288 MISSIONARY TOUR 
soil and vegetation. Within these there was a smaller 
circle of hills, equally verdant, and ornamented with 
trees. The sides of the valley, which gradually sloped 
from the foot of the hills, were almost entirely laid out 
in plantations, and enlivened by the cottages of their 
proprietors. In the centre was an oval hollow, about 
half a mile across, and probably two hundred feet deep, 
at the bottom of which was a beautiful lake of brackish 
water, whose margin was in a high state of cultivation, 
planted with taro, bananas, and sugar-cane. The 
steep perpendicular rocks, forming the sides of the 
hollow, were adorned with tufts of grass, or blooming 
pendulous plants, while, along the narrow and verdant 
border of the lake at the bottom, the bread-fruit, the 
kukui, and the ohia trees, appeared, with now and then 
a lowly native hut standing beneath their shade. We 
walked to the upper edge of the rocks that form the 
side of the hollow, where we viewed with pleasure this 
singularly beautiful scene. The placid surface of the 
lake, disturbed only by the boys and girls diving and 
sporting in its waters, the serpentine walks among the 
luxuriant gardens along its margin, the tranquil occu¬ 
pations of the inhabitants, some weaving mats, others 
walking cheerfully up and down the winding paths 
among the steep rocks, the sound of the cloth-beating 
mallet from several directions, and the smiling gaiety 
of the whole, contrasted strongly with the panorama 
we had recently beheld at Kirauea. Yet we felt per¬ 
suaded, that this now cheerful spot had once presented 
a similar spectacle, less extended, but equally grand 
and appalling. 
The traditions of the people informed us, that the 
valley itself was originally a crater, the indented rocks 
