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"Portuguese in Hawaii — Heritage of New England Whaling" by John Lacoutoure AS IN NEW BEDFORD and on Nantucket many persons of Portuguese ancestry live in the Hawaiian Islands as one of the legacies of the New England whaling era. In the 1970 census citizens of Portuguese ancestry constituted 11.6% of the population of Hawaii and have provid ed a Portuguese flavor to the Islands' food, ceremonies and traditions. The decline of the Pacific whaling industry in the early 1870's saw the rise of the sugar industry in Hawaii to replace it. This rapid expan sion of the sugar industry depended on an increasing supply of cheap labor which was not available from the native Hawaiians who had suf fered a considerable loss in numbers to the "whiteman's" diseases. Initially Chinese men were brought in to fill this labor shortage, but Chinese women could not be induced to emigrate. It was not long before this large influx of Chinese men only met with resistance from the general public who wanted immigrants to bring their families to replenish the population of the islands as well as to meet the acute labor shortage. As a result its sugar planters cast about for another labor source at minimum cost. At this time there were about 400 Portuguese sailors from whaling ships who had settled in the Islands and had proved to be useful and desirable citizens. Most of them were small farmers or dairymen or served on the plantations and ranches. The suggestion was made to bring over additional numbers of Por tuguese from the impoverished Azores and Madeira Islands. On 6 November 1876 the Hawaiian government voted to provide the costs of bringing 200 people from the Portuguese Islands at a cost of $45 per man, $50 per woman, and half price for children and to transport the immigrants on ships belonging to New England shipping and whaling companies. Although never consummated, this was the first proposal to promote the immigration of Portuguese to the Hawaiian Islands. The actual inauguration of Portuguese immigration was due large ly to the efforts of Dr. William Hildebrand. Dr. Hildebrand had lived in the Islands for several years, but returned to Germany in 1871 and was living temporarily in the Madeiras in 1876. Aware of the labor shortage in the Hawaiian Islands, he wrote from Madeira noting the similarities in climate and in produce and mentioning conditions were favorable
