214 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
packed up our provisions, which were but a scanty 
supply, and filled our canteens with water. The na¬ 
tives filled their calabashes; and about five p. m. 
Messrs. Thurston, Harwood, and myself, left Kapa- 
pala, in company with the people of Puna. We pro¬ 
ceeded a short distance to a place called Kapuahi, (the 
hearth of fire,) where we stopped at the entrance of a 
large cave, arched over by a thick crust of ancient 
lava. Here two or three families, consisting of men, 
women, and children, were residing. Its interior was 
rather dark, as the entrance was the only aperture that 
admitted any light; yet the inhabitants of this dreary 
abode seemed cheerful and contented, and perhaps felt 
themselves favoured by Pēle, in having a permanent 
abode furnished free of labour or expense. The women 
were employed in making mats, and beating tapa; the 
children were playing among the fragments of lava on 
the outside, and the men were preparing an oven in 
which to bake some taro. We wished to purchase a 
few fowls of them, but they had none to dispose of. 
They gave us, however, two or three roots of taro, and 
a draught of excellent spring water. Bidding them 
farewell, we pursued our way over a beautiful country, 
gradually sloping towards the right, and meeting the 
ocean, at a distance of from ten to fifteen miles, and 
rising more abruptly on the left, where it was crowned 
with the woods, which extended like a vast belt round 
the base of the greater part of Mouna Roa. Large 
slabs of indurated vesicular lava occasionally appeared 
amidst the shallow but fertile soil spread over the lace 
of the country. Although apparently well adapted to 
the growth of the sweet potato and the mountain taro, 
it was entirely neglected, and every appearance of cul- 
