248 MISSIONARY TOUR 
shewed it had remained many years in a state of 
quiescence. Though this was the only small one we 
saw, our companions informed us there w ere many in 
the neighbourhood. They also pointed out to us 
the ruins of Oararauo, an old heiau, which crowned 
the summit of a lofty precipice on our left. It was 
formerly a temple of P616, of which KamaJcaakeakua, 
(the eye of god,) a distinguished soothsayer, who died 
in the reign of Tamehameha, was many years priest. 
Large offerings were frequently made of hogs, dogs, 
fish, and fruits, but we could not learn that human 
victims were ever immolated on its altars. These 
offerings were always cooked in the steaming chasms, 
or the adjoining ground. Had they been dressed any 
where else, or prepared with other fire, they would have 
been considered polluted, and have been expected to 
draw down curses on those who presented them. 
The ground throughout the whole plain is so hot, 
that those who come to the mountains to procure wood 
for building, or to cut down trees and hollow them 
out for canoes, always cook their own food, whether 
animal or vegetable, by simply wrapping it in fern 
leaves, and burying it in the earth. The east side of 
the plain was ornamented with some beautiful species 
of Alices ; also with several plants much resembling 
some of the varieties of cycas, and thickly covered with 
ohelo bushes, the berries of which we ate freely as we 
walked along, till, coming to a steep precipice, we 
ascended about 300 feet, and reached the high land on 
the side towards the sea, which commanded a fine view 
of Mouna-Roa, opposite to which we had been travel¬ 
ling ever since we left Punaruu. The mountain ap¬ 
peared of an oval shape, stretching along in a south- 
