of these trees, and requires his subjects, at their own cost and toil, to cut and bring down the supplies as they are wanted to the coast. Latterly he has permitted some of his more favoured chiefs to share with him in this traffic. The wood, which is used by the Chinese for its agreeable fragrance in the manufacture of fans and other toys, as well as burnt by them for incense before their household and other deities, is exported to Canton and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, in vessels belonging to the king himself, or in foreign bottoms. On one occasion we saw nearly two thousand persons, laden with fagots of sandal-wood, coming down from the mountains to deposit their burthens in the royal storehouses, and then depart to their homes, wearied with their unpaid labours, yet unmurmuring at their bondage. In fact, the condition of the common people is that of slaves; they hold nothing which may not be taken from them by the strong hand of arbitrary power, whether exercised by the sovereign or a petty chief.

Near the shore, where the bulk of the population reside, on the level ground, are many fish-ponds belonging to the chiefs. These are as carefully preserved for the use of their owners as though they were guarded by game-laws. The fish are taken by means of a deleterious composition, made from a native shrub and moulded into little balls, which, being thrown into the water are eagerly devoured, and have such an intoxicating effect upon the fishes that they come up to the surface, where they float powerless, and are easily collected by the hand. There are many wild cattle in the sequestered valleys and on the hills on these islands. We have seen a large herd of cows belonging to the king, which thrive well upon the abundant pasturage. Some horses, asses, and sheep are also kept, but in no great numbers, nor are they as yet turned to any particular account.

In the cottages we often observe long strings of candle-nuts (aleurites triloba) suspended from the rafters. The kernels of these, being cut into the form of convex lenses about threefourths of an inch in diameter and a third of an inch thick, are stuck one over another like beads, upon a fibre of cocoa-nut leaf a foot long; and, containing a considerable proportion of inflammable oil, they give sufficient light for ordinary purposes, the flame communicating downward till the last piece is consumed. Sometimes five or six such strings, two yards in length, are wrapped together in a leaf of banana and carried before the king as flambeaux when he travels by night.

This evening Mr. Ellis preached to our Tahitian friends in the chapel of the American Missionaries. The king, three of his queens, and most of the native grandees were present, besides a great number of people who not only filled the place but crowded round the doors and windows to see and hear what they could. The scene was strange to us, and might have seemed ludicrous, but for the affecting thought that this was an heathen audience to whom an unknown God was about to be declared. Paul's

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audience on Mars Hill no doubt presented a very different aspect to the eye,-but whether the intellectual Athenians, whose "city was wholly given up to idolatry," or these untaught natives of the North Pacific, who had voluntarily cast away "their gods, which were yet no gods," appeared more pitiable objects in the sight of Him who "seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart," '-we presume not to judge. Rihoriho sat upon a chair in the middle of the chapel; the queens reclined on the floor at his feet; and each of these members of the royal family had servants in attendance with fly-flaps and fans of peacock's feathers, to cool their faces and drive away the troublesome insects. The king seemed greatly surprised at the singing of our Tahitian friends; the sweetness, compass, and variety of their notes being new and almost marvellous to ears like his, accustomed only to the wretched music, vocal and instrumental, of his country, which is probably as little worthy of the name as any artificial combination of dead or living sounds under heaven. To the sermon also he listened with apparently pleased attention; once or twice he smiled, and it was evident that he understood (from the similarity of dialects) the greater part of what was said. In the course of the service several of the chiefs, wearied or caring nothing about the matter, flung themselves upon their backs on the floor, lolling or dozing with utter indifference. At the close the king stood up, wheeled round, and swinging his stick about with an air of barbarian dignity, marched out, followed by all his train. The general congregation then broke up and departed peaceably.

Nothing more attracts the attention, and at the same time awakens the minds, of all ranks of people here, than the appearance, dress, and conversation of our Tahitian friends; for all can perceive that, while the latter are of a kindred race with themselves, they are far superior in manners and intelligence. When they are told, therefore, that the gospel, "the good word," has made the difference, they feel a reverence for it, and express a desire to be instructed in it which might otherwise not have been so early or powerfully excited in the minds of indolent and untractable heathens. Auna and his wife are guests of Kaahumanu, one of the late king's wives, now queen of Taui, and next to Rihoriho in authority. Calling upon her one day, we found this lady and her native attendants lying on mats upon the floor, and letting time fly over their heads as it might; she indeed was unwell, which might excuse her supineness. On the other hand our female Tahitians were sitting up, and diligently employed in shaping and sewing a gown for their generous hostess. Her majesty is rich in what here is considered valuable furniture, such as mats, fly-flaps, fans, and other articles of convenience or finery. Her house consists of one large undivided room, in which, at considerable distances, are placed three beds. Kaahumanu's was a low platform, eight feet square, and consisted of between twenty and thirty beautiful

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mats, of the finest texture, laid one upon another with a single pillow, and over the whole a black velvet coverlid. There were neither blankets nor sheets, it being the practice to use no other bed-clothes than those which they wear when awake. Here, as formerly in the Society Islands, there are no particular times for sleeping or eating; each individual indulging in the refreshment of food or of rest as he feels disposed. We seldom enter a house in which we do not find some of the family asleep; and we are told that during the night some are generally up, and about their business or their

amusement.

