220 HAWAII. 



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 part 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 and 

 personal superintendence of the missionaries. At the last examination 

 of these schools, eight hundred were present, four hundred and sixty 

 of whom are able to read, several can write, and a few have made 

 some advancement in mental and written arithmetic. Of the adults in 

 the schools, there were one thousand one hundred who could read 

 intelligibly. 



The church was organized in this district in 1838, and in 1840 

 there were nine hundred and fifty who professed Christianity, though 

 it is believed that all are not Christians. 



Mr. Bliss states that the people of Kohala are intemperate in the use 



