THROUGH HAWAII. 
79 
said, tradition informed them that their progenitors 
were brought into existence on the islands which they 
now inhabit; that they knew nothing of the origin of 
the people of the Georgian and Society Islands, yet 
Tahiti, the name of the largest of the Georgian Islands, 
was found in many of their ancient songs, though not 
now applied exclusively to that island. With the peo¬ 
ple of Borabora, (the name they gave to the Society 
Islands,) they said they had no acquaintance before 
they were visited by Captain Cook, but that since that 
time, by means of ships passing from one group of 
islands to the other, several presents and messages of 
friendship had been interchanged between Tameha- 
meha and Pomare I., and that, in order to cement their 
friendship more firmly, each had agreed to give one of 
his daughters in marriage to the son of the other. In 
consequence of this amicable arrangement, a daughter 
of Pomare was expected from Tahiti, to be the wife of 
Rihoriho, late king of Hawaii; and Kekauruohe, one of 
the daughters of Tamehameha, was selected by her 
father to be the bride of Pomare, the late king of 
Tahiti. Wanting a conveyance from Hawaii to Tahiti, 
Tamehameha was unable to send Kekauruohe; which, 
together with the death of Pomare before he had any 
opportunity of sending one of his relatives to Hawaii, 
prevented the intended intermarriages between the 
reigning families of Hawaii and Tahiti. 
About two o’clock in the afternoon, the Ainoa hove 
up her anchor. I went on board in a canoe just as she 
was leaving the roads. The brig being about ninety 
tons burden, one of the largest the natives have, was, 
as has been already observed, much crowded, and, 
owing to the difference between the motion of the ves- 
