The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 2

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Wonders of Transforming Grace.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

While a Spaniard by the name of Gaetano dis-
covered these islands as early as 1542, they really
did not become known to the world at large until
Captain Cook paid them a visit in 1778. Cook
named the group of beautiful islands after one of
his patrons, the Earl of Sandwich. But in the past
fifty years the name has been changed from Sand-
wich Islands to Hawaiian Islands.

Size and Location.

The total area of the whole group is about 6,500
square miles; that of Hawaii, the largest, alone
comprises over 4,000 square miles. The area of
the Hawaiian Islands is less than that of Massa-
chusetts and only about half that of Maryland.
Nine of the islands are inhabited. Next to Hawaii
in size is Maui, with an area of a little over 700
square miles. Oahu, which follows next, has the
chief harbor of the group, the city of Honolulu.
Then comes the beautiful island of Kauai. Between
Maui and Oahu is Molokai, noted for its pores
settlement.

The situation of the islands makes them very
important. Because of their location they have
been appropriately called the “Crossroads of the
Pacific.” The fertility of the soil is such that the
islands are well able to sustain a population of one
million. They are on the direct route from the
Isthmus of Panama to, Asia, and for this reason
a steady stream of ships is passing from Europe and
America to Asia through Honolulu, their chief sea-
port, since the completion of the Panama Canal.
Honolulu is about 2,100 miles from San Francisco,
.2,400 from Tahiti, 3,400 from Yokohama, and
4,900 from Hongkong.

Physical Features and Beauties.

Hawaii has the loftiest mountains in the Pacific
and the three most wonderful mountains in the
world, Hualalai, Kilauea, and Mauna Loa. The
famous Kilauea has the largest crater in the world,
‘for the rim of its crater is almost eight miles in

ane ‘circumference. Five hundred feet down from the

_ Tim of the crater is a lake of molten lava, which

_ the natives very appropriately call “The House
of Everlasting Burning.” Sulphurous smoke is
steadily ascending from this lake of fire; for this
flaming lake is ever bubbling and boiling and spit-
ing up its molten lava, often high up over the
rim of the crater. The island of Hawaii is rather

desolate and has only one town of any size, Hilo,
on its eastern.shores. Kauai is a beautiful garden

' island and is especially rich in tropical vegetation,

though the luxuriance of the tropics is evident on
all the islands. On Maui there is a canyon, the
Iao Valley, which is said to be even more beautiful
than the famous Yosemite Valley of California,
and on this same island is the crater of an extinct
voleano, Ohalakala, seven miles long, three miles
wide, several thousand feet deep, and ten thousand
feet above sea-level.

The rainfall on the islands is abundant, the
climate is all one can desire, perpetual summer
without extreme heat; for a constant northeast
wind makes the air delightfully refreshing. The
mountainsides are covered with forests, and the
fertile soil produces all kinds of tropical and sub-
tropical fruits and vegetables. Rice, coffee, sugar,
breadfruit, bananas, and pineapples are among the
most important produces:

Social Condition in, Early Days.

_ The native Hawaiians are a brown race and
belong to the Polynesian family. When first visited
by white men, they had reached a higher degree of
civilization than those on some other islands of the
Pacific. They had a feudal form of government.
The chiefs and priests were absolute lords, and the
common people held the tenure of their land only
as long as it pleased their feudal masters. A com-
mon man did not dare remain standing at the
mention of the king’s name; he was forbidden to
enter his presence without express permission, nor
did he dare cross his shadow or that of his house.
When permitted to approach the king at all, he
could do so only by crawling upon the ground.
The revenues were collected by the king, who
took what he pleased and as much as he pleased.
Animals and vegetable products .in the possession
of his subjects the king appropriated in accordance
with his good pleasure. The king’s provisioner’
might even enter the subject’s kitchen and take
from the fire for the royal table whatsoever he
desired. Men who have studied old Hawaiian
conditions claim that two-thirds of the common
people’s income were appropriated by the kings,
priests, and chiefs.

In the days of heathenism the immorality of
the Hawaiians was terrible. Unchastity was the
most common sin, and the sanctity of marriage was
generally disregarded. It was quite common to
have a group of brothers marry a group of sisters,
each woman being the wife of all the men and each