swam out to meet the strangers. Among them he found Wilson, an
Englishman who had long been here and who was tattooed from head to
foot. On first seeing this man Porter was strongly prejudiced
against him, but found him extremely useful as an interpreter, and
concluded that he was an inoffensive fellow whose only failing was a
strong attachment to rum. With Wilson's eagerly offered help, Porter
made friends with the people of Tai-o-hae, established a camp on
shore, and set about revictualing his fleet.

The tribes of Tai-o-hae, or Tieuhoy, as Porter called it, were
annoyed by the combative Hapaa tribe, or collection of tribes, which
dwelt in a nearby valley, and these doughty warriors came within
half a mile of the American camp, cut down the breadfruit trees, and
made hideous gestures of derision at the white men. In response,
Porter landed a six-pound gun, tremendously heavy, and said that if
the Tai-o-hae tribe would carry it to the top of a high mountain
overlooking the Hapaa valley, he would drive the Hapaas from the
hills where they stood and threatened to descend.

To Porter's amazement, the Tai-o-hae men, surmounting incredible
difficulties, laid the gun in position, and as the Hapaas scorned
the futile-looking contrivance and declared that they would not make
peace with the whites, Porter sent his first assistant with forty men,
armed with muskets and accompanied by natives carrying these weapons
and ammunition for the cannon.

The battle began with a great roar of exploding gunpowder, and from
the ships the Americans saw their men driving from height to height
the Hapaas, who fought as they retreated, daring the enemy to follow
them. A friendly native bore the American flag and waved it in