HAWAn. 



495 



Sandwich flora may be said to abound more in arborescent than in herbaceous forms. 

 Even many plants which in Europe are annuals, here become perennial. 



The native fauna is very poor in mammals, and before the arrival of Cook the 

 only domestic animals were the dog, the pig-, and poultry, all probably introduced 

 within a few centuries previously. The only indigenous mammals are the mouse 

 and a species of bat, while the reptile class was represented only by three small 

 lizards. Of land and aquatic birds there are some 40 species, amongst which not a 



Fig. 225.— Honolulu. 

 Scale 1 : 250,000. 



West oF Greenwich 157 '52- 



Depths 



Eeefs exposed 

 at low water. 



etc 32 

 Feet. 



.S2 to 320 

 Feet. 



32(j Feet 

 and upwards 



6 Miles. 



single songster is found. The most highly valued bird was the oo (drepanis pacifica), 

 whose beautiful black plumage was varied with a few small yellow feathers in 

 great demand for the decoration of the chiefs. The royal robe of Kamehameha L, 

 which represented the labour of nine successive generations, was entirely made of 

 these feathers attached to a ground of close netting. The streams are almost 

 destitute of fish, while molluscs abound in prodigious quantities. 



The Ilawaiians have long lost their national usages, which resembled those of 

 the kindred peoples in New Zealand and eastern Polynesia. They now regard the 

 ruins of their ancient sanctuaries with as much religious indifference as the present 

 generation of Britons do the Stonehenge monoliths. Even when the first mis- 

 sionaries arrived, in 1820, most of the natives had already ceased to believe in their 

 national gods, and religious wars had broken out between the conservative and 

 progressive parties. But after the official conversion of the chiefs all their subjects 

 had to conform under the severest penalties. Then the rivalries between the 



