EA W All AN G U1DE B OK. 65 



robbed, that all remains of any value have been re- 

 moved by surviving relatives. Descent is a labor of 

 care by aid of a torch and with feet foremost, for a vol- 

 canic cave is black as midnight a hundred feet thick. 

 The torch only makes the darkness visible. The cave 

 is represented as perfectly airy and was formerly largely 

 occupied with human remains. Some were in a sitting 

 posture, their skin in folds like a parchment, others so 

 quiet in their repose that they seemed asleep. The cave 

 at Keaunui, with its remains, situated a few miles east 

 of Waimea was wantonly set on fire and its sepulchral 

 contents consumed many years ago. 



KOHALA 



Is the most northern district of Hawaii, and was once a 

 petty kingdom, thronged with people. It covers more 

 than three hundred square miles, and is latticed with 

 abandoned foot paths and boundary lines, showing the 

 minute subdivisions of the soil in those populous days. 

 The steamer leaving Kawaihae stops at Mahukona, a 

 sheltered landing under the lee of the north point of 

 Kohala, from whence to Iole, the center of population, 

 the site of two sugar plantations, is a distance of 10 

 miles. The sugar house landing is near the north- 

 eastern point of Iole, the home of the Kamehameha, 

 but it is not a regular stopping place for the steamer. 



Three objects of interest attract the traveler in Ko- 

 hala : the celebrated heiau or heathen temple of Punepu ; 

 the ancient water course at Iole and Waipio valley ; 

 and the ruins of the largest heathen temple in the Ha- 

 waiian Islands, situated six miles north-west of Iole, 

 within a few miles of the sea shore. It is three hundred 

 6* 



