A Tree in Bud: The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1889–1893 9780824890728

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A TREE IN BUD

A TREE IN BUD THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM 1889-1893 by M. G. Bosseront d'Anglade Translated by Alfons L. Korn

University of Hawaii Press Honolulu

© 1987 University of Hawaii Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sauvin, Georges, b. 1858. A tree in bud. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Hawaii—History—To 1893. I. Title. D U 6 2 7 . 1 6 . S 2 8 1 3 1987 996.9'02 87-10841 ISBN 0 - 8 2 4 8 - 1 1 0 1 - 1

During

Kalakaua's

posed upon Hawaiian

reign modernity

superim-

tradition but without destroying it,

so that a curious combination elements

has been

have been effected.

of Kanaka

and

The sovereign

European

himself

has

been the most perfect model of his period: the dual character, the grafted tree in bud before it first bears fruit.

CONTENTS

Publisher's Foreword Translator's Preface I. From Paris to Honolulu Departure. On the Atlantic Ocean. New York City. Across the United States. Niagara Falls, Chicago, the Rocky Mountains. California. San Francisco. The Pacific. II. The Hawaiian Past Formation of the archipelago, origin of the people. Native civilization before arrival of Europeans. Discovery of the islands by Captain Cook. Kamehameha I, founder of the kingdom. III. Modern Hawaii Kamehameha II, the American missionaries. Kamehameha III, difficulties with foreign powers. Kamehameha IV, treaty of 1857 with France. Kamehameha V, M. de Varigny, eruption of Mauna Loa. Lunalilo. Accession of Kalakaua. IV. Honolulu The city. The people, prosperity and luxury. The business district and public buildings. Chinatown. The French mission. Waikiki. Nuuanu Valley. V. A Constitutional Kanaka King Kalakaua, the treaty with the United States. The coronation. Peaceful revolution. The constitution of 1887. Impressions of a sovereign. Hawaiian tradition and modern parliamentary government.

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Contents

V I . T h e D e a t h of Kalakaua T h e arrival of the Charleston.

T h e k i n g ' s b o d y is b o r n e

to the palace.

A death w a t c h .

ceremonies. Hookupu.

Iolani Palace.

Funeral

T h e n e w queen and the heiress apparent. Kalakaua and R o c h e f o r t .

78

VII. Bedecked w i t h Flowers T h e Kanaka.

C h a n t s and legends.

T h e religion.

K a m e h a m e h a School and the M u s e u m .

A n old H a w a i i a n d w e l l i n g . hula.

T h e language.

Feasts and dances.

The

M a n o a Valley.

92

VIII. Progress Anglo-Saxon civilization. T h e p a r t - w h i t e s . Politics. Public instruction. A coeducation college. Pleasures of "society." C l u b s and associations. A ball at the palace.

109

I X . A n Excursion to Kilauea C r a t e r F r o m H o n o l u l u to Hilo. T h e Big Island and its capital. T h e trip to the volcano. Kilauea Crater. The tourist register. H a w a i i ' s south coast. Kealakekua Bay.

129

X . Business T h e businessman. T h e sources of wealth. A sugar plantation. Prosperity.

Commerce. 152

X I . A m o n g the Lepers T h e queen's visit to M o l o k a i . lepers and leprosy.

Father D a m i e n .

The

T h e asylum and hospital.

The

Bishop H o m e for Lepers.

162

XII. Aloha

183

Bibliography Index

187 189

PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD

Until his death in April of 1986, a year and a half before the publication of this, his last, book, Alforts Korn worked diligently to remind us of Europe's role in shaping the culture, the government, and the intellectual tenor of the Hawaiian Kingdom. A Tree in Bud is the fifth book published by the University of Hawaii Press that grew out of his desire to gain a better—a scholar's—understanding of Hawaii's history and the complexities of cultural interchange. Professor Korn—or Alfons, as he preferred to be called—taught in the University of Hawaii's English department for more than twenty years. All the while, and for the next twenty years, when he was listed among the emeriti of the university, he applied himself to a field of research that in time he was to make uniquely his own. Earlier study had given him familiarity with the social history of England in the 19th century. He steadily acquired a detailed knowledge of Hawaiian history. He learned to read Hawaiian. And he set himself the task of improving his French. Alfons was especially interested in making available and, wherever possible, clarifying the views of Hawaii that were recorded by intelligent and cultivated travelers from Europe. Those travelers from England and France journeyed great distances to visit (and in some instances find important employment in) the Hawaiian Kingdom, then lying at the periphery of civilization as it had evolved in the West. What these 19th-century travelers discovered intrigued and, for the most part, pleased them. They certainly had a good deal to write about. Traveling in the opposite direction from that of those English

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Publisher's Foreword

ladies and French g e n t l e m e n , Alfons, t o o , had experienced the c o m plicated pleasures of cultural dislocation. As a R h o d e s scholar f r o m Eugene, O r e g o n , he j o u r n e y e d a fair distance to c o n t i n u e his studies in O x f o r d , England. His specialist's interest in the European influence on H a w a i i , therefore, should not surprise us. W e are, in any case, grateful for A l f o n s ' scholarly labors, w h i c h he w o u l d have regarded as n o t h i n g m o r e t h a n the methodical sleuthing of an i n f o r m e d student of H a w a i i a n history. W e at the Press will miss his neatly typed manuscripts, his assistance in editorial m a t t e r s pertaining t o H a w a i i a n history, and his knowledgeable and diverting conversation d u r i n g l u n c h . A b o v e all, w e will miss the c o m f o r t of having Alfons as a close friend. T h e Press is indebted to t h e m e m b e r s of the Pacific Translator's C o m m i t t e e of the H a w a i i a n Historical Society for their assistance in the final stages of the preparation of this b o o k . Their enthusiasm, wise counsel, and willingness to u n d e r t a k e the tasks of checking proof and preparing the b o o k ' s index are greatly appreciated.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

This is a translation of a book by Marie Gabriel Bosseront d'Anglade published in Paris in 1893 under a pseudonym, as follows: G. Sauvin, Un Royaume Polynésien, Iles Hawaï (E. Pion, Nourrit et Cie). Exactly why Bosseront d'Anglade chose to publish his account of the Hawaiian Kingdom under an assumed name is an important, but perhaps unanswerable, biographical question. However, readers today of Un Royaume Polynésien, which I have ventured to rename A Tree in Bud: The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1889-1893, need to bear in mind the fact that its actual author served in Honolulu during the early 1890s as commissioner and consul of France. Indeed, the charm of Bosseront d'Anglade's travelogue-memoir consists partly in the way he cleverly plays the role o f a leisurely Parisian tourist, but an exceptionally perceptive one, while never once alluding to his privileged official status. Born in 1858, Bosseront d'Anglade arrived in the islands at the age of thirty-two. His book of Hawaiian reminiscences is very much a young man's book. Yet it foreshadows qualities of mind and temperament that apparently characterized his long career in the French diplomatic service. For about thirty years, his assignments in various consular capacities ranged over three continents. The Annuaire diplomatique et consulaire de la République française lists the dates of his successive appointments as follows: in Montevideo (1884); in London (1886); Milan (1897); Warsaw (1905); and Barcelona (1908); in New Orleans (1893) and New York City (1913). He was knighted as a chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1896 and named an officier of that body in 1913, when stationed in his final post at New York.

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Translator's Preface

At the time of the First World War, in 1916 and 1917, he retired f r o m active service with appropriate emoluments as consul second class and consul first class. O t h e r writings by Bosseront d'Anglade, all published by Plon and under the same pseudonym of G. Sauvin, include: Autour de Chicago: Notes sur les Etats Unis (1893); Pour arriver au bonheur (1902); Doit-on aimer? (1904). Honolulu, 1985

I FROM PARIS TO HONOLULU Departure. — On the Atlantic Ocean. — New York City. — Across the United States. — Niagara Falls, Chicago, the Rocky Mountains. — California. — San Francisco. — The Pacific.

W h y does the name Honolulu when spoken in France raise a smile? Probably because of its pattern of assonant sounds, for the old official geography examinations for graduating from a lycée required only a vague notion of the point on the globe where the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom is situated. The common herd didn't know, and if someone referred to the Hawaiian Islands they were frequently confused with Haiti or Tahiti. Nevertheless, in Paris today at Thomas Cook's travel agency near the Opéra, tickets can be purchased to this distant Polynesian archipelago—round-trip tickets. Indeed, though it takes more time, it's easier to travel from Paris to Honolulu than to visit certain of our out-of-the-way subprefectures in France. From Paris to Honolulu: an unfamiliar itinerary, curious and picturesque.

Saturday, December [1888] Saint-Lazare Station, Paris Impression on departure: sadness. Deep down it's the feeling of breaking with the past, a sense of detachment from the myriad small ties that have held body and soul together—the smiles and tears. The train moves. I let myself collapse into a corner o f the railway coach. The external world no longer exists. I ' m overcome by memories of days already lived; I shut my eyes and attempt in imagination to arrest the passage of time, to stay where I was a moment

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From Paris to Honolulu

before. True mental and moral suffering: a sensation needle-sharp and cruel, originating in the heart and then reaching the eyes. Result: violent reaction. The faculty of will revives and I argue with myself. Invigorated, I turn toward the unknown future with a feeling that allures even stronger than the emptiness and hurt within. I begin for the first time to notice persons around me. Through the coach window I catch glimpses of the passing countryside as the evening lamps are lighted.

Aboard ship, Sunday It's early morning and preparations have been completed for sailing. The huge liner is maneuvering to leave the docks of Le Havre. Daylight gradually increases. At the wharf twenty men are hauling on a cable, while up ahead a tug-boat engine lends mechanical assistance. A thousand motionless ships' masts are scattered against a solid background of massive buildings and warehouses, which conceal from us the sleeping city of Le Havre. December's temperature as registered on the thermometer is low. The air of Le Havre invigorates, encourages movement and agitation. Yet the occasion is a solemn one, or so it is said, and for the moment I'm absolutely calm. Alongside the jetty, where a few persons are waving handkerchiefs, I watch three blue nuns who have come to bid Godspeed to one of their sisterhood setting out for a distant mission. Farther along the jetty I recognize a famous male singer, one of the principal stars of the Opéra. As our ship leaves, the siren ceases to whine and a cannon fires twice. We're on our way. Against a gray sky, above the light fog hovering at water level, the sun slowly rises, suggesting the glow of an immense funeral torch. A few moments later colors change, the fog disperses, and full daylight comes flooding in. Each detail of the surrounding scene shows sharply distinct, as we move rapidly past the delightful little houses of channelside Ingouville.

From Paris to Honolulu

3 At sea

The main salon and lounge of an ocean liner between Le Havre and N e w York—what a melange! More accurately, what a hodgepodge. All persons part of it are only what they appear to be—all nationalities, every social class, are flung together for an entire week, compelled to live the same sort of life, w i t h nothing else to occupy body or mind. For all passengers this means a kind of truce with existence, the truce of the sea, which everyone expresses according to his particular taste—the Latin in dreaming, the AngloSaxon in drinking. And everybody talks. Always the same topics, observes the ship's doctor, w h o has sailed with the line for fifteen years: talking about seasickness for a starter, he says, along w i t h its pseudo-remedies; next the different merits of the several companies that link the Old World with the N e w — o n e passenger favors the Cunard Line, another the W h i t e Star, another the Transatlantic. As for the troop of young girls aboard, w e listen to their reports on the Continent and the countries they visited. O n e of the girls tells h o w her guidebook for Europe lists 7,442 monuments, all w o r t h y of admiration, and according to a check-marked list carefully prepared for friends in Boston, she claims having encountered 5,064. A Frenchman interrupts and joins in. He is consulted on the location of a certain " w o n d e r f u l place" of which our fellow-countryman has never heard. So he shifts the course of the conversation and by the speediest route arrives at marriage. T h e same facetious doctor has found that no Frenchman, even one more than fifty years of age, w h o finds himself in the company of an American girl has ever succeeded in spending more than fifteen minutes in conversation without discussing the merits of French girls versus American, along with theories about female education, marriage, family life, and so on. In this chatty setting, three personages take the lead, three braid-wearing authorities: the captain, the purser, and the doctor. T h e captain, w h o must be addressed as " C o m m a n d e r , " inspires

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Front Paris to Honolulu

the respect owing someone in a position of responsibility. And he's worn out with questions: " W h e n do you think we'll reach New York, Commander?" A stereotypical question to which the excaptain in the Navy is obliged to respond the total number of times obtained by multiplying the number of passengers by the number of days required by the voyage. The purser's function is both useful and agreeable. He authorizes changes in cabin assignments and organizes the subscription ball held in behalf of shipwrecked sailors; he introduces one lonesome passenger to another, likewise neighbor to neighbor at table. The purser, being young, happy, and high-spirited, is no enemy of indulgent living. He well understands how to play his genial role in the atmosphere of the smoking room. As for a ship's doctor, he represents no single type, but is almost always outside the normal age limit for a medical career, being either too young or too old. One doctor may be a misunderstood poet, another the inventor of a new type of ship, this one a whistplayer, the next a born success with the ladies. There are some ship's doctors, I suppose, who practice medicine.

Aboard ship, Sunday This evening we shall be in New York City. Meanwhile, as a result of the wretched winter weather, I lie in my cabin, a victim of awful seasickness. H o w many memories surge into mind! One's whole being is thrown off-balance, so that physically and mentally one is powerless. H o w many long dolorous hours must still be endured merely to survive? But suffering conduces to general ideas: ideas of our end and purpose, our ultimate impotence—the common destiny. Yet the heart of a believer lifts and takes courage, restoring a serenity of soul born from above. As I recover I contemplate with calm a thousand plans and projects for the future, all tinged with the radiance of the good, the beautiful, and the true.

From Paris to Honolulu

5

T h e sky is superb and stars are numerous. Beacon lights to the left and to the right cross in the darkness, whose sombre center remains a total black. O u r vessel lies at anchor and the muffled grinding of the engines is no longer audible. It's ten o'clock at night and w e ' r e n o w in N e w York harbor, obliged to await daylight before disembarking. A growing sense of gaiety seems to draw us together, for having simply sought a goal and achieved a happy result. Some of the couples are circulating about the deck, at last consummating a casual acquaintanceship, although n o w about to part forever. This night, which is slipping away, has become the finale of a period of boredom touched occasionally by pleasure. At this moment hesitations vanish, and a young w o m a n w h o was companionless throughout the voyage is n o w on the arm of one of her dining salon neighbors, reciting to him her life's story. I stroll about contentedly, inhaling the fresh salt-laden air, which imagination informs me comes from the invisible land. It's Sunday and in the ship's main lounge many of the American passengers are singing hymns, seemingly with conviction. Their religion lends itself to modern times and is easy to put into practice even en voyage. A tug-boat is about to pick up mail and bring newspapers aboard. Separated from the rest of the world for eight days, I declare not without regret that despite the excitement agitating the human race today, one whole week has elapsed w i t h o u t producing a single event of the slightest interest.

New York W h a t a city! N e w York is to London w h a t London is to Paris: the great temple of commerce, of industry, of financial wizardry and speculation, of continuous hurry and noise. In a kind of perpetual fever, thousands of people rush through the streets, all toward the same finish line, obsessed by the same idea and in pursuit of the almighty dollar, more worshiped here than in any other portion of the world.

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From Paris to Honolulu

A first hasty examination of this American city cannot fail to shock the instinct, the taste, the habitual ideas and attitudes of a French person. But to draw a comparison between New York City and the Old World is impossible. New York is more alive. Yet it is a creation out of nothing at all, and is therefore thoroughly modern. While New York is devoid of art, it is not without a certain freespirited authenticity. The people, by simply being themselves, are more natural than people elsewhere. And they have brought into being an environment in harmony with their needs, tastes, passions. The individual has not had to labor for an elite, a chosen few who provide the thinking and elevate themselves above the rest of the population, but for the masses. Thus while fine public buildings are nonexistent in New York, hotels for visitors afford the very perfection of comfort. If elegant avenues are scarce, likewise beautiful shops whose merchandise is a feast for the eyes and improves popular taste, here in New York there is still one compensation: a street railway running through the city carries passengers in a few minutes from one end of the metropolis to the other. Sheer uselessness, something that serves no practical purpose, but so indispensable in France, here finds no home. All activity is designed to gratify the existence of the masses on a prodigious scale, and with a material abundance that exudes gold and the smell of money. The mere sight of this agglomeration of city-dwellers excites the intellect and intensifies the feelings. This initial impression, the most pronounced, is presented in the sharpest relief. We are forced to open our eyes and examine a thousand quintessential details and suggestions. New York is the model for congested living conditions, for the future amassing of persons, which democracy triumphant has chosen. It is a mode destined to destroy our old-style European cities, each of which has possessed not only a body but also a soul, a heart of its own. But that mode has now proved itself too slow-paced and backward-looking to become a vital part of the accelerating urge everywhere to modernize. Tomorrow is Christmas Day. An enormous crowd fills the streets, the shops are glutted with people. It is like Paris on New Year's Eve.

From Paris to Honolulu

7

Crossing the United States "All aboard!" cries the conductor at the moment the engine slowly begins to move. In the United States the railroad train is a descendant of the passenger vessel. It is not, in other words, a mere combination of so many railing cars hitched together. Instead, it is a complete unit in itself, possessing an individuality and sometimes even a special name. The most rapid trains are as comfortable as good hotels, being made up of a salon or lounge car, a sleeper, a dining coach, a smoker, a library, hair-dressing and barber services, along with bathing facilities. Distances are so great in America, and reasons for moving from one place to another so numerous, that the transportation industry has achieved a peak of development unknown in Europe. In less than seven days one can travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from N e w York to San Francisco, without once changing trains. Thus there is time to get settled and to become acquainted with one's fellow passengers. Crossing America is the dangerous part of a journey from Paris to Honolulu. Competition has forced the railroad companies to construct their train routes as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The result is that although equipment and materials—the engine and cars, for example—may be perfect, the roadbeds and tracks are usually in poor shape, with the curves too sharp and the bridges shaky and insecure. It is claimed, however, that according to statistics deaths from train accidents are relatively few. In any event, as one travels across the continent from ocean to ocean one experiences a vivid sense of greatness: of humanity en masse speaking one and the same language, of unlimited space, of cities and towns innumerable. The rivers of America too are longer and broader, the mountains loftier, the lakes veritable inland seas. In the eastern portion of the continent, the factories catching the eye are immense, as are also the gigantic engineering projects surrounding them. In the western states great herds of cattle begin to appear, and a single agricultural crop can occupy an area stretching from one river's course to another's. We realize that in the United States

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nature and man have become reconciled, re-created, and harmonized on a new and colossal scale. Often the country changes in appearance according to the region and the type of soil, but everywhere we recognize a maximum of effort and achievement. Because the geographical area for development is vast and the opportunity for profit comparatively easy, still more needs are created, thus stimulating that passionate urge to increase speed and quantities—one of the characteristic traits of the American people.

From that long cross-continental journey I select for special attention, among other worthy sights, three of the world's foremost wonders: Niagara Falls, Chicago, the Rocky Mountains. In earlier times travelers were enthusiasts. Today they are skeptics. Fashion demands it. Faced by nature's most beautiful features, the modern attitude is to say with an air of diffidence, "It's extremely beautiful, but much overrated." At the risk of making this younger generation smile, I must declare that Niagara Falls together with its nether rapids impressed me most powerfully. Like so many other sightseers I regret the way the river's banks have been transformed into public parks, the fact that the handsome heights have been supplied with elevators, the presence of turnstiles at the viewing stations, the mammoth hotels that block the whole horizon. In brief, I deplore the picture's imposed frame, handled with such execrable taste. Yet the central features of the painting are intact, and these surely constitute a masterwork of their genre. A massive sheet of water hurls itself with crashing force over the edge of a high cliff and down to a lake below, a lake whose unbroken surface reveals not a single ripple. The voluminous stream pursues its course over plumbless depths until, one kilometer farther, it becomes a furious torrent doing battle with the two precipitous walls that lock it in. Niagara is the most inspiring example of a force of nature greater than any human force, a power over which mankind has no ultimate control. If one is alone and allows the eyes to impose their witness upon one's ideas, it is impossible not to

From Paris to Honolulu

9

marvel at this great phenomenon of nature. And is not a moment of awe simultaneously a moment of happiness?

Chicago stands as the most extraordinary realization of American genius. To gain an idea of the unprecedented growth and development of this "City of the Prairies" it is necessary to examine the figures: Chicago did not exist 50 years ago. In 1850 the population was already 60,000. In 1870 it was 300,000. In 1871 a fire destroyed 25,000 houses and marked the point of departure for a prosperity unmatched elsewhere on the continent. Today Chicago is a magnificent city of brick, stone, and marble, containing a population of 1,300,000, occupying an area 27 kilometers long and 8 wide. A terminus for 29 railroad companies, Chicago has no fewer than 100 banks, 300 churches, notably spacious theaters, and hotels that astonish every visitor. The city's buildings and business houses are sometimes 20 stories high (80 meters) and its annual rate of commercial sales is 7 billion dollars. In fact, Chicago is the type of American city that will increase in number during the 20th century, but what their total number will reach is impossible to estimate today. Whoever during boyhood hasn't dreamed of the Rocky Mountains? W h o hasn't imagined the big hunting grounds, the free style of life, the killing of dangerous game and doing battle with the Indians, raising the tent in a forest clearing? For the past twenty hours we have been traveling through the setting and landscape so passionately desired, this great chain of mountains whose total mass and weight exceeds that of the Pyrenees piled on top of the Alps. Our train follows along the bank of a headlong, torrential stream. We cling to the sheer mountainsides, overcoming geographical barriers which from a distance appear insurmountable, twisting and

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turning around curves unknown to our European railway engineers. The weather is superb, the atmosphere very clear, the temperature that of spring. Yet we ride through regions of everlasting snow where overhead an unsullied white glacier gleams in the sunlight. At the most dangerous stretches along our route the locomotive bell clangs, the train slows its speed, while the mournful groan of the whistle continues to echo from rock to rock. We look down into bottomless gorges whose visible depths reveal century-old trees, many of which bear the axe-wounds of progress. Above us one range of summits is crowned by other summits, while around us unfolds an ocean of earth and stone, to which the wild vegetation lends a sombre beauty. Our eyes search everywhere seeking signs of life, evidence of the presence of human beings, but our sole reward is a few mountain goats leaping among the rocks. Despite the purity of the air, the scene is one of picturesque melancholy. In this austere region the defectively constructed roadbed, the cause of the jolting of the train, reminds one of our immediate danger. A strange paradox: that this long succession of luxurious coaches, pioneering their brass-embossed passage through so virginal a setting, should arouse in us a sense of shock—of nature being violated by a rapacious civilization. Not without regret the mind returns to Chicago, that monument of human effort and enterprise, the "City of the Prairies," and yet no more than a single transitory episode between two simple whims of nature—Niagara and the Rocky Mountains. The slopes are now gentler, the train rushes ever downward through a countryside of scattered farms. We are approaching the Pacific and tomorrow shall awaken in California.

California The name California, to an older generation now passing from the scene, is still synonymous with the idea of winning a fortune.

From Paris to Honolulu

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Everyone old enough to remember those bygone days recalls the news of 1848 as it was spread around the world. At last we had discovered a dreamland, with vast reaches strewn with gold. From all points on the globe came swarms of wretches, desperadoes, adventurers, lost children. For several years after 1848, tales continued to be told of the fabulous wealth to be won by a single day's work in the gold fields. California was populated as a consequence of such visions. There is nothing more interesting than the accounts of the oldtime miners concerning the true conditions in the country during that whole period, when a bag of gold dust bought a glass of wine. At that time no organized social system existed. Everyone relied on his two hands to make a living and to preserve his neck. I believe it can be stated, without maligning California's early pioneers and colonizers, that the original social elements were an exceedingly mixed lot. There were undoubtedly among them a number of honorable gentlemen, men of noble courage, but the great majority were outcasts and vagabonds. Of course the shallower gold-bearing lodes of the mine fields were soon exhausted. Consequently, powerful companies were organized to exploit the richest of the mines, while the gold-rush fever subsided. But life in the early days, with its mixture of daring and brute force, gave birth just as in Australia to a new breed of people—practical as well as energetic, and above all enterprising, a heritage passed on to their descendants, and which has become the glory of the United States of today. In fact, since that time everyone who has traveled from the "old country" to California has set about breaking ground, improving a plot of precious soil, transforming what had been wasteland into the most prosperous agricultural region of North America. As viewed from the train as it approaches the city, one valley follows close upon another, all fertile and green, filled with small farms, plentiful tree nurseries and frequent tobacco plantations. No longer does one find only large-scale agricultural operations, capitalized and supported by big companies or absentee landlords. Neither do we notice grain fields that stretch all the way to the horizon, vine-

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yards of limitless size. Instead, what one finds chiefly are very modest and specialized farming enterprises carried on by peasant families on land they themselves o w n . As a result the responsive soil is w o r t h more per acre and is far better cared for. Each private dwelling is surrounded by a wooden fence or stockade, sometimes by its o w n stone wall. Most farmers here are independent husbandmen from southern Europe. O n holidays every farmhouse displays a festive flag, and indeed here and there we happen upon barns and other rural buildings that remind us of the larger farmsteads seen in our Western departments. We greet with special pleasure our o w n national flag as it flutters in the California sky, among other mementoes of France scattered across this distant land.

The recent g r o w t h and development of San Francisco is absolutely incredible. This is chiefly because the city's location on its superb bay provides maritime facilities that serve the commercial interests of all the peoples of the Pacific. Today upon San Francisco's sand hills, the wasteland-that-was only thirty years ago, fine metropolitan districts and urban neighborhoods have arisen, exceedingly well constructed and attractively designed, with no regard for cost. O n the slopes of these hills dwells a vigorous population totalling three hundred thousand. The principal city of the Far West seems to me more indigenous, more American in the true sense of the w o r d , than any other city of the Union. O n e is immediately struck by the infusion of Latin blood from Mexico, and above all by the prevalence of persons of Latin extraction from Europe. The streets are more spirited and lively than streets elsewhere, the crowds more gracious and easygoing; the private houses less shut-in and forbidding, made especially inviting because of their vividly painted exteriors. Finally, the w o m e n of all classes are more elegant and stylish than are w o m e n in other parts of America. Indeed, in San Francisco people drink wine and seek amusement on the Sabbath. There is quite evidently a less anxious and exaggerated preoccupation with convention and outward proprieties.

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Submitting to an obligation expected of every tourist w h o visits San Francisco, I go to Chinatown. It is a replica of Canton, an Asian quarter transported to the land of the free, retaining all its original nastiness and concentration of yellow-skinned flesh inside rotting tenements.

The Pacific This morning we took off from San Francisco's water front, leaving the quays behind us. Slowly crossing San Francisco Bay, we admire the view of the city, like many other seaports more beautiful when seen from across the water. O n the first level you notice immense scaffoldings in the shape of jetties, covered with wharves and warehouses, tall seven-story buildings. O n the second level the business center proper looms up in massive outline. Beyond, in the distant background, ten hills display city houses of various styles, ranging from countrified frame cottages to opulent villas decked out with bell turrets and windowed cupolas. Surrounding us on the bay is a crowded flotilla of steam launches and giant ferry boats. The scene is strikingly theatrical and decorative—très Opéra. O n e hour later we steam through the Golden Gate. O u r route, a long and very broad channel guarded by the Presidio, a makebelieve fortress, links the city with the Pacific Ocean. In the distance looking landward we see only sweeping sand dunes as far as the eye can reach. T h e last visible object is the Cliff House, a hotel perched upon a precipitous rock. T h e sun is n o w sinking into the waves. As it disappears on the horizon I watch intently for the green flash. The weather is turning chilly. But we press on at full speed toward warmer zones. O u r impression of the sea is not the same on the Pacific as it was on the Atlantic. Familiar ideas spring up to assist imagination and I become aware of life's infinite possibilities. Here even the color of the water seems different, waves heavier and larger, as I leave behind me a great continent I have scarcely glimpsed. I dream of

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From Paris to Honolulu

stranger shores and the beckoning countries of the Far East. Above all I acquire a novel sense of my o w n remoteness and isolation. I find myself smaller and totally alone.

Aboard ship The Australia, a quite large American liner, is a bit like one of our newest French trains that provide local service between one subprefecture and another. Almost all the passengers on the Australia are well acquainted with one another, and the captain is a friend w h o k n o w s the name of everyone aboard. For ten years he's been spending one week in San Francisco, one at sea, one in Honolulu, and then repeating the routine. This tripartite existence seems to agree with him. He's a jolly good fellow, overflows with optimism, and is especially cordial in the company of passengers. In essence the passenger list of the Australia is always the same: a number of established island families returning from a trip to the United States or Europe for business or pleasure; an assortment of American invalids sent by doctor's orders to the "Paradise of the Pacific"; the wives of t w o or three naval officers, w h o follow their spouses from port to port; and a number of globe-trotters whose itineraries include a trip to the volcano on the island of Hawaii. Days aboard ship are spent family-style. The difference between a Pacific and an Atlantic ocean liner is the same as that between a boarding-house and a hotel. I've already made some valuable acquaintances, and meanwhile have also accumulated an immense amount of information about the country I ' m about to visit. Furthermore, I have with me a library of old books concerning the history of the archipelago and its people. O n the seventh day I leave my cabin at the crack of dawn. Already the captain points out to me between the clouds and through the haze an indented black line. It's land—the summits of mountainous Molokai, one of the Hawaiian islands. T h e archipelago is lost in the boundless blue. We shall be in port approximately at noon, and the weather is wonderful. I've already abandoned win-

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ter clothing, despite a stout northern breeze. In fact, the temperature is that of one of our exquisite French forenoons in June. V " My journey ends. Paris—New York—San Francisco—Honolulu: twenty-four periods, each of them twenty-four hours long, including several one-day stopovers en route. And wonder of wonders, so far as comfort is concerned, I slept only three times in a different bed.

II THE HAWAIIAN PAST Formation of the archipelago, origin of the people. — Native civilization before arrival of Europeans. — Discovery of the islands by Captain Cook. — Kamehameha I, founder of the kingdom.

Everything about the great Pacific Ocean is a mystery; its depths have never been plumbed; the origins of the lands and their peoples remain an enigma. Whence came these many thousands of islands? W h a t brought to them their millions of inhabitants? Wildly imaginative narratives, concocted out of obscure memories and folk traditions, tell of terrestrial catastrophes and the migrations of races. But it is impossible in any scientific sense to relate these fabulous accounts to established facts and proved conclusions. Nevertheless, the Hawaiian Islands, called by the English the Sandwich Islands, seem to provide the best argument supporting the theory that various Pacific islands and their groupings are the consequence of isolated volcanic eruptions along the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Thus in prehistoric times a succession of such gigantic submarine upheavals raised bodies of land at certain locations in this immense ocean, areas sufficiently solid to resist the actions of winds and tides. In later times coral shoals developed, forming the earliest base upon which over the centuries a surface of soil has been deposited. Indeed, the eight islands composing the Hawaiian archipelago are situated at almost equal distances along a line running from north to south. It appears that the volcanic forces have all traversed the same path. T h u s the most ancient of the islands, Kauai, is farthest north; the largest of the islands, Hawaii, which has provided the name for the entire group, possesses even today a perennially active volcano —Kilauea, the largest a m o n g the 360 volcanoes of the world. T h e climate of the islands is much less hot and also drier and more agreeable than that of other countries situated in the same lati-

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17

tude. The temperature, remaining much the same throughout the year, rarely falls below 30 degrees centigrade and is cooled by strong breezes blowing from the north. H o w did this group of islands, created by an accident of nature and situated 2,000 miles distant from other populated areas, come to be inhabited? This problem has preoccupied a number of ethnologists in many countries.* In their search for an answer, experts have studied the oral traditions of various Pacific peoples, searching especially for signs of racial affinity and shared resemblances. The common conclusion is that the Hawaiians belong to a great human family known as the "Polynesian race," which first peopled N e w Zealand and numerous other island groups of the Pacific. Their geographical origins were in Southwest Asia. Savai'i, one of the Samoan chain, appears to have been the point of dispersion of the Polynesians during a period impossible to determine precisely. The earliest settlers of the Hawaiian archipelago were probably shipwrecked parties lost at sea and blown by southern winds, which in these marine regions are a frequent cause of storms. N o t very long ago, in 1832 in fact, a vessel manned by four Japanese fishermen happened by sheer chance to run aground on the island of O a h u .

Native Hawaiian historians are generally agreed that their early ancestors remained in communication with other island peoples of the Pacific. They declare that Polynesian sorcerers, persons wise in experience and possessed of supernatural powers, first arrived in Hawaii from Tahiti. N o w the word Tahiti, or Kahiki in old Kanaka (native Hawaiian) speech, refers broadly to all foreign countries: that is to say, to lands of mystery and magic inhabited by supernatural creatures. Apart from such obscure traditions, whole centuries of Hawaiian history slip by of which no record exists other than the human bones embedded in coral reefs or lava flows. In any event, the Polynesian seafaring population spread through all the Hawaiian *In 1866 M. de Quatrefages published an extensive work on Polynesia that has become a standard authority on the subject.

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Islands. By choice they settled in valleys where water was abundant and forest shade plentiful, and wherever else the land was friendly to cultivation. Bonds of sentiment and interest held people together, one group coalesced with another group, so that tribal units developed. Thus, upon conditions of savagery, a form of social organization was grafted, a state of civilization based upon the same type of logic, insight, and inference that is discernible d o w n the ages in the earliest history of all countries. The most vigorous and able individuals composed a class of nobles, alii,* and f r o m these ancestral lines sprang the kings and chiefs, all in their ordered levels of ranking. Better nourished, less hard-pressed and w o r n , in constant communication w i t h the sorcerers, these leading chiefs were accustomed to making decisions and delivering judgments. Above all, they were accustomed to being instantly obeyed. They were undoubtedly superior persons and it is easy even today to distinguish their lineal descendants. Those w h o possessed the highest intelligence constituted the sacerdotal class. They were the kahuna, priestly magicians and medical healers. They studied the stars, the ocean currents and tides, the properties of plants and various substances, passing on their knowledge from father to son. T h e remainder of the population formed the laboring class, the makaainana, respectful admirers of strength and vitality, especially w h e n these qualities were combined with knowledge and technical skill. The makaainana were ready to believe that their chiefs were the descendants of gods and that their ancestral divinities were still dwelling in their o w n realm of lightning bolts and thunder. Finally, the makaainana were totally convinced that the Hawaiian aristocracy had been created to be obeyed. The sorcerers carefully fostered these ideas, motivated perhaps by conviction but well aware of their o w n immediate advantage. The chiefs and the priests together, therefore, invented the tabu, the law. Devised by those w h o wielded power, the tabu consisted of a long succession of prohibi*In Hawaii noble status was inherited through the mother.

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tions and rules, of sacred interdictions always affirmed and reinforced by the same repressive penalty: death. Thus the history of ancient Hawaii always revolves around the triple pivot of the chief, the sorcerer, and the tabu—the warrior, the priest, and the law. Inhabitants of the same valley all obeyed the same set of chiefs. The latter together determined their varying degrees of rank and authority, and their personal rivalries were the cause of all their conflicts, hatreds, and heroic battles. Rivalry was likewise the reason for the disappearance of whole tribes; for the subordination of several valleys to another more powerful one; and sometimes for the submission of an entire island to a supreme chief —to a king. The high chief, surrounded by his warriors and retainers and servants, maintained a courtly residence. It was he w h o held proprietary powers over the lands of his domain, over his subjects, and over their labors. It was he w h o decided what taxes suited him, according to his o w n tastes and desires. Vegetables, fruit, and fish were deposited at his feet, as the chief ordered; likewise kuhui nuts, used for candlelight, along with bark-cloth fabrics, nets, calabashes, and the minute red and yellow feathers used for making fine cloaks, emblems of status and chiefly power. In other words, the situation of the people was like that of the farmer whose share of the land, its use, and its products are dependent on the capricious notions of their owner. Meanwhile, of course, the chief provided safety and protection, ordering the subject to go to war; and the chief also made decisions in disputes demanding justice. Revolutions were notably rare. The only purpose of the very infrequent popular uprisings was to replace one overlord by another. Temperamentally the Kanaka was readily disposed to submitting to the influence of the sorcerer and the priest. The native character was quick in developing feelings of adoration and worship. A m o n g Hawaiians the very land, the air, and the all-surrounding sea were teeming with invisible beings, akua, and the forces of nature which Hawaiians could not fully comprehend and of which they were afraid were perceived as living individuals, possessing an existence

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Past

and personal identity of their own. The volcano, the earthquake, the whirlwind, the meteors, and particularly every special illness and disease, all these were regarded as the work of maleficent spirits. The old Hawaiian belief was that certain of the Hawaiian gods possessed their own fixed abode. Other gods were involved with particular actions and events; still others with particular individuals. With the passage of time the gods multiplied, and each mountain, stream, and cavern, every oddly shaped stone possessed its own god or goddess. In fact, at death each individual became a divinity.* Among the most powerful and dreaded of the deities are Pele, the volcano goddess, and her numerous family of brothers and sisters. Then there is Maui, celebrated throughout all Polynesian islands for his heroic exploits, who brought fire to mankind, hauled up several islands out of the sea, and trapped the sun in such a way as to cause it to slow down in its course. Although the Kanakas never originally conceived of a universal and sovereign power, a single God, they nevertheless had a latent feeling for such a being, for no other people embraced Christian teaching more enthusiastically. This was because Christianity served as a sort of synthesis of their ancient religious beliefs. The Hawaiians were not satisfied with merely individualizing their many gods. They also personified them in the form of wooden and stone idols, hideous figures inspiring terror; * * many of them were kept in their huts as household gods. The major deities, however, were separately enclosed in temples and placed under the guardianship of priests. Such temples, known as heiau, were sacred places surrounded by huge stone walls, within whose confines were special altars, a royal hut for the high chief, another for the priests, and a place of refuge for persons desiring to escape from a particular chief's anger or from the vengeance of an enemy. This was the area *Here is an extraordinary fact. During no period of Hawaiian history is there any evidence of sun-worship, nor of cults centering around the moon or the stars. **In a valley near Honolulu there still exists a large stone shaped vaguely like a shark and named Kaipu. Even today certain natives visit the stone to make offerings of the awa root " t o win the favor of the god," they explain.

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where, on especially important occasions, human sacrifices were carried out. The selected victims were prisoners of war or persons otherwise condemned to die, but never were they women. As with all primitive peoples, among w h o m physical force is so prominent a feature of life, men and women were not treated as equals. A woman could not sit down with a man and eat with him, nor could she occupy a place in the same canoe with a man. There existed, however, a strong corrective, a measure required because of respect for noble blood. By right of her high birth a woman of the nobility was entitled to exercise and enjoy all the privileges of a chief. Throughout this long, shadowy period of Hawaiian history, life appeared to stand still. Yet one can discern evidences of change, indeed of something resembling progress, a sort of fatal accretion of difference and direction that moves many things forward by imperceptible degrees. Thus, by distinguishing among traditional Hawaiian legends on the basis of their relative antiquity, it is broadly possible to reconstruct successive innovations and developments in the course of Hawaiian civilization. For example, little by little improvements were introduced in the building of huts,* and the carvings representing the gods were better crafted, the fishing gear more finely finished; and accordingly the tabu system became more elaborate and complicated, and the superstitions more numerous. The Kanakas eventually possessed a calendar based upon the phases of the moon. The first day of the year was a day of feasting. During spawning season it was forbidden to catch certain sorts of fish. The calendar year in general was organized around various religious ceremonies based on rituals determined by tradition. In their studies of these festal occasions, investigators may perhaps discover features analogous with the recorded pagan customs of the Greeks * A comfortable dwelling place was made u p of about six huts: first, t h e sacred shelter housing the idols; second, the mua, the dining hall of the m e n ; t h i r d , the hale noa, the c o m m o n sleeping quarters of the entire family; f o u r t h , the hale aina, the d i n i n g house of the w o m e n ; f i f t h , the hale kua, the w o r k area for m a k i n g cloth-like fabrics (kapa); sixth, the hale pea, the place of retirement for w o m e n during certain periods.

