126 



HA WAIL 



[letter XIII. 



our own flag as the soft breeze lifted its rich folds among the 

 glories of the tropical trees. Indeed, bunting to my mind 

 never looked so well as when floating and fainting among cocoa- 

 nut palms and all the shining greenery of Hilo, in the sunshine 

 of a radiant morning. It was bright and warm, but the cool 

 bulk of Mauna Kea, literally covered with snow, looked down 

 as winter upon summer. Natives galloped in from all quarters, 

 brightly dressed, wreathed, and garlanded, delighted in their 

 hearts at the attention paid to their sovereign by a great foreign 

 power, though they had been very averse to this journey, from 

 a strange but prevalent idea that once on board a U. S. ship 

 the king would be kidnapped and conveyed to America. 



Lieut.-Governor Lyman and Mr. Severance, the sheriff, went 

 out to the " Benicia," and the king landed at ten o'clock, being 

 " graciously pleased " to accept the Governor's house as his 

 residence during his visit. The American officers, naval and 

 military, were received by the same loud, hospitable old whaling 

 captain who entertained the Duke of Edinburgh some years 

 ago here, and to judge from the hilarious sounds which came 

 down the road from his house, they had what they would call 

 " a good time." I had seen Lunalilo in state at Honolulu, but 

 it was much more interesting to see him here, and this royalty 

 is interesting in itself, as a thing on sufferance, standing be- 

 tween this helpless nationality and its absorption by America. 

 The king is a very fine-looking man of thirty-eight, tall, well 

 formed, broad-chested, with his head well set on his shoulders, 

 and his feet and hands small. His appearance is decidedly 

 commanding and aristocratic : he is certainly handsome even 

 according to our notions. He has a fine open brow, significant 

 at once of brains and straightforwardness, a straight, propor- 

 tionate nose, and a good mouth. The slight tendency to Poly- 

 nesian overfulness about his lips is concealed by a well-shaped 

 moustache. He wears whiskers cut in the English fashion. 

 His eyes are large, dark-brown of course, and equally of course, 

 he has a superb set of teeth. Owing to a slight fulness of the 

 lower eyelid, which Queen Emma also has, his eyes have a 

 singularly melancholy expression, very alien, I believe, to his 

 character. He is remarkably gentlemanly looking, and has 

 the grace of movement which seems usual with Hawaiian s. 

 When he landed he wore a dark morning suit and a black 

 felt hat. 



As soon as he stepped on shore, the natives, who were in 

 crowds on the beach, cheered, yelled, and waved their hats 



