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Ellis, Tour Through Hawaii, 1826
Narrative of a tour through Hawaii, or Owhyee; With remarks on the history, traditions, manners, customs, and language of the inhabitants of the
Sandwich Islands: by William Ellis, (11)+4-442p+ 7 plates + a map of the Island of Hawaii, London, H. Fisher, son, & P. Jackson, 1826. (Ellis was a
missionary affiliated with the London Missionary Society who spent six years evangelizing in the Sandwich Islands. The tour described in this book began in
March 1823, shortly after the death of Kamehameha II {also known as Iolani or Liholiho}. Ellis was an intelligently observant traveler, and his
extensive tour coincided with a time of great upheaval in the lives of the indigenous people. The first missionaries had arrived only three years before,
and the native culture had just absorbed the shock of the abolition of the ancient kapu system. There was widespread desolation and hardship due to a 65
per cent collapse in the population in the 45 years since first contact because of introduced European diseases. While the whole of the narrative is
most interesting, in the context of this collection the work’s main value lies in Ellis’ descriptions of the local governing structure {see pp.
394-405} and the workings of the kapu system {see pp. 364-369}, and his scholarly contributions on the orthography of the Hawaiian language {see pp. 20-25
and Appendix pp. 431-442}. For convenience, in the on-line version the map and seven plates have been located in one packet at the end of the text
following page 442. Subsequent English language editions of this work were: 2nd, enlarged, H. Fisher, 1827; 3rd, London, H. Fisher, son & P. Jackson,
1837?; and unnumbered ed., Honolulu, Advertiser Publishing Co., 1863. A German language edition was published as Reise durch Hawaii oder Owhyhee (ein der
Sandwichs-Inseln): duodecimo, Hamburg, August Campe, 1827.)
Title:   Narrative of a tour through Hawaii, or Owhyhee : with remarks on the history, traditions, manners, customs, and language of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands / by William Ellis.
OCLC Number:   317858096
Available Volumes
NameFiche CountOnlinePaper Backup
Volume 1YesNo