The Sandwich Islands are not the same as Otaheite nor as the Fijis,
from which they are distant about 4,000 miles, nor are their people
of the same race. The natives are not cannibals, and it is doubtful
if they ever were so. Their idols only exist in missionary museums.
They cast them away voluntarily in 1819, at the very time when
missionaries from America sent out to Christianize the group were on
their way round Cape Horn. The people are all clothed, and the
king, who is an educated gentleman, wears the European dress. The
official designation of the group is "Hawaiian Islands," and they
form an independent kingdom.
The natives are not savages, most decidedly not. They are on the
whole a quiet, courteous, orderly, harmless, Christian community.
The native population has declined from 400,000 as estimated by
Captain Cook in 1778 to 49,000, according to the census of 1872.
There are about 5,000 foreign residents, who live on very friendly
terms with the natives, and are mostly subjects of Kalakaua, the
king of the group.
The islands have a thoroughly civilized polity, and the Hawaiians
show a great aptitude for political organization. They constitute a
limited monarchy, and have a constitutional and hereditary king, a
parliament with an upper and lower house, a cabinet, a standing
army, a police force, a Supreme Court of Judicature, a most
efficient postal system, a Governor and Sheriff on each of the
larger islands, court officials, and court etiquette, a common
school system, custom houses, a civil list, taxes, a national debt,
and most of the other amenities and appliances of civilization.
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