194 



HAWAII. 



[letter XX. 



The tone in which it was discussed is well indicated by the 

 language of Kalakaua, Lunalilo's rival : " The restrictions im- 

 posed by this law do the people no good, but rather harm ; for 

 instead of inculcating the principles of honour, they teach them 

 to steal behind the bar, the stable, and the closet, where they 

 may be sheltered from the eyes of the law. The heavy licence 

 imposed on the liquor dealers, and the prohibition against 

 selling to the natives are an infringement of our civil rights, 

 binding not only the purchaser but the dealer against acquir- 

 ing and possessing property. Then, Mr. President, I ask, 

 where lies virtue, where lies justice? Not in those that bind 

 the liberty of this people, by refusing them the privilege that 

 they now crave, of drinking spirituous liquors without restric- 

 tion. Will you by persisting that this law remain in force make 

 us a nation of hypocrites ? or will you repeal it, that honour 

 and virtue may for once be yours, O Hawaii." A committee 

 of the Assembly, in reporting on the question of the prohibi- 

 tion of the sale of intoxicants to anybody, through its chair- 

 man, Mr. Carter, stated, " Experience teaches that such prohi- 

 bition could not be enforced without a strong public 

 sentiment to indorse it, and such a sentiment does not prevail 

 in this community, as is evidenced by the fact that the sale 

 of intoxicating drinks to natives is largely practised in de- 

 fiance of law and the executive, and that the manufacture of 

 intoxicating drinks, though prohibited, is carried on in every 

 district of the kingdom." So the most important question 

 agitated in every country ruled or colonised by Anglo-Saxons, 

 is also here astir. 



I Avas led to this digression by seeing, for the first time, some 

 very fine plants of the Piper methysticum. This is awa, truly a 

 " plant of renoAvn " throughout Polynesia. Strange tales are 

 told of it. It is said to produce profound sleep, with visions 

 more enchanting than those of opium or hasheesh, and that its 

 repetition, instead of being deleterious, is harmless and even 

 AA r holesome. Its sale is prohibited, except on the production 

 of evidence that it has been prescribed as a drug. Neverthe- 

 less no law on the islands is so grossly violated. It is easy to 

 give it, and easy to grow it, or dig it up in the woods, so that, 

 in spite of the legal restrictions, it is used to an enormous 

 extent. It AA r as proposed absolutely to prohibit the sale of it, 

 though the sum paid for the licence is no inconsiderable item 

 in the revenue of a kingdom, Avhich, like many others, is expe- 

 riencing the difficulty of " making both ends meet ; " but the 



