EARLY DISCOVERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. To the people of California the Hawaiian Islands have an especial interest, and the future relations of this charming group are likely to prove of great national import to residents of this entire continent. In geographical location they occupy a direct navigable line between the Pacific States of the American Union and the British colonies of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the rich and populous countries of Asia. Their natural position is a strong strategical point, highly important to the United States of America in the event of foreign war. To the Christian philanthropist they have presented an interesting field during the labors of earnest American missionaries, sent out in 1819 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and since maintained for over sixty years by expenditures exceeding one million of dollars, cheerfully contributed in the cause of human advancement. The success which has resulted from this national expression of Christian enterprise is known to all the world. The Hawaiian people are indebted to the American missionaries and American residents at their islands for their present advanced condition in general civilization, christian knowledge, constitutional government, wise and just laws, and even for the preservation of their national independence when formerly assailed by both France and England. To the scientist they present many highly instructive natural records in the evolutionary history of the earth we inhabit, and their race and language offers an interesting ethnological problem. Many ancient records and prehistoric traditions, unless now carefully noted with a view of perpetuating testimony, will soon pass beyond the reach of future historians. The beautiful and fertile group of tropical islands composing the Hawaiian Kingdom is situated in the North Pacific Ocean, between 19° to 22° north latitude, and 156° to 159° longitude west from Greenwich, averaging about two thousand miles south-westerly from the coast of California. When the principal islands are officially referred to by the Hawaiian Government they are written: Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Niihau, and Kahoolawe. Besides these may be found a number of smaller and comparatively unimportant islets, such as Kaula, Molokini, etc., the least of which are mere rocky or coral reefs, but slightly elevated above the ocean level. When speaking the above names, each vowel is pronounced as one syllable, and the broad accent of European continental languages is given. British geographers formerly spelled these names phonetically, employing vowels as pronounced in English, which accounts for an apparent confusion when written by them-Owhyhee, Mowee, Woahoo, Atooi, etc. By whom were these islands first discovered? The celebrated English navigator, Captain James Cook, visited them in 1778, and by him they were given the foreign name of Sandwich Islands, in honor of his patron, the Earl of Sandwich, at that time First Lord of the British Admiralty. The honor and credit of having been the first European to discover this group of islands has hitherto been popularly accorded to Captain Cook. But it is now well known that the fact of their existence was ascertained by Spanish navigators more than two centuries before Cook saw them, and that knowledge carefully concealed from all other people by the Spanish Government, whose jealous and national policy was to selfishly prevent Spanish explorations and discoveries in the Pacific Ocean from becoming generally known. In the history of Captain Cook's third and last voyage it is related that the ships of his expedition, on leaving Christmas Island, steered to the north and westward, and on the 18th of January, 1778, at daybreak, they first sighted one island, and, soon after, another. The first land-fall subsequently proved to be the island of Oahu, and the second, Kauai, both portions of the Hawaiian group. Captain Cook anchored his ships in the Bay of Waimea, on the south side of the island of Kauai, and at that place his free and amicable communication with the natives first commenced. Some pieces of iron were then observed among the islanders, and great avidity was shown by them to procure more of this metal from Cook's officers. He thereupon erroneously concluded that the natives had never seen Europeans before, as they seemed to him unacquainted with any foreign article except iron, which metal, he argued, they might have obtained from Spanish vessels wrecked on the the coast of New Spain or Mexico during the past two hundred years, fragments of which may have drifted to Hawaii. Helmets, resembling in form those of ancient Romans, and feather cloaks, similar in shape to those worn in Europe in the seventeenth century, were also seen among the natives. Both articles, as it is now believed, were rude copies of some similar ones originally introduced among the islanders by shipwrecked Spaniards. No iron of any kind exists in the soil or rocks of these islands, and such pieces of iron, with a knowledge of their use, could only have come from some kind of foreign intercourse with a nation of civilized artisans. From Kauai and Niihau, Captain Cook sailed for the north-west coast of America; and on his return from thence, in November, 1778, he discovered the islands of Maui, Hawaii, and other islands of the group. Captain Cook was killed by the natives on Sunday, February 14, 1779, at Kealakeakua Bay, on the island of Hawaii. He remarks in his journal as follows: "Had the Sandwich Islands been discovered at an early period by the Spaniards, there is little doubt they would have made use of them as a refreshing place