in Highland plaids
and kilts, and making similar arrangements, with presents of rum, wine,
or anything that is at hand. Then taking a number of clerks and men
on shore to the very spot on which Captain Cook was killed, and each
fetching off a piece of the rock or tree that was touched by the shot.
Then sitting down with some white man or some native who can be a little
understood, and collecting the history of those islands, of Tamaahmaah's
wars, the curiosities of the islands, &c., preparatory to the
histories of their voyages; and the collection is indeed ridiculously
contemptible. To enumerate the thousand instances of ignorance, filth,
&c.,--or to particularize all the frantic gambols that are daily
practiced, would require Volumes."

Before embarking, the great eris of the American Fur Company took leave
of their illustrious ally in due style, with many professions of lasting
friendship and promises of future intercourse; while the matter-of-fact
captain anathematized him in his heart for a grasping, trafficking
savage; as shrewd and sordid in his dealings as a white man. As one of
the vessels of the company will, in the course of events, have to appeal
to the justice and magnanimity of this island potentate, we shall see
how far the honest captain was right in his opinion.

* It appears, from the accounts of subsequent voyagers, that
Tamaahmaah afterwards succeeded in his wish of purchasing a
large ship. In this he sent a cargo of sandal-wood to
Canton, having discovered that the foreign merchants trading
with him made large profits on this wood, shipped by them
from the islands to the Chinese markets. The ship was manned
by natives, but the officers were Englishmen. She
accomplished her voyage, and returned in safety to the
islands, with the Hawaiian flag floating gloriously in the
breeze. The king hastened on board, expecting to find his
sandal-wood converted into crapes and damasks, and other
rich stuffs of China, but found, to his astonishment, by the
legerdemain of traffic, his cargo had all disappeared, and,
in place of it, remained a bill of charges amounting to
three thousand dollars. It was some time before he could be
made to comprehend certain of the most important items of
the bill, such as pilotage, anchorage, and custom-house
fees; but when he discovered that maritime states in other
countries derived la