246 Notice of Hawai, (Qwyhee,) and its Volcanic Regions, &e. 
of regal splendor. Within the king’s grounds, (from intrusion into 
which a high fence kept off the populace,) every thing was in a high 
degree, neat and orderly. ‘There were separate houses for the king’s 
household, and for the offices and sleeping room of the king. | 
The palace of thatch is more than one hundred feet long, filty or 
sixty broad, and more than forty high, beautifully finished and orna- 
mented with fern leaves, and furnished with a pebbled area. 
The royal guard was composed of two hundred men, forming 
double file, and wearing a white uniform with scarlet cuffs and collars, 
and black caps; their commander Kahuhu, was dressed in scarlet with 
gold lacings and an expensive sword. As Capt. Finch and party 
passed the gate, they presented arms in exact military style, and the 
commander of the kings’ forces, Kekuanoa, receiving them in the full 
and rich suit of a major general, and with the gracefulness of a po 
ished gentleman, ushered them through the glass folding doors into the 
interior of the palace. It is in one vast apartment, the timbers being 
in sight, and the wood beautifully hewn and contrasted with braided 
lashings of the bleached fibre of the cocoa, wrought into tasteful 
patterns and applied at.close and regular intervals, so that the posts 
and rafters have the appearance of natural sections. ‘The thatch of 
the building is also concealed from view by an elegant native tapes 
try, made of a brown mountain vine tied together like the bamboo 
window blinds; one continued tissue of this fabric is extended from 
the floor to the peak of the roof through the whole apartment between 
the timbers and the thatch, and thus imparts a very rich appearance 
The floor, instead of rushes or grass which were formerly the founda- 
tion for the mats, was made of stone and mortar as hard and smooth as 
marble. Upon this, beautifully variegated mats of Tauai were 
spread—forming a carpet as delightful, and appropriate to the cli- 
mate, as possible. Large windows on either side, and the folding 
oors of glass at each end, are hung with draperies of crimson dam- 
ask ; there were also handsome pier tables, and large mirrors; @ line 
of glass chandeliers suspended through the centre, with lustres and 
candelabra of bronze, ornamented or molu, were affixed to the pillars 
lining the sides and ends of the apartment ; and portraits, in oil, of the 
late king and queen, taken in London, were placed, at the uppe? end, 
in carved frames richly gilt. In the middle of the room, about sixty 
feet in front, or two thirds the length of the apartment, the yours 
ee : f 
“monarch was seated in an arm chair, spread with a splendid cloak 
yellow feathers. His dress was the Windsor uniform, of the first 
rank, with epaulettes of gold—the present of George TV—and an 
4 
2 
Se. 
