PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 97 



consequence of the return of peace, and the islands 

 were more frequently visited. The abolition of the 

 taboo had already produced an entire change in the 

 state of society, and frequent interviews with fo- 

 reigners created amongst the inhabitants a desire for 

 dress and for luxuries, which was increased by the 

 visit of the chiefs to England. Thus improvement 

 advanced, as might have been expected under such 

 advantageous circumstances as those in which the 

 Sandwich Islands were placed. At the period of our 

 visit there were in Woahoo several respectable Ame- 

 rican merchants, in whose stores were to be found all 

 the necessary articles of American manufacture, the pro- 

 ductions of the China market, wines, and almost every 

 article of sea store. There were also two hotels, at 

 which a person might board respectably for a dollar a 

 day ; two billiard rooms, one of which was the pro- 

 perty of Boki ; and ten or a dozen public houses for 

 retaihng spirits. The houses of the chiefs were fur- 

 nished with tables and chairs, and those belono-ino- to 

 Kahumana with silk and velvet sofas and cushions. 

 Not contented with the comforts of life, they latterly 

 sought its luxuries, and even indulged in its extrava- 

 gances. Kahumana filled chests with the most costly 

 silks of China, and actually expended four thousand 

 dollars upon the cargo of one vessel. Boki paid three 

 thousand dollars for a service of plate as a present for 

 the king, notwithstanding he had other services in his 

 possession ; one of which was of expensively cut glass 

 from Pellatt and Green in London. 



This progress of luxury was attended by an equally 

 remarkable change in the civil and political arrange- 

 ments of the country. At the period of our visit the 

 king was always attended by a guard under arms ; a 



VOL. II. H 



