It is a remarkable fact, that a people who regarded their faith and their priests with so much reverence, as I had myself witnessed previously to this occurrence, should in so short a period, acquiescing in the decree which denounced their creed as error, and consigned their sanctuaries to demolition, contentedly submit to the total deprivation of all external signs of religion. Karemaku had judgment enough to perceive that this state of things would not endure, and that a religion of some kind was indispensable to the people; he therefore resolved to set his countrymen a good example, and yielding to an inclination he had long entertained, to declare himself publicly a convert to Christianity. In the same year, 1819, Captain Freycinet, on his voyage round the world, landed at Hanaruro, and a clergyman accompanying him, Karemaku and his brother Boki received the sacrament of baptism according to the forms of the Catholic Church.
At this time, a society of missionaries was formed in the United States of America, for the purpose of introducing Christianity into the Sandwich Islands. Of the extinction of the ancient faith, which must of course facilitate their undertaking, they had as yet received no information. Six families of these missionaries arrived at Wahu in 1820, bringing with them two young Sandwich Islanders, who had been previously prepared in their schools. The King, hearing of their intention, would not allow them to land, but commanded them immediately to depart from his shores. Here, again, Karemaku interposed, and endeavoured to convince the King that the Christian religion would be one of the greatest benefits he could confer on his subjects. The King then assembled the most distinguished Yeris, and after fourteen days' deliberation, decreed that a piece of land should be granted to the missionaries, with permission to build a church, and to preach their doctrines, under the condition that they should immediately leave the island if the experiment should be found to have a prejudicial influence on the people. The missionaries agreed to the terms, took up their residence on Wahu, and from thence extended settlements over the other islands. Their first efforts were successfully directed to the conversion of the King, his family, and the most distinguished Yeris. When these personages had openly professed the new faith, the Missionaries considered themselves firmly established, and proceeded with more confidence to the full execution of their plan. They quickly acquired the language of the islands, which from the largest of them they called the O Wahi language, printed the first book in it, (a collection of Hymns,) in the year 1822, and instructed the natives, who proved apt scholars, in reading and writing. These missionaries were Protestants; but the Catholic Karemaku, having no notion of the points of doctrine in dispute between the Churches, joined without hesitation in communion with them; and the Christian religion spreading rapidly among the Sandwich Islanders, without any of the constraint or persecution which had disgraced it at O Tahaiti, promised the happiest effects.
Notwithstanding, however, all the efforts of Karemaku, the people were not yet entirely pacified. The former faith had still many secret adherents, and the King was unable to acquire either the esteem or affection of his subjects. Insurrections were continually dreaded; and Rio Rio, not feeling sufficiently secure even in his entrenchments at Wahu, determined, by the advice of some Europeans, to make a voyage to England, in the hope that these discontents would subside during his absence. He confided the administration of the government to the faithful Karemaku, and Kahumanna, the favourite wife of his father, and in the year 1824 sailed for England in a North American ship, accompanied by his consort, Karemaku's brother Boki, and some other persons of rank; taking with him twenty-five thousand Spanish piastres from the treasure amassed by his father.
Soon after the King's departure, a regular rebellion broke out in the island of O Tuai. Its former ruler, Tamari, was dead, and his son, a young man who had been brought up in the United States of America, and had unfortunately fallen into bad company, was desirous to recover for himself the independent dominion of the island. Karemaku and Kahumanna immediately hastened thither with an army, and on our arrival at Hanaruro we found the war still raging at O Tuai, though it was supposed to be near its close. The government of Wahu was entrusted, during the absence of the Regents, to another wife of Tameamea, named Nomahanna, conjointly with a Yeri called Chinau.
On the morning after our arrival, I rowed ashore with some of my officers, to pay my respects to the Queen Nomahanna, and on landing was met by the Spaniard Marini, who accompanied us to her Majesty as interpreter. On the way I was recognised by several old friends, with whom I had become acquainted on my former visit. They saluted me with a friendly "Aroha." I cannot say there was much room for compliment on any visible improvement in their costume; for they still wore with much self-complacency some ill-assorted portions of European attire.
The residence of Nomahanna lay near the fortress on the sea-shore: it was a pretty little wooden house of two stories, built in the European style, with handsome large windows, and a balcony very neatly painted. We were received on the stairs by Chinau, the governor of Wahu, in a curious dishabille. He could hardly walk from the confinement his feet suffered in a pair of fisherman's shoes, and his red cloth waistcoat would not submit to be buttoned, because it had never been intended for so colossal a frame. He welcomed me with repeated "Arohas," and led me up to the second floor, where all the arrangements had a pleasing and even elegant appearance. The stairs were occupied from the bottom to the door of the Queen's apartments, by children, adults, and even old people, of both sexes, who, under her Majesty's own superintendence, were reading from spelling-books, and writing on slates—a spectacle very honourable to her philanthropy. The Governor himself had a spelling-book in one hand, and in the other a very ornamental little instrument made of bone, which he used for pointing to the letters. Some of the old people appeared to have joined the assembly rather for example's sake, than from a desire to learn, as they were studying, with an affectation of extreme diligence, books held upside down.
