1834, JANUARY. RETURN TO MOUNA ROA 311 



having a most peouHar cast in tis right eye, failed not to prompt and 

 reprove his scholars when necessary, in a remarkably powerful tone of 

 voice, which when he read, produced a trumpet-like sound, resembling 

 the voice of a person bawling into a cask. 



" Honori ' had the people called together ' by the sound of a conch- 

 shell, blown by a little imp of a lad, perched on a block of lava, ia front 

 of the school-house, when as in the morning, he ' lectured ' on the third 

 chapter of St. John. The congregation was thinner than in the morning, 

 many who lived at a distance having retired to their homes. 



" I spent the Monday (January the 27th) in making observations 

 and arranging matters for returning to Mouna Eoa : my men cooked 

 a stock of Taro, and I purchased a fine large goat for their use. 



" Tuesday, January the 28th.— I hired two guides, the elder of whom 

 a short stout man, was particularly recommended to me by the chief, 

 for his knowledge of the mountain. By profession he is a bird-catcher, 

 going in quest of that particular kind of bird which furnishes the feathers 

 of which the ancient cloaks, used by the natives of these islands, are made. 

 The other guide was a young man. Three volunteers offered to accom- 

 pany me ; one a very stout, fat dame, apparently about thirty, another 

 not much more than half that age, a really well-looking girl, tall- and 

 athletic : but to the first, the bird-catcher gave such an awful account 

 of the perils to be undergone, that both the females finally declined the 

 attempt, and only the third person, a young man, went with me. My 

 original party of ten, besides Honori and the two guides, set out at eight, 

 with, as usual, a terrible array of Taro, calabashes full of Poe, Sweet 

 Potatoes, dry Poe tied up in Ti-leaves, and goat's flesh, each bearing a 

 pole on his shoulder with a bundle at either end. Of their vegetable food, 

 a Sandwich Islander cannot carry more than a week's consumption, 

 besides what he may pick up on the way. One, whose office it was to 

 convey five quires of paper for me, was so strangely attired, in a double- 

 milled grey great coat, with a spencer of still thicker materials above it, 

 that he lamented to his companions that his load was too great, and 

 begged their help to lift it on his back. I had to show the fellow, who 

 was blind of one eye, the unreasonableness of his grumbling by hanging 

 the parcel, by the cord, on my little finger. He said, ' Ah ! the stranger 

 is strong,' and walked ofi. Among my attendants was one singular- 

 looking personage, a striphng, who carried a small packet of instruments, 

 and trotted away, arrayed in ' a Cutty-Sark,' of most ' scanty longitude,' 

 the upper portion of which had been once of white, and the lower of 

 red flannel. Honori brought up the rear, with a small telescope slung 

 over his shoulder, and an umbrella, which, owing perhaps to his asthmatic 

 complaint, he never fails to carry with him, both in fair and foul weather. 

 We returned for about a mile and a half along the road that led to the 

 Great Volcano, and then struck off to the left in a small path that wound 

 in a northerly direction up the green grassy flank of Mouna Roa. I soon 

 found that Honori's cough would not allow him to keep up with the rest 

 of the party, so leaving one guide with him, and making the bird-catcher 

 take the lead, I proceeded at a quicker rate. This part of the island is 



