SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
197 
small fort, and the introduction of the missionaries, for 
whom a place of worship has been built. The original 
fortresses of the island were all, as might be supposed, in 
the interior, and were intended to guard strong passes or 
serve as places of refuge during the wars between the petty 
chiefs. The nearest of these, of which there are any re¬ 
mains, to Karakakua is at Kairua, a bay and village a little 
to the northward, which was a favourite residence of the 
great Tamehameha. We were unable to visit it for want 
of time, but we learned from the missionaries that it was 
rudely constructed of lava, the wall being about twenty feet 
high and fourteen feet thick ; it is called “ the defence of the 
common people/’ which name would seem to point out that 
there had at some time been an insurrection of the plebeians 
against the erees or chiefs of the country. 
This wall is near the entrance of a great volcanic cavern, 
called llaniakea, where many hundreds of persons might 
take refuge on an emergency. The remains of the walls 
cover a great space of ground, and the natives say that it 
had been surrounded by a palisade : of this, however, no¬ 
thing now remains. 
The governor of Kairua has built a handsome house, in 
the European style, in the village; and there is a small fort 
mounting a few guns. But, like all this portion of the 
