The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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There Is A Ferment Going On In This Kingdom, Mainly Got Up By The
Sugar Planters And The Interests Dependent
On them, and two
political lectures have lately been given in the large hall of the
hotel in advocacy of
Their views; one, on annexation, by Mr.
Phillips, who has something of the oratorical gift of his cousin,
Wendell Phillips; and the other, on a reciprocity treaty, by Mr.
Carter. Both were crowded by ladies and gentlemen, and the first
was most enthusiastically received. Mrs. D. and I usually spend our
evenings in writing and working in the verandah, or in each other's
rooms; but I have become so interested in the affairs of this little
state, that in spite of the mosquitos, I attended both lectures, but
was not warmed into sympathy with the views of either speaker.
I daresay that some of my friends here would quarrel with my
conclusions, but I will briefly give the data on which they are
based. The census of 1872 gives the native population at 49,044
souls; of whom, 700 are lepers; and it is DECREASING at the rate of
from 1,200 to 2,000 a year, while the excess of native males over
females on the islands is 3,216. The foreign population is 5,366,
and it is INCREASING at the rate of 200 a year; and the number of
half-castes of all nations has INCREASED at the rate of 140 a year.
The Chinese, who came here originally as plantation coolies,
outnumber all the other nationalities together, excluding the
Americans; but the Americans constitute the ruling and the monied
class.
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