s throw into the water, like so
many ducks diving after corn, shows what a degree of perfection the
natatorial art has attained among the native Hawaiians. Sledging down
the mountain sides, boxing, and tournament riding are other popular
amusements; and, with the exception of boxing, the women compete with
the men in the amusements.

PRODUCTS AND COMMERCE.

Sugar is king in Hawaii as wheat is in the Northwest. In 1890 there were
19,000 laborers--nearly one-fifth of the total population--engaged on
sugar plantations. Ten tons to the acre have been raised on the richest
lands. The average is over four tons per acre, but it requires from
eighteen to twenty months for a crop to mature. Rice growing is also an
important industry. It is raised in marsh lands, and nearly all the
labor is done by Chinese, though they do not own the land. Coffee is
happily well suited to the soil that is unfitted for sugar and rice, and
the Hawaiian coffee is particularly fine, combining the strength of the
Java with a delicate flavor of its own.

Diversified farming is coming more into vogue. Fruit raising will
undoubtedly become one of the most important branches when fast steamers
are provided for its transportation. Sheep and cattle raising must also
prove profitable, since the animals require little feeding and need no
housing.

"Almost all kinds of vegetables and fruits can be raised, many of those
belonging to the temperate zones thriving on the elevated mountain
slopes. Fruit is abundant; the guava grows wild in all the islands, and
were the manufacture of jelly made from it carried on, on a large scale,
the product could doubtless be exported with profit. Both bananas and
pineapples are prolific, and there are many fruits and vegetables, which
as yet have been raised only for local trade, which would, if cultivated
for export, bring in rich returns.

"Of the total exports from the Hawaiian Islands in 1895, the United
States received 99.04 per cent., and in the same year 79.04 per cent. of
the imports to the islands were from the United States. The total value
of the sugar sent to the United States in 1896 was $14,932,010; of rice,
$194,903; of coffee, $45,444; and of bananas, $121,273."

THE CHIEF CITY.

Honolulu, the capital city, is to Hawaii what Havana is to Cuba, or
better, what Manila is to the Philippine Islands. Here are concentrated
the business, political and social forces that control the life and
progress of the