The entire archipelago is of volcanic origin, but there are no active craters to be found at the present time, except two, on the island of Hawaii. Mauna Loa is the highest volcano in the world, being nearly 14,000 feet above the sea. It has an immense crater; but, while it still sends forth smoke and has a lake of molten lava at the bottom, there have been no eruptions for a number of years. Kilauea, the largest active volcano on the globe, is about sixteen miles from Mauna Loa, on one of its foothills, 4,000 feet above the sea, and is in a constant state of activity. Its last great eruption occurred in 1894. This volcano was described by the missionary Ellis in the year 1823, and hundreds of tourists visit it every year. Its crater is nine miles in circumference and several hundred feet deep. Under the conduct of competent guides the tourists descend into the crater and walk over the cool lava in places, while near them the hot flame and molten lava are spouting to the height of hundreds of feet.
The largest extinct volcano in the archipelago is on the island of Maui, the bottom of the crater measuring sixteen square miles. All of these stupendous volcanic mountains rise so gently on the western side that horsemen easily ride to their summits.
INHABITANTS OF THE ISLANDS.
When Cook visited Hawaii, he found the islands inhabited, according to his estimate, by 400,000 natives. Forty years later when the census was taken there were 142,000. These diminished one-half during the next fifty years, and the native population of the islands in 1897 was only 31,019. The total population by the last census, when the islands became a part of the United States, was 109,020, made up, in addition to the natives mentioned, of 24,407 Japanese, 21,616 Chinese, 12,191 Portuguese, and 3,086 Americans. The remainder were half-castes from foreign intermarriage with the natives, together with a small representation from England, Germany, and other European countries.
HULA DANCING GIRLS, HAWAII.
That the original Hawaiians must soon become extinct as a pure race is evident, though they have never been persecuted or maltreated. They are a handsome, strong-looking people, with a rich dark complexion, jet black eyes, wavy hair, full voluptuous lips, and teeth of snowy whiteness; but they are constitutionally weak, easily contract and quickly succumb to disease, and the only hope of perpetuating their blood seems to lie in mixing it by intermarriage with other races.
OLD TIMES IN HAWAII.
Prior to 1795, all the islands had separate kings, but in that and the following year the great king of Hawaii, Kamehameha, with cannon that he procured from Vancouver's ships, assaulted and subjugated all the surrounding kings, and since that time the islands have been under one government. Previous to this, the natives had been at war, according to their traditions, for three hundred years. The fierceness of their hand-to-hand conflicts, as described by their historians, has probably not been surpassed by those of any other people in the world. The four descendants of Kamehameha reigned until 1872, when the last of his line died childless. A new king was elected, who died within a year, and another was then elected by the people. It was to this last line that Queen Liliuokalani belonged, and she was deposed by the revolution of 1893, led by the American and European residents upon the islands. These patriots set up a provisional government and made repeated application for admission to the United States, the tender of the islands being finally accepted by a joint vote of Congress on July 7, 1898, since which time the Hawaiian Islands have been a part of our country.