SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
97 
Boki and Liliah seem rather depressed than elated at 
reaching their native land. But when we consider the cir¬ 
cumstances under which they left it, and those attending 
their return, it is not wonderful that their first emotions 
should be painful; even were they entirely devoid of dread 
on account of the reception they might possibly receive, 
being like persons of ill omen, coming to bring death and 
mourning among their countrymen. 
About one r. m. we came up with some fishing canoes, 
which were immediately hailed by Manuia, one of our pas¬ 
sengers ; and the fishermen, hauling in their lines imme¬ 
diately, paddled alongside. Although we find that, in her 
youth, our shipmate Liliah had been accounted one of the 
best swimmers in the Island, and was particularly dexterous 
in launching her float-board * through the heaviest surf, yet 
now her sense of modesty, awakened by her residence in a 
civilized country, induced her to withdraw into her cabin at 
the sight of her almost naked countrymen. And, let us 
* Float-boarcl: this is a board a little longer than the human body, fea¬ 
thered at the edges, on which these Islanders stretch themselves and float for 
hours on the water, using their limbs as paddles to guide them, or at other 
times trusting to the impulse of the waves: the very children have their little 
boards; and to have a neat float-board, well kept and dried, is to a Sandwich 
Islander what a tilbury, or cabriolet, or whatever light carriage may be in 
fashion, is to a young Englishman. 
O 
