Korth-eastward    are  the  Mabquesas,  mountainous    and

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502      POLITICAL  Asrs  DXiCBipnrx  aioamAPHX.  [OpwwIi

miperblj  Terdant,  with  &  population  of  20,000,  peAape  the
least  weaned  from  baibanty  of  all  the  Foljnanans.  This
group  waa  taken  poaeession  of  by  the  French  in  1842,  aad
IS  now  gorernad  bj  Uiem.
The  Crater  of  Klranea  in  Haw^aii..
7.  The  Sabdwioh  Islaitds,  bo  called  by  Cook,  who  dis-
covered them  in  1778,  after  Earl  Sandwich,  First  Lord  of
the  Admiralty,  are  more  properly  styled  the  Hawaiian  proup,
from  Hawaii  or  Oioyhee,  the  largest,  where  the  great
navigator  perished.  There  are  eight  inhabited  islands,
extending  about  400  miles  in  a  curved  line,  contain-
ing an  area  of  6,100  square  miles,  and  a  population  of
160,000.  They  lie  about  2,000  miles  from  the  shores  of  Mexico
on  the  east ;  6,000  from  China  on  the  west ;  and  2,700  from
the  Society  islands*  on  the  south.  Hawaii  is  remarkable  for
two  towering  volcanic  mountains,  the  highest  of  which,
Mowna  Kaah,  nearly  14,000  feet,  is  the  culminating  point
of  Oceania ;  the  other,  Mowna  Eoa,  is  13,120  feet ;  also
for  the  low-lying  crater  of  Kirauea,  a  deep  hollow  of
1,100  feet,  studded  at  the  bottom  with  smoking  cones,
and  ponds  of  liquid  lava.     Honolulu,  in  the  island  of  OaAk,


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Folyneiia]        BAI^BWICH  AlfD  I^ITOAIRIX  ISLANDS.  508

is  tlie  capital,  has  churches  and  schools,  two  English  news-
papers, and  a  good  natural  harbour,  capable  of  accommo-
dating more  tmin  sixty  vessels  of  500  tons  burd^i.  Po-
pulation about  8000.
8.  !For  many  years  after  the  discovery  of  these  islands,
the  people  remained  in  their  original  savage  condition.
