1832.] SANDWICH ISLANDS. 409 
wonder, and was evidently a good deal excited. We were not a 
little amused at the interest his majesty evidently took in all their 
different turns and motions, as he seemed half inclined to join 
them. We were actually afraid, at one time, that the Indian in 
his majesty would preponderate, and that he would break out in 
earnest. Whether, however, he really restrained himself, or that 
it was only the excitement of the scene, he soon got over it. 
This war-dance was certainly one of the best executed per- 
formances of the kind we remember ever to have witnessed. 
When their glaring eyeballs were fixed upon us, the bow drawn, 
and the arrow pointed at our bosom— with that regular, monoto- 
nous, forward Indian motion— we could not resist the impulse to 
move out of the way, and continually changed our position. 
These Indians were from the northwest coast, to which our ships 
resort for furs ; and were taken on board for the purpose of shoot- 
ing the sea-otter and fur-seal. They are often thus engaged for 
a certain specified time, and the commodore extended this act 
of courtesy towards them, thinking it might be of service to 
our vessels trading on that coast, to let them kuow that such 
formidable ships as the Potomac were near at hand, to punish 
any injury or aggression which our enterprising navigators might 
receive in that quarter. They appeared much struck with the 
immense effect of our great guns ; and seemed impressed with a 
degree of astonishment on contemplating the power of such a 
ship. The effect was doubtless a good one, and may produce 
good results. 
Three days after this dinner on board the frigate, the king 
invited the commodore and his officers to a luau, to be given in 
the valley of the Pari, near the precipice of Kolau. This was 
one of the most dehghtful excursions we remember ever to have 
enjoyed, and lament our want of powers to give an adequate 
description of it. The distance was about nine miles, and directly 
in the interior, or rather across the eastern extremity of the island. 
At about ten, the commodore and his party went on shore, and 
found that the king had ordered all his horses, of which he has 
a great number, to be in readiness for those who had not otherwise 
provided themselves. Each one having selected his anitaal, the 
whole mustered at the house of the American consul, Mr. Jones, 
all in high spirits and well mounted. Here they were soon joined 
