3i6 FROM CALIFORNIA TO 



and we indisputably owe to him the friendly recep- 

 tion that we met with here. We had been cruizing 

 a couple of hours, and our companion did not yet 

 appear; the sun set, and as our nearness to the coast 

 might be dangerous in the dark, I fired some guns 

 to put the king in mind of us. At eight o'clock, 

 Mr. Cook at length appeared, with our companion, 

 who had been unable to come before, as he lived 

 far in the interior of the island; he was a lively man, 

 endowed with natural understanding, of the name of 

 Manuja, who, though he was not one of the chief 

 people of the country, was, however, honoured in 

 the highest degree with the confidence of the king, 

 which was especially evinced by his entrusting to 

 his care the most valuable European goods, from 

 his store. Cook told us, that Tamaahmaah never 

 regarded the rank of his subjects; that he generally 

 chose his confidants from the lower classes, and 

 was seldom deceived in his choice. He behaves to 

 his great men with justice indeed, but with rigour, 

 and as he places little confidence in them, they are 

 obliged to accompany him on his journeys, by which 

 he deprives them of the opportunity to throw off 

 his authority by a conspiracy. They have not 

 forgotten that Tamaahmaah is the conqueror of 

 their lands, and is now sole monarch, and they 

 would certainly attempt to conquer their property, 

 if he did not know so well how to keep them in 

 his power. 



With the assistance of a faint breeze from the 



