246 Notice of Hawaii, {Owyhee,) and its Volcanic Regions, Sfc> 



of regal splendor. Within the king's grounds, (from intrusion into 

 which a high fence kept off the populace,) every thing was in a high 

 degree, neat and orderly. There were separate houses for the king's 

 household, and for the offices and sleeping room of the king. 



The palace of thatch is more than one hundred feet long, fifty or 

 sixty broad, and more than forty high, beautifully finished and orna- 

 mented with fern leaves, and furnished with a pebbled area. 



The royal guard was composed of two hundred men, forming a 

 double file, and wearing a white uniform with scarlet cuffs and collars, 

 and black caps ; their commander Kahuhu, was dressed in scarlet with 

 gold lacings and an expensive sword. As Capt. Finch and party 

 passed the gate, they presented arms in exact military style, and the 

 commander of the kings' forces, Kekuanoa, receiving them in the full 

 and rich suit of a major general, and with the gracefulness of a pol- 

 ished gentleman, ushered them through the glass folding doors into the 

 interior of the palace. It is in one vast apartment, the timbers being 

 in sight, and the wood beautifully hewn and contrasted with braided 

 lashings of the bleached fibre of the cocoa, wrought into tasteful 

 patterns and applied at close and regular intervals, so that the posts 

 and rafters have the appearance of natural sections. The thatch of 

 the building is also concealed from view by an elegant native tapes- 

 try, made of a brown mountain vine tied together like the bamboo 

 window blinds; one continued tissue of this fabric is extended from 

 the floor to the peak of the roof through the whole apartment between 

 the timbers and the thatch, and thus imparts a very rich appearance. 

 The floor, instead of rushes or grass which were formerly the founda- 

 tion for the mats, was made of stone and mortar as hard and smooth as 

 marble. Upon this, beautifully variegated mats of Tauai were 

 spread — forming a carpet as delightful, and appropriate to the cli- 

 mate, as possible. Large windows on either side, and the folding 

 doors of glass at each end, are hung with draperies of crimson dam- 

 ask ; there were also handsome pier tables, and large mirrors ; a lino 

 of glass chandeliers suspended through the centre, with lustres and 

 candelabra of bronze, ornamented ormolu, were affixed to the pillars 

 lining the sides and ends of the apartment ; and portraits, in oil, of the 

 late king and queen, taken in London, were placed, at the upper end, 

 in carved frames richly gilt. In the middle of the room, about sixty 

 feet in front, or two thirds the length of the apartment, the young 

 monarch was seated in an arm chair, spread with a splendid cloak of 

 yellow feathers. His dress was the Windsor uniform, of the first 

 rank, with epaulettes of gold—the present of George IV— -and an 



