49 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
In a large native house near the shore, we were 
introduced to the king, his queens, the queen- 
dowager, and what might be regarded as the 
Hawaiian court. We were struck with the portly 
form and gigantic size of the royal party, and 
many of the chiefs by whom they were attended. 
The captair delivered the letter from the gover¬ 
nor of New South Wales to the king; and, after 
wine had been introduced, Messrs. Bennet, 
Tyerman, and myself, accompanied the American 
Missionaries to their habitation, where we received 
a pressing invitation, from the whole family, to 
partake of their hospitality, and such accommo¬ 
dations as their establishment would afford, so 
long as we might remain in the island—a proposal 
with which we cheerfully complied. Different 
lands had given us birth; we had never seen each 
other before; but we spoke one language, em¬ 
braced one faith, had devoted our lives to the 
accomplishment of one object, which we mutually 
felt more important than any other, and found 
that the influence of Christian and Missionary 
feeling so united our hearts, that we were as happy 
in the society of our friends, as if we had been 
intimate from childhood. We were afterwards 
joined by Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, and the Mission¬ 
aries from Tauai; and the pleasure I derived from 
their society, during the four months that we were 
detained in Oahu, is still among the most grateful 
of my recollections. 
• The day after our arrival we waited on the 
chiefs, and in the evening called on Kaahumanu. 
Through the influence of the individual whom 
we met on our way from the ship yesterday, 
Auna and his wife had been invited to take up 
their abode in the establishment of Kaahumanu, 
