honolulu
stands appropriately in the town. There is
here an excellent girls' industrial school, similar
in its purpose to the boys' school in Hilo. Kohala
is also at the centre of an extensive and long-established sugar district. The plantations formerly
depended on rain for irrigation, but have now been
made independent of the rainfall by a great ditch
which carries water from twenty-five miles back
in the mountains. 'Like the great ditches on Kauai
and Maui, it was a difficult engineering feat, since
the water had to be brought for three-fifths of the
way through tunnels. The horseback ride along
the line of this ditch takes one through some of
the most magnificent scenery in the Islands. The




202  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


Kohala Range is the oldest part of Hawaii, older
indeed than parts of the northwestern islands, and
as a result erosion has cut it into rugged and precipitous forms. It is through this chaos of mountains, which rise to a height of 5,489 feet, that
the Kohala ditch runs, beginning in a reservoir
east of the mountains near the head of the superb
Waipio and Waimanu Valleys. These tremendous
gulches, and the sheer sea cliffs many hundred feet
high which separate them, seem possibly to be the
result of another fault by which a part of the
coast slid into the sea. Certainly to look down
into them from above one can scarcely believe that
erosion since the world began could have made
such clean-cut precipices nor carved out such
mighty gorges. Waipio runs back from the sea
four miles, and then turns at right angles westward, ending back of Waimanu. Almost at the
turn and near the village of Waipio there used
to be a waterfall 1,700 feet high, but this can
be seen now only in very rainy weather, since its
water has been flumed away to carry cane to the
mills. Ulu Falls, practically inaccessible at the
very head of the Valley, is 3,000 feet high.
Waimanu Valley is not as deep as its neighbour,
nor as precipitous, but is far more beautiful in
ishape and in colouring. The trip along the
Kohala ditch, a good day on horseback from the
town, not only leads through the grandest of




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HAWAII'


203


mountain scenery, but allows one to look down
into these two extraordinary valleys. Between the
end of this trail and the road from Waimea to Hilo
the country is inaccessible, so one taking the trip
must return to Kohala, but even though it means
an extra day it should not be missed by any one
with an appreciation of stupendous scenery.
From Waimea, with its bracing air, its marvellous views of the Kohala Mountains on one side
and of snow-capped Mauna Kea on the other, the
road to Hilo runs directly eastward to the coast.
The fork to the northwest, which is a better road,
adds a few miles to the distance, but permits one to
look into the huge mouth of Waipio Valley before
joining the main road again at Honokaa.
From this village with its plantation and its
wild landing the road turns southeastward along
the Hamakua coast. This district, except for
the Waipio region in the north, has no springs
or running streams, owing to the abrupt slope of
the land. Ditches recently built have greatly improved the plantations, as they have enabled them
to flume their cane and to irrigate during the
very rare times of drought. Some plantations
have built railroads to transport cane to the mills;
one has instituted a complete overhead cable system. The mills themselves are always on the
bluff over the ocean, where each has its own landing. Sugar, freight, and passengers are lowered




204  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


in baskets by cables into rowboats waiting at the
foot of the cliffs. Such an embarkation, with the
basket swinging in the wind, and the inevitable
curiosity as to whether one will finally reach the
boat or the water, is an experience which taxes
the nerves in any weather, and which in rough
weather is really dangerous. Hamakua, next to
Kona, is the principal coffee district of the Island,
and there are thriving plantations a little distance
up the slope of Mauna Kea along the edge of
the forest. The villages are divided between the
mills at the edge of the bluffs and the road about
a mile inland. The gulches to cross are unimportant and not particularly interesting, but the
gradually shifting view as one circles the mountain, the freshness of the green cane, here always
washed clean with the frequent showers, the fields
of coffee, neat and polished looking, even in the
distance, the dark edge of the advancing and retreating forest, the bold outlines of the sea cliffs,
even the six sugar mills that are passed, make
this part of the trip constantly interesting.
On entering the district of Hilo at Ookala,
thirty-two miles from the town of Hilo, one has
reached a land of deep gulches, each with its
precipitous sides masked under a wild tangle of
trees and shrubs and vines. The road winds in and
out, up and down, crosses stream after stream.
In the gulches one has, through groves of cocoa



HAWAII


205


nuts, entrancing glimpses of the tumbling water,
with the surf gleaming white near the shore. Near
the streams the air is often heavy with the violent
perfume of lovely white or yellow ginger flowers.
High overhead swing the slender cane flumes that
carry the sugar cane to the mills on the shore.
On the ridges that separate the gulches the dark
blue horizon line curves out in a great half-circle
against the paler sky, and on the land side Mauna
Kea thrusts its snowy crest above the dark forests
and the ring of clouds above them. Across its
eastern shoulder, far beyond, the mighty summit
of Mauna Loa looks like the back of some leviathan, its monstrous body hidden behind the forests and the low-lying mists. The whole coast,
with its rugged promontories, its bits of pale
green cane, its plantation houses in their groves
of trees, its precipices garlanded with sky-blue
morning-glories or golden nasturtiums, its cocoanuts and bananas, with always the restlessly surging ocean on one side and on the other the serene
mountains, is a marvellous panorama, changing
with every turn, changing as the sunlight flashes
and as sudden showers veil the distant points.
The towns are unimportant. Laupahoehoe
stands on a leaf-shaped tongue of rock that juts
into the sea —" lava leaf " is the English of the
name. Surf always pounds on the shore, and
during a storm the roar of waters dominates all




206  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


other sounds. The landing is from small boats
in a little cove which fortunately is smooth, even
though the sea outside may be very rough. If
it were not for the great dexterity of the Hawaiian
boatmen, who handle passengers as though they
were bags of sugar, embarking and disembarking
from rolling steamers into dancing row-boats
would be quite impossible.* At Honomu an excellent Japanese school with a boarding department has induced many Japanese to settle on the
adjacent lands. Back in the gulch and easily
reached is the Akaka Fall, 500 feet high, one
of the prettiest in the Islands, that tumbles over
the edge of jet-black rocks and into a basin back
of which is a deep, dark cave. At either side
the precipices are covered with maiden-hair and
other small ferns, and around the basin high trees
accentuate the altitude of the Fall. The natural
arch at Onomea marks the approach to Hilo and
the view of the beautiful crescent-shaped bay with
the tree-embowered town behind is a lovely ending
to an excursion which can nowhere be surpassed
in its infinite variety of glorious natural scenery.
No directions can be given as to stoppingplaces along the route, because the distance covered each day must depend on the weather and
on the inclination of the traveller. There are
comfortable inns at the Volcano, at Waiohinu,
at Kealakekua Bay, at Kailua, at Waimea, at
*These landings are now little used as the railroad has made
them unnecessary.




HAWAII


207


Kohala, at Honokaa, and at Laupahoehoe.
Granted good weather the tourist travelling by
automobile might plan to make his first stop at
the Volcano House, 31 miles, or with the side
trip into Puna, 77 miles; his next at Waiohinu,
42 miles; his next at Kealakekua, 42 miles; his
next at Waimea, 35 miles (the road is in parts
not very good); the side trip to Kohala and back
to Waimea is 56 miles, and the night might well
be spent in Kohala, proceeding next to Honokaa,
44 miles; the last day to Hilo, 50 miles. It
would be possible to make the circuit of the Island
by automobile in two days, omitting all the side
trips, but for full enjoyment of the scenery and to
visit the various points of interest, a week is none
too much. Accommodations are everywhere simple, but everywhere clean and comfortable, and a
breakdown is nowhere serious, since even in villages
where there are no inns the people are hospitable
and are always glad to take in strangers.
For those able and willing to take long, rough
horseback trips there are at least three excursions
which are well worth while. First is the ascent
of Mauna Ioa. There are two old trails, one
from Pahala, Kau, on the south side of the mountain, and one from Napoopoo, Kona, on the west
side, but although these are both interesting excursions, the best and easiest way to go is certainly by the new trail, starting from the Volcano




208  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


House. This is a trip of about sixty miles. The
first twenty miles take one through some of the
most interesting forests in the Islands, woods that
contain some of the really old koa trees that are
ten to twelve feet in diameter; the last ten miles
are over rough lava flows, through a country that
is superb in the desolation of its high, wind-swept
places. At an altitude of nearly 14,000 feet it
must be remembered that the nights are always,
and the days sometimes, very cold. The sight of
the great crater of Mokuaweoweo, at the summit
of the mountain, is a fit reward, however, for any
hardship.
The ascent of Mauna Kea, an excursion less
often taken, is, perhaps, the finest in the Islands
with the exception of the trip to the top of Haleakala. Although there has been no recent activity
from Mauna Kea, the visible evidences of violent
eruption, the yawning caverns, and the wildly fantastic lava flows are as spectacular in their way as
are the fire fountains in Kilauea. The best point of
departure is from the Parkers' sheep ranch, which
is situated thirty-five or forty miles from Waimea
on the great upland plateau between the three
mountains. Mauna Kea, which is the highest
island mountain in the world, has a summit platform five miles long and two wide, and it is the
huge cinder cones on this platform, which from
below look like peaks, which make this mountain




