CITY OF REFUGE. 
169 
its whole extent. Within this enclosure were 
three large heiaus, two of which were considerably 
demolished, while the other was nearly entire. 
It was a compact pile of stones, laid up in a solid 
mass, 126 feet by 65, and ten feet high. Many 
fragments of rock, or pieces of lava, of two or 
more tons each, were seen in several parts of the 
wall, raised at least six feet from the ground. The 
erection of such a place as the puhonua at Honau- 
nau, under the circumstances and with the means 
by which alone it was reared, (as they had no 
machinery,) must have been an Herculean task, 
and could not have been completed but by the 
labour of many hands. We could not learn how 
long it had been standing, but were informed it 
was built for Keave, who reigned in Hawaii about 
250 years ago. The walls and heiaus, indeed, 
looked as if it might claim such antiquity; but the 
house of Keave, and the images, must have been 
renewed since that time. 
We had often passed over the ruins of deserted 
heathen temples, and the vestiges of demolished 
altars, in the Sandwich Islands, and I had fre¬ 
quently visited those in other groups of the 
Pacific ; but the feelings excited on these occa¬ 
sions had always been those of deep melancholy 
and horror, at the human immolations and shock¬ 
ing cruelties which they had so often exhibited. 
Here, however, idolatry appeared at least in the 
form of clemency, and the sacred enclosure pre¬ 
sented a scene unique among the ruins of pagan¬ 
ism, which we contemplated with unusual interest. 
Whether its establishment was originally pro¬ 
jected by the priests, to attach to their interests 
all who might owe their lives to its institution ; or 
by some mild and humane prince, anxious to 
