THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 3Q5 



commander, and, as such, receives a salary of fifty 

 piastres a month, and all kinds of provisions, which 

 are daily sent to him gratis. The crew consists of 

 six Europeans and several natives. The third ship, 

 the Traveller of Philadelphia, under the American 

 flag, was just sailing when I arrived with the 

 Rurick. The owner, whose name is AVilcox, 

 brother to the American consul in Canton, came 

 to pay me a visit. Mr. Wilcox had left Canton 

 several years, and loaded his ship with a cargo of 

 Chinese goods, to carry on a contraband trade with 

 the Spanish colonies, on the west coasts of Ame- 

 rica J but he w'as very luifortunate. In Valparaiso 

 he was in danger of losing his ship, and only a for- 

 tunate chance saved him from imprisonment. After 

 many fruitless and dangerous attem})ts to dispose 

 of his cargo in South America, he sailed, exhausted 

 by the long voyage, to Botany Bay, to recover him- 

 self, and to take in provisions ; and there the go- 

 vernor of Port Jackson gave him a letter from the 

 King of England to Tamaahmaah, with several pre- 

 sents, among which were some handsomely em- 

 broidered uniforms. Mr. AVilcox further told me, 

 that a very fine ship was building at Port Jackson, 

 by order of the English government, for Tamaah- 

 maah. From all this it must be concluded that Eng- 

 land has taken the Sandwich Islands under her par- 

 ticular protection, perhaps already, in silence, con- 

 siders them as her property, and will certainly take 



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