HAWAII-MAUI. 7 
to which they resort; but if any exist, they have 
hitherto remained undiscovered. 
The greatest part of the land capable of culti¬ 
vation, is found near the sea-shore ; along which, 
the towns and villages of the natives are thickly 
scattered. The population at present is about 
85,000, and this will probably be greatly in¬ 
creased by the establishment of Christianity, whose 
mild influence, it may reasonably be expected, 
will effect a cessation of war, an abolition of 
infanticide, and a diminution of those vices, prin¬ 
cipally of foreign origin, which have hitherto so 
materially contributed to the depopulation of the 
islands. 
Hawaii is by far the largest, most populous, and 
important island of the group, and, until within a 
few years, it was the usual residence of the king, 
and the frequent resort of every chief of import¬ 
ance in the other islands. Foreigners, however, 
having found the harbours of some of the leeward 
islands more secure and convenient than those of 
Hawaii, have been induced more frequently to 
visit them ; and this has led the king and principal 
chiefs to forsake, in a great degree, the favourite 
residence of their ancestors, and, excepting the 
governor, and the chiefs of Kaavaroa, to spend 
the greater part of their time in some of the other 
islands. 
Separated from the northern shore of Hawaii by 
a strait, about twenty-four miles across, the island 
of Mau-i (Mowee) is situated in lat. 20. N. and 
long. 157. W. This island is forty-eight miles in 
length, in the widest part twenty-nine miles across, 
about one hundred and forty miles in circum¬ 
ference, and covers about 600 square miles. At 
a distance it appears like two distinct islands, but 
