about thirty copper
nails in his mouth, with the hammer and sheet of copper in his hand,
coming up to breathe after each nail was knocked in. I could hear the
loud knocking as he drove the nails into the ship's side. At the same
time, some Kanaka boys were playing about in the water near at hand,
diving for stones or bits of money. The piece was never allowed to
sink more than a few feet before a boy was down after it and secured
it. They never missed the smallest silver-bit. It seemed to me as if
some of them could swim before they could walk.

As for the women, although travellers have spread abroad reports of
their beauty, I was unable to see it. While the 'Moses Taylor' lay in
the harbour, the saloon was sometimes full of native girls, who came
down from the country to see the ship and admire themselves in the two
large saloon mirrors, before which they stood laughing and giggling.
Their usual dress consists of a long, loose gown, reaching down to the
ancles, with no fastening round the waist; and their heads and necks
are usually adorned with leaves or flowers of some sort. They seem to
me very like the Maori women, but without the blue tattoo-mark on the
lips; nor are their features so strongly marked, though they had the
same wide faces, black eyes, full nostrils, and large lips. Their
skins are of various hues, from a yellow to a dusky-brown. Their feet
and hands are usually small and neat.

I am told that the race is degenerating and dying out fast. The
population of the islands is said to be little more than one-tenth of
what it was when Captain Cook visited them; and this falling off is
reported to be mainly due to the unchaste habits of the women. The
missionaries have long been trying to make a salutary impression on
them; but, though the natives profess Christianity in various forms,
it is to be feared that it is a profession, and little more. The King,
also, has tried to make them more moral, by putting in force a sort
of Maine liquor-law; but every ship that enters the harbour is beset
by natives wanting drink, and they adopt various methods of evading
the law. The licence charged by the Government to a retailer of
spirits is a thousand dollars a year; but he must not sell liquor to
any foreigner on a Sunday, nor to any native at any time, under a
penalty of five hundred dollars. This penalty is rigidly exacted; and
if the spirit-dealer is unable to pay the fine, he is put on the
coral-reefs, to work a