A HISTORY
OF
The Hawaiian Islands
Their Resources and People
EDITED BY
Daniel Logan
'I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEW YORK CHICAGO
J907
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UBRARY of CONGRESS
Two Copies Received
MAR 11 1907
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Copyright 1907
BY
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
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INTRODUCTORY.
Hawaii has more or less probable traditions of prehistoric times,
which, with its ancient history, have been reduced to writing by able
investigators. In the forms of legendary stories for current periodicals
and of papers for the Hawaiian Historical Society, the dark ages of
the archipelago are being illuminated for the information and enter-
tainment of the present generation. The records are of interest to the
student of ethnology on the one hand and to lovers of weird romance
on the other. Taking it in the rough, the ancient history of the Hawaiian
Islands might be hastily dismissed with the assertion that it but verifies
the scripture that says, “ The dark places of the earth are the habita-
tions of cruelty.” Yet there are redeeming lights in the dark picture.
Against the background of tyrannical rule by a barbarian aristoc-
racy over a savage commonalty — with an unprincipled priesthood whip-
ping both into craven submission to a diabolical code with supersti-
tion’s lash — there glitter some of the nobler traits of humanity. The
ancient Hawaiians were possessed of physical and moral courage, latent
though it was in many respects where it might have had extensive
power of self-emancipation. They had much ingenuity of handicraft
with poor material and poorer facilities of using it. The germs of
taste existed in their rude arts. With considerable knowledge of the
mysteries of the universe they combined the enterprise of the explorer.
They had some resource of mental power, which was adorned with
the flower of imagination. Their hospitality was singularly marked.
It is such qualities as these that have given the Hawaiians, since
IV
INTRODUCTORY
civilization came upon them, a name and fame among reclaimed races
which are nowhere paralleled.
The Hawaiians are now fully enfranchised citizens of the United
States, their country being an organized Territory of the Union, with
equal privileges of self-government to those of people of the most favored
territory of the mainland. In some respects, indeed, Hawaii has been
placed on a par with the States, because of a highly organized system
of government found to have existed in the islands for the greater
part of a century before they were annexed to the United States. A
wrong impression is prevalent, namely, that the Hawaiian Islands are
merely “ an insular possession ” of the United States. They were such
only from the passage of the resolution of Congress annexing them
on June 7, 1898, until the going into effect on June 14, 1900, of an
“Act to Provide a Government for the Hawaiian Islands,” commonly
called the “ Organic Act,” being the constitution of the Territory of
Hawaii. That enactment, with whatever amendments may be made
to it, and all the laws of the Legislature of Hawaii are subordinate
to, and construed in connection with, the constitution of the United
States. The customs, internal revenue and postal laws of the United
States are administered here the same way as elsewhere in the Union,
and the Territory is a judicial district of the nation for the adminis-
tration of federal law, besides having a complete judiciary system with
independent jurisdiction of all the laws of the Territory. The decisions
of the Supreme Court of the Territory are final, excepting where the
constitution or the laws of the United States may be involved, when
an appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.
In this respect the Territory of Hawaii is on the same footing as a
State.*
* Since this was written, the U. S. Congress has enacted that an appeal may be
taken from ^ the Hawaiian Supreme Court to the Federal Supreme Court in civil
cases involving property of not less than $5,000 in value.
INTRODUCTORY
V
It is an accepted fact that the Hawaiian Islands were inhabited
many centuries ago, Fornander estimating as early as the year 500
of the Christian era. Alexander says : “ It is nearly certain that there
were two distinct periods of emigration to these islands. The first
settlers must have arrived at a very ancient time, as is proved by the
discovery of human bones under ancient coral beds and lava flows.”
Acquaintance with the Hawaiian people by outsiders, other than Poly-
nesians, was not made until about the close of the eighteenth century,
except in some casual instances that were not divulged to the world at
their occurrence. For modem historical purposes, it is fair enough
to give the British navigator, James Cook, the title of discoverer of
the group. He named the archipelago the Sandwich Islands in honor
of his patron, the E^rl of Sandwich, but that name has long ago beeen
superseded by that of the Hawaiian Islands after the largest island.
Table of Contents.
HISTORICAL.
PAGES.
Ancient Hawaii — A ncient Hawaiian Industries — Living and
Life — Ancient Amusements — Music and Dancing — Civil
Conditions — Domestic Relations — War Practices — Some
Ancient Reigns i- 47
Discovery by Cook — C ook’s Tragic End.. 48- 55
Rise of Kamehameha 56- 65
Advent of Commerce — K amehameha Resumes Warfare 66- 74
Arrival of Vancouver 75- 79
The Closing Wars — E nd of Kamehameha’s Reign — The Tabu
System Abolished 80 97
Liholiho’s Inglorious Reign 98-103
American Missionaries Arrive — F oreigners Make Trouble —
Some Native Disturbers — Persecution of Roman Catholics
— French Aggressions 104-133
Constitutional Government 134-138
British Seizure of Hawaii .139-151
Recognition of Independence — F ourth and Fifth Kameha-
mehas — 152-160
Some Noteworthy Events — E lection of Kalakaua 161-171
The Last Sovereign 172-177
The Commerce of Hawaii — Hawaii’s First Foreign Trade —
Beginning of Sugar Production and Exportation — Birth of
the Export Trade — Rise and Fall of the Whaling Industry
— General Commercial Development — Live Stock Prod-
ucts — Other Commercial Products 178-189
Biographies 190-259
CONTENTS vii
Achi, William C. 256
Ahrens, August 256
Armitage, H. 250
Bank of Hawaii — 198
Beckley, George C. — 229
Brown, Arthur M. 235
Campbell, James 241
Carter, George C 191
Colburn, John F 244
Cooper, Walter Gaunt 240
Cummings, John Adams 192
De Fries, Emma Alexandria Kalanikauikaalaneo Kiliou-
laninuiamamao 22^
Denison, George Prentice . ... .... .,. . . . . . . .,. ... . . ... .,. . . . 218
Dole, Sanford B. . . . . 190
Dreier, August — .... 246
Ena, John .. .... 216
Hedemann, C , 195
Holloway, Carl Sheldon 1 257^
Isenberg, Henry Alexander ................ .,. . . . . ... . . . 204
Isenberg, Paul R. 199
Kawananakoa, David ........................ .1. .1. . ..... . 254
Kenake, Louis Theophilus 242
Kennedy, James A. 240
Kepoikai, A. N. 236
Klamp, Frederick 248
Lewers, Robert . ... ... ... . . ... ... . . . . .,. .,. . . .,. . . .,. . . . . .1. . . 204
McGrew, John S. . . . . . . ........ .,. . .|. . . . . .,. ...... .,. . ... 218
Meyer, Frederick . . . .,. ... .,. ... . . . . .,. .,. 258
Oat, Joseph M 226
Parker, Samuel . . . . . 249
Peterson, Robert C. A 225
Rives, Jasont . .1. .1. . . . . . . . . . . «>. 220
viii CONTENTS
Robinson, Mark Prever 211
Schaefer, Frederick August 213
Smith, Frederick Carlos 210
Spreckles & Co., Claus 197
Von Holt, Heinrich M 251
Wilcox, Robert W 207
Wilder’s S. S. Company 202
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
ANCIENT HAWAII.
From close similarity of language, it is evident that the Hawaiians
came from Southern Polynesia. Besides that identity, there is clear
tradition of intercourse between the Hawaiian Islands and the groups
of the Southern Pacific during the eleventh and the twelfth centuries.
There were notable voyages in both directions taken in large canoes
steered along paths charted in the skies by the barbarian astronomers.
Some of the voyagers had come from the south and returned thither
in company with bold navigators of Hawaiian birth, whose return
voyages hither generally resulted in the arrival of royal and priestly
scions as immigrants to become, sometimes of original purpose and
again of favorable opportunity, founders of new lines of their respective
orders in the Hawaiian Islands. It is said that Kamehameha L, who
conquered the islands into a united kingdom, was descended from a
king thus imported by Paao, a Samoan priest who, finding the island
of Hawaii without a king at his arrival, returned to the South Seas
and fetched back a chief named Pili to take the position. Paao, besides
setting up what was destined to be the greatest line of Hawaiian kings,
himself became high priest and the office remained in his family till
the last.
A triple class division placed the people of ancient Hawaii in a
condition worse than slavery. The nobility comprised the kings ruling
the diflferent islands and their tributary chiefs of various grades. Next
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
was a sacerdotal caste including priests, sorcerers and doctors. Lastly,
there were the common people, or laboring class. Between the chiefs
and the common people an impassable gulf was fixed. All who were
born in either class lived and died therein. There was no possibility
of rising to the upper ranks open to the lowly bom man, and a chief
could not, either for punishment or revenge, be degraded to the common
level or compelled to labor. Though his captors in warfare might
immolate him upon the altar of a deity, yet if they spared his life they
paid respect to his rank. Chiefs were held in awe from the belief that
they were descended from the gods. Natural phenomena were inter-
preted as heralding both the birth and the death of a chief. Traces of
such superstition are to this day discernible in the Hawaiian people,
who are prone to regard happenings in nature as signs of coming events.
For instance, the appearance in coast waters of a species of little red
fish is deemed the forerunner of the death of a chief — the remnant of
the chiefly order and survivors of the later royal families still being
given recognition of rank — although for every death of a chiefish per-
sonage within a measurable period after the red fish show up there are
many visits of the innocent creatures followed by prolonged immunity
of aristocracy from the universal destroyer.
Owing no doubt to generations of superior living of the chiefly
class at the expense of its vassals, there was a contrast of physique
and demeanor between chiefs and common people. The distinction
is not invisible today when all are equal under the American flag, though
there had been like equality in theory for more than half a century
before annexation — in practice indeed so far as the rights of person
and property are concerned. Doubtless the pride of ancestry and the
advantages of inherited wealth have served to maintain the chiefly dig-
nity and well-favored presence, while the common people have failed
and indeed refused — partly by weight of hereditary ignobility and partly
THE HAWAliAN ISLANDS
3
from retained awe of the supposedly divine quality of the “ aliis ” (as
the chiefs are called) — to rise to the full measure of human equality
which was proffered to them in almost the earliest written constitution
of the country.
Chiefs were graded in rank, the head chief of an island being
styled “ moi.” This title survived throughout the full-blown monarchy
— “ moi ” alone meaning king and “ moiwahine ” (the word for woman
suffixed) queen. The position of head chief was usually hereditary, but
his control over the tributary chiefs, ruling districts imder him, was
precariously dependent on the law of force. The overthrowing of mon-
archies in Hawaii was a pastime long antecedent to the final upset in
1893. Yet an awful spell attached to the person of an ancient Hawaiian
sovereign and to his every act and habit in life, while from his death
immediate to its occurrence the consequences of the divine worship
accorded to him became a hideous and blighting terror to the people.
When one of the highest chiefs — called tabu or sacred chiefs (alii kapu)
— vouchsafed an appearance in public (some of them are said never to
have come out into the daylight) the common people prostrated them-
selves upon the ground with a cry of terrorized warning. For the
slightest breach of etiquette toward the great personage death was the
penalty exacted.
“ For example,” Alexander says, “ it was death for a common
man to remain standing at the mention of the king’s name in song or
when the king’s food, drinking water or clothing was carried past; to
put on any article of dress belonging to him; to enter his enclosure
without permission, or even to cross his shadow or that of his house.
If he entered the dread presence of the sovereign, he must crawl, prone
on the ground, kolokolo, and leave it in the same manner. The chief’s
head was especially sacred, and for anyone to touch it or occupy a posi-
4
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
tion above it would be treasonable. No subject dared to appear on
the deck of a vessel when the king was in the cabin.”
Distinction was drawn in death between the chief and the com-
moner. When a king died the district where he had lived was regarded
as polluted for ten days, his heir having to remove into another district
until that period ended. If his death was suspected of having been
produced by sorcery, members of the “ kuni ” division of sorcerers
were employed to avenge it. A human sacrifice was offered to provide
company to the departed royalty in his journey to the other world.
This practice caused a flight of many people to the mountains until
the tabu period was over, for nobody of the common people could tell
who should be the victim. The royal corpse was wrapped in taro and
banana leaves, and buried in a grave but a few feet deep, under which
a fire was kept burning to hasten decomposition, prayers being all
the time repeated. At the end of ten days the body was disinterred
and the bones, after being stripped of the flesh, were bundled up with
cinet and covered with tapa and red feathers. The offer of a baked pig,
with worship paid to the chief’s bones, was the final ceremony whereby
the pollution of the district was removed. Then the heir might return
and take up the scepter. The bundle of bones, called an “ unihipili,”
was stored away in a secret cave by attendants of the chief, whom,
before his death, he had sworn to that service. Chiefs dreaded the
possibility of having their bones manufactured into arrows or fishhooks.
There was an alternative custom of depositing a chief’s bones in a tem-
ple to be worshiped. Besides universal wailing, by way of mourning
dead royalty, the people expressed their sorrow by various bodily self-
disfigurements, such as the knocking out of front teeth, and cutting of
their hair in fantastic ways, tattooing of tongues and burning of cres-
cents on their bodies. There were a few instances of this practice even
as late as the death of King Kalakaua in 1891.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
5
Attendants on a chief were noble generally on the father’s side
only. A large number constituted the court, each member having his
peculiar office. One remained always near the chief, bearing a fly-
brush, called the kahili, to protect the royal person from insect tor-
mentors. Another bore his spittoon. A master of the lomilomi process
was on hand to massage or shampoo him. There was a host of house-
hold officers, including chief steward, treasurer, heralds and runners.
In addition the chief supported and allowed to eat in his presence a
swarm comprising priests, diviners, bards, story-tellers, dancers, drum-
mers and buffoons.
There were different orders of priests, the succession being hered-
itary, corresponding with a host of deities worshiped by the Hawaiians.
Four great gods were owned by the Polynesians, their names being
Kane, Kanaloa, Ku and Lono, and they were believed to have existed
since the time of primeval chaos. Though regarded as dwelling, in-
visible, in or above the region of clouds, yet they were supposed to
appear in human form on earth. As time passed these beings, all-
powerful in different major jurisdictions to which they were assigned
by the worshipers, received homage under specialized functions and
this resulted in a multiplication of deities. Thus, from Kane — whom
some of the prayers in his honor address as father of men and founder
of the world — were derived Kane-makua, a god of fishermen; Kane-
puaa, the god of agriculture; Kane-nuakea, the inspirer of prophets,
etc. Then there were gods of the sea, the sky, points of the compass,
various great mountains, of the winds, of the lightning, of various occu-
pations besides those already mentioned, and many animals, birds and
fishes were held in awe, dread or affection, owing to the belief that in
them spirits of good or evil were incarnated. Not only were there
gods paired male and female but god-families, as for instance Pele,
the goddess of volcanoes, and six sisters, a brother and other relatives,
6
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
who originally came from Samoa and, after living successively on Oahu,
Molokai and Maui, finally settled down on Hawaii, the largest island
and from time immemorial the only seat of active volcanoes in the
group. Particular families of Polynesians, also, had tutelar deities
attached to them, called in Hawaiian aumakuas, which in some cases
were deified ancestors. Moreover, there was a group of demigods,
men to whom supernatural and magical powers were attributed. Some
of the higher gods required on occasions human sacrifices to placate,
and of the whole category of deities malignancy was oftener the char-
acter than benignancy. The Hawaiians usually worshiped their gods
through the visible intermediary of images. The principal ones, erected
in large temples of which some remains exist, were fashioned of ohia
wood and given hideous features to inspire terror. Others were of
wickerwork covered with red feathers, having eyes of mother-of-pearl
and gaping mouths fitted with teeth of sharks. Households of the com-
mon people had their own small idols, worshiped in private but on
particular occasions carried to the temple. Pebbles from a certain
beach and even shapeless stones were treasured as enshrining deities.
Two principal orders of temples existed, each served by its especial
priestly caste, respectively sacred to Ku and Lono. Those of Ku were
of higher rank, with more exclusive and severe tabus and ritual than
those of Lono. The temple of Ku belonged to the highest chief of the
island whereon it was situated, and it was only therein that human
sacrifices could be offered. Strict specifications of material and con-
struction were required for the building of a temple, or “ heiau ” as it
is^ called in the Hawaiian language, though there was considerable
variety of plan in different structures. The great heiau of Puukohola,
built by Kamehameha I. in 1791, is thus described:
“ It is an irregular parallelogram two hundred and twenty-four
feet long and one hundred feet wide, with walls twelve feet thick at
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
7
the base, and varying in height from eight feet on the upper side to
twenty feet on the lower side. The entrance is a narrow passage be-
tween two high walls, and the interior is divided into terraces paved
with smooth, flat stones. At the south end is an inner court where
the principal idol stands, surrounded by a number of images of inferior
deities.”
An oracle of wickerwork stood in the center of the court, within
which the priest stood when he communicated the answers of the god
to the king. The altar stood near the entrance to the inner court. It
was a scaflfold upon posts, whereon offerings were laid and left to
moulder away. There were sacred houses for the king and priests
within the walls. Hideous wooden idols" of varied shape and size
were mounted upon the outer walls.
Besides the heiaus there were puuhonuas, of purpose like the houses
of refuge of the Hebrew system. The puuhonua was an inviolable
sanctuary in time of war. To it the manslayer, the tabu-breaker, the
thief and even the murderer fled from his pursuers, and, once within
its walls, was safe from the avenger. Its gates were always open. The
refugee on entering directly presented himself before the idol with an
address of thanksgiving. A white flag at the top of a tall spear marked
each end of the inclosure, a short distance from the walls, in war time.
Death at the hands of the priests and their attendants was the speedy
penalty inflicted upon anyone who followed or molested any person
who had entered the tabued precincts.
“ The most celebrated puuhonua,” Alexander says, “ was the one
at Honaunau, which measures seven hundred and fifteen feet by four
hundred and four, containing about seven acres, and is surrounded by
a massive wall twelve feet high and fifteen feet thick. Formerly large
wooden images stood on the walls, about four feet apart. Within this
inclosure were three heiaus, built of very large stones.”
8
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Connected with the idolatry of the Hawaiians was the Polynesian
tabu system in most fully developed form. Some of the tabus were
permanent, having relation to the chiefs, the temples and the idols.
Others were temporary, being enforced at certain times or arbitrarily
decreed by the king. The system affected all the activities and rela-
tions of life. Its regulations outraged the social instincts of humanity
and were enforced by cruel penalties, that of death being inflicted
for acts both of intrinsic innocence and sheer inadvertence. No doubt
the most atrocious tabus were those relating to women. Men and
women could not eat together or even have their food cooked in the
same oven. At least six houses were comprised in a Hawaiian home,
namely — the family chapel, the men’s eating house, the common sleep-
ing house, the women’s eating house, the house for tapa beating and a
house of retirement for women during certain tabu periods. For a
woman to enter the first house mentioned, the idols’ sanctuary, or the
men’s eating house, the penalty was death. It was likewise death
for a woman to eat certain kinds of food, such as pork, bananas, cocoa-
nuts, turtles and different species of fish. In illustration of the rigor
wherewith these laws were enforced Alexander says:
“ For example, at Honaunau, Hawaii, two young girls of the high-
est rank, Kapiolani and Keoua, having been detected in the act of
eating a banana, their kahu, or tutor, was held responsible and put
to death by drowning. Shortly before the abolition of the tabus, a
little child had one of her eyes scooped out for the same offense. About
the same time a woman was put to death for entering the eating-house
of her husband, although she was tipsy at the time. There were many
tabus that related to ceremonial purity, especially in connection with
funeral rites. * * * There were many occasions when no canoe
could be launched, no fire lighted, no tapa beaten or poi pounded, and
no sound could be uttered on pain of death; when even the dogs had
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
9
to be muzzled, and the fowls were shut up in calabashes for twenty-
four hours at a time.”
Time was reckoned by lunar months, an intercalary month being
inserted occasionally to make up the resultant deficiency in the true
year. There was a suspension of the usual religious services for four
months beginning with the month corresponding to our October. In
this third part of the year special services and games were held in
honor of Lono. Each lunar month had four tabu periods of two nights
and one day each, which were dedicated to the four great gods severally.
The moon regulated all the religious services, as well as the industrial
employments of the people.
An elaborate and complicated temple service consisted in part of
a variety of prayers, or magical incantations, which had been handed
down by word of mouth for many generations. This litany was in
very ancient style, understood by only a few, and some of the invoca-
tions would occupy several hours each to recite. In some cases perfect
accuracy in repeating the words was necessary to produce the desired
effect, and during the recital of the most important class of prayers
absolute silence on the part of the congregation was imposed, as the
spell would be broken and the charm destroyed by the slightest noise.
A portion of the services consisted of responses, given either by the
people or a company of priests.
Analogous to the benediction of Christian worship, certain words
were always used to end a service. These began with the exclamation,
“ Amama ! ” Many priests with individual specialties, in the greater
temples, divided the services between them, but the king, as head of
the church, presented the human sacrifices and pronounced the conclud-
ing Amama.” Only on the greatest occasions and at temples of the
highest class was the human sacrifice offered. Victims were either
prisoners of war or violators of some tabu regulation. Females would
10
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
appear to have been exempt from sacrifice, though not, according to
the examples already quoted, from a tabu’s death penalty. A procurer
of victims for the sacrificial altar was known as the “ Mu.” His usual
mode of attack was that of the sneaking assassin, striking the victim
down from behind with a club. When the occasion approached for
a sacrifice, there would be a flight of terrified people to the mountains.
“ Mu ” was a word that inspired terror, continuing to have that effect
long after idolatry was abolished. Corpses of victims were dragged
to the temple and, after presentation to the idol, laid face down along
with the carcasses of hogs, the mass being left to putrefy in the sun.
Alexander states, in a footnote to a description of the sacrifice, that in
1807 four men were sacrificed in the heiau (temple) at the foot of
Diamond Head because the queen, Kepuolani, was dangerously ill.
During the four monthly tabu periods before mentioned, each
lasting two nights, a strictly religious king spent the time in the temple,
when for any person to trespass upon its limits was to invite death.
It was a breach of the tabu for women to enter canoes, or to have any
intercourse with men, while the sacred period lasted.
Six months alternately two kinds of fish were tabu, most awful
ceremonies marking the transition from one of such close seasons to the
other. A sacred character was attributed to these particular fishes.
For the removal of the first tabu on fish, taking place in January, a
human sacrifice was a necessary part of the rites and, it is said, a man
representing the god plucked out and ate an eye each of the fish and
the dead man that were offered together upon the altar. In the July
removal a pig was the piece de resistance of the offering, but the omis-
sion of the human sacrifice was compensated for, in point of barbarity,
by the terribly strict tabus imposed. During the first night fire must
not be kindled, nor sound of any living creature be heard. When, the
following day, the head fisherman put to sea for the initial catch of
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
11
fish that was to break the tabu, the lighting of fires, the launching
of canoes and the landing of canoes from abroad were prohibited under
forfeiture of life to the transgressor. The fishes thus alternating in
permission and prohibition of being caught were, in the native language,
the aku and the opelu. Fancy such restrictions being placed on New
England fishermen with respect to the cod and the mackerel!
No other religious service was regarded as being so important as
the consecration of a temple, the time for which was frequently selected
as just before a war with a view of securing victory. Spring was
the right season. Ten priests were variously engaged in the ceremonies,
for which ten or more days were taken, besides twelve days beforehand
for purification. There would be a procession around the district, in
which a man personating the god would be the central figure. A priest
accompanied this character, while men carrying white flags walked be-
fore and behind. Different rites were performed at each land boundary,
including the receipt of offerings from the people. This tour having
been accomplished, on the eve of the new moon a service was held at
the temple. The entire population was summoned thereto. Responses
and the sprinkling of the people with holy water formed part of the
ceremonies. The procuring of the idol from the forest was a prodigious
matter, including an enormous procession and a human sacrifice. Be-
fore the man was offered up inquiry was made by the priest whether
the tabu as to any sound of animate creature had been strictly observed.
It was a good omen when the answer could be made in the affirmative.
The human victim having been buried at the foot of the selected tree
and a hog baked on the spot, the tree was felled, trimmed and decorated
with vines. After the feast there was another procession, the bearers
of the new idol being preceded by feather gods carried in front, fol-
lowed by chiefs and people vn'th ferns and branches in their hands. They
yelled wildly as they marched. Villagers who were not in the train
12
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
kept within doors, for death was the doom of any person meeting the
array of devotees. Arrived at the temple the idols were deposited in
their places with accompaniment of shouts and drum-beats. Then came
other elaborate rites. There were long prayers with rising and sitting
exercises most tiresome. When, toward evening, the principal idol
came to be erected, another toll of man’s life was exacted. The body
was buried in the hole dug for the pedestal of the image.
Several nights of varied and involved ceremonies followed, the
first night being the most solemn and fateful of all. Prayers were
said in every house to invoke success and good weather. If there was
nothing disturbing or disagreeable in the elements, and perfect quiet
had been kept by man and beast, some time after midnight the king
and the high priest entered one of the small houses within the temple
precincts, where the king sacrificed a pig and prayed briefly to the four
great gods. Previous to this rite the high priest had uttered a long
prayer, and he now questioned the king if all had gone well, including
the preservation of silence, and the king’s reply when favorable was
the tapping of a drum. Then both went out and questioned the people
who had been waiting in deathly silence before the house, and if no
one had heard a sound during the ceremony the high priest congratu-
lated the king and predicted for him victory and long life.” There was
a great sacrifice made on the fourth night, in which human victims
were ofifered with hogs, bananas, cocoanuts, red fish and white kapa.
While the king and the priest of Lono were performing the rites in
the temple, another priest accompanied a large crowd of fishermen to
sea in quest of the ulua fish. Failing to catch any fish they killed a
man in the village and, putting a hook in his mouth, dragged the body
to the temple as a substitute. On the last day the women had part
in the ceremonies, the king’s wives clad in white offering a long, white
girdle to the house of the gods. Dogs and fowls were sacrificed, as it
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
IS
was lawful for the women to eat such food. Female deities were pro-
pitiated with offerings on this occasion.
Ceremonies equally fantastic, intricate and gruesome to those just
described were performed during the tabu periods already mentioned
and on all sorts of occasions, such as the building and launching of
canoes, the starting of house construction, the collection of taxes, the
beginning of ordinary avocations, etc. It is not within the scope of
this work to particularize further the religious devotions of the people.
There were rites at a boy’s birth, at his circumcision and at his pro-
motion, when four or five years old, to eat among men and nevermore
with women. “ It is a significant fact,” Alexander says, “ that while
every other act in life was accompanied with prayers and sacrifices to
the gods, there were no religious ceremonies connected with marriage.
Not even the favor of the aumakuas was invoked. It was entered upon
with less ceremony than fishing or planting.”
Kahuna is a designation that is still often heard in Hawaii, and
that with serious import to many of the natives. It signifies a class of
medicine men, spiritual mediums and sorcerers who held an overwhelm-
ing influence over the minds of the ancient Hawaiians. They believed
that most diseases and ailments were produced by evil spirits, and it
was the trade of the kahunas to work upon this belief for their own
advantage and profit. They were hired accordingly for purposes of
malice and revenge. Mingled with some rude methods of healing art,
such as the use of herbs and of steam and sea baths, were various
ridiculous incantations and rites, divinations by dreams and omens, etc.
There was a lot of eating and drinking withal, conducive to “ high
life ” enjoyment of the kahuna himself. The principal beverage was
the diluted liquor of chewed awa root, and the solid viands were baked
hog, dog and squid, with a fowl offered for the aumakua — everything
of course being part of the sacrificial mess. The intent of it all was to
14 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
drive out the demon of sickness from the patient, and if he did not go
it was common to employ another spirit supposed to be stronger against
him, which was done by employing one of a class of sorcerers who
kept familiar spirits at their call as a livery stable proprietor does horses.
The exactions of all these kahunas upon the living resources of families
were cruelly heavy.
One of the most dreaded of the fraternity was the sorcerer who
practiced the art of anaana. This was what is described in English at
this day as praying another to death. Performing his diabolical func-
tions in secret and usually at night, the anaana sorcerer was the prime
bugaboo of the poor Hawaiian. To make his work effective it was
requisite that he should have in his possession something that came
from the person of the intended victim, like nail parings, a lock of
hair, saliva, etc. Anything of the kind was the bait whereon the demon
worked. Owing to this essential element in the process chiefs were
never without the close attendance of their most faithful servants, who
took the greatest care to destroy all such personal detritus of their
masters by burning it, burying it or sinking it in the sea.
Though the kahuna sometimes may have used poison to fulfill his
contract, it was usually enough that the intended victim knew the
anaana sorcerer was paying him attention. His belief in the power of
the kahuna, working upon his imagination, made him wilt away unto
death. The anaana ceremonies were performed secretly, while the kuni
sorcerers held public rites, in which fire was a medium, for practically
the same murderous ends. At times the kuni ceremonies were em-
ployed to avenge the death of a victim of the anaana kahuna. In such
a case some of the hair of the dead person was burned, or pieces of
his liver were fed to dogs or fowls, these being forthwith cremated.
The next morning the kahuna would declare he had seen the ghost of
the offending sorcerer, with eyes closed and head lowered, and this
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
16
was accounted a sign of his impending death. In the hoopiopio and
pahiuhiu forms of homicidal wizardry, which were almost identical,
the kahuna made certain marks in the accustomed path of the person to
be done up, and when the latter unwittingly set foot upon the demarked
spot he became subject to a spell certain to become fatal before many
days elapsed. Then there was the art of apo leo, whereby a kahuna
adept therein took away the doomed subject’s power of speech. It was
believed to depend on the will of the apo leo sorcerer whether his
victim should endure dumb agony a long time or within a few days
miserably perish. At a comparatively late period a poison-god named
Kaleipahoa had its peculiar devotees. They claimed to know a poison-
tree, by means of an idol fashioned from which they could encompass
anyone’s death.
A class of diviners called kilokilo worked a spiritualistic game,
terrifying people with the relation of dreams about one of the two
souls with which the Hawaiians believed each human being was en-
dowed. The particular soul utilized by the kilokilo was one that was
apt to wander away from the body. When a diviner told a person
that, in a dream or vision, he had seen his estray double wandering
naked, with eyes shut and tongue hanging out, it was accepted as a
sign that his aumakuas were offended at him. Then he was only too
glad to make his peace with the familiar spirits by setting up an elab-
orate sacrificial feast, over which the kahuna offered prayers for his
pardon, afterward receiving a liberal fee for his services. Again, there
were the poihuane sorcerers, claiming the power of kidnaping souls and
killing them. This gave them a tremendous blackmailing advantage,
for if the subject believed his soul was suffocated he would sink into
decline and literally give up the ghost. More innocent than any of
those already described, and indeed a useful class, were the astrologers,
known as the kilokilo hoku, who constantly studied the heavenly bodies
16
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
and preserved the knowledge of astronomy whereby, as formerly stated,
the ancient navigators piloted their canoes upon long ocean voyages.
A class of soothsayers named the nanauli claimed not only ability to
foretell the weather but future events — a chief’s death, an imminent
war, etc. — from signs in sky and sea, the movements of certain kinds
of fish and other things. Finally, there were professedly inspired
prophets, known as the kaula and mahaula, a somewhat harmless lot
who lived in seclusion but were often engaged as counselors in the
retinue of high chiefs.
Modes of burial varied according to rank and condition. Suffi-
cient description of the obsequies of a high chief or king has already
been given in another connection. Chiefs of lower rank and priests
were buried in much the same way as civilized nations dispose of
their dead. The bodies were laid out straight and enclosed in a mani-
fold shroud of kapa, while the graves were marked with piles of stone
and, in some cases, encircled with a palisade of high poles. A custom
the same as found among certain South American tribes, of burying
the dead in a sitting posture with head bound to the knees, existed
among the common people. These held their funerals in secrecy at night.
Sometimes the bodies were rudely embalmed with a salting and drying
process. A preference was shown for depositing the dead in caves —
which abound in the Hawaiian volcanic hillsides — ^vessels of food and
water being placed alongside the remains, though often interments were
made in pits near the houses. Purification of those the dead had defiled
took place the morning after a funeral. First they bathed in fresh
water and then they were sprinkled with holy water by a priest, who,
at the close of a responsive ritual, pronounced them clean.
Notions of a future state held by the Hawaiians were both incon-
gruous and grotesque. There were deities to look after departed souls,
as there were to take care of the living on earth, and they were allotted,
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS It
in the Polynesian eschatology, to different ranks as well as to diverse
characters. Souls of chiefs and heroes were conducted to a sort of
paradise, situated on some fairy island to the west. An under world
of two distinct grades, each with its own ruler, was also imagined to
exist. The upper grade of these nether regions was a quite comfortable
and even happy place, but the lower one was something like a standard
hell. Yet even this worst abode of spirits had a food supply of lizards
and butterflies, streams of running water and shade trees. A pack of
brawling spooks that made night hideous was disagreeable company,
however, and some Polynesian tribes owned a goddess there who made
coward souls her diet. Saddest of all was that this nethermost region
was the destination of a majority of the human race. A leading char-
acteristic of the people was their belief in ghosts and haunted places,
as well as in the power of malign spirits to do them bodily injury and
take their lives. This superstitious bondage of the Hawaiians is not
even today extinct. Some of them, in the rural districts, will not ven-
ture abroad any distance at night without a lantern. Many well-edu-
cated Hawaiians, too, have a horror of old burial grounds and ancient
battle-fields. .
18
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ANCIENT HAWAIIAN INDUSTRIES.
Much industrial capacity was evinced by the ancient Hawaiians.
They had arts and manufactures like those of other Polynesian tribes,
though they were excelled by some in the embellishing of finished prod-
ucts. Much ingenuity was shown in contrivance, together with skill
in execution of their handicrafts. Their trades were specialized and
to some extent a matter of heritage, a father passing on to his son
manual cunning of a particular kind. Having no metals, the Hawaiians
had to fashion working tools out of such materials as visible resources
presented. Stone, sharks’ teeth and bamboo were made into cutting
and hewing implements. The stone used was a close-grained lava
found on the summits of Mauna Loa and Haleakala, two of the high-
est mountains of the group. Being an art of peculiar skill, the making
of stone axes was one of the hereditary trades. It is really wonder-
ful what the artificers were able to accomplish, with their rude tools,
in the construction of canoes, the building of houses, the manufacture
of textile fabrics and the making of household utensils.
An ordinary canoe w'as hollowed out of a single log. It had gun-
wales of hardwood fastened on with stitches and closing over the
top at stem and stern. An outrigger to steady the craft and keep it
from rolling consisted of a slender log held parallel to the canoe, out
a few feet, with two curved bars athwart the canoe and lashed to the
gunwales on both sides. (A perfect though modern specimen of this
canoe, bought of a fisherman, was, at the close of the Greater America
Exposition of 1899, presented by the writer of this book, on behalf
of the people of Honolulu, to the Omaha Public Library.)' Large
double canoes were also built in ancient times, some of them fifty to
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
19
a hundred feet long, which supported a raised platform in the middle,
whereon passengers of rank were seated. Sails were made of mats
in triangular shape. Native canoeing is still to be seen at die islands,
being one of the diversions for tourists. At the annual regatta in
Honolulu, also, prizes for both paddling and sailing Hawaiian canoes
are warmly contested. The older natives, especially, preserve a high
degree of the skill of their ancestors in managing canoes amidst tre-
mendous surf breakers.
Hawaiian houses consisted of a timber framework thatched with
grass, leaves and ferns. Expert craftsmen both in framing and thatch-
ing were employed. Technical names were given to the different
sticks of the frame, the joints of which were secured with cord, and
minute rules were observed in the entire construction. The thatching
of the corners and ridgepole, where the weather was apt soonest to
make its influence felt, was especially particular work. There was
much labor required in providing the housebuilding material. To chop
down hardwood trees with stone axes must have been a trifle arduous,
and when felled the timber had to be dragged for miles to the seashore
villages. Then the binding cord had to be braided and the thatching
stuffs collected.
Of oblong shape, the houses had low sides and steep roofs, low
and narrow doors, but seldom any windows. Houses of the chiefs
were large, some being from forty to seventy feet long and twenty
feet wide. The common people dwelt in huts little better than ken-
nels, of ten by six feet on the ground plan and four feet high, with
a hole in the side for entrance and exit.
Too bad it was that the finer qualities of their industry should
have been marred by the mummery and the murder of their heathenism.
Unless the advice of a diviner were strictly observed in laying down
the groundwork and in combining the parts of the superstructure, the
20
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Hawaiian believed that any such variances from standard were obliqui-
ties tliat would bring the penalties of sickness and deatli. In the case
of a chief’s habitation, the errors would have to be expiated by human
sacrifices. Hence when the adverse report of the spiritual architect
upon a hut-palace was bruited, many of the common people scampered
for the mountains to avoid the sneaking Mu with his death-maul.
There were priestly ceremonies at the cutting of a doorway in the
thatch. Before it was occupied by the owner, offerings and prayers
were made and, usually, a priest slept a night or two in the house.
Similarly, everything connected with the making of a canoe, from the
selection of the tree to the launching of the little bark, was done under
the supervision of the kahunas and accompanied with most drastic
tabus. During the ceremony next before the launching, profoundest
silence was dictated. Any sound of living creature, or the unbidden
arrival of anyone, meant direst luck to the canoe and its users.
In agriculture, the chief product of the Hawaiians was the taro,
a root grown in patches kept immersed in water. There is a species
of taro cultivable in dry ground, but it is not so good as the other.
From the taro the people until this day obtain their chief dish — poi —
which consists of the root brayed into a paste with added water and
allowed to ferment to a bland sourness. It is eaten with fish — dried,
raw and cooked, sometimes all these styles together. With roast pig
and herbs added, the meal takes on the dietetic value of a banquet.
The Hawaiians also raised sweet potatoes in the dry and stony lands,
besides which they cultivated the sugar-cane, bananas, gourds for cala-
bashes, the paper-mulberry for tapa-cloth and awa for its narcotic roots.
Yams were grown in some parts. Of fruit growing wild were the
breadfruit, the cocoanut, the ohio (Malay jambo), the strawberry,
gooseberry and raspberry. In recent times the bulk of the Hawaiian
people has neglected agriculture (though the teaching of practical farm-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
21
ing in several schools now in vogue will probably cause a change for
the better). Now they largely buy their poi of Asiatic producers with
the wages earned in other occupations. The ancient Hawaiian farmer
had for his chief implement a stick of hard wood, either pointed or
shaped like a spade. “ With these rude tools,” Alexander says, “ ex-
tensive works were carried out, such as building terraces, leveling and
embanking their taro-patches, and constructing irrigation ditches, often
miles in length.”
Hawaiian fishermen plied their calling with hooks and spears, nets
and baskets, also with poison, and in no other occupation were the
people more skilful. Though here, again, on the practical side of the
industry, the modern Hawaiians have abdicated to the Chinese and
Japanese. Yet the elder generation especially still retains much of the
fish-lore for which their progenitors were distinguished. These present-
day Hawaiians are familiar with an extensive list of the food fishes
of the adjacent ocean, and are authorities requiring to be consulted,
by anyone seeking a choice fish dietary, upon the respective styles of
cooking for different kinds. The fishermen of the olden times were
not only thoroughly intimate with all of the various species of fish,
but with their habits and feeding groupds. They knew the shoals and
hidden rocks, together with the finny tenantry thereof, for miles out to
sea. Hooks were made in many styles, of bone, mother-of-pearl, whales’
teeth and tortoise-shell. Fishnets were fashioned of twine spun from
the fiber of olona. Besides bag nets, there were long nets. Tlie nets
of the latter kind, sometimes more than a hundred fathoms in length,
were used in different ways. One method was to draw them into
circles, enclosing shoals of fish in the operation. Again they would
be stretched out and a long sweep of dried leaves hanging from a rope
be dragged toward them, so as to drive the schools into the meshes.
By either mode prodigious hauls were made. Spearing was done under
22
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
water by divers or in shallow water at night with the aid of torch-
light. Fishing with poison was done by the use of a poisonous plant.
This was bruised and placed by divers in the spaces beneath stones
frequented by fish. Overcome by the poison the fish would float to
the surface and be gathered by the fishermen.
Among the most wonderful works of ancient Hawaii were vast
fishponds along the coast at many places. Their construction is at-
tributed to the first period of human habitation of the islands, perhaps
from 1,000 to 1,500 years ago.
Simple though the furniture and utensils of a Hawaiian house-
hold were, in their manufacture patience and skill were highly de-
veloped. Calabashes — bowl-shaped vessels of various sizes from that
of immense tureens to drinking cups — were fashioned with stone adzes
out of the beautifully grained koa and kou woods, and finished in ex-
terior polish and interior smoothness equal to fine earthenware. (Poly-
nesians were unacquainted with the art of pottery.) Besides calabashes
and trays of wood, the Hawaiians made for themselves utensils of
stone. They moreover utilized different species of gourds for water
bottles and for small drums to accompany the hula dance. Floor mats
and sleeping mats were made by the women from pandanus leaves,
rushes, etc. This, happily, is not a lost art like some of their others
with the Hawaiians today, as many of the young women are adept
at the plaiting of men’s and women’s hats, fans, lamp mats, etc., of
leaves and grasses. The oldtime mats were dyed in fancy patterns.
Beds were composed of a layer of rushes covered with mats, spread
upon a platform two or three feet high running across one end of
the house.
Kukui nuts furnished the people with a means of lighting their
houses at night. The nuts having been baked in an oven and shelled,
their kernels were strung on a sliver of bamboo or cocoanut leaf. This
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
23
formed a candle, each nut burning about four minutes and, as it burned
out, igniting the next one beneath. Stone lamps with tapa wicks and
kukui-nut oil or fish-oil were also employed.
Cloth was made, exclusively by the women, out of the bark of the
paper mulberry and that of another tree (scientifically named respect-
ively Broussonetia papyrifera and Pipturus albidus). Strips of the
bark were peeled off and afterward scraped with shells to remove the
outer coat. Then the strips were soaked in water and one after another
beaten upon a smooth log with a square mallet of hardwood, finely
grooved on its face, until the material became like coarse paper. A
web of the dimensions wanted was obtained by overlapping the edges
of the strips and beating them into a continuous, seamless and cohesive
texture. The qualities of tapa ranged from the semblance of muslin
to that of leather. Finally, the tapa was decorated with considerable
artistic taste. Sometimes it was bleached white and again it was stained
with dyes. Fancy patterns in great variety of design and color were
produced by means of stamps of bamboo, and after being thus im-
pressed the tapa received a glazing of gum or resin. As clothing ma-
terial tapa would not bear washing, nor stand wear for more than a
few weeks. At a church fair in Honolulu about fifteen years ago
one of the attractions was an exhibition of tapa-making, but the per-
formers were aged, and a few years later a very old woman, making
the article at the home of a Hawaiian antiquarian in Honolulu, was
said to be one of the few last survivors in the art.
On the subject of raiment Alexander says : “ The dress of the
women consisted of the pa-u, a wrapper composed of five thicknesses
of tapa, about four yards long and three or four feet wide, passed
several times around the waist and extending below the knee, while
that of the men was the malo or girdle, which was about a foot wide
and three or four yards long. The kihei or mantle, about six feet
24
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
square, was occasionally worn by both sexes. It was worn by the
men by tying two corners of the same side together, so that the knot
rested on one shoulder, and by the women as a long shawl. The
tapa moe or sleeping tapa was made of five layers of common tapa,
three or four yards square. The outside piece (kilohana) was stained
or painted with vegetable dyes.”
Magnificent feather cloaks and helmets formed a portion of the
state apparel of chiefs. The groundwork of the cloaks was a netting
of native hemp, to which feathers were attached so skilfully that a
perfectly even nap was produced. The surface was as smooth as if
the plumage had grown there. Two kinds of indigenous birds yielded
delicate feathers, the oo from a tuft under each wing and the mamo
from its back. These were the choicest feathers and reserved for
royalty. More common feathers in different colors entered into the
capes and cloaks of the lower chiefly ranks. Specimens of royal feather
cloaks have been preserved and are to be seen in the British Museum
(London) and the Bishop Museum (Honolulu). It is said that the
cloak of Kamehameha I. took nine generations of kings to construct.
Feather helmets had frames of wickerwork and were covered with
yellow or scarlet feathers, the latter being from the natively named
birds iiwi and akakane. Above the part enclosing the skull a crescent
shaped crest arose, curving over at the front and tapering in depth
toward the other end. It was a picturesque headpiece, but one to en-
hance the fierce aspect of a warrior.
Other insignia of the chiefs, relatively indicating rank both by
richness and size, were known as kahilis. These were cylindrical and
inverted cone shapes, fifteen or eighteen inches in diameter, fastened
to staffs from ten to thirty feet long. They were composed of feathers
upon a frame of sticks. The staffs were decorated with rings of tor-
toise shell or ivory. In state processions they were carried by retainers
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
25
called kahili-bearers, and were held upright or planted in the ground
at stations where royalty posed. Thus, down to the overthrow of the
monarchy in 1893 I^e kahilis were displayed at the opening and closing
of the Legislature by the sovereign, at state receptions and the ob-
sequies of royalty. As for the last-mentioned, too, kahilis have been
brought out at the funerals of royal personages and descendants of
chiefs dying since the passing of the monarchy. In any of the cor-
teges accompanying several members of the Kamehameha line and the
Kalakaua dynasty to the tomb within the past quarter of a century,
nothing has been more impressive, as linking past and present, nor
likewise more picturesque, than the veritable moving forest of kahilis
flanking the catafalque.
An important ornament worn by ruling chiefs, being indeed a
badge of authority, was a pendant in the form of a hook made of
whale or walrus tusk, its support or ribbon consisting of multiplied
braids of human hair. One trait of the Hawaiians was their delight in
flowers and other natural growths for personal adornment. The yellow
flower of the ilima was and is a favorite material for wreaths — or leis
in the native language — to wear around the head and the neck. Vari-
ous fruits and seeds, of more or less bright colors and keeping prop-
erties, w'ere made into necklaces, and tourists today are offered such
articles in local curio stores and by flower sellers in the streets. Feather
leis for head and neck, bracelets and necklaces of shells and ivory,
and charms of polished kukui nut shells also belong to the category of
Hawaiian ornaments. Tattooing was but little practiced by the Ha-
waiians, and never in the way either of costuming or indicating rank.
Occasionally it was done to accentuate mourning and some women had
the back of the hand tattooed. Women trimmed their hair short at the
forehead and temples, setting the edges up with an earthy wash.
26
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
LIVING AND LIFE.
Anyone who has partaken of a Hawaiian feast in the ancient
style — a luau as it is called in native — will have high respect for the
culinary skill of the Hawaiians. You can have it today, with or with-
out modern table implements, as luaus in celebration of birthdays, wed-
dings and anniversaries of organizations are among the commonest of
present day functions. They occur in most charity and church festivals,
and latterly have been made a leading feature in the entertainment of
tourists. The method of cooking is the usual Polynesian one of steam-
ing the food in an underground oven — called the umu in Hawaiian —
by means of heated stones. In the olden time fire was obtained by
the vigorous rubbing of a pointed stick in a groove in another piece
of wood until the dust thus formed became ignited. There is not a
great gap between this mode of starting a blaze and that of the flint
and tinder box employed in not very remote times of the civilized
world. But, to return to the cuisine, it should be said that meats,
fish, vegetables and fruit baked in the earth-pit of the Hawaiian chef
have a flavor and succulence that the best patents of modern steel
ranges can neither preserve nor impart. The Hawaiians made salt
by collecting sea-water in ponds and letting the sun evaporate it, be-
sides which they obtained it from a salt lake near Honolulu upon
whose surface the article collected in a thick crust. From both of
these sources has salt for commercial purposes, until the present time,
or very recently, been developed. The ancient Hawaiians appear to
have owned what other Polynesians lacked, the art of preserving fish
and pork and the knowledge of seasoning food with salt.
Though not acquainted with the distilling and fermenting arts to
produce intoxicants, the Hawaiians had a narcotic beverage obtained
from tlie roots of the awa plant. The substance was chewed and placed
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
27
in a bowl, where water was poured upon it. When the resulting in-
fusion was strained through a fibrous sieve it was ready to be drank.
Its effects were stupefying, but in modern times the natives have found
awa liquor an antidote to alcoholic intoxication. The chiefs and priests
reserved the indulgence in awa, as a rule, to themselves. Civilization
has given the natives knowledge of distilling, whereby a spirit known
as okolerhao is produced from the root of the ti plant.
There was nothing in the nature of money in use among the
Hawaiians, hence their internal commerce was conducted through a
system of barter. Manufactured articles and agricultural products dif-
fered in excellence as yielded by various districts, so that a motive for
exchange producing a considerable trade between different parts of
the islands existed. Periodical fairs were held in advantageous localities,
notable among which were the banks of the Wailuku river at Hilo.
ANCIENT AMUSEMENTS.
Athletics in relation to higher education is a subject much dis-
cussed nowadays. It may complicate attempts to solve the problem
with advantage to civilization if there be imported into the premises
the fact that these barbarians of ancient Hawaii were greatly devoted to
sports. They not only possessed a large variety of games, but they
were what today is known as “ sporty ” to an intense degree. Tlieir
New Year’s festival (makahiki), held in the latter part of the month
nearly corresponding to our November, was given over mainly to sports
and gambling. Most of their games had betting as the chief incentive,
men and women being ready to back their favorites with everytliing
they owned. The usual finale of a field day was a general row between
the respective partisans of different champions.
Boxing (mokomoko) was of all games held the highest in esteem.
It had rules as definite as the Marquis of Queensberry’s, with umpires
28
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
to enforce them. From the diverse retinues of chiefs or from different
districts the champions came forth, attended each by his coterie of
clackers. “ As many as ten thousand spectators were present on these
occasions,” Alexander says. “ A knock-down or blood-starting blow
was followed by deafening yells, dancing, and beating of drums by the
surrounding multitude. The elated victor strutted around the ring,
challenging others to the contest, until he met his match. It was not
uncommon for several to he left dead in tlie arena during one of these
games. Less fatal in their results were the games of hakoko (wrest-
ling) and kukini (foot races), which were very popular.”
A species of Ixiwling was a favored pastime. For this a level track
about a yard wide and a half mile long, smooth and hard, was pre-
pared. At a distance of thirty or forty yards two short sticks were
driven, a few inches apart, into the track. The game was then to roll
a stone disk, three or four inches in diameter and about an inch thick,
along the track so as to pass between the sticks. Besides thus making
a goal — as moderns would call it — there was competition in distance
howling. The record in this is said to have been more than a hundred
rods, or from 1,650 to 1,700 feet. Specimens of the bowling stones
are now treasured among rare Hawaiian curios. An allied game to
the bowls consisted in driving short and blunted darts to make them
pass between two darts laid upon the track at a given distance. Chil-
dren played this game, using for darts sugar-cane flower stalks.
Though Hawaii has no snow but on its tallest mountain tops, the
oldtime people indulged in tobogganing or coasting. A popular sport
was sliding down hill on a sled composed of runners twelve or more
feet in length and three inches in depth, set some four inches apart
and joined with cross-pieces at intenvals of a foot or so. upon which
two long sticks supporting a wickenvork platform were fastened. Upon
a chosen hillside a smooth slide was made, which extended some way
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
29
over a plain at bottom, the track being covered with dry grass. Grasp-
ing the sled in the middle with his right hand, the coaster took a few
yards’ run to the head of the slide, then flung himself with full might
upon the sled — and away he went, coursing head-first down the declivity.
The impetus gained in the descent carried the sled with its occupant far
out upon the level stretch, tlie entire run sometimes being half a mile.
This sport was called “ holua ” and its vehicle “ papa holua.” Latter-
day Hawaiians do not practice holua or tobogganing. This is not
necessarily on account of a loss of delight in tlie potery of motion,
but steam railroads have been available to them now for a generation
and latterly the trolley car cheaply supplies their nature with moving
exhilaration.
Surf-riding upon boards made for the purpose, as well as in canoes,
is, however, a sport which has been kept alive by the natives until
now. Foreigners, too, have learned it measureably well and to tlie
strenuous tourist the pastime is a supreme delight at the beach resorts
near Honolulu. To career upon the back of an incoming ocean swell,
which rolls at a great height with frequently breaking crest of silvery
foam, and be left stranded in the ever-gliding white sand of the beacli
when the carrying wave recedes, is an experience thrilling beyond de-
scription. The surf-board is a thin plank of hardwood, say eight feet
long and eighteen inches broad, stained black and given the polish of
glass. It is taken to sea by the swimmer, who dives beneath the com-
ing billows, until he reaches the outer line of breakers springing over
the coral reef. Then, selecting the highest wave that comes, he throws
himself flat upon the board, balancing it just upon the crest, and goes
plunging forward like a fish torpedo until the roller thins out swish-
ingly on the beach. Surf-riding in canoes calls for a rare degree of
expert skill in handling the craft. An outlander must not venture it
save as a passenger. .
