I do not imagine that he was embarrassed at his lack of clothing, and after the first shock of surprise I am quite sure we were more inclined to admire his straight muscular figure and his shining dark skin than to complain of his nakedness.
Presently, however, he slipped away into the bush, and re-appeared in a hat, and a shirt which was so short that even my little girl burst into laughter at this ridiculous and futile effort toward decency; and thus arrayed, and with the kindly and gracious smile which illuminates a Hawaiian's face when he puts himself to some trouble on your account, this funny guide led us to our horses.
In the evening I related this incident to our host, an old resident, and said, "I suppose this man could read ?" "Read!" he replied; "he can read and write as well as you.

I know him very well; he is a prosperous man, and is to be the next justice of the peace in that district.

He doubtless went home and spent the remainder of the afternoon in reading his newspaper." Native life in the Islands is full of such contrasts, and I found, on examining the labor contracts on several sugar-plantations, that almost without exception the working people signed their own names.
According to a census taken in December, 1872, the Hawaiian Islands contained 56,897 souls, of whom 51,531 were natives and half-castes, and 5366 were foreigners.

In six years the native population had decreased 7234, and the foreigners had increased 1172.

Since 1866, therefore, the Islands have lost 6062 souls.
Of the foreigners the Chinese are the most numerous, outnumbering all the other foreign nationalities together except the Americans.