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In the very heart of the Pacific, nearly equidistant from the Old and the New World, lies a group of islands, unsurpassed for salubrity of climate, and equalled by few in fertility of soil. Uniting in their bosom the health-giving breezes of a temperate clime, with the gorgeous splendors of tropical verdure, Nature seems to have marked and isolated them for the purpose of working out there some great end, some wondrous experiment, requiring a peculiar sphere, and combining antagonistic elements; in short, a fitting battleground for barbarism and civilisation. Any one who has paid attention to the history of the Pacific Ocean, for the last fifty years, will readily understand that we mean the Sandwich Islands; a group of volcanic formation, extending from 18° 50' to 229 20 N. latitude, and from 154° 53' to 160° 15′ longitude west from Greenwich, embracing an area of 6100 square miles, nearly equidistant from Central America, Mexico, California, and the North-West Coast, and also from the Russian dominions,

Japan, China, and the Philippine Islands.

They are designated, by the natives, the Hawaii-nei; a term synonymous with Hawaiian Islands.

Of this group, we have now for the first time an authentic history. The author of the volume referred to at the foot of this page, is already favorably known to us as the late editor and publisher of the Polynesian, a weekly journal of character and respectability, and an authority upon the commerce, religion, and general history of the Pacific. From a residence at the Sandwich Islands during some of the most eventful periods of their history, and from the independent position occupied by him there between the parties by whose intrigues and rivalries they have been for many years agitated, Mr. Jarves is unquestionably entitled to respect for his statements of opinion, and to confidence for his statements of facts positively within his own knowledge. Unconnected with the government or with the American Missionaries, he is as reliable a witness and histo

⚫ History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands; embracing their Antiquities, Mythology, Legends, Discovery by Europeans in the Sixteenth Century, Re-discovery by Cook, with their Civil, Religious, and Political History, from the earliest Traditionary Period to the Present Time. By James Jackson Jarves, Member of the American Oriental Society. Boston: Tappan & Dennett. 1843. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 407.

†The Polynesian, Vols. I. and II. Honolulu. 1840-41.

rian, as, in a dispute between American Protestantism on the one side, and, on the other, French Catholicism, in partial alliance with English anti-Americanism, we could under any circumstances expect to find in a zealous American and vehement Protestant. If by an expression thus guarded, we imply some want of entire reliance on the impartial fidelity of the whole of our author's narrative, we neither make nor mean any other insinuation than he is a man. For though personally our selves both American and Protestant, we cannot claim for even the combina tion of those two attributes, that unprejudiced, unerring infallibility, which both Mr. Jarves, the American Missionaries, and ourselves, would doubtless unite in denying to that Pope, whose representatives are alleged by him to have brought so much trouble and confusion, religious and political, into the before peaceful order and uniformity of doctrine prevailing in the Islands.

Who were the ancient Hawaiians, the date of the first settlement of the group, the succession of kings, and the increase of civilisation up to the time when they first became known to Europeans are questions to which we look in vain for solution to the records or traditions of the Hawaiian Islands. For an imaginative people, their traditions are singularly barren and uninteresting. It is, however, worthy of attention, that, like most savage nations, they possess an account of a flood, said to have taken place at a remote period, in which some of the inhabitants were saved by taking refuge in a canoe which rested on the summit of Mauna-Kea, the highest mountain in the Islands. Their origin, too, is accounted for by the statement of an emigration from Tahiti, rendered probable by various points of evidence, on which we need not dwell. So vague and dim, however, had become even the memory of this tradition, that though the name Tahiti is still preserved in the Hawaiian language, it was applied to any foreign country, and to this day its actual signification answers to the English term "abroad." A communication once existed with the other various Polynesian groups, by means of much larger vessels than the canoes, alone in existence when first visited by Captain Cook; and certain points of departure, as the southern extremities of Hawaii and

Kahoolawe, are still designated as "the foreign roads."

