278 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



rough and irregular masses of lava, but towards the summit of 

 the hills, as in Oahu, vegetation is abundant. The shore, for 

 miles, in both directions, is sprinkled with the little sylvan look- 

 ing hamlets of this country, and they are sometimes so thickly 

 grouped together, as to form the most picturesque and beautiful 

 villages. On the hill fronting the bay is one of these, at which 

 the missionary, Mr. Forbes, resides, and about eighteen miles 

 from this, there is a considerable town called Kairua, the resi- 

 dence of the chief, John Adams, governor of Hawaii. In the 

 afternoon Mr. Paty and myself went on shore, chiefly for the 

 purpose of seeing the spot on which Captain Cook was killed, in 

 the year 1779. 



When we made this inquiry after we landed, a number of na- 

 tives ran to the beach, and pointed out to us the exact spot where 

 the gallant mariner received his death blow. I need not attempt 

 to describe, for my sisters can in a measure understand the emo- 

 tion with which I viewed the rock on which this brave and excel- 

 lent man offered up his life in the service of his country. I had 

 read the voyages of Cook, with gi-eat interest, when I was a 

 child; I had pondered over his dangers, his magnificent dis- 

 coveries, the intense excitement of his life, and his premature 

 and violent death, but if at that time any one had told me that I 

 should ever visit the scene of his discoveries, and stand upon the 

 identical rock which was pressed by his bleeding bosom, I should 

 have smiled at it as too chimerical for belief; here I am, 

 however, although at times I can scarcely reahze the possibility 

 of it. 



The rock is somewhat isolated, and at high tide the water 

 breaks over its summit. It is said to be at present not one- 

 fourth its original size, as almost every visiter, for a number 

 of years, has been in the habit of carrying away a fragment of 

 it as a relic. A French man-of-war, which was lately here, is 

 said to have taken off about a ton of it ; and some Spaniards, 