30
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Many sports and games were much like what is common in civil-
ized lands. Leaping from a precipice into deep water, swinging from
a tree by a rope, rope-skipping, kite-flying, stilt-walking, top-spinning
and various string games were in the ancient catalogue of amusements.
The Hawaiians had a checker game of their own, played with black
and white pebbles upon a board of many squares. They had a guess-
ing game wherein two parties were matched, the winning of which
consisted in the majority of times it was guessed under which of
five bundles of tapa a stone had been hidden, the respective players of
the opposing teams taking turns in hiding the stone. A guess was
made by striking a bundle with a feather-tipped rod. There were
games played always at night in specially made inclosures, which were
too heathenish in nature to be described at this day. Cock-fighting was
much favored. Few games were played without having things of value
staked upon the results. The chiefs practiced shooting mice with bow
and arrow as part of certain religious ceremonies.
MUSIC AND DANCING.
Musical instruments in some variety were employed by the
Hawaiian minstrels. There was a rude kind of guitar with two or
three strings. Flutes, blown with the nose and having two finger
holes, were made of small gourds and of bamboo joints. Within a year
or two past a “ nose-flute ” player was an attraction at a public en-
tertainment in Honolulu. Drums were made of hollowed wood and of
cocoanut shells, covered with shark-skin, as well as of a pair of gourds
one upon another — the last-mentioned being used in beating time for
the hula dance, and thus quite common today in the greatly modified
survival of that exercise.
Vocal music with the Hawaiians did not go beyond a chanting
register. They were most affectionately devoted to poetry and their
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
31
chants (meles) related to all phases of religion, also were employed in
the glorification of chiefs — including praise of their ancestors, in dem-
onstrations of mourning and in the expression of love sentiments.
Genealogies and historic data were preserved in poetic form and some
poems had been handed down by oral tradition for centuries. They
were highly figurative, abounding in lists of names and allusions to
mythology, to topical winds and rains, to places and favorite flowers,
etc. The poems were without rhyme, “ in the European sense,” as
Alexander says. “ They consisted of short musical sentences or lines,
divided into bars or measures, with great attention to tlie accent and
cadence of the concluding word. Sometimes they were divided into
stanzas, each stanza ending in a refrain or chorus.” Poetry had a
style and diction quite distinct from prose details, an example being
the use of the letter “ t ” instead of “ h ” always — which may be com-
pared to the employment of archaic pronouns “ thou ” and “ ye ” in
English at the present day for antique or solemn effect. Mele-singing
by aged Hawaiians has been heard in recent years at royal funerals.
Ellis the historian has left the following translation of a passage from
a dirge composed in memory of a famous chief (Keeaumoku) :
Alas, alas, dead is my chief.
Dead is my lord and my friend;
My friend in the season of famine,
My friend in the time of drought,
My friend in my poverty.
My friend in the rain and the wind.
My friend in the heat and the sun.
My friend in the cold from the mountain.
My friend in the storm.
My friend in the calm.
My friend in the eight seas.
Alas, alas, gone is my friend.
And no more will return.
32 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Dancing was practiced in various forms. The dancers were mainly
professional and generally women. Dances were picturesque to a de-
gree from the habilaments of the performers, though their chief artistic
merit was the rhythmic effect of the perfect time kept. Dancing women
wore a decorated skirt, with wreaths on the head, bracelets of hog’s
teeth on the wrists, the whale’s-tooth ornament previously described on
the neck and buskins of dog’s teeth on the ankles. Names were given
to dances indicative of their respective musical accompaniments, such
as the striking of breasts in unison, the thumping of a calabash, the
rattling of a double-gourd drum., or the clashing of sticks, all in measured
beats. There was little or none of the evolutionary in the elements of
Hawaiian dances. The performers usually held permanent stations on
the floor or arena, and their movements consisted of bending, swaying,
twisting, stamping and pointing, the respective gestures harmonizing
with tlie sentiments the particular dance was intended to illustrate.
There were dancing performances specifically in worship of the gods
or in honor of the chiefs, yet the majority were of sensual significance
and accompanied with lewd songs. Some dances were executed by a
large number of women massed in squares. Though, as already said,
women did most of the dancing, men had a role of buffoonery to per-
form between the terpsichorean acts and there were mild forms of
dancing in which children engaged. Hula dancing still has a some-
what fitful existence in the islands. At least in public exhibitions, it
is shown greatly expurgated from the ancient style. Of late one of
the leading hotels in Honolulu has given exhibitions of hula dancing
in conjunction with Hawaiian feasts (luaus). Specimens of the hula
have been given at the Hawaiian villages, so-called, upon the midways
of many universal expositions in the United States, but such villages
with their grass huts and dancing girls have never been connected with
Hawaii’s official exhibits, the authorities and commercial bodies at
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
33
home being greatly averse to having Hawaii of the present so grossly
misrepresented abroad. Grass huts are constructed in Hawaii today
solely for decorative and show purposes and the hula is practiced but
rarely and, to a great extent, clandestinely among the natives themselves,
though, as already shown, it has been modifiedly revived at the capital
to tickle the curiosity of visitors from the outside world. Nevertheless,
it is not really the “ hulahula ” of the ancients, for there is no quality
of superstition abiding in it now. According to Alexander, the profes-
sional hula dancers of old were devotees of the foul goddess Laka, who
had a shrine fitted up for her worship at which prayers were offered
and votive gifts presented. With Laka’s worship some of the strictest
tabus were associated, the sacrifice of a hog being the appropriate finale.
CIVIL CONDITIONS.
Mention has been made of the insuperable social barrier existing
between chiefs and people. Naturally in such manner of civil govern-
ment as obtained the difference between rulers and ruled was quite as
strongly marked. Tlie common people owned nothing that could not
be required at their hands by the chiefs. Until the conquests of
Kamehameha I. ending at the beginning of the nineteenth century in
one united kingdom, it is here to be remembered, each of the four
largest islands was a kingdom of itself — sometimes even one of them
being under divided sovereignty. Feudal land tenure like that of
Europe in the middle ages vested the ownership of the soil in the king,
-who portioned it out to the high chiefs. These further subdivided it
among a lower grade of chiefs, thus on down to the common herd
whose members were allotted small patches whereon they raised a
poor subsistence for themselves. It was a mere tenancy at will which
the tillers of the soil possessed, and it was not unusual for the working
population to shift from place to place. Those in a particular district
34
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
were the serfs of its petty chief, who in turn was tributary to a high
chief, to whom the king looked for men and means required for his
purposes of peace and war. The migratory liberty just mentioned was
about the only guarantee the common people had — apart from the
inherent power of any oppressed people to have recourse to conspiracy
and sedition — for considerate treatment from their immediate liege
lord. They might leave his domains and become the tenants of another
district chief, and a chieftain without followers would be in a despicable
position indeed. Moreover, there was a redistribution of lands at the
accession of a new king, from which civil war frequently arose. Also
when a chief died the king divided his property among surviving chiefs.
Yet when it came to the levying of tribute upon the soil and its oc-
cupiers there resulted oppression from which the abject toilers could
not escape.
Had the people been allowed to enjoy the fruits of their toil with-
out the exaction of outrageous toll, they might have worked out a tol-
erable condition of self-support. But the chiefs claimed ownership of
everything produced by labor in agriculture, handicraft and fishing.
It is said that the laboring class w^as permitted to retain but one-third
of what its industry produced, the remaining two-thirds being appro-
priated by the chiefs and the king. Not only was the substance of
the people thus taxed exorbitantly, but inordinate demands upon their
time and labor were enforced. First of all, the whole kingdom was
subjected to the royal tax, whereby the various grades of fiefs, be-
ginning with the lowest, rendered tribute each to that above till ultimate-
ly a vast mass of the material wealth of the kingdom was heaped at the
feet of the sovereign. Then, upon certain days of every moon, the
labor-tax was levied. This was the compulsory service of the people
in cultivating the lands personally held by the chiefs or in performing
other servile or skilled labor as might be required. Again, at any time,
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 35
the working class was liable to be drafted for building operations of a
public character, such as construction or repair of temples, houses for
chiefs, fish-ponds, etc. Moreover, when a king or a high chief traveled
in state, the resources of the country were devastated to provide luxurious
fare for himself and a horde of retainers. If such provision were not
made voluntarily, and promptly at that, the servants of the despot
would violently despoil the miserable dependents of the soil, leaving
them sometimes in a state of utter destitution.
Autocratic power at the fountain head and in its delegated rami-
fications w’as somewhat tempered by traditionary law and proverbs
handed down from the ancients. Thus there was a system of regulat-
ing the irrigation of lands, whereby each holding received a certain
share of the available running water. Crimes against property and
the person were usually punished by private modes of revenge, though
if the injured party was not strong enough to avenge his wrong he
employed a sorcerer or complained to the chief. When the rude justice
administered brought the death penalty, the executioner was apt to car-
ry out the sentence when the culprit was asleep.
DOMESTIC RELATIONS.
There was not much ceremony in the contracting and celebrating
of marriages except among the ruling orders. As a matter of state
policy the chiefs were expected to marry women of highest rank, for
it was from the mother that rank was mostly derived. The son of a
chief would be noble though the father were plebeian, while the chil-
dren of a chief by a wife of low degree were not eligible to the father’s
rank. Sometimes brothers and sisters in the reigning families inter-
married so as to have children of the highest possible degree, such
progeny being given a special title of distinction. In high life the
consent of relatives, the brothers especially, was usually obtained for a
36
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
marriage, though the women as often proposed as the men. An ex-
change of presents was customary. Children were in rare cases be-
trothed in tender years, when the pair would be sedulously watched
until married. Most ordinarily the main ceremony of marriage was
the casting by the bridegroom of a piece of tapa over the bride in
presence of her relatives, or their friends would throw the cloth over
both of them together. A practice among chiefs of high rank was fof
the contracting parties to arrive in state, attended by their retinues,
and join noses while the assembly shouted, “ The chiefs are married.”
Divorce was just a trifle easier than it is today in Chicago, as the
husband could unceremoniously put away the wife whenever he pleased.
While polygamy was permissible in all grades, the chiefs almost ex-
clusively availed themselves of the privilege. It was rather expensive
for the commonalty.
Infanticide was shockingly prevalent up to the time of the over-
throw of idolatry. Alexander saying on this subject : “ It was the
opinion of those best informed that two-thirds of all the children born
were destroyed in infancy by thejr parents. They were generally
buried alive, in many cases in the very houses occupied by their un-
natural parents. On all the islands the number of males was much
greater than that of females, in consequence of the girls being more
frequently destroyed than the boys. The principal reason given for it
was laziness — unwillingness to take the trouble of rearing children.”
When the same authority states that “ it was a very common practice for
parents to give away their children to any friends who were willing to
adopt them,” he relates something of whose truth there are many living
examples in the islands today. Old age fared not less ruthlessly than
infancy, the decrepit and the diseased being sometimes abandoned to
die or even given quick dispatch. Stoning to death was a not un-
known means of getting rid of the mentally imbecile. ^
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
37
WAR PRACTICES.
Although there was no regular army the people, especially those
immediately employed by the chiefs, were trained to use weapons.
Sometimes they were drilled in sham battles. Their weapons were
the long spear, the short spear or javelin, the dagger and the club.
They used the bow only in such sport as the shooting of rats, but
they employed the sling in war with great effect. Having no shields
they were remarkably adept in catching and parrying thrown spears.
Vancouver, the British navigator, in witnessing a sham fight saw six
fr
spears thrown simultaneously at Kamehameha L, who caught three of
the weapons, warded off two and dodged the sixth.
The Hawaiians utilized hills and hummocks for cover in battle,
and where no such natural protection existed they constructed forts.
Yet as a rule they fought in the open plain, having little of strategical
tactics in their warfare, and were not much given to the practice of
lying in ambush. Reliance upon the gods was evidenced by the carry-
ing of idols into battle, while the priests grotesquely ventured aid by
rushing forward with horrible grimaces and dreadful yells to terrify
the foe. Wives of warriors frequently made up a commisariat corps,
carrying food and water in the rear, and shared with their spouses the
forfeit of life. The body of the first man killed on either side was
dragged to the priest and by him offered as a sacrifice to his particular
deity.
Quarter was usually denied to the vanquished, the victors harry-
ing them from out whatever cover they might have gained and ruth-
lessly clubbing them to death. Even the dead were not respected,
bodies being mutilated and left to rot above-ground. One redeeming
feature of Hawaiian barbarism, as compared with that of other Poly-
nesian tribes, was that cannibalism was not practiced, Indeed the
38
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Hawaiians had an utter loathing of cannibalism. However, they did
have a gruesome practice of preserving the bones and teeth of enemies
killed in battle as trophies of victory.
Their war canoes would, appear to have been more used as trans-
ports than as battleships, yet occasionally there were great sea fights
with opposing fleets of a hundred or more craft.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
39
SOME ANCIENT REIGNS.
Having briefly sketched what may be taken as the stage setting,
it is now in order to introduce some glimpses of the real drama of
ancient Hawaiian history. Mention has been made of the wonderful
maritime intercourse between Hawaii and the groups of the South Seas.
Amidst abounding series of migrations throughout Polynesia in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries many notable voyages are recorded. A
famous chief named Moikeha went from Hawaii to a place supposed to
lie in the Society Islands, accompanied by his brother, his wife and a
young chief named Laa, his adopted son, together with a considerable
retinue. Moikeha and his relatives became chiefs in their new, home,
but after a time a family quarrel disturbed their domain. This induced
Moikeha to return to his native country, taking a band of chiefs and
retainers with him in a fleet of canoes. They selected Wailua, Kauai,
as their landing place, and Moikeha having married a daughter of the
high chief Puna became, on his father-in-law’s death, king of Kauai.
In his old age he sent an expedition to the South Seas to fetch back Laa,
his foster-son, whom he had left in Kahiki, as the southern region was
called. Laa arrived home with a large retinue, including a famous sor-
cerer and prophet. He took up his abode at Kualoa, Oahu, and three
sons bom to him there were the progenitors of the high chiefs of Oahu
and Kauai. After the death of his foster-father, however, Laa went
back to Kahiki never to return.
Following the departure of Laa the islands were favored with
two and a half centuries of comparative peace. In that period the kings
seldom went to war with each other, and each insular kingdom made
40
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
progress in developing its material resources. Great irrigation and
other works of public utility were constructed and the population multi-
plied. To this somewhat halcyon period, however, four centuries of
closely intermittent brawling succeeded.
Kalaunuiohua, king of Hawaii, undertook the conquest of the re-
mainder of the group near the close of the thirteenth century. Embark-
ing an army in a large fleet he successively subdued the principal chiefs
of Maui, Molokai, and the district of Ewa and Waianae on Oahu. Tak-
ing the three captive chiefs alive with him he proceeded to Kauai, but
only to meet his Waterloo at the landing place near Koloa on that island.
The warriors of Kauai led by Kukona captured his fleet and destroyed
his army, and thereafter until the nineteenth century the independence
of that island was maintained. Within this time there were invasions
and counter-invasions, conducted by chiefs of different islands, singly or
allied, in expeditions for conquest from one island to another, and even
from district to district of individual islands. Few of the triumphs
achieved seem to have been durable in intended results, while sometimes
the disaster that overcame the invaders was proportioned to the for-
midableness of the offensive operations. Thus three high chiefs of
Hawaii enlisting the aid of another from Maui invaded Oahu, but Maile-
kukahi met them near their landing place in the Ewa lagoon and de-
feating them filled a ravine with the carcasses of the invading host.
Kipapa, the name of the ravine, means a paving of corpses.
“ It was an era of strife, dynastic ambitions, internal and external
wars on each island, with all their deteriorating consequences of anarchy,
depopulation, social and intellectual degradation, loss of liberty, loss of
knowledge, loss of arts.” Quoting from Fomander the passage here
given, Alexander adds; “ Wars became more frequent and more cruel,
while the common people became more and more degraded and op-
pressed, and were probably decreasing in numbers here as well as in
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
41
Tahiti before the end of the eighteenth century.” This refers to the
last period of ancient Hawaiian history, covering three hundred and
fifty years up to the conquest of the group by Kamehameha.
Umi is described as the most famous chief during this period, and
his valorous career makes a thrilling tale. He reigned over Hawaii
about A. D. 1500. His father was Liloa, a celebrated king, and his
mother a woman of low rank. Not until he was about sixteen years of
age was Umi’s rank made known to him. Then his mother made the
momentous divulgence, at the same time investing him with the royal
insignia — the red malo, the wreath of yellow feathers, the whale’s-tooth
ornament — pledges of his begotten rank which had been left with her by
the king.
Wearing the regal investiture Umi went to Waipio, where he burst
into the presence of the aged king, undaunted at the shouted warnings
of death from the tabu guardians. “ Who art thou ? ” Liloa challenged.
“ I am Umi, thy son,” the youth replied as he showed the king the
regalia of royalty. Recognizing the tokens, Liloa acknowledged Umi as
his son and second in rank but to Hakau, heir of the kingdom. A
fine athlete and well trained in the arts becoming a chief, Umi won
the favor of all classes in the realm and his time soon came. Hakau,
on becoming king, exercised the meanest qualities of a tyrant. Umi
had retired from Waipio to Laupahoehoe, when Hakau deposed and
humiliated his father’s old advisers. Two of these fled to Umi for
refuge and protection. Upon their advice, the young prince assembled
an army with which he marched to Waipio, where he defeated and killed
the tyrant. Amidst general rejoicing Umi was forthwith proclaimed king
of Hawaii. He changed the capital from Waipio to the district of Kona,
which continued ever after to be a favorite residence of Hawaiian
royalty.
Umi’s reign was long and prosperous. Among other of his famous
42
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
works was the erection of an imposing temple on the table-land between
Mauna Loa and Hualalai mountains. Before the close of his reign it
fell to him to get rid of another despicable chief as he had requited the
crimes of Hakau and under circumstances very similar. He had married
Piikea, daughter of King Piilani of Maui. Her father had the bride es-
corted to Hawaii by a large fleet of double canoes. Piilani soon after-
ward dying was succeeded by his eldest son, Lono-a-pii, who displayed
a jealous and malevolent character. His younger brother, driven from
home, took refuge with Umi at Waipio. Piikea induced her husband
to avenge the wrong done her brother. L^mi assembled a picked army
from all the districts of his kingdom and, with a large fleet of war canoes,
landed at Hana on Maui. After capturing a fort that was considered
impregnable he marched inland to Waihee, where a battle ensued in
which Lono-a-pii was defeated and killed. Kiha-a-Piilani, the recent
exile, reigned in his brother’s stead and an excellent king he proved.
Alexander says he “ deserves to be remembered for the paved road which
he caused to be made around East Maui, the remains of which are still
to be seen.”
In the reign of Keliiakaloa, the eldest son and successor of Umi,
a strange event occurred. This was no less than the first injection of
European blood into the life of the Hawaiian race. It came to pass a
little more than one generation after the discovery of America by Co-
lumbus, and though the story is traditionary there seems little doubt
of its truth. A foreign vessel was wrecked upon the coast of South Kona,
Hawaii, and of its company only the captain and his sister came to
land alive. They knelt on the strand in gratitude to heaven for their
deliverance and sustained the posture of w'ttrship a long time, so that
the natives with their customary aptness in descriptive nomenclature
gave to the spot the name Kolou, which it has ever since held.
The strangers thus abruptly thrown upon the mercy of the inhab-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
43
itants were treated with kind hospitality. Intermarrying with the natives
their descendants became notable families of chiefs. It is learned from
the Spanish historians that the first of several exploring expeditions
sent from Mexico by its conqueror, Cortez, was constituted of three
vessels that sailed from Zacatula for the Moluccas on October 31, 1527,
in command of Alvarado de Saavedra. Three thousand miles from
port the flotilla was scattered by a storm, and the commander’s vessel,
Florida, alone reached its destination. It is an inferential certainty that
one of the missing caravels was the craft dashed upon the Hawaiian
coast. Alexander, in this connection, furnishes strong circumstantial
testimony that the Hawaiian Islands were discovered by the Spanish
navigator Juan Gaetano in the year 1555. They were laid down in a
chart found on board a Spanish galleon from Acapulco, Mexico, which
the British ship Centurion captured near the Philippine Islands, after
a fierce encounter, in June of 1743.
Though the first European, it was not the first foreign blood, as
would appear, infused into Hawaiian veins which the stranded Spaniards
brought. Tradition has it that a vessel arrived at Kahului, Maui, in the
thirteenth' century, whose captain and crew were foreigners of light com-
plexion and bright eyes. These remained and intermarried with the
natives, their progeny being identifiable from having a lighter color than
the Polynesians. It is surmised that the vessel was a Japanese junk,
which, driven out of its course by a typhoon, drifted to the Hawaiian
coast. In recent times the same nautical misadventure has twice hap-
pened.
About two hundred years intervening between the time of the king
into whose dominion the Spanish sea-waifs dropped and the birth of
Kamehameha the Great were filled, according to tradition, mainly with
merciless warfare between the kings of Hawaii and Maui for possession
of the naturally rich district of Hana, on the latter island, and bloody
44
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
attempts by kings of Oahu to subjugate Molokai, whose chiefs, in their
struggles for independence, were often aided by chiefs from Hawaii
and Maui. Such were the conditions at the rise of Kamehameha as a
warrior, and he was distinguishing himself in battle when Gx)k discov-
ered the islands.
^ Kamehameha was born in Noveml3er, 1736, at Halawa, district of
Kohala, island of Hawaii. His father was Keoua, a high chief of the
king’s household. Alapainui, having by force obtained exclusive rule
over Hawaii, raised an army and navy to subjugate Maui. Taking with
him two half-brother princes, Keoua and Kalaniopuu, he found on
arrival in Kauix) that Kekaulike, king of Maui, was dead and his own
nephew, Kamehamehanui, reigning. He therefore made a warlike alli-
ance with his nephew to deliver the island of Molokai from a cruel in-
vasion by the king of Oahu. The Molokai chiefs had been driven to
cover and the island was being mercilessly ravaged when the allies came
to their relief. After a series of battles lasting several days the Oahu
army was utterly defeated, Kapiiokalani, the marauding king, being killed
in battle. Alapainui next attempted an invasion of Oahu, on the failure
of which he returned to Hawaii.
Kamehamehanui was in distress the following year, his half-brother
Kauhi having usurped the rule of Maui. Alapainui went to his assist-
ance with a large army, while Paleioholani, king of Oahu, took the part
of the usurper. A fierce battle of two days took place north of Lahaina.
The rebels and their allies were worsted, and Kauhi being taken prisoner
was executed. Then a treaty of peace was made between the kings of
Hawaii and Oahu, whereby the sovereignty of Kamehamehanui over
Maui was recognized and Molokai left under the dominion of the king
of Oahu.
When, about 1754, Alapainui died, a civil war ensued in which the
dead king’s son Keoweopala was killed. Kalaniopuu, a scion of the old
KameKamelia Statue Kamaiahai Church
Kaumakapila Church Ruins
46
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
DISCOVERY BY COOK.
Captain James Cook, the British navigator, discovered the Hawaiian
Islands in 1778, and here met a tragic death in the following year.
Cook’s discovery was the beginning of intercourse between the civilized
world and the group, which in a remarkably short time led to the civili-
zation of the islands. It was upon his third voyage around the globe
that Captain Cook sighted this group. With two armed ships, the Reso-
lution and tlie Discovery, he sailed from the Society Islands on Decem-
ber 8, 1777, in quest of a northern passage from the Pacific to the
Atlantic ocean. While heading for the northwest coast of America, he
descried the island of Oahu on Sunday morning, January 18, 1778. The
same day he saw Kauai and stood for that island the following morn-
ing, when the island of Niihau also came into view.
Native fishermen put out to the ships from the southeastern shore
of Kauai and, though afraid to go aboard, bartered fish and vegetables
for nails and scrap iron. Along the shore, as the vessels passed, the
people crowded in great excitement to see the mammoth boats, so differ-
ent in form and incomparably superior in size to their largest canoes.
On the morning of the 20th Cook’s vessels again stood inshore, when
several canoes went out to meet them. This time some of the natives
were bold enough to climb over the bulwarks. Lieutenant Williamson
the same day was sent ashore with three armed boats to look for a
watering place, and returning at midday reported that he had found
a watering place, but, while attempting to land at another place, the
natives had crowded around him in such force, trying to take away the
oars, muskets and everything else within grasp, that he was obliged to
fire and one native was killed.
47
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
That afternoon the ships anchored in Waimea Bay and Captain
Cook went ashore, taking three armed boats and twelve marines for
protection. Whenever he set foot upon the beach the natives all fell
prostrate, lying faces down in the sand until he had motioned them to
arise. Thereupon they made many offerings to him of pigs and plantain
trees, a priest reciting a long prayer, and Captain Cook responded with
presents to them. Next day saw an active barter between shore and
ships — hogs, fowls and vegetables being exchanged for nails and iron.
Feather cloaks and helmets, with a large quantity of red bird skins,
were offered for sale. Willing assistance was given by tlie natives in
filling the water casks and rolling them to the boats. Captain Cook,
with the surgeon and the artist of the expedition, strolled up the valley
and visited a temple, a description and a drawing of which appear in
his records. While endeavoring to change his anchorage on February
23, owing to a southerly rainstorm which began the previous day. Cap-
tain Cook was driven to sea in the Resolution and, being unable to make
the Waimea roadstead again, cruised for several days about the island
of Niihau, coming to anchor off its west coast on the 29th. In the
meantime a young high chief and his wife, in a double canoe, went
aboard the Discovery and exchanged presents with Captain Clerke. The
ships landed three goats and an English-bred pair of swine on Niihau,
also leaving seeds of melons, pumpkins and onions with the natives.
Lieutenant Gore and twenty men were detained on shore for two nights,
owing to stormy weather and heavy surf, and the natives treated them
with hospitality.
On February 2 the two ships resumed their voyage to the north-
ward. “ They left behind them,” Alexander says, “diseases, unknown
before, which spread through the group, causing misery and death to
the people. The Hawaiians were left in a state of the utmost wonder
and perplexity in regard to the character of their strange visitors. (The
48
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
majority of them looked upon Captain Cook as an incarnation of their
god Lono, who, as they supposed, had now returned in fulfillment of an
ancient prophecy, and upon his crew as supernatural beings. Others
pronounced them to be foreigners, ‘ haoles,’ from Kahiki or other mys-
terious lands to the south.) Messengers were sent to Oahu and Maui
to inform the chiefs there of the arrival of these wonderful beings. The
messengers said: ‘The men are white; their skin is loose and folding;
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,’ etc.”
Captain Cook returned, on his second and fatal visit, the same year,
after having explored the Arctic regions until ice-floes impeded his voy-
aging. It was tlie northeast coast of Maui that he first made on this
occasion, arriving off there on November 26 and beating around the
east end of the island. Kalaniopuu, king of Hawaii, was then in the
Koolau district waging war, as heretofore mentioned, with Kahekili.
The old marauder, attended by several chiefs, visited the ships and his
nephew Kamehameha stayed aboard the Resolution over night. After-
ward Cook cruised off the Kohala coast trading for provisions; then,
after beating about the eastern and southern coasts of Hawaii, cast
anchor in Kealakekua Bay on January 17, 1779. At sight of the sailors
eating watermelons and smoking, the Kohala natives exclaimed that the
strangers were gods indeed, who ate the flesh of men, and in whose
mouths fire burned.
From all over the island the people swarmed to Kealakekua Bay
to see the supposed gods descended among men. To the chiefs Palea
and Kanaina, in the king’s absence, fell the task of preserving order.
At the very beginning of intercourse with the visitors, the natives paid
worship to Captain Cook as a divinity. Koa, an old priest, saluted him
on board his vessel with great veneration, invested him with a red kapa
49
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
cloak and, reciting a long prayer, made votive offering of a pig. When
Cook, attended by two officers, accompanied the priest ashore the people
either retired from his presence or prostrated themselves before him in
obeisance. He was conducted to the temple of Lono, north of Napoopoo,
where ceremonies were performed by way of installing him as the incar-
nation of that god. When, some days later, he visited the residences
of the priests at Napoopoo, they conducted him to the house of Lono
and paid him worship in similar fashion. While on shore Cook was
always attended by a priest with a wand, who ordered the people to
prostrate themselves as he passed. The offering of sacrifices to him was
a common incident and, as Jarves says, “ He moved among them an
earthly deity, observed, feared and worshiped.” An observatory in
tents was set up by the expeditionists near the temple, in which instru-
ments were installed, and forthwith the priests made the place sacred
by setting up white tabu rods about it. Daily the shore party of English-
men received a generous supply of hogs and vegetables, while several
canoe-loads of provisions would be sent aboard the ships, all of which
the beneficiaries accepted without offering any goods in return, as no
recompense indeed was asked. Such a severe tax on hospitality was,
next to Cook’s submission to worship, the greatest of blunders.
A week after the arrival of the expedition at Kealakekua the old
king returned from Maui, when a strict tabu was at once put upon the
bay which prevented any canoes from leaving the shore. Two days
after his return Kalaniopuu paid a grand state visit to the ships. He
went out with three large canoes. His attending chiefs were arrayed in
their feather cloaks and helmets, and armed with spears and daggers.
Priests were in the retinue, bearing huge wickerwork idols of the fierce
aspect hitherto described. The royal flotilla paddled about the ships,
with chanting of devotions, and then headed for the observatory. Cap-
tain Cook landed there to receive them, and as he entered the tent the
50 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
king invested him with his own splendid feather cloak, besides laying
half a dozen fine cloaks at his feet. Both Kalaniopuu and his priests
also made liberal offerings of provisions, accompanied with prayers, to
him they regarded as their long-absent god now in visible form returned.
Captain Cook acted the good-natured deity by taking the king and
courtiers aboard the Resolution, where he presented his majesty with a
linen shirt and a cutlass, and at evening, when the officers of the ship
were being entertained ashore at a feast, together with an exhibition
of boxing and wrestling, he gave a display of fireworks from the ship,
which still further inspired awe in the natives, who thought the pyro-
technic missiles were winged spirits.
As already hinted, the Englishmen discounted the hospitality of
the Hawaiians far too heavily. Not only did the common people, on
whom the burden mainly fell, tire of the heavy offerings, but the whole
community was offended at the loose conduct and the contempt for the
tabu which its guests exhibited. The people had reason, also, to suspect
that they might be laboring under a delusion as to the nature of the
visitors, the death of a seaman on the eleventh day after the arrival
of the vessels showing them that the paleskinned strangers were not all
immortal beings. The dead man was buried within the temple com-
pound, pagan blending with Christian rites at the funeral. Captain Cook
himself added combustibility to the gathering displeasure. It was in
reality a matter of fuel. Needing firewood he decided to appropriate
the fence around the temple set apart to himself. His offer to the
priests of three hatchets in exchange for the wood was declined. Cook’s
men nevertheless removed the temple railing together with the twelve
idols it enclosed, which only elicited a meek request from the chief priest
that the central image at least should be restored. This was on February
2 , or the fifteenth day after the expedition arrived. Then there was
an affray between a boat’s crew from the Resolution, sent to fetch the
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
51
rudder, and a party of natives, while squabbles over bartering arose and
thefts became frequent. Notwithstanding these ominous happenings,
the king seems to have retained his reverence for the supposed Lono,
for on February 3 he presented Captain Cook with the richest offering
of Polynesian bounty which his eyes had ever yet beheld. It consisted
of “ an immense quantity of vegetables, a large herd of swine, and
an extensive collection of kapas and red and yellow feathers.” The
following day the ships sailed, but, by a fate that proved cruel, they
were back at their old anchorage on the nth of the same month.
Captain Cook had started to make a survey of the Leeward Islands,
whence he was going back to the Arctic for another summer’s explora-
tion. Off Kawaihae, however, the ships ran into a gale and, the Resolu-
tion springing her foremast, it was decided to put back to Kealakekua
Bay for making repairs ashore. On arrival there a universal and an
ominous silence was found prevailing. Not a canoe was in sight. It
was ascertained by sending a boat ashore that Kalaniopuu had gone
away and left the bay under tabu, and although at dusk a few canoes
with provisions visited the ships the natives clearly evinced that their
friendship was altogether of the past. They only wanted iron daggers
in exchange for their produce. Captain Cook had ordered the making
of such weapons for trading purposes.
COOKES TRAGIC END.
When, the following day, the Resolution had landed its material
and instruments at the old camp, again was the place put under tabu by
the friendly priests. This was Friday. On Saturday sad mischief de-
veloped. Palea, the cliief, was on board the Discovery, when some of
his retainers stole a pair of tongs and a chisel from the armorer, jumped
with the booty into a canoe and paddled for dear life to the shore. Shots
were fired at them and a boat was sent in their pursuit. Palea left the
62 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ship in another canoe, having promised to recover the stolen articles.
The tliieves having got ahead of their pursuers fled inland after beaching
their canoe. Mr. Edgar, the boat’s officer, proceeded to take possession
of the canoe, but Palea, as its owner, refused to give it up, disclaiming
any complicity in the theft. In a scuffle that followed Edgar was re-
pulsed by the chief, whom a sailor then felled to the earth with an oar
over the head. At this a crowd of natives beset the sailors with stones,
forcing them to swim to a rock a good way out. Palea having shortly
recovered from his knockout, dispersed the mob of natives and, calling
tlie sailors back, made restitution of the stolen articles so far as possible.
Palea’s men the next night stole the large cutter of the Discovery, took
it two miles up the coast and broke it up for the iron it contained.
Then the last of the chapter of blunders was enacted, which had the
sad denouement of ending the career of the great navigator. Captain
Cook resolved on a plan that he had often successfully worked in the
South Seas, being no less than to capture the king and hold him as
a hostage for the return of the stolen boat. On Sunday morning, the
14th of February, he landed with a lieutenant and nine marines, and,
going to Kalaniopuu’s house, invited the king to spend the day with
him on board the Resolution. A blockade of three well armed and
manned boats athwart the entrance of the bay was in the meantime
established.
Captain Cook had succeeded so far as to bring the old king out
and on his way to the shore, when the first tragedy of the day occurred
and upset the whole seemingly well-laid plan. Kekuhaupio, a famous
warrior, and Kalimu, a brother of Palea, each a high chief, had arrived'
in a canoe from Keei unwitting of the blockade. As they were crossing
the dead line a shot from the boats killed Kalimu, whereupon Kehuhaupio
hastened to tell the king of the shocking event. The chiefs restrained
Kalaniopuu from proceeding farther, while speedily a great crowd as-
THE HAW^AIIAN ISLANDS
53
sembled. Many of the natives armed themselves with spears and dag-
gers. The direful knell had struck.
Captain Cook himself was singled out by a warrior, who came at him
with a dagger and said that the foreigners had killed his brother and
he would have revenge. Firing at his intending assailant without effect,
Captain Cook ordered Lieutenant Phillips to withdraw the marines to
the shore. As the men began to retreat Captain Cook was hit with
a stone, and seeing the man who had thrown it he shot him dead. Fire
was then opened up by both the men in the boats and the marines on
the beach, but before they had time to reload the marines were rushed
by the chiefs and four of them killed. The rest plunged into the sea
and escaped to the boats. Captain Cook had turned for an instant, wav-
ing his hat to signal the boats’ crews to cease firing and pull in, when
he was stabbed in the back by a chief with an iron dagger. The weapon
went through his body and he fell forward to die with his face buried
in the water. Lieutenant Phillips with his sword killed the slayer of
the captain and then swam to the boats. Lieutenant Gore of the Reso-
lution, having taken in the situation with his glass, fired several round
shot from the ship into the crowd, doing execution that, with the terror
the roar of the cannon inspired, caused a hasty scattering of the crowd
to the hills. Seventeen natives were killed in the melee, of whom five
were chiefs — the high chief Kanaina being one. Kamehameha is sup-
posd to have taken an active part in this memorable affair. The natives
attacked the camp on the other side of the bay, but the guards, taking
their station on the heiau, stood them off until reinforcements from the
ship ended the danger.
After the Resolution’s foremast and other effects had been shipped
on board without mishap, Lieutenant King was detailed to demand the
bodies of Cook and the marines. But the body of the commander the
same night underwent the funeral rites due to a chief. This was at a small
54
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
temple surmounting the cliffs, where the flesh was stripped off and
burned, and the bones were bound in packets with red feathers to become
objects of worship. In a footnote Alexander says : “ Part of the bones
were kept in the temple of Lono, on the east side of Hawaii, and wor-
shiped by the people until 1819, when they were concealed in some secret
place.” However, two friendly priests the following night (Monday)
secretly surrendered part of Cook’s remains, which had been allotted to
the senior priest of Lono. Another installment of the captain’s bones
was given up the ensuing Saturday, by a high chief sent by Kalaniopuu
to sue for peace, after considerable fighting meanwhile. During these
four days many natives had been killed, the village of Napoopoo bom-
barded with round and grape shot, and, among other outrages perpe-
trated by the sailors, the village set on fire, whereby the houses of the
friendly priests with all their contents were destroyed. Peace having
been concluded, the remains of Captain Cook were, on Sunday, with
military honors, committed to the deep, a tabu having been placed on the
bay for the occasion.
On February 23 the ships got under way and, passing to the lee-
ward of Lanai and the windward of Oahu, went to their former station
at Waimea, Kauai. There they replenished their water supply and
leaving called at the island of Niihau for yams, after which they set
sail, February 25, 1779, for the Arctic Ocean.
A period of nearly thirteen years elapsed between the visit of
Captain Cook’s expedition and the winning of the kingship of his own
island, Hawaii, by Kamehameha as the tangible starting point in obtain-
ing undivided sovereignty over the whole group. All of that period
was filled with bloody turmoil sodden with vile treachery, excepting
four years, when the population of the islands abandoned strife for lucra-
tive trade with ships from the outside world. For, though they kept away
for more than seven years after Cook’s death, the argosies of commerce
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
55
had to come. Brutal men came with them, too, and so stupid withal as
not to take lesson from the tragedy of the discovery. Yet out of a white
man’s awful crime and the brown men’s fierce reprisals therefor a chain
of circumstances linked forth which adventitiously hastened the unifica-
tion of the islands and the civilizing of their inhabitants.
56
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
I
' RISE OF KAMEHAMEHA. ‘ ’
Kalaniopuu’s kingdom went to pieces directly after his death in
1782. Two years previously the king held a council of the highest chiefs
at Waipio, whereat his son Kauikeaouli Kiwalao was proclaimed heir
to succeed him. His nephew Kamehameha was declared second in
rank and given charge of the ancestral war god Kukailimoku and the
temples appurtenant to that deity. Trouble came of the latter function
a few months later. Kiwalao essayed to offer in sacrifice the body of
a rebel chief, when Kamehameha interposed his prerogative and per-
formed the ceremony himself. This action aroused such animosity that
Kamehameha was constrained, on the aged king’s advice, to retire to
his hereditary lands in Kohala. There, as Alexander records, “ he spent
more than two years in quietly cultivating and improving his lands,
building canoes and fishing. Several of his public works are still to be
seen, such as a tunnel by which a watercourse is carried through a ridge
in Niulii, besides a canoe-landing in Halaula, a fishpond, etc. He was
at this time forty-five years of age.”
An inflammable situation existed at the time Kalaniopuu died.
Kiwalao, his successor, a nephew of Kahekili of Maui, is described as
“ weak and irresolute.” Keoua Kuahuula, his half-brother, was a man
of fiery ambition. The king’s uncle, Keawemauhili, had a grasping and
overbearing disposition. These three with other chiefs aided the king
in preparations to remove the bones of his father from the seat of royalty
in Kau to their appointed depository at Honaunau, South Kona. On
the other hand, the western side of Hawaii (North and South Kona)
was under the s^^'ay of four powerful chieftains, namely : Kameeiamoku
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
57
and Kamanawa, twin brothers, their half-brother Keeaumoku and
Keaweaheulu. Then there was looming up the inevitable council of
high chiefs which, after the death of a head chief, was convened to re-
distribute the lands of the island. Such councils had frequently produced
civil war. Anticipating that on this occasion they would not receive
a fair deal from the chiefs near the king’s person, the four Kona chief-
tains sent Kekuhaupio — the renowned warrior who has been mentioned
in connection with Captain Cook’s death — to ask Kamehameha to be
their leader. Kamehameha consenting speedily gathered his retainers
and went with the envoy to Kaawaloa, which is opposite Honaunau on
Kealakekua Bay. Kiwalao was accompanied to Honaunau by a strong
retinue of chiefs and armed warriors, he occupying his double canoe and
the late king’s remains lying in state upon another. On his arrival he
crossed the bay and was received by Kamehameha with loyal respect.
“ Where are you ? ” the young king said after the customary wailing.
“ It is possible that we two may die. Here is our aged uncle pushing
us on to war. Perhaps you and I only may be slain. Alas for us two ! ”
(Alexander.) After the funeral rites the next day, the king made public
declaration of the last will and testament of his father. It was merely
a ratification of the Waipio council’s decrees. The Kona chiefs were
dissatisfied, but when the land distribution, occupying the next few
days, had been accomplished, “ the fat was in the fire.” It was from
the king’s own party, however, that the eruption came. Keaweauhili,
the rapacious uncle, and his favorites received the largest and choicest
of the estates. Keoua, the irascible half-brother, got nothing and was
told to be content with the lands already in his keeping. He flew into
a rage and, leaving the assembly, armed his retainers and set out upon
guerrilla warfare. His band cut down cocoanut trees — a challenge to
war — at Keomo and going thence to Keei started a row in which some of
Kamehameha’s people were killed. This led to war in earnest, for the
68
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
bodies having been carried to Honaunau were offered in sacrifice by
Kiwalao, who thus assumed the responsibility for his desperate half-
brother’s belligerency.
Mustering of forces, attended with skirmishes, occupied some days
and then a pitched battle took place. Keeaumoku having been tripped
up with a spear and then stabbed repeatedly, Kiwalao called on his
own men to save the fallen chieftain’s ivory neck-ornament from blood-
staining. Kamanawa came to Keeaumoku’s aid, at which moment a
slung stone brought the king down. Keeaumoku saw Kiwalao fall and,
crawling up to him, cut his throat with a shark’s-teeth dagger. In the
complete rout of the king’s party Keoua escaped to his canoes and, land-
ing in Kau, was acknowledged by the people of that district as his
brother’s successor. Keawemauhili was taken prisoner, but escaped in
the night and reached Hilo over the mountains. Keoua and his uncle
were therefore now foot-loose and jointly in control of the windward
side of the island. Thus early did Kalaniopuu’s kingdom split into
three petty sovereignties. Kamehameha had his work laid out for
him.
Yet the destined conqueror lost a whole series of wars ere his star
resumed its dominance. Kamehameha, having made great preparations
by sea and land, moved upon the two allied chiefs. He landed in Puna
and marched to the crater of Kilauea to prevent a junction of his ene-
mies, and then proceeding to Waiakea encountered Keawemauhili’s army
reinforced by Maui warriors. His forces were completely beaten to their
canoes and he retired to Laupahoehoe. An impetuous and unjustifiable
attack that he soon after made upon a party of fishermen on the Puna
coast nearly cost a premature ending of his career. Dr. N. B. Emerson,
one of the deepest investigators of Hawaiian history and folk-lore,
gives the account of the affair, which is here condensed. (Tenth Annual
Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society.) After his inglorious de-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
69
feat just recorded, Kamehameha remained some weeks, if not months,
at Waiakea. Keawemauhili had withdrawn from Hilo with his forces
and was somewhere in the wilderness back of Kau with Keoua. He
is said to have had a revulsion of feeling which made him averse to
continuing the war with his “ child,” Kamehameha, and such disposition,
together with the distance from the battlefield at which he placed his
forces after the fight, is given as an explanation of why Kamehameha
was now left undisturbed, enabling him to post his forces with im-
punity at Waiakea and to plan the new move about to be described.
At Keaau there lived a low chief, “ of considerable weight of char-
acter,” named Kuuku. Extremely slight of physique, this petty chief
would yet seem to have held powerful influence. “ Kuuku was one who
stood between the two warring parties. Though nominally attached to
the party of Keawemauhili, on whose side he had fought in the last bat-
tle, * * * he was so little of a partisan that, had his desire pre-
vailed, both sides would have thrown down their arms and come to
terms. * * * fjig inclination was to act on a small scale as an
armed intermediator, ready to uphold whichever chief should be un-
justly assailed; always provided, however, that by so doing he could
see the way clear to the promotion of peace.” It was for the pur-
pose of visiting Kuuku, probably in the hope of winning him to his
own side, that Kamehameha one day set sail with his whole fleet, mov-
ing along the Puna coast. No improvement in Dr. Emerson’s graphic
recital of what followed can be attempted by the present writer, there-
fore here it follows:
“ His own double canoe, well manned with warriors, led the way.
The main body of the fleet followed, separated from him by a consider-
able interval. When Kamehameha had arrived opposite a small cove
at a place called Paai, in Keaau, he spied a fishing craft with five men
60
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
aboard who were making for the shore after having spent the night
at sea.
“ No words were exchanged between Kamehameha’s party and the
fishermen. These recognized the fleet as that of an enemy and, being
attached to the side of Keoua, and fearful of being plundered, they made
all haste to reach the shore. At the same time Kamehameha rushed
his own canoe in such a course as to intercept the fishermen, if possible,
his acknowledged purpose being robbery.
“ The fishermen made the beach first, hastily hauled up their canoe,
shouldered their belongings and started inland. The names of two of
the party have been handed down, Naone-a-Laa and Kalauai. The
three others, less encumbered with baggage, made good their escape,
and their names are lost to fame.
“ Kamehameha’s canoe struck the beach a moment too late. Re-
gardless of rank and personal dignity, he jumped to land and gave chase
to the two men. Several of his own soldiers, men of great strength,
trained athletes, it is said, made a move to follow their leader ; but Kame-
hameha would have it an affair of his own and lifted his hand with a for-
bidding gesture that compelled them to keep their places. In fact, there
existed an unwritten code of honor, by which all persons were forbidden
to take sides in a contest between two individuals, a rule, however,
which did not apply in battle.
“ Kamehameha came up with the fisherman Kalauai, seized hold of
him, shook him, and tried to wrench away from him the coveted net
he was carrying upon his shoulders. Kalauai seems merely to have
stood upon the defensive and not to have struck a blow for his own
protection; but in spite of this Kamehameha did not succeed in over-
throwing him or getting possession of the coveted net. While engaged
in this scuffle, one of Kamehameha’s feet became wedged in a hole or
crevice of the lava plain and w^as held fast. This gave Kalauai his oppor-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
61
tiinity and he escaped. Kamehameha could not give pursuit, but he tore
up from its bed a large piece of rock and hurled it at his fleeing enemy
with such good aim and such force that it was shattered by the hala
tree, behind which the fisherman had run for shelter. At this moment
Naone took part in the contest; he threw down four of the paddles of the
company which he had been carrying on his shoulders, but kept one as a
club with which he struck Kamehameha a stunning blow on the fore-
head; tlien leaving the invading chieftain on the ground, unconscious
and bleeding, the daring fisherman joined his companion in flight.
“And so Naone and Kalauai escaped unhurt; the aggressor and
would-be robber lay bleeding and stunned, his foot gripped fast in its
rocky fetter. The people on the canoe, seeing Kamehameha’s trouble,
came quickly to his relief and, having taken him aboard, conveyed him
in a prostrate condition to the residence of his friend Kuuku, where
for a time he lay between life and death. But the powers of nature
were in his favor and, after a day or two of doubtful struggle, he came
to himself and was able to converse and turn his thoughts to his af-
fairs.”
Opposing the statement of a historical writer that “ Kamehameha's
escape from death on this occasion was due to his great strength,” Dr.
Emerson quotes his Hawaiian informant thus :
“ Kamehameha was not able to overcome Kalauai even when the
latter was heavily burdened with a fishing net. Kalauai was the stronger
man; and, as to Naone, he was a famous athlete. No, Kamehameha
owed his life, not to his strength, but to the clemency and self-restraint
of the two men. If Naone had indulged himself in another blow, which
was clearly his right as being the attacked party, Kamehameha would
have been a dead man.”
The sequel given by Dr. Emerson to his story of the encounter at
Keaau is not less interesting than that story. It is here quoted :
62
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
“ Though Naone and his companion had been able to repulse the
onset of Kamehameha and to make their escape, they could not long
remain concealed from the search of Kamehameha’s men, who were
in such numbers as to overrun the land and who would have torn them
limb from limb, but that Kamehameha had issued strict orders that they
should not be harmed. It was indeed not without grumbling that Kame-
hameha’s fierce warriors restrained themselves when Naone and Kalauai
were at length in their power; but they dared not disobey a master whose
will was law, and whose command had been to bring the daring offenders
before him unhurt, that he might deal with them according to his pleas-
ure. It is said that when Kamehameha lay sick and wounded in the
house of Kuuku, Naone and Kalauai being still at large, his chiefs came
to him and said ; ‘ O king, shall we ravage Keaau with fire and spear ? ’
“ Kamehameha’s head was still bundled for its wound when the
two prisoners, obedient to his orders, crawled into his presence, evi-
dently set on meeting their fate like soldiers, if they were to be doomed
to death.
“ Kamehameha propped himself on the elbow, made a slight inclina-
tion upon recognizing the men and then gnmted out, ‘ Ehe ! ’ (Sit there. )
Then, looking them over, he said to Naone, ‘ Are you the man who struck
me on the head? ’ ‘ Yes, I am he,’ was the reply. ‘ You gave me but
one blow?’ asked Kamehameha. ‘Yes, but one,’ admitted Naone.
‘ Why didn’t you strike a second time ? ’ demanded Kamehameha. ‘ I
thought the one blow would have sufficed to kill you,’ said the culprit
boldly. There was a pause. Then the king resumed : ‘ You are a
soldier. I had flattered myself that I was to be the one to do the hurt-
ing; but it turned out that I was mistaken, and I was the one that was
hurt.’
“ Then, after a moment, Kamehameha said : ‘ I was in the wrong
in making the attack. My kahu used to tell me that violence and rob-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
63
bery were evil and should be punished with death. If I live I will make
a law against robbery and violence, and lay on them the penalty of
death.’ With this announcement Kamehameha dismissed the two men,
bidding them go to their homes in peace. But the gift of their lives
w^as not all he conferred upon them. To Naone he gave the land on
which stood the house where he then lay, and to Kalauai the land that
included the place where the affray happened, lands which Naone and
Kalauai are said to have retained all their lives.
“ It is almost superfluous to say that Naone and Kalauai became
the most ardent and faithful adherents of Kamehameha’s cause, ready
to go to any extremity in his behalf. They not only joined his army,
but, being men of influence, they drew many others with them. It is
furthermore reported that in after years, when they heard the news of
Kamehameha’s death, they went out in the woods and hanged them-
selves — a pitiful climax to their devotion.
“ One of the results of the incident at Keaau was the law directed
against the very thing of which Kamehameha had there been guilty,
and this law was called the Kanawai Mamala-hoa, in memory of the
unhappy affair at Keaau. (The meaning of the word Mamala-hoa is
splintered paddle.)”
An expedition sent by him in 1786 to retake the districts of Hana
and Kipahulu in Maui while Kahekili, who had recovered that terri-
tory some years before, was absent on Oahu also ended disastrously.
The commander was his younger brother, Kalanimalokuloku, who gained
a temporary triumph and the people who yielded were treated so well by
the invader that they gave him the surname of Keliimakai (“the good
chief”), which stuck to him ever after. But eventually his army was
utterly routed, a remnant escaping to Kohala, by a force under Kamo-
homoho, a younger brother of Kahekili.
In the meantime Kahekili, by foul diplomacy leading up to a sudden
64
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
onslaught, had made a conquest of Oahu. Kumuhana had succeeded his
father, Peleioholani, the king of Maui who subdued Molokai, but the
young man was deposed for incompetency by his chiefs, who elected in
his stead Kahahana, a young chief who had been brought up at the
court of Kahekili and had married his half-sister. Kahekili assented to
the arrangement on condition that the sacred land of Kualoa and the
whalebone and ivory drifting ashore on Oahu should be ceded to him.
Kahahana was installed but afterward the council of Oahu chiefs refused
to ratify the condition Kahekili had imposed. Dissembling his resent-
ment at this repudiation of his terms because of the value he set upon
Oahu’s aid in resisting Kalaniopuu’s aggressions, Kahekili adopted under-
hand means of vengeance. He accused Kaopulupulu, a priest and the
wisest counselor of Kahahana, of having offered the throne of Oahu
to himself. Kahahana believed the Maui king’s slander and caused
Kaopulupulu to be assassinated. This foul deed increased the unpopu-
larity with which the king of Oahu was already regarded. It made just
the situation that Kahekili had planned. As nearly ten years had passed
since the deposition of Kumuhana, the reflection occurs that the perse-
verance of the plotter was worthy of better fruit than perfidy.
