EXTINGUISHED VOLCANO. 299 
king in whose reign it had burned ; or if they 
knew any songs or traditions, in which it was 
stated how many kings had reigned in Hawaii, oi 
how many chiefs had governed Puna, either since 
it first broke out, or since it became extinct; but 
they could give us no information on these sub¬ 
jects. They told us the name of the place was 
Kapoho (the sunken in,) and of the lake, Ka Wai 
a Pele (the water of Pele.) The saltness of the 
water in this extinguished volcano proves the con¬ 
nexion of the lake with the sea, from which it is 
about a mile distant; but we could not learn that 
it was at all affected by the rising or falling of the 
tides. The natives also told us, that it was one of 
the places from which the volcanic goddess threw 
rocks and lava after Kahavari, for refusing his 
papa , or sledge, when playing at horua. 
The liorua has for many generations been a 
popular amusement throughout the Sandwich 
Islands, and is still practised in several places. 
It consists in sliding down a hill on a narrow 
sledge ; and those who, by strength or skill in 
balancing themselves, slide farthest, are consi¬ 
dered victorious. The papa , or sledge, is com¬ 
posed of two narrow runners, from seven to twelve 
or eighteen feet long, two or three inches deep, 
highly polished, and at the foremost end tapering 
off from the under side to a point at the upper 
edge. These two runners are fastened together 
by a number of short pieces of wood laid horizon¬ 
tally across. To the upper edge of these short 
pieces two long tough sticks are fastened, extend¬ 
ing the whole length of the cross pieces, and 
about five or six inches apart. Sometimes a nar¬ 
row piece of matting is fastened over the whole 
upper surface, except three or four feet at the 
