During the few days the Susquehanna was at anchor in the harhor, three
whalers, two American and one English, communicated by means of their
boats, with the settlement, and carried away a good stock of provisions.
These are obtained ordinarily in exchange for other articles from on board
the ships, of which ardent spirits is to some of the settlers the most acceptable.
Were it not for the scarcity of labor a much greater extent of land
would be cultivated. At present there cannot be more than a hundred and
fifty acres throughout the whole island under cultivation, and this is in
detached spots, generally at the seaward termination of the ravines through
which the mountain streams flow, and thus supply an abundance of fresh
water, or upon plateaux of land near the harbor. The soil is of excellent
quality, and resembles very much that of Madeira and the Canary Islands,
which are in the same parallel of latitude. I t is admirably adapted for the
cultivation of the vine, and for the raising of wheat, tobacco, sugar-cane,
and many other valuable plants. In fact, the settlers already produce enough
sugar and tobacco for their own consumption.
The few people who live on Peel Island seem happy and contented.
Those of European origin have succeeded in surrounding themselves with
some of the comforts and appliances of civilization. In one of the cottages
there was observed several compartments, and what with hangings from the
walls of Chinese matting, a chair or two, a table, a plentiful distribution
of blue paint, and some gaudily oolored lithographs, there seemed not only
on the part of the proprietor a desire for comfort, but even a taste for luxury.
The Sandwich islanders, or Kanakas, as they are now familiarly known
to sailors and traders, live very much as they do in their native islands, and
have grouped together their palm thatched huts, which have somewhat the
appearance of one of their native villages. The inhabitants, living a quiet
and easy life in a climate which is genial and wholesome, and upon a land
whose fertility supplies them, in return for but little labor, with all they
want to eat and drink, do not care to change their condition. The Americans
and Europeans have taken to themselves wives from among the good-
natured and substantial Kanaka women.
Commodore Perry being desirous of obtaining as full information as
possible of Peel Island during his short visit, determined to send parties of
exploration into the interior. He accordingly detailed certain officers and
men for the purpose, who were divided into two companies, one of which
was headed by Mr. Bayard Taylor, and the other by Dr. Pahs, assistant
surgeon.
These gentlemen, having been duly armed and equipped, started early
on the morning of the 15th of June, with a view of devoting the day to the
proposed exploration. The party headed by Mr. Taylor, whose steps we
shall first follow in the narrative, and whose report as submitted to the
Commodore we shall freely use, was composed of eight: Mr. Bayard Taylor,
Mr. Heine, the artist, Mr. Boardman, midshipman, Mr. Lawrence, assistant
engineer, Mr. Hampton, purser’s steward, Smith, a marine, Dennis Terry,
seaman, and a Chinese coolie. As Peel Island is only six miles in length, it
was thought that one day was quite sufficient time for two parties properly
distributed to explore so small a space. The northern part of the island,
which is that which stretches immediately around the harbor, was the field
of operation appropriated to the doctor’s party, while the southern half fell
to the duty of the explorers whose steps we are now about to follow.
At early sunrise the party left the Susquehanna and were rowed ashore
to the watering place at the head of the bay. On reaching this point the
rations and ammunition were distributed to each, so that all might, as far as
possible, be equally burdened. A Kanaka, who was met at the landing, was
urged to accompany the party as a guide, but he was not disposed to comply,
although he pointed out a small footpath, which he stated led over the hills
to a Kanaka settlement about three miles distant. This direction was at
once followed, which led them by a steep and slippery path through a wilderness
of tropical growth. Palm trees, among which was the sago palm, that
produces the sago of commerce, abounded; parasitic plants hung in festoons
from branch to branch, and by their close net-work, interwoven with the
trees, hindered the progress at every step, while the dew which dripped in
the early morning from the thick foliage of the overgrown thicket wetted
each one to the skin. The soil was observed to be that which is common
about Port Lloyd and other parts of the island, and seemed composed of the
detritus of trap rock and the decomposed refuse of the plants and trees.
Rock of trap formation protruded frequently in rough crags from the steep
sides of the hills, and in the crevices grew a beautiful variety of the hibiscus,
with its large flowers of a dull orange, whose petals were tipped with yellow
of a lighter shade. A shower of white blossoms, which had fallen from a
large tree of thirty feet in height, strewed here and there the ground.
The course was up the ridge of the hill, and as it continued to the
summit the vegetation became more and more profuse, until the expanding
tops of the palm, the crowding together of the trunks of the trees, and the
dense net-work of the hanging vines, so shrouded the sun that the path was
covered with a deep shade, through the darkness of which the eye could
hardly penetrate to a greater distance, in any direction, than twenty or
thirty feet. I t was difficult at times to trace the path. When the party
had reached the water-courses of the streams which flowed down the other
side of the ridge they were ascending, multitudes of land crabs pattered
away in every direction, frightened out of their coverts by the approaching
footsteps.
The ridge at its summit widened into an undulating surface of a mile
and a half or so in breadth, and was furrowed with deep gullies. The de