300 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
one place where we halted for the night, on our return 
from the volcano, I preached to the people in the even¬ 
ing, and the natives afterwards maintained an interest¬ 
ing conversation on religious subjects till midnight. 
Among other things, respecting the salvation of the 
soul through Jesus Christ, they said, “Our forefathers, 
from time immemorial, and we, ever since we can 
remember any thing, have been seeking the ora roa 
(enduring life,) or a state in which we should not die, 
but we have never found it yet; perhaps this is it, of 
which you are telling us.” 
During the same journey we overtook Maaro, the 
chief of Waiakea, and three or four hundred people, 
returning with sandal wood, which they had been cut¬ 
ting in the mountains. Each man carried two or three 
pieces, from four to six feet long, and about three 
inches in diameter. The bark and sap had been chip¬ 
ped olf with small adzes, and the wood appeared lighter 
in colour than what is usually sold at Oahu, probably 
from its having been but recently cut down. 
The sandal wood is the same as in the East Indies, 
and is probably the santalum album. It is a tolerably 
heavy and solid wood, and after the sap, or part next 
the bark, is taken off, is of a light yellow or brown 
colour, containing a quantity of aromatic oil. Although 
a plant of slow growth, it is found in abundance in all 
the mountainous parts of the Sandwich Islands, and is 
cut in great quantities by the natives, as it constitutes 
their principal article of exportation. It is brought 
down to the beach in pieces from a foot to eighteen 
inches in diameter, and six or eight feet long, to small 
sticks not more than an inch thick and a foot and a 
half long. It is sold by weight, and the merchants. 
