They were armed with muskets and bayonets, but had no uniform; their cartridge-boxes, which were made by the king’s workmen, are of wood, about thirteen inches long, rounded to the shape of the body, and covered with hide.
I have seen those guards at their exercise; rapidity, and not precision, seemed to be their great object. The men stood at extended order, and fired as fast as they could, beating the butt upon the ground, and coming to the recover without using the ramrod; each man gave the word “fire,” before he drew the trigger.
The natives of these islands have been accused of being cannibals; but as far as I could judge, either from my own observation, or from the enquiries I made, I believe the accusation to be perfectly destitute of foundation. Isaac Davis, who had the best means of knowing, having resided there more than twenty years, and who had been present and borne a share in all their wars, declared to me most pointedly, that “it was all lies--that there never had been cannibals there since they were islands.”
From a perusal of the foregoing pages, it will be seen, that these islanders have acquired many of the useful arts, and are making rapid progress towards civilization. Much must be ascribed, no doubt, to their natural ingenuity and unwearied industry; but great part of the merit must also be ascribed to the unceasing exertions of Tamaahmaah, whose enlarged mind has enabled him to appreciate the advantages resulting from an intercourse with Europeans, and he has prosecuted that object with the utmost eagerness.
The unfortunate death of captain Cook, and the frequent murders committed by the natives on navigators, particularly in Wahoo, in which Lieutenant Hengist, and Mr. Gooch, astronomer of the Dædalus, Messrs. Brown and Gordon, masters of the ships Jackall and Prince Le Boo, lost their lives, gave such ideas of the savage nature of the inhabitants, that for many years few ships would venture to touch at these islands.[29]
[29] The editor has not thought himself at liberty to alter the orthography of the king’s name adopted by Vancouver and Broughton. Although, to his ear, it would be more correctly Tameamea. Every voyager has spelt it in a different manner. Captain King has spelt it Maiha Maiha; Mr. Samwell, the surgeon of the Discovery, who published an account of Captain Cook’s death, Cameamea; Portlocke, Comaamaa; Meares, Tomyhomyhaw; Vancouver and Broughton, Tamaahmaah; Lisianski, Hameamea; Langsdorf, Tomooma; and Turnbull, Tamahama. As the hard sound of _C_ and _T_ is scarcely to be distinguished in the pronunciation of the language, and the h is silent, the reader, from a comparison, will be able to ascertain the most correct way.