3-053-704 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Pearl River, Sandwich Islands, 1873. Engraving from a sketch by Mr. G. W. Robertson, of '...Pearl River and Waiana Mountains, taken about six miles from Honolulu, looking north-west...The Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands have been lately brought before the notice of the public...because of the talk about American annexation...A few people in Hawaii, exclusively Americans, are in favour of annexation; many more, and of other nationalities, approve of reciprocity with the United States. It has been proposed, as a sort of bribe to get the American Congress to interest itself in the latter, that the Hawaiian Government should offer to cede Pearl River for a term of years, for the use of the United States navy as a dockyard and naval station. It is a magnificent piece of water, deep enough and large enough to hold many hundred ships...The one drawback is that on the bar at the entrance there is only eight feet of water, but without any great outlay this bar might be cut away...The country around is of very little value, as there are few streams and little or no rain. The sugar-mill in the centre of the picture, and various small patches on the banks of the streams, are the only places where there is any cultivation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.