A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26, Vol. 2Kotzebue, Otto von
History
A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26, Vol. 2
Kotzebue, Otto von
Discoveries in geography; Predpriiatie (Ship); Voyages around the world; Zoology
For a lady of the Sandwich Islands, Nomahanna was this day very
elegantly attired. A peach-coloured dress of good silk, trimmed at the
bottom with black lace, covered her Majesty's immense figure, which a
very broad many-coloured sash, with a large bow in the front, divided
exactly into two halves. She had a collar round her neck of native
manufacture, made of beautiful red and yellow feathers; and on her head
a very fine Leghorn hat, ornamented with artificial flowers from Canton,
and trimmed round the edge with a pendant flounce of black lace; her
chin lying modestly hidden behind a whole bed of flowers that bloomed
on her mountain bosom. In somewhat striking contrast to all this finery
were the clumsily accoutred feet, and stout, ill-shaped, brown,
unstockinged legs, which the shortness of her Majesty's petticoats,
proportioned originally to the stature of a European belle, displayed to
a rather unsightly extent.
As yet, the shoemaker's craft does not flourish in the Sandwich Islands;
so that all the shoes and boots worn there are imported from Europe and
America. But as neither of these Continents can produce such a pair of
feet as those of Queen Nomahanna, the attempt to force them into any
ready-made shoes would be hopeless; and her Majesty is therefore
obliged, if she would not go bare-foot, which she does not consider
altogether decorous, to content herself with a pair of men's galloshes.
Such trifles as these were, however, beneath her notice, and she
contemplated her dress with infinite complacency, as a pattern of
princely magnificence. In these splendid habiliments, with a parasol in
her hand, slowly and with difficulty, she climbed the ship's stairs, on
which, with some of my officers, I was in waiting to receive her; on
the highest step she endeavoured already to give us a proof of her
acquaintance with our customs, by making a courtesy, which was intended
to accord with the most approved rules of the art of dancing, though the
feet, not perfectly tutored in their parts, performed in rather a comic
style. In attempting this feat, she lost her balance, and would have
fallen into the water, if a couple of strong sailors had not caught her
illustrious person in their arms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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