ds were discovered by a Spanish sailor,
Gaetano, in 1549, and again visited by Captain Cook in 1778. Up to 1893
they formed a native kingdom. In 1893 foreign influence was sufficient
to overthrow the native government, and in 1898 they were formally
annexed to the United States and about the same time organized as a
territory. From an early date the geographic position of the islands has
made them a convenient mid-ocean post-station, and they have therefore
become a most important commercial centre.

[Illustration: HYDRAULIC GOLD MINING--CALIFORNIA]

Of the various islands composing the group, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kaui,
Molokai, Lanai, and Niihau are inhabited. About one-fifth of the
population consists of native Hawaiians; a little more than one-fifth is
white; the remainder is composed of Japanese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans.
The native population is decreasing. About ninety-five per cent. of the
property is owned by the white people--Americans, English, and Germans.

The volcanic soils are the very best sugar-lands, and a large amount of
capital is invested in this industry. The sugar-plantations employ more
than forty thousand laborers, all Japanese, Chinese, and Porto Ricans.
The value of the sugar export is nearly twenty-five million dollars
yearly; that of fruit, rice, and hides is about two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. Coffee is rapidly becoming a leading product. The bulk
of the imports comes from the United States, and consists of clothing,
cotton textiles, lumber, and machinery.

_Honolulu_, on the island of Oahu, is the capital and commercial centre,
and foreign steamships and sailing-craft are scarcely ever absent from
its harbor. Regular steamship service connects this port with San
Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., and the principal ports of China
and Japan. It is connected with the other islands by a system of
wireless telegraphy. The city has the best of schools, business
organizations, hotels, and streets.

_Pearl Harbor_ contains a large area of water, most of which is deep
enough for the largest vessels afloat. It is intended to deepen the
entrance and establish a United States naval station at this place. The
village of _Hilo_ is the chief port of the island of Hawaii.

=The Philippine Islands= are an archipelago of about two thousand islands,
the two largest of which, Luzon and Mindanao, are each nearly the size
of New York State. Luzon is by far the most important.

After their cess