The districts of Kohala and Kona were held by Kamehameha, a nephew of the late king, while the other districts were loyal to his son, Keoua. After a sanguinary war lasting nine years (during which Kamehameha had ravaged West Maui and conquered the district of Hamakua), he became master of the whole of the Island of Hawaii by the assassination of his rival, Keoua, at Kawaihae, in 1791. VISITS OF VANCOUVER. The name of Capt. George Vancouver is still cherished as that of a wise and generous benefactor to these Islands. During his survey of the northwest coast of America in 1792-1794, he made three visits to the Islands. He uniformly refused to sell fire arms or ammunition to the chiefs, but gave them useful plants and seeds, and presented Kamehameha with the first cattle and sheep ever landed in the Islands. On the 25th of February, 1794, Kamehameha and his chiefs voluntarily placed Hawaii under the protection of Great Britain, in token of which the British flag was hoisted on shore at Kealakekua. CONQUEST OF OAHU. After the death of Kahekili, the sovereign of the leeward Islands, in 1794, a civil war broke out between his brother Kaeo and his son Kalanikupule, in which the former was killed. Soon after Kalanikupule treacherously massacred Captains Brown and Gordon, who had assisted him in the late war, and seized their vessels in the harbor of Honolulu. Having put his guns and ammunition on board, he proposed to sail immediately for Hawaii, in company with a fleet of war canoes, to attack Kamehameha. But the English sailors who had been reserved to navigate the two vessels, suddenly rose at midnight, recaptured them, and sailed for Hawaii, where they informed Kamehameha of all that had occurred. Kamehameha saw that his opportunity had now come, and lost no time in mustering all the war canoes and fighting men of Hawaii. After overrunning West Maui and touching at Molokai, he landed in Waialea bay, Oahu, in the latter part of April, 1795. There he spent a few days in organizing his army before marching up the valley of Nuuanu, where Kalanikupule had prepared to make his last stand. The Oahu warriors were soon routed and pursued up the valley. Some of the fugitives were hemmed in and driven over the "_Pali_," or precipice, at the head of Nuuanu, a little north of the present road. This victory made Kamehameha master of all the Islands except Kauai and Niihau. With the exception of a short insurrection in Hawaii, there was peace during the rest of his reign. DECREASE OF POPULATION.