The profession of the bards, though highly honorable, does not seem to have added much to the store of knowledge, and was rather confined to the excitement of religious enthusiasm, by wild and imaginative songs and odes. Their historical labors were limited to lyrical narrations of miraculous interpositions, to the battles of shadowy though bloodthirsty heroes, and to stirring relations of more than uncertain events. Their men become gods, and their gods as suddenly relapse into men, each seeming perplexed,

"incertus scamnum, faceretne Priapum."

There is little doubt-indeed, nonethat the group were visited by Europeans, probably by the Spaniards, previously to the voyage of Captain Cook. That great navigator found the value of iron, of which there existed no native specimens, well known. On the return of the first visitors sent to examine Cook's ships, the report of the great quastity of iron seen on board the ships excited the cupidity of the chiefs, and one of the warriors volunteered to seize it, saying, "I will go and take it, as it a my business to plunder." He went, and in the attempt was fired upon and killed. Some fragments of iron hoop and of a sword-blade, in possession of the chiefs, were said to have been left there by white men. Various traditions remain of the visits of parties of white men, either in vessels stopping at the Islands, or thrown on them by shipwreck. These were doubtless some of the earlier Spanish navigators of the Pacific. As Mr. Jarves remarks, the singularly "graceful form of the helmets, and the elegance of the feathered mantles, so unlike the usual rude arts of the islanders, bearing as they did a striking resemblance in form to those formerly worn among the Spaniards," together with other similar evidences of a better taste and knowledge, probably derived their origin from visitors of that nation. A number of Hawaiian words also exhibit a strong analogy with the Spanish. One white individual who thus landed alone on one of the islands-either the sole survivor from a shipwreck, or perhaps some zealous priest landing from a passing ship, in a solitary sublimity of self

devotion, as a missionary-is thus remembered in tradition by the name of Paao, as having brought with him a large and a small idol, which by his persuasions were enrolled in the Hawaiian calendar of gods, and as having become a powerful and influential man; that he was a humane one, too, would appear from the tradition of his having induced the king to spare the life of one of his sons who had been ordered to execution. The last of these visits can be referred to a period nearly a century and a half prior to Cook's arrival (in 1778); a time quite sufficient, when coupled with their many bloody wars and changes, to have dimmed the recollection of events, and thrown a veil over the whole. "Enough has been preserved," says our author,

"to establish the fact that centuries since, vessels visited these islands, and that several parties landed on them, and left progeny, whose descendants are distinguished even to this day, by their lighter skin, and brown or red curly hair, called chu, and who highly esteem their origin. Kaikoewa, a celebrated warrior and late governor of Kauai, traced his ancestry to one of these strangers. A party of white men, called Hea, are said to have roamed wild in the mountains, occasionally making inroads upon the more fertile districts, much to the terror of the inhabitants, particularly the females."

But this fact is, after all, of no great importance, nor does it detract one leaf from the hard-earned laurels of Captain Cook. If others made the discovery, and chose for selfish purposes to conceal their knowledge, it is obvious that the real merit and honor will accrue to him who first disclosed his information to the world. Captain Cook, if not the first at the islands, is nevertheless the first who made known their existence to civilized nations, and as such, must be accounted their discoverer.

The situation of the Hawaiian Islands, in 1778, at the time of the arrival of this celebrated navigator, must be understood before we can comprehend the almost miraculous changes which have taken place from their intercourse with the more civilized white man. Imagination can hardly present a more degraded picture of imbruted heathenism than was there exhibited. Virtue, as such, was not known; indolence, which was supposed to be akin to good

nature, was the nearest approach to it. Superstition the most blind and besotted, kept in continual and fearful operation by a wicked priesthood, knew no bounds to its credulity. A multitude of cruel, blood-loving, and licentious gods, and the universal terrors of witchcraft, enforced and retained a horrible power in the human sacrifices and obscene rites which they enjoined. Home had no pleasant associations, and the natural love of kin had no existence. Cruelty to the aged and infirm, and the more unnatural crime of infanticide, were so common as to pass unnoticed as the change of the seasons. Such friendship and hospitality as are practicable without kindness, were not wanting. The social virtues, which flow from the relations of the sexes, found their only acceptation in a frightful licentiousness and a promiscuous concubinage. Woman had no influence, as she was more degraded than her master. Thievishranks. The arbitrary tabu, issued by ness and drunkenness pervaded all priest or chief, threw a fatal chain over the common people, who, from ages of oppression and slavery, degenerated till they became the fit tools of their masters, who ruled with an unsparing rigor. Their wars were cruel, and cannibalism was not the most revolting feature. In short, a brutal fear was the holiest sentiment of their religion, and an abuse of all the bountiful gifts of the Creator afforded the only proof of their existence as free agents.

