Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Tabular Statistics of Exports and Imports at the Sandwich Islands for
1850-Resources and Revenue of the Hawaiian Kingdom-Government
Expenses, Trade and Commerce-Tabular View of Educational and
Religious Progress-Commercial Position and Advantages of Honolulu
-Review and Summary of the French Difficulties-Documentary His-
tory of the Negotiations with France-Rules of Conference, Protocols,
and final Declaration-Appeal to the United States-Progress of the
Anglo-Saxon Race-Copy of the late Treaty with the United States-
Notes-Professor Agassiz on Corals-Speculations as to their Uses-
Testimony of Sir George Simpson and R. C. Wyllie to the Value of the
Hawaiian Mission-Extraordinary Results in Molokai..

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

LIFE IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

LOCAL TRADITIONS OF CAPTAIN COOK, AND GLIMPSES OF OLD PAGANISM IN THE HEART OF THE PACIFIC.

GLIDING through Magellan's Straits,
Where two oceans ope their gates,
Now th' immense Pacific smiles
Round ten thousand sunny Isles.

A notable wonder-Curious fancies of the Natives respecting the first Ship-They venture nigh in Canoes-They recognize their god Lono-They pay divine worship to Captain Cook-They grow familiar with the Haöles-They smart under indignities and exactions—The bent bow snaps-They are undeceived-The denouement-He groans-He is not a god-The fight-The fall-The retreat-The burning of the navigator's body--The exploits of Phillips-The narrative of Ledyard-The revenge -The providence-We stand where Cook fell-We visit the spot where his body was burned-Monumental inscription-Natural reflection upon his end-Forms of the old idolatry-Pagan notions respecting the soul-The realms of Wakea and Milu -Providence and Grace in the Heart of the Pacific.

THREESCORE and thirteen years ago there appeared in the serene waters of a far island in the Pacific a notable wonder, which has been succeeded by a greater wonder still. Two ships. significantly called the Resolution and Discovery, cast anchor in an unknown bay, called by its aborigines Kaawaroa, or Kealakekua. They were commanded by an intrepid navigator, of the most intrepid and daring race that has ever ploughed the seas. Their prows had ventured into strange oceans, and had broken the primeval stillness of bays and roadsteads

which are now whitened with the wings of Commerce, and struck by the propellers of mighty Steamers, then an idea all unknown but to the Creative Mind who has since given the steamboat, through Fulton, as a be nignant boon to our race.

These adventurous ships had anchored in the night, as upon the coast of an undiscovered country, with thoughts, perhaps, like those which a navigator in a balloon would now have, whose anchor should catch at midnight on some floating island of the great ocean of air. In the morning, when the natives on shore first beheld the strange sight, they were wild with amazement and conjecture. Unable to tell whence the wonder came, or what it was, or how to express their astonishment at the sight, they cried out, "Moku! moku!" the Hawaiian word for island, as if it were a moving island; and that is their name for a ship to the present day.

Then, as they gazed from a distance at the ship's towering masts and branching spars, they exclaimed, "It is a forest that has moved into the sea!" Soon the chiefs commanded some of their men to go in canoes and find out what this wonderful thing, this new moku, might be. They approached so near as to survey, with curious dread, the different parts of the ship and the men on board; and then they returned, all wild with excitement, and with the vain effort of their undisciplined minds, to describe what they had seen.

They had beheld the strangers as they looked over the ship's sides eating something red, (being watermelon from Monterey,) and to their imagination it was

« AnteriorContinuar »