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and Romans. The sacred offices and rites required when establishing a new temple included a period of rest and repose, purification of the area, chants, dances, torches, idols carried in long processions, offerings of fruits and other foods, athletic contests such as footraces, wrestling, and see-saws, and organized games of many types to entertain the populace. Death was likewise accompanied by long and solemn ceremonies, especially when celebrating the funeral of a chief or a priest. The body, arranged in a sitting position, was placed in a deep cave or in a grave, together with calabashes filled with water and food. Chanting, dancing, and drinking formed part of the funeral ritual. O n the following day everyone present at the burial, after meeting to bathe together in a stream, sat themselves d o w n in a long file at the entrance of the dead person's house, while the priest uttered litanylike invocations calling upon the gods. His assistants responded by pouring holy water on the celebrants, thus completing the work of purification. During all periods of Hawaiian history certain notions of fundamental truth, the primary verities, were manifested. Thus all human beings had a common origin and father in the god Kane. Likewise, the Hawaiians held to the theory of the immortality of the soul and of an afterlife in which one receives rewards and punishments. The happy dead were transported beyond the clouds or the ocean to a marvelous island full of coconut palms, fruits, fresh water, and plentiful shade. Persons w h o offended the gods fell through a vast hole into an underworld, a black and frigid region where filthy animals were the only source of nourishment. Life there was utterly desolate, ruled over by the most demonic and evil spirits (akuas). The racial origins of the Hawaiian people, their earliest condition as an organized society, their ideas and superstitions, can be readily compared with those exemplified in the formation of all extremely isolated peoples. Such groups are unable to profit from the experience and fund of informed knowledge achieved by a neighboring people. It is fair to say, however, that despite their bloody battles,

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23

the practice of human sacrifice* and certain other customs that to us appear cruel, the basic characteristic of the Kanaka is not, as one might believe, one of brutality. O n the contrary, underneath a superficial appearance of barbarism, the early Hawaiians fostered a liking for things awesome and mysterious. This is a people distinguished by their pronounced sweetness of manner: a gentleness of voice and of bodily movement and gesture, a spirit of generosity devoid of ostentation, and a profound desire to penetrate the unknown. Indeed, they possess an extraordinary aptitude for assimilating the ways of foreign civilization, without at all sacrificing the finer life of the feelings.** The Hawaiian chants, historical tradition, and personal memories of the past are available to sustain the pride of the Hawaiian people. At the earliest stage, when they lived in a state of nature and long before the arrival of foreigners with all their vices, the Hawaiians possessed all the innate human concepts and ideals concerning beauty, heroic grandeur, and justice. But in addition they demonstrated an astonishing capacity for expressing refinement and delicacy of emotion and feeling. Like the ancient heroes of the Western world, the bravest and fiercest of Hawaiian warriors kept in the corner of their hearts principles of true honor: the strict keeping of oaths and promises, devotion faithful unto death, and a passionate insistence on living one's life in the light of one's dreams. The latter were best expressed by means of the Hawaiian use of flowers and by their gift for poetic song. These were the deeply rooted traits nourished by old Hawaiian life and perpetuated for centuries with burning ardor. Charming legends are still recited in Hawaii, traditional poems that wonderfully depict the primitive human soul. Detailed experiences drawn from actual life are presented in the form of long tales of adventure. The narratives involve the finest shades of feeling, especially incidents and actions of a delicacy difficult for us to appre*It seems to be positively established that the Hawaiians never practiced cannibalism. **No case exists of a white woman being insulted by a native.

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d a t e today. T h e ideal portraits of love are such that only a goddess could inspire, with another goddess serving as their devoted protector. They are loves born of hearts that are still virginal, hearts that believe them to be unique and limitless—the loves of a twenty-yearold who can still conceive of them as existing in another universe. Spanish navigators of the 16th century are apparently to be credited for having discovered the Hawaiian Islands. In 1527 a vessel under the command of Ferdinand Cortez ran aground on one of the islands, and there is a tradition among Hawaiians that its captain and his sister survived the shipwreck and then, after marrying natives, founded several families of chiefs. In 1555 D o n Juan Gaetano indicated on his maps a group of islands corresponding to the Hawaiian chain. However, just as in so many other parts of the world, the English were the first to make the discovery known to the world and to exploit the event to their advantage. O n January 17, 1778, Captain J . C o o k landed on the island of Kauai and established friendly relations with the natives.*

Accounts of the discovery by Captain C o o k have been preserved for us in Hawaii in the form of Kanaka traditions, thus supplementing Captain C o o k ' s journal concerning his voyages. In fact, the two sources verify and reinforce one another. It seems certain that the natives' reception of the foreigners was enthusiastic. The priests declared that the white chieftain was none other than Lono, their ancient god, returning from a great voyage. The entire population accordingly bowed down to worship him, bringing with them food offerings including various fruits. T h e chiefs came aboard ship in high ceremony to tender their services, and in no other region of the Pacific were the Resolution and the Discovery received with * Captain C o o k named the group the Sandwich Islands in honor of the Earl of Sandwich, w h o at that time was First Lord of the Admiralty. For the native people, nevertheless, the group remained the Hawaiian Islands, and this became the designation adopted officially by the country and also by the majority of modern works of geography.

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greater honors. Captain Cook visited various places in the islands where it was possible to go ashore, but all indications lead one to believe that Cook himself, and especially his crews, abused the very evident hospitality of the natives. The visitors, in fact, behaved like overlords in conquered territory, demanding contributions too burdensome for the people to bear. Furthermore, not only did the English sailors fail to show the courtly respect befitting chiefs and priests; in the end, by disgracefully misusing the w o m e n of all ranks w h o came aboard the vessels, Cook's men were responsible for the introduction in Hawaii of hitherto u n k n o w n diseases. Some English writers have sought to defend the memory of their compatriots on this occasion, when their country's sense of what constitutes honorable conduct was not very evident. Admittedly, it would be a difficult task to require bold 18th-century sailors, accustomed to risking their lives by mingling with savages, to display a rare moderation in satisfying their natural desires. After all, the typical sailor can hardly be expected to conduct himself w i t h the tact of a diplomat and the morality of a clergyman. Captain Cook was undoubtedly imprudent. Wanting some firewood, he not only ordered the demolition of a Hawaiian temple standing near the shore, he also asked his men to carry aboard ship, in addition to pieces of w o o d , the sacred idols as well. Disputes arose concerning relations between the English sailors and the natives. Scuffles and brawls occurred, and it became very clear that the intentions of the islanders were no longer peaceful. O n Sunday, February 14, Captain Cook, together with a lieutenant and several of his men, went ashore at Kealakekua Bay, on the island of Hawaii. Their purpose was to capture a chief of the district. Several shots were exchanged between the natives and the landing parties. W h e n Captain Cook then came ashore, he was immediately surrounded by a very angry crowd. After an attempt to beat back the Hawaiians, the small landing parties, w h o found themselves outnumbered, yielded and left behind them several dead. A m o n g the bodies was that of their captain, felled by a spear thrust. The death of Captain Cook made a deep impression in Europe.

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The Hawaiian people acquired a reputation as cruel savages, a judgment far more harsh than they deserved. Consequently, for a number of years navigators avoided approaching Hawaii's inhospitable shores. But later, very gradually, ships engaged in the fur trade between North America and China fell into the habit of stopping at the Hawaiian Islands, where they then completed their cargos by exchanging goods—especially cloth, glass beads, and firearms—for Hawaiian sandalwood. From this period dates the first settlement in Hawaii of Europeans, and the emergence on the scene, during the continuous intertribal wars, of Kamehameha, the founder of Hawaiian political unity. Because of his remarkable intelligence, understanding of political strategy and organization, and indeed as a result of his whole illustrious life, Kamehameha acquired his title— albeit a rather pretentious one—of the "Napoleon of the Pacific."

Kamehameha was a high chief of the island of Hawaii, and a perfect exemplar of the Hawaiian race. Tall, energetic, and possessed of a splendid martial presence, he was imbued with the principles of leadership and authority in which he had been schooled since his birth. But he also had an open mind, a spirit ready to explore many avenues of progress that would serve his ambition and augment his power. By means of his conciliatory tactics, he was able to win the friendship of two crew members of an American sailing vessel whom he had first acquired as prisoners. These were Isaac Davis and John Young, and having appointed them as his lieutenants, he was able to proclaim himself king (moi) of the entire island of Hawaii. But this triumph was achieved only after a long succession of battles, fought with the assistance of Davis and Young. With their support, Kamehameha conceived a plan to unify, under his own edicts and rule, the archipelago as a whole. To this end he procured an arsenal of firearms and commanded that a fleet of great war canoes be built. Simultaneously he took into his service a dozen or so of the white settlers in the kingdom, and also summoned to his side all the other chiefs and their warriors. His skill as a leader, confirmed by success, was such that he

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was able to control and quell all the jealous enmities among them. He imposed upon the standing chiefs a discipline so severe that they were compelled to follow blindly his every command. It was Hawaii's destiny thus to enter a period of progress and continuous change. All the various elements and their unruly factions were obliged to cease their war-making and submit to the same sovereign authority and body of law. After easily conquering the islands of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, Kamehameha embarked on the conquest of Oahu, known today mainly as the site of the city of Honolulu. This famous campaign of Kamehameha's, a great military victory, has inspired all Hawaiian bards. His triumph on Oahu represents the greatest application of military leadership that had ever been attempted in the islands. Here is how his crowning success has been recorded by a native historian. The ruling chief of Oahu at that time, the year 1795, was Kalanikupule. That island remained a separate and privileged kingdom. It enjoyed refreshing northern trade winds, many kinds of agricultural produce in abundance, excellent fishing waters; and so life on Oahu was most gratifying. Furthermore, large vessels frequently stopped at Honolulu, ships with vast sails from hitherto unknown lands, bringing the iron so useful for making spears, arrowheads, and fishhooks, also those shining pearl necklaces so pretty when worn against Hawaiian skin. The young people on Oahu knew, better than those of the neighboring islands, how to chant and sing, and the girls of Oahu were the most graceful dancers. Oahu possessed also a greater array of flowers, so that garlands and leis in all colors were available during every portion of the year. Finally, it was always possible on Oahu to provide the sacred idols with enough offerings to ward off famine and pestilence. Alas! One morning a great war cry was sounded on Oahu, and the terrible clamor echoed from rock to rock throughout the island. Brandishing their weapons, the Oahu men hastily left their huts and headed toward the sea, followed by their wives and children bearing supplies of food. Near a splendid grove of coconut trees, at the foot of the mountain that looms over the reefs, there appeared at early dawn a dark, solid mass of ships—some hundreds of double

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canoes manned by the warriors of the Big Island. O n the first of the ships stood Kamehameha, spear in hand, recognizable because of his imposing stature and haughty bearing, wearing his feather cloak and holding with one hand a kahili of superb size. O n O a h u this was to be the first of a succession of ominous days. Kalanikupule and his warriors stood their ground, yielding to the invading army only step by step. The series of battles varied in ferocity, displays of courage, and deeds of heroism. But there was one evening w h e n the O a h u warriors, outnumbered by their enemy, decided to cross the mountains to recover their strength and return to the struggle on the island's opposite side. Pursued by their conquerors, the deliberate and at first disciplined retreat of the O a h u warriors turned into a wild flight. T h e entire length of Nuuanu Valley became a scene of massacre. The army from the Big Island was everywhere victorious. Finally, after a furious chase, when Kamehameha's forces reached the Pali, the surviving warriors of Oahu were driven hopelessly to the edge of the precipice, where they were all hurled into the chasm. The following day, standing on Oahu's highest summit, Kamehameha proclaimed himself sovereign and king of all the Hawaiian Islands. The island of Kauai alone remained independent. But several years later, after the death of its king, Kauai too submitted, and without a struggle. Thus Kamehameha's rule over the archipelago as a whole became absolute and the glory of his life and character universally recognized. The islands of the Hawaiian Kingdom, at last unified by Kamehameha's conquests, were thus launched in the direction of progress. It is not surprising that even today the most intelligent Kanakas cherish the memory of the great chieftain with respect and admiration. Having laid aside his sword, he was remarkably successful in consolidating his conquests. The old manner of life, especially its political composition, was radically changed. Kamehameha strove to centralize all authority within his o w n control. T h u s he declared himself by right of conquest to be owner of all the country's lands, but he then voluntarily divided them among his chiefly supporters according to both their

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rank and their military success in aiding his cause. They were required to promise him future military backing and were also obliged to pay taxes. By parceling out the lands he broke up the ancient system of vassalage. In this way the most ambitious and fractious chiefs were brought into the circle of his royal court. He also established a police force and a system of espionage. On each island he placed a representative as the central authority to serve as governor. He chose these dignitaries from among his worthiest henchmen, and indeed appointed the former foreign sailor John Young to be governor of the island of Hawaii. Finally, he instituted a privy council made up of the most distinguished chiefs, one of whom held the office of lord high treasurer or, as we would say, minister of finance. Kamehameha took utmost care to encourage agriculture and industry, for his far-sighted goal was to remedy the disastrous practices that had encouraged the long-standing intertribal wars. By such swift and energetic measures he was able to wipe out brigandage and suppress the activities of assassins and common thieves. Throughout the rest of his life Kamehameha upheld the authority of the cruel tabu, for he believed it to be a very useful instrument of government. He surrounded himself with all the pomp and panoply of monarchy. His court, whose etiquette was exceedingly complicated and very strictly observed, was the outcome of a deliberate effort to inspire his people and insure their loyalty. Kamehameha selected his advisers wisely from among the most respectable foreigners, taking care to shun opportunists and adventurers. He chose his close associates on the basis of their possible contributions to the interests of the Hawaiian people. Nevertheless, if one considers today the vulnerable situation of Hawaii caused by the steady influx of foreigners, one wonders if the founder of the kingdom was not somewhat imprudent. Did he not open the doors too wide, thus affording settlement in Hawaii by persons exploiting the country primarily for their own commercial gain? Today one could say that the political policies of Kamehameha were not sufficiently mindful of Hawaii's status as a nation. By welcoming the foreigners so readily he set an example and established a precedent

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later strengthened by his royal successors. Though he labored for the cause of civilization, he failed to realize that he was building it upon the ruin of his people. During the reign of Kamehameha, the famous English navigator Captain George Vancouver made several voyages to the Hawaiian Islands and became the country's benefactor. It was Vancouver w h o first introduced sheep into Hawaii.* He also helped to arbitrate some disputes among rival royal chiefs; was instrumental in having made the first ship that was built in the islands, and provided the king with disinterested advice regarding the treatment of foreigners. Above all he counseled the king concerning broad administrative policy and about the training and discipline of the Hawaiian army. Mercantile trade soon developed and flourished as the natives labored hard to exploit the Hawaiian sandalwood forests, which they traded away for shoddy goods manufactured in Europe.** Ordinarily the king and his court resided at Kailua, on the Big Island, but Honolulu on Oahu was the best port in the archipelago and was already the most important as a center of commerce. It is difficult, however, to recognize in the early descriptions of Honolulu the large modern city of today. The village of Honolulu consists of a number of grass huts sheltered by coconut groves not far from the shore. The house of the king, surrounded by strong fencings and walls, stands along the beach not far from shops containing foreign imported goods—in effect the royal treasure. The king's battle fleet, consisting of big broad canoes and some lesser outrigger canoes, is stationed nearby in boat houses, actually rude sheds constructed of branches and leaves. In the same vicinity rises the fort, the great pride of the natives, a thick-walled stronghold protected by forty small cannons. A single sailing vessel rests at anchor in the harbor, and it is this which serves to link the islands with each other. Everywhere on the beach, and lying in the sun, there are groups of Kanakas wearing only loin*Not until ten years later were horses introduced. " S a n d a l w o o d virtually no longer exists in the Hawaiian Islands.

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cloths, men and women together, accompanied by parties of children swimming in the shallower water like so many schools of dusky fish. O n May 8, 1819, at the age of eighty-two, Kamehameha died in all his glory, bequeathing to his people a prosperous kingdom and several offspring. He had made k n o w n his last wishes: his son Liholiho was to succeed him, while the most intelligent of his favorite wives, Kaahumanu, was designated to share with Liholiho as his co-regent the royal burden. U p to his very last sighing breath Kamehameha demonstrated his heroic superiority as compared with the rest of his people and with his whole turbulent epoch. He rejected the practice of human sacrifice as a means of persuading the gods to prolong his life. His last words were of advice and counsel addressed to his son and the surrounding chiefs.

Ill MODERN HAWAII* Kamehameha II, the American missionaries. — Kamehameha III, difficulties with foreign powers. — Kamehameha IV, treaty of 1857 with France. — Kamehameha V, M. de Varigny, eruption of Mauna Loa. — Lunalilo. — Accession of Kalakaua.

I do not disguise the fact that the history of the Hawaiian Islands, from a French point of view, is a subject of somewhat subordinate interest. It has no chance whatever of being included in the curricular programs of French schools. I nevertheless believe I should briefly describe the political life of the kingdom as it has developed over the years since its establishment under Kamehameha I. A broad perspective, covering the history of the country since its recent birth, helps us to understand more clearly current conditions and events.

Kamehameha II, 1819-1824 Modern Hawaii dates from 1820. That was the year when a whaling vessel for the first time wintered at Honolulu, with the result that the port became a place of rendezvous for all vessels sailing Pacific waters and equipped for hunting that great ocean's whales. Honolulu was soon transformed into a commercial center for general import and export trade. Furthermore, in 1820 there arrived in Hawaii from Boston, by way of Cape Horn, the first *This chapter is partly an extract from a very interesting work by W. D . Alexander, recently published under the auspices of the Department of Education of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and entitled A Brief History of the Hawaiian People.

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Protestant missionaries. Their duty was to instruct the Kanakas in the teachings of the Bible as the fundamental principles of AngloSaxon civilization. T h e moment was surely opportune, for Hawaii at this juncture was already in the extraordinary situation of being a country with neither an organized church nor a coherent body of religious beliefs and concepts. Liholiho, w h o succeeded his father as Kamehameha II, had followed the advice of the regent, Queen Kaahumanu, and had abolished the tabu. The people were eager to tear d o w n their temples, and the native priests had fled into the mountains. The younger generation, too, were very ready to welcome any type of religious practice that shunned idolatry. Thus the soil was well prepared for the American missionaries, w h o were received in Hawaii with joy. The N e w Englanders set about zealously to learn the language of the country. They erected churches and opened schools, both for the purpose of teaching the natives and instilling in them Christian faith, and also to elevate their spirits and alter their traditional morals and manners.

N o w I have read in a Manual for the Perfect Gardener that by selecting judiciously the method of grafting a tree, be it by whip, cleft, crown, or splice, it is possible to make the tree produce fruits of any variety. Such a procedure, perhaps possible in the practice of arboriculture, does not seem to me applicable in the art of civilizing new countries. H u m a n customs and conventions are not determined solely by some innate and inherited nature. Indeed, a people's morals and customs possess their own raison d'etre, arising f r o m geographical conditions, climate, natural resources of the land, or indeed by a hundred other secondary causes which seem to spring full-grown out of the earth. Moreover, if the European type of civilized life is to exist side by side with a native civilization, mutual concessions are necessary if the new ways are to be successfully fused with the old. This principle was not understood by the earliest Protestant missionaries, w h o played so great a part in the development of Hawaii.

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T h e system followed by the missionaries has been variously appraised. W i t h o u t at all wishing to disparage their intentions, for these were unquestionably excellent, I think I can say that the results for the native people were devastating. The missionaries were not satisfied merely with inculcating Biblical principles. W h a t they wanted was to change habits and institutions immediately—to destroy the past. They were unaware that the structure they had set about to erect was not being established upon new and untapped ground. They ignored the fact that here was a race already many centuries old, and they did not see that the transformation they were seeking to bring about could be neither abrupt nor radical. Possessing the greater strength and power of will, the missionaries proceeded to uproot an old tree in order to replace it by a new one. I pass over the question whether or not they had the right to do so. Certainly the conduct of the new king afforded a striking contrast to that of his father. Distrustful of the old native councillors, Liholiho surrounded himself with disreputable foreigners, wasting his days and nights in the pursuit of pleasure. He shared with his court a taste for exorbitant debauchery. Together they traveled from one part of the kingdom to another, corrupting the country and exhausting the royal treasury. Following the king's example, the chiefs ground d o w n the people, levying unjust taxes and monopolizing the trade with foreigners. Manufactured products from Europe and America began pouring into Hawaii. Certain chiefs acquired luxurious house furnishings, purchased at fabulous prices. A framed, square mirror, a meter in size and w o r t h 200 francs, sold in Honolulu for 5,000, the value of a cargo of sandalwood. T h e missionaries, meanwhile, set up a small printing press, distributed articles of clothing, and gave lessons in the use of various cooking utensils. Still the old traditions and customs endured. W h e n Liholiho held a royal audience, his garb consisted of a loincloth, a cloak of green silk draped over the left shoulder, around his neck a circlet of colorful seeds, and a garland of yellow feathers upon his head.

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In 1823, and for the last time, an anniversary celebration of the reign was conducted with impressive ceremonies, all borrowed f r o m the past. O n the closing day an elaborate parade of w o m e n was organized. The king's brother and sister, very much on display, were surrounded by every sort of royal pomp. Kamamalu, the beloved queen, was seated on a whaler's longboat, supported by spears and carried by sixty warriors. T h e boat and platform were covered with handsome fabrics, vividly colored, some of native origin along with the foreign. The porters, decked out with feather capes and helmets, formed a sturdy cohort marching smartly in cadence. The queen, crowned with feathers, wore a pan, a native wraparound g o w n , of scarlet silk. Directly behind her came a chief wearing a red loincloth and holding an umbrella of the same color in his hand. A group of high dignitaries carried kahili, immense feather standards thirty feet tall. O n e of the widows of Kamehameha I wore seventy-two yards of red and orange cloth wrapped around her body and serving also as a big cushion upon which she rested her outstretched arms. O n l y a few months later, Liholiho sailed f r o m Hawaii for England, accompanied by his favorite wife, Kamamalu,* and several great chiefs. O n May 22, 1824, the party arrived in England, where Liholiho was received w i t h appropriate royal honors and conspicuously lavish attentions. Because this was the first visit of a Kanaka king in Europe, it caused tremendous excitement. Contemporary accounts of the doings of the Hawaiian party make odd reading. The general impression received was that Pacific island natives were a highly civilized people, distinguished especially by their intellectual curiosity and fine manners. Above all, they were dignified. Unfortunately their journey had a sorry ending. An epidemic of measles broke out among the little Hawaiian colony, already affected by the change of climate, and in July the king and queen both died in London. 'Kamamalu was also a daughter of Kamehameha I and therefore the king's half sister.

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Modern Hawaii Kamehameha III, 1825-1854

News of this mournful event reached Hawaii months later, when the frigate Blonde, commanded by Lord Byron,* finally arrived at Honolulu, carrying in its hold the bodies of the royal couple. It was only then, on June 25, 1825, that the young Prince Kauikeaouli, another son of Kamehameha I, was proclaimed the new Hawaiian king, Kamehameha III. Meanwhile Kaahumanu continued to act as regent. Kamehameha III held the royal office for twenty-nine years, a period sometimes described as the reign of the American missionaries. D u r i n g this long interval they were in effect all-powerful, and to them must be attributed the profound changes that occurred in the country: the rise and spread of Christianity; the g r o w t h of education and establishment of a public school system; increase of commercial activities; organization of government; division and parceling out of lands; and the peaceful resolution of disputes among the chiefs. Missionary influences were far less beneficent, however, in matters of foreign policy. D u r i n g the reign of Kamehameha III the major powers—the United States, England, and France—each became involved in ominous difficulties with the Hawaiian Kingdom that on occasion resulted in sharp conflict. In 1827 the first R o m a n Catholic priests, members of the French order of the Picpus Brotherhood, arrived in the islands. First of all, the queen regent, Kaahumanu, refused to receive them, and did not permit them to preach; then she issued an ordinance forbidding her subjects to adopt and practice the new religion,** and those w h o did so would be sentenced to hard labor. The R o m a n Catholics were thus systematically persecuted, and numbers of them became victims of worse hardships. In December of 1831 the French priests 'Captain George Anson, Lord Byron (1789-1858), a cousin of the poet.—ALK ** According to the ordinance, Roman Catholicism would mean the restoration of idol worship.

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were expelled from the kingdom. All this while the Protestant societies of Boston continued to dispatch to Hawaii missionaries and their families, the latter bringing w i t h them not only zeal as colonizers but also their genius as businessmen, the qualities that have made the United States the future leading power of the world. The goal was to transform the Kanakas into perfect Anglo-Saxons, members of the Church of N e w England.* Industrial schools were established for the teaching of native children. A census of the Hawaiian population was concluded; newspapers were published; and very severe laws were enacted, punishing prostitution, drunkenness, the sale of liquor, the importation of grain alcohol, dancing, and breaking the Sabbath. In 1832, when the queen regent died, Kamehameha III took over the reins of power himself, entrusting one of the Protestant missionaries with the official functions of a prime minister. In 1839 severe troubles arose when the Artemise, a French frigate carrying sixty cannon, arrived at Honolulu under the command of C o m m o dore Laplace. His orders were to protest the persecution of French citizens in Hawaii, and to impose upon the Hawaiian government a treaty by which his compatriots would receive the treatment owed subjects of a most favored nation. Laplace demanded as warranty a payment of 100,000 francs.** He insisted further on claiming specific privileges involving legal matters and the payment of certain customs duties. In this same eventful year was prepared the first Hawaiian Constitution, adopted on October 8, 1840. T h e act accorded to all persons, natives and foreigners alike, the same legal protections, equality in the levying of taxes, and freedom of religion, and it established a Hawaiian parliament. The year 1843 was a dreadful time for Hawaii. This was the criti*The reference seems to be an obscure allusion to Boston as the headquarters of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.—ALK **This sum of 100,000 francs was later returned to the Hawaiian government, with the strong b o x in which it had been sealed still unopened.

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cal period when, on February 23, Lord George Paulet, the commander of H . M . S . Carysfort, ran up the British flag in the islands. The event might easily have ended Hawaiian independence. But Admiral Thomas, commander in chief of British naval forces in the Pacific, soon arrived at Honolulu and signed with the king a treaty which resulted in lowering the British flag and acknowledging the sovereignty and independence of the kingdom. In the same year, on November 28, France and England signed a formal declaration recognizing the independence of the archipelago and promising reciprocally to respect and uphold that status. Thus since November 28, 1843, the Hawaiian Kingdom has stood among the constituted states of the world as a nation enjoying the patronage of both France and England. This same memorable historical date is still celebrated in Hawaii today as a national anniversary and holiday. In 1846 two identical treaties were agreed upon, both of them regulating the relations of France and England with the Hawaiian Kingdom. One year later the Hawaiian legislature ordered that legal codes be compiled covering the different branches of the law and following the main principles of British legal theory and practice, modified in several aspects, but conforming in general to the principles of American jurisprudence. The very important problem of land ownership and property rights was definitively determined by a commission headed by Dr. J u d d . * One-third of the land became the share of the Crown; another third, that of the chiefs; and the third, that of the people. Each remained owners of a portion of the lands they had lived on and cultivated. The king established an exemplary principle, soon embraced by the chiefs: he had given away one-half of the Crown lands to the state. During this same period the Hawaiian government paid its debts, and throughout the reign of Kamehameha III never expended more than its revenue. The interior affairs of the kingdom were highly satisfactory, but the troubled relations with friendly nations worsened every day. The Hawaiian authorities attempted to circumvent *Judd had arrived in the islands in 1828, a m o n g the earliest American missionaries, and throughout his life played an important part in Hawaiian politics.

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the obligations required of them in earlier treaties of 1846. The international situation became very tense, and the French consular representative found it necessary to break off the relations that had been established with the Hawaiian government at the time he was accredited. N o w he found it necessary to rely on a show of naval force. In July 1847, Admiral de Tromelin arrived in the islands aboard the Poursuivante and fired a broadside at the Honolulu fort. As compensation for claimed insults to the French flag, he seized the royal yacht and took it to Tahiti. Shortly thereafter, in the role of special diplomatic envoy from Hawaii, Dr. Judd sailed f r o m Honolulu bound for France. W i t h him were t w o young princes, the heir to the throne and his brother. Although the Hawaiian youths were received with great cordiality, the diplomatic negotiations were unsuccessful. In 1852 Kamehameha III was persuaded, on the advice of Judge Lee, to present to his people a second and revised constitution, far more liberal in its principles than its predecessor. It established a bicameral legislature and provided for a comprehensive judicial system. In this same year an interisland steamer was authorized to introduce an official postal service. Kamehameha III died in 1854. During his reign various developments and changes conventionally considered to represent progress made unquestionable strides. The people of the Oceanic kingdom were n o w garbed in European-style clothes. They also lost much of their Polynesian character, its unique human overtones and coloring. This transformation occurred partly out of heedlessness, partly as a consequence of the power of imitation, but especially because of new needs and desires aroused in them by the presence and example of foreigners. Already during the 1850s it was possible to perceive the ravages caused among the natives by the new manners and morals. According to a census conducted in 1853, the total population was approximately 73,000, a figure indicating a decrease of 11,000 in three years. It has been accurately estimated that a terrible smallpox epidemic during this period caused some 3,000 deaths.

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Modern Hawaii Kamehameha IV, 1855-1863

The Hawaiian throne clearly does not bring happiness to those w h o occupy it. Apart from the founder of the Kamehameha dynasty, all the kings have died when young. Kamehameha III was succeeded by his nephew and adoptive son, Alexander Liholiho, a youth of twenty-one w h o reigned for a mere eight years. H e married the granddaughter of an English sailor, John Young, but w h o was also a royal princess because of her high-born maternal ancestors. She was k n o w n as " t h e good Queen E m m a . " N o t only a distinguished" looking, pretty w o m a n , she was also intelligent, possessed a fine moral character, and conducted her life w i t h dignity. She was greatly respected by her people and w o n the gratitude of posterity because of her good works. These include several charitable foundations, as well as Honolulu's public hospital. From this same period date the earliest major civic improvements in the kingdom's capital city. The port was dredged; the old fort that overlooked the waterfront was demolished and replaced by several quays, adjoining large customs facilities and warehouses. A huge prison was also erected, and an excellent reservoir and water supply system were developed. Other advances include the first efforts at growing rice, an industry which has since become one of the greatest sources of wealth in the islands. The principal events distinguishing the reign of Kamehameha IV, especially from a French point of view, concern foreign affairs and Hawaiian diplomacy. O n October 29, 1857, French and Hawaiian authorities approved and signed an international treaty governing relations between the t w o countries, and this instrument constitutes the permanent legal basis for their mutual treaty obligations. Negotiations laying the g r o u n d w o r k for this document were long and arduous. T h e Hawaiian government regarded the reciprocity clause included in the treaty as of slight importance. Indeed, because of the tiny number of Hawaiian citizens likely ever to reside in France, the clause was sharply criticized and adjudged illusory. It was at last decided to endorse the clause only when subsequent events made such a provision desirable. Despite these and other dif-

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ficulties, this diplomatic pact must be recognized as a work of signal wisdom. Even though memories of past disputes still linger, no serious conflicts have arisen, and the two countries live in friendship and perfect understanding and agreement.

Kamehameha V, 1863-1872 Kamehameha IV died without providing an heir and his older brother, Prince Lot Kamehameha, succeeded to the throne under the title of Kamehameha V. The new sovereign, a man of authoritarian character, was markedly energetic and ambitious. However, for all his modern schooling, he remained basically a Kanaka and a great patriot. As minister of the interior during the reign of his brother, he had learned the business of being king. He thought that his people were not yet sufficiently advanced to justify granting them all rights and privileges, and that the liberal constitution approved by Kamehameha III was designed solely to suit the interests and protect the profits of the foreigners. Therefore Kamehameha V resolved to release himself from its restrictions. W h e n he eventually discovered that a special constitutional assembly would not accept his views, he declared the constitution of 1852 null and void and by royal fiat handed down a new edict plainly conceived in a spirit of reaction. In it the functions of a viceroy were abolished; only persons w h o could read and write and w h o possessed a certain income held the right to vote; and nobles and representatives were to sit together in the same legislative body. N o w serving as the king's councillor in these vexatious circumstances was a Frenchman, M. Charles de Varigny.* After initially acting as secretary of the French Consulate in Honolulu, M. de Varigny was appointed by Kamehameha V to the post of minister of finance. During the latter's reign, M. de Varigny played an impor*M. de Varigny returned to France after spending fourteen years in the Sandwich Islands. Today he is well known as an author of talent and a very frequent contributor to the Revue des Deux-Mondes. He has written several books on America and Oceania.

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tant part in the current politics and governmental operations of the country. In the course of his tenure in various offices, first as minister of finance and later as minister of foreign affairs, he never ceased to defend the interests of the natives against the prerogatives and pretensions of the foreign elements in the kingdom, particularly those parties or factions w h o wanted to govern for purposes of their o w n gain. M . de Varigny meanwhile conducted himself with so much tact, demonstrating so thorough a knowledge of Hawaiian problems, that he was able in the end to allay the hatred of his worst critics. Actually what had embittered them was their jealousy of his trusted relationship with the king. This Frenchman left very pleasant memories in the islands for all his compatriots w h o have followed him. The king's revocation of the earlier constitution (described by the political opposition as a coup d'etat) succeeded better than the cabinet had ventured to hope. Indeed, Hawaiian delegates to the constitutional convention quite understood the intention of the court. At the first meeting of the assembly, the government's supporters formed a substantial majority. Even in Honolulu, the base and center of the opposition, it was the government's candidates w h o were successful in a later election. Their victory was in large measure due to the prosperity of the country, which from its start during this period had never ceased to improve. In his book Quatorze Ans aux lies Sandwich, M . de Varigny writes: The measures taken to develop the agricultural resources of the kingdom had produced outstanding results. The sugar industry was flourishing. The smaller increase in other products nevertheless resulted in an impressive rate of progress across the board. It was impossible, even among our most prejudiced and hostile critics, to deny the evidence. The stimulus to trade was everywhere striking and very visible. It was not work that was lacking, but workers. Assured of a market for their products, the natives were laboring on their acres and reaping a prosperity unknown among them up to that time. Everywhere comfortable dwellings, clean and hygienic, were replacing their traditional huts built of bamboo and leaves. Their cattle fetched a better price, and their lands rose in value.

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Now they had twenty means of making a living, whereas earlier they could find no employment save by leaving their homeland and risking their health and their lives aboard the whalers of the foreigners. Thus it was considered necessary to introduce immigrants into the Hawaiian Islands, principally for work on the sugar plantations. Because of this decision, the Chinese and the Japanese have arrived in the kingdom in large numbers, and a door has been opened to dangers that apparently no one anticipated at that earlier time. Meanwhile the native Hawaiian population has continued to diminish. The dreadful disease of leprosy, which at present is causing the death rate to soar, was given further opportunity to wreak its ravages. It is obvious that a constantly mounting population composed of new immigrants from the Orient will inevitably prove a threat to so small a country and do special harm to the nation's indigenous work force. In 1868 occurred the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions recorded thus far in all local tradition or in the memories of Hawaiians now alive. O n the Big Island of Hawaii, following a long series of earthquakes that destroyed almost every stone building, rivers of molten lava came pouring down from the great mountain called Mauna Loa. Enormous waves of fire, forty or fifty feet high, flowed downward toward the sea, destroying everything in their paths and laying waste entire districts of the island. T h e famous earthquake in Peru on August 15, 1868, was also felt as far away as H a w a i i . * Kamehameha V died suddenly on November 11, 1872, the anniversary of his birth. Aged forty-three, he had never married, and his death signified the end of the Kamehameha dynasty. D u r i n g his reign valuable public works and beautification of the capital city were actively carried forward. A lighthouse was erected at the entrance of Honolulu harbor, as well as a palatial government building, a central post office, and the Hawaiian Hotel. * T h e virtually simultaneous occurrence of the two events has been considered to be an argument proving the theory that all volcanoes everywhere are molten outlets of one and the same fiery furnace.

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Modern Hawaii Lunalilo, 1873-1874

The constitution of 1864 had anticipated the problem that would arise if a sovereign should die leaving no direct heir and without naming a successor. In such circumstances the legislative assembly should select a new ruler from among the descendants of the ancient chiefs. Several candidates campaigned to become the late king's successor, among them t w o young nobles, William Lunalilo and David Kalakaua, and a third candidate was Queen Emma, the w i d o w of Kamehameha IV. Public opinion soon settled upon Lunalilo as the favorite among the three. He was a popular figure among the natives because of his friendliness and gaiety of spirit, his love of pleasure, and also his great wealth and boundless generosity. Foreign residents supported him, moreover, because of his liberal views, particularly his often expressed American sympathies. The assembly, echoing the same views, elected Lunalilo to accede to the throne on January 8, 1873. The new ruler, during his brief reign of only thirteen months, displayed the best of intentions, but the political consequences were not promising. The cabinet, made up of chiefs and officials allied with American interests in the islands, struggled to overcome extremely unfavorable circumstances. They wanted strict enforcement of the recent law, a most unpopular one among the natives, requiring the segregation of lepers at the asylum and hospital on Molokai. T h e cabinet during this time also undertook negotiations with the United States for a reciprocity treaty, an agreement favoring Hawaiian imports in America, and also granting to the United States, as compensation, the privilege of establishing a coal depot and naval station at Pearl Harbor, the m o u t h of O a h u ' s Pearl River. Public opinion in Hawaii, however, unanimously rejected any measure resembling the cession of Hawaiian territory to a foreign power and of yielding sovereign rights over any part of the kingdom. The opposition was so strong that, aware of the danger, the government by the king's command was obliged to break off the Pearl Harbor negotiations. Discontent in Hawaii remained wide-

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spread and demonstrations of the unrest occurred in various political centers. The household troops of the king profited from this state of affairs by threatening mutiny. Just when the government appeared to have lost all authority, the unfortunate king died. For several months he had been dangerously ill, and he left the kingdom's affairs in a woeful state of disorder. To tell the truth, it was a variant form of the old story: the perpetual interracial conflict of the native with the outsider, but n o w there was reason to fear that some foreign power would precipitately intervene in the islands, in such a way as to threaten Hawaiian independence. Because of Lunalilo's death, Prince David Kalakaua and Queen Emma, his erstwhile rivals for the throne, again became opposing candidates. Each had ardent supporters. Queen Emma was the candidate advocated by the majority of the natives, and especially by the group k n o w n as the " o l d Kanakas." O n the side of Kalakaua were the foreigners, the sugar planters, and the most intelligent and educated element among the native population. W i t h the approach of the election, governmental officials and their departments exerted all their energies, already well assured of a substantial majority in Kalakaua's favor. The legislative assembly convened on February 12, 1874, only nine days after Lunalilo had died, and on that date David Kalakaua was elected king of Hawaii by a vote of 39 to 6. The balloting took place in the judiciary building, where a large and boisterous crowd had meanwhile gathered outside. W h e n the result of the election was announced, Queen Emma's supporters were so shocked by their disappointment that they attempted to stage a rebellion. The assembly chambers were invaded; the dissidents physically attacked legislative representatives and inflicted numerous injuries. The government lacked sufficient police power and the civil disorder was undoubtedly violent enough to justify extreme measures. The help of foreign diplomatic officials was enlisted, and in addition the commanders of British and American war vessels then in harbor were charged with restoring public order. The rebels straightway scattered. N o longer was there any necessity to resort to violence. For eight successive days foreign

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crews patrolled the whole area surrounding the judiciary building housing the legislature and the barracks regularly occupied by the royal militia and palace guard. The rioting culprits were arrested, and public feeling cooled. O n February 13, 1874, at noontime, after swearing to uphold the Hawaiian constitution, Kalakaua was proclaimed king of Hawaii.

IV HONOLULU The city. — The people, prosperity and luxury. — The business district and public buildings. — Chinatown. — The French mission. — Waikiki. — Nuuanu Valley.

The Hawaiian archipelago is made up of eight islands; Honolulu, the capital of the kingdom, is situated on Oahu, an oval-shaped island of 144,000 hectares, made up of a chain of extinct volcanic craters surrounded by a narrow plain. On arriving from California the steamer passes alongside a great promontory known as Diamond Head. The panoramic view of the island as seen facing the shore is truly beautiful, especially the sight of Waikiki and its beach, whose simple cottages and handsome country villas adjoin a park of century-old coconut trees. Farther inland appears Punchbowl Hill, an extinct crater in the shape of a truncated cone, with Honolulu at its feet, lost among trees. Although the view is dominated by a number of public buildings and four or five church steeples, what is most impressive is the city's verdant splendor, fresh throughout the year, beneath the blue sky and the constant summer sun. In the background the chain of mountains varies in conformation, receding here and there so as to form a succession of valleys. One of the largest, Nuuanu Valley, rises gradually toward a narrow gap at its crest. This opening in the chain at Nuuanu Pali provides the only practical route for reaching the opposite side of the island. Oahu in general is surrounded by a series of coral reefs, one of which at Honolulu has been cut through and dredged so as to afford an artificial channel leading to the harbor and port facilities. Thus the largest ocean-going vessels are able to reach Honolulu's piers and the long line of wharves abutting the country's customs buildings. Honolulu is not only the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom; it is

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Honolulu

also the country's sole real city, the seaport that connects the eight islands with the outside world. The government, the commerce, the social life of Hawaii are all concentrated in Honolulu, while the rest of the country is entirely given over to sugar and rice plantations, cattle pastures, forests, and wasteland. T h e city thus epitomizes Hawaii's advanced civilization, its whole store of wealth and best evidence of its prosperity. The general effect is that of a new and modern city, hiding its special Polynesian character under an American disguise. Central Honolulu at its waterfront consists in an agglomeration of warehouses and four or five main commercial streets, where shops and offices are clustered around banking establishments, the main post office,* and the police station. Long streets extend through the city in several directions, some running parallel with the shoreline and others toward the mountains. Bordering the avenues and streets are gardens that partially hide the houses, thanks to the abundant flowers and vines. Dwellings generally are singlestory frame cottages, although very bizarre in form and style. They are frequently surrounded by wide verandas, a type of construction most appropriate to life in tropical countries. Here and there huge trees overhang the streets, while rampant vegetation covers fences and walls. Lawns are uniformly fresh and green. Well set off from one another, the houses resemble provincial lodges and rustic cabins scattered about the grounds of an enormous park.

