Hawaii Holomua, Volume II, Number 61, 14 March 1894 Edition 02 — THE POPULATION OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. [ARTICLE]

THE POPULATION OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

Is the a oeenieā ? PRESEXT AND FITURE PROSPECTS. (Sff If-rou.ua, F'h. 21 and 26: }Iar. 0 awi 12.) However, all the col!ateral ev><!enee prove> th»t emiprxtion bas existeil at all t:mes, and that tho Hawaiian s taste for a<lventnrcs has been, in m<xlern years. tho it wa« in thrse remote perio<U recor<leJ in tbeir ora! traditions when tbey left in lar}?e bōdie« for otber regions of the Pacific. an<l the last instance of whieh was the disastrous oxjievlition of Roki. in 1 >>•21?. witl whom were lost 471* of the best men of the c*'nntry. I may be hero allowixl to s«y, as a <lipression. that Boki was a turbnlent high-chief of O ihn, who was ma<le Governor of the I>L‘tul by the regent Kaahnmanu. He '•q<inndere<l to his own accoont the treHsares <>f sandal-wocd j>iled op for the nse of the e n v.--r.-•««. * n!.>tt« <1 :igains* the K : mr a <1 ~ ■ - - • - 5 l>fZ7' f • pur; ->e, L« woeel ,he “K i. i.nd the “Beckew ' ;ur an expedition to j t> the New where sand:il-«ood had thea receut y >een discovt He s:iiled Deoember 2, 1829. amvetl ,.t Botumab, from whenee he departed for Erromango. leav- | in2 tho “B».-cket to join him’ later at the same islanl, wh ieh howover, he never roached. He mnst Uxivo becn ( caught iu a cyclone, whieh shij)wreckeii him on the reef of : a district c«lled Iwa ou Savaii, Samoa, a fact nct geaernllv known here. He and his comj>anions landed s<.felv. • Bot probab'y <lisgnsted at the failuro of his scbeme, whieh pot an end to his ambitious dreams iu Oahu, he mnde np his mind to take allegiance to Malietoa. (*} and settlo in Samoa. whcre mnnv of his descendants still bear lus nart,e. The two canons, of Hussian uiake, whieh armecl his ship, ; were still in tho princij>al village of Iwa, at the tirae of tho i Hawaiian Emb»ssy to Samoa (18Sfi.) The Becket left 1 Erromango after sutl'ering dreadfully from tho deadly elimaie, «nd cltd manage to crawl back to H nolula. a I floatiug hospital, only twenty of the whole crew surviving. 8 of whom were white people. who behaved sharaefullv tu I the j>oor natives. • But to return toonr subject, raost of the moelem emigration has becn through the readiness of the aborigines to join any ship willing to engage tlieir services. This began with tbe last years of the past centnry, one Kalehua being ! taken to Boston in 1792, bv a captain Ingraham. Othor Hawaiian sailors thns oarried to New England abont 1808 or 1SU9. were certainly the immodiate oause of the Araericao Missionaries being sent here. instead of those of the Lomlon Societv, who started iu the South Pacific. (t) Their pleasant. cheerful temjx?raraent, their intelligence f ready adaj.tation to circumstances anel willingness f«»r work, soon raado Hawaiiau sailors favorites with navigutors. and with ihe prowth of the wbalirg bnsiuess thov were finallv exported regnlarlv every year, in large nmnbers. 01d residents of Honoluln sti!l rememher the tiraes whoa over 300 wbalers wore moored in the harbor alone, everyone of j whieh had several Hawaiian sailors ou b ard. many haviag nearlv their whole crew of Hawaiians. For quite a whi.e, between 2 and 4 thousand Haw ciians, all men in the primo of hfe, nsed to go otf yearly, *‘ a great many of whieh. says Jarvis, never returned. - ’ MortaIity among tbem most have l>een fearfol. from the hardships of that kiml of navigation aml the trying eflVcts of changes from tropical to gl >c,al j cliraates. Those who did eome back. Ihe ** holokahiki as they were tenned. by their rep->rts and exaraplos of foreigo I h-)bits, did certaiuly more for the immediate aml won-l rfully rapid civilisation of the niass of the N»tion. than the lesson> and bvmns of the mis> oaaries, or at least p))w<.-r-fullv helfxxl the instillation oftheir teachings. For many vears, no !aws regnlate»l the recrniting of the>e | sailors; bat so many abnses were committet! agaiost tbem, so many were kidnapped and so many failed to be retarned according to tbeir shipping agreeraents. that legislation was fiually enacted whioh was embodied in 1859. in the Hawaiian Penal Code, by wLieh no Hawaiian couid be sbipjxxl without the pertnissi< n of the Government. aml a j Boml of $300. with secnritv-. s-ibscril»ed in order to insure tbeirreturn. But. even when tl ese wi ei> d ‘ - '•'in f„n . - rs .{ • a-jrr -■ ? lv r;f' . • | recrcit* a e’.a: ’ -stiaely. aml a 1 .ig- nuajtvr o» ycat <jf ujis i- ■», kep( ■■ the\ ■ i to-dav. ' ,.sing a!ong the eoa»tc, no ollieial con«t f whom e rb« uodertakca. Severai of our pre*ent most ai and best edncated Natives are 9eif-ma ie I men. who thns nin away in vit lalion of the sbip|)ing-i ■ ws, |andhad the goo»i loek lo b« able to return. wben otheis cooid not- Bat many. ev«n «xnoog tho«« legally ihippel, also failed lo n?tum, by being easily ioduced to settl« in otber congvnial eountri«s and as far back as 1847, J»rvū> j menlion* lbe existenc« of sra*ll eolonie* of Hawaiian j setliers. amounting to over a thoosiaad. in T.ihiti. Oregwo. ’ Pen», etc,, with onkoown fioat»ng numb«rs in Eutvp« and | America. A nnmber of them took parl in the Amer ean war and «rv«d with honor. Tha» ot tbme rovcrs wer« j ereataaliy Ukeu wilh a desire to roturo lo their native lar.-J, J ia attesled by th« neceassty whxh ha* been fonnd lo keep. , vear afler y*»ar. in Ihe HawaīUn Badgel. a *p<ci*i appn>* | priation “ for the retorn of indigent Hawaiian*. tot, fur a few who did obuin such help. how many died far away, | regretting the *weel coantry they had abandoae»l and whieh | their de*ertion had oontriboted to d«popnlate I Ihe Uib*t o4 ii* āamam» te2^J^**JST5133Sa£. *“* k *“—