641 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
high Water, at the full and change of the moon, forty-five 
minutes past three, apparent time. Their greatest rise is two 
feet seven inches; and we always observed the water to be 
about four inches higher when the moon was above the 
horizon, than when it was below. 
“ The quadrupeds in these, as well as in all other islands'that 
have been discovered in the South Sea, are confined to three 
sorts—dogs, hogs, and rats. The number of dogs in these 
islands did not appear to be nearly equal, in proportion, to 
those in Otaheite; but, on the other hand, they abound 
much more in hogs; and the breed is of a large and weightier 
kind. The supply of provisions of this kind which we got 
from them, was really astonishing: we were near four months 
either cruising in the harbour, or off Owhyee; during ad 
this time, a large allowance of fresh pork was constantly serv¬ 
ed to both crews; so that our consumption was computed 
at about sixty puncheons, of five hundred-weight each. 
Besides this, and the incredible waste which, in the midst of 
such plenty, was not to be guarded against, sixty puncheons 
more were salted for sea store. The greatest part of this 
supply was drawn from the island of Owhyee alone, and 
yet we could not perceive that it was at all drained, or even 
that the abundance had any way decreased.” 
The birds of these islands are beautiful and numerous, 
though not various. There are four which seem to belong 
to the trochili, or honey-suckers of Linnaeus. There is a 
species of thrush, with a grey breast; and a small bird of 
the fly-catcher kind, a rail with very short wings and no 
tail, which, on that account, we named ra/lus ecaudatus. 
Ravens are found here; but they are very scarce: their 
colour is dark brown, inclining to Black, and their notes 
differ from the European. Here are also owls; plovers of 
two sorts, one very like the whistling plovqr of Europe; a 
large white pigeon; a bird with a long tail, whose colour is 
black, the vent and feathers under the wing (which is much 
longer than is usually seen in the generality of birds, except 
birds of paradise) are yellow; and the common water or 
darker hen. 
“Their vegetable productions are nearly the same with the 
rest of the South Sea islands. The bread-fruit trees thrive 
here, not in such abundance, but produce double the 
quantity they do on the rich plains of Otaheite. Their 
sugar canes are of a very unusual size: one of them was 
brought to us at Atooi, measuring eleven inches and a 
quarter in circumference, and having fourteen feet eatable. 
At Oneeheow they brought us several large roots, of a brown 
colour, shaped like a yam, and from six to ten pounds in 
weight. The juice, which it yields in great abundance, 
is found to be an excellent substitute for sugar.” 
Thb inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands are undoubtedly 
of the same race with those of New Zealand, the Society and 
Friendly islands, Easter islands, and the Marquesas; a race 
that possesses! without any intermixture, all the known lands 
between the latitudes of 47° south, and 20’ north, and be¬ 
tween the longitudes of 184° and 260° east. They bear 
strong affinity to some of the Indian tribes that inhabit the 
Ladrones and Caroline islands; and the same affinity may 
again be traced amongst the Battas and the Malays. The 
natives of these islands are in general above the middle size, 
and well made; they walk very gracefully, run nimbly, and 
are capable of bearing great fatigue; though, upon the whole, 
the men are somewhat inferior, in point of strength and 
activity, to the Friendly islanders; and the women less deli¬ 
cately limbed than those of Otaheite. Their complexion is 
rather darker than that of the Otaheiteans, and they are not 
altogether so handsome a people; however, many of both 
sexes had fine open countenances: and the women, in par¬ 
ticular, had good eyes and teeth, and a sweetness and sensi¬ 
bility of look which rendered them very engaging. Their 
hair is of a brownish-black, and neither uniformly straight, 
like that of the Indians of America, nor uniformly curling, 
as amougst the African Negroes, but varying in this respect, 
like the hair of Europeans. One striking peculiarity in the 
features of every part of this great nation, Capt. King does 
not remember to have seen any where mentioned; which is, 
Von! XXII. No. 1529. 
that, even in the handsomest faces, there is always a fulness 
of the nostril, without any flatness or spreading of the nose, 
that distinguishes them from Europeans. It is not improba¬ 
ble that this may be the effect of their usual mode of saluta¬ 
tion, which is performed by pressing the ends of their noses 
together. Instances of deformity are frequent among them. 
