VAULTED AVENUE OF KEANAEE. 173 
sionally interrupted by an opening in the pile of 
recent lava, caused by some projecting rock, or 
elevation in the precipice above. A spectacle 
awfully sublime and terrific must have been pre¬ 
sented, when this burning stream rolled in one wide 
sheet, a fiery cascade, from the lofty steep down 
upon the smoking plain. 
With what consternation and horror must it 
have filled the affrighted inhabitants of the sur¬ 
rounding villages, as they beheld its irresistible 
and devastating course, impressed as they were 
with the belief, that Pele , the goddess whom they 
had offended, had left her abode in the volcano^ 
and was in person visiting them with thunder, 
lightning, earthquake, and liquid fire, the instru¬ 
ments of her power and vengeance. 
As we passed along this vaulted avenue, called 
by the natives Keanaee, we beheld a number of 
caverns and tunnels, from some of which streams 
of lava had flowed. The mouths of others being 
walled up with stones, we supposed they were used 
as sepulchres. Mats, spread upon the slabs of lava, 
calabashes, &c. indicated some of them to be the 
habitations of men; others, near the openings, 
were used as workshops, where women were weav¬ 
ing mats, or beating cloth. Some, we also saw, 
used as storehouses, or depositories, of sandal wood. 
In many places the water filtered through the lava, 
and, around the spots where it had dropped on the 
ground, we observed a quantity of fine white 
spear-shaped crystals, of a sharp nitrous taste. 
Having walked a considerable distance along the 
covered way, and collected as many specimens of 
the lava as we could conveniently carry, we re¬ 
turned to the sea-shore. Mr. Harwood being 
indisposed, and unable to travel, and being myself 
