1827.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



419 



netrathig, while the complexions are like those of 

 the south of Spain. P. 291. 



Two or three times he has occasion to 

 speak of the Yezeedis wandering tribes of 

 Arabs, who roam over the plains arid moun- 

 tains of Sinjar in Mesopotamia who are 

 said to worship the devil at least, profess 

 the profoundest respect on the ground of his 

 acknowledged potency, and will not tolerate 

 any disrespectful language concerning him; 

 but we have not space to quote. P. 1 16, 

 162, <fec. 



Through the whole volume, in short, the 

 reader will find in addition to the details 

 of the journey much to arrest his attention, 

 and make him forget the bulk of the volume, 



Voyage to the Sandwich Islands, by 

 Captain the Right Honourable Lord Byron; 

 1827. Lord Byron is not the author. The 

 purpose for which that nobleman's name is 

 thus paraded in the title-page, is rather un- 

 worthy of the publisher. The narrative of 

 the voyage is drawn up from the papers of 

 the officers and others, who accompanied 

 Lord Byron to the Sandwich Isles. The editor 

 is understood to be Mrs. Maria Graham 

 Mr. Bloxham, the Chaplain of the Blonde, 

 being prevented, it is stated, by the sudden- 

 uess of his departure from England, to fulfil 

 his duty in a distant colony, from arranging 

 his own papers, and those of his companions. 

 What might be be about during the long 

 voyage homeward? Though thus compiled, 

 and no doubt carefully, from original docu- 

 ments, the narrative confessedly loses the 

 benefit which the local knowledge of an eye- 

 witness could have given it ; and indeed it ma- 

 nifestly has not the tone of one who has seen, 

 or can well conceive the really rude state of 

 the people. 



The narrative is preceded by a sketch of 

 the history of the islands, from their discovery 

 to the death of their last sovereign, in Lon- 

 don, in 1824. We use the received phraseo- 

 logy; but really the application of these 

 terms of royalty to the barbarian chief of a 

 barbarian and naked peoble and a people 

 too not amounting, probably, altogether, in 

 the whole eleven islands, to 300,000, is per- 

 fectly ridiculous ; and England is perhaps the 

 only country in the world where it could be 

 done gravely. 



Of the origin of these people, nothingis satis- 

 factorily known ; and no means of discovery 

 seem to existbut in the traditions and songs of 

 the islanders. From these, should the people 

 ever be able to give intelligible expression to 

 them, something may yet be learnt. Captain 

 Cooke, it should seem, was not the first Eu- 

 ropean who had appeared among them. 

 They hare a tradition so far as it can at 

 present be gathered from them that a persop, 

 whom they call a priest, came and settled 

 among them with his gods, and whose poste- 

 rity still remains ; and of a vessel, wiih white 

 men in it, with whom this priest was able to 

 coBvorse. Theperiodis not marked with much 

 precision ; but it is said to have been during 



the life of Kukanaron, or Kaboukapu, or 

 some other unutterable name the sixth chief 

 previous to the arrival of Captain Cooke. 

 About the year 1790, Tamehameha, a chief 

 of one of the smaller islands, rebelled against 

 his superior lord, and in the end successfully 

 established an undisputed dominion over the 

 whole eleven islands, constituting what are 

 now marked in our maps as the Sandwich 

 Isles. He advanced the career of civiliza- 

 tion very considerably, and at his death, after 

 a reign of thirty years, had actually several 

 small vessels trading to China and America. 

 His son, Riho Riho, succeeded to the throne, 

 and by an act of extraordinary promptitude 

 or fortitude, at least equal to the "Sum 

 Cresar," secured his authority ; but, with no 

 more islands to conquer, and being eager to 

 emulate his father's exertions and glories, 

 he resolved, like another Peter, to visit Eu- 

 rope, and study the sources of her superio- 

 rities, and thus qualify himself to improve 

 the condition of his people. The fair editor 

 gives this bold, but unlicked barbarian, full 

 credit for the most philosophical views deli- 

 berate and definite purposes. She endows 

 him with all the elevated qualities of a patriot 

 king, is jealous of all imputations on his vir- 

 tues or his abilities, and talks with the ut- 

 most gravity of the propriety of his manners, 

 and the dignity of his demeanor, through 

 the whole of his residence in London, whe- 

 ther grinning 1 at the lions in the Tower, or 

 the ladies at Mr. Canning's and not a word 

 of his Majesty, and her Majesty, my L^rds 

 the Chancellor, the Treasurer, the Admiral 

 and the rest of the suite, being found mounted, 

 cross-legged, on the chairs at the Adelphi 

 decorously, and as becometh the lords of the 

 earth, riding a cock-horse. 



The voyage, as every body knows, was 

 undertaken for the purpose of conveying the 

 bodies of the King and Queen home. It 

 was signally successful, and uneventful the 

 vessel only touching at Rio Janeiro, Valpa- 

 raiso, Callao, and Gallipagos, in its course. 

 At Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, and 

 the seat of the government, they found the 

 regent Karaimoku, and were received by him 

 with due honours. The royal remains were 

 committed to the earth ; the younger bro- 

 ther quite a boy of the buried sovereign, 

 who, on the report of His Majesty's death, 

 had been named King, was confirmed in his 

 appointment, in a full assembly of the chiefs, 

 and Karaimoku continued in the regency 

 Lord Byron attending the important assem- 

 bly, and giving his sanction to the whole pro- 

 ceedings. As soon as these matters were 

 satisfactorily adjusted, my Lord Byron was 

 asked if the King of England who it seems 

 is lord-paramount of the islands approved 

 of the settling of the American mission in 

 the islands ? To which question it was dis- 

 creetly replied, that so long as the mission 

 did not interfere with political or commercial 

 concerns, but confined themselves to their 

 sacred duties, the King of England could have 

 no possible objection. The chief missionary 



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