262 SAN FRANCISCO TO MANILLA. 



ships whose cruising-ground is the North Pacific ; and the amount of 

 property engaged in this business, visiting the ports of the Sandwich 

 Islands annually, is equal to three millions of dollars. To the supply 

 of this fleet, the labour of the inhabitants has principally been directed. 



The groves of sandalwood, which were formerly represented by a 

 number of designing persons, who professed a strong friendship for 

 the chiefs, to be an inexhaustible mine of wealth, soon gave out. The 

 chiefs have ceased to look to them as a source of profit, and have 

 begun the cultivation of sugar, which, together with silk, now attract 

 much attention ; but, until some capital be invested in these cultures, 

 and the business be better understood, these articles cannot be raised 

 to any large amount; yet the provisions and supplies to ships, suf- 

 fice to afford all the necessary comforts to the inhabitants of this 

 group. 



Fortunately for the Sandwich Islands, they have no port that is 

 defensible against a strong naval force, and therefore their consequence 

 will be comparatively small in a political point of view. No foreign 

 power, in fact, could well hold them, without great expense and diffi- 

 culty. Honolulu is the port where vessels can best receive repairs, but 

 it can only be used by the smaller class. By these circumstances, the 

 neutral position of this group I think is insured ; and this is most 

 desirable for its peace and happiness. This fact seems to me to be 

 tacitly acknowledged by the maritime powers, as no attempt has as yet 

 been made to take possession of them, and they will, in all probability, 

 be long left in the enjoyment of their neutrality, which King Kameha- 

 meha III. is now endeavouring to establish through a formal recog- 

 nition of his kingdom by the United States, England, and France, by 

 negotiations that are now pending. Such recognition will render them 

 less liable, if not altogether exempt from aggressions, exerted in the 

 manner that has already been related, in the course of this Narrative. 

 These islands seem intended for peaceful occupations alone; their pro- 

 ducts, situation, and inhabitants, require and wish it. The power on 

 which they must become dependent hereafter, is that which is to be 

 established in Oregon and California ; and, adapted as they are to 

 supply all the products of the tropics, they will become a valuable 

 appendage to those states ; but, I deem the idea entertained by many, 

 who suppose they ever can become so powerful as to command those 

 states, to be a mistake. So far as the consumption of a small amount 

 of manufactures go, and the convenience of our whaling fleet, but no 

 farther, they will be beneficial to the United States. In this relation, the 

 character of the government becomes a source of solicitude to us. It 



