286 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



placid that no motion whatever can be felt on board a vessel rid- 

 ing at anchor, and the shore, fringed with cocoanut, bread-fruit, 

 and banana trees, with the neat white-washed cottages sprinkled 

 amongst them, forms a view at once striking and lovely. There 

 are about eight whale ships now in the port, and several of the 

 masters of these, as well as some resident gentlemen from 

 the shore, visited us shortly after we came to anchor. Among 

 the latter were the missionary of this station, the Rev. Mr. 

 Pritchard, Doctor Vaughan, Mr. William Henry and others. 

 Soon after, Mr. Skinner, the supercargo, and myself, went on 

 shore, and called upon Mr. Moerenhaut, the U. S, consul, to 

 whom I had a letter of introduction from Mr. Jones of Oahu. He 

 received us kindly, and we spent an hour with him very plea- 

 santly. We partook of a good dinner at the house of Mr. Henry, 

 after which Mr. Skinner and several other gentlemen with myself, 

 took a stroll back of the village. If I was pleased with the appearance 

 of the harbor from the anchorage, how much more;ivas I dalighted 

 with the opportunity of rambling in the interior. Soon after we left the 

 house, we entered upon an excellent turnpike road made by na- 

 tives, chiefly convicts, and extending nearly the whole circuit of 

 the island. This, as is almost every part of this lovely isle, is a 

 complete orchard of the most delicious of the tropical fruits ; 

 vast groves of oranges, lemons, guavas, &c. &c., growing wild, 

 and in the most prodigal profusion, patches of pine apples, inter- 

 minable forests of bananas, cocoanuts, and VVs,* and all with- 

 out an owner. Well may it be said, this is a highly favored, 

 and most fruitful land. The natives do not require to cultivate 

 the earth ; it teems with every luxury that their un?ophisticated 

 palates crave. For a meal, they have but to enter the forest, and 

 gather a mess of bread-fruit, bananas, and guavas, and kill 

 a pig from the large droves which are constantly roaming the 

 • Tliis is the Spondias diilcits of botanists ; a large and wide spreading forest 

 tree, bearing a most delicious fruit, somewhat like a pear, and about the same 

 size. 



