THROUGH HAWAII. 
203 
rim, where the people of that and the next village, 
Wailau, collected together in a large house, and were 
addressed on the nature and attributes of the true 
God, and the way of salvation. In general, speaking 
to the people in the open air was preferred, as we then 
had more hearers than when we addressed them in a 
house. But in the middle of the day we usually found 
it too hot to stand so long in the sun. The services 
which we held in the morning and evening were always 
out of doors. 
We now left the road by the sea-side, and directed 
our course towards the mountains. Our path lay over 
a rich yellow-looking soil of decomposed lava, or over 
a fine black vegetable mould, in which we occasionally 
saw a few masses of lava partially decomposed, suffi¬ 
cient to convince us that the whole had once been over¬ 
flowed, and that lava was the basis of the whole tract 
of country. There was but little cultivation, though 
the ground appeared well adapted to the growth of all 
the most valuable produce of the islands. After walk¬ 
ing up a gentle ascent about eight miles, we came to a 
solitary hamlet, called Makaaka, containing four or five 
houses, in which three or four families were residing. 
We entered one of them to take some refreshment and 
rest after the fatigue of travelling in the heat of the 
day. The people of the house, though poor, were hos¬ 
pitable, and gave us cheerfully a few roots of taro out 
of their own oven. 
The house was large, and beneath one roof included 
their workshop, kitchen, and sleeping-rocm, without any 
intervening partitions. » On one side two women were 
beating native cloth, and the men were at work on a new 
canoe. In the same place were several larger ones, one 
