Behind its harbour, safely sheltered by the coral reefs, lies the town of Hanaruro, consisting of irregular rows of dwellings scattered over an open plain. Here and there among the huts are seen houses built of stone in the European fashion. The former lie modestly concealed, under the cooling shade of palm-trees; the latter stand boldly forward, braving the burning sunbeams and dazzling the eye by their overpowering whiteness. Close to the shore the fortress rears its strong turreted walls in a quadrangular form, planted with cannon, and bearing the striped national flag of the Sandwich Islands. The country above the town rises in an amphitheatre, planted with tarro-root, sugar-cane, and banana, and the view to landward is bounded by precipitous mountains invading the clouds, and thickly overgrown with fine trees. In this beautiful panorama we see at once that the island of Wahu deserves the appellation it has acquired,--of the garden of the Sandwich Islands. As we approached the harbour, I made the usual signal for a pilot, and we soon after saw a boat of European construction making towards us; it was rowed by two naked _Kanachas_, as the lower class of people are here called, the pilot sitting at the rudder in an European dress. When he came on board, I recognised him for the Englishman, Alexander Adams, who on my former voyage in the Rurik had commanded the ship Kahumanna, belonging to King Tameamea; he was now chief pilot. The wind did not immediately allow us to run into the harbour, but in a few hours it became favourable, and our skilful pilot guided us safely through the intricacies of its narrow entrance. Our ship was the largest that had ever passed through this channel, which would be impracticable for first-rate vessels. Some of the ships we found in the harbour were English and American whalers, which had put in here for provisions; others were on trading voyages to the north-west coast of America for skins, or returning thence with their cargoes. Some were from Canton, laden with Chinese produce, which finds a good market in the Sandwich Islands; and one was a French ship from Bordeaux, which having carried a cargo of iron wares to Chili, Peru, and Mexico, had brought the remains of it here. All the captains visited me in the hope of hearing news from Europe; but many of them had left it later than we had, and accommodated us with their London newspapers. If we consider that scarcely fifty years have elapsed since these islands were first introduced by Captain Cook to the knowledge of the European public, and that the inhabitants were then completely what we call savages, that is, that they were wholly destitute of any conception of the arts, sciences, or habits of civilized life, we shall find with surprise that the harbour of Hanaruro already bears a character almost entirely European, reminding us only by the somewhat scanty clothing of the natives, of the briefness of their acquaintance with our customs.