THROUGH HAWAII. 
197 
miles. While we were stopping to drink, and rest our¬ 
selves, many natives gathered around us from the 
neighbourhood. We requested them to accompany us 
to a cluster of houses a little further on, which they 
very cheerfully did; and here I addressed them, and 
invited all who were athirst, and whosoever would, to 
come and take of the water of life freely. They sat 
quietly on the lava till the concluding prayer was fin¬ 
ished, when several simultaneously exclaimed, “He 
mea maitai he ora , e makemake au A good thing is 
salvation ; I desire it. They then proposed several 
questions, which we answered apparently to their sa¬ 
tisfaction, and afterwards kept on our way. 
We travelled over another rugged tract of lava about 
two hundred rods wide. It had been most violently 
torn to pieces, and thrown up in the wildest confusion; 
in some places it was heaped forty or fifty feet high. 
The road across it was formed of large smooth round 
stones, placed in a line two or three feet apart. By 
stepping along on these stones, we passed over, though 
not without considerable fatigue. About half-past 
eleven we reached Hilea, a pleasant village belonging 
to the governor. As we approached it, we observed a 
number of artificial fish-ponds, formed by excavating 
the earth to the depth of two or three feet, and banking 
up the sides. The sea is let into them occasionally, 
and they are generally well stocked with excellent fish 
of the mullet kind. We went into the house of the 
head man, and asked him to collect the people together, 
as we wished to speak to them about the true God. He 
sent out, and most of the people of the village, then at 
home, about two hundred in number, soon collected in 
his house., which was large, where Mr, Thurston preach- 