HAWAII


209


higher than its greater neighbor. On this platform, 12,000 feet above sea level, is an ancient
quarry, where the natives in olden times made
their stone adzes and weapons. There is also a
small lake fed from the melting snows. From
the Parkers' ranch it is possible to go to the
top and back in one long day, and through the
courtesy of the Parkers two nights may be spent
at the ranch. The ascent may also be made from
Mana on the northwest side, from Keanakolu on
the north, or from Hilo on the east, where arrangements for the trip are made. Any one of these
routes leads through the native forests, here quite
untouched, as well as over the rocky region above
the forest line, but any one takes more time than
the first.
Another most interesting and almost unknown
horseback trip is that from Kalaieha to Kilauea.
This trail leads through magnificent and quite unexplored forests and across lava flows most fantastic in their formations. It takes one through
some of the most beautiful country on Hawaii,
through regions that are practically unknown, and
where one can see the virgin tropical forests as
wild and tangled as they were before the discovery
of the Islands.
These three trips, although perfectly practicable for good riders, are seldom taken by tourists,
who think that when they have seen Kilauea,




210   HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


certainly when they have made the circuit of the
Island, they have seen all that there is to be seen.
Only by going off the beaten track, however, can
one get a true impression of the country; only
in this way an idea of the natural scenery unaffected by civilisation-scenery which happens to
be of supreme natural beauty. Only by taking
such trips as these, moreover, can the tourist realise that Hawaii is fully in the tropics, a land
of superabundant, huge-leaved, multi-coloured
growth. Tourists who wish to see these things
should remember that notice of at least two or
three days should be given so that arrangements
can be made.
Even if it had no volcanoes, Hawaii, with its
magnificent mountains and its endless variety of
climate and scenery, would well repay a visit of
several days. It is, however, the volcanoes, and
especially the great active volcano of Kilauea,
which make the crossing to the Island imperative
and which would make worth while a journey halfway around the world,




CHAPTER XII


THE VOLCANOES
ACCORDING to all the rules of school geographies
a volcano ought to be situated on top of a mountain; it ought to throw out stones, and ashes, and
molten lava; its crater should be in the shape of
an inverted cone and should emit terrifying
noises; periodically it should overwhelm a village
or two. Kilauea conforms to none of these specifications. Although it probably started out to
make a mountain of its own, it is actually 4,000
feet above sea level on the southeastern slope of
Mauna Loa. It has thrown out neither stones
nor ashes since it annihilated an army iti 1790.
It retains its lava within its own crater, which
is not shaped like an inverted cone, but is a
sink in the middle of a flat plain some five miles
across.  The walls are vertical, not inclined,
and the floor, except that it rises toward the
southern part, is horizontal.  The sides are
from 100 to 700 feet high and 7.85 miles in circumference, and the floor covers 2,650 acres. The
volcano seldom makes terrifying noises-at least,
of the kind heard in imagination by a schoolboy.
Thousands of people descend into the crater an211




212  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


nually, and only one has ever been injured, he
through recklessness. In fact, it is excellently behaved, not being, like Vesuvius and Etna, one of
the explosive class of volcanoes.
The Volcano House stands on the northern
bank of the crater, with a wonderful view across
it, in clear weather, to the sea; of the great snowy
mass of Mauna Loa to the west, and of the peak
of Mauna Kea above the forests away to the
northward. Back of it are beautiful koa forests,
and some of the best masses of tree ferns to be
found anywhere. The only caution to be observed
in the vicinity of the crater is to walk always
where the ground is visible, never to take short
cuts through clumps of ferns, since the country
is intersected with cracks, and the warm steam
issuing from them and keeping the ground moist,
usually induces heavy growth. Some of these
steam-cracks are large enough to fall into, and
as they are very hot a few feet down such a fall
might be a serious matter. Animals have been
killed in this way. Just toward the mountain
from the Volcano House steam issues from banks
of red earth through myriads of tiny holes, and
has encrusted the banks with sulphur, brilliant
yellow and white against the red, in places
formed into the most delicate crystals. The separate little orifices are too hot to touch with the
bare hand, but the banks are safe to walk over.




THE VOLCANOES


213


Steam is brought from them in wooden pipes to
a bath-house, where one can take the most refreshing of natural Turkish baths.
The main interest naturally centres in the trip
to the crater. The old approach, still advisable
for good walkers, is by a path down the side,
which is here broken and wooded, directly in front
of the hotel. During the descent one passes
under low growing lehna trees, and by many
sturdy little yellow-green leaved sandalwood trees
that have made their slow growth since the time
of the mad exportation of sandalwood in the early
nineteenth century. The walk across the floor
of the crater, about two and one-half miles, is
over a hard lava bed, more or less up and down,
since lava hardens quickly and remains as it
flowed, in great ropes and ripples. A few yards
from shore-one comes naturally to call the bank
" shore "-a ragged crack is crossed by a wooden
bridge. At the time this crack opened a large
party was in the crater. They stayed long because they were delighted with the unusual activity of the lake and had no idea that this activity
extended beyond the pit of fire until at last they
started to go back to the hotel. It was night,
and as they approached the northern bank of
the crater their lanterns suddenly revealed a huge
fissure  directly  across their path.  Already
molten lava was bubbling up at the bottom. They




214  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


followed the edge of the crack, keenly conscious,
undoubtedly, as they turned to keep parallel with
the crater wall, that they were on the inner edge.
At last they found a spot where the lava had
split unevenly, leaving a projecting ledge on
which it was possible to stand and so to jump to
the other side. The whole experience, with the
thought of sinking to the fires beneath, or of being
overwhelmed by the lava slowly rising in the fissure, and the utter helplessness of their situation,
was enough to test the most fearless.
As the trail winds across the uneven lava one
is tempted again and again to turn aside to explore some curious cone or unusual formations,
but always even more tempting is the sharp black
line ahead that cuts across the lazy clouds of yellow smoke. Even the afternoon colours on the
mountain, the wonder of the whole great, strange
crater, fail to divert attention from that black
rim. Curiosity as to what is back of it, below
it, overcomes all other feelings. One reaches it
suddenly. It is a rim, as it looked, the rim of a
profounder pit, a crater within the crater. The
cavity is 1,200 by 1,000 feet across, and its precipitous sides lead down to a lake of molten lava
several acres in extent, sometimes higher, sometimes lower in the pit. This is Halemaumau,
which is commonly translated the "house of everlasting fire," but which undoubtedly means the




THE VOLCANOES                215
s home of the Maumau fern," this fern having a
leaf which the twisted and curled lava strongly
suggests. But whatever its name, Halemaumau
is certainly the centre of volcanic activity, the
house of the goddess Pele.
By daylight the lake of fire is a greenish yellow, cut with ragged cracks of red that look like
pale streaks of stationary lightning across its
surface. It is restless, breathing rapidly, bubbling up at one point and sinking down in another; throwing up sudden fountains of scarlet
molten lava that play a few minutes and subside,
leaving shimmering mounds which gradually settle
to the level surface of the lake, turning brown
and yellow as they sink. But as the daylight
fades the fires of the pit shine more brightly.
Mauna Loa, behind, becomes a pale, grey-blue,
insubstantial dome, and overhead stars begin to
appear. As darkness comes the colours on the
lake grow so intense that they almost hurt. The
fire is not only red; it is blue and purple and
orange and green. Blue flames shimmer and dart
about the edges of the pit, back and forth across
the surface of the restless mass. Sudden fountains paint blood-red the great plume of sulphur
smoke that rises constantly, to drift away across
the poisoned desert of Kau. Sometimes the
spurts of lava are so violent, so exaggerated by
the night, that one draws back terrified lest some




216  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


atom of their molten substance should spatter
over the edge of the precipice. Sometimes the
whole lake is in motion. Waves of fire toss and
battle with each other and dash in clouds of
bright vermilion spray against the black sides
of the pit. Sometimes one of these sides falls
in with a roar that echoes back and forth, and
mighty rocks are swallowed in the liquid mass of
fire that closes over them in a whirlpool, like
water over a sinking ship. Again everything is
quiet, a thick scum forms over the surface of the
lake, dead, like the scum on the surface of a
lonely forest pool. Then it shivers. Flashes of
fire dart from side to side. The centre bursts
open and a huge fountain of lava twenty feet
thick and fifty high streams into the air and
plays for several minutes, waves of blinding fire
flowing out from it, dashing against the sides
until the black rocks are starred all over with
bits of scarlet. To the spectator there is,
through it all, no sense of fear. So intense, so
tremendous is the spectacle that silly little human
feelings find no place. All sensations are submerged in a sense of awe. Nor is there ever a
suggestion of weariness when sense of time is lost.
The guide's quiet warning that the hour approaches midnight is an unwelcome shock, but
without protest, with only unexpressed regret
the party turns away a few steps to the east



