THROUGH HAWAII. 
193 
rudely done, displaying much less taste and elegance 
than the figures on the bodies of either the New Zea¬ 
landers, Tahitians, or Marquesians, which are some¬ 
times really beautiful. 
After the service, some of our number visited the 
ruins of a heiau, on a point of lava near our lodging. 
During the evening we made some inquiries respecting 
it, found it had been dedicated to Tairi, and was thrown 
down in the general destruction of idols in 3 819. They 
seemed to think it was well that idolatry had been pro¬ 
hibited by the king; said its frequent requisition^ "kept 
them very poor, and occasioned them much labour. 
They were, as might be expected, almost entirely igno¬ 
rant of the religion of Jesus Christ. And from what 
we saw' and heard on first arriving among them, we 
should fear they were much degraded by immorality 
and vice. 
One man only from this place had been at Honoruru, 
in Oahu, since the king had been favourably disposed 
towards Christianity; while there, he once attended the 
public worship in the native language, and heard about 
Jesus Christ, the God of the foreigners; but had given 
a very imperfect account of him. The people seemed 
inclined to listen attentively to what was said about 
salvation through the Redeemer; and though fatigued 
by our journey and exercises with the people of the 
different places where we had stopped during the day, 
we esteemed it a privilege to spend the evening in con¬ 
versation on a topic of so much interest and import¬ 
ance, and experienced no small degree of pleasure, 
while endeavouring to convey to their uninformed, but 
apparently inquiring minds, a concise and simple view r 
of the leading doctrines and duties of our holy religion. 
2 c 