T h e population of Honolulu, totalling about 23,000, is exceedingly mixed: 11,000 natives and part-whites; 4,000 Chinese and Japanese; 2,500 Portuguese from the Azores and Madeira, emigrants w h o came to Hawaii to work on the plantations but whose contracts have expired; 4,500 foreigners of all nationalities, including English, German, French, and Norwegian, and above all American. All these people are very well off and there is no sign of poverty. *The number of letters handled annually is more than 1,500,000.

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Although the kingdom possesses only a very small area of habitable land, occupied by a total population of only 90,000, there are found here all the necessary institutions and services of a civilized state: a parliament, cabinet ministers, a judicial bench, a complete administrative staff, financial departments, a customs office, a public works department, a postal service, a police force. Furthermore, the country is divided into local districts modeled upon those of France. All these governmental arrangements are naturally reduced in scale, proportionate to the country's population and size. Thus, to cite one example, the department of foreign affairs consists of a single minister as head, a general secretary, t w o clerical employees, and one office boy. But there is no lack of efficient activity in the system and the total number of functionaries is relatively high. In addition to Honolulu's role as capital, the city is also the center of a very extensive commercial trade, comprising both imports and exports, especially the latter. Certain raw materials are shipped out as exports: sugar, rice, coffee, fruits (primarily bananas); imports include all sorts of consumer goods and manufactured products. Commercial firms, notably the plantation agencies, are accordingly numerous. As the single important harbor of the kingdom, the center of government, and the hub of commerce, Honolulu represents a kind of live focus of energy, providing employment for a great many persons. The natives, however, are quite satisfied w i t h little to live on, and this group consequently constitutes only a small portion of the labor force. T h e better educated Hawaiians—and their number is sufficiently large—are governmental employees of all grades, f r o m cabinet ministers to road supervisors. The Hawaiian people as a whole have a special talent as orators and speech makers, indeed a passionate love of argument and debate, and a substantial number of Hawaiians are lawyers and clergymen. But others care little for occupations demanding diligence. Some of them drive hackney coaches or become streetcar conductors or w o r k as sailors aboard the sailing vessels and steamers that ply between the several islands. As stevedores they also load and unload ocean-going vessels in Honolulu harbor. But rarely do these persons master a trade or pro-

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fession. T h e Kanaka has no inclination to seek out commercial employment. H e is too m u c h the poet, and far too generous—not in the least the "businessman." O n l y a small n u m b e r of Hawaiians can be trusted to hold positions of great responsibility. Kanakas tend to be frivolous and shallow, m u c h like children, easily influenced and quickly distracted by every f o r m of pleasure. In fact m a n y do absolutely n o t h i n g . They have one little house and one horse, o w n a bit of land which they rent to a Chinese farmer w h o uses it to g r o w taro, and then they spend their time fishing, ambling around t o w n , visiting back and forth or staying h o m e to play the guitar, sing songs, and weave their flowery head wreaths. T h e Japanese, and above all the Chinese, are infinitely more industrious. T h o s e w h o live in H o n o l u l u w o r k as house servants, laundrymen, gardeners, day laborers, petty merchants. A n d for these towns-people H o n o l u l u is paradise. N o b o d y persecutes t h e m , they earn m o r e than they w o u l d receive anywhere else, and the meanest of cooks is paid not less than 125 francs per m o n t h . T h u s they can easily acquire those big 20-dollar gold pieces w h i c h in Japan, as in China, constitute a f o r t u n e . To the Portuguese go the most strenuous jobs. T h e y w o r k as ditch diggers, land haulers, stone cutters, c o m m o n drudges, and make u p a population as backward and ignorant as they are prolific. Portuguese children born in Hawaii are already quite numerous, enjoying a degree of c o m f o r t u n k n o w n to their ancestors. T h e y attend schools and speak English, and in time n o doubt they will become an element destined to play an important part in the country. Finally, of the 4,500 foreigners, w h i c h is to say the conquerors, many are laborers, either self-employed or w o r k i n g for one of the iron foundries—an industry necessitated by basic local needs. O t h e r s are employed by a bank or a business concern. This miscellaneous g r o u p includes also retail merchants, plantation agents, lawyers, doctors of medicine, bar-keepers and bar-boys. M a n y foreigners hold superior posts in the g o v e r n m e n t . These people in

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general acquire capital and benefit greatly to their advantage from the labor of others. The foreign population is increasing in direct proportion to the development of the country. During the past thirty years the Americans, the English, and the Germans have become extremely wealthy. Several of the early sailors, deserters w h o j u m p e d ship during the whaling era, are today millionaires five or six times over, owing their success directly or indirectly to the plantations and the growth of the sugar industry. These multimillionaires usually retire from active business and return to their homeland to enjoy the fruits of their fortune, leaving behind them in Hawaii sons, brothers, or nephews to continue to labor in the field that for them has proved such a gold mine. Although material wants, such as housing, food, meat and vegetables, are relatively cheap in the islands, the price of luxuries is higher than in other countries. The unit of exchange is the American dollar (5 francs). There is no smaller coinage than the 5-cent piece, w o r t h about 25 centimes. The least of imported articles sell at double their value in the country of their origin—a glass of beer, for example, costs 1 franc and 25 centimes. The ease w i t h which money is made, the high wages and salaries, and the opportunities for large amounts of long-term credit over extended periods (one of the customs of the country) have rendered the people of Honolulu more prodigal even than their counterparts in the cities of the American Far West. Comforts and luxuries become everybody's craving, and thus are soon regarded as necessities. The family of an employed worker enjoys an elegant home, a pretty garden, a Chinese servant, a carriage which permits Madame to drive Monsieur to his office and fetch him back by evening. In addition to private carriages, smart hackney coaches are plentiful, and a statistician has ascertained that in no other part of the world is there so large a supply of carriages in relation to the size of the population. It is also noteworthy that all houses in Honolulu are provided with running water, brought d o w n from public reservoirs located in the uplands. Water for domestic use is available not only for

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kitchens and gardens, but is also b r o u g h t into bed chambers. Two very efficient telephone companies are in operation b o t h day and n i g h t , and all local residents are entitled to subscribe and become customers. Furthermore, every avenue and major street has a tramw a y service. T h e entire city and its environs are supplied w i t h street lighting, and a n e w company has recently been established to equip all private dwellings w i t h electric p o w e r and light. There is no family w h i c h does not receive every m o r n i n g a block of ice delivered by one of t w o ice companies. Caterers, butchers, bakers, grocers, and dairies take orders by telephone and immediately send the purchases by delivery w a g o n to the residences. Extravagant expenditure is a characteristic of all elements of the population, w i t h the exception of the Chinese, w h o are satisfied simply to reap profits f r o m the system. Some of the Portuguese w h o arrived in Hawaii in rags and tatters only a few years ago f r o m the Azores, carrying their entire fortunes in a kerchief or a shawl, n o w live in attractive and nicely furnished houses, and on Sundays the Portuguese wives wear stylish g o w n s and feather-trimmed hats. A certain Frenchman w h o has set himself u p as a carousel operator in a neighborhood made up mostly of Kanakas told me that his receipts each Saturday night net 200 or 300 francs. Indeed, a m o u n taineering c o u n t r y m a n of ours f r o m the Pyrenees, w h o arrived in the islands w i t h a trained bear in tow, informed me that he had taken in 800 francs in three days. Practically everyone spends every dollar he earns. Fortunes are primarily based on capital gains: for example, lands in the city's suburbs, tracts purchased t w e n t y years ago for 5 francs per acre, today sell for 1,000 francs per acre. Likewise, previously uncultivated land can be rented to Chinese rice farmers at a price of 375 francs per hectare. For several years sugar plantations have been paying their shareholders 50 percent, 60 percent, and even 100 percent in dividends. T h e prevailing prosperity in Hawaii, of a people g r o w n accust o m e d to boundless c o m f o r t and ease, is a condition not w i t h o u t peril. This is especially true w h e n the wealth of a country depends on a single type of agriculture. A commercial crisis in the islands could have consequences m o r e dire than w o u l d occur under less

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constrained circumstances. In fact, the new tariff rates adopted by the United States, rates which are very prejudicial to Hawaiian exports, arouse fears regarding Hawaii's future. However, in new countries people don't think of tomorrow; they want their pleasures today. At this moment residents of Honolulu are living most delightfully as if today's rose-colored period would last forever.

Fort Street—the street named for the historic fort of the early Kamehamehas—extends through the center of the city from the shore upward into the mountains, and is Honolulu's major commercial artery. It is lined with recently completed customs buildings and numerous warehouses and offices. Some quite large industrial structures have also been erected in the lower portion of the city, including several machine-operated planing mills and iron foundries, which manufacture and repair equipment required for the sugar mills. In this vicinity are also found dealers in firewood and coal. The covered public market, a kind of spacious hall constructed entirely of glass and iron, was originally shipped to the islands from Liverpool by w a y of Cape Horn. On both sides Fort Street is flanked by imposing two- or three-story brick buildings, occupied by handsomely stocked retail stores. The isolation of the country obliges merchants to stock a considerable variety of goods, and in these shops a customer can find everything that could be expected in the largest cities of the United States—even "articles from Paris" imported from Germany and sold at exorbitant prices, with labels reading " M a d e in France"! Fort Street is the center for hardware dealers, stationers and fancy paper stores, fashionable dressmakers, tailors and haberdashers, three pharmacies, four jewelers, three photographic studios, and two ice cream and soft drink parlors. Between ten o'clock and noon during the "rush period," businessmen go from office to office while wives do their shopping. You see the latter in their carriages, driven by themselves, with the shop clerk obliged to conduct his sale outdoors on the sidewalk. Everybody is acquainted with everybody else, greetings are exchanged, people stop to chat, young girls

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invite one another to join them for cooling refreshment. In short, morning is the special time for strolling. Several other main streets intersect Fort Street at right angles, and in these are found still more shops, a bit less elegant and lavish, together with offices and agencies grouped according to their specialties. This portion of d o w n t o w n Honolulu also houses the police station, but otherwise it is entirely closed d o w n and deserted at night, as is invariably the custom with Anglo-American business cities. Facing one of the major banks is the central post office, an impressive building graced with a colonnade. Mail service is provided regularly and is not at all complicated, home service being thus far u n k n o w n . Whoever dislikes standing in line in front of a w i n d o w to receive letters is able to rent a small mailbox, accessible outside under the colonnade, but open also to the postal clerk f r o m within the building. Thus at any convenient time you can pick up your mail. As soon as the steamer arrives the crowd is already assembled, like a genuine t o w n fair dedicated to spreading the news. Turning right and following along Hotel Street, the stroller approaches a large house over whose wide-open door hangs a sign. It reads "Welcome," inscribed in bold letters upon a decorative panel called a "transparency." The building is a club for young men, a Protestant propaganda organization. Opposite it is the public library, very suitably located and attractively designed. All the American and English newspapers and magazines are available, together with Le Monde Illustré, and in general an excellent collection of books both in English and in French. These can be read here or borrowed and taken home. Near the library is the English Club, a very large and new building serving as a center for fashionable entertaining, but actually the club as such is not much frequented. A little farther along is the Hawaiian Hotel. O n e of Honolulu's industries is that of catering to the needs of visiting foreigners, especially tourists w h o have come to Hawaii to view the volcano or w h o are simply seeking a w a r m winter climate. This large and elaborate establishment was planned and built with government aid and is operated along American lines, with a staff composed of a director, a cashier, several clerks, stewards and housekeepers, backed up

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by a retinue of Chinese servants and workmen. T h e building is a three-story affair enclosed within large verandas. O n the entrance floor are a bar and game rooms, including one for billiards. Dining and lounge facilities are on the second floor, along with business offices, a barber and hairdressing service, a smoking room, and the luxury suites, one of which is the famous suite for honeymoon couples. The hotel itself stands in the center of a vast garden in which there are cottages to accommodate families. O n the whole it is quite comfortable, except for the cuisine, which is strictly American and hence indigestible for a French stomach. The Hawaiian Hotel is a meeting place both for residents and for tourists, and the locale for balls and concerts. Only a short distance from the hotel and its gardens are the broad, enclosed grounds of the royal palace—a commanding structure built of handsome coral stucco and cut stone. Three stories high, the palace is surmounted by six shapely towers. Facing the main entrance to the grounds, but situated on the opposite side of a broad avenue, is the theater. Next to it stands a palatial new building housing several ministries, the judicial chambers and related offices, and a large chamber for holding sessions of the Hawaiian parliament. A statue of Kamehameha I, or Kamehameha the Great as he is called in Hawaii, stands on a pedestal in front of this government building. The sculptor has depicted Kamehameha arrayed for battle, his feather cloak draped regally around his shoulders, his head adorned with a huge helmet, while in one hand he holds an upright spear. There is a story about the statue. It was commissioned from the Barbedienne Company of Paris, but the sailing vessel charged with transporting the work to Hawaii was shipwrecked near Cape Horn. T h e cargo was later salvaged and sold, with the result that a Chilean tobacco merchant purchased for a few dollars the slightly damaged bronze effigy of Kamehameha the Great. T h e Chilean placed his purchase at the entrance to his shop, as a substitute for the customary statue of an Indian chief usually displayed as a tobacconist's sign everywhere in the New World. The insurance com-

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pany having paid what they owed, the Barbedienne Company dispatched overseas a second statue of the king of the Sandwich Islands. This latter work was installed at its present site in Honolulu opposite the palace, and the earlier original was purchased by an obliging citizen of Hawaii. N o w it graces a remote village square on the Big Island. Behind Kalakaua's royal palace are the barracks of the Household Guards, built in the style of a fortified castle with crenellated battlement walls. The barracks provide not only lodging for both officers and soldiers but also a good-sized courtyard and other pleasing appointments unknown to our militiamen in France: for instance, an enormous room for sheltering the men's exercises during rain and, better still, for providing protective shade. As you proceed beyond the barracks toward the mountains, you soon arrive at the Queen's Hospital, surrounded by the most beautiful park in Honolulu, noted especially for its superb avenue lined with towering palms. Not very far off, at the base of Punchbowl Hill, is the Portuguese quarter of the city, distinguishable because of its hordes of children playing in the streets.

In another direction from central Honolulu lies Chinatown, in an area on the left side of Fort Street as one faces the mountains. Here the congested living space provides rude shelter accommodating all kinds of occupations and trades, especially small over-the-counter businesses. The general griminess, the cramped lanes with their shanty-style wooden houses that threaten to collapse, the teeming workshops and sidewalk stalls, are precisely what one finds throughout the world in new countries. Call them universal bazaars, selling goods primarily produced for export: hats, jewelry, shirts, knives, perfumes, and small firearms. In Honolulu this is the large public market patronized by the Hawaiian natives, the Portuguese, and the Chinese themselves. Here people buy the same articles that they find in nearby streets, though somewhat worn or stale, but at lower prices.

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The Chinaman is the Jew of the Pacific and Far East. He purchases the stock of a store or warehouse when it goes bankrupt, he buys damaged cargoes and anything put up for auction. Having no overhead costs, he is satisfied with small profits, spends nothing on himself, and supplements his commercial takings with his income as landlord or money lender. Thus he accumulates a fortune under conditions in which a white man would be unable to survive. N o t only do the Chinese possess commercial genius, they also excel in types of social cooperation invented in ancient China many centuries before anything comparable had been thought of in Europe. All Chinese cooks, all Chinese house servants in Honolulu, have invested money in a shop or own a share in a rice plantation. Several Chinese have become extremely wealthy by purchasing land or by establishing a large-scale business for importing goods directly from the United States and H o n g Kong. Despite the efforts of zealous American missionaries, the Chinese in general have not been assimilated to Western ways, although a few hundred converts to Christianity can be cited as an exception. However, there is a strong likelihood that this band of neophytes are play-acting and that the actors expect to reap handsome profits. A Chinese in Hawaii retains his own style of dress, native customs, and habitual behavior. Only rarely is he accompanied to Hawaii by his family, and he never establishes himself here without the intention of returning eventually to China. In Honolulu the Chinese colony has its own club, its large commercial companies, its secret societies, festivals, temples, special theater. It has even developed a quasi-political organization for the administration of justice, a system that authorizes a form of legal arrest and executes it. In Hawaii people have followed the example set by the United States, deciding that it is impossible to counter Chinese competition simply by competing. As in the United States, laws have been passed to suppress Chinese competition. But it is not easy to get rid of the Sons of Heaven, for if you close the door on them they return through the window. There are so many of these unfortunates in

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China! N o way exists to erect barriers against them, for they gradually invade neighboring countries the way rain water infiltrates furrows in a field. Chinatown is flanked by a broad rivulet, one bank of which is bordered by laundries. On the opposite side stands Saint Louis College, a Catholic school established by the Marianist Fathers, the brotherhood in charge of the College Stanislaus in Paris. Farther along is the railway station, whose trains are intended eventually to make the circuit of the island. Facing the station is the prison, situated on a sort of peninsula, a rather large penal facility for so small a capital city. In the same direction outside the center of the city there is a large industrial school founded by a princess who bequeathed a fortune to the institution upon her death. A hospital for the mentally ill, which is not up to the general standards of the country, is also located in that part of town. V The upper end of Fort Street is a neighborhood of churches. Not counting a preaching post of the Salvation Army, which employs a platform for this purpose built at a street corner, seven Protestant meeting houses engage in religious competition with each other. In Hawaii, questions of religion excite intense public attention and therefore inspire column after column of copy in the newspapers. Every clergyman, indeed any zealot, desires to be heard as somebody who has discovered in the Bible something new and astonishing, a notion, of course, already promulgated by a thousand controversial publications originating in the United States. Upon this scaffolding of newsprint the expert erects a theory and so marches off to do battle for the faith. I was a witness during a Homeric struggle between a supporter of baptism by immersion and a gentleman who preferred to rest on Saturday instead of Sunday. These modern apostles unite and join forces only when confronting the common enemy, the Roman Catholics, who have built a large cathedral in this section of Fort Street. It is to this sanctuary that one goes in Honolulu to find a bit of France.

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V In 1827 t w o French missionaries, members of the congregation of Picpus Fathers, arrived in the islands to establish a mission at Honolulu. Their first experiences were harsh ones, because the Protestant missionaries from Boston, already settled in Hawaii for the preceding seven years, had been able to exercise a strong influence upon the king, the court, and the high chiefs. T h e American missionaries did not view with pleasure a source of religious rivalry which could become prejudicial to their temporal interests as well. The Catholic missionaries were therefore persecuted, but this ill treatment nevertheless helped them to triumph over their hardships. The French government intervened to protect their nationals and obtained for them the same enlightened reception accorded the Americans, namely freedom of religion. The R o m a n Catholic missionaries made rapid progress. Their number increased and they were able to reach out to the most remote districts of the archipelago, not sparing themselves and maintaining a meager existence on whatever they found at hand. Everywhere they built small chapels and opened schools. Men of the people, they readily mingled with the Kanakas, treating them as equals and brothers, with the result that in a very short while they w o n a considerable number of converts. The natives had found the Protestant ministers too much like their former high priests, w h o were often more arrogant, demanding, and arbitrary than their o w n ruling chiefs. The Catholic priest was deeply imbued with the belief that he must never exchange his cassock for an official uniform nor set up shop and live in a mansion. Today the old French mission of Honolulu has achieved an international character, and sustained by its goal of perpetuating the Faith, it is flourishing. W i t h a bishop as its head, the mission is made up of twenty monks and brothers, active throughout the islands, where its properties and possessions include churches, parish houses, schools, several tracts of agricultural land. In Honolulu the principal religious house is contiguous to the cathedral, cogether with a convent occupied by twenty-five nuns of the Sacred Hearts of Picpus. There is also in Honolulu a large Catholic college recog-

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nized as the finest educational institution in the kingdom. Thus the French mission draws unto its altars all commanders of our French warships and many a passing French visitor. If these fellow countrymen regret finding no French person in Honolulu representing our commercial and industrial interests, they nevertheless witness with pride the fact that even in these distant islands France does herself honor, by teaching, aiding, consoling the lowliest of humankind, the dispossessed and those most in need. V " In new societies a seaport has advantages lacking in the countryside. A port city serves as the point of arrival and departure, the center for the flow of commerce. Inland one finds only slight traces of productive effort, of whatever brings material benefit and monetary reward. Along with an absence of creature comforts and other marks of luxury, what one chiefly observes in the countryside is a total lack of finished construction. O n the other hand, signs of hasty and makeshift development are obvious and abundant, and there is little evidence of silver being spent to reap gold. The immediate environs of Honolulu, however, are rather an exception to this rule of underdevelopment. There the landscape, despite the presence of dwellings, remains picturesque. Tropical vegetation retains its charm. Yet everybody is understandably on the watch for a more distant spot in which to relocate, one where plenty of space is still available, neighbors are few, and the northern breezes blow with greater force. The principal highroad as it progresses from central Honolulu turns at one point sharply at right angles and heads for Waikiki, the most attractive of all the beaches on Oahu. The road to Waikiki crosses old marshlands that have been transformed by industrious "Celestials" into broad and beautifully verdant rice fields divided into square paddies along small streams. Along the way every little while you come upon a crude hut fashioned out of old tin crates. But gradually the plain widens, as the shifting road diverges on one side away from the sea. Another fifteen minutes bring you to the

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first of the coconut groves, whose aged appearance attests to the fact that this portion of the island r has been long inhabited. The beach, more than two kilometers in length, is bordered by pleasant houses, very up-to-date and strangely beguiling in style, some of which are occupied throughout the year. Others serve as summer houses for millionaires. It is a spot where sea bathing is enjoyed at all seasons and at any time of day or night. Fortunately, sea-girt Oahu is surrounded by coral reefs, and these keep at a distance the sharks that swarm in the waters off the island. Inland, beyond the summer villas and rustic cottages of Waikiki, there is a large grove of algaroba trees, among which are wide walkways and lawns. Thus an area of bleak sand dunes has been converted into a handsome park, the favorite pleasure ground of Honolulu's people. The very first of the local algaroba trees was imported from Chile by a French missionary, and it still exists in the courtyard of the Roman Catholic cathedral in central Honolulu. The algaroba has since proved to be a resource of inexhaustible value. Yet it is a quite miserable tree in appearance, poor in every visual aspect, although it grows quickly and thrives without water in any type of soil. As firewood it burns wonderfully well. Moreover it produces in abundance a type of bean much appreciated by cattle and horses as fodder. Finally its gentle shade encourages grass to grow in the driest and most desolate areas. Waikiki and its summery cottages, together with Diamond Head presiding over the whole setting, have served as an inspiration to numerous local bards, as well as to hordes of American tourists. A volume of verses could be composed celebrating Waikiki's irresistible appeal. The boundless magical horizon. Green gardens skirting perfect sand. A massive mountain's sombre command. Dreamlike and dense vegetation Beneath the triumphant sun In a sky eternally blue.

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Like the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the park at Waikiki has its own Longchamps, a fine race-course, open every year to the public during the period of the races. Near the park, at the very foot of the mountain, once more we rediscover France, as represented by an old captain of cavalry—a true man-of-arms. At one time a fanatic club man and sports enthusiast with many interests, he has settled down to raising ostriches, having introduced the first specimens for this industry from the Cape of Good Hope. Many a time have we dined together, the ostrich farmer and I, reminiscing about France and forgetting for the moment the distance separating us from her beloved shores.

The portion of Honolulu settled in the plain, the area extending from the shoreline to the lateral chain of mountains overlooking the city, represents what in one of France's subprefectures would be called " t h e new quarter." In the past, Honolulu extended from the harbor upward into Nuuanu Valley, a region of ancient lava flows, flanked on each side by a mountain ridge. In this higher portion of the town the older established foreign families still reside. About two kilometers from the sea, the road through Nuuanu passes by the Honolulu cemetery and the historic tomb of the later Hawaiian kings, a modern mausoleum surrounded by carefully tended gardens. Then the valley route continues at a gentle slope in the direction of the Pali, the narrow breach in the mountains that affords an entry to the other side of Oahu. This general region is the site of the reservoirs which provide the city's water, and it is also where the municipal power station is located. At this point, where the road runs alongside a sizable stream, it enters a forested landscape where all sorts of trees and other vegetation grow in lavish profusion. O n both right and left the hillsides become more precipitous. Strange rock formations loom up through stretches of taller trees. Here nature as yet unspoiled by man remains virginal, devoid of all traces of human handiwork and toil. As one climbs higher, the horizon on all sides becomes wilder. Eventually trees become scarce, giving way to bushy undergrowth.

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We are in a desert-like country where the plants are sown by the wind and the seeds are scattered by the birds. . . . My horse trudges on with lowered head. Under the spell of the natural setting, my mind turns to the Hawaiian past. This is the summit where Kamehameha the Great proved and proclaimed himself ruler of all the islands, . . . the rocks I gaze upon have not altered since Kamehameha's time, . . . in his day the trunk of this ancient tree stood in this identical place, . . . these palms were new-born. My horse draws to a halt. Interrupting my brooding memories, his animal intelligence tells him he deserves a rest. I tether him to a branch and make my way on foot up a last rise. It ends in the great opening in the Pali. I take a sharp turn and at my very feet appears the dizzying chasm which for those ancient warriors became their tomb. W h a t a spectacle! I lean against one side of the stone-chambered portal. O n the left, the road soon to be retraced leads back to N u u a n u Valley and to Honolulu and the sea. O n the right, I confront a gigantic barrier of fern-covered rock. But along the face of the cliff runs a zigzag bridal path descending to the plain, a full 1,200 feet below. And there lie fields of sugar cane, some native huts, and again the open sea. I am on the crest of the chain of mountains which divide the island. The sky is cloudless. Despite the noble beauty of the twofold panorama I am overcome by a painful sensation: from so great an elevation a man's vision encompasses immense distances, and n o w before me I behold the Pacific in all its infinitude. Never before have I been so acutely conscious of the insignificance of the small corner of the world w e inhabit.

V

A CONSTITUTIONAL KANAKA KING Kalakaua, the treaty with the United States. — The coronation. — Peaceful revolution. — The constitution of 1887. — Impressions of a sovereign. — Hawaiian tradition and modern parliamentary government.

If writing contemporary history is difficult, regardless of the country involved, it seems to me impossible to write the contemporary history of Hawaii. That is because the theater is a small one, each actor plays a starring role, and questions of character and personality outweigh the significance of ideas and events. During Kalakaua's reign every man of prominence in the islands has been involved directly or indirectly in the conduct of public affairs. They have exerted upon government policy all their power and influence, and by and large they have been inclined to promote their own views and to protect their particular interests. To present here detailed factual evidence would be to plead a case and arouse a spirit of controversy. Therefore it is necessary to approach the subject cautiously and with hesitation. One must take into account certain subtle distinctions if one would explain Hawaii's character as a nation and people, whose political system is strangely complicated and especially puzzling because of the extreme uncertainty surrounding Hawaii's future.

Kalakaua and his period have served as the necessary link joining the past—the long history of Oceania and its endless legends, the centuries of Polynesian slumber—to an ultra-modern present. It was he who above all first envisioned the Hawaii of today with its exigent demands, its swift changes in ideas, and its wondrous discoveries of all kinds as invented by the great people of the United States. Indeed, the rise and development of the Hawaiian Kingdom

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have occurred so rapidly that a fusion of past and present has not had time to be fully realized. Little by little old materials will continue to be absorbed into the fabric of the new. D u r i n g Kalakaua's reign modernity has been superimposed upon Hawaiian tradition but without destroying it, so that a curious combination of Kanaka and Polynesian elements has been effected. The sovereign himself has been the most perfect model of his period: the dual character, the grafted tree in bud before it first bears fruit. This king-by-election was undoubtedly superior to the large majority of the natives. Tall, strong, dignified, cultivated, and open-minded, he had received a thorough education. He had practiced as an attorney, served as postmaster general, and fully participated in the new modes of life invading the Hawaiian Islands. H e read widely and was especially knowledgeable about the early history of the kingdom. A Kanaka in sentiment, the king nevertheless adopted foreign customs and numerous imported ideas. He has been severely criticized for retaining some native superstitions (as well as too lively a liking for forbidden pleasures) and for harboring political ambitions rather disproportionate to the powers of the Hawaiian throne. But if one allows for the force of atavistic impulse, considers his descent from a long line of noble chiefs, among w h o m he was the first to become fully civilized, one is tempted to regard Kalakaua as a truly remarkable man. Having w o n the throne because of the support of foreigners, Kalakaua hastened to renew certain commercial negotiations with the United States, an endeavor abandoned by his predecessor King Lunalilo. Kalakaua himself traveled in America in an effort to speed the solution of the tariff question, and on August 15, 1876, a treaty of reciprocity was signed between the Hawaiian government and the authorities in Washington, containing the following principal provisions: a reduction of the tariff rates on certain Hawaiian imports manufactured in the United States; a temporary transfer of Pearl Harbor to the United States; and the free entry of Hawaiian sugar into the states of the American Union. This was a period of brilliant undertakings in the Hawaiian Islands. The treaty gave a fresh impetus to commerce and local

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industry, plantation owners reaped enormous profits, everybody with business interests succeeded beyond their best expectations. Furthermore, wages were high and easy to come by, and so a feverish energy pervaded the entire foreign community. Modernization with its democratic social principles became so potent a force that it caused a conservative reaction among Kalakaua's closest supporters. The king found himself outflanked. In an attempt to check his opposition, he believed it would be shrewd politics to refurbish his waning prestige by brilliant and ostentatious show. At a cost of 2 million francs he built a fine modern palace and then embarked on a voyage around the world. He was welcomed everywhere with ceremonious respect, especially in all the royal courts where his excellent manners, affability, and breadth of mind were readily appreciated. Upon his return home he resolved to teach his subjects a valuable object lesson. With utmost solemnity he set about celebrating his coronation.

V The ceremony was performed on February 12, 1883, followed by entertainments and feasts. A number of foreign countries, including France, were represented by their envoys, and battleships were dispatched to Honolulu for the occasion—no sight matching it had ever been seen in Hawaii before. The palace gardens were transformed into a kind of stadium, in which ascending tiers of seats were erected to accommodate the populace at large. More than 5,000 especially privileged persons attended the coronation, including members of the foreign diplomatic corps, staff officers from the battleships, and the highest functionaries of the government, while all the various civic organizations took their places among the serried ranks. In the center there is a colorful gilded pavilion, covered with coats-of-arms, banners, and national flags. This is the place of assembly for the royal party on its arrival from the palace. At the head walks the king, wearing the splendid white dress-uniform of an Austrian field-marshal. The queen's white gown, decidedly

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décolleté, is embellished with braid and studded with jewels, and the train of her mantle is carried by a page. Following immediately after the royal family are the chancellor of the kingdom, the cabinet ministers, and the court chamberlain. The next dignitaries in line are the aides-de-camp and various court attendants, the latter carrying cushions upon which are displayed decorations sent to the king by foreign governments, the sceptre, a second sceptre symbolizing justice, the sovereign's sword, and several crowns. Also on view, amidst all the regal paraphernalia derived from other regions of the world, are the feather helmet of Kamehameha I and his royal feather cloak—sole witnesses of ancient Hawaiian tradition. A chorus sings some songs, much like Protestant hymns, composed for the occasion. An English clergyman reads an Anglican prayer. Then, to the sound of cannon fire and the national anthem played by many bands, the royal crowns are passed from hand to hand until they reach the king, w h o places one of them upon his head and another upon the head of the queen. The coronation festivities continue for several days: a magnificent dinner at the palace, a reception, a ball, lavish public revels and feastings, dedication of the statue of Kamehameha I, and of course a programme of speeches in both Hawaiian and English commemorating the glories of the past and the grandeur of Hawaii today. This exaggerated demonstration of modern luxury and display, elaborated by a fussy etiquette and presided over by the monarch, did not create an altogether happy effect. The native Hawaiians did not recognize in these rites the festivals of the past that they had heard described during their childhood. The foreign observers perceived beneath all the pomp and circumstance merely a contradiction of their dream, of their design to subordinate everything in Hawaii to commercial considerations. From the time of the coronation, Kalakaua became embroiled in a muted conflict with his chief supporters. At the outset he had exerted every effort to modernize the country; but now the king himself became the first victim. General prosperity, high salaries, business enterprise, and commercial growth resulting from the influx of capital investment, had

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attracted to Hawaii a horde of foreigners of all nationalities, but of Americans most of all. These groups and factions coalesced and organized an armed corps of malcontents, ready to rise against a regime so opposed to their democratic spirit and egalitarian ideas. The king, whose governmental base was at times a little insecure, found himself very badly advised. He wanted to force upon the legislature hugely swollen budgets: designs for a national bank, a scheme to borrow supplementary funds, not to mention other proposals dangerous to the interests of the majority of the people and the commercial prosperity of the islands as a whole, which by now had almost entirely fallen under foreign control. The disaffection was prevalent throughout the Hawaiian business community, and as a result in July of 1887 there was a political revolt. This was organized by the same individuals who originally had elevated Kalakaua to the throne. The revolution fortunately did not result in violence. Submitting to popular pressures, the king was obliged to give way. He dismissed his cabinet, replaced it with leaders belonging to the opposition movement, and accepted a new constitution at their dictation. His role thereby became that of a modern monarch who reigns, as the formula phrases it, but does not rule. What a delightful subject for a study by one of our subtle psychologists: the king's condition of mind, his very soul, in his state of acceptance and resignation. Having witnessed the popular approbation that swept him by election to the throne; demonstrated to the world the rich resources and vigor of his country; brought new life to the legends and songs of Hawaii's chiefs and kings; even dreamed, as Kamehameha the Great had dreamed before him, of a political union of all the scattered peoples of Polynesia, for himself the title of Emperor of the Pacific—and now to find himself obliged to abdicate his royal prerogatives because of a hundred or so men in frock coats, self-constituted as a "Reform League," and armed with a sheet of paper! Despite his precarious mandate and legacy, Kalakaua remains a most outstanding example of the kind of devotion a sovereign can present to his people. He was sincere, he realized the impossibility

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of restraining the revolutionary process, he comprehended the larger interests at w o r k , and then he submitted with good grace. Identifying immediately with the new political situation, however painful to him, he became the most proficient of constitutional kings. He presided at the opening of the legislature and read his speeches f r o m the throne. In solemn audience he received foreign diplomats and representatives. He officiated at endless ceremonies, placed cornerstones, distributed prizes, appeared at church and theater and racetrack, and hospitably opened his parlors and drawingrooms to the officers of foreign naval vessels. He was familiar with the Almanac of Gotha in all its details, and when births and deaths occurred in royal circles sent letters in his o w n hand to his cousins, the other sovereigns of the world. As always he spent his revenues liberally, carrying royal hospitality to an extreme, welcoming foreigners, giving parties and balls at the palace, entertaining a host of official personages. As for affairs of state, he left their burdens and care to his legislatures and cabinet ministers. He had the signal merit, in a word, of meeting engagements and complying with public obligations, however unpleasantly these had been inflicted upon him.

The constitution of 1887, a hastily improvised w o r k devised by an anonymous collection of law-makers, is a notable achievement whose wise prescriptions could profitably be adopted by some of the mightiest and most ancient countries. Indeed, as an example of progressive ideas, and as observed in operation under Kalakaua, the Hawaiian constitutional system is solidly in place and functions amazingly well. I quite understand the memorable observation of a French visitor to Hawaii. " O n e wonders whether nihilism is not a good thing," he told me, "if one considers that Hawaii—whose evidence of progress excels that of Paris—was still a society of savages when in France we were still struggling to invent parliamentary government." The Hawaiian constitution, like that of the United States, is a

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simple document containing eighty-two clear and complete articles. The first states that God has created all people with a certain number of inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the right to acquire, o w n , and protect one's property, and in this way pursue and attain happiness and security. Article 2 adds that all men are free to worship God according to their consciences. It is certain that these solemn assertions—that of the right to o w n property, for instance—do not represent an unarguable set of truths: at least not in the view of several modern schools of philosophy. These affirmations do, however, have the merit of providing a firm and practical basis upon which a well-ordered society can be established and governed. All inhabitants of the kingdom enjoy total freedom to speak, write, and publish their ideas, provided that they accept the consequences, as legally defined, that would result from abuses of that liberty. Here follows an inventory of the citizen's civil rights including, as a correlating guarantee of their fulfillment, an account of the Hawaiian judicial system. It is a close copy of the Anglo-American system, tending in civil cases to encourage delays, complications, and excessive fees. In criminal proceedings responsibility rests heavily upon a jury's deliberations, functioning according to a perfectly just and equitable principle: the accused person is considered to be innocent until proved guilty. He does not plead his o w n defense; it is the prosecutor w h o must prove the defendant's guilt by introducing witnesses. At the apex of the judicial levels in Hawaii a "supreme c o u r t " possesses simultaneous judicial and administrative attributes. The members of the court hold appointment for life, and their nomination is regulated by all sorts of guarantees. They function as a court of last resort, and on demand give counsel and advice to the sovereign, to governmental bodies, and to the legislature. In stalemated cases, when there are protracted delays, the supreme court is charged with determining the intent and validity of the relevant laws, and whether or not these conform to the principles stipulated in the constitution. The legislature is made up of twenty-four nobles, w h o are elected

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on the basis of certain restrictive qualifications,* and twenty-four representatives elected through universal (male) suffrage. They meet once every two years and are charged with adopting the biennial budget and deciding on the legislation needed to implement the projects proposed by the government or initiated by one of the representatives. Parliamentary procedures resemble those followed everywhere, but once a law is passed it is submitted to the sovereign for approval and signing. The monarch has the right to exercise a veto and to return the rejected measure to the legislature, along with his observations. In this instance renewed discussion ensues, and the statute is enacted definitively only when approved by a twothirds majority of the t w o houses. As for political responsibility, the Hawaiian constitution has set forth a quite novel method bearing on ministerial authority and duties (Article 41). The king appoints three ministers w h o , together with the attorney general and the minister of justice, serve as a cabinet and continue in office as long as the legislature does not declare, by special vote, " i t s lack of confidence in the government." The ministers in this instance are required to resign and the king then appoints their successors. W h e n the government in office has been legally defeated, the former ministers serve as a minority in the general legislative debates, but play no direct role in the actions of the cabinet. The minority conducts itself as does the head of a company, discussing questions w i t h his board of directors, but obliged to follow the board's advice—until the day w h e n the board itself is shown the door. Some special laws are enacted to amend and supplement the constitution. An elections law, establishing a voting system k n o w n as the "Australian ballot," in m y opinion appears to be a perfect solution of the procedural problem. The presiding official hands the *To be a noble it is necessary to be at least twenty-five years of age, have three years of Hawaiian residence, and to possess a capital of 15,000 francs or have an annual income of 3,000 francs. To be a voter it is necessary to be twenty years of age, k n o w h o w to read, and possess the same residence and property requirements.

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voter a printed list of candidates. The voter immediately enters a small enclosure, in which he must indicate in complete privacy his choice of candidates, checking his preferences with a cross. O n leaving the voting booth he drops his ballot into an urn. A very judicious set of rules and precautions serves as a safeguard against election fraud. Nobles and representatives are forbidden to hold public office during the tenure of their seats in the legislature, even when these officials are about to be dismissed from their posts. Furthermore, the constitution forced upon the king in 1887 is by no means a dead letter. I notice that it has been scrupulously observed by all parties for more than three years. Indeed, the sovereign, the government, the supreme court, the legislative houses, all have withstood and managed to live w i t h and accommodate, with no loss of authority, an attempt at revolution and a change of reign by exercise of force. N o such thing exists in Hawaii as " a n administrative career." T h e government selects its departmental personnel from among the competent men of the community, without making any commitment regarding their length of service. In keeping with the English and American system, the functionaries are few in number and almost all such civil servants are directly responsible to a particular cabinet minister—and also, it should be emphasized, to the public. They are paid high salaries: supreme court judge, 25,000 francs per annum; justice of the peace, Honolulu, 15,000 francs; an employee of the ministry of the interior, 15,000 francs; a schoolmaster, 6,0008,000 frances; and the custodian at the kerosene warehouse, 5,000 francs.

