SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
209 
violent, that we got into the natives’ canoes, and trusted to 
their experience for taking us safely through: this they did 
with admirable dexterity, and our passage in the canoes 
convinced us that no boat of ours could have effected a 
landing. 
The coral bank at the landing-place extends fifty yards 
from the land, at about two feet under water: when we 
reached it the natives carried us ashore on their shoulders. 
When arrived, it appeared as if the whole male population 
had assembled to greet us; the only two women, however, 
were the wives of the missionaries, decently clothed from 
head to foot. Each individual of this numerous assembly 
pressed forward to shake hands, and seemed unhappy till 
this sign of friendship had passed; and this ceremony being 
over, they conducted us towards their habitations, which 
were about two miles inland. Our path lay through a 
thick shady wood, on the skirts of which, in a small open 
space on the left, two handsome canoes were building. 
They were each eighty feet long; the lower part, as usual, 
of a single tree, hollowed out with great skill. The road 
was rough over the fragments of coral, but it wound agree¬ 
ably through the grove, which improved in beauty as we 
advanced, and at length, to our surprise and pleasure, ter¬ 
minated in a beautiful green lawn, where there were two of 
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