THE COURIER
'igbts and Tmpnsshus
. . . of the Jfiawaiian fsles
Miss Jennie Z. Smith, the writer of
the following article, returned about
six weeks ago from a Ave month's so
journ in the Hawaiian Islands, where
she went to visit her brother, Mr.
Jared G. Smith, who is in charge of the
United States experiment stations in
the Islands. She had unusually good
opportunities to see places of interest
and study the conditions there. The ac
companying illustrations are from pho
tographs selected from the fine collec
tion secured by Miss Smith. She re
sides at 1308 South Sixteenth street.
Her article, prepared expressly for the
Courier, follows:
"The occasion of my recent trip to
Hawaii, was to visit my brother Jared
G. Smith and family. Mr. Smith, a
former Lincoln boy, is now special
agent in charge of the Hawaiiexperi
ment station. The ground set apart
for experimental purposes Is near the
city of Honolulu, extending some two
miles up on the mountain and very
poorly located for the purposes for
which -it has been reserved.
"Mr. Smith, as the pioneer in this
work, had much to discourage him in
his efforts to carry out his instructions
from the department of agriculture.
The political parties of the islands did
not take kindly to the federal officials,
but as the work of the station has
progressed, the sentiment seems to
have changed, and his work has been
gradually becoming more pleasant.
"Mr. Smith is director of work in all
of the islands, though the residence
and station proper are on the island
of Oahu near Honolulu.
"There are eight islands in the group.
The four largest in order of their size
are Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai. Oahu
is forty-six miles long and twenty-five
miles wide. Hawaii is ninety miles
long and seventy miles wide.
"The islands are of volcanic forma
tion, and the heat has progressed from
northwest to southeast, the active vol
cano of Kilauea now being In the
southeast portion of the southeast
island the island of Hawaii. In Puna
district in the southeast corner of the
island there is a hot spring within a
mile of the ocean. On the island of
Maui Is Haleakala, the largest extinct
crater in the world.
"I am indebted to Mr. Smith for the
following remarks on the labor situa
tion in the Islands:
" 'With a population of over 133,000.
the white population of Hawaii
amounts to less than twenty per cent
of the total, and over half of this num
ber are Portuguese. About seven per
cent of the people of Hawaii, i. e., the
American, English and German con
tingent, own and control the sugar
plantations, the business, and the pro
fessions of the islands. There are
about 30,000 Hawaiians, 23,000 Chinese,
60,000 Japanese and the balance consist
of part-Hawallans, Porto Rlcans, ne
groes, South Sea Islanders, and various
other races and mixtures. The vast
majority of the population has been
brought in by the sugar planters to
supply labor on the plantations.
" "The planters and the business men
of the islands, the leaders of trade and
captains of industry, are as wide
awake and enterprising and In every
way as up-to-date as any similar body
of men In any part of the United
States or the world. But we must not
forget that although In power, wealth,
and Influence this handful of men dom
inate the islands they are nevertheless
in numbers a very small minority. The
conditions in Hawaii to some extent
resemble those of portions of the
south. Probably not to exceed two
fifths of the alien laboring class, Im
ported by the planters to work on the
plantations, really work there now.
" "The Chinese and Japanese have
Invaded every field of business. They
are merchants, tailors, mechanics,
blacksmiths, painters, carpenters, gar
deners, cooks, yard and house ser
vants, laundry-men. hack drivers. In a
word they 'eive the sever manual
tasks In the cane field and mill, when
ever they can make a living at any
thing else. They have displaced the
white mechanic and laborer, and to a
large extent the native Hawaiian.
Chinese are the rice and taro grow
ers, they raise most of the poultry and
all of the vegetables of the islands.
The Japanese have ousted the Hawaii
ans from the fishing business. In every
way the labor situation is an anoma
lous one .for an American territory.' "
"A viblt to the island of Hawaii and
the volcano, was the termination of a
most delightful five months spent In
the islands. The trip from Honolulu to
Hllo is made by steamer in about
thirty hours, and is known as the
roughest voyage about the islands.
"Before Oahu had disappeared we
were sailing along the coast of Mo
lokal, the home of the leper colony.
Then came the Islands of L-inai, Maul
and Kahoolaul, and when at five the
following morning we found our boat
anchored off the first port on the Isl
and of Hawaii, we had seen six of the
eight islands of the territory of Ha
waii. "The scenery from the deck of the
steamer that day was grand, beauti
ful. Our first view revealed the three
mountains of the island. Hulalai about
8,000 feet high, looking quite insignifi
cant as compared with the twin sisters,
Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Mauna
Kea's snow capped summit is 13.805
feet above the sea, while Mauna Loa,
13,675 feet high is the volcano from
which the largest flows of lava have
all come.
