276 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
that a number of foreigners had visited Kirauea* 
eaten the sacred berries; broken her houses, the 
craters; thrown down large stones, &c. to request 
that the offenders might be sent away—and to 
assure them, that if these foreigners were not 
banished from the islands, Pele would certainly, 
in a given number of days, take vengeance, by 
inundating the country with lava, and destroying 
the people. She also pretended to have received, in 
a supernatural manner, Rihoriho’s approbation of 
the request of the goddess. The crowds of natives 
who stood waiting the result of her interview with 
the chiefs, were almost as much astonished as 
the priestess herself, when Kaahumanu, and the 
other chiefs, ordered all her paraphernalia of office 
to be thrown into the hre, told her the message 
she had delivered was a falsehood, and directed 
her to return home, cultivate the ground for her 
subsistence, and discontinue her deceiving the 
people. 
This answer was dictated by the chiefs them¬ 
selves. The Missionaries at the station, although 
they were aware of the visit of the priestess, and 
saw her, followed by the thronging crowd, pass by 
their habitation on her way to the residence of the 
chiefs, did not think it necessary to attend or 
interfere, but relied entirely on the enlightened 
judgment and integrity of the chiefs, to suppress 
any attempts that might be made to revive the 
influence of Pele over the people ; and in the 
result they were not disappointed, for the natives 
jeturned to their habitations, and the priestess 
soon after left the island, and has not since trou¬ 
bled them with the threatenings of the goddess. 
On another occasion, Kapiolani, a pious chief- 
woman, the wife of Naihe, chief of Kaavaroa, was 
