CHAPTER XX. HAWAII AS ANNEXED. The Star Spangled Banner Up Again in Hawaii, and to Stay-Dimensions of the Islands What the Missionaries Have Done-Religious Belief by Nationality-Trade Statistics-Latest Census-Sugar Plantation Laborers-Coinage of Silver-Schools-Coffee Growing. The star spangled banner should have been waving in peaceful triumph over our central possessions in the Pacific for five years. Now Old Glory has ascended the famous flag-staff, from which it was mistakenly withdrawn, and is at home. Its lustrous folds are welcomed by a city that is strangely American, in the sense that it is what the world largely calls "Yankee," and does not mean bad manners by the most expressive word that has so vast a distinction. The shops of Honolulu are Americanized. There is a splendid blossoming of the flag of the country. The British parties of opposition have faded out. There is the wisdom in English statesmanship to be glad to see us with material interest in the Pacific Ocean. In this connection there is something better than a treaty. Do not mispronounce the name of the capital city of the Hawaiian Islands. Call it Hoo-noo-luu-luu and let it sing itself. Remember that this city is not on the larger of the islands, but the third in size. The area of Hawaii, the greater island, is 4,210 square miles. Oahn, the Honolulu island, has 600 square miles, with a population of 40,205, and Hawaii has 33,285 people. The area of the islands, told in acres is, Hawaii, 2,000,000; Nani, 400,000; Oahu, 260,000; Kauai, 350,000; Malokai, 200,000; Lauai, 100,000; Nichan, 70,000; Kahloolawe, 30,000. The dimensions of the tremendous volcanoes that are our property now are startling: DIMENSIONS OF KILAUEA, ISLAND OF HAWAII. (The largest active Volcano in the World.) Area, 4.14 square miles, or 2,650 acres. DIMENSIONS OF MOKUAWEOWEO. (The Summit Crater of Mauna Loa, Island of Hawaii.) Area, 3.70 square miles, or 2,370 acres. Circumference, 50,000 feet, or 9.47 miles. Length, 19,500 feet, or 3.7 miles. Width, 9,200 feet, or 1.74 miles. Elevation, 13,675 feet. DIMENSIONS OF HALEAKALA. (The great Crater of Maui, the Largest in the World.) Area, 19 square miles, or 12,160 acres. Elevation of summit, 10,032 feet. Elevation of principal cones in crater, 8,032 and 7,572 feet.. DIMENSIONS OF IAO VALLEY, MAUI., Length (from Wailuku) about 5 miles. Width of valley, 2 miles. Depth, near head, 4,000 feet. Elevation of Puu Kukui, above head of valley, 5,788 feet. Honolulu's importance comes from the harbor, and the favor of the missionaries, As to the general judgment of the work of the missionaries, there is nothing better to do than to quote Mr. Richard H. Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast." He said in that classic: "It is no small thing to say of the missionaries of the American Board, that in less than forty years they have taught this whole people to read and write, to cipher and to sew. They have given them an alphabet, grammar and distionary; preserved their language from extinction; given it a literature and translated into it the Bible, and works of devotion, science and entertainment, etc. They have established schools, reared up native teachers, and so pressed their work that now the proportion of inhabitants who can read and write is greater than in New England. And, whereas, they found these islanders a nation of half-naked savages, living in the surf and on the sand, eating raw fish, fighting among themselves, tyrannized over by feudal chiefs and abandoned to sensuality, they now see them decently clothed, recognizing the law of marriage, knowing something of accounts, going to school and public worship more regularly than the people do at home, and the more elevated of them taking part in conducting the affairs of the constitutional monarchy under which they live, holding seats on the judicial bench and in the legislative chambers, and filling posts in the local magistracies.” Take away the tropical vegetation and the gigantic scenery and we have here, in our new Pacific possessions, a new Connecticut. The stamp of New England is upon this lofty land, especially in Honolulu, where the spires of the churches testify. There is much that is of the deepest and broadest interest in the possible missionary work here, on account of the remarkable race questions presented. Here are the nations and the people of mixed blood-the Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese-a population immensely representative of Oriental Asia. The measure of success of the missionaries under our flag in dealing with these people can hardly fail to be accepted by the world as a test of the practical results of the labor with the Asiatica. In this connection, the figures following, from the Hawaiian Annual of 1898, furnish a basis of solid information for study: TABLE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF, BY NATIONALITY. (So Far as Reported in Census Returns, 1896.) NOTE. This table shows but 54,522 of the population (just about one-half) to have made returns of their religious belief. With 21,535 Japanese and 18,429 |