-dflrS'
4r 'THPiBPWU
Peering Into crater of Hawaiian volcano.
"After rounding the northern point
of the Island we started down the
windward coast. This coast is very
precipitous, the banks often rising In
a high wall many hundred feet above
the sea, so the steamer anchors some
distance from the shore at all ports,
and landings are made by means of
row boats. Waterfalls by the score
came tumbling over these precipices,
the banks often broken by deep
gulches, their walls covered with ferns
and a wealth of tropical foliage that
was quickly lost to view.
"For a distance of perhaps fifty miles
before reaching Hllo, the country from
the edge of the cliff to timber line is
virtually one sugar plantation, with
Its numerous mills, clusters of houses,
and beautiful fields of cane. The dis
tance from Hllo to the volcano house
measuring two or three feet in diame
ter. Underneath were the shorter unil
younger ferns no covering the ground
with their dense green mat, we almost
felt we could walk over the Jungle,
stepping from trunk to trunk, and leaf
to leaf, of the ferns. Through and
above them rose the weird and oft
times beautiful trees, many of them
with bare weather beaten trunks, sug
gesting dead timber with their cling
ing vines and mosses, but bursting In
to foliage nt the very top to tell us
life was there. The seeds of the trees
usually germinate In the tops of the
tree ferns, so that the lower part of
the tree. Instead of being a solid trunk.
Is u great mass of roots grown to
gether which gives a ragged appear
ance to the tree. Roses grew wild by
the roadside, not our prairie rose, but
The above, reproduced from a photograph, shows a fine specimen of the
lava tree, many of which are to be seen in the Hawaii Isles, and are sup
posed to be centuries old. The explanation of these curious formations is
that as the molten lava surrounded the trees, there was sufficient moisture
In each tree to cool the lava to quite a density and the rest disintegrated
and eroded, leaving the lava trees standing. So long a time has elapsed since
the eruption which caused this phenomena that soil has gathered on top of
the trees and produced small forests of ferns and other vegetation.
J
is thirty-one miles. The railroad Is
completed to Mountain View, a dis
tance of seventeen miles. From there
the trip is made by stage. The rail
road runs through Olaa plantation,
comprising some over twenty thousand
acres of land and one of the newest
and largest on the island.
"At Mountain View we left the train
lind entered the stage, an immense
lumbering vehicle drawn by a four
horse team, that was very suggestive
of pioneer days In our own country.
The road from there passed through
the timber lying at the foot hills of
the mountains and was a rocky road
to travel, but so lost were we in admiration-
of the weird and beautiful
forest, that thoughts of our discom
fort were quickly dispelled.
"Along the road side were Irregu
lar rocky walls covered with a variety
of dainty ferns, moss, and small cling
ing vines, jutting over caverns or pools
of water, and forming n barrier to the
Impenetrable forest beyond. I alwaj'3
thought of tropical jungles as danger
ous because of the poisonious reptiles
and ferocious animals that abound in
them but not so in Hawaii! Not a
snake of any kind is to be found in
the islands, and ther are no large and
dangerous animals. This Is the home
of the tree fern, and the roads are a
perfect labyrinth of them. Many were
seen grown to a height of twenty
or more feet, with immense spreading
fern leaves at the top, and trunks
a double variety introduced in early
days by foreigners, very beautiful to
see, but not as fragrant as our wild
rose.
"When we left the heavy timber we
came to a region of scrubby lehua.
with its bright red blossoms, ohelo,
having a reddish berry resembling the
cranberry, a fruit that was tabu (for
bidden by religious ordinance) among
the Hawaiians of old, new and smaller
ferns and surface rock covered with
lichens.
The sign boards by the roadside told
us we were approaching our destina
tion, and soon the gray walls of the
crater of Kiluaea burst Into view and
we arrived at the volcano house, al
most on Its very edge.
"In four and one-half hours we had
come from sea level In the tropics to
an elevation of 4,000 feet, a distance
of thirty-one miles.
"The crater or -olcano of Kiluue.i
lies at the base of Mauna Loa, and to
the visitor would seem to be quite dls
Mnct from that mountain. 'TIs prob
able Mauna Loa Is undermined and
honeycombed by a molten sea, which
breaks out on frequent occasions,
sometimes flowing in streams of lava
almost to the sea. from craters high
up on the mountain side, and devast
ating immense sections of country, and
again emptying Its overflow Into the
bain of Kiluaea
"As we neared the crater fumes of
(Continued on page 8.)