ANCIENT CATARACT OE LAVA. 171 
and asked them to be still. They answered, “ Yes, 
yes, we willbut in a few minutes were as bois¬ 
terous as ever. We were not aware of the intoxi¬ 
cating nature of the simple juice of sweet potatoes, 
when fermented, till we saw its effects on the 
party here. 
But notwithstanding we were uncomfortable 
during our short stay at Honaunau, and the 
people less kind than we usually found them, it 
appeared to us an eligible place for a Missionary 
station, where one or two devoted men might 
labour with a prospect of extensive usefulness. 
Being sufficiently recovered to proceed on the 
journey, we left Keokoa about eight o’clock on 
the morning of the 24th. After travelling half a 
mile, a singular appearance of the lava, at a small 
distance from the shore, attracted our attention, 
and, on examination, presented a curious pheno¬ 
menon. It consisted of a covered avenue of con¬ 
siderable extent, from fifty to sixty feet in height, 
formed by the flowing of the lava, in some recent 
eruption, over the edge of a perpendicular pile of 
ancient volcanic rocks, from sixty to seventy feet 
high. It appeared as if, at first, it had flowed 
over in one vast sheet, but had afterwards fallen 
more slowly, and in detached semifluid masses. 
These, cooling as they fell, had hardened and 
formed a pile, which, by continued augmentation 
from above, had ultimately reached the top, and 
united with the liquid lava there. It was evident 
that the lava had still continued to How, along the 
outside of the arch thus formed, into the plain 
below, as we observed, in several places, the 
courses of unbroken streams, from the top of the 
cliff to the bed of smooth lava, that covered the 
beach for several miles. The space at the bottom, 
