PACIFIC AND BEEUING’S STRAIT. 
435 
Feb. 
1827. 
the medicines it was stopped, when the sores were nearly healed. He CHAP, 
had been, and I believe still was addicted to drinking spirituous liquors. 
The ava was given three times a day with the same immediate effects 
as before-mentioned, and at the end of ten days the ulcers were clean 
and healing. From the commencement of the course he had been able 
to lie down, allowing his feet to hang over the bed-side : he had slept 
soundly, and his appetite was good. Could he have procured and 
applied a suitable dressing for the ulcers with appropriate support to 
the oedematous extremities, I have no hesitation in saying that the plan 
would have succeeded. Even with all these disadvantages, I am inclined 
to believe that a cure will be effected if he abstains from liquor.” 
In this account of the Sandwich Islands, I have avoided touching 
upon subjects connected with the mythology, traditions, and early man- 
ners and customs of the islanders, from a conviction that I could give 
but an imperfect sketch of them, and from a hope that they will here- 
after be laid before the public by the author of Polynesian Kesearches, 
who from his intimate knowledge of the language, his long residence 
in the Pacific, and from the nature of his occupations, has greater op- 
portunities of becoming acquainted with them than any other foreigner. 
My endeavour has been to give as faithful an account as I could of the 
government, and of the state of society in the islands at the time of our 
visit, and of the resources and commerce of the country. Had my 
occupations been less numerous, 1 might have done more justice to these 
subjects ; but the determination of the position of the place, and the 
attention to other observations, occupied my time so completely, that I 
had very little leisure for any other pursuits. 
The results of the observations that were made there will be given 
in the Appendix ; and the natural history will form part of two volumes 
which will shortly appear before the public. 
During the absence of the ship from the Sandwich Islands, Captain 
Charlton, the consul, had succeeded in procuring a supply of salt pro- 
vision for her. This was the more opportune, as the meat which had been 
corned in California was found on examination to be so bad, that it 
was necessary to throw the whole of it overboard. We at first ima- 
gined that this failure proceeded from our ignorance of the proper 
method of curing the meat, but that which had been prepared at 
3 K 2 
