Natural History of Hawaii. 



SECTION ONE 



THE J!A^yAIIAS PEOPLE. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE COMING OP THE HAWAIIAN RACE. 

 Hawaiians the First Inhabitants. 



The Polynesian ancestors of the Hawaiian race are believed to be th(; first 

 human inhabitants to set foot on Hawaii's island shores. Inasmuch as the group 

 comprises the most highly isolated island territory on the globe, it seems logical 

 to infer that this sturdy race must have migrated to Hawaii from other lands. 

 By tracing the relationship of the original inhabitants it has been found that 

 they belong to the same race as the natives of New Zealand, Samoa, Marquesas, 

 Society, Tonga and other islands in the southern, central and eastern Pacific. 



That all the native people found over this vast Pacific region are the 

 scattered branches of one great race, springing from a common ancestral stock, 

 has been demonstrated in many ways. The marked similarity in the manners 

 and customs, language and religion, as well as many peculiar physical char- 

 acteristics and intellectual traits common to the inhabitants of the widely scat- 

 tered Pacific islands just mentioned, leaves little doubt in the minds of +hosp 

 who have studied these people of the Pacific, as to their racial affinities. 



Polynesian Affinities. 



Collectively, this group of Pacific Islanders has been called by Europeans 

 the Polynesian I'ace, a reference to the inau.x' islands inhabited by them. The 

 exceedingly vexed question as to the genesis of the race as a whole and the 

 fixing of the place fi'oni whence the progenitors of the dark-skiiine;! kaiuika 

 people entered the Pacific has long been a subject of interest int.;' discussion. 



Since the genesis of the race is by no means a settled (juestion it will !iot 

 be profitable in this connection to dwell uixm the matter farther than to say 



Descrti'tkin- of Pi.atk. 



Tho .s|)leii(li(l physique of tlio ])e()])lo, tlieir woll shaped heads, attractive features and 

 kindly eyes are well shoAvn by the photographs and indicate the strong iudividualit}' and lovable 

 character of the race as a M-hole. Old Hawaiians, especially of the better class, possessed a 

 high ty]ie of Polynesian culture that embraced a tliorouf;h and useful knowledjje of their iso- 

 lated environment. At the time of tlieir introduction to European ci\ilization many among 

 tlu'in w ic intimately acquainted with their own iiistory and peuealogy, as well as with the 

 fund of inf or. nation concerning their traditions, myths, arts, occupations and i)raetices; more- 

 over they possessed a store of knowledge about the i.slands and their natural history that at 

 once won for tlie i-ace the respect ai-d admiration of their Knropean benefactors. 



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D. H. HILL LIBRARY 

 North Carolina State College 