THE VOLCANOES


217


ward, where motors-strange anomaly among
these primeval forces-are waiting at the end of
the new road that leads up the low southeastern
bank of the crater and so back to the Volcano
House. This vision of the earth-building forces
at work is a picture so overpowering that it is
burned into the memory for all time, can always
be recalled in every detail as though one were
standing on the brink of Halemaumau.
Not always has Kilauea been what it is now,
an enormous, quiescent crater with an active inner pit. It has changed in character with the
decades, sometimes with the seasons. Its own
mountain has been submerged in the course of
centuries by the masses of lava which have been
piled against its western slopes by volcanic action
from Mauna Loa. The vent through which its
fires are forced is far below the surface of the
sea. Around this vent have been built layer
after layer of solid lava, each layer the result
of a new eruption, but as the crater above the
vent has been pushed higher and higher, the;weight of the molten column has become proportionately greater and it has more and more tended
to find the weak places in the surrounding walls
and so to force an outlet lower down, sometimes
many miles distant from the crater. This accounts for the innumerable lava flows which may
be seen everywhere on the sides of Mauna Loa,




218  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


and in this way, for centuries, Kilauea has built
its mountain, spreading in bulk below and not
overflowing at the top. How long this process
will last, when the weak spots in the walls will
have been made solid by new flows, thus forcing
an overflow from the crater itself, is a problem
to which there is no answer. The only violent
eruption actually from the crater, of which there
is authentic record or even legend, is that which
destroyed an army south of the crater in 1790,
and this came after the Volcano had been, apparently, completely inactive for a long period of
years, the natural vent being temporarily sealed
and therefore breaking out finally in an eruption
similar in kind and as unexpected as the eruption
of Vesuvius which destroyed Pompeii. Stones
scattered all over the surrounding country, especially to the south, still bear witness to the violence of the outburst. Nothing of the kind has
since occurred, and nothing similar can occur unless the molten lava in Halemaumau should solidify, thus closing the natural outlet for the forces
beneath.
The first white man to write of Kilauea was
Mr. Ellis, who visited the crater in 1823, and
what he saw was very different from what one
sees to-day. Evidently the whole floor of the
crater was active, and Mr. Ellis described it as
follows: "The southwest and northern parts of




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THE VOLCANOES


219


the crater were one vast flood of liquid fire,
in a state of terrific ebullition.... Fifty-one
craters of varied form and size rose like so many
conical islands from the surface of the burning
lake. Twenty-two constantly emitted columns of
grey smoke or pyramids of brilliant flame, and
many of them at the same time vomited from their
ignited mouths streams of fluid lava, which rolled
in blazing torrents down their black, indented
sides, into the boiling mass." * Since that time
changes have been rapid. In 1832 the floor fell,
making the crater about 2,000 feet deep. In
1840 the whole crater was again in a state of
violent action until the lava found its way through
unknown channels underground, broke out eleven
miles from the coast, and flowed into the sea, thus
draining away the molten mass in Kilauea. In
1848 a lava dome was formed over the lake of
fire, confined then within what seems its normal
area-a dome so high that it overtopped the walls
of the crater. In 1868 all signs of activity disappeared, leaving only a great, fuming cavity,
but three years later the fire lake was again full.
In 1880 the whole floor of the crater rose in a
fairly regular dome, which was surmounted by
three lakes of fire, each about 1,000 feet in diameter. In 1886 all fire had again disappeared, but
soon returned, forming other lakes and d6bris
*Ellis; "Tour of Hawaii."




220  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


cones which were higher than the outer walls of
the crater.* There came a time, between 1900
and 1907, when the activity was very slight, and
when people wondered whether Pele had died with
the Monarchy, but during the last few years
Kilauea has been continuously active.    There is
only one lake of fire, to be sure, which rises and
falls in the most unexpected manner, sometimes
draining away like wheat in the bottom of a funnel, but always bubbling back in a few days or
hours, and always in a state of violent and fiery
unrest.  What changes future years will bring is
one of the mysteries which make the Volcano so
fascinating. Certainly the visitors' register at
the Volcano House, which contains detailed accounts, often with drawings of occurrences seen
by tourists and by scientists for many years back,
will record as extraordinary events in the years
to come. In 1916 the fire again temporarily disappeared.
An observation station, under the auspices of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has
recently been established at the edge of Halemau*In 1885 I first saw the Volcano. The long horseback trip
-there was no road-was a weary ride for a very small boy,
but the amazing impression made by the several active lakes of
molten lava remains as vivid to-day as it was then. I remember that my hat fell into a cone, and I saw it turned instantly
into the ashen semblance of a hat. I wondered whether it
would still be there when I went to the Volcano three or four
years later.




THE VOLCANOES


221


mau. Dr. T. A. Jagger, in charge of the station, sends most interesting weekly bulletins while
he is at the Volcano to the Hawaiian Commercial
Advertiser in Honolulu, and the series of these
bulletins forms a valuable and practically unique
scientific record of volcanic phenomena. The temperature of the lava has been found by experiment to be about 1,750~ Fahrenheit. The daily,
almost hourly, observations have finally proved
much that was formerly only suspected about conditions and periods of activity. The floating
islands in the lake have been studied, and it was
found that they greatly affected the lava fountains. Even the most regular of these-called,
of course, "Old Faithful"-became very uncertain in its action when an island moved into its
vicinity, probably because the solid mass appreciably cooled and therefore thickened the fluid lava.
All sorts of instruments are used in recording the
various phases of action, and cameras fix any
unusual visible manifestations. The reports published by the scientists in charge have been illuminating and the observatory has already become
of high scientific importance.
The new road into the crater, which follows
the eastern bank and descends a long spur to
within a hundred yards or so of Halemaumau, is
familiarly called "the Road to Hell."  Certainly
the lake of molten lava fulfils as nearly as pos



222    HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT
sible all standard descriptions of that tragic
place. One is tempted to believe that Dante and
Milton and the rest must have seen this or some
similar volcano to make their details so realistic,
so true to volcanic reality. From its beginning,
too, the new road suggests the pleasant, sinuous
charm of the broad way which does not lead to
Heaven. Soon after leaving the hotel it plunges
into low woods and winds among trees and clumps
of ferns, giving every now and then wonderful
glimpses of the crater and of the superb mountain
beyond. Along its edges grow little ohelo bushes,
spangled with their refreshing fruit, the taste of
blueberries but the size of small grapes, canary
yellow, or pink, or carmine in colour. After
about a mile and a half the road reaches the
brink of Kilaueaiki, "Little Kilauea," a small
extinct crater about half a mile across and 700
feet deep, with walls that are very precipitous,
but covered with shrubbery and ferns and with a
floor similar to that of the great crater. Its sides
are lowest toward Kilauea, with which it seems
almost to have been connected. A steep path
leads down to the floor, a path almost perpendicular in places, but interesting and to be recommended for good climbers. This unexpected
little crater is very beautiful, in looks much more
what one would expect a volcano to be than is
Kilauea itself. The road then circles closely the




THE VOLCANOES


223


east bank of Kilaueaiki and turns westward
through sparse growth toward the great crater.
Before reaching the long spur down which it runs
to the lake of fire, however, it passes another interesting little dead crater, Keanakakoe, "the
cave for cutting adzes," only about 400 feet deep
and with a floor jet-black and polished, as smooth
as the floor of a ballroom. When this pit ceased
to be active the lava must have been at intense
heat and therefore very liquid, so that, as it cooled,
the surface was left without a ripple, with hardly
a crack-none more than an inch wide-and as
hard and glassy as obsidian. It was this brittle,
impermeable rock, found also in the crater of the
same name at the summit of Mauna Kea —that
the Hawaiians used to make into weapons and
agricultural implements. Even to-day the floor
of the crater is strewn with half-finished axes and
picks. The descent into Kilauea is easy, and the
road continues across the hard lava floor almost
to the edge of Halemaumau.
The whole vast floor of Kilauea is well worth
exploring by daylight, but to one unaccustomed
to surface indications it is safer to take a guide,
as the crust in places is thin, and to break through
might mean serious cuts on the sharp edges
of the lava, in addition to the possibility of disaster, since one can never be sure in the crater
of an active volcano as to what may be underneath




