letter x ai.] AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. 



133 



first place. I very soon ceased to notice the incongruous 

 elements, which were supplied chiefly by the Americans pre- 

 sent. There were Republicans by birth and nature, destitute 

 of traditions of loyalty or reverence for aught on earth ; who 

 bore on their faces not only republicanism, but that quint- 

 essence of puritan republicanism which hails from New England ; 

 and these were subjects of a foreign king, nay, several were 

 office-holders who had taken the oath of allegiance, and from 

 whose lips " His Majesty, Your Majesty," flowed far more 

 copiously than from ours which are "to the manner born." 



On the king's appearance, the cheering was tremendous, — 

 regular British cheering, well led, succeeded by that which is 

 not British, " three cheers and a tiger," but it was " Hi, hi, hi, 

 hullah ! " Every hat was off, every handkerchief in air, tears 

 in many eyes, enthusiasm universal, for the people were come 

 to welcome the king of their choice ; the prospective restorer 

 of the Constitution " trampled upon " by Kamehameha V., 

 K the kind chief," who was making them welcome to his pre- 

 sence after the fashion of their old feudal lords. When the 

 cheering had subsided, the eighty boys of Missionary Lyman's 

 School, who, dressed in white linen with crimson leis, were 

 grouped in a hollow square round the flagstaff, sang the 

 Hawaiian national anthem, the music of which is the same as 

 ours. More cheering and enthusiasm, and then the natives 

 came through the gate across the lawn, and up to the verandah 

 where the king stood, in one continuous procession, till 2,400 

 Hawaiians had enjoyed one moment of infinite and ever to be 

 remembered satisfaction in the royal presence. Every now 

 and then the white, pale-eyed, unpicturesque face of a foreigner 

 passed by, but these were few, and the foreign school children 

 were received by themselves after Mr. Lyman's boys. The 

 Americans have introduced the villanous custom of shaking 

 hands at these receptions, borrowing it, I suppose, from a 

 presidential reception at Washington ; and after the king had 

 gone through this ceremony with each native, the present was 

 deposited in front of the verandah, and the gratified giver took 

 his place on the grass. Not a man, woman, or child came 

 empty handed. Every face beamed with pride, wonder, and 

 complacency, for here was a sovereign for whom cannon roared, 

 and yards Avere manned, of their own colour, who called them 

 his brethren. 



The variety of costume was infinite. All the women wore 

 the native dress, the sack or holoku, many of which were black, 