The spectacle of these scholars and their whimsical and scanty attire, nearly upset the gravity with which I had prepared for my presentation to the Queen. The doors were, however, thrown open and I entered, Chinau introducing me as the captain of the newly-arrived Russian frigate. The apartment was furnished in the European fashion, with chairs, tables, and looking-glasses. In one corner stood an immensely large bed with silk curtains; the floor was covered with fine mats, and on these, in the middle of the room, lay Nomahanna, extended on her stomach, her head turned towards the door, and her arms supported on a silk pillow. Two young girls lightly dressed, sat cross-legged by the side of the Queen, flapping away the flies with bunches of feathers. Nomahanna, who appeared at the utmost not more than forty years old, was exactly six feet two inches high, and rather more than two ells in circumference. She wore an old-fashioned European dress of blue silk; her coal-black hair was neatly plaited, at the top of a head as round as a ball; her flat nose and thick projecting lips were certainly not very handsome, yet was her countenance on the whole prepossessing and agreeable. On seeing me, she laid down the psalm-book in which she had been reading, and having, with the help of her attendants, changed her lying for a sitting posture, she held out her hand to me in a very friendly manner, with many "Arohas!" and invited me to take a seat on a chair by her side. Her memory was better than my own; she recognised me as the Russian officer who had visited the deceased monarch Tameamea, on the island of O Wahi. On that occasion I had been presented to the Queens; but since that time Nomahanna had so much increased in size, that I did not know her again. She was aware how highly I esteemed her departed consort; my appearance brought him vividly to her remembrance, and she could not restrain her tears, in speaking of his death. "The people," said she, "have lost in him a protector and a father. What will now be the fate of these islands, the God of the Christians only knows." She now informed me with much self-gratulation that she was a Christian, and attended the prayer-meeting several times every day. Desirous to know how far she had been instructed in the religion she professed, I inquired through Marini the grounds of her conversion. She replied that she could not exactly describe them, but that the missionary Bengham, who understood reading and writing perfectly well, had assured her that the Christian faith was the best; and that, seeing how far the Europeans and Americans, who were all Christians, surpassed her compatriots in knowledge, she concluded that their belief must be the most reasonable. "If, however," she added, "it should be found unsuited to our people, we will reject it, and adopt another."
Hence it appears that the christianity of the missionaries is not regarded with the reverence which, in its purity, it is calculated to inspire in the most uncultivated minds. In conclusion, Nomahanna triumphantly informed me, that the women might now eat as much pork as they pleased, instead of being, as formerly, limited to dog's flesh. At this observation, an intrusive idea suddenly changed her tone and the expression of her features. With a deep sigh, she exclaimed—"What would Tameamea say if he could behold the changes which have taken place here? No more Gods—no more Marais: all are destroyed! It was not so in his time:—we shall never have such another king!" Then, while the tears trickled down her cheeks, she bared her right arm, and showed me, tattooed on it in the O Wahi language—"Our good King Tameamea died on the 8th of May 1819." This sign of mourning for the beloved monarch, which cannot be laid aside like our pieces of crape, but accompanies the mourner to the grave, is very frequent on the Sandwich Islands, and testifies the esteem in which his memory is held: but it is a still more striking proof of the universal grief for his loss, that on the anniversary of his death, all his subjects struck out one of their front teeth; and the whole nation have in consequence acquired a sort of whistle in speaking. Chinau had even had the above words tattooed on his tongue, of which he gave me ocular demonstration; nor was he singular in this mode of testifying his attachment. It is surprising that an operation so painful, and which occasions a considerable swelling, should not be attended with worse consequences.
Nomahanna spoke with enthusiasm on the subject of writing. Formerly, she said, she could only converse with persons who were present; now, let them be ever so far distant, she could whisper her thoughts softly to them alone. She promised to write me a letter, in order, she said, that I might prove to every one in Russia that Nomahanna was able to write.
Our conversation was interrupted by the rattling of wheels, and the sound of many voices. I looked from the window, and saw a little cart to which a number of active young men had harnessed themselves with the greatest complacency. I inquired of Marini what this meant, and was informed that the Queen was about to drive to church: an attendant soon after entered, and announced that the equipage was ready. Nomahanna graciously proposed my accompanying her; and rather than risk her displeasure by a refusal, I accepted the invitation with many thanks, though I foresaw that I should thus be drawn in as a party to a very absurd spectacle.