224  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


any particular spot. The edges of the floor are
interesting where the molten lava has piled up
against the sides and then, cooling, has shrunk
away, looking now like waves which have frozen
into black ice on a beach. There are curious
cones which not so very long ago spouted out
smoke and sparks like great furnace blow-pipes.
There are deep caves which can be explored with
lanterns, tunnels through which flowed fiery
streams and where the lava cooled in fantastic
forms-caves which can be entered only for a
certain distance since the heat in the ends toward
Halemaumau is too great to be endured. Sometimes one finds masses of greenish lava foam, or
pumice, thrown out at times of violent eruptions, a
foam made of innumerable minute cells like honeycomb and as light as sea-foam. There are also in
places wisps of " Pele's hair " caught on the ragged
edges of rock, light brown, as delicate and as
brittle as spun glass, the long filaments drawn
from the drops of molten lava as they fell from
the fountains and were blown away. No minerals
are to be found except sulphur, and even this is
not very abundant in the crater. Near the top
of the west bank, which is much the highest, there
are olivine crystals in the lava debris caught on
the ledges, but they are imperfect and hardly
worth searching for. One thing surely to remember in tramping about the floor of the crater




THE VOLCANOES


225


is not to get to leeward of the burning pit, because
there the sulphur fumes are sometimes almost
overpowering. Indeed, it is probably this smoke,
drifting with the trade wind across the south
bank of the crater, which has helped to make the
desert of Kau so utterly barren and desolate.
One of the glories of the whole crater in the sunlight is its colour. The lava is black, yet in
places its surface is iridescent, sparkling with all
the colours of the prism. So an artist, to give
the real impression, uses, instead of black, his
most brilliant colours.
There is a probability that all the land in the
vicinity of Kilauea will be made into a national
park reserve, an act which Congress should surely
pass, since no other area of fifty square miles
within the boundaries of the United States contains so many wonders. Even if the Volcano
were not active the great pit and the interesting
phenomena of the surrounding country would
offer as much to see as do any of the great continental national parks. Back of the Volcano
House are lovely woods, with every now and then
an open glade ringed'by a rank growth of ferns
and of vines bearing the delicious little scarlet
thimble-berries which grow wild all through the
region. A few miles through these woods leads
one to a splendid koa forest and to the mill
of the Hawaiian Lumber Company, where




226  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


the koa is sawed into boards and shipped away.
The trees in this forest are very old, as can be
seen by their huge knotted trunks and their
twisted limbs. They would look like ancient oaks
except that on the full-grown trees the leaves are
chescent-shaped and polished, and on the younger
shoots lace-like, as are the leaves of the mimosa.
Near here are the tree-moulds formed by some
ancient lava flow. The molten lava, making its
way through the forest, surrounded the great
trunks of the trees, burning them finally, of
course, but hardening so quickly that it recorded
faithfully every line of the bark before the tree
was turned into ashes. Over the flow new growth
has started, but here and there are holes in the
ground as round, as even, as delicately chiselled
as though they were casts for future columns.
Here, too, are forests of tree ferns, finer than
any to be seen elsewhere, except in the jungle,
because they are quite untouched. With a guide
it is possible to leave the beaten trail and to
wander about in the cool shade of these giant
ferns, treading always the thick carpet of moss;
to pull from the bases of the leaves the soft
" pulu," a fine-spun fibre that is often used for
making mattresses. This is by far the most thoroughly tropical growth that it is possible to see
in the Islands without really forsaking the normal
routes, without really getting far off into un



THE VOLCANOES


227


visited valleys and nearly impenetrable forests.
A delightful day on horseback, some twentyfive miles of rough riding, may be spent in a visit
to the Pit Craters east of Kilauea. First to be
reached are The Twins, two small ancient craters,
not very deep, quite filled now with vegetation,
which clambers over their walls and reaches up
from below toward the freer air and the sunlight.
On the floors grow trees and shrubbery, so that
except for the cup shape there is nothing to indicate volcanic origin. The two little craters
side by side are almost identical. Next comes
Puu Huluhulu, a cone crater in the top of a hill
which stands boldly in the sweep of the upland
plains. A clamber up its steep sides rewards
one with a magnificent view of all the surrounding
country. The two mountains stand out, infinitely
high in the late morning, when clouds have ringed
around their lower slopes, so that one is more
than ever impressed, especially with the nearer
dome of Mauna Loa, by far the highest mountain
of its kind in the world, and certainly the most
beautiful in contour. Far to the northwest is
the higher peak of Mauna Kea, but in mass the
mountain does not compare with its sister. And
to east and south is the opalescent plain of the
Pacific. From this cone crater one continues a
short distance to the Two Orphans-the loneliest,




228  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


most neglected of little craters. They are in
thick woods quite close to each other. Nothing
indicates their proximity. Ferns and trees mask
the approaches to them on every side. No welldefined rims, no outward slope from them, exist
to indicate that they were originally conesquite unexpectedly the ground sinks away, leaving these two queer, lost, cup-shaped depressions
in the woods, startling because they are there at
all, giving one an almost uncanny feeling. Even
dead volcanoes do not so absolutely hide themselves. Nothing normal in nature is so almost
consciously unobtrusive. One turns away as
though it had been an indiscretion to invade that
solitude. The woods soon become sparser, and
the great plains roll onward in undulating lines
beyond which one feels the sea. A low growth
just obstructs the nearer view. It is, therefore,
appalling when the horses stop abruptly at the
edge of Makaopuhi, the last worth seeing and the
most wonderful of the Pit Craters. It drops
from the surface of the plain for 700 or 800 feet
in sheer precipices. There a ledge, varying in
width, gives a chance for trees to grow-trees
that look like the toy trees of a child's garden,
so far below are they. And then, in the centre,
is another sheer drop of 1,200 or 1,300 feet, at
the bottom of which only a bit of the crater floor
is visible. Far, far below little clouds of white




THE VOLCANOES:229


steam jet from the sides to drift upward in. the
still air. The silence is amazing. As one looks
the crater grows deeper and deeper until it seems
to be the most profound chasm in the earth's crust.
To right and left are endless plains; beyond the
further bank the same plains sweep onward to the
sea; and yet, at one's feet, one looks down and
down. Perhaps some prehistoric man reversed
the idea of the Tower of Babel, and instead of
trying to build to heaven set out to dig a passageway to hell-and almost succeeded, as the little
jets of steam bear witness. The Hawaiian name,
Makaopuhi, "The Eye of the Eel," has its
poetic fitness, whether it be taken literally or, as
is more probable, as referring to some long since
forgotten eel god. It is like a black eye, this vast
pit, staring from the face of the plain into the
endless sky.
One trip into the crater of Kilauea is not
enough. Every visitor should get to know the
lake of fire as well by day as by night, for, as
Dr. Perrett says, although it is more spectacular
by night, it is far more interesting by daylight,
when its constant changes can be seen. And
when in addition to the Volcano there are so many
other attractions in the neighbourhood a week is
none too long a time to stay, and two weeks are
exactly twice as good as one.
The summit crater of Mauna Loa, Mokuaweo



230  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


weo, is smaller than Kilauea, but is still the second
largest active volcano in the world. This crater,
three and three-quarters miles long by one and
one-quarter wide, is about 800 feet deep. When
in action it is quite as spectacular as is Kilauea,
and is often much more so, but as its activity
occurs only at irregular intervals of several years,
the man who happens to ascend the mountain at
just the right time is very fortunate. In 1880
a man was alone at the summit. He slept in a
little tent at the edge of the crater, which was
as usual dark. During the night he was waked
by a dazzling light, and rushing from his shelter
saw playing in the centre of the crater a jet of
lava which spouted nearly a thousand feet into
the air. The top of this fountain was visible from
the shores of the Island and from the ocean for
miles around. Such an experience comes to but
few men, and the long, difficult ascent of the mountain, as well as the great altitude, will always
prevent many people from visiting this volcano
even during its rare eruptions.
As a general rule activity in this summit crater
is preliminary to a lava flow which breaks out
somewhere along the sides of the mountain. The
fluid mass finds its way to the crater, and its subsequent outbreak lower down is a natural enough
phenomenon when one considers the enormous
weight and the consequent lateral pressure of a




THE VOLCANOES


231


column of liquid lava rising nearly 14,000 feet
above sea level and no one knows from how far
below. The only extraordinary thing is that it
does not more quickly find some weak spot in the
side of the tube and break through long before
reaching the summit crater. Of these lava flows
there have been thirteen during the last century,
ten from Mauna Loa, one from Hualalai, and
two from Kilauea. Three times the town of Hilo
has been threatened, the lava once coming within
a mile. So far as is known, however, no lives
have been lost in any of these flows. The lava
breaks out far up on the uninhabited slopes, is
very liquid, and therefore runs fast at first, but
it cools rapidly, banks up, and has to break
through its own embankments, so that by the time
it approaches the sea it advances at the rate of
only a few yards each day. So certain is this
action that people who go to see the flows camp
directly in front of them, moving their tents only
when the lava gets near enough to be uncomfortably warm. In the rare instances when flows have
reached the sea anywhere along a precipitous
coast, the sight from boats, of the molten lava
pouring over the cliffs and crashing in clouds of
steam into the sea, has been indescribably impressive.
Hawaii is, of course, still in the process of
building. Its lavas are so liquid, so thoroughly




