THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 255 



path we have absurdly strayed, by reducing the 

 dance to a motion of mere pleasure. These games 

 intoxicate the Owhyeeans with joy. Their usual 

 songs are danced in the same spirit, standing or 

 sitting y they are of very different characters, but 

 always accompanied by graceful motions of the 

 body and the arms. What a school is here opened 

 to the artist ! What an enjoyment is here offered to 

 the amateur ! 



This fine art, tlie only one of these islanders, is 

 the flower of their life, which is consecrated to en- 

 joyment and to pleasure. They live for the pre- 

 sent moment without calculation of time, and an 

 old woman knows no more of her age than that she 

 has lived beyond the first period of enjoyment, be- 

 yond the age of twelve years. 



The Owhyeeans are generally included in tlie 

 accusation which our navigators make against the 

 islanders of the South Sea in general, that of being 

 addicted to stealing. That we have no reason to 

 join in this complaint is probably to be ascribed to 

 the protecting influence of Tamaahmaah, whose dis- 

 interested and noble mind honoured us as the suc- 

 cessors of Vancouver. The Europeans settled here 

 give honourable testimony to the honesty of the 

 natives. They leave their doors and shops un- 

 locked without apprehension. These people only 

 commit theft on rich strangers, on board well load- 

 ed ships. How can we expect that our abundance 

 of iron, this precious metal, sliould not excite the 



