THROUGH HAWAII. 
25 
introduced, and, excepting the pine-apples, thrive well. 
French beans, onions, pumpkins, and cabbages, have 
also been added to their vegetables, and, though not 
esteemed by the natives, are cultivated to some extent, 
for the purpose of supplying the shipping. Sugar-cane 
is indigenous, and grows to a large size, though it is not 
much cultivated. Large tracts of fertile land lie 
waste in most of the islands ; and sugar-cane, together 
with cotton, colfee, and other valuable intertropical 
productions, might be easily raised in considerable 
quantities, which will, probably, be the case when the 
natives become more industrious and civilized. 
The local situation of the Sandwich Islands is im¬ 
portant, and highly advantageous for purposes of 
commerce, &c. On the north are the Russian settle¬ 
ments in Kamtschatka, and the neighbouring coast; to 
the north-west the islands of Japan ; due west the 
Parian islands, Manilla in the Philippines, and Can¬ 
ton in China; and on the east the coast of Cali¬ 
fornia and Mexico. Hence they are so frequently 
resorted to by vessels navigating the northern Pacific. 
The establishment of the independent states of South 
America has greatly increased their importance, as 
they lie in the track of vessels passing from thence to 
China, or Calcutta and other parts of India, and are 
not only visited by these, but by those who trade for 
skins, &c. with the natives of the north-west coast of 
America. 
From the time of their discovery, the Sandwich 
Islands were unvisited until 1786, when Captains Dixon 
and Portlock, in a trading voyage to the north-west 
coast for furs and sea-otter skins, anchored, and pro¬ 
cured refreshments in the island of Oahu. The island 
