SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
177 
it, filled up our water jars at a fine well, which we under¬ 
stood was the last we should find for at least ten miles. 
The foliage of the forest trees struck us as peculiarly beau¬ 
tiful ; and above all, that of the kou or candle-nut. The 
entrance to the great wood is marked by an old and very 
picturesque tree, which formerly overshadowed a morai, and 
where, one of the vague and dark traditions of the Island 
says, human victims were formerly sacrificed. A perpendi¬ 
cular ledge of rock, eight feet high, seems to raise the forest 
above the sloping ground below; and, having scrambled up 
this, the real forest path begins. This road is extremely 
narrow and intolerably bad, our progress being frequently 
impeded by fallen trees, over which it was necessary to 
climb, as the thickly matted creepers, shrubs, and under¬ 
wood which grew on every side made it impossible to find a 
way round them. The pointed rocks and ledges of lava 
were thinly covered with long glossy grass, which rendered 
our steps both fatiguing and dangerous ; and long ere we 
had crossed the wood scarcely one of us could boast of a 
sound shoe. Having reached an open spot, about a hun¬ 
dred and fifty yards in extent, used commonly as a halting- 
place, some of us sat down to rest our wearied limbs, and 
envied the ease with which the natives seemed to tread the 
path so irksome to us. Their feet were defended only by 
A A 
