ABORIGINES OF O WAHI. 167 



The helmets and short mantles which Cook 

 and King have described as worn bv this people, 

 were introduced by these white strangers. At 

 first, the kings only appeared in this costume; 

 but in Cook's time it was common also among 

 the Yeris. Now that European fashions have 

 quite banished those of the original inhabit- 

 ants, it is only preserved and shown to stran- 

 gers as a relic of the past. The helmet, of 

 wood covered with small red and yellow fea- 

 thers, and adorned with a plume, perfectly re- 

 sembles those of the chivalrous knights of yore; 

 and the short mantle, also most ingeniously 

 made with feathers to supply the want of woven 

 stuff, forms a complete representation of the 

 mantles worn by those ancient heroes : hence it 

 is sufficiently evident that the white men who 

 landed on O Wahi were Europeans; and that 

 we are therefore more nearly connected with, at 

 least, a part of the inhabitants of the Sand- 

 wich Islands, than with the other South Sea 

 islanders. 



With the arrival of the white men begins the 

 chronology of O Wahi, from the first white king 

 to Tameamea, making seven successive reigns. 



