aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

28 ABOUND THE WORLD.
here, as elsewhere, awaits solution. All men are about as
lazy as they can afford to be.
It is very common to see native women trooping along the
streets horseback. Some were richly though quaintly attired
in long riding-habits. They all, like the Turkish and
Arab women of the East, ride astride their poor-bred horses
and some deck themselves in ribbons and othelo flowers.
Their dresses are entirely loose and flowing, all the weight
coming upoli the shoulders. .
On the outskirts of the city, 'mid tropical shrubbery and
graceful palms, I saw taro growing, the original Hawaiian
food of the natives. It thrives on soil that can be flooded.
Exceedingly nutritious, it not only tastes, but, when steamed
in their stone ovens, looks, very much like huge, rough Irish
potatoes.
From this taro, they make their poi by pounding it into a
semi-fluid consistency, and then storing it in gourds and
calabashes. It is eaten by dipping one—if very thin, two —
fingers into the pot of poi^ and thrusting them " quickly into
the mouth.
THE MORALS OF OAHU.
These Hawaiians are considered by some ethnologists as
vestiges of the Semitic stock.
It is certain that the primitive
Others think to the contrary.
poetry of these natives bears
a striking resemblance in style to the Hebraic. They practiced,
when discovered, circumcision, and had what corresponded
to the Israelitish " house of refuge." They had three
orders of priests,—Kaula,- prophets ;
Kilo, magicians or ghostseers
; and Kahunas, the teachers. They have a tradition
among themselves, that they came from Tahita. Europeans
brought among them liquors and syphilis, and taught them
war upon the principles of Christian civilization. As a
people, these aborigines are rapidly dying off from the
island. Civilization, such as it is, hastens their inevitable
doom.
In twenty years there will probably be no Kanackas,