CONVERSATION. 285 
principally respecting the volcano which we had 
recently visited. 
The people recapitulated the contest between 
Pele and Tamapuaa, and related the adventures 
of several warriors, who, with spear in hand, had 
opposed the volcanic demons when coming down 
on a torrent of lava. They could not believe that 
we had descended into the crater, or broken off 
pieces of Pele’s houses, as they called the small 
craters, until the specimens of lava, &c. were 
produced, when some of them looked very signi¬ 
ficantly, and none of them cared much to handle 
them. 
We tried to convince them of their mistake in 
supposing Kirauea was inhabited, and unfolded to 
them, in as simple a manner as possible, the na¬ 
ture of volcanoes, and of their various phenomena, 
assuring them, at the same time, that they were 
under the sovereign control of Jehovah, the only 
true God. Some said, “ Ae paha ,” “ Yes, per¬ 
haps others were silent. 
Numbers of the people were present at our even¬ 
ing worship, which was in their language. 
After a comfortable night’s rest, we arose at 
daybreak on the 5th. At sun-rise the people 
assembled more numerously than they had done 
on the preceding evening, and I preached to them 
from these words,—“ Herein is love, not that we 
loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son 
to be the propitiation for our sins.” They ap¬ 
peared to listen with interest, and numbers sat 
down under the kou-trees, talking among them¬ 
selves on the subject, for a long time after the 
services had closed. 
After breakfast, we examined the effects of an 
earthquake experienced in this place about two 
