Oahu has many places of interest outside of Honolulu.  One may visit the sugar plantations, rice farms, and may go to Pearl harbor or the Punchbowl.  The latter is an extinct volcano rising a few hundred feet above the town.  Another resort is the Pali, the highest point in the pass through the range of mountains that divides Oahu.  It is the fashion, and a very good fashion it is, to see the Pali and praise its charms.  It is the Yosemite of Hawaii.  The view from this height sweeps the whole island from north to south.  In the direction of the capital the land slopes to a level two miles from the sea and then spreads flatly to the shore.  The hillsides are not, as a rule, in a state of cultivation, although the soil is fertile.  The land is now cumbered with wild guava, which bears fruit as big as the lemon, and with the lantana, the seeds of which are scattered broadcast by an imported bird called the minah.  On the lower ground small farmers, mostly orientals, make their homes, and there are several cane plantations.

Honolulu, the capital and chief city, has a population of about 25,000, and presents more of the appearance of a civilized place than any other town in Polynesia.  Although consisting largely of one-story wooden houses, mingled with grass huts half smothered by foliage, its streets are laid out in the American style, and are straight, neat and tidy.  Water-works supply the town from a neighboring valley, and electric lights, telephones, street car lines, and other modern improvements are not lacking.

The arrangement of the streets in Honolulu reminds many Americans of those in Boston or the older part of New York.  All the streets are narrow, but well kept, and, with a few exceptions, they meander here and there at will.  A dozen thoroughfares are crescent shaped and twist and turn when one least expects.  All the streets are smooth and hard under a dressing of thousands of wagon loads of shells and lava pounded down and crushed by an immense steam roller brought from San Francisco.

The independence of the islands declared.

In 1843 the independence of the Hawaiian Islands was formally guaranteed by the English and French governments, and for a number of years they were under a constitutional monarchy.  On the death of King Kalakaua in 1891, his sister, the Princess Liliuokalani, succeeded to the throne, and soon proved herself to be an erratic and self-willed ruler.  She remained constantly at variance with her legislature and advisers, and in January, 1893, attempted to promulgate a new constitution, depriving foreigners of the right of franchise, and abrogating the existing House of Nobles, at the same time giving herself power of appointing a new House.  This was resisted by the foreign element of the community, who at once appointed a committee of safety, consisting of thirteen members, who called a mass meeting of their class, at which about 1,500 persons were present.  The meeting unanimously adopted resolutions condemning the action of the Queen, and authorizing a committee to take into further consideration whatever was necessary to protect the public safety.