Kalakaua was above all a very friendly man, desirous of pleasing everyone w h o approached him. He lost no portion of his dignity thereby. He was as gracious with strangers as he was with his subjects. In addition to the palace, which served him as his official residence, he owned several other houses and establishments: one on the Big Island at Kailua, the favorite haven for rest and recreation of Kamehameha I; another in the environs of Honolulu and near the

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sea; and at Honolulu harbor, a beach cottage, standing upon piles over the water, which the king had built as a clubhouse for his cronies and special friends. Last of all, in an out-of-the-way spot in Honolulu, he had a house where the queen usually resided. It was there, where only a few privileged persons were invited, that one would find Kalakaua being truly himself. Deep in a rather overgrown and ill-tended garden, where the tropical flora ran wild, one came upon several wooden-frame cottages. In one of these was a large room with a workbench, a small forge, tools, and miscellaneous implements. It was the atelier where the king worked on his inventions. Indeed, he thought he had discovered a way to improve electric lighting systems. This was where he devised geographic relief models, along with a hundred other objects which he never quite completed, acknowledging with a laugh that he was better at conceiving than at executing. The first floor of the house, which extended full length beneath a secondfloor, vine-covered veranda, was his favorite spot for spending the hottest hours of the day, stretched out in the shade of towering palm trees. It was here that he chatted most freely. O n e day while reminiscing he recalled memories of his voyage around the world, his period of glory, his sumptuous reception by the king of Siam, the rajah of Jahore, the khedive of Egypt. The luxurious scenes and parade of wealth displayed before his eyes had tremendously impressed the Kanaka in him, the childlike aspect of his character, and he was similarly dazzled by his later peregrinations through various European countries and in the United States. Everywhere he knew exactly what he wanted to see and made very accurate and acute observations. In England the great lords pleased him mightily, as did their castles and aristocratic style of life—above all the evidence he encountered throughout his English tour of solid comfort and meticulous etiquette. In London he arranged for the furnishings of his own palace, for the livery to be worn by his household servants, and he took full note of the rules of protocol and proper courtly practice. In Austria and Germany he had admired above everything else the military spectacle, the marching of troops and their maneuvers, the stunning uniforms and pointed

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helmets, which he forthwith adopted for his palace guard. He also inspected forts and arsenals, finding much in them that satisfied his image of himself as a warrior-king. At the Krupp armament factory in Germany he had a rather odd adventure. Admiring some wonderfully wrought small cannons, he was asked whether he would like to have any of them. Accustomed to the generosity of his own country and assuming that a gift had been suggested, he replied, "Indeed, with the greatest pleasure." He chose several different models and their accessories and then learned, after returning to Honolulu, that his chosen weapons had arrived in perfect condition. Alas, the bill also had arrived, and it was steep. Since that day the king no longer harbors any illusions regarding German generosity. While traveling in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France, and among Latin peoples in general, Kalakaua felt much at ease, more at home. Like all foreigners, he marveled at Paris and thought no other place in the world more beautiful. In fact, he deeply loved our country and on this subject developed a theory based on his observations and imaginative insight. The Kanaka, he said, has more in common with the Latin peoples of Europe than with the Anglo-Saxons. First of all, in physical attributes: eyes lustrous black, complexion dark, movements lithe and graceful, women's bones small, limbs delicately joined. As for mental and moral characteristics, the resemblances are greater still: a distinct appetite for pleasure, a tendency to be lazy, a delight in trifles, such as jewelry and garish colors, a devotion to poetry, music, and dance—in short, to pomp and show. Like the Latin the Kanaka is contented with the little he has, without troubling to have more. But at the same time he is proud and contentious, and when circumstances invite, he momentarily displays splendid vigor, unyielding fervor and energy. And by way of demonstrating his racial heritage, the king gallantly added, "If I'd not been born a Hawaiian, I'd like to be a Frenchman, because it's you w h o historically have achieved the greatest glory. Furthermore, to you I owe my name. I was born at a moment when your country and mine were at odds, and for this reason I was called 'Kalakaua,' which in our language means 'Day-of-War.' "

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And when the king fell silent, I asked, "Your Majesty says nothing about his trip across the United States. . . . What was his impression?" Kalakaua seemed to ponder a moment. " I ' m afraid of wounding your self-esteem as a European," says the king finally. "It's a country that requires seven days to cross in an express train. It's bounded on two sides by an ocean, and every citizen has importance and worth. It's a nation that commands infinite wealth; it's a giant whom great states as well as small must take into account. . . . You and I," continued the king with a painful smile, "belong to the past; the future belongs to the giant." These reflections are perhaps trite. Everyone in the world could say as much. I see no need here to suppress my urge to report the preceding conversation virtually verbatim. This is my response to those newspapers that so unjustly have depicted the king in colors less than flattering.

Yesterday I attended the annual meeting at the palace of a Hawaiian society with a Kanaka name. It's an organization with a nebulous purpose, presumably concerned with scientific and historical studies, but whose rituals resemble a sale conducted by Free Masons. The society reenacts the past, imitating the criminal courts formerly convened at regular intervals by priests and sorcerers. About a hundred men and women robed in white, each wearing a yellow cape, arrange themselves in two strict rows, each of the men holding a rod in hand. Heading the group is the president, Kalakaua, dressed in the same type of costume, but distinctive because of a superb high-crowned white hat. The two orderly files pass by under a wooden archway, especially erected for the occasion in the middle of the room, and then proceed to seat themselves in total silence as if in church. A moment after the seating, a woman rises to her feet—apparently the treasurer of the society. She submits a financial report, whereupon several Kanakas begin to speak as if in a forum. According to what I'm told, they are reporting on the movements of the

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earth and stars and other related celestial phenomena. The members of the society seem to take a rather moderate interest in these matters. W h e n the speakers have exhausted their subject, the king-president encourages everyone to be scrupulous about attending meetings and to produce as many scientific notes as possible. Upon a signal, the membership then arises and begins moving. In two rows stretching from the archway to the door of the hall, the men hold up their intercrossed rods so as to form a vaulted corridor under which the president and all the women file out. Similarly, beginning with those nearest the archway, two-by-two they all in turn continue to form the interlaced ceiling of rods under which their fellow members pass. I ' m reminded of earlier days when I performed the same exercise as a dance figure in a cotillion. The entire company is exceedingly solemn and sober, perhaps engaged in resurrecting an ancient religious rite. And now, on another morning, the scene shifts and the program is the opening of the legislature. The assembly room, on the ground floor of the government building, is a capacious four-sided chamber. At the far end is a platform on which the king takes his place on the throne. He is in formal evening dress, beribboned with all his orders and decorations. Beside him is the queen in a striking g o w n with its deep decolletage. Surrounded by their civil and military staffs, the sovereigns are faced by the nobles and the representatives, all very correct in their black coats and white ties. O n the right is the highest officialdom of the kingdom, on the left the foreign diplomatic and consular corps. T h e common herd sits in a huddle crammed into the back of the room. The Anglican bishop delivers a prayer, and the king declares the parliament to be in session. The king gravely reads his official address, first in Hawaiian and then in English, holding in his hand a large portfolio of blue velvet, embellished with the royal coat-of-arms. The speech is carefully composed, both tactful and precise, for it not only avoids certain matters of dispute but also covers every major question involving parliamentary consideration and decision. I examine the faces surrounding me. I believe I recognize among the members several persons w h o were present at yesterday's performance, but this time

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they appear sincere and sure of themselves. N o more backwardlooking poetry for them. T h e public interest is their common concern, and in their bronze visages and intelligent eyes one can read the importance these representatives attach to their role as lawmakers of the kingdom. The whole scene strikes the right note, being simultaneously very Hawaiian, very dignified, very modern. The king and queen leave the hall, followed by the entire court, and when their majesties enter their carriages-of-state to return to the palace, the household guard in dress uniform presents arms and the royal band plays the national anthem. Next morning an ordinary session of the legislature is on the agenda. The members of the assembly, in which the proportion of natives to whites is almost equal, sit behind small desks arranged in a semicircle. They speak while standing next to their places, addressing the presiding officer in accord with English parliamentary practice. The atmosphere is calm. There are but a few persons sitting in the section reserved for the public. An interpreter translates into English the speeches in Hawaiian and into Hawaiian those being delivered in English. The natives speak at length, going into considerable detail and repeating themselves, employing a vivid image-laden style resembling the rhetorical tastes dear to French orators of the 1830s under Louis-Philippe. Here the discussion revolves around commercial affairs, and the conduct of the debate is on the whole very courteous. The temperate character of the proceedings is somewhat like that of one of our sedate departmental assemblies in France. Is it because emotions are less keen in provincial parts or because topics for argument are not so vexatious? In Europe I've witnessed no national assembly comparable to the Hawaiian legislature other than the well-ordered and unruffled parliament of the Netherlands.

VI THE DEATH OF KALAKAUA The arrival of the Charleston. — The king's body is borne to the palace. — Iolani Palace. — A death watch. — Funeral ceremonies. — The new queen and the heiress apparent. — Hookupu. — Kalakaua and Rochefort.

Honolulu, January 29, 1891 Early this morning I was informed by telephone that the Charleston is in sight. This is the American battleship on which Kalakaua sailed for California. I hurried to dress, not wanting to miss any part of the king's reception which had been prepared during the preceding several weeks. Popular enthusiasm had been aroused, triumphal arches had been erected, and as proof that the charming Hawaiian Kingdom has no cause to envy old European countries, a report soon was being circulated that Hawaiian dissidents had readied themselves to hurl bombs at Kalakaua's cortège. O f course I immediately arranged to have photographs taken of the first Kanaka anarchist. A second telephone call at seven o'clock. This one brought the unexpected, harsh news: the Charleston's flag is flying at half-mast. Doubt vanishes. Kalakaua is dead, and I instantly recalled the evening before. I'd been a guest in the heights above Honolulu, and we'd been speaking of the king's return—the girls were reporting which of their gowns they planned to wear for the coming ball at the palace. Suddenly an old woman sitting on a floor mat began muttering in Hawaiian. She appeared to be much disturbed. I asked her what was troubling her and she told me, dropping her voice and hesitating, that His Majesty's return was in doubt, that the volcano at Kilauea was spewing fire and lava, and that schools of red fish were invading Honolulu harbor—warning sign of the death of a great chief. And at the time I had laughed at this superstition!

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I go d o w n into t o w n and walk along Fort Street, the business section leading toward the ocean. Shops have already closed their doors and are already draped in black. Never in Honolulu have I seen a comparable crowd, for the news has been instantly spread by word of m o u t h and all work has stopped. The Kanakas, the Japanese, the Chinese, the whites are all making for the harbor. People show a genuine sense of bereavement, voices are low and faces sad, and the sun itself, which in this land normally rules overhead, has darkened to the point of invisibility. A misty rain is falling. I arrive at the quay at the same moment the Charleston enters the channel. It's a splendid iron cruiser, brand new, flying the American admiral's flag. The ship is in mourning, the Hawaiian flag at half-mast, and the ropes on the outstretched yardarms are wrapped in black crepe. The poop deck is also hung with crepe. The king sailed for California last December 25 on this same Charleston. I recalled h o w moved he had seemed when he gripped my hands at the wharf. The general atmosphere was one of sadness and the eyes of many natives were filled w i t h tears. Voyages abroad do not bode well for Hawaii's rulers. Then we learned that Kalakaua had been very warmly welcomed in San Francisco, for the American democracy was proud to celebrate the presence of a king, the only crowned head of state w h o had ever been seen within its boundaries. And the strange thing is that it w a s n ' t so much the United States government, quite accustomed to extending international courtesies, but the mass of the American people w h o were honoring Kalakaua with such fervor. Civic clubs and societies sent him invitations, every type of professional circle, all theaters and promoters of public good cheer emblazoned on their posters the presence in California of the king of the Hawaiian Islands. Later the southern Californians wanted a share of this "great attraction," this demonstration of popular favor. A California multimillionaire placed his special railroad train at His Majesty's disposal. Everywhere along the route, as committees were organized, the royal journey provided an army of pursuing reporters with countless columns of copy for the newspapers and magazines of the N e w World. Kalakaua was a Free Mason and his brother Masons of

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California joined his immediate suite, leading the cry " L o n g live the k i n g ! " But unfortunately the banquets were too numerous, the champagne too dry, the temperature too cold. Missing his hours of sunand-hammock repose, Kalakaua fell ill. He refused to give up and for several days continued to play his part and be the center of attention. O n January 16 he was forced to take to his bed. His chronic kidney disease had turned critical and five days later, in a room at San Francisco's Palace Hotel, attended by Hawaiians residing in California, Kalakaua drew his last breath. The funeral took place on January 21, and on that day Admiral Brown was ordered by the president of the United States to carry home the body of King Kalakaua with full diplomatic honors.

I marvel at the orderly way all proper procedures were at once carried out in this diminutive kingdom. Hawaii is a scaled-down version of a perfectly organized nation-state. After the first moment of shock, action was taken. By noon, after first announcing the new queen by proclamation, the privy council proceeded in a body to the home of the princess regent, the king's sister, to notify her of her succession to the throne, under the name of Liliuokalani. T h e queen requested the ministers to retain their portfolios until after the funeral ceremonies. At one o'clock the police marshal of the kingdom, in the capacity of herald, rode to the government building on horseback, preceded by trumpeters and followed by a numerous escort. Before the assembled legations of France, the United States, Portugal, England, and Japan, the marshal read a proclamation announcing the accession of the new queen. At this moment in Honolulu, San Francisco newspapers describing Kalakaua's final hours were already being peddled in the streets. A special issue of Honolulu's evening newspaper has been printed, giving a comprehensive account of the king's journey, written aboard ship by a reporter—brought by the American admiral. The article states that the royal coffin will be

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carried in procession through the streets of Honolulu at five o'clock. I stroll about t o w n to gather impressions. The grief expressed is sincere. Deep in their hearts, the Kanakas always regard their monarchs with respect and affection and today the foreign population as a whole remembers only the admirable qualities of the late king. H e was very modern, liberal-minded, generous, and open-handed, for he cordially welcomed everyone to his palace. But there are fears concerning Hawaii's future. T h e new queen is thought to be supported by her friends in the old native party, but she has no children—no one to succeed her on the throne except a young niece w h o alone can lay claim to royal status. About four o'clock the crowd presses on toward the waterfront, where the ocean is thronged with small boats, bringing to shore the personnel from the t w o American war vessels, the Charleston and the Mohican, and the English battleship Nymph. A large steamlaunch draped in black serves as a hearse. Foreigners dominate the scene. Groups of natives have congregated around the palace. Already the cortège has been formed that will accompany the king's immediate escort. In the lead is the admiral's band playing the funeral march, succeeded by carriages of the American and British legations. Then comes the all-glass gilded hearse, drawn by four black horses. Last of all in the procession are the members of the king's cabinet, followed by the United States consul and chargéd'affaires, the American admiral, and the latter's general staff. The hearse continues on its route through Honolulu's commercial center. Shops are closed and their upper stories, like the sidewalks below, are aswarm with watchers. W h e n the convoy arrives at the palace, the scene is spectacular. Masses of Hawaiians have assembled within the confines of the palace grounds. In addition to the huddled groups of Hawaiians, whose choral wailing is interspersed with sudden piercing cries, there are the royal musicians, the king's household guard, and his personal staff. In front of the broad stairway hung with black crepe, where torches flame in the sunlight, Queen Kapiolani stands beneath the first-story veranda, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.

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Just at this moment, and above the heavy mist that enfolds the mountainous background, a magnificent rainbow has taken shape, a phenomenon truly glorious—its colors brilliant and clear. As the hearse enters the palace grounds, the rainbow seems to arch above the palace and then disappears. This same feat of climate and weather is said to occur repeatedly at the burials of the highest chiefs. It is impossible to verify this legendary belief, but I well comprehend why today's strange coincidence should make a tremendous impression upon the superstitious natives. I'll not be surprised if this latest rainbow postpones by at least a generation the triumph of Hawaii's free-thinkers and skeptics.

January 30 Yesterday evening and last night have been uneventful and calm. Fortunate indeed is this country where one head of state succeeds his predecessor without the slightest public protest. The true grief of an entire people for their dead king is a profoundly touching sight, and an astonishing one to a French observer who is inclined to be somewhat skeptical, but also is impressed by this insight into times long past. Today the palace belongs to the people. They have been permitted to file past the remains of King Kalakaua now on view in the throne room. I have spent part of the day there, so as to miss nothing worth notice and in order to talk to some old descendants of the ancient chiefs. Having been present at the funerals of several members of the Kamehameha dynasty, these elders were familiar with the customs of traditional Hawaii. In that long distant past, the death of a great chief was the most momentous of happenings. For ten days the entire district where the death had occurred was believed to be defiled, and the heir to the chiefdom was expected to remove himself to another area. Sorcerers set about avenging the late chief, who, they doubted not, had been the victim of some evil spirit, and human beings were sacrificed so as to allow the dead

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chief to descend into the underworld accompanied by a retinue worthy of his sacred rank. V Iolani Palace—the Palace of the Bird of Heaven—is a large, square structure built of stone and blocks of coral. It includes a lofty basement and two floors, whose entrances open out upon encircling verandas. The great building stands alone on a vast expanse of lawn barren of other forms of vegetation. Ancient superstition (one encounters superstition universally here) forbids beautifying the area with trees. The palace is a very modern building completed only a few years ago. It suggests an enormous pleasure-house, a brand new gambling casino, standing in a hastily laid-out park. The approach to the palace is a broad driveway covered with black crushed lava, leading to a stairway flanked by royal guards. At the main entrance are two black-clad Hawaiians wearing shoulderlength capes made of yellow feathers. Each holds a tall kahili, an emblem of royalty, consisting of a rod two or three meters long, generally made of a precious wood, and topped by a large cluster of black, white, or yellow feathers. Hawaiian aristocracy is proud and greatly venerated, and one must be of noble rank to become a kahili bearer. I examine the Kanakas standing on each side of the entrance to the palace and find them to be handsome, tawny-skinned specimens, but garbed, alas, in frock coats, stove-pipe hats, and long black pantaloons of a very old-fashioned cut—straight out of some theater's wardrobe room. The "hall" is a capacious high-ceilinged entrance lounge at the bottom of a stairway like that of the Paris Opera. The walls are adorned with portraits of departed kings, but I cannot congratulate the several artists. Vases of Sèvres porcelain, gifts of France, are distributed about the room in niches. The first salon, decorated entirely in blue, with modern furniture purchased in London, is a museum commemorating foreign monarchs—those who addressed Kalakaua as " m y cousin." I notice a portrait of Louis-Philippe, and in front of it a white marble bust of the Empress Eugénie. Near

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each door stands a very correct Kanaka footman, wearing knee breeches and livery modeled after those of their counterparts w h o attend the Queen of England. The palace is replete with natives, especially w o m e n , each appareled in a holoku, the national g o w n , and all are wailing their laments. I procured a translation of the following dirge. Ah, how divinely handsome he was: How I adored him! My great chief is dead, The king who came from the Big Island, Whose ancestors were lovers of Pele, The goddess of fire! What a bitter loss has befallen us! In this manner each mourner enacts her ancient role by chanting her despair, but she shares a common experience of sorrow. And this chorus of lamentations swells to express the grief of the whole nation. Until recent times the display of the body of a deceased king lasted a full month. O n this occasion it was decided to reduce the period to fifteen days. So long as the sun is visible above the horizon, the weeping and wailing continue, but when night falls people drink, sing, and dance the hula. The palace provides everyone with black mourning attire, with poi (the native food) and coffee. Also with gin, and very soon after nightfall comes drunkenness, sometimes assuming macabre forms. I've seen this morning some natives w h o had disfigured themselves, one by shaving a whole side of the head, another with a strip shaved from ear to ear, a third w h o had his front teeth knocked out. The Kanakas are now quite civilized, but still the old traditions have not all been abandoned. When they gather together in large numbers, on a special occasion such as today, although they do not engage in orgies, in states of madness and frenzy such as impressed the imaginations of the earliest foreign navigators, they still revive

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the customs of yesterday, though mixed with modern conventions and civilized behavior. This practice results in a kind of synthesis, an extremely bizarre opposition of contrasting colors, styles, nuances. On the heels of one of the groups, I enter the throne room. The impression of a gambling casino again leaps to mind. It is a large ballroom in all its banality, a dance hall, but with a dais at one end displaying two ordinary armchairs. The place is bare, cold-looking, and colorless because of the absence of attractive fabrics, wall coverings, and curtains. However, between each pair of windows is a medallion exhibiting the orders and decorations presented to Kalakaua by all the countries of the world. One of the medallions is empty: that intended to hold the insignia of the Legion of Honor, which the French Republic was supposed to bestow eventually upon the king of Hawaii. The center of interest in the throne room is a sort of large table, draped with black velour, upon which rests the royal coffin, with a feather cloak, crown, and sceptre at the foot. The body, having been embalmed in San Francisco, is visible through the thick plate glass. The face is handsome, but slightly thin and drawn. Standing in formation at the four sides of the coffin are twenty Kanakas carrying kahilis. The cabinet ministers and members of the royal family, recognizable by their large blue shoulder-ribbons, are sitting nearby in armchairs. The dowager queen rises for a moment and then, leaning against the coffin close to the head of the king, utters several wailing cries similar to the lamentations of the women earlier in the day. Everywhere there is a great profusion of flowers, the jewels of the land. In the corner of the room sits the judiciary, together with other high dignitaries of the kingdom, including members of the foreign diplomatic corps in their uniforms. The entire scene is of deep mourning and very Hawaiian. There is no break in the moving line of the general public. Today all Honolulu passes by. During the remainder of the week will arrive natives from the other islands of the chain, always numerous at the funerals of their kings. An old resident called to my attention the feather cloak, a fas-

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cinating work, and one of great value. It is woven of countless thousands of tiny yellow feathers, the plumage of a very rare bird, the oo, which has a single golden feather on each wing. One can imagine how much time and patience are required to construct this marvel of human workmanship and art. This evening I return to the palace, where, under the veranda, a chorus of young boys and girls are singing old Hawaiian songs, followed by others composed expressly for the occasion. Accompanied by guitars, the youthful voices are enchantingly beautiful, and one listens to the singing in absolute silence. The new queen has proclaimed the strictest code of rules. For two weeks the vigil for the dead king will be celebrated with as much solemn care and propriety as during the daytime.

February 15 Funeral of the king

At eleven o'clock the two queens meet again in the throne room surrounded by both their staffs, along with the princely high chiefs and all the officials of the government. The Anglican bishop reads the prayers for the dead and a Protestant school choir sings some psalms. Outside the palace a procession forms and begins to move. The street-crowd is not very large because the whole town has joined the cortège, which continues to file by for several hours. Every organized group—the army, the crews of foreign battleships, the fire-engine companies, professional musicians, and assembled clergy—march by in formation, clothed in the most extraordinary uniforms and costumes. Public parades are an American institution. Whenever there is an election, a festive holiday, an anniversary, or a burial, enormous processions can be seen in the cities of the United States, made up of numerous citizens dressed in some distinctive way, thus publicly declaring their views and opinions, joys, remembrances, or sorrows. No other foreign institution could have been adopted by the

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native Hawaiians with more whole-hearted enthusiasm. Indeed, the funerals of royalty in Hawaii have been transformed into historical cavalcades like those that formerly graced the provincial festivals of France. I notice the presence of the Knights of Pythias, a mutual-aid society organized along military lines, the members wearing red uniforms and helmets with enormous white cockades. Bearing arms, they march in cadence under the command of a captain-president. These are followed by the Free Masons, grouped according to their lodges, each member wearing his white apron; by the Chinese societies in their resplendent robes; next by a native Hawaiian historical research circle, composed especially of elderly w o m e n wearing white and yellow gowns. Everybody is solemn, faces are grave, while mounted policemen resembling their Austrian counterpart race past at a gallop controlling the order and direction of the march. A row of torch-bearers precedes the king's saddle horse, which is being led by hand. T h e court chamberlain and some attendants carry cushions loaded with royal decorations. Last of all come the officiating clergy and the hearse, draped in velvet and mourning crepe and surmounted by a royal crown. The hearse is drawn by a hundred young Kanakas dressed in black and white, accompanied by girls bearing coronets of flowers and other floral offerings. The hearse is surrounded by ninety-five kahilis of all sizes and heights, carried by the most eminent native Hawaiians. At the end of the procession come the carriages of the court, the cabinet ministers, foreign diplomatic corps, and members of the Hawaiian legislature. Just as the king's body is leaving the palace grounds, battleships in the harbor and the battery emplacements upon the hill behind the palace fire off successive cannonades, and all the church bells in t o w n sound the death-toll in unison. The effect of the funeral procession is undoubtedly bizarre, but lacks grandeur. It carries that stamp so characteristic of the Hawaiian Islands today, where people having nothing in common and with completely unrelated concerns exist side-by-side on good terms. I far preferred the true grief demonstrated on the first day

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when by a spontaneous public expression of sorrow thousands and thousands of the king's subjects wailed their wildest cries of grief according to the ancient usage. The hearse draws to a halt before the tomb of the Kamehamehas. The cortège is massed around this historic burial place, where only a select few of the mourners are allowed to enter at a time. In a large vaulted room more than forty splendid coffins have been arranged upon bronze supports. Made of fine woods and embellished with silver mountings, these coffins contain the remains of kings and queens, of princes and princesses, who in Hawaii seem condemned to die in the prime of life. At their center Kalakaua now rests. The Anglican bishop reads several prayers, and our group departs to make room for the Free Masons, who have come to conduct the funeral ceremony of their brother. Native sorcerers (kahuna) will appear later to chant prayers invoking the old Hawaiian gods. After retracing the route into town, I walk among the crowd. Now actors and audience have joined forces and find themselves united. A fireman gives an arm to a portly native woman; a Knight of Pythias leads his two children by one hand and with the other carries his painfully heavy helmet. The uniforms, the sashes, the colored caps become blurred and disappear within the black mass of the crowd, while the whole ensemble of human faces and forms is lost in a fantastic and dreamlike medley of hues. The band quickens its tempo in a manner quite unfunereal. Wearied by two weeks of mourning, everyone appears joyous, as one does at the return of a feast day. Will the anguish of an entire people prove even briefer than the sorrow of a solitary man?

Tomorrow the dowager queen will retire to her home in the country. Her Majesty Liliuokalani will take possession of the palace. The sister of Kalakaua, aged fifty-two, is married to an American, Mr. Dominis, and has no children. She is a stoutish, pleasant-featured, dignified, and forceful looking woman. Well-educated and widely read, Liliuokalani speaks elegant English. Like her late brother she is exceedingly Hawaiian in character and feeling. Yet

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she too is liberal-minded and possessed of a strong sense of duty. By no means unaware of the traditions of her people, she fully realizes the need for progress and its beneficial powers. Indeed, she has witnessed progress at w o r k during her travels in the United States and in Europe. Her Majesty, w h o recognizes the present state of affairs in her kingdom, well understands h o w to play the difficult role of a constitutional monarch: in brief, h o w to complete the unification of Hawaii's past with Hawaii's present. However, she will be the last entirely native queen. Her niece, w h o is a princess and heir apparent to the throne, is a half-white w h o has g r o w n up in England. A pretty w o m a n , m o d e m and highly refined in manner and thought, the princess is devoid of any Kanaka characteristics other than the fact of her fractional Hawaiian ancestry. Q u i t e probably it is she w h o will become the future type of Hawaiian queen, as that hereditary office will be conceived in the 20th century.

February 17 Epilogue As the Charleston is about to depart, it has been decided to present a hookupu to Vice-Admiral Brown, in recognition of the care and attention he lavished upon King Kalakaua during his last illness. Hookupu was a traditional custom of the ancient Hawaiians. All lands were the property of the chiefs, w h o generously allowed the families inhabiting the particular chiefdom to live upon the arable portions of the land and to cultivate their o w n crops. At certain periods of feasting, or after some sort of expedition, the chief would decide that a hookupu should be held. At the time and place indicated all persons living upon the chief's land brought to him an appropriate gift in kind, a pig, taro roots, various fruits, a mat, some birds or feathers, fish or nets. Everyone did so according to their resources and generosity. W h e n it was decided by law to divide and share the chiefly lands, hookupu lost its raison-d'etre. But the practice remained a part of the surviving customs, and even n o w on special occasions the Kanaka "hookupus" his kings, princes, and

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priests. T h e event somewhat resembles the way the peasants in our French provinces bring to the chateau or parish house their finest and most beautiful specimens of fruit. Today, at t w o o'clock, the admiral appeared at the docks with his aides. After a deputation read to him an address, more than a thousand natives and whites filed their way past him, saluting him and depositing their gifts on the ground. W i t h i n but a few minutes arose mountains of fruit, fish, vegetables, poultry, and eggs, intermixed with an endless offering of flowers. And likewise objects of exceptional value: calabashes carved out of fine woods, kahilis, curiosities, fabrics made of the bark of trees, handsome fine-woven mats. Never before have I witnessed a happier expression of gratitude. All the men and w o m e n , all the Kanakas alike, seemed to enjoy the act of giving. After an instant or t w o , the somewhat embarrassed admiral distributed handshakes, speaking a friendly word to everyone, and embracing the prettiest of the girls. The gentle-eyed men with their bronzed faces, the garlanded women in their voluminous gowns, the naval officer of superior rank, the outbursts of laughter and childlike delight, the glittering ocean under the intense sunlight—the entire scene evoked for me Hawaii's past and its patriarchal simplicity. Yet it was a spectacle that owed much of its allure to its utter freshness and novelty. It was like a genre painting perfectly framed. Alas! W h y should a clanking streetcar cut through the throng every fifteen minutes, recalling the realism of today? V The weather this evening is marvelous. Overhead a sea breeze stirs the leafy palm branches serving me as a fan. N o w , in February, the temperature is that of a w a r m spring day. That mournful daylong celebration has left me, however, w i t h feelings of sadness and thoughts of death. A hundred personal memories are wakened, memories bringing with them above all the charming hours I spent in intimacy with the unfortunate king. I would like to record a single example of those occasions when, our shoulders encircled with flowers, we talked of our most serious concerns.

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"D'you know Rochefort?"* His Majesty asked me one day. "I knew him by sight." "When he was escaping from N e w Caledonia he stopped for several days in Honolulu, and I invited him and his companions to spend the evening with me. I was happy to see at close range the enemy of all royal thrones." "And what was Your Majesty's impression of Rochefort?" "He struck me as very sympathetic, as a man with no grudge against society, in very good spirits although a bit worried. I hold only one thing against him—he has no taste for France's finest product." ? "He doesn't drink champagne." Such was the way the least of kings appraised the greatest of revolutionaries.

*Henri Rochefort (1831-1913), whose scathingly witty journalism and audacious political career won him an international reputation. He was the renegade son of the Marquis de Rochefort-Lu^ay, but chose to abandon the title. In 1870 he helped to foment violent demonstrations against the Second Empire and was exiled to N e w Caledonia for his part in the Commune. In 1885, under the Third Republic, he got elected to parliament but was exiled again. This time his offense was his anti-Semitism and his support of the authoritarian General Boulanger, who advocated a military dictatorship for France, with himself at its head, and opposed the restoration of all kings.—ALK

VII BEDECKED WITH FLOWERS The Kanaka. — Chants and legends. — The language. — The religion. — Kamehameha School and the Museum. — An old Hawaiian dwelling. — Feasts and dances. — The hula. — Manoa Valley.

I had been told that the native Hawaiian, the Kanaka, is an ugly savage—brutal, ignorant, and lazy. I judge him very differently. W h y savage? There was a time when he had his own civilization, his gods, his chiefs, his laws and precepts, his deferences and likings, his disdainful mistrusts. Today he has ours. The Kanaka is not ugly. The male body often resembles that of a glorious bronze statue. The woman's, when she is youthful and unworn and of noble birth, possesses a delightful perfection of its kind. Furthermore she has the most alluring eyes in the world. Yet it must be admitted that Kanaka beauty answers to a different set of aesthetic standards than our own. What about brutality? It's true that the Kanaka has acquired an unfavorable reputation because of the murderous death, perhaps deserved, of Captain Cook, and it is also true that in olden times tribe fought against tribe, obedient to the rivalries of their high chiefs. But Hawaiians of today are in no degree warlike. Instead they are a generous, hospitable, and very good people, wholly concerned with leading a leisurely kind of life, and enjoying above all music, Hawaiian poetry, and their art of the dance. Is the Kanaka ignorant? . . . Well, once upon a time Hawaiians knew nothing about the sciences as we understand them. Bookkeeping was beyond their ken, like book knowledge in general. In other words, the early Kanaka was still in a state of suspended childhood, satisfied with what answered the most immediate needs: building a canoe or making fishing equipment; knowing the names and properties of all mountain plants; understanding the history of

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one's Polynesian ancestors as preserved in oral legends. Today, however, the Hawaiians contradict the laws of biological atavism. Indeed, this people soon assimilated—in fact, within a single generation—basic elements of our modern knowledge. Thus they all learned to read and write both in their own language and in English. Some natives are well educated, and some are talented lawyers. If the natives are lazy, the fault must be blamed on the beautiful sky, the warm climate, the benign uniformity of the seasons, and the rich soil, which without irksome labor produces all the fruits of the earth. Like humankind in both hemispheres, Hawaiians work when need demands it. Formerly, little mattered except a roof for shelter, something to cover one's nakedness, and a simple plough. O u r own first ancestors in their earthly Paradise must have been just such savages—ugly, brutal, ignorant, and lazy. True, the modern Kanaka is ill-equipped to compete with the foreigner, particularly the Anglo-Saxon w h o arrived in Hawaii armed for the struggle among rival interests and possessed of long experience. The Hawaiian is surely the victim of a new and entirely unfamiliar civilization, which moreover by perfectly legal means despoils him of his lands and rights, reducing him thus to secondclass status in his own country. Yet despite this fate the Hawaiians are contented with their lot. They are by nature youthful in spirit. Easily satisfied, they find sufficient enjoyment in the beauty of their islands. In the back country, outside centers of population, natives retain all their former qualities, though in Honolulu they often adopt the vices of the white foreigners, but they are never egoistic, never greedy and calculating. W h a t they care for most are ceremonies and public meetings, discussion and argument and oratory, and flower leis and music.

Hawaiian poetry is triumphant not only in the landscape. It is ingrained in the people's character, in Kanaka blood, and in the language itself. W i t h consummate art the natives compose thousands

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of songs, often improvising to suit an occasion, and employing a figurative style that evokes the tenderest of feelings, especially suggestions of admiration and w a r m desire. The favorite theme is that of every country's poetry d o w n the centuries: I'amour. Such poetry flourishes in tropical countries as does the indigenous vegetation, only more swiftly and strongly. Yet when Hawaiians wish to express the most natural of experiences, they cast realism aside and never utter a coarse or common word. Deep in a valley, protected by a great barrier of stone, a flower blooms beside a fresh-flowing stream, a scarlet beauty more lovely and delicate than a hundred others nearby. A great bird with a brilliant beak and splendid plumage comes flying high overhead. His birthplace was a distant land across the sea. So dazzled is he that he pauses in his flight to stare. All day he flies around and about the pretty flower, intoxicated by her perfume, while she can only permit herself to be so much admired. . . . The bird chooses to perch on a branch close by and sings his sweetest song. And then, while the glowing sun is disappearing behind the mountain, several times more his joyous song is heard. Such then are some of the colorful comparisons borrowed from the beauty of nature as w e find it expressed in the pastoral poetry of the Hawaiians, and especially in their love songs. These may well remind one of the poetry of the old French troubadors. As in other countries where for many centuries the art of writing was u n k n o w n , fables and legends as orally narrated were much esteemed in the islands and assumed a poetic form. A substantial number of these compositions have been translated into both French and English. Long quasi-historical legends still exist, full of incredible adventures and exploits, containing such an excess of detail that the reader today often gains only a confused notion of what the events mean. Despite the good intentions of the translators, their labors produce false impressions, so that actually the reader understands nothing. It is precisely as if a play suited to the Palais Royal were being baldly recited to a Chinese. So many elements are lacking: the indispensable stage-setting; the Hawaiian

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milieu w i t h its rich floral atmosphere; a g r o u p of natives sitting upon the ground at the foot of some venerable coconut trees; to say nothing of the person of the performer, an old fellow w h o speaks w i t h authority and is in full command of his listeners; and finally the Kanaka soul, w i t h its o w n sensibility. T h e old story-teller speaks of a hero w h o s e name is already familiar. A thousand small circumstances are enumerated, including the exact spot where the hero built his hut, the shape and character of his canoe, his fishing gear, his beloved w i f e , the flowers he preferred for her adornment, his spear and his feather cloak, the names of the various secondary characters, along w i t h those of famous localities. T h u s does a legend, though for us almost meaningless, w h e n heard by knowledgeable natives take on the p o w e r and charm of a comedy of manners. Indeed, I ' v e seen some of the listeners shed tears, others applaud and w o r k themselves up, while y o u n g girls—very like our sisters reading romantic fiction—fall w i l d l y in love w i t h a personage long dead or one w h o never even existed.

T h e Hawaiian language as spoken by a Hawaiian w i t h its melodious modulations is like sweet music. T h e first American missionaries to arrive in H a w a i i strove to express the Hawaiian sounds by means of a system of written symbols. A f t e r numerous attempts, they were able to establish an alphabet containing twelve letters, in which the vowels possess the same sounds as those in the Latin languages. A and k are the most frequent sounds. A l l letters are pronounced, and certain ones have the same approximate quality—k and t, I and r. Words regularly end in a v o w e l . Hawaiian grammar is one of the most primitive. Past and future are expressed by means of a prefixed particle, and the most complicated ideas are communicated by means of a single w o r d . R e l y i n g on facial expression and vocal intonation, Hawaiians compensate for the poverty of their vocabulary as set forth in the dictionary. tabu refers to everything forbidden. huhu serves generally for feelings of anger.

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maikai for approval. pilikia covers all troubles, great or small. The word aloha refers to all types of regard or consideration, ranging from hackneyed polite greetings to the declaration " I love you." In a w o m a n ' s m o u t h the w o r d at times acquires quite odd and varied connotations. In short, one kind of aloha is not another kind, because the feminine eyes and voice have been schooled in expressing the gamut of tender sentiments. In poetry—and the same is true of ceremonial speech generally— the preferred stylistic device is repetition, the same idea recurring a number of times under almost identical forms. Terms of language appropriate to communicating immediate needs are simple and easy for anyone to learn, relying much on melodic tones, rhythms, and manner. Ideas are invoked but without laboring the particulars. The result is an appealing naivete. While it is easy to chat and prattle in Hawaiian speech, it is far more difficult to discuss scientific or philosophic questions.

As for religious subjects, Hawaiians are essentially believers. Indeed they are predisposed to accept the teachings of anyone w h o speaks to them about things supernatural. In earlier times, the people obeyed their priests, worshiped idols, maintained a comprehensive collection of gods and goddesses, temples, feast days, and public ceremonies. But then came the Protestant missionaries. These were able to win the favor of the chiefs and to impose upon them their Credo, whereupon the rest of the Kanakas turned Protestant. Native character, however, accommodated itself badly to puritanical austerities, to a doctrine addressed solely to the rational faculties, and to reading the Bible inside a bare room ill-suited to their taste. The new religion struck the Hawaiians as too cold, too morose, and in secret they returned to idolatrous practices. Thus the R o m a n Catholic missionaries were faced with an easy task. T h e pomp and panoply of R o m a n Catholicism, its rituals and mysteries, indeed its

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whole religio-cultural approach seduced the natives. This was because Catholicism appealed to the heart and feelings. It spoke of a loving God, surrounded by saints and angels, of a heavenly reward for the pure of soul, damnation and hell for the wicked. Faith was not slow in sowing its seeds, and our French priests in their churches restored to God's grace a considerable number of converts. This they achieved without the support of the state or the aid of the king or the court. Neither did they win the confidence of the foreign population or reap benefits from the rich. It was the people, especially the poor, the sick, the disinherited, w h o came into the fold with such gladness that the number of Catholic proselytes soon equalled the flock of the American missionaries. I am not totally persuaded that the Kanakas understand very well the religion being taught them. Sometimes the native mind badly confuses the idolatry of yesteryear with the Catholicism of today. The latter in fact is often in native eyes seen as another guise of the same thing. Yet spiritually the faith of the Hawaiian is the robust sort that moves mountains. It is a faith worn proudly and practiced with enthusiasm. In Honolulu a goodly number of natives attend the Catholic mission on Sunday, arriving early in the morning and bringing along their ample provisions. They install themselves for the whole day, present at all the masses, listening to every sermon, performing all the offices and duties. The church, its fitly adorned altars, the organ music, and the sacred lights, exercise upon the native spirit such a power of attraction that scarcely anyone cares to leave, even at sundown. It is fair to say that there are many w h o come for solid instruction, and among these are some individuals w h o are adept theologians, quite able to support their arguments with the sacred texts. Only a few years ago, inside the cathedral courtyard and after high mass, Protestant and Catholic natives together met to delve into some of the most deep and perplexing religious questions. This they accomplished in a kind of courteous theological combat, with argument posed systematically against argument. The general public expressed at the time a real interest in the debate. Today the

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ecclesiastical weather is quiet, the t w o parties preferring simply to shore up and maintain their positions. The urge to proselytise is much less intense than it once was.

