264 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
Tested the house, and the indisposition induced by 
the nature of the food and water we had taken since 
leaving the volcano. 
We held worship with the people of the village 
at sunrise on the 4th, and after a short address, in 
which we earnestly recommended them to give them¬ 
selves up to the Saviour, we bade them farewell, and 
set out again on our journey. Leaving Kearakomo, 
we travelled several miles in a north-easterly direction 
along the same bed of lava that we had crossed on 
Saturday evening. The population of this part of 
Puna, though somewhat numerous, did not appear to 
possess the means of subsistence in any great variety 
or abundance; and we have often fieen surprised to 
find the desolate coasts more thickly inhabited than 
some of the fertile tracts in the interior; a circum¬ 
stance we can only account for, by supposing that the 
facilities which the former afford for fishing, induce the 
natives to prefer them as places of abode; for they 
find that where the coast is low, the adjacent water is 
generally shallow. We saw several fowls and a few 
hogs here, but a tolerable number of dogs , and quanti¬ 
ties of dried salt fish, principally albicores and bonitos. 
This latter article, with their poe and sweet potatoes, 
constitutes nearly the entire support of the inhabitants, 
not only in this vicinity, but on the sea-coasts of the 
north and south parts of the island. Besides what is 
reserved for their own subsistence, they cure large 
quantities as an article of commerce, which they ex¬ 
change for the vegetable productions of Hiro and IIa- 
makua, or the mamake and other tapas of Ora and the 
more fertile districts of Hawaii. 
When we had passed Punau, Leapuki, and Kamo- 
