THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE* 
565 
1846 .] 
from Mauritius from twenty to twenty-four dollars per pecul. Mothu cloves is a 
larger and inferior kind brought from the Straits of Malacca. The price fluctu¬ 
ates greatly, according to the supply ; from ten to twelve dollars per pecul is the 
average, and is used for scents. The oil of cloves is also used to some extent 
among the Chinese. The color when pure is of a reddish brown, which gradually 
becomes darker by age. 
Nankeen.—This cotton cloth takes its name from the city of Nankin, but is 
also made at Canton, and goes by the name of the company’s and narrow nan¬ 
keens. The former are the finest and most esteemed. The price varies from sixty 
to ninety dollars per hundred pieces. They are sent to the United States and 
Europe; and it is said that American cloth is sent to China and dyed there for 
nankeens. 
Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, November, 1845. 
No spot on the globe could be chosen perhaps which is more congenial to humani¬ 
ty than these favored isles, where the entire season is summer, with but from ten to 
fifteen degrees of variation in the thermometer during the year ; thus forming a cli¬ 
mate also particularly well adapted for that numerous class of invalids in our coun¬ 
try, who suffer there from phthisis, owing to the rigor and variableness of our cli¬ 
mate, and who generally survive but few years, where the exciting causes remain, 
but by removing to a climate so mild may live to an old age, without suffering 
any inconvenience from their predisposition to that fatal disease. 
This has been verified in numerous instances,'and every year causes the objections 
to be less in making these islands a place of residence, as civilization is rapidly ad¬ 
vancing among the native population, and its wants will tend to increase the foreign 
community and thus afford permanent good society. 
This port is visited by a greater number of whale ships than any other in the 
Pacific, between one and two hundred touching here annually for supplies and re¬ 
pairs; more than three-fourths of which are American. All whale ships are al¬ 
lowed to sell goods to the amount of two hundred dollars without paying duty, and 
thus perhaps fifteen thousand dollars worth of goods are introduced in this way 
into port. 
The only import duty is three per cent, ad valorem upon all goods indiscriminately. 
Goods are allowed to be transhipped or re-exported, on payment of a duty of one 
half per cent, ad valorem, or, where the import duty has been paid, a drawback 
of two and a half per cent, ad valorem. 
All duties on the export of gold and silver were abolished, as injurious to com¬ 
merce, by the law of 28th April, 1843. 
There is no export duty on any of the productions of the island. 
The harbor dues at this port are the following, viz : 
Twenty cents per ton on merchant vessels. 
Six cents per ton on whale ships and merchant vessels, entering for obtaining 
refreshments. 
Two dollars for the use of the buoys. 
One dollar for certificate of clearance. 
One dollar per foot for pilotage for taking a vessel in or out. 
No harbor dues are exacted of a vessel having a Hawaiian register, or of a ves¬ 
sel belonging to a resident foreigner who has taken the oath of allegiance. 
A vessel owned by a foreigner who has not taken the oath of allegiance, but who 
resides permanently on shore in the occupation of a dwelling house or shop, pays 
only one half of the usual dues. 
The nett revenue of the kingdom is more than fifty thousand dollars, and no 
doubt could be much increased by a better policy to promote agriculture and 
population. 
The island is capable of producing arrow root, castor oil, coffee, silk, indigo, to¬ 
bacco, turmeric, rice, &c., to almost any extent, but it is only lately that attention 
is being devoted to these objects, and already considerable capital has been invested. 
More than six thousand tons of sugar and eighty thousand gallons of molasses are 
produced annually. The yearly produce of the kukui, or paint oil, is about ten 
thousand gallons. Horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats, are abundant and rapidly 
multiplying, and in some places all but the first have become wild and are multiply¬ 
ing fast. 
