She was much delighted with all that she saw on board, especially with my cabin, where the sofa paid dearly for the honour of her approbation,--she sat upon it, and broke it down. The portrait of the Emperor Alexander attracted her particular attention; she sat down opposite to it upon the floor, where she could cause no farther destruction, and said, after gazing upon it for some minutes with much interest, "Maitai, Yeri nue Rukkini!" (the great Governor of the Russians is beautiful!) She told me, that she knew a great deal about Russia. A Sandwich Islander, named Lauri, who, in 1819, had made the voyage thither, in the Russian ship Kamtschatka, with Captain Golowin, and had afterwards returned to his own country, had told her many things concerning Petersburg and the Emperor. She said she would have liked to make the voyage herself, but that Lauri's fearful description of the cold had terrified her. He had told her, that it was necessary to envelope the body entirely in fur, and that even this would not obviate all danger of losing the nose and ears; that the cold changed the water into a solid substance, resembling glass in appearance, but of so much strength that it was used for a high road, people passing over it in huge chests drawn by horses, without breaking it; that the houses were as high as mountains, and so large, that he had walked three days in one of them without coming to the end of it. It was evident that Lauri had stretched a little; but Nomahanna had no notion of incredulity. She approved of our inventions for warming the inside of our houses, and thought, that if she were at Petersburg, she would not go out at all during the cold weather, but would drive her carriage about the house. She inquired how it could possibly be so warm at one season of the year, and so cold at another. I endeavoured to accommodate my answer to her powers of comprehension, and she seemed satisfied.