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 Prancisco, 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 United 
States. It consists of eight inhabited islands, Mihau, 
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 K.W. They extend in a N.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 
