THROUGH HAWAII. 
157 
ing districts, were generally left within it, while the 
men went to battle. Here they awaited in safety the 
issue of the conflict, and were secure against surprise 
and destruction, in the event of a defeat. 
The form of it was an irregular parallelogram, walled 
up on one side and at both ends, the other being formed 
by the sea-beach, except on the north-west end, where 
there was a low fence. On measuring it, we found it 
to be 715 feet in length, and 404 feet wide. The walls 
were twelve feet high and fifteen thick. Holes were 
still visible in the top of the wall, where large images 
had formerly stood, about for rods apart throughout its 
whole extent. Within this enclosure were three large 
heiaus, two of which were considerably demolished, 
while the other was nearly entire. It was a compact 
pile of stones, laid up in a solid mass, 126 feet by 65, 
and ten feet high. Many fragments of rock, or pieces 
of lava, of two or more tons each, were seen in several 
parts of the wall, raised at least six feet from the 
ground. The erection of such a place as the puhonua 
at Honaunau, under the circumstances and with the 
means by whjch alone it was reared, (as they had no 
machinery,) must have been an herculean task, and 
could not have been completed but by the labour of 
many hands. We could not learn how long it had 
been standing, but were informed it was built for Keave, 
who reigned in Hawaii about 250 years ago. The 
walls and heiaus, indeed, looked as if it might claim 
such antiquity; but the house of Keave and the images 
must have been renewed since that time. 
We had often passed over the ruins of deserted 
heathen temples, and the vestiges of demolished altars,, 
in the Sandwich Islands, and I had frequently visited 
