THE MALAY RACE. 



93 



but one opinion, " that the thoughts are often really sublime." In the 

 midst " of the fiction of their songs, their real history is embodied ;" 

 even, if I am rightly informed, as far back as the colonization of the 

 group. The preservation of this literature, constituted a distinct de- 

 partment of the government ; and a class of persons were regularly 

 appointed as depositaries. David Malo, the well-known Hawaiian 

 author, had been one of these persons. Again, as the missionaries 

 have become better acquainted with the Hawaiian language, it has 

 been found to " possess a force and compass, that at the beginning, 

 would not have been credited." 



In respect to the Calendar, I must refer to the information col- 

 lected by Captain Wilkes and Mr. Hale. It appears, that the Poly- 

 nesians had a fixed measure for their year, by observing the rising of 

 the Pleiades ; and it may be here remarked, that this cluster has been 

 very generally regarded by other nations, as " leading the heavenly 

 host," or as situated in the first sign of the Zodiac. The Polynesian 

 reckoning is by lunations, with the use of an intercalary month ; and 

 on all these points the practice of the Greeks* and other nations of 

 antiquity, may be compared. It appears further, that the profession 

 of "astrology and soothsaying," had likewise reached the Hawaiian 

 Islands. 



Licentiousness prevailed at this group, to a degree not witnessed 

 elsewhere ; and in the former state of society, M'hen " men were living 

 with several wives, and women with several husbands," there appears 

 to have been really an approach to promiscuous intercourse. In all 

 the other countries which I have visited, more regard has been paid, 

 in this respect, to the indications of nature. It appears, that since the 

 introduction of the laws of civilized nations, " a decided improvement 

 has been observed, and there are now very many individuals of exem- 

 plary conduct. A singular indifference however has been manifested, 

 on the subject of rearing a family." I was myself struck with the 

 few instances met with, of any manifest conjugal attachment; and 

 among the younger portion of the community, I scarcely observed 

 more than one. 



On the 27th of October, I landed on Tauai, and walked to Waimea; 

 where an aboriginal American was seen, who had been residing with 

 the natives for several years. Mr. Brackenridge and myself, after- 

 wards crossed the remarkable table-land, wliich occupies so large a 



* See Herodotus, Euterpe, 68 ; Thalia, 90, &c. 

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