Explore "Omoo" by Herman Melville on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
We have glanced at their moral and religious condition; let us see how it is with them socially, and in other respects.
It has been said that the only way to civilize a people is to form in them habits of industry. Judged by this principle, the Tahitians are less civilized now than formerly. True, their constitutional indolence is excessive; but surely, if the spirit of Christianity is among them, so unchristian a vice ought to be, at least, partially remedied. But the reverse is the fact. Instead of acquiring new occupations, old ones have been discontinued.