MAUN A LO A. 115 



instruments to carry on simultaneous observations with our mountain 

 party. I had also a house built after the native fashion, in order that 

 some of the officers might be engaged upon the charts. 



Waiakea Point is situated on the opposite side of the bay from Hilo. 

 The distance between them is a little more than a mile, and the path 

 leads along a sandy beach, on which the surf continually breaks, and 

 at times with great violence. 



Hilo is a straggling village, and is rendered almost invisible by the 

 luxuriant growth of the sugar-cane, which the natives plant around 

 their houses. A good road has been made through it for the extent 

 of a mile, at one end of which the mission establishment is situated. 

 This consists of several houses, most of which are of modern style, 

 covered with zinc and shingles. One of them, however, the residence 

 of the Rev. Mr. Coan, was very differently built, and derived impor- 

 tance in our eyes, from its recalling the associations of home. It was 

 an old-fashioned, pi'im, red Yankee house, with white sills and case- 

 ments, and double rows of small windows. No one could mistake the 

 birthplace of the architect, and although thirty degrees nearer the 

 equator than the climate whence its model was drawn, I could not but 

 think it as well adapted to its new as to its original station. 



The whole settlement forms a pretty cluster; the paths and road- 

 sides are planted with pine-apples; the soil is deep and fertile, and 

 through an excess of moisture, yields a rank vegetation. 



The church is of mammoth dimensions, and will, it is said, accom- 

 modate as many as seven thousand persons. It is now rapidly falling 

 into decay, and another is in progress of erection. Many of the native 

 houses are surrounded with bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, and have a 

 fine view of the bay. 



During our passage from Oahu, it was arranged that each of the 

 natives employed by us should be designated by a tin disk, in order to 

 keep them in some sort of order or discipline. These were painted of 

 different colours, so that the wearers might be known to us and 

 mustered, without having recourse to their names or asking any ques- 

 tions. It was intended to divide them into companies of fifty, with a 

 petty chief and one of our interpreters to each. Dr. Judd very kindly 

 arranged all the preliminaries with Pea, the king's agent for the district 

 of Hilo, and the keeper of his fish-ponds, whom his majesty Kameha- 

 meha had authorized to employ people for our service. The natives 

 had consequently been ordered to assemble and assist us as we might 

 require. The king had likewise ordered a large number of hogs to be 

 collected as a present, and Pea was further instructed to make a pro- 

 vision of taro, poe, &c. 



