294> FROM CALIFORNIA TO 



with two men, rowed towards us ; and as I lay-to, 

 in hopes of obtaining some information here, one 

 of the islanders immediately came on board, who 

 offered to sell iis a fowl, and some ropes of his own 

 manufacture. Elliot, who understood his lan- 

 guage, was directly recognized by him as the Naja 

 (so the king called him), and with much trouble 

 drew from him the intelligence that the king was 

 in the bay of Karakakooa, and Young (Old Hanna) 

 in the island of Woahoo. The reserved and sus- 

 picious manner of the savage made us doubt the 

 truth of his statement ; and Elliot was of opinion, 

 that some disagreeable circumstance had occurred 

 on the island, which required the greatest precau- 

 tion. While we were engaged with the islander, 

 the boat, which was fastened with a rope to the 

 ship, was upset, and the man sitting in it fell out, 

 but he immediately seized the rope, and suffered 

 himself to be dragged behind the ship, though we 

 were sailing very fast. We were astonished at the 

 strength of this man ; we lay-to, and our dealer 

 leaped into the sea to untie the boat ; hereupon 

 both the men had mucli trouble to right it, and to 

 bale out the water, as the high waves contimially 

 dashed over it. As all this was done swimming, 

 the reader may form some notion of their expert- 

 ness in this art. They w^ere at last seated, but they 

 had no oars, having lost them when the boat upset. 

 An European would not have known how to help 

 himself; they were, however, not at all embar- 



