Oahu, 23 m. N.W. of Molokai, has an irregular quadrangular form. It is traversed from S.E. to N.W. by two roughly parallel ranges of hill separated by a plain that is 20 m. long and in some parts 9 to 10 m. wide. The highest point in the island is Mauna Kaala, 4030 ft., in the Waianae or W. range; but the Koolau or E. range is much longer than the other, and its ridge is very much broken; on the land side there are many ravines formed by lateral spurs, but to the sea for 30 m. it presents a nearly vertical wall without a break. The valleys are remarkable for beautiful scenery,—peaks, cliffs, lateral ravines, cascades and tropical vegetation. There are few craters on the loftier heights, but on the coasts there are several groups of small cones with craters, some of lava, others of tufa. The greater part of the coast is surrounded by a coral reef, often half a mile wide; in several localities an old reef upheaved, sometimes 100 ft. high, forms part of the land.
Kauai, 63 m. W.N.W. of Oahu, has an irregularly circular form with a maximum diameter of about 25 m. On the N.W. is a precipice 2000 ft. or more in height and above this is a mountain plain, but elsewhere around the island is a shore plain, from which rises Mount Waialeale to a height of 5250 ft. The peaks of the mountain are irregular, abrupt and broken; its sides are deeply furrowed by gorges and ravines; the shore plain is broken by ridges and by broad and deep valleys; no other island of the group is so well watered on all sides by large mountain streams; and it is called “garden isle.”
Niihau, the most westerly of the inhabited islands, is 18 m. W. by S. of Kauai. It is 16 m. long and 6 m. wide. The western two-thirds consists of a low plain, composed of an uplifted coral reef and matter washed down from the mountains; but on the E. side the island rises precipitously from the sea and attains a maximum height of 1304 ft. at Paniau. There are large salt lagoons on the southern coast.
Climate.—The climate is cooler than that of other regions in the same latitude, and is very healthy. The sky is usually cloudless or only partly cloudy. The N.E. trades blow with periodic variations from March to December; and the leeward coast, being protected by high mountains, is refreshed by regular land and sea breezes. During January, February and a part of March the wind blows strongly from the S. or S.W.; and at this season an unpleasant hot, damp wind is sometimes felt. More rain falls from January to May than during the other months; very much more falls on the windward side of the principal islands than on the leeward; and the amount increases with the elevation also up to about 4000 ft. The greatest recorded extremes of local rainfall for a year within the larger islands range from 12 to 300 in. For Honolulu the mean annual rainfall (1884-1899) was 28.18 in.; the maximum 49.82; and the minimum 13.46. At sea level the daily average temperature for July is 76.4° F., for December 70.7° F.; the mean annual temperature is about 73° F.—68° during the night, 80° during the day—and for each 200 ft. of elevation the temperature falls about 1° F., and snow lies for most of the time on the highest mountains.
Flora.—The Hawaiian Islands have a peculiar flora. As a result of their isolation, the proportion of endemic plants is greater here than in any other region, and the great elevation of the mountains, with the consequent variation in temperature, moisture and barometric pressure, has multiplied the number of species. Towards the close of the 19th century William Hillebrand found 365 genera and 999 species, and of this number of species 653 were peculiar to this part of the Pacific. The number of species is greatest on the older islands, particularly Kauai and Oahu, and the total number for the group has been constantly increasing, some being introduced, others possibly being produced by the varying climatic conditions from those already existing. Among the peculiar dicotyledonous plants there is not a single annual, and by far the greater number are perennial and woody. Hawaiian forests are distinctly tropical, and are composed for the most part of trees below the medium height. They are most common between elevations of 2000 and 8000 ft.; there are only a few species below 2000 ft., and above 8000 ft. the growth is stunted. The destruction of considerable portions of the forests by cattle, goats, insects, fire and cutting has been followed by reforesting, the planting of hitherto barren tracts, the passage of severe forest fire laws, and the establishment of forest reserves, of which the area in 1909 was 545,746 acres, of which 357,180 were government land. In regions of heavy rainfall the ohia-lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), a tree growing from 30 to 100 ft. in height, is predominant, and on account of the dense undergrowth chiefly of ferns and climbing vines, forms the most impenetrable of the forests; its hard wood is used chiefly for fuel. The koa (Acacia koa), from the wood of which the natives used to make the bodies of their canoes, and the only tree of the islands that furnishes much valuable lumber (a hard cabinet wood marketed as “Hawaiian mahogany”), forms extensive forests on Hawaii and Maui between elevations of 2000 