48 



HAWAIIAN GROUP. 



oar, and swam for the shore. The accident occurred on Sunday 

 about noon, when she with many others began to swim for the 

 nearest land, which was Kahoolawe. She continued to support 

 her husband until Monday morning, when he died from exhaustion, 

 and she did not succeed in reaching the shore until that after- 

 noon. She clung to him to the last, at the imminent risk of her 

 own life, and was thirty hours in the water ; she was met by some 

 fishermen on landing, who took charge of, and brought her back to 

 Maui. 



I have also been told that there are many instances of such deep 

 attachment among the Hawaiians, and that in former times widows 

 and widowers have been known to commit suicide, or pine away with 

 grief at the loss of their partners. Similar evidences of affection and 

 attachment were also exhibited between parents and children. 



Notwithstanding the instances of this kind, I must say from my 

 own observation, that I should not be inclined to believe there is 

 much natural affection among them; nor is there apparently any 

 domestic happiness. Thus, it is not an unusual thing for a husband 

 to tell you he has whipped his wife, because she has eaten up all his 

 poe and fish. Formerly their laws of taboo were calculated to pro- 

 duce any thing but a kindl}^ feeling towards the female sex ; nor is it 

 contended that they were of much if any consequence, if they were 

 not of the highest class. These, as has already been mentioned, 

 have great influence over the acts of government. 



At the time of the advent of the missionaries, marriage was hardly 

 known among them, and all the rules they observed, in relation to 

 sexual intercourse, were a few regulating the extent of their licentious- 

 ness. From tradition, however, it is believed that the marriage tie 

 was more regarded prior to the discovery of the island than since. 

 Yet it is good evidence that this tie produced no greater happiness, or 

 rather that they did not look to it as a source of happiness, when it is 

 found that none of their songs, elegies, or other poetic effusions, have 

 any allusion to it ; nor are there any terms in the language to express 

 connubial bliss. 



The natives of this group generally show very little attachment to 

 their children. All classes of females are unwilling to be burdened 

 with the trouble of them, and, whenever it is possible, commit them 

 to others to nurse. Although I observed this frequently, yet I was 

 told that, since the institution of marriage, a change for the better has 

 taken place ; but all admit that this has not been to any great extent. 



