THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE. 45 



tluit n very large per cent of the children horn were disposed of in various ways 

 hy their parents, soon after their birth. (Jenerally speaking, it ap- 

 jiears that in Hawaii, as throughout Polynesia, the struggle for exist- 

 ence and life's necessities, was largely evaded by restricting the na- 

 tural increase in population in this way. Whatever the cause may have 

 lieeu for this unusual restriction, it is (|uite generally admitted to have been an 

 effective one so far as keeping the poptdation down to whei'c a comfortable 

 subsistence could be had by all who were permitted by their parents to live past 

 the perilous period of early infancy. From the purely economic point of view 

 this artificial check was most beneficial. Freed from crov/ding by overpopula- 

 tion, the i)rimitive connuunity need not live under the scourge of grinding 

 l>overty. By limiting the size of the family to the means and ability of the 

 jiarents to provide, there could be enough for all. Direct reasnniu-;' led them, 

 therefore, to free themselves from the ii-ksome necessity of providing more or 

 dividing less, by restricting the increase in population to a point well within 

 the apparent normal food sujiply. !\ry friend. Dr. Titus iMunson Coau, without 

 njiliolding the crude methods employed in adjusting the two imixirtaut factors 

 nienlioned. finds the fi'eedom which the piMiple enjoyed from the necessity of 

 lu-oviding, to be the main cause of the unusual develo|unent of thi' genial and 

 generous traits of the Ilawaiiiuis, and in it finds the principal source of their 

 nuii'ital liapiiiuess. Ofhei- writers account foi- the pi'acficc of infanticide among 

 the Ilawaiians on the unpardonable ground of laziness — unwillingness to t'lke 

 the trouble to rear children. But as we an' told that parents were fond of their 

 children and jiai-enfal disci]iline \vas not riuoroiis. and as children were left 

 laru-el\- to their own devices, flu'ir care could hardly be re^'arded as a s-rious 

 bui-d(Mi : moreover. UKU-e girl children were destroyed than boys, indicating that 

 the foimer reason was flu- moi'e economic and therefore the mru-e human and 

 loL:ic;d one. On the othei' hand it ma\- be urged that a certain amount of 

 brutality \\as always exhibited, toward fhcii- own kind. The old and plnsicidly 

 nnfoi-fiuiafe among the common people fared roughly at the hands of the com- 

 munity. Old age was despised. The insane were often stoned to death and 



1. A sturdy old native in cbaraeteristif lOniDiicioi cliess. 1'. Tlie Hawaiian wairinr 

 Kanielur.nolia I. From a mouumcnt in front of tin; .ludii-iary Building in Honolulu, crci-f.'il, 

 during the reign of King Kalakaua, one liundri'd yeai's after the discovery of the Hawaiian 

 islands by (Captain Coolc. The statue, by an American artist, is a composite, based on a paint- 

 ing of Kamehameha by a Russian artist and supplimeuted by photographs of the finest types of 

 nu)dern Hawailans. The figure is shown wearing the helmet [mahiolel made of wicker-work 

 covered with feathers; a long cloak [ahuula] of feathers attached to a fine net work of olona ; 

 about the chest and over the shoulders is draped the malo of Umi. also made of feathers on an 

 olona foundation. About the loins is tied the common tapa malo — the covering worn by the 

 uuni of ancient Hawaii when at work; in the left hand is the spear [newa]. the chief imple- 

 ment of warfare. The Honolulu statue is a duplicate of the original which was lost in a wreck 

 on the voyage to Honolulu. The sunken statue w-as subsequently raised and now stands in 

 the court yard at Kohala. Hawaii. Four pictures in bas-relief about the base of the nuinu nent 

 (not here shown) represents (a) canoes greeting Captain Cook at Kealakekua Bay: (b) si-\ men 

 Inirling spears at Kamehameha; (e) a fleet of war canoes built for the invasion of Kauai, 

 and (d) n'en and children on the roadside. 3. Muscular young Hawaiian. 



