270 



King's palace. 

 Town of Lahaina. 



HAWAIIAN GROUP, OR 



Private apartments of the king. 

 Appearance of the queen. 



towards the sea. West Maui has many sharp 

 peaks and ridges, which are divided by deep val- 

 leys, and which in descending towards the sea open 

 out and form sloping plains on the north and 

 south sides of considerable extent. The highest 

 peak of West Maui was found, by triangulation, to 

 be six thousand one hundred and thirty feet. 



An officer was at once despatched to wait upon 

 the king, who signified his desire to see me in the 

 afternoon. I accordingly had the honour of wait- 

 ing on him, and was received with great warmth 

 and kindness. I paid him a long visit, in which the 

 conversation turned principally on the business of 

 his islands. 



The king's palace is built of coral rock, and is 

 only half finished : it already seems to be in a 

 somewhat dilapidated state, and exhibits poverty 

 rather than regal magnificence. I could not but 

 feel that too little attention had been given to his 

 household by those who have had the management 

 of his affairs. I regretted to see that any change, 

 except for the better, had been effected in the 

 native style of accommodation. His present re- 

 sidence is neither calculated to maintain the respect 

 of his subjects, nor to enhance his importance in 

 the eyes of foreigners. I am well aware that im- 

 provements are going on near to and connected 

 with the situation his house occupies, but I believe 

 that these could all have been long since finished, 

 had proper exertions been made. 



The town of Lahaina, is built along the beach for 

 a distance of three-quarters of a mile : it is princi- 

 pally composed of grass-houses, situated as near 

 the beach as possible : it has one principal street, 

 with a few others running at right angles. After 

 the king's palace, the fort is the most conspicuous 

 object : its form is quadrangular, the longest side 

 facing the sea : it is of little account, however, as a 

 defence, serving chiefly to confine unruly subjects 

 and sailors in. The area within is about one acre, 

 and the walls are twenty feet high. By the ob- 

 servations which I made here, it is situated in 

 longitude 156 41' W., latitude 20 51' 50" N. 



I had the pleasure of receiving his majesty on 

 board, with suitable honours, accompanied by his 

 suite. They made a very respectable appearance ; 

 and although what I had already seen of the king 

 had greatly prepossessed me in his favour, a visit 

 which I paid him before my departure tended 

 greatly to increase the interest I felt for his wel- 

 fare. Instead of being received in the dilapidated 

 and half-finished palace, I was ushered over a 

 small causeway to a short distance behind it, into 

 his private apartments, and introduced to his wife, 

 who had been very unwell. She is not acknow- 

 ledged as queen. She is the daughter of an inferior 

 chief on the island of Hawaii, and the prettiest 

 woman on the island. The king, it is believed, 

 married her from affection, and against the wishes 

 of his chiefs, after they had prohibited his marriage 

 with his sister Nahienaena. In order to prevent 

 any dispute in the succession to the throne, it was 

 formerly deemed necessary that the king should 

 take all the women of the highest rank as his 

 wives, and all the children born of them were de- 

 clared and considered as his heirs. 



The present king is said to be the natural son of 

 Kamehameha I., and became, from political causes, 

 heir to the throne. 



After crossing the causeway we reached a small 



island : on this was a grass-house of moderate 

 dimensions, surrounded by hibiscus trees, which 

 grow quite low, and made a bower almost imper- 

 vious to the sun's rays. At the entrance of the 

 house I was met by his majesty, dressed in a 

 roundabout of blue cloth, and white pantaloons. 

 He led the way into the bower, in the centre of 

 which his wife was lying in a clean white hammock, 

 suspended between the trees. Every thing about 

 her was pleasant-looking, betokening care and 

 attention to her comfort, and a degree of refine- 

 ment I little expected to see. Although unwell, 

 she showed many marks of beauty, and I was 

 much struck with her appearance. 



The king told me these were their private apart- 

 ments, where they could remain undisturbed and 

 free from intrusion. They passed most of their 

 time together, and he pointed out a small hut of 

 ti-leaves that he had constructed for her, in which 

 she had been lying on new-mown grass. The king 

 pointed out the improvements he had in contem- 

 plation, but complained that he had not money to 

 carry them on. Although his income is very con- 

 siderable, in tapas and native produce, and would 

 have constituted great wealth in former times, yet 

 from the depreciation in the value of these articles, 

 it is now of little value. He has so many hangers- 

 on, that it takes a large amount to supply, main- 

 tain, and clothe them, even in the ordinary gar- 

 ments of the island. These circumstances leave 

 the king quite as poor as any of his subjects. 



The little domestic scene I had witnessed gave 

 me great pleasure, the more so from being quite 

 unexpected ; and I found afterwards that very few 

 are ever admitted to this sanctum sanctorum. I 

 take pleasure in mentioning it, as I had not before 

 given his majesty credit for the domestic virtues, 

 which I am now satisfied he possesses to a great 

 degree, both from the tenor of his conversation and 

 the pleasing picture he exhibited in the last inter- 

 view I had with him. 



His wife is much fairer than the natives usually, 

 and she has not so coarse and disproportionate a 

 figure as seems characteristic of the females of 

 distinction in these islands. Her features, how- 

 ever, were decidedly of the native character. The 

 tone of voice was pleasing and ladylike. 



Wishing to inspect the female seminary of Wai- 

 luku, which I had heard much spoken of, I went 

 over to it, in company with Mr. Drayton. One of 

 the chiefs was obliging enough to furnish me with 

 a horse for the occasion. 



The seminary of Wailuku consists of an extensive 

 range of coral and adobe buildings, beautifully 

 situated on an inclined plane, with high and massive 

 precipices behind, in a flourishing village, which 

 shows more of systematic improvement and organ- 

 ized exertion than any place I have met with in the 

 Hawaiian islands. The fields, also, are better 

 fenced, and the crops more diligently attended to. 

 We were kindly received by the Rev. Mr. Greene, 

 his lady, and Miss Ogden, who have the charge of 

 the establishment, which consists of eighty scholars, 

 between the ages of twelve and eighteen years. 

 Every opportunity was afforded me of inspecting 

 the establishment, and while I found much to com- 

 mend, there were many things I could have desired 

 to see changed. 



In the first place, I was much struck with the 

 appearance of a want of cleanliness in the dresses 