Squinting is also very common. Besides these particular im¬ 
perfections, they are, in general, very subject to boils and 
ulcers, which are attributed, says Captain King, to the great 
quantity of salt they eat with their flesh and fish. The 
“ Erees” are very free from these complaints, but many of 
them suffer still more dreadful effects from the immoderate 
use of the ava. Those who were most affected by it had 
their bodies covered with a white scurf, their eyes red and 
inflamed, their limbs emaciated, the whole frame trembling 
and paralytic, accompanied with a disability to raise the 
head. Although this drug does not appear universally to 
shorten life; yet it invariably brings on an early and decrepid 
old age. It was found, however, that by discontinuing the 
use of this root, the noxious effects of it soon subsided. The 
whole number of inhabitants cannot be less than 400,000. 
They appear to live in the utmost harmony and friendship 
with one another. The women who had children were re¬ 
markable for their tender and constant attention to them; 
and the men would often lend their assistance in the do¬ 
mestic offices, with a willingness that does credit to their 
feelings. It must, however, be observed, that they fall very 
short of the other islanders in that best test of civilization,— 
respect to the women. Here they are not only deprived of 
the privilege of eating with the men, but the best sorts of 
food are tabooed , or forbidden them. These people are dis¬ 
tinguished by the hospitality and kindness which they exer¬ 
cised towards our voyagers. Whenever, says Captain King, 
we canie on shore, there was a constant struggle, who should 
be most forward in making us little presents, bringing re¬ 
freshments, or shewing some other mark of their respect. 
Their natural capacity seems in no respect below the com¬ 
mon standard of mankind. Their improvements in agricul¬ 
ture, and the perfection of their manufactures, are certainly 
adequate to the circumstances of their situation, and the 
natural advantages they enjoy. “ The,eager curiosity with 
which they attended the armourer’s forge, and the many ex¬ 
pedients they had invented, even before we left the islands, 
for working the iron they had procured from us, into such 
forms as were best adapted to their purposes, were strong 
proofs of docility and ingenuity. Two instances were met 
with of persons disordered in their minds, the oue a man at 
Owhyhee, the other a woman at Oneeheow. From the 
particular attention and respect paid to them it appeared, 
that the opinion of their being inspired by the Divinity, 
which obtains amongst most of the nations of the East, is 
also received here.” Though the custom of eating the bodies 
of their enemies be not known by positive evidence to exist 
in any of the South Sea islands, except New Zealand, yet it 
is extremely probable that it was originally prevalent in 
them all. The sacrificing human victims, which seems evi¬ 
dently to be a relic of this horrid practice, still obtains uni¬ 
versally amongst these islanders; and it is easy to conceive 
why the New Zealanders should retain the repast, which was 
probably the last act of these shocking rites, longer than the 
rest of their tribe, who were situated in more mild and fruit¬ 
ful climates. As the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands 
certainly bear a nearer resemblance to those of New Zealand, 
both in their persons and dispositions, than to any other 
people of this family, so it was strongly suspected by Mr. 
Anderson, that, like them, they still continue to feast on 
human flesh, but this is clearly not the case. 
The inhabitants of these islands differ from those of the 
Friendly isles, in suffering, almost universally, their beards 
to grow. There were indeed a few, amongst whom was the 
old king, that cut it off entirely, and others that wore it only 
on the upper lip. Both sexes wear necklaces, made of strings 
of small variegated shells ; and an ornament, in the form of 
the handle of a cup, about two inches long, and half an 
inch broad, made of wood, stone, or ivory, finely polished, 
8 A which 
