ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 281 



Islands. He came hither in tl^ year 1789, remaining until his 

 death, which took place about a year ago, in his 90th year. 

 Mrs. Young is a sister of old king Tamehameha, and is now 

 probably sixty years of age, a very pleasant and lady-like old 

 woman. 



In the afternoon we visited a large heiau, or temple, in the 

 neighborhood. This temple, (which of course has not been used 

 as such since the abolition of idolatry) was built in the early part 

 of the reign of Tamehameha ; in it were deposited the gods of 

 wood and stone, which the natives worshipped, and at regular 

 periods, a human victim was offered as a sacrifice to their ima- 

 ginary deity. The victims consisted chiefly of convicts, or those 

 who had been guilty of some misdemeanor, but whenever the 

 stock commonly kept on hand, failed, (which not unfrequently 

 happened,) the authorities rarely scrupled to supply the deficiency, 

 either by forcing the common people to commit crimes worthy of 

 the punishment, or by entrapping them into a confession of some 

 petty transgression. 



It was also a common practice to sacrifice a victim on the 

 death of any of the higher chiefs, to propitiate the favor of the 

 idol toward the departed. At such times they were even less 

 scrupulous than ordinary ; a victim must be procured for the re- 

 pose of the troubled spirit, and it was therefore frequently made 

 an excuse for the most open and cruel injustice. 



The heiau is built of stones laid together, enclosing a square 



of about two hundred feet. The walls are thirty feet high, and 



about sixteen feet thick at the base, from which they gradually 



taper to the top, where they are about four feet across. In the 



centre, is a platform of smooth stones, carefully laid together, 



but without any previous preparation, raised to within ten feet of 



the top o,f the wall. It was on this platform that the victims 



were sacrificed, the gods standing around outside in niches made 



for their accommodation. 



36 



