how do i import photos from a external hard drive they will not import to my icloud photo stream

If you're trying to import them to your iPad, connect the iPad to your computer, open iTunes, click on the name of your iPad in iTunes, go to the Photos tab of your iTunes sync settings, check "Sync Photos from" and select "Choose folder" from the drop-down list and navigate to the folder on your external drive containing the photos, then click Apply at the bottom to sync your iPad.