for the ships that sail annually from Acapulco to Manila, and also by the English buccaneers, who used sometimes to pass from America to the Ladrone Islands." Now, it is singular, and almost incredible, that Captain Cook should have had no knowledge of the existence of the Hawaiian group anterior to actually seeing them himself. the British government as early as 1744. With them was a manuscript chart, drawn for the use of the Spanish General and Pilot-Major of the vessel. This chart contained all the discoveries which had, at any time, been made in the navigation between the Philippine Islands and New Spain, or Mexico; an engraved copy of which is given in the account of Lord Anson's voyage, inserted between pages 94 and 95, Book I., published in London thirty years before Cook's visit. The situations in the eastern part of the chart are, however, laid down ten degrees of longitude too far east, while the western part of the same is correct in its longitudes. To account for this singular error, it is conjectured that the galleon's chart above referred to was in two or more separate parts, as was generally the case with early Spanish charts of the wide Pacific Ocean; and that the English editor, or engraver, in joining them, mistook the divisions, by including a margin of ten degrees at the point of contact in mid ocean. In the galleon-Anson chart, we find delineated the following islands, with their Spanish names, previously given them by Spanish discoverers, laid down absolutely correct in latitude, and also in longitude if the ten-degree error above alluded to is allowed. These islands comprise a part of the Hawaiian group, and are truly described. No other land exists for ten, or even for fifty, degrees due east of them; neither is there any land to the west, in the same latitude, for a still greater distance. The islands are there named: For twenty-eight years before Cook sailed from England on his last voyage of discovery, there had existed a work entitled "The History of Lord Anson's Voyage around the World, La Mesa, or the Table. The name is accuduring the years 1741 to 1744. Edited by Rich-rately descriptive of the island of Hawaii, with ard Walter, Chaplain of H. M. Ship Centurion. its high table land. Published in London. 1748." A copy of the first edition of the book is now to be seen in the Mercantile Library of San Francisco, California. The Centurion, under Anson, sailed northerly along the west coasts of South America and Mexico, and on the way up captured several Spanish towns and merchant vessels; but being unsuccessful in meeting off Acapulco the Spanish galleon periodically sailing for Manila, the Centurion thence crossed the Pacific Ocean to Macao, in China; and from Macao she sailed to cruise off Cape Espiritu Sancto, Philippine Islands, where, in June, 1743, she fell in with the Spanish galleon, then en route from Acapulco to Manila; and, after a bloody engagement, Anson succeeded in capturing her, with the usual treasure and goods on board, to the value of over two millions of dollars. Several drafts and journals were also taken with the galleon, and thus came into possession of Les Desgraciado, or the Unfortunate. Probably so named by Spaniards, who may have visited the island and had some fatal encounter with its inhabitants. This island, called Mowee by Cook, is spelled Maui by the natives. Los Monges, or the Monks. Three islands, lying near each other. Their native names are Molokai, Lanai, and Kekahelaua. The islands of Woahoo and Atooi of Cook do not appear on this galleon's chart, but in some old Spanish charts they are laid down approximately correct. A table of situations, printed in Manila in 1734, by Cabrera Bueno, Admiral and Pilot-Major in the navigation between the Philippine Islands and Mexico, and published forty-three years before Cook's first visit and discovery, gives the positions of the Hawaiian Islands very nearly correct. Spanish navigators in the Pacific were accustomed to reckon their longitude from the me ridian of the Emboc of San Bernardino, one of the Philippine Islands; thence counting and running eastward to the coast of Mexico, called by them New Spain. It has been asserted by the Spanish authorities of Manila, that in the archives of the government at Madrid are to be found original charts of Spanish discoveries in the Pacific Ocean, made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. And they show that "Gaetano," a Spaniard, discovered several of the Hawaiian group of islands, as early as the year 1542; and that "Mendana,” another of Spain's navigators, discovered Kauai, the most western island of the same group, in 1567, or 235 and 210 years respectively before Cook's first visit. In three maps, accompanying the geographical work of Charles T. Middleton, published in London in 1777, the year following that in which Captain Cook sailed on his last voyage, and during which he first saw the Hawaiian Islands, their Spanish names are given, and the group is laid down approximately correct in situation. This proves conclusively that the knowledge of them existed in England before any news of their discovery was received from Captain Cook's exploring expedition. "Honest Bernal Diaz," in his "True History of the Conquest of Mexico," written in 1568, says: "While Marcos de Aguilar had the government of New Spain, the Marquis de Valle (Cortez) fitted out four ships at Zacatula. The squadron was commanded by Alvarado de Saavedra, who, with two hundred and fifty soldiers, took his course for the Moluccas, Spice Islands, and China. He set sail in December, 1527 or 1528, and sustained many losses, misfortunes, and hardships on the way to the Moluccas Islands. I do not know the definite particulars; but