The throng and excitement
were so great, that we were outside the reef before I got a good
view of this lady, the largest and the richest woman on the islands.
Her size and appearance are most unfortunate, but she is said to be
good and kind. She was dressed in a very common black holuku, with
a red bandana round her throat, round which she wore a le of immense
oleanders, as well as round her hair, which was cut short. She had
a large retinue, and her female attendants all wore leis of
oleander. They spread very fine mats on the deck, under pulu beds,
covered with gorgeous quilts, on which the Princess and her suite
slept, and in the morning the beds were removed, breakfast was
spread on the mats, and she, some of her attendants, and two or
three white men who received invitations, sat on the deck round it.
It was a far less attractive meal than that which the serene steward
served below. The calabashes, which contained the pale pink poi,
were of highly polished kou wood, but there were no foreign
refinements. The other dishes were several kinds of raw fish, dried
devil-fish, boiled kalo, sweet potatoes, bananas, and cocoa-nut
milk.
I had a very uncomfortable night on a mattress on the deck, which
was overcrowded with natives, and some of the native women and two
foreigners had got a whiskey bottle, and behaved disgracefully.
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