A Remarkable Example of Decline. 



native cloth ; punishable by fine and imprison- 

 ment to smoke tobacco ; punishable by fine and 

 imprisonment to make the native beverage, 

 Kava ; punishable by fine and imprisonment to 

 wear long hair, or a garland of flowers ; punish- 

 able by fine and imprisonment to wrestle, or 

 play ball ; punishable by fine and imprisonment 

 to build a native-fashioned house ; punishable 

 not to wear shirt and trousers, and in certain 

 localities, coat and shoes also ; and in addition to 

 laws enforcing a strictly puritanical observance 

 of the Sabbath, it was punishable by fine and 

 imprisonment to bathe on Sundays. In some 

 other places bathing on Sundays was punishable 

 by flogging, and to my knowledge, women have 

 been flogged for no other offence by order of a 

 native teacher, whose action was by no means so 

 decidedly disapproved of by his white superior 

 as it should have been. Men in such circum- 

 stances are ripe for revolt, and sometimes the 

 revolt comes." 



What a misery such a life must have been to 

 those people, who had formerly enjoyed absolute 

 freedom ! Can it be wondered at, under the 

 circumstances, that they gave way to immor- 

 ality, if only to break the monotony of such an 

 existence ? 



However, the whole weight of the responsi- 

 bility rests with us. We, however reluctant to 

 admit it, have forced our inferior system (inferior 

 from a physiological aspect) on them, and it is 

 our duty to try and rectify the evil. To revert 

 to their old system would be impossible, unless 

 we give them back their lands ; even then the 



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