THROUGH HAWAII. 
153 
idolatry with which this place abounds,' were, from 
some cause unknown to us, spared amidst the general 
destruction of the idols, &c. that followed the abolition 
of the aitabu, in the summer of 1819. 
The principal object that attracted our attention, was 
the Hare o Keave, (the House of Keave,) a sacred de¬ 
pository of the bones of departed kings and princes, 
probably erected for the reception of the bones of the 
king whose name it bears, and who reigned in Hawaii 
about eight generations back. It is a compact build¬ 
ing, twenty-four feet by sixteen, constructed with the 
most durable timber, and thatched with ti leaves, 
standing on a bed of lava that runs out a considerable 
distance into the sea. It is surrounded by a strong 
fence or paling, leaving an area in the front, and at 
each end about twenty-four feet wide. The pavement 
is of smooth fragments of lava, laid down with consider¬ 
able skill. Several rudely carved male and female 
images of wood were placed on the outside of the en¬ 
closure ; some on low pedestals under the shade of an 
adjacent tree, others on high posts on the jutting rocks 
that hung over the edge of the water. A number stood 
on the fence at unequal distances all around; but the 
principal assemblage of these frightful representatives 
of their former deities was at the south-east end of the 
enclosed space, where, forming a semicircle, twelve of 
them stood in grim array, as if perpetual guardians of 
“the mighty dead” reposing in the house adjoining. 
A pile of stones was neatly laid up in the form of a 
crescent, about three feet wide, and two feet higher 
than the pavement, and in this pile the images were 
fixed. They stood on small pedestals, three or fout 
feet high, though some were placed on pillars, eight ro 
x 
