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378 with Hebrew facility under worse than Egyptian bondage. The fact is recognised, though philosophy ventures upon no proper solution of the enigma. The negro dwells in pestilential swamps, in sultry valleys, on mountain tops, on arid plains, in damp, and in cold. His merry, careless laugh is heard in every clime. The language, therefore, of Poeppig, the student of natural history, will not apply to him; for, said he of the dark skin, "He cannot endure the spread of European civilization in his neighbourhood; but perishes in its atmosphere, without suffering from ardent spirits, epidemics, or wars, as if touched by a poisonous breath."

When the two ministers forming the deputation from the London Missionary Society came to King Pomare II. of Tahiti, he saluted them with these mournful words: "You have come to see me in a very bad time. Your ancestors came in the time of men, when Tahiti was inhabited; you are come to behold just the remnant of my people." A prophecy of Teearmoar, the high priest of Paree, is often repeated by the islanders:—

Captain Cook estimated the population of Tahiti in his day at 200,000. It is now but little more than one-tenth of it. Mr. Herman Melville describes some of the causes of that decrease: "To say nothing of the effects of drunkenness," said he, "the occasional inroads of the small-pox, and other things that might be mentioned, it is sufficient to allude to a virulent disease, which now taints the blood of at least two-thirds of the common people of the island; and, in some form or other, is transmitted from father to son. Their first horror and consternation at the earlier ravages of this scourge were pitiable in the extreme. The very name bestowed upon it is a combination of all that is horrid and unmentionable to a civilized being."

Hawaii is another frightful example of declension of numbers. In 1823 the population was 140,000, though the Natives declare it was once four times that amount. In 1838 it had fallen to 108,000; in 1849, to 80,000; in 1853, to 71,000; in 1860, to 67,000; in 1863, to 62,000. There were one-fifth more males than females—the effect of libertinism. Dr.