the 25th of December, careered across the bosom of the Pacific,
until, on the 11th of February, the snowy peaks of Owyhee were seen
brightening above the horizon.

CHAPTER VI.

Owyhee.--Sandwich Islanders--Their Nautical Talents.--
Tamaahmaah.--His Navy.--His Negotiations.--Views of Mr.
Astor With Respect to the Sandwich Islands--Karakakooa.--
Royal Monopoly of Pork.-Description of the Islanders--
Gayeties on Shore.--Chronicler of the Island.--Place
Where Captain Cook was Killed.--John Young, a Nautical
Governor.--His Story.--Waititi--A Royal Residence.--A Royal
Visit--Grand Ceremonials.--Close Dealing--A Royal Pork
Merchant--Grievances of a Matter-of-Fact Man.

OWYHEE, or Hawaii, as it is written by more exact orthographers, is the
largest of the cluster, ten in number, of the Sandwich Islands. It is
about ninety-seven miles in length, and seventy-eight in breadth, rising
gradually into three pyramidal summits or cones; the highest, Mouna
Roa, being eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, so as to
domineer over the whole archipelago, and to be a landmark over a wide
extent of ocean. It remains a lasting monument of the enterprising
and unfortunate Captain Cook, who was murdered by the natives of this
island.

The Sandwich Islanders, when first discovered, evinced a character
superior to most of the savages of the Pacific isles. They were frank
and open in their deportment, friendly and liberal in their dealings,
with an apt ingenuity apparent in all their rude inventions.

The tragical fate of the discoverer, which, for a time, brought them
under the charge of ferocity, was, in fact, the result of sudden
exasperation, caused by the seizure of their chief.

At the time of the visit of the Tonquin, the islanders had profited, in
many respects, by occasional intercourse with white men; and had shown a
quickness to observe and cultivate those arts important to their mode
of living. Originally they had no means of navigating the seas by which
they were surrounded, superior to light pirogues, which were little
competent to contend with the storms of the broad ocean. As the
islanders are not in sight of each other, there could, therefore, be but
casual intercourse between them. The traffic with white men had put
them in possession of vessels of superior description; they had made
themselves acquainted with their management, and had even made rude
advances