by vessels navigating the northern Pacific. The establishment of the independent States of South America has greatly increased their importance, as they lie in the track of vessels passing from thence to China and India; and they are also visited by persons who trade for peltry with the natives of the north-west coast of America.

During the visit of Captain Vancouver in 1792, the king ceded the island of Hawaii to the British crown, and placed himself and his dominions under British protection; an act which was repeated by his son, the late king, on his accession to the sovereignty of all the islands. Owhyhee, or as the missionaries spell it Hawaii, is the principal island of the group, and will long be remarkable for the death of the illustrious navigator above alluded to. Some interesting particulars respecting that lamented event have been gleaned by the missionaries. The following is the result of their inquiries.

"Mr. Thurston and I climbed the rocks, which rise in a north-east direction from the village, and visited the cave in which the body of Captain Cook was deposited, on being first taken from the beach. The cave is of volcanic formation, and appears to have been one of those subterranean tunnels so numerous on the island, by which the volcanoes in the interior sometimes discharge their contents upon the shore.

"There are a number of persons in the islands, who either were present themselves at the unhappy dispute which terminated the valuable life of the celebrated Captain Cook, or who, from their connexion with those who were on the spot, are well acquainted with the particulars of that melancholy event. With many of them we have frequently conversed; and though their narratives differ in a few smaller points, they all agree in the main facts, with the account published by Captain King, his successor.

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"The foreigner,' they say, was not to blame; for, in the first instance, our people stole his boat, and he, in order to recover it, designed to take our king on board his ship, and detain him there till it should be restored. Kapena Kuke'(Captain Cook's name is thus pronounced by the natives) and Taraiopu our king were walking together towards the shore, when our people, conscious of what had been done, thronged round the king, and CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 293.

This

objected to his going any further. His wife also joined her entreaties that he would not go on board the ships. While he was hesitating, a man came running from the other side of the bay, entered the crowd almost breathless, and exclaimed, 'It is war! the foreigners have commenced hostilities, have fired on a canoe from one of their boats, and killed a chief.' enraged some of our people, and alarmed the chiefs, as they feared Captain Cook would kill the king. The people armed themselves with stones, clubs, and spears. Kanona entreated her husband not to go. All the chiefs did the same. The king sat down. The captain seemed agitated, and was walking towards his boat, when he turned, and with his double barrelled one of our men attacked him with a spear: gun shot the man who struck him. Some of our people then threw stones at him, which being seen by his men, they fired on stop his men from firing, but could not, us. Captain Cook then endeavoured to on account of the noise. He was turning again to speak to us, when he was stabbed in the back with a pahoa; a spear was at the same time driven through his body: he fell into the water, and spoke no more.

"After he was dead, we all wailed. His bones were separated-the flesh was scraped off and burnt, as was the practice in regard to our own chiefs when they died. We thought he was the god Rono, worshipped him as such, and after his death reverenced his bones.'

"Not only were his bones so treated, but almost every relic left with them. Among other things, a sledge, which, from their description of it, must have come from the north-west coast of America, left at the islands, by Captain Cook, or some of his companions, was afterwards worshipped by the people.

"Many of the chiefs frequently express the sorrow they feel whenever they think of the captain; and even the common people usually speak of these facts with apparent regret. More than once, when conversing with us on the length of time the missionaries had been in the Society Islands, they have said, Why did you not come here sooner? Was it because we killed Captain Cook?

"We have sometimes asked them what inducement they had to steal the boat, when they possessed so many canoes of their own. They have generally answered, that they did not take it to transport themselves from one island to another; for their own canoes were more convenient, and they knew better how to manage them; but because they saw it fastened with nails. These they wanted,therefore stole the boat, and broke it to pieces the next day, in order to obtain the nails to make fish-hooks with. They prize nails very highly; and though we do not know that they ever went so far in their endeavours to obtain a more abund

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ant supply, as the Society islanders did, who actually planted them in the ground, hoping they would grow like potatoes, or any other vegetable; yet such is the value they still set on them, that the fishermen would rather receive a wrought nail, to make of it a fish-hook according to their own taste, than the best English-made fish-hook we could give them.