Recalling his auxiliary troops from Hilo, the Maui king in 1783
assembled all his forces at Lahaina, from whence he sailed without
warning for Oahu. Landing at Waikiki he engaged the army of Kaha-
hana, defeating it in Nuuanu Valley. Kahahana and his wife took
refuge in the mountains, but after hiding for a year the unfortunate
king was betrayed by his wife’s brother Kekuamauoha. His body was
offered in sacrifice at Waikiki. Kahekili’s rule over Oahu and Molokai
was so tyrannical as to produce an extensive conspiracy of the Oahuans.
Some Maui chiefs, sympathizing with the widowed queen or fretting
over the land distribution, were in the plot, which was to kill Kahekili
and his chiefs in the various districts of the island on one night. But
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
65
the secret was divulged in time to save all but Hueu, the Waialua chief,
he and all his retinue being massacred. In revenge Kahekili had nearly
all the native Oahu chiefs exterminated, besides causing an indiscrim-
inate massacre of men, women and children in the Kona and Ewa dis-
tricts (the former being the district in which the present capital city of
Honolulu is situated). Streams are said to have been choked with the
dead, and at Moanalua a house was built of human bones. A few chiefs
escaped to Kauai.
66 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ADVENT OF COMMERCE.
Two British ships arrived off the coast of Hawaii on May 24, 1786
— the King George in command of Captain Portlock, and the Queen
Charlotte, of Captain Dixon, both commanders having been in Cook’s
last expedition. These were the first vessels to visit the islands after
Captain Cook’s death. All of the maritime world had been stirred by,
the reports of Cook’s voyage, which showed what a profitable trade
might be established in the barter of blankets, iron, beads, etc., with
the Indians of the northwest coast of America for furs having a ready
cash market in Canton. And from thence cargoes of tea for England
or the United States could be obtained. The King George and Queen
Charlotte touched at Kealakekua Bay, but finding the natives in bad
humor they left for Oahu. Anchoring in Waialae Bay they stayed
four days, buying fresh water at the price of a sixpenny nail for the full
of a two-gallon calabash. It was observed by Captain Portlock that
most of the iron daggers sold by Captain Cook had come into possession
of Kahekili’s warriors. The vessels called at Niihau for yams, sailing
thence for the northwest coast They returned the following November
and wintered, partly at Waialae, Oahu, and partly at Waimea, Kauai.
On their way to China the succeeding year these vessels repeated their
visits to those places. In May, 1786, La Perouse, the famous French
explorer, with his two frigates bound for Alaska, spent a day off the
coast of Maui, holding friendly intercourse with the natives.
Captain Meares in the snow Nootka was one of the earlier visitors
among many fur-traders that now made the islands a calling station.
67
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
He stayed a month at Waimea, Kauai, in 1787, and carried off the chief
Kaiana as a passenger to Canton. Afterward he fitted up the vessels
Felice and Iphigenia for the fur trade. Kaiana, who had been kindly
entertained by the English residents of Canton during a sojourn there
of three months, and three other natives were taken as passengers in
the Iphigenia. On this trip the chief was presented by his Canton friends
with cattle, goats and turkeys, also lime and orange trees, and a great
store of other goods. In the long voyage along the American coast all
of the livestock died. The Iphigenia arrived at Kealakekua Bay in
December, 1788, and her master. Captain Douglass, fired a salute of
seven guns in honor of Kamehameha, who had come out in state with
twelve double canoes gaily decorated with feathers. Kaiana, learning
that Kaeo, king of Kauai, was embittered against him, accepted service,
under Kamehameha and was landed with the foreign weapons and abun-
dance of valuable goods which he had acquired. His wife and child
and his brother Namakeha were later brought from Kauai by Captain
Douglass, who presented Kamehameha with a swivel cannon together
with some muskets and ammunition. Nevertheless some bad impulse
against the white man must have been at work. Perhaps there was
lingering feeling of revenge for the wrongs and the evils that the Cook
expedition had brought. Resentment might have been aroused by actions
of the later traders. Jealousies created by the inter-island wars might
have had something to do with it. Or possibly the evil spirit was mostly
that of savage cupidity. At any rate, it is strange, following the record
of Captain Douglass’s kindness to the king and his enlisted chief from
Kauai, to be told that when he touched again at Kealakekua in July, 1789,
“ he narrowly escaped a plot of the principal chiefs to massacre him
and his crew.” At this very time, Kamehameha and his chiefs were
probably, as Alexander says, receiving the lion’s share of the trade with
foreigners, which centered mainly at Waimea in Kauai and Kealakekua
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
eg
Bay in Hawaii and which was lucrative enough to cause the belligerent
chiefs to forget to fight each other for four years.
As to the next trouble between the Hawaiians and the traders, there
is no mystery of motive about its beginning, but the recital must excite
horrified disgust at the barbarity of the white man. To avenge the blood
of another, this particular white man in most treacherous manner wreaked
indiscriminate slaughter upon a host of innocent people. The retribu-
tion thus invited soon arrived, and it was fearful, including the murder
of the offender’s son among others and the loss of valuable property.
Historically this abhorrent train of crimes, however, had far-reaching
results on the affairs of the islands. It forthwith threw into the scales
of inter-island strife a prodigious weight of advantage on the side of
Kamehameha.
Captain Metcalf, an American fur-trader, in his snow Eleanor bound
for China, arrived at the islands in the close of the year 1789. A plot
by Kaiana and other chiefs to seize the vessel was frustrated by Kame-
hameha’s going on board and ordering the plotters ashore. Later Ka-
meeiamoku, a Kona chief previously mentioned, was for a trivial offense
beaten with a rope’s-end by Captain Metcalf. The insulted chief vowed
to have revenge on the next vessel that came within his reach. In the
latter part of the succeeding February the Eleanor went to Honuaula,
Maui, where one night Kaopuiki, the Olowalu chief, with his men, stole
a boat from its moorings at the stern and murdered a sailor sleeping in
it. The boat was broken up for the extraction of its nails. Captain
Metcalf, being informed that the robbers belonged there, went to Olo-
walu and opened up trade with the natives. When a great assemblage
of canoes from many points had come around his vessel, the captain
fired a broadside of cannon and musketry upon them. More than a
hundred people were killed and a great many wounded.
A little schooner named the Fair American, commanded by Cap-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
69
tain Metcalf’s son, eighteen years of age, had been accompanying the
Eleanor as a tender up north. She was detained by the Spaniards at
Nootka Sound and the Eleanor, after the diabolical outrage at Olowalu,
resorted to the offing of Kealakekua Bay to await her arrival. About
that time the Fair American arrived off Kawaihae. Now was Kameeio-
moku’s opportunity for the vengeance he had vowed. Going off with
a flotilla of canoes on the pretext of trading, he and his men threw the
young captain overboard and killed the entire crew except Isaac Davis,
the mate. Within a few hours later John Young, boatswain of the
Eleanor, was caught ashore and detained, while Kamehameha, to pre-
vent Metcalf’s hearing the tale of calamity, placed a tabu on all canoes.
For two days the Eleanor stood off and on, firing signal guns for
Young’s return, and then set her course for China. Kamehameha
treated the captive sailors with distinguished consideration, allotting to
them valuable lands and raising them to the rank of chiefs. Young and
Davis took kindly to the feudal harness, becoming most potent aids to
the warlord. At the outset they mounted the king’s cannon on carriages
for land duty and proceeded to drill a picked squad of warriors in the
use of muskets.
KAMEHAMEHA RESUMES WARFARE.
Kamehameha now felt himself strong enough to resume warlike
enterprise. He summoned Keoua of Kau and Keawemauhili of Hilo
to contribute men and canoes for an invasion of Maui. His veteran uncle
responded with a large force under his own sons, but his fire-eating
cousin Keoua met the demand with an abrupt refusal. The latter, as will
be seen, had “ other fish to fry.” Kamehameha’s forces landed in Hana
and Hamakualoa, Maui, in the summer of 1790. They defeated the
Maui army in two battles, the second one being a complete rout in the
valley of Wailuku. Young and Davis with the artillery, together with
70
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
the contingent of muskets, were too much for the wielders of the ancient
weapons to withstand. It was a fearful slaughter with no quarter to the
defeated. The battle received the name of Kapaniwai, from the dam-
ming of the lao stream with dead bodies. Kahekili’s sons, who had
commanded the Maui troops, escaped through the Olowalu pass and took
canoes for Oahu.
Bad tidings from home, however, called Kamehameha from Maui
before he could establish the conquest of that island. Keoua, taking
advantage of his absence, had defeated and killed Keawemauhili in bat-
tle, then over-running Hamakua depredated Waipio and Waimea dis-
tricts. He retreated to Hamakua when Kamehameha with all his forces
had landed at Kawaihae. The results of two battles near Paauhau, in
which gunpowder gave the advantage to Kamehameha, were not de-
cisive, Keoua retiring to Hilo and Kamehameha to Waipio. Keoua
in November of the same year, after making a distribution of the Hilo
lands to his chiefs, marched for Kau by way of the crater of Kilauea.
The crater was in a violent state at the time and, after encamping on its
brink for two days, Keoua’s army on the third day moved forward in
three divisions. Then a terrible earthquake occurred, which was accom-
panied by an explosive eruption of the crater. Black sand and cinders
in enormous volume clouded the sun and then came showering upon
the earth over a radius of many miles. The falling debris harmed
Keoua’s advance and rear very slightly, but of the middle division not a
soul escaped alive. All were found dead by the rear party. Some were
stretched out, and others sitting up with wives and children clasped in
arms. Horror-stricken at the discovery, the rear guard hastened on-
ward to join the vanguard. Kamehameha of course regarded the awful
event as an omen of the goddess Pele’s favor to his cause. In 1791
a great temple in honor of the wargod Kukailimoku was, on the advice
of the priests, erected at Kawaihae to obtain for Kamehameha dominion
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
71
over Hawaii. Kaiana was dispatched to Kaii against Keoua, but his
campaign was a failure.
While civil war still existed on the largest island an alliance for
its invasion was formed between Kahekili, king of Oahu, Maui and
Molokai, and his brother Kaeo, king of Kauai. The allied forces
landed in Waipio, committing outrages on the inhabitants. Kamehameha
went by sea to meet them. His fleet of double canoes was reinforced
with the schooner Fair American, carrying several cannon in charge
of Young and Davis. The invaders were not without firearms, Kaeo
having with him “his favorite gunner, Murray.” (He also had taken
along several ferocious dogs.) There was a bloody naval battle off
Waimanu, the outcome of which was the retreat of Kahekili and Kaeo
to Maui with the remnant of their armada.
Keoua came to his end through treachery. This was just after
he had disdainfully spurned a proposal of treachery against enemies
who, whether suspected or not, had come under his roof with the pur-
pose of luring him to destruction. That Kamehameha won the pivotal
triumph of his career from the foul play here recorded is a fact that
must always be a black stain upon his name. Dr. Emerson, in intro-
ducing an account of this episode, gives somewhat doubting coun-
tenance to a theory that the first application of the edict called the
Kanawai Mamalahoa then took place, being at Kawiahae in 1792,
“after ten long years of warring between Kamehameha and Keoua.
During this decade the cause of Kamehameha has advanced, while that
of Keoua has remained stationary, or relatively declined. The blows
struck by Kamehameha had been successfully repelled by Keoua, but
there seems to be no prospect that either party will be able to estab-
lish a peace by offensive warfare. Matters remain at a deadlock.”
Two of Kamehameha’s principal advisers, Kamanawa and Keaweaheulu,
at this juncture went as his ambassadors to Keoua at Kahuku for the
72
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
purpose of inducing him to visit Kamehameha with a view to ending the
long war. When they had been announced, Keoua was urged by his chief
warrior to kill them. He indignantly refused thus to dishonor his
hospitality. They entered his presence with the usual prostrations and
general expressions of regard. Moved by their representations and in-
tercessions, Keoua decided to make the journey. Accordingly he em-
barked for Kawaihae in his double canoe, twenty-four men paddling it,
and carried along his most intimate friends. Keaweaheulu, in another
canoe, accompanied him. Keoua’s followers to the number of perhaps a
thousand, in a flotilla of canoes, brought up the rear of the maritime
procession. “ He is under the implied if not the explicit protection
of Kamehameha’s safe-conduct,” Dr. Emerson says, “ and his only
guarantee for his own safety and that of his people is the honor and
good faith of Kamehameha.”
When Keoua approached the landing place at Kawaihae, seeing
the army and fleet of Kamehameha, his mind filled with foreboding to
which he gave utterance in figurative words, thus : “ It looks stormy
ashore; the flight of the clouds is ominous of evil.” On approaching
the landing Keoua’s canoe was surrounded with armed men directed
by Keeaumoku. Standing upon the platform of his canoe the doomed
chief cried out to Kamehameha, “ Here am I,” and the king replied,
“ Rise up and come here that we may know each other.” Keoua was
in the act of leaping ashore when the treacherous spear of Keeaumoku
was thrust into his vitals and he died on the spot. Then the slaughter
was continued until every man of Keoua’s immediate escort with a
single exception, from the highest to the lowest, yielded his blood to
the brine. Tlie second and larger division of Keoua’s escort, coming
some distance behind, was under command of Kaoleioku, a natural son
of Kamehameha. These people would also have been massacred, but
Kamehameha’s veto was now interposed. Keliimaikai shouted, “ You
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
73
have killed my hanai [foster-child, or foster-parent], and I will kill
yours,” as he menaced the young leader. “ He shall not die; he is the
child of my youth,” was the royal mandate as Kamehameha raised his
thumb and ended the murderous work. Discussing the opinion presented
by other authorities that this was the inception of the edict against
murder. Dr. Emerson says : “ One cannot but remark that Kamehameha
did not embarrass himself by declaring the Mamalahoa decree until he
had first seen the blood of his inveterate enemy Keoua poured out be-
fore him.” Keoua’s corpse was baked as a final insult and then all of
the bodies were offered in sacrifice to the wargod. Kamehameha was
now overlord of the entire island through the vilest of means — a truth
the more to be deplored because nobody can doubt that he could
honorably, and perhaps at this latest stage even peaceably, have won
the prize.
Three and a half years elapsed between Kamehameha’s winning of
the mastery of his own island and his conquest of Oahu that left only
Kauai and Niihau to be conquered before the entire group came under
his sovereignty. In the meantime, again, a chain of circumstances in
his favor developed. Indeed, the fates did more for him than he him-
self wrought, and once more troubles that others made with the white
man inured to the Hawaiian man of destiny’s supreme benefit. To make
the narrative of this interval clear, it is well to recall the positions of
some of the actors in the drama. Kamehameha, after his Maui victory,
had returned to Hawaii. Kalanikupule, son of Kahekili, having es-
caped to Oahu after the Maui disaster, was left in charge of affairs there,
while his father returned to Maui. Kaeo, king of Kauai, seems to have
gone to Maui to assist his aged brother Kahekili in the government,
leaving Inamoo at home as regent. Kaiana and Keeaumoku were
restive and jealous under Kamehameha’s rule of Hawaii. Tlie especial
favor that Kaiana had received from white men, as already shown.
74
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
seemed to have been lost upon him. His craze for capturing trading
vessels, previously evinced in a plot to seize the Eleanor, was manifested
again in 1791 when his design to capture the sloop Princess Royal
under the Spanish flag was, as in the other case, thwarted by Kameha-
meha.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
75
ARRIVAL OF VANCOUVER.
Thus stood the principal dramatis personae of the Hawaiian Islands
when the great Vancouver, whose name is geographically as well as
historically identified with the western hemisphere, arrived. Captain
George Vancouver was commissioned by the British Government to re-
ceive the cession of the Nootka Sound region from Spain, also to make a
thorough survey of the northwest coast of North America. His ves-
sels were the Discovery and the armed tender Chatham, the latter com-
manded by Lieutenant Broughton. Appearing off Hawaii on the second
of March, 1792, the expedition skirted the Kona coast. Kamehameha
being on the other side of the island, Kaiana visited the ships. Van-
couver received him well, giving him a variety of useful plants and
seeds, but would sell the chiefs neither arms nor ammunition. Kaiana
showed his false nature by representing that he was Kamehameha’s peer
and that he ruled the three southern districts of Hawaii. Vancouver
visited Waikiki, Oahu, and Waimea, Kauai, at the former place learn-
ing that Kahekili and Kaeo, with most of their war followings, were at
Hana waiting to resist an expected invasion of Maui by Kamehameha.
At Waimea the explorer was visited by Inamoo and Kaumualii, the
twelve-year old son of Kaeo. The boy was attended by a guard of
thirty men armed with iron daggers, having also thirteen muskets packed
in three bundles and ammunition in calabashes. Vancouver was highly
pleased with the intelligence and good manners the young prince showed.
Two things greatly impressing him, also, were an evident decrease in
population since Captain Cook’s arrival and the eagerness of the natives
for firearms. >
76
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
On the 7th of May the same year the storeship Daedalus, detailed
for Vancouver’s service and commanded by Lieutenant Hergest, ar-
rived off Waimea, Oahu. A party went ashore for water and was at-
tacked by a band of outlaws. Lieutenant Hergest and the astronomer,
Mr. Gooch, having gone farther inland than the others, were killed and
their bodies not recovered, though the survivors of the party on escaping
to the boats fired upon the banditti. The Daedalus did not tarry, but
sailed at once for Nootka Sound. Vancouver returned on February 14,
1793, coming from Monterey, California. Anchoring at Kawaihae, he
presented Kamehameha with a pair of cattle, the first on these islands.
Seven days later the king, accompanied by John Young, visited the ships
and received many presents, Kamehameha being the recipient of a bril-
liant scarlet cloak. When the vessels anchored in Kealakekua Bay the
following day, Kamehameha made them a great state visit with eleven
double canoes. He presented Vancouver with four feather helmets, ninety
large hogs and a large assortment of fruit and vegetables, whereupon
Vancouver gave him five cows and three sheep. Kaiana and Keeaumoku
were filled with envy at such marked recognition of Kamehameha’s
pre-eminence. With 150 warriors Kamehameha, on March 4, gave a
sham battle, in which he showed off his own remarkable skill in spear
exercise, and Vancouver, at evening, responded with an exhibition of
fireworks.
Vancouver made known to Kamehameha an earnest desire to effect
a lasting peace between Hawaii and the other islands, and thinking that
he had fairly settled the conditions for such an eventuality he sailed for
Maui and anchored off Lahaina on March 12. Kamohomoho, the king’s
younger brother, and Kahekili himself successively visited him. He
told them his first object was to bring the murderers of Hergest and
Gooch to justice, and his second object to end the war. Maui, he re-
minded them, was still suffering from the results of Kamehameha’s lat-
tlifi HAWAIIAN islands
ft
est invasion, while the maintenance of a large army in Hana was drain-
ing the resources of both Maui and Oahu. His representations were
accepted as truth and Kahekili offered to send Kaeo in Vancouver’s ship
to negotiate peace with Kameliameha in presence of the mediator. Van-
couver had not time to enter upon this plan, but he wrote a letter to
John Young to infonn Kameliameha of the terms of peace to which
the Maui chiefs had consented. A chief sent with this letter, however,
never delivered it, as he was attacked and had to run for his life. Van-
couver, meanwhile, after presenting Kahekili with some goats and much
useful goods, and giving a pyrotechnical exhibition, sailed for Oahu
with Kamohomoho aboard his vessel. At Waikiki three men were pro-
duced on board under charge of murdering Lieutenant Hergest. On
the testimony of several witnesses they were found guilty and, being
placed in a double canoe, were shot by a chief. The executioner after-
ward confessed that the victims were innocent of the murder, although
guilty of tabu violations.
Voyaging on to Kauai, Vancouver met a fleet of canoes with a
number of prisoners, being insurgents who had failed in an uprising
against Inamoo. Foreigners had aided in suppressing the revolt. Van-
couver found that “ renegade wLite men ” were accused of inciting the
natives to piratical acts. The brig Hancock of Boston had been scuttled
from the outside, but was somehow saved from foundering. It was
also charged that these beacli-combers had urged Inamoo to declare his
independence, and even fired upon Kahekili’s messengers who went to
hold an investigation of the troubles. Kahekili himself visited the dis-
turbed island in October, taking passage with Captain Brown in the
ship Butterworth, but after arraigning Inamoo for his conduct left him
as governor of the island and guardian of the minor prince.
Vancouver visited the islands for the third time in 1794, arriving
off Hilo on Jaiuiai*)^ 9 from the American coast. Kamehameha was
78
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
then residing at Hilo and, though it was the festival of New Year’s,
he was induced to accompany Vancouver to Kealakekua. During a
stay of six weeks Vancouver and his party were treated with unstinted
hospitality. More cattle and sheep were landed for Kamehameha, and
on Vancouver’s advice a tabu for ten years was placed on the stock.
The ship’s carpenter, on February i, laid the keel of the first vessel, of
other than canoe model, ever built at the islands. She was named the
Britannia and her length was thirty-six feet Vancouver took occasion
to advise the king wisely with regard to intercourse with foreigners,
internal government affairs and military discipline. Moreover, he de-
clared to him the existence of one true God, the falseness of idol wor-
ship and the cruel wrongs of the tabu system. He promised to ask the
king of England to send him a teacher of the true religion. Vancouver,
while recommending Young and Davis to Kamehameha’s confidence,
offered to remove seven runaway seamen from the country. This would
have left but four white men on the islands. The chiefs declined the
proposal.
At a council of chiefs, held on board of the Discovery on February
21, it was decided to place Hawaii under the protection of Great Britain,
the chiefs reserving the right to regulate their internal affairs. Lieu-
tenant Paget hoisted the British flag on the 25th, taking possession of
Hawaii in the name of His Britannic Majesty. As a salute was fired
the natives shouted in their own tongue, “ We are men of Britain.”
Before sailing for Kauai, the following day, Vancouver promised the
chiefs that he would return with missionaries and artisans to assist them
in -attaining Christian civilization under British protection. The Home
Government never ratified the political cession, and, from the fact that
it was not done, it is to be inferred that Vancouver was unable to induce
any missionary society to undertake the evangelization of the “ Sand-
wich Islands,” as Captain Cook had named the group.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
79
While his ship was anchored off Waimea, Kauai, Vancouver was
visited by Inamoo and Kaumualii, and he left them some sHeep for
breeding. A dance by six hundred \\t)men, dressed in fancy kapas, was
given on shore for his entertainment. Vancouver sailed for England on
March 13, 1794. Internal troubles of the islands thickened the same
year toward the finish of the ages of civil strife.
80
tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
THE CLOSING WARS.
Kahekili died in July at Waikiki, being more than eighty years of
age, and his kingdom, soon falling asunder, dropped easily into the
grasp of Kamehameha. The way the closely related chiefs of all the
islands played false and villainous to one another forms a hideous pict-
ure of human nature unbridled, though one not without counterparts
a many in ancient and modern history and in countries boasting, at the
times of the events, hoary-aged civilizations.
Kalanikupule continued to rule over Oahu, and Kaeo over Maui and
the smaller islands adjacent thereto. In November Kaeo embarked for
Kauai to compose the continuing disorders there, taking such a large
force of chiefs and warriors as to leave Maui all but unprotected. De-
sirous of resting on Oahu he ventured to land at Waimanalo, but was
opposed by Kalanikupule’s warriors. There was some skirmishing until
his nephew arrived from Waikiki, with whom he reached an amicable
understanding. Resuming his canoes after a short stay, Kaeo called in
at Waialua and afterward landed at Waianae, the final resting place,
before crossing the channel to Kauai. But here he was apprised of a
plot among his troops to throw him overboard on the voyage. He
greeted this divulgence with the declamation: “ Better to die in battle;
many will be the companions in death.” At his orders the canoes were
hauled up high and dry and the army was paraded to march across
country against his nephew. All disaffection vanished before the ex-
hibition of courage and Kaeo’s troops were voluntarily reinforced by
the people of Waianae and Waialua. Kalanikupule had now only a
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 81
desperate chance of withstanding cruel disaster, but he was saved by
foreign allies, who dropped in, as it were, accidentally.
Captain Brown, in the schooner Jackal, had discovered Honolulu
harbor, naming it Fair Haven, and accompanied by Captain Gordon in
the sloop Prince Lee Boo, entered that port on November 21. Captain
Kendrick, in the sloop Lady Washington, followed him inside. Kalani-
kupule bought arms and ammunition for the coming struggle from Cap-
tain Brown. Kaeo, having won the preliminary skirmishes, was rapidly
advancing, when George Lamport, mate of the Jackal, and eight other
seamen enlisted to help Kalanikupule’s defense. One of the seamen was
killed and the rest driven to the canoes when, in the first battle at Puna-
hawela, Kalanikupule’s native warriors were routed. Kaeo continued
to win skirmishes and gradually to press forward, until Kalanikupule
prevailed over him in a fierce battle fought December 12 at Kalauao,
east of Pearl Harbor. Kaeo, fighting desperately to the last, fell amidst
a circle of his foes. Then a gruesome series of tragedies, beginning w'ith
casualty and ending with crime, succeeded. And, as on a former occa-
sion, the crime was the first link in a chain of circumstances which fur-
ther helped the man of destiny, again without involving himself in
bloodguiltiness.
When his men returned from the batttle the next day. Captain
Brown fired a salute in celebration of the victory. A wad from one of
the guns killed Captain Kendrick, who was sitting at dinner in the Lady
Washington’s cabin. After the funeral, whose ceremonies the natives
regarded as sorcery to encompass the death of Brown, the Lady Wash-
ington sailed for China. Kalanikupule paid Brown 400 hogs for his
services in the war, and most of the sailors were put at work on shore
butchering and salting down the pork. Captain Brown sent Mate Lam-
port, on January i, 1795, with a boat and four men to a salt pond at'
Moanalua for salt. In their absence Kamohomoho, with an armed force,
82
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
boarded the vessels. Captain Brown and Captain Gordon were killed
and all the sailors on board at the time made prisoners. Simultaneously,
a mob of natives wounded and overpowered the sailors on shore. Mate
Lamport and part>' were also assaulted and, after being savagely beaten,
brought captive to Honolulu.
Kalanikupule and his chiefs, having these two vessels with their
mimitions of war in possession, felt in position for an immediate inva-
sion of Hawaii. Mate Lamport and a gang of sailors were compelled,
under a guard, to prepare the vessels for the expedition. All the guns
and ammunition having been put on board, the king, on January ii,
embarked with a retinue of chiefs. The vessels were warped out of the
harbor and anchored off Waikiki. Contrary" to the advice of Kamoho-
moho, the king had disposed his soldiers in a canoe flotilla, setting the
vessels apart for the accommodation of himself and attendant chiefs.
Suddenly rising at midnight, on a prearranged signal, the sailors in both
vessels attacked the natives. After a brief struggle they had cleared the
decks and made the king and queen, with a few of their retainers, pris-
oners in the cabin. Then setting sail they stood to the southward till
daybreak, when, sending the royal couple and one ser\^nt ashore in a
canoe, they headed for Hawaii. Calling at that island for provisions
they landed three women remaining of the royal entourage, also gave
information to Kamehameha of all the Oahu happ«iings, and then sailed
for China.
Kamehameha, with the concurrence of his adHsers, now decided
the time ripe for completing his conquests. Forthwith he mobilized the
largest and best equiiq)ed army and fleet the islands had ever contained.
Tradition has it that he mustered 16,000 men. There were sixteen for-
eigners in his sendee. Peter Anderson joined Young and Davis to handle
the artillery. It was in February, 1795, that the invincible horde struck
in at Lahaina. That tovMi was destroyed and all West Maui speedily
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
83
subjugated. Koalaukane, commanding the defenders, did not abide a
collision, but fled to Oahu. At Kaimakakai, Molokai, the next point of
contact, the canoes lined foin* miles of the beach. Kaiana, not having
received an invitation to a council of war held at Kaunakakai, made up
his mind that his undoing had been decreed. The next destination of
the armada was Oahu, and during the voyage Kaiana and his brother,
Nahiolea, with their followers, deserted the line. They landed in Koo-
lau and, crossing the island, joined Kalanikupule.
Landing in Waialae Bay, Kamehameha devoted a few days to prep-
arations for the advance inland. Then he moved forward to attack
Kalanikupule’s forces, which had been strategically posted in Nuuanu
Valley. Kaiana was leading the Oahu forces when encoimtered at Laima
and Puiwa, and they offered a brave resistance until a cannon ball killed
Kaiana. Then they broke and were pursued relentlessly up the valley.
Some of the fugitives clambered up the steep sides of the mountains on
either side and so escaped, but a large host was driven over the predpice
at the head of the valley. (This place, known as the Nuuanu Pali, is
one of the greatest scenic attractions in the Hawaiian Islands.) For
months after the battle Kalanikupule wandered in the Koolau mountains,
being eventually captured in a cave near Waipio. He was oflfered in
sacrifice to the conqueror’s wargod at Moanalua. Koalaukane, his brother
and the Lahaina fugitive above-mentioned, escaped to Kauai. No gen-
eral massacres followed the conquest, but the people of Oahu were sub-
jected to severe privations and of^ression. According to the old-time
custom the friends of Kamehameha had all of the lands apportioned
among them, while his thousands of followers, unmerciful and unre-
strained, like a plague of locusts, devoured the substance of the con-
quered inhabitants.
It was about the end of April, 1795, that the battle of Nuuanu was
fought. After dividing the lands of Oahu, Kamehameha set his mind
84 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
on the conquest of Kauai and Niihau. In this project the fates would
seem to have been against him, for unforeseen disasters blocked all his
attempts. He never laid a conqueror’s hand on those two islands, yet
fifteen years after the conquest of Oahu they dropped like a ripe apple
into his lap. Meantime he fought his last war in putting down a rebel-
lion on the island of Hawaii.
Kamehameha’s initial step toward the subjugation of Kauai and Nii-
hau was the building of a forty-ton vessel to carry his four-pounder
guns, and on this he put his foreign mechanics to work. There arrived
in February, 1796, the British discovery ship Providence, commanded
by Captain Broughton. Kamehameha went on board in European clothes,
over which he wore a gorgeous feather cloak, and making handsome
presents to the commander begged him for arms and ammunition. Cap-
tain Broughton steadfastly refused to give him any, and ineffectually
urged him to abandon his purpose of invading Kauai. Having made
the first survey of Honolulu harbor the captain sailed for the northwest
coast, calling on the way outward at Kauai. Civil war existed there
between the respective followers of Kaumualii and Keawe. Kaumualii
was the young prince whose characteristics had pleased Vancouver, and
Keawe a grandson of Peleiohalani, whose fame as king of Oahu has
been mentioned. Captain Broughton vainly attempted to mediate for
peace, and again firmly declined urgent requests for munitions of war.
On this visit to the islands, he having been with Cook’s expedition,
Broughton observed that the population was diminishing. The extreme
misery of the Oahu people, resulting from Kamehameha’s down-treading
of them, he also remarked.
Without waiting for tlie completion of his battleship, Kamehameha,
in April, sailed with his army from Waianae. As a preliminary he had
dedicated a temple with human sacrifices. When the fleet was less than
quarter way across the channel it was driven back by a storm, with the
THE HAWAIIAN I.^^LANDS
85
loss of many canoes. Before starting on this ill-fated expedition, Kame-
hameha had caused all the hogs on Oahu to be destroyed, and, from
this action, together with tlie neglect of cultivation, a severe famine
ensued. To satiate their hunger people stole from the chiefs, for which
conduct most barbarous punishments were inflicted. Several were burned
alive as terrifying examples.
Namakeha, a brother of Kaiana, meanwhile headed a rebellion in
Kau against Kamehameha and was joined by the former warriors of
Keoua. He gained the upper hand, not only in that district but in Puna
and Hilo. A European was killed in one of the battles. Kamehameha
went to Hawaii with the bulk of his army in August, and meeting the
rebels at Kaipalaoa, Hilo, completely vanquished them. Namakeha was
captured after the rout and immolated at the temple of Piihonua.
In July preceding the last war of Kamehameha, Captain Broughton
returned from Nootka Sound. Calling at Kealakekua Bay for water
and supplies he observed a goodly increase of the cattle that Vancouver
had left. At Oahu Kamehameha boarded the vessel and requested Cap-
tain Broughton to carry him and his principal chiefs to Hawaii. It is
probably fortunate for him that the request had to be denied, as he would
doubtless have been in extreme jeopardy if landed on Hawaii without
a force at his back while a triumphant rebel host was abroad. Captain
Broughton, calling at Kauai, found that Keawe was apparently in con-
trol and had tabued the sale of supplies for anything but arms and ammu-
nition. But the usurper was afterward killed, whereby Kaumualii came
to his own. The last tragic affair that ever took place between foreign
visitors and natives at this time happened. Captain Broughton was buy-
ing yams at the island of Niihau and, on July 30, sent the cutter ashore
with two armed marines for the last boatload. Suddenly attacking the
party, the natives killed the two marines. A strong party went to the
assistance of the sailors, who had escaped to the boat in a close race, and
86
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
the murders were avenged by the burning of the village, the demoli-
tion of sixty canoes and the killing of four natives in the emeute. An-
other incident of the same year was the wreck of the snow Arthur, com-
manded by Captain Henry Barber, which called in October en voyage
from Bengal to the northwest coast, and, after taking in supplies at Wai-
kiki, sailed for Kauai. She went ashore at a point between Pearl Harbor
and Waianae, which took the name of Barber’s Point from the event,
and has for many years been marked with a lighthouse. Six men in one
boat were drowned, the rest of the crew escaping. Under the direction
of John Young the natives recovered much of the ship’s stores and cargo
of furs, and later the king recovered her cannon and kept it for him-
self.
Before renewing his project of gathering Kauai and Niihau into his
dominions, Kamehameha advanced a policy of consolidation to assure
the permanence of his sovereignty over the remaining and major part
of the group. Claiming all of the lands as his own by right of conquest,
he portioned them out to his followers under feudal tenure. In this
operation regard was had to rank and services rendered, and the condi-
tions were further military service and tithings of the land’s revenues.
Land was allotted in detached pieces to break up the old district chief-
tainships, while the chiefs whose characteristics denoted need of watch-
ing them were kept near the king’s person — wherever he stayed and
wherever he traveled. Then he maintained a large secret service, em-
ploying therein women as well as men, to give prompt warning of any
disaffection. Trusted men were made governors of the different islands,
as, for instance, John Young of Hawaii and Keeaumoku of Maui. Sub-
ject to his approval the governors appointed tax collectors and other
district officers. For his chief counselors he chose the four great Kona
chiefs, who had brought him forward as their leader and aided him
in all his wars, together with Kalanimoku, otherwise William Pitt, who
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
87
acted as premier and treasurer. Having laid such a foundation of na-
tional polity, Kamehameha set about promoting a revival of industry.
He also put in force rigorous measures for the prevention of crime.
The tabu system he maintained until the end of his life, using it along
with a strict code of court etiquette to buttress his authority. By accord-
ing hospitality and protection to foreigners he built up trade with the
outside world and obtained great benefit from the counsel of white men.
According to Alexander, he “ showed his superior sagacity and insight
into character by his selection of foreign advisers, and was never im-
posed upon by worthless adventurers.” Kamehameha had a plurality
of wives, his head queen being Keopuolani — descended from the highest
chiefs of Maui and Hawaii — but his favorite queen, Kaahumanu.
After putting down the rebellion on Hawaii, Kamehameha remained
there six years. Then he spent more than a year at Lahaina, living in
a two-story brick house that two foreigners built for him. While on
Hawaii he had constructed a fleet of wide and deep war canoes, also a
few decked vessels built by native carpenters under the supervision of
James Boyd. Liholiho, heir to the throne, was born of Keopuolani at
Hilo in 1797. There was an eruption from a crater on the western
slope of Mount Hualalai in 1801, which did much damage to villages
and lands below. Sacrifices were offered to the goddess Pele, hundreds
of hogs being cast into the burning lava flow, but the eruption was not
abated. Kamehameha ultimately threw a cluster of his own supposedly
sacred hair into the fiery stream and, as the flow ceased within a day
or two afterward, of course the effectiveness of the talisman was dem-
onstrated. The king went to Lahaina with his handsome new fleet.
His stay on Maui was occupied in collecting the taxes and in conse-
crating new temples, the latter with the ancient blood rites and the baby
heir taking a part. Kameeiomoku died at Lahaina, his son Hoapili suc-
ceeding him in the king’s council. The first horses ever seen in the
88
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
islands were brought by Captain Cleveland, voyaging from California
to China in 1803. On the 24th of May be landed a mare and foal at
Kawaihae for John Young, and two days later a horse and mare at
Lahaina as a present for the king. “ Their beauty and mettle,” Alex-
ander says, “ excited the wonder and admiration of the natives. In
spite of his advanced age, Kamehameha afterward became a good horse-
man.”
The same year Kamehameha, with his fleet and army, returned to
Oahu. He had then twenty small vessels of 20 to 40 tons, some of them
copper-bottomed. In 1804, he exchanged his schooner, with a sum of
money to boot, for a Mr. Shaler’s brig, Lelia Byrd, of 175 tons, which
had arrived from California leaking. The brig was repaired to sea-
worthy condition in Honolulu harbor by George McClay, the king’s
carpenter, and afterward made several voyages in the sandalwood trade
to China.
By far the most dreadful calamity of his whole career, indeed one
of the most appalling that ever visited the islands, in the year 1804
stopped Kamehameha from making an invasion of Kauai, just as he
had assembled an overwhelming force for that purpose with most elab-
orate preparations completed. A pestilence, that may have been the
cholera, breaking out among his troops, spread throughout the island.
Half of the population died. Kamehameha himself was smitten and,
though he recovered, all of his chief counselors except Kalanimoku per-
ished.
Kauai and Niihau arrived at their destiny of union with the rest
of the group peacefully in 1810, cruel invasion having finally been averted
by the wisdom and courage of Kaumualii, then for some years king.
Partly through the intelligent magnanimity of Kamehameha, the great
end was attained without Kaumualii’s abdicating or having to submit
to deposition. Kaumualii had grown up retaining and developing the
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
89
fine mental and physical qualities whicli, in his boyhood, had been the
admiration of Vancouver. By his subjects and by foreigners he was
universally beloved. He had reinforced his intelligence by acquiring the
ability to read and write the English language. Though he had a well-
armed body of warriors, he was fully aware that he could not cope with
Kamehameha’s hosts, and so he had white mechanics build him a schooner
in which, if the necessity arose, he might fly to some placid region of the
western seas. To avert such a necessity, however, he had recourse to
diplomacy. Compliments, conveyed in messages and accentuated with
gifts, had l^een exchanged between the two kings when, the way smoothed
by such means, Kaumualii sent his cousin, Kamahalolani, with presents
to Kamehameha and an offer to acknowledge him as his feudal superior.
Kamehameha, in reply, stipulated that Kaumualii should make the ces-
sion in person, at the same time pledging his honor to afford him safe
conduct and protection. Keoua’s fate under somewhat similar circum-
stances being in Kaumualii’s mind he hesitated, Ixit a well-known sandal-
wood trader named Captain Jonathan Windship, leaving his mate as a
hostage, prevailed on him to take passage in his ship for Honolulu.
Kamehameha met him in state aboard the vessel, when a friendly inter-
view was held in which Kaumualii offered the conqueror his islands.
Kamehameha, however, “ told him to continue to hold them in fief dur-
ing his lifetime, on condition that Liholiho should he his heir.” When
Kaumualii had thereupon landed he was hospitably entertained, though
Kamehameha was put to the honorable duty of refusing the advice of
some of the chiefs to have the distinguished guest assassinated. The
miscreants then plotted to poison Kaumualii at an appointed feast, but
being warned by Isaac Davis he went aboard the ship, without attending
the feast, and was carried back to Kauai. Mr. Davis, for thus preserv-
ing the king’s honor and his own integrity, was himself poisoned by
the vile satraps of the court.
90
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
END OF KAMEHAMEHA’s REIGN.
ITose were the years in which the sandalwood trade was at its
height, and in i8ii Kamehameha embarked for Hawaii in his schooner
Keoua, attended by a flotilla of smaller craft, to attend to his sandal-
wood business. Off Lanai the Keoua sprang a leak, when a native ship-
carpenter named Waipa jumped overboard and nailed canvas over the
leak, checking it sufficiently to allow the schooner to return to Honolulu.
The king ultimately reached Kealakekua Bay in Captain Windship’s
vessel, afterward sailing to Lahaina and Molokai on taxation business.
A cargo of sandalwood was sent to China by the king, Captain Wind-
ship taking it and returning a cargo of Chinese goods in exchange the
following year. Owing to the neglect of agriculture, caused by the
enforced labor of the people in cutting sandalwood, Hawaii was visited
by famine. Kamehameha not only set his retinue at work planting, but
with his own hands engaged in cultivating the soil, and Alexander says
“ the piece of ground which he tilled is still pointed out.” His practical
sagacity is also illustrated in the statements that he forbade the cutting
of young sandalwood and instructed his bird-catchers not to strangle
the birds from which they plucked the choice yellow feathers for royal
cloaks, but to set them free that other feathers might grow in their
place.
Prior to 1800 the art of distilling was introduced in Hawaii by
Botany Bay convicts, and from the root of the “ ti ” plant, flourishing
here, a spirit named okolehao was produced. Stills were constructed
of pots obtained from ships with a gun barrel for the worm. The busi-
ness extended rapidly, almost every chief having his still. Rum had
also begun to be imported, and intemperance became lamentably prev-
alent. Kamehameha himself came under the alcoholic sway, but John
Young convinced him of its evil and, by the exertion of his own will-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
91
power, he first restricted himself to a small portion of liquor daily, and
eventually abandoned its use teetotally. Near the close of his days he
assembled the leading men of Hawaii at Kailua, when he ordered all
of the stills to be destroyed and prohibited the manufacture of any kind
of liquor. (Okolehao, however, has ever since been a hunted thing by
the police of the islands. Under annexation the inland revenue officers
are vigilant in prosecuting the “ moonshiners,” though their craft under
United States law is legitimate, providing the prescribed tax is paid.
At one of the Paris exhibitions a sample of okolehao, which had been
seized by the Hawaiian authorities, was placed in the Government ex-
hibit as a joke, but it won a medal for purity.)
Russians from Alaska made some trouble in Kamehameha’s time
by efforts to gain a foothold in the islands. There was also a visit from
Spanish pirates. Kauikeaouli, the second son of Kamehameha by Keo-
puolani, was born at Keauhou, Hawaii, August ii, 1813. Kameha-
meha persisted in ship-owning enterprises. The ship Lark, belonging
to Astor, was stranded on the island of Kahoclawe, and Kamehameha
relieved the wants of the crew, but claimed the wreck for himself. In
October, 1816, he acquired the ship Albatross, 165 tons, from John
Ebbets for 400 piculs of sandalwood. Tlie brig Forester had been pur-
chased, for similar consideration in kind, from Captain Piggott and her
name changed to Kaahumanu. Through this purchase Kamehameha
had a feel of the seamy side of modern speculation. He sent the Kaa-
hunianu in March, 1817, under Captain Alexander Adams, to Canton
with sandalwood. She called at Kauai to haul down the Russian colors
and hoist Kamehameha’s, and returned from China in October. Owing
partly to the refusal of the Chinese authorities to recognize the Hawai-
ian flag, the king lost about three thousand dollars by the venture. Pre-
viously the Keoua had been taken to Macao by Captain Davis, but was
never brought back. The Bordeaux Packet, a i6oton brig, was another
92
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
purchase for sandalwood. It was on account of the Russian menace
(1809-1817) that John Young induced Kalanimoku in 1816 to erect the
fort in Honolulu which afterward was famous as the national prison.
This structure was between 300 and 400 feet square with walls twelve
feet high and twenty feet thick. Its material was coral rock from the
reef. There were embrasures for cannon in the walls. The Russians had
early built a fort on Kauai, whose remains are still visible, but assurance
was given the latter part of the period mentioned that the Russian Gov-
ernment did not approve the designs of the Governor of Alaska upon the
Hawaiian Islands.
It is strange that Kamehameha should have developed a remarkable
degree of political ability and a keen order of business enterprise, both
judged from a civilized viewpoint, in his contact with white men, of
whom not a few were above the average in character and mental caliber,
witliout at the same time ridding himself of even the crudest and cruel-
est of the bonds of heathen superstition. Nearly thirty years after he
had met civilized men for the first time, ten of his subjects were, by his
orders, seized for sacrifice on account of the illness of Queen Kepuolani,
three of whom were immolated at Diamond Head before the patient
took a turn for the better, which, to the heathen mind, implied that the
gods were appeased, and hence the bloody rites might be curtailed. Then,
two years later (1809), when his younger brother, Keliimaikai, died,
the king did not prevent the horrible orgies that the old heathenism pre-
scribed. Again, after nearly forty years of acquaintance with repre-
sentatives of civilization, in the year 1818, “ three men were sacrificed at
Kealakekua for petty violations of the tabu.” And the reader has ob-
served in what a matter of course manner Kamehameha became acces-
sory after the fact to utterly treacherous murders for putting out of the
way chiefs as high-born as himself, besides personally devoting to cold-
blooded slaughter and sacrifice antagonists as brave as himself, whom
1
King LiKoliKo (KameKamelia II.)
THE- HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
93
the issue of battle put in his power. It was only at the very end of his
days that the principle of the paramount sacredness of human life appears
to have found lodgment in his heart. “ Tlie men are sacred to the
king” (Lunalilo, the heir, being meant), is reported to have been the
answer he made to the priests when, in his last illness, they proposed
that a number of his fellow-beings should be sacrificed to obtain from
his patron deity an extension of his ebbing life. He is said to have
inquired, late in life, about the civilizing revolution at the Society Islands
and the nature of the Christian religion, but nobody was at hand able
to gratify his curiosity.
Kamehameha died at Kailua, Hawaii, May 8, 1819, aged 82 years.
Liholiho forthwith left for Kohala, the district of Kona being polluted,
according to the superstition. Although the customary period of license
was observed to a degree indescribable — all law suspended and all re-
straints removed — it would appear that the usual human sacrifice was
not offered. Having been deified, the bones of Kamehameha were re-
moved by Hoapili, who concealed them in a cave in North Kona, the
location of which has never been discovered.
THE TABU SYSTEM ABOLISHED.
Liholiho, or Kamehameha II, returned to Kailua in due time and
was installed as king on the second day after his arrival. He was not
to have undivided authority, for Kamehameha had appointed Kaahu-
manu as premier, or chief counselor, who should have equal governing
powers with the king. She had been the guardian of the prince and,
as already stated, the favorite queen. Liholiho, as heir apparent, had
evinced characteristics that convinced Kamehameha he could not be
entrusted to rule by himself, hence the extension of Kaahumanu’s guard-
ianship over him into a co-ordination of sovereignty. Kamehameha’s
will, besides making Liholiho king over all the islands, committed to
94
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Kekuaokalani, nephew of Kamehameha, the keeping of the war god
Kukailimoku. For a long time the leading chiefs and the high priest,
Hewahewa, had been without faith in the ancient gods, and the two
queens, Keopuolani and Kaahumanu, with the connivance of the highest
female chiefs, before Kamehameha’s death, secretly decided to abolish
the tabu system. It was proposed to Kaahumanu, by the six chiefs in
council on the morning of Kamehameha's death, that the tabu be re-
nounced forthwith, but she deferred action for a more opportime occa-
sion. There was much pomp at the installation of Liholiho, the king-
elect and all the chiefs being in full regalia. When Liholiho, with his
brilliant retinue, emerged from the temple he was met by Kaahumanu,
arrayed in like regal habiliments to himself, and she thereupon declared
the will of the departed sovereign constituting Liholiho king and her-
self premier with equal powers. In conclusion, she proposed that the
tabus be thenceforth disregarded. But the king was silent It was a
hard thing to ask of him. He had been sedulously nurtured in idolatry
and his father, upon his deathbed, had adjured him never to forsake the
gods. That very evening Keopuolani, the queen dowager of highest
blood rank, sent for the king's youngest brother, Kauikeaouli, to eat with
her. Flagrant a violation of tabu as this would be, Liholiho consented
to it The king himself kept the tabus inviolate, and later undertook
to consecrate temples at Kawaihae and Honokohau, but in both cases
so much drunkenness and disorder prevailed that the essential ingredient
of absolute silence could not be obtained — hence the ceremonies were,
under the traditions, vitiated.
At this time the French discovery ship Uranie, in command of Cap-
tain Freycinet, arrived at Kailua. After making some scientific observa-
tions on shore, having been hospitably entertained by Kuakini, alias
Governor Adams, he went to Kawaihae and spent several days in friendly
intercourse with the king and chiefs. There was apprehension of civil
TiiE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 95
war from the disaffection of Kekuaokalani (custodian of the wargod),
and at council held on August 14, 1819, Captain Freycinet declared that
France, and England were allies and ready to assist Liholiho in maintain-
ing his sovereignty. Kalanimoku, at his own request, was baptized
aboard ship by the Abbe De Quelen, chaplain of the Uranie. Captain
Freycinet, after a visit to Lahaina, proceeded to Honolulu. Boki, then
acting governor of Oahu, having been told of his elder brother Kalani-
moku’s baptism, asked that he also be baptized, which was done aboard
the Uranie. ,
Liholiho had in the meantime received a message from Kaahumanu
asking him to return to Kailua and abolish idolatry. In compliance he
sailed with his retainers in canoes, and during two days of carousing
afloat he repeatedly violated the tabu. At Kailua the king sat down to
a great feast prepared for the occasion before his arrival, openly regaling
himself in a large assembly of chiefs of both sexes. A multitude of the
common people gazed with awe upon such a conspicuous defiance of
the gods, expecting to see a fiery deluge, or something equally malefic,
descend upon the festive assemblage. As nothing happened but the
ebullitions of human good cheer, the onlookers shouted, “ The tabus are
at an end, and the gods are a lie.” It was the idols upon which the
lately feared deluge of fire descended. An iconoclastic frenzy at that
instant started at Kailua and sw’ept over the nation. The first to apply
the torch to the idols and their fanes was the high priest, and the purify-
ing flames went shooting upw'ard from every sacred hill and grove in
the islands. Kaumualii, the excellent ruler, was glad to receive the
message apprising him of the revolution, and Kauai joined the other
islands in a jubilation over the overthrow of superstition’s hoary sway.
“ But,” in the words of Alexander, “ the tabu system was too ancient
and deeply rooted to be given up without a struggle.”
A champion of the discarded system appeared in the person of Ke-
96
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
kuaokalani, who, resentful at Liholiho’s active apostacy, retired to Kaa-
waloa. Priests that would not follow the high priest in disavowing the
gods assembled about him, asking him to be king and uttering the an-
cient proverb : “ A religious chief shall possess a kingdom, but irre-
ligious chiefs shall always be poor.” Likewise many of the chiefs and
people offered their persons in defense of the ancient religion under
Kekuaokalani’s banner. In the district of Hamakua, over the mountain
from where he was, an armed rising of the rebel chief’s adherents killed
a chief named Kainapau. Kaahumanu, who meantime had been encour-
aging wild revels at Kailua over the emancipation, now realized danger.
It was decided on consultation to adopt a conciliatory policy. The Dow-
ager Keopuolani accompanied the chief Hoapili and the orator Naihe
on a mission to dissuade Kekuaokalani from hostility. The embassadors
were glad to get away alive from the meeting. Kekuaokalani was only
moved by their appeals to resolve on immediate action, hoping that he
might effect a surprise on Kailua and carry everything before him. Kaa-
humanu and her general, Kalanimoku, however, anticipated his scheme.
The same night on which the embassy returned from the rebel camp
guns and ammunition, of which the king had shortly before purchased
$11,000 worth from an American trader, were served out to the troops.
They marched forth next morning and met the rebels about four miles
north of Kaawaloa. Several men were dropped by the fire of a rebel
scouting party, causing the royalists to retire behind a stone wall. On
finding that it was but a small party, they left cover and, chasing the
scouts, were shortly in front of the main body of the enemy. In the
general battle that ensued Kekuaokalani’s troops were driven toward
the seashore, there coming under an enfilading fire from canoes. On
one of these a mounted gun was handled by a foreign gunner. Kekuao-
kalani died like a hero. His wife, in equally heroic sacrifice, became
reunited to him in death. Tliough wounded early in the battle Kekuao-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
97
kalani continued to fight and to rally his followers. Ellis, the historian,
thus describes the ending of the rebel chief and his devoted partner:
“ Unable to stand, from loss of blood, he sat on a fragment of lava and
twice loaded and fired his musket at the advancing foe. He now re-
ceived a ball in the left breast and, covering his face with his feather
cloak, expired in the midst of his men. His wife, Manono, during the
whole of the battle, had fought by his side with steady and dauntless
courage. A few moments after her husband’s death she called out for
quarter, but the words had hardly left her lips before she received a
bullet in her left temple, fell upon the lifeless body of her husband and
expired.”
