Crater of the Great Volcano of Kirauea. 47 



us safely through, and refreshing ourselves in the charming 

 groves with which the wood was here again edged. 



The remaining distance, of near thirty miles, was very much 

 of one character. The path consisted solely of a bed of black 

 lava, so smooth in many places, as to endanger falling, and still 

 shewino- the configuration of the molten stream, as it had rolled 

 down the gradual descent of the mountain, led midway through 

 a strip of open, uncultivated country, from three to five miles 

 wide, skirted on both sides by a ragged and stinted wood, and 

 covered with grass, fern, and low shrubs, principally a species of 

 the whortle-berry. There were no houses. near the path, but 

 the thatch of a cottage, or the rising smoke, seen occasionally, 

 in the edge of the woods, shewed that it was not an uninhabited 

 region. Far on the right and west, the mountains Mouna Kea 

 and Mouna Roa were distinctly visible, and on the left and east, 

 at an equal distance, the ocean, with its horizon, from the height 

 at which we viewed it, mingling with the sky. 



We dined thirteen miles from the bay, in the shade of a large 

 candle-tree, where a party of people from the neighbouring set- 

 tlements, were waiting to see the " arii nui mai Berekania mai,'' 

 (the great Chief from Britain), as they called Lord Byron. About 

 two miles further, we came to the houses erected for our lodg- 

 ings the first night : thinking it, however, too early to lie by 

 for the rest of the day, after witnessing a dance performed by a 

 company from the surrounding districts, we hastened on, intend- 

 ing to sleep at the next houses, ten miles distant. But night 

 overtook us before we reached them, and perceiving the ruins 

 of two huts, a few rods from our path, we turned aside to them^ 

 just as darkness began to set in. The sticks forming their frames^ 

 were all that remained, but the islanders soon covered them wilh 

 leaves, and spread the ground with fresh fern, before laying the 

 mats which were to be our beds. 



" Our arrival and encampment produced a picturesque and 

 lively scene. The natives, who are not fond of such forced 

 marches as we had made during the day, were more anxious 

 for repose than ourselves, and as soon as they heard of the 

 determination to stop, proceeded with great animation and 

 alacrity to make the necessary preparations for the night. Some 

 ran for leaves and grass for the huts, some for wood for a fire — 



