caboose; he could not imagine how that could be done.  We invited him into the cabin, and, having regaled him with some glasses of wine, began to talk of business matters:  we offered him merchandise in exchange for hogs, but were not able to conclude the bargain that day.  His majesty re-embarked in his double pirogue, at about six o’clock in the evening.  It was manned by twenty-four men.  A great chest, containing firearms, was lashed over the centre of the two canoes forming the pirogue; and it was there that Tamehameha sat, with his prime-minister at his side.

In the morning, on the 22d, we sent our water-casks ashore and filled them with excellent water.  At about noon his sable majesty paid us another visit, accompanied by his three wives and his favorite minister.  These females were of an extraordinary corpulence, and of unmeasured size.  They were dressed in the fashion of the country, having nothing but a piece of tapa, or bark-cloth, about two yards long, passed round the hips and falling to the knees.  We resumed the negotiations of the day before, and were more successful.  I remarked that when the bargain was concluded, he insisted with great pertinacity that part of the payment should be in Spanish dollars.  We asked the reason, and he made answer that he wished to buy a frigate of his brother, King George, meaning the king of England.  The bargain concluded, we prayed his majesty and his suite to dine with us; they consented, and toward evening retired, apparently well satisfied with their visit and our reception of them.

In the meantime, the natives surrounded the ship in great numbers, with hundreds of canoes, offering us their goods, in the shape of eatables and the rude manufactures of the island, in exchange for merchandise; but, as they had also brought intoxicating liquors in gourds, some of the crew got drunk; the captain was, consequently, obliged to suspend the trade, and forbade any one to traffic with the islanders, except through the first-mate, who was intrusted with that business.

I landed on the 22d, with Messrs. Pillet and M’Gillis:  we passed the night ashore, spending that day and the next morning in rambling over the environs of the bay, followed by a crowd of men, women, and children.

Ohetity, where Tamehameha resides, and which, consequently, may be regarded as the capital of his kingdom, is—­or at least was at that time—­a moderate-sized city, or rather a large village.  Besides the private houses, of which there were perhaps two hundred, constructed of poles planted in the ground and covered over with matting, there were the royal palace, which was not magnificent by any means:  a public store, of two stories, one of stone and the other of wood; two morais, or idol temples, and a wharf.  At the latter we found an old vessel, the Lady Bird, which some American navigators had given in exchange for a schooner; it was the only large vessel which King Tamehameha possessed; and, besides,