All of them are of volcanic and comparatively recent origin, and their age, or at least the time since the last eruptions on them, decreases from west to east. On Hawaii, the largest and most easterly of the group, the volcanic forces are still active and its surface is covered with lava thrown up at no very remote period. The principal port is Hilo and the highest mountain peaks are Mauna Kea (White mountain), 13,823 feet, and Mauna Loa (Great mountain), 13,675 feet.
Maui is formed by two mountains connected by an isthmus. Mauna Haleakala, the higher of the two, rises to a height of 10,032 feet.[35] Kahului is the most important town and seaport.
Oahu is of irregular quadrangular shape. Two nearly parallel mountain ranges traverse it from southeast to northwest and between them is a plateau that slopes down to the sea both in a northerly and southerly direction. The principal port is Honolulu, the “cross-roads of the Pacific,” a flourishing city of about 60,000 inhabitants and the capital of the group. It is admirably situated on a fine harbor and, in addition to its commercial importance, is one of the most attractive spots in the world on account of its balmy climate and wondrously beautiful surroundings. It is strongly fortified and a considerable military force is maintained there.
Pearl Harbor lies about seven miles from Honolulu in a westerly direction. Here the United States government has established a great naval station, one of the finest in existence. It has the most improved apparatus for supplying coal or fuel oil to vessels; there are machine shops, storehouses and barracks; and the huge dry-dock when completed will accommodate the largest dreadnaughts. The entrance from the sea has been dredged to make it navigable for ships of the greatest draft and the station is protected by powerful long-range guns of the most modern type.
Kauai, the oldest island of the group, is irregularly circular in shape, with a maximum diameter of about 25 miles. On the northwest a precipice rises to a height of 2000 feet and beyond that is a mountain plain, but the other portion of the island consists of shore plains with the mountain peak, Waialeale, 5250 feet high, in their midst. The shore plains are broken by ridges and broad, deep valleys and the island is well watered on all sides by mountain streams. There are a number of ports, but no large towns.
The climate of the Hawaiian islands near sea-level does not vary greatly from one year’s end to the other. It is cooler than other regions in the same latitude and extremely healthful. The northeast trade winds blow with periodic variations from March to December, or, as one writer says, 264 days out of 365 every year.[36] The leeward coast, protected by high mountains, is refreshed by regular land and sea breezes. The heaviest rainfall is from January to May, and naturally the greatest precipitation takes place on the windward side of the principal islands. The extremes of local rainfall in the larger islands have been known to range from 12 inches to 300 inches for the year. In Honolulu the average temperature runs from 72 degrees to 74 degrees, the maximum about 88 degrees and the minimum 52 degrees Fahrenheit. In ascending the mountains a lower temperature will be encountered as a matter of course and some of the highest mountain peaks are covered with snow nearly all the year round. Winds seldom blow with extreme violence and hurricanes are unknown.
Singular it is that so little should have been written upon a subject so important as the history of the growth of the sugar industry of the Hawaiian islands. Jarves and Thrum bring the narrative down to 1875 and Mr. H. P. Baldwin, in his book entitled “The Sugar Industry in Hawaii” (1895), contributes a fund of valuable information which is freely drawn upon in this chapter.
Tradition has it that a Japanese junk touched at the island of Maui during the thirteenth century and a Spanish vessel is said to have put in on the south coast of Hawaii during a voyage from Mexico to the Philippines in 1550. Be this as it may, our knowledge of these islands dates only from the time of their discovery by Captain Cook in 1778. He found sugar cane growing there when he landed and speaks of it in his description of his first visit as being “of large size and good quality.” According to the old natives, it grew wild and luxuriant in the valleys and lowlands. As far back as 1837 Mr. D. D. Baldwin recalls having seen fields of white cane on the edge of the woods at Hana, Maui, at an elevation of 2000 to 3000 feet. The natives made no attempt to use sugar cane except as an article of food, although it is said that in ancient days it served as an offering to their gods, particularly the god “Mano” (shark).
Cleveland[37] says that upon his first visit to the Sandwich group in 1799 the natives came alongside the ship in canoes bringing many fruits and vegetables, among which was sugar cane.