34 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
chasm between them, till the third and largest came, when, 
by a quick and energetic movement, they threw the boat 
upon the land side of it, and shot us into the harbor with 
the rapidity of the wind ! We passed the American whalers 
which crowded the anchorage ; ran under the guns of the 
fort; struck the landing at the pier ; leaped ashore among 
crowds of natives, besprinkled with an occasional Eu¬ 
ropean face : followed an overgrown son of John Bull to 
another man’s house, took a glass of wine, and scattered 
ourselves in various quarters for the night. 
Thus terminated our voyage from the Columbia river to 
the Kingdom of Hawaii. The distance between Oregon 
and these islands is about three thousand miles. We had 
sailed it in twenty-one days. 
The next morning the Vancouver entered the harbor with 
the land-breeze, and anchored near the pier. The “ steer¬ 
age” and the Hawaiians now came on shore. The former 
settled his hat over his eyes and sought a barber’s shop; 
the latter repaired to the town with their friends. I fol¬ 
lowed them. Whenever they met an old acquaintance 
they immediately embraced him, and pressed noses together 
at the sides. After many salutations of this kind they ar¬ 
rived at the market-place ; made a purchase of poi ( a fer¬ 
mented paste of boiled taro ), and seated themselves with 
their friends around it. The poi was contained in large 
calabashes or gourdshells. With these in the midst they 
began to eat and recall the incidents of pleasure which 
had sweetened their early years. 
Their mode of conveying the poi to their mouths was 
quite primitive. The fore and middle fingers served in¬ 
stead of a spoon. These they inserted to the depth of the 
knuckles, and having raised as much as would lie upon 
them, and by a very dexterous whirl brought it into a globu¬ 
lar shape upon the tips, they thrust it into their mouths, 
and licked their fingers clean for another essay. They had 
been seated but a short time when others joined them, who 
