NATIVE CHAPEL. 
405 
they might all meet to worship God ; and in the 
morning on which Messrs. Bishop and Goodrich 
arrived, they had commenced their heart-cheering 
work. 
In the afternoon they walked to the place where 
the men were at work. Upwards of fifty persons 
were employed in carrying stones from an old 
heiau, which they were pulling down, to raise the 
ground, and lay the foundation of the place of 
worship. It was a pleasing sight to view the ruins 
of an idol's temple devoted to such a purpose; and 
they could not but hope that the spirit of Chris¬ 
tianity would soon triumph over the superstition, 
prejudice, and wickedness of idolatry. 
The place of worship is sixty feet long and 
thirty broad, erected in the native manner, and 
thatched with the leaves of the pandanus. The 
walls are ten feet high, with doors at each end, 
and four windows on each side. It was impossible 
to behold the work without contemplating it as an 
intimation of most benevolent designs, on the part 
of the Lord of missions, towards the benighted 
tribes around, or without praying that the time 
might soon arrive, when houses for the worship of 
the living God shall be -erected in every district in 
the islands.* 
On the 23d, Mr. Bishop visited the well, and 
found that the men had not made much progress. 
The rocks of lava, though hard, are cellular, so 
that powder has very little effect, and therefore 
they proceeded but slowly by blasting it. 
The morning of the 24th was the Sabbath, and 
* Recent intelligence conveys the pleasing information, 
that five or six places of worship and a number of schools 
have already been erected in Hawaii, and a proportionate 
number in other islands of the group. 
