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sued rather tends to republican forms; a good, practical, religious education, however, may be the result. How far it is intended to carry it, I did not learn. I have seldom seen better behaved children than those in this school.

Connected with Mr. and Mrs. Cooke, I must not omit to mention John Ii, who is their guardian and protector. During my stay I saw them frequently. The Saturday after my arrival, I had them on board the ship, with their tutors. They were hardly to be distinguished from well-bred children of our own country; were equally well dressed, and are nearly as light in colour.

After a further acquaintance with Honolulu, it appeared much more advanced in the scale of civilization than I thought it at first, and I found some difficulty in being able to realize that I was among a Polynesian nation, so different are they from the other islanders in the scale of improvement.

One cannot but be struck with seeing the natives winding their way along the different thoroughfares, laden with all kinds of provisions, wood, charcoal, and milk, to supply the market and their regular customers. Indeed, there are quite as many thus employed as in any place of the same number of inhabitants in our own country.

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Their usual mode of carrying burdens is to suspend them with cords from the ends of a stick; this is laid across the shoulders, and so accustomed are they to carry the load in this manner, that they will sometimes increase the weight by adding a heavy stone, in order to balance it. The stick on which they carry their load is made of the Hibiscus tiliaceus, which is very light and tough. Instead of baskets,

they use a kind of gourd, which grows to a large size, and seems pecu liar to these islands; these are thin and brittle, but with the care the natives take of them, are extremely serviceable: they are used for almost every thing, as dishes, for carrying water, &c. It takes two gourds to make one of the baskets used for transporting articles; and the smaller one being turned over the opening cut in the larger one, effectually protects the contents from rain. Some of these gourds will contain upwards of two bushels. For travelling on these islands, they are almost indispensable.

The gait of the Kanaka moving with his load is a quick trot, and he takes very short steps. The loaded calabashes, when suspended from the sticks, have the see-saw creaking sound that is heard from an easy old-fashioned chaise.

Besides the carrying of burdens, there are many natives engaged in the same employments as the lower classes in the United States.

Almost every profession of civilized nations is represented here, except that of law, of which, as yet, there are no practitioners either in Honolulu or at the other islands.

There is no great beauty in the location of the town of Honolulu, nor any taste displayed in its plan; yet there are a number of comfortable habitations, surrounded with young trees, intermixed with the grass-houses of the natives. The roads, or streets, are entirely destitute of trees, and the natives and foreign residents here seem to have no inclination to plant them in the town: this surprised me, for it would tend more than any thing else to their comfort. The high adobe walls, which have been introduced from South America, however convenient they may be, certainly do not improve either the beauty or comforts of Honolulu; being suffered to fall into decay, they, in so dry a climate, add not a little to the discomforts of the inhabitants, from the quantity of fine dust that the trade-winds put into circulation for a few hours each day. But these dusty roads and barren plains can, in a few minutes, be exchanged for one of the most agreeable and delightful climates in the world, by a short ride to the valley of Nuuanu. The contrast is like passing from the torrid to the temperate zone. In this valley a number of the gentlemen of Honolulu have cottages, that form pleasant retreats during the hot

season.

The valley of Nuuanu is formed by a break in the central volcanic ridge of Oahu: it ascends gradually from behind the town, and is about seven miles long, by half a mile wide at its entrance. It contracts until it reaches the northern side of the ridge, where it suddenly terminates

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