454 REVIEWS THE SANDWICH ISLANDS MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



oddly combines the evidences of progressive civilization in the follow- 

 ing items : — 



" The Minister of the Interior of the Sandwich Islands has officially recom- 

 mended that the English language, which is already that of the court and of trade, 

 shall be adopted as the national language. — Another Sandwich trait worth 

 noticing is the fact of a splendid lace robe for the Prince Royal (Prince of Hawaii) 

 having been procured from Ireland." 



"We are indebted to our friend, Mr. Joseph Barnard Davis, the 

 learned author of the " Crania Britannica" for the first six numbers 

 of the Honolulu Magazine, as a publication well calculated to gratify 

 those who watch with interest the transformations which external 

 influences effect on rude aboriginal races, and the light thrown on 

 the past history of the human race by watching the phenomena at- 

 tendant on the meeting of currents so essentially distinct and diverse 

 as those now brought into contact on the remote islands of Polynesia. 



The singular phases of thought and of social action thus brought 

 about, alike in the mingling and the conflict of races, cannot fail to 

 arrest attention. Here, for example, is a fragment of the Honolulu 

 editorial address at starting, which presents, in various respects, a 

 striking contrast to that of the Gazette of the Fraser River gold 

 regions. Especially noticeable is the very different feeling mani- 

 fested, in the one case, of regard for the native population, accompanied 

 as it is with the declaration of "respectful loyalty" towards the native 

 king, — compared with the scarcely disguised contempt with which the 

 other looks down upon the degraded and doomed Indians, and seems 

 to anticipate their extirpation along with the forest which he is already 

 converting into jiiles of lumber. 



" In giving our opinion," says the Polynesian editor, " on the Men and Measures 

 of the Government of these Islands, we shall bring to tiie task a profound desire 

 to set forth only the truth, divested as much as possible of all bias or preconceived 

 political ideas ; but while avoiding personalities, viewing public men as public 

 property, we shall not scruple to expose their short-comings should they arise, or 

 fail to point out to the best of our ability the true course and policy to be pursued. 



To the King recently called to the Throne of these fair Islands, we profess res- 

 pectful loyalty, admiration for his character, so far as it has yet developed itself, 

 and shall not De found wanting in helping on the good work he has so much at 

 heart, the moral and intellectual elevation of the people over whom he rules. And 

 without the slightest adulation we may say truthfully, that few young men who 

 had had the benefit and advantage of an European education could have entered 

 on his difficult task with better or more decided success. 



And now we address ourselves to the task so faintly shadowed forth, and if we 



