THROUGH HAWAII. 
253 
small pieces, resembling coarse dry gravel, to the depth 
of two or three inches, below which it was one solid 
mass of lava. The surface was covered with ohelo 
bushes, and a few straggling ferns and low shrubs, 
which made travelling much more agreeable than when 
we approached the volcano. Within a few miles of 
Kirauea, we passed three or four high and extinct 
craters. One of them, Keanakakoi, the natives told 
us, sent forth, in the days of Riroa, king of Hawaii 
about fourteen generations back, most of the lava over 
which we were travelling. The sides of these craters 
were generally covered with verdure, while the brown 
irregular-shaped rocks on their indented summits 
frowned like the battlements of an ancient castle in 
ruins. We occasionally passed through rather exten¬ 
sive shrubberies of bushes and small trees growing in 
the decomposed lava and sand, and striking their roots 
among the cracks which were filled up with the same 
material. As we approached the sea, the soil became 
more generally spread over the surface, and vegetation 
more luxuriant. 
About two p. m. we sat down to rest. The natives 
ran to a spot in the neighbourhood, which had formerly 
been a plantation, and brought a number of pieces of 
sugar-cane, with which we quenched our thirst, and 
then walked on through several plantations of the 
sweet potato, belonging to the inhabitants of the coast, 
until about three o’clock, when we reached the edge of 
the high ground, which, at a remote period, probably 
formed the south-east coast. 
We stopped at a solitary cottage, where we procured 
a copious draught of fresh water, to us a most grateful 
beverage, as we had travelled ever since the morning 
