394 



not only to take a direction southward of west, but had been so 

 little frequented as to be almost effaced. In this situation we con- 

 suited our Indian convoy^ but to no purpose. We then advised 

 among ourselves, and at length concluded to proceed by the near- 

 est route without any beaten track, and went in this manner about 

 four miles further, finding the way even more steep and rough, 

 than we had yet experienced, but above all impeded by such im- 

 penetrable thickets, as rendered it impossible for us to proceed 

 any further. We therefore abandoned our design, and returning 

 in our own track, reached the retreat we had improved the last 

 night, having been the whole day in walking only about ten miles, 

 and we had been very assiduous too. 



"We found the country here, as well a\3 at the seashore, univer- 

 sally overspread with lava, and also saw several subterranean 

 excavations, that had every appearance of past eruption and fire. 

 Our botanist today met w^ith great success, and we had also shot 

 a number of fine birds of the liveliest and most variegated 

 plumage, that any of us ever met with, but we heard no melody 

 among them. Except these we saw no other kind of birds but 

 the screech-owl ; neither did we see any kind of quadruped, but 

 we caught several curious insects. The woods here are thick 

 and luxuriant, the largest trees being nearly thirty feet in the 

 girth> and these with the shrubbery underneath, and the whole 

 interBected with vines, render it very umbrageous. 



''The next day, about two in the afternoon, we cleared the 

 woods by six o'clock, reached the tents, having penetrated about 

 twenty-four miles, and, we supposed, within eleven of the peak. 

 Our Indians were extremely fatigued, though they had no bag- 

 gage." 



Cook was killed in a quarrel with the natives, and Captain King 

 brought the expedition back to England. The collections of 

 David Nelson are now in the Kew Herbarium, that of the Lin- 

 naean Society of London, and that of the British Museum. 



5. Visit of Portlock and Dixon. 



1786. May 24///. 



After the fateful discovery of the islands by Captain Cook the 

 next vek3sels to visit the ''Sandwich Islands" were the ''King 

 George" (Captain Nathaniel Portlock) and the ''Queen Char- 

 lotte" (Captain George Dixon). They sailed together from Lon- 

 don, to engage in fur trade with the Indians along the northwest 

 coast of America. Cook's third voyage had demonstrated the 

 profitableness of this trade. They arrived at Hawaii May 24, 

 1786; came to Oahu, Waialae Bay, June 3rd, and later touched 

 at Kauai and Niihau. They returned from the North in Novem- 

 ber,^ 1786, and spent the winter, mostly at Waialae, Oahu, and 

 Waimea, Kauai. No scientific or botanical explorations were 

 made; work of this character was not provided for by the expe- 

 dition. 