Their leaders being no more, the rebels were quickly dispersed or
captured. Hoapili headed a detachment that easily suppressed the revolt
in Hamakua. Kuawa, the priest most instrumental in instigating Ke-
kuaokalani’s rebellion, was killed in popular tumult against idolatry which
now broke out afresh. With a few exceptions the remaining sanctuaries
and their contained stocks and stones ” were demolished. “ All public
worship and sacrifices ceased, ” Alexander says and, quoting the words of
Jarves, “ Hawaii presented to the world the strange spectacle of a nation
without a religion, ” adds : “ Still the ancient idolatry was cherished by
many in secret, and many of their superstitions, especially those relating
to sorcery and the cause of disease, were destined to survive for gener-
ations to come, and to blend with and color their conceptions of Chris-
tianity.”
98 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
LIHOLIHO’S INGLORIOUS REIGN.
At the moment “ the strange spectacle ” the historian mentions ap-
peared, a religion was being carried to the nation from the shores of
New England. An account of the American mission is reserved for
another place, its relation to Liholiho appearing to be slight, beyond the
fact that, on their arrival, the missionaries received permission from
him to stay one year — a term that, it would appear, became indefinitely
extended. The reader may have wondered, over the narration of the
exciting events attendant on the abolition of idolatry, what the king
was doing that he made no figure in affairs so momentous for his king-
dom. Perhaps the following estimate of the man by Alexander will
explain his nonentity on the occasions described, as well as discount any
surprise at the ignoble part he later played :
“ The conduct of Liholiho formed a striking contrast to that of his
fatlier. Discarding the old counselors of his father, he chose his favor-
ites out of tlie lowest class of whites, and spent most of his time in rev-
elry and debauchery. He spent much time in roving from place to place
with a numerous train of worthless retainers, who ravaged the land like
a swarm of locusts. The treasures accumulated by his father were
squandered, and he was soon involved in ruinous debts. (For example,
in 1820 he purchased from Captain Suter a beautiful yacht called Cleo-
patra’s Barge, built in Salem, Mass., for $90,000, to be paid in sandal-
wood. Her name was then changed to Haaheo o Hawaii — ‘ Pride of
Hawaii.’ The brig Thaddeus was also bought for $40,000.)”
To nothing but a degenerate hound can Liholiho be compared in
his treatment of the good king of Kauai. Keeping dark his design.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 99
Liholiho, on July 21, 1821, left Honolulu in an open sailboat, ostensibly
for Ewa, taking with him the chiefs Boki and Naihe, besides thirty at-
tendants, of whom two were women. Arriving off the mouth of Pearl
Harbor the king refused to enter, and, when the boat had rounded Bar-
ber’s Point, he ordered it steered for Kauai. Neither with provisions
nor in navigation requirements was the cockle-shell craft equipped for
such a voyage, while high seas and strong winds made the madness of
the thing commanded still more evident to the wiser heads of the com-
pany. In maudlin condition the king answered all remonstrances by
spreading out the fingers of one hand and saying : “ Here is your com-
pass; steer by this.” When the boat had twice been nigh capsized, with
waves breaking over it, he overruled the frantic pleadings to put back,
with a command to bail out the water and go on; also, the crazy boast
that, if the boat returned, he would swim to Kauai. After a night of
extreme peril on the waves the party arrived off Waimea at dawn. Kau-
mualii — acting differently to what most of his contemporary chiefs w'ould
have done — received Liholiho with hospitality and accorded him every
honor. Then, having sent his brig to Oahu with word of Liholiho’s
safety and to fetch his wives to Kauai, Kaumualii, on the second day,
before a gathering of chiefs, addressing Liholiho, offered to surrender
to him his kingdom, fort, vessels and guns. In profound silence the an-
swer was anxiously listened for, and at last it came, thus : “ I did not
come here to take away your island. Keep your country and take care
of it as before, and do what you please with your vessels.” The hypoc-
risy of Liholiho’s professions of friendship was soon exposed.
Several weeks having been spent by the two kings in a tour of the
island, Kaumualii, the day they returned, was invited on board the Cleo-
patra’s Barge. While he was making himself comfortable in the cabin,
secret orders were given to sail for Oahu. Thus he was actually borne
away captive by the man who had so recently disclaimed any design of
Lore.
100
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
harm to himself or his kingdom. Such dastardly acts as this are an
ironical commentary upon the severest things the Hawaiians could say
in later times about their treatment by foreigners who had come to rule
their country’s affairs. As “ man’s inhumanity to man makes countless
thousands mourn,” so true is it that the most cruel oppressors of the
Hawaiians — the most unconscionable violators of their private rights —
known in all their history were Hawaiians. After Kaumualii was taken
to Honolulu he had to marry the dowager and premier, Kaahumanu,
who also made matrimonial conquest of his son, Kealiiohonui. The im-
perious woman is heard of later as making tours of the group, with the
Kauai king the most prominent figure in her large escort, receiving, at
central points in her progress, vast offerings of products, destroying
idols and holding high revelry.
Liholiho would seem to have earned mention in his own reign only
by his utter abandonment of all semblance of dignity and decorum. An
annual feast was held in commemoration of his accession, which in 1823
was magnificent in barbaric display. Liholiho’s wives and his youngest
brother and sister were carried in procession on the last day of the fes-
tivities. Kamamalu, the head queen, was borne in a whaleboat supported
on the shoulders of seventy men. She was gorgeously robed in scarlet
silk, on her head a feather coronet, and the bearers in the outer ranks
were clad in scarlet and yellow feather cloaks and helmets. Upon oppo-
site quarters of the boat two high chiefs stood, each holding a scarlet
kahili on a thirty-foot staff. Hundreds of dancing and singing girls in
parties met the procession here and there, circling about the highest chiefs
as they chanted extravagantly worshipful lays in their honor. Alexan-
der, in a footnote, says : “ One of the queen dowagers wore seventy-
two yards of orange and scarlet kerseymere, which was wrapped around
her waist until her arms were sustained by it in a horizontal position,
and the remainder was formed into a train supported by her attendants,”
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
101
(Surely, this picture reveals one of those touches of nature which make
the whole world kin. Is it really more ridiculous, when the isolation of
Hawaii in that day is considered, than much of the dress parade of high
civilization which the modiste and the milliner create from bolts of
drapery and boxes of feathers?) While the queen was making this
grand progress the king and his suite, in drunken and almost naked state,
rode horses bareback, randomly from point to point, escorted by a mob
of fifty or sixty men running afoot.
King Liholiho died in London on July 14, 1824, Queen Kama-
malu’s death eight days previous having so depressed him that he could
not rally under an attack of the measles. This malady had overtaken
the Hawaiian royal pair and their entire retinue while on a visit to the
British metropolis. They had sailed from Honolulu in the English whale-
ship L’Aigle, commanded by Captain Starbuck, an American, on Novem-
ber 27, 1823. With the king and queen there were Boki, Liliha, his
wife, Kekuanaoa, Kapihe, Manuai and James Young. Though the king
and chiefs offered a handsome sum for the passage of Mr. Ellis, an Eng-
lish missionary lately from Tahiti, Captain Starbuck would not take
him. A Frenchman named Jean B. Rives, who had secured passage,
was employed as interpreter. Twenty-five thousand dollars in coin,
taken along by the king for expenses, was committed to the custody
of the captain. On the opening of the treasure chests at the Bank of
England tliey were found to contain only ten thousand dollars. Captain
Starbuck never rendered an account of the balance, beyond saying that
three thousand dollars had been expended at Rio de Janeiro and an addi-
tional sum between Portsmouth and London. At Rio de Janeiro the
vessel had called and the company been entertained with distinction by
Emperor Dom Pedro and the British consul-general. It transpired that
during the voyage the chiefs were encouraged to drink and gamble.
Captain Starbuck landed the notable visitors at Portsmouth without
102
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
making any provision for their comfort or even notifying the authorities,
but the government being apprised of their arrival by the vessel’s owners
appointed a guardian for them and thenceforth paid all their expenses.
They liad arrived at Portsmouth on May 22, 1824, and the disastrous vis-
itation of measles occurred about June 10, when Manuia, the steward,
was attacked. In the meantime they had been “feasted and flattered” by
the English aristocracy, and shown all the great sights of the modern
Babylon. After the death of the royal couple great kindness was mani-
fested toward the survivors. They were received at Windsor Castle by
George IV., who advised them to be guided by the counsels of the mis-
sionaries and promised his protection to their country.
Shortly prior to the death of Liholiho and his queen far from home
the destroyer had selected two more shining marks among Hawaiian
royalty. Keopuolani, the queen-mother and highest chief of blood rank,
died on September 16, 1823, at Lahaina, whither she had removed her
residence less than four months previously. Having embraced Chris-
tianity despite fierce opposition she induced three missionaries — two
American and one Tahitian — to accompany her, and she established a
mission station at Lahaina. In her last illness she was baptized, and
gave strict orders that all heathen practices at her death should be omit-
ted. In consequence, her “ funeral was conducted in a quiet and orderly
manner, with solemn religious rites,” in striking contrast to the anarchy
on similar occasions formerly. What such an event signified of change
in the national customs may be inferred from the fact that, notwithstand-
ing the dying mandate of the commanding personage, many of the
natives, when she died, fled for their lives to the mountains, as if they
could not believe it possible that a high chief should pass away without
the old superstition’s terrors supervening.
Kaumualii, king of Kauai, died on May 26, 1824, at Lahaina and
was buried beside Keopuolani. His death was made the occasion of
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
103
civil disorder and bloodshed. He had bequeathed his kingdom to Kaa-
humanu and BCalanimoku in trust for Liholiho. Upon the news of his
death the heathen party rose on Kauai and committed many outrages.
When Kahalaia, a nephew of Kalanimoku, was appointed governor a
conspiracy to depose him was formed. Kalanimoku, going to the island
to settle its affairs, convened a council at Waimea, at which he declared
the late king’s will and refused to accede to the demand of the disaffected
chiefs for a new division of lands. A combination of heathen chiefs
induced George Humehume to become their leader, promising to make
him king of Kauai and Niihau. They were repulsed in a fierce attack
on the Waimea fort, wiith a loss of ten men. Six of the garrison, in-
cluding two young Englishmen, were killed in the fight. Kalanimoku
the next day sent a schooner to Oahu and Maui for assistance, and by
his advice two American missionaries went to Honolulu in the vessel.
The news of the war caused great excitement at Honolulu and Lahaina,
and Hoapili sailed for Kauai with a thousand warriors from Oahu and
two companies from Maui. Landing at Waimea he had his forces ready
for battle on August i8, which was only ten days after the struggle for
the fort, and the hostile armies met two miles inland east of Hanapepe.
The insurgents were posted there with two field pieces, the speedy cap-
ture of which, with the loss of but one of the loyalists, decided the day.
Tlie rebels broke and ran, when forty or fifty of them were slain in a
merciless pursuit. George Humehume escaped, but after hiding some
weeks in the mountains was captured. Kalanimoku treated him kindly
and sent him to Oahu, where he lived in peace until his death two years
later. After the suppression of the rebellion Kaahumanu called a coun-
cil of high chiefs to settle the affairs of Kauai as conquered territory.
The malcontent chiefs were deported to other islands and their lands
divided among the loyalists. A famous warrior named Kaikioewa was
made governor.
104
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
AMERICAN MISSIONARIES ARRIVE.
Humehume, otherwise known as George Tamoree, had served in
the United States navy both in the war of 1812 with Great Britain and
in the war with Algiers. He was a son of King Kaumualii by a com-
mon woman and was sent to America in his childhood for an educa-
tion. After his naval service he spent some time in a foreign mis-
sion school at Cornwall, Conn., which was started in 1817 for the
instruction of young men from heathen lands. Humehume returned to
his native land as a fellow-passenger with the first Christian mission-
aries from New England, in the brig Thaddeus that sailed from Bos-
ton on October 23, 1819, and arrived off the Kohala coast. Island of
Hawaii, on March 31, 1820. This arrival is intimately related to suc-
ceeding events about to be related. The missionary party “consisted of
two clergymen and five laymen, with their wives, besides three Hawai-
ian youths from the Cornwall school, who were to act as assistants,
namely, Kanui, Hopu, and Honolii.” As to the origin of the mission,
Alexander says: “A strong interest in the Hawaiian people was awak-
ened by several Hawaiian youths who had been taken to the United
States as seamen, and especially by Opukahaia, commonly known as
Obookiah.”
When the Thaddeus came near the Kohala shore J. Hunnewell,
the first mate, went ashore to learn the state of the country and return-
ing to the vessel reported: “Liholiho is king. The tabus are abolished.
The idols are burned. The temples are destroyed. There has been
war, but now there is peace.” This was remarkably good news for the
missionaries. They were visited on board by Kalanimoku and two
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
105
female chiefs, who sailed with them to Kailua. There Captain Blan-
/
chard, master of the brig, went ashore with Messrs. Bingham and
Tliurston, taking Hopu as interpreter, and called on the king. The
missionaries explained their errand and asked permission to reside in
the country. John Young having used his influence on their behalf,
assuring the chiefs that the Americans taught the same religion as Van-
couver’s promised teachers should, a week later permission for them to
stay one year was granted. Some were to reside at Kailua, the rest at
Honolulu, but Kaumualii’s urgent request to have two of the party
stationed on Kauai was gratified. “The first pupils of the missionaries
were the chiefs and tlieir favorite attendants, and the wives and the chil-
dren of foreigners. At first their teaching was entirely in English, but
by degrees they devoted their time and energies more and more to the
task of mastering the Hawaiian language, and of reducing it to writ-
ing, until they made it their chief medium of instruction.” (Alexan-
der.) Printing was first done on January 7, 1822, an eight-page form
of a Hawaiian spelling-book being struck off. The king and some of
the chiefs took an interest in the process. After much mental labor
the missionaries had adopted an alphabet of twelve letters, giving the
vowels the Italian powers, for expressing the language. It was not
long after the press had been started before the king and chiefs had
learned to read and write. Following the settlement of affairs on
Kauai the leading chiefs increased their efforts for the suppression of
drunkenness and vice, also for the promotion of education. Within two
years two thousand persons were able to read and the chiefs, detail-
ing the brightest pupils in their retinues as teachers, ordered the' ten-
ants of their lands to attend school. Summoned by the blowing of
conch shells, the bulk of the population, all over the islands, assembled
for an hour or two of instruction every afternoon. Schools for chil-
dren began to be opened in 1832, which gradually superseded those
106
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
for adults. More than 23,000 people were readers in 1832, when a
census was taken which gave a population of 130,312. In 1837 a board-
ing school for boys, with manual training as an adjunct, was opened at
Hilo and one for girls at Wailuku. The Hilo institution survives today
in vigorous condition. A newspaper was started at Lahainaluna in Feb-
ruary, 1834, and another at Honolulu in October following. The mis-
sionaries about that time had a magazine, “The Spectator,” in Eng-
lish regularly published in English at Honolulu. “The Sandwich Island
Gazette,” started in 1836, was the first English newspaper published at
Honolulu.
Kauikeaouli, second son of Kamehameha by Keopuolani, began
to reign as Kamehameha III. in 1833 when he reached his majority
(twenty years of age by Hawaiian custom). In the meantime, follow-
ing the death of Liholiho (Kamehameha II.), Kaahumanu continued to
rule as regent with Kalanimoku as prime minister. This interim was
full of troubles that overlapped into the new reign, created by the
commanders of foreign ships as well as by domestic reactionaries.
Notable incidents that were the contrary of humiliating to humanity also
in the same period occurred.
The story of Princess Kapiolani’s defiance of Pele, the peculiarly
dreaded goddess of fire, rivals anything in the world’s annals of sub-
lime heroism. Kapiolani was the daughter of Keaweamauhili, the great
Hilo chief. Having abandoned notoriously evil ways, she became su-
preme among Hawaiian women for refinement of mind and manners.
Determining to bring the fear of Pele into contempt, she traveled
from Kealakekua to the Volcano of Kilauea, a distance of more than
a hundred miles, for the purpose of publicly defying the goddess. The
journey was mostly performed on foot and undertaken contrary to the
urgent remonstrances of the brave woman’s husband and friends. Yet
a company of eighty persons joined her in the expedition. At the verge
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
107
of the vast caldera Kapiolani was confronted by the priestess of Pele,
who warned her against going near the abyss, with a prediction that she
should surely die if she violated Pele’s tabus. “Who are you?” Kapio-
lani demanded, and the reply came, “One in whom the goddess dwells,”
the priestess then proceeding to read a pretended letter from the fiery
divinity. Kapiolani’s response to the fraudulent epistle was a reci-
tation of passages from the Bible magnifying the name and the power
of God, which silenced the priestess except for the confession that the
deity had forsaken her. Going forward to the brink of the caldera
Kapiolani spent the night in a hut built for her there. In the morn-
ing, attended by her numerous retinue, she made the descent of five
hundred feet to a ledge of congealed lava overlooking the burning pit.
Taking her stand there, she ate Pele’s consecrated berries and, throw-
ing stones into the lake of fire and brimstone, declaimed her defiance,
thus: “Jehovah is my God. He kindled these fires. I fear not Pele.
If I perish by her anger, then you may fear Pele; but if I trust in
Jehovah, and he preserve me when breaking her tabus, then you must
fear and serve him alone.” With a hymn and a prayer in worship of
the Creator the ceremony ended.
Kaahumanu also became a changed woman, so much so that the
people called her “the new Kaahumanu.” From the godless and revel-
ing iconoclast merely, as she has been seen in former pages, the year
1825 found her a zealous propagandist of Christian faith, hope and vir-
tue, with her energetic nature dedicated thenceforth to the education
and elevation of the people.
To make clear an account of the troubles of this time, some pre-
viously omitted information may here be presented. The pioneer band
of Christian missionaries from New England was not long without
reinforcement, the first aid being English from the south, and accidental
so to speak. Rev. W. Ellis and two converted chiefs from the Sod-
108
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ety Islands arrived in April, 1822, in the brig Mermaid whose master,
Captain Kent, was commissioned to present to Liholiho a schooner of
seventy tons called the Prince Regent, having six guns, built at Port
Jackson, New South Wales, in fulfilment of a promise by Vancouver
to Kamehameha I. They were going with Messrs. Tyerman and Ben-
nett to start a mission on the Marquesas Islands, but, being detained
in Honolulu four months while the Mermaid went to Fanning’s Island
for beche de mer, Mr. Ellis with his family and one of the Tahitians
were induced to stay in these islands, and Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, going
to Tahiti in the Mermaid, brought two Tahitian teachers back with
them in February, 1823, in the vessel Active, Captain Richard Charlton.
Owing to similarity between different Polynesian languages, Mr.
Ellis on his first visit had mastered the Hawaiian tongue. On April
27, 1823, the first reinforcement of the mission from America, con-
sisting of six missionaries and their wives, arrived in the vessel Thames,
Captain Clasby. Honolulu had then 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants and
four mercantile houses trading with the northwest coast of America,
the Spanish INIain and China. American whaleships were frequenting
the harbors. While the chiefs were now putting on civilized style in
clothing and house furnishing, the poverty and misery of the com-
mon people had increased. It is mentioned by Alexander that the first
Christian marriage in the islands was solemnized August ii, 1822, be-
tween Thomas Hopu and Delia, before a large assembly.
Captain Charlton, already mentioned, being appointed British con-
sul-general for the Society and Hawaiian groups, returned to Honolulu
in the Active on April 16, 1825. The British 45-gun frigate Blonde,
commanded by Lord Byron, a cousin of the poet, arrived off Lahaina
on May 24. 1825, with the bodies of the late king and queen, together
with their retinue. After a short stay at Lahaina, where some of the
home-coming party were received on shore with the wailings char-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
109
acteristic of mourning (as well as of welcoming friends) the Blonde
took some chiefs on board and proceeded to Honolulu, where the party
landed on the 6th. Lord Byron and his officers were accorded a state
reception at Kalanimoku’s house the following day, when the com-
mander made a gracious speech and distributed presents from the
British Government — “a gold watch to Kalanimoku, a silver teapot for
Kaahumanu and a rich suit of Windsor uniform, with hat and sword, for
the little prince Kauikeaouli.” — (Alexander.) The embryo king at
once donned his finery, strutting about in it.
There was a combination of European and Hawaiian ceremonies
at the obsequies of the late king and queen, whose bodies in triple cof-
fins covered with crimson velvet were with great state landed and de-
posited in a temporary mausoleum. The reader will note the radical
departure here from the ancient custom of preserving the bones of a
high chief for concealment in some cave by a surviving peer of the
departed. A national council of chiefs was held at Honolulu on June
6 — the sixteenth day after the double funeral — to decide on the suc-
cession and do other weighty business appurtenant thereto. Kauikea-
ouli, the young prince, was proclaimed king as Kamehameha III.
During his minority Kaahumanu was to continue her regency with
Kalanimoku for minister. Lord Byron, who attended the council, gave
utterance to his approval of the work of the American missionaries
and, among other helpful advice to the chiefs, directed them in draw-
ing up port regulations that forthwith were published. On sailing for
Hilo the next day the Blonde took Kaahumanu and her suite as pas-
sengers. Lord Byron, with his scientific staff, surveyed the crater of
Kilauea and the Bay of Hilo, the latter being in consequence thereafter
called Byron’s Bay. After another visit to Honolulu he erected a
monument to Captain Cook at Kealakekua Bay, from whence the
Blonde sailed for England. “Lord Byron,” Alexander says, “was a
110
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
worthy successor of Vancouver, and won the gratitude and respect of
both the natives and the better class of foreigners. If he had left here
a suitable representative of his government, imbued with his own hu-
mane and enlightened views, the subsequent history of the islands would
liave been very different.”
FOREIGNERS MAKE TROUBLE.
Having under tlie influence of the distinguished Englishman un-
dertaken to suppress vices destructive to their race, the chiefs were
at once confronted with malicious opposition to that policy from un-
principled foreigners. Violent manifestations of hostility to reform
broke out, both at Honolulu and Lahaina. “No God this side of Cape
Horn,” is said to have been the motto of the disturbing element, and
“a series of disgraceful outrages” to compel the repeal of the newly-
made laws against drunkenness and other vices ensued. “Mr. Charlton,
the British consul,” Alexander says, “put himself at the head of this
faction, and from that time on persistently labored to embarrass the
native government, and finally to overthrow its independence. He even
denied the right of the native chiefs to make laws or treaties without
the approval of the British Government.”
Several of the crew of the ship Daniel, Captain Buckle, two days
after that vessel’s arrival on October 3 at Lahaina from London, en-
tered the house of Rev. William Richards and threatened to kill him
and his wife if the restrictive law were not repealed. No violence other
than the audacious intrusion seems to have been done, but a larger party
with knives and pistols came ashore on the 7th, under a black flag, and
broke into the mission yard. They were driven away by the natives
and Hoapili had an armed guard kept on the premises from thence until
the Daniel sailed. A United States war vessel was the next vehicle of
outrage. This was the schooner Dolphin, commanded by Lieutenant
Ill
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
John Percival, which arrived January 23, 1826, from the Marshall Is-
lands and, after a trip to Lanai to save the cargo of the American ship
London wrecked there, returned to Honolulu on February 22. Lieu-
tenant Percival called on the queen regent and threatened violence if
the laws against vice were not forthwith repealed. He boasted that
his vessel, though small, was like fire. Five days later the men from
the Dolphin attacked the houses of Kalanimoku and Rev. Hiram Bing-
ham, doing some damage before the natives repulsed them. The mis-
sionary had a narrow escape with his life. That same evening Lieu-
tenant Percival, calling on the chiefs, succeeded by threats of violence
in inducing Governor Boki and Manuia, the fort captain, to permit
the violation of the law. The Dolphin stayed two months longer, her
crew behaving in a manner disgracing to the United States naval service.
A court of inquiry into Percival’s conduct at Charleston, Mass., about
two years later and lasting thirty-six days, found most of the charges
against him to be true.
Another outrage by sailors was committed at Lahaina in October,
1826, when the crews of several whaleships landed there with threats
to kill Mr. Richards and his family. These were absent at Kailua,
Hawaii, and a strong guard of natives saved the mission house when
the sailors went in a body to destroy it. Kekauonohi, acting as gov-
erness in Hoapili’s absence, had conducted all the native women into
hiding in the mountains. Foiled in their worst purposes the marauders
broke into and looted the houses of the natives, keeping up the vio-
lence for several days before the vessels left for Oahu.
A year later the third and last outrage at Lahaina took place. In
violation of the law some native women were on board the British
whaler John Palmer, whose master was an American named Clarke.
Governor Hoapili demanded that the women should be landed, but day
after day had his authority ridiculed by Captain Garke. At length the
112
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
captain was detained on shore, his boat being seized, but on his promis-
ing to return the women next morning was released. In the mean-
time the crew discharged five shots from a nine-pounder at the house
of Mr. Richards, but without doing mucli damage. Clarke, dishonor-
ing his word, sailed for Honolulu the following day with the women
still prisoners aboard his vessel. Captain Buckle, leader in the first
outrage, about this time returned to Honolulu. On hearing tliat his
infamous conduct two years previous had been published in the United
States, he with great fury started an agitation to take Mr. Richards’
life. In the meantime some of the native chiefs had gone wrong, so
that Boki and Manuia now joined Buckle’s following. Kaahumanu, in
view of the murderous threats, sent to Lahaina for Mr. Richards and
the chiefs. A council was held at Honolulu, when the charges pub-
lished by Mr. Richards were affirmed, and a decision to protect him at
any cost was reached. To carry out this resolve heavy guns were
mounted on the fort at Lahaina and the guard there was strengthened.
An important incident of the previous year, advancing the inde-
pendence of the Hawaiians and vindicating the character of the mis-
sionaries, was the mission of the United States sloop Peacock to the
islands. Shipowners of Nantucket had repeatedly memorialized the Pres-
ident of the United States, complaining of mutinies and desertions of
crews, and expressing a fear that the “Sandwich Islands,” as the name
ran then, “would become a nest of pirates and murderers.” Thomas
Ap Catesby Jones, commanding the Peacock, was therefore sent to
the islands to deal with the complaints of the shipowners, also to pro-
cure a satisfactory settlement of certain debts alleged as due to cer-
tain American citizens by the native government. Arriving in Octo-
ber, 1826, Captain Jones remained three months. His first service was
the deportation of about thirty runaway sailors. Then he investi-
gated the claims of American traders against the king and chiefs, those
THE HAWAliAN ISLANDS
113
which he passed amounting to about half a million dollars. Tliis was a
vast debt for the little country just emerged from barbarism with a
population then estimated at 140,000. Provision for payment was
shaped into a decree of December 27, requiring that, prior to September
I, 1827, every able-bodied male subject should deliver half a picul of
sandalwood or pay four Spanish dollars, and every woman of age de-
liver a mat twelve by six feet or pay one dollar — the whole of the tribute
to be applied to the payment of the American claims.
Mr. Charlton, the British consul, had his machinations signally
checked on the occasion of a general council of chiefs which the queen
regent convoked in December, 1826. He having declared before the
assembly that the Hawaiians were subjects of Great Britain and had
no right to make treaties. Captain Jones replied that the independence
of the islands was recognized in the consul’s own commission, and,
forthwith, the council assented to the terms of a commercial treaty with
the United States and the first one the country ever had with a foreign
nation. Mr. Charlton had a few days previously met with a setback
that ought to have given him caution. At a public meeting held in
Governor Boki’s house to consider a challenge for investigation of their
course which the missionaries, at a meeting in Kailua, had formulated
two months previously, the consul is found heading their accusers.
Captain Jones presided. When the case of the missionaries, in the
form of a circular letter, had been read, their opponents were asked
to prefer charges in writing and produce corroborative evidence thereof.
The challenged party refused to do so and the meeting adjourned with-
out day. Alexander quotes Captain Jones as afterward writing that
“not one jot or tittle, not one iota, derogatory to their characters as
men, or as ministers of the gospel of the strictest order, could be made
to appear against the missionaries by the united efforts of all who con-
spired against them,” : ^
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tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
It is related that the cause of reform lost a champion in the death
of Kalanimoku, the prime minister, which occurred at Kailua on Febru-
ary 8, 1827. His younger brother Boki, governor of Oahu, a year or
two after returning from England, along with his wife Liliha “relapsed
into intemperance, ran into debt and squandered much of the sandal-
wood which had been collected for extinguishing the debts of the late
king. He was led by designing foreigners to intrigue against the queen
regent, and to lead the young king into habits of dissipation.” (Alex-
ander.)
Persecution of the missionaries by haters of religion for its
restraints on self-indulgence has been told about. There is next to be
related the story of persecution in the name of religion — that of Roman
Catholic missionaries waged by the chiefs for several years to protect
the faith delivered to them by the Protestant missionaries. According
to the evidences, the Protestant missionaries were not only innocent of
instigating the harsh policy of repression, but opposed it throughout
So as to make the narrative connected, it is expedient here to sketch
some contemporary events apart. Thereby the characters and their posi-
tions in the drama will be imderstood better.
SOME NATIVE DISTURBERS.
Governor Boki of Oahu, pursuing the dissolute course whereon
he embarked after returning from England, set up a tavern in Hono-
lulu and leased for a distillery a building that Kalanimoku had erected
for a sugar-house, at the same time obtaining a lease of land in Manoa
valley to supply sugar-cane for the distillery. Kaahumanu canceled the
lease of land and had the ground cultivated in potatoes. With the pur-
pose of usurping the regency, Boki plotted against Kaahumanu, trying
to detach the young king from her. He was abetted in his schemes by
the American and British consuls.- The governor collected a force at
tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
115
Waikiki. He was dissuaded from his mad design of war by Kekuanaoa,
who bravely went alone into the rebel camp to present his remonstrances.
After the promulgation of the first printed laws against various
crimes in 1827, Charlton and others questioned the expediency of some
of them through a memorial. Kaahumanu’s reply was a proclamation
that tlie laws would be enforced equally upon foreigners and natives.
In October, 1829, the United States ship Vincennes, Captain Finch,
arrived, bringing presents to the king and the leading chiefs, also a let-
ter from the Secretary of the Navy congratulating them on their “rapid
progress in acquiring a knowledge of letters and of the true re-
ligion.” It also approved their course in punishing Americans guilty
of offenses. Captain Finch attended a conference, at which the chiefs
admitted debts of about $50,000 to different merchants and shipmasters.
They gave a note at nine months for payment in 4,700 piculs of san-
dalwood.
Boki went impetuously to a mysterious doom. He listened to an
adventurer from Australia, who offered to guide an expedition to an
island in the South Pacific where sandalwood abounded. Boki fitted out
the king’s brig Kamehameha for himself and the Becket for Manuia.
Three hundred men were taken in the Kamehameha and 179 in the
Becket to serve as wood-cutters. It happened that these large gangs
comprised nearly all of Boki’s followers in opposition to the regent’s
government. Sailing from Honolulu on December 2, 1829, the expe-
dition touched at the island of Rotuma in the South Seas. Tliere Boki
took on many natives of the island and sailed four days later. He was
never heard of again. The Becket stayed ten days longer and proceeded
to Erromanga, whose natives were found to be hostile. Sickness broke
out on board and among those dying was Manuia. On the way back
twenty of the sick were left at Rotuma. When the Becket reached
116
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Honolulu on August 3, 1830, she had on board but twenty survivors,
of whom eight were foreigners.
Kaahumanu, on a visit to Hawaii in 1829, had the bones of twenty-
four chiefs removed from a mausoleum at Honaunau and entombed
in coffins in a secret cave at Kaawaloa, at the same time having the
sacred house of sepulture demolished, as a preventive of supersti-
tious reaction. The following spring Kaahumanu, accompanied by the
young king and Hoapili, made a tour of the islands to windward of
Oahu. She left Liliha and Kinau in joint charge of affairs at Hono-
lulu for nine months. Liliha was not long in betraying the trust on
her part. After the return of the Becket she prepared for war. Buying
arms and ammunition, she also filled the fort with her armed partisans
from Waianae. Kinau got word to an assembly of chiefs at Lahaina
that Liliha was plotting to detach the king from the regent and over-
throw tlie government. Hoapili was sent to use his influence with his
daughter. Landing with neither force nor weapons, he induced Liliha
to surrender the fort. The infatuated woman and her captain, Paki,
went to Lahaina. Hoapili installed a new garrison in the fort and kept
things quiet until the return of the regent in March, 1831.
Kuakini, a brother of Kaahumanu, was appointed governor of
Oahu at a council on April i, 1831. Naihe, who was made governor of
Hawaii at the same council, died on December 29 following and Kua-
kini then returned to that island and resumed its governorship. After a
last visit to Kapiolani, from which she returned in frail condition,
Kaahumanu died in Manoa valley on June 5, 1832. Prior to her end
the great patroness of the Christian religion in Hawaii had the satis-
faction of receiving the first complete copy of the New Testament
printed in the Hawaiian language. Upon the roll of the world’s great-
est women the name of Kaahumanu, the Hawaiian chiefess, deserves
to be written high. What errors she may have committed were out of
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
117
a pure conscience, and she led her country onward and upward in
civilization, withal preserving its peace and unity, during one of its
luost precarious periods.
Kinau had been appointed by Kaahumanu;, in council of chiefs,
as her successor in the premiership with the title of Kaahumanu H.
She was recognized by the king in a joint declaration of theirs on July
5, 1832, yet her position, as will be seen, was not yet secure. Kinau was
a daughter of Kamehameha 1 . and Kalakua, therefore a half-sister of
the king. She was the wife of Kekuanaoa, a chief of eminent ability,
though not of highest rank. After the death of Kaahumanu, Liliha and
Charlton gained more control than ever of the king. They met their
match, however, in the new premier. His majesty wanted to buy a brig
offered to him for $12,000, but Kinau and the council refused assent
because it would add to the burdens of the people, already too heavy.
The king gave in, but he felt sore at the refusal of the toy. Among the
king’s boon companions — forming a gang known as Hulumanu (“bird
feathers”) — was a renegade teacher of Tahitian descent named Kaomi.
This character had so much influence over the nascent sovereign that
he was called “the engrafted king.” He actually usurped the author-
ity of Kinau, treated her with insolence and refused her permission to
enter the king’s presence. Kaomi gave out that all laws except those
against murder, theft and rioting, were abrogated. Under this rowdy’s
regime distilleries and drinking places were multiplied, and heathen
dances and revels were encouraged. The king’s foster father, Hoapili,
tried without success to reclaim the scapegrace so soon to assume full
sovereignty.
In the middle of March, 1833, Kauikeaouli announced to his chiefs
his intention “to take into his possession the lands for which his father
had toiled, the power of life and death and the undivided sovereignty.”
To this purpose he summoned a public meeting. It was suspected
118
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
that he would set aside Kinau and appoint either Liliha or Kaomi as
premier. Civil war might easily ensue. Kinau opportunely proved her
metal. “We cannot war with the word of God between us,” was the
speech with which she saluted her brother when she appeared in the
assembly. Kamehameha III. delivered his inaugural address, proclaim-
ing his accession to full sovereignty. Then he raised his hand to ap-
point the second in authority and solemnly confirmed Kinau as premier.
Notwithstanding the powerful influence of his action in restoring con-
fidence among the better elements of the kingdom, there was a reaction
that did not spend itself for a year. “During that period,” as Alex-
ander records, “schools were deserted, congregations thinned and in a
few places there was a partial revival of heathen practices.” Most of
the high chiefs, however, including the governors of the other islands,
maintained a firm stand for law and order, and to the year of trouble
an era of general improvement in conditions succeeded.
Kamehameha III. adopted as his heir Alexander Liholiho, Kinau’s
third son, born February 9, 1834. In March following the accession
Hoapili destroyed all of the distilleries on Oahu. Kaomi became ne-
glected and, after lying for some time in a hut at Lahaina, died aboard
a schooner in which he had sailed for Honolulu.
In 1834 the British man-of-war Challenger, Captain Seymour,
arrived at Honolulu to demand the execution of two Hawaiian sailors
who had murdered Captain Carter on the voyage of the vessel William
Little from California. They took the vessel to Fanning’s Island and
scuttled her there. The men were arrested and hung at the yardarm
of the king’s brig Niu. Captain Seymour thanked Kinau for her as-
sistance in this unpleasant business. In September, 1836, the U. S.
ships Peacock, Commodore Kennedy, and Enterprise, Captain Hollins,
arrived at Honolulu. Commodore Kennedy conferred with the chiefs
about land titles and the claims of traders, but the only result appears
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
119
to have been the acknowledgment of an old claim for $60,000 and an-
other for a small amount.
On February 2, 1837, the king married Kalama, the daughter of
Kapihe, a chief of low rank. The Government bought the bark Don
Quixote for the Hawaiian navy, armed her with 14 guns and renamed
her the Kai. Princess Harieta Nahienaena, the king’s sister, died at the
age of 21 years on December 30, 1836. She had been married the pre-
vious year to Leleiohoku, son of Kalanimoku. The king took her
remains to Lahaina the following April in the Kai, accompanied by an
escort of eight schooners, and the princess was buried alongside her
mother, Keopuolani. A funeral of unusual pomp had been held in
Honolulu two months previously.
PERSECUTION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS.
By the ship Comet from Bordeaux, arriving at Honolulu on July
7, 1827, there came to Honolulu two Roman Catholic priests named
Alexis Bachelot and Patrick Short. Another, M. Armand, had died on
the voyage. Some lay brothers arrived with the two priests. The ves-
sel had come by way of Valparaiso, Callao and Mazatlan, having started
on her voyage on November 26, 1826. Pope Leo XII. in September,
1825, had designated the Hawaiian Islands as a field of missionary work
for the ^‘Congregations of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary”
known as the Picpusian order from Picpus street, Paris, wherein the
directors of the society were established. In the Comet a cargo of
goods, bought on credit by Jean Rives, was shipped together with
church ornaments to the value of some thousands of dollars. Rives
sailed in the ship Le Heros to the western coast of America and died in
Mexico in 1833. Captain Plassard of the Comet could not sell his
cargo, but he landed his passengers at Honolulu without a permit. He
120
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
left them ashore when he sailed, disregarding an order served on him
to take them away.
Services were held by the priests a few days after arrival, and
early the following year a small chapel was opened. Governor Boki
and Consul Charlton showed some favor to the priests. Kaahumanu,
however, by an order required Boki in August, 1829, to publish a de-
cree forbidding the natives to attend Roman Catholic worship. On her
return from a trip to Kauai the following year, Kaahumanu observed
that the new religion was making progress. Therefore she ordered the
priests to stop propagating their faith among the natives. It was de-
creed that the natives must give up their crucifixes, the regent threat-
ening with punishment all who used them in their devotions. Louisa,
a native retainer, would have been banished to Kahoolawe for this
offense but for the intercession of Mr. Richards, a Protestant mission-
ary. Kinau, in the regent’s absence, punished several persons for
Catholicism by placing them at hard labor, the men in building a stone
wall and the women in braiding mats. Kaahumanu on returning con-
tinued the same policy, even putting some offenders in irons. An old
print in the Honolulu library shows a Catholic girl convert bound to a
tree.
On April 2, 1831, the high chiefs passed an order for the departure
of the priests within three months. Though this was twice repeated the
priests stayed on. Tlie Prussian ship Princess Louisa, arriving in July,
brought presents from the king of Prussia to Kamehameha III., but
the commander. Captain Wendt, refused to take the priests away unless
he were paid $5,000. Ultimately the chiefs fitted out the brig Waverley
for deportation of the priests, issuing a proclamation relative thereto on
December 7, 1831. Fathers Bachelot and Short sailed on the 24th,
landing at San Pedro, California, where they were gladly received by
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
121
r
the Franciscan fathers, whose prefect had previously asked them to come
to their assistance. The lay brothers remained at Honolulu.
Kaahumanu, when remonstrated with by Mr. Bingham, a Protest-
ant missionary, for making Catholic converts work on the stone wall,
argued that the Catholics used images in their worship and, since the
religious wars of six and ten years previous, such worship was sedi-
tion. It appears that the perseaition was confined to Honolulu. Sev-
eral of the missionaries remonstrated with the chiefs against the inflic-
tion of punishment on account of religious opinions. Kinau, on her
accession to the premiership, carried out the policy of her predecessor.
Commodore Downes and officers of the U. S. frigate Potomac, that ar-
rived from the East Indies on July 23, 1832, strongly represented to
the chiefs the injustice and folly of punishing men for their views of
religion. The remonstrance of the visitors caused the liberation of the
religious convicts working on the stone wall and for some years the
persecution was suspended.
Kamehameha HI., after attaining his majority, continued to assert
the right claimed for the king, by the chiefs, of refusing permis-
sion for entering the kingdom to any foreigner who might be obnoxious
to him. The chiefs denied any intention of interfering with the for-
eigners in their religion, but insisted on the right to forbid their propa-
gating of the Roman Catholic faith. In 1835 the Pope sent a brief to
the two Hawaiian-banished priests in California to persevere in their
demand for the right to establish a mission in the Hawaiian Islands.
On September 30 Rev. Robert Walsh, an Irish priest educated in Paris,
arrived at Honolulu in the vessel Garafilia from Valparaiso. He was
ordered to leave. The British consul gained permission for him to
remain until the arrival of the British sloop-of-war Acteon, commanded
by Lord Edward Russell. On October 8 the French corvette Bonite,
Le Vaillant commander, arrived from Guayaquil. Le Vaillant secured
122
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
permission for Father Walsh to remain in the islands on condition
that he would not propagate his religion among the natives. Lord
Russell, arriving on October 23, negotiated an agreement, which was
signed on November 16, giving British subjects the right to land, reside
and build houses in the islands, with the king’s consent.
Fathers Bachelot and Short returned to the islands on April 17,
1837, coming in the ship Clementine, owned by Jules Dudoit of Hono-
lulu and flying the British flag. The king and Kinau were absent.
Governor Kekuanaoa ordered the captain and the owner of the vessel
to receive the priests on board again, which both of them refused to do.
On the 19th the governor delivered an order to the priests to return
to California in the vessel that brought them. This action was approved
by the king and the premier when it was reported to them. The order
was carried into effect on May 20, the priests being put aboard ship
without violence. Dudoit ordered the crew ashore and, hauling down
the British ensign, carried it to the consul and burned it upon the
street. Then he made a protest before the consul, declaring the Clemen-
tine as having been seized by the Hawaiian Government and claim-
ing damages of $50,000. A claim was also made by the American con-
sul for W. French, who had chartered the vessel on May 10 for another
voyage. Kinau had provisions sent aboard for the marooned priests.
There had arrived on May 7 the British sloop-of-war Sulphur, Captain
Edward Belcher, from San Bias, and on the loth the French frigate
Venus, Captain Du Petit Thouars, from Callao. There was a con-
ference of the two commanders, the American and British consuls and
others with Kinau. It was a warm one. Captain Belcher so far disre-
garded the “conduct becoming an officer and a gentleman” as to shake
his fist in the distinguished lady’s face, Charlton skipped about in high
dudgeon and, returning from a run outside, said that the harbor was
under blockade. All vessels except the Clementine were forbidden to
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
123
leave. If Kinau’s vessel ventured to sail it would be fired upon. Should
she desire to write a message to the king a messenger would go in the
British vessel with her letter. Kinau bravely took the course of duty
and her vessel sailed without interference. Marines from the Sulphur
landed the priests from the Clementine and they were escorted to their
former residences by the British and French commanders. The British
flag was hoisted on the Clementine and she was sent to Lahaina for the
king, who, however, returned in his own war vessel Kai accompanied by
a flotilla of schooners. A long audience was given by the king to the
two commanders the next day. Both of them admitted his right under
the law of nations to exclude foreigners objectionable to him, but nev-
ertheless condemned his intolerant course. At this conference Mr.
Bingham was insulted and threatened by an officer, and was protected
from physical violence by the chiefs. Captain Thouars signed a pledge
that Father Bachelot would take the first chance to go to Lima, Val-
paraiso or some other port of the civilized world and that in the mean-
time he should not preach. Captain Belcher made a similar undertak-
ing for Father Short. The king on his part engaged that the two priests
might reside unmolestedly at Honolulu until such opportunities for
their departure should occur. At another conference Captain Thouars
arranged a convention granting to the French equal advantages with
the subjects of the most favored nation. The vessels sailed on the 24th
without saluting the fort.
The British frigate Imogene, Captain Bruce, arrived on Septem-
ber 24, 1837, and stayed until October 12. Captain Bruce had four
friendly conferences with the king, at which he recommended tolera-
tion but recognized the king’s rights as an independent sovereign. He
was thanked in a letter by the chiefs for his courtesy and advice. Cap-
tain Bruce took a petition from them to the British Government for the
removal of Charlton. He offered Fathers Bachelot and Short a free
124
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
passage away. Father Short sailed in the ship Peru on October 30.
A fresh complication arrived with the ship Europa, Captain Shaw,
on November 2. ITiis vessel brought the pro-vicar apostolic, Rev. L.
D. Maigret, and J. C. Murphy (Brother Columban), a catechist. They
liad given the owner a bond that they would not land in the islands
without a permit. On their arrival Kinau had Captain Shaw bound
in $10,000 not to allow the unpermitted landing of the priests. Three
Chilian refugees were allowed to land. In correspondence Monsignor
Maigret stated that his purpose was to go to the Marquesas Islands.
The Government refused him permission to land without a bond from
Mr. Dudoit conditioned on his departure within a definite time. Mr.
Murphy was allowed to land on a certificate of the British consul that he
was not a priest. He afterward left for Tahiti. Monsignor Maigret
bought the vessel Honolulu for $3,000 and on November 23 sailed for
Micronesia. Father Bachelot went with him and died at sea on Decem-
ber 4 and was buried on the island of Bonabe. Monsignor Maigret re-
mained for a brief period on that island, departing thence for the Gam-
bier Islands.
On the 1 8th of December, 1837, the king and chiefs promulgated
a drastic ordinance which prohibited the teaching of the Catholic re-
ligion, or the landing of any teacher thereof except in case of necessity.
From the latter part of 1835 for 'three years the persecution of the
Catholics was severe. Not only was the penalty of hard labor inflicted,
but such debasing servitude as the scavenging work at the fort — the
common prison and penitentiary of the time — was imposed upon the
victims. Remonstrances by foreign visitors and Protestant mission-
aries were equally ineffective to change the policy. The simple fact
was that the appearance within a short period of seemingly two kinds of
worship of one God was to the simple rulers of Hawaii most bewilder-
ing and distracting. Kinau, replying to a letter from Captain Eliot of
THE HAWAliAN ISLANDS
125
the British sloop-of-war Sly on the subject, asked : “What shall we
do ? Shall we return to idolatry and the shedding of blood ?”
“At last better counsels prevailed,” Alexander writes, “and mainly
through the influence of Mr. Richards, the king was induced to issue
an edict of toleration, June 17, 1839, which ordered that all who were
then in confinement should be released, and that no more punishment
should be inflicted on account of religion. The following week two
women were found to be confined in the fort in irons, but were prompt-
ly released by order of Kekuanaoa, as soon as he was informed of it.
This seems to have been the last case of religious persecution in the
islands.”
FRENCH AGGRESSIONS.
The consequences to the native government were, however, for a
long time deplorable. On July 9, 1839, the French 6c>-gun frigate Arte-
mise. Captain Laplace, arrived. Instructions had been received at Syd-
ney to proceed to Honolulu from Tahiti.
Fmnce at the time was actively pursuing an extensive colonial
policy. Captain Laplace abruptly on arrival, without taking the trouble
to investigate the situation at Honolulu, issued a manifesto.
The king of France, the document set forth, had commanded him
to come to Honolulu and stop the ill-treatment of the French people at
the Sandwich Islands. Having instructions to use either force or per-
suasion, he chose the latter as more in harmony with the magnanimous
policy of France toward the helpless. If the chiefs had not been “mis-
led by perfidious counselors,” they would have known that there was
not in the world a power able to prevent France from punishing her
enemies. To tarnish the Catholic religion with the name of idolatry,
and under that pretext to expel the French from the group, was to in-
sult France and her sovereign. There was no civilized country that did
126
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
not permit in its territory the free exercise of all religions. Conse-
quently he demanded :
I. That the Catholic worship be declared free throughout the
islands. 2. That a site for a Catholic church at Honolulu be granted.
3. That all Catholics imprisoned for their religion be immediately lib-
erated. 4. That the king deposit with the captain of the Artemise
twenty thousand dollars as a guarantee of his future conduct toward
France, the money to be restored when satisfactory assurance was given
that an accompanying treaty would be faithfully observed.
If the treaty were rejected, war should immediately ensue. In
such dire event the king and chiefs would have to bear the responsibil-
ity for all the calamitous results, as well as pay the damages that for-
eigners injured thereby would have a right to reclaim.
Dispatches to the king, absent at Lahaina, were sent requesting his
presence. Meantime the king’s secretary, Haalilio, was detained aboard
the frigate as a hostage, and Honolulu harbor declared to be in a state
of blockade. In notifying the American and British consuls of his in-
tention to begin hostilities at noon of the 12th — or three days after his
arrival — Captain Laplace offered protection on board the Artemise to
any of their countrymen desiring it, but made an exception of the Amer-
ican Protestant missionaries as persons directing the counsels of the
king and “ the true authors of the insults to France.” These would be
treated as part of the native population and have to suffer the conse-
quences of the war that they had provoked.
In reply to an inquiry of the missionaries whether the United
l
States Government would protect their lives and properties, the Amer-
ican consul guaranteed them an asylum under the flag within the in-
closure of the consulate. A postponement of hostilities was granted to
the premier, Kekauluohi, until the following Monday to give the king
time to arrive. As he had not returned on Saturday afternoon, Kekua-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLAND^
127
naoa delivered to Captain Laplace on board the frigate before night the
treaty and the cash guarantee demanded. The treaty was executed on
behalf of the king by the governor and the premier, while the $20,000
had partly been borrowed from some of the foreign merchants. Sun-,
day morning at nine o’clock the king arrived, soon after which Cap-
tain Laplace, escorted by 150 men with fixed bayonets, together with
a band of music, paraded to a building owned by the king, where Rev.
R. Walsh celebrated a military mass.
Evidently compliance with his demands came easier than he ex-
pected, for Captain Laplace on the i6th had another ultimatum to offer.
At 5 p. m. of that day he presented to the king an additional convention,
demanding that it be signed without any amendment by breakfast time
next morning. Time to consult with his chiefs, requested by the king,
was peremptorily denied. The instrument was signed. Among its
stipulations was one that no Frenchman should be tried for any crime
except by a jury of foreigners nominated by the French consul. An-
other was that French merchandise, especially wine or brandy, should
not be prohibited, nor pay a higher duty than five per cent, ad valorem.
On the 20th the Artemise departed.
Notwithstanding the policy of religious toleration for some years
the French consul continued to worry the government. At the time
the Catholic mission was making notable progress. In May, 1840, M.
Etienne Rouchouse, Bishop of Nilopolis and vicar apostolic, together
with Rev. L. D. Maigret and two other priests, arrived in the Clemen-
tine from Valparaiso. The following July witnessed the starting of
the erection of a cathedral. Returning to France the next year, the
bishop sailed thence in the ship Joseph and Mary, with seven priests,
seven catechists, nine lay brothers and ten nuns. As cargo the vessel
carried goods for the mission and a goodly stock of silver crosses,
chalices and church ornaments. Sadly enough, the ship foundered off
128
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Cape Horn and all on board perished. M. Maigret was appointed suc-
cessor of the ill-fated prelate, with the titles of Bishop of Arathia and
Vicar Apostolic of Eastern Polynesia. Carpings at the school and the
marriage laws of the country, together with objections to the restrictions
on the spirit traffic, mainly constituted the disturbing course of the
French consul. Such a terror of France prevailed that the liquor li-
cense law was not enforced for some years. To the support of the con-
sul’s machinations came Captain Mallet in the corvette Embuscade on
August 24, 1842, the surly nature of the visit being manifested by the
omission of the usual salutes on the arrival of the vessel. Captain Mal-
let told Governor Kekuanaoa that France had taken the Marquesas
Islands in July and that his government had sent him to Honolulu to
investigate complaints of violation of the Laplace convention. Writing
to the king, he complained of insults and unjust measures to which he
said French citizens and Catholic clergymen had been subjected, but of
which he insinuated that the king had not been informed by his coun-
selors. Eight demands were made in the letter, mostly pertaining to edu-
cational affairs, such as requiring that Catholic schools should be exclu-
sively supervised by agents of that faith, nominated by its priests and ap-
proved by the king, and that land should be granted for a Catholic high
school. It was also intimated that the license law violated the Laplace
convention in restricting the sale of French liquors. A courteous reply
in dignified terms was returned by the king. His Majesty refused to
concede invidious sectarian favors in the administration of the school
laws. If there had been abuses the courts of law were open for redress.
