eed, difficult to believe that comparatively a
few years ago the country was sunk in heathen darkness; especially when
it was reported that few kingdoms are better governed, and no people,
taken as a whole, more orderly and contented. Happily for, itself,
having no harbours of sufficient size to afford shelter to men-of-war,
or which are capable of being defended, it is likely to remain as
heretofore independent, unless republican principles should prevail, and
the people involuntarily join themselves to the United States. The then
king was said to be an amiable and enlightened gentleman, as well
educated as most of the European sovereigns were but a few years ago;
and the young Dowager Queen Emma, who has English blood in her veins,
was pretty, sweet-tempered, sensible, and altogether a most excellent
and attractive person. Still, notwithstanding the attention the
officers received from the inhabitants, they agreed that Honolulu was
not a place at which they would wish to remain for any length of time.

"Hurrah!" cried Tom, rushing into the berth one afternoon, "we are to be
off to-morrow morning for Hawaii; and if there's time, some of us will
have a chance of visiting the volcano of Kilauea, and the very spot
where Captain Cook was killed. The commander told me I might tell you.
And I advise you fellows who haven't got your clean linen off to send
for it without delay, or you may chance to have to wait for it till our
return, which I hope may be never."

Several of Tom's messmates jumped up on hearing this to follow his
advice, as the Kanaka washerwomen were not likely to prove more honest
than those of other places, or to return "wash-clothes" before the time
agreed on.

The next morning the two ships were steaming out of the roads. For a
few hours they brought up in the far-famed bay of Kealakeaku, on the
north side of which was a rock, protected from the swell by a point of
lava rocks, thus affording a convenient landing-place. Near it, at the
foot of a cocoanut tree, is the spot where the celebrated navigator
breathed his last; and on the still remaining stump of the tree was
nailed a sheet of copper, on which was inscribed an account of the
event. Most of the officers having visited the spot and inspected its
surroundings, with such copies of Cook's _Voyages_ in their hands as
were to be found on board, the ships steamed out again for Hilo Bay, on
the other side of the island. Round the shores appeared