"It has been supposed that the circumstance of Captain Cook's bones being separated, and the flesh taken from them, was evidence of a savage and unrelenting barbarity; but so far from this, it was the result of the highest respect they could shew him." pp. 99-103.

"The missionaries in the Society Islands had, by means of some Sandwich islanders, been long acquainted with the circumstance of some of Captain Cook's bones being preserved in one of their temples, and receiving religious worship; and every endeavour has been made to learn, though without success, whether they were still in existence, and where they were kept. The best conclusion we can form is, that part of Captain Cook's bones were preserved by the priests, and were considered sacred by the people, probably till the abolition of idolatry in 1819: that, at that period they were committed to the secret care of some chief, or deposited by the priests who had charge of them, in a cave, unknown to all besides themselves. The manner in which they were then disposed of will, it is presumed, remain a secret, till the knowledge of it is entirely lost. The priests and chiefs always appear unwilling to enter into conversation on the subject, and desirous to avoid the recollection of the unhappy circumstance." pp. 105, 106. The plan and objects of the missionaries' tour through Owhyhee are described as follows:

"July 15th, 1823. Our whole number being now together at the place where we had previously agreed to commence our tour, we no longer delayed to decide on the route we should take, and the manner in which we should endeavour to accomplish the objects of our visit. Anxious to gain a thorough acquaintance with the circumstances of the people, and their disposition relative to missionary operations, we agreed to travel on foot from Kairua, through the villages on the southern shore, to pass round the south point, and continue along the southeast shore, till we should arrive at the path leading to the great volcano, situated at the foot of Mouna Roa, about twenty-five miles distant from the sea, which we thought it improper to pass unnoticed. We proposed, after visiting the volcano, either to descend to the shore and travel along the coast through the division of Puna, or across the interior to the division of Hiro, as circumstances might then render most expedient. From Waiakea

in Hiro, we agreed to proceed along the eastern shore, till an opportunity should offer for part of our number to cross over the mountains of Kohala, while the rest should travel along the shore, round the north point of the island, and meet their companions at Towaihae." pp. 71, 72.

We shall not undertake to follow our party through this excursion; but shall present to our readers a few miscellaneous notices detailed in the course of their route.

The plan of their tour being arranged, they waited on the governor of the island, to request his aid in the execution of it, and received the best advice and assistance he could afford. They had the honour, twice in his society, of witnessing a native dance performed on a fine sandy beach in the front of one of his residences; but they did not find the circumstances of this august ceremony very favourable for missionary proceedings. Their account of one of these scenes is, however, worth extracting as a specimen of native manners.

"About four o'clock in the afternoon, another party of musicians and dancers, followed by multitudes of people, took their station nearly on the spot occupied yesterday by those from Kau. The musicians, seven in number, seated themselves on the sand; a curiously carved drum, made by hollowing out a solid piece of wood, and covering the top with shark's skin, was placed before each, which they beat with the palm or fingers of their right hand. A neat little drum, made of the shell of a large cocoa-nut, was also fixed on the knee, by the side of the large drum, and beat all the while with a small stick held in the left hand. When the musicians had arranged themselves in a line, across the beach, and a bustling man, who appeared to be master of ceremonies, had, with a large branch of a cocoa-nut tree, cleared a circle of considerable extent, two interesting little children, (a boy and a girl,) apparently about nine years of age, came forward, habited in the dancing costume of the country, with garlands of flowers on their heads, wreaths round their necks, bracelets on their wrists, and buskins on their ancles. When they had reached the centre of the ring, they commenced their dance to the music of the drums; cantilating all the while, alternately with the musicians, a song in honour of some ancient chief of Hawaii.

