knees and fists as if she had been a trough of bread. This was
done to favour digestion; and her Majesty, after groaning a little at
this ungentle treatment, and taking a short time to recover herself,
ordered her royal person to be again turned on the stomach, and
recommenced her meal. This account, whatever appearance of exaggeration
it may bear, is literally true, as all my officers, and the other
gentlemen who accompanied me, will witness.

M. Preuss, who lived in the neighbourhood of the lady, frequently
witnessed similar meals, and maintains that Nomahanna and her fat hog
were the greatest curiosities in Wahu. The latter is in particular
favour with the Queen, who feeds him almost to death: he is black, and
of extraordinary size and fatness: two Kanackas are appointed to attend
him, and he can hardly move without their assistance.

Nomahanna is vain of her tremendous appetite. She considers most people
too thin, and recommends inaction as an accelerator of her admired
_embonpoint_--so various are the notions of beauty. On the Sandwich
Islands, a female figure a fathom long, and of immeasurable
circumference, is charming; whilst the European lady laces tightly, and
sometimes drinks vinegar, in order to touch our hearts by her slender
and delicate symmetry.

One of our officers obtained the Queen's permission to take her
portrait. The limner's art is still almost a novelty here; and many
persons of rank solicited permission to witness the operation. With the
greatest attention, they watched every stroke of the outline, and loudly
expressed their admiration as each feature appeared upon the paper. The
nose was no sooner traced, than they exclaimed--"Now Nomahanna can
smell!" When the eyes were finished--"Now she can see!" They expressed
especial satisfaction at the sight of the mouth, because it would enable
her to eat; and they seemed to have some apprehension that she might
suffer from hunger. At this point, Nomahanna became so much interested,
that she requested to see the picture also: she thought the mouth much
too small, and begged that it might be enlarged. The portrait, however,
when finished, did not please her; and she remarked rather peevishly--"I
am surely much handsomer than that!"

On the 17th of January, Karemaku arrived with a squadron of two and
three-masted ships, and many soldiers, before the harbour of Hanaruro,
after having terminated the war at O Tuai quite to his satisfaction. The
fleet be