Dec. 

 1825. 



98 VOYAGE TO THE 



the natives, who landed us, two at a time, in their 

 whale-boat. The difficulty of landing was more than 

 repaid by the friendly reception we met with on the 

 beach from Hannah Young, a very interesting young 

 woman, the daughter of Adams. In her eagerness 

 to greet her father, she had outrun her female com- 

 panions, for whose delay she thought it necessary in 

 the first place to apologize, by saying they had all 

 been over the hill in company with John Buffet to 

 look at the ship, and were not yet returned. It ap- 

 peared that John Buffet, who was a seafaring man, 

 ascertained that the ship was a man of war, and 

 without knowing exactly why, became so alarmed 

 for the safety of Adams that he either could not or 

 would not answer any of the interrogations which 

 were put to him. This mysterious silence set all 

 the party in tears, as they feared he had discovered 

 something adverse to their patriarch. At length his 

 obduracy yielded to their entreaties ; but before he 

 explained the cause of his conduct, the boats were 

 seen to put off from the ship, and Hannah imme- 

 diately hurried to the beach to kiss the old man's 

 cheek, which she did with a fervency demonstrative 

 of the warmest affection. Her apology for her com- 

 panions was rendered unnecessary by their appear- 

 ance on the steep and circuitous path down the 

 mountain, who, as they arrived on the beach, suc- 

 cessively welcomed us to their island, with a sim- 

 plicity and sincerity which left no doubt of the 

 truth of their professions. 



They almost all wore the cloth of the island: their 

 dress consisted of a petticoat, and a mantle loosely 

 thrown over the shoulders, and reaching to the an- 

 cles. Their stature was rather above the common 



