174 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
but weak, we proceeded in the canoe to Kalahiti, 
where we landed about 2 p. m. and waited the 
arrival of our companions. The rest of the party 
travelled along the shore, by a path often tedious 
and difficult. The lava frequently presented a 
mural front, from sixty to a hundred feet high, in 
many places hanging over their heads, apparently 
every moment ready to fall; while beneath them 
the long rolling billows of the Pacific chafed and 
foamed among the huge fragments of volcanic 
rocks, along which their road lay. In many 
places the lava had flowed in vast torrents over the 
top of the precipice into the sea. Broad flakes of 
it, or masses like stalactites, hung from the pro¬ 
jecting edge in every direction. The attention 
was also attracted by a number of apertures in the 
face of the rocks, at different distances from their 
base, looking like so many glazed tunnels from 
which streams of lava had gushed out, and fallen 
into the ocean below, probably at the same time 
that it had rolled down in a horrid cataract from 
the lofty rocks above. 
They passed through two villages, containing 
between three and four hundred inhabitants, and 
reached Kalahiti about four in the afternoon. 
Here the people were collected for public worship, 
and Mr. Thurston preached to them from John 
vi. 38. They gave good attention, and appeared 
interested in what they heard. The evening was 
spent in conversation on religious subjects, with 
thosa who crowded our lodgings. 
At this place we observed many of the people 
with their hair either cut or shaved close on both 
sides of their heads, while it was left very long in 
the middle from the forehead to the back of the 
neck. When we inquired the reason of this, they 
