HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



49 



and canoe or surf riding. They do not take kindly to 

 the professions, and will only work under the pressure 

 of necessity. Civilization has rather increased than di- 

 minished their repugnance to labor. 



The natives are generous to a fault, honest, easy go- 

 ing, with a happy disposition, but have an inordinate 

 fondness for flattery. They are very fond of flowers 

 and music, but have little, if any, sense of art. The 

 leis (flower wreath) is found on all festival occasions, 

 and is especially conspicuous at the luau feasts 

 (Fig. 10). 



Fig. 10. — Luau, National Hawaiian Feast. 



The mortality among the natives since the whites 

 came to the islands has been frightful. When Captain 

 Cook discovered the islands all of them were densely 

 populated, not less than 200,000. In 1836 their num- 

 ber was reduced to 108,579, and at present it does not 

 exceed 39,000. In 1848 one-fourth of the population 

 was carried off by an epidemic of measles ; shortly after 

 another 3,000 died of smallpox. The rapid decrease 

 in the native population and their unwillingness to 

 work creates a field for foreign laborers. In 1898 there 



