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THE CHURCH COLLEGE
OF HAWAII

In memory
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LIFE IN HAWAK'

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCH

MISSION LIFE AND LABORS

(1835-1881J

THE REV. TITUS COAN

Library of

The Church OwJfeg* of

Hawaii

ANSON I). F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY

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\h<, 1 in A < OMPANY.

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ROBERT R UTTER,

Binder*

116 and it8 East 14th Street.

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NOTE

The task of reading the proofs of the following sketches
has fallen to one whose recollections include more than a
few of the scenes and events described. It seems to him that
this record of mission life and labors will appeal to all those
who have followed the wonderful changes wrought in Hawaii
during a life time, from the period of " the great awakening "
until now. The accounts of visits to the Marquesas Islands
have their own independent interest. Still more, the greatest
volcano in the world is in Mr. Coan's parish, and other read-
ers will turn to the chapters on its eruptions for vivid and
faithful descriptions of the most imposing volcanic phenom-
ena on record.

T. M. C.

PREFACE,

A PILGRIM of four-score years, standing near the
margin of the Border Land, essays to give a sketch
of his life — and why ?

Because many personal and Christian friends have
long urged it as a duty to my beloved Master to
leave my testimony behind me of His faithfulness and
grace.

To publish my autobiography was far from my
thoughts.

It is a difficult, delicate, and dangerous task. One
does not choose to publish his own follies and sins,
and surely it is not modest for one to proclaim his
own goodness. I will, therefore, only say in the
words of the great Apostle, " Unto me, who am less
than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that
I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ. "

Let me then ask, if in reading this narrative there
shall seem to be the weakness of egotism or of vain
boasting, that the fault may lie at the door of the wri-
ter, or be pardoned on account of the great difficulty

Preface.

of relating one's own expeti^T^T^^ns
without often repeating the pronoun /.

On the other hand, if it shall appear that during a
mmistry of almost half a century a blind man has been
led into the light, a lame man has been helped to
walk in the Way of Life, a leprous soul has been
washed in the Fountain opened for sin and unclean-
ness; lf a heathen has found the true God, and cast
away his dead idols, if a fierce cannibal has been
persuaded to cease to eat the flesh of his enemies,
and taught to trust the Son of Man for pardon, or H
some who were dead in trespasses and sins have been
nused to life by the quickening power of the Gospel
then let God have all the glory. * '

T. C.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Parentage, Childhood, and Early Years — Militia Service — Asa-
hel Nettleton — Three Years in Western New York — Sick-
ness— Home Again — Auburn Seminary .... I

II.

Marriage — Embarkation for Hawaii — Santiago, Callao, and
Lima in 1835 — Arrival in Honolulu — Passage to Hilo — Our
New Home — First Labors . . ... . . .17

III.

The Field — The People — Hilo District — Crossing the Torrents
— Perils of a Canoe Voyage — Puna District . . .29

IV.

First Tours in Hilo and Puna — The Work of 1837-38 — Sponta-
neous Church-Building — The Great Awakening — The Vol-
canic Wave — Pastoral Experiences and Methods — The In-
gathering 42

Mrs. Coan's School for Girls — Common Schools — Medical Work
—The Sailors' Church — Sunday Work — Visits of Foreign
Vessels — The U. S. Exploring Expedition . . . .61

VI.

Mauna Loa — Kilauea — The Eruption of 1840 — The River of
Fire — It reaches the Sea at Nanawale — Lava Chimneys —
Destruction of a Village 69

Contents.

VII.

More Church-Building— Commodore Jones's Visit— Progress
of Conversions— The Sacraments under new Conditions .

VIII.

Arrival £>f Catholic Missionaries — Admiral de Tromelin— Pros-
elytism — Controversies with the Priests — Arrival of the
Mormons — The Reformed Catholics — Bishop Staley — Lord
George Paulet . . . . . . . • " • 93

IX.

Isolation of the Mission Families — Sufferings on the Inter-Island
Voyages — Their Dangers — Parting with our Children —
School Discussions and Festivals — Native Preachers —
Cheerful Givers— Changes and Improvements . . . HO

Hawaiian Kings — The Kamehamehas — Lunalilo — Kalakaua,
the Reigning King -The Foreign Church in Hilo — Organi-
zation of Native Churches under Native Pastors . . . 127

Compensations-
Visitors

-Social Pleasures-

-Some of our Guests and

140

XII.

Seedling Missions— Hawaii sends out Missionaries— Need of a
Missionary Packet— The Three " Morning Stars" . .154

XIII.

The Marquesas Islands— Early English and French Missions—
The Hawaiians Send a Mission to Them— My Visit in i860
—The Marquesan Tabu System I50/

Contents. vii

XIV.

Second Visit to the Marquesas — The Paumotu Archipelago —
Arrival at Uapou — An Escape by Two Fathoms — Nuuhiva —
Hivaoa — Kekela's Trials — The Propitiatory Canoe — Savage
Seducers — A Wild Audience . . . . . . 192

XV.

Visit to the United States— Salt Lake — Chicago — Washington
City— Brooklyn — Old Killingworth — Changes in the Home-
stead— Passing Away — Return to Hilo — Death of Mrs.
Coan m 213

XVI.

Notes on the Stations — Hawaii — Governor Kuakini — Maui —
Crater of Hale-a-ka-la — Molokai — The Leper Settlement —
Oahu — Kauai — The State of the Church .... 223

XVII.

The Hawaiian Character — Its Amiability — Island Hospitality
— Patience, Docility — Indolence, Lack of Economy, Fickle-
ness— Want of Independence — Untruthfulness — Decrease of
the Population . 252

XVIII.

