160 EXTENT OF O WAHI. 



life, we shall find with surprise that the harbour 

 of Hanaruro already bears a character almost 

 entirely European, reminding us only by the 

 somewhat scanty clothing of the natives, of 

 the briefness of their acquaintance with our 

 customs. 



My readers, I think, will take some interest 

 in a short account of this people, whose rapid 

 progress in civilization would perhaps by this 

 time have placed them on a level with Euro- 

 peans, if unfavourable circumstances had not 

 thrown obstacles in the way of their improve- 

 ment, which it will require another such gover- 

 nor as Tameamea to overcome. 



The eleven islands named by Cook after his 

 patron, the Earl of Sandwich, but for which 

 the natives have no common appellation, lie 

 between the nineteenth and twenty-second de- 

 grees of north latitude. They are all high and 

 volcanic. O Wahi, the most easterly, and by 

 much the largest, is eighty-seven miles long 

 and seventy-five broad: it has three moun- 

 tains, which may well bear a comparison with 

 the highest in the world. The climate of these 

 islands is particularly beautiful and healthy. 



