96 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



The route was throughout the southeastern portion of the island, 

 which has all been overspread with ancient lava streams : and I re- 

 marked at intervals, rounded spaces of an acre or more, which though 

 probably coeval with the rest of the surface, looked as if burst up- 

 wards by internal force. One of these, was pointed out as a former 

 ' worship-place ;' and at another, according to the natives, " sacrifices 

 were offered in times past, in consequence of an assemblage of people 

 having been destroyed there." My guides also pointed out a spot 

 where "a woman had suddenly perished," but in this instance, there 

 was no change in the lava surface. 



The new lava had reached and encroached upon the sea, at a place 

 called Nanavali ; among other changes, forming a sand-beach, where 

 there was none before ; while towards the Interior, the forest had 

 been swept away, and the surface of the lava-stream was strewed 

 with dead trees. The scene was stupendous ; and it was difficult to 

 realize that such a mass of matter had been contained within the cra- 

 ter of Kilauea. Figures might declare that the contents of a square 

 mile three hundred feet deep, were equivalent to thirty square miles 

 by ten feet ; but to the senses it seemed nevertheless impossible. 

 Vegetation however, was extending, and Flora was rapidly regaining 

 her reign ; and after a few years, the new lava may cease to attract 

 notice, and be traversed with the like indifference as any other por- 

 tion of the earth's surface. 



We traced the new lava-stream for several miles inland, and then 

 left it for the southeastern coast. At Kaimo, a town little visited by 

 strangers, the natives collected around us from motives of curiosity ; 

 and this was the only spot at the Hawaiian Islands, where I found 

 children numerous. My interpreter, John Ely, was struck with the 

 circumstance ; and remarked, that " it was many years since he had 

 seen so many children." He further stated, that "formerly, he 

 could not, as now, have left his house unoccupied for days in succes- 

 sion ; and that robbery and murder used to be quite common." On 

 passing a woman at work in a taro pond, he remarked, "that she 

 was probably without a husband : and that the natives are in ge- 

 neral very regardless of their relations, leaving all to look out for 

 themselves." 



We passed the ancient 'worship-place' of Wahaura; which is 

 quadrangular, and regularly built of stone, and is in a perfect state 

 of preservation. In the district of Panau, we turned from the coast; 

 ascending the black rivers of hardened lava, that seemed as if still pour- 