and 4000 ft. The mamane (Sophora chrysophylla), which furnishes the best posts, grows principally on the high slopes of Mauna Kea and Hualalai. Posts and railway ties are also made from ohia-ha (Eugenia sandwicensis). In many districts between elevations of 2000 and 6000 ft., where there is only a moderate amount of moisture, occur mixed forests of koa, koaia (Acacia koaia), kopiko (Straussia oncocarpa and S. hawaiiensis), kolea (Myrsine kauaiensis and M. lanaiensis), naio or bastard sandalwood (Myoporum sandwicense) and pua (Olea sandwicensis); of these the koaia furnishes a hard wood suitable for the manufacture of furniture, and out of it the natives formerly made spears and fancy paddles. The wood of the naio when dry has a fragrance resembling that of sandalwood, and is used for torches in fishing. The kukui (Aleurites triloba) and the algaroba (Prosopis juliflora) are the principal species of forest trees that occur below elevations of 2000 ft. The kukui grows along streams and gulches; from its nuts, which are very oily, the natives used to make candles, and it is still frequently called the candlenut tree. On the leeward side, from near the sea level to elevations of 1500 ft., and on ground that was formerly barren, the algaroba tree has formed dense forests since its introduction in 1837. Forests of iron-wood and blue gum have also been planted. Sandalwood (Santalum album or freycinetianum) was once abundant on rugged and rather inaccessible heights, but so great a demand arose for it in China,[2] where it was used for incense and for the manufacture of fancy articles, that the supply was nearly exhausted between 1802 and 1836; since then some young trees have sprung up, but the number is relatively small. Other peculiar trees prized for their wood are: the kauila (Alphitonia ponderosa), used for making spears, mallets and other tools; the kela (Mezoneuron kauaiense), the hard wood of which resembles ebony; the halapepe (Dracaena aurea), out of the soft wood of which the natives carved many of their idols; and the wiliwili (Erythrina monosperma), the wood of which is as light as cork and is used for outriggers. In 1909, on six large rubber plantations, mostly on the windward side of the island of Maui, there were planted 444,450 ceara trees, 66,700 hevea trees, and 600 castilloa trees. About the only indigenous fruit-bearing plants are the Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chilensis) and the ohelo berry (Vaccinium reticulatum), both of which grow at high elevations on Hawaii and Maui. The ohelo berry is famous in song and story, and formerly served as a propitiatory offering to Pele. The number of fruit-bearing trees, shrubs and plants that have been introduced and are successfully cultivated or grow wild is much greater; among them are the mango, orange, banana, pineapple, coconut, palm, grape, fig, strawberry, litchi (Nephelium litchi)—the favourite fruit of the Chinese—avocado or alligator pear (Persea gratissima), Sapodilla pear (Achras sapota), loquat or mespilus plum (Eriobotrya japonica), Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), papaw (Carica papaya), resembling in appearance the cantaloupe, granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis) and guava (Psidium guajava). Most of the native grasses are too coarse for grazing, and some of them, particularly the hilo grass (Paspalum conjugatum), which forms a dense mat over the ground, prevent the spread of forests. The pili grass (Heteropogon contortus) is also noxious, for its awns get badly entangled in the wool of sheep. The native manienie (Stenotaphrum americanum) and kukai (Panicum pruriens), however, are relished by stock and are found on all the inhabited islands; the Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), a June grass (Poa annua), and Guinea grass (Panicum jumentorum) have also been successfully introduced. The Paspalum orbiculare is the large swamp grass with which the natives covered their houses. On the island of Niihau is a fine grass (Cyperus laevigatus), out of which the beautiful Niihau mats were formerly made; it is used in making Panama hats. Mats were also made of the leaves of the hala tree (Pandanus odoratissimus). The wauke plant (Broussonetia papyrifera), and to a less extent the mamake (Pipturus albidus) and Boehmeria stipularis, furnished the bark out of which the famous kapa cloth was made, while the olopa (Cheirodendron gaudichaudii) and the koolea (Myrsine lessertiana) furnished the dyes with which it was coloured. From several species of Cibotium is obtained a glossy yellowish wool, used for making pillows and mattresses. Ferns, of which there are about 130 species varying from a few inches to 30 ft. in height, form a luxuriant undergrowth in the ohia-lehua and the koa forests, and the islands are noted for the profusion and beautiful colours of their flowering plants. Kalo (Colocasia antiquorum, var., esculenta), which furnishes the principal food of the natives, and sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum), the cultivation of which has become the chief industry of the islands, were introduced before the discovery of the group by Captain Cook in 1778. Sisal hemp has been introduced, and there is a large plantation of it W. of Honolulu.
