Commerce, Products, commerce of this young kingdom is still in its infancy, but is gradually on the increase. Until recently the most important branch of it waR maintained by vessels engaged in the whale-fisheries of the north Pacific. This branch of commerce has greatly declined within recent years. In 1872, 47 whaling- vessels, stowing a decrease of 71 as compared with the number in 1870, entered the ports. Trusting no longer to the whaling business, the producers and merchants of the Sand wich islands have found out other outlets for their goods, and, without doubt, the trade of the islands will in the future be almost wholly confined to the coasts that bound the Pacific; The islands are within 16 days (by sailing-vessels) of San Francisco, 27 days from Vancouver's island, 26 days from Kanagawtt in Japan, and 67 days from Hong kong. Sugar, coffee, and rice have been proved to produce well, and all these find ready markets at hand in California, British Columbia. and Vancouver's island, which. together, can consume more than the Sandwich islands can supply. Of sugar, the 3.000,000 lbs. produced in 1862 were increased to nearly 17,000,000 in 1872; and from the number of new plantations recently organized, the amount of produce may be expected to continue increasing. The exports, consisting mostly of sugar, c c ce, rice, pillu (q.v.), hides, and corn, amounted in 1875 to over $2,000,000; the imp , mostly manufactured goods, , oods amounted in the same year to $2,090,000.
History, Constitution, and Finances.—Of the origin and character of the inhabitants oLthis kingdom, of its interesting internal history, or of the much-canvassed question as to whether the native race will flourish along with or wither before the Saxon race. it is not within our limits to speak. We can only notice a few of the leading events which have occurred in these islands since their shores were first visited by what the natives called the "floating islands" of the civilized nations. Although one member of the group was seen by Gaetano in 1512, the islands cannot be said to have been discov ered till Cook visited them in 1778. The great,navigator treated the simple and confid ing natives with a cruelty and a hypocrisy which consort ill with his fame. and which were the direct causes of the brawl in which he met the death he 'had provoked in Kealakeakua bay, Hawaii, 1779. In early times each island had a king; but under Kamehameha I., a man of shrewd sense, and of great bravery and resource, the islands were formed into one kingdom, This king,. writing to George III., Aug. 6, 1810, desired formally to acknowledge the king of England as his sovereign, and to place the islands under British protection—an offer which was accepted. After inaugurating the era of
advancement, this king died in 1819, and was succeeded by Liholilko, who adopted, on his accession, the name of Kamehameha II., and in whose.reign idolatry was abolished simultaneously throughout all the islands. The first Christians who visited the Sand wich islands were Cook and his followers, of whom the simple natives retained no favorable impression. Vancouver, who arrived with Cook in 1778 and returned in 1792, and again in 1794, made sincere attempts to enlighten the natives, and the king and his chiefs requested Vancouver to send out religious teachers to them from England; but the first missionaries that visited the islands came from America in 1820. On their arrival, the missionaries witnessed the singular phenomenon of a nation without a relig ion. The instructions of Vancouver had not been forgotten, and no doubt enabled the idol-worshiping islanders to see more readily the absurdities of their system. But the spontaneous movement of 1819-20, when the whole nation rose up to destroy idols. tem ples, hnd the furniture of idolatry, " was no triumph of Christianity—for Christianity had not yet claimed or even approached the Hawaian islands." The nation had volun tarily cast off the relPigion of their ancestors, and had not yet adopted—were not even acquainted with—any other system. The American missionaries who arrived in 1820 were well received, and the work of instruction was at once begun. Besides instructing them in Christianity, in less than 40 years they taught the whole Hamlin!) people to read and write, to cipher and to sew.
Kamehameha II. and his queen visited England, and after a short residence in this country, both died in London, July, 1824. Prior to the year 1833 the government was a despotism; but in 1840 the king, Krimehameha III., granted a constitution, consisting of king assembly of nobles, and representative council. This constitution, based on that of Britain, has in more recent times been much matured and improved. In 1843 the independence of the Hawaian kingdom was formally declared by the French and English governments. Kamehameha IV. acceded .to the throne in 1854, and, after a brief but useful reign, died in Nov., 1863, and was succeeded by his brother. Kame hameha V. was elected in 1878, and on his death. Icalakana in 1874. The revenue for the years 1874-76 was $1.008,191; the expenditure, $919,357—See Miss Bird's Six Months in the Sandwich Islands (1875).