It is needless to recapitulate the events of Cook's visit to the Hawaiian Islands. They are familiar to all of us from childhood. His tragical fate furnished the natural termination of the interesting tale. Mr. Jarves gives a spirited description of that unfortunate mariner's death, from which we should be pleased to quote, did our limits permit. He attributes that untoward event to want of judgment,-added to a line of conduct, in relation to the savages by whom he was received as a long expected divinity, but little creditable to him, either as a man of humanity, or of good faith and just dealing. As Cook was treated as a God by the natives, and hesitated not to take advantage of their superstition for his own selfish ends, when they discovered their mistake, revenge, the first impulse of a savage, as well for many other wrongs

as for this deception, sought its natural satisfaction, on an occasion on which it was stimulated by a particular provocation of the most exasperating char

acter.

The incorrect accounts of the cause of Cook's death restricted the intercourse of the natives of the islands with foreigners for some years. But in 1786, trade was opened by the vessels, King George and Queen Charlotte, which has continued to increase steadily up to the present time. Occasional outrages, for which foreigners were too often themselves to blame, were sufficient to keep up for many years the reputation of the Hawaiians for cruelty and treachery.

The arrival of Vancouver in 1792 and the subsequent publication of his narrative, had the effect of producing a more just opinion of the character and capabilities of the Hawaiians. His treatment of the natives and of King Kamehameha, was benevolent, honest, and impartial, though firm and polite, and it enabled him to prove that degraded as were the people, in their state of heathen brutality, they were yet susceptible of more moral and religious improvement than Cook had represented. Indeed, his whole deportment at the islands, afforded a most marked and forcible contrast to that of the last-named navigator, whose errors Vancouver, as a junior officer with him, had personally observed and deemed necessary to avoid. The visit produced a most agreeable effect upon the islanders, who first learned, from his example, the power of morality and religion, and the true policy of justice.

It was unfortunate for their civilisation that the death of this estimable man prevented the fulfilment of his promise to return to the Islands. No one had as yet exercised upon them an influence so thoroughly beneficial, and no one of the numerous foreigners who visited the Islands before 1810, is remembered with so much affection and gratitude. Intercourse with foreigners had alone taught them their wants and their inferiority to civilized nations; and among the more intelligent of the natives who first endeavored to possess themselves of the various qualities which were recognized as necessary to put them on a par with the strangers, was Kamehameha I., the king of the Islands. This great savage, in the

imaginative language of the Hawaiians, "the lonely one," although not born to the sovereignty of the group, eventually made himself, by his own superiority of character and resources, from the ruler of one island, the king of the whole. This master-mind at once comprehended the degradation of his race, and he put from him, by one effort, the whole incubus of drunkenness, licentiousness, cruelty and avarice, which had become the nature of the island chieftains. He felt his own superiority to those around him, and made himself the first in power as he was the first in acuteness, foresight and general intelligence. What management failed to accomplish was obtained by force, until he had rendered himself the undisputed master. Brave to rashness, and conquering his enemies as much by policy as by strength, he first gained victories which were not sullied by indiscriminate slaughter and outrage. The chiefs subdued by his arms were won over to the strongest adherence by his combined mercy and skilful policy, and the magnanimous use which he made of his victories. This extraordinary character, although he had heard of Christianity, died (1819) in the faith of his ancestors. His active mind impelled him to make the inquiry of such Europeans as were attached to his person, what was the nature and importance of the new religion; but unfortunately, not one of them possessed sufficient knowledge or belief in the truth of Christianity, to satisfy his yearnings for a more spiritual and rational faith. We regret that the restriction of our limits forbid our dwelling more at length on the character and history of this great and good old savage, who, on his scale and in his sphere, was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable men the age has produced.

