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At break of day on the 13th, we saw in the west the elevated island of Muwe, and continued our course along the northern shore of this and its neighbour Morotai, to Wahu, where we intended to land.
M. Preuss, who lived in the neighbourhood of the lady, frequently witnessed similar meals, and maintains that Nomahanna and her fat hog were the greatest curiosities in Wahu. The latter is in particular favour with the Queen, who feeds him almost to death: he is black, and of extraordinary size and fatness: two Kanackas are appointed to attend him, and he can hardly move without their assistance.
Whoever wishes to sail in between the islands of Wahu and Morotai, must remember, that throughout the year a strong current always sets here towards the north-west; and that the eastern point of Wahu should be doubled within the distance of three miles from the coast; as farther out to sea, calms are very prevalent here, whilst in the neighbourhood of the land, a fresh breeze regularly sets, in the morning, from the land, and from noon till evening from the sea.
On Sunday, the inhabitants of Wahu make their appearance at church in full dress to be admired; and if the spectacle on these occasions is not so thoroughly laughable as at O Tahaiti, it is certainly sufficiently comic.
On the 19th of September, when the first rays of the sun were gilding the romantic mountains of Wahu, we spread our sails, and bade adieu to the Sandwich Islands, heartily wishing them what they so greatly want another Tameamea, not in name only, but in spirit and in deed.
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.
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.
Whether rain enough might not fall, at some time or other, to extinguish all the fires? And whether, by means of such a rain, Wahu might not become as cold as Russia?
On the large island O Wahi, however, he encountered a formidable resistance; but at length, after several bloody contests, he captured the war-god: the insurgents, who had also lost their leaders in the last battle, believing themselves quite abandoned by the gods, now dispersed, and Karemaku, on the restoration of tranquillity, returned to Wahu.
The country above the town rises in an amphitheatre, planted with tarro-root, sugar-cane, and banana, and the view to landward is bounded by precipitous mountains invading the clouds, and thickly overgrown with fine trees. In this beautiful panorama we see at once that the island of Wahu deserves the appellation it has acquired, of the garden of the Sandwich Islands.
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