LETTER XII. 



" The High Priest of Pele " — Missionary Hardships — A Renowned Baptism 

 — The ' ' Revival " — A Tidal Wave — Kapiolani's Heroism — Lava 

 Flows and Earthquakes. 



HlLO, February 22. 



Mv sojourn here is very pleasant, owing to the kindness and 

 sociability of the people. I think that so much culture and 

 such a variety of refined tastes can seldom be found in so small 

 a community. There have been pleasant little gatherings for 

 sewing, while some gentlemen read aloud, fern-printing in the 

 verandah, microscopic and musical evenings, little social 

 luncheons, and on Sunday evenings what is colloquially 

 termed " a sing," at this most social house. One of the things 

 I have specially enjoyed has been spending an afternoon at the 

 Rev. Titus Coan's. He is not only one of the most venerable 

 of the remaining missionaries, but such an authority on the 

 Hawaiian volcanoes as to entitle him to be designated "the 

 high-priest of Pele I" In his modest, quiet way he told thrilling 

 stories of the old missionary days. 



As you know, the islands cast off idolatry in 1819, but it was 

 not till 1835 that Mr. and Mrs. Coan arrived in Hilo, where 

 Mr. and Mrs. Lyman had been toiling for some time, and had 

 produced a marked change on the social condition of the 

 people. Mr. C. was a fervid speaker, and physically very robust, 

 and when he had mastered the language, he undertook much 

 of the travelling and touring, and Mr. Lyman took charge of 

 the home mission station, and the boarding and industrial 

 school which he still indefatigably superintends. There were 

 15,000 natives then in the district, and its extremes were 100 

 miles apart. Portions of it could only be reached with peril to 

 limbs and even life. Horses were only regarded as wild animals 

 in those days, and Mr. C. traversed on foot the district I have 

 just returned from, not lazily riding down the gulch sides, but 

 climbing, or being let down by ropes from tree to tree, and 



