102 



i»orter's journal. 



hostilities when they no longer made resistance, but so 

 long as stones were thrown I should destroy their villages. 

 No notice was taken of this message. We continued our 

 march up the valley, and met in our way several beautiful 

 villages, which were set on fire, and at length arrived at 

 thf^ir capital, for it deserves the name of one. We had 

 been compelled to fight every inch of ground, as we ad- 

 vanced, and here they made considerable opposition ; the 

 place was, however, soon carried, and I very reluctantly 

 set fire to it. The beauty and regularity of this place was 

 such, as to strike every spectator with astonishment, and 

 their grand site, or public square, was far superior to any 

 other we had met with. Numbers of their gods were 

 here destroyed, several large and elegant new war canoes, 

 which had never been used, were burnt in the houses that 

 sheltered them; many of their drums, which they had 

 been compelled to abandon, were thrown into the flames, 

 and our Indians loaded themselves with plunder, after de- 

 stroying bread-fruit and other trees and all the young 

 plants they could find. We had now arrived at the upper 

 end of the valley, about nine miles from the beach, and 

 at the foot of the water-fall above mentioned. The day 

 was advancing ; we had yet much to do, and it was neces- 

 sary to hasten oiir return to the fort first taken, where we 

 arrived after being about four hours absent, leaving behind 

 us a scene of ruin and desolation. I had hoped that the 

 Typees had now abandoned all further thoughts of resist- 

 ance ; but on my return to the fort 1 found the parties left 

 there had been annoyed the whole time of my absence ; 

 but being sheltered from the stones, and short of ammuni- 

 tion, they had not fired on the enemy. This fort was 

 situated exactly half-way up the valley. To return by the 

 road we descended the hill would have been impossible, 

 it became therefore necessary to go to the beach, where 

 I was informed that the difficulty of ascending the moun- 

 tains would not be so great. Many were exhausted with 

 fatigue, and began to feel the cravings of hunger, and I 

 ordered a halt, that all might rest and refresh themselves. 

 After resting about half an hour, I directed the Indians to 

 take care of our wounded. We formed the line of march 

 and proceeded down the valley, and in our route destroyed 

 several other villages, at all of which we had some slcir- 



