in the French Shi/) Urania. 2S 



diuillo y Pineda, anticipated all the wants of the expedition, by 

 procuring tliem refreshments and comforts of all kinds. 



M. de Freycinet appears to have collected, respecting the peo- 

 ple of the Marianne Islands, information more extensive than 

 that with which jireceding voyagers have enriched their ac- 

 counts. He gives various details respecting their manners, lan- 

 guage, and laws, as well as that singular government of which 

 much has been said, and in which the women act an important 

 part. He conununicatcs to us interesting notions respecting the 

 aits which they practise, respecting their money, which is esta- 

 blished on principles absolutely different from ours, and respect- 

 ing their architecture, of which he still saw numerous ruins at 



Tinian. , 



Two months were employed in makmg these researches ; and 

 at the same time they were occupied with those observations 

 and experiments which formed the principal object of the ex- 

 pedition. M. de Medinillo had, during all this time, the kind- 

 ness to provide the corvette abundantly with fresh provisions, to 

 which he i'dded provisions for the voyage, and for which he af- 

 terwards refused to accept any reimbursement. 



The course of the Urania, from Guam to the Sandwich Islands, 

 presents nothing remarkable. On the 5lh of August 1819, sh- 

 made the island of Owhyhee, and anchored in the bay of Hara- 

 hona in three davs after. , , , • , 



Tamahama, king of the Sandwich Isles, vvas dead ; his palace 

 had been reduced to ashes, and almost all the hogs on the island 

 had been slaughtered on account of his obsequies, according to 

 the custom of the country; which was a real disappointment la 

 the re- victuaUing of the corvette. „ , • . 



Uno Rio, the eldest son and successor of Tamahama, enjoyed 

 at that time but a badlv- established authority. The chiefs 

 compelled to submit to the arms of his father, raising extraor- 

 dinary pretensions, caused him to dread an approaching war. 

 He came with his wives and a numerous suite on board the 

 Urania, on the occasion of the baptism of one of the principal 

 chiefs of the island. That ceremony was performed with much 

 pomp bv the Abbe Quelen, chaplain of the vessel. 



The Sandwich Islands were, like the Marianne, the object of 

 the assiduous researches of M. de Freycinet and of the officer* 

 under his command. Numerous observations were made in 

 search of the magnetic equator, and its inflexions, in the breat 



■ JpAQ II 



On the 30th of August the U.ania sailed for Port Jackson, 

 passing througii the islands of the Austral Polynesia. By taking 

 this track, the position of the dangerous isles of Byron wa, rec- 



Vol.57. No!273. Ja«.1821. D t.fied, 



