an idolater, was a most progressive monarch, and
invited Vancouver, who went there in 1794, taking swine, cattle, sheep,
and horses, together with oranges and other valuable plants, to bring
over teachers and missionaries to teach his people "the white man's
religion."

THE WORK OF AMERICAN MISSIONARIES.

But it was not until 1820, after the death of the great king, that the
first missionaries arrived, and they came from America. The year
previous, in 1819, Kamehameha II. had destroyed many of the temples and
idols and forbidden idol worship in the islands; consequently, when the
missionaries arrived they beheld the unprecedented spectacle of a nation
without a religion. The natives were rapidly converted to Christianity.
It was these American missionaries who first reduced the Hawaiian
language to writing, established schools and taught the natives. As a
result of their work, the Hawaiians are the most generally educated
people, in the elementary sense, in the world. There is hardly a person
in the islands, above the age of eight years, who cannot read and write.
In spite of education, however, many of the ancient superstitions still
exist, and some of the old stone temples are yet standing. What the
United States will do with these heathen temples remains to be seen. The
natives revere them as relics of their savage history, and as such they
may be preserved.

[Illustration: CHURCH IN HONOLULU, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

Built of lava stone. Seating capacity about 3000.]

Aside from the horrors of superstitions, the Hawaiians lead a happy
life, full of amusements of various kinds on the land and water--for
Hawaiian men, women and children live much of their time in the water.
Infants are often taught the art of swimming before they can walk. The
surf riding or swimming of the natives astonished Captain Cook more than
any of their remarkable performances. The time selected was when a storm
was tossing the waves high and the surf was furious. Then the men and
women would dive through the surf, with narrow boards about nine inches
wide and eight feet long, and, swimming a mile or more out to sea, mount
on the crest of a huge billow, and sitting, kneeling or standing, with
wild gesticulations, ride over the waves and breakers like gods or
demons of the storm. This practice has now ceased to be indulged in. But
the swimming of the Kanaka boys, who flock around incoming steamers, and
dive after and catch coins which tourist