330 FROM CALIFORNIA TO 



ropean dress has become a matter of necessity, 

 even to the meanest individual ; some wear only a 

 shirt, another has trowsers, and a third parades in 

 a waistcoat. The Americans certainly buy up 

 in their cities all the clothes which are out of 

 fashion, and sell them here to great advantage. 

 One of my guests had on an immensely long coat, 

 with buttons of the size of a tea-cup, which he 

 contemplated with evident pleasure. The ladies* 

 on the contrary, clothe themselves in stuffs (tappa) 

 of their own manufacture, and only the neck is 

 adorned with a silk handkerchief. Mrs. Young, 

 as the wife of an European, is an exception, and 

 dresses in the European fashion, in the most costly 

 Chinese silks. Her pleasing countenance, and her 

 very becoming behaviour, for a half-savage, made 

 an agreeable impression ; whereas Kareimoku*s 

 wife, tall and rough, behaved in a very unfeminine 

 manner. As the cabin did not afford room enough 

 for so numerous a company, the table was set out 

 on the quarter-deck ; but our cooks had, in vain, 

 exerted all their skill to give the islanders a very 

 high opinion of a Russian repast: they ate nothing. 

 Unhappily, I did not know that the pork must 

 first be consecrated in the morai, before it is 

 touched by them ; now, not only the pork, but all 

 the dishes were taboo, because they had been 

 dressed over the same fire. There sat my guests 

 in their droll costume, and were fasting spectators 

 of an European dinner, till they were induced, at 