three years afterward I met with a sailor who had been on board of this fleet, and who had told me of many strange and surprising things of the citizens and nations he had visited during his voyage." From other sources we learn that but one of the four ships of the squadron above referred to reached her destination. The other three were some traditions of the people of the Hawaiian Islands are herewith presented. Of these, the writer acquired reliable knowledge during his twenty-two years residence at these islands, which first began in 1825. They relate that, in ancient times, two foreign vessels were wrecked on the island of Hawaii (Owhyhee of Captain Cook), one on the south-west side, at Keei, near the Bay of Kealakeakua, not far from the place where Captain Cook was long afterward killed; and the other, on the east side at Kau, district of Puna. These events occurred during the reign of Kealiiokaloa, King of Hawaii. He was the thirteenth sovereign, anterior to the reign of Kamehameha I., who came upon the throne in 1792. If twenty years is reckoned as the average duration of life for each of these thirteen kings, we have an aggregate of two hundred and sixty years, which, deducted from 1792, gives the year 1532 as the approximate time of King Kealiiokaloa's reign, and also about fixes the date of the wreck of the two ships. Therefore, it is highly probable that those vessels were some of the missing ones of the respective expeditions fitted out by Cortez in 1527 and 1532, for European vessels on the Pacific Ocean were comparatively few in those days. Upon the island of Hawaii there is to be found at the present time a mixed race of people, whose ancient family traditions point with pride to some foreign origin. They are said to be the descendents of shipwrecked Spaniards, and the careful scrutiny of expert scientists tends to confirm this native tradition. They have sandy colored hair, and are of lighter complexion than the native Hawaiian race, who call them "ehus"-possibly a corruption of the Spanish word hijos. The Hawaiian language contains several words of unmistakable Spanish derivation. Other traces are perceptible in some of their customs and inherited ideas. Another tradition is, that during the same king's reign (Kealiiokaloa) a boat came to Hawaii from abroad-that is, "from Tahiti or forlost on the way. Bernal Diaz further relates eign parts," as expressed by the natives-in that -"in the month of May, 1532, Cortez sent two ships from the port of Acapulco to make discoveries in the South Seas. They were commanded by Captain Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, who had the misfortune of a mutiny among the troops. In consequence thereof, one ship, of which the mutineers took possession, returned to New Spain, to the great disappointment of Cortez. As for Hurtado, neither he nor his vessel was ever heard of again." To throw some light upon the probable fate of the missing ships referred to by Bernal Diaz, which was a foreigner of rank and importance. He remained there many years, and acquired great influence over the Hawaiians, by whom he was much beloved and regarded as a very high chief. He took for wife a native princess, and by her had posterity. After the lapse of several years he built a boat, and then embarked in her with all his family, and sailed for a foreign country, previously, however, giving a promise to return to Hawaii at some future time. It is conjectured that this important person may I have been Captain Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, introduced cattle and sheep, brought for the purpose from Monterey, California. Horses were first landed at the Hawaiian Islands by Captain Cleveland, in 1810, while in command of a Boston ship. La Perouse, in the journal of his voyage, volume i., page 344, remarks, in regard to these islands: commander of the expedition fitted out by Cor- | veying vessels Discovery and Chatham. They tez in 1532, and which Bernal Diaz, the historian, says was never again heard of after the mutiny on board of his ship, and the return of his other vessel to New Spain. This interesting foreigner, be he whom he may, was called by the natives Olono; and in process of time divine honors were accorded to his memory. When Captain Cook visited the island of Hawaii in 1778, he was believed to be the Olono of Hawaiian tradition, their ancient god, who had returned; and to Cook, it is well known, the natives paid divine honors-for receiving which that navigator has been highly censured by the Christian world. The discovery that he was really a mortal, when the natives witnessed his suffering by reason of a wound, was the immediate cause of their putting him to death. Hawaiian traditions further testify to the fact, that during very remote times many boats or vessels, with white men in them, have, at long intervals, visited these islands. The crew of one such, it is said, remained permanently, and intermarried with native Hawaiians. In 1740 the King of Oahu, while in a canoe going thence to the island of Maui, saw a foreign ship at sea. Many years elapsed after Cook's visit before Europeans again visited these islands. The celebrated French navigator, La Perouse, touched at them in 1786, as also did Portlock and Dixon, in the same year, with the British ships King George and Queen Charlotte. Captain Mears followed them in the ship Nootka in 1788. The ship Eleanor, of Boston, in 1790, was the first American vessel that visited the Hawaiian Islands; followed, subsequently, by several other vessels of that nationality, all of which were engaged in the lucrative fur trade of the northwest coast of America. In 1794, the American schooners Jackall and Fair American discovered, and