From the shore we were escorted to a large frame building called the wooden-house, then occupied by our countryman, Captain Wilds, where a handsome dinner was prepared, to which every luxury was added that could be obtained from the shipping or the shore. We were much surprised on landing, to find a rabble of naked and half-naked natives, amounting to many hundreds, as we had been taught to believe, from the various information we had received, that their condition was much improved, and that they were far advanced in civilization. They were of all ages, and formed a more varied and fantastic group than I had any where seen, even where no degree of civilization had taken place, from an intercourse with white men. Some of them were quite naked; some had their native dress of tappa cloths; some had on cotton shirts, some a pair of old trowsers, and some nothing but an old jacket. Many of them had adorned their heads with wreaths of red and yellow flowers, and some their necks and wrists with necklaces and bracelets of shells. They expressed the greatest pleasure at seeing us, shouting and crowding around, so that we could not get along without pushing them out of the way. In appearance, a comparison of them with the natives of the Marquesas or Mulgrave Islands, would have been greatly to their disadvantage. On the following day, we were again invited to dine at the same place, where we met a second time with our countrymen, and interchanged with them those sentiments of friendship and sympathy that naturally arise on meeting in a strange land, and which are felt by Americans with peculiar force. It appeared to us that they could not sufficiently express their gratification at seeing us at Oahoo, by the most unremitted attention, for they continued to feast and give us parties every day for more than a week, and until our various and pressing duties made it inconvenient for us to partake of them. On the first sabbath after our arrival, I went to the place of worship appointed by the missionaries for the natives. A large building, formerly occupied for this purpose, had been destroyed a short time previous to our arrival, and as they had now no house sufficiently large to contain the whole congregation, the place appointed for worship was an extensive enclosure in the rear of a large frame building, which is occupied as the dwelling of the young king. Within this enclosure, was assembled about a thousand people, as I supposed, seated on the ground. Some of them were dressed in silks, cottons, and calicoes, and others were in their native dress, being quite naked, except about the waist. They were in the open air, without any protection from the sun, which was pouring its vertical rays upon them. Mr. Bingham, the head of the mission, was addressing them in the language of the island, and when he saw me at the outer edge of the circle, very kindly beckoned me to come round where the queen dowager was seated.