Chris Boyles, age 12, of High Point, North Carolina, for his question:

Who originally settled Hawaii?

The geological story of the islands began ages ago when mayor volcanoes began erupting from the deep floor of the mid Pacific. Stage by stage, masses of debris grew three miles high and rose above the waves. The bare isles may have been born when the dinosaurs roamed the continents. Winds and waves brought seeds to clothe them. Birds visited them and a few animals, carried on logs and other floating debris, arrived to populate them with wildlife. Far to the west and the southwest, there were lands populated by men    and mankind is a born explorer. Sea going tourists sailed and rowed across the vast reaches of the Pacific long before the dawn of history.

About 1,000 years ago the Hawaiian Islands were discovered and settled by Mene¬hune people who had voyaged far northward from their original island homes. A few generations later, voyagers from the southern island of Tahiti also came upon the islands. Sad to say, the later arrivals ousted the original Menehunes. Captain Cook met only Tahitian settlers when he found the islands in 1778. But archeologists later unearthed many ruins of buildings erected by the original Menehune settlers of Hawaii.