THE CRATER OF KIRAUEA. 235 
been offered to her, and permission to eat them 
asked. We told them we were sorry they should 
feel uneasy on this account,—that we acknow¬ 
ledged Jehovah as the only divine proprietor of 
the fruits of the earth, and felt thankful to him 
for them, especially in our present circumstances. 
Some of them then said, “We are afraid. We 
shall be overtaken by some calamity before we 
leave this place.” We advised them to dismiss 
their fears, and eat with us, as we knew they were 
thirsty and faint. They shook their heads, and 
perceiving us determined to disregard their entrea¬ 
ties, walked along in silence. 
We travelled on, regretting that the natives 
should indulge notions so superstitious, but clear¬ 
ing every ohelo bush that grew near our path, till 
about two p. m. when the Crater of Kirauea 
suddenly burst upon our view. We expected to 
have seen a mountain with a broad base and rough 
indented sides, composed of loose slags or hard¬ 
ened streams of lava, and whose summit would 
have presented a rugged wall of scoria, forming 
the rim of a mighty caldron. But, instead of this, 
we found ourselves on the edge of a steep pre¬ 
cipice, with a vast plain before us, fifteen or six¬ 
teen miles in circumference, and sunk from two 
hundred to four hundred feet below its original 
level. The surface of this plain was uneven, and 
strewed over with large stones and volcanic rocks, 
and in the centre of it was the great crater, at the 
distance of a mile and a half from the precipice on 
which we were standing. Our guides led us 
round towards the north end of the ridge, in order 
to find a place by which we might descend to the 
plain below. As we passed along, we observed 
the natives, who had hitherto refused to touch any 
