160 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



able that this decay of population is so differently distributed in 

 the various islands ; nay, that districts in the same island differ 

 in this respect. It is therefore probable, that the chief causes 

 of this progressive decay must be sought for in local conditions, 

 and not in an organic defect of the race. Whilst in Hawaii 

 and Oahu, where in 1840 there were 61 births to 132 deaths, 

 the decrease is certain and large, it seems only apparent in 

 Maui. At Atowai or Kawia, where, among 5,541 adults, there 

 were only 65 women who had more than two children, a mis- 

 sionary found in one district the proportion of deaths to births 

 to be 3 : 1. In other districts, however, the decrease of the 

 population was only about 1 per cent. ; in some it was sta- 

 tionary, or slightly increasing ; thus at Onihau or Niihau the 

 increase of the population was 4:3. 



In proceeding to an investigation of the causes of the above 

 phenomena, and bearing in mind the epidemics which ap- 

 parently break out at the first intercourse of uncivilized peoples 

 with higher developed tribes, we must leave it to the judgment 

 of others whether this would account for the decay of so many 

 South Sea peoples; for it does not apply to all of the Polynesian 

 stock, nor can we assent to the plausible supposition of an 

 original defect of organization. 



In ancient times, and before the first arrival of Euro- 

 peans in the South Sea, the peculiar habits of the Polyne- 

 sians had already contributed to diminish the population. 

 Drunkenness and gluttony prevailed among the higher, and 

 infanticide among the lower classes of society in many of the 

 Polynesian islands. Only such tribes as the New Zealanders, 

 who seemed ignorant how to prepare intoxicating liquors, did 

 not at first seem to relish the spirituous liquors introduced by 

 the Europeans ; the rest were ruined by it, especially after 

 they had learnt from the whites the art of distillation. Infanti- 

 cide, artificial abortion, and sexual excesses, without the least 

 perception of any moral wrong in this respect, diminished the 

 population, and produced a weakly race. In the Sandwich 

 Islands a family never brought up more than two or three 

 children, the rest were strangled or buried alive. 1 Two-thirds 

 1 Ellis, " Polynes. Res.," iv, p. 327, 1832. 