" W h e n you come back from Honolulu bring me a Hawaiian souvenir—something from old times." So wrote a Parisian friend of mine, an amateur collector of curiosities and exotic trinkets. " T r y London," I told him. The fact is that in Honolulu today it's impossible to find anything both old and interesting, either a weapon or any other piece of native handiwork. For many years most purchasable items of the sort have been carried off by English tourists, and the remaining materials have been collected and assembled for exhibition in a very fine museum, presented and supported by Mr. C . R . Bishop, situated near the Kamehameha School. The school is an institution established to provide vocational education for young Hawaiians. It is located on a mountainous slope three kilometers out of town. O n its extensive lands large buildings have been constructed capable of housing several hundred pupils, including their sleeping quarters, workshops, classrooms, and study halls, all of which afford a degree of comfort and elegance impossible to find in our handsomest French colleges. Indeed, the spacious auditorium building where examinations and public meetings are held has a most dignified and even monumental character. T h e school was founded and lavishly endowed by the Princess Pauahi Bishop, Mr. Bishop's wife. Her estate and its revenues were sufficiently great to fulfill her purpose of introducing the younger generation of Hawaiians to modern standards of conduct and presentday goals of achievement. The Kamehameha Museum stands on the grounds of the Kamehameha School. A ponderous-looking building constructed of massive blocks of square-cut stone, the institution has the appearance of a fortress. Three huge rooms contain all the relics of the Hawaiian past. In the first room is a collection of feather cloaks and ceremonial feather standards, the emblems of royalty. Also some quite fine woven mats and kapa; the latter is a fabric fashioned from the bark

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of a native tree. One large case in the center of the room displays stuffed and mounted specimens of all the birds of the Hawaiian Islands, many of which are now extinct. There is also a collection of shells. In the second room are exhibited objects in everyday use in the islands at the time of their discovery: weapons, fishing equipment, domestic articles, models of huts and canoes, and a number of drums. In addition appear some old wooden idols representing Hawaiian gods, roughly hewn and very sketchily depicted. The collection of the articles as a whole is perhaps interesting from an ethnological point of view, but everything is somewhat coarsely wrought and lacking in artistic quality. Well cleaned, catalogued, and placed inside cases too new and too stylish, the objects arouse only moderate public interest. To retrieve the past and place an object in something like its original setting demands a ready and vivid imagination. A room on the second floor is intended eventually to exhibit the fine arts, but it is not yet completed. In the middle of it, however, there is at present an enormous safe apparently containing the Crown jewels of Hawaiian royalty. On the walls of the room are some paintings, each as wretched as the one next to it. I noticed a large portrait of Kalakaua, the last king, painted recently by an English artist and resembling perfectly one of those canvases advertising the fat lady's booth at a town fair. Along the walls and beneath these works of art, I was impressed by an exceedingly beautiful collection of photographs showing notable sights on all the islands of the chain.

The Kamehameha Museum was certainly a necessity for the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. I prefer, however, the much more modest effort of Mr. D., who has built a replica of an old-time Kanaka dwelling-house. It is situated on a lagoon well stocked with fish and is thus in a setting suitable to its period. Carefully advised by some elderly natives, Mr. D . has directed the construction of a large native hut. The posts hewn from trees and the limbs or

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branches which serve as beams are bound together by a cord fashioned of plant fibers, and not a single nail has been employed in the construction. The interior is furnished in the style of the time. An enormous bed made of piled-up mats occupies the back portion of the dwelling. U p o n a rod hang pieces of kapa, while fish nets are suspended along the walls, together with bone fishhooks, native spears, arrows, and clubs. In the corner stands a great calabash, a wooden receptacle shaped like a gourd and containing smaller articles such as Kanaka kitchen and table utensils. The display is a complete unit of its kind, lacking in no detail, and suggests with fine accuracy the realities of everyday life in the Hawaii of yesteryear. Outside and near the door of the house is the lanai, a sort of open pavilion roofed with thick-leaved branches of palm. Under the lanai are a stone pounder and a board for pounding taro, together with an outrigger canoe. The result is a vivid recreation of the recent past. T h o u g h the museum is very small, it is nevertheless extremely evocative, for here the dream and the reality converge in a place where one can visualize the way Hawaiians lived when they were still close to a state of nature. V " The Hawaiians in ancient times divided life into t w o parts: the waging of war and the celebration of pleasures. For the Kanaka, war was a necessity, something regarded as inevitable. But as soon as the rivalry of chief against chief had ended, and the inhabitants of all the islands and of each valley became subordinate to a single king, a ruler capable of wielding authority and rendering justice, the Hawaiian people devoted themselves readily to the j o y and satisfaction of being alive. And this they achieved, under the finest sky in the world, heedless of both present and future. For many years n o w it has been impossible to discern among natives the least indication of a warlike spirit. Their ideas, their tastes and attitudes, are essentially peaceful. Despite the efforts of Catholic and Protestant missionaries, the Kanakas have preserved their ancient capacity for pleasure—not a bit intellectual, and leading only toward gratification of the senses.

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Take, for example, the Hawaiian feast, the luau. It is exactly the kind of barbaric repast we read so much about in the books of our childhood. To serve as banquet hall there is the grassy spot outdoors sheltered from the sun's glare by shade trees. In place of elegant napery, fragrant flowers and leaves are spread about, upon which are arranged a sumptuous array of the most bizarre foods—poi first of all, a kind of sticky paste made of the taro root, served in calabashes. Accompanying fare consists of young roast pig, cooked in a hole in the ground filled previously with sizzling-hot stones. At hand also are every variety o f f i s h , served raw and together with live prawns. Alongside go baked sweet potatoes. Every kind of tropical fruit is provided: coconuts, oranges, bananas, mangoes, watermelons, and so on, and so on, a luscious miscellany strewn with rose petals. Guests at the luau receive flower leis with which they festoon neck and shoulders. All are seated upon the ground and require no plate, no knife, no fork. Everyone partakes according to his or her preference and appetite, whether drinking water or awa—the alcoholic libation of Polynesia. The beauty of the feast lies in quantity of food proffered. The luau is through and through a primitive affair, a credible reproduction of the feasts of prehistoric times. Foreign residents of Hawaii, however, have adopted the luau custom slightly modified: everyone has a plate, a glass, and a knife, and water is replaced by beer imported from Germany. Yet the general nature and organization of the meal as well as the foods remain the same. Forks are a luxury offered only to guests just disembarked and accustomed only to the conventions of refined dining. From a picturesque point of view the luau is certainly a curiosity. But I swear I've never, even after several years and many attempts, been able to face a raw fish or swallow a live prawn. After eating their fill, the natives—men and women—light up their short-stemmed pipes, which they then pass f r o m hand to hand. Their tobacco is an inferior shag. Lighting up is the signal for telling stories about the past. Young people, both boys and girls, join in singing to guitar accompaniments. Only with nightfall do they begin to make their way homeward on horseback. The proces-

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sion of celebrants, garbed in brilliant colors and decked with flowers, laughing and singing in the gathering dusk as the parties ride through garden-like roadways and lanes, is enough to thrill the most exacting of colorist painters. O n royal holidays, such as the birthday or accession to the throne of a king or queen, the court lays aside the borrowed European ways and endeavors to revive the ancient native customs. Early in the morning, troops of horseback riders arrive at the palace to present to the sovereign a display of horsemanship, somewhat like one of our equestrian drills, especially the inevitable circus " n u m ber," but here the element of local color is greatly emphasized and exploited. The star performers are girls riding astraddle, as do all female riders in Hawaii. Their bosoms are enswathed in white cotton muslin, a covering that hardly shows under their flower adornment. In place of gowns they wear a kind of wrap-around skirt called a pau, a lengthy strip of vividly patterned cloth, generally red or yellow. The t w o ends of the garment drop d o w n on each side. Indeed they either reach the ground or else float in the air as soon as the horse strikes a rapid speed. The unique movements of the drill are performed at a gallop, and the Amazonian performers demonstrate a talent for horsemanship and a courageous energy that are truly remarkable. The day of celebration is chiefly devoted to a gigantic luau, the kind of heroic banquet associated with the epics of Homer. The public invitation, as announced through the local newspapers, is addressed to the whole people of Hawaii, and the initial preparations require no less than a week for completion. Pavilions are set up in the palace gardens, decorated carefully with palm branches, ferns, and garlands of greenery. O n e horse-shoe-shaped table is reserved for the king and his court, while other tables radiate around it, each of which is provided with several hundred settings. At the time indicated the general population of Honolulu as well as natives are on hand for the occasion. These, along w i t h other folk from the neighbor islands, pour into the garden and find their places along the heaping tables. They remain standing, however, touching nothing until the royal party arrives f r o m the palace.

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After the band plays the national anthem, the Episcopal bishop in his role as court chaplain delivers grace in resounding tones. W h e n His Majesty is seated the feasting begins. Foreigners along with natives, rich and poor alike, all classes and stations, are intermingled in democratic equality. The king, w h o presides, is surrounded by his kahili bearers, and when the band ceases playing, a Kanaka chanter improvises in song memories of the Hawaiian past, together with eulogistic references to His Majesty. Compliments to foreign guests are included in the chant. Only w h e n appetites have been satisfied do the gala company leave their places, which are at once occupied by their convivial followers. And so the luau continues until sundown or whenever the supply of food has been exhausted. All this occurs without any clatter or uproar. There is not a sign of quarrelsome ill humor, but instead an atmosphere of decency and calm, qualities impossible to detect in the popular festivals of other countries. The reason for the good-mannered sobriety is the presence of the sovereign. But perhaps it is also because of measures taken to prohibit alcohol. The refreshing beverages provided are various soda-water drinks supplied by local companies. The Hawaiians are passionately attached to their native dances. In earlier times these were a feature of all their ceremonies and festivals. Unfortunately the Protestant missionaries, from their first arrival in the islands, sought to eradicate what they considered to be an outward manifestation of moral impurity and a deadly sin. The American missionaries declared a ban on all the national Hawaiian dances. But this Draconian measure has utterly failed to produce the hoped-for effect. To prevent a Hawaiian w o m a n from dancing would be to deprive her of life. Although native women no longer in public indulge in their favorite form of entertainment, no girl in Hawaii today, whether Kanaka or part-white or European, is unacquainted with the hula kui, the modern form of the native art, in which old and new movements and gestures are combined. I must admit that the professional dancers of Hawaii, namely those w h o for a few dollars can be hired to perform in private houses, have chosen to follow a career that has little connection

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with artistic merit. However, the ancient Hawaiian dances I have had occasion to observe, often at His Majesty's petite maison in the country, seemed to me no more immoral than an operatic ballet as presented in Paris. Three or four girls arrange themselves in a line. They wear pink or blue gowns, but these are much less abbreviated than those of our trained academy ballerinas in Paris. T h e Hawaiians dance barefoot, however, with hair, neck, wrists, and ankles garlanded with flowers. An elderly w o m a n , sitting upon her heels on a mat, strikes the beat on a large calabash which resounds in the manner of a d r u m . The girls begin by chanting a musical phrase, always the same, making a corresponding movement w i t h head and arms. Then the upper body begins to swing and twist, executing more or less graceful contortions, while the feet perform a lively rhythmic step, a little like an English gigue. The chant is full of erotic allusions, incomprehensible to anyone ignorant of the Kanaka language, but the implications are easy to grasp. Overtones of physical passion intensify, gestures become more accentuated, speed increases. But the breast is held motionless as hips and buttocks rotate in the manner of the "belly dance" so much celebrated in Egypt. Uttering a sudden cry, the dancers cease moving and lie prone upon the ground, as if satiated, only to recommence dancing a moment later, when they introduce certain novel variations much appreciated by true connoisseurs of the art of the hula. At this point I ' m reminded of a conversation I once had with a w o r t h y village priest in the South of France. The question was the immorality of ballroom dancing. " I assure you, Monsieur le Curé, it's a perfectly innocent form of entertainment." " B u t whirling around with a half-naked w o m a n in your arms— surely, you have to admit . . . " " N o , I do not admit. . . . It's just a custom; you d o n ' t even think about it." ' V For a time I regarded the hula as something to be seen once, another Hawaiian curiosity, something with no more magic, no more power, than a waltz. I thought that the hula never varied and

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that it lacked artistry, offered nothing to dazzle the eyes—just a graceful exercise without any poetry. Such was my impression up to the day when I beheld the dancing of Madame X , the most charming of Hawaiian beauties by birthright, but one whose education was American. It was Madame X who, hearing me uphold m y chilly thesis, determined to make me change my mind. We were in the country, chatting in the drawingroom after a lively dinner. T h e door opens and Madame X enters. She is wearing a loose g o w n , a sort of enveloping peignoir of light silk, held in place at the waist by a cincture of roses. She is followed by t w o natives w h o begin to sing, accompanying themselves on guitars. Smiling, Madame X follows suit by assuming a sequence of lovely poses. Age twenty-two, she is superb—tall and very full-bodied, with clear dusky skin, lustrous eyes, teeth of matchless beauty, lips exquisitely red. " K e h u a is the most beautiful girl in Hawaii. Her skin is finer, her complexion rosier, her teeth whiter than those of her peers and rivals on the Big Island. Kehua is the ahihi, the blossom that intoxicates." Little by little a single expressive motion begins to permeate Madame X ' s entire body. She bends her head to one side, revealing in her eyes depths of infinite tenderness, but with a glimmering of sadness in them too. And the chant continues. "Everyone ignored her, until one day she saw a great chief's son, a young man from a distant land. Ever since that m o m e n t Kehua dreamt always of love." Clearly my companions and I were present at a sort of pantomime conveying, through gesture and bodily attitude, the meaning of the poem's each w o r d . T h u s the Hawaiian artist brings to life, with indescribable subtlety, each phase of emotion, each stage in loving, as these originate and then increase in power: the happiness of the lovers' meeting, the spell of the dream, the hope and the disappointment, joy and its aftermath in sadness. Such is the way the chant develops, as tenderness is transformed into passion. The dancer's languor increases and her movements become more and more provocative, and her eyes seem lost in another universe. It is

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the world of her lover. Entranced, she locks him in her arms. Her lips are distended as if ravenous for her lover's kisses. Madame X no longer exists. Beneath her soft silken gown, as we are made aware, moves a woman's free body with all its shapeliness of contour and form. The dancer's agile rhythmic movements, her flashing eyes, leave no uncertainty about what is being represented. The impression given is that of a woman in love, delivered over to that power through her imaginative faculties and her senses. Her nerves vibrate, her blood runs charged with a carnal vitality, she is impervious to fatigue, exalted and carried away by the magic of the dance. The chanters share in the feverish excitement. Fervor of voice increases as words are uttered that do not lend themselves to translation. Without any triteness of gesture, the dancer persuades us that she is lost in a cloud of sensuality. She has become the center of our every gaze and thought. So it is when she is seized finally by a sudden spasmodic trembling. An instant afterward Madame X vanishes from sight and is seen no more. The hula, when performed by so accomplished an artist, is, I admit, extremely suggestive. Certainly I shall never lose the memory of this dancer. At this moment I believe I have come to understand and appreciate the subtlety to be found in the dances of ancient times and in those of the Orient today. Above all, I am moved by the art to be discovered in such remote wellsprings of beauty. O n the following day I again met Madame X at luncheon, and still under her spell I avowed myself an enthusiastic admirer of the hula. " I shall inform my clerical friend, Madame, that although it would be proper for him to countenance the waltz, he should strictly forbid the hula." Madame X blushed, and since that occasion we have never referred to this rather heady party in the country.

Quite near Honolulu is secluded Manoa Valley, a long wedgeshaped strip of land enclosed by t w o high mountain ridges and

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extending toward the sea. At the valley's uppermost point there is a great waterfall. Tourists come to visit it and almost every day its downward course reflects a double rainbow, creating an effect like that of a thousand flaming filaments of changing color. If one follows the valley road as far as the spot where it becomes a path, one arrives at the base of the mountain. It rises in an area of recently opened lands, still unused for farming purposes and covered by very dense undergrowth, amid a jumble of eucalyptus, magnolia, and orange trees. O n the left side of the valley as one ascends there is a stream strewn with large rocks and dark green, mossy boulders. Many a delightful moment have I spent by Manoa Stream, lying upon the grass and surrounded by the flowery wilderness. Whole hours have I spent thus dreaming, as my eyes occasionally would pursue some flying insect lost in a shaft of sunlight, still searching for another drop of sweetness. Again as I turn my head toward the horizon and the vast ocean in the distance, the Pacific resembles an immense dead lake. As for the rest of the world and humankind— how far away! Meanwhile in the valley not a sound, not a person, only movements born of nature—the tree stirred by the wind, the thrust of the new bud, the plant scattering its seeds, the smoothrunning silent water. Against this background, h o w well I understand and sympathize with the soul of the Hawaiians. It is a spirit that wants nothing to do with the world of affairs. It takes little interest in materialistic ends. It ignores cold and poverty, is unaware of the happiness of " h o m e " — t h a t sentiment of place as sung by every English poet. The native mind and imagination are surrounded by space and time conjoined, beautiful horizons, and the manifold joys of human love. The philosophy of Hawaiians is a simple and natural one. They take pleasure in the favors God has granted them and ask for no other thing. And is not this the way of truth? Let us reduce existence to its most elemental manifestations. Let us draw from our innate ideas our moral principles, our rules as to the nature of art, our sentiments concerning faith and worship, our passionate yearning to find happiness. Is it not madness to flail about in the void in search of some ephemeral end, grasping at satisfactions whose sole origin is

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in desire? W h y through one's own error and weakness spend an entire lifetime in feverish activity; w h y endure the folly of suffering, when its rewards are but those sanctioned by mere convention? Prompted by thoughts such as these, my dream approaches the moment when it drowns and disappears into the landscape before my eyes. The mountain is an absolute green. A monochrome of thick grassy moss clothes its stony surface. But now the ascending sun begins to strike the face of the ridge, flooding it with a white light. The mountain changes in aspect and I discern a patch of forest blending into the mass. O n one slope a ribbon of water descends, a miniature cascade. Upon the summit taller plants bend in response to the sea-borne wind. The vision bedazzles. Then a light fog closes in and gradually passes on; the mountain changes, becoming more sombre and again more bright. From time to time a small black cloud appears but only for an instant, driven by a violent current of air. N o more than fist-sized, it hides the face of the sun, and for a few seconds the entire mountain is obscured. Yet the sun all the while retains his mastery, bathes all things in his embracing warmth, flowing into each tree and each plant and d o w n into the earth itself. Again the mountain comes alive as thousands of insects swarm from its flanks, compelled by the advancing day to escape their half-opened flowerets. All is silent. A bird, rare at these heights, rests languidly on a branch. Time passes as daylight wanes. After reflecting back every color of the rainbow, the mountain recovers its greenness, ready always to darken as evening falls. The centuries have not conquered this great giant, and for endless centuries to come it will remain virginally the same, changing only in color and shade at the will of the sun.

VIII PROGRESS Anglo-Saxon civilization. — The part-whites. — Politics. — Public instruction. — A coeducational college. — Pleasures of "society." — Clubs and associations. — A ball at the palace.

Hawaii's most extraordinary feature is not its picturesque charm, now unfortunately disappearing. Rather it is the evidence of civilization and wealth, combined with an exuberant modernity, attained so very quickly by an isolated Oceanic people possessing only distant contact with their geographic neighbors. Present-day Hawaii represents the triumph of progress—at least what passes for progress—of which the production of sugar has been the principal source. The first sugarcane plantation dates back to 1825, and since that time the industry has become so successful that now it has achieved enormous proportions. This development has attracted to the small Polynesian kingdom numerous foreigners, especially the type who seek quick profits throughout the world, well-paid work, and a general sense of well-being. In order to enjoy their wealth in the new country, such people are ready to pay any price for comfort and luxury. Thus within a brief span of years Honolulu, hitherto merely a port where whaling vessels and their crews spent the winter, has become today an important commercial base. Where once a few sailing ships served to connect the islands intermittently with the continental United States, now the routine visits of steam liners link Hawaii regularly with California, China, and Australia. As foreign capital has continued to pour in, banks have been organized, and a number of American, English, and German importing firms have been established, serving numerous retail shops. Many hundreds of private residences of a modern type have been built. With mounting government revenues, port facilities have been enlarged

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and new travel routes have been opened. Very recently a splendid royal palace was erected in Honolulu, together with another government building for administrative purposes. In less than a century Honolulu has become truly a new town of the United States, and what was once wild wasteland has been transformed into a populous modern city provided with all the amenities associated with civic progress. Anglo-Saxon civilization alone is capable of generating such a result. Despite the opinions of certain theorists who prefer, with most honorable motives, to support the thesis that the French excel as colonizers, in my judgment the Latin peoples, whether Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, or French, would be incapable of achieving comparable colonial goals, results realized by the English throughout the world, and now by the Americans in Hawaii. I've come to this conclusion after studying South American countries that owe their present progress and civilized state to the Latin peoples of Europe. The reasons for the superiority of the English colonist are well known, among which one must give first place to the quality of the English emigration, above all to the way England has exported both capital and able people. Indeed, the English emigrants constitute a class of colonists who never assimilate fully with the country being exploited. The son is as completely an Englishman as his father was on the day he left Liverpool. All preserve their homeland ideas and tastes, their language and habits, applying them in such a way as to open up a new channel for British industry and commercial products. In Uruguay, a country made up of Europeans of all nationalities, the English emigrant alone was still recognizable as such in the second generation. On the other hand, the Americans have proved in Hawaii—the only country in which they have attempted the enterprise—their incomparable aptitude for absorbing and merging with the life of another people, when the latter are responsive to such development. They impose upon the other people their own customs, their religion, and a large measure of their American laws and institutions. One reflection: I retain certain reservations about this form of progress, following the authority of numerous writers. Théophile

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Gautier, in his Voyage en Espagne, has given us a subtle interpretation, at once charming and wise, of the meaning of progress. I cannot resist quoting his observations, for possibly they contain a profound truth. It is a melancholy sight for the poet, the artist, and the philosopher to watch forms and colors disappearing from the world: the lines of the picture blur, the shades become confused, while the most uninspiring uniformity invades the globe under the assumed name of progress. We believe that such changes are not in harmony with God's design, who has fashioned each country according to its own pattern, endowed it with particular types of vegetation, peopled it with special races, dissimilar in constitution, color, and language. To wish to impose the same uniform design upon the population of all climates is to misconstrue the meaning of Creation.

In fact, when considering the evolution of the world in terms of its total population, we have the right to ask whether progress is a positive thing or merely relative. . . . In the second instance, it will prove difficult to explain on what grounds of superiority one people should absorb another—claiming "civilization" as the pretext. The right to defend oneself implies as a corollary the duty to respect the genius of the weaker party. It is utterly inexcusable to destroy the customs and traditions of a race. " N o t only does each individual," Pascal tells us, "advance day by day in the mastery of the sciences, but all human beings together are involved proportionately in progress as the universe continues to age." Fond as I am of nature, of her myriad manifestations and expressions as seen from an artistic point of view, I regret times past . . . all the while admiring the present.

The part-white person in Hawaii, almost always the offspring of a foreign father and a native mother, tends to supersede the pure Hawaiian, whose number diminishes each year. However much a part-white person retains Polynesian characteristics, the individual

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nevertheless adopts as a manner of life the foreign habits, opinions, and set of general ideas and beliefs that the system of free public education attempts to inculcate in youngsters f r o m early childhood in Hawaii. The part-whites, w o m e n as well as men, many of w h o m have completed their education in America and have even traveled in Europe, are easily accepted everywhere and mingle increasingly with the white Hawaiians-by-adoption, w h o meet them and deal with them, I must say, on a basis of perfect equality. Ultimately the part-whites represent the essence of the country itself: a simple product of nature, a grafting of modernism onto a tree rooted in the old world, and in a setting and frame mingling the old with the new. After a sweltering day, just at nightfall, I find myself walking in a square, among a profusion of beautiful tropical plants, of dark green trees in full foliage, surrounded by masses of exotic flowers. The walkways are narrow, suggesting the wild undergrowth of a forest, and I am forced to step aside as I face a group of young Hawaiian w o m e n dressed in brilliant holokus. Their clamorous talk is broken n o w and then by shrieks of laughter, as they make their graceful, undulating way along the path. Farther off I perceive a shadowy couple sitting upon the grass, concealing themselves in the heavyscented shelter of a clump of trees. It is the Hawaii of yesterday. Suddenly a burst of light comes pouring d o w n f r o m above—an electric bulb installed atop a tall lamp-pole—illuminating this charming picture. I quickly arrive in front of a pavilion where some white-clad natives—the Royal Band—are preparing to give a concert. The first piece is the " M a d a m e Angot Valse"! I softly direct my steps toward the exit. T h e broad avenue flanking the grilled ironwork enclosure is filled w i t h traffic, horseback riders as well as carriages, exactly like those of Hyde Park, the vehicles American, the saddles English—it is the Hawaii of today.

O n e of the benefits of civilization has been the revelation to the natives of the existence of something k n o w n as politics. The foreigners, having little by little stripped the monarch of his royal prerogatives, succeeded in establishing a constitutional system supplied

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with all the political appendages: elections, a legislature, a governmental machinery rather unwieldy for the size of the country, all somewhat too complicated for the average Hawaiian. At the start, the American-minded element of the foreign community, the missionary party, developed a talent for exerting its political influence and leading the kingdom along the road of progress. But while it is easy to teach a people that they possess legal rights, it is far more difficult to persuade them to exercise those powers with moderation. The kings were the first to alter the original Hawaiian constitution, and more than once. Political parties took shape, the election periods became a time of troubles, and voting procedures began to be conducted according to political practices borrowed from the United States. The true Hawaiian today possesses all the attributes that make up a modern politician. He loves discussion and debate, joins clubs and associations, attends public meetings. For him politics, like religion, is an inexhaustible topic of interest. He learns very quickly all the strategems, every trick of parliamentary maneuvering, grasps better than anyone else how to stage an election campaign, frame a statement of principles. And he can make the most extravagant promises. In order to carry a vote he is ready to accommodate himself to any coalition. Several political newspapers published in the Hawaiian language discuss the merits of the candidates, treating not only issues of local concern but also general questions, even those related to political affairs overseas. Sometimes the political activities of the native Hawaiians might appear immature and even childish, offering a nice opportunity for an observer with an eye for the pettiest news of the day, if he were not blindly unaware of political dangers that the future may well hold in store. Up to the present, however, controversies have remained Hawaiian in style, entirely cheerful and friendly, however high-spirited, although disparate racial elements introduced into the country by immigration are now in the process of forming separate groups. The newcomers comprise a vigorous part of the population, which must certainly be taken into account. In any case, political practices which enriched the first colonists, innovations that the natives still find entertaining, could well become for all parties involved a source of most serious embar-

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rassment, the consequences of which will be very difficult to anticipate and forestall. ' V In Hawaii progress has produced an ultra-modern system of public education. The insistence on educating the people and to do so at public expense was already established in the kingdom during the period when in France the whole question was still a matter of debate. In Hawaii church and state have been zealous rivals. The Catholics have founded in Honolulu an ambitious college for boys and a convent school for girls, along with a number of schools elsewhere throughout the islands. The Protestants have done the same. The government has set up schools in every locality where a center of population was in the process of formation, in each village, and near every plantation. Schoolmasters and women teachers arrived from the United States, and even some daughters of wealthy local families did not disdain becoming schoolmistresses in Honolulu. It is true, however, that while the profession is extremely well paid, it is not very demanding and rigorous. The instructors receive four or five thousand francs per annum for teaching the ABC's to native Hawaiian and Portuguese youngsters, working four hours a day for five days of the week, with several vacations during the year. I can indeed confirm that the schools are very well managed, that the instructional methods are carefully designed, and that the results are remarkable. At the present time, all residents of the islands under twenty years of age have completed primary grade instruction in the English language, and the general intellectual level among them is irrefutably superior to that of our rural population in France. Secondary instruction, however, is far less advanced. Its goals are vocational at Kamehameha School, which is Protestant, and literary at Saint Louis College, the Catholic institution, but in any event predominantly practical, intended to prepare young people for industrial, commercial, and clerical employment. At one of the public schools, much attended by the children of the wealthier families of foreign background, the instructional subjects covered include Latin, advanced mathematics, French, world history, and geogra-

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phy. In this connection I've noticed that the typical American teacher sometimes attaches an exaggerated importance to the country of his origin. I visited one class in which it was made to appear that the American Union, like Europe, is made up of a number of sovereign states, but with this difference: that the states of the Union constitute a single political power and nationality, while numerous European nations have always been at war with each other. I found the American pedagogue's analysis rather far-fetched and dangerous. Patriotism prevented the teacher from having a good sense of proportion. All public schools in Hawaii are mixed, boys and girls being seated together at the same benches. This practice is maintained until the fifteenth year, the age at which not only the natives but all persons born in Hawaii are no longer children. From 9:00 in the morning until 2:00 the sexes and age-mates remain together, and except for the Catholic priests w h o have brought with them our French ideas about these matters, the best qualified authorities here judge the island system of juvenile education to be without disadvantages. It is even believed to possess some special merits. Thus the boys w h o board and sleep at Kamehameha School are conducted once a week to the Protestant seminary for young Hawaiian girls, so that they can spend the afternoon together enjoying various games!

I've set aside for special attention O a h u College, a school founded by the first Americans w h o came to Hawaii. It represents the complete reversal of all our French principles of education. Located in an extensive park at one end of t o w n , this fine institution accepts pupils w h o live at home as well as students housed and boarded on the premises. The former, those living outside, follow in general the same sort of regime as do the pupils attending other public schools in the islands. But the interns! Here I ' m reminded of my o w n secondary French education as a period much worse than my subsequent experience in military barracks, and I've regretted the fact that I was not born in the "Paradise of the Pacific."

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At O a h u College there are sixty pupils, boys and girls of ten to t w e n t y years of age. T h e y arise at 6:00 in the m o r n i n g and each takes care of his or her r o o m . At 7:00 a pleasant breakfast: meat, vegetables, and the like. T h e n the girls busy themselves w i t h various household tasks, while the boys under the guidance of a teacher w o r k at gardening or receive instruction in other practical skills. F r o m 9:00 to 2:00 classes are in session, interrupted by a meal as satisfying as the first, followed by a half-hour's rest. T h e instructional staff includes b o t h m e n and w o m e n , w h o offer courses in classical authors, English literature, m o d e r n languages, sciences, music and d r a w i n g , and household arts. At 2:00, the day pupils leave for h o m e and the boarders enjoy their freedom until dinner. Those w h o wish to do so go o u t — a good many have their o w n saddle horses at the school—but must notify the teacher on duty. O t h e r s play tennis or cricket, practice at the piano, read, or simply chat, receiving visits f r o m outside w i t h o u t being subject to any supervision. A f t e r dinner those w h o do not spend the evening outside gather again in the study hall, w h e r e they prepare their lessons for the next day. Saturday is a holiday, Sunday a day of rest. T h e students frequently present concerts and organize evening entertainments. Vacations are frequent and long, and teachers and pupils are on friendly terms. T h r o u g h o u t the day youngsters of b o t h sexes are together, sharing the same studies and the same games, w i t h o u t surveillance. T h e rooms they occupy are in t w o wings of the same building. In the United States the system is called "coeducation," and is carried to its farthest limit, a system based on the notion of the complete freedom of individuals and their willingness to accept personal responsibility. In Brazil a physician informed me that one could cure yellow fever either by treating it w i t h heat and alcoholic spirits or else w i t h ice and milk. It is probable that in educational matters the t w o extremes likewise can produce an identical effect. In France w e succeed w i t h one m e t h o d , while the coeducational system followed at O a h u College, very m u c h in favor t h r o u g h o u t the U n i t e d States, has always produced satisfactory results. I d o not believe, however, that the Hawaiian level of high school instruction is as rigorous as

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that of our secondary schools in France. Indeed, I would not venture to endorse the view that this mixing of young men and young girls may have no disadvantages and dangers, even among AngloSaxons, whose character, social customs, and living conditions are so markedly different from our o w n . However, an educational system involving vigorous young people of both sexes accustomed from childhood to self-direction, w h o respect each other and act responsibly on reflection, has one distinct advantage. It prevents the type of mental strain and anxiety that can become so disastrous in the case of students of only moderate ability. The schoolboys and and schoolgirls of Oahu College are taught, well before their maturity, the facts of life, including its hazards and pains. They have no need after graduation for an initial apprenticeship in the school of worldly experience, a period so fatal for many of our secondary male graduates after they leave their boyhood prisons. The graduates of Oahu College are certainly a proof that coeducation can be justified—but w h y don't they all prefer to marry one another? After having studied the question, I ' m inclined to admit that coeducational institutions have certain merits, but even so I ' m not sure that, should occasion arise, I would choose the American system for my own daughters.

I n o w approach a delicate subject: "Society." In Hawaii it's necessary to abandon fashionable theories and rules of our European capitals, derived from the classical school. In the Hawaiian Kingdom one is in a museum full of genre paintings. These seem somewhat discordant, even repugnant, when judged by conventional principles instilled in us by our French education and training. Yet when examined within their o w n setting, and as viewed in the clear light of day, island manners and the Polynesian way can become enchanting. The white population, except for the Portuguese immigrants, is principally made up of American, English, and German settlers of t w o kinds: the "businessman" or man of affairs and the "mechanics," the laborers. These are simply different categories, but not

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superior or inferior classes. The individuals who compose the two groups share in general (there are certain exceptions) the same sort of origin, together with a common stock of knowledge. Indeed, the "mechanic" becomes a "businessman" as soon as his bank account permits it. Furthermore, with respect to educational qualifications, social manners, living standards, habitual behavior, and such, the mechanic is unquestionably superior to our typical French laborer. He works fewer hours in Hawaii, receives a much better wage, and even participates in the intellectual life of the country. In accord with American ideas, he is conscious of his freedom and dignity. He calls himself a gentleman and looks and speaks like a gentleman. A young man who has spent the day barefoot, a field laborer working out of town, can be encountered in the evening in the most elegant drawing-rooms, wearing a dress coat, white tie, handsome polished shoes; as a dancer he's probably an expert. The mechanic in the American style practices every trade except that of house servant, which he considers contrary to his principles as a free man. The Hawaiian horse-cab, very clean and nicely fitted out, is a hooded two-seated carriage with two identical seats, one behind the other. The coachman is a respectable fellow suitably garbed. Charging a substantial fare per person, he is most accommodating about transporting you wherever you'd like to go. He talks amiably with the ladies, offers cigars to the gentlemen, and if he has had several times the pleasure of your company he'll never fail to greet you if by chance you meet him again. The triumph of democracy and egalitarian ideas has been made much easier thanks to the yellow races. To these have been assigned the heaviest types of labor, and they therefore constitute a lower class, an essential factor in any regime, no matter what may be its political structure and legal arrangements. It is the "businessman" who represents what we call "society." The term is sufficiently vague to describe a general category whose broadest limits comprise all species, from the chancellor of the kingdom to the shopkeeper, and include the banker, the clergyman, the physician, the grocer. Just as in the United States, people in Hawaii ignore distinctions and nuances to which we in France attach such great importance.

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N o occupation in the islands is more dignified than any other—only more or less remunerative. The businessman never specializes. W h e n quite young he takes a job in a shop or office, and depending on his lucky star becomes successively bookkeeper, junior hardwareman, customs-house clerk, bookseller, postmaster-general, drygoods-and-"novelty" merchant, and banker. In order to trace the origins of "society" in Honolulu, it is necessary to hark back to the first American missionaries and their descendants. In her memoirs, one of the earliest missionary ladies tells how, soon after arriving in the islands and while still living in grass huts, they conscientiously "paid calls" and invited each other to "tea parties." The missionaries had flocks of children w h o became merchants and men of property (land purchased at paltry prices) and thus amassed great fortunes. A m o n g these early folk are certain adventurous characters, a goodly number of them deserters from the whaling ships, who by their intelligence and industry have profited greatly from the country's development. Having firmly established themselves in Hawaii, they acquired families, achieved honorable reputations, and ended their careers as men of importance. Finally, the rampant growth of the sugar industry has attracted to the kingdom a variety of specialists and experts—talented merchants in particular—soon followed by lawyers, doctors, dentists, and teachers of every sort. And thus sociability—an atmosphere of group friendliness and spontaneity—has sprung up over the years and flourished. It is easy to make money in the islands, and it is even easier to spend it, assisted by limitless credit, the consequence of a law that allows no insolvent debtor to leave the kingdom's shores. People build handsome houses, furnish them luxuriously, import horses and carriages from San Francisco, gowns and hats from Paris. Eventually everyone is acquainted with everyone else, and "society" meets itself on neutral grounds: in the palace, at the club, aboard battleships at lavish parties, or on the Fourth of July when an anniversary ball is held to celebrate American independence. In the commercial district men mingle with their kind in all the different busi-

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ness circles and clubs of which they are members. And so do the businessmen's wives, in their ritualized visits, displaying their frills and furbelows in a temperature of 86 degrees. O n the whole they consort with one another most amiably, but because they are relatively few and select and cut off from the rest of the world, they are obliged to rely on their o w n social resources, sometimes for three weeks at a stretch with no news from outside. A small-town atmosphere therefore predominates. People fall into cliques or coteries. The descendants of missionaries hold themselves apart; the English look d o w n their noses at the Americans, w h o in turn tend to disdain the part-whites. In other words, everyone keeps an eye on everyone else, criticizes, is jealous, invents tales about the neighbors, falls to quarreling, becomes reconciled. Fortunately the special characteristic of Honolulu "society" above all else is its demand for amusement. I d o n ' t think any other t o w n exists in which people are so voraciously hungry for pleasure. The season for entertainments and distractions lasts throughout the entire year: dinners, evening parties, concerts, balls, play performances, tableaux vivants, picnics, horseback rides, carriage excursions, boating parties both by day and by night. In form and appearance all these pleasures assume a European guise, but with peculiar variations owing to the unique conditions of the country. The special concessions allowed the native element of the country and, of course, the tropical climate form a combination abounding in charm for the foreigner. Liberty and freedom from constraints are even greater than in the United States. The young girl—the person of prime importance—leads what we in France would consider a careless young bachelor's mode of life. She goes about everywhere meeting her friends, spending t w o or three days with this one or that, travels abroad, organizes entertainments of all kinds—even moonlight bathing parties. At home she receives some young man she was casually introduced to, accompanies him to a ball or to the theater, joins him for an evening's carriage ride as if it were in the afternoon. She has read all the books, seen every play, makes no pretense of innocence—a state she confounds w i t h ignorance. She goes to great trouble to improve her

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beauty so as to become the target of attention, investing Americanstyle "flirtation" with the inherent grace and poetry of the land. I don't wish to discuss the benefits and disadvantages of American educational ideals and a woman's claim to her freedom. I hasten, however, to explain: in Hawaii gallantry is actually more apparent than real. Honolulu is not, as has been alleged, the capital of the island of Paphos. People accept the fact that it is quite natural for a young man to court a young girl, desire to see her often and alone, and so fall in love with her. One is not blind to the fact that tender conversations occur in the islands, ardent exchanges, squeezings of the hand, and the myriad privileges that typify the expression of love. But one also realizes that this familiar love-game leads not to shameful misconduct but to the honorable union of the lovers in matrimony. In Honolulu the events of everyday life are subject to the same laws, rules, and customs that govern these matters in the United States. Marriage ceremonies generally take place at the home of the bride, during the evening, and in the drawing-room or parlor of the parents. The reception begins fifteen minutes after the ceremony. The wedded couple stand at the far end of the largest room in the house, under a sort of canopy, its chief feature being a huge floral arrangement in the shape of a wedding bell. Standing on the couple's right and left are the best men and the bridesmaids, the latter carrying large bouquets. All the relatives and friends file by to greet the king and queen of the day, to voice their congratulations. As soon as the procession ends, the orchestra strikes up a quadrille, performed by the married couple and their train. The wedding cake (a custom borrowed from England) is then cut and distributed. In a neighboring room guests admire the display of gifts, the customary pieces of jewelry, travel clocks and watches, spoons and card cases, and objects of dubious value disguised by their wrappings or fancy boxes. Ballroom dancing, followed by a supper, concludes the nuptial festivities. I've often heard admiring mention of the skillful management demonstrated at dinner parties and dances in Honolulu. The new residences are equipped with electric lights, parlors and dining-

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rooms are large, high-ceilinged, luxuriously furnished, and decorated with an abundance of flowers. Women are garbed in elegant outfits, low-cut dresses made whenever possible in Paris, London, or San Francisco—and sometimes, I would guess, even in Honolulu. The general appearance and all the minutest details are well taken care of. Some pure Hawaiians—Kanakas—along with part-whites are invited to the social entertainments of the foreign colony. Native guests have a talent for adjusting completely to the setting in which they find themselves. The young part-white girl is generally considered to be the prettiest, also the most gracious and amiable, being mindful that among her ancestors the unique religious role of the woman was to make the man happy. She thus desires to give pleasure and to exhibit a rather sensuous type of charm that renders her seductive indeed. Despite a dusky complexion, it is not uncommon to see her leave the kingdom married to some rich American tourist. Theater-going is an occasional but rare pleasure in Hawaii. Sometimes an American company, making a tour and on its way to Australia, stops off between two steamers, or else some players, having lost favor in California, arrive to try their fortune in a remote country. The performance is invariably poor. I've heard Faust acceptably sung, but the orchestra was a piano and a violin and the choruses consisted of three men and four women. It is performances of the amateurs that make Honolulu remarkable. One would find it difficult to imagine a Sullivan operetta performed by the young men and women of the town. Yet the work selected after numerous discussions is perfectly staged, with splendid costumes that required months of careful study and preparation. Everybody contributes something, the music teachers organizing the orchestra with the help of instrumentalists from the military band. Choruses are composed of the finest voices and the prettiest women, the chief roles being performed by local celebrities. As a rule the company presents at most only three or four performances. Expenses are covered, special workers are paid, and the surplus receipts are donated to some charitable work. These evenings are gala events in Honolulu soci-

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ety. The theater is small but comfortable, the stage sufficiently large, and scenery and equipment are admirably managed. There are only t w o loges, one the box seat of the monarch; and the other, opposite it, is reserved for the theater's banker-owner. Audiences are cordial, indeed enthusiastic, taking a keen interest in the work itself as well as in its interpreters, w h o are all either relatives or friends. The house is brilliantly lighted, and in the orchestra seats and the first balcony the gowns are notably décolleté. For men, black evening dress predominates. H o w different from our o w n provincial theaters! The Anglo-Saxon cannot enjoy himself unless garbed in evening attire. At a fashionable affair he desires, above all, good manners and proper form. He possesses that talent so lacking in France of dividing one's life in two: by day the shop assistant, in the evening the gentleman. An annual event in Honolulu, one much talked about long in advance and demanding much preparation, is the day of the horse races, June 11. O n that occasion it is pointless to look for local color and an authentic Hawaiian atmosphere. For twelve hours one is in England. The racetrack is a short distance from t o w n , a broad plain at the base of nearby mountains. The grandstands are numerous and amply provided with seats. The royal court, the jockey club, and several millionaires occupy their o w n special pavilion. Since morning the entire local population has been finding its way to the race course and is n o w installed there for the day. The scene is a pretty one indeed. Men and w o m e n alike dress appropriately for the occasion, the ladies wearing large gauzy veils and the racing colors of their favorite. Jockeys look as if they had arrived yesterday f r o m Epsom D o w n s . The racing commissioners, handsomely mounted and wearing gray top hats, speed past the grandstands at a gallop. Numerous horses have been entered in the events. At a considerable cost, several plantation owners maintain racing stables filled with the offspring of mares and stallions imported from England and the United States. Lunch hour provides the familiar picture of napery being unfolded and the serving of delicious pastries and quantities of champagne. In the afternoon, the races begin with local horses, fol-

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lowed by the trotters. These are harnessed according to the American practice to t w o enormous steel-wheeled contraptions which carry the jockeys. Grandstands show their excitement by shouting hurrahs, and the betting is even brisker than in the morning. A conscious effort is required not to forget that one is in Hawaii among the Kanakas. Only when returning to the dusty crowded roadside scorching in the sun does one rediscover those bronzed Hawaiian faces with their large melting eyes, men and women alike bedecked with wreaths and necklaces of Hawaiian flowers. These watchers, too, have been present during the races, and now in their long cavalcades are happily riding homeward. In the evening, at the English Club, attendance is heavier than usual, voices louder, more glasses are drained, and the next day the straight-laced puritan newspaper, always morose, sadly declares that if perhaps the races are useful to the horse breeders, they are certainly a boon to the liquor dealers of Hawaii.

