Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/35

Rh find churches everywhere, and not far from each church there is a native school-house where the children are taught to read and write. On Sunday the churches are filled with worshippers, and there is no more devout people anywhere than on these islands. There are now more churches than are needed by the population, for the reason, not that there is any decline in religious zeal, but because of the decrease in the number of inhabitants. At the time of Captain Cook's discovery the islands were estimated to have a population of not far from two hundred thousand. Small-pox, measles, and other diseases have made terrible havoc, and at present the native population is little if any above fifty thousand. It has been declining with more or less rapidity ever since the beginning of the century, and the last census showed a considerable falling off since the one that preceded it.



"Not only are the islanders diminishing in numbers," he continued, "but the people of to-day are said to be smaller in stature than those of a century ago. The missionaries and other old residents say that when they first came here they used to meet great numbers of natives of high stature and majestic figures, belonging generally to the old families of chiefs and nobles. Occasionally at this time you may see them, but not often."