Only the retailing of liquor was affected by the license law and licenses
could be obtained from the proper officers without discrimination against
any nationality. Finally, the king wrote, an embassy had been sent to
France to negotiate a new treaty. Answering the king’s letter Cap-
129
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
tain Mallet said he would deliver it to Admiral Du Petit Thouars, from
whom a visit might be expected the ensuing spring.
To preserve continuity of the story of French annoyance, it is neces-
sary here to defer the account of troubles with Great Britain, including
a temporary cession of the islands to that nation. It must be mentioned,
however, that this episode led to a joint recognition by Great Britain and
France, following like action by the United States, of the independence
of the Hawaiian Islands. Tliis was in 1843. From thence until 1848
“ scarcely a complaint was made,” according to Alexander, who quotes
the Bishop of Arathia as saying on behalf of his countrymen : “ We es-
teem ourselves happy as living under a government that so well under-
stands the liberty of conscience.” Such a pleasant state of affairs is at-
tributed by the same authority largely “ to the ability, tact and courtesy
shown by the French consul, M. Dudoit.”
Rear Admiral Hamelin, arriving March 22, 1846, in the French
frigate Virginie, made restitution of the $20,000 exacted from the gov-
ernment by Laplace nearly seven years previously. With him came
Em. Perrin, as special commissioner of the king of France, bringing
treaties to replace all former conventions with Hawaii by Great Britain
and France, these nations having agreed upon the forms of the instru-
ments to make them identical in terms for both of them. As they had to
be taken as they stood, the king signed them on March 26. He, how-
ever, sent to both governments a remonstrance against two of the
articles — one stipulating that no British or French subject should be
tried for any offense other than by a jury his nation’s consul should nom-
inate, and the other making five per cent, the maximum duty that should
be charged upon imports of merchandise other than wines and liquors —
these to be liable to “ any reasonable duty ” short of being prohibitive.
After two years of trouble with the American and British consuls,
• an account of which will be given further on, fresh complications with
130
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
France arose. Patrick Dillon arrived on February i, 1848, in the French
corvette Sarcelle, as consul of France commissioned to exchange rati-
fications of the treaty of 1846. A fortnight after coming he presented
Kamehameha III. with a full-length portrait of King Louis Philippe,
delivering the gift with state ceremony and friendliest assurances. Soon,
however, Mr. Dillon quarreled both with his predecessor and the sec-
retary of state (Mr. Wyllie), reviving old and creating new grievances.
Especially was he fierce about the high duty on brandy and the invidi-
ous preference, as he deemed it, shown for the English language. In
April, 1849, Dillon’s grievances were referred directly to the French
government, his recall at the same time being requested. On his part
the consul wrote to the French admiral for armed support of his de-
mands. Accordingly, on August 12 and 13 respectively, there arrived
the French frigate Poursuivante, Admiral de Tromelin, and the corvette
Gassendi. Ten days after his arrival the admiral sent the king ten per-
emptory demands, of Dillon’s authorship. The demands covered the
old religious grievances, together with some new ones. They required a
reduction of the brandy duty to 50 per cent, ad valorem, also the remis-
sion of custom house fees paid by French whalers and certain penalties
imposed upon French vessels. The use by the government of the French
language in business intercourse with subjects of France was another
requirement. As the last demand, indemnity was asked for a French
hotel-keeper whose place had been damaged by sailors from a British
man-of-war. Three days were allowed for a reply, with a threat of
violence if the demands were not granted. Before the limit had expired
an answer by the government was returned. Firmly, though courteously,
the grievances were shown to have no foundation. The treaty had been
faithfully observed. Under the brandy tariff imports of the French ar-
ticle had greatly increased. Rigorous equality in matters of religion was
observed by the government. Public schools maintained from govern-
tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
13i
ment revenues could be placed under the direction of neither the Protest-
ant nor the Catholic mission — this in reply to a demand for Catholic con-
trol and inspection of schools of that faith. A penalty upon the ship
General Teste for violating the harbor laws had already been reduced
from v$50O to $25. As to the last three demands — for the punishment of
boys whose misconduct in church had disturbed worship, for the
removal of the governor of Hawaii for permitting an arrest in a priest’s
house and for indemnifying the hotel-keeper already mentioned — the
admiral was referred to the open courts of the kingdom, with the inti-
mation that only when justice had been there denied could diplomatic
interference be justified. An offer was made, moreover, to refer dis-
putes to the mediation of a neutral power. Finally, the admiral was told
that no resistance to his force would be offered, but that the persons and
property of French residents would be protected.
In the afternoon of the day the answer was given, Admiral Tromelin
landed a force equipped with field pieces and scaling ladders. The
Frenchmen encountered no opposition, marching into a deserted fort.
They never hauled down the Hawaiian flag which was flying over it.
Besides the fort the government buildings, seven merchant vessels and
the king’s yacht were seized. For ten days the occupation continued.
Inter-island shipping was embargoed. Vessels arriving were anchored
under the Gassendi’s guns. None were allowed to depart. At the in-
stance of the admiral, on the fourth day of the occupation, a conference
was held on board the Gassendi between himself and Dillon on the one
side and two commissioners (Judd and Lee) representing the king on the
other side, but no agreement was reached. While the conference sat the
naval force was smashing things. Within the fort the guns were put out
of possible service, while the magazine’s contents of powder were cast
into the sea. In the governor’s house the furniture, utensils and
ornaments were mingled in a common wreck.
132
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Admiral Tromelin on August 30, by formal proclamation, declared
that the fort had been dismantled and the royal yaclit confiscated, by way
of reprisals, but that restitution would be made of private property de-
stroyed. He further proclaimed the treaty of 1846 to be replaced by
the Laplace convention of 1839. A protest against his proceedings was
made by the American and British consuls, and his annulment of the
treaty was disavowed by his own government. The captured royal
yacht, named after the king, was dispatched for Tahiti on September 4.
Next day the invading warships sailed, the Gassendi for home by way of
Valparaiso and the Poursuivante for San Erancisco. Dillon with his
family left in the admiral’s vessel. He was afterward made consul-
general of France in San Francisco, but meantime he had gone to Paris.
There he was able to defeat the efforts of Dr. Judd to negotiate a new
treaty.
In the latter part of 1850 M. Perrin arrived at Honolulu in the
corvette Serieuse, coming again as commissioner of France. Resuming
the former tactics of annoying the government, he presented after a
month the same ten demands that Admiral Tromelin had failed to en-
force. Payment in the meantime of the last claim — that of the hotel-
keeper — was curiously ignored. When a month had been wasted in dis-
cussion of the demands, the king and privy council adopted a proclama-
tion whereby the Hawaiian Islands were placed under the protection of
the United States, until their relations with France should be placed
“upon a footing compatible with the king’s rights as an independent
sovereign, and with his treaty engagements with other nations,” or, if
this end should prove impracticable, the protectorate would be a per-
petual one. This proclamation was signed by the king and premier on
March 10, 1851, and forthwith communicated to Great Britain and the
United States. Tlie action caused a remarkable change in Perrin’s
course. His demands were reduced to a couple of points — and nothing
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
133
in either of tliem. One of these related to the liberty of Catholic wor-
ship, already many years secured, and the other to the trade in spirits,
a matter wherein the dictation of France was sheer impertinence. How-
ever, the government placated him by agreeing to a joint declaration of
four moderate articles. A question of indemnity to the king was left
for decision by the president of France. Two months later Perrin de-
parted for Paris in quest of new instructions, not returning to Honolulu
until January of 1853. “ The ten demands ” troubled Hawaii never-
more.
134
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
■ CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.
At the request of the Hawaiian Government, Mr. Jones was re-
moved by the United States Government in 1838, and P. A. Brinsmade
appointed consul in his stead. On March 20 of the same year, on the
petition of shipmasters and natives, the king* in council enacted a license
law, and the liquor licenses were reduced from twelve to two there-
under. A law was passed in August following, whereby the importa-
tion of ardent spirits after January i, 1839, was prohibited and a duty
on wines of fifty cents a gallon imposed. An application to the United
States in 1836 for an instructor in the science of government having
had no result, the king and chiefs in 1838 selected Rev. William Rich-
ards to fill such an office. Being released from the American mission,
the following year he began his political duties. He delivered lectures
and assisted in drawing up a constitution and a code of laws. As min-
ister of public instruction later, Mr. Richards was the father of the
Hawaiian public school system of today. Between 1838 and 1840 a
great religious revival took place, wherein fifteen or twenty thousand
persons were added to the membership of the Protestant churches.
Kinau died on April 4, 1839, and the king appointed Kekauluohi, a niece
of Kamehameha L, as her successor in the premiership.
On October 19, 1839, the U. S. frigate Columbia, Commodore
Read, and the ship John Adams, Captain Wyman, arrived at Honolulu,
remaining until November 4. Dudoit and French’s claims for dam-
ages, previously referred to, were settled before the commodore as
arbitrator by the payment of $3,000 to each claimant. For want of
time Commodore Read declined to hold a court of iniquiry for deciding
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
135
whether the American missionaries had lost their citizenship or been the
instigators of persecution, but (as Alexander says in a footnote) six-
teen of the officers of the squadron signed a testimonial in their favor
and ordered one thousand copies of a pamphlet containing an account
of the affair of the Artemise and a vindication of the American mis-
sionaries to be printed.”
The first draft of the Richards constitution was made in the
Hawaiian language at Lahaina in 1839, graduates of Lahainaluna
school assisting in the work. A revised bill of rights was signed by
the king and promulgated on June 7, which is regarded as having been
the Hawaiian magna charta. It established protection of the persons
and property of all the people from any interference otherwise than by
express provision of the laws.” Likewise it guaranteed full religious
liberty by declaring, “ All men of every religion shall be protected in
worshiping Jehovah and serving Him according to their own under-
standing.” (Note that it was more than a month after this liberal enact-
ment when Captain Laplace came to make peremptory demands that
included this very thing.) On October 8, 1840, the constitution was
proclaimed. By it the offices of premier and of the four governors were
continued and their functions defined. A legislature of fifteen heredi-
tary nobles and seven elective representatives, sitting together in annual
session, was created and given authority to a,ppoint four judges who,
together with the king and premier, constituted the supreme court of
the kingdom. A revision and expansion of the laws was made, the
collection being published in 1842. These laws made taxation uniform,
abolishing all the old feudal taxes. Enforced labor was abrogated and
most of the ancient restrictions on fishing were removed. School laws
were first enacted in 1841. A treasury board was created in 1842, con-
sisting of four members under the chairmanship of Dr. G. P. Judd of
the American mission.
136
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
There was recently (1905) discovered in the Hawaiian archives the
original draft of the first report of the educational department to the
legislature of Hawaii. It was submitted to the legislature of 1846 by
William Richards, minister of public instruction, and facts contained in
it have, since its discovery, caused some revision of previously accepted
historical dates. The first law ever printed here related to Honolulu
harbor. It was published in 1825. Lord Byron, a cousin of the poet,
helped to frame this law while visiting Honolulu as commander of the
British cruiser Blonde. The first printed laws punishing crimes —
murder, theft, etc. — came from the press in 1827. The first book of
laws, a pamphlet containing a series of laws and the bill of rights, was
issued in 1833. A constitution was adopted the following year.
The Royal boarding school — original of the present Ro)ral (but
quite democratic) public school — was mentioned by Mr. Richards as
having been seven years old at the date of his report. He states that
some of the pupils had learned to speak English better than they could
speak Hawaiian. They were children of the chiefs.
The Lama Hawaii (“Light of Hawaii”), issued in 1833, was the
first periodical the Hawaiian press ever produced. Previous to 1830,
148 different publications, aggregating 1,500,000 pages, appeared, which
increased by the end of 1846 to 13,603 publications and 63,944,000
pages.
The printing of the scriptures began in 1827 and an edition of
10,000 of the New Testament was completed in 1832. The entire Bible
was in the hands of the people in 1839. By the time of the report 20,000
copies of the Bible and 30,000 of the New Testament had been issued.
The first arithmetic was printed in 1827. A print of rude outlines of
the earth and the motions of the heavenly bodies came out in 1828.
For the year reported on (1845-6) the school expenditure was
about $20,000, which by money owing would be brought up to $30,000.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
137
In 1831 the average age in the lowest class attending school was not
much under 30 years. In 1832 the number of “ readers ” was placed
at 23,123. Attendance at Protestant schools was estimated by Mr.
Richards as follows: Hawaii, 6,319; Maui, 4,897; Oahu, 2,974; Kauai,
1,203; total, 15,393. Bishop Maigret reported for Catholic schools
1,800 ordinates, 1,000 readers and 600 enrolled but not attending, a
total of 3,400. These added to the Protestant mission schools made an
aggregate of 18,793 pupils. By 1846 seventy thousand of the natives
had learned to read. Publications already mentioned made an average
library for each reader of 9,349 pages, exclusive of the scriptures.
“ That the laws were impartially carried out,” Alexander says in a
footnote, “ was proved by the execution of the high chief Kamanawa,
October 20, 1840, for poisoning his wife, Kamokuiki.”
Early in the forties five of the chiefs who had accepted the Chris-
tian religion from the first American missionaries died, namely: Kinau,
the premier. Governor Kaikioewa of Kauai, Governor Hoa,pili of Maui,
his wife Kalakua Kaheiheimalie and Kapiolani. Of them all only Kinau
left any children. In telling of the foundering of the schooner Keola
on May 10, 1840, when most of those on board saved themselves by
seizing floating debris and swimming about thirty miles to Kahoolawe,
Professor Alexander gives the following account of a most heroic deed :
“ Mauae of Lahaina and his noble wife, Kaluahinenua, swam to-
gether, each with an empty bucket for a support, until Monday after-
noon, when his strength failed. His wife then took his arms around
her neck, holding them with one hand and swimming with the other,
until she found that he was dead, and was obliged to let him go in order
to save her own life. After sunset she reached the shore, where she
was found and taken care of by some fishermen, having been thirty hours
in the sea.”
An exploring expedition of some United States ships, under com-
138
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
mand of Commodore Wilkes, paid a visit to the islands lasting from
September, 1840, until April, 1841. With the flagship Vincennes were
the sloop Peacock, the brig Porpoise and the schooner Flying Fish.
A corps of scientific observers formed part of the expedition, and en-
listing a large retinue of native guides and helpers the party ascended
Mauna Loa. There an observatory was erected, the party camping upon
the snow-clad rocks for three weeks. Besides making surveys of the
principal volcanic craters the scientists surveyed the important harbors
of the group. (A party of which the present writer was a member, vis-
iting a great eruption in the summit crater of Mauna Loa about lien
years ago, came across some landmarks established by Commodore
Wilkes.)
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
139
THE BRITISH SEIZURE OF HAWAII.
Mr. Charlton, the British consul, sprung a claim for land on the
government in 1840. Under what purported to be a lease from Kalai-
moku for two hundred and ninety-nine years, dated in 1826, but not
brought to light until thirteen years after the death of Kalaimoku, he
claimed a large block of land at the middle of the business section of
Honolulu. Tlie claim was denied by the king on unanswerable grounds,
among them being the fact that Kalaimoku had no authority to convey
the land. Two pieces of land had been given to the British government
in 1826 — one for a consulate and another for an official residence — and
the piece Charlton now claimed was adjoining the consulate site. This
claim, a little afterward, formed one of several pretexts upon which the
cession of the Hawaiian Islands to Great Britain was forced. Mr. Brins-
made, the American consul, about the same time, managed to inveigle
the government into complications that bore an important part in an
approaching crisis. The outcome of this crisis was a recognition of the
independence of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States, Great Brit-
ain and France, which lasted for half a century. Mr. Brinsmade was a
member of the firm of Ladd & Co., whose enterprise in starting sugar
plantations gave it great influence and he and Mr. Richards, at Lahaina,
on November 24, 1841, concluded a secret contract that carried a scheme
of extensive development of the country’s agricultural resources. It
also held a piece of diplomac)^, perhaps the most remarkable in its way,
which has ever entered into international politics. This was a condition
that the contract should be null and void if the independence of the
kingdom were not acknowledged by Great Britain, France and the United
140
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
States. By the contract Ladd & Co. obtained the privilege of leasing
any unoccupied and unimproved lands in the islands for one hundred
years at a low rental. Fifteen acres of land in each locality was given
for a mill site, and not to exceed two hundred acres of adjoining land
for cultivation. Privileges of wood, pasturage, etc., were included.
Time limits of one year for selection of the sites and five years for start-
ing cultivation, later extended, respectively, to four and ten years, were
set to the privileges. Mr. Brinsmade at once took his departure with
the lease, intending to dispose of it to a joint stock company abroad.
He also carried away letters from the king to the three powers, request-
ing a guarantee by them of the kingdom’s independence. After visiting
Washington he proceeded to Europe.
Sir George Simpson and Dr. McLaughlin, governors of the Hud-
son Bay Company, came to Honolulu on business in February, 1842.
Taking an interest in the affairs of the islands, they made an investiga-
tion by which they were convinced that the native government had been
unjustly accused of wrong-doing by their British fellow-countrymen.
Sir George offered the government a loan of ten thousand pounds ($50,-
000), and advised the king to send fully empowered commissioners to
the United States and Europe, to negotiate new treaties and secure a
guarantee of independence. Commissions of joint ministers plenipo-
tentiary to three powers were issued to Sir George Simpson, William
Richards and Haalilio, the king’s secretary, on April 8. Sir George,
going by way of Alaska and Siberia, reached England in November.
Messrs. Richards and Haalilio, their business kept secret, took a char-
tered schooner for Mazatlan, on their way to the United States, on July
8. There was previously another diplomat out upon a similar mission.
This was T. J. Farnham, a lawyer from Oregon, who was commissioned
on March 17, 1840. He appears to have done considerable work in
Washington and elsewhere, having made his headquarters in Boston
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
I4l
and engaged Benjamin F. Butler as counsel. Mr. Richards, who had
the king's full power of attorney, canceled Mr. Farnhain’s commission,
and among interesting diplomatic remains of the dismissed minister is a
claim for salary and expense allowance. Arriving in Washington early
in December, Messrs. Richards and Haalilio received from Daniel Web-
ster, Secretary of State, an official letter dated December 19, 1842, rec-
ognizing the independence of the Hawaiian kingdom and declaring, “ as
the sense of the government 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 colonization, 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.” Simliar expressions of the policy of the
United States toward Hawaiian affairs were made by President Tyler in
his message to Congress the same month, and by John Quincy Adams
in the report of the committee on foreign relations.
All three of the ministers, meeting in London, had an interview on
P'ebruary 2, 1843, with the Earl of Aberdeen, Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs. He declined to receive them as ministers from an
independent state, or to negotiate a treaty with them, saying that the
king did not govern, but was “ exclusively under the influence of Amer-
icans, to the detriment of British interests.” Lord Aberdeen would not
admit, either, that full recognition of Hawaiian independence had yet
been given by the United States, llie envoys proceeded to Brussels,
according to a previous understanding with Mr. Brinsmade. Leopold I
received them very courteously and promised to use his influence on
behalf of the recognition of Hawaiian independence. Then going to
Paris the envoys were kindly received by M. Guizot, Minister of For-
eign Affairs, who promptly engaged that France should recognize their
country’s independence, besides informing Lord Cowley, the British Am-
142
tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
bassador, of his attitude. Having made such gratifying progress on
the continent, the ministers returned to London. Sir George Simpson,
in an interview with Lord Aberdeen, gave a true account of affairs at
the islands and received a promise that Mr. Charlton would be removed.
On April i Lord Aberdeen formally declared to the commissioners that
Her Majesty’s government had determined “ to recognize the independ-
ence of the Sandwich Islands under their present sovereign.” At the
same time he insisted on the perfect equality of all foreigners in the
islands before the law, adding that grave complaints had been received
from British subjects of undue rigor exercised toward them, and im-
proper partiality toward others in the administration of justice.
Sir George Simpson having left for Canada in April, Messrs. Rich-
ards and Haalilio returned to the continent to obtain the official recog-
nition by France. Many things happened and more than seven months
elapsed, however, before this end was gained. Mr. Brinsmade, with his
contract, in the first place, inopportunely hampered their progress. They
met him by appointment at Brussels, where a contract with the “ Bel-
gian Company of Colonization,” of which the king of Belgium was a
partner, was negotiated. It was signed on May 17, 1843, l^^e three
parties. Ladd & Co. ceded to the company its property in the Hawaiian
Islands, with its lease of 1841. The Hawaiian king, by Mr. Richards,
guaranteed four per cent interest on the capital for six years, secured
by a mortgage on the kingdom’s revenues, besides making other conces-
sions. The company was to organize a branch association under its
own control, to be called “ The Royal Community of the Sandwich
Islands,” to which all the property and benefits it received under the
contract were to be transferred. In the new company the king of the
Hawaiian Islands was to be a partner and Richards a director. Ladd
& Co. were allotted 1,067,000 francs, the total capital being 4,000,000
francs, divided into 4,000 shares. It was stipulated that each emigrant
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
14B
sent to the islands by the company was to receive nearly fifty acres of
land in fee simple. There were 53 articles in the statutes of the asso-
ciation, which were signed on April 13, 1844, but never went into effect.
Among the conditions of the contract was one that it should be ratified
by the council general of the Belgian Company of Colonization within
one month after the independence of the Hawaiian Islands had been
officially acknowledged by France. There is no record of any such
ratification ever having been given. Haalilio signed the contract with
great reluctance, and the king and chiefs were highly displeased over its
execution. This Belgian contract gave a great deal of trouble before
it was finally discredited. While Brinsmade was making strenuous ex-
ertions to have it ratified in Belgium his firm (Ladd & Co.) failed in
business. The government foreclosed on its property for dishonored
loans and sold it for the benefit of its creditors. This was in 1844,
the following year the firm claimed the right of selecting lands under
the original contract of 1841. The government resisted the claim, as
Ladd & Co. had transferred its rights to the Belgian company. Brins-
made returned in 1846 and sued the government for $378,000 damages,
alleging that it had prevented the consummation of the Belgian contract.
The defense was set up that the Belgian contract of 1843 was in con-
travention of the laws of the kingdom, inconsistent with existing treaties
and liable in its operation to destroy the native race, besides involving
the ruin of all foreign trade other than what the company would yield.
It was agreed by the government, however, to refer the claim to the
arbitration of J. F. B. Marshall and S. H. Williams, to whose inspection
the public archives were offered. Ten Eyck, the United States commis-
sioner, acted as counsel for Ladd & Co., and Mr. Ricord, Attorney Gen-
eral, for the government. Ladd & Co. withdrew from the trial when it
had lasted four months and filled 613 printed pages, the government not
yet having produced its evidence. Alexander adds that “ other attempts
144
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
to efifect a compromise failed and the question long remained unsettled,
to divide and embroil the foreign community.”
British aggression at the islands had in the meantime come to a
head, the result being a short-lived British possession of the group. As
soon as the nature of the mission of Richards and Haalilio became
known after their departure, Charlton hurried after them to London to
counteract their scheme. Leaving by way of Mexico on September 26,
1842, he sent back a threatening letter to the king, wherein he informed
him that he had appointed Alexander Simpson as acting consul for Great
Britain. The king refused to recognize Simpson, who, though a rela-
tive of the king’s good friend. Sir George, was an avowed advocate of
British annexation of the islands and, besides, had been insulting and
threatening toward the governor of Oahu. Charlton told a tale of griev-
ances to Lord George Paulet, commanding the British frigate Carys-
fort, whom he met at Mazatlan. He also sent dispatches to the northern
coast, representing that British property and persons were in danger.
Upon this information Rear Admiral Thomas ordered the Carysfort to
Honolulu to make investigations. The Carysfort arrived at Honolulu
on February 10, 1843. Lord George Paulet omitted the usual friendly
salutes on entering the harbor and is said to have placed himself entirely
under Simpson’s direction. At Lord George Paulet’s request the king
came to Honolulu, arriving on the i6th. Refusing to treat with him
through his agent. Dr. Judd, the British commander, late in the evening
of the 17th, sent the king a letter containing six peremptory demands
and threatening, in default of compliance therewith by 4 p. m. next day,
that “ immediate coercive steps would be taken.” In substance, the de-
mands were these :
I. Removal of an attachment on Charlton’s property (which had
been made at the suit of an English firm for an old debt) ; restoration
of the land claimed by Charlton, with reparation to his representatives
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
145
for losses through alleged injustice. 2. Immediate recognition of
Simpson as consul, with a salute of 21 guns to the British flag. 3.
Guarantee that no British subject be placed in irons except for a felony.
4. New trial of the case of Skinner vs. Dominis. 5. All disputes be-
tween British subjects and others to be referred to mixed juries, one-
half of them British subjects approved by the consul. 6. Direct com-
munication between the king and the acting consul for immediate set-
tlement of complaints of British subjects.
Next morning the Carysfort was cleared for action, with her guns
bearing on the town. Refuge was found by some English families on
board the brig Julia outside the harbor. Americans and other foreigners
placed their funds and valuable papers on board the United States sloop-
of-war Boston, under Captain Long, which had arrived three days after
the Carysfort. Under wise counsel the king and chiefs abandoned a
first impulse to offer resistance, and before the stated hour for hostili-
ties they sent a letter to Lord Paulet submitting under protest. They
told him of the special embassy sent to England to settle the same griev-
ances as he alleged. Some of his demands, they informed him, were
calculated seriously to embarrass that feeble government by contraven-
ing the laws established for the benefit of all. Nevertheless, the king
would comply with them under protest and appeal for justice to the
government of Great Britain. In addition to the letter of submission
the king and premier issued a public and solemn protest against the
British commander’s proceedings, in which they appealed for redress to
the justice and magnanimity of Queen Victoria. At 2 p. m. the fort
and the frigate exchanged salutes, while the following Monday, or two
days thereafter, was set for the reception of Simpson as the British
consular representative. A public advertisement removed the attach-
ment on Charlton’s property. The king visited the Carysfort on the 20th,
being received with royal honors. On this occasion a private interview
146
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
by Lord Paulet and Simpson with the king the following day was ar-
ranged. The meeting took place, also another on the 23d, when such
outrageous corollaries were added to the original demands that the king
indignantly balked. Besides maintaining an insolent bearing toward
him, the British representatives refused him the opportunity of consult-
ing with his advisers. Under such duress the king was constrained to
sign the pretended deed from Kalaimoku to Charlton; also a note for
$3,000 to Henry Skinner, Charlton’s nephew, for indirect damages from
the attachment. It was shown that (through the arbitration of Sir
George Simpson) the suit of Skinner m. Dominis had been settled a year
before, a receipt in full passing, but the fact made no impression upon
the two dictators. When Simpson demanded the reversal of several
decisions of the courts, besides presenting several fresh claims for dam-
ages until an aggregate of $80,000 was reached, the king’s patience de-
parted. “ I will not die piecemeal,” he exclaimed ; “ they may cut off
my head at once. Let them take what they please ; I will give no more.”
On the advice of Dr. Judd, however, he averted the forcible seizure of
the islands by offering a temporary cession, pending an appeal to the
British government. An act of cession to France and the United States
jointly, until these powers could mediate for the settlement of his diffi-
culties, was drafted at the instance of leading foreign residents, but the
king refused to sign it. Preliminaries were arranged the following day
with Lord Piiulet for the cession to Great Britain, and on the morning
of February 25 the king and premier signed a provisional cession of the
islands to Lord George Paulet, as representative of Her Britannic Maj-
esty, it being made “ subject to the decision of the British government
after the receipt of full information by both parties.” At 3 o’clock in
the afternoon the king, standing upon the ramparts of the fort, read an
address to the people of which the following is a translation :
“ Where are you, chiefs, people and commons from my ancestors,
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
• 147
and people from foreign lands ? Hear ye ! I make known to you that I
am in perplexity by reason of difficulties into which I have been brought
without cause; therefore, I have given away the life of our land, hear
ye! But my rule over you, my people, and your privileges will con-
tinue, for I have hope that the life of the land will be restored when my
conduct shall be justified.”
A public reading of the act of cession and a proclamation by Lord
Paulet followed. Then the Hawaiian flag over the fort was lowered by
natives, a lieutenant from the Carysfort hoisting the British flag in its
place. Both the ship and the fort saluted the British colors and the
consulate’s flag at the same time came down. The day happened to be
the forty-ninth anniversary of Kamehameha’s cession to Vancouver.
Lord Paulet’s proclamation left the government of the natives to the
king and chiefs, but placed all the affairs of foreigners in charge of a
commission to consist of a deputy appointed by the king. Lord George
Paulet, D. F. Mackay and Lieutenant Frere of the Carysfort. All ex-
isting laws and contracts were to remain in force. Having appointed
Dr. Judd as their deputy, the king and premier, two days later, returned
to Maui. The commission forthwith proceeded to make the islands a
British colony indeed. It caused all the Hawaiian flags that could be
found to be destroyed. Foreigners owning land were required to reg-
itser their holdings with the commission before June i, 1843. Vessels
owned locally were put under British register and the government ves-
sels were made tenders to the Carysfort. One per cent was added to the
import duty of three per cent, to provide for the commission’s expenses.
Without recourse to any court Lord Paulet seized the land claimed by
Charlton, ejecting 156 persons and demolishing 23 houses. One of the
Carysfort’s tenders, now called the Albert, was, on March ii, dispatched
to San Bias, Mexico, to carry Alex. Simpson with letters to the British
Foreign Office. Ladd & Co. having previously chartered the vessel, re-
148
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
served the right to send a commercial agent in her, and J. F. B. Mar-
shall took passage as such with Sirnpson without arousing his suspicion.
Yet he was secretly commissioned as the king’s envoy, the king and
premier having executed tlie documents in the seclusion of Waikiki.
They had been landed there in a schooner by night, a canoe having been
sent with a message for them, and having done the important business
they immediately returned to Wailuku. On the 17th the Victoria sailed
for Valparaiso with letters for Admiral Thomas. Under the pretext of
information that the management of the prison within the fort was cor-
rupt, the commission abrogated certain laws against licentiousness. They
sent orders to the governors of the other islands, whereby all pris-
oners under arrest were set at liberty. A disgracefuul condition of af-
fairs resulted. Dr. Judd resigned as deputy, to deliver the king from all
responsibility for the commission, and, Mackay having previously re-
signed on account of ill health, the commission was now left consisting
only of Lord Paulet and Lieut. Frere. By means of canoes a secret
correspondence between the king at Lahaina and his officers at Honolulu
was maintained. While the inglorious rule of Lord Paulet was, unsus-
pected by him, drawing rapidly to a close a serious dash of authority
occurred. The commission had enlisted a small standing army of na-
tives, under the name of the “ Queen’s Regiment,” who had to swear
allegiance to the British sovereign and were commanded by British of-
ficers. It made a heavy drain on the treasury to support these troops,
and the king sent directions to Dr. Judd to stop it altogether. Accord-
ingly the treasurer refused to make any more payments for the army,
and on June 20, or about a week later, the commissioners demanded- of
him $713 for the “ Queen’s ” guard and the police, threatening if he
refused to install another person as treasurer. Again the king lost pa-
tience and showed his true metal. He and the premier, on the 24th,
“ published a manifesto, charging the commission with having broken
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
149
the terms agreed upon at the cession, by abrogating some of the laws
and by draining the treasury for the support of a useless standing
army.” Dr. Judd removed the national archives from the government
building and hid them in the royal mausoleum. Nightly for weeks he
betook himself to that gloomy retreat, as he deemed his own liberty in
jeopardy, and there pursued his confidential labors in behalf of king
and country.
National vessels of the United States and Great Britain, how-
ever, soon came dropping in from all sides, the last of the series
being freighted with authority that made the temporary dictator look
foolish. From July i to i6 the Carysfort was absent on a cruise to
Lahaina and Hilo. The United States frigate Constellation, commanded
by Commodore Kearney, arrived from China on the 6th. From Tahiti
the British sloop-of-war Hazard, Captain Bell, put in her appearance.
Commodore Kearney, besides issuing a protest against the cession and
the commission, ignored both by saluting Governor Kekuanaoa and the
chiefs under the Hawaiian flag when they visited his ship. Lord Paulet
felt severely affronted by the latter action. On July 26 Rear Admiral
Thomas, commander-in-chief of the British naval forces in the Pacific,
arrived in the flagship Dublin from Valparaiso. Whenever his ship
came to anchor Admiral Thomas asked for a personal interview with
the king, who happily had returned from Lahaina the previous day.
Within a few hours the glad news went abroad that the Admiral had
come to restore Hawaiian independence. Next day the terms of restora-
tion were concluded, and the ceremonies attendant thereon set for the
following Monday. That was July 31, 1843, and for half a century the
anniversary of the day was a holiday in the islands. Itself was one of
the days that give normal glory to the Hawaiian climate from their fre-
quency — clear of sky and the sub-tropical sun’s rays tempered with the
cool trade breeze. Admiral Thomas issued a proclamation declaring, in
150
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
the name of his sovereign, that he declined to accept the provisional ces-
sion of the islands and that Queen Victoria sincerely desired king Ka-
mehameha HI to be treated as an independent sovereign, leaving the
administration of justice in his own hands. A convention of ten articles
was drawn up, which the king and Admiral Thomas signed. Though
it fully recognized the rights of the king, it was severely protective of
British interests.
For the restoration ceremonies two pavilions had been erected
upon a plain east of the town, where, to commemorate the event, a
large city block has since been held sacred as a public park named
Tliomas Square. On the day appointed the whole population swarmed
to the spot to see the restoration of the flag. Marines of the Dublin,
Carysfort and Hazard were drawn up in line, with a field battery on
their right, when the king, under escort of his own troops, came upon
the ground. Upon a flagstaff specially planted for the occasion the
Hawaiian royal standard was hoisted, while a national salute of 21 guns
was fired by the field artillery. Then the national flag was raised upon
the fort and the summit of Punchbowl hill, being saluted by Hawaiian
batteries at both points. Amidst the roaring of cannon the cheering of
the populace arose in mighty volume and was long continued. An ex-
hibition of military maneuvers by the naval redcoats concluded the cere-
monies. Then the king was escorted to his palace, where the native
soldiers who had served the British sovereign prayed his pardon and
reswore allegiance to him. At a thanksgiving service held in Kawaiahao
church in the afternoon, the king delivered an address expressing his
gratification at the fulfilment of his hope that the “ life of the land ”
would be restored. On this occasion he gave utterance to the words that
became the national motto, “ Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono ” — mean-
ing, “ The life of the land is perpetuated by righteousness.” After the
Admiral’s proclamation had been interpreted to the people, John li (aft-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
151
erward a justice of the Supreme Court) announced an “ act of grace ”
by the king, pardoning all offenses committed during the commission’s
regime and declaring ten days of public rejoicing. While these holidays
were in progress, the American frigate United States, Commodore Jones,
arrived, followed by the Cyane, bringing news of the successful outcome
of the embassy to Europe. Admiral Thomas, while awaiting approval
of his proceedings from home, resided on shore and assisted in restoring
public order and in reconciling jarring interests. His action was com-
pletely approved by the British government. Lord Canning describing
it as being “ marked by great propriety and admirable judgment through-
out, and as calculated to raise the character of the British authorities
for justice, moderation and courtesy of demeanor, in the estimation of
the natives of those remote countries and of the world.”
152
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
■ RECOGNITION OF INDEPENDENCE.
In the meantime, diplomatic events abroad were shaping to conform
with the restoration at home. While Simpson went direct to England
from Mexico, Marshall went to Washington. Marshall’s news made a
sensation. He reached England a week later than Simpson, but, before
the latter had arrived. Lord Aberdeen had assured the Hawaiian envoys,
as well as informed France and the United States, that Great Britain
had no intention of retaining possession of the islands. Richards, Haa-
lilio and Marshall, with Brinsmade’s aid, opened a correspondence with
the Foreign Office to answer the charges against the Hawaiian govern-
ment which Simpson and Charlton had brought. The law advisers of
the crown decided in favor of the Hawaiian government, as to all points
excepting Charlton’s land claim. Charlton was to be put in possession
on showing the original deed and proving its genuineness. Lord Aber-
deen refused to consider any claim for damages on account of Lord
Paulet’s acts, because he held the cession to have been the king’s volun-
tary act. On November 28, 1843, l^he governments of Great Britain
and France united in a declaration recognizing Hawaiian independence
and engaging, each of them, never to take possession or assume a pro-
tectorate over any part of the islands. At a later time, for some years,
November 28 was kept as a public holiday, besides July 31, in commem-
oration of national independence. The United States did not join the
Anglo-French compact, but Richards and Haalilio, after returning to
I the United States in 1844, received from J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of
I State, a dispatch informing them that the President (Polk) regarded
the statement of Mr. Webster (the previous Secretary) and the ap-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
163
pointment of a commissioner as a full recognition of Hawaiian inde-
pendence by the United States. George Brown, the first United States
commissioner, had arrived at Honolulu on October i6, 1843. General
William Miller, accredited as British consul-general, arriving in Feb-
ruary, 1844, brought a convention with Great Britain, which was almost
identical in terms with that exacted by Laplace, and the king signed
it with the express understanding that it was to be only temporary. j\d-
miral Thomas then left the islands. Miller was a soldier of fortune
whose military title was gained in Chili fighting for Chilian independ-
ence. Thirteen years before coming as consul-general he had visited
the islands in the Prussian ship Princess Louisa. Both he and Brown,
the American commissioner, made a great deal of trouble with the Ha-
waiian government. All official intercourse with Brown was suspended
on July 29, 1845, his successor. Ten Eyck, with Joel Turrill, ai
new consul, were brought to Honolulu on June i, 1846, in the United
States ship Congress. General Miller’s disputes with the government
were finally referred to the British government and settled in 1847, hut
not before the British consul-general had appealed to force. With re-
gard to Lord Aberdeen’s decision on the Charlton land claim. Miller
contended that it was only necessary for Charlton to prove the genuine-
ness of the handwritings in the deed. 'Plie Hawaiian government held
that the title must be decided before a court. After a long correspond-
ence Miller presented a peremptory demand from the British govern-
ment, and, without having even produced the deed, took possession of
the land. This was in August, 1845, in the following October an
investigation was held at the palace, which resulted in the sending of
a mass of evidence against Charlton’s claim to England. Admiral Sey-
mour arrived in the British 80-gun ship Collingwood on August 6,
1846. Though he had been sent for by General Miller to enforce his
demands, on arrival he consented to act as umpire with the understand-
154
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ing tliat his decision should be subject to revision by his own govern-
ment. Then another investigation was held at the palace, a full report
thereof being sent to England. Admiral Seymour’s decision was con-
firmed by the final award of the British government. Charlton was to
keep possession of the land, but on all other points the Hawaiian gov-
ernment was sustained. So ended the British aggressions. The ridicu-
lous collapse of the long series of French interferences has already been
related.
Dr. G. P. Judd acted as secretary of state from November 2, 1843,
until March 26, 1845, when he voluntarily retired in favor of Robert
Chrichton Wyllie, a Scotchman who came to Hawaii after long residence
in South America. Mr. Wyllie was a learned and able man. He gave
the benefit of his talents, together with great administrative energy, to
the Hawaiian kingdom for twenty years. A street is named after him
in Honolulu, but his greatest memorial is the stamp he left upon the
kingdom’s progress in orderly and efficient government. As attesting
the unusual esteem he won in the native heart, his remains are deposited
in the royal mausoleum at Honolulu among those of kings and queens.
On the foreign side the government was further reinforced on March
9, 1844, by the appointment of John Ricord, a lawyer from Oregon,
as attorney general. John Young, Jr., in June 1845, succeeded as pre-
mier Kekauluohi, who had died in an epidemic of influenza. Mr. Rich-
ards, about the same time, was placed at the head of the new depart-
ment of public instruction, continuing in that office until his death in
November, 1847, when Richard Armstrong succeeded him and held the
office in two reigns until it was abolished in 1855. Haalilio died at sea
while on the way home with his colleague, Richards, on December 3,
1844. A regular legislature was convened for the first time on May
20, 1845, which empowered Mr. Ricord to draft laws organizing the
five executive departments, viz. : foreign affairs, interior, finance, attor-
!
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
155
ney-general’s and public instruction. Da.vid Malo, a native historian,
was leader of an agitation about this time to have all foreigners except
Richards dismissed from the government, to stop the further naturaliza-
tion of foreigners — about 350 of whom had thus far been naturalized —
and to prevent the selling of land to foreigners. Maui was the focus of
this movement and the king and John Young conducted a campaign of
education on that island, to show the people the wisdom of maintaining
a composite government of native and foreign elements. Mr. Ricord’s
commission resulted in the passage of two volumes of laws at the ses-
sions of 1846 and 1847, which formed the groundwork of governmental
machinery practically until annexation to the United States was organ-
ically consummated by the creation of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900.
A judiciary system which, with some changes, yet remains intact under
the American flag, was instituted in 1846. William L. Lee, an able
young lawyer, bearing high recommendations from Professor Greenleaf
and Judge Story, was among fifteen passengers in the brig Henry, bound
from Newburyport for Oregon, which called at Honolulu on October 12
of that year. Mr. Lee was induced to remain and accept the office of chief
justice, remaining therein until his death in May 28, 1857. He or-
ganized the courts of justice and made the supreme court of the little
kingdom compare favorably with the highest tribunals of other civilized
countries. A monumental event of this reign was the great division of
lands. At the instance of Dr. Judd a law was passed in 1845 creating
a board of commissioners to quiet land titles. All persons were re-
quired to file their claims to land before this board wdthin two years,
or be forever barred. The commission lasted nearly ten years. It was
adjudged by the board that there were but three classes having vested
interests in land: i, the king; 2, the chiefs; 3, the tenants or common
people. Further the board suggested that the king should allow the land-
lords one-third and the tenants one-third, keeping one-third for himself.
156
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
For a couple of years this scheme was delayed through efforts of the king
and chiefs to secure a division among themselves enabling each of them
to hold land in fee simple. In December, 1847, the privy council adopted
the original proposal, and a committee headed by Dr. Judd completed
the division schedules in forty days. The king generously divided the
lands apportioned to himself, devoting one-half thereof to government
purposes and reserving the other moiety for his own private estate.
Three years later most of the chiefs surrendered a third of their lands
to the government domain, in consideration of obtaining an absolute title
for themselves in the remainder. Until the overthrow of the monarchy
in 1893 the distinction of “ government ” and “ crown ” lands was main-
tained, the latter being solely for maintaining the royal state and dignity
— a judicial decision at a late period, when a member of the royal family
had made a grant of crown lands, declaring such to be inalienable. Fee
simple titles were offered to the common people for their homesteads.
Claims finally confirm.ed in the great land division numbered eleven
thousand three hundred and nine. Prior to July 10, 1850, aliens were
not allowed to own lands in fee simple.
Kamehameha III died on December 15, 1854, in the forty-second
year of his age, and was immediately succeeded by Alexander Liholiho,
his adopted son and heir, under the title of Kamehameha IV. Events
of some excitement in the late reign may here be noted. Four or five
hundred sailors engaged in a riot on November 10, 1852, after the fu-
neral of a seaman named John Bums, who died in jail from the stroke
of a policeman’s club. The rioters burned the station house and looted
liquor shops. Next morning the foreigners organized a military force
of two hundred men, which a few days after the trouble effected perma-
nent organization for future emergencies. This was the first foreign
militar}^ company in the islands and took the name of the “ Hawaiian
Guards.” As to the riot. Governor Kekuanaoa put it down the same
/
'I
Princess Bernice Paualii BisKop
(Founder, by Her Last Will, of Kameb ameba Schools for Boys and Girls)
I
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
157
morning without calling out his soldiers. At his command the multi-
tude of natives, witliout weapons, who had been peaceful spectators of
the disorder, cleared the streets and ran forty or fifty rioters into the
fort. The foreign volunteers afterward patrolled the streets and made
some arrests. Nobody was killed. Owing to warnings of invasion by
filibusters from California, where adventurers of many lands were at-
tracted by the gold discovery in 1849, the United States warship Van-
dalia was kept at Honolulu on guard, while her officers drilled native
soldiers for some months. A band of rough characters did arrive in the
vessel Gamecock in November, 1851, but most of them soon returned
to the Coast. On their way to Honolulu they had rifled the mailbag,
throwing the letters overboard. A terrible epidemic of smallpox oc-
curred in 1853, which was not stamped out for about seven months,
when from 2,500 to 3,000 persons had died of the disease. Advantage
was taken of this visitation by a faction of foreigners, many of thejm
recent arrivals from California, to make political capital against the
government. Armstrong and Judd were especially accused of being re-
sponsible for the spread of the disease. Petitions for their removal were
presented to the king. Attempts to intimidate the chiefs were made.
A movement in favor of annexation to the United States was started.
The faction appointed a committee of thirteen to carry out their designs.
A joint remonstrance against the annexation scheme was presented to
the king by the British and French consuls. Amidst the turmoil the
cabinet resigned, but its members were all reappointed except Dr. Judd,
who was succeeded by E. H. Allen without causing any change of policy.
But the agitation for absorption by the United States grew into a for-
midable crisis in 1854. Alarmed by rumors of filibustering visitation
and depressed by the calamities and troubles by which his kingdom had
been visited, the king directed Mr. Wyllie, on February 6, 1854, to find
out what terms could be arranged for a treaty of annexation which
158
THE* HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
might be needed to meet an emergency. While Mr. Wyllie was yet
engaged in negotiations with United States Minister Gregg, in Novem-
ber following, he was informed that three hundred filibusters were on
the way from San Francisco and that a strong organization of Cali-
fornians and others were in armed readiness to assist the contemplated
revolution. Though a false alarm, it resulted in an application by Mr.
Wyllie, under direction of the king and cabinet, to the representatives
of the powers for protection. This application brought a promise of
support to the government from the United States ships Portsmouth
and St. Mary’s, the British ship Trincomalee and the French frigate
Artemi se. A proclamation followed, declaring that the king had accepted
the assistance of the three nations mentioned and that his independence
was more firmly established than ever before. One of the effects of the
annexation movement was to produce a commercial and industrial boom,
as the event was generally believed certain to happen.
FOURTH AND FIFTH KAMEHAMEHAS.
Kamehameha IV, on taking the oath to the constitution in Ka-
waiahao church on January ii, 1855, delivered an eloquent address.
“ He was then twenty-one years of age,” Alexander says, “of brilliant
talents and winning manners, and his accession to the throne was hailed
with high' anticipations by the nation at large. A diligent student of
English history, he was ambitious to reign as a constitutional king.”
Negotiations for annexation were broken off and Chief Justice Lee was
sent to Washington in 1865 to negotiate a reciprocity treaty, which was
done, but only to have the treaty rejected by the Senate. E. H. Allen
went to Washington the following year to urge the ratification of the
treaty, but he did not succeed. The king married Emma Rooke, a grand-
daughter of John Young, on June 19, 1856. She was the adopted daugh-
ter of Dr. Rooke, an English physician, and a good education in the
Kamekameka IV.
Kamekameka V.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
159
school for chiefs reinforced her naturally bright talents. A son was
born to the royal couple on May 20, 1858, who was officially entitled
“ The Prince of Hawaii,” but he died on August 27, 1862. Kameha-
meha IV and Queen Emma founded the Queen’s Hospital, which is
to-day the leading hospital in the Territory of Hawaii. They also caused
the institution of the Anglican church in Hawaii, with the Rt. Rev.
T. N. Staley, D. D., as its first bishop, consecrated December 15, 1861.
They donated a site for a cathedral in the heart of the city, on which
part of a handsome Gothic edifice was dedicated twenty years ago and
is now being completed by the American Episcopal church in Hawaii
under Bishop H. B. Restarick. The king made an excellent translation
of the Anglican prayer-book into Hawaiian. Church schools established
at the outset are now flourishing. Great harbor improvements were car-
ried out in Kamehameha IV’s reign, various public buildings erected
and common utilities improved. Steam navigation between the islands
by a chartered company began in i860. Two powerful companies later
engaged in this enterprise for many years, becoming amalgamated into
one corporation as late as 1905. Agriculture, with various fluctuations,
meantime had made good progress. During the gold discovery days in
California, wheat and other temperate zone products were cultivated.
Hawaiian-ground flour, even, was in 1854 exported to the Coast. The
whaling fleet stimulated trade and industry. In 1859 no less than 197
whaleships called at ports of the islands to transship the products of thei.^
catches and obtain supplies. A sugar plantation . had been started at
Koloa, Kauai, as far back as 1835, and in the early forties the sugar
industiy was growing. Kamehameha IV died on November 30, 1863,
aged twenty-nine years, having reigned nearly nine years.
On the day that Kamehameha IV died his elder brother. Prince
Lot Kamehameha, was proclaimed king as Kamehameha V. As minis-
ter of the interior in his brother’s reign he had shown a good deal of
160
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ability. He retained Mr. Wyllie in the cabinet. The other ministers
at the beginning of the reign were an American lawyer named C. C.
Harris, C. de Varigny and G. M. Robertson. The chief political event
in Kamehameha V’s reign was a change of the constitution. He had
thought that the system of government was ahead of the times in liber-
ality, and having declined to take the oath to maintain the constitution
of 1852 he called a constitutional convention. This body consisted of
the king presiding, sixteen nobles and twenty-seven elected delegates.
It met on July 7, 1864, and took a week to decide that the three estates
of the realm should sit together in one chamber. Then, after another
debate, it was decided that the convention had the right to make a new
constitution. It never made one, however, as the king lost patience
over an interminable wrangle about a proposed property qualification for
voters and suddenly ended the proceedings. He declared the constitu-
tion of 1852 abrogated and prorogued the convention, saying, “ I will
give you a new constitution.” This was on August 13. Good as his
word, the king, on August 20, promulgated a new constitution on his
own authority, which stood as the fundamental law of the kingdom for
twenty-three years. It gave much less absolute power to the king than
was expected. A small property qualification for the election of repre-
sentatives was provided, the nobles being appointed for life by the king,
and the nobles and representatives were to sit and vote together in one
chamber.
i
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Young Prince of Hawaii (ICaliakuo )
THE HAWAIIAN ’ ISLANDS
161
SOME NOTEWORTHY EVENTS.
Queen Dowager Emma went to England in 1865, remaining abroad
more than a year. She left in the British warship Clio, landing at Pa-
nama, and returned in the United States warship Vanderbilt. The Con-
federate cruiser Shenandoah made havoc among whaling ships in the
Pacific in 1865, throwing hundreds of Hawaiian sailors out of employ-
ment. One Hawaiian whaler named the Harvest was among four ves-
sels burned at the Caroline Islands, from whence ninety-eight seamen
were brought to Honolulu by the bark Kamehameha V, sent to their
relief. Mr. Wyllie died the same year. Mr. Harris was sent to Wash-
ington in 1867 to negotiate a reciprocity treaty with the United States,
which he did but only to have it rejected by the Senate after its approval
by the President and his cabinet. In 1868 a fanatic named ICaona,
claiming to be a prophet, started an insurrection. He had previously
been confined in the insane asylum at Honolulu, but was lately discharged
as cured. After Richard B. Neville, a deputy sheriff, had been killed
in a skirmish and Kamai, a native policeman, captured and murdered a
day later by the fanatics, Kaona and his party were taken prisoners by
Mr. Coney, sheriff of Hawaii, without further bloodshed. Seventy-five of
them were taken to Honolulu and five of the ringleaders being convicted
of manslaughter, were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. On
April 19, 1870, the British steamer Wonga Wonga arrived twenty-three
days from Auckland, inaugurating steamship communication between the
Australian Colonies and San Francisco which has never since ceased. Over
a thousand seamen who survived from the loss of thirty-three whaling
ships, ice-pinched in the Arctic in 1871, were brought to Honolulu in five
162
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ships that escaped. The disaster was a great financial loss to Honolulu, as
the whaling trade immediately dwindled. Light was first shown from
Honolulu harbor lighthouse, still (1906) in service, on August 2,
1869. A new postoffice, the main portion of the present one, was opened
in March, 1870. In 1872 the Hawaiian Hotel, now for many years pri-
vate property, was erected by the government. The same year saw the
beginning of construction of “ Aliiolani Hale,” a building for the legis-
lature, departments and courts, which is now known as the “ Judiciary
Building.” It was completed in 1874 at a cost of $130,000.
