THROUGH HAWAII. 
805 
hiro, his god, was heard from the clouds, requiring more 
men ; the king kept sacrificing, and the voice continued 
calling for more, till ha had slain all his men except 
one, whom, as he was a great favourite., he refused at 
first to give up; but the god being urgent, he sacrificed 
him also, and the priest and himself were all that 
remained. Upwards of eighty victims, they added, 
were offered at that time, in obedience to the audible 
demands of the insatiate demon. We have heard the 
same account at other places, of eighty victims being 
slain at one time; and though perhaps the account 
may exceed the number actually immolated, the tradi¬ 
tion serves to shew the savage character of the gods, 
who, in the opinion of the natives, could require such 
prodigal waste of human life. 
In the afternoon we visited Pakcirana, the Puhonua, 
or place of refuge, for all this part of the island. It 
was a large enclosure, less extensive, however, than 
that at Honaunau. The walls, though of great anti¬ 
quity, were of inferior height and dimensions. In the 
midst of the enclosure, under a wide-spreading panda- 
nus, was a small house, called Ke Hale o Riroa, (The 
House of Riroa,) from the circumstance of its contain¬ 
ing the bones of a king of that name, who wras the 
grandson of Umi, and, according to their traditions, 
reigned in Hawaii about fifteen generations back. 
We tried, but could not gain admittance to the pahu 
tabu, or sacred enclosure. We also endeavoured to 
obtain a sight of the bones of Riroa, but the man who 
had charge of the house told us we must offer a hog 
before we could be admitted; that Tamehameha, when¬ 
ever he entered, had always sent offerings; that Ri- 
horiho, since he had become king, had done the same. 