He was succeeded by his son, Liholiho, or, as he styled himself, Kamehameha II., whose qualities were insufficient to retain the influence possessed by his father. Surrounded by base and designing whites, their wicked counsels kept down for a season the progress of civilisation, and at one time threatened a permanent return to heathenism. Eventually his better nature and better counsels prevailed, and the missionaries (who came to the island shortly after his accession), were enabled to continue their benevolent labors. The subse

quent history of this king and his consort, Kamamalu, their voyage to England, and the fatal termination of their tour in the death of both of them in 1824, are familiar to the public, and it is unnecessary to record the closing scenes of the reign here. His brother, the present king of the islands, Kauikeaouli, or Kamehameha III., succeeded him. The policy of this ruler has encouraged intercourse with civilised nations, has protected the Mission, and bids fair to place his country in some respects on a level which many European nations might in vain attempt to attain. By his direction, a constitution has been framed and a code of laws, suited to the nature of the islands, established. Order and decorum now prevail among a people accustomed to every scene of outrage and violence. Commerce has received an impulse from his fostering hand, and the native resources of the islands have been made productive. Security of life and property have attracted a more intelligent class of foreigners, and the prosperity of the islands, if secured from external interference, will continue steadily to advance as their great advantages become more fully recognized. Of their political importance we shall speak more fully, as it is a subject comparatively misunderstood in the United States.

The arrival of the American Missionaries shortly after the accession of Liholiho or Kamehameha II., has been already alluded to. They landed on the 3d of March, 1820-an event the most important, in the consequences of which it was to be the seed, that has yet occurred in the history of the Hawaiian archipelago. The increased intercourse with foreigners, and the impunity with which they had broken through the tabu, in defiance of a supposed offended divinity, had already shaken the faith of the more intelligent, in the truth of the system in which they had been educated. Before the arrival of the Missionaries, the king Liholiho had given the death-blow to the old superstition, by the destruction of the idols and by his open neglect of the ceremonies which it enjoined. His observation had shown him the superiority of the whites on the islands over their native population; and if the example and influence of the Europeans did not lead him to Christianity, they

taught him at least the folly of Paganism. Although some of those whites who were about his train were outcasts from other lands, were not only debased and licentious, but even endeavored to impede rather than to aid any improvement in the character and habits of the king, which would have rebuked their own more criminal viciousness, and withdrawn him from their influence, they could not entirely suppress the evidence of their superiority to the natives, as exhibited in the greater amount of knowledge which they possessed. Commerce, even with an inferior class of whites, had smoothed the path for the Mission, and the Hawaiians had already a suspicion that there existed better civilized people than resided among them. It is a fact not generally known or believed in the religious world, that the success of missions has always been in direct proportion to the contemporaneous intercourse with white men engaged in trade. The testimony of the whole Pacific proves this to be true. The intercourse of the Society and Sandwich groups with the whites, and the traffic carried on previous to and since the establishment of missions in these groups, has elevated them above the Samoa and Friendly isles, where communication with other whites than missionaries is limited, and where those benevolent individuals themselves admit, that though the appearance of the people is flattering to their efforts, the result is still doubtful.

The few Methodists who were settled upon the Fejees, have hitherto entirely failed of success, as the barbarous character of the natives has driven foreign commerce to less treacherous shores. The Kingsmill group, though little known, is yet unprepared for missionary enterprise; while Ascension and Rotuma are predisposed by foreign residents for proper religious impressions. It may be gratifying to sectarian zeal to magnify the results attained by missionary labors, and attribute to their efforts results little short of miraculous; truly, the main bulk of the worthy men composing the glorious little army of Christian missionaries, have labored for their holy cause with a devotion unsurpassed in the annals of religious and moral enterprise; but it is no reflection on their motives, and no detraction from the value of their zeal, to tell the whole truth in an examination

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