may find it in Boston or Philadelphia. Murder and theft were very common a hundred years ago; now the former crime is quite as rare as in the United States, and as for the latter, it is even more so. Nearly all the stealing in the islands is done by Chinese or other foreigners, and not by the natives."
HAWAIIAN POI-DEALER.Our friends passed near the court-house, which bore a marked resemblance to an American town-hall in a prosperous town, and stood at the edge of a well-kept garden. The Doctor remarked that courthouses and jails were some of the adjuncts of all civilized lands, and therefore they were needed in Hawaii as well as elsewhere. "But I am told," he continued, "that the majority of the inmates of the jail at Honolulu are of other races than the Hawaiian, and that Americans and English form a good proportion."
A little way beyond the courthouse our friends met a man carrying two covered baskets slung at the ends of a short pole which rested on his shoulder. Frank turned to the guide and asked what the man was carrying.
"He's a poi peddler," was the reply, "and I wonder you have not met one before, as there are many of them. He peddles poi, and the people buy it to eat."
He then explained that poi is the national dish of the islands, and is made from the taro-root, which is the Sandwich Island form of the potato. He pointed out a taro-garden, and said that there were many such gardens in and around Honolulu, as the natives did not consider a home complete without one.
The taro-root is baked in an underground oven, and then mashed very fine, so that it would be like flour if the moisture were expelled. After it has been thoroughly mashed it is mixed with water, and in this condition is ready for eating. It has an agreeable taste when fresh, and most foreigners like it upon the first trial. For native use it is allowed to ferment; when fermented it suggests sour paste to the
