THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 533 



glyphics, have also been found, and it is evident that 

 these wooden carvings, as well as those of stone, are the 

 relics of a former age. The people have a tradition that 

 many generations ago a migration took place from Oparo 

 or Eapa-iti, one of the Austral group. Hence they call 

 their present abode Eapa-nui, or Great Eapa, to dis- 

 tinguish it from Eapa-iti, or Little Eapa. An imple- 

 ment of stone, a mere long pebble with a chisel edge, is 

 believed to have been the chief tool used in producing 

 these wonderful statues ; but it is almost incredible that 

 with such imperfect appliances works so gigantic could have 

 been executed, literally by hundreds, in an island of such 

 insignificant dimensions, and so completely isolated from 

 the rest of the world. At present Easter Island is the 

 great mystery of the Pacific, and the more we know of its 

 strange antiquities, the less we are able to understand them. 



13. The Sandwich Islands or Hawaii. 



Lying just within the northern tropic, over 2000 

 miles from San Francisco, and some 3000 from Fiji, is 

 the isolated Hawaii or Sandwich Archipelago, forming a 

 small and independent kingdom, though largely under 

 the influence — both socially and politically — of the L^nited 

 States. It consists of eight inhabited islands, Niihau, 

 Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, Kahulaui, and 

 Hawaii, of which the last is considerably the largest ; 

 and the three small rocky islets, Lehua, Kaula, and 

 Molokini, together with a few shoals and small islands 

 stretching to the N.W. They extend in a JST.W. and S.E. 

 direction over a distance of about 400 miles, and rise 

 abruptly from great ocean depths of 16,000 to 18,000 

 feet. The land area is about 8500 square miles, and 

 the population probably about 88,000. The islands are 