"The governor of the island was present, accompanied, as it is customary for every chieftain of distinction to be on

for the national adoption of Christianity by the public rejection of the native idolatry. This violent disruption of the ancient superstition was the act of the late king Rihoriho, well-known from his visit to this country; where himself and his queen both died, after not only a hospitable, but even a polite and ceremonious reception, not often conferred by the higher order of civilized courts and nations upon chieftain visitants from what they are pleased, in their superiority, to denominate barbarian tribes. Mr. Ellis gives the following description of this remarkable man, and of his motives for visiting England, which we extract, as a prelude to the passage which describes his somewhat cavalier abolition of idolatry.

"The early habits of Rihoriho did not warrant any great expectations. His natural disposition was frank and humane. The natives always spoke of him as good natured, except when he was under the influence of ardent spirits: his manners were perfectly free, at the same time dignified, and always agreeable to those who were about him. His mind was naturally inquisitive. The questions he usually presented to foreigners were by no means trifling; and his memory was retentive. His general knowledge of the world was much greater than could have been expected. I have heard him entertain a party of chiefs for hours together, with accounts of different parts of the earth, describing the extensive lakes, the mountains and mines of North and South America; the elephants and inhabitants of India; the houses, manufactures, &c. of England, with no small accuracy, considering he had never seen them. He had a great thirst for knowledge, and was diligent in his studies. I recollect his remarking one day, when he opened his writing desk, that he expected more advantage from that desk, than from a fine brig belonging to him, lying at anchor opposite the house in which we were sitting. Mr. Bingham and myself were his daily teachers, and have often been surprised at his unwearied perseverance. I have sat

beside him at his desk sometimes from nine or ten o'clock in the morning, till nearly sun-set, during which his pen has not been out of his hand more than three quarters of an hour, while he was at dinner.

"We do not know that Christianity exerted any decisive influence on his heart. He was willing to receive the missionaries on their first arrival-availed himself of

their knowledge to increase his own,and, during the latter years of his life, declared his conviction of the truth of was decidedly favourable to their object; Christianity; attended public worship himself on the Sabbath, and recommended the same to his people.

"His moral character was not marked by that cruelty, rapacity, and insensibility to the sufferings of the people, which frequently distinguish the arbitrary chiefs of uncivilized nations." pp. 425, 426. terprise: the abolition of the national "He possessed both decision and enidolatry was a striking instance of the former; and his voyage to England, of the latter. The motives by which he was induced to undertake that long and hazardous voyage were highly commendable.— They were, a desire to see, for himself, countries of which he had heard such various and interesting accounts-a wish to the king of Great Britain, or the chief have a personal interview with his majesty members of the British government, for the purpose of confirming the cession of the Sandwich Islands, and placing himself and his dominions under British protection.

"It was also his intention to make himself acquainted with the tenor and forms of administering justice in the courts of law-the principles of commerce-and other subjects which seemed important to the welfare of the islands.

"Although the melancholy death of the king and of his queen prevented the accomplishment of these objects so fully as might have been wished, yet no unfriendly feeling is likely to be entertained by the people, as to the cause of it. The account the survivors will convey to their countrymen, of the generous reception they met-the hospitable manner in which they were entertained, while they livedthe high respect paid to their remains, and other tokens of friendship, will not only prevent suspicion, but combine to confirm that attachment and confidence which they have so long felt towards England.

"No disturbance of the general tranquillity, or change in the government, is to be apprehended from this event. Rihoriho left a younger brother, Kauikeoule, about ten years of age, who will be his successor. A regency will govern during his minority." pp. 427, 428.

Rihoriho's queen comes in for a large share of Mr. Ellis's eulogy, and she really appears to have deserved it. The various little traits of simplicity and affection detailed in our newspapers, at the time of the visit and death of these strangers, would seem, from our author's description of the parties, to have been perfectly genuine.