232  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


fused, however, that the danger of explosive volcanic outbreaks is reduced to a minimum. A
rancher on the uplands is wise to take account of
the one chance in a million and build his house
on a hill, rather than in a depression, so that no
sudden flow can overwhelm him. Any man owning an upland ranch has always before him the
unpleasant possibility of waking some morning
to find that a section of his best pasture land is
being buried under a layer of hard, sterile rock,
and the knowledge that in anywhere from a thousand to ten thousand years this rock will have
disintegrated into splendidly fertile soil is no immediate consolation. No man, on the contrary,
ever lives in fear of his life because of the volcanoes. The people who live in the hotels near
Kilauea have rightly no more thought of danger
than have those who live in hotels on the Atlantic
sea-board. And this "volcanic safety," as it
might be called, is not merely the result of long
years of immunity. It is corroborated by the
highest scientific authority. The tourist, therefore, in making the trip to Kilauea need think
only that he is going to see the most magnificent
spectacle which the.world affords, that he is to
have one of the most thrilling experiences of his
life, with no more personal danger than he would
incur in a railroad trip from Boston to New
York. And if he still feels that the goddess of




THE VOLCANOES               ~3
fire should be propitiated, let him follow the old
Hawaiian custom of throwing a few ohelo berries
into the burning lake as a sacrifice to Pele. Perhaps she will reward him by forcing upward an
extra lava fountain that will spray out into a
great bouquet made up of all the colours of all
the gorgeous flowers of the Orient.




CHAPTER XIII


ISLAND LIFE
PEOPLE work in Hawaii. For those whose lots
are cast permanently in the Islands life is not
what it appears superficially to the tourist, one
long, happy holiday. Nor is there here, as in
so many tropical countries, a three-hour hiatus
in the middle of the day, when men and women
take their siesta. Hours of business are what
they are in New York or Chicago, and life is
planned-too completely, perhaps-along northern lines. In Honolulu men go usually to their
clubs to luncheon-the Pacific, the University, or
the Commercial Club-talk business and hurry back
to a long afternoon in their offices. These clubs,
it is fair to say, are delightfully arranged buildings with windows on all sides to catch any breeze.
Of them the oldest is the Pacific, formerly the
British Club, on Alakea Street. The house has
broad verandas on both floors and large, cool
rooms. The University Club, more especially a
resort of younger men, has a pretty cottage near
the Hawaiian Hotel. Its membership includes a
large number of army and navy officers, graduates of West Point and Annapolis, as well as
234




ISLAND LIFE


235


men from American, English, and German Universities. The Commercial Club, much more inclusive in membership, is in a business block in the centre of the town. There are also, of course, as in all
American cities, lodges of various orders, Masons,
Odd Fellows, Elks, and Red Men. The new
Y. M. C. A. building, on the corner of Hotel and
Alakea Streets, has thoroughly comfortable quarters, and serves as a club for large numbers of
the floating population.
While men are lunching at their clubs their
wives give luncheon parties or go out to luncheons
-a form of social entertainment which would seem
more suited to a cold climate than to tropical
midday. In the late afternoon the Country Club
in Nunauu Valley, or the Pacific Tennis Court
near the Executive Building, or the various
athletic fields and the bathing beaches at Waikiki
are the meeting places of society. At night there
are dinners, dances, and bridge parties; occasionally, and much more amusing, moonlight surfing
and swimming parties. There is no particular
social season in Honolulu. More people are out
of town in summer, but, on the other hand, that
is the time when boys are at home with their
friends from American colleges and they must be
entertained day and night. This, therefore, is
the time to see more of the distinctively Hawaiian
forms of amusement. Very popular are the




28s  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


"luaus," real Hawaiian feasts with all the dishes
cooked in the ancient way. The tables are spread
with fern leaves instead of with linen. Forks and
knives and spoons should have no place, and are
only tolerated occasionally because the younger
generation does not know how to use fingers with
the dexterity and grace of its eighteenth century
great-grandparents. Poi is, of course, the staple
of the feast; poi usually served in individual bowls,
however, instead of in one huge calabash into
which all dip their fingers-this, a sop to modern
ideas of hygiene. Real training is necessary to
eat this paste gracefully, to wind it around the
fingers with just the right twist and in just the
right amount, and to convey it from bowl to
mouth without spilling. There are fish, wrapped
in sweet-smelling ti leaves and cooked in underground ovens, and sometimes raw fish, to the
horror of the uninitiated. There are meats of
all kinds, also baked in ti leaves; whole pigs
that have been stuffed with hot stones and allowed
to steam for hours in their "Cimus," or underground ovens. Rarely, now, are served the little,
poi-fed puppies, which, if one can forget what
they are, taste like the most delicate of suckling
pigs. There are always a thick, gritty, strongtasting paste made of pounded kukui nuts and
used as seasoning; sweet potatoes and yams;
baked bananas; breadfruit; a pudding made of




ISLAND LIFE


237


sweet potatoes and cocoanuts, cloyingly sweet but
very good; the refreshing milk of young cocoanuts to drink. The Hawaiian liquor, made from
sugar-cane or from the ti root, is a fiery liquid,
almost pure alcohol. Instead of it punch is usually served, or the excellent light beer made in
Honolulu, beer which is healthful in a warm climate and might almost be called a national drink.
There is no doubt that a taste for most of these
delicacies must be the result of childhood experience, or must be carefully cultivated, but once
acquired, it is a taste which is always eager to
be gratified. The "malihini," or newcomer, who
is afraid of unknown dishes can at least stay
his hunger with fruit; oranges and bananas,
alligator pears that melt in the mouth, guavas,
pomegranates, perhaps the exquisitely flavoured
custard-apple, and other tropical fruits.  But
whether he goes away empty or full, the luau will
have been another memorable experience; its
green tables loaded with queer food wrapped in
queer brown bundles, polished calabashes of
grey-blue or pink poi, the whole dimly lighted
with pale golden Chinese lanterns inscribed with
letters of scarlet, or brightly lighted with flaming
torches. And through it all his ears will have
been charmed with the mournful, poetic notes of
Hawaiian songs, stealing out from behind the
palm trees-music which ends always with




238  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


" Aloha-oe," that lovely song of farewell, written
by the Queen, which is most popular of all, most
characteristic of the Hawaiian temper.
The ancient dances, or "hulas," are not as
often seen, both because the art of dancing is
being lost and because many of the dances, in
the motions which make them up and in the words
which accompany them, are, from a civilised
point of view, indecent. Some of them are occasionally given in an expurgated form at the
vaudeville theatres or certain selected dances, as
entertainment after private "<luaus," and no opportunity to see them should be neglected. They
are often marvellously graceful-more so than
are the Arab dances-and with the monotonous
beat of their musical accompaniment are very
poetical and quite in a class by themselves.
Of good theatres the Islands are destitute. An
occasional series of mediocre performances at
some theatre in Honolulu brings out the whole
population. The "movies" are as popular as on
the mainland and show as good films. Of interest
to tourists who have never been in the Orient, however, there are the Chinese and Japanese theatres
with their interminably long plays, often gorgeously costumed and, probably, well acted. Nor
is there, naturally, much opportunity to hear good
professional musicians, although passing artists of
note usually give concerts during their short stay
in port. There are, of course, the military bands,




? i111i ELeI aidi I {WII   Sbi 1  Ii4ififiild




, - ~, C f
t ' c' P '
*e D




ISLAND LIFE


239


and the Hawaiian Band gives excellent concerts
two or three times a week in the public parks. This
band, organised in 1874 as the Royal Hawaiian
Band, under Mr. Berger, who was long its leader,
is one of the best in existence, and has won many
prizes in international competitions.  For the
tourist, this theatrical and musical lack will not be
annoying, but to residents of the Islands it is a
real deprivation.
In appreciation of art Honolulu stands midway
between the older cities of the eastern United
States and the mushroom towns of the West. A
few good collections of pictures are being formed.
One artist at least, D. Howard Hitchcock, knows
how to paint well, and interprets Island scenery in
a really masterly way. The city needs desperately
a really good architect, one who will adapt his
houses to the climate and to the natural surroundings, whose knowledge does not cease with the
French and the Elizabethan and the Old Colonial
learned in eastern schools. The Outdoor Circle
has done admirable work in making the city more
attractive. It has made and carried out plans of
planting which should eventually result in beautiful streets throughut the town.    Here, too,
however, there is need of the leadership of one
who hasabsorbed and understands the secret of
the beauty of older tropical civilisations.  It
would be a tragedy indeed if Honolulu should




