The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-24 00:00:00

THE PACIFIC SQUADRON.

Tho following is an extract from a letter received
on the 20th inst. from the Pacific :

" Her Majesty's ship President, at Sea, July 28.
"On the 17th of May we left Callao for the Marque-
sas islands, in company with the Virago and a French
squadron, consisting of La Forte, 60 guns, and Obli•
gado, 18, and reached Nukakiva, the French settlement
at the Marquesas, on the Bth of June, having had a very
fine run of 3,000 miles. We remained there till the 3d
of-July, when the squadron, which had been reinforced,
sailed for Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, in quest of the
enemy. Our force, on arriving at Honolulu consisted
of : English—the President, 95 ; Amphitrite, 25 ; Vi-
rago, 6. French—La Fort., 60 ; Eurydice, 30 ; Arte-
mi,c, 30 ; Ohligado, 18.
"The Pique juinod us on the 22d, having gone. almost
direct from Rio Janeiro to meet the squadron, so that
we have now a very respectable force of ships to meet
the Russians with.

" During our stay at Honolulu all the ships were
busily employed in completing water and. provisions.
Each ship left with live cattle on board. We took six
of the finest bullocks I ever saw,
and we have just got
through three of them to-day. It was actually neces-
sary for the health of all-that- we should at least have a
fortnight's fresh meat, as before our arrival there we had
been 6:3 days on her Majesty's allowance of salt beef and
pork, which you may imagine was not calculated to im-
prove our health or general appearance.
" While we were at Honolulu the Admiral and many
officers of the squadron attended a full dress levee of
the King of the Sandwich islands, at which you will
pro') ,bly smile, but I can assure you that English and
American civilization has done wonders here. King
Kamehameha 111. keeps up his Court in the same man-
ner as in England ; has Palace Guards, Ministers
of Departments (Europeans principally), and all the
attributes of Royalty. Her- Majesty the Queen is
blessed with a daughter called the Princess Victoria,
after her Majesty, and there are several princes of the
Royal blood. The chiefs are perfict aristocrats, and boast
of their unpolluted descent for many generations. The
nobility are very fine well-grown men, and the difference.
of their appearance and that of the lower orders indi-
cates a decided superiority of breeding. The King is
said t,) have the prevailing • weakness of his subjects for
drink to an incredible extent, and probably the Ame-
ricans will in one of his drunken fits induce him tomako
over his dominions to them, as the 7 are very -anxious
to incorporate these. splendid islands with the United
States. The Admiral took His Majesty and the Royal
familv-and all the Court outside the harbour for a cruise

in the Virago on the 22d, and on passing our fleet, which
must have appeared most imposing to thorn, the Presi-
dent and Forte fired a royal salute in honour of His Ma-
jesty, and A the ships n:anned yards and gave three
cheers. His Majesty and suite were all dressed in very
handsome and expensive uniforms ; the Virago was
crowded with English and American ladies and gentle-
men ; our band was on board the steamer, which mus thave
been a great treat to them all, as it is really a first-class
one. I never saw in the Pacific such splendid facilities
for obtaining supplies for ships. Of course, the arrival
of our large squadron raised the price of the market
considerably—more than double—but everything can be
procured,—water, in abundance, coal, bullocks, much
finer than English ; sheep and cattle of all kinds, veget-
ables, fruits, and almost everything can be obtained,
either produced in the islands or brought from San Fran-
cisco, which is only about 10 or 12 days' sail.
" About 300 whalers come to Honolulu every year to
refit, and its central position in the ocean makes it in-
valuable. It is a sad pity our Government have not
possession—a more glorious depot foi the squadron and
merchantmen could not be found.

" lienolulu has sprung up in 30 years to be a consider-
able and well-built, town of about 15,000 inhabitants,
and everything bears the air of advancing civilization
and improvement. There are two or three newspapers
published weekly, and communication with San Fran-
cisco has been established fortnightly. During our stay
these the celebrated singer Catherine Hayes arrived in a
merchant bark from San Francisco en, route to Austra-
lia ; she paid us a visit last Sunday.
" Nukabiva, one of the Marquesas, was also visited.
The bay in fine weather is the most magnificent piece of
scenery that can be imagined. It is perfectly land-
locked, in shape of a horse-shoe, and surrounded by hills
about 1,000 to 1,200 feet high. The first part of our
stay the weather was very fine, and we enjoyed ourselves
much. During the latter part of our stay it rained in-
cessantly and so heavily as to prevent our going on
shore. The French have a settlement here, consisting
of a wretched fart of three guns, several neatly-built
houses, occupied by the Governor and his officers, and
the ie,:t storehouses for salt provisions, the resources of
the island not furnishing adequate supplies for 150 set-
tlers, who are soldiers of the colonial regiments of
France. They are obliged to be exceedingly cautions
with the natives, who do not appear to like them much,
and great precaution has to be used to prevent a sur-
prise by them, which occurred once, and nearly all the
French were killed by the blacks. There is always a
French ship of war there, the captain of which acts as
Governor. The natives are a fine race—dark copper
colour, and tattooed all over the body and face, and
sonic of Cum have a terrific a,pect. Their costume is
generally that worn by our common parent, Adam, but
they are very fond of European clothes, and wear them
with a great air. The women are not bad-looking, and
have a little more dress than the men, although their
spare attire would alarm sums of our good folks at
home. They are expert swimmers. I saw several
women in the water with their infants, which they
managed to hold aloft most cleverly. The island abounds
with cocoanuts, bananas, and guaves, and all sorts of
vegetables grow profusely. Pigs ars also very numerous,
but cannot be obtained by us at any price. Melville's
Typee gives a most interesting account of these islands,
althouele rather romanced. •
" We are now going to a very trying part of the globe
to Sitka, a Russian fur settlement, which is in a very

high northern latitude, and the weather is very severe
there. We are in hopes of meeting the Russian squa-
dron there, and of ascertaining whether we are to have
any fighting or prize-meney. Should it turn out no-
thing is to be done there, we shall, doubtless, proceed to
Petropaulovski, another sentlement on the coast o f
Kamtscuatka, where the Russian ships will doubt-
less he.

" At present it appears our force will comprise the
President, Pique, Eurydice, and Virago. The French
Admiral proceeded to San Francisco to look out for pri-
♦ateers, with she other portion of the squadron.
" We are, however, quite uncertain ; a day might alter
the whole cf our surmises. All we now are certain of is
that we are about 300 miles from Honolulu, steering due
north. We are now about 25,000 miles from home. I
forward this by the Amphitrite, leaving to go with the
French Admiral to San Francisco. I am glad to say
WC are all well in health, and very happy and comfort-
table m every way."