232 
VOYAGE TO THE 
May, 
1826. 
respect shown by the subjects to their chiefs offered a similar contrast. 
In every way this country seemed far to surpass the other in civiliza- 
tion — but there were strong indications of a close connexion between 
the natives of both. It was not long since Lord Byron in the Blonde 
had quitted these islands ; the appearance of a man-of-war was, there- 
fore, no novelty ; but the beach was thronged to excess with people of 
all distinctions, who behaved in a very orderly manner, helped us out 
of the boats, and made a passage as we advanced. 
In our way nothing more strikingly marked the superiority of this 
country over that we had recently quitted than the number of wooden 
houses, the regularity of the town laid out in squares, intersected by 
streets properly fenced in, and the many notices which appeared right 
and left, on pieces of board on which we read “ an Ordinary at one 
o’clock. Billiards, the Britannia, the .lolly Tar, the Good Woman,” &c. 
After a short walk we came to a neatly built wooden house with glass 
windows, the residence of Krimakoo, or, as he was commonly called, 
Pitt, whom I found extended upon the floor of his apartment, suffer- 
ing under a dropsical complaint, under which he ultimately sunk. 
This disease had so increased upon him of late that he had under- 
gone five operations for it since the departure of the Blonde. Though 
unable to rise from his bed, his mind was active and unimpaired ; and 
when the conversation turned upon the affairs of the island he was 
quite energetic, regretting that his confinement prevented his looking 
more into them, and his greatest annoyance seemed to be his inability 
to see every thing executed himself. He expressed his attachment 
strongly to the British government, and his gratitude for the respect 
that had been shown the descendant of his illustrious patron, and his 
queen, by sending their bodies to the Sandwich Islands in so handsome 
a manner, and for the footing upon which the affairs of the state 
had been placed by Lord Byron in command of the Blonde He was 
anxious to requite these favours, and pressed his desire to be allowed 
to supply all the demands of the ship himself, in requital for the libe- 
rality with which his countrymen were treated in England. I could 
not accede to this effusion of the chief’s gratitude, as the expense 
