il4 SKETCHES OF A VOYAGE 



efactor and frieiul. The noise and bustle on deck, sailors running to 

 and fro making the ship " snug" for harbor, and all the preparations for 

 an arrival, effectually banished my meditations, and I descended to my 

 state room, to sleep away the tedious hours, till the morrow should 

 reveal all the new and strange features of the land to which we had come. 



On the next morning early, the pilot boarded us ; our anchor was 

 weighed, and we sailed along within view of the beautifully indented 

 shore, fringed with groves of tall cocoanut-trees, and the little silvan 

 cottages of the natives sprinkled thickly over the extended plains. 



When we arrived off the town, the natives of both sexes came around 

 our ship by hundreds in their frail and light canoes, to have a peep at 

 the strangers; and along the shore, in the vicinity, dozens of women, 

 men and boys vvere seen diving into the sea head-foremost, seeking for 

 Echini, Sea-Urchins and Patellce. The natives of these islands are of 

 a light copper, or bronze-color, usually tall and well formed ; and the 

 feet and hands of the women are diminutive enough to please the most 

 aristocratic lady of any christian land. Many of the latter are extremely 

 handsome, and very few are really homely. Their dress consists usu- 

 ally of a single garment, made either of common calico, or the native 

 cloth called Tapa, which they manufacture from the bark of a species 

 of Moms. The dresses of the women vary considerably according 

 to their rank. The chiefs are clad in rich silks and satins, made in the 

 European style, and do not, like the common people, confine themselves 

 to a single garment : but among all the inferior classes, even those 

 who are married to the white residents, the simple frock of calico of 

 tapa constitutes, usually, the entire dress. This garment is as simple as 

 it is possible to make it, its sole fastening consisting of a drawing-string 

 around the neck. It is not bound at the waist, but suffered to hang 

 loosely from the shoulders. Many of the women, particularly when 

 walking or riding, wear an additional garment, which they caW a pmi. 

 This is a long narrow piece of calico or tapa of six or eight yards in, 

 length, and is wrapped tightly around the hips. Shoes, or stockings, 

 except among the females of rank, are not worn. 



It is impossible, I think, to reside for any length of time among 

 these islanders without becoming deeply interested in them. Their man- 

 ners are very mild and agreeable, and their hospitality cannot be ex- 

 ceeded even by the North American Indians, who are celebrated for this 

 virtue, wherever they are known. In the island of Oahu, where the 

 King holds his Court, and where most of the foreign merchants reside, 

 the natives are sophisticated by intercourse with sailors, and others of 

 the lowest class of while people. They are not, therefore, fair speci- 



