Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

4'JGAUSTEAIjASIA.Anglicans, Metliodists, and Catholics, followed by local revolutions and the interventionof foreign powers, kept the archipelago in a state of ferment for many years.As in most other Polynesian groups the indigenous population is steadilydecreasing, having fallen from perhaps three hundred thousand at the time of thediscovery in 1778 to forty thousand in 1884.The natives are now being replacedby the immigration of foreigners of all nationalities, who already outnumber theaboriginal element, which must rapidly disappear by extinction and absorptionamongst the new arrivals. To the other causes of decay was added in 1848 theterrible scourge of leprosy, here called mai pahi, or " Chinese malady," which isabsolutely incurable. When attacked by the loathsome disease the patients areremoved to the island of Molokai, between Maui and Oahu, where about 800 areusually confined till relieved of their sufferings by death. Amongst recent victimswas the heroic Catholic priest. Father Damien, who had voluntarily selected thisisland prison as the field of his religious administration.In virtue of a reciprocity treaty with the United States the foreign trade of thearchipelago is almost monopolised by North ^\jnerica. Even the exchanges withEurope are made chiefly by the overland route, by which Honolulu may be reachedfrom London in about twenty-four days.In the islands of Hawaii and Maui a fewshort railways have been opened, while the postal, telegraph, and telephone servicesare more developed than in most European states.All the natives without exceptioncan read and write, and at the Paris Exhibition ofthe grand prize for primary instruction.1878 Hawaii was awardedHllo, the capital of the island of Hawaii, lies on a bay open to the north-easttrade winds, and partly silted up ^vith alluvial deposits. A more convenient positionis occupied by Lahnina, chief town of Maui, on a roadstead sheltered by the islandsof Lauai and Kalulaui. Honolulu, capital of Oahu, and of the whole archipelago,is well protected from the dominant winds by an amphitheatre of hills, and fromthe variable currents by a double line of fringing reefs. Since its discovery in1794 Honolulu has completely superseded the old capital, Eailua, on the westcoast of Hawaii, north of the bay where Cook was murdered. From the sea littleis visible of the town, which is scattered over some square miles of gardens, orangegroves, and forest trees. The roadstead is commanded on the east side by theextinct volcano of Diamond Head, and at the back of the city rises the perfectlyregular cone known by the name of the " Punch-bowl."Honolulu is the centre ofthe intellectual movement in the archipelago, and here are issued nearly all thelocal English and native newspapers.According to the constitution of 1887 Hawaii is a constitutional monarchy,with two chambers, both elected by all citizens whether native or foreign, theUpper House for six, the Lower for two years.The ofiicial Kanaka (Hawaiian) language is being gradually replaced byEnglish, already the chief medium of intercourse throughout the Pacific Ocean.The schools are constituted on the model of the American system, the schoolbooks,weights, measures, and currency are American, and the group itself is practically