Here the vessels engaged in the fur trade touched to make
repairs and procure provisions; and here they often sheltered themselves
during the winters that occurred in their long coasting expeditions.
The British navigators were, from the first, aware of the value of these
islands to the purposes of commerce; and Tamaahmaah, not long after
he had attained the sovereign sway, was persuaded by Vancouver, the
celebrated discoverer, to acknowledge, on behalf of himself, and
subjects, allegiance to the king of Great Britain. The reader cannot but
call to mind the visit which the royal family and court of the Sandwich
Islands was, in late years, induced to make to the court of St. James;
and the serio-comic ceremonials and mock parade which attended that
singular travesty of monarchal style.
It was a part of the wide and comprehensive plan of Mr. Astor to
establish a friendly intercourse between these islands and his intended
colony, which might, for a time, have occasion to draw supplies thence;
and he even had a vague idea of, some time or other, getting possession
of one of their islands as a rendezvous for his ships, and a link in the
chain of his commercial establishments.
On the evening of the 12th of February, the Tonquin anchored in the bay
of Karakakooa, in the island of Owyhee.
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