cultivate this branch of traffic; though their shipping, and their skill in navigation, were of so deficient a nature, that in general they annually lost one ship in three.

In the year 1785, the Russian merchants engaged in the trade of furs and seal-skins were combined into a joint-stock association under the name of the American Company; and their chief factory was fixed on the island of Kodiak, a central situation between the Aleutic islands and Kamtschatka to the west, and the coast of America to the east. Nothing, however, could be more imperfect than the condition of these factories, with regard either to defence or to the means of equipping ships for sea. Their supplies had been received by land along the almost immeasurable length of Asiatic Russia; a journey which, taking in the deviation by the town of Irkutsk, has been calculated at the almost incredible extent of eight or nine thousand miles. Heavy commodities, such as cables, were cut into pieces of seven or eight fathoms in length, and spliced together at the end of this most tedious peregrination. Anchors it was almost impossible to transmit, but they also were carried thither in pieces, and afterward joined together. The mode of conveyance, being over a frozen surface, was, for land-carriage, comparatively easy: but the distance was so very great that European merchandise of all kinds was sold at twenty times its original cost; so that it evidently became indispensable to relinquish the plan of journeying by land, and to export commodities from the Baltic by sea, round Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope. Obvious as this course was, the resolution to attempt it was first taken by Russia so lately as in 1803, and proceeded from Captain Krusenstern; who had served in the English navy from 1793 to 1799, and had been strongly impressed with the advantages which would accrue to Russia from the extension of her traffic with China.

Captain K. visited Canton in 1799, and had ocular observation of the large profits which were obtained by the English and the Americans, who brought furs from the north-west coast of America. On returning to Russia, therefore, he made repeated attempts to interest government in the support of the projected traffic: but he met with a series of discouragements, and had almost relinquished the hope of success, when in 1802 he was apprized that the Russian cabinet had at last come to an affirmative determination, and had fixed on him as the commander of the expedition. The limited extent of the Russian marine not supplying two vessels of a proper construction, persons were dispatched to purchase them at Hamburgh: but, none being found there of a suitable description, they proceeded to London, the only place,' says Captain K., where we can reckon

reckon with certainty on having a choice of good vessels." 370 and one of 450 tons, were There, at last, two ships, one of purchased; at an expence, including repairs, of 22,ocol. sterling. They were forthwith honoured with Russian appellations, the larger being named the Nadeshda, or the Hope; and the smaller, which proved the better sailer, being called the Neva. In the mean-time, the Russian cabinet resolved to superadd to the nautical objects of the expedition, one of a diplomatic nature, viz. an embassy to the court of Japan; hopes being entertained that, by the transmission of a flattering letter, and the display of pomp in the embassy, an impression might be made which would be favourable to the opening of an intercourse with that otherwise forbidden territory. M. Resanoff, a man of rank, was accordingly appointed ambassador; and valuable presents were prepared for his Japanese Majesty and his ministers. With this envoy, and with respectable associates in the capacity of physician, surgeon, astronomer, draughtsman, and naturalist, Captain K. set sail from Cronstadt in August 1803. Excepting the scientific men, the whole of his companions, officers as well as sailors, were Russians. I had been advised,' he says, to take some foreigners among my crew; but I knew too much of the spirit of Russian sailors, whom I prefer to all others, even to the English, to listen to this proposition.'

After having passed some time at Copenhagen, and subsequently at Falmouth, the Nadeshda and her consort proceeded to the Canaries, the coast of Brazil, Cape Horn, and finally to the Washington islands, which lie towards the middle of the immense Pacific Ocean, about nine degrees south of the equator. They form part of a large groupe of islands which have long been known by the general name of Marquesas; and the separate cluster which they constitute received the appellation of Washington from the Captain of an American merchantman, who first visited them in 1791: but French and English navigators, not considering in the light of a discovery this visit to a portion of an assemblage of islands, of which the general position was previously known, have declined to give them Captain K. came in the name of the American legislator. sight of Nukahiwa, one of the Washington islands, on the 6th of May 1804, and steered along shore in quest of the harbour called Port Anna Maria :

The whole coast appears like an uninterrupted line of perpendieular rocks, connected with a chain of mountains, streching quite inland. These craggy barren rocks have a gloomy appearance, which is only enlivened by beautiful cascades, falling near each other, from the rocks into the sea, from a height of at least 1000 feet.

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At eleven o'clock we perceived to the westward a canoe rowing off to us: it had an outrigger, and wa paddled along by eight Indians; and I was much struck by a white flag it had hoisted, a token of peace that led me to expect some European on board of it. My expectations were soon confirmed. There was an Englishman in the boat, who at first had quite the appearance of one of the islanders ; his dress being entirely in their fashion, consisting merely of a girdle round the waist. He shewed me the certificates of two Americans, (to whom he had been of assistance during their stay here, particularly by procuring them wood and water,) in which it was attested that he had conducted himself well; and he offered me his service, which I readily accepted, being glad to procure so good an interpreter, by whose assistance I hoped to obtain some particular information upon this almost unknown island. This Englishman, whose name was Roberts, told us that he had been seven years upon the island, and two years previously in that of Santa Christina; that he had been put on shore on the latter, out of an English merchant-ship, the crew of which had mutinied against their captain, and could not prevail upon him to join their party, and in Nukahiwa he had lately married a relation of the King's, by which he acquired great consideration; so that it would be very easy for him to be of assistance to us.'.