240  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


emerge from the hands of its earnest tutors with
the formal and deadly neatness of a Pasadena.
For the women of the place housekeeping is
none of the easiest. Servants are all Orientals,
admirable as far as they go, but with inevitable
limitations. The Chinese are faithful, good cooks,
and immaculately clean in their work. They are
in general preferred to the Japanese, even though
during the Chinese New Year, for three days
in January or February, they all depart on their
annual holiday. During these days no bribe
could make them work. They also at that time
have the habit of giving to the families for whom
they work expensive and usually hideous presents,
which must be prominently displayed for months
after. An amusing part of the Chinese New
Year is the necessity for men of calling on all
the Chinese merchants of their acquaintanceceremonial calls where they are regaled with
queer, cloying sweetmeats and champagne. The
Japanese are filling the ranks now as house-servants, since under United States immigration laws
the Chinese population is gradually dwindling.
They are far less reliable, but are often excellent
cooks, and Japanese maids in their bright kimonos are picturesque about the house. They can
be taught almost anything, and once taught never
forget, but unfortunately the knowledge acquired
is often of the parrot variety. For example, a




ISLAND LIFE


24;1


lady gave a luncheon and, before the guests
arrived, showed her new Japanese maid exactly
how to serve each course and what plates to use.
The following week she gave another luncheon,
exactly like the first, but omitting one course.
Her Japanese maid served it perfectly, except
that when the time arrived for the course which
was left out she brought in all the plates and
then carefully removed them, empty. The extreme literalness of both Japanese and Chinese is
also often disconcerting. A Chinese cook had
recently been converted to Christianity. Just before dinner the lady of the house asked him
whether everything had come. He said that the
salad had been forgotten, but that, as he had
prayed for it, he was sure it would come in time.
Such incidents as these make one realise that
perfect civility and absolute obedience are not
the only requisites of an ideal servant.
As to outdoor sports there is enough to satisfy
the keenest. Aside from the surf-riding, the bathing is excellent all along the shores, and at
Waikiki, where there is no undertow, where the
bottom is of softest sand, where the waves are
never large enough to be dangerous, but always
to give motion to the water, it is ideal. Two
rival boat clubs arrange for rowing and paddling
races in Honolulu harbour. Sailboats dot the
waters of Pearl Harbour, and the larger yachtp




242  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


cruise about outside. At the Country Club there
is a good golf course. Everywhere are tennis
courts. At all times of the year there are baseball and football games to watch. Saddle horses
can be procured at any of the stables, and most
people ride. Perhaps the most popular sport is
polo, and at Moanalua or in Kapiolaui Park can
be seen as exciting matches as anywhere on the
continent. Altogether it is a climate which calls
one into the open, and everything has been done to
make outdoor life attractive.
As to dress, people get along with just about
what they wear in northern countries, except that
white linen is much more in evidence. Duck
trousers and even white suits are worn by men
at all times, and women dress as much as possible
in muslins, and linen, or light silk suits. Raincoats are essential, since at any time a trade wind
shower may drift across the mountains-a shower 
which really wets so little that one's clothes dry
in a few minutes in the sunshine, but which seems
important while it lasts.
The tourist whose main object is to buy-and
there are many such-will find Honolulu most
unsatisfactory if he is hunting for really good
things. The American shops are much like those
on the mainland and have much the same articles
to sell, but in a more limited selection. The Oriental shops are interesting, but have, after all,




ISLAND LIFE


'243


not as much of the best as do those in San Francisco.  There are, of course, shops which sell
Hawaiian curiosities, most of them things which
few people except "curio " hunters would care
to own. Old calabashes, which are often wonderful in colour and texture, are becoming hard
to find, and are, therefore, 'very expensive. Those
which were formerly the property of chiefs have
a slight ridge running around the bowl, a ridge
not really noticeable to sight, but only to the
touch. These bowls are not intrinsically better
than others, but have perhaps a slight added interest. Many of'the modern calabashes, less expensive because not' laboriously chipped out by
hand, but turned by machinery, are beautiful because of the colour of the koa, or, still finer, of
the rare kou, from which they are made. It is
possible to find koa furniture also, but this is
usually unattractive in shape. The best way is
to have chairs or tables made of good pieces of
the wood and copied from old models. It is still
possible to find good pieces of tapa, in different
shades of rich brown, the brighter colours usually
coming from the islands of the South Pacific.
There are strings of tiny white Niihau shells and 
of the delicious smelling mokihana berries that
keep their perfume for years. Old necklaces of
golden, stained walrus ivory are very rare and
very expensive, as are the beautiful yellow feather




244  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


leis of which the ancient royal cloaks and helmets
were made. Imitation leis of dyed feathers are
everywhere. There are fans of all kinds, the
lightest made of woven bamboo, not distinctively
Hawaiian, the best and most durable of cocoanut
leaves. There are all sorts of mats, the finest
made of the Niihau reed, the best so fine that they
can be crushed in the hand as though made of
the softest wool. But most of these things are
modern-Hawaii has no great ancient art which
it lies in the province of the enlightened tourist
to discover. There are no pictures, no pieces
of wonderful old pottery to be unearthed, as they
were a few years ago in the Orient, because such
things were not a part of Hawaiian life.
Hawaii is, as yet, a place with but few literary
associations. The early voyagers touch on it.
There are several old histories of the Islands, of
which that by Jarves, now very rare, is probably
the best. Books of travel often devote to them
an inaccurate chapter or two. Mark Twain has
been amusing about the Islands, as he has about
everything else, but his constitutional spirit of
banter did not prevent him from being deeply
impressed with the Hawaiian charm. Robert
Louis Stevenson more than once stayed in Honolulu for several months, lay in his hammock under
the hau trees of Waikiki, smoked his cigarettes,
talked, and wrote a little. His letters tell of the




ISLAND LIFE


245


place, and he laid the scene of one rather unHawaiian story, the "Bottle Imp," in Hawaii,
and it was to a good old "missionary" citizen
that his famous letter to Dr. Hyde was addressed.
Pity it is for Hawaii that he did not write of it
as he did of Samoa. His step-daughter, Mrs.
Strong, has written a novel, " The Girl from
Home," which gives a good picture of life in
Honolulu before the American occupation. Very
recently a belated interest is being taken in the
poetical legends of the place, and valuable as well
as keenly interesting books have been published,
"Myths and Legends of Hawaii" being the
most complete. The Hawaiian Annual, published
by Thrum, in Honolulu, prints every year an
English translation of one or two of these delightful old legends. Much scientific work is also
being done, most of it under the direct guidance
of the Bishop Museum, in the study of ancient
Hawaiian life and religion. And it is high time
that this work should be accomplished, since the
Hawaiian race is rapidly passing and the older
generations, who have kept traditions pure, are
almost gone. All is important and most, even
to the layman, is interesting.There has been no poet of Hawaii. No ancient
bard stands out preeminent, and indeed, most of
the "meles" have grown up through natural
accretion through the centuries and are rightly




246  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


anonymous.   These songs, too, should all be
translated, although no translation could perpetuate the peculiar rhythm of the originals. They
are full of repetitions, many of them epic in
interest if not in form, yet with all their crudities
they contain strains of real poetry, images that
linger in memory because of their vivid simplicity,
that recall the early poetical speech of older
lands. And to-day there is much to touch the
imagination of a poet, should one arise. Many
of the printed legends are poetry in all but form.
Nature in its most sensuously beautiful aspects
seeks poetical interpretation. There is material
for many a solemn poem in the slow tragedy of
the dying, lovable, Hawaiian people; for many a
gay lyric in the swish of the waves under the
prow of the swift canoes; of expression in words
of the sad, passionate music that sobs on moonlight nights to the accompaniment of the waves
at Waikiki. But the poet of Hawaii is still to
come.
Because of this lack of literature there is no
way to get any permanent impression of the
charm of Hawaii except by a visit. Its history
one can read and can appreciate if one is able
to adopt, in the reading, a sympathetic point of
view. The fact that thoroughly American ideals
pervade all phases of Island industry, of modes
of living, and of social intercourse may be ac



ISLAND LIFE


cepted  and  theoretically  believed.  But the
Hawaiian flavour, with which these ideals are
subtly impregnated and that insensibly affects
all who have lived there, is something indescribable, something which seems to emanate from the
misty hills, the whispering waters, the exquisite
vegetation, the low voices of the people. All this
may be grasped only through the senses. The
eyes must see from the shores at Waikiki the
bright carpet of water beyond which Diamond
Head so proudly stands at the gateway of the
world beyond. The ears must catch the melody
of Hawaiian song and the swish of the wind in
the palms. The scent of stephanotis and plumaria and ginger must strike one as it steals
through the hibiscus hedges around secluded gardens. The whole body must respond to the tender caress of trade winds that have blown across
a thousand miles of warm ocean. Only this is
full knowledge-and the sense of this no words
can convey.
And after happy weeks there comes the parting
-the good-byes on the ship's deck, for no tourist
stays long in Honolulu without making friends.
Even this is different from other partings. On
the dock is the band, playing well-known tunes
and, last of all, "Aloha-oe "-the last " aloha,"
the most familiar of Hawaiian words, which means
"greeting" and " good-bye " and "love" and