American manners and modes predominate in Hawaii for several reasons. They derive from the nearest country, the people with w h o m Hawaii's destiny is commercially most involved. American ways are furthermore the most practical, the simplest, and the most natural. Thus American ways are the easiest to imitate and adopt in new countries. Above all, Honolulu has borrowed to excess the modern predilection for group organization, the formation of clubs, societies, circles, and so on, for an endless variety of purposes. These associations hold meetings, establish rules and regulations, elect presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries, and treasurers. Such groups provide occasions for lectures and speeches, hold banquets, stage parades, adopt uniforms. The most trivial excuse is enough to found an association of this sort, and once born the organism never dies. It has been declared a small capital and named its officials; it will survive down the centuries. Here, as a factual curiosity, is a very incomplete listing of associations that flourish in the Hawaiian Kingdom.

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Chamber of Commerce Agricultural society Insurance association Temperance societies Racing clubs Circles (miscellaneous) Mutual aid societies Charitable organizations Firemen's societies Societies for religious propaganda Boating clubs Rifle clubs Athletic clubs Sports clubs Protestant congregations, each with church or meeting hall Masonic lodges

And a countless number of political clubs, musical groups, and dance organizations. Furthermore, sixteen newspapers are published in Honolulu, four of them dailies. What vitality for so scanty a population!

I receive an enormous printed card, an invitation decorated with the Hawaiian coat-of-arms and gold lettering, worded thus: The Chamberlain of the Queen's household, by order of Her Majesty, invites Mr. to a ball at Iolani Palace on at eight-thirty in the evening. Uniforms will be worn.

The gardens are lighted by torches and Venetian lanterns. The palace, with all its doors and windows wide open, is brilliantly

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illuminated from top to b o t t o m by a thousand electric lights. Stationed along the grand stairway stand sentries shouldering arms. In the " h a l l " officers from the queen's military staff receive the arriving guests. The salons and parlors are already thronged, and below the veranda a large crowd of foreigners have foregathered. The Kanakas, in fact, are lost among the white guests and the partwhites. At 8:45 the throne room is formally opened and the reception begins: the cabinet ministers, leading government dignitaries, members of the foreign diplomatic corps, all enter one after another according to protocol following a prearranged order of appearance. The queen wears a white ball g o w n adorned with golden butterflies, w i t h the broad ribbon of one of her royal orders across her shoulder. She is seated on the throne, while members of the royal family stand nearby. Behind them are the queen's maids of honor and aides. T h e court chamberlain, a handsome figure in dress uniform, announces the presentations. As the guests are greeted, they take their places along one side of the throne room, while the procession of nearly one thousand persons continues to file past without interruption. As soon as the presentations have ceased, an orchestra outside under the colonnade sounds a signal for the dancing to begin. Her Majesty, on the arm of a prince, moves from group to group while a second orchestra arrives to take its position in the throne room. A courtly quadrille is already under way. I stroll about examining details. The open buffet is abundantly supplied w i t h iced drinks. In the galleries outside, pairs of chairs are disposed here and there, destined to facilitate "flirtation." Every salon is adorned with exquisite arrangements of flowers. O n the upper floor of the palace, where the private apartments have been partially opened, I notice a pretty little parlor marked by none of that cheerless and rather chilling decor that distinguishes the rooms on the first floor. The furnishings here are tasteful but also fashionable to an extreme: thick carpets; appropriate curtains and wallhangings; voluminous armchairs, comfortably low; some cabinet oddities crammed with knick-knacks and ornamental souvenirs; a grand piano draped with heavy Chinese silk. Alone, off in a corner

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of the room, a kahili (the tall feather-standard symbolizing royalty) reminds one h o w far we have traveled f r o m the Boulevard Haussmann! O n one side of this room stands the old work-desk of Kalakaua, and not a thing has been changed. In the middle of the room is an immense writing table covered with documents and papers; next to it a revolving bookcase; along the walls some low glass cases filled with silver trophies, mementoes of the king's voyage around the world. By a w i n d o w stands a life-sized marble statue of the Venus de Milo. I scan the titles of the books that fill this room. Almost all have been published in London or N e w York: historical treatises; Pacific voyages; everything in print on Polynesia; a complete set of the Almanacs of Gotha, whose well-thumbed pages appear to have been frequently consulted; finally some works on the physical sciences, particularly on electricity. I discover a table beneath the wall telephone and upon it a great liquor cabinet of cut glass. An eloquent reminder of the late king, it is always unlocked. I go d o w n again. The festivities are at their height. The young girls, all excellent dancers, waltz with the American flair. Their dresses, fresh and elegant, very pastel in shade, blend beautifully with the dress uniforms of the foreign naval officers. T h e impression given is that of London. At 11:00 the queen and her courtly circle lead the way to the spacious dining room, where a supper has been laid, similar to the refreshments served in all countries on high occasions. T h e center table is reserved for the monarch and the official persons. The general public find their seats anywhere, along the line of buffets, or outside under the colonnade, displaying the same mixture of confusion and good form usual at smart parties during the champagne hour. Just before midnight sounds, H e r Majesty retires to her o w n private apartments, and the ball continues for several hours more. During this entire evening I never heard a soul utter a single word of Hawaiian. As I leave by way of the main entrance to the palace gardens, the American admiral also departs in one of the royal coaches, a commodious eight-spring affair, returning him to

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his flagship in the harbor. The driver and footman, both natives, are wearing white stockings, red livery, and tricorne hats. I confront the tall statue of Kamehameha I on his pedestal across the street facing the palace, where he has missed none of this evening's royal revelry. Is the artisan satisfied with his work, this great genius w h o was the first instrument of progress in Hawaii?

IX AN EXCURSION TO KILAUEA CRATER From Honolulu to Hilo. — The Big Island and its capital. — The trip to the volcano. — Kilauea Crater. — The tourist register. — Hawaii's south coast. — Kealakekua Bay.

It is perhaps heresy to say so, but I think comfort is something to be desired in any country when traveling. Even though lovers of the picturesque say they miss the old-time stage coaches, sailing vessels, brigands, and country inns, such romancers have roamed the world only in imagination. Without so much as leaving their armchairs, they are satisfied with daydreaming their adventures and dangers and endless hardships. But what I want and am always looking for is the opposite: the great ocean liner speeding across the water, the spacious and well-ventilated cabin, and the most recent and marvelous of inventions. Such were my melancholy reflections aboard the Kinau, the miserable little steamer on which I had secured passage, along with Mr. and Mrs. S., my fellow passengers from Oahu to the island of Hawaii. Our purpose was to visit Kilauea's famous crater. T h e distance between Honolulu and Hilo, the point on the coast of Hawaii where we were scheduled to land, is not very great, scarcely 230 miles. The Kinau, however, is a remarkable relic out of the Hawaiian past. Avoiding direct routes, the Kinau pokes along coastlines, stops here and there to take on a passenger or unload a box of groceries. Nothing can hasten the Kinau; with her itinerary she has no competition, and the schedule depends on the nature of the errands and the state of the sea and weather. It is now December and the ocean is stormy. The huge waves originating in distant parts of the globe resist all obstacles; confined between the islands, they lose their smooth uniformity and crash against the rocks, wild and agi-

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tated. Affected simultaneously by the rolling and pitching, our small steamer is now being battered by that peculiarly dangerous sort of agitation known to mariners as " t h e frying-pan motion." The Hawaiian Islands on the map seem almost to touch each other. They are nevertheless relatively isolated from each other. The largest, Hawaii, is separated from its neighbor, Maui, by a channel twenty-six miles wide, and one wonders how an outrigger canoe hewn in olden times from the trunk of a tree, the only model of construction known to the early natives, could successfully journey such a distance. W h e n Kamehameha I, the famous Napoleon of the Hawaiian people, left Hawaii to undertake the conquest of his kingdom, accompanied by his army of several thousand men, he must have taken with him a cohort of warriors w h o m our modern military tacticians categorize as "dispensable" manpower. N o Hawaiian of today would be so foolhardy as to embark on so hazardous an adventure. Though the old-style canoe remains their preferred vessel for fishing, the first choice of Hawaiians for traveling from island to island is the regular public-service craft of today. At nightfall I went to inspect the portion of the deck reserved for second-class passengers. There I found some sixty human bodies piled helter-skelter in extremely limited space, wedged in among their miscellaneous bags and belongings: men, women, and children, specimens of every race, including a number of Japanese and Chinese, together with immigrants from Sweden and Portugal. Almost all were sunk in slumber and snoring, like dead-tired animals. They were migrating from one island to the next, seeking better-paid work or a less brutal foreman. The Kanakas, however, many of w h o m were sitting on their heels and traveling purely for the pleasure, were mostly on their way to visit a relative or friend w h o lives on a mountainside and is ready to share with them, for an indefinitely prolonged period, the paltry living they make. All of the Hawaiians were wearing flower leis. In one corner a young girl, accompanied by her guitar, appeared to be teaching a new song to her companion. But what an illustration of promiscuity—altogether what a mass of rags and flesh! The sickening stench compelled me to withdraw, for the scene as a whole was not one that a

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fastidious person would find congenial. It was like a stable or cattleyard. Humanity is not beautiful when viewed in such intimate quarters. Several times during the pitch-black night the ship's engines stop. Leaning out over the bulwarks, I keep my eyes fixed on the lighted lantern down below on the landing boat, as it is lowered into the sea, accompanied by a clanking of chains and a babble of voices. Then I listen to the sound of the oars beating in cadence through the waves, before both light and sound disappear in the dark distance. One hour passes. At last the returning dinghy is hoisted into its customary berth on the deck. Slowly we again take to sea. Thus a single bag of mail has been unloaded onto a secluded beach in a bay, at a single spot where formerly a sizable native village existed, but where now rise the tall chimneys of a sugar mill amidst immense fields of sugar cane. Next morning we are in sight of the island of Hawaii: a bristling wall of cliffs, buttressing stretches of arid coastland. Everywhere one looks there are scattered rocks within whose cracks and crannies grow a few miserable shoots of grass. Beyond and above the rocky disarray rises a mountain ridge that ultimately is lost among the clouds. The whole region is a desolate wilderness, incapable of agricultural development because the lack of water has condemned it to permanent sterility. Nevertheless, in earlier times a substantial number of Hawaiians lived in this abandoned wasteland. Low on the mountainside there still exist the foundations of an ancient sacred enclosure, the site of one of the great temples of the Hawaiian archipelago. There, for century after century, in front of carved wooden idols representing both human beings and animals, took place bloody orgies of human sacrifice, whose horrors have been recorded in Hawaiian legends. But then came the white man. What remains of the temple is a heap of stones and a much depleted population of degenerate descendants. Civilization has accomplished a more murderous feat than did the preceding barbarism. The powerful impression of a dying people is evident throughout the whole chain of islands. On the Big Island, however, traces of the past are still clear, vestiges of

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yesterday are both eloquent and plentiful. Ruins such as these make it impossible for their viewer to escape a sense of sorrow and loss. I have studied the principal causes that have prevented the peoples of the Pacific from living successfully side by side with the AngloSaxon race. The reasons are abundant: the new customs and habits imposed upon the native folk by the first puritanical missionaries; the obligation to wear clothing and w o r k laboriously; drunkenness and debauchery, two vices which the earliest traders taught to all the newly discovered peoples in order to swell the sales of their merchandise; and all varieties of disease, including leprosy, an affliction introduced from the Old World; finally, the mental and moral shock caused by this sudden revolutionary event—the appearance of the white race. The result is that the natives have sensed their inferiority. They have not understood what was wanted f r o m them. Allowing themselves to be exploited, both their abilities and their sturdy arms, they have attempted to imitate the foreigners but without a sufficient period of transition. T h u s they have lost all the principles, whether true or false, that formerly gave them guidance, and they have not been replaced by anything else. The strongest and most energetic, the chiefs, have abandoned their invaded lands. Others have identified themselves w i t h the foreigner, producing in consequence more children of mixed blood, a group whose number mounts w i t h each passing day. T h e newcomers have superimposed upon the natives their o w n character, their customs, attitudes, and laws. T h e Kanaka has been placed in the role of a child presented with a pistol or gun before understanding h o w to employ it. The entire race is disappearing visibly and whole stretches of coastal regions are becoming still more barren and dry. Near every grave an abandoned grass hut collapses. Left to itself, nature little by little effaces every trace of the w o r k of human hands. We spend a second night aboard the Kinau. The sea is more rough than it was yesterday, as we proceed along the enormous walls of stone that make Hawaii's cliffs a wondrous curiosity in this part of the world. N o w we are facing the finest and most productive of the island's lands. Water is plentiful here, sometimes plunging from the

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rocky summits directly into the sea—towering cascades that become threadlike and misty before meeting the surf below, surf that beats continually against the shore. Occasionally the nocturnal darkness is broken by intervals of relative light, and then we are able to discern distinctly the sugar mills operating at night with the help of electricity. T h e Kinau, however, continues on her way without stopping, for no communication with the land is possible. A young w o m a n , returning to a plantation we happen to be passing, is obliged to remain aboard our vessel because a safe landing appears impossible. In fact she will probably have to pass by the plantation several times before an opportunity to disembark occurs. But I do not k n o w whether the term " d i s e m b a r k " exactly describes this procedure. First a basket is attached to a long cable that is let d o w n from the cliff until it reaches the deck of the ship f r o m which it plucks, in a sort of one-shot flight, the prospective passenger or sometimes a case of merchandise. At about four o'clock in the morning, while we were rounding a mountainous peninsula, a red cloud loomed overhead in the night sky, a bright red definitely produced by flames. This was actually a reflection in the sky of the crater of Kilauea, although the volcano was still quite far away. Because it was so high in the heavens, the cloud was visible f r o m almost all points on the island after sunset. An hour later the sea turned calm. The Kinau finally entered Hilo Bay, the engine stilled, and a chain slid rapidly past m y feet. The anchor was being dropped for the very last time after a voyage of forty hours. D a w n was pure delight. The high red cloud turned to rose as the surrounding blackness changed to gray. Far in the distance a clear shaft of daylight showed, and almost imperceptibly shapes and forms began gradually to assume new contours. First the beach emerged as a kind of semicircle, dominated by the shadowy forms which became tall palm trees. At a second level the houses revealed themselves, including several steeples protruding f r o m among the thick web of trees. Finally, as the light grew more intense, sunshine penetrated everywhere and dispersed every lingering shadow. It was then that the mountain on the horizon became distinct, its outline

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sharpened in every detail. Nearby us we also discovered a tiny island, marked out by a veritable forest of giant coconut trees, as if intentionally planted to relieve the monotony of so great an expanse of salt water.

Hilo, the second largest t o w n of the kingdom, is to Honolulu what suburban Asnieres is to Paris. Hilo is a quite sizable village, most notable because of its luxuriant foliage and its unusual variety of churches. The spacious houses are surrounded by handsome but poorly cared for gardens. In Hilo it rains perpetually. For this reason, and also because the sun never relinquishes its rights and privileges, the town's vegetation is more multiform, more intensely green, and altogether more lovely than that of any other portion of the island. Little streams appear everywhere, produced by the steady flow of water from the higher slopes. The largest of the town's reservoirs, capacious enough to form a river, supplies water to the separate mains that distribute it to the houses of Hilo. Much in evidence at every shop where there are goods for sale, indeed claiming the place of honor, are rubber raincoats, waterproof footwear, and umbrellas. Covered bridges are built with zinc roofing to keep them from premature rotting. In one single street of Hilo there are four churches. It is reported that the town boasts one house of worship for every fifty inhabitants. In fact, Hilo is the hearth and home of evangelical zeal and proselytism. This is partly because of the town's isolation, but it is also a result of the type of spiritual fare available to the more intellectual element of the community, who are offered only a peculiarly intolerant and contentious type of spiritual sustenance. In Hilo it is the Protestants w h o are the victors. In numbers, wealth, and intelligence they take the lead. The Americans do the preaching, the Hawaiians debate the Biblical texts, and the Portuguese—in order to make a good impression on the plantation owner—are persuaded to embrace a new Credo. In Hilo, France is represented by two R o m a n Catholic missionaries w h o lead by no means easy lives. I am nevertheless convinced that the Roman Catholic schools are better

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attended than the public schools. Their local church is quite a large one, flanked by t w o bell towers. Great effort has been expended in keeping the steeples standing and intact because of the frequency of earthquakes. W i t h Father M. as my guide, I explored on horseback not only the town but also its vicinity. Everything I saw indicates that poverty is unknown in Hilo. Houses, small box-like wooden cottages, are sturdily built and nicely painted. Public buildings look as if new. As elsewhere in the archipelago, the American enjoys all the advantages of the conqueror. He is the dispenser of power and influence and constitutes the most affluent class. Small retail shops are owned and operated by Chinese, while the majority of day laborers are Japanese and Portuguese. Although among the mercantile groups one finds an occasional Hawaiian, most of the natives have moved to mountainous areas, where life is simpler and easier. They have done so because of the growth of the plantations. These back-country people live on lands bordering the forests, where they find everything suited to their needs, especially various sorts of plants, fruit, and game. The island's large and still virginal areas are well supplied with domestic animals that have reverted to life in the wild. It is good country for hunting pheasants, turkeys, pigs, stray cattle, and wild dogs. Father M. told me that he had discovered a Frenchman living in a thatched house with a Kanaka family, probably a sailor w h o had jumped ship. This fellow was so happy that he refused to go to Hilo, for to him the town represented the very worst aspect of civilization: the obligations and constraints of living as a laborer. We arrive atop one of Hilo's several heights, at the base of an immense lava flow only ten years old and as yet not covered by vegetation. Molten lava flows down in all directions toward the sea from the main central range of Hawaii's mountains. The black streams of incandescent lava, in a state of fluidity like that of honey and sometimes several kilometers broad, originate inland from certain huge fissures. Each flow represents an eruption out of the Hawaiian past, demonstrating, according to legend, the fury of the goddess Pele. Such periodic scourges are permanent threats in volcanic areas, the fiercest of divine punishments. W i t h utmost sud-

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denness and speed, the inundation continues unchecked, invades everything in its course, so that pastoral streams are replaced by rivers of fiery lava. " N o w get ready for the big s h o w ! " Father M. warns me. " W e ' r e going to visit R a i n b o w Falls. All visitors say they're magnificent, and I ' m told English travelers come all the way from England to see them." The priest's smile is frank and very winning. He strikes me as quite undisturbed, even blasé, so far as the oddities and even the pagan beliefs of his parishioners are concerned. Such an attitude is surely quite natural for someone w h o serves as guardian of a public monument, say an Arc de Triomphe or a national Panthéon. O n e does not expect such a person to conceal his o w n skepticism, especially when a tourist is too easily impressed and carried away by the marvel on display. We tether our horses to a tree and make our way through a barrier of tall grasses and weeds. T h e sun is scorching hot, but does not succeed in drying out the wet soil underfoot, for the vegetation is too thick and deep. Father M . slowly walks in front of me, making a passageway through the entangled bushes and vines. Suddenly he comes to a halt, having reached a more dense barrier of g r o w t h . We are on a crest. At out feet, 20 meters below, lies a perfectly circular lake above which a waterfall descends in t w o distinct stages, both voluminous and both making a tremendous noise. The sun strikes this liquid mass and releases a heavy vapor, which in turn produces hazy effects of light that momentarily alter and become fascinatingly transformed. T h e sight reminds one of that famous fountain in Paris, in the Champs-de-Mars, where the luminous changing colors astonish every visitor. The whole natural setting is like a scene out of Fairyland. T h e lake is peacefully smooth, without so much as a ripple. Its excess water disappears f r o m sight, concealed by the surrounding greenery. Imprisoned by the high walls of stone that protect it from the approach of visitors, the pool is a transparent and untroubled blue. Surrounding the pool, perched on crags or hanging f r o m the rocky shelvings, are great clumps of exotic holly, ferns, and the

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lushest of carpet-like mosses. Here and there, punctuating this green tapestry, are bunches of red and yellow blossoms. The overall effect is so strangely romantic that one would like to linger, dreaming of old fables, peopling their regions with famous historic divinities. Normally, such trance-like visions of harmonious perfection are better realized through the pleasures of art than by the perfect harmony of nature. But time flies and my companion draws me away. I am careful not to share with him the poetic associations that my imagination has encouraged me to describe. Certainly it would be easy for him to mistake me for one of Thomas Cook's most enthusiastic tourists! This evening I rejoin my friends, members of the S. family, at the home of the manager of one of the sugar plantations. This gentleman, who has welcomed us with charming hospitality, is one of those numerous subjects of Queen Victoria whom one might meet anywhere in the world, a married man with many children, markedly intelligent, and totally absorbed in his business affairs. He well understands how to make his own fortune and simultaneously reap profits for his shareholders and investors. Furthermore, he does this without himself becoming a part of the country he is exploiting. In fact, I have discovered here in Hawaii a little corner of England transplanted. His house is extremely comfortable, possessing every bourgeois amenity to be found in a small English town. One dresses for dinner. To complete the illusion, a rainy drizzle outside is settling into a fog. If only coal were burning in the fireplace, I could without straining imagination believe that I am in a Yorkshire suburb and visiting the home of one of my English friends. ' V In the morning we set off by carriage in the direction of Mauna Loa, the huge mountain famous for being the location of Kilauea volcano. The route is ravishingly beautiful, deeply shaded and refreshingly cool, rising at a very gentle grade. We pass through cane fields in full flower, then through barer uncultivated lands, finally reaching a virgin forest that would be difficult to penetrate without a hatchet. On all sides we find a confusion of trees—trees

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of all sorts, but all tall and captive to the clutches of surrounding underbrush and vines. Occasional clearings contain orange trees loaded with fruit, along with the indigenous breadfruit tree. Yet never anywhere a trace of inhabitants. The vegetation resembles that of Brazil's forests, although it is a little less sun-baked, and consequently cooler and more green. I don't care much for forests —they are too sombre and depressing. The one we now enter is voiceless. Birds are few and do not sing. In order to escape my aroused feelings, I talk to the driver. But unfortunately he has none of the Hawaiian traits. He's an American gentleman who excuses himself for having failed to wear a more elegant type of apparel. He expresses himself in chastened English and seems to be authoritatively informed on all subjects. He came to Hawaii, he tells me, for the sake of his health. Yesterday perhaps he was a rich banker. Today he drives carriages for hire, and I should not be much surprised if tomorrow he is appointed a judge of the supreme court. The road ends in front of a modest country inn. From that point onward we continue our climb astride our mules. The path is barely recognizable among the many volcanic clinkers and occasional pools of water scattered over a very ancient volcanic base. From every fissure spring up old and well-established plants. We climb steadily through spells of sunshine and rain. And we begin to tire. Desolation stretches everywhere around us, while Mauna Loa remains fixed and unchanging, always at the same distance. Nothing can be so endless as an unknown road. The slow gradual rise remains ever the same, likewise the topmost strata of this tedious mountain. We plod our way through miserable clumps of trees that have managed to adapt to the impoverished soil. We force our passage across oceans of curious plants, entire botanical collections combining numberless varieties, from tree ferns with their superbly fringed leaves and branches to the most delicately soft mosses. Not once do we observe the slightest sign of the animal kingdom, not a single bird, not even an insect. As in earlier periods, the volcano is still today the preferred place of pilgrimage for the Kanakas. Tradition holds that the goddess Pele

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had selected the volcano as her dwelling place, and so the Hawaiians journey there from all the other islands, displaying much the same robust faith as do the Mohammedans in their pilgrimages to Mecca. They bring with them offerings: the poorest of pilgrims come with a lei of rare flowers, the rich with a piglet or an exquisite kerchief destined to be thrown into the fire as a sacrifice. Throughout the visit they are sworn to keep in mind the fact that they are performing a religious act. They must not eat, nor can they even pluck a flower. Young men and girls do not even have the privilege of dreaming of their lovers. Instead, they chant their slow-measured sacred songs pausing from time to time only to celebrate their journey's progress, carefully placing some decorative leaves upon a wayside rock so as to compensate for a plant broken by the wind. In Hawaii these time-honored customs are always infused with a subtle poetry. Above everything else the Kanaka has a heart. This people desires to please, to create around themselves a circle of happiness. Thus to their gods and their chiefs and their guests they make offerings, adorning them with the most beautiful of nature's creations. The sun is just beginning to caress the horizon. Since morning we have ascended to an elevation of more than 4,000 feet above sea level. Here we find a broader road and perceive an immediate barrier. Our mules sense the proximity of a stable and take to a gallop. Our journey has ended. We confront here civilization in its guise as a large American hotel, ultra-new, providing three salons, a billiard room, and twenty-five guest chambers equipped with all the comforts and refinements one would never expect to find on this remote mountaintop. A company has been organized to develop the facilities and attractions of the volcano and its vicinity. In the United States a promotional sales campaign has attracted already a large number of tourists. Not a single one has returned home disappointed—of this I'm convinced. But how many will set about undertaking so lengthy and arduous a journey? This evening five of us were sitting around a table. We represented four nationalities, and the maitre d'hotel serving us was

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Swiss. I ' m proud to say that to make ourselves understandable we were obliged to speak French. A Japanese, an immigration inspector, tells about his adventurous days as a student in the Latin Quarter. . . . But there was a chill in the air, and we were glad to move to the fireplace, normally a most uncommon domestic feature in Hawaii. Outside it rained and the crater was enveloped in fog, but through the window panes we still could observe that unfathomable blazing phenomenon that thrust itself upon us through the intervening screen of darkness and moisture. W h e n next morning I first awoke, it was already daylight. I rushed to the window, drawn by the sun's splendor, the brisk air, and the fair sky. T h e panoramic grandeur of the volcano unrolls before my eyes, compelling my wonder. Like many another visitor, I ' m sure, I had believed that a volcano is invariably cone-shaped. Great was my surprise therefore to learn that this is not so. T h e entire vast mass o f mountain within a few meters from me found its origin in the hollow void constituting Kilauea crater, a circular area but 15 kilometers in circumference, and forming a kind o f volcanic amphitheater, with walls 160 meters high. T h e depths o f this mountainous hole in the earth are so black that the sun causes the crater to shine with metallic reflections. Columns o f smoke intermittently escape from the fissures. About 5 kilometers away, the burning red cloud of the night before now appears in the form of a grayish mass, indicating the particular portion of the crater actually in eruption. All around us the earth exudes sulfurous vapors, arousing in every spectator ideas and images of catastrophic destruction. O f f to the right Mauna Loa's crest, covered with snow, dominates the horizon because of its height o f 3 , 3 0 0 meters. W e are reminded of the frailty of the earth's crust that supports us. We are awestruck by the thought of the formidable forces at work beneath our feet. In its total effect the scene is depressing, ungracious, sombre in the highest degree. But the grandeur in scale leads one to forget or ignore the crater's terrifying features. We fall silent in the presence of such sublime proportions, whose full range and sweep the mind is not equipped to measure. Indeed, the feeling of beauty dominates

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one's reactions. The magnificent harbor of R i o de Janeiro is the sole natural wonder that has astounded me in such a way. Again my gaze is captured, and I study the details through my binoculars, but the minutiae vanish into the final immensity of the vision as whole. The level, terraced land area where the hotel is located abounds in tall ferns, along with bushes of the ohelo berry, so pleasantly cooling to the thirsty throat. At the volcano t w o roads meet; t w o routes of travel cross affording access, through a dense area of forest land and its flowery fringes, to the opposite ends of the Big Island. O n the distant horizon the sky appears to lose itself in the ocean. O n e takes a kind of pride in feeling so small and at the same time apprehending the vastness of the world. As if by finding wings, the soul discovers its capacity to conceive and enjoy so magnificent a landscape. About four o'clock in the afternoon a small party, conducted by a guide and composed of myself and Mr. and Mrs. S., set off on an excursion d o w n to the floor of the volcano. In our various garbs and equipped with staffs and lantern (necessary for our late return), we resembled the picturesque Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon. We found the path at the start very manageable. It is pleasant to stroll through flowery green underbrush without having to look behind, unconcerned with thoughts about the long and perilous return in darkness. We soon arrived at the first horizontal stratum of relatively recent lava. The surface of the crater, of course, is subject to continual changes. According to certain travelers, the degree of build-up over a few years can amount to more than 100 meters. It is chaos, absolute chaos. Being a poor conductor of heat, molten lava immediately cools when in contact with air and for that reason keeps the shape in which it happened to rise to the surtace. Certain areas inside the crater therefore resemble a quarry after a mighty explosion of dynamite has occurred. The result is an accumulation of rocks of myriad shapes and sizes, but these are strewn about amongst volcanic fissures and cavities whose b o t t o m depths remain invisible. O t h e r weird rock formations resemble a fiercely boiling liquid that suddenly had petrified. O n e comes to recognize certain distinctive differences: the wave of lava, the vertical jet or fountain, or the swelling convexity of a generally advancing flow.

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Following our guide, we spent several hours avoiding the worst areas, but examining various natural phenomena, climbing over sizable blocks, even exploring crevasses. As w e walked, the lava would sometimes crack underfoot, making a sound like that of sugar being crushed. Mounds of ashen volcanic soil, when exposed to the slightest breeze, were occasionally caught up in whirlwinds. There were times when the heat underneath us was felt through the soles of our shoes. We drew to a halt around the base of an igneous rock shaped like an iceberg in the sea. I turned my eyes in all directions: nothing but blackness everywhere, though varied a little here and there by yellowish spots—in other words, lava shot through with sulphur. The horizon is closed in by the vast wall encircling the crater. We are far from standing firm on solid ground. In fact we have no protection from the threatening hands of Mme. Pele, as they say in the islands, and a minor shiver of the ground can give one goose flesh. This particular experience, Mrs. S. claims, is one of the pleasures of a trip to Kilauea. We continue on our way through a hotter zone, one in which the sulfurous fumes arise out of every cleft. Here the subterranean turmoil is closer and more evident, and indeed certain deep cracks are only a m o n t h old. After a final effort we arrive at the very brink of Halemaumau—the house of eternal fire. For once reality surpasses imagination. Corporeal eyes look into something greater than the dreaming eye can conjure into existence. Halemaumau can be viewed from different aspects, each distinct and different. The scale, the depth, the entire immediate image, with the surrounding bastions of solidified lava, constantly vary in such a way as to seem transformed. At this instant the crater resembles a great circular wall, a fountainhead 95 meters deep and 100 wide, containing a lake of ever-burning active lava. Always in motion and bubbling, the lake produces a low rumbling noise, the effect produced by a body of molten lava always about to break out of bounds. Lava possesses a life of its own, a life suggesting an intensity of being that defies description. The heat and the reverberations emanating from this inferno

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compelled us at once to withdraw, but still we kept returning in fascination as close as possible. We wanted to observe accurately the behavior of an especially high fire fountain when its molten matter, originating deep inside the earth, rises into the air, collapses, then crashes, and ultimately disappears. Watching such stunning natural wonders profoundly affects the nerves. It is impossible to insulate oneself from a feeling of terror. A sudden sense of utter nothingness joins with a feeling of dizziness as when staring down into a void. This immediate impression, created by the proximity of elemental non-human forces, helps us to understand why ignorance and superstition have always assigned to fire the highest status as a divinity and manifestation of supernatural power. There are certain types of lava that obviously possess both a liquidity and stickiness of texture like that of the lightest of straws; when they are caught by the wind, they fly through the air and their scintillating journey ends when they fall in long, slender, silken threads, tinged with gold and resembling spun glass. In that strange form, as legends tell us, lava is known among Hawaiians as Pele's hair. It is now nightfall and the contrast of light and darkness makes Halemaumau all the more awe-inspiring and baleful. Above our heads the red cloud persists, at our feet the flaming furnace. Details assume a sharper identity. Each fire fountain, every wave, discovers its o w n individuality. For a moment a fiery area turns black as it becomes a tiny island, and then bursts into a thousand fragments when a propulsive blast suddenly liquifies once more what remains of it. Confronted by such a mind-rending demonstration of nature's violence, good judgment gives way and we are governed only by raw emotion. Seated upon heaps of lava rock, we fall into conversation and our thoughts turn to the earth's most distant past. At one period gases such as these surrounding us were the sole overlords of the earth's surfaces. During this earliest of stages the earth was a great luminous star whose activity was determined by an astronomical system very different from that of today. Vastly older now, the terrestrial

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energy and light have become enclosed within its cooler crust. It was God's will that created a world to be inhabited by human beings. That intense brute force, which was all that existed, became the light of day as w e k n o w it through the agency of what humankind calls craters, f r o m the prosaic Greek word krater, or cooking pot. It is one of the most remarkable of such formations that we are peering into today. Indeed infinite diversity is the very essence of this mass of flames. Its black incandescence produces a thousand effects, assumes a limitless number of manifestations. Art and science conjoined someday will comprehend them. After a long interval w e return to the hotel, all of us picking our way with a lantern's aid. Physically and morally I am a wreck. I had observed the spectacle of the volcano with my o w n eyes. N o w in the heavy rain the lava underfoot becomes slippery and our progress is slow. W h y is it that so fabulous an experience should end in melancholy? V The rain continues. We are enveloped by fog. The weather is both humid and exceedingly chilly, making it impossible for the most intrepid among us to venture outdoors. We find we must spend the day around a great fire of crackling dry, old logs. I settle myself d o w n before three big guest books containing the signatures and observations of all the tourists w h o have visited Kilauea crater since February 2, 1865. And hard going it is. Every kind of indecipherable script and scribble, not to mention the triteness and poverty of the reflections. Everyone says the same thing, as if looking through the same eyes, despite the fact that the spectacle as well as the roster of spectators changes every day. Every visitor notes the exact hours of the tour; refers to the rain or fair weather; the mule he rode; the breakfast fare—matters about as interesting to preserve for posterity as initials inscribed on a rock by the blade of a knife. Almost all descriptions of the crater are laudatory and unqualified: an inflated rosary of fine-sounding adjectives, sometimes a technical exercise in quoted statistics or a schoolboy's naive drawing. I ' m reminded of the same sort of register I once came across in

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Normandy at a small beachside inn. Between the t w o memorials, however, the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon lies an abyss. T h e latter never attempts to express an individual or unique impression or to invent a more or less witty word-sketch. T h e American occasionally makes a heavy joke or takes the opportunity to advertise his business, factory, or church. As for the Englishman, he is ever the same, even when faced with a volcano. H e remains what he is by temperament and taste, a serious fellow. H e records facts and only facts—weights, measures, heights, depths, distances, sizes, including the room rates of the hotel and the curiosities he has collected to take home, if not to England then to some other portion of British territory. But h o w is it that the Englishman talks so little and writes at such great length? He will neither chat nor raise questions, and is painfully careful to avoid all theorizing and generalization. And yet, with pen in hand he turns prolix. His scientific and historical works, his legal documents and official papers, his travel books and even English novels achieve encyclopedic proportions. There is no need for the reader to read between the lines or summon imagination to plumb the significance of a sentence or the subtleties concentrated in a single word. Whatever the Englishman desires to say he conveys in minutely exhaustive detail. As I examine these guest-book listings page by page, I discover along with the Williamses and Johnsons and Browns, along with their plural adornments of initials, a very occasional well-known name. A pious hand has collected there Mark Twain's letters written during his sojourn in Hawaii in 1886, originally published in a newspaper in the United States. In this instance the brilliant humorist strikes me as well below his usual standard; here his style is one of deft reportage, intended to be both satirical and good-humored. The character and atmosphere of the islands can surely take many forms, but I do not believe a writer can tell the truth about Hawaii and at the same time draw attention only to what is comical. The ridiculous aspects of Hawaii, though hardly nonexistent, fade out of sight when viewed in a truer perspective, one that gives just prominence to Hawaii's natural beauty, the splendid sunshine, and the

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innate poetry of the country's people. W h a t would one think of a modern journalist w h o described the Court Records in the style of an epic? O r wrote a scientific essay on theatrical news? N o doubt the one choice item enshrined in the great register strikes the right note for concluding this melancholy day. I transcribe here the only entry which in my opinion is the work of a witty mind: " I ' v e rambled through the Gold Book of the Volcano, and I declare I've traveled the same road as all the others; in the same manner as all the others; seen the same sights as all the others; and my impressions are the same as all the others." For my o w n part, all I can say is that I've spent too many days in the vicinity of the crater seeing only lava, rain, and fire fountains. O n one murky afternoon, while I was sitting at the edge of Halemaumau, watching the volcano in full eruption, I became totally absorbed in that enigmatic setting. My eyes became hypnotized by my sensations, which overpowered my mental faculties. My philosophic concerns gave way to the forces of feeling, engaging in a kind of dialogue with things irrational and mindless. T h e molten lava opened up, I found myself descending into depths of perception hitherto unsounded and there I became lost. Yet in doing so I seemed to escape from the annihilating world of chaotic matter around me. In spirit I sped toward that primal and unique power belonging to God, the author of all. T h o u g h still indecisive and vague, this perception was real and carried with it irresistible authority. Is not this sudden flood of fresh understanding akin to the experience of the hermit, the isolato, of other ages, discovering himself surrounded by the beauty of this world? W i t h o u t the slightest transition, the next moment found me trembling. I n o w understand w h y it is that the cruelest punishments traditionally attributed to hell and perdition are exactly these: a clamorous rumbling, a burning heat, fire fountains, and a mysterious energy whose sources remain u n k n o w n . T h e volcano comes to exist as a puzzle, a secret in which we are compelled to believe, a most active and visible mystery, consummating all the inherited ideas rooted in our human fears: ideas which w e submis-

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sively accept despite their inexplicable character, which strike us in the very guts. A harrowing moment of truth has been survived, bringing with it sane and healthy reflections. As evening descends, despite the red cloud that still looms overhead, regrets for one's past life subside and hopes for the future are reborn. Indeed, I believe there is no place more favorable for the discipline of religious meditation than this hotel at the volcano. V " The most direct route between Kilauea and the sea is by way of Punaluu, a community on Hawaii's south coast. At Punaluu we will meet the steamer that will return us to Honolulu. We are sorry to be leaving these lofty slopes where life is easy, comfortable, and lazily simple, where even the atmosphere is fresher and softer and therefore more stimulating. Yet one is not out of touch with the outside world. A telephone line makes it possible to communicate with persons all over the island. N o w once again we are among numerous tourists. We form a regular caravan, some of us on horseback, others shut up in springless carriages, each of which is drawn by four horses. Inside these instruments of torture we are being hauled across rocky barriers and into and out of quagmires. But the descent ends safely. This opposite side of the mountain is very unlike the approach route from Hilo. Here all is arid. The lava is barely covered by any vegetation, and such bushes and plants as exist look yellowish and markedly deprived. The absence of grassy patches signifies a lack of underground moisture. Here there are no groves of green trees with roots well watered from below and branches reaching skyward toward the sun. The road continues to descend through a shallow and sickly area, devoid of flowers but covered with tall spear-shaped grasses and hard-to-kill weeds. Nor is there any sign of inhabitants, although a few grazing beef cattle indicate a neighboring ranch. In fact, its manager is one of our party, and he has supplied me with bit of curious information.