We had scarcely let go our anchor, when the ship was surrounded by several hundred of the inhabitants, who brought cocoanuts, bread-fruit, and bananas for sale. The only things we could give them in exchange were pieces of old iron hoops, four or five inches long, with which I had supplied both ships for this purpose while we lay at Cronstadt. Such a piece was usually the price of five cocoa-nuts and three or four of the bread-fruit; but though they seemed to set a very high value on these, axes and hatchets were the chief objects of their wishes. They shewed a childish joy on receiving even a small piece of iron hoop, and usually evinced their satisfaction by a loud laugh, displaying their newly acquired riches with an air of triumph to their less fortunate companions, who swam round the ship.

At four in the afternoon the King and his suite came on board. His name was Tapega Kettenowee. He was a very strong, well made man, with a thick and extremely fat neck, from forty to fortyfive years of age. His body was tatooed with a dark colour approaching to black, so completely, that it even extended to spots on his head from which the hair had been cut away. He was in no wise to be distinguished from the lowest of his subjects; being, with the exception of the tschiabu*, entirely naked. I led him to my cabin, and gave him a knife and a piece of red cloth about twenty ells long, which he immediately bound round his loins. To his suite, consisting chiefly of his relations, I also made some presents, although Roberts advised me not to be so generous, telling me that not one of them, not even the King, would ever make me any return for them. At

* Tschiabu is the girdle which the savages wear round their waist; in the Sandwich isles it is called maro.'

this time I imagined that the King's authority here was equal to that of the sovereigns of the Sandwich and Society islands; but I was soon convinced of the contrary.

--

At sunset all the men without exception went on shore; but about 100 of the females still remained near the ship, round which they had been swimming during five hours. In this time they had made use of every art in their power to declare the object of their visit, nor could they doubt that their wishes were understood, since neither their pantomime nor their attitudes could be mistaken.-This debasement of the female sex is less occasioned by levity or ungo vernable passion in them, than by their duty to the unnatural and tyrannical orders of their husbands and fathers, who sent off their wives and daughters to procure small pieces of iron and other trifles, and in the morning were seen swimming out to meet them and take possession of the treasures which they had obtained.'

Next morning, Captain K. had the honour of a visit from the whole royal family, females as well as males. When he took them into his cabin, they were wonderfully pleased with the sight of a painting of his wife; and still more with a large mirror in which they were able to view their persons at full length, and which caught the King's fancy so much that, in every subsequent visit, he immediately repaired to the cabin, and stood before the glass for whole hours. On the second day, the Captain went on shore, accompanied by the ambassador, by most of his officers, and by a well armed escort. They were received by a large concourse of people of both sexes; and, on entering the royal dwelling, Captain Krusenstern sat down among the females, who examined his hands, his clothes, his hat, the embroidery of his uniform, &c. with much curiosity. Mats being spread, a repast of cocoa-nuts and bananas with water was put before them; and, as a farther proof of friendship, assistance was given by the natives to the sailors who were employed in replenishing the water-casks. This harmony, however, was on the point of receiving a serious interruption. The King having come to the ship in the morning of the twelfth of May, and remained some hours, intelligence was brought that the islanders were in a state of great confusion, and had taken up arms on the circulation of a report that their chief had been put in irons on board. This tumult, it was afterward ascertained, had been excited by a Frenchman of the name of Cabrit, who had been long resident on the island, and who was exceedingly mortified at the confidence placed by Captain K. in his rival, Roberts. Fortunately, explanations took place, and the dreaded insurrection was appeased without bloodshed but the Captain cannot forego the opportunity of moralizing (p. 111, 112.) on the inveterate hatred of the French and English, and on the calamities of which it is pro

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ductive to the rest of the world. In the present case, it is clear that the balance of respectability was decidedly on the side of our countryman; against whom his Gallic rival could substantiate no other charge than a refusal to participate in the fashionable thefts of the community. The Frenchman, on the other hand, had rendered himself, in the course of ten years, a perfect savage in his mode of living, in his amusements, and even in his plan of warfare; with the single exception of abstaining from the abominable practice of cannibalism.

The Nukahiwers are invariably of a large stature, and well made; they are very muscular, with a long handsome neck; have a great regularity of countenance, and an air of real goodness which was not belied by their dealings with us: but when we consider the cruelties of which these men are capable, the prejudice in their favour which the beauty of their person is very likely to create, soon vanishes, and their countenance seems to indicate nothing but apathy. An animated eye none of them possess. By tatooing their bodies very much, and rubbing them with a dark colour, they acquire a black appearance; otherwise their natural colour is clear, at least that of the boys and women who are not tatooed, was so; nor do they differ very much from the colour of Europeans, being only rather more yellow. These islanders are besides remarkable for having no deformed persons among them, none of us at least saw any, and their bodies are besides very free from biles and sores, owing to their great temperance; for the custom of drinking kava, so common to all the islands of this ocean, and the immoderate use of which is so prejudicial to the health, as frequently to occasion a distortion of the body, is only known here to a few, and is never observed but with the greatest temperance. The Nukahiwers are in the enviable possession of the most constant health, and they have hitherto been so fortunate as to escape the venereal disease: as they are free from complaint, so they are ignorant of all medicine. Their fear of the kaha, a species of charm supposed to produce sickness, and of which I shall speak hereafter, increases, perhaps, by its influence on the imagination, any disposition to illness; but its remedy, the removal of the charm, sufficiently distinguishes it from common disease; and their whole medical system consists in binding up wounds, in which the King is said to be particularly skilful.

Among the very handsome people of this island, we observed two in particular who excited the admiration of us all. The one was a great warrior of Tayo Hoae, and, at the same time, what, in the language of the country, is called Fire-lighter to the King; his name was Mau-ha-u, and he was perhaps one of the handsomest men that

I can only speak of the inhabitants of this island whom I know: but the description of the Nukahiwer will refer equally to the natives of all the group of Washington, as well as Mendoza islands, among whom there is a perfect resemblance in language, government, man, ners, and customs.’