IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. ]{^I 



renders the language very soft and euphonical. As in Spanish and many 

 other languages — a is sounded as aA, — i as e, — e as a, — u us oo^ — ai as 

 i — and au as aw. The limit of this number will not permit me to en- 

 ter into any thing approaching a disquisition on the subject ; therefore 

 a single sentence must suffice to give your readers some idea of the 

 structure and sound of the language — thus, 



Heri oe fa mai ka-hari wau. 



Come you to the house of me. 



Mr. Andrews, one of the missionaries, and Principal of the High 

 School for native children at Lahainaluna, on the Island of Maui, has 

 compiled and published a very full vocabulary of the Sandwich Island 

 language, in a large octavo volume, a copy of which 1 brought with me, 

 and have presented to the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of this city. 



During my last sojourn, I was furnished with an opportunity of vis- 

 iting, in a trading vessel, most of the inhabited islands of the group. — 

 My old friend. Captain Hinckley, was the commander, and the Avon was 

 again the ship. In addition, we had two gentlemen, resident at Oahu, 

 as passengers, so that our time passed delightfully. Indeed I think I 

 never enjoyed a little voyage of three weeks more. Our visit to the 

 Island of Maui was to me very interesting. We saw the large high 

 school at Lahainuluna, accommodating some seventy scholars, and al- 

 though our visit happened during a vacation, we were furnished, by the 

 Principal, with an opportunity of inspecting the work, and of judging of 

 the improvement of the pupils, which we all, with one accord, pronoun- 

 ced fully equal to that of students in similar institutions in the United 

 States. 



At Hawaii, the largest island of the group, we found the natives in a 

 good degree unsophisticated like those on Kauai. There is, on the isl- 

 and, no large town as at Oahu., and the foreigners resident upon it are 

 chiefly missionaries. On landing, we were shown, by several old Kan- 

 akas, the rock on which Captain Cook fell when he was killed. It is a 

 large block of lava, on the very verge of the sea in Kareakakua bay, 

 and is universally known by the name " Cook''s rock.'''' It is now not 

 one half its original size, in consequence of the curiosity of visitors, 

 who have been in the habit, for years, of chipping off portions of it to 

 carry home as relics. 



About a mile from the sea, on an elevated piece of ground, is a rude 

 monument, erected in 1825, by Lord Byron, Commander of His Britan- 

 nic Majesty's frigate " Blonde,'''' to Captain Cook. It consists of a sim- 

 ple red-cedar post, with a brass plate attached, on which is a short in- 

 21 