were the first to anchor, in the harbor of Honolulu. Both vessels were captured by the natives, who massacred the principal part of their crews. The American brig Lady Washington, Captain Kendrick, and the British ship Butterworth, of London, were at anchor in Honolulu harbor, July 4, 1794. During salutes being given by both vessels, in commemoration of American Independence, Captain Kendrick was struck by a hard wad fired from a gun of the Butterworth, and instantly killed. In 1792, the islands were visited by Captain George Vancouver, commanding the British sur "Their knowledge of iron, which they did not acquire from the English, is new proof of the communications which these islands formerly had with the Spaniards. It appears certain that these islands were discovered for the first time by Gaetan in 1542. This navigator sailed from Port Nativity, west coast of Mexico, latitude twenty degrees north. He stood to the westward, and having run nine hundred leagues in that direction, he fell in with a group of islands, inhabited by savages almost naked. The islands were surrounded by coral reefs. They afforded cocoanuts and other fruits, but neither gold nor silver. He named them King's Islands; and another island which he discovered, twenty leagues farther westward (probably the island now known as Kauai) he called Garden Island. It would have been impossible for geographers to have avoided placing the discoveries of Gaetan precisely where Cook has since found the (so-called) Sandwich Islands, if the Spanish editor had not said that those islands were situated between 9° and 11° of north latitude, instead of 19° and 21°, as every navigator would have concluded from the course of Gaetan. The omission of ten degrees may be a mistake in figures, or a political stroke of the Spaniards, who had a great interest a century ago to conceal all the islands of this ocean." As a result of this carefully considered inquiry, directed to determine what European first discovered and landed upon the Hawaiian Islands, within the limited period accessible to existing traditional or historic testimony, it now appears that a British man-of-war, came, by capture, into possession of Spanish charts of the North Pacific Ocean, whereon their location was correctly laid down, at a time full thirty years before Cook's first visit, which may reasonably give rise to at least a possible inference that, before Captain Cook's departure from England, in 1777, some vague intimation of their probable existence and approximate situation may have directed his search to that particular spot. The most interesting fact disclosed, however, is that they were sighted by Spanish navigators during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, probably as early as 1542; and to them is due the circumstance of their first discovery by any European nation. HENRY A. PEIRCE. IN A NEW ENGLAND GRAVEYARD. Beside these crumbling stones-where saints of old And where the quaint, still village, nestled low, MILICENT W. SHINN. OF WHAT WAS THE OLD MAN THINKING? ceased to surprise and delight him; her good qualities became an accepted fact. A fact once accepted claims no further attention. The "incessant soul" cannot stop to play watch-dog beside it; it goes on. He knew he had a good wife; he also knew (and for her own sake was glad to know) that she was adapted to the world she lived in. There was a constant ripple upon her surface, and her condition and surroundings sufficed her. In this respect she was widely apart from him. He could not confine his thoughts to the small duties that made the sum total of her existence. Not that he held them contemptuously; on the contrary, he was always ready to assist, but his heart was not in his hands for such a purpose. Of course, she soon discovered this, and laughed at his awkwardness, and went on loving and venerating him more and more. Alexis Steinhardt came from Germany when | being could fill. As time wore on her beauty our republic was in its infancy. He had education and fortune-youth, too, and a certain degree of comeliness perhaps. He was making the grand tour of the world, as the finishing touch to the first chapter of his career. Those who knew him best believed him to be an undeveloped Goethe, and prophesied great things of him. In New Jersey he stopped at a farmhouse one night, and met his fate in the person of a young girl scarcely fifteen. She must have been remarkably beautiful at that age, if we are to credit the extravagant accounts of her loveliness still current in the present generation. I have her picture, taken at the age of ninetythree, and she was fine looking even then. No doubt her young husband was mightily pleased with his fair wife at that time. Keats says, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." But that which was beautiful to my undeveloped taste a year ago is not so now. And who is to fix the standard of beauty, when we are so far away from its Divine Source, and when each day that carries us nearer flings doubts upon the previous day. When Alexis Steinhardt married Elizabeth Ivan she seemed the realization of all his earthly hopes, the fulfillment of his life. He did not know how few of his hopes were earthly, nor how immeasurable the life he thought one frail In his youth he had been a brilliant and enthusiastic talker; as he grew older he became almost altogether silent. There was no suspicion of moroseness in his quiet demeanor, but an air of settled sadness. He had read once that Love, such as we poor mortals dream of, is an inhabitant of the skies, the fair being fluttering always above us to lure us up higher, and that the image we clasp in this world is but her projected shadow. His experience and obser |