Under Hawaiian skies, a narrative of the romance, adventure and history of the Hawaiian Islands, a complete historical account, by Albert Pierce Taylor.

22

L UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES

Like Egypt, Hawaii is a land of contrasts and memories, the
isles a mecca for travelers, but with an atmosphere laden with
memories of an ancient existence which was a glorious period of
the history of these fair Islands.
A\. P. T.
-lonoltulu, 1922.
'PREF,;I1ACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
N 1922 I decided that a residence of a quarter of a century in the Hawaiian Islands, during which time the
change from a Republic of Hawaii status to that of a
territory of the United States took place, and during which, also,
I had devoted much space to the writing of Hawaiian history,
should he commemorated by the publication of a book about
Hawaii. My principal reason was that within its pages I should
be able to record my own analysis of Hawaiian history from
earliest times to the present. There were many instances of
deviation in other narratives which al)peare(l to be not entirely
in accor(l with history or -ny version.
"Undecr 1/acu'aiial S.i/ees" seelled an appropriate title, for it
appeared to symbolize the telling of the absorbing narrative of
all the intensive historic incidents which raised the' Hawaiian race
far above all other Polynesian peoples and made their entry into
civilized activities an event that commanded the attention of the
powers.
My purpose was to publish a book, that, aside from the mere
recording of the standard facts, would embody a more recent
analysis of Hawaii's earlier history of a nation then unknown to
the world, its later contact with foreigners, the acceptance of the
religion of Christ, the adoption of modern government administration, and tlle causes of the movement by which the empire of
Kamehameha the Great was finally overturned and Americans
stepped in and prepared the nation for admission to the union of