412 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
side. Numbers also repaired to the house of Thomas 
Hopu, to be instructed in what they denominate the 
new religion. 
The next day the governor directed the people of 
Kairua to commence building a house, in which they 
might all meet to worship God; and in the morning on 
which Messrs. Bishop and Goodrich arrived, they had 
commenced their work. 
In the afternoon they walked to the place where the 
men were at work. Upwards of fifty persons were em¬ 
ployed in carrying stones from an old heiau, which 
they were pulling down, to raise the ground, and lay 
the foundation of the place of worship. It was a pleas¬ 
ing sight to view the ruins of an idol’s temple devoted 
to such a purpose; and they could not but hope that 
the spirit of Christianity would soon triumph over the 
superstition, prejudice, and wickedness of idolatry. 
The place of worship is sixty feet long and thirty 
broad, erected in the native manner, and thatched with 
the leaves of the pandanus. The walls are ten feet 
high, with doors at each end, and four windows on 
each side. It was impossible to behold the work 
without contemplating it as an intimation of most 
benevolent designs, on the part of the Lord of missions, 
towards the benighted tribes around, or without pray¬ 
ing that the time might soon arrive when houses for 
the worship of the living God shall be erected in every 
district in the islands.* 
On the 22d, after the return of Mr. Goodrich to 
* Recent intelligence conveys the pleasing information, that 
five or six places of worship and a number of schools have 
already been erected in Hawaii, and a proportionate number in 
other islands of the group. 
