| Show TIlE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS Somo Call Thom tho Orossroada of tho Pacific om rS4nf About the Country Vlilcli Hat Jmt Applied for Annexation to tho United Htntciltlstor lenl Blatters Tho Hawaiian or Sandwich islands tiro in tho Pacific ocean about midway between North America and Asia They are 2100 miles from tho American coast and arc situated on tho courso of ships passing from San Francisco to China and Japan as well as to New Zealand und Australia Tho group is time moat northerly cluster clus-ter of tho Polynesian archipelago and constitutes the kingdom of Hawaii There are twelve islands in tho cluster four of which arc barren rocks The name and area of tho eight principal inland are as follows Hawaii 4810 square miles Maul 700 Oahu 000 Kaual COO Molokai 270 Lanl 160 Kahulaul 03 Nihau 08 The large islands aro mountainous and contain con-tain some of tho largest volcanoes in tho world Kilauea tho largest active volcano in the world is in Hawaii Mauna Doa the scene of an eruption in 1877 is also on this island The islands arc said to have been discovered dis-covered in 1542 by Gnetano but Capt Cook first lord of the British admiralty rediscovered them in 1778 and named them the Sandwich islands Tho natives of tho islands form ono of the families of the Polynesian race which also inhabits tho Marquedas Tonga Society Friendly and Samoan groups and New Zealand Although separated by 5000 miles of ocean the JJawallan and tho New Zealander can understand each other the similarity of language being great The production of tho lands aro sugar rice coffee cotton cot-ton sandalwood tobacco arrowroot wheat maize tapioca oranges lemons bananas tamarinds breadfruit guava potatoes fungus wool hides and ornamental orna-mental woods Tho Beat of government is Honolulu located at Oahu The islands all suffer from the want of good fc bors Tho best one is at Honolulu I a > MS is j probably tho reason why itt it-t tho pnhn1 town Prior to tho tuM of Capt Cooks discovery dis-covery each island hint J Icing of ita I own but under Kmneliameho I they wero consolidated into ono kingdom Ho died in 1810 and was succcpdc Liholibo > J Suopted the name of itamchamcha II It was during his reign that Idolatry was abolished The HAWAH ruin chossnoADs OF TUE Ilcxric first missionaries to the islands came I from America In 1820 King Kameham ohm II was ambitious to ECO the world and with his queen visited England in 4824 Jjoth wero talten steU und iliod IL London The man who then took the I throne called himself KamehamehaIII antI it was during his reign that Judge William I Let an American got up a constlttUionior the Hawaiians Up to 1830 tho Islands were governed as an absolufo monarchy awl ui oi > fuutln principles Kainchameha III signed a bill of rights in 1810 and in 1S42 granted a constitution by which ho surrendered tho absolute rule in favor of a limited form of government by which throe estates Wero recognized king nobles and peoplewith universal suffrage a biennial parliament and paid representatives repre-sentatives This constitution and the civil and ponal codes yere mainly prepAred pre-pAred by Chef Justice i Leo udge Lee rendered great service to the nation in conferring on the common natives n third of the landsof kingdom which were formerly owned by tho Icing and ihtefs |
