THROUGH HAWAII. 
45 
of the gods, by whom they supposed it was directed, 
and to stay its devastating course. All seemed un¬ 
availing, until one day the king Tamehamea went, 
attended by a large retinue of chiefs and priests, and, 
as the most valuable offering he could make, cut off part 
of his own hair, which was always considered sacred, 
and threw it into the torrent. A day or two after, the 
lava ceased to flow. The gods, it was thought, were 
satisfied; and the king acquired no small degree of 
influence over the minds of the people, who, from this 
circumstance, attributed their escape from threatened 
destruction to his supposed interest with the deities 
of the volcanoes. 
In several places they observed that the sea rushes 
with violence twenty or thirty yards along the cavities 
beneath the lava, and then, forcing its waters through 
the apertures in the surface, forms a number of beautiful 
jets d’eau, which falling again on the rocks, roll rapidly 
back to the ocean. 
They enjoyed a fine view of the town and adjacent 
country. The houses, which are neat, are generally 
built on the sea-shore, shaded with cocoa-nut and kou 
trees, which greatly enliven the scene. The environs 
were cultivated to a considerable extent; small gardens 
were seen among the barren rocks on which the houses 
are built, wherever soil could be found sufficient to 
nourish the sweet potato, the water melon, or even a 
few plants of tobacco, and in many places these seemed 
to be growing literally in the fragments of lava, collect¬ 
ed in small heaps around their roots. 
The next morning, Messrs. Thurston, Goodrich, and 
Harwood, walked towards the mountains, to visit the 
high and cultivated parts of the district. After travel- 
