Hawaiian Islands.—These islands were discovered by a Spanish sailor, Gaetano, in 1549, and again visited by Captain Cook in 1778. Up to 1893 they formed a native kingdom. In 1893 foreign influence was sufficient to overthrow the native government, and in 1898 they were formally annexed to the United States and about the same time organized as a territory. From an early date the geographic position of the islands has made them a convenient mid-ocean post-station, and they have therefore become a most important commercial centre.
HYDRAULIC GOLD MINING—CALIFORNIA
Of the various islands composing the group, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kaui, Molokai, Lanai, and Niihau are inhabited. About one-fifth of the population consists of native Hawaiians; a little more than one-fifth is white; the remainder is composed of Japanese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans. The native population is decreasing. About ninety-five per cent. of the property is owned by the white people—Americans, English, and Germans.
The volcanic soils are the very best sugar-lands, and a large amount of capital is invested in this industry. The sugar-plantations employ more than forty thousand laborers, all Japanese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans. The value of the sugar export is nearly twenty-five million dollars yearly; that of fruit, rice, and hides is about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Coffee is rapidly becoming a leading product. The bulk of the imports comes from the United States, and consists of clothing, cotton textiles, lumber, and machinery.
Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, is the capital and commercial centre, and foreign steamships and sailing-craft are scarcely ever absent from its harbor. Regular steamship service connects this port with San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., and the principal ports of China and Japan. It is connected with the other islands by a system of wireless telegraphy. The city has the best of schools, business organizations, hotels, and streets.
Pearl Harbor contains a large area of water, most of which is deep enough for the largest vessels afloat. It is intended to deepen the entrance and establish a United States naval station at this place. The village of Hilo is the chief port of the island of Hawaii.
The Philippine Islands are an archipelago of about two thousand islands, the two largest of which, Luzon and Mindanao, are each nearly the size of New York State. Luzon is by far the most important.