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couven we found her with the two other wives, and 

 were very poUtely received by all. The house 

 which Kahumanna inhabits, is built very neatly, 

 and is very cleanly in the interior 5 the entrance-hall, 

 in which the three wives were seated, according to 

 the Asiatic fashion, was covered with fine and ele- 

 gant mats, and she herself was pretty closely wrapped 

 up in the finest cloth of the country. Kahumanna 

 was seated in the middle, and the two other ladies 

 on either side; and I had the honour to be invited 

 to sitdown opposite to them, likewise on theground. 

 They put to me several questions, which I answered 

 to their satisfaction through Cook. Water-melons 

 were brought, and Kahumanna was polite enough 

 to cut one, and hand me a piece. The chief em- 

 ployment of the royal ladies consists in smoking to- 

 bacco, combing their hair, driving away the flies with 

 a fan, and eating. Tamaahmaah himself does not 

 smoke, otherwise this custom has become so general 

 in the Sandwich Islands, within these few years, 

 that young children smoke before they learn to walk, 

 and grown-up people have carried it to such an ex* 

 cess, that they have fallen down senseless, and often 

 died in consequence.* They do not want pipe tubes, 

 but the pipe heads, which, according to the custom 

 of the country, they have always hanging at their 

 side, constitute a part of the royal ornaments; 



* The tobacco plant, which has been introduced by Eu- 

 ropeans, is carefully cultivated, and has become indigenous : 

 the smell is very agreeable, but the tobacco extremely strong- 