248  HAWAII PAST AND PRESENT


"best wishes for all happiness," according to its
intonation. On the deck the departing passengers
are covered with leis, with wreaths of flowers,
one or two from every friend-red carnations, yellow ginger, green, sweet-smelling "maile" from
the mountains, and-alas for these degenerate
days-many paper imitations. And as the ship
pulls slowly away these leis, some of them, are
thrown back to those who are left behind, last messages to new-found friends. The crowd grows indistinct, is only a coloured line against the black
background of warehouses. As the ship gains
headway the hills rise once more behind the little
city. Once more there is the beautiful panorama
of gleaming, multi-coloured water and of bright
mountains with the narrow green plain between.
Diamond Head draws back, and as the ship takes
the waves of the open Pacific one knows that
Hawaii, with all' its loveliness, its stupendous
mountains, its thrilling volcanoes, is only a happy
memory-a place to love, and a place to be proud
of since America has made it a land of prosperity,
and happiness, and liberty.




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APPENDIX


HOTELS
Oahu
HONOLULU:
Alexander Young    Hotel.  Bishop  Street.
(E. P.) From $1.50 per day.
Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Hotel Street. (E. P.)
From $1.00 per day.
Pleasanton Hotel. Wilder Avenue. (A. P.)
$2.50-$5.00 per day.
Moana Hotel. Waikiki. (A. P.) From $5.00
per day.
Seaside Hotel. Waikiki. (A. P.) From $2.50
per day.
In Honolulu there are many boarding houses
suitable for a long stay.
In order to get the trade winds, rooms facing
the mountains should be secured in all hotels.
WAIALUA: Haleiwa Hotel. (A. P.) $3.50-$4.00
per day.
HAUULA: Hauula Hotel (on line of Koolau Railway). (A. P.) $1.75 per day.
249




250


APPENDIX


Kauai
LIHUE: Fairview Hotel. (A. P.) $3.00 per day.
HANALEI: Deverill's Hotel. (A. P.) $3.00 per
day.
WAIMEA: Bay View Hotel. (A. P.) $2.50 per
day.
Maui
WAILUKU: Maul Hotel. (A. P.) $3.00 per day.
IAO VALLEY: Kapaniwai Hotel (annex to Maui
Hotel). (A. P.) $3.00 per day.
LAHAINA: Pioneer Hotel. (A. P.) $2.50 per
day.
Hawaii
HILO: Hilo Hotel. (A. P.) $5.00 per day.
KILAUEA: Volcano House. (A. P.) From $5.00
per day.
Crater Hotel. (A. P.) Lower rates than
the Volcano House.
Comfortable rooms with board at reasonable
rates also at Waiohinu, Kailua, Waimea, Kohala,
Laupahoehoe, and Honokaa.




APPENDIX


251


II
AUTOMOBILE AND CARIKAGE RATES
Oahu
HONOLULU:                Carriage  Automobile
Not over one mile.. $.25     $ 1.00
Not over two miles..     50      1.00
Pali and return, one to
four passengers..   5.00      7.00
Around northwest end of
Island (all day), one
to four passengers.            30.00
each additional..             5.00
Other excursions also by fixed rate:
Saddle horse, one-half day.. $ 2.50
Saddle horse, per week..   10.50
A mail stage leaves the Honolulu Post Office
daily at 9 A.M., running to Waikane on the windward side of the Island, twenty-one miles, and
returning the same evening. Price, $1.00 each
way. Motors and motor busses go all over the
Island; rates at the offices of the Hawaii Promotion Committee.
Other Islands
There are fixed prices for all trips, whether
by motor, private carriage, or stage. Full information may be obtained at the offices of the




252


APPENDIX


Hawaii Promotion Committee, Young Building,
Honolulu.
III
A NOTE ON THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE
The Hawaiian alphabet contains only twelve
letters, five vowels and seven consonants: a, e, i,
o, u, h, k, 1, m, n, p, and w. No distinction is
made between the sounds k and t, the latter being
preferred in poetry, nor between 1 and r, which
occurs only in dialect variations. W is often
pronounced like v when occurring between vowels.
The vowels are sounded as in Italian, that is,
a as in father, e as in they, i as in machine, o as
in note, u as oo in moon. Each vowel is distinctly pronounced except in the case of the
diphthongs, ai as in the English ejaculation ay!
and au as in the English word loud.    Thus
Kaaawa, a valley on the windward side of Oahu,
is KA-a-A-va.
The, accent is almost always on the penult, as
in Ha-wAi-i.
There are very few words in the language, '
every one being forced to assume different meanings as occasion requires. As the language is
highly inflected, however, it is difficult to speak
accurately, and with the general introduction of




APPENDIX


253


English even the natives are becoming slovenly in
its use.
Certain Hawaiian words have come into common usage and will be met by all tourists. These
words are as follows:


Akamai, clever.
Aloha, greeting, love.
Aloha oe, farewell.
Haole, foreigner.
Heiau, native temple.
Hikie, large couch.
Hula, native dance.
Hulh, angry.
lKulikuli, keep still.
Kahwna, native priest
or " medicine man."
Kamaaina, old-time resident.
Kanaka, man     (often
used to mean the native Hawaiian).


Lanai, piazza.
Lei, wreath.
Mahope, by and by.
Makai, toward the sea.
Mauka,   toward  the
mountains.
Malihine, stranger.
Mele, Hawaiian song.
Maikai, good.
Pali, cliff.
Pau, finished.
Pilikia, trouble of any
kind.
Poi, native taro food.
Wikiwiki, hurry up.
Wahine, woman.
[V
EBRAL


BANKS:-Among the principal banks in Honolulu are the First National, Bank of Honolulu,




254


APPENDIX


Bishop & Co., and Bank of Hawaii. There are
reliable banks in all the larger towns.
CABLE MESSAGES:-The rates per word between
Honolulu and San Francisco are 35 cents, Manila
85 cents, Japan 96 cents, China $1.01. Thq
through rate to Europe is 84 cents per word.
For Eastern cities the usual overland telegraph
rates must be added to the cable to San Francisco, for example, 12 cents a word to New York.
Wireless messages are less expensive, and there is
wireless service between the different islands and
with passing ships, as well as to California.
CusToMs:-The same regulations as in any
United States port. Passengers leaving Honolulu
by any except the local steamers must have their
hold luggage sealed by customs officials at the
dock to avoid examination in San Francisco.
POST OFFICE:-Corner Merchant and Bethel
Streets, Honolulu. The hours correspond to those
of post offices on the mainland. Postage is the
same as to any other part of the United States.
PHYSICIANS:-There are competent doctors and
nurses in all the more important towns, and hospital facilities are good.
SHOPS IN HONOLULU:-Photographs: Honolulu
Photo Supply Company; Gurray's; R. H. Perkins.-Books and Stationery: Crossroad's Book
Store; Thrum's; Arleigh's.-Curios: Hawaiian




APPENDIX                255
and South Sea Island Curio Company; Island
Curio Company.-Japanese and Chinese Goods:
Japanese Bazaar; Sayagusa Shoten; Wing Wo
Tai Company.
WATER:-It is safe to drink the water in Honolulu, and indeed it is nowhere dangerous except for
those who find change of' water harmful.
GUIDE BOOKS:-There are two small but fairly
satisfactory guide books obtainable in Honolulu,
one by Kinney and one by Schwank.




