1(32 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
On breaking off any fragments, we found them very 
porous, and considerably lighter than the ancient lava 
on the other side. Its varied forms baffled description, 
and were equal to the conceptions of the most fertile 
imagination. The archway thus formed continued for 
about half a mile, occasionally interrupted by an open¬ 
ing in the pile of recent lava, caused by some project¬ 
ing rock, or elevation in the precipice above. A spec¬ 
tacle awfully sublime and terrific must have been pre¬ 
sented, when this burning stream rolled in one wide 
sheet, a fiery cascade, from the lofty steep down upon 
the smoking plain 
With what consternation and horror must it have 
filled the affrighted inhabitants of the surrounding vil¬ 
lages, as they beheld its irresistible and devastating- 
course, impressed as they were with the belief, that 
Pele , the goddess whom they had offended, had left 
her abode in the volcano, and was in person visiting 
them with thunder, lightning, earthquake, and liquid 
fire, the instruments of her power and vengeance. 
As we passed along this vaulted avenue, called by 
the natives Keanaee, we beheld a number of caverns 
and tunnels, from some of which streams of lava had 
flowed. The mouths of others being walled up with 
stones, we supposed were used as sepulchres. Mats, 
spread upon the slabs of lava, calabashes, &c. indi¬ 
cated some of them to be the habitations of men; 
others, near the openings, were used as workshops, 
where women were weaving mats, or beating cloth. 
Some, we also saw, used as storehouses, or deposito¬ 
ries of sandal wood. In many places the water filter¬ 
ed through the lava, and, around the spots where it 
had dropped on the ground, we observed a quantity of 
