On the Volcanic Character of the Island of Hawaii. 263 



the sea some of the inhabitants, and a huge rock nearly 100 

 feet high, which, a little while before, had been separated by 

 an earthquake from the main pile. They stated that it now 

 stands in the sea, nearly a mile from shore, its bottom fixed 

 in lava, and its summit rising considerably above the water. 



The missionaries thought it probable that the eruption here 

 alluded to, arose from " the body of the lava, which had filled 

 Kirauea up to the black ledge — between 300 and 400 feet 

 above the liquid lava — that it had, at the time spoken of, been 

 drawn off by this subterranean channel, though the distance 

 between the great crater and the land overflowed by it, was 

 not less than thirty or thirty-five miles." 



On the 3d of August, the missionaries arrived at the vil- 

 lage of Kaimu, where they heard from the people a confirma- 

 tion from eye-witnesses of the statement as to the transporta- 

 tion of the great rock — " they recapitulated the contest be- 

 tween Pele and Tamepuaa, and related the adventures of se- 

 veral warriors, who, with spear in hand, had opposed the vol- 

 canic demons, when coming down on a torrent of lava." 



They would not believe that the travellers had dared to 

 " break off pieces of Pele's house;" and when they saw the 

 specimens, they were not inclined to handle them. 



The missionaries observed the cracks in the ground and in 

 the houses, produced by a recent earthquake. " Earthquakes 

 are common over the whole island, though not so frequent in 

 this vicinity as in the northern and western parts. They are 

 not generally violent, except when they immediately precede 

 the eruption of a volcano." The path from Kaimu had been 

 smooth and pleasant; but shortly after leaving Kaimali, they 

 passed " a very rugged tract of lava, nearly four miles across. 

 The lava seemed as if broken to pieces while cooling ; it had 

 continued to roll on like a stream of large scoria or cinders. 

 Their progress across it was slow and fatiguing." 



As the party travelled out of Pualoa, " the lava was covered 

 with a tolerably thick layer of soil, and the verdant plain, ex- 

 tending several miles towards the foot of the mountains, was 

 agreeably diversified by groups of picturesque hills, originally 

 craters, but now clothed with grass and ornamented with 

 clumps of trees. The natives informed them that three of 

 these groups, Honuaura, Malama, and Maria, being contiguous 

 and joined at their base, arrested the progress of an immense 

 torrent of lava, which in the days of Taiaiopu, the friend of 

 Captain Cook, inundated all the country beyond them." 



After traversing another tract of rough lava they arrived at 

 Kapoho, situated in an amphitheatre, once evidently a crater, 

 but now filled with people and cottages, and smiling with ver- 

 dure 



