TRADE IN SANDAL-WOOD. 191 



cessful attempts, and thus became the supreme 

 governor of the whole Archipelago. 



From this time all his efforts were directed 

 to the education of his people, and the improve- 

 ment of their trade. Salt and sandal-wood were 

 the chief articles of exportation. The latter, 

 though bought at rather a high price by the 

 North-American ships, which almost exclu- 

 sively monopolized this trade, sold for a large 

 profit at Canton. 



I have been told, that the Americans have 

 purchased sandal- wood here to the amount of 

 three hundred thousand Spanish dollars a-year. 

 Tameamea bartered this wood for some large 

 American merchant-ships, manned them, and 

 other ships built in the Sandwich Islands, partly 

 with his own subjects, and partly with Europeans, 

 and traded on his own account. He had even 

 found means to create a small fleet of ships of 

 war; and his warehouses, built of stone, were 

 filled with European and American merchan- 

 dise. He possessed a considerable treasure in 

 silver money and utensils; his fortresses were 

 planted with cannon of a large cahbre, and he 



