The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-10-18
THE TALE OF THE PoLYNEsIANs.

This Is the title OF an interesting article in the
y. Y. Independent OF September IL, by Titus
Munson Coan, NJ. d. DIR. Coan is q son of the
Rev. I. Coan OF Hilo, and was born at that vii
lage some forty years ago. As a native of Ha-
waii, he very naturally feels an interest in all
that concerns the Islands and their people, and
in the article under review, after asserting the
fact that to all the tribes inhabiting the differ
ent groups constituting Polynesia, the contact of
foreigners has been destructive, and for causes
that are in each case substantially the same,-he
propOunds the questions: What have these
causes been? and, Will they continue to act ?
These questions he proceeds to answer at length
but our limited space will not permit of our re-
producing the article in full this week.
The primitive checks on population in Poly
nesia-those that were in force before the arrival
Of foreigners-he states to have been /. ~Infanti-I
eide. 2. The ignorant and careless treatment of
children. 8. Frequent wars. 4. Oppression by
the chiefs. In exemplifying these points DR..
Coan is generally correct in his premises and
conclusions though he might have been re-
minded that with all these acknowledged checks
on population, Capt. Cook in 1778 estimated the
inhabitants Of the Hawaiian Islands at no less
than four hundred thousand. While Cook doubt
less overestimated the population, yet a careful
survey Of the known history of the race will 60
to show that their dimInutiOn has been more
owing to outside influences than from causes in
herent in the people themselves.
DR.. Coan, though generally well informed in
matters of Hawaiian history, is in error when he
says that " it was not until about the year 1852
that ownership of the soil on which the Hawaii
-, o,;ro Lied ,roa oonoadoI - fbar, b., kba;-
King, Kamehameha ILL., The Hawaiian =. Board
of commissioners to Quiet Land Titles was
organized in 1876. Before that Board every ma
tive who occupied a hOuse-lot or cultivated a taro
patch, was invited to appear and prove the facts,
whereupon be was awarded a kuIeanG, or title.
Before the year 1852 the majority OF the common
people had become landholders. Suddenly released
from compulsory labor for the chiefs; made the
absolute owners Of the soil on which they lived;
given the privilege OF the ballot why should
not the Hawaiian people have gone on to increase
and multiply ? In accounting for the modern
causes of decay among the Polynesians, DR.. Coau
apprehend loses sight of an important con.
namely, that less than sixty years
have elapsed since civilization was introduced
among them. lie makes no account of the sud-
den change from a condition Of serfdom to indie
and constitutional liberty. By the
Constitution granted by Kamehamsha Ill the
was made.
Lord Of himself. that heritage Of woe -
And he has been, under this dollhouse treat
ment, going to decay ever since. 1t required
hundred years before the English nation
fitted to receive and appreciate constitutional
liberty and can the Hawaiians be expected to
be more apt than the Anglo Saxons! But We
quote from the article in question
When civilization is introduced to the savage,
and the savage successfully resists it, he has a bet
Ter chance OF survival than if he accepts it. For
by accepting the new conditions he accepts new
The first OF these in destructive power
IS (d) imported disease. Syphilis, smallpox, and