204 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



hangings from the walls of Chinese matting, a chair or two, a table, a plentiful distribution of 

 b'ne paint, and some gaudily colored lithographs, there seemed not only on the part of the 

 proprietor a desire for comfoi't, hut even a taste for luxury. 



The Sandwich islanders, or Kanakas, as they are now familiarly known to sailors and traders, 

 live very much as they do in their native islands, and have grouped together their 23alm thatched 

 huts which liave very much the appearance of one of their native villages. The inhabitants, 

 living a quiet and easy life in a climate which is genial and wholesome, and upon a land whose 

 fertility supplies them, in return for but little labor, with all they want to eat and drink, do not 

 care to change their condition. The Americans and Europeans have taken to themselves wives 

 from amdng the good natured and substantial Kanaka women. 



Commodore Perry being desirous of obtaining as full information as possible of Peel Island 

 during his short visit, determined to send parties of exploration into the interior. He accordingly 

 detailed certain officers and men for the purpose, who were divided into two companies, one of 

 which was headed by Mr. Bayard Taylor, and the other by Dr. Fahs, assistant surgeon. 



These gentlemen, having been duly armed and equipped, started early on the morning of the 

 15th of June, with the view of devoting the day to the proposed exploration. The party headed 

 by Mr. Taylor, whose steps we shall first follow in the narrative, and whose report as submitted 

 to the Commodore we shall freely use, was composed of eight : Mr. Bayard Taylor, Mr. Heine, 

 the artist_,Mr. Boardman, midshipman, Mr. Lawrence, assistant engineer, Mr. Hampton, purser's 

 steward, Smith, a marine, Dennis Terry, seaman, and a Chinese coolie. As Peel Island is only 

 six miles in length, it was thought that one day was quite sufficient time for two parties properly 

 distributed to explore so small a space. The northern part of the island, which is that which 

 stretches immediately around the harbor, was the field of operation appropriated to the doctor's 

 party, while the southern half fell to the duty of the explorers whose steps we are now about to 

 follow. 



At early sunrise the party left the Susquehanna and were rowed ashore to the watering place 

 at the head of the bay. On reaching this point the rations and ammunition were distributed 

 to each, so that all might, as far as possible, be equally burdened. A Kanaka, who was met 

 at the landing, was urged to accompany the party as a guide, but he was not disposed to 

 comply, although he pointed out a small footpath, which he stated led over the hills to a Kanaka 

 settlement about three miles distant. This direction was at once followed, which led them by 

 a steep and slippery path through a wilderness of tropical growth. Palm trees, among which 

 was the sago palm, that produces the sago of commerce, abounded ; parasitic plants hung in 

 festoons from branch to branch, and by their close net work, interwoven with the trees, hindered 

 the progress at every step, wlule the dew which dripped in the early morning from the thick 

 foliage of the overgrown thicket wetted each one to the skin. The soil was observed to be that 

 which is common about Port Lloyd and other parts of the island, and seemed composed of the 

 detritus of trap rock and the decomposed refuse of the plants and trees. Kock of trap formation 

 protruded frequently in rough crags from the steep sides of the hills, and in the crevices grew 

 ii beautiful variety of the hibiscus, with its large flowers of a dull orange, whose petals were 

 tipped with yellow of a lighter shade. A shower of white blossoms, which had fallen from a 

 large tree of thirty feet in height, strewed here and there the ground. 



The course was up the ridge of the hill, and as it continued to the summit the vegetation 

 became more and more profuse, until the expanding tops of the palm, the crowding together of 



