QUEEN OF HAWAII.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2480, 10 May 1909, Page 8

QUEEN OF HAWAII.

(By Liluokalani Herself.)

Mine is a very ancient people. Their origin is lost in the mists of tradition. But this much wo know with reasonable certainty, namely, that we Hawanans came to our mid-Pacific archipelago directly from Tahiti, which is an island of the Society group as it is called to-day. , , That was ever so long ago—nobody knows just how long. It may have been two thousand years or more. And of the early history of the islands very little is known. There were various chiefs, who ruled independently. But at length—it was only about a century ago —there arose a great man, who conquered all the other chiefs, attacking and subduing one island after another until he became the Lord dr This was Kamehameha I. The name, literally translanted, means The Lonely One.” His authority as overlord of the islands being absolute, and transcending that of all other duels, he stood alone —the King. In the course of time he was succeeded by another Kamehameha, second of the name, who, with his queen, died in England. But it was Kamehameha 111. who was on the throne when tho great division was made —the division upon which the present claim against tho Government of the United States is based. , , .. I will return presently to a dismission of this matter. But meanwhile let us go back to those early colonists who made the wonderful voyage of 2300 miles over a trackless ocean from Tahiti to Hawaii. They were the V ikings of their time—the Norsemen of the Pacific; and to their adventuroxis energy tho peopling of all of Polynesia is attributable. They even made their way as far as Madagascar, whose native inhabitants to-day, the Hovas, are their direct descendants. It seems very likely, indeed, that our people wore the first discoverers of America, and perhaps the ancestors of tho North American Indians. True, there arc marked differences between the Indians and the Polynesians, but tho general type is the same. A Saxon and an Irishman do not look much alike, but they are of the same race nevertheless. Polynesians and Indians are not very unlike in the color of their complexion, and black eyes and straight hair are characteristic of both. , , Tradition says that tho first colonists from Tahiti reached the Hawaiian Islands not with one or two boats, but with a whole fleet, numbering fifty or one hundred sail. These craft were huge double canoes, built catamaran fasnion, each pair of boats being fastened securely together, while held a few feet apart and parallel by cross pieces of wood. They wore dug out of groat tree trunks, or else made of planks sewn together with braid of cocoanut fibre, and each of them—that is to say each double canoe —held /0 or more persons.

It was in this manner, great fleets of boats joining in such expeditions, that the early Polynesian explorers journeyed over the wide wastes of the Pacific. Of courage and adventurous spirit they certainly had no lack, for it should" be remembered that tho ocean on which they thus fared forth was 11,000 miles wide. Compared with it, the Atlantic is a mere pond. But they had evolved and perfected a science of navigation of their own, by the aid of which they could find their way; and, as much at home in the water as on dry land, they would, if capsized, right their boats, bale them out with cocoauut shells, and, regarding the incident as of small importance, proceed on the voyage. Sometimes these voyages lasted for months, but they carried their food supply in a concentrated form —taroroot flour, dried breadfruit, and other provender that furnished the maximum of nourishment with a minimum of bulk. The hull of each canoe was covered fore and aft with deck-mats, as a protection against the waves, ud the triangular sail of plaited pandanus leaves was upheld, its apex downward, by a removable mast. These craft were very seaworthy and not easily capsized. „ When a storm came up, the mast was unshipped and lashed, with the sail, to the cross pieces connecting the boats. Then the crew took to the paddles. There wore seats for forty paddlemen, two ou a bench. Amidships there was a sort of raised platform walled and roofed with mats, forming a shelter for tho captain and the principal officers. A paddle was used, in lieu of a rudder, for steering. Such a fleet as I have described was conducted by one vessel, which served as a pilot boat. On board of tho pilot boat was a chart-reader, a stargazer and an official trumpeter. It is by the way, to comp ro the discipline and arrangement of an ancient Polynesian exploring fleet with those of a maritime expedition of Vikings. The business of the star-gazer and chart-reader was to map and determine the course, obtaining what help they could from observation of currents and the movements of fishes and birds. These ancestors of mine used a rude compass of some sort, which was set in the bow to steer by, but of its construction and method of employment nothing definite is now known. Their charts were made of cane splints tied together in such a way as to form a sort of framework about a yard square, with little shells fastened at intervals. The shells represented islands, while the sticks are supposed to have indicated “streams in the sea” —that is to say, well defined currents.

