210 SIGNS OF ATTACHMENT. 



tooed on it in the O Wahi language — '' Our good 

 King Tameamea died on the 8th of May 1819." 

 This sign of mourning for the beloved monarch, 

 which cannot be laid aside like our pieces of 

 crape, but accompanies the mourner to the 

 grave, is very frequent on the Sandwich Islands, 

 and testifies the esteem in which his memory is 

 held : but it is a still more striking proof of 

 the universal grief for his loss, that on the anni- 

 versary of his death, all his subjects struck out 

 one of their front teeth ; and the whole nation 

 have in consequence acquired a sort of whistle 

 in speaking. Chinau had even had the above 

 words tattooed on his tongue, of which he gave 

 me ocular demonstration ; nor was he singular 

 in this mode of testifying his attachment. It 

 is surprising that an operation so painful, and 

 which occasions a considerable swelling, should 

 not be attended with worse consequences. 



Nomahanna spoke with enthusiasm on the 

 subject of writing. Formerly, she said, she 

 could only converse with persons who were 

 present ; now, let them be ever so far distant, 

 she could whisper her thoughts softly to them 

 alone. She promised to write me a letter, in 



