180 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
to that we had witnessed at Kairua. The aperture in 
the lava was about two feet in diameter, and every few 
seconds a column of water was thrown up with consi¬ 
derable noise, and a pleasing effect, to the height of 
thirty-five or forty feet. The lava at this place was 
very ancient, and much heavier than what we had seen 
in Kona. The vesicles in it were also completely filled 
with olivin, which appeared in small, green, hard, trans¬ 
parent crystals, in such quantities as to give the rocks 
quite a green appearance; some of the olivin was 
brown. In this neighbourhood we also discovered 
large masses of porphyritic lava, containing crystals 
of felspar and olivin in great quantities, and appa¬ 
rently black schorls. The trade-winds blowing along 
the shore very fresh, and directly against us, obliged 
us to leave our canoe at this place. Mauae and his 
companions having drawn it into an adjacent shed, 
took off the out-rigger and left it, together with the 
mast, sails, and paddles, in the care of the man at 
whose house we had lodged; as he was also desirous 
to see the volcano, and, after an absence of several 
years, to revisit Kaimu, in the division of Puna, the 
place of his birth, he prepared to accompany us by 
land. 
Hitherto we had travelled along the sea-shore, in 
order to visit the most populous villages in the dis¬ 
tricts through which we had passed. But here receiv¬ 
ing information that we should find more inhabitants a 
few miles inland, than nearer the sea, we thought it 
best to direct our course towards the mountains. Ma- 
koa, our guide, procured men to carry our baggage, 
and at nine A. m. we left Tairitii. Our way lay over 
a bed of ancient lava, smooth, considerably decom- 
