THROUGH HAWAII. 
451 
return of the la tabu, or sacred day. An unusual num¬ 
ber attended family prayers at the governor’s house in 
the morning; and at half-past ten the bell was rung for 
public worship. About 800 people assembled under 
the ranai, and I preached to them from Heb. xi. 7. 
And after a succinct account of the deluge, I endea¬ 
voured to exhibit the advantages of faith, and the con¬ 
sequences of wickedness and unbelief, as illustrated in 
the salvation of Noah, and the destruction of the rest 
of mankind. 
After the conclusion of the service, several persons 
present requested me to remain till they had made 
some inquiries respecting the deluge, Noah, &c. 
They said they were informed by their fathers, that 
all the land had once been overflowed by the sea, 
except a small peak on the top of Mouna-Kea, where 
two human beings were preserved from the destruction 
that overtook the rest, but they said they had never 
before heard of a ship, or of Noah, having always been 
accustomed to call it the Jcai a Kahindrii , (sea of Kahi- 
narii.) After conversing with them some time, I re¬ 
turned to the goyernor’s. 
The afternoon was principally employed in conver¬ 
sation with him on the flood, and the repeopling of the 
earth by the descendants of Noah. The governor 
seemed to doubt whether it were possible that the 
Hawaiians could be the descendants of Noah; but 
said, he thought their progenitors must have been cre¬ 
ated on the islands. I told him the account in the 
bible had every evidence that could be wished to sup¬ 
port it; referred him to his own traditions, not only of 
Hawaii’s having been peopled by persons who came in 
canoes from a foreign country, but of their having in 
