In the city streets one will see the people of many lands—Germans, English, Americans, native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Malays, and Hindoos. Many of the native Hawaiians are rich and prosperous; some are in business, and others are in professional life. Many of the Chinese are well-to-do merchants. The Hindoos, Malays, and Japanese were brought to Hawaii to work in the great plantations.
In the native villages one will frequently find a little church building and almost always the district school. Perhaps there may also be a Chinese store. Black-eyed children are running about dressed in long gowns, and some of them carry little bundles of school-books, each tied with stout cord or a leather strap.
The Hawaiians will not work in the sugar and the rice fields, and not many will stand the easier labor on the coffee plantations. In cultivating their little patches of bananas, breadfruit, cassava, and taro, however, they are pretty industrious. When the time of the royal feast comes, the natives, or "Kanakas," as they call themselves, get busy. The feast certainly is a royal one. Roast pig and roast chicken are smoking in a dozen dirt ovens. There are steaming yams and sweet potatoes by the bushel, great piles of all sorts of fruit—and poi. All the rest of the food is commonplace; poi is the dish. It is one-finger poi, two-finger poi, or three-finger poi, according as it is thick enough to be lifted out of the pot sticking to one finger, or so thin as to require a dextrous swish of two or three.
Waikiki is the great resort of Honolulu. There is the finest of bathing the year round; and what is more interesting, the native surf swimmers. With a piece of plank just large enough to support his weight in the water, the bather swims out to the reef in still water. Then he, or she—for young girls are most expert swimmers—makes for open water, where the combers are forming. Then, lying flat, bather and plank are borne along on the swift rolling surf until both are tossed high on the beach.
The aquarium is famous for its unique collection of fish and marine animals; it is one of the finest in the world. Near by is the race course and amphitheatre. What is still better is the winding road through ferns and flowers that leads to the crater rampart, Diamond Hill.
Half a dozen miles west of Honolulu one goes by rail around the shore of Pearl Lochs, or Harbor. Pearl Harbor is large enough and deep enough to float all the warships Uncle Sam will ever own, and the possession of this magnificent site for a naval station was a very strong inducement to annex Hawaii.
Less than one hundred miles away, at Kalaupapa, on the island of Molokai, is the leper settlement. Years ago Chinese settlers brought the disease to Hawaii; then the natives began to be stricken, and when it was found that leprosy was spreading, the lepers were sent to Molokai. For many years they had but little care; the government fed and clothed the poor victims and that was about all.
In 1873 Father Damien, a plucky Catholic priest, went to Molokai and thereby made himself practically a prisoner for life. Father Damien procured physicians, trained nurses, and the best possible care for the lepers, and they could at least die in comfort if they could not live. Then Father Damien himself was stricken and died. By this time, however, the government took the matter in hand. A fine hospital was built and a laboratory for the study of the disease was established. Those who are able to work can partly support themselves, and they are far better off when busy than when idle.
In 1848 the "Great Division" took place; that is, the lands for the king, for the public domain, and for the people were set aside, so that the people who so desired could own their farms and dwellings. At that time the islands were important only as a calling place for whaling vessels. At the present time Dame Nature is made to yield annually not far from one hundred million dollars' worth of products—sugar, rice, coffee, fruit, and cattle. A few years hence, tobacco, rubber, cotton, and honey will be added to the list of exported products.
Americans own the sugar plantations, which are mainly on the lava fields of Hawaii, Oahu, and Maui Islands. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate the rice along the coast lowlands of Oahu and Kauai. Sheep and cattle are grown on Lanai and Niihau.