58 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
As soon, therefore, as breakfast was ended, the 
party walked through the district in a south-east 
direction, to examine the ground, with a view to 
iiscover the most eligible place for digging a well. 
The whole face of the country marked de¬ 
cisively its volcanic origin; and in the course of 
their excursion they entered several hollows in the 
lava, formed by its having cooled and hardened 
on the surface, while, in a liquid state underneath, 
it had continued to flow towards the sea, leaving 
a crust in the shape of a tunnel, or arched vault, 
of varied thickness and extent. Before they re¬ 
turned, they also explored a celebrated cavern in 
the vicinity, called Raniakea. After entering it 
by a small aperture, they passed on in a direction 
nearly parallel with the surface—sometimes along 
a spacious arched way, not less than twenty-five 
feet high and twenty wide; at other times, by a 
passage so narrow, that they could with difficulty 
press through, till they had proceeded about 1200 
feet. Here their progress was arrested by a pool of 
water, wide, deep, and as salt as that found in 
the hollows of the lava within a few yards of the 
sea: this latter circumstance in a great degree 
damped their hopes of finding fresh water by dig¬ 
ging through the lava. More than thirty natives, 
most of them carrying torches, accompanied them 
in their descent; and on arriving at the water, 
simultaneously plunged in, extending their torches 
with one hand, and swimming about with the 
other. The partially illuminated heads of the 
natives, splashing about in this subterranean lake; 
the reflection of the torch-light on its agitated 
surface ; the frowning sides and lofty arch of the 
black vault, hung with lava, that had cooled in 
every imaginable shape; the deep gloom of th$ 
