DESCRIPTION OF KAIMU. 287 
on the south-east side of the island, standing on a bed 
of lava considerably decomposed, and covered over 
with a light and fertile soil. It is adorned with 
plantations, groves of cocoa-nuts, and clumps of 
kou-trees. It has a fine sandy beach, where 
canoes may land with safety; and, according to 
the houses numbered to-day, contains about seven 
hundred and twenty-five inhabitants. Including 
the villages in its immediate vicinity, along the 
coast, the population would probably amount to 
two thousand ; and, if water could be procured 
near at hand, it would form an eligible Missionary 
station. There are several wells in the village, 
containing brackish water, which has passed from 
the sea through the cells of the lava, undergoing 
a kind of filtration, and is collected in hollows 
scooped out to receive it. The natives told us, 
that, at the distance of about a mile, there was 
plenty of fresh water. The extent of cultivation 
in the neighbourhood, together with the decent 
and orderly appearance of the people, induced us 
to think they are more sober and industrious than 
those of many villages through which we have 
passed. 
From the oppression of idolatry, the people feel 
themselves emancipated, and seem also to enjoy, 
in some degree, the domestic comfort resulting 
from their dwelling together in one house, sitting 
down to the same repast, and eating the same 
kind of food. But though they approved of the 
lestruction of the national idols, many were far 
from having renounced idolatry, and were in 
geneial destitute of all knowledge of that dispen¬ 
sation of grace and truth which came by Jesus 
Christ. They seemed firm believers in the exist¬ 
ence of deities in the volcanoes. 