April 20. We have been much pleased to meet with Taumuarii, lately king of Tauai. He speaks English tolerably well, and has been a steady friend to the American Missionaries since their arrival at Oahu. In his former state, having been threatened with invasion of his little island-kingdom by Rihoriho, he did not choose to hazard the consequences of unequal war against so formidable a neighbour, and prudently consented to hold his government as a fief under the latter. Rihoriho, pleased with so easy a conquest, permitted him to remain in peace for some time, and whenever he received presents from his vassal sent back others as valuable, or more so, in return. Meanwhile, one of the widows of the late king Tamehameha, having set her affections on Taumuarii, with that frankness which such a personage might exercise towards an inferior, sent him word that it was her royal will and pleasure for him to come over to Oahu and marry her. He hesitated at first, but in the sequel surrendered himself at discretion, and, if not a king, became a queen's husband. Soon after the marriage the royal pair passed over to Tauai, hoping to reign in undisturbed possession of that quiet spot. Rihoriho, however, one night, when he was abroad upon the water and in a state of intoxication, suddenly ordered his attendants to row him to Tauai. Having little provision on board, the weather being precarious, and the distance considerable, the boat's crew demurred, and ventured to remonstrate with their master; but winds and waves are not more deaf to reason, or impatient of contradiction, than a drunken man, especially if that man be what every sot thinks himself-a king. He stormed and foamed, and insisted on obedience to his commands, threatening, if they continued refractory, to throw himself into the sea and swim to the island alone. Finding him utterly unmanageable, his people submitted, and, by dint of excessive labour and at no small hazard of their lives, made the desired port, where he was received by the inhabitants with all the servile homage due to a despotic sovereign. Affecting the utmost friendliness towards Taumuarii and his dowager queen-consort, he remained with them several days, when a large vessel of his own arrived at Tauai from hence to fetch him away. On board of this he persuaded his vassal to accompany him, when, instantly giving orders to weigh anchor, the king brought him to Oahu, where he has been detained ever since,

not indeed as a state prisoner, but under a spell of authority which makes him feel that it would be at his peril were he to attempt to return home. However, he and his wife live here in great plenty and comfort, surrounded by numerous dependents, and displaying as much of barbarous pomp as the king himself.

Rihoriho has no fixed residence, but moves about from place to place, and island to island, as humour prompts. This, however, is his favourite sojourn, and well deserves to be so, for it is the most magnificent in external feature, and the most exuberant in natural produce, of all the Sandwich group. The principal town is Honoruru, which contains five or six hundred houses, partly extending in a long line upon the beach, and the remainder scattered over the broad plain between the mountains and the sea. This plain is a coral rock, covered with a thin stratum of soil, which bears grasses of different kinds, and wears the appearance of a beautiful flat meadow. What is remarkable, good fresh water is obtained from wells sunk eight or ten feet through the coral reef. There are only two mansions, each two stories high, in the English style, in this town, and a third of Spanish fashion, with a store-room below, and a range of chambers on the upper floor, to which access is obtained by a flight of steps. There is also a large warehouse, belonging to the king, resembling the body of a church without a tower.

The following cruel practice is said to have been observed during the dark age of idolatry, and so late as the reign of the last king, Tamehameha. The shark was distinguished by divine honours here as in the South Pacific. When, therefore, the king or the priests of this divinity, so worthy of its worshippers, imagined that the shark wanted food, they sallied forth with their attendants, one of whom carried a rope with a ready-prepared running noose attached to it. Then, wherever they found a number of persons assembled, the rope was thrown unexpectedly among them (in the same manner as the Spaniards of South America catch wild cattle in the herd), and whoever happened to be taken in the snare, whether man, woman, or child, was strangled upon the spot, the body cut in pieces, and thrown into the sea to be bolted down by the rapacious fishes, to appease their supposed anger or propitiate their favour in some iniquitous enterprise.

At the village of Wytiti, about four miles to the east of Honoruru, there formerly lived a chief of singular ferocity; Giant Despair himself, in the Pilgrim's Progress, was not more brutal and reckless. When he had a fancy to offer a human sacrifice he would set out in his canoe, with a single servant in the dead of the night, and come down the bay till he got alongshore close by the town. The two harpies would then raise a lamentable cry, as though they were perishing in the water; when the first person who happened to be alarmed, and, from the instinct of humanity, flew to their relief, was pounced upon, his back broken, and his corpse carried off to be presented at the marae.

