skirted by undulating hills and rich plains, where the cabins of the
natives peep out from beneath groves of cocoanut and other luxuriant
trees.

On the 21st of February the Tonquin cast anchor in the beautiful bay
before the village of Waititi, (pronounced Whyteetee.) the abode of
Tamaahmaah. This village contained about two hundred habitations,
composed of poles set in the ground, tied together at the ends, and
thatched with grass, and was situated in an open grove of cocoanuts. The
royal palace of Tamaahmaah was a large house of two stories; the lower
of stone, the upper of wood. Round this his body-guard kept watch,
composed of twenty-four men in long blue cassocks, turned up with
yellow, and each armed with a musket.

While at anchor at this place, much ceremonious visiting and long
conferences took place between the potentate of the islands and the
partners of the company. Tamaahmaah came on board of the ship in royal
style, in his double pirogue. He was between fifty and sixty years
of age, above the middle size, large and well made, though somewhat
corpulent. He was dressed in an old suit of regimentals, with a sword
by his side, and seemed somewhat embarrassed by his magnificent attire.
Three of his wives accompanied him. They were almost as tall, and quite
as corpulent as himself; but by no means to be compared with him in
grandeur of habiliments, wearing no other garb than the pan. With him,
also, came his great favorite and confidential counseller, Kraimaker;
who, from holding a post equivalent to that of prime minister, had been
familiarly named Billy Pitt by the British visitors to the islands.

The sovereign was received with befitting ceremonial. The American
flag was displayed, four guns were fired, and the partners appeared