ige of all they
possessed. They staked every article, of food, their growing crops,
the dollies they wore, their lands, wives, daughters, and even the
very bones of their arms and legs--to be made into fishhooks after they
were dead. These steps led to the most absolute and crushing poverty.

"They had their dances, which were of such a character as not to be
conceived by a civilized mind, and were accompanied by scenes which
would have disgraced even Nero's revels. Nearly every night, with
the gathering darkness, crowds would retire to some favorite spot,
where, amid every species of sensual indulgence they would revel
until the morning twilight. At such times the chiefs would lay aside
their authority, and mingle with the lowest courtesan in every degree
of debauchery.

"Thefts, robberies, murders, infanticide, licentiousness of the most
debased and debasing character, burying their infirm and aged parents
alive, desertion of the sick, revolting cruelties to the unfortunate
maniac, cannibalism and drunkenness, form a list of some of the traits
in social life among the Hawaiians in past days.

"Their drunkenness was intense. They could prepare a drink, deadly
intoxicating in its nature, from a mountain plant called the awa
(Piper methysticum). A bowl of this disgusting liquid was always
prepared and served out just as a party of chiefs were sitting down to
their meals. It would sometimes send the victim into a slumber from
which he never awoke. The confirmed awa drinker could be immediately
recognized by his leprous appearance.

"By far the darkest feature in their social condition was seen
in the family relation. Society, however, is only a word of mere
accommodation, designed to express domestic relations as they then
existed. 'Society' was, indeed, such a sea of pollution as cannot be
well described. Marriage was unknown, and all the sacred feelings which
are suggested to our minds on mention of the various social relations,
such as husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister,
were to them, indeed, as though they had no existence. There was,
indeed, in this respect, a dreary blank--a dark chasm from which the
soul instinctively recoils. There were, perhaps, some customs which
imposed some little restraint upon the intercourse of the sexes,
but those customs were easily dispensed with, and had nothing of the
force of established rules. It was common for a husband to have many
wives, and for a wife als