In the year 1804, when the late king Tamehameha was on his way from Hawaii to invade Tauai, he halted with an army of eight thousand men at Oahu. The yellow fever broke out among the troops, and in the course of a few days swept away more than two-thirds of them. During the plague the king repaired to the great marae at Wytiti to conciliate the god, whom he supposed to be angry. The priests recommended a ten days' tabu, the sacrifice of three human victims, four hundred hogs, as many cocoa-nuts, and an equal number of bunches of plantains (musa paradisaica). Three men, who had been guilty of the enormous turpitude of eating cocoa-nuts with the old queen (the present king's mother), were accordingly seized and led to the marae. But there being yet three days before the offerings could be duly presented, the eyes of the victims were scooped out, the bones of their arms and legs were broken, and they were then deposited in a house to await the coup de grace on the day of sacrifice. While these maimed and miserable creatures were in the height of their suffering, some persons, moved by curiosity, visited them in prison, and found them neither raving nor desponding, but sullenly singing the national huru-dull as the drone of a bagpipe, and hardly more variable-as though they were insensible of the past and indifferent to the future. When the slaughtering time arrived one of them was placed under the legs of the idol, and the other two were laid with the hogs and fruit upon the altar-frame. They were then beaten with clubs upon the shoulders till they died of the blows. This was told us by an eye-witness of the murderous spectacle. And thus men kill one another, and think that they do God service.

We are assured that cannibalism was formerly not unusual here. At the close of a battle the victors kindled fires upon the field, and, after slightly broiling the bodies of their slain enemies over the flames, they greedily devoured the flesh, tearing it from the bones like vultures or dogs, and glorying in their gluttony as a sweet part of their revenge.

There is a man in prison here, at this time, for having beaten another so cruelly as to endanger his life. The law in such a case is, that if the injured person die the assailant must eat him. This is considered the most horrible and degarding of punishments, though cannibalism was formerly a feat of heroism. Where the issue proves fatal the body of the dead man is thrown into the prison, and his murderer must either live upon the loathsome provision while it lasts, or perish, as no other food is allowed till that be entirely consumed. We should question, however, whether so unnatural a penalty would be enforced under the improved state of national feeling which has superseded so many other barbarian usages.

April 23. Near the village of Wytiti we were introduced to an African negro, named Allen, who has resided here several years in good circumstances. He is married to a native woman, by whom he has three children. His

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grounds are extensive, well cultivated, and lie within a ring-fence, having, besides those in his own occupation, several comfortable dwellings tenanted by families in his employment. It is common for persons who can afford such an establishment to have distinct buildings for eating, sleeping, cooking, &c., each being only one room. This negro's premises and lands are all in remarkably good order; cleanliness and regularity distinguishing the houses, furniture, persons, and behaviour of all his associates and dependents. His present flock of goats amounts to two hundred, having been lately reduced one half below the usual average by the great demand, from ship-captains, for provisions of this kind: he sells the animals to them at prices according to their size, from half a dollar to three dollars a-head. He also breeds and keeps a great number of dogs to supply the native flesh-market, and deals largely in spirituous liquors-a trade more profitable, we fear, than beneficial to himself or his customers, for, the latter being principally sailors, the Sabbathday is miserably profaned by the traffic, and the debauchery attending the traffic, in these pestilent commodities. We ventured to expostulate with him on the subject, but he justified himself by saying that he could not help it. We hear that he practises physic, in addition to farming, grazing, and dram-selling, and is often consulted both by natives and seamen, having gained credit also in this profession. We could not but rejoice in beholding the prosperity of the poor African in this land of exile, but not of slavery, to him, though living, like all the rest of its inhabitants, at the mercy of an arbitrary sovereign, who might at any time take all he has, and life itself, away in a fit of caprice.

April 25. We walked to the mountains which rise north-east of the Missionary-house. The footpath up the highest eminence lies along a very steep uneven ridge, and is very difficult as well as hazardous to scale. This task occupied several hours to accomplish. By the way we passed some plots of ground curiously prepared and planted with the sweet potato. This was done by pulling up, by the roots, the long tufts of grass and leaving them upon the ground to keep in the moisture. The earth had been loosened by means of a small iron tool, three inches broad and five long, fastened by a socket to a long wooden handle. In the furrows or holes thus opened stalks of the potato are inserted, which, in the course of a few weeks, produce abundant roots; and thus three crops are annually obtained. The flanks of the mountains-or rather the upper two-thirds of their ascent-are, in general, the richest soil of this island; the lower slopes, and the levels between their base and the lagoon, being comparatively unproductive. On this hill we found the gigantic fern (cyathea arborea), the roots of which the natives in times of scarcity use for food, growing in prodigious fecundity. The stem sometimes measures six feet in height and twenty-two inches in circumference. The root, when baked with hot stones, has an insipid and slightly acrid taste.