Over seventy varieties of seaweeds, growing in the fresh-water pools and in the waters near the coast, are used by the natives as food. These limus, as they are called by the Kanakas, are washed, salted, broken and eaten as a relish or as a flavouring for fish or other meat. The culture of such algae may prove of economic importance; gelatine, glue and agar-agar would be valuable by-products.
Fauna.—A day-flying bat, whales and dolphins are about the only indigenous mammals; hogs, dogs and rats had been introduced before Cook’s discovery. Fish in an interesting variety of colours and shapes abound in the sea and in artificial ponds along the coasts.[3] There are some fine species of birds, and the native avifauna is so distinctive that Wallace argued from it that the Hawaiian Archipelago had long been separated from any other land. There were native names for 89 varieties. The most typical family is the Drepanidae, so named for the stout sickle-shaped beak with which the birds extract insects from heavy-barked trees; Gadow considers the family American in its origin, and thinks that the Moho,[4] a family of honey-suckers, were later comers and from Australia. The mamo (Drepanis pacifica) has large golden feathers on its back; it is now very rare, and is seldom found except on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, about 4000 ft. above the sea. The smaller yellow feathers, once used for the war cloaks of the native chiefs, were furnished by the oo (Moho nobilis) and the aa (Moho braccatus), now found only occasionally in the valleys of Kauai near Hanalei, on the N. side of the island; scarlet feathers for similar mantles were taken from the iiwi (Vestiaria coccinea), a black-bodied, scarlet-winged song-bird, which feeds on nectar and on insects found in the bark of the koa and ohia trees, and from the Fringilla coccinea. In the old times birds were protected by the native belief that divine messages were conveyed by bird cries, and by royal edict forbidding the killing of species furnishing the material for feather cloaks, contributions towards which were long almost the only taxes paid. Thus the downfall of the monarchy and of the ancient cults have been nearly fatal to some of the more beautiful birds; feather ornaments, formerly worn only by nobles, came to be a common decoration; and many species (for example the Hawaiian gallinule, Gallinula sandwicensis, which, because of its crimson frontal plate and bill, was said by the natives to have played the part of Prometheus, burning its head with fire stolen from the gods and bestowed on mortals) have been nearly destroyed by the mongoose, or have been driven from their lowland homes to the mountains, such being the fate of the mamo, mentioned above, and of the Sandwich Island goose (Bernicla sandwicensis), which is here a remarkable example of adaptation, as its present habitat is quite arid. This goose has been introduced successfully into Europe. A bird called moho, but actually of a different family, was the Pennula ecaudata or millsi, which had hardly any tail, and had wings so degenerate that it was commonly thought wingless. The turnstone (Strepsilas interpres) arrives in the islands in August after breeding in Alaska. There are no parrots. The only reptiles are three species of skinks and four of the gecko; the islands are famed for their freedom from snakes. Land-snails, mostly Achatinellidae, are remarkably frequent and diverse; over 300 varieties exist. Insects are numerous, and of about 500 species of beetle some 80% are not known to exist elsewhere; cockroaches and green locusts are pests, as are, also, mosquitoes,[5] wasps, scorpions, centipedes and white ants, which have all been introduced from elsewhere.
Soil.—The soil of the Territory is almost wholly a decomposition of lava, and in general differs much from the soils of the United States, particularly in the large amount of nitrogen (often more than 1.25% in cane and coffee soil, and occasionally 2.2%) and iron, and in the high degree of acidity. High up on the windward side of a mountain it is thin, light red or yellow, and of inferior quality. Low down on the leeward side it is dark red and fertile, but still too pervious to retain moisture well. In the older valleys on the islands of Kauai, Oahu and Maui, as well as on the lowland plain of Molokai, the soil is deeper and usually, too, the moisture is retained by a heavy clay. In some places along the coast there is a narrow strip of decomposed coral limestone; often, too, a coral reef has served to catch the sediment washed down the mountain side until a deep sedimentary soil has been deposited. On the still lower levels the soil is deepest and most productive.