I




INDEX


Ahuimanu, 140
Akaka Falls, 206
Aleutian Islands, 1
Anahola, 155
Aquarium, Waikiki, 121-122
Auckland, 1
Barber's Point, 131, 133
Barking Sands, 150
Beretania St., Honolulu, 110
Bishop Homestead, 116
Bishop Museum, 120
Breakwaters, 57-58
Camp McKinley, 89
Carnegie Library, Honolulu,
61, 113
Castle Homestead, Honolulu, 114
Central Union Church, Honolulu, 115
Climate, 3-4
Cocoanut Island, 185
Commercial Club, 234, 235
Cook, Captain James, 25, 31 -33, 35, 150, 197
Cooke  Homestead, Honolulu, 114
Country Club, 235, 242
Court House, Honolulu, 113
Crown Lands, 43, 59-60
Damien, Father, 63
Diamond Head, 105, 131,
142, 146
Dole, Governor Sanford B.,
51, 87
Eke Crater, 170
Emma Square, 122


Ewa Plantation, 69,
134


133,


Flora, 4-5
Fort Armstrong, 90
Fort de Russy, 90, 92
Fortifications, 88, 92, 98
Fort Kamehameha, 90, 93
Fort Ruger, 92
Fort Shafter, 89, 93
Fort Street, Honolulu, 38,
110
Garden Island, 150
Government, Federal, 57, 58,
59, 101
Provisional, 50-51
Territorial, 53, 58, 62
Green Lake, 189
Haena Point, 158
Haiku, 160, 166, 178
Haleiwa Hotel, 135, 137
Hlalemaumau, 214, 223
Hamakua, 204
Hana, 177, 179
Hanakapiai, 159
Hanalei, 132, 155
Hanapepe Falls, 153
Hanapepe River, 157
Hanapepe Valley, 152
Haupu Ridge, 154
Hawaii, 2, 21, 34, 36, 47, 69,
70, 77, 79, 83, 85, 91, 98,
99, 100, 182, et seq.
Hawaiian Annual, 245
Hawaiian Commercial Sugar
Co.'s Plantation, 69, 168
Hawaiian   Historical  Society, 61


257




258


INDEX


Health, Public, 61
Hilo, 4, 57, 80, 183, 184,
204, 206, 209
Hilo Boarding School, 186
Hoary Head Ridge, 154
Honaunau, 196
Honokaa, 207
Honokaa Landing,, 200
Honokohau Valley, 170
Honolulu, 1, 4, 38, 45, 57,
58, 61, 68, 81, 82
Honolulu Harbour, 58, 107
Honolulu Iron Works, 80
Honolulu  Plantation,  69,
133
Honomu, 206
Honuapo, 193
Hotel St., Honolulu, 110
Hualalai, 182, 199
Huelo, 178
Iao Valley, 169, 180
Idlewilde, 172
Kaakaukukui Reef, 90
Kaawaloa, 197
Kahoolawe Island, 2, 181
Kahuku, 119, 133, 137
Kahului, 57, 171, 179
Kailua, 198, 199, 206
Kaimuki, 132, 146
Kalaicha, 209
Kalakaua, King, 47-49, 55,
112
Kalalau Valley, 159
Kaliuwaa Cafion, 137
Kamehameha I, 20, 34-38,
113, 201
Kamehameha II, 42, 197
Kamehameha III, 42, 45, 48
Kamehameha IV, 46, 119
Kamehameha V, 46, 47
Kamehameha School, 116
Kaneohe Bay, 139
Kapiolani Park, 122, 242
Kapoho, 170
Kau, 193


Kau Desert, 172
Kauai, 2, 31, 57, 99, 149 et
seq.
Kauai Electric Station, 157
Kauiki Head, 179
Kaumana Cave, 186
Kaunakakai, 163, 164
Kaupo Gap, 179
Kawaiahao Church, 113, 117
Kawaiahao Seminary, 117
Kawaihae, 183, 201
Kealakekua, 207
Kealakekua Bay, 32, 206
Keanae, 178
Keanakahoe, 223
Keanakolu, 209
Keauhou, 198
Kekuaokalani, 197
Kiholo, 200
Kilauea, 34, 155, 187, 211
et seq.
Kilauea Plantation, 153
Kilaueaiki, 222
Kilohana Crater, 154
King St., Honolulu, 110
Kipapa, 137
Kohala, 113, 183, 201, 207
Kohala Range, 182, 200, 202
Koko Head, 104, 142
Koloa, 153
Kona, 194-199
Koolau, 144, 146
Koolau Mountains, 104, 106
Kualoa Point, 139
Kula, 179
Labour Problem, 70, 73, 78
La Follette Shipping Law,
83
Lahaina, 166, 180, 181
Lahainaluna Seminary, 167
Laie, 137
Lanai, 2, 142, 181
Laupahoehoe, 205, 207
Lawai, 153
Leahi, See Diamond Head




INDEX


259


Leper Settlement, 62-63, 164
Lihue, 154, 155
Liliuokalani, Queen, 49-51,
87, 112, 126
Little Kilauea, 222
Lumahai Valley, 156
Lunalilo Home, 119
Lunalilo, King, 113, 119
McBride Plantation, 153
Mahukona, 183
Makaopuhi, 228, 229
Makapuu Point, 103, 143
Makawao, 172, 179
Makaweli Plantation, 152
Makena, 179
Mana, 209
Manila, 1, 85
Manoa Valley, 111, 117, 127,
146
Maui, 2, 34, 57, 99, 162 et
seq.
Mauna Kea, 182, 183, 208
Mauna Loa, 182, 192, 207,
229
Mid-Pacific Institute, 117
Military Reservations, 89,
90, 92, 93
Mills Institute, 118
Mission Church, 113
Mission Memorial Building7
113
Moanalua, 132, 240
Mokapu Point, 139
Mokuaweoweo 'Crater, 208,
229
Moloka Ranch, 163, 165
Molokai, 2, 14, 46, 62-63,
103, 142, 162 et seq.
Molokini, 179
Mt. Haleakala, 165, 175 -178, 208
Mt. Hualalai, 182, 200
Mt. Kaala, 104
Mt. Konahuanui, 128, 146
Mt. Olympus, 128


Mt. Puu Kukui, 170, 171
Mt. Tantalus, 131, 132, 144
Mt. Waialeale, 149
Nahiku, 178
Napali, 158-160
Napoopoo, 198, 207
National Guard, 99-100
Naval Station, 95-97
Nawiliwili, 58
Nawiliwili Gulch, 154
Niihau, 2, 31, 161
Niu, 142
Nuuanu   Ave., Honolulu,
110
Nuuanu Pali, 144, 146
Nuuanu Valley, 34, 110,
127, 141, 145
Oahu, 2, 31, 34, 36, 69, 90,
93, 99, 103, 127, et seq.
Oahu College, 118
Oahu Plantation, 133
Olaa Plantation, 188
Olokele Cafion, 152, 153
Olokele Ditch, 152
Olokele River, 157
Olowalu Plantation, 168
Onomea, 206
Onomea, Arch, 186
Ookala, 204
'"utdoor Circle," 126, 239
Pacific Club, 234
Pacific Heights, 144
Pacific Tennis Court, 235
Pahala, 207
Pahala Plantation, 193
Paia, 171, 177
Pali, 145
Pali Precipice, 129
Palolo Valley, 146
Parkers' Ranch, 99, 208
Pauoa Valley, 144
Pearl Harbour, 47, 58, 86,
87, 95, 131, 133, 134


r


A
F




260


INDEX


Pelekunu Valley, 163
Philippine Islands, 1, 85
Pineapple Cultivation, 71 -72
Pioneer Mill Company, 167
Pit Craters, 227, 228
Polihale, 151
Population, 6-10, 25-26
Puna, 207
Punahou, 118
Punch Bowl, 109, 119, 131,
144
Puu Huluhulu, 227
Puukapele, 151
Queen's Hospital, 46, 119
Rainbow Fall, 185
Reciprocity Treaty, 57, 86,
95
Rice Cultivation, 73
Roman Catholic Cathedral,
Honolulu, 115
Royal Hawaiian Band, 239
Royal Hawaiian Hotel, 111
Royal Palace,   Honolulu,
111
St. Andrew's Cathedral, 115
San Francisco, 1, 2, 74, 75,
79, 93, 163
Savaii, 13
Schofield Barracks, 90, 94
Schools, 60-61, 116-119, 167
Sports, 23-24
Spouting Horn, 153
Strategic Importance, 85-88
Sugar Production, 66-70
Sydney, 1
Tantalus Road, 144
The Twins, 227


Thomas Square, 122
Transportation facilities,
Water, 81-84
Two Orphans, 227
Ulu Falls, 202
University Club, 234
Victoria, B. C., 1
Volcanoes, 211 et seq.
Volcano House, 189, 191,
207, 212, 217
Wahaula, i89
Waiakea River, 188
Waialae, 132, 142
Waialae Bay, 104
Waialua, 133, 135
Waialua Plantation, 135
Waianae, 133
Waianae Mountains, 104,
105, 131, 147
Waianae Plantation, 135
Waihee Valley, 170
Waikiki, 23, 105, 110, 132,
244
Waikoko River, 156
Wailua Valley, 155, 163
Wailuku, 168, 169, 171, 180
Waimanalo Pali, 142, 144
Waimanu Valley, 202
Waimea, 135, 150, 200, 201,
203, 206, 207
Waimea Bay, 31
Waimea Gulch, 151
Wainiha Valley, 156, 158
Waiohinu, 194, 206
Waipio, 202
Waipio Valley, 184, 202
Washington Place, 126
Yokohama, 1
Young Hotel, Honolulu, 110


FEB 3 1920




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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN


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UNIVERSITY IF MICHIGAN
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