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These roaming animals drink only such moisture as is found among leaves, in the form of dew and as deposited by the heavy fogs. This whole uninviting portion of Kilauea's upland range is the reverse side of the coin represented in the scenic ascent by way of Hilo. But now, only several kilometers from the coast, we enter the extensive cane fields of the Pahala sugar plantation and its mill, whose tall chimneys dominate the horizon. Irrigation facilities have transformed these sterile acres into a gold mine, providing employment for thousands of laborers, along with handsome rewards for a hundred or so stockholders. At the plantation we noticed that a small railroad linked the factory with the village of Punaluu. Aboard another small passenger vessel named the Hall, we followed the coast of Hawaii's Kona district. The region as a whole is utterly wild and undeveloped because of its aridity, the general lack of vegetation, and especially the absence of the high forests that distinguish the island's mountainous interior. N o t a sign of a sail on the horizon, no hint of human life on land. We could easily believe ourselves cruising along the shores of a desert island. O u r vessel follows closely the coastal outline and we skirt our way around successive headlands. From time to time we come upon a tiny village sheltered within the curves of a little bay. The wooden shacks of such villages, dwarfed by the aged coconut trees towering above, are invariably accompanied by several exceptionally large churches. Very evidently these were constructed when the native population was still numerous. Some of the local Kanakas, skillfully maneuvering their narrow canoes equipped with enormous outriggers, paddle out to offer us oranges, bananas, and bags of coffee. I was especially impressed by one of these villages, Hookena, because it looked so much like a skillfully executed stage set. The effect was that of a painting whose values—drawing, color, composition— were all harmonious and precisely right. At the first level there were the boats in the water; at the second, trees, little houses, people, animals; the whole scene silhouetted against its serene mountainous background. This compound of pictorial elements reminded me of the landscape art of the Bourbon restoration, when drawing teachers insisted on very finished and finely detailed w o r k , all viv-

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idly organized around a central point of interest. It is a technique and style that infuriates our school of modern painters. Toward evening the Hall dropped anchor at Kealakekua Bay, an important historic site. Atop a high cliff on the side of the bay, one a n see from aboard ship the entrance to the caves where the Hawaiians deposited secretly and by night the bodies and bones of their chiefs, those w h o had died from sickness or w h o had been killed in battle. Today it is difficult to see exactly h o w the old Hawaiians managed to scale these cliffs and enter their apparently inaccessible caverns. There, nevertheless, the ancient warriors rest, the legendary heroes, the human embodiments of power and justice. It was at the foot of these same rocks that Captain Cook eventually met his death. The British government has erected at this spot a monument commemorating the famous navigator, a small pyramid w i t h an appropriate plaque. The village of Napoopoo is situated just on the other side of the bay, hidden among a grove of palm trees. As we were not to leave until the following morning, we decided to take our evening meal on land. Very well handled by our native sailors, our small boat crossed the reef upon the swell of a wave, and landed heavily on the shore where a crowd of Hawaiians, men and w o m e n and children, flocked all around us. N o white person was present in the vicinity. Although one of the leaders hospitably offered us the use of his house, we preferred eating our supper on the grass. The dwelling, an unusually capacious one, had once belonged to some merchant and was obviously built during a quite prosperous stage of his career. Several persons among the passengers spoke Hawaiian, and so we found ourselves circulating most informally and chatting with the villagers. The Napoopoo people seemed entirely happy to receive visitors. A superb night, calm and a little chilly, a relief after the long hot day; the sky a deep blue, but brightened by a full m o o n . I found myself exploring the neighboring countryside in the company of an extremely pretty w o m a n , the part-white wife of an American millionaire, a "professional beauty," in fact, f r o m N e w York City. She

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was being trailed by five or six half-naked children w h o stared at us in astonishment. A rudimentary road taken by chance had led us to the farthest recesses of the bay, where there is a beach of unusually fine sand. Because walking had proved difficult and tiring, we rested for a while on the ground, near an old and dilapidated grass h u t . For a long while we were silent, moved by the spot's pristine beauty. I d o n ' t believe it is possible to lose the image of certain natural settings that have become stamped upon the memory. O u r response is determined by the character and heart we bring to the m o m e n t of the experience. The glistening wave dissipates itself soundlessly at our feet, then resumes its going and coming. Opposite us floats the Hall at anchor, swaying gently. Cook's monument stands in profile at the foot of the great cliff. To the left of us a dark green mass of vegetation hides the village. The children w h o followed us, like us, are stretched out on the sand. N o sound is heard to waken the pangs of thought. And then Mrs. G. begins talking about old times, telling the stories she first heard in the cradle, the legends of her heroic ancestors. W h e n Captain Cook landed, said Mrs. G., several thousand canoes had assembled here. Very near this spot stood a native temple, and farther along was the house of the high priests. According to the reminiscences of the oldest Kanakas, certain powerful chieftains had gathered together on these very rocks, sitting there at ease. Quite carried away by her subject, Mrs. G. spoke at times as if inspired by the blood of her ancestors. As I listened, my elbows still resting on the sand, I watched Mrs. G.'s large eyes as they shone with a special intensity in the darkness. The contrast was arresting. This elegant young w o m a n , dressed in the latest of fashions, but holding a dry palm leaf as a fan, still the essence of modernity in every detail of speech, dress, attitude, comportment—a complete expression of American civilization. Yet she belongs, I found myself thinking, undoubtedly to these islands, whose dusky imprint she bears. W h e n she thinks, it is the Kanaka thinking within her. Her admiration, her heart, her soul belong with the dead, and thanks to the patina born of time, for her the

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great dead are still beautiful, strong, heroic. They are magnificent cloud-figures derived from Hawaii's recent, but not yet buried, past. At her request, the children sang for us a popular song, one that had been sung in Hawaii for centuries. And once more Mrs. G. returned to the world of dream. She can be described as a woman who perfectly represents the dual character of the people of the Hawaiian archipelago. It continues to be a condition in which civilization has been too rapidly superimposed upon the ignorance and superstition of the past. The changes induced have occurred too swiftly to form as yet a homogeneous and coherent whole. Thus ideas that are utterly modern and recent have become interwoven with customs and beliefs that remain uncivilized and uncouth, yet strangely seductive. On returning to Honolulu, as I looked back on my visit to Kilauea, I felt that I myself had been living in a dream. The Hawaiian scene today arouses in me feelings of nostalgic regret. All around me people talk chiefly about progress, for in the end the emphasis in Hawaii is always on the future. Talk revolves endlessly around the world of business affairs and the desires and needs of the people. For my part, my thoughts turn to the great Pacific Ocean and its mysteries, and I find myself wondering whether some day Mme. Pele and her volcanoes may not reclaim these islands that they originally created.

X BUSINESS The businessman. — The sources of wealth. — Commerce. — A sugar plantation. — Prosperity.

Despite the bright sun and blue horizons, n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g the poetry and song, in Hawaii j u s t as in the United States business is the sole w o r d people pronounce w i t h that special intonation implying a kind of respect. Business is the first cause and ultimate aim of all activity and t h o u g h t . To attempt to understand the Hawaii of today it is necessary to f a t h o m the meaning of this prophetic and fate-laden w o r d . T h e foreigner w h o pays no attention to it risks giving people the impression that he's a freak of nature, undoubtedly a half-wit. T h e late Parisian actor Geoffroy, famous for his role in one or another of Labiche's farces—he played the bourgeois gentleman w h o haunts the arcades and boutiques of the Palais R o y a l — p r o nounced the expression "les affaires" exactly right. H e gave it just that emphasis and nuance of suggestion that conveys perfectly the meaning of " b u s i n e s s " in English. T h e w o r d is deep, broad; it covers small matters as well as large, often as a synonym for " p r e t e x t " or "excuse." Indeed, it possesses a magical potency similar to the sacred authority of scripture. To call someone w h o o w n s landed property a businessman is to pay him the greatest possible compliment. A retail merchant deserves the same esteem w h e t h e r he purveys fancy pickles or promotes a succession of h u g e bankruptcies. In fact, everybody in Hawaii finds the businessman a sympathetic figure, for his constant concern is to " m a k e m o n e y " — a s w e say in France, "faire I'argent." This is his first object and ruling passion, t o w a r d w h i c h he dedicates all his faculties. But he is also a generous spender, as open-

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handed as he is grasping in matters of gain. He displays something of the temperament of the gambler w h o takes a greater pleasure in playing his cards than in simply making a profit. All foreigners w h o settle in Hawaii are—or w a n t to be—businessmen. ' V Almost everywhere in colonial countries it's the same. Normally the English take the honors for discovering the mother-lode for exploiting commercial opportunity. In 1825 a certain John Wilkinson, struck by the ease w i t h which sugar cane—at first intended for making alcohol and liquor—could be g r o w n around the grass huts of the natives, established the earliest small plantation in a valley near Honolulu. It was a very humble attempt but Wilkinson's success was quite impressive. T h e new farming venture developed rapidly and even altered the physical appearance of the country. The most effective agricultural methods were introduced, the most advanced types of mills were erected, and the sugar industry henceforth became Hawaii's national industry. T h e reciprocity treaty of 1876 with the United States justified all hopes, for the plantations by that time were yielding enormous profits and dividends. Today sixty large companies employ approximately t w e n t y thousand workers and export every year to San Francisco shipments of raw sugar w o r t h 60 million francs. As one skeptical wit observed, " T h e real king of Hawaii is sugar." Aside from sugar cane, which constitutes a kind of industrial commodity, the only other agricultural products of the islands are certain cereals, fruits, and raw materials. T h e Chinese g r o w rice, part of which is exported, the rest being kept for domestic consumption. Bananas are also exported, along with coffee, wool, and hides. The items shipped to markets abroad bring in revenue totalling about 5 million francs. Certain farm products are sold in the islands to local buyers: cattle, horses, sheep, poultry, eggs, taro root, vegetables, and fruits commonly found in tropical countries. T h e geographical location of the Hawaiian archipelago, mid-way across the Pacific Ocean, is furthermore the cause of an important shift in the flow of international commerce and the direction of its

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development. Formerly the Pacific whaling fleets stopped at Honolulu to dispose of their catch and to take on supplies, before departing for far northern waters. Today the whalers are less numerous, but Honolulu remains a center for transshipment and export. Moreover the city continues to be a port of choice for rest and recreation, especially for persons arriving on passenger and mail vessels linking the United States with Australia. Indeed, ships on their way to China and Japan often pause at Honolulu to take on fresh supplies, including coal—the latter imported by sailing vessel from Newcastle, Australia. Hawaii is finally a great port of rendezvous for warships and other naval vessels that fly the colors of their nations in this area of the globe. Apart from coastal transport between the several islands, a very important service in Hawaii, the annual traffic of the port of Honolulu totals about three hundred vessels, counting all sizes and nationalities. Excepting immigrants, more than four thousand passengers come and go each year and the same number pass through the port in transit. For so small a city, this is a very valuable source of profit, and local business establishments consider these vessels and their crews and passengers to be their best customers. In fact, the latest source of prosperity in the islands is the influx of tourists, particularly those w h o visit Hawaii to make the ascent to the volcano or to spend the winter months in a warm climate. T h e new tariff rates of the United States have severely injured the sugar industry, and it is apparently believed that tourism now could become a very remunerative source of income. The large number of tourists should compensate to a certain degree for the profits being lost because of the low price of sugar on the markets of San Francisco. Very recently a company has been organized to promote the tourist industry through advertising: first, to attract the attention of potential visitors; next, to facilitate travel to the islands for the express purpose of visiting the volcano; finally, to erect a hotel on the brink of Kilauea crater. An even more bold project submitted to the last legislature, likewise intended to bring in dollars, has been the proposal to create a national lottery. This scheme is modeled on the lottery of Louisiana,

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the profits from which are used to reduce possible deficits in future state budgets and also to encourage the introduction of new industries. Very properly, wiser heads will prevent the realization of such a project. Too bad—the Chinese are such avid gamblers! N o doubt they would hasten to spend in their new country the earnings they n o w send off so promptly to China.

Vigorous commercial enterprise is more important in Hawaii than it is in other countries for the following reason. Here all raw materials are exported and all manufactured articles must be imported. Furthermore, certain sorts of consumer goods are also imported, including fruit from California, potatoes from N e w Zealand, even partially assembled houses originating in the United States. N o t to forget sugar itself, for this is ultimately manufactured in the refineries of San Francisco. As a rule the very large-scale commercial firm in Hawaii does not specialize. Instead, it engages in every type of trade and does so all at the same time: that is, it simul taneously exports and imports, serving the plantations as agent. In other words, the big company assumes responsibility for determining business policy. Thus it decides to advance capital when necessary and desirable, provides the operational materials and machines, transports the raw product and markets it, deposits the proceeds and distributes the dividends. T h e big company also represents shipping agencies and marine insurance firms, covering both life and fire insurance policies; it borrows capital in Europe in order to lend it in Hawaii. In short, it can perform any commercial function that returns a profit. The large and complex business organizations are variously owned by English, German, American, and Chinese interests. The companies handle enormous stocks of merchandise which they ship directly to their island representatives from Liverpool, Bremen, or Hamburg, and from San Francisco or H o n g Kong. The company thus supplies the retailers of Honolulu, maintaining branch representatives stationed throughout the islands. They also establish warehouses and other depots at all the plantations with whose

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affairs they are involved. Take French imports, for instance: silks and light-weight textiles, wines and spirits, luxury goods, cooking oil, tinned and preserved foods, every sort of commodity related to eating and drinking, and Parisian perfumes, of course. These are all imported through agents in England, Germany, and the United States. Each of the great business houses is directed by a group of partners or associates. These figures, along with bankers and planters, constitute a kind of financial aristocracy w h o own and control all major investment in the country. Among the magnates are some who achieved fortunes in but a few years. It is only fair to add that if the new-rich owners generally leave the islands and make their homes elsewhere, their firms continue to exist in the islands and to contribute abundantly to the prosperity of the country. They do so by devoting the greatest portion of their profits to various innovative enterprises and practices. Thus they have introduced a new system for operating sugar mills with elaborate machines; enlarged the physical size of plantations and their facilities; multiplied the number of shipping lines; increased the variety of subsidiary firms, partnerships, corporations, and so forth. Furthermore, they have opened up fresh opportunities for the intelligence, enthusiasm, and energy of younger persons and foreigners newly arrived in the kingdom. The leading merchants and planters—those whom the newspapers designate as the "sugar barons"—exert a very effective and legitimate influence upon the life of the islands as a whole. Generally they do this for the good of all. In consequence, commercial credit, based on the same practices as those employed in the United States, is easily available to anyone—and in great amount. The most risky enterprises have no difficulty receiving approval from the complacent capitalists. Moreover, the business promoter in Hawaii is not burdened by intrusive legal restrictions. Legislation bearing on the establishment and operation of joint stock companies intervenes only very discreetly. Emphasis is placed upon preserving total freedom and encouraging individual initiative. There is no attempt to regulate competition, a practice so burdensome in Europe for

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persons wishing to embark on a new business venture. T h e range of opportunity for useful commercial exploitation is sufficiently broad to enable anyone to create a new enterprise w h o wishes to do so. Besides the millionaires already mentioned, there are other businessmen in Hawaii w h o , through application and diligence, can assure themselves of very comfortable livings. Such persons include physicians, attorneys-at-law, plantation managers, engineers, retail merchants, clerical help—in fact, responsible and trained persons of every category, even those w h o depend on the government budget for their salaries.

The Hawaiian Commercial Company, capitalized at 50 million francs, owns and operates the largest plantation in the whole chain of islands—some say in the entire world. The plantation is called Spreckelsville, after the name of the original owner, Mr. Claus Spreckels of San Francisco. The company's lands, located on the isthmus of land adjoining the northern and southern portions of the island of Maui, were in fact formerly an utter desert, dry and treeless, lacking green vegetation of any kind. Today the plantation has become an agricultural domain of 17,000 hectares under single ownership. It is covered with meadows and flower gardens and trees, among which 10,000 hectares are reserved for g r o w i n g cane, in an area surrounding a splendid mill, capable of producing 120 tons of sugar a day. This result has been achieved thanks to the enormous irrigation facilities which have brought water d o w n from the mountains, flowing through 80 kilometers of canals, 30 aquaducts, and through 28 tunnels. The water is finally stored in reservoirs whose capacity is sufficient to meet the plantation's needs over a period of several months. T h e American engineers deserve great credit for their role in developing the marvelous installations and equipment at Spreckelsville. The mere sight of the community's fields is enough to give one a notion of the fertility of the soil: 5,000 hectares are always planted in sugar cane, 10 to 12 feet in height, whose leaves are large and long, with their color a uniform green. The terrain is divided

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into square fields, each bordered by an irrigation canal and provided with broad avenues for railroad transportation. At harvest time four locomotives run hither and yon along the rails, followed by as many as 500 loaded cars. Labor is performed with the help of steam power, and from June to November workers plant at the rate of 20 hectares a day. Different types of w o r k are assigned to the variously skilled labor force. Divided into seven camps or villages, 1,500 workers live in comfortable houses conveniently close to their place of labor. The sugar mill was built at a very great cost, and the machines were imported f r o m the most renowned metallurgical manufacturers in Europe and the United States. The mill represents a model of its kind, so say the engineers, and is capable of meeting the demands of a much greater future development. T h e cut cane, when stripped of its leaves, is carried to the mill by railroad cars. There it is placed upon a moving inclined plane, which automatically deposits the stalks beneath cylindrical grinders. T h e broken fragments next pass through a number of conduits, which are heated to a high temperature by copper boilers installed above the conduits. In this way the cane is reduced to a sticky b r o w n liquid. After being subjected to this series of manipulations, the liquid then flows through turbines that apply to it a drying process, from which it emerges in a crude state as small yellowish crystals. The design of the sugar mill and its attractiveness have not been neglected. Individual buildings are sturdily constructed and even their interiors present a tasteful appearance. Spacious alleys and walkways radiate from the main building in all directions across the cane fields. The residence of the plantation manager is at once luxurious and dignified, possessing a quasi-public and institutional character. It is even surrounded by a park featuring rare trees from different parts of the world. The dwellings of the employees, such as those of the machinists and skilled technicians, and especially the houses of foremen and supervisors, are charming country cottages. A community clubhouse stands amid some very well tended flower gardens. This was built by the company for the use of its employees. Surrounded by spacious verandas, the clubhouse in-

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eludes reading rooms, a billiard room, and a large hall used especially for dances and balls, such as those sponsored by the club's gentlemen members. I do not know precisely in what proportion the company's profits are distributed between capital and labor. However, all w h o reside at Spreckelsville earn substantial salaries on which they can live very nicely indeed. They can even set aside part of their earnings as savings. In summary, this excellent agricultural undertaking is wonderfully planned and well organized in every respect, even too lavishly for its own good, according to certain of its stockholders, w h o object to receiving lower dividends than those paid by other plantations in Hawaii.

V I do not k n o w whether the Hawaiian Islands will suffer at some time from the same grave social problem that universally has afflicted other countries. At the moment, however, the free labor force in Hawaii is made up of Portuguese workmen, Chinese, Japanese, and even Kanakas, w h o are as happy as men can be who must make a living through hard physical exertion. Unfortunately, a darker side of the picture remains. O n almost every large plantation, a great number of the workers are Japanese immigrants brought to Hawaii as contract laborers. They toil for a miserable wage and are allotted the worst jobs. Laboring half-naked under the scorching sun, they are assigned to work squads bossed by white men. And so they grub in the soil. These people are the industrial poor of Hawaii, the disinherited, w h o have been transported to the islands by emigration jobbers. Victimized by special laws, these unfortunate Japanese have promised to work for a specified number of years under the confining yoke of the planters—the masters w h o control their liberty. I ask myself whether this type of contract labor does not constitute a modern form of slavery. Yet I am compelled to admit that these wretches are being treated humanely, and in fact a substantial number are satisfied with their present lot in life. Some of them, when their contracts expire, find a better and happier existence than the best they could hope for in their homelands. But still there is something degrading about the contract labor system as it

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operates in Hawaii, something repugnant to one's sense of human dignity. The strongly argued claim of the planters rests on the principle that the laborer, after all, chose freely to work under contract. But does a man actually possess freedom, does he enjoy any rights, when he is ignorant of the meaning of freedom? W h a t if he only knows that he is hungry and needs to eat? In the United States the law on these matters is more humane and protective of the weak. Indeed, no one living in the United States is legally permitted to abandon their freedom and submit to labor contracts of this offensive type. One day I mentioned some of these reflections to an English friend of mine, a man who had a long experience of life in the islands, and w h o had acquired a wide range of practical knowledge. "Yes, you're correct," he assured me, " b u t only from a sentimental point of view. The chief costs of operating a plantation are wages and salaries, and the number of employees is very great. The smallest rise in labor costs prevents a company from making profits and forces it to draw upon its capital reserves. Labor disputes and work stoppages on a plantation mean ruin for the country, misery for everyone living there. Strikes will cause the Americans to leave the country, and if they do so the Kanakas will be left to themselves and revert to barbarism. Furthermore, what will the effects be upon thousands of immigrant families w h o will then find themselves jobless? H o w will they make a living with their brawny arms when there is no more work to be done? Under present conditions plantations must continue to exist, and to do so requires a supply of cheap labor. Therefore the contract laborer is indispensable." Perhaps my English friend is right. But he speaks, of course, as a businessman. All foreign settlers in Hawaii have something to sell. Not being restricted, as in Europe, by commercial traditions and a rigidly established social system which tends to inhibit progressive change, in Hawaii businessmen do not cease concentrating all their effort on expanding the volume of their sales, multiplying the variety of their products, widening their markets, and increasing the number of their consumers. Those w h o fix their eyes on the future hope that

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the Panama Canal or a route through Nicaragua will facilitate communication and shipping with Europe. These possibilities, it is believed, will augment the flow of goods from the port of Honolulu, which now serves as a central depository for the storage of coal. Commercial interests also await with impatience the installation of a telegraph cable linking the islands with the rest of the world. Still others, let it be noted, are wagering that the future of the kingdom depends above all upon its relations with the United States. We ought to become the Grand Hotel of the Pacific, these enthusiasts cry, carried away by their own commercial lyricism. In fact, one Honolulu author, seeking to fortify admiration for the United States and American achievements, lauds the enormous benefits to be gained when a nation determines to carry out a vigorous colonial policy. After a period of extraordinary prosperity, it appears that Hawaii must soon confront certain difficulties. Nevertheless, despite the talk of interested parties, always ready to complain, I think that there is no other country in the world where the financial rewards of capital investment and the advantages and benefits of an immigrant labor force promise greater success. Each year the Chinese and Japanese send to their homelands considerable sums of money. The Portuguese are also buying up lands and houses. The wages of common laborers range from 15 to 30 francs a day.* Shop clerks earn from 500 to 1,000 francs a month. Employees in wholesale firms, such as chartered accounts, are often paid 20,000 or 30,000 francs a year. A m o n g Honolulu's residents even those who fail to make fortunes live in conditions of comfort, contentment, and ease never experienced by their forebears.

* T h e rate of exchange in Hawaii is based upon the value of the American dollar. There exists also a local Hawaiian currency that has the same value as that of the United States.

XI AMONG THE LEPERS The queen's visit to Molokai. — Father Damien. — The lepers and leprosy. — The asylum and hospital. — The Bishop Home for Lepers.

I was in Honolulu when the new queen, Her Majesty Liliuokalani, decided that during her inaugural royal progress through the islands she would first visit the most unfortunate of her subjects, the lepers. By law these persons had been segregated from the rest of the population and transported to a small secluded portion of the island of Molokai. Desiring not only to examine with my own eyes the kind of life being imposed upon these pariahs, but also to pay homage to the memory of Father Damien, the first European to choose by reason of his Christ-like devotion to live and die at the settlement, I requested permission to become a member of the visitation party. At ten o'clock at night we left Honolulu on the Likelike, a small steamer chartered for the occasion. The queen, together with some attendants and special guests, occupied the steamer's deck, where mats and bedding had been spread out for the night. The rest of the vessel was loaded with two hundred natives traveling to visit their exiled relatives. The crowd at the dock was a large one, and despite the sad destination of the journey the atmosphere at the harbor was cheerful. People staying behind shouted their hearty farewells in honor of the queen and her companions. All were wearing leis, some had guitars on their arms, and everyone joined in the singing. Music and flowers are the two primary essentials of Kanaka existence, whether at a feast or a dance or attending the departure of a ship. Or for that matter celebrating a funeral. The hubbub subsided in proportion to our distance from shore. The queen, having changed her costume in favor of a long black

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holoku, n o w lies at ease upon a mat. In accord with tradition, a child privileged to do so because of royal rank waves a kahili over the queen's head. Near her are her prime minister, ladies in waiting, and several officials from her regular suite. N o barrier separates the sovereign f r o m her subjects, w h o respectfully keep their distance. Sometimes by a gesture Liliuokalani signals to one of the company, w h o then approaches her on his knees. Despite an appearance of servility, sanctified by old royal custom, one realizes the sympathetic accord binding the queen and her subjects. She knows all these persons by name and addresses them with affectionate familiarity, inquiring about their children and their health. They answer her simply and without timidity, in a rather monotone voice. Afterwards an elderly Kanaka rises and speaks to the queen in formal address. H e delivers his thoughts with ease, modulating his tones carefully and accompanying his words with dignified eloquent gestures. All the dark faces with their responsive eyes seem attentive and deeply absorbed. O n e of my neighbors explains to me the subject of the address. It's a sort of homily, an historical lesson praising certain former kings and chiefs dating back to the reign of Kamehameha the Great. The orator speaks of the glory of the ancestors, their prowess as warriors, and the beauty of their kingdom. The performance is what today w e would describe as a patriotic eulogy, but w i t h the difference that it deals only with the past. This orator is followed by another w h o gives prudent advice for the morrow, especially actions to avoid. N o r does he do so without mentioning certain specific matters—although none of the young girls present show signs of blushing. * Silence gradually falls upon the company, and everyone makes ready for the night. I resist the claims of sleep, finding the Kanaka bedding anything but soft, and instead seek out a place to sit on the ship's bridge, alongside the head of the French mission to Honolulu, an elderly Breton priest w h o has lived in Hawaii for forty years. H e explains to me h o w greatly everything in Hawaii has changed. A true apostle of the old days, he is no admirer of hasty measures nor of the *A reference to sexual matters.—ALK

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manner in which the spread of civilization, wealth, and commercial success has pervaded the life of the islands. With a deep sigh he informs me that the Kanakas were a much better people in earlier years. Their character was originally good; they were merely ignorant. We have thus attempted to instruct these people in their duties, while others were indoctrinating them as to their rights. In his opinion, this was like handing a razor-sharp knife to a child. And so this stout-hearted ecclesiastic expatiated on a favorite theme of the old-timers: "Everything used to be better." Gradually I led my Breton informant to speak of leprosy, and he mentioned some significant details which I here summarize. The disease had apparently been introduced by the Chinese into the islands around 1850, and its spread since that time has not ceased. It is even reported that an epidemic of smallpox contributed to the increase of leprosy, for it was thought that vaccination had caused many to be inoculated with leprosy. Today there are very few native families who are not affected. For many years no one thought about preventive measures. Fundamentally careless and unthinking, the Kanaka observed the suffering caused by the disease but failed to consider its dangers. Finally in 1865 the Hawaiian government took legal action and decreed that all lepers in the kingdom should be conveyed to the northern coast of Molokai. Carrying out this law was not easy. Persons to whom it applied resisted the decree, sometimes by fleeing into the mountains, assisted and supported there by their fellow Hawaiians. A regular manhunt was organized and several years were required to assemble and segregate on Molokai about eight hundred lepers. It was during this period that Father Damien, a member of the Picpus Brotherhood, was sent to the French mission in Hawaii. He first spent several years in remote interior areas of the islands, moving about from place to place according to the requirements of the holy office and his ministry. He shared in the life of the natives, learning their language and observing their customs. In 1873, having heard his bishop, Monsignor Maigret, express regret about the lack of a priest at the Molokai settlement, Father Damien volunteered to accept this painfully difficult task. He was then thirty-

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two, vigorous, possessing an unusually sociable and cheerful personality. He sentenced himself to serve for the rest of his life as the sole European among the saddest and most humble people in the world, even then believing that one day he, too, would become a victim as a consequence of his resolute self-dedication. W h e n Father Damien arrived on Molokai conditions were not the same as we find them today. At first the Hawaiian government sent provisions to the island for only the most advanced cases. The lepers themselves tilled the fields for their sustenance; life was miserable; they had to do everything for themselves. The young missionary set to work, serving as an intermediary between the lepers and the Honolulu authorities. His purpose was to quicken the sense of charity—not only in Hawaii but in all countries throughout the world. At the same time, he introduced an element of order and systematic compassion into the settlement. His humane concern led him to watch especially over the orphan children. He encouraged patients who were in pain and personally attended to their sores. He taught them how to construct proper huts and how to be usefully employed. Day by day, as public opinion gradually became aroused, certain new types of treatment and help were introduced. The Hawaiian legislature appropriated considerably increased funds for support. At a substantial salary, a resident physician was assigned to Molokai. Arrangements were made for some Franciscan nuns to come and care for the children of the settlement. But by that time, after eleven years on Molokai, Father Damien himself had become a leper. Even so, he never ceased, up to his last moments, to devote himself to his great work, of which he had every right to be proud. In March 1889 the sores covering his body were closing up and turning black, and he knew well that these signs meant death. He died on the 28th of the same month,* after sixteen years on Molokai, happy for his accomplishments and consoled by knowing that he had served well his fellow-sufferers in every possible way. And all the while, when the head of the Roman Catholic mission * T h e actual date of Father Damien's death was the 15th of A p r i l . — A L K

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was telling me about his martyred brother in religion, the tears were streaming from his eyes. "Alas," said he, by way of conclusion, "Father Damien is not the first member of our world-wide mission to have died of leprosy, and he will not be the last." Recovering composure, and then speaking simply and from the heart, he added with an almost joyous spirit of acceptance, "After all, one ought not grieve for them—they have only hastened to their reward." The turn of our conversation ended thus abruptly. We still faced the prospect of several more hours of night. Lulled by the ship's steady rocking, my companion dropped off to sleep. V Just a little before five o'clock, with the first streak of daylight, we reached our destination. Molokai took shape as a very mountainous island, with steep cliffs so close to the water that they afforded no feasible beaches for landing. The volcanic convulsions that formed the islands had obviously been extremely violent and irregular, producing numerous headlands and deep coastal valleys. The island is worthy of its native name, suggesting the country of cliffs. As the Likelike rounded a point of land, we found ourselves facing the leprosy settlement. It is situated on a coastal plain divided into several valleys, surrounded on three sides by the sea and separated from the rest of Molokai by an almost unscalable rock wall 800 meters high. This particular area seems to be an extension of land thrust out of Molokai's side, formed there as if by design to isolate a dangerous population from the rest of humanity. Already the panoramic landscape created an impression of sadness. The site is barren and desolate, dominated by the lowering mountain. There are no signs of farming and very few trees, only great expanses of stone whose furrowed surface is well covered with brushy vegetation. A strong wind threatening a tempest blows constantly from the north. At each end of the plain, close to the shore, and at the foot of the gigantic palisade, there is a good-sized village, and both contain a

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number of small frame houses, all well set off f r o m each other. Certain details soon begin to define themselves. O n e first notices the belfries of the churches; then a larger building surrounded by an enclosure, the hospital; and near it several better constructed family dwellings all brightly painted. Suddenly, at the water's edge, appears a large warehouse, together with the retail stores operated by the government; also a small loading dock, surrounded by shrubbery. A crowd of villagers have assembled around the dock— men and women on horseback, with the former dressed in European garb and the w o m e n and young girls in the classic Hawaiian holoku. This is an enveloping cotton g o w n of bright pattern, and the sublime invention of the earliest Christian missionaries. The holoku was contrived to bring a sense of physical modesty to the primitives and to encourage the commercial zeal of its Manchester manufacturers. The Likelike lowered anchor directly opposite the village of Kalawao. I step ashore w i t h the first landing. The t w o Catholic priests residing at the settlement receive me, accompanied by the government agent. We shake hands and exchange greetings, and then turn our steps toward the parish house, all the while making our way through the crowd of lepers w h o have assembled to honor their queen and welcome their relatives and friends. Never before had I seen a leper. I had convinced myself that the standard descriptions were exaggerated, intentionally darkened by their authors in order to heighten the horror of the picture. W h e n I visited Molokai I had already decided to see nothing through the prismatic hues of sentiment. I must n o w here avow that the spectacle before me appeared more dreadful and repugnant than my skeptical imagination had been led to assume. Never before this moment had I experienced so intense a sorrow at the sight of distress. A patient in a hospital bed, though covered w i t h sores, remains a person in a familiar setting—a suffering member of society, surrounded by every means of specialized care. Such unfortunate cases arouse in us only sympathy and pity. But when an entire population is removed from the normal world and left upon a lonely island, a witness of the event winces and shudders, a nervous reaction impos-

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sible to suppress. Victims of an appalling malady, the lepers of Molokai—men, women, children, the young and the old, always perambulating the roads and the trails, attempting to satisfy their everyday needs, riding horseback, sitting on doorsteps—impress the observer as all the more horrifying because of their open-air life in the sun's merciless glare. Leprosy especially affects the face, arms, and legs. Features and hands often become only a suppurating ulcer. Eyelashes and eyebrows are destroyed, while eyes become half-closed. Many patients are voiceless, with nose and ears transformed into holes. Some have lost a foot or a hand because of gangrene. Certain individuals appear ashamed, trying to conceal beneath soiled underclothing the most diseased parts of the body. The majority, however, have lost all sense of elementary decency, exhibiting their sores as if unconscious of their visibility. Such sights are unforgettable and remain to haunt one's sleep, like something perceived in a nightmarish underworld. O n e can well understand the revulsion produced by lepers during all periods in every part of the known world. The parish house of the settlement is an attractive one, and we are especially charmed by its surrounding flower garden. The furnishings of the vicarage are new and comfortable. The parlor contains a good-sized library, replete not only with works of holiness but also with medical books. Opposite the writing table, well laden with newspapers, magazines and writing materials, hangs a large crucifix exactly where its presence should often prove most timely. This is the home of a young priest, Father Damien's successor, Father Vandelin,* whose assistant lives in the other village of the settlement, Kalaupapa. He is highly pleased when the head of the R o m a n Catholic mission visits the Molokai community. During our meeting, when I complimented him for his strict fulfillment of his vocation and his rejection of a life of ease, he modestly demurred, "But I assure you, sir, I ' m not a hero. My monsignor sent me here, and so I do my duty as best I can, without concerning myself about the future. That is in God's hands." ' D a m i e n ' s successor was Father Wendelin Moellers.—ALK

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H o w trivial most acts of courage are when compared with Father Vandelin's. I recall another earlier occasion, when the Bishop of Honolulu once told me about his choice of Father Damien's successor. He had circulated a message to all the priests, requesting to know the names of those who were willing to go to Molokai. Yet with the exception of two or three who were either too old or too infirm for so daunting a task, all had sought the honor of this most dangerous of parish posts.

Now word arrived that Her Majesty was disembarking, and so we returned to the shore. The brass band made up of lepers is playing Hawaii's national anthem, which is taken up by the fanfare of the queen's royal band. The people of the settlement mingle freely among the passengers of the Likelike. More than a thousand persons make up the crowd, and all are under a spell of deep emotion, whether because of the arrival of someone dear to them or as a result of disappointment upon not finding the person they were awaiting. The queen, moving through the crowd in order to reach her carriage, continually greets surrounding persons with appropriate Hawaiian expressions. Despite her unfaltering dignity and calm, I see two large tears fall from her eyes, while around her everyone is likewise weeping. This sense of utter grief that fills the air will dominate the whole day as the mournful keynote of this regal visit. All of us move along toward the house assigned to the government agent at Kalaupapa, the place scheduled for the official reception. The queen, accompanied by her suite, is sitting in an armchair on the veranda. In front of her, in the garden, are assembled all the lepers who were able to leave their private houses. One of these delivers a long address to which the queen briefly replies. The Kanakas never fail to heed the words of their numerous orators, who speak in a fashion not unlike that of our old romantic school of writers, full of repetition, colorful descriptive imagery, especially similes derived from the beauties of nature. N o w and then the band plays a selection and then the speech making is resumed. Because the ceremony is expected to take several hours, we take advantage

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of the opportunity to lunch at the rectory. Five of us sit around a table, each reflecting on the morning's experiences. The subject is a poignant one, and I ' m able to record some of the informed opinion of the best local authorities on the problem of leprosy. The total number of afflicted persons living on Molokai is approximately twelve hundred. The greater number are always males. Except for twenty-five Chinese and a dozen or so white persons, they are all native Hawaiians. The administrative personnel at the hospital is very limited, being made up of twelve white persons: government employees, priests, nuns, and one medical orderly. They are assisted by 186 kokuas—husbands, wives, or relatives of lepers, w h o are specifically authorized to live in the settlement. T h e mortality rate is about 13 percent a year. The total number of inmates on Molokai remains much the same, new arrivals replacing the deceased. T h e cost last year of supporting the establishment was 450,000 francs. It is estimated that the annual expense of maintaining an adult leper is 425 francs. Everyone sent to Molokai automatically becomes a ward of the government, which provides the person with housing, clothing, and a generous weekly ration of food, consisting of poi, the food of choice of the Kanakas (a sort of paste made of the taro root), along with flour, rice, meat, fish, bread, and sugar; also firewood, soap, etc. A good many receive additional funds provided by their families or derived from property they o w n elsewhere in the islands. T h e lepers enjoy considerable freedom, according to their individual wishes. Generally they live in family groups. Patients requiring isolation can be admitted into one of the t w o facilities provided by the Franciscan nuns and reserved primarily for children. Finally, w h e n they reach the last phase of the disease, the hospital is available to them, but Kanakas all the same resist entering what they call " t h e house of the dead." Most often they rely upon a kokua friend to take care of them to the end. Natives do little w o r k . Some only g r o w flowers around a house or maintain a 3- or 4-foot patch of sugar cane. They spend their time in idle talk, singing, or riding horseback—in fact, there are

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more than eight hundred horses in the settlement. The inmates have comfortable relations with their healthy neighbors, and the administration is rarely obliged to reprimand them severely. The main preoccupations or distractions consist in their religious observances and in the burial of the dead. The only events of special interest are the weekly arrival of the small steamer from Honolulu bringing the mail and special purchases and gifts. The steamer service, however, is seconded by the schooner from the neighboring island loaded with food supplies and other needed staples. Although the settlement occupies an area 12 kilometers square, its social atmosphere is like that of a prison of persons sentenced for life, rendered all the more cruel because of the lack of suitable activities, the presence of constant suffering, and the prospect of ever-approaching death. Leprosy is an endemic disease in the islands, but when one speaks of this gruesome malady t w o questions immediately arise. Is the disease incurable and is it contagious? According to the unanimous conclusions of experts w h o have conducted specialized studies of this illness, leprosy is probably incurable. W h a t this actually means is that thus far at least no infallible remedy has been discovered. However, a combination of therapeutic conditions, though they will not destroy the leprosy germ, can in many cases prevent to some extent the external manifestations of the disease and prolong the patient's life. Such conditions include isolation accompanied by strict hygiene, especially a meticulous concern for cleanliness, and the prescription of certain internal medications. O n Molokai, unfortunately, these preventive measures cannot be properly employed. The natives are extremely careless and negligent, unconscious of the progress of their condition. Despite the efforts of the government and of a dedicated institutional staff, it is impossible to undertake the treatment of the entire afflicted group, when it is not inclined to cooperate. Meanwhile observations seem to indicate that leprosy, fortunately, is no longer as virulent a disease as it has been in the past. Is leprosy contagious? As I am not qualified to formulate a per-

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sonal opinion, I cannot answer the question categorically. However, the conclusion of certain carefully prepared reports, supplemented by my own observations, is as follows: The combination of two conditions appears necessary for leprosy to develop: first, prolonged contact with other affected persons; second, individual susceptibility to the disease. Indeed, there is not a single instance of anyone becoming a victim of leprosy after only a short stay in Hawaii. Nor is there an example of anyone contracting the disease except after continuous direct association with others w h o are lepers. O n the other hand, it is also true that there are persons, foreigners and natives alike, w h o have not acquired the disease although they have lived in daily contact with lepers. In fact, a woman w h o for seventeen years had worked as a laundress at the Molokai hospital did not herself succumb although she had twice taken an afflicted husband. There have been a great many native families in which neither the man nor the woman contracted leprosy from the spouse. I should mention also the case of a healthy Kanaka man w h o during ten years at the settlement had successively married four women patients, begotten leprous children by each of his wives, and yet never gave any indication that he himself had become a leper. Last of all, one cannot state for certain that leprosy is hereditary. Lepers produce few children, but frequently these are perfectly healthy. In Honolulu a home has been established by Queen Kapiolani, widow of the late King Kalakaua, and is being administered by Franciscan nuns. There the daughters of lepers are given instruction, and many of these have never acquired the disease. Here is one example among many. A girl born at the leper settlement, whose father and mother were both patients, remained with her parents on Molokai up to the age of ten. Never showing symptoms of the disease, she was assigned to the special Kapiolani home for girls. At twenty-one she married, being in perfect health, and there is no indication thus far that she might become a leper. It is important now, by way of summary, to emphasize the fact that both the cause and cure of leprosy are unknown. Furthermore, in certain parts of the world there are more cases of leprosy than of

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any other disease. Thus a vast field lies open for organized medical research. D u r i n g my visit to Molokai I kept thinking what a glorious event it would be to vanquish this scourge as old as the inhabited world.