Such were the vessels in which the early colonists from Tahiti came to the Hawaiian archipelago. It seems likely, and even beyond a doubt, that many trips were afterwards made to and fro, bringing fresh supplies of colonists. But eventually communication with Tahiti ceased, and the mother country, if it may so be called, faded in a sort of myth—a region of mystery and magic, full of marvels and inhabited by supernatural beings. Meanwhile the colonists throve and multiplied. The new paradise in which they found themselves possessed an extremely fertile soil and the finest climate in the world. Captain Cook, the famous navigator, when he visited the archipelago, estimated the number of inhabitants at 400,000. At the present time the natives of Polynesian ancestry do not number more than onctenth that many. What the Cauca* sian people call civilisation, with its alcohol and diseases, has wiped them out wholesale.

Let me turn back, then, to Kamehamcha 111., who made the Great Division. He was an enlightened monarch. As Lord of All, he ruled absolute, owning in his own right every acre of the islands. There were many chiefs, but all were subject to his authority. It was a typical feudal system, not unlike that which existed in Europe during the Middle Ages. But Kamehamcha 111. was progressive, and he loved his people. He wished to improve their condition. Accordingly, he divided all the lands of the archipelago into three equal parts. The first part ho gave to the chiefs and the people. The second part became general public lands. The third part was retained by the monarch, but afterward this part was again split into three shares, one-third of it being assigned for the personal use and

benefit of the occupant of the throne and his successors. When Kamehameha 111. died, this personal estate descended to his successors, and eventually to me personally—to myself, the Queen, ruling in my own right as a collateral descendant of Kamehameha 111. The income from these lands was my personal income. I am entitled to it as lawfully and rightfully as any citizen of the United States can be entitled to an income derived from inherited real estate. Nevertheless, when the Hawaiian Islands were annexed by the American Government my lands were confiscated. This Government did not take these lands from me directly for itself, but it did furnish the armed force which enabled others to take it. A President of the United States, in a message to Congress, based on carefully collected evidence, said:— •‘The lawful Government of Hawaii was overthrown without the drawing of a sword or the firing of a shot, by a process every step of which was directly traceable to and dependent for its success upon the agency of the United States, acting through its diplomatic naval representatives.” And now the United States is holding these lands, having taken them as a gift from the temporary Government which it had enabled to seize them by aid of Federal forces. During my reign as Queen of Hawaii, the area of the Crown lands was about 1,000,000 acres; their present value is over £2,400,000. The income from them at the time of the overthrow of my Government was over £2600 a year—which sum wont direct to the occupant of the throne, in addition to the privy purse of £4,000 a year, for maintaining the royal household. Three separate and valuable pieces of the Crown lands have been taken for the direct use of the Federal Government. One tract, adjoining Honolulu harbor, is occupied by the Honolulu naval station. Another is the site of Camp Shaftor, equipped as a military post. The third, at Waianae-uka in the interior of Oahu, is just now being occupied as an army post. The portions of those lands directly held and used by the United States for military purposes are alone worth £250,000. Hawaii has cost this nation nothing. Indeed, besides contributing valuable lands to the territory of the United States, it has been a source of cash revenue. Although the United States assumed £BOO,OOO of Hawaii’s debt, the cash revenues paid into the Federal Treasury since the annexation have amounted to over £2,000,000. I do not want to end my days knowing that my Hawaiian people will always feel that this nation respects only the right of armed force. I had hop?d that this strong nation would show magnanimity to the weak —that this Government, which has gained Hawaii with such profit would show itself just oven beyond the power of a weaker people to question its justice; that it would not ignore a claim merely because it cannot be enforced, and that on the broad basis of national honor it would seek opportunity to show the generosity of a great people toward the deposed monarch of a weaker nation whose domain and separate existence they have absorbed. Through the loyalty of the Hawaiian people, I can end my days without actual want, but if this nation does not soon act, it will forever lose the opportunity to make some reparation for what one of its own Presidents calls an ‘‘unwarranted” course of procedure.

When, in 1893, I was induced to surrender my authority in order to avoid bloodshed, that action was represented to mo as a proper temporary step until appeal could bo made to the Government at Washington. In relinquishing my rights, I said: “I yield to the superior forces of the revolutionists.” And I added; “To avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps loss of life, Ido, under this protest, and impelled by said force, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.” The time has long passed when restoration to my throne could have been made. But, though fifteeen years have passed I have not given up hope tlmt this Government will yet make sonic reparation for my financial loss, which can still lie done with injury to no one and with honor to tho nation to which I now belong.