Kamehameha V died suddenly on December ii, 1872, in the forty-
third year of his age. He was the last sovereign of the Kamehameha
dynasty and he died without nominating a successor. It became in-
cumbent on the legislature to elect a new king. Prince William C. Lu-
nalilo was commonly recognized as the highest-born surviving chief,
besides which he "was universally popular with foreigners as well as na-
tives. Lunalilo, in a published address, asked the Hawaiian people to
poll themselves on their choice for king, by way of instruction to their
representatives. As a result, on January i, 1873, the largest vote ever
till then polled was cast and it was almost unanimous for Lunalilo. The
legislature met on January 8 and elected Lunalilo king, who took the
oath next day in Kawaiahao church. An amendment to the constitution
was enacted which abolished the property qualification for voters in
1874. Lunalilo’s cabinet consisted of R. Stirling, C. R. Bishop, E. O'.
Hall and A. F. Judd. Considerable disaffection was caused by enforce-
ment of the law for segregating lepers. Another cause of bitter feeling
on the part of the natives was the starting of negotiations for reciprocity
with the United States, the kingdom to offer as an inducement to that
country the exclusive use of Pearl Harbor for a naval station. At the
desire of the king, whose health had failed, the negotiations were dis-
continued. This remedy was taken too late, for a mutiny broke out
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
163
among the household troops. They assaulted their drillmaster, an Aus-
trian named Jajczay, and demanded his dismissal and that of the adju-
tant general. Dragging two cannons from the palace yard to the bar-
racks they loaded them with grapeshot and defied the authorities. There
was much sympathy on the outside with the mutineers. A message from
the king, who lay sick at Waikiki, induced thirteen of the soldiers to
surrender. For the twenty-four that remained a warrant of arrest was
issued. It was not executed for fear of bloodshed and a general riot.
A siege of the barracks was the plan adopted. An autograph letter from
the king offering a free pardon to the mutineers, on condition of giving
up their arms and leaving the barracks, was effectual on the fifth day
after the outbreak in restoring peace. The garrison on surrendering
was disbanded. Besides weakening respect for the government, the event
intensified race hatred. Lunalilo did not regain his health. After trying
a change of climate at Kailua, Hawaii, for several months, he returned
to Honolulu, where he died of pulmonary consumption on February 3,
1874, having reigned one year and twenty-five days. He left most of
his private lands by will to found a home for aged and indigent Ha-
waiians, which, by the increased value of the estate, is well assured to
last as long as the native race. Lunalilo took pride in being “ the peo-
ple’s king ” and his tomb is among the graves of the people, according
to his dying request, in Kawaiahao churchyard.
ELECTION OF KALAKAUA.
As Lunalilo, like the previous king, had died without naming his
successor, the legislature once more had to elect a sovereign. It was
but two days before the king’s death that a new legislature had been
elected. Queen Dowager Emma and Col. David Kalakaua were the
candidates for the throne. Kalakaua was the American candidate,
owing to Emma’s close affinity to the English. There was no popular
164
vote taken this time, but mass meetings and printed circulars made the
rival campaigns warm. On February 12 the legislature met in the court-
house (later occupied by H. Hackfeld &' Co.) and elected Kalakaua by
thirty-nine votes to only six for Queen Emma. Forthwith Queen Emma’s
supporters, who had been swarming around the courthouse during the
election, engaged in fierce rioting. Breaking into the building from the
rear they began smashing the furniture and tossing the lawbooks out
of the windows. They assailed the members of the legislature with
clubs. Representative Lonoaea of Wailuku received an injury from
which he died. The police were inadequate to the emergency and the
volunteer troops were factionally divided, 'so that the government was
constrained to seek foreign assistance. On application to the American
and British representatives, 150 marines were landed from the United
States ships Tuscarora and Portsmouth, together with a force from
the British ship Tenedos. These troops dispersed the rioters and guard-
ed the building for eight days. Kalakaua took the oath of office and was
proclaimed king on February 13, 1874, his younger brother, Prince Will-
iam Pitt Leleiohoku, the next day being proclamed heir apparent. Le-
leiohoku died April 10, 1877, whereupon the king’s sister, Lydia Kama-
kaeha Liliuokalani, was proclaimed as heir. (She was married to an
American named John O. Dominis, who died while she was queen.)
Kalakaua, born November 16, 1836, was descended from chiefs famous
in the counsels of Kamehameha I. On December 19, 1863, he married
Kapiolani, a grand-daughter of Kaumualii, the last king of Kauai. His
first cabinet consisted of William Lothian Green (author of “ Vestiges
of the Molten. Globe ”), H. A. Widemann, P. Nahaolelua and A. S.
Hartwell (now a second time in his Hawaiian career a justice of the
Supreme Court, his present commission being from President Roose-
velt). On the invitation of the United States government the king left
on November 17, 1874, for a visit to the United States, and, after being
King Kalak aua
Queen Kapiolani (Wife of Kalakaua)
I
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
165
well received in a tour of the northern states, returned on February 15,
1875. One of his party on that trip was H. A. Peirce, the United States
Minister. ■ It was largely due to this visit of the king that the long-
desired reciprocity treaty with the United States came into effect in
September, 1876. lliis compact immensely stimulated Hawaiian de-
velopment. Under it the sugar industry became the dominating mate-
rial interest of the islands. The treaty also made American influence
paramount in all the affairs of the kingdom, riveting the white man’s
control of everything. (The Pearl Harbor clause was inserted in a
renewal of the treaty.) With the growth of the sugar industry came a
demand for agricultural labor which, though fed by the importation
of people of many races ever since, is still in this year, 1906, unsatiated.
This demand formed a principal reason for a trip around the world on
which the king embarked January 20, 1881, accompanied by his cham-
berlain, C. H. Judd, and W. N. Armstrong as commissioner of immi-
gration. Touching first at California the royal expedition went thence
to Japan, and from there by way of Siam, India and Egypt to the Euro-
peon capitals, returning by way of Washington and arriving home on
October 29, 1881. Received with royal honors by the heads of king-
doms and republics the king had a splendid reception on his return. lo-
lani Palace (now the executive building or capitol) was completed in
1883 at a cost of $340,000. Soon after Kalakaua’s return his reign
began to breed disappointment and most with the foreign party that was
chiefly responsible in elevating him to the throne. He had an extrav-
agant coronation ceremony, for the needless pomp of investing himself
and the queen with crowns, in the year 1883. He became an active poli-
tician to promote a policy of giving himself absolute prerogative. To
this end he crowded the legislature with office-holders. Though a small
band of white men managed to obtain election as representatives and
there were among the life nobles a goodly representation of white busi-
166
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ness men, for the three sessions of 1882, 1884 and 1886 particularly
there was necessary a desperate and not always successful struggle to
prevent the passage of dangerous and unwholesome legislation of royal
promotion. In 1886 a deluge of enactments inimical to the country’s
welfare carried. There was an absurdly extravagant vote of money to
celebrate the king’s jubilee birthday that year, and when the celebration
came it was marked with many features suggestive of downright reac-
tion toward barbarism. A ten-million dollar loan enabling act was
passed. An act to charter a lottery company was another of the king’s
measures, while an act to license the importation and sale of opium —
theretofore prohibited for the protection of the natives — paved the way
for the king’s perpetration of one of the crowning blunders of a series
that led to a sudden check upon his aspirations for absolutism. When
the opium bill became law the king received $80,000 from a wealthy
Chinese rice planter as consideration for granting him the opium license
monopoly, yet while retaining the money the king had the license issued
to another rich Chinese resident. On top of all these things came the
king’s attempts to realize the wild dream of becoming the Emperor of
the Pacific. In 1883 he had started this policy overtly by sending two
commissioners to the Gilbert and the New Hebrides groups with a view
to establishing Hawaiian protectorates over those as yet independent
domains. Then in 1886 he impelled a docile cabinet, authorized by a
servile majority of the legislature, to purchase for $20,000 an old aux-
iliary steam schooner from an Englishman, a South Sea copra factor,
and have it changed to a bark-rig and outfitted at great expense as a
naval vessel. Its name was changed from the Explorer to the Kaimiloa,
a retired British captain was transferred from superintendency of the
Reform School to be its commander, a native Hawaiian was made lieu-
tenant and, with the complement of officers filled with favorites, the
boys of the Reform School were shipped as cadets. Altogether the pur-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
167
chase and outfitting of this naval freak cost nearly $100,000. John E.
Bush, an educated part-Hawaiian member of the House of Nobles, who
had been a cabinet minister, was commissioned late in 1886 as minister
plenipotentiary to the kings of Samoa and Tonga, also high commissioner
to the potentates and tribes of other islands of Polynesia. Mr. Bush ar-
rived in Samoa in January, 1887. The Kaimiloa with its motley com-
pany and ship’s stores largely composed of spirituous liquors followed in
March. Though the minister negotiated an alliance between Hawaii and
Samoa it came to nothing. German interests were weighty in Samoa and
the representatives of Germany there, with backing of naval force as
they had, produced an effective chill upon Hawaiian imperial enter-
prise. Moreover, the Kaimiloa’s company promoted scandal and the
combined diplomatic and naval contingent was recalled in July. A storm
was then about to break at home. From the beginning of 1887, if not
earlier, a secret league was being organized by white residents to bring
about good government by peaceful means if possible but otherwise by
force, as the terms of the oath to members in substance ran. The Hono-
lulu Rifles, a small battalion of foreign volunteers, was worked up to
highest attainable efficiency and, in due time, its members were ad-
mitted to knowledge of what was expected of them. Arms and ammuni-
tion were imported by hardware. dealers and purchased by members of
the league as private investments. All being in readiness a mass meet-
ing of friends of good government assembled, pursuant to public call,
on June 30, 1887, in the Honolulu Rifles’ armory in Beretania street.
There was a large concourse there, composed of nearly all the business,
professional and industrial white men of Honolulu. By some curious
fate an order was given by the adjutant of the king’s staff, who was also
the attorney general, to the Honolulu Rifles to assemble at the armory
for the protection of the meeting. The premier, Walter Murray Gibson,
regarded the popular foreign movement until nearly the last as a mere
168
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
breeze of excitement that would die away in empty talk. Impassioned
speeches, denouncing the course of affairs for years past and demand-
ing immediate reformation, were delivered amidst ringing applause.
The mild suggestion of a prominent merchant, that things would ulti-
mately be mended if the agitators waited a while, was met with a voice,
“ We have waited four years already,” which was greeted with a thun-
der of approval. Resolutions were passed by acclamation embodying
an address to the king, which requested the immediate dismissal of his
cabinet, the abrogation of certain obnoxious measures and a new con-
stitution. Though four hundred armed men were behind the eight-foot
concrete wall around the palace grounds to guard his person, the king
returned an answer to the meeting before it dispersed saying that the
requests would be granted. It is known that the American and British
diplomatic representatives, respectively George W. Merrill and James
H. Wodehouse, had intimated to Kalakaua that they deemed it essen-
tial on his part to concede government reforms such as those requested.
On the night following the mass meeting the revolutionists placed the
city practically under martial law. They set a guard over the house
of the premier opposite the palace, and a day or two later they led Mr.
Gibson a prisoner to a warehouse on the waterfront and deported him
in a sailing vessel to San Francisco. The king dismissed his ministers
and appointed nominees of the league in their places, the reform cabinet
consisting of L. A. Thurston, Wm. Lothian Green, Godfrey Brown and
C. W. Ashford. On July 7 the king signed a constitution as presented
to him by the revolutionists. This instrument was a revision of the
constitution of 1864. It substituted an elective for the appointive House
of Nobles, the electors therefor to be males of legal age, of Hawaiian or
European birth or descent, each possessing real estate of the value of
$1,000 or receiving an annual income of not less than $600. Aliens of
European race were also accorded the manhood suffrage to vote for
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
169
members of the House of Representatives. The cabinet was not to be
dismissed excepting upon a vote of want of confidence by the legisla-
ture. This was called the “ bayonet constitution ” by supporters of the
palace party. Robert W. Wilcox, who had received a military educa-
tion in Italy under the regular legislative appropriation for the “ educa-
tion of Hawaiian youths abroad,” drilled a native force at nights on the
premises of the heir apparent at Palama, and early in the morning of
July 30, 1889, marched his command into town and, without opposition
from the household troops but rather with some connivance on their part,
occupied lolani Palace grounds. Tliere were only about eighty in-
surgents from the outside, but the king’s soldiers let them have the bat-
tery of field pieces, and malcontents joining the drilled rebels
at the entry swelled the insurgent force to about 200. For
some time the white volunteers (Honolulu Rifles) had been
in a dormant condition, but by nine o’clock two small com-
panies were mustered under arms and sent to positions near the pal-
ace. Citizens having rifles from the 1887 affair also hurried to buildings
commanding the palace yard, at that time surrounded by an eight-foot
concrete wall and having strong gates with barbette defenses. Kalakaua
had fled to his boathouse near the mouth of the harbor, refusing to return
to the palace and proclaim a new constitution, as the insurgents desired.
On being given the alarm of the seizure of the palace grounds at the
outset, the cabinet ministers promptly took steps for keeping the city’s
peace as well as for quelling the insurrection. About ten o’clock a sharp
exchange of rifle shots between the palace and the Opera House oppo-
site — ^as to which side fired the opening shot there was some dispute
afterward — was followed by the roar of a field piece. It was a poor aim
and the charge of grapeshot went over the Opera House and splashed
into the harbor. Another pull on the lanyard and a round shot went
through the front brick wall of that building and lodged in the wood-
170
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
work close to the stage. Very soon the artillerists were driven to cover,
one or two of them receiving wounds, and the battle then became one
of desultory rifle fire. A body of rebels had been posted in the govern-
ment building grounds, on the same side of King street as the Opera
House. These from behind trees menaced a company of volunteers
marching to position, but did not dare to fire and were soon dispersed
by sharp-shooters posted in various buildings. By noon any rebel show-
ing himself in the palace enclosure instantly became a mark for a score
of riflemen. Many of the insurgents escaped or surrendered, and the
occasional sight of a bleeding prisoner, led through the streets to the po-
lice station, tended to overawe crowds of sympathizers outside who evi-
dently were awaiting an opportune moment for taking a hand in the
attempted revolution. The palace itself was not occupied by Wilcox’s
men. About sunset a terrific rifle fire was concentrated upon the bunga-
low — a private residence of the king Avithin the grounds — whither
Wilcox and his men had taken refuge. Then, as the short tropical twi-
light was rapidly waning, two loud explosions in quick succession oc-
curred at the bungalow. Rough bombs of dynamite and scrap iron had
been hurled upon the building by the champion baseball thrower of the
town. A white sheet was immediately displayed from the inside and the
revolutionists surrendered. Seven of the rebels had been killed and
many wounded. Wilcox and a crowd of his followers were tried for
treason. Race juries then existed and the defendants were promptly
acquitted by their countrymen. It was not altogether a partisan verdict,
though, for the evidence implicated the king in the uprising and the
court instructed the jury, substantially, that treason being an offense
against the king it could not have been committed in acts wherein the
king had assisted. Kalakaua, having failed in health, left for California
in the U. S. cruiser Charleston, as the guest of Rear Admiral George
Brown, in November, 1890. He was received with great hospitality
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
171
in San Francisco and in Southern California, but the apparently good
effects of the voyage did not last. Kalakaua died at the Palace Hotel,
San Francisco, on January 20, 1891. There was no cable communica-
tion then and the first intimation of the king’s death in Honolulu was
transmitted from the Diamond Head marine signal station, when, on the
morning of January 29, the Charleston appeared in the offing with
crossed yards and flags at halfmast, bringing home the body.
172
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
" ■ THE LAST SOVEREIGN.
Liliuokalani, who had been regent since her brother’s departure,
took the oath to the constitution the same day and was proclaimed queen.
Notwithstanding the provision in the constitution that a cabinet could
not be dismissed excepting upon a legislative vote of want of con-
fidence, the queen claimed the right to appoint ministers of her own
choice and the Supreme Court sustained her claim. The court adopted
old English precedents in its decision, paying no heed to the citation of
the latest English authorities showing that these precedents were obso-
lete. At the death of Queen Victoria these authorities proved to be
correct. Princess Victoria Kaiulani, niece of the queen, was proclaimed
heir apparent. (She was the daughter of Archibald S. Cleghorn and
Princess Likelike, born October i6, 1875, and died March 6, 1899.)
Liliuokalani had a short and politically troubled reign, ended by the col-
lapse of the monarchy. In May, 1892, Robert Wilcox, V. V. Ashford
(military leader of the 1887 revolution), John E. Bush and others were
arrested for conspiracy to establish a republic. They were not punished.
The legislature of 1892 was in session for eight months, its duration be-
ing marked by almost constant intrigue and battle for control of the
government. There were three distinct parties, of which any two were
always ready to unite in turning a ministry out, but none of them could
frame a cabinet that either the queen or a majority of the legislature
would accept. Four changes of ministry took place beforedhe end came.
Such a situation gave a pretext for regarding the constitution of 1887
as a failure. Accordingly a new constitution was secretly drafted, which
gave the sovereign back the power of appointing the members of the
Gov. Jokn O. Dominis (Consort of Queen Liliuokalani)
Princess Likeliki
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 1^3
upper house, also power over the Supreme Court as well as the cabiniet
through independent appointment and dismissal, and which took away
the elective franchise given to aliens by the instrument of 1887.
the last week of the session a bill granting a franchise to establish a
lotteiy was passed, also an act to license the importation and sale of
opium. On January 12, 1893, ^ vote of want of confidence in a min-
istry appointed on November 8 was carried and the queen appointed a
cabinet pledged to a new constitution. Only a few days previously the
queen had expressed to an intimate friend, a member of the Privy Coun-
cil of State, her assent to his advice that “ the only way to alter the con-
stitution was through the means provided in the constitution.” The
same adviser was visited at night by a strong deputation of politicians,
who tried to persuade him to give contrary advice to the queen. Ar-
rangements were made to have the new constitution proclaimed on Jan-
uary 14, directly after the prorogation of the legislature. The troops
were assembled at the palace, also a large crowd of sympathizers with
the intended revolution, but at the critical juncture the cabinet weak-
ened. Its members refused to sign the new constitution and one or two
of them took counsel with leading citizens in the emergency. After a
warm conference with her cabinet, the queen came out upon the palace
balcony and addressed the people, expressing regret that the promulga-
tion of the new constitution had to be postponed. An informal meet-
ing of residents was held in a law office down town, at which a com-
mittee of safety was appointed. The committee prepared the papers for
establishing a provisional government, and its action was ratified by a
mass meeting on the afternoon of the i6th. An appeal to U. S. Minister
Stevens for assistance to the movement, in the guise of protection to
American interests, resulted in the landing of a force from the cruiser
Boston on the evening of that day. The following day, Tuesday, Jan-
uary 17, 1893, a provisional government was proclaimed in front of the
174 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
government building. Judge Sanford B. Dole, who resigned from the
Supreme Court to accept the position, was declared as the president.
There was an executive council of four members and an advisory council
of fourteen with legislative powers. The proclamation pronounced the
abrogation of the monarchy and the accession of the provisional gov-
ernment to continue in authority until terms of imion with the United
States had been negotiated and agreed upon. The queen surrendered
her authority under protest, referring to the superior force of the United
States, and appealed to the government of the United States for rein-
statement. Five commissioners left on January 19 in the steamer
Claudine for San Francisco to negotiate a treaty of annexation in Wash-
ington. They were favorably received by President Harrison and a
treaty was signed on February 14 and transmitted to the Senate on the
17th. It was not acted upon and on March 9 President Qeveland with-
drew it. Two days later the President dispatched Col. James H. Blount
of Georgia as his special commissioner to investigate the situation in the
Hawaiian Islands. Blount’s authority was in terms “ paramount,” so
that on his arrival he superseded Minister Stevens as the United States
representative. He arrived on March 29 and on April i abrogated a
protectorate that Stevens had established on February i, having the
Stars and Stripes lowered from the Government building with military
ceremony as when it was raised. On the basis of a report made by
Blount, to the effect that the queen was deposed through the interference
of United States troops, the President commissioned Albert S. Willis of
Kentucky as Minister to the Hawaiian Islands, with instructions to re-
store the queen if she would promise to grant a full amnesty to the rev-
olutionists. At first the queen rejected the condition, but finding it abso-
lute, agreed to the amnesty. Willis on December 19, 1893, made a
formal demand on the provisional government to surrender its authority
to Queen Liliuokalani. President Dole on the 23rd sent a reply to
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 175
Minister Willis, refusing to comply with the demand. No attempt to
enforce the demand was made. A constitutional convention met on
May 30, 1894, completing its work on July 3, the result being the in-
auguration of the Republic of Hawaii on July 4, with Mr. Dole as its
first president. The first election under the Republic was held October
29 following, the great mass of the native electorate taking no part in
it. An attempt at a counter revolution took shape in an outbreak on
Sunday, January 6, 1895. A cargo of arms and ammunition had been
landed the previous month near Diamond Head. The police had foiled a
distribution of arms at Kakaako beach the Thursday night prior to the
Sunday mentioned, so that the authorities were not taken altogether by
surprise. On the Sunday evening a squad of police sent to search for
arms exchanged shots with a body of royalists assembled at their Dia-
mond Head rendezvous under the command of Robert Wilcox and Ma-
jor Sam. Nowlein. Charles L. Carter, a young lawyer and member of
one of the oldest American families of Honolulu, who rushed into the
fray with the police, was struck by a rebel bullet from which he died
that night. Two native policemen were wounded. Martial law was de-
clared and the town was well guarded over night by the military and the
citizens’ guard. Next day regular operations for quelling the insurrec-
tion began. There was some skirmishing from day to day, the in-
surgents being kept on the run in the mountains. In one affair forty
rebels were captured, and in another one was killed and three were
taken prisoners. Nowlein and three of his lieutenants were seized at
Moiliili, while Wilcox through an acquaintance gave himself up in a
fisherman’s hut at Kalihi, all on the 14th. Many suspected persons in
town were arrested, including the former queen, under whose house
some old firearms and bombs were discovered. Eight days after her
arrest, she being confined in her former palace, Liliuokalani formally
renounced her claim to the throne and implored amnesty for the insur-
176 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
rectionists. Of 190 persons tried by court martial, 90 pleaded guilty.
A number were sentenced to death and others to life and lesser terms
of imprisonment. Heavy fines were also imposed but only one, that of
$5,000 upon John A. Cummins, a part Hawaiian who had been long in
public life, was ever paid. Liliuokalani and 48 others were paroled on
September 7 and on the following New Year’s Day all the remaining
prisoners were released. None had been executed.
When President McKinley took office negotiations for annexation
were resumed. A new treaty was signed on June 16, 1897. It was rat-
ified by the Hawaiian Senate, but never pressed in the United States
Senate. When the Spanish-American war broke out, the government of
the Republic of Hawaii tendered the freedom of the islands to the
United States for military purposes. A joint resolution of the Congress
of the United States, annexing the islands, passed the House of Repre-
sentatives by a vote of 209 to 91, and the Senate by 42 to 21, and was
signed by President McKinley on July 7, 1898. The formal transfer of
sovereignty was made on August 12, 1898, the Hawaiian ensign coming
down and the star spangled banner going up over the former palace.
Admiral Miller, U. S. N., was master of ceremonies. By an Act of
Congress, passed in April, 1900, the Territory of Hawaii was created.
Sanford B. Dole was appointed as the first governor. Under annexation
the development and progress of the Hawaiian Islands have made rapid
strides.
iki t
PuncK Bowl and tKe Executive Building — Honolulu
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 17 t
THE COMMERCE OF HAWAII.
Although the archipelago constituting the territory of Hawaii is a
land of romance and physical wonders, considered from the cold stand-
point of dollars and cents and actual productiveness, its chief value has
consisted in its capacity as a source of the sugar supply of the world.
How that item preponderates over all others is evident from the official
figures for the year ending June 30, 1905, which embrace the chief arti-
cles of export to foreign countries and non-contiguous territory:
r
Exports. Pounds. Value.
Sugar, raw 811,603,329 $33,946,040
Sugar, refined 21,118,308 1,166,108
Coffee, raw 1,543,362 186,583
Rice . . .) i. .,. 2,774,183 84', 518
Fruits and nuts . . . ., 194,826
Honey .... .1 22,264
Hides 899,963 84,092
Wool, raw ., 423^114 53^558
Other .... 388,808
Total I $36,126,797
The above table includes only the domestic merchandise exported;
when to this is added the exports of foreign merchandise, the total is
$36,174,526. The total imports of the district of Hawaii for the fiscal
year 1905 were valued at $14,718,483, making the foreign commerce
of the territory, $50,893,009.
After the preponderance of sugar as an article of commerce, the
most striking feature in the trade of Hawaii is the supremacy of the
United States as her market of supply for food products and manufac-
tures. For the year named, the shipments from the mainland of the
178 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
United States were valued at $11,703,519, and of this amount the fol-
lowing items were of domestic origin :
Domestic Articles. Value.
Animals $ 93,146
Animal food (hay, grain, etc.) 1,044,642
Breadstuffs 645,818
Cotton and manufactures of. 1,020,125
Chemicals 202,436
Fertilizers 644,491
Fish 241,046
Fruits and nuts 173,492
Iron and steel, manufactures of . 1,453,160
Jewelry 182,477
Leather and manufactures of .1 336,460
Oil 995.751
Paper and manufactures of. .,. . .,. . 168,988
Provisions (meat and dairy products) 547,162
Rice / |. 143,142
Sugar and molasses 110,005
Spirts, wines and malt liquors. 468,179
Soap 103,178
Tobacco, manufactures of • 522,945
Vegetables .1 202,4^
Wood and manufactures of 589,^4
Wool, manufactures of 183,584
All other articles 1,529,503
' Total , .i. . .$11,602,080
Hawaii’s total commerce with other countries than the United
States was as follows:
Countries. , Imports. Exports.
Great Britain $ 305,879 $ 810
British colonies . .1. 544,679 22,661
Germany 544,534 L324
Hongkong 174,129 9,016
Japan 962,651 21,909
Chile 448,278 .....
France 14,967 .....
Other countries 19,847 3,821
Totals $3,014,964 $59,541
tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
I
179
In other words, of the $50,893,009, which represents the commerce
of Hawaii, all but $3,974,505 represents transactions with the United
States. This trade was also largely carried on by American vessels, for
out of the total tonnage of 973,279 that of the United States amounted
to 800,287. The British tonnage amounted to 135,624.
As compared with the fiscal year 1904, the figures show a decrease
in round numbers of $1,000,000 in the value of the imports; they also
show an increase of $11,000,000 in the value of the exports, making a
net gain of $12,000,000 in the territory’s trade balance for the year.
From foreign countries the imports decreased $780,000, Great Britain,
the British colonies, and Japan all showing smaller shipments to Hawaii,
while the German trade gained considerably. These changes also affect
foreign transportation, there being a corresponding decline in the British
and Japanese tonnage entering Hawaiian ports. In Hawaii’s trade with
the mainland there has been a decrease of $280,000, in the value of goods
imported; on the other hand, the value of the exports to the mainland
has gained by nearly $11,000,000 — from $25,133,533 up to $36,114,-
985 — nearly the whole of which can be attributed to the higher price
paid for sugar.
In the 1904 fiscal year the quantity of sugar exported was 736,-
491,992 pounds, worth $24,359,385, an average of 3.30 cents per pound.
For the 1905 fiscal year the quantity of sugar exported amounted to
832,721,287 pounds, worth $35,112,127. The average price of the
raw sugar exported last year was 4.187 cents per pound, an increase of
0.887 cent over the previous year. But in the last year’s sugar trade
there were also shipped to San Francisco 21,118,058 pounds of refined
sugar, worth $1,166,091, an average of 5.52 cents per pound. This was
an export price of 1.333 cents per pound higher than the export price of
the raw sugar.
While there was very little difference in the quantity and value of
180 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
coffee shipped to the mainland in 1904 and 1905, the quantity of rice
exported increased from 39,911 pounds in 1904 up to 2,771,083 pounds
in the latter year. The value of the fruit exported last year showed a
gain of $66,000, and of honey, $7,600. There has been a falling off in
the quantity of hides, partially due, no doubt, to the establishment of
the tannery in Honolulu, but at the same time the value of hides has in-
creased.
Hanmi's First Foreign Trade . — Despite the fact that King Sugar
and the United States seem now to be pre-eminent features of the com-
merce of Hawaii, the story of its trade with foreign parts is a series of
striking moving pictures. The fragrance of the delicate sandalwood
hovers around its origin, and although from the latter part of the
eighteenth century until 1843 about a million dollars’ worth had been
exported by the various chiefs of the islands, it is said that, in weight,
only about 133 pounds had left their shores for Canton and other cities
of the Asiatic mainland. So highly valued was the wood by the royalty
of Asia and Europe that, in the early part of the nineteenth century,
King Kamehameha I personally engaged in the traffic, like any modem
captain of industry. In his royal canoe, seventy-five feet in length,
manned by one hundred brawny natives, he would shoot out into the
harbor of Honolulu, and, with sword in hand, draw alongside the trad-
ing vessels awaiting him. At that time he was the only pilot in the
harbor and a very important person.
From the proceeds of the sandalwood trade the king and his sub-
chiefs were able to dress in imported silks and velvets, and eat from cut
glass and fine china. Kamehameha bought vessels for his fleet, armed
them with cannon, and visited Europe as a haughty potentate of the
Pacific isles. But one thing was lacking ; even in his day he craved a
monopoly of the trade, and for that purpose determined to deal directly
with the buyers of sandalwood and eschew the services of the traders,
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
I
181
or middlemen. So he sent a vessel to Canton loaded with the precious
stuff; but it was manned and commanded by designing whites, who were
opposed to this royal interference, and when they brought his vessel
again to Honolulu they presented the king, as the proceeds of the vent-
ure, a bill of $3,000 for wharfage and harbor fees and pilot charges
abroad. Although the principal lost on his sandalwood, the experience
set him to thinking, and for some years thereafter he charged all trad-
ers $6o for an anchorage in the outer harbor, $8o for one in the inner
and a pilot fee of $i per foot draft. These fees stood until the visit
of Lord Byron, in 1825, who came in command of H. M. S. “Blondo,”
bearing the remains of King Liloliho and his queen, who had died dur-
ing their visit to England.
Beginning of Sugar Production mid Exportation . — Captain Cook
found sugar cane in the Hawaiian islands in 1777, and for many years it
was eaten at home and shipped abroad, in that form. In 1803 a China-
man is said to have raised a crop, and ground some of it in a stone mill,
and in 1817 a Spaniard named Manini made rholasses from the cane, and
two years later, sugar. In 1823 an Italian by the name of Lavinia made
sugar in Honolulu by pounding the cane with stone beaters on boards,
and boiling the juice in a small copper kettle. Others experimented, and
by 1828 sufficient sugar and molasses was produced for local consump-
tion. In the late twenties an Englishman started a sugar cane plantation
of 100 acres in Manoa valley, Honolulu, and as the enterprise threat-
ened to be a failure under ordinary conditions. Governor Boki, under
whose patronage it originated, attempted to make rum from the prod-
uct; but his attempt to establish the new industry was vetoed by Queen
Kaahumanu.
The first attempt to produce sugar on a large scale was by Ladd &
Co., in 1835, to whom land was granted by the government for the pur-
pose at Koloa, Kauai. The first mill was a wooden one, an iron one
182
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
being substituted in 1837. At that time there were about twenty-two
mills in operation in the islands, twenty being propelled by animal pow-
er and two by water.
Birth of the Export Trade . — In the early forties sugar com-
menced to be exported in small quantities, and by 1843 the outgo had
reached 500 tons. This amount diminished in later years, while the ex-
ports of molasses and syrup increased. In 1851 the exports of the
three products of the cane were as follows: Sugar, 162 tons; molasses,
32,000 gallons; syrup, 94,000 gallons. The price of sugar was usually
very high during these early years, reaching twenty cents a pound dur-
ing the period of excitement and stimulation caused by the gold discov-
eries of the California coast.
The rush of gold seekers to California and of farmers to Oregon,
in the late forties and early fifties, was a great stimulant to the export
trade of Hawaii. The first shipment of coffee had been sent out as
early as 1845, in 1849, l^he year of the Discovery, 158 barrels of
beef were exported. In 1855 flour was added to the list. The cultiva-
tion of rice, which for many years has been a leading article of export,
was begun in the vicinity of Honolulu in 1858, the Chinese immigrants,
naturally transporting this industry from the Flowery Land.
Rise and Fall of the Whaling Industry . — Fifty years ago, when
the sandalwood supply had been exhausted and the export trade of sugar
was yet in its weak infancy, Honolulu was the great entrepot for all the
whalers of the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Their harvest was taken dur-
ing the six months of the year when they were cruising in the Arctic
ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk. Then with vessels loaded with oil to the
gunwales they would make Honolulu to “patch up,” tranship to the
United States or Europe, receive their money from commercial agents,
“stock up” and have a general jollification ashore.
Those were flush and joyous times for Honolulu. These jolly and
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
183
generous master mariners were expected to make the port twice a year,
and the home merchants filled their stores and warehouses to overflowing
in anticipation of their coming. The captains and mates generally lived
ashore during their stay, and happy the families that could secure
them as boarders; for not only would the prosperous and whole-souled
men fill the pockets of the merchants in exchange for regtilar purchases,
but they would fill the households which were their temporary homes
with gold coins, rare trinkets, and pretty cloth for dresses. During
these periodical visits of the whaling mariners every form of amuse-
ment which could be devised was presented, and upon several occasions
minstrels, theatrical troupes and circuses were brought from the Pa-
cific coast to Honolulu by enterprising Yankee sea captains, for the
profitable entertainment of the visitors. It should be stated that these
whalers also brought to Honolulu the first Japanese art goods and the
dainty silks' of China.
The first whaler entered the beautiful harbor in 1820, but the height
of the industry was a few years before the Civil war, when sometimes
as many as two hundred vessels would be jammed and grinding together
at one anchorage. In 1859 the number of whalers touching at the vari-
ous island ports was 549, some of which flew the Hawaiian flag. The
highest point in the transhipment of oil and bone was from 1851 to
1859, w'hen the amount of oil collected reached more than 3,000,000
gallons per season, and whalebone was exported to the extent of 7,000
tons.
The decline of the industry dates from the raids upon the whalers
by Confederate privateers during the Civil war. It is true that with
oil at $1.65 a gallon and whalebone at $2.40 a pound, fortunes were
often made in a single voyage by the fortunate captains who made port ;
but the climax of the misfortunes which overtook so many was reached
at the close of the war when the Confederate steamer “Shenandoah” de-
184
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
stmyed a considerable portion of the Arctic fleet. These vessels were
never rebuilt. It was the death-blow to the whalers which frequented
Honolulu. Ten years ago the visitors had dwindled to five, and now
they are so rare as to be a curiosity.
General Commercial Development . — From 1847 the whalers had
been given free anchorage, and in 1854 Honolulu was made a free port
for merchant vessels. A steam tug was now installed to tow vessels
through the harbor entrance, dredging was commenced to deepen the
channels, and altogether the prospects were quite metropolitan. At this
time the whaling industry was rapidly growing, while that of sugar was
about stationary, but cut no real figure either as an industry or a trade
feature. On account of the diffiailty of irrigation, the cultivation of
the cane was uncertain and the mechanisms employed in the manufac-
turing processes were of the crudest character. Until the invention of
the centrifugal in 1851, all sugar had been manufactured by draining
the molasses through brush placed in the bottom of boxes, the residue
being usually dark and soggy. The centrifugal insured a dryer article,
but failure to irrigate and raise the cane brought the industry to a very,
low ebb in the late fifties. In 1857 there were only five plantations in
the Hawaiian islands — Koloa and Lihue, on Kauai; East Maui and
Brewer’s, on Maui, and Aiko’s, at Hilo, Hawaii.
As the Civil war marked the death of the whaling industry, so it
gave the first impetus to the sugar trade. Notwithstanding the adop-
tion of the centrifugal and a general improvement in manufacturing ma-
chinery, the sugar cane was still cultivated under great difficulties. The
land chiefly available for that purpose is on the foothills and along the
sea shore. Water from the mountain streams had been used for irriga-
tion from time immemorial, but it often happened that the choicest lands
were far away from such supplies, and, on account of the rough condi-
tion of the country — ^broken by mountains and deep gorges — it was dif-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
186
ficult and expensive to dig ditches. So that by 1859, after the home de-
mand for sugar had been met, only 913 tons were available for export,
and in i860 the amount had dropped to 722 tons. But with the out-
break of the Civil war and the cessation of the supply from the Southern
States, all was changed. Prices went up, and the exports from Hawaii
increased from 1,283 in 1861 to 8,869 tons in 1866.
By the latter part of 1861 the number of plantations had increased
to twenty-two, new and improved machinery was everywhere intro-
duced and a sugar refinery was established in Honolulu.
After the war came a reaction. Labor was scarce and its importa-
tion expensive; interest and selling commissions were exorbitant, and,
to cap the commercial discouragements of Hawaii, the import duties
adopted by the United States to protect home industries virtually
barred out Hawaiian sugar. The only hope for the sugar trade and
commerce generally was reciprocity with America, and with this accom-
plished, in 1876, her substantial standing as a producer and exporter
was assured. The reciprocity treaty of that year marks the second
stage in the development of that industry and the general commerce
of Hawaii.
In 1875 the export of sugar was 12,540 tons, and represented the
largest crop produced in the islands up to that time. The plantations were
as follows : On the island of Hawaii — Spencer’s, Kaupakuea, Onomea,
Hilo and Kohala; on the island of Maui, Lahaina, Wai Luku, E. Bailey,
Waikapu, Waihee, Grove Ranch, East Maui, Haiku, Paia and Hana;
on the island of Oahu, the Waialua plantation under the ownership of
Levy Chamberlain, and Kaneohe; on Kauai, the Koloa, Lihue and
Princeville plantations. During this banner sugar year prices ranged
from 7^ to 7^ cents per pound.
By the end of the fiscal year 1877 jt was possible to make a general
comparison with 1875 and note the splendid effects of reciprocity upon
186
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
the commerce of the islands as a whole. In 1875 the imports had been
$1,505,670 and in 1877 they were $2,554,356; exports, $2,980,736 in
1875, and $3,676,203 two years thereafter.
In the late seventies the first artesian wells were bored at Honouliuli
and Honolulu, and this was followed by the discovery of other under-
ground supplies in other parts of the territory. There are now be-
tween 400 and 500 artesian wells in Hawaii, averaging 600 feet in depth,
and these, with various impounding reservoirs, flumes and ditches, con-
stitute the basis of irrigation and the water supply of the cities and
towns. Most of the plantations have pumping stations and reservoirs,
there being a large increase in these facilities within the past decade.
It is estimated that these reservoirs have an approximate capacity of
8,000,000,000 gallons.
The total exports from Honolulu in 1890 amounted in value to
$9,784,434, in comparison with a total export from all Hawaiian ports
of less than $5,000,000 in 1880, while imports to the amount of $6,962,-
201 were passed through the customs house. Among the exports were
129,899 tons of sugar, 10,579,000 pounds of rice and 88,593 pounds of
coffee.
During the first five years of the closing decade of the past cen-
tury the export trade of the country fell off to a considerable extent, due
partially to the unsettled political conditions prevailing and the conse-
quent stringency in the local money market for local enterprises. From
1889 to 1895 the total exports dropped from $13,000,000 to $8,000,000,
while imports remained almost stationary around the $5,000,000 mark.
Coffee exports rose from 3,051 pounds in 1891 to 118,755 in 1895,
and pineapples, which figured among the exports for the first time in
’91, figured at 65,212 five years later.
A large increase in all lines came in 1896, the total exports jump-
ing to $15,515,230, nearly double the value of the previous year. Sugar
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ' 187
increased from 229,000,000 pounds to 443,000,000 pounds, and cofYee,
rice, bananas, hides and pineapples showed an equally gratifying in-
crease. Seven vessels were added to the fleet registered under the Ha-
waiian flag, which now totalled 59. This prosperity was reflected in
the growth of Honolulu and the expansion of the business establish-
ments of the city.
The sugar crop of 1897-8, the last before annexation, amounted to
229,000 tons. By 1901 it had reached 360,000 tons, and in 1903 it
was 437,991 tons, the largest crop up to date. Insect pests and cane
diseases have reduced the tonnage of subsequent crops, but these are
being overcome, and, if labor is available, the 500,000 ton mark will be
touched within a few years.
The effect of annexation was to establish confidence both in a stable
government and a stable market.. Some twenty new plantations were
started, and the old ones expanded to their utmost. But although some
of the planters failed because their ambition far outran their capital, on
the whole they were on a solid foundation, and the sugar industry was
never on a better basis than at present. With the marked advance in
improved machinery, irrigation and scientific fertilization of the soil, its
substantial future is assured.
According to “The Pacific Commercial Advertiser,” there were
in 1905 fifty-five sugar plantations in the Hawaiian islands, divided as
follows: Hawaii, twenty-seven plantations, with a production of 126,-
000 tons; island of Oahu, nine, with a production of 113,000 tons; Maui,
eight, with a production of 101,000 tons, and Kauai, eleven, with a pro-
duction of 76,000 tons. On January i, 1906, there were 44,949 labor-
ers on the sugar plantations, and it is said there is a demand for several
thousand more.
Until recently the bulk of the Hawaiian sugar crop has been ex-
ported in a raw state. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to
188
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
establish refineries in Honolulu and in California, and in April, 1906,
the Hawaiian planters commenced the operation of a refining plant at
Crockett, San Francisco bay.
Live-Stock Products. — For more than sixty years hides, tallow,
goat skins and wool have been exported from Hawaii, although the wool
trade had not reached sufficient importance to be recorded in figures un-
til about 1853. Until the late seventies the exports of goat skins far
exceeded those of hides, and since that period there has been such a
falling off of the former that they are no longer enumerated as a sepa-
rate item. Hawaii has always been the great live-stock island. It is
estimated that the entire archipelago has 132,720 cattle, 90,750 sheep
and 19,694 horses, and of these numbers the island of Hawaii is cred-
ited with 74,283 cattle, 7,804 horses and 29,437 sheep. The largest
ranches are here, and the most important shipping point for cattle,
sheep, beef, mutton, wool and the products of stock generally is Ka-
waihae. An idea of the growth of this branch of the territorial com-
merce is given by the following table showing the exports of the several
items, mainly by decades :
Tallow, Goat Wool,
Years. Hides. Lbs. Skins Lbs.
1844-1853 20,540 73356 245,862 12,824
1860-1870 118,637 i»635,940 491,696 1,765,002
1870-18^ 209,082 3,294,036 565,497 4,068,131
18^3-1890 261,447 630,000 207,138 4,137,642
1890-1900 241,^0 338,698 71,078 2,560,785
In 1905 the exports of hides and skins amounted to 899,963 pounds,
and of wool, to 423,114.
Other Commercial Products. — It has been estimated that the Ha-
waiian islands have half a million acres which might be devoted to cof-
fee culture. Although coffee is already one of the main exports, the in-
dustry is comparatively small and is greatly handicapped by the fact
\
4
1
«
t
Avenue of Palms Princess Kam
Packing Pine Apples
Grass Hut
r»
'tHE’ HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
189
that Brazil, Mexico and Central America, the chief sources of supply
for the free American market, can produce the berry considerably cheap-
er than the coffee planters of Hawaii.
Pears, guava, bread fruit, apples, cherries, plums, dates, grape
fruit, mangoes, lemons, oranges, pineapples and bananas have all been
cultivated in the Hawaiian islands, but the only fruits which really prom-
ise to become valuable commercially are bananas, pineapples and pears.
The banana takes the lead,* the variety generally exported being the Chi-
nese. The raising of pineapples has become quite a thriving business,
some of the finest plantations lying between Honolulu and Waialua.
The Alligator pear is the most famous variety, and takes its name from
its general shape and its purple and green colors. Hilo and Lahaina
enjoy the reputation of having the finest orchards.
In 1905 Hawaii produced over 600 tons of honey and ten tons of
beeswax, which were exported to the mainland and London markets.
As bee plants are abundant, apiaries are rapidly increasing, their most
favorable location being along the coasts.
For the past seventy years various experiments have been made in
the cultivation of the silk worm, some of the early ones being under-
taken on quite an expensive scale. In 1844 nearly 200 pounds of raw
silk were exported, but the industry is now mostly confined to investi-
gations by the Hawaiian Experiment Station. It is believed by many
that there is a good field in Hawaii for the cultivation of the rubber in-
dustry, and also that the sisal plant, now virtually a Yucatan monopoly,
will be made commercially valuable as a successful fiber competitor with
the well known manila.
190 THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
GOVERNORS OF THE TERRITORY.
Sanford B. Dole and George R. Carter, who have served as gov-
ernors of Hawaii territory (the latter still in office), are both natives of
Honolulu, and able lawyers who received their professional education
in the United States. There they imbibed that American spirit of enter-
prise and progress which has prompted therm to steadfastly keep in mind
both the material development of Hawaii and the establishment and
maintenance of modern and stable forms of government. Judge Dole
is twenty years the senior of his successor to the governorship, and is con-
sidered one of the chief founders of the territory.
Sanford Ballard Dole was bom in Honolulu, H. T., on the 23d of
April, 1844. He studied law in Boston, was admitted to the bar in
1873, during the same year returned to Honolulu. He arrived dur-
ing that period of great unrest and uncertainty succeeding the election
of the consumptive Lunalilo to the throne, which was followed by the
inauguration of reciprocity dealings with the United States and the
revolution of the household guards. Within a year came the death of
the king, and the election of the stately and ambitious Kalakaua, with
the accompanying train of royal journeys abroad, attempted organiza-
tion of a royal navy and the foundation of a Pacific empire, all at the
expense of good home government. The residents of Honolulu and
Oahu were especially dissatisfied with the condition of affairs, and in
1887 organized a league for the promulgation of good government.
Judge Dole had already seved a term in the legislature (1884), and was
naturally one of the most prominent leaders in the proposed reforms.
Notwithstanding his well known attitude, he was popular with the
I
Pnnce Kalanianaole (Delegate to Congress, 1904-1906 )
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ' 191
conservatives, and in 1887 had been appointed associate judge of the
Supreme Court. He resigned that position, however, to accept the lead-
ership of the revolution, which was launched in that year, and, at the ex-
pense of some bloodshed, succeeded in forcing a fair constitution from
King Kalakaua. After his death in 1891, the republican movement
took rapid strides, and Judge Dole became the most prominent charac-
ter in the islands. Although Queen Liliukalani granted a new consti-
tution January 14, 1893, was so far from satisfactory that three days
afterward a provisional government was proclaimed with Judge Dole
as President. Then followed the journey of the Hawaiian commis-
sioners to Washington, the acceptance of their annexation proffer by
President Harrison, and its rejection by President Cleveland; the dis-
patch to Honolulu of Special Envoy Blount and U. S. Minister Harris,
and the refusal by Judge Dole to transfer the provisional government
into the hands of the latter. The matter was not pressed on the part
of the United States, the constitutional convention of Hawaii proclaimed
the republic on July 4, 1894, and the voters elected Mr. Dole to the pres-
idency in the following October. The natives generally refused to par-
ticipate in the election. In the meantime the revolution of the royalists
had been thwarted, and since then the government has been stable and
progressive, the chief events having been the new treaty with the United
States in 1897, annexation in 1898, and the creation of the territory in
1900, with Judge Dole as its first governor.
George R. Carter, present governor of Hawaii, was born in Hono-
lulu in the year 1866. He received his higher education at Phillips- An-
dover College and Yale University, and in 1891 was appointed Hawaiian
consul at Seattle, Wash. In 1896, after the promulgation of the re-
public, he returned to Honolulu, and in 1903 President Roosevelt ap-
pointed him to the governorship of the territory.
192
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
JOHN ADAMS CUMMINS.
One of the most interesting figures in the Hawaiian Islands and one
who has oftentimes been designated as a prince of entertainers and
the entertainer of princes is John Adams Cummins, the subject of this
sketch. His life history reads almost like a romance and the interesting
events that have transpired from the date of his birth in which he has
been intimately associated would fill a volume. It would be, however,
impossible in this brief sketch to give more than a mere outline of the
most interesting facts connected with his life. He is a native of Hono-
lulu, born in that city in 1834. His father was born in Lancashire,
England, in 1802; and shortly after his birth, in 1802, moved to Rox-
bury. Mass. He came to the islands in 1828, and for two years worked
for Piers and Hanwall, but deciding to enter business for himself he
returned to Boston and purchased a stock of ship chandlery, with which
he returned to the islands. He opened business on his own account in
the year 1832, and continued in it up to the year 1849, which period
his wife died. He was the first man to import fine breeds of cattle and
horses from England and America to the islands. He died in Honolulu
at the age of 83. At one time he was the owner of a number of whal-
ing vessels plying between the Arctic, Honolulu, and New York; he
also owned other vessels plying between Honolulu and Boston. He
owned the Waimanalo Plantation on Oahu. In 1849 he left the islands
and went abroad to settle up his estates there, and when he returned he
engaged in the stock business.
Mr. Cummins of this review attended the Royal Scliool of Honolulu
for one year, before that however he had attended the Charity School
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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 193
taught by a Mr. Johnston, afterwards taught by a Mr. Studson. The
Royal was taught by a Mr. Fuller. After finishing his education he
went on the ranch with his father, remaining there until 1855, when he
became the manager of the property. He remained there until 1878, at
which time he started the cultivation of sugar, continuing this until
1896, when he sold out his interest and retired from active pursuits. Mr.
Cummins can trace his lineage back to Kamehameha I. He was
a close friend of Kamehameha III, and the king’s sons were his school-
mates and comrades, all of whom are now dead. Several of the queens
were schoolmates of his. He was commissioner of the Paris Exposi-
tion in 1889, and he was also Minister of Foreign Affairs under King
Kalakaua. While his father lived he always disapproved of his allying
himself to royalty. He was married in 1863 to Miss Kahalewai of
Honolulu. Five children were born unto this union, the oldest being
Kaumakaokane, born August 28, 1863. The next was Piikea, born in
1864. The next was Kaimilani, born in 1867, now deceased. The next
was Thomas Pualii, born in 1869, and the last Aolani, born in 1874.
The mother died in 1902. Mr. Cummins was again married to Miss
Kapeka Mersburg on October 29, 1903, in Honolulu. He now resides
in a beautiful home on the corner of Alexander and Bingham streets.
Mr. Cummins educated all his children in the United States, and he has
traveled through the whole of Europe and America. His family are all
highly cultured and are most interesting in conversation, as they have all
traveled extensively. He always worked for the best interests of his
l^eople and of the islands, and the effect of his work has been far-reach-
ing. He was one of the intimate friends of King Kalakaua and when the
dead king’s remains were brought back to Honolulu he took entire
charge of the funeral, and conveyed him to his last resting place in the
Royal Mausoleum. During King Kalakaua’s reign he was Prime Min-
ister. While he was managing the ranch for his father he took an active
194
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
interest in introducing blooded stock on the islands; and he took the
premiums for over 30 years. Mr. Cummins was a member of the old
fire department No. i, and also a member of the Honolulu Rifles during
the reign of Alexander Kamehameha. To show their appreciation of
Mr. Cummins his friends in Boston presented him with a lo-ton pilot
boat, in which he has cruised to every port and inlet on the islands and
there is to-day on the islands no man who understands the harbors as
well as he does. He is a great lover of sports and one of its most earnest
supporters. He owns the Cummins Block, one of the finest in the city,
six houses on Beretania street, thirteen acres in Nuuanu, and he has a
large interest in the Waimanalo Plantation. One of his pleasant recol-
lections is when he visited England and called upon the Duke of Edin-
burgh. The Duke was sick at the time he called and could not be seen,
but he furnished Mr. Cummins with his royal carriage in return for
the hospitality shown him by Mr. Cummins while he was visiting the
islands. He has given each of his children a handsome start in life, only
retaining enough to live in comfort the rest of his days. Mr. Cummins is
well known by most of the noted men who have visited the islands, as
he has always shown them the greatest hospitality and they have all
left with the most pleasant recollections of him. It is the same with
him to-day as it always was. He practically keeps open house, and his
old time friends and acquaintances delight to visit him there; and many
a happy hour is spent in talking over old times and reviewing the deeds
that have passed. He is noted as being the soul of liberality, and no needy
person ever applied to him and went away empty-handed. To-day there
is no man on the islands better known, or more highly respected, or
dearer to the hearts of his friends than the subject of this sketch — ^John
Adams Cummins.
195
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
MR. C. HEDEMANN.
The subject of this sketch represents the largest manufacturing
institution in the Hawaiian Islands, outside of the sugar industry. Mr.
C. Hedeniann was born in 1852 in Flensburg, Schleswig, then a part
of Denmark, where his father was a noted army surgeon. He received a
college and professional education as a mechanical engineer in Copen-
hagen, served his time as a machinist, passed the government exam-
ination as Class A marine engineer, and worked as a draughtsman for
several years with the large machine and shipbuilding fiiTn, Burmeister
& Wain, Copenhagen.
