30 JUNE 1900, Page 39

Hawaii and its People. By Alexander S. Twombly. (Silver, Burdett,

and Co., Boston, U.S. 5s.)—Mr. Tvrombly tells the story of Hawaii in three parts. First, there is "Ancient Hawaii," where we have an earlier period of folk-lore and myth and a later period of historical or semi-historical times. 1:rmi was the Arthur, or perhaps we may say the Alfred, of Hawaii. He died about 1521. Then followed two centuries and a half of war,—struggles between the chief islands for supremacy. In 1795 Kamahameha made himself master of the whole group. His career is told in some detail. He was a Malay Napoleon, and, like him, had inferior successors. His son, second of the name, was a very poor creature. Foreign intervention in Hawaian affairs has not always been creditable to the interveners, but the French must bear the discredit of being the most to blame. In 1824 a French Admiral took very strong proceedings against the Protestant missionaries. That was consistent enough, for he was acting for a Catholic King; the strange phenomenon is that of the Republican Government strongly anti-clerical at home and pro-clerical abroad. This is an interesting book.