THE PERILS OF RAPID CIVILIZATION: 229 



hundred and ten schools, having an attendance of over seven thousand 

 children." Even in 1873 Mr. Nordhoff said, " The natives of these 

 islands are, there is reason to believe, the most generally educated 

 people in the world." Yet, with the phenomenal advance in intellect 

 and morals which this race has made, there is a most rapid and melan- 

 choly decay of their physical organization. With an abundance of 

 schools and churches, there are every year fewer scholars and worship- 

 ers ; with an admirable system of government, there are constantly 

 becoming fewer to govern. 



The successive census returns tell this sad story : In 1832 the in- 

 habitants of the islands were 130,313; in 1836, 108,579; in 1850, 

 81,165 ; in 1860, 69,700 ; in 1866, 62,959 ; in 1872, 56,897 ; in 1878, 

 57,985.* And even this seeming arrest, shown by the last census, in 

 the process of decay in the native race, is not real ; for during the 

 last six years the Hawaiian population decreased over four thousand, 

 the total gain being caused by an increase of foreigners to the extent 

 of over five thousand. The Government, in a frantic effort to save 

 itself from extinction, is importing immigrants : during the two years 

 ending in 1880 it introduced over nine hundred Portuguese from the 

 Madeira Islands, and more than eleven hundred Polynesians from the 

 Gilbert Islands. Besides these, many Chinese have come. "We are 

 told, moreover, that the physical type of the natives has deteriorated ; 

 that the great stature and forms noted by the early visitors to the 

 islands have passed away. 



The history of the Hawaiians for the last sixty years might be 

 almost condensed into three words — Christianization, civilization, ex- 

 termination. 



In 1860 Mr. F. D. Fenton was instructed by the New Zealand Gov- 

 ernment to prepare a statement with reference to the decay of the 

 aboriginal Maori race, together with an investigation into its causes. 

 His report, which is contained in Volume XXIII of the " Journal of 

 the Statistical Society," shows a marked decrease, amounting to nine- 

 teen and a half per cent in the fourteen years from 1844 to 1858. This 

 loss of numbers occurred in the absence of most of the causes commonly 

 assigned for the decay of races. Mr. Fenton shows that all the tribes 

 occupied healthful situations, that the climate was benign, and that 

 the fertility of the soil was such as to secure an abundance of nutritious 

 food. In fact, while the United States was increasing at the rate of 

 thirty-five per cent every decade, this ancient race was diminishing at 

 the rate of fourteen per cent every ten years ; and, so far as the natural 

 advantages of soil and climate are concerned, there seems to be little to 

 choose between the two countries. Moreover, this deterioration was of 

 recent origin. It was first noticed in 1841 by Bishop Broughton, and 

 the Maories themselves say that it has commenced within the recollec- 

 tion of the present generation. The fact that there are more males 

 * Mrs. Judd, " Honolulu," vide Appendix, by Albert Judd. 