Mr. Hedemann came direct to the islands in May, 1878, engaged by
the Danish consul, Mr. A. Unna, as his sugar mill superintendent and
engineer at Hana Plantation, Maui. He left that employment in July,
1884, to take the position of draughtsman with the Honolulu Iron Works
Co. On February 17, 1890, he was appointed assistant manager, and
when Mr. Alexander Young retired from the general management in
February, 1896, Mr. Hedemann succeeded him as manager and has ever
since held the position.
There are few people in the islands who have had the opportunity
of Mr. Hedemann to follow closely the gradual development of the
sugar industry for the 27 years he has been uninterruptedly identified
with it, and the exceptionally high standard of the Hawaiian sugar mill
work is to a great extent due to the untiring efforts of the Honolulu
Iron Works Co.
Mr. Hedemann has traveled very extensively. Besides yearly bus-
iness trips to the eastern cities, purchasing machinery and material, he
has visited a number of Louisiana plantations on two occasions, besides
Cuba in 1900. With his wife and two children in 1902 he made a tour
of the world, visiting beet sugar factories and refineries in America,
196
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
England, Denmark and Germany, also a number of the best plantations
in Java, besides the Philippine Islands, China and Japan.
Mr. Hedemann is a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce, a member
of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (for the past two years
chairman of its committee on machinery), an honorary member of the
Honolulu Engineering Association, etc. He was married in Denmark in
1878, his wife accompanying him the same year to the islands. Mr. and
Mrs. Hedemann have seven children — six sons and one daughter — all
born in the Hawaiian Islands. While the two youngest are at the
home in Honolulu, five boys are being educated in the States. The
eldest, a graduate of Harvard, is studying medicine in New York. One
is studying mechanical engineering at Stanford University, two are em-
ployed in San Francisco hardware business houses and one is in a Cal-
ifornia high school.
The Honolulu Iron Works were established in 1853 by Mr. D. M.
Weston, the inventor of the suspended centrifugal machine, first made in
Honolulu. Having passed into the control of Messrs. Theo. H. Davies
& Co., the works were incorporated as a stock company in December,
1866. In 1896 the enterprise was re-incorporated and new and ex-
tensive works were built and fitted with the most modern labor-saving
machinery. Tlie works comprise machine shops, iron and brass foun-
dries, smith’s and coppersmith’s shops, spacious boiler and pipe shops,
pattern and carpenter shops, drawing rooms, offices and warehouses, oc-
cupying an area of six and a half acres situated near the harbor front.
The main offices and store departments for engineering supplies and
metal material are located in Nuuanu street, Honolulu, occupying about
two acres of ground.
As many as 600 men have at times been employed, but the intro-
duction of labor-saving machinery has reduced this number. Five of
the largest cane sugar factories in the world have been designed and fur-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
19T
nished by the Honolulu Iron Works Co., and the large majority of all
the sugar machinery used by the Hawaiian plantations has been built
by the company in Honolulu. The volume of yearly business has stead-
ily increased with the progress of the sugar industry in Hawaii and the
excellence of the H. I. W. Co.’s machinery has successfully defeated
nearly all foreign competition in that line.
CLAUS SPRECKELS & CO., BANKERS.
This is a co-partnership of Claus Spreckels and W. G. Irwin. The
bank was established May 5, 1885. Capital stock was $50,000. They
do a general banking business and have correspondence throughout the
world, see advertisement. This is the second oldest bank in the islands.
Both Mr. Spreckels and Mr. Irwin have large sugar interests on the
islands, and opened this bank as an adjunct to that business interest. It
has developed an enormously large and profitable business, and has fur-
nished a large amount of capital for developing the resources of the
islands, and for handling large loans and securities at various times.
Mr. Edward Irwin Spalding, who is the resident manager, was bom
in Honolulu June, 1854, and was educated in the state of Massachusetts.
After finishing his education he entered the paymaster’s department of
the United States Navy; leaving the navy, he came to the islands and
entered into the mercantile business with Mr .Irwin, who is his uncle;
and in 1885 he became associated with the banking business of Spreckels
and Irwin as assistant cashier, and was advanced to the position of
cashier, which he is at the present time. His father, J. C. Spalding, was
engaged in the ship chandlery business in Honolulu, but left here in
1862 to engage as assistant paymaster of the federal navy service on
the Mississippi River. His mother is now a resident of New Hampshire.
The following details will give the reader a more comprehensive
idea of the business, showing their correspondents throughout the world ;
198
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
San Francisco Agents The Nevada National Bank of San Francisco
Draw Exchange on San Francisco, The Nevada National Bank of San
Francisco. London, Union of London & Smith’s Bank Ltd. New York,
American Exchange National Bank. Chicago, Corn Exchange National
Bank. Paris, Credit Lyonnais. Berlin, Dresdner Bank. Hongkong and
Yokohama, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. New
Zealand and Australia, Bank of New Zealand, and Bank of Australasia.
Victoria and Vancouver, Bank of British North America.
Transact a general banking and exchange business. Deposits re-
ceived. Loans made on approved security. Commercial and travelers’
credits issued, bills of exchange bought and sold. Collections promptly
accounted for.
THE BANK OF HAWAII, LIMITED.
This bank was established Dec. 27, 1897, with a capital of $300,000,
and was the first incorporated bank in the islands, being organized under
the banking laws of the Hawaiian Republic.
The capital was soon found to be insufficient for the business and
has been increased from time to time until they now have $600,000
paid up capital and $286,000 surplus and undivided profits.
This bank occupies almost the entire ground floor of the Judd build-
ing, one of the finest up-to-date structures in the city, and its appoint-
ments and fittings will rival those of cities with ten times the popula-
tion of Honolulu.
Their principal correspondents are Wells Fargo & Co.’s Bank, New
York and San Francisco, and their connections throughout the world.
In the Orient they are represented by the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank-
ing Corporation and all its branches, and in Europe by Glyn Mills
Currie & Co., London, Societe Generale, Paris, and the Deutsche Bank,
Berlin.
PAUL ISENBERG
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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
199
They are represented on each of the principal islands of the group
and last year a branch was established on the Island of Kauai.
The bank is one of the largest purchasers of bonds, and has placed
some of the best issues of plantation bonds offered in this market.
The directors are among the most substantial and leading business
men of the islands. The officers and directors are as follows: Chas.
M. Cooke, President; P. C. Jones, Vice President; F. W. Macfarlane,
Second Vice President; C. H. Cooke, Cashier; C. Hustace, Jr., As-
sistant Cashier. Directors: Chas. M. Cooke, F. W. Macfarlane, E. D.
Tenney, J. A. McCandless, E. F. Bishop, C. H. Atherton and C. H.
Cooke.
SENATOR PAUL R. ISENBERG.
It may be truly said of the subject of this sketch. Senator Paul R.
Isenberg, that he is a worthy son of a worthy sire. His father, Paul
Isenberg, was one of the islands’ most progressive, energetic and suc-
cessful citizens, and though he has passed beyond this world’s recall, his
kindness and generosity toward those who were less fortunate than
himself has made his memory dear to all Hawaiians and his name is
often mentioned with moistened eyes by many for whom he did some
kindly deed.
Senator Paul R. Isenberg was born at Lihue on the island of
Kauai June ii, 1866. At the age of six years he entered St. Alban’s
College in Honolulu, where he took a five years’ preliminary course,
after which he went to his uncle in Germany preparatory to entering
Braunschweig, a school for boys. He remained here one and a half years
and then entered college at Bremen, where a five years’ course com-
pleted his education. Now had young Isenberg’s character been as that of
most boys his only desire would have been to return to his home and enjoy
life upon his father’s bounty, but such a thought had not for an instant
possessed his mind and with the energy which has ever since been one of
200
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
bis marked characteristics he at once set forth to acquire the practical
knowledge of a business education and to carve out a career for himself
in the commercial world. How well he has succeeded may be judged
by the facts which follow : He spent two years of hard and arduous la-
bor upon a sugar-beet plantation, wLere he mastered all of the details
of that business from the planting of the beet until it reached the refinery
and was turned out in those beautiful, white, sparkling cubes for the
market. To complete his knowledge of the sugar industry he took a
course of one year in a sugar factory and then returned to Braunschweig
and entered the school of Pharmacy, conducted by Professors Freuhling
and Schultze. After completing his pharmacological studies he re-
turned in October, 1887, to the islands, and without delay took a position
on the Lihue plantation, where he remained for one year, at the expira-
tion of which time he accepted a position from Albert Wilcox on the
island of Kauai, where he remained for six months. In 1889 at the age
of tw-enty-three (the early dawning of his manhood) we find Mr. Isen-
berg in Honolulu, the metropolis of the islands, with a mind abundantly
stored with both literary and practical knowledge, backed with a desire
and will to enter the battle of life, and apply it to a successful purpose.
After casting about and after due consideration he purchased his beauti-
ful ranch at Waialae, where he resided till 1898, when he removed to
Honolulu. Under the Republic he was a member of President
Dole’s council of state. In 1902 he received the nomination
on the Republican ticket for Senator of the Territory of
Hawaii and was elected by an overwhelmingly larger majority than
any other candidate in the field. At the expiration of his term
in 1906 it is predicted by those who are in a position to know that
should he accept the nomination it would be equivalent to his election.
He is a high and honored member of the order of Masons. He is presi-
dent of the McBryde Sugar Co., president of the Dairymen’s Association,
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
201
vice president of the Lihue Plantation, president of the Hawaiian
Jockey Club, president of the Hawaiian baseball league, and a member
of the Chamber of Commerce. He was one of the first and few to
successfully demonstrate the cultivation of alfalfa upon the islands, and
at his ranch at Waialae he has a field of 70 acres from which he harvests
from 13 to 15 crops a year, a fact which would require ocular proof to
convince a farmer in the States of its truthfulness. Upon this princely
estate the Senator also conducts one of the largest, most complete and
perfectly equipped dairies on the islands. He has 230 fine bred and
healthy milch cows, which roam lazily about through a forest of cocoa-
nut and algaroba trees, and their shining coats have the appearance of
having been regularly washed and groomed.
The Senator is a great lover of standard bred horses and he has
the proud distinction of owning and having bred Creola and Thelma, the
two horses which hold the pacing records of the islands. Creola is five
years old and has a record of 2.18, and Thelma, seven years old, has a
record of 2.26. It may be said of the Senator that he is a lover of ani-
mals of all kinds and amongst his special favorites may be seen many
fine bred dogs, which have been imported from various parts of the
world, whose value can only be appreciated by a true sportsman.
The Senator was married in October, 1891, to Miss Annie Mc-
Bryde, the charming and accomplished daughter of one of Kauai’s oldest
families, and while no children have been born to them to bless their
happy union, their lives in every other respect are that of devotional
love and domestic contentment. They have a palatial residence in Hono-
lulu on Pensacola street, where they reside most of their time, but when
weary and worn from social and business cares they retire to their
country home at Waialae, by the sea. Here among a wilderness of
cocoanut palms which have stood nearly three centuries of silent sentry,
and whose tall tops seem to look down with lofty contempt upon the
202
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
lesser things below, and who seem ever nodding and beckoning to this
sequestered spot, a something from far out at sea, which never comes;
here in the hush of Nature’s own paradise listening to Ocean’s lullaby
the Senator and his wife spend many hours in peaceful respite from the
world’s cares. The quiet and restful spirit pervading the atmosphere of
this lovely haven suggests those beautiful lines from Thomas Moore:
“And I saw by the smoke that so gracefully curled above the tall elms
that a cottage was near.
And I said. If there’s peace in this world to be found a heart that is
humble might look for it here.”
WILDER’S S. S. COMPANY.
Previous to the Reciprocity Treaty most of the transportation bus-
iness between the Hawaiian Islands was carried on by schooners, the one
exception being the steamer Kilauea, owned by the Hawaiian Govern-
ment, her management being placed in the hands of Mr. S. G. Wilder.
The passing of the treaty was a great stimulus to business in the islands,
and to accommodate the increased passenger and freight traffic the
steamer Likelike, 595 tons, was built in 1877.
The steamship business had originally been undertaken by the Gov-
ernment, through the fact that it was so unprofitable it was impossible
for it to be carried on under private ownership; but as soon as the
business became apparently self-supporting the government offered the
Likelike for sale and she was purchased by Mr, Wilder. The Kilauea,
being unseaworthy, was at this time broken up. Mr. Wilder, foresee-
ing the necessity for providing more vessels, in 1878 built the Mokolii,
72 tons, and in 1879 the Lehua, 176 tons. In 1882 Hon. Claus
Spreckels in contracting for the steamers Alameda and Mariposa also
arranged for the building of an iron steamer, the Kinau, 975 tons. In
1883 Mr. Wilder incorporated Wilder’s S. S. Company, capital $400,000,
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
203
and purchased the Kinau. The S. S. Kilauea Hou, 209 tons, was pur-
chased in 1884 and the capital increased to $450,000. In 1889
steamer Hawaii, 302 tons, was purchased. Tlie Claudine, 840 tons, was
built in 1890 and the capital stock increased to $500,000; the same year
the schooner Haleakala was added to the fleet. The Daisy Kimball,
236 tons, was purchased in 1893, but was lost the same year. In 1897
the Likelike was lost and' to replace her the steamer Helene, 619 tons,
was built. To meet the demands of the ever increasing- trade, the
steamer Maui, sister ship to the Helene, was also built, and the schoon-
ers Golden Gate, 97 tons, and Alice Kimball, 107 tons, were purchased.
In 1899 the steamer Kilauea Hou was lost and the Kaiulani, 384 tons,
was built to replace her. Both the schooners Golden Gate and Alice
Kimball, were lost in 1900. In 1903 the Mokolii was broken up and the
following year, to replace her, the steamer Likelike, 350 tons, was built.
The fleet at present consists of the following iron and steel vessels, viz. :
Kinau, Claudine, Maui, Helene, Likelike, and one wooden vessel, the
Kaiulani.
Samuel Gardner Wilder, the founder of this corporation, was born
in Massachusetts on the 30th of June, 1831, coming to Honolulu in
1855-
In addition to Wilder’s Steamship Company he also established the
businesses of Wilder & Company, S. G. Wilder & Company, Ltd., the
Hawaiian Railroad Company, and became the purchaser of the Kahului
Railroad Company in 1884. At the time of his death in 1888 he had
almost completed arrangements for building a railroad which would
have extended from Hilo through the Hilo and Hamakua districts, on
the Island of Hawaii. Mr. Wilder was a man of marked executive and
business ability, and took a foremost place not only in business, but also
in politics. He was for many years a meml>er of the House of Nobles,
and also of the Privy Council; and under the monarchy was presiding
204
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
r
officer of the legislature for a number of terms. Notwithstanding the
many calls made on his time for business and political purposes, he was
closely identified with all movements demanding public spirit, and his
large-hearted generosity made him a friend to the entire people of the
Hawaiian Islands, native and foreign.
HENRY ALEXANDER ISENBERG.
One of the foremost figures on the islands in the line of commercial
pursuits is the subject of this sketch, Henry Alexander Isenberg. He
is a son of Paul Isenberg. He was born in the islands in 1872 and was
sent to Bremen, Germany, to be educated. After leaving college he
served in the army for one year and then entered a mercantile estab-
lishment, where he remained a short time. He then went to England,
also following commercial pursuits there for one year and returned
to the islands in 1894. Mr. Isenberg entered the house of H. Hackfeld
& Co., Ltd., and is one of the members of the corporation. He is at
present the German consul for the islands. Mr. Isenberg is a married
man, the lady of his choice being Miss Virginia R. Duisenberg. They
have two sons, Rudolf and Alexander, aged four and one-half and two
and one-half years respectively.
Mr. Isenberg expects to remain on the islands indefinitely, as his
large interests require his personal supervision. He and his wife are
prominent socially and Mr. Isenberg is deservedly popular with all the
people with whom he comes in contact.
ROBERT LEWERS.
When it can be said of a man that he has lived for nearly a half
century in one locality and that during this long span of life he has
earned and enjoyed the unbounded respect and honor tendered to the
true man and citizen and furthermore during this period no dissenting
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 205
voice has been raised against his methods, his honor or his integrity, it
certainly demonstrates that these qualities are inborn and that any com-
munity would take pride in claiming him for its own. Such a man is
Robert Lewers, the subject of this sketch.
Robert Lewers is a native of New York, and was born in the Em-
pire State in 1836, so that he is three score years and ten. He is
to-day, however, in Jthe prime of physical and mental manhood and as he'
comes of a long-lived race, it is only fair to presume that his years will
yet be long in the home of his adoption. His father, William Lewers,
was born in the north of Ireland and lived to a ripe old age, but the
mother, whose maiden name was Mary Low, died when our subject was
very young. The father came to the United States in 1816 and settled
in New York City, where he resided until his death, which occurred in
1891.
Mr. Lewers of this review was educated in the public schools of
New York City and after leaving his text books he entered a bakery to
work as errand boy, for which he received the salary of $4 per month.
He remained with this employment about three years, when he left to go
on his father’s farm in Bingington, N. Y., where he remained about
two years, but in 1855, becoming dissatisfied with this employment and
not seeing much of a future in store for him, he embarked on the ship
Raduga for the Hawaiian Islands, bound here via Cape Horn and arriv-
ing here February 21, 1856. His first work on the islands was as a
carpenter, which occupation he followed for four years. In i860 he
went into the lumber business as a clerk for Lewers & Dickson and re-
mained with this institution for seventeen years. At this time he was
taken into partnership, as was also Mr. C. M. Cooke. When Mr. Dick-
son died the name of the firm was changed to Lewers & Cooke. Out of
that firm grew the present firm, Lewers & Cooke, Ltd. It is the fore-
most institution of its kind on the islands and an immense stock of
206
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
shelf and heavy hardware, iron and steel and in fact all kinds of build-
ing material is carried. The house is equipped with every late device
known to the business and Mr. Lewers has seen it build up from the
time when all lumber, etc., was delivered by hand carts. The building
is 154 by 80 and is three stories and basement, being constructed partly
of steel and partly of wood and a terra cotta front. The property is
worth about $200,cxx) and is one of the handsome edifices of Honolulu.
About fifty clerks, laborers and draymen are employed. The institution
also owns two vessels, the Robert Lewers and the Alice Cooke, both
being four-masted schooners. They ply between the islands, Puget
Sound and San Francisco, and the Robert Lewers has made several trips
to the island of Lysan for guano.
In 1867 Mr. Lewers married Miss Catherine R. Carter, who was
born in Honolulu and who is a daughter of Captain J. O. Carter. Her
mother was a native of Maine and came from the Pine Tree State to the
islands in 1832. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lewers have been born two chil-
dren. The son, William H., is 36 years of age and is a noted actor.
He has been leading man with such famous actresses as Julia Marlowe,
Maude Adams and Lillian Russell. At present he is starring with
Bertha Galland. The critics all over the United States all combine in
the highest praise of him and predict for him an especially brilliant fut-
ure. The daughter, Harriet L., is the wife of Arthur Wall of the firm
of Wichman & Co., the leading jewelers of Honolulu. Mr. Lewers, be-
sides his extensive business, is largely interested in sugar and is a large
operator in this line. He has always been essentially a family man, but
is a member of the Masonic fraternity and his life exemplifies the benefi-
cent spirit of the craft. Mr. Lewers has never cared to enter political
life, preferring rather to devote his time to his business interests. He
has a vivid recollection of the early days in Honolulu and is a most
interesting narrator of his early experiences on the islands. As the
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
207
spans of life are being numbered he can look backward on a well spent
career, one that has been useful to the community which he has for his
abiding place and one which can be paralleled by but few men. Honor,
faith and a good intent have worked out their natural consequences in his
case and Honolulu is justly proud of its representative citizen, Mr. Rob-
ert Lewers.
- HON. ROBERT W. WILCOX.
The death of the Hawaiian political leader, Robert W. Wilcox,
on October 23rd, was a notable event in the history of his country. He
died on the field of action, one might say, for the excitement of the fall
canvass was almost at its highest then, and the immediate cause of his
death was the straining of his physical powers in making speeches for
his party. His health began to break down when he was attending to
his duties as Territorial Delegate in Washington, and since his return
to the islands he had never felt well. The exertions he made in the
recent campaign were greater than his weakened constitution could sus-
tain, and on the day of his death he suffered six hemorrhages. His
wife and his two little children and a trained nurse were at his bedside
in his last hours.
Robert W. Wilcox was idolized by his race. No other man ever
had such a firm hold on the hearts of the Hawaiians. Even Kamehame-
ha the Great, greater after death than in life, was not so generally
esteemed and revered among his countrymen as Mr. Wilcox. Tlie king
had rivals and bitter enemies; Mr. Wilcox had neither rivals nor enemies
among Hawaiians and other nationalities.
Hon. Robert W. Wilcox was born February 15, 1855, at Kuhulu,
Honuaula, island of Maui, Hawaiian Islands. His father is Mr. Wm.
S. Wilcox, a native of Newport, Rhode Island; he was a sea-captain,
and is now ninety years old. His mother was Kalua Makoleokalani, a
208
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
direct descendant of Lonomakaihonua, brother of King Kaulahea of
Maui. The Delegate first went to school at Wailuku at the age of eight
years. Two years later his mother died and his father moved to
ranching at Makawao, island of Maui. After completing his studies
in 1875 he was a teacher under the Board of Education at Honuaula
until 1880, when he was elected to the Legislature from the District of
Wailuku, Maui, and subsequently went to Italy to study in the military
academies and a year later was admitted to the Royal Military at Turin.
In 1885 he graduated from the academy and was promoted to sub-
lieutenant of artillery. Tlien he entered the Royal Application School
for Engineer and Artillery Officers. While he was taking the last course
in this school as an artillery officer he was recalled by the Hawaiian
Government. That was in the year 1887. He was just married to a
young lady of the noble house of Colonna di Stigliano. Her name
was Signorina Gina Sobrero. She accompanied him and in 1888 they
moved to San Francisco, where Mr. Wilcox was employed as a sur-
veyor and his wife gave lessons in French and Italian.
In the morning of July 30, 1889, Mr. Wilcox led a body of native
revolutionists and succeeded in occupying the grounds of the lolani Pal-
ace, now the Executive Building, but the king’s soldiers failed to join
him in the movement as it w'as understood before he made the move.
King Kalakaua changed his mind during the night through some one’s
advice, so he gave strict orders to his bodyguard not to join with Wil-
cox, but to hold the palace and the barracks. Mr. Wilcox did not like
to take the palace against the king’s will, as he thought he would only
become a usurper of the king’s power. Mr. Wilcox was leading this
revolution as a Hawaiian Garibaldi, and if he only had decided to lead
as a Flawaiiain Napoleon Bonaparte, he would have carried everything
before him. By the evening he became a prisoner and was charged with
high treason by the government, but his countrymen, as jurymen, dis-
209
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
charged him for the reason that the king was a factor in it. From
that day his countrymen looked upon him as their idol and their hero.
In 1890 he was elected to the Legislature from Honolulu as one of
the representatives of the reform party. His party became the majority
in the House, the Thurston Cabinet was voted out and King Kalakaua
was once more in power to appoint a cabinet of his own selection. But
his selection was not the choice of the people, consequently there was
discontent. The king was disappointed, so in 1891 he went to San
Francisco and died there broken-hearted. His sister, Princess Lydia
Kamakaeha, became Queen Liliuokalani. In 1892 Mr. Wilcox was
again elected to the Legislature as leader of the Liberal Party.
This Legislature was stubborned against any cabinet of the queen’s
will unless they were consulted about the selection of its members. So
in January, 1893, the queen prorogued the Legislature and attempted to
proclaim a new constitution to satisfy the long demand of her people,
but her cabinet betrayed her in every way and thus facilitated her de-
thronement, a movement partly accomplished by the treachery of her
own cabinet and partly by the under-influence of the United States’
high officials and the demonstrations of the marines of the U. S. S.
Boston.
At first Mr. Wilcox did not know what to do, as he knew the United
States had a hand in the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani. But as soon
as Commissioner J. Blount came and lowered the American flag Mr.
Wilcox saw that the United States meant to do what was right and just.
He accordingly decided to become a strong adherent to the queen and
his countrymen. In 1895 the Diamond Head Revolution against
the oligarchy of Dole. Although he had no hand in the organizing of
the movement, yet like a true patriot and a true Garibaldi, he jumped
into it and led the fight for his country, his queen and his people. After
two weeks of revolution he was betrayed by a part Hawaiian, court-
210
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
martialed and sentenced to death ; but the United States Congress inter-
vened and Mr. Dole commuted the sentence to 35 years’ imprisonment at
hard labor and $10,000 fine. In January, 1896, he was given a condi-
tional pardon and in 1898 President Dole gave him a full pardon.
While in prison in 1895, Pope Leo XII granted to his wife an
annulment of the marriage; also the Civil Court of Italy. The Italian
consul and the Catholic Bishop at Honolulu confirmed this news respect-
ively. So in 1896 Mr. Wilcox was married again to Princess Theresa
Owana Kaohelelani, a direct descendant of Keoua, father of Kamehame-
ha the Great. The Princess is one of the most interesting women in the
islands and the mother of two children. Prince Roberto Keoua, eleven
years of age, and Princess Virginia Kaihikapumahana Kahoa Kaahu-
manu Ninito, nine years of age, the former being the last child of royalty
born under the monarchy.
In 1899 Mr. Wilcox was delegated by his countrymen to Wash-
ington to obtain unrestricted franchise for his people in the framing of
their Organic Law then before Congress.
In this undertaking Mr. Wilcox was supported by Congress and
went home with honor. On November 6, 1900, Mr. Wilcox was elected
as the first delegate of Hawaii to Congress and on December 15, 1900,
the oath of office was administered. He was looked upon as “ the first
to strike for liberty and the first to represent his people.”
FREDERIC CARLOS SMITH.
Among the many young men who have left their native homes in
the old states in recent years and have come to Honolulu to better their
condition, there is none more worthy of mention than the subject of this
sketch, Frederic Carlos Smith. He was born in New Haven, Connecti-
cut, in 1871, and is a son of Carlos Smith, who was born in Northford,
Connecticut, in 1833, and who is at the present time living in New
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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 211
Haven. His mother, Isabella Graham Maltby, was also born in North-
ford, Connecticut, in 1833, to-day a resident of the above named
place. Frederic Carlos Smith was educated in the High School of New
Haven, Connecticut, from which he graduated in 1887. He then entered
the controller’s office of the Consolidated Railroad Company there. After
severing his connection with this company he went to Australia, upon a
pleasure trip, where he remained one year, from which he returned to the
Hawaiian Islands and entered the service of the Oahu Railroad and Land
Company, where he has remained for the past thirteen years. In his posi-
tion as general passenger and ticket agent for the Oahu Railroad and
Land Company he has manifested marked ability, and there is no other
employe who stands higher in the estimation of the company. He is
very popular in social circles and his friends predict for him a successful
and brilliant future. He is an active member of the Promotion Com-
mittee of Hawaii, is a member of the Board of Health, is an active mem-
ber of the American Passenger Association, and on two occasions has
been sent east by them, as their representative in a business and social
way. He is a Mason and a member of Hawaiian Lodge No. 12. He
was married to Miss Alice Wall in 1900, a charming and popular young
lady of one of the best families of the islands.
MARK PREVER ROBINSON.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with the prominent men whose names
are indelibly engraved upon the history of the Hawaiian Islands is Mark
P. Robinson, the subject of this sketch. To go into a detailed account of
the many enterprises with which this gentleman has been and is connected
and to attempt to review in extenso his connection with the political,
commercial and social life of the islands would of course be impossible,
but it is certainly necessary that sufficient space be devoted to a brief
212
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
resume of his career, as without it being done, an important chapter would
have to be eliminated from this history.
His father, James J. Robinson, was an Englishman, and except for
accident would never have landed on the islands. He was one of a
crew of two whalers. Pearl and Hermes, which left England bound for
the South Seas. Both vessels were wrecked on the coral reefs lying
about a thousand miles from the Hawaiian Islands, and it was by con-
structing a small boat from the wrecks of these vessels, and after endur-
ing almost incredible hardships and privations, that the survivors reached
Honolulu. Mr. Robinson determined to settle here, and by the time of
his death had acquired a handsome fortune. He landed here in 1821
and died in 1876.
Mark P. Robinson acquired his education at the public schools and
at the Oahu College of Honolulu. After putting aside his text-books
he took charge of his father’s estate, after which he went into the lumber
business, which firm is now known as Allen & Robinson. He retired
from this firm in 1881 and engaged in the exportation of fruit to the
United States. When he took charge the shipments amounted to about
1,000 bushels a year, and when he retired in 1897 the shipments were
over 100,000 bushels per year.
While engaged in the fruit business he became identified with Mr.
B. F. Dillingham in the Oahu Railroad. It cannot be denied that much
of the success of this road is directly attributed to the efforts of Mr.
Robinson for his financial backing came at a time when the fate of the
enterprise hung in the balance. He is at present vice-president of the
road and acted as treasurer until 1903. Mr. Robinson has always taken
an active interest in the political welfare of his country, and his advice
and sound judgment have done much to smooth over the difficult problems
which have confronted the public. He was an active member of the ex-
ecutive committee of the Hawaiian League during the agitation which
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
213
culminated in the revolution of 1887, and the consequence of which was
the righting of the wrongs of the people. He served as a member of the
legislature in 1887 and 1888 and has always been to the front in matters
pertaining to the public interest. He has also served most acceptably as
a supervisor and was a member of the Jones- Wilcox cabinet. He is a
member of the Masonic fraternity and his life has been shaped according
to the teachings of the craft. At the present time he is associated with
the following corporations: President of the Puna Sugar Company,
vice-president of the First National Bank of Hawaii. He is also a
director and is financially interested in a number of other large corpora-
tions on the islands. Mr. Robinson was married in 1876, but his wife
died in 1884, leaving him three children: Lawrence Power, 23, who is en-
gaged in office duties with his father; Mark A., aged 22, and Allen C.,
aged 19, are attending the Oahu College.
From this brief review it can readily be seen that Mr. Robinson is
a man of affairs, and the commercial and political circles of the islands
recognize in him a strong factor. No man stands higher in the com-
munity than does he, and his popularity is well merited for his life has
been an open book and no critic could speak ill of his career.
FREDERICK AUGUST SCHAEFER.
The Fatherland has furnished to the Hawaiian Islands many notable
men who have gained prominence in commercial and political pursuits,
and with them the name of Frederick August Schaefer comes promi-
nently to the front as an exemplar of sturdy manhood and good citizen-
ship. Coming to the islands a young man, without any backing, he has
steadily progressed until to-day he is numbered among its most repre-
sentative men. The history of any country is to a large extent made up
of the lives of its people, and in this connection a brief review of the
career of the subject of this sketch will prove most interesting to all
2U
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
who wish to familiarize themselves with the history of the Hawaiian
Islands.
Mr. Schaefer was born in Bremen, Germany, August 19, 1836, and
is a son of John William Schaefer, who was also born in Bremen on
September 17, 1809. His mother, Sophia Schaefer, was a native of Leip-
sic, Saxony, and was born May 30, 1810. The subject of this sketch
received his education in Bremen in a commercial college, as it was the
intention of his parents to educate him for a commercial life. At the
age of sixteen he put aside his text-books and entered the office of Foerst-
ner & Grosse, a wholesale general merchandise establishment. It was
here that Mr. Schaefer received his first actual business training, and the
careful and practical methods of the large German houses are so well
understood that it is not hard to realize that this was a most valuable
experience. After remaining with this institution for four and a half
years he accepted an offer from the firm of Melchers & Co. of Honolulu
to become their bookkeeper. He embarked on a sailing vessel via Cape
Horn, and after stopping one week in Chili he proceeded on his way
and arrived here in November, 1857. He at once started work for Mel-
chers & Co. in the same building now occupied by himself. That he
made himself an extremely valuable man to the house may be judged
from the fact that after a service of three and one-half years he was
admitted to the partnership, the date being July i, 1861. In 1859 and
i860 he made two voyages, one to Kamchatka and one to Amoor river.
To the former place he took a cargo of merchandise, and on arrival there
opened up a store, remaining there until the stock had been disposed of.
On his return trip he brought a cargo of oil and furs. He then remained
in Honolulu as a partner of the firm until July, 1867, when he pur-
chased the interests of his partners and became sole proprietor, the name
of the firm at that time being changed to the present one of F. A. Schae-
fer & Co. The property in which the business is conducted is owned
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
215
by the firm. The house was erected in 1854, and at that time was a
constant source of wonder to the natives, who called it Mauna Pohaku,
which means “ mountain of stone.” It is a two-story structure, 40 by
60 feet, and although over a half century old is in a perfect state ccf
preservation. Since 1869 Mr. Schaefer has been consul for Italy, and
while somewhat averse to public life, he has filled several local offices
of importance under the royal government.
In 1879 Mr. Schaefer married Miss Elizabeth Robertson, a daugh-
ter of George M. Robertson, justice of the supreme court of the islands.
Mr. Robertson died in 1867. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Schaefer have been
born seven children, as follows: Irmgard, aged 24; Elsa, aged 19; Ethel-
inda, 18; Gustave, aged 16; Carl, aged 13; Pauline, aged 10, and August,
aged 8.
Although Mr. Schaefer has been a great traveler, he intends to make
his future home on the islands. He has made three trips to Europe, and
it is a strange coincidence that his trips have each been separated ten
years. The first was in 1877, the second, 1887, and the third, 1897.
Besides this, he has made many trips to California and also to British
Columbia. In his magnificent home in the Nuuanu valley he spends his
happiest hours, being surrounded by his family and resting free from
the cares of business. This mansion is a historic place, at one time being
the property of Robert C. Wyllie, a prominent man in the days of roy-
alty. He was minister of foreign affairs and was a great entertainer.
In i860 Lady Franklin was a guest at this establishment, and while
there planted a mango tree which is standing to-day and is in full bear-
ing. About thirty years ago, after he had purchased the place, Mr.
Schaefer planted an avenue with Royal palms, and to-day this avenue
is considered one of the most beautiful on the islands. The luxuriant
vegetation of the tropics has here its fullest development, and the mar-
velous beauty of the place must be seen to be appreciated. Mr. Schaefer
216
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
has been a Mason for over fort>' years, and although he will soon pass
the seventieth milestone of life he is as vigorous, both mentally and phys-
ically, as the majority of men twenty years his junior. His has been an
exemplary life, and to-day, surrounded by the creature comforts, with
a family growing up w’ho will no doubt emulate his example, and with
the confidence and respect of the entire community, it could not be other-
wise than a pleasure to the biographer to set down these few brief facts
in connection with his life. Public opinion says, “ he has worked hard,
he has been progressive, he has ever been faithful to a trust, he has been
a devoted husband and father, and the years to come cannot help but
add additional lustre to a name that is a synonym for the better qualities
of manhood and citizenship.”
JOHN ENA.
John Ena is of partly Chinese and partly Hawaiian extraction, and
is a remarkable exception to the general rule; for it is true of the Hawai-
ian that, while he has many admirable traits of character, his nature
forbids his becoming a thorough business man.
The father of John Ena was a Chinese, and his mother a Hawaiian,
and no doubt to his oriental ancestry are attributable the shrewdness,
sagacity and financiering ability which have raised him to his present
standing in business circles; while it may be said of him that the most
desirable traits of the Hawaiian are also embodied in his disposition.
John Ena was bom in Hilo in 1845, here in Hawaii his entire
life has been spent. He received a fair education, and engaged in va-
rious occupations until he was about thirty-four years of age, when he
first entered the employ, as bookkeeper, of T. R. Foster & Co., who were
the owners of a fleet of seven schooners in the cariydng trade between
Honolulu and the several islands. This firm is now the Interisland Steam
Navigation Company, and in this field this gentleman has acquired his
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
217
present position and means. About the time of Mr. Ena’s becoming
connected with this concern their first steamer — the James McKee —
was added to the company’s fleet. The following year the C. R. Bishop
was added, subsequently the Iwalani, and with the development of the
company’s interests Mr. Ena was closely connected. In 1883 the com-
pany was incorporated, and he invested all his means in company stock.
To the success of this corporation he has been most assiduously devoted,
giving it his entire attention, and to himself and Captain W. B. Godfrey
is principally due the present flourishing condition of the Interisland
Steam Navigation Company. After the resignation of Capt. W. B. God-
frey he became the president and manager of the company.
In his early youth his father met with business reverses and died,
leaving no estate; his children had therefore to make their owm way in
life, and in this they have all succeeded. One of Mr. Ena’s sisters was
the late Mrs. Haalelea, and one is Mrs. Coney. Mrs. Haalelea was one
of the most prominent and highly esteemed of Honolulu’s wealthiest
ladies, as is also her sister, Mrs. Coney. The subject of this sketch is
possessed of ample means and has traveled extensively throughout the
world. His family consists of seven children — ^five girls and two boys —
and they are all possessed of great musical talent. Mr. Ena has two
beautiful suburban homes — one at Manoa and one at Waikiki — and a
magnificent winter residence in Honolulu. He was born and raised in
Hilo, and although he is thoroughly appreciative of the delights of his
native land, tlie unparalleled “ Paradise of the Pacific,” he also has a
beautiful residence at Long Beach, Southern California, where he and
his family spend a great part of their time. Although a lover of Hawaii
and taking a keen interest in its welfare, Mr. Ena has always avoided
politics. He, however, was a member of the privy council and was a
member of the house of nobles during the monarchy; he was a member
218
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
of the board of health and a member of the council of state under the
provisional government and also a member of the constitutional conven-
tion of the Republic of Hawaii,
GEORGE PRENTICE DENISON.
Born in Rouseville, Pennsylvania, but moved to Dayton, Pennsyl-
vania, at the early age of five, where he entered the public school in 1884,
he went to Ontario in southern California, where he resided until 1889,
when he came to Honolulu and engaged with the Oahu Railway & Land
Company^ He began his services in the survey and constructing depart-
ment. He remained in these two departments till 1892, when he became
assistant superintendent. In 1893 he was promoted to general super-
intendent and v)as directing manager in the chiefs absence. His father,
Barclay Page, Denison, was formerly a resident of Pennsylvania and is
now living in Honolulu. His mother, Florence Denison, was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, was married in 1868. The subject of this sketch was
married in 1893 to Anne M. McLaren of Honolulu, who is now dead.
They have two children : Hardy Lee, aged 9, who is attending Punahou
College. George P. Denison is an active member of the Chamber of
Commerce.
DR. JOHN S. McGREW.
(Father of Annexation.)
The United States is more indebted to-day to Dr. John S. McGrew
for the acquisition of the Hawaiian Islands than to any one single man ;
or to speak even more broadly, of any party of men, for it is to him
must be given the credit of first preparing the minds of the people of the
islands on the subject of annexation. He has been untiring in his efforts
and it is naturally a source of gratification to him that he has lived to see
his cherished plans and ambitions mature.
He was bom in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1822, but at an early age he
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
219
moved with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio. Here his preliminary edu-
cation was acquired in the public schools of that city, which study was
supplemented by a course at Oxford College, from which institution he
was graduated. It was his ambition to write M. D. after his name,
and to this purpose he attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati,
Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1847. Immediately after-
wards he opened an office in Cincinnati and for thirteen years was in
active practice in that city. When the Civil war broke out in the United
States Dr. McGrew at once proffered his service to his country. It will
be remembered by those who are familiar with the Cincinnati riots that
feeling ran very high at that time. The doctor has good occasion to
remember it, for it was during that period that he tendered his service to
the wounded, and for his pains narrowly escaped death. He was fired
upon and his sign in front of his office was riddled with bullets. He
has this sign to-day in his possession as a memento of the occasion. He
was appointed surgeon to the Eighty-third Ohio Regiment, from which
he was detailed as chief surgeon of the division until after the Red River
expedition; when he was ordered to appear before the New York Exam-
ination Board and was then appointed staff surgeon of the United States
Volunteers. After this appointment his division was ordered to Cincin-
nati, which was threatened by Kirby Smith, whom they pursued through
Kentucky and Tennessee, until ordered to Memphis. He was in Sher-
man’s command during the famous march to the sea ; was at the fall of
Vicksburg and was under Banks at New Orleans.
In 1866 he resigned his commission in the army, and retired to
private practice. After a short stay in San Francisco, he came direct
to Honolulu, arriving March 7, 1867, and here the doctor remained ever
since. He was twice married, first in 1849, but his wife died two years
later, leaving him one son. In 1886 he was again married. Two years
ago he retired from active practice, and is now living a retired life. By
220
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
his second marriage he had two children, the oldest being Mrs. Dr.
Cooper, whose husband is a practicing physician here, and is the presi-
dent of the Board of Health. The second, John T. McGrew, aged 26,
is now in Paris and is finishing his education there as an architect.
When Dr. McGrew first arrived upon the islands the thought at
once occurred to him that by all the rights of geographical location; of
commerce and of mutual advantage, that the islands should become a
portion of the United States. To think was to act, and ever since that
time he has been untiring in his efforts to that end. No personal sacri-
fice was too great for him to make to carry out this desired object, and
he labored unceasingly for its fulfillment. He was instrumental in estab-
lishing the “ Star,” a live and prosperous paper which was devoted to
the interest of annexation, and of which he acted as editor-in-chief.
Now that annexation has been accomplished the doctor feels, and
justly so, that he is entitled to a retirement from the active duties of life,
not, however, from the active duties of ctizenship, and it is safe to say
that his advice and ripe judgment, as well as any material property he
possesses, will always be at the service of his country. He is living to-
day, in the evening of his life, in one of the most beautiful homes of
Honolulu, overlooking the bay, and stands to-day as the type of Amer-
ican citizen which is every true American’s ambition, namely : “ To have
done much for his country, and to be honored and respected by all.”
MONSIEUR JASONT RIVES.
Monsieur Jasont Rives, or, Mr. John Rives, so-called by the Eng-
lish speaking community then living at these islands, and addressed by
the Hawaiians as Luahine, a name bestowed on him by Queen Kaahu-
manu, consort of Kamehameha I (Luahine was one of her own names),
was the pioneer Frenchman who landed on these shores during the latter
part of Kamehameha the Conqueror’s reign. Jasont was bom in Bor-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
221
deaux, France, on November 14, 1794. He was the son of Jean Bap-
tiste Rives, officier de la Legion d’Honneur, lieutenant vaitteau en re-
traite, capitaine de port de ire classe a Bordeaux. His mother was
Catherine de Bargerage, a member of one of the oldest patrician families
of the Gironde. After receiving a good education from his youth up,
his father chose medicine as the profession for his son, so as to succeed
to the already famous popularity of his grandpere Rives, a noted phy-
sician in his day. But this did not suit young Rives. He preferred
navigation, as did one of his uncles before him, so as to see other parts
of the world. Consequently he embarked on a vessel bound on an expe-
dition to the Pacific ocean. Arriving at these islands, he was not only
charmed by the picturesque scenery of our beautiful “ Paradise of the
Pacific,” but more with the genial hospitality of its inhabitants. Being
somewhat prepossessing in his appearance, his dignified manners strongly
indicating his European descent, naturally attracted the attention and
won the admiration of the chiefs and people, in particular the king’s
eldest son. Prince Liholiho, who besought his father’s sanction to beg
the young foreigner to give up his projected cruise and to stay and abide
with them. Pressed in this manner and receiving such unexpected hon-
ors and cordiality, it did not require much persuasion to induce Mr.
Rives to change his future course. From that time on he bore the high
distinction amongst the court and people as the “ aikane punahele ” (a
bosom friend or companion) of the prince. This meant that tlie “ kapu,”
a form of law existing in those days, which, if a commoner or chief of
a low degree were found trespassing, the guilty one was severely pun-
ished, very often meeting with death, did not apply to him.
Luahine was accorded the perfect freedom of all Liholiho’s
kapus, even the highest privilege of the kapu puloulou. When
these insignias of rank were stationed at the entrance of a
high chief’s premises or residence, it was the sign of “ no admit-
222
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
tance allowed,” only to those of similar chiefdom, entitled to the kapu
puloulou. Steps were taken as soon as it was deemed proper to arrange
about a marriage between Rives and some of the young chiefesses of the
realm, who resided at or visited both of the royal courts from time to
time ; and it was not very long after, however, that he met his fate whilst
on a tour on the island of Molokai, for it was there that he first saw
and won the heart of his destined bride, Holau. Holau Kalanimehea-
kaikawai was the daughter of Kalawaia-a-Kualii, a direct descendant in
the fourth degree from Lonoikamakahikikapuokalani, one of Hawaii’s
most famous kings. Her mother, Umi, was from the noted family of
Umimahihelelima of Hana, Maui. On his return to Honolulu, Rives
made known his preference to the king and dowager queen, who were
so pleased with his choice that immediate preparations were made to send
a retinue of attendants to accompany the young bride-elect to the capi-
tal, where the ancient marital ceremony of “ Hoao ” was to be solem-
nized. Four daughters and a son graced this union. The eldest, named
Marguaritte Kapikonui, died when but a child of five years. Next were
born to them Teresa Owana and her twin sister, Virginia Kahoa, whom
Queen Kaahumanu adopted from their very birth and brought them up
as members of her own family. Genevieve Namahana, although she
lived up to the age of maturity, did not enjoy good health, so died young.
The youngest of the family, the son, John Lafayette Rives, lived and
died a bachelor at the age of fifty-seven. His young days were spent
at Monterey, California, where a wealthy American gentleman, a Mr.
Thompson, who had adopted him, was living with his Spanish wife.
This offered him the opportunity of learning and speaking the Spanish
language with great proficiency. In this, his own native home, he was
much admired for his goodness of heart and his unlimited liberality.
In the meantime the death of Kamehameha the Conqueror took place
and Prince Liholiho ascended the throne of his father and became the
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
223
sovereign of the whole group, under the title of Kamehameha II. To
insure the stability of his government and with the advice of his chiefs,
he left home to visit England’s king on matters of political importance.
He was accompanied by his consort, Queen Kamamalu, the high chiefs
Boki and his wife, Liliha, and several others, including Mr. Rives. So
great was the friendship which existed between the sovereign and Mr.
Rives, which proved inseparable, that the latter was obliged to leave his
wife and family to accompany King Kamehameha II on his voyage to
Europe. Our old histories on Hawaii have already described the sad
end which befell the unfortunate monarch and likewise his ill-fated
queen, whose remains were brought home under the charge of an Eng-
lish gentleman of rank. Lord Byron, brother to the poet. During the
time of the demise of their majesties Rives was absent in France, nego-
tiating for sending a Catholic mission to Hawaii, having hitherto gained
the royal permission from the king in person. This detained him from
returnng for some time, until an opportunity offered, when he left his
native country once more on a vessel which was to proceed to Mexico,
whereby he hoped some day to get a chance to return to Hawaii and to
his family, so long separated from. It was fated to be otherwise, for
we find from the archives of Mexico that Mr. Rives died in the city of
Mexico on the i8th day of August in the year 1833, the fortieth year
of his age. Mr. Robert C. Wyllie, who held the honorable position of
premier during the latter part of Kamehameha Ill’s reign and a part
of Kamehameha IV’s, was one of the few friends who sat by the bed-
side of Rives and witnessed his death.
Now, to return to the second daughter of Rives, Teresa Owana,
who forms the joining link to the present generation of the Rives-Laanui
family. Having enjoyed all the advantages and luxuries of courtly splen-
dor and receiving a sprinkle of an English education from the mission-
aries who had just arrived, she was eagerly sought in marriage and the
224
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
favored one proved to be the high chief Laanui, a scion of the royal
house of Keoua, progenitor also of the Kamehamehas, who founded the
Kamehameha dynasty. Laanui was the grandson of Kaloquokomaile,
who was the eldest son of Keoua Kalanikupuapaikalaninui through his
mother, Kaohelelani. His father was Nuhi, the eldest son of Hinai, the
ruling high chief of Waimea, on the Island of Hawaii. By this marriage
two children were born unto them, the eldest a daughter, Elizabeth Ke-
kaanian, who, with a few other scions of the nobility, were specially
selected by King Kamehameha III and his counsellors to receive an Eng-
lish education to befit them as the probable future rulers of the country.
The old Royal School was built to accommodate the young chiefs and
tlieir teachers. It stood on the same site where the barracks stand, now
passed as the property of the Federal government. Mr. and Mrs. Amos
S. Cooke, members of the missionary party, were entrusted with the full
charge and responsibility of these children, fourteen in number. Out
of this number four kings and one queen have reigned over Hawaii in
succession, whilst one of the young high chiefesses became queen consort
to Kamehameha IV, and another, the Princess Victoria Kamamalu, heir-
ess apparent to the throne of her brother, Kamehameha V, was premier
during his reign. Elizabeth Kekaaniau married Mr. Franklin Seaver
Pratt, an American from one of the best families of Boston. He held
several positions of trust independently, and was also in the service of
the government. On the accession of Liliuokalani to the throne, he
received the appointment of consul-general of Hawaii over the entire
Pacific coast states of America, but the revolutoin which occurred soon
after, which overthrew the monarchy, closed his career as such. A few
months after his return to his adopted country his health gradually began
to fail, until his death took place on the nth day of January, 1894. As
likewise other disappointed couples, no issue gladdened the two hearts
contracting this marriage. Gideon Kalilipalaki, the son of Laanui, mar-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
225
ried also, and had an only child, a daughter, by his wife, Kamaikaopa,
who was named after her two ancestresses, Teresa Owana and Kaohele-
lani. By her first marriage she became the wife of Alexander J. Cart-
wright, Jr., a member of one of the most prominent families in Honolulu,
and by him she has two daughters, the eldest named Daisy Napulahao-
kalani, and the younger Eva Kuwailanimamao. She subsequently mar-
ried again, and has had four children, two living, by Mr. Robert W.
Wilcox, who represented Hawaii as delegate to the United States Con-
gress in Washington during the years 1902 and 1903. A son bears the
patronymic surname of his forefather, Keoua, and his little sister, Kaihi-
kapumahana, derived her name from the Lonoikamakahiki line. This
represents the senior line direct. The junior line of the Rives family,
through Virginia Kahoa, have become extinct by the death of her only
child, Henry Edward Peirce. She married one of the wealthiest mer-
chants in Honolulu at the time, Mr. Henry Aucers Peirce, who, during
the reign of Kamehameha V, was appointed American minister resident
at the court of Hawaii.
ROBERT C. A. PETERSON.
Robert Copeland Austin Peterson, one of the prominent business
men of Honolulu, is a general commission broker, also conducting a
real estate, stocks and bonds and fire and life insurance agency. He was
born at Austinville, Oahu, in the Hawaiian Islands, February 8, 1870,
and has been a prominent factor in the military, political and business
history of the islands. He was a member of the Honolulu Rifles at the
time of the trouble with the king, and was an officer of the citizens’
guard at the time of the overthrow. He took an active part in the revolu-
tion and in all questions relating to the political situation of the country.
He has held office under monarchical and provisional government, also
under the Republic of Hawaii, and now under its rule as a territory of
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
the United States. His political views are those of an independent Re-
publican. He has traveled widely and has an acquaintance extending all
over the world.
JOSEPH M. OAT.
One of the most interesting figures in connection with the history
of the Hawaiian Islands is J. M. Oat, the subject of this sketch. For
nearly a half century he has been identified with public life in the islands,
and during his entire connection with the public interests he has been
recognized as a capable officer and faithful to the position and duties
entrusted to him, and to-day there is no more popular or more respected
citizen in the entire community.
Joseph M. Oat was born in New London, Connecticut, May 14,
1848, and is descended from a prominent New England family. While
in his infancy, in 1853, he was taken to San Francisco, California, and
two years afterwards took up his abode in the islands. His education
was obtained in the public schools here, and after putting his text-books
aside he learned the trade of sail-maker under his father. Continuing
this trade for a brief period, he became a bookkeeper and shortly after
established a news company, which was afterward sold to J. H. Soper,
who subsequently incorporated it as the Hawaiian News Company. Prior
to this, until about 1880, he was appointed chief clerk in the postoffice
department, by H. A. P. Carter, the Minister of the Interior. When the
islands came under the provisional government he was appointed post-
master-general, which position he filled until annexation, at which time
he was appointed postmaster of Honolulu by President McKinley, which
position he filled most acceptably. It has been a matter of much com-
ment by visitors to the islands, of the thorough system inaugurated in
the postoffice here, which in itself speaks very highly of Mr. Oat’s ability
in this branch of public service.
Mr. Oat was married in 1880 to Miss Maggie Burke, a daughter of
$
rincess
rinma
Alexandria Def
ries
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
227
one of the old and prominent families of California. In his fraternal
relations he is a Mason, and was master of the Hawaiian Lodge No. 21;
for 1900. He is a past grand of the 1 . O. O. F., and is also a member
of the Eastern Star and the Knights of Pythias.
