254 



Duties assigned to the several 

 vessels. 



HAWAIIAN PPOTTP OP. Interview with Kirif,' Kamehameha III. 

 HAWAIIAN UKUUF, OK Dress of Kekauluohi. 



whom Captain Hudson and myself chose about 

 fifty, all able-bodied and active young men, in per- 

 fect health. 



The authority for thus completing our comple- 

 ment of hands is contained in the Act of Congress 

 of March the 3rd, 1813 ; the ninth section of 

 which provides as follows : " That nothing in this 

 act contained shall be construed to prohibit any 

 commander or master, of a public or private ves- 

 sel of the United States, whilst in a foreign country 

 or place, from receiving any American seamen, in 

 conformity to law, or supplying any deficiency of 

 seamen on board such vessel, by employing American 

 seamen or subjects of such foreign country, the em- 

 ployment of whom shall not be prohibited by the 

 laws thereof." Yet, notwithstanding my acting 

 under this ninth section, on my return home it was 

 alleged that I had violated the first section of this 

 same act, and it was made one of the charges 

 against me by the Secretary of the Navy. The 

 whole act is to be found in Story's Laws of the 

 United States, vol. ii. p. 302. 



It was highly necessary for the service I was 

 engaged in, to enlist these men for a time ; it was 

 done according to law ; all the circumstances 

 were duly reported to the government in my 

 next despatches, and my conduct was not ob- 

 jected to until the charges were made out against 

 me. 



I was now enabled to complete my plans of 

 operation, and every exertion was made forthwith 

 to put the vessels in condition for service, half 

 of the crews being retained on board to proceed 

 with the outfits, while the rest were on liberty. 



The services on which I proposed to employ the 

 vessels of the squadron, were as follows, viz. : 



Captain Hudson, in the Peacock, accompanied 

 by the tender, was to be instructed to return to the 

 Samoan Group, and re-examine the surveys made 

 by the Flying- Fish and boats, of the south side of 

 Upolu, in which I had detected oversights, and 

 suspected neglect ; to seek for several small and 

 doubtful islands, said to be under the equator, and 

 to visit the little-known groups of Ellice and 

 Kingsmill ; to inquire into the fate of Captain 

 Dowsett, commanding an American schooner 

 engaged in the whale-fishery at the Pescadores ; 

 and to seek redress for the capture of the American 

 brig Waverley, owned by Messrs. Pierce and Co., 

 of Oahu, at Strong's Island. 



Having by the arrival of the Porpoise learned 

 the news of the murder of Gideon Smith at Upolu, 

 I included in my orders to Captain Hudson, the 

 duty of investigating the circumstances of the crime, 

 and punishing the offenders. He was likewise in- 

 structed to seek for the magnetic equator in longi- 

 tude 160 W., and to follow it down to the west- 

 ward. These duties accomplished, I directed him, 

 after visiting Ascension Island, to join me at the 

 Columbia River, towards the end of the coming 

 month of April. 



These instructions covered a wide field, which 

 had, as far as I could learn, been but little ex- 

 plored, and which our whaling fleet is continually 

 traversing. To examine it could not fail to be 

 highly useful to those engaged in that important 

 branch of industry. 



I designed to employ the Porpoise in a more 

 close examination of some islands in the Paumotu 

 Group or Low Archipelago, which it had not been 



in my power to accomplish during our visit of the 

 previous year. She was also to leave a party, with 

 the boring apparatus, upon one of the islands, as 

 soon as she reached the group, to remain there 

 for about six weeks, or so long as the vessel was 

 engaged in the examination of the other islands. 

 This examination being completed, Lieutenant- 

 Commandant Ringgold was directed to touch at 

 Tahiti, and thence, after surveying Penrhyn and 

 Flint's Islands, to return to Oahu before the 1st of 

 April. 



With the Vincennes, it was my intention to pro- 

 ceed to Hawaii, there to ascend to the top of 

 Mauna Loa ; to make the pendulum observations 

 on the summit and at the base of that mountain; 

 to examine the craters and late eruptions ; and 

 after performing these duties, if time allowed, to 

 proceed to the Marquesas Islands, and thence to 

 pass along the magnetic equator to the meridian 

 of the Hawaiian Islands, whither it was my in- 

 tention to return before the 1st of April, to meet 

 the Porpoise, and proceed, in company with her, 

 to the north-west coast. I deemed the time 

 from the 25th of November would be amply suf- 

 ficient, with proper attention, to enable us to per- 

 form these duties, and also afford sufficient re- 

 laxation to the officers and men, from their long 

 confinement on board ship. 



The tender was overhauled in a few days, when 

 Passed-Midshipinan Knox was again put in charge 

 of her, and the naturalists sent on an excursion to 

 Kauai. After their return, I again despatched 

 those who were attached to the Peacock in her to 

 Hawaii, being desirous that they should have an 

 opportunity of visiting as much of these islands as 

 possible. 



The king, Kamehameha 1 1 1., who had given orders 

 that he should be sent for as soon as the Vincennes 

 arrived, reached Honolulu on the 29th September, 

 from Maui. The next day I waited upon him, 

 accompanied by our consul, Mr. Brinsmade, and 

 by many of the officers and naturalists, at his 

 quarters near the fort. A soldier dressed in a 

 scarlet uniform stood on guard at the door. We 

 were ushered into the audience-chamber, and pre- 

 sented to the king, whom we found seated in the 

 midst of his retinue. The apartment was composed 

 of two large rooms with low ceilings, communi- 

 cating by folding doors. On the right of the king 

 was Kekauluohi, a daughter of Kamehameha I., 

 who acts as prime minister; and there were also 

 present, among others, Kekuanaoa, the governor of 

 Oahu, Mr. Richards, who is the king's interpreter 

 and adviser, Haalilio, John Young, and the officers 

 of the body-guard. 



The king was dressed in a blue coat, white panta- 

 loons, and vest. We afterwards understood that 

 he had prepared himself to receive us in full cos- 

 tume, but on seeing us approaching in undress 

 uniform, he had taken off his robes of state. 



The appearance of the king is prepossessing : he 

 is rather robust, above the middle height, has a 

 good expression of countenance, and pleasing man- 

 ners. 



The person who attracted our attention most, 

 was Kekauluohi. This lady is upwards of six feet 

 in height ; her frame is exceedingly large and well 

 covered with fat. She was dressed in yellow silk, 

 with enormously large gigot sleeves, and wore on 

 her head a tiara of beautiful yellow feathers inter- 



