266 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
degree of decomposition,* we passed along to the 
east side, where I took a sketch of the south-west 
end of the crater. 
As we travelled on from this spot, we unex¬ 
pectedly came to another deep crater, nearly half 
as large as the former. The native name of it is 
Kirauea-iti, (little Kirauea.) It is separated 
from the large crater by an isthmus nearly a hun¬ 
dred yards wide. Its sides, which were much 
less perpendicular than those of the great crater, 
were covered with trees and shrubs, but the 
bottom was filled with black lava, either fluid or 
scarcely cold, and probably supplied by the great 
crater, as the trees, shrubs, and grass on its sides, 
shewed it had remained many years in a state of 
quiescence. Though this was the only small one 
we saw, our companions informed us there were 
many in the neighbourhood. They also pointed 
out to us the ruins of Oararauo, an old heiau, 
which crowned the summit of a lofty precipice on 
our left. It was formerly a temple of Pele, of 
which Kamakaakeakua , (the eye of god,) a dis¬ 
tinguished soothsayer, who died in the reign of 
Tamehameha, was many years priest. Large of¬ 
ferings were frequently made, of hogs, dogs, fish, 
and fruits, but we could not learn that human 
victims were ever immolated on its ^altars. These 
offerings were always cooked in the steaming 
chasms, or the adjoining ground. Had they been 
dressed any where else, or prepared with other 
fire, they would have been considered polluted, 
* Specimens of volcanic sulphur, of the several kinds 
of lava and rocks found in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the volcano, and other parts of the island, with de¬ 
scriptions of their localities, are deposited in the Museum 
of the London Missionary Society, Amstin Friars. 