W h i l e we were finishing our lunch, the queen and her party entered the parish house, thus acknowledging the faithful labors of the t w o missionaries. After complimenting and encouraging Father Vandelin, the queen then continued her progress through the settlement area. I think I have never witnessed a comparable ceremonial procession. A huge Kanaka mounted on a diminutive horse carried the royal standard ahead of the carriage in which rode the queen and a young prince. There was nothing pompous about the official conveyance; it was the only vehicle available at the settlement, an ancient four-wheeled carriage, drawn by a hack, regularly used to transport the R o m a n Catholic sisters from one facility to another. Following the carriage were the ladies-in-waiting, the prime minister, the officers of the household guard, and last of all, three hundred lepers, both men and women. All were riding horseback— surely the oddest of majestic cavalcades. I tend to avoid official occasions. I prefer going about on my o w n and looking around. So I went my way with one of the brothers, and we had to cover a distance of about 2 kilometers. I was provided with a horse that apparently did not belong to a leper. We passed through the village of Kalawao and continued in the direction of Kalaupapa, pausing at several houses during our journey. The wooden dwellings on Molokai are well furnished and pleasantly supplied with verandas. Floor boards are laid on stone foundations, for it is necessary to prepare for the winter, which on Molokai is relatively cold and marked by very heavy rains. Furnishings inside the houses are those of all Kanaka households: mats and calabashes, a corner chest serving as a clothes closet. Cooking is done outdoors, at a fireplace constructed of four large bricks. In brief, a Kalaupapa house resembles the kind of crude small cottage built by

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the pioneer American settlers, which throughout all the Hawaiian Islands has replaced the indigenous grass h u t . In some rooms I noticed a bed, in others a rocking chair. We stopped for a while at the houses of persons w h o were most gravely ill, patients w h o m the missionaries visit every day. Just as we were leaving Kalawao, a part-Hawaiian, a vigorous youth with a well-mannered air of ease, held out his hand to my companion, w h o then introduced him to me. After speaking briefly of the queen's visit, the great event of the day, we continued on our way. " T h a t poor boy," said the brother, " w a s so unlucky! . . . In Honolulu he was one of the best students in our college, which he left only t w o years ago. He married a young part-white girl w h o had been brought up in a highly respectable family, and one could hope that their future would be a happy one. Alas, after six months of marriage, the young wife sickened and revealed the first signs of leprosy. After she had been examined, the Board of Health sent her to Molokai. But the husband loved her so dearly that he would not allow her to go alone. H e chose instead a kind of burial alive, still happy to be at his wife's side. Perhaps God will spare him." My companion then set off at a gallop. He spoke these last words with an air of unconcern but his voice was trembling. I understood his feelings. We next turned off f r o m the main road and ascended a rather steep rise. We were on our way to visit the crater, one of the major curiosities of the Hawaiian Islands, situated at the highest point of the settlement and approximately at its center, and within a few kilometers of the coast. It is shaped like an inverted cone, w i t h a circumference of about 500 meters. At the b o t t o m of the crater, which is at sea level, there is a small salt-water lake which rises and falls with the tidal ebb and flow. Despite soundings conducted under varying conditions, it has proved impossible to determine the crater's exact depth. But there is reason to suppose, because of the surrounding terrain, that the crater is the vent of a long extinct volcano still connected with the floor of the sea. The natives, w h o are extremely superstitious, rarely go near the place because of the hairraising stories told about it in their old legends.

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O u r return route from the crater followed alongside the extensive heavy wall that encloses the settlement. This huge fortification is constructed of great stones, one on top of another and held together by heavy bushes, vines, and creeping plants growing in the crevices. The foundation stones of the wall are so smooth and uniform in shape that some sections of it look like a single mighty block. As all roughnesses have been removed, the result resembles the foot of a cliff long beaten by the waves. Very probably the soil under the settlement as a whole is of more recent origin than that of the rest of the island. Indeed, we are standing on an extensive reef composed of coral and other submarine plant life, solidified by the lava from a n o w extinct volcano. An area with an independent geological origin, the Kalaupapa peninsula apparently was created in a time of chaotic upheavals, fiercely choosing to remain a part of its parent island and neighbor. Several hundred meters beyond the village of Kalaupapa we pause to examine the cemetery. Never before have I seen so many recent graves for so tiny a village. The queen has already come and gone, and things have now calmed down. But the decorative preparations have remained intact, including the green garlands and the tall poles with their flags and banners, much like those at our French agricultural fairs. We are about to visit the church, the sole specimen of genuine architectural interest in the settlement. The steeple is a crenellated tower capped by a cross. It is the historic creation of Father Damien, which he built himself with the help of his flock of lepers. The interior is quite appropriately decorated, sufficiently large, and well supplied with seats. The final effect, though not especially imposing, has always been regarded by natives as a wonderful place for holy worship. I notice that most of the religious accessories are of French origin. We leave the church through the choir door. In a small garden one notices a handsome tree benefiting from the shade provided by the church. It was in this spot that Father Damien read his breviary, recited the catechism, spent long, warm evenings surrounded by lepers, holding their attention with his little stories and anecdotes,

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ending always with a short moral. By his own desire he lies buried at the foot of this tree, where the mission has erected a modest tomb. N o inscription is needed to recall the fact that it enshrines a martyr. Certain pious hands tend the flowers on the grave, the place chosen by our two missionaries regularly to meditate. The village of Kalaupapa, the older of the two hamlets, is very much like Kalawao. The resident physician, an Englishman, occupies a pretty cottage. Formerly he served aboard an ocean steamer, but today he is paid 20,000 francs per year with the perquisites of a house and a food allowance. Inasmuch as he has no other household expenses, I hope for his sake that he will soon be rich enough to leave Molokai with no intention to return. He very ably takes care of the residents of the settlement so far as diseases other than leprosy are concerned, especially tuberculosis, which takes such a great toll. The next house we stopped at, the special quarters for boys, was empty. The young boarders had been granted a holiday and had gone to Kalawao to behold the great steamer, the Likelike. I enter instead the house of the resident nuns, a very new and charming one, quite exquisitely clean. The house functions as an annex to the sisterhood's principal establishment, which we are to visit later. Introduced by Father Vandelin, I am received very courteously and served refreshments. The nuns are now in charge of the boys, formerly governed by Father Damien in person. He it was who first gathered around him all the orphans, indeed all the abandoned foundlings. It is not easy always to control a hundred young rascals, especially when their health rules out the exercise of any discipline except for moral authority. " W e would not have known how to manage," one of the nuns told me, "had it not been for the excellent Mr. D." " W h o is Mr. D . ? " I ask Father Vandelin, as we are leaving the nunnery. "You shall see for yourself," he answers with a smile. We stop at the door of a small house similar to all the others. Just as we are entering, there appears at the doorway a tall, blackbearded man about forty years old. His brow is noble and his glance understanding. In contrast with the simple blue denim garb, his features are prepossessing, his manners refined, as are his white hands.

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" W e didn't see you today. Mr. D . , " says the priest. " I found the celebration a good time to rest, and decided to remain at home." Mr. D . spoke elegant English, but seemed little disposed to be interviewed. Realizing that he wished to avoid tactless or prying persons, I indicated to the priest that it was time to return to Kalawao. " W h a t do you make of Mr. D . ? " asked my companion. " I was very favorably impressed, but he seemed a bit out of sorts and certainly not talkative. Could he be a leper?" " N o t at all. Mr. D . was a United States Army captain. He left home one day without saying a word, arrived in the islands, and asked if he could visit the leprosy settlement. From the moment of landing on Molokai, he has tried to make himself useful. That was six years ago and he doesn't intend to leave. He never talks about himself or mentions his earlier life. He is deeply religious, and I suspect that prompted by some reason of conscience or heart, he chose the sole means of suicide permitted a R o m a n Catholic. He has sacrificed his life for the sake of the most disinherited of creation. O n several occasions the settlement director has wanted to assign him to an administrative post, but he has always refused the appointment. He dresses the sores of the lepers during their final days. He buries the dead. He assists the nuns in looking after the boys. He lives the life of an anchorite, never for one moment relaxing his religious commitment." " D o you think," I ask, "that perhaps he's a bit of a fanatic?" " N o t in the least. He's an exceptionally serious man, stable and well organized, w h o has chosen to carry out a duty. As for religious exaltation, my dear sir, that soon collapses on Molokai. We're too remote from the rest of the world for saintly sacrifice to cause much of a stir. The monotonous sorrow of the settlement is a perfect sedative. Mr. D . thinks so little of himself that even in Honolulu most people don't even know of his existence." For my part, I prefer to respect Mr. D.'s incognito, but in my heart of hearts I here testify to my admiration.

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Still to be described is the special home for girls, established a few years ago by a wealthy banker of Hawaii, C. R . Bishop, and named the Bishop Home. It is perhaps the institution that best and most honorably serves the needs of the settlement, and I have examined it in all its aspects. The Bishop Home is located at one end of Kalawao. Surrounded by large and well-kept grounds, beautiful lawns and numerous shrubs and flowers, the Home's facilities include about twenty buildings of various sizes. One serves as living quarters for the sisters in charge of the Home, another contains a dining room and kitchen, while a larger structure with verandas provides a study hall and recreation room. The latter is well equipped, offering in addition to tables and benches and several sewing machines even a grand piano. On the walls are blackboards, maps, and drawings. The small cottages serve as dormitories, assigned to ten or twenty small children and younger girls. Everything is scrupulously clean throughout, as well as new and freshly painted. The effect is delightfully cheering to the spirit. The lawns contain areas laid out for playing croquet and tennis. The institution as a whole is distinguished for its comfort and range of amenities. The Bishop Home is designed especially to maintain the well-being of afflicted girls who have no relatives. The inmates are welcome as long as they choose to remain. But unfortunately, at a certain age the urge to be free, a salient quality of the Kanaka, loudly counters the advice and instruction of the good nursing sisters. Thus very often at the age of twenty, if not sooner, the young girl announces her intention to leave the home and marry. The question whether or not marriages between lepers should be forbidden has occasionally been broached in Hawaii. Such a policy could be achieved only by organizing two separate settlements, one reserved for the men and the other for the women. But the objections to such a system are manifold. People think it would be cruel to separate families, take husbands from wives, parents from children. To do so would often mean condemning them all to a life of isolation and lonely despair, forgotten by other natives. U p to the present the legislature has resisted so drastic a measure, on the very

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persuasive grounds that the children of lepers are not invariably diseased. At the time we visited the Bishop Home, everyone was expecting the arrival of the queen. Sister Marianne, the head of the t w o establishments at Kalawao and Kalaupapa, graciously received us. She is a young woman, noted for her pleasant manners and exceptional intelligence. In the United States she was the mother superior of her order. By request of the Hawaiian government she came to the kingdom to establish and organize the work of the settlement's nuns. While preparing her report on the services to be performed by the sisterhood, she found she lacked the kind of courage required to abandon the nuns to their difficult task. She submitted her resignation as head of her order and remained on Molokai. The zealous sacrifices inspired in the islands by Hawaii's terrible burden are truly wonderful. Father Damien's life and death afford a great spiritual example. He has bequeathed to posterity a holy heritage that has been honorably carried on by subsequent Catholic missionary-priests, by Franciscan nuns, and by Mr. D . During my visit I made a point of entering the cottages. Beds are narrow and all are very white, invariably graced with attractive trifles—perhaps a piece of needlework or some embroidery. At this instant the girls are assembled in the study hall, but in almost every dormitory there are one or t w o beds occupied by patients w h o are no longer mobile. "These children," says the nun sadly, "have not long to live, for they are reaching the final stage." I was shown a bed where lay a girl of eighteen whose hands and face were intact but whose festering legs had both been amputated. I was informed that the most far-gone patients are not confined in a separate room. The reason is that the occupants of each cottage all live together as one large family. The children together with the young girls all take care of each other, for it is a distinctive racial characteristic and gift of Hawaiians to assist persons at the time of their dying. " O u r children are not unhappy," said the sister. " T h e y never complain and generally don't think much about their condition.

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They are all suffering because of the same disorder and don't feel any special repugnance and disgust. It is the outsider who causes them to reflect. I am certain that the royal visit will occasion many days of sharpened suffering." We then return to the main lawn where Sister Marianne is preparing to receive the queen. Seats have been placed on the community's veranda, and we group ourselves behind Her Majesty. All the maidens from the study hall take their places in fine order, about a hundred of them. They are wearing white gowns belted at the waist with rose-pink or blue bands, a knotted ribbon tied fetchingly around the neck. Several display short sleeves and breast-lines are delicately accented. They somewhat resemble a procession of wealthy boarding-school children. Many of the girls are beautiful, with their expressive eyes and luxuriant dark hair. They arrange themselves in two rows and begin singing a long, appealing chant. They seem to be very shy or nervous. Several hide their hands; others turn slightly to reveal a single profile, unwilling to expose their disfiguring sores. Some hold their handkerchief over the mouth. This whole day has distressed me and I can't deny it. I have resisted looking at the most hideous ulcers, but horrors such as these come in different degrees. These girls in their pink-and-white gowns are at an age when life appears beautiful, smiling, full of hopes and plans, dreams of happiness. But ravaged by this awful disease, the girls know that they do not have long to live. After only a few years they will scarcely possess a human form, for their bodies will be reduced to a mass of suppurating flesh. And so, as the Hawaiian song continued its mournful modulations, an identical thought struck the minds of everyone attending the heart-rending spectacle. The same feeling is instantaneously communicated by each of us to our neighbors and we find it impossible to hold back our tears. All the songs end in a sob. I hastily leave the Bishop Home. Its impact on the senses and the imagination is too keen. I have no heart for conventional conversation. Certainly none for asking questions. At five o'clock I find myself about to take the last long-boat for

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boarding the Likelike. Among the crowd of lepers present at our departure, indeed right in front of me, is a young woman who had landed with me on Molokai that same morning. Now she is being pushed through the crowd while in her arms she carries a boy, a ten-year-old, whose head is swathed with bandages. Though much disfigured, he is being cuddled and cared for. She is his mother and they are being separated by force. Now, from the back of our departing long-boat, the stricken mother keeps her eyes fixed on the vanishing shore. There an elderly woman stands, herself one of the lepers. Perched upon a rock, she holds the little boy by his hand. The boy is sending kisses to his mother. She is a splendid half-white, quite tall, about thirty years old, still youthful and unworn. Her whole being breathes of good health. She has a husband and a family of five children, among whom the only member to become a leper is the child left behind on Molokai. The Likelike blows its whistle and we draw anchor. Several volleys of gunfire on land signal our farewell. We leave the Molokai settlement and coast along the island's northern shore. Aboard ship, the day's good spirits and gaiety have entirely subsided. Everyone is saddened by the thought of a loved one who will probably be seen no more. We remain on deck as long as possible with our eyes fixed on those little cottages growing smaller in the distance. I am sure it will take many weeks to erase from my eyes certain details of the Molokai scene, the small actualities only too hastily observed. Above all I shall always remember the girls in their white-and-rose gowns, whose lyric sorrow still echoes in my ears.

The settlement disappears on the horizon as we head for Honolulu. Worn out by this long melancholy day, the queen is resting on a mat while two strong Kanakas are administering a native Hawaiian massage. The queen is silent, but her vacant gaze wandering over the ocean reveals the direction of her thoughts. She sees herself as the last of a long line of Hawaiian chiefs and kings lost with her suffer-

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ing people. The splendor of the past which is gone forever appeared so radiant, while the future appears dark. I do not dare disturb her reveries for I fear that at this particular moment any foreigner would seem like an executioner. The warm night, illuminated by a crescent moon and thousands of stars, envelops us. There is not a ripple on the calm sea. I take up my seat of the previous night and try to put some order to my thoughts. Despite the horror of the place I am glad that I saw it. At about eleven o'clock a white glare produced by the electric lights of Honolulu indicates that we are approaching the port. Shortly after midnight we reach the dock. The crowd that saw us off is there to greet us. All around us are battleships, steamers, scores of sailing ships, huge customs warehouses. . . . And I think of those who are dying back there and those who are alive here. It is the inexorable law of nature: the future rises from the ruins of the past.

XII ALOHA

Aloha. It is one way of saying farewell. The word can express both the fondest emotions of regret and the deepest of hopes. During this week of leave-taking I've made pilgrimages to many a beloved scene, recalling happy days spent in this chain of islands whose inhabitants think of it truthfully as paradise. Here warm springtime prevails throughout the year. These islands are like eight magnificent bouquets strung across the middle of the biggest ocean in the world. Close enough to the equator to provide a fantastic variety of subtropical plant life, Hawaii contains in addition to its tall palms a wealth of trees and shrubs whose flowerings range from the pink oleander and hibiscus to the blood-red flame trees. And then there are those innumerable specimens of mosses and creeping or climbing vines, each variety possessing its own singular blossom and leaf. And always there is the refreshing breeze from the north. From this warm earth, from this balmy air, rise like a perfume the disquieting poetry of beautiful dreams of repose and sensual emotions evoked by nature. Tonight I found myself on the road where I used to roam so often by moonlight, and then, by the park, I revisited the beach so full of memories. And there were the public squares with their music and songs, and the long leafy alleyways, and also behind, the mountain with its hidden footpaths and familiar spots. Among my memories, these visions of special places and times, one in particular stands out. It was night and the season Christmas: Noël—the celebration of the Nativity. The temperature was that of

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May-time in France. I tore myself away from a children's party, where twenty infants and their mothers were laughing and crying around a dwarfish tree bedecked with tinsel and pink candles. I soon found myself following a long avenue, inhaling a delightful breeze blowing off the sea. The sky was deepest blue, picked out with stars, and the moonlight combining with the glow of electric street-lamps poured down through the vault of foliage overhead. Here and there groups of Hawaiians had assembled to join in strumming their guitars and singing their serenades. Sometimes a carriage rolled by loaded with young folk, the girls and boys together, shattering the nocturnal peace otherwise normal in this section of town. Everyone, including the birds wakened by the light and commotion, joined in caroling the hymns of Noël.

Each person sees a country differently, depending on the circumstances and on the frame of mind and state of digestion of the observer. Many visitors have introduced Hawaii to a world-wide audience. Captain Cook first called attention to a new heraldic gem to be added to Britain's imperial Crown. Mark Twain, the professional humorist, has scattered wide his jests. Ten English ladies have composed hundreds of tributes in verse to Hawaii's charms. Meanwhile the Americans have been assembling their masses of statistics, collecting documents, compiling volume upon volume of Hawaiian history, scrutinizing especially the country's foreign affairs. Several talented Frenchmen have written books of travel. For my part, I ask myself what is my dominant impression, as it has taken shape during my stay? Above all, what do this Polynesian kingdom and its people stand for and signify today? My response is complex, drenched with personal feeling and colored by poetic associations. My ultimate reaction is both one of dismay about the Hawaiian past and one of admiration for the islands as they are now. As for the problem of what Hawaii will become tomorrow, no one has found an answer. That philosophizing craze of mine, which has led me to spend so many hours musing in a

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hammock, is slipping away. In my hammock I found myself enwrapped by many a soft prompting, by influences that seemed to breathe with a tenderness springing f r o m the earth itself. N o w I perceive that this elusive awareness is disappearing. Soon it will not be enough to ponder feelings and sort out thoughts. I shall have to act. Because of this shifting perspective and contrast, perhaps I shall savor all the more the memory of Hawaii's lost magic. D u r i n g m y last night in the islands I could not rest. At the first gleam of sunlight I arose and went outdoors for a morning stroll. I felt an urge to survey once more certain landscapes I had come to k n o w over the years, years unmarked by change, one season following another and n o w blending into a single whole. A sense of peace, an encompassing grace, promised to transform past days of sadness into a new experience of happiness. Inside the Honolulu cottages, where doors and windows remain open all night long, I rediscovered the brightly garbed w o m e n in their holokus. T h r o u g h a bay w i n d o w I caught glimpses of girls with their shoulder-length hair. They were arranging roses gathered only a moment ago. Leimakers, they were preparing garlands for the travelers leaving Hawaii today. Eleven o'clock, and the t o w n is feverish with activity. This extra atmosphere of animation occurs in Honolulu once every four weeks. Around the post office stands a crowd of late-comers, their fists bulging with letters to be mailed. Fort Street is thronged. Pedestrians appear to be busiest, and baggage wagons clip along at a trot. Troops of girls in their fresh morning frocks are walking by, each carrying her armful of flowers. Traffic is moving toward the docks, for the steamer bound for San Francisco is preparing to leave. Along the dockyard, sheltered from the sun's glare, a swarm of people of all races and nationalities surrounds the royal band. Accompanied by its lively tunes, Kanaka porters register the luggage of passengers and label the sacks of outgoing mail. Everyone is chatting, preoccupied w i t h expressions of emotion, exchanging last-minute goodbyes. And all the while, the harbor area swelters in the heat, submerged in the slumberous suspense of noon. Pleasure at the

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sight is mingled with stirrings of the heart. Amidst all the color and the undercurrent of excitement, along with the music and the flowers, and just when the ship's engines are beginning to throb, I am again seized by regret. To all those friends who have welcomed me so kindly, and to everyone in Hawaii who remains, I send everlasting Aloha.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WORKS

IN

FRENCH

1785

Troisième voyage du capitaine Cook, ou Voyage à l'Océan Pacifique, exécuté en 1776-1780. Traduit de l'Anglais par M. Demeunier. 4 vol.

1859

Récits d'un vieux sauvage, pour servir à l'histoire ancienne d'Hawaii, par Jules Remy. Edité à Chalons-sur-Marne.

1861

L'Océanie nouvelle, par Alfred Jacobs. Michel Lévy, Paris.

1867

Catalogue d'ouvrages relatifs aux Iles Hawaii, par William Martin. Challamel-aîné, Paris.

1874

Quatorze ans aux Iles Sandwich, par C . de Varigny. Hachette et Cie, Paris.

1885

Iles Hawaii, par Marcel Monnier. Pion, Nourrit et Cie, Paris.

1886

50,000 milles dans l'Océan Pacifique, par Albert Davin. Pion, Nourrit et Cie, Paris.

WORKS

IN

ENGLISH

1843

History of the Sandwich Islands, by Reverend Sheldon Dibble.

1862

Sojourn in the Hawaiian Islands, and Introduction to an Edition of the Moolelo Hawaii. Paris and Leipzig.

1878

An Account of the Polynesian Race, Its Origin and Migrations and the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I, by Abraham Fornander. 2 vols. Trubner and Co., London.

187

188

Bibliography

1880

Sketches of Life Social, Political and Religious in the Hawaiian Islands from 1828 to 1861, by Laura Fish Judd. New York.

1881

From Sword to Share, or a Fortune in Five Years at Hawaii, by Captain H . Whalley Nicholson. W . H . Allen and Co., London.

1888

The Legends and Myths of Hawaii by His Hawaiian Majesty Kalakaua, edited by H. R . M. Dagett. Charles L. Webster and Co., N e w York.

1890

The Tourist's Guide through the Hawaiian Islands, by H . M W h i t ney. Honolulu.

1892

A Brief History of the Hawaiian People, by W. D . Alexander. American Book Co., New York. Hawaiian Almanac and Annual from 1815 to 1892. T. G. Thrum, Honolulu. Hawaiian Grammar, by W . D . Alexander. T. G. Thrum, Honolulu.

INDEX

Chants, Hawaiian, 23, 84, 103, 106 Charleston (ship), 78, 89 Chicago, 9

Agriculture, 49, 153; wet rice culture, 60, 153. See also Hawaiian Commercial Company; Sugar industry Alexander, W . D . , 32n

Chiefs (Hawaiian): acquisition of Western goods, 34; relations with commoners under Kamehameha II, 34 Chinese residents, 48, 52, 55, 5 6 - 5 8 , 79, 135, 155, 159; business acumen, 57, 58; dress and customs, 57; occupations, 50, 57, 60, 118, 153; societies, 87, 1 6 1 , 1 7 0 Christmas, in Honolulu, 183-184 Churches: Protestant, 58, 134; Roman Catholic,

Algaroba (kiawe, tree): first introduction growing in courtyard of Catholic cathedral, 61; in Waikiki, 61 Americans, 40, 5 0 - 5 1 , 109, 110, 117, 119, 121, 134, 135, 139, 155, 157; influx during Kalakaua's reign, 6 7 - 6 8 ; occupations, 117-118; opposition to Kalakaua, 68 Anglicans, 67, 76, 86 Artemise (ship), 37 Associations and clubs, 54, 1 1 9 - 1 2 0 , 124-125; English Club, 54, 124; Free Masons, 87, 88. See also Hawaiian societies Australia (ship), 14-15 Bishop, Charles R . , 98, 178 Bishop, Princess Bernice Pauahi, 98 Bosseront d'Anglade, Marie Gabriel, biographical data, xi-xii Bridges, covered (Hilo), 134 Brown, Vice Admiral George, 80; hoohupu ceremony for, 8 9 - 9 0 Business: dominant value and activity, 152; lack of legal restrictions on, 156; large companies, 155; organization and ownership of, 155-156. See also Businessmen Businessmen: characteristics of, 1 1 8 - 1 1 9 , 1 5 3 ; sociability of, 119; as a social category, 117120; standard of living of, 1 1 9 - 1 2 0 Byron, Lord (Captain George Anson), 36, 36n Calendar, Hawaiian, 2 1 - 2 2 California, 10-13; San Francisco, 12-13, 79, 109, 119, 153, 155, 157 Canoes, Hawaiian, 130, 148 Carysfort (ship), 38

58, 6 1 , 9 7 , 135, 175 Colonization, American, English, and Latin compared, 1 1 0 - 1 1 1 Commerce, 34; effect of U . S . reciprocity treaty of 1876 on, 6 5 - 6 6 ; exports, 49; Honolulu as commercial center, 48, 49, 53; imports, 49, 155 Constitutions, Hawaiian: of 1840, 37; of 1852, 39; of 1864, 44; of 1887, 6 8 - 6 9 ; Kamehameha V and constitutional reform, 4 1 - 4 2 Cook, Captain James, 2 4 - 2 6 ; monument to, 149 Currency, 51, 161n Damien, Father, 162, 1 6 4 - 1 6 5 , 1 7 5 - 1 7 6 , 179 Dance (Hawaiian hula), 27, 92; attachment of Hawaiians to, 103; description of, 103, 104, 105-106; Protestant missionary attempts to abolish, 37, 103 Dancing, ballroom, 121, 126, 127 Davis, Isaac, 26 Discovery (ship), 24 Education, 114-117. See also Schools Elections, 7 1 - 7 2 . See also Government, Hawaiian Emma, Queen, 40, 44, 45; supporters protest election of Kalakaua, 45

189

190 English residents, 48, 51, 67, 109, 110, 117, 123, 124, 137, 155, 184; prominence in c o m merce, 153 E n t e r t a i n m e n t , 120, 121-122; horse races, 1 2 3 124; Iolani Palace ball, 125-128; July 4 t h anniversary ball, 119; theater, 1 2 2 - 1 2 3 Foreigners, 51, 65, 79, 103, 160; attracted t o H a w a i i , 68; occupations, 5 0 , 1 1 7 - 1 1 8 . See also Americans; Chinese residents; English residents; French residents; G e r m a n residents; Japanese residents; N o r w e g i a n s ; Portuguese residents Franciscan nuns: administer H o n o l u l u h o m e for daughters of lepers, 172; at Kalaupapa leper colony, 170, 173, 176, 179 French residents, 48, 62, 110, 134, 135, 163, 164. See also Missionaries, French R o m a n Catholic Fur trade, 26 Gautier, Théophile, 111 G e r m a n residents, 48, 51, 109, 117, 155 G o v e r n m e n t , H a w a i i a n , 112-113; elections, 7 1 72, 113; legislature, 7 0 - 7 1 , 7 6 - 7 7 ; organization u n d e r 1887 constitution, 6 9 - 7 2 Hall (inter-island vessel), 148-150 H a w a i i a n C o m m e r c i a l C o m p a n y (Maui), 1 5 7 159; sugar mill, 158 H a w a i i a n Islands: climate, 1 6 - 1 7 ; discovery and settlement b y Hawaiians, 17-18; geological f o r m a t i o n of, 16 H a w a i i a n language, 9 5 - 9 6 ; alphabet, 95 H a w a i i a n societies (postcontact), 7 5 - 7 6 Hawaiians: capacity for pleasure, 100-103; character and personality of, 19, 23, 92, 93; involvement in politics, 113-114; literacy of, 93; love of hula, 103; love of music and flowers, 23, 86, 9 3 , 1 6 2 ; m o u r n i n g for Kalakaua, 81, 8 2 - 8 3 ; occupations, 4 9 - 5 0 ; resemblance to Latin peoples, 74; travel of, 1 3 0 - 1 3 1 Hilo, 1 3 3 - 1 3 7 ; churches, 134; houses, 135, 137; R a i n b o w Falls, 1 3 6 - 1 3 7 Hoioku ( w o m a n ' s g o w n ) , 8 4 , 1 1 2 , 1 6 3 , 1 6 7 H o n o l u l u : annual traffic of p o r t , 154; capital and only city, 4 7 - 4 8 ; center of commerce, 32, 49, 154; C h i n a t o w n , 56; cost of living in, 5 1 - 5 2 ; departure of steamers for U . S . mainland, 185— 186; description of central district of, 48; early 19th century description of, 30; electric p o w e r and light, 52; environs of, 6 0 - 6 2 ; Fort Street,

Index 5 3 - 5 4 , 79, 185; harbor facilities and improvem e n t s , 40, 49, 109, 110; H o t e l Street, 54; h o u s i n g , 5 1 - 5 2 , 121-122; lack of poverty, 48, 49; lighthouse, 43; population of, 48; prevailing prosperity, 5 1 - 5 3 ; public library, 54; public m a r k e t , 53; telephone service, 52; w a t e r supply, 40, 51, 62 H o o k e n a (island of Hawaii), 148 Horseback (pau) riders, 102 Horse-cabs, 118 H o u s e , traditional Hawaiian, 9 9 - 1 0 0 Iolani Barracks, 56 Iolani Palace, 55, 66, 8 2 - 8 4 , 85, 110; ball held at, 125-128 Japanese residents, 48, 50, 7 9 , 1 3 5 , 1 4 0 ; fisherm e n b l o w n ashore on O a h u in 1 8 3 2 , 1 7 ; plantation contract labor, 1 5 9 - 1 6 1 J u d d , D r . Gerrit P., 38, 38n; visit t o France, 39 K a a h u m a n u , Q u e e n , 33, 36 Kahili (standards of royalty), 85, 87, 103, 127, 163 Kailua (Kona, island of Hawaii), 30, 72 Kalakaua, David: builds Iolani Palace, 66; coronation of, 6 6 - 6 7 ; death in San Francisco, 7 9 80; education and experience, 65; election of, 45; encouragement of Hawaiian music and hula, 68; funeral ceremonies for, 7 8 - 7 9 , 81, 8 3 - 8 8 ; g o v e r n m e n t under, 6 9 - 7 2 , 7 6 - 7 7 ; his impressions of Europe and t h e U n i t e d States, 7 3 - 7 5 ; negotiations w i t h U . S . g o v e r n m e n t , 65; personal character, 65, 68, 69, 72; political opposition to, 68; residences of, 7 2 - 7 3 ; travels of, 66, 7 3 - 7 4 Kalanikupule, 27 K a m a m a l u , Q u e e n , 35 K a m e h a m e h a I, 2 6 - 3 1 ; advisers to, 2 6 , 29; centralization of g o v e r n m e n t under, 2 8 - 2 9 ; character of, 26; conquest of O a h u , 2 7 - 2 8 ; court of, 29; death of, 31; feather cloak o f , 67, 8 5 86; fleet of, 26; skill as leader, 2 6 - 2 7 ; statue of, 5 3 - 5 6 , 1 2 8 ; trade under, 30; upheld kapu system, 29; use of firearms, 26 K a m e h a m e h a II (Liholiho), 3 2 - 3 5 ; anniversary celebration in 1823, 35; personal c o n d u c t of, 34, 35; voyage t o England, 35 K a m e h a m e h a III (Kauikeaouli): characteristics of his reign, 3 6 - 3 9 ; cultural and social changes d u r i n g his reign, 39; death of, 39

Index Kamehameha IV (Alexander Liholiho), 40-41; civic improvements during his reign, 40; death of, 41; marriage to Queen Emma, 4 0 41 Kamehameha V (Lot), 41-44; character of, 41; constitutional reforms under, 41-42; death of, 43; public works during reign, 43 Kapiolani, Queen, 66-67, 81, 85, 88, 172; established Honolulu home for daughters of lepers, 172 Kealakekua Bay (island of Hawaii), 149-150; Captain Cook monument, 149; Napoopoo, 149-150 Kilauea volcano, 16, 129, 133, 137-147; Halemaumau, 142-143, 146; Hawaiian offerings at, 139; Volcano House, 139-140,144-145 Kinau (inter-island vessel), description of passage aboard from Honolulu to Hilo, 129-133 Kona district (island of Hawaii), 148 Labor force, composition of, 159. See also Sugar industry Land ownership, 38 LaPlace, Commodore C . P. T., 37 Legends, Hawaiian, 23-24, 68, 94-95; difficulty in translation of, 94 Le Havre, 2, 3 Leper colony (Kalaupapa, Molokai): Bishop Home, 178-180; Catholic church, 175; Catholic nuns, 170, 173, 176, 179; Catholic parish house, 168; description of, 166-180; establishment of, 164; government financial support of, 165, 170; Kalaupapa village, 168, 169, 175,176, 179; Kalawao village, 167,174, 177, 178, 179; Mr. D , 176-177; resident physician, 176; size of, 170 Leprosy, 43, 44; cause and cure unknown, 172; factors in spread of, 171-172; introduced into Hawaii, 164. See also Leper colony Likelike (inter-island vessel), description of trip aboard to Molokai, 162-181 Liliuokalani, Queen: accession to throne, 80; appearance, 88-89; character and personality of, 88-89; at Iolani Palace ball, 126; mourning observances for Kalakaua decreed by, 86; visit to leper colony, 162-163, 169, 173,180, 181183 Liquor, alcoholic, laws regulating sale of, 37 Luau, Hawaiian: description of, 101-103; European modifications of, 101 Lunalilo, William, 44-45; death of, 45; election of, 44; social unrest during reign, 44-45

191 Maigret, Monsignor (later Bishop) Louis Désiré, 164 Manoa Valley, 106-108 Marianne, Sister, at Kalaupapa, Molokai, 179, 180 Marriage: ceremonies, 121; "love g a m e " leading to matrimony, 120-121 Mauna Loa (island of Hawaii), 137,138, 140; eruption of 1868, 43 Missionaries, American Protestant, 32-34, 134; arrival of, 32; descendants of, 119; devise alphabet for Hawaiian language, 95; goals of, 37; influence during reign of Kamehameha III, 36; mission printing press, 34; principles followed in conversion of Hawaiians, 33-34 Missionaries, French Roman Catholic, 36, 134— 136; arrival of, 36, 59; persecuted and expelled, 36-37; returned, 59; success in conversion of Hawaiians, 59-60, 96-97 Moellers, Father Wendelin, 168,168n, 169,176 Mohican (ship), 81 Museums: Bishop ("Kamehameha") Museum, 98-99; museum of Mr. D , 99-100 Music, Hawaiian, 86, 92 National lottery, proposed, 154 Newspapers, 37, 80,125; in Hawaiian language, 113 New York City, 4 - 6 Niagara Falls, 8 - 9 Norwegians, 48 Nuuanu Valley, 47, 62-63 Nymph (ship), 81 Ohelo (berry), 141 Pahala Plantation (island of Hawaii), 148 Panama Canal, 161 Paris, 1-2 Part-whites, 48, 111, 122; education and manner of life, 112; young women, 122 Pau (woman's skirt), 102 Paulet, Lord George, 38 Pearl Harbor, 44, 65 Poetry, Hawaiian, 23-24, 92, 93-94, 96; love of, 92,93 Politics, Hawaiian and foreign participation in, 113 Population: census of 1853, 39; decline in Hawaiian population, 39, 132; first census, 37; of Hawaiian Islands, 49; of Honolulu, 48; increase in foreigners, 51; increase in part-

192 Hawaiians, 111; introduction of plantation contract labor, 43 Portuguese residents, 35, 48, 50, 56, 110, 114, 134, 135, 159; occupations, 50; residential quarter in Honolulu, 56 Postal service, 39, 54; Honolulu post office, 43, 48, 48n, 49, 54,185 Poursuivante (ship), 39 Progress: in education, 114; meaning of "progress," 109, 111; observations about, 111; in sugar industry, 109 Prostitution, law against, 37 Punaluu (island of Hawaii), 147-148 Quatrefages, M. de, 17n Queen's Hospital, 56 Race course, Waikiki, 62 Religion, Hawaiian (precontact and early postcontact), 19-23, 96; ceremonies, 22; chants, 23; death, 22; gods, 20, 22; human sacrifice, 23, 31; images, 19, 20, 22; kapu system, 2021; kapu system abolished, 33; religious calendar, 21-22; rituals, 22; temples (heiau), 20 Religion, Hawaiian, conversion to Christianity, 96-98 Resolution (ship), 24 Roads: island of Hawaii, 137-138; Oahu, 60, 61, 62-63 Rochefort, Henri, 91, 91n Rocky Mountains, 9-10 Royal Hawaiian Band, 112 Royal Hawaiian Hotel, 43, 54-55 Royal Mausoleum, 88 Sandalwood, 30 Schools: coeducation in, 115,116,117; comparison of French and Hawaiian secondary schools, 116-117; Kamehameha School, 58, 98, 114; Protestant schools, Oahu College (Punahou), 115-117; public schools, 36, 114,

Index 115; Roman Catholic schools, 114; St. Louis College, 58, 60, 114 Smallpox, 3 9 , 1 6 4 Society, Hawaiian (precontact and early postcontact): athletic contests, 22; chiefs (alii), 18-19; commoners (makaaina), 18-19; priests (kahuna), 18-19; relations between sexes, 21; warfare, 100 Society (in contemporary Hawaii): description of, 117-120; freedom from burdensome constraints, 120-121; social cliques, 120-121. See also Associations and clubs; Entertainment Spanish navigators (16th century), possible discoverers of Hawaiian Islands, 24 Spreckels, Claus, 157 Spreckelsville (Maui), 157 Statue of Kamehameha, 55-56, 128 Sugar industry: attracted foreigners, 109, 153; contract labor in, 43, 158, 159-160; on island of Hawaii, 137, 148; specialists and technical experts in, 119, 157; sugar plantations on Maui, 156-159; U.S. tariff effect on, 53 Thomas, Rear Admiral Richard, 38 Tourism, 139, 147, 154 Treaties: with England (1843, 1846), 38; with France (1843, 1846), 38; (1857), 40; with United States (1876), 44, 65-66, 153 Tromelin, Admiral Legoarant de, 39 Tuberculosis, 176 Twain, Mark, 145-146, 185 Vancouver, Captain George, 30 Varigny, Charles de: comments of, on economic conditions, 42-43; in service of Hawaiian government, 41-43 Waikiki, 60-62 Whaling, 3 2 , 5 1 , 109, 154 Young, John, 26, 29, 40

H

Production Notes

This book was designed by Roger Eggers. Composition and paging were done on the Quadex Composing System and typesetting on the Compugraphic 8400 by the design and production staff of University of Hawaii Press. The text and display typeface is Compugraphic Bern. Offset presswork and binding were done by VailBallou Press, Inc. Text paper is Glatfelter Offset Vellum, basis 50.

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