KILAUEA. 199 



truncated cones, some of which were inverted. These appeared to me 

 to have been lava jets that had resulted from a subsequent flow of the 

 upper pahoihoi, which had been forced upwards, cooling as it met 

 the air, and congealing. Each of these pillars was perforated with 

 a hole from top to bottom, and the lava that composed them was 

 laminated. The wood-cut of lava jets will be seen at the end of this 

 chapter. 



These columns are sometimes twenty feet high, and some of them 

 resemble colossal statues of rude workmanship. 



As long as the pahoihoi lasted, we had pleasant walking; but it 

 did not reach far, for the rough lava seemed to predominate in our 

 path, and made the way irksome and fatiguing. 



This hill has a tradition attached to it, which one of our guides 

 related to us. When Palila, one of their gods, in former times, was 

 on the hill roasting bananas, the people of Papapala saw the smoke, 

 and went up to ascertain who was there. They found only a boy 

 cooking bananas, and attempted to take them from him ; but his 

 power was such, that he beat them all and drove them down the 

 mountain ; and they never again ventured to encounter so powerful 

 a god. 



Almost all the hills or craters of any note have some tradition 

 connected with them ; but I found that the natives were now gene- 

 rally unwilling to narrate these tales, calling them "foolishness." 



After leaving the pahoihoi plain, we passed along the line of cone 

 craters, towards Point Kapoho, the southeast part of the island. 



Of these cone-craters we made out altogether, large and small, 

 fifteen, trending about east-northeast. The names of the seven last 

 are Pupukai, Poholuaokahawele, Punomakalua, Kapoho, Puukea, 

 Puuku, and Keala. On some of these the natives pointed out where 

 there had formerly been slides, an amusement or game somewhat 

 similar to the sport of boys in riding down hill on sleds. These they 

 termed kolua. 



This game does not appear to be practised now, and I suppose that 

 the chiefs would now consider themselves above such boyish amuse- 

 ments. The manner in which an old native described the velocity 

 with which they passed down these slides, was by suddenly blowing 

 a puflf; according to him these amusements were periodical, and the 

 slides were usually filled with dried grass. 



As we approached the sea-shore, the soil improved very much, and 

 was under good cultivation, in taro, sweet-potatoes, sugar-cane, and a 



