630 
VOLCANO IN OWHYIIEE. 
path, till about two p. m. when the Crater of Kirauea suddenly burst 
upon our view. We expected to have seen a mountain with a broad 
base and rough indented sides, composed of loose slags or hardened 
streams of lava, and whose summit would have presented a rugged 
wall of scoria, forming the rim of a mighty caldron. But instead of 
this, we found ourselves on the edge of a steep precipice, with a vast 
plain before us, fifteen or sixteen miles in circumference, and sunk 
from two hundred to four hundred feet below its original level. The 
surface of this plain was uneven, and strewed over with large stones 
and volcanic rocks, and in the centre of it was the great crater, at 
the distance of a mile and a half from the precipice on which we 
were standing. Our guides led us round towards the north end of 
the ridge, in order to find a place by which we might descend to the 
plain below. As we passed along, we observed the natives, who had 
hitherto refused to touch any of the ohelo berries, now gather several 
bunches, and, after offering a part to Pel6, eat them very freely. 
They did not use much ceremony in their acknowledgment ; but when 
they had plucked a branch, containing several clusters of berries, 
they turned their faces towards the place whence the greatest quantity 
of smoke and vapour issued, and, breaking the branch they held in 
their hand in two, they threw one part down the precipice, saying at 
the same time, ‘ E Pele, eia ka ohelo ’au ; e taumaha aku wan ia oe, 
e ai hoi au ietahi.’ ‘ Pele, here are your ohelos : I offer some to 
you, some I also eat.’ Several of them told us, as they turned round 
from the crater, that after such acknowledgments they might eat the 
fruit with security. We answered, we were sorry to see them offering 
to an imaginary deity the gifts of the true God ; but hoped they 
would soon know better, and acknowledge Jehovah alone in all the 
benefits they received. 
“ We walked on to the north end of the ridge, where, the precipice 
being less steep, a descent to the plain below seemed practicable. It 
required, however, the greatest caution, as the stones and fragments 
of rock frequently gave w'ay nnder our feet, and rolled down from 
above ; but with all our care, we did not reach the bottom without 
several falls and slight bruises. 
“The steep which we had descended was formed of volcanic matter, 
apparently a light red and gray kind of lava, vesicular, and lying in 
horizontal strata, varying in thickness from one to forty feet. In a 
small number of places the different strata of lava were also rent in 
perpendicular or oblique directions, from the top to the bottom, 
either by earthquakes, or other violent convulsions of the ground 
connected with the action of the adjacent volcano. After walking 
some distance over the sunken plain, which in several places sounded 
hollow under our feet, we at length came to the edge of the great 
crater, where a spectacle, sublime and even appalling, presented 
itself before us — 
“We stopped, and trembled.’’ 
“ Astonishment and awe for some moments rendered us mute, and, 
like statues, we stood fixed to the spot, with our eyes riveted on the 
abyss below. Immediately before us yawned an immense gulf, in the 