Since his residence on the islands Mr. Oat has seen many interest-
ing and historical changes, dating from the reign of Kamehameha IV and
V to Lunalilo, King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani. He haS' passed
through all the riots and insurrections which have troubled the islands
for the past half century, and at times he graphically relates many of his
interesting experiences. He is thoroughly posted regarding the history
of the islands, as he has taken an active interest in all matters of public
moment since leaving his text-books. He has always been identified to
a greater or less extent with newspaper work and is now correspondent
for the San Francisco Merchants’ Exchange and the San Francisco
Guide.
Mr. Oat is an enthusiast on the future of the islands and naturally
so, after witnessing the marvelous changes that have taken place since
his residence here. The development of this historical section of the
country has been extremely rapid from a commercial and social stand-
point, and as each successive decade has passed he has been quick to note
the changes, so that to-day there is no man more familiar or who has
been more closely identified with the history of the Hawaiian Islands
than the subject of this sketch.
PRINCESS EMMA ALEXANDRIA KALANIKAUIKAALANEO
KILIOULANINUIAMAMAO DE FRIES.
One of the most interesting personages in the Hawaiian Islands is
the subject of this sketch, who is of highest royal lineage, and whose gene-
alogy is given herewith from good authority as being a direct lineal
descendant of Queen Keopuolani, wife of Kamehameha I.
228
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
She was born at Strong’s Island, Micronesia, on January 30, 1855,
her parents being those of the earliest Hawaiian missionaries who left
in 1854 — she returning with her mother in i860 to receive her education
at Uluani College and later at Kawaiahao Seminary. She completed her
studies in 1876, and was married to Henry Howard Kauauanuiamahi
De Fries, son of John Howard De Fries and Hale-o-Keawe, who was a
royal descendant of the noted and powerful House of Mahi.
The Princess is the daughter of William Pitt Kalawaianuiakanoa,
the son of Haka, grandson of Imakakoloa, and great-grandson of the
famous high chief, Kanuha, who built the house of refuge known as
“ Hale-o-Keawe.” Her mother was Kahoupo-o-Kaholokaumakaokane,
the daughter of Wahineikapeakapuoliloa and Kalimakahilinuiamamaoa-
lapa, who was the son of Mahehakapulikoliko, whose mother was Peleuli,
one of the wives of Kamehameha L Mahehakapulikoliko’s husband was
Aakalanikauluhiwaakama, the son of Kapakahilinuiaehu, the noted chief
warrior of the opposing forces of Kalnikupule. Kapakahilinuiaehu was
the son of Kepoomahana, one of the daughters of Keumikalakauaehua-
kama and Kauanoho, his sister. Kepoomahana was married to Kau-
loaiwi, one of the sons of Kalanikaumakaowakea, king of Maui. This
same Kapakahilinuiaehu married Kilioulaninuiamamaohikawainui, daugh-
ter of Kauikeaouli Kiwalao and Kalanikauikikilokalaninuiwaiakuawai-
kanakaole. This lady in her days was one of the highest tabu chiefs, on
whom the sun was not permitted to shine and who, unless with extraor-
dinary precautions, only moved about when the sun was so low as
not to throw its beams upon her head. She was the daughter of Queen
Kalola and Kamehameha the Great, king of Maui. Queen Kalola was
also the wife of Kalaniupuu, king of Hawaii.
The princess is the mother of six children, as follows :
John Alexander Liholiho Kalaninohopono-o-Lunalilo De Fries, born
August 22, 1881.
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
229
Henry lolani Kaliakuohawaii De Fries, born December 8, 1883.
Hiram Kauikeaouli Kiwalao Kealiikaapuninuiamamao De Fries,
born September 28, 1885.
Emma Alexandria Nahienaeno-o-Keopuolani Hakaukalalapuakea De
Fries, born April 15, 1889.
Rosalind Hoalii Kilioulaninuiamamaohikawainui De Fries, born Oc-
tober 10, 1893.
Marion Pauline Hale-o-Keawe Kalanikauikikilokalaninuiwaiakua
De Fries, born August 12, 1895.
The princess has in her residence several large kahilis. They are
emblems of royalty and can only be found in possession of the members
of the royal family.
ADMIRAL GEORGE C. BECKLEY.
To write a history of the Hawaiian Islands without due recognition
of Admiral George C. Beckley would be like writing a romance without
a hero, so prominently has he been identified for the past forty years with
its social and commercial interests. From his earliest boyhood he man-
ifested a marked desire to rise above his surroundings, and throughout
his life this has been the dominant characteristic of his nature until to-day
he stands the peer of any man within his environment.
Admiral George C. Beckley was born on the Island of Hawaii on
May 5, 1849, ^ place called Waimea, Waiemi, which at the present
time is the general headquarters for the famous stock ranch of the Hon.
Samuel Parker.
To follow in detail the experiences and vicissitudes of forty years of
life at sea is no small task, but in brief, the following will be found
interesting, as it clearly demonstrates the indomitable energy, will-power,
and force of character embodied in the physical and mental makeup of
George C. Beckley.
230
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
The first voyage made by him was from Honolulu in the bark Cath-
erine of New London, C. A. Williams & Co., owners, as cabin boy, to
Margarita Bay, on the coast of California, where, on November 15, 1862,
twelve devil fish were captured, which yielded 350 barrels of oil. There
were several ships in the bay at the time.
Returning to Honolulu on March 14, the ship discharged the oil,
took on provisions, and left April 1 1 for Kodiak and the Arctic.
On July 18 the Catherine entered the Arctic Ocean and cruised
around during the open season. The weather was generally good; the
ship found whales plentiful, and saw the largest number in latitude 70
degrees north, longitude 175 degrees west. From August 10 to 16 the
crew took their first bowhead. July 19, latitude 68 degrees 10 minutes
north, longitude 170 degrees west, were captured in all sixteen bowhead
whales. The Catherine left the Arctic region on September 8, experien-
cing pleasant weather on the passage down, with southerly winds, for nine
days. On September 8, spoke the brig Susan Abigail of San Francisco,
Redfield, master, cruising with nothing.
On October 12, 1863, arrived at Honolulu with 1,700 barrels of
bowhead oil and 28,000 pounds of whalebone.
On the next voyage Mr. Beckley left Honolulu in the bark Cath-
erine of New London, on November 23, as cabin boy to the coast of
California. Arrived back at Honolulu on March 19, 1864, and left again
for the Arctic Ocean.
On April 8 arrived in Honolulu with 1,400 barrels of bowhead oil.
On the third voyage of the Catherine left Honolulu for the California
coast on Deceniber i, 1864, calling at Margarita Bay, Cape St. Lucas and
Bandero Bay, as likewise the coast of Mexico. Returning, reached Hon-
olulu with 100 barrels of oil.
Left again for Kodiak and the Arctic Ocean in April, and entered
Behring Sea in June. During the latter part of June captured two bow-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
231
head whales. It was here that the vessel was captured by the Confed-
erate privateer Shenandoah, set on fire and burned to the water’s edge,
as were also a great many other vessels comprising the whaling fleet.
The crew was taken aboard the bark General Pike of New Bedford, and
shortly afterwards transferred to the Hawaiian bark Richmond, owned
by Wilcox & Richards of Honolulu.
Of the various crews belonging to the burned vessels, some fifty
were Hawaiians, all of whom were all sent back as passengers. Admiral
Beckley being one of the party, where they arrived in July, 1865.
In September, 1865, Admiral Beckley joined the steamer Kilauea
as second steward, and remained aboard until December, when she ran
ashore at Kawaihae, near the beach home of Hon. Samuel Parker. He
then returned to Honolulu in the schooner Albernie, owned by Janion &
Green Company.
On April 15, 1866, left Honolulu in the bark Monticello of New
London, under Capt. William Phillips, in the capacity of cabin boy for
Kodiak and Arctic cruise. In the Arctic the ship captured whales from
which were stowed down 450 barrels of oil, 8,000 pounds of whalebone,
and arrived back at Honolulu on October 26.
On the fifth voyage, left Honolulu in the bark Monticello of New
London, on November 23, 1866, for the coast of California, calling at
San Diego and Banderos Bay, where they remained for six weeks. Re-
turning, arrived at Honolulu on April 6, with 330 barrels of devil fish
oil. Discharged cargo and left again for the Arctic region the latter part
of July, 1867, returning the latter part of October, with 850 barrels of
oil. The sixth voyage finds the subject of this sketch on the bark Monti-
cello, which sailed from Honolulu on December 16, 1867, for a cruise to
the westward, touching the Ascension Islands, and the Ladrone Islands
(Guam), where shore liberty was given the officers and crew for three
weeks.
232
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
From there the ship proceeded to the Arctic Ocean, where thirteen
bowhead whales were captured, w'hich yielded i,cxx) barrels of oil.
Admiral Beckley left Honolulu for the Arctic Ocean again on April
10, 1868, in the brig Kohala, Captain Tripp, commander, as a boat steerer
to the fourth mate.
In Behring Sea and in the Arctic the ship captured eight whales,
and arrived home October 30, with every cask full, or 800 barrels of oil
and 15,000 pounds of whalebone. December 25, 1868, finds Admiral
Beckley on the bark Eagle of Honolulu, owned by J. C. Pfluger, H.
Hackfeld & Co., agents; William Phillip commander, for Koloa, on
Kauai, with provisions and wood. From there sailed to Baker’s and
Strong’s Islands for pigs, chickens, etc., and from there proceeded to
Guam and the Ladrone Islands, where officers and crews were on shore
leave for three weeks. Then took on wood and water and sailed for
Yokohama. Here the vessel remained one month, due to the captain
taking sick with dropsy. He was carried ashore to the hotel. The chief
officer was placed in command of the vessel, the officers w^re promoted,
and Beckley was made fifth mate. The ship then proceeded to the Arctic
Ocean, secured 1,000 barrels of oil, and arrived at Honolulu November
4, 1869.
On December 21, 1869, left Honolulu in the bark Arctic, in com-
mand of Captain Tripp, for a cruise to the Marquesas Islands, where the
ship remained for two weeks taking on wood and water, repairing sails,
etc. Beckley on the trip was boat steerer to the second mate. From the
Islands the ship went to Kodiak to cruise for right whales. Was there
for three weeks, and then proceeded to the Arctic, capturing four whales.
From here the vessel sailed for Point Barrow, latitude 72 north,
longitude west. On September 12, which will long be remembered, al-
most the entire wffialing fleet was lost, The suffering and privation ex-
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
233
perienced by hundreds of seamen is best told in the Friend of November
I, 1871.
The bark Arctic, with seven other vessels that were saved returned
to Honolulu on October 23, 1871, with 480 barrels of oil.
The total number of men brought by the returning whaling vessels
was in the aggregate 300. This was the last voyage made to the northern
water by Admiral Beckley, and the tenth voyage finds him on the Kilauea,
owned by the Hawaiian government, under the reign of Kamehameha V,
the Hon. S. G. Wilder being the agent. January, 1871, found Beckley
as a deck hand, but occupying quarters in the cabin, a condition made
possible owing to his family connection with Kamehameha V. Some
three months later he was promoted to the position of purser’s clerk, his
brother, F. W. Beckley, being the purser.
In 1873 Admiral Beckley was made first officer, while L. Marchant
was in command.
On August 14, 1877, the new and elegant coasting steamer Likelike,
built for the Hawaiian government, arrived in Honolulu from San Fran-
cisco, where she was built and launched by the Risdon Iron Works. In
October, 1877, Admiral Beckley was appointed freight clerk of the Like-
like, and in 1879 was promoted to the position of purser. About one
month after her arrival in Honolulu the vessel was purchased by the Hon.
S. G. Wilder .
In 1879 went to San Francisco as superintendent for the construc-
tion of the steamer Lehua, and launched her on May 10, On May 14
the vessel left San Francisco with two passengers and a full load of
freight, and in command of Admiral Beckley, making the run in eleven
days, arriving in Honolulu on May 26th. At Honolulu Beckley joined
the steamer Likelike as chief mate under Captain Shephard, and then as
purser again until 1883. Leaving the Likelike the Admiral joined the
Kinau, as purser, where he remained until 1897, when he proceeded to
234
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
San Francisco and brought the steamer Helene to Honolulu, leaving
there on February 24th, and arriving at Honolulu on March 2nd.
On Tuesday, March 8th, of the same year, Beckley joined the Kinau
as purser, where he has remained ever since.
It is a fact worthy of note that Admiral Beckley is a man of excel-
lent physique, and has never lost a day through sickness, or been absent
from his post of duty for the past forty years, nine years in deep-water
vessels and thirty-one years in the steamers plying around the Hawaiian
Islands belonging to the Wilder Steamship Company, of which he is
a director, has not added any gray hairs to his head. On Tuesday, Feb-
ruary 26, 1901, Admiral Beckley took his examination before the
United States Board of Inspectors of Hulls and Boilers, and was grant-
ed a license to navigate as a master and pilot of the Hawaiian waters.
Admiral Beckley might be captain as well as purser if he would.
At the regular meeting of the Harbor No. 54, A. A. M. P. S. V.,
held on January 5, it was decided by a unanimous vote of the harbor
to confer upon Commodore George C. Beckley the title of admiral.
Admiral Beckley was also presented with a pennant 18 feet in
length and eight feet in hoist. There are two white stars to note the
rank and in the center of the medium width in the white circle there are
the figures 54, the number of the Ledge of the American Association of
Masters and Pilots of Steam Vessels of the United States of America.
After the presentation of this beautiful pennant Admiral Beckley
responded to his brother members as follows ;
“ It is with heartfelt pleasure that I thank my brothers of Honolulu
harbor for the honor they have paid me this evening. To be chosen as
the admiral of the harbor, then be presented with this magnificent flag,
is sufficient to call forth the best feelings and it is with the truest of ap-
preciation of the honor that I thank you. I appreciate this gift all the
more in that it is presented to me, a Hawaiian whose record of sea serv-
Pi
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M
Arthur M. Brown
%
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
235
ice dates from early days, and has been connected with the develop-
ment of trade between the various islands of the group. I have spent
forty years on ships and have given the best years of life to the service.
“ We ought to be proud of the service to which we belong. Our
flag floats over fifty-four harbors in the United States, and it will ever
wave. We are here to enjoy the good things ; the flowers you see were
sent to us by a young lady, who went to her own hot-house and gath-
ered them when she heard that I was to be honored by the harbor.
Again I thank you, my brothers, and in doing so I would say that this
your flag shall ever wave bn shore or on sea, while I live.”
On December 4, 1894, C. L. Wight was elected president of the
Wilder Steamship Company, at which time the Hon. George C. Beckley
became a director.
ARTHUR M. BROWN.
He was born in Honolulu August 16, 1868, and among the sons
of Hawaii there is none whose name is more worthy of honorable men-
tion in its history than the subject of this sketch, Arthur M. Brown.
Arthur M. Brown was educated at Punahou College in Honolulu,
after which he took a course at the Boston University Law School. He
returned to the islands in 1892 and engaged in the practice of law. In
February, 1893, he accepted the position of deputy marshal under the
Provisional Government, which position he held until 1895. He was
then appointed marshal of the Republic of Hawaii, which position he
held until June 14, 1900. He was then appointed high sheriff of the
Territory of Hawaii by Sanford B. Dole and was afterwards re-appoint-
ed by Governor Carter to the same position. In that position he had
control of the jails, prisons, and police officials of all the islands, and it is
largely owing to his efforts and thorough knowledge of all the details of
the various departments under his supervision that the system has been
236
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
brought up to its present high standard of efficiency. Upon the advent of
county government, July i, 1905, Mr. Brown was elected sheriff of Oahu
county, in which the capital city of Honolulu is situated.
A. N. KEPOIKAI.
Auwae Noa Kepoikai was born in Wailuku on the island of Maui
December 17th, 1862. He is of pure Hawaiian blood and can trace his
lineage back beyond the days of Kamehameha the Great. His father,
Noa Kepoikai, was a prominent Hawaiian of his day, fairly educated,
and his son has lost none of the noble traits of his progenitor.
In his young days the subject of this sketch attended the common
schools of Wailuku, and afterwards his father, anxious for the future of
his son, sent him to Lahainaluna Seminary under Professor Hitchcock,
which was then the leading educational institution of the country for
Hawaiians. While here young Kepoikai mingled with other Hawaiian
boys who later became leaders of their people, and it was thus that he
obtained his first inspiration and thirst for learning. After graduation
with high honors from Lahainaluna in 1880, Kepoikai entered Oahu Col-
lege in the fall of the same year, hoping thereby that his youthful am-
bition might be fulfilled, but the early demise of his aged father inter-
rupted his future plans for acquiring the various higher branches of
learning which Oahu college alone could instill in the minds of the young.
For a time his future seemed somewhat blighted.
In answer to urgent letters from home, young Kepoikai returned to
Maui and dwelt among his aged relatives. Although his school days
were considered over, as the time for a struggle for his daily existence
was staring him in the face, yet, undaunted and with the same fixed de-
termination with which he is nobly endowed by nature, and which has
been the means of helping him in surmounting obstacles in most crit-
ical moments of his varied career, he then made up his mind to acquire
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
237
knowledge beyond that already obtained while under the tutorship of the
best instructors the times afforded. So after leaving Oahu College he
took up the study of law and was admitted by the late Chief Justice
Judd to the Hawaiian bar September i, 1895.
Before this time, however, and after leaving school he was for a
time employed as salesman at Kahului store, and it was while here that
he received his real business education, which has been a source of great
help to him in his later career as a financier and as a business man in
general. After that he held the position of district magistrate of Wailu-
ku on the island of Maui. On December 15, 1886, he received his first
commission as police magistrate of Wailuku from Robert Hoapili Baker,
then governor of Maui and adjacent islands. This commission was
renewed every two years later and bore the endorsement of cabinet min-
isters W. L. Green, Jona Austin, L. A. Thurston and C. W. Ashford, and
approved by Hon. A. F. Judd, C. J., and Associate Justices L. McCully,
Edward Preston and Sanford B. Dole. This was his first step into pub-
lic life and from which he gradually rose to his present high position in
officialdom.
Queen Liliuokalani soon after her ascension to the throne of the
Kamehamehas, and reposing especial confidence in the ability and integ-
rity of Kepoikai, and by and with the consent of her majesty’s cabinet,
on May 16, 1892, appointed him circuit judge of Maui, suc-
ceeding the late Hon. George E. Richardson. So from 1892 to 1894
he was circuit judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, comprising the
islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe, and during his in-
cumbency he proved himself an able as well as a fair-minded jurist.
But like the majority of true and patriotic Hawaiians, he at first
espoused the Royalist cause in 1893 and the Provisional Government
which supplanted the government of Queen Liliuokalani found it incom-
patible with its principles of government to retain him, so Kepoikai re^
238
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
tired from that position which he had held with honor and dignity for
over two years, and was succeeded by the Hon. John W. Kalua, another
prominent Hawaiian lawyer and politician ; but he did not retire without
a struggle, for Kepoikai flatly refused to vacate his seat, questioning the
authority of those in power to remove him without cause. Special laws
were passed by the Provisional Government Junta, which required all
government offlcials to take the oath of fealty to the then de facto gov-
ernment as a token of recognition of the existing government. And
thus Kepoikai was forced to relinquish the ermine robe and retired to his
country seat in Wailuku to follow up the study of law, in which profes-
sion he has become an esteemed and valuable member, and as the irony
of fate would have it, Kepoikai in 1904 succeeded Kalua in the same
bench from which he was forced to retire ten years before; this time
our worthy Presid^^nt, accepting the recommendation of Governor
George R. Carter of Hawaii, sent Kepoikai’s name to the Senate of
the United States of America and by which body the nomination was
confirmed on April 19th, 1904. Thus was Roosevelt instrumental in
reinstating him to a position from which he was forcibly removed. But
times and governments have changed, and the Royalist cause is a thing
of the past except in the dim imagination of some Home Rulers, who
still believe in restoration of the monarchy. And thus Kepoikai is again
on the much coveted Maui bench, holding that most enviable position
as the first citizen of Maui, and well he deserves that position, for he is
undoubtedly the ablest of Hawaii’s sons, possessing as he does not only
a legal and judicial mind, but also a business mind. He is also a lead-
ing figure in politics, having represented Maui in the Senate of the
Republic of Hawaii in 1898. He and Samuel Parker were the first dele-
gates from the Territory of Hawaii to the Republican National Conven-
tion held at Philadelphia, Penna., in 1900. In that convention Mr.
Kepoikai met and associated with the best element of Americans. That
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
239
trip was a God-send to him, for an observing mind like his could not
help but take advantage of every opportunity for improvement which
such environments and such a body of representative men could only
impart.
On his return in 1900 he was honored by Governor S. B. Dole
with a commission as one of the five members of the Court of Fire
Claims, which adjudicated over $i,ocx>,ooo.oo among several thousand
claimants who lost almost everything in that most disastrous conflagra-
tion of 1899 which devastated that portion of Honolulu known as China-
town. Of the original five members of the commission Mr. Kepoikai
alone received a reappointment to sit in the second and final commis-
sion.
In December of 1902 Kepoikai went to Honolulu on the U. S. S.
Iroquois, which was sent on a special mission to Kahului, Maui, to
bring him down, and accepted the portfolio of treasurer of the Terri-
tory of Hawaii, and his record there not only as a financier, but also in
his imbroglio with Governor Carter, who urgently demanded his resig-
nation and which was stoutly refused, is still fresh in the minds of
many.
A. N. Kepoikai has held many minor positions in the service of the
people under various forms of government, such as member of the
Wailuku Road Board, member of the Board of Registration for the
Second Senatorial and Third Representative District, and similar posts
of trust. He was also attorney for several of the largest plantations of
Maui, such as the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company and the
Wailuku Sugar Company.
He married Miss Rose Daniels, a daughter of the late W. H.
Daniels, one of Maui’s most able and honored citizens, and she has been
to him a helpmate indeed.
He has taken the York Rite in the order of Masonry, and is also a
240
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
member of Hawaiian Lodge No. 21, F. and A. M., Honolulu Chapter
No. I, Honolulu Commandery No. i, and a Knight Templar.
Mentally and physically Kepoikai is of the highest type of the
Hawaiian race and one of whom his people may justly feel proud.
WALTER GAUNT COOPER.
The subject of this sketch, Walter Gaunt Cooper, was born in Eng-
land in 1862. In 1885 he left his native country and went to New York
City, where he engaged in the banking business in the Market and
Fulton Bank, where he remained for three years. From there he went
to Australia and after a two years’ sojourn in the antipodes he returned
to San Francisco, California, and again engaged in the banking business
with the Anglo Californian Bank, where he remained till 1899. He
then came to Honolulu and opened the First National Bank of Hawaii,
of which he is now cashier. This bank was formerly the First Amer-
ican Bank of Hawaii. The capital stock of this bank is $500,000, the
surplus and undivided profits are $72,512.75. United States deposits
are $393>S63.5i, deposits $846,937.16.
The officers of the bank are: Cecil Brown, President; Mark P.
Robinson, Vice President, and W. G. Cooper, Cashier. Directors: M.
P. Robinson, August Dreier, and Bruce Cartwright.
JAMES A. KENNEDY.
James A. Kennedy was bom in Scotland November 28, 1852, and
educated there. He came to Cailifornia in 1873. Here he remained
until 1880 and engaged in the iron industry. He then came to the
islands and associated himself with the Honolulu Iron Works. Here
he remained until 1902. He then associated himself with the Inter-
Island Steamship Company, which position he holds at the present
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JAMES CAMPBELL
tHE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 24i
time. He is the president and general manager of the above company,
having succeeded the late manager, John Ena.
The officers and capital of the company are as follows: James A.
Kennedy, President; J. L. McLean, Vice President; C. H. Clapp, Secre-
tary; N. E. Gedge, Treasurer; A. W. T. Bottomley, Auditor. The cap-
ital stock is $600,000, and the following are the names of their steam-
ers: Mauna Loa, Hanalei, W. G. Hall, Mikahala, Kauai, Niihau, Iwa-
lani, Noeau, Ke Au Hou, Waialeale, James Makee, and the gasoline
schooners Eclipse and Malolo. Their cable address is “ Maunaloa ”
Code A. B. C. (Fifth edition.)
JAMES CAMPBELL.
James Campbell, whose business interests were always conducted
along progressive lines and whose efforts proved of direct and per-
manent value in the upbuilding and progress of Honolulu, was born in
Ireland, and reared in Londonderry, that country. From the Emerald
Isle he made his way to the Fiji Islands as ship carpenter on a whaling
vessel. Leaving the ship, he remained on the islands for some time
and afterward went to Tahiti. He was afterward at Maui, where the
first piece of work he there did was to make a cradle for his wife, who
was then a baby. He found a partner who could furnish some capital,
and together they operated in the sugar business, beginning operations,
however, on a small scale, but gradually extending the scope of their
business until they controlled an extensive and important trade. Their
first mill was operated by horse power. Mr. Campbell owned all of the
land where the town of Lahaina now stands, and the place was called by
him the Pioneer Plantation. He sold this property in 1876 and turned
his attention to the cattle industry on the Ewa plantation, as it is now
called. A man of resourceful business ability, he did not confine his
attention, however, to a single line, and in connection with cattle raising
242
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
did a large amount of building in Honolulu. He was the first one who
started to improve the town according to modern ideas, and he bored
the first well for artesian water. He also purchased the St. James hotel
in San Jose, California. He possessed keen business insight and un-
flagging enterprise, quickly recognized opportunities, and through their
improvement constantly enlarged the scope of his activities and became
a prominent and prosperous business man. That his undertakings were
conducted along the strictest lines of business integrity and honor is
indicated by the fact that he never had a law suit in his life.
In October, 1877, Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Abigail Mai-
pinepine and they became the parents of four children: Abigail, who
married Prince David; Alice; Muriel; and Beatrice. Mr. Campbell was
a member of the Episcopal church. His life record was ended in death
April 21, 1900, and his remains were interred in Honolulu.
LOUIS THEOPHILUS KENAKK
One of Honolulu’s most highly respected and valued citizens and
one who is a credit to his birthplace. Charleston, old South Carolina,
in which he was born June 12, 1868, is the subject of this sketch, Louis
Theophilus Kenake. His father, Louis Kenake, who is now dead, was
born in Germany, but at an early age came to the United States and
became one of Charleston’s best and most honored citizens, having for
many years and during the Civil war occupied the position of chief of
the Fire Department of that city. His mother, Levina Anne Syme,
was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and is at the present time a
resident of San Francisco, California, in the enjoyment of good health.
Louis Theophilus Kenake, accompanied by his parents, moved from
Charleston, South Carolina, to San Francisco, California, while he was
still in his boyhood. After arriving there he entered the Lincoln Gram-
mar School, from which he graduated with high honors, and he at once
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
243
entered commercial pursuits, which line he followed successfully for
three and one-half years. At this time, like many other ambitious and
aspiring young men, hearing of the wonderful opportunities for advance-
ment in the Hawaiian Islands, he resolved to come to Honolulu, which
step he has nevei* had reason to regret. After arriving here he again
entered the field of trade, where he remained until 1893, when he re-
ceived the appointment of assistant postmaster, under the Provisional
Government, which position he still occupies in connection with that of
cashier.
Mr. Kenake was married September 6, 1903, to Miss Madge Red-
mond of San Francisco, who is a native daughter of the Golden West.
Her family is one of the oldest and most respected of the above named
city.
In the days of the monarchy and during those troublesome times,
which is now a matter of history, and during King Kalakaua’s reign, he
was a member of the old Honolulu Rifles, which membership he held
until they were disbanded. In 1893, when the militia was organized,
he received a lieutenancy and was afterwards promoted to a captain on
Governor Dole’s staff. Upon the resignation of Governor Dole he was
honorably retired.
While the duties of his office are such that he cannot take an active
interest in political affairs, he is still an ardent and influential adherent
to the interests and duties devolving upon him as a member of the Re-
publican party.
During the revolutions of 1887 and 1893 and 1895 he took an active
part, and throughout the many trying scenes which ensued he was both
a loyal citizen and soldier, honored by his friends and feared by his
enemies.
Mr. Kenake is a splendid representative of the old southern stock,
being 6 feet 4^ inches in height, with a military bearing.
244
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
His face, while in repose, shows firmness and strength of purpose and
a nature that, when once aroused to a point of determination, would
brook no obstacle, but would move straight to the front, with shoulders
back and head erect until the goal was reached.
He is a Mason and also an Elk. That he is a man competent to
fill the requirements of his present position is a fact conceded by the
entire community.
JOHN F. COLBURN.
Presumably there is no other country in the world in whose his-
tory the meritorious deeds of industrial heroism stand out so conspicu-
ously as that of America and the gentleman whose name heads this
sketch is an individual exemplar of that type of our rising young
men. When yet but a mere lad he was found grappling successfully
with all the responsibilities which would naturally be attendant upon
one of more mature years and worldly knowledge. Firmly imbued
with the truthfulness of the maxim that every man is the founder of his
own fortune, he has worked energetically and untiringly towards that
end, until to-day he stands pre-eminently among the class of men who
form the foundation of this great republic, and who have left the im-
print of their individuality upon the pages of our history.
John F. Colburn was bom September 30, 1859, Honolulu, on
Maunakea street, at which time that thoroughfare was considered the
fashionable one in the city. His father, John F. Colburn, was a native
of Boston, Massachusetts, and came to the islands in early days. His
name is mentioned in early reports of Hawaiian affairs. His mother
was the daughter of Joseph Maughan, a sea captain who was the first
pilot and harbormaster of Honolulu. His mother was born on her
father’s whaling vessel while returning from the Arctic. It was only
by good luck that she reached the islands at all. Shortly after her birth
a negro cook on board the whaler became jealous of his wife and set
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
245
fire to the ship and then cut his own throat. The crew were adrift in
the open sea for five days in small boats, but eventually reached Hono-
lulu. Mr. Colburn’s great-grandfather, on his mother’s side, was a
Spaniard, one of the first foreign settlers of the islands. Pas de Paulo
Marin. It was he who introduced the Bermuda grass and the chutney
species of mango in the islands. The first mango tree which he planted
from the seed is still to be seen near River and Vineyard streets. He
afterwards imported the Spanish plum and prickly pear to the islands.
He was private secretary to Kamehameha I. The diary which he kept
was a most interesting one historically and was procured by the late
Walter Murray Gibson and sent to Spain to be translated to English.
The Hawaiian Historical Society have made repeated efforts to obtain
this diary, but without success. He died in Honolulu, leaving one
daughter, who is living at the present time, Mrs. Antoinette Swan of
Santa Cruz, California.
Mr. Colburn of this review received his education at Oahu College,
and after leaving that institution he entered the firm of Lewers & Dick-
son, which was the predecessor of the present firm of Lewers & Cooke.
Here he remained for thirteen years, during which time he gained a
most valuable business experience, and upon severing his connection
with the firm he went into business for himself and remained with it
seven years. His next move was in the real estate business, which he
conducted for three years, and then took hold of the present Kapiolani
estate for the heirs, which he incorporated and has successfully placed
upon a business and financial basis. While not caring to enter the field
of politics Mr. Colburn has held very important positions in serving the
republic and was minister of the interior until the overthrow of the mon-
archy, and he also was a member of the Board of Health. He prefers,
however, to devote his time more to his business interests, and to those
interests which will depend upon him for their success,
246
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
AUGUST DREIER.
Every country is proud of its self-made men, and the Hawaiian
Islands to-day furnish several examples of what can be done by a man
of indomitable will and steadfastness of purpose, when these desirable
attributes are backed up by sound business judgment and a determination
to succeed in his undertakings. Perhaps no more striking example of
this class of citizen could be recognized in the islands than Mr. August
Dreier, the subject of this sketch. From boyhood he learned the greatest
lesson of life — self-dependence — and although he has encountered ob-
stacles which would have discouraged an ordinary man he has by sheer
force of character risen above all disappointments and his ultimate tri-
umph only reflects the more credit upon himself. In the world of to-
day but very little credit is given the man who inherits a fortune and
who is surrounded by the best of legal and commercial talent which
combine to keep the inheritance intact. It is to the man who starts out
with nothing but his brains and a good name and who, by the use of
them, builds up a fortune and a place of honor and respect in his com-
munity, that the world gives credit. Such a man is August Dreier, and
a brief sketch of his career will prove most interesting in the history of
the Hawaiian Islands.
He is a native of the province of Hanover, Germany, and was born
in 1841 at Gronau. When he was but 13 years of age he was appren-
ticed to learn the trade of machinist, and after serving his full time,
during which he mastered the trade in all its details, he secured a cer-
tiflcate of ability as a machinist and engineer. He at once entered into
his trade, and for seven years was employed in several of the large cities
in Germany. His ability was soon recognized, and in 1866 he entered
into a contract with Hoffschlaeger & Co. of Honolulu to erect a cotton
mill at Waialua Falls, Kauai. He at once started for the islands, but
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
247
in the meantime the project had been abandoned, and on his arrival
here he found himself in a strange land, without friends, and to make
matters worse he could not speak the English language. For the ordi-
nary young man the situation would have been desperate, but not so
with Mr. Dreier. He had been accustomed to depending on his own
efYorts, and he soon secured a situation on the Lihue plantation as en-
gineer, and for the next six years he worked hard and faithfully in this
position. A part of this time he also worked as sugar boiler and did
other work around the plantation. By so doing he acquired a thorough
knowledge of sugar growing and extracting, and the knowledge so ac-
quired has stood him in good stead ever since. At the end of six years
he had acquired a good knowledge of English and Hawaiian and had
also saved about $3,000 from his earnings. Being of an ambitious tem-
perament he decided to engage in the business of sugar planting on his
own account, and in partnership with a Mr. A. Conrad went to Koloa
and purchased the lease of a tract of land. His thorough knowledge of
the business made the venture a paying one from the start, and after
three years he bought his partner out. In 1876 he bought a half interest
in the leasehold of what is now the Eleele plantation. The ground was
covered with rocks and all of his friends tried to persuade him not to
embark in this enterprise, but Mr. Dreier knew what he was doing, and
he was thoroughly familiar with the character of the soil and other
advantages the place had to offer. Here is the strong point in his char-
acter. Had he accepted the advice of his friends he would probably
to-day occupy a mediocre position in the islands instead of being one
of the leaders.
His self-reliance came to the front and he developed one of the
finest plantations in the islands.
In 1876 Mr. Dreier married Miss Emma Titcomb and she has
since presided over his house. Tliey have five children; Emil, Adele
248
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Puanani, Juanita, now deceased, August and Edward. Mr. and Mrs.
Dreier and his family are very popular in society. He is recognized
as a forceful man and withal one with kind heart, and his sterling
qualities have endeared him to all who know him. He is charitable and
delights in doing things which will give pleasure to others, and in his
magnificent home a gracious hospitality is always extended. The islands
are proud of Mr. Dreier and he numbers his friends by the hundreds.
No man is more thought of nor more deservedly popular and he cer-
tainly desen^es extended recognition in the history of the islands. Mr.
Dreier was a member of the upper house of the legislature in the last
period of the monarchy.
FREDERICK KLAMP.
The subject of this sketch, Frederick Klamp, was born in Hong
Kong, China, August 14, 1863. His father, Capt. John Klamp, was
engaged in the shipping business and was captain of his own vessel,
which for many years plied between China, Japan and Singapore. After
years of successful labor in this industry he amassed a comfortable for-
tune and retired from business. He now resides in Germany, his native
land, where he is passing the remainder of his days in peace and com-
fort, surrounded by his many friends.
Frederick Klamp was educated in Bremen, Germany. After fin-
ishing his studies he served one year in the army, and then entered mer-
cantile pursuits in his native country, and after three years of profitable
experience in this business, he came to the islands November 22, 1885,
and entered the firm of H. Hackfeld & Co. as a bookkeeper. After two
years in this position, he was promoted to plantation manager for H.
Hackfeld & Co. Mr. Klamp is a gentleman of pleasing address and
affable manners, and with his extraordinary business tact, combined
with the above attributes, it is the prediction of hi§ many frends that
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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
249
his future will be one of distinction and success. Mr. Frederick Klamp
was married to Miss Agnes Gerard of Omaha, Nebraska. They have
one child, a daughter, who at this writing is eight months old.
HON. SAMUEL PARKER.
Perhaps no better representative of the Hawaiian Islands lives to-
day than the subject of this sketch, Hon. Samuel Parker. Born on the
islands, he comes of a family that for several generations has occupied
a prominent place in political and commercial affairs. A brief review of
his life and his family will prove interesting. This gentleman’s paternal
grandfather, J. P. Parker, was an American citizen, who came to the
Sandwich Islands in the early part of the nineteenth century, married a
Hawaiian lady of distinction, and acquired enormous land interests.
Two sons, J. P. Parker and Eben P. Parker, were the result of this
union. Eben P. Parker also married a Hawaiian lady of noble birth,
who became the mother of the subject of this sketch. While Samuel
Parker was still a child his father died, as did — some years later — his
grandfather, leaving the present subject, his two sisters and his uncle,
J. P. Parker, his legatees. The property consists chiefly of an extensive
cattle ranch on the Island of Hawaii, covering about 50,000 acres, and
containing upwards of 20,000 head of cattle. There, in the year 1853,
Mr. Parker was born, and there the principal part of his life may be
said to have been spent. Although he has visited nearly every part of
the United States, this gentleman has never been away from the islands
for more than a few months at a time, and up to 1886, when he was
appointed to a seat in the House of Nobles during the reign of Kalakaua,
under the old constitution; and upon the adoption of the new constitu-
tion was re-elected to the seat from Hawaii, and held the office until
February 25, 1891, when he was appointed premier and minister of
foreign affairs — the highest office in the gift of her majesty. To this
250
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
office Mr. Parker gave his entire attention. In the direction of all the
important matters which came under his department, he has shown
remarkable aptitude, and no small degree of tact and diplomacy. Major
Parker was the only member of that cabinet through whose veins flows
the native Hawaiian blood, and he is beyond question one of the most
prominent and popular Hawaiians in the islands. Mr., Parker married a
Hawaiian lady in 1871, and has a family of eight children — ^five boys
and three girls.
Tlie Parker family having for three generations been possessed of
great wealth, and being also of noble extraction, has always been on
terms of friendship and intimacy with the royal family, and have long
made a practice of giving gorgeous entertainments in their honor, as also
in that of visitors of distinction. This intimacy, as well as the many
services done the sovereign and the country by them, has caused the
Parkers to be held in high esteem by the throne. There is no man in
the country so profusely decorated with royal orders as is Major Parker,
wearing as he does four out of five royal Hawaiian orders.
After the death of his first wife Mr. Parker again married, the lady
of his choice being Mrs. Abigail Campbell, the widow of the late James
Campbell, who was one of the most prominent men in the islands, and
of whom an extended sketch appears in another part of this work. The
family live to-day in a palatial residence on Waikiki Beach, and here
hospitality and good fellowship reign supreme. Mr. Parker is a native
born host and entertains in a royal way, and is equally popular with
the Hawaiians and the people of foreign birth.
H. ARMITAGE.
One of the popular and successful business men of the Hawaiian
Islands is Harry Armitage, the subject of this sketch. He is a native
of New Zealand, born December 16, 1854. His education was acquired
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
261
in his native country, and for a time after leaving school he followed
commercial business. Becoming dissatisfied with conditions there he
embarked on the steamship Nebraska, and in April, 1871, arrived in
Honolulu. Shortly afterward he entered the office of A. S. Cleghorn &
Co., Ltd., one of the largest corporations in the country, and remained
with them until 1883. His father’s death occurred in New Zealand in
1863, and he returned there in 1883 to settle up the estate. His father
was in the military service in New Zealand, and met his death during
an engagement with the Maories. After he had settled up the estate he
went into business there, which he continued for two years, but he
never ceased to regard the Hawaiian Islands as his future home, and
he accordingly wound up his business and returned here. He at once
entered into the produce business and was very successful in this un-
dertaking. During that period produce brought enormous prices, and
Mr. Armitage was quick to grasp the situation, and his keen business
judgment soon placed him on a firm financial standing. At the same
time he was engaged in the photograph business with Mr. Williams,
and later he went into business relations with Mr. J. F. Morgan, the
auctioneer, which he continued until he started the brokerage business
which he is now conducting. During the reign of King Kalakaua he
was a member of Honolulu Rifles. He numbers his friends by the score,
and to-day there is no more popular or successful man in Honolulu than
Harry Armitage, the subject of this sketch.
HEINRICH M. VON HOLT.
In a compendium such as this work affords, it would be impossible
to do justice to the business interests of the Hawaiian Islands, unless
due reference was made to the subject of this sketch, Heinrich M. von
Holt. Although still a young man he has indelibly stamped the imprint
of his business individuality upon the commercial and financial annals
252
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
of the Islands, and to-day stands as one of the foremost representatives
of its business interests.
The dominant factors in his success have been unswerving fidelity
to business, a keen and unerring judgment, up-to-date methods and ab-
solute integrity in all his dealings.
Heinrich M. von Holt was born in Honolulu, September 15, 1863,
and comes of sturdy stock. His grandfather on his mother’s side was
Thomas Brown, one of the first settlers on the islands. He was origi-
nally in the coffee and live stock business on Kauai, and was subse-
quently registrar of conveyances on Oahu. It was in Honolulu at the
advanced age of 84 that he died. His daughter (the mother of our sub-
ject) accompanied him from England, arriving here when but five years
of age. She died recently and was universally mourned as a leader in
works of religion and charity. Herman von Holt, the father
of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Hamburg,
Germany, and emigrated from the fatherland in 1851. On hi^
arrival here, he at once engaged in mercantile pursuits in Honolulu,
which he continued for sixteen years. His health failing, he deter-
mined on a sea trip for recuperation, but died at sea on June 10, 1867,
on his way to Germany. Mrs. von Holt afterward married the Rev.
Canon Alex. Mackintosh of St. Andrew’s cathedral. He is a full cousin
of the Mackintosh of Moy Hall, Inverness, Scotland. Our subject has
two sisters living — Miss Marie Von Holt, living in Honolulu, and Mrs.
Fred W. Glade, who is residing at present in Dresden, Germany. Her
husband is a brother-in-law of the late Paul Isenberg.
Heinrich M. von Holt acquired his preliminary education at St.
Alban’s College in Honolulu, which was supplemented by study at the
Royal School. He next attended Bishop Scott Grammar School in Port-
land, Oregon, from which he was graduated and returned to the islands
in 1881. His first business was the handling of real estate, and with
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 253
it he associated a brokerage business. This was in connection with his
uncle, Cecil Brown. In 1890, when the Oahu Railroad was incor-
porated, he was made trustee and the superintendent of its Ranch de-
partment, which position he still holds. He is also a commissioner of
education, which position he has acceptably filled for over seven years.
Mr. von Holt is also the consul for Holland. With most of the large
commercial and financial enterprises of the islands he is closely asso-
ciated, being a director of the railroad and holding business relations
with other important matters of commercial activity. He has been a
director of the First National Bank and of the Inter-Island Steamship
Company on Oahu. He is interested in the Ewa and Honolulu planta-
tions, the Oahu Sugar Company and the Waianae Company, and is vice-
president of the Honolulu Soap Company. He also is financially inter-
ested in the Manufacturers’ Shoe Company, the N. S. Sachs Dry Goods
Company, the Inter-Island Steamship Company, and the Wireless Tele-
graph Company. In Kauai he is interested in the Kekaha Sugar Com-
pany, also the Hawaiian Sugar Company, and is trustee of the Knudsen
estate on Kauai. On the Island of Hawaii he is a stockholder in the
Hilo Railroad.
Mr. von Holt is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hono-
lulu Chamber of Commerce, and is chairman of its Harbor Shipping
and Transportation Committee. He is also resident agent for the Ni-
agara Fire Insurance Company, the Traders’ Insurance Company and
the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company.
On December 8, 1890, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was united
in marriage to Miss Ida Knudsen of Kauai. Her father, Valdemar
Knudsen, was one of the early settlers on the Island of Kauai and mar-
ried Miss Annie Sinclair of the Sinclair, Gay and Robinson family of
Kauai. He died in Honolulu in 1898, but Mrs. Knudsen is still living.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. von Holt have been born five children: Mary
254
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Elizabeth, aged 12, is attending school in Honolulu; Herman Valde-
mar, aged 10; Hilda Karen, aged 8; Alex. Ronald Kamehameha, 6,
was born on the last day of the Hawaiian Republic, and is therefore the
last of the Hawaiians; Katherine Annie, aged 3.
Mr. von Holt, while naturally kept busy with his multifarious in-
terests, still finds time to attend to the duties of citizenship. He was
chairman of the Central Committee of the “ Reform ” party in monarch-
ical days, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Protestant
Episcopal church and a church warden of St. Andrew’s cathedral. He
is associated with his uncle, Cecil Brown, president of the First Na-
tional Bank, and attorney-at-law, and has the handling of a large amount
of the local realty and also represents owners residing abroad. His
residence at 422 Judd street is one of the beautiful homes of the city,
and here hospitality reigns, both Mr. and Mrs. von Holt being recog-
nized as important factors in the social life of Honolulu. He also has
a residence at Waikiki and a summer home in the Waianae mountains.
It can readily be seen that Mr. Von Holt belongs to that distinctive type
of citizen to whom progress is ever a watchword, a man honored and
respected by all, and no history of the Hawaiian Islands would be com-
plete without due representation of him.
PRINCE DAVID KAWANANAKOA.
The subject of this sketch was born in Honolulu in 1868 and is a
son of David Kahalepouli, his mother being Kekaulike, and the late
queen dowager was his aunt, on his father’s side. The late King Kala-
kaua was his cousin. Prince David’s preliminary education was acquired
in the public schools of Honolulu, after which he took a thorough course
at Mathew’s Hall at San Mateo, California. His education was com-
pleted in England, where he attended college. In 1891 he returned to
Honolulu and entered the office of Foreign Aflfairs and continued in the
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THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
255
public service until 1893. He is a Democrat in politics, and was a dele-
gate to the national convention held in Kansas City when William J.
Bryan was nominated for the presidency. His brother, Prince Cupid,
differs from him in politics, being a Republican, and is now a delegate
to Washington from the Hawaiian Territory. Prince David has always
been an industrious worker for his party, and it is certain that he will
be heard from in the field of politics. He is one of the trustees of the
Kapiolani estate, which consists principally of real estate located on all
of the islands of the Hawaiian group. The estate is incorporated with
a capital stock of $300,000, and besides its real estate holdings it is
largely interested in sugar. The offices of the estate are at the corner
of King and Alakea streets, the office building being a fine fire-proof
building, modern in every respect, with two stories and a basement,
and with a foundation which will enable them at any time in the future
to add two additional stories.
In February, 1901, Prince David was married to Miss Abigail
Campbell, the daughter of the late James Campbell, of whom extended
reference is made in other pages of this work. Two children have been
born of this union. Miss Abigail, who is one year of age, and David,
born in 1904. The prince and his family reside in a beautiful home in
Honolulu and are among the leaders of the social circles in the city.
Coming as he does of royal stock and being a progressive and ambitious
citizen it is not strange that Prince David is numbered among the most
popular citizens of the entire islands. Although a young man he has
made his influence felt in political and business affairs, and as he stands
to-day on the very threshold of manhood with an absolutely clean career
behind him and coming of stock of which the whole world has heard
it will indeed be surprising if Prince David does not attain and keep
front rank with the foremost citizens of the country.
256
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
WILLIAM C ACHI.
Born at N. Kohala, Hawaii, December i6, 1858; entered in com-
mon school of that District, and on July 9th, 1870, entered into Bond’s
Select School; on July 7th, 1873, entered the Hilo Boarding School,
under the management of Rev. D. B. Lyman.
In July, 1876, entered the Lahainaluna Seminary and graduated
in May, 1879; in September, 1879, entered the Oahu College. In Janu-
ary, 1882, entered as clerk in W. R. Castle’s law office; in February,
1887, was licensed as a lawyer to practice in all courts of the country.
In November, 1897, he was elected a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives from the Districts of Kohala, Konas and Kau, Island of
Hawaii.
During the Legislature of 1898 he was elected a member of the
council of state against Geo. R. Carter and S. K. Kane.
In November, 1900, he was elected a Senator for the first Legis-
lature of the Territory of Hawaii from the Island of Oahu. In Novem-
ber, 1902, he was re-elected as a Senator from the Island of Oahu for
four years; his present term will expire in November, 1906.
He is a lawyer by profession. He is one of the real estate dealers
who dealt in big tracts during the last four years.
He has a son, who is now in the high class of St. Louis College,
named William C. Achi, Jr.
AUGUST AHRENS.
The subject of this sketch was born in Hanover, Germany, March,
1856. There he received a thorough education in all that pertains to
the sugar industry, and in 1879 he came to the Hawaiian Islands and
engaged in the above industry with Mr. H. Widemann with whom he
remained for seventeen years. He then became the manager of the
■5
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
257
Oahu Sugar Company, which position he occupied until recently. On
this gigantic plantation of fourteen thousand acres he had under his su-
pervision 1, 800 men.
Before coming to Honolulu Mr. Ahrens was in the military service
of his fatherland. His father was a farmer in the old country. His
father and mother are both dead, his father having died in 1867. Mr.
Ahrens has become a naturalized American citizen, and like all good
Germans who take the oath of allegiance to Uncle Sam he is patriotic
and loyal to his adopted country. He is a member of the Order of
Masons and a Shriner. Mr. Ahrens is married and is the father of five
children. One daughter is now attending school in Boston, and the
other four children are attending school in Honolulu. Mr. Ahrens is
giving his children a thorough and liberal education, and he has wisely
decided, in the care of his sons, to give them the privilege after they
have graduated of choosing professions for themselves, for which they
feel the best qualified to make a success. Mr. Ahrens resides at his
beautiful home in Wilder avenue, Honolulu, which he purchased on
retiring from active plantation management.
CARL SHELDON HOLLOWAY.
Perhaps there is no better example of the sterling qualities of
young American manhood than those exemplified in the character of
the subject of this sketch, Carl Sheldon Holloway. He was born in
Cleveland, Ohio, May 9, 1874. He graduated from the Columbia
Grammar School, after which he took a thorough course in civil en-
gineering at Cornell College. He then entered the firm of Henry
R. Worthington of New York City, where he remained for four years
familiarizing himself with all the intricacies of pumping machinery.
At the expiration of this time he became their outside man, represent-
ing the firm throughout the entire United States, which position he
258
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
held until 1897. It was at this time that his house received a very large
and important contract of installing the engines on two of the largest
plantations of the Hawaiian Islands. Mr. Holloway was given entire
cliarge of this work, which required his presence for about one year
in the islands. He then returned to the New York office and entered
the sales department of the firm, where he remained until 1899, at which
period the company was desirous of opening a branch office in Honolulu
and Mr. Holloway was the man decided upon to carry out the details
of their wishes and he accordingly returned to the islands, where he
remained until 1901, when the house decided to close their Honolulu
office. Mr. Holloway then engaged in the engineering and machinery
business on his owm account, which he carried on successfully until
November, 1904, when he received his present appointment of Super-
intendent of Public Works.
His father was born in Uniontown, Ohio, in 1824, and like his son
he was always active and energetic in business pursuits. He was presi-
dent of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and also president
of the Engineers’ Club of New York City. He was highly respected by
all his fellow members and although he is now dead his memory is
still revered by all his old associates who are now living.
His mother, Anna C. Sheldon, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in
1846, in which city she is still living in the enjoyment of good health.
Mr. Carl Sheldon Holloway is married and resides in his beautiful
home with his charming family, on the corner of Judd and Tilska
streets. , , , . , . j .
FREDERICK MEYER.
The gentleman whose name heads this sketch was bom in South
Carolina March 3, 1862. He came to the islands in 1882 and took
up his residence on the Island of Hawaii. Here he engaged in the
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
269
sugar industry, which he pursued upon this island for about seven
years, at the expiration of which time he moved to the Island of Maui,
where he again engaged in the sugar business in the employ of the
Spreckels people, upon their plantation there. At the expiration of
nine years upon this plantation, he came to Honolulu and became the
plantation manager for J. M. Dowsett. He has 500 men in his employ,
and the annual output of sugar of this plantation is about 55,000 tons.
Mr. Meyer is essentially a man to his business; and the cultivation
and production of sugar has been his life’s study, and there are perhaps
but few men on the islands who possess so thorough a knowledge
of all its details, and can look back upon their work of the past with a
greater sense of satisfaction and pride. Mr. Meyer is the happy father
of nine children, the oldest of whom is twenty-one years of age and
is now attending school in Honolulu. Two of his sons, one nineteen,
and one seventeen years of age, are assisting their father upon the plan-
tation, where they are receiving their education in the sugar industry,
with the hope of emulating their father’s success when they have attained
their majority. On this plantation of 16,000 acres there is ample room
for these young men to possess themselves of the knowledge requisite
to a thorough education in the vocation of their choice. Mr. Meyer
is a southern gentleman of genial manners and hospitable nature and
is esteemed by all who know him as one of Hawaii’s most honored
citizens.
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