212 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
division of Kaii, and is, as near as we could judge, 
from ten to twelve miles from the sea-shore, and about 
twenty miles from the great volcano at the foot of 
Mouna Roa. 
The road by which we returned lay through a 
number of fields of mountain taro, which appears to 
be cultivated here more extensively than the sweet 
potato. 
On the edge of one of these fields we sat down in 
the grass to rest, beneath a clump of beautiful trees, 
the Erythrina corollodendrum; a tree we frequently 
met with in the mountains, sometimes covered with 
beautiful flowers, and always affording an agreeable 
shade. It is called by the natives oviriviri, or viriviri. 
Its branches are much used in erecting fences, on 
account of the readiness with which they take root 
when planted in the ground. The wood is also em¬ 
ployed for making the carved stools placed under their 
canoes, when drawn on the beach, or laid up in their 
houses. The best kind of surf-boards are also made 
of this wood, which is lighter than any other the 
natives possess. 
On our way back, we also passed several hills, 
whose broad base and irregular tops shewed them 
originally to have been craters. They must be very 
ancient, as they w r ere covered with shrubs and trees. 
From them must have come the then molten, but now 
indurated, flood over which we were travelling. Seve¬ 
ral small columns of smoke were seen rising near them 
from fissures recently made. 
About two p. m. we reached our lodgings, and dis¬ 
missed the man who had shewed us the way, with a 
remuneration for his trouble. 