Agriculture.—The tenure by which lands were held before 1838 was strictly feudal, resembling that of Germany in the 11th century, and lands were sometimes enfeoffed to the seventh degree. But in the “Great Division” which took place in 1848 and forms the foundation of present land titles, about 984,000 acres, nearly one-fourth of the inhabited area, were set apart for the crown, about 1,495,000 acres for the government, and about 1,619,000 acres for the several chiefs; and the common people received fee-simple titles[6] for their house lots and the pieces of land which they cultivated for themselves, about 28,600 acres, almost entirely in isolated patches of irregular shape hemmed in by the holdings of the crown, the government or the great chiefs. Generally the chiefs ran into debt; many died without heirs; and their lands passed largely into the hands of foreigners. At the abolition of the monarchy in 1893, the crown domains were declared to be public lands, and, with the other government lands, were by the terms of annexation turned over to the United States in 1898. They had been offered for sale or lease in accordance with land acts (of 1884 and 1895—the latter corresponding generally to the land laws of New Zealand) designed to promote division into small farms and their immediate improvement. In 1909 the area of the public land was about 1,700,000 acres. In 1900 there were in the Territory 2273 farms, of which 1209 contained less than 10 acres, 785 contained between 10 and 100 acres, and 116 contained 1000 acres or more. The natives seldom cultivate more than half an acre apiece, and the Portuguese settlers usually only 25 or 30 acres at most. Of the total area of the Territory only 86,854 acres, or 2.77%, were under cultivation in 1900, and of this 65,687 acres, or 75.6%, were divided into 170 farms and planted to sugar-cane. In 1909 it was estimated that 213,000 acres (about half of which was irrigated) were planted to sugar, one half being cropped each year. The average yield per acre of cane-sugar is the greatest in the world, 30 to 40 tons of cane being an average per acre, and as much as 10¼ tons of sugar having been produced from a single acre under irrigation. The cultivation of the cane was greatly encouraged by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which established practically free trade between the islands and the United States, and since 1879 it has been widely extended by means of irrigation, the water being obtained both by pumping from numerous artesian wells and by conducting surface water through canals and ditches. The sugar farms are mostly on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai, at the bases of mountains; those on the leeward side have the better soil, but require much more irrigating. The product increased from 26,072,429 ℔ in 1876 to 259,789,462 ℔ in 1890, 542,098,500 ℔ in 1899 and about 1,060,000,000 ℔ (valued at more than $40,000,000) in 1909. Nearly all of it is exported to the United States. Rice was the second product in importance until competition with Japan, Louisiana and Texas made the crop a poor investment; improved culture and machinery may restore rice culture to its former importance. It is grown almost wholly by Japanese and Chinese on small low farms along the coasts, mostly on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. In 1899 the product amounted to 33,442,400 ℔; in 1907 about 12,000 acres were planted, and the crop was estimated to be worth $2,500,000. Coffee of good quality is grown at elevations ranging between 1000 to 3000 ft. above the sea; the Hawaiian product is called Kona coffee—from Kona, a district of the S. side of Hawaii island, where much of it is grown. In 1909 about 4500 acres were in coffee, the value of the crop was $350,000; and 1,763,119 ℔ of coffee, valued at $211,535, were exported from Hawaii to the mainland of the United States. A few bananas and (especially from Oahu) pineapples of fine quality are exported; since 1901 the canning of pineapples has been successfully carried on, and in the year ending May 31, 1907, 186,700 cases were exported, being packed in nine canneries. Oranges, lemons, limes, figs, mangoes, grapes and peaches, besides a considerable variety of vegetables, are raised in small quantities for local consumption. In 1909 the exports of fruits and nuts to the continental United States were valued at $1,457,644. An excellent quality of sisal is grown. Rubber trees have been planted with some success, particularly on the eastern part of the island of Maui; they were not tapped for commercial use until 1909. In 1907 there were vanilla plantations in the islands of Oahu and Hawaii. Tobacco of a high grade, especially for wrappers, has been grown at the Agricultural Experiment Station’s farm at Hamakua, on the island of Hawaii, where the tobacco is practically “shade grown” under the afternoon fogs from Mauna Kea. Cotton and silk culture have been experimented with on the islands; and the work of the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station is of great value, in introducing new crops, in improving old, in studying soils and fertilizers and in entomological research. Honey is a crop of some importance; in 1908 the yield was about 950 tons of honey and 15 tons of wax. The small islands of Lanai, Niihau and Kahoolawe are devoted chiefly to the raising of sheep and cattle—Niihau is one large privately owned sheep-ranch. There are large cattle-ranches on the islands supplying nearly all the meat for domestic consumption, and cattle-raising is second in importance to the sugar industry. It was estimated in 1908 that there were about 130,500 cattle and about 99,500 sheep on the islands. The “native” cattle, descended from those left on the islands by early navigators, are being improved by breeding with imported Hereford, Shorthorn, Angus and Holstein bulls, the Herefords being the best for the purpose. In the fiscal year 1908, 359,413 ℔ of wool (valued at $58,133) and 928,599 ℔ of raw hides (valued at $87,599) were shipped from the Territory to the United States.
Minerals.—The islands have large (unworked) supplies of pumice, sandstone, sulphur, gypsum, alum and mineral-paint ochres, and some salt, kaolin and sal-ammoniac, but otherwise they are without mineral wealth other than lava rocks for building purposes.