INDOLENCE  AND  CHEEBFULNESS.         857

the  area  of  an  ordinary  dressing-room  will  keep  a  man  in
food  the  whole  year — if  it  he  diligently  cultivated.'*  But
there  are  few  species  of  labour  more  constant  and  more
wearing  than  that  of  cultivating  the  esculent  arum.  The
men  work  in  the  heat  of  the  day  in  the  patches  or  pits,
which  require  to  be  kept  filled  to  a  certain  height  with
water.  Irrigation  has  to  be  attended  to,  the  plant
continually  tended,  and  even  when  used,  the  process  of
converting  the  root  intopoi,  which  is  done  by  pounding
it  for  a  long  time  with  a  heavy  stone  pestle,  is  heavy
and  tedious  work,  Ellis  remarks,  *  We  have  often  been
struck  with  the  restless  avidity  and  untiring  effort  with
which  they  pursue  even  the  most  toilsome  game.'

The  natural  disposition  of  the  Hawaiians  is  everything
that  is  opposite  to  the  gloomy  and  morose.  The  plea-
sant, universal  *  aloha '  or  salutation,  the  merry  ringing
laughter  of  the  women  wherever  found,  proclaim  the
people  to  be  a  light-hearted  race.  No  occasion  to
address  to  them,  as  Southey  does  to  the  fair  sex  on  a
consideration  of  the  shortness  of  life,  *a  melancholy
exhortation  to  be  cheerful  while  they  may,' — for  the  cares
of  life  sit  lightly  on  them.  It  is  consistent  with  such
mirthful  and  good-tempered  temperament  to  be  want-
ing in  very  deep  human  feelings ;  but  the  people  are  as
kindly  and  as  hospitable  as  any  Who  inhabit  our  planet.
