392 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



The crop of rice has also been much in- 

 creased under the treaty, the exports rising 

 from 3,034,405 pounds in 1877 to 9,493,000 

 pounds in 1884. Coffee, of excellent quality, 

 unsurpassed in flavor, and less " wakeful" in 

 its effect than the Eastern coffees, is produced 

 in small quantity. The best comes from the 

 district of Kona, on Hawaii; but it is subject 



to a destructive blight, which" has checked its 

 cultivation. 



The following table shows the amount and 

 value of the principal Hawaiian exports for 

 1882-'83, and indicates a slight falling off in 

 the value of the latter year, due principally to 

 a dry season and a consequently short crop of 

 sugar, and to the considerable decline in prices. 



PRINCIPAL DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS IN 1883-1884. 



YEARS. 



114,107,155 193,977 

 18S4 142,654,923 110,530 



1,868,705 11,619,000 

 45,224| 9,493,000 



16.057 3,788 

 4,231, 2,247 



II 



44,902 24,798 3^,955 32.252 318.271 

 58,040 - 



II 

 fl 



6.583 

 8.038 



$7,924,727 

 7,977,909 



Population. An official census of the Ha- 

 waiian Islands was taken Dec. 27, 1878, show- 

 ing a total population of 57,985, distributed 

 under the following nationalities : 



Native Polynesians 44,088 



Half-breeds of various crossings 3,420 



Chinese 5,916 



Americans 1,276 



Hawaiian-born of foreign parents 94T 



British 883 



Portuguese 436 



Germans 272 



French 81 



Other foreigners 666 



Total population, December, 1878 57,935 



Since 1878 the foreign population has rapid- 

 ly increased, mainly by the importation of 

 Chinese and Portuguese laborers for the sugar- 

 pi ;intations. The distribution of present popu- 

 lation is nearly as follows : 



Native Polynesians 40.000 



Half-breeds 4,000 



Chinese 18.000 



Americans 2,000 



Hawaiian-born of foreign parents 2,000 



British 1,300 



Portuguese 9,000 



Germans 1,600 



French 20 > 



Other foreigners 2,478 



Total population, December, 1 884 80,578 



The Chinese male adults now considerably 

 outnumber the Polynesian. 



The aboriginal population continues to de- 

 crease, as it has done since the first estimate, 

 made in 1779 by Cook. The successive esti- 

 mates have been as follows : 



POPULATION OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 

 A. D. Total population. 



1779, estimated by Captain Cook 400,000 



1823, estimated . . 142,050 



1882, official census 130315 



1886, official census 108,579 



1850, official census (native and half-breed, 82,203). . 84.1(55 

 1853, official census (native and half-breed, 71,919). . 73,138 

 1860, official census (native and half-breed, 67.084). . 69,800 

 1866, official census (native and half-breed, 58,765) 62 959 

 1872, official census (native and half-breed, 51,897>. . 5 : ,897 

 1878, official census (native and half-breed, 47,508). . 57.985 

 1884, official census (native and half-breed, 44,232) . . 80,573 



This rapid and persistent decrease of the abo- 

 rigines is not mainly due to foreign diseases, 

 though these have swept away multitudes ; epi- 

 demics of small-pox, syphilis, measles, and even 

 of influenza having been especially fatal. But 



the peculiar feature of the movement of popu- 

 lation, not only in the Hawaiian but in all the 

 other Polynesian groups, is that it is always 

 steadily retrogressive, and does not tend to 

 restore any part of its losses, as is the tendency 

 in other populations after the greatest losses. 

 The process of depopulation goes forward un- 

 checked, even though the community be ap- 

 parently healthy. Between the censuses of 

 1832 and 1884 the aboriginal and half-caste 

 population has decreased 66 per cent. 



The reason of this swift and continuous de- 

 population has been pointed out by Charles 

 Darwin in his work on u The Descent of Man." 

 It is the sterility of the people under changed 

 conditions, and the high mortality among the 

 children, probably a consequence of this less- 

 ened fertility. The advent of the trader and 

 the missionary, and the sudden and complete 

 change wrought by them in the dress, the 

 usages, the religion, the amusements, and to a 

 great extent in the food of the aborigines, 

 these have broken up the completely adjusted 

 environment of the Polynesian, and he has 

 been unable to support the change. In his 

 work on "The Descent of Man," Darwin 

 says, "One of my informants, Mr. [T. Mun- 

 son] Coan, who was born on the islands, re- 

 marks that the natives have undergone a great- 

 er change in their habits f life during fifty 

 years than Englishmen during a thousand 

 years." This revolution in their physical and 

 psychical condition has made it comparable to 

 that of wild animals under restraint, among 

 which infertility is the rule. As early as 1843 

 the Hawaiian Government rewarded parents 

 who had three children by exemption from 

 taxes, while those who had more than three 

 received gifts of land and other encourage- 

 ments. Darwin's conclusion in respect to the 

 extinction of the Polynesian races is this: 



" The reproductive system can be shown 

 to be susceptible to an extraordinary degree 

 (though why we .know not) to changed condi- 

 tions of life. Seeing how general is this law 

 of the susceptibility of the reproductive system 

 to changed conditions of life, and that it holds 

 good with our nearest allies, the Quadrumana, 

 I can hardly doubt that it applies to man in 



