CHAPTER IX.
Description of Wahoo—Extent—Whyteete-bay—Account of Tamaahmaah’s navy—Town and harbour of Hanaroora—Bass’s harbour—Wymumme, or Pearl-river—State of cultivation—Breed of cattle—Account of the white people resident on the island.
The island of Wahoo lies about seven leagues to the northwest of Morotai, and about thirty from Owhyhee, in the same direction; it is nearly forty miles in length from northwest to southeast, and almost half that extent in breadth.
Although only of secondary size, it has become the most important island in the groupe, both on account of its superior fertility, and because it possesses the only secure harbour to be met with in the Sandwich islands.
In consequence of this, and of the facility with which fresh provisions can be procured, almost every vessel[22] that navigates the north Pacific puts in here to refit. This is probably the principal reason why the king has chosen it as his place of residence; perhaps the vicinity to Atooi and Onehow, the only islands independent of himself, and the conquest of which he is said to meditate, is another and no less powerful motive.
The south coast of the island extends from Diamond-hill on the east, to Barber’s Point[23] on the west, a distance of about twenty-four miles. A range of mountains run almost parallel to the shore, from which it is separated by a fertile plain, which varies in breadth; at Hanaroora, where it is broadest, the distance from the sea to the mountains is about five miles.
A reef of coral runs along the whole extent of this shore, within a quarter of a mile of the land; the greater part of it dries at low water, and in the inside it is in many places too shallow even for canoes, except at full tide.[24]
Whyteete bay, where captain Vancouver anchored, is formed by the land falling back from the southern promontory of the island, called by the white people Diamond-hill. It is open to the south one half of the compass, and there being no channel, ships are obliged to anchor on the outside of the reef.
Tamaahmaah formerly resided at this place, and great part of his navy were hauled up on the shore round the bay. I counted more than thirty vessels; they are kept with the utmost care, having sheds built over them, their spars laid alongside, and their rigging and cables preserved in stores.