d-flies, that give one a nasty sting. I was very glad, therefore,
after four days' stay at Honolulu, to learn that the 'Moses Taylor'
was ready to sail for San Francisco.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 15: The poi is said to grow so abundantly and with so little
labour in the Sandwich Islands, that it tends to encourage the natural
indolence of the people. A taro pit no bigger than an ordinary
drawing-room will keep a man in food a whole year. Nature is so
prolific that labour is scarcely requisite in these hot climates. Thus
the sun may be a great demoralizer.]

[Footnote 16: I find in a Californian paper the following amusing
account by Mr. Mathews himself, of his appearance before a Honolulu
audience:--

"At Honolulu, one of the loveliest little spots upon earth, I acted
one night 'by command, and in the presence of his Majesty Kamehameha
V., King of the Sandwich Islands' (not 'Hoky Poky Wonky Fong,' as
erroneously reported), and a memorable night it was. On my way to the
quaint little Hawaiian Theatre, situated in a rural lane, in the midst
of a pretty garden, glowing with gaudy tropical flowers, and shaded by
cocoa-trees, bananas, banyans, and tamarinds, I met the playbill of
the evening. A perambulating Kanaka (or native black gentleman),
walking between two boards (called in London, figuratively, 'a
sandwich man,' but here, of course literally so), carried aloft a
large illuminated white lantern, with the announcement in the Kanaka
language to catch the attention of the coloured inhabitants: 'Charles
Mathews; Keaka Keia Po (Theatre open this evening). Ka uku o Ke Komo
ana (reserved seats, dress circle), $2.50; Nohi mua (Parquette), $1;
Noho ho (Kanaka pit), 75c.' I found the theatre (to use the technical
expression) 'crammed to suffocation,' which merely means 'very full,'
though from the state of the thermometer on this occasion,
'suffocation' was not so incorrect a description as usual. A really
elegant-looking audience (tickets 10_s._ each), evening dresses,
uniforms of every cut and every country. 'Chieftesses' and ladies of
every tinge, in dresses of every colour, flowers and jewels in
profusion, satin playbills, fans going, windows and doors all open, an
outside staircase leading straight into the dress circle, without
lobby, check-taker, or money-taker. Kanaka women in the garden below
selling bananas and pea-nuts by the glare of flaring torches on a
sultry tropical moonlight night. The whole thing was like n