HAWAII. 235 



natives, however, has been induced to begin the erection of a sugar- 

 mill. 



Little has been done by the inhabitants towards the improvement 

 of their dwellings : these are very small and often exceedingly filthy : 

 the doors are from two and a half to three feet high. A few attempts 

 have been made to erect larger houses, and to improve the quality of 

 the thatch ; but the people do not seem inclined to change their former 

 modes of life. 



To give some idea of the state of these people and their wants. It 

 is admitted by all, that licentiousness prevails to a great extent among 

 the people, even at present, but to a far less degree than formerly : 

 then promiscuous intercourse was almost general, — men were living 

 with several wives, and vice versa. No improvement in this respect 

 had been made, until the missionaries began their labours. To them 

 this nation owes its moral code, and the enactment of laws respecting 

 marriage. A native's idea of luxury does not extend beyond poe and 

 fish, with which he usually seems satisfied, and when they are ob- 

 tained ceases all exertion. To overcome this inertness, it is requisite 

 that they should, as some few do, feel artificial wants, which cause 

 them to look about for employment. Even these are so few that they 

 are soon satisfied. It is said a native may be supported in the Ha- 

 waiian Islands for two or three cents a day : on some of the islands 

 they receive no more than seventy-five cents per week, and even 

 this is paid to them in tickets, entitling them to goods to that amount 

 from the store of their employer, who pays them in this way at 

 an advance of fifty to one hundred per cent. ; this brings the value of 

 their labour for the week (six days) down to twenty-five or thirty 

 cents. This is all the inducement the commercial men or foreign 

 residents hold out to the natives to work. 



The population of the Kohala district consists of six thousand four 

 hundred ; and during a year and a half it has diminished between 

 four and five hundred, owing in part to emigration. As to the other 

 causes of decrease, if they exist, there are no facts to show it. 



The schools are not attended with any regularity : sometimes they 

 are crowded, at other times thinly attended. This is attributed to 

 the want of proper teachers, and on the jsart of the parents to a want 

 of interest in the education of their children. About one thousand 

 two hundred children are regarded as scholars in the different schools; 

 one hundred of these are taught in the station school, under the care 



