Hutchinson. — Hawaii-net and the Hawaiidns. 471 



from which most other countries are free — the leprosy : also the isolation 

 of all cases of infectious disease that may be brought to the islands, a busi- 

 ness which necessarily incurs much odium. In all such cases the people 

 in immediate contact with the patients are immediately and carefully 

 separated from the rest of the communit}', a course which might elsewhere 

 be followed with advantage. It is a disgrace to any country not continental 

 that such a disease as scarlet fever should ever gain, or at least keep, a 

 footing in it. 



An account of the leprosy and of a late epidemic of smallpox was then 

 given, and the subject was treated more at large in a subsequent lecture, 

 delivered before a special meeting of medical men. 



The causes of the decline of the native race. — No doubt Captain Cook's 

 estimate (400,000) was far too high. He reckoned from the numbers that- 

 appeared at each place where the ship touched, not considering that they 

 crowded thither from all parts of the island. In 1832 the number was 

 130,000, in 1878 47,000. 



Syphilis was introduced by Captain Cook's sailors, and has inflicted 

 terrible injury on the race. 



The leprosy has aided in the same direction. 



The removal of the tabu from the women. — With all the drawbacks of the 

 tabu, it was certainly a great protection to the women. Its abolition gave 

 full swing to license. The women are markedly unfertile, but are far more 

 fruitful with white men and Chinese than with their own race. 



The early age at which intercourse begins with both sexes is another 

 cause of infertility. 



The women manage their babies unwisely, and the infant mortality is 

 very large. 



The changed conditions of life. — The dark races appear to be always inju- 

 riously affected by close contact with the white. The wearing of clothes, 

 and living in tight houses, has proved a great curse to the natives, who are 

 far more delicate and prone to lung diseases than when they went naked 

 and lived in grass houses. 



A very large number of the women live with white men and Chinese. 

 This cause alone must in the end prove fatal to the purity of the race. 



Present state and j>rospects. — The islands are now part of the American 

 system. The policy was laid down by the late United States Foreign 

 Secretary, Mr. Blain. Extract from letter of his to the United States 

 Minister at Honolulu, dated December 1, 1881: — "In thirty years the 

 United States have acquired legitimate and dominant influence in the North 

 Pacific, which it can never consent to see decreased by intrusion therein of 

 any element or influence hostile to its own. * * * * Hence the 