Kilauea— Changes in the Crater — Attempt to Measure the Heat
of its Lavas — Phenomena in Times of Great Activity — Vis-
itors in the Domains of Pele 262

XIX.

Eruptions from Mauna Loa — The Eruption of 1843 — A Visit to
it — Danger on the Mountain — A Perilous Journey and a Nar-
row Escape 270

XX.

Eruptions of Mauna Loa — The Eruption of 1852 — The Fire-
Fountain— A Visit to it — Alone on the Mountain — Sights on
Mauna Loa 279

viii Contents.

XXI.

The Eruption of 1855— A Climb to the Source— Mountain Hard-
ships— Visits to Lower Parts of the Lava Stream— Hilo
threatened with Destruction — Liquidity of the Hawaiian
Lavas — Are the Lava-Streams fed from their Sources only ? 289

XXII.

The Eruption of 1868 from Kilauea — The March and April
Earthquakes — Land-Slips — Destruction of Life and Proper-
ty— The Lava-Stream Bursts from Underground — The Vol-
canic Waves of August, 1868, and of May, 1877 • • • 3X3

XXIII.

The Eruption of 1880- 1881 — Hilo Threatened as Never Before
— A Day of Public Prayer — Visitors to the Lava-Flow — It
Approaches within a Mile of the Shore — Hope Abandoned
— After Nine Months the Action Suddenly Abates — The
Deliverance — The Mechanism of a Great Lava-Flow — An
Idolater Dislodged — Conclusion * 327

Parentage, Childhood, and Early Years — Militia Ser-
vice— Asa he I Nettleton — Three Years in Western
New York — Sickness — Ho?7ie Again — Auburn Sem-
inary.

MY father was Gaylord Coan, of Killingworth,
Middlesex Co., Connecticut. He was a
thoughtful, quiet, and modest farmer, industrious,
frugal, and temperate, attending to his own busi-
ness, living in peace with his neighbors, eschewing
evil, honest in dealing, avoiding debts, abhorring ex-
travagancev and profligacy, refusing proffered offices,
strictly observing the Sabbath, a regular attendant on
the services of the sanctuary, a constant reader of the
Bible, and always offering morning and evening
prayers with the family. He was born Aug. 4, 1768,
and died Sept. 24, 1857, in his 90th year.

My mother was Tamza Nettleton, sister of Josiah
Nettleton and aunt of Asahel Nettleton, D.D., the
distinguished Evangelical preacher. She was the
tender, faithful, and laborious mother of seven chil-
dren, six sons and one daughter. Of these I was the
youngest.

While still in the vigor of womanhood, she was cut

Life in Hawaii.

down Jan. 14, 18 18, by typhus fever, aged 58. Her
death left the house desolate, and the loss was deeply
mourned by all the children.

After this our father married Miss Piatt, of Say-
brook, by whom he had one daughter, who died at the
age of eighteen.

I was born on the first day of February, Sunday
morning, 1801, in the town of Killingworth, Conn.
My physical constitution was good, my health was
perfect, and my childhood happy.

From the age of four to twelve I was sent to the
district school, where the boys and girls were drilled
in Webster's spelling book, The American Precep-
tor, writing, arithmetic (Daball's), Morse's geogra-
phy, Murray's grammar, and the Westminster Shorter
Catechism. Days and weeks and years went quietly
along, with the usual experiences of joyous childhood.
Spring, summer, autumn, and winter each had their
peculiar charms, their duties and diversions, and I
moved along the stream with only now and then a
ripple.

Once, when a boy of about seven years, I had a
memorable experience. My father was to be absent
during the day, and in the morning he said to me,
" Titus, go straight to school to-day." When he left,
some boys came along and persuaded me to play
truant. Off we started, and spent the day in as
much pleasure as we could enjoy, with some twinges

School Days.

of guilt and fear. At 4 P.M., the time for the school
to close, I managed to fall in with the children who
were returning home.

Evening came — my father returned. We had sup-
per and prayers. My conscience throbbed a little,
and I prepared for bed early. When ready in my
night-robe to leap into bed, my father called me to
him. I trembled, but obeyed. Sitting quietly in his
chair, he laid me, face downward, across his knees,
took up a small birch rod and said, " Well, Titus, you
are all ready now for the reward of disobedience — you
did not go to school." He then gave me a few salu-
tary touches with the birch, and I stole off to bed.
That was one of the best lessons of my childhood;
It made a distinct impression upon me which I could
not forget. It worked through my skin and my flesh,
and went into my heart. I never played truant again.

Yes, I did get one more lesson which cooled my
blood and made me thoughtful. A deep mill-pond
lay between my home and the school-house. In the
winter this pond was often frozen over, and my father
warned me not to venture upon the ice on my way to
school. One morning when I was nine~ years old, a
mate of my age went with me to school. As we came
to the pond we agreed to have a little slide. We went
on half-way across the pond, I leading, and Julius fol-
lowing. Coming to the deepest part of the pond, the
ice broke suddenly under me and I went under the

Life in Hawaii.

water, but found no bottom. I rose to the surface in
the same place where I went down, and screamed for
help. My companion stood aghast and- feared to
come near. I threw up my hands and caught hold of
the ice, but it broke before me. Again and again I
struggled to find firm hold, but still the treacherous
ice gave way until I nearly despaired of life. At
length, however, I came to firmer ice, and clung to
it as with a death grasp, calling on Julius for help.
The timid boy approached slowly until his hand
reached mine ; and with his help and God's mercy I
was delivered from a watery grave. But it was mid-
winter, and I was sadly chilled. To avoid freezing
we ran all the way, a half mile, to the school-house,
where we found a roaring fire and the master not
there. I stood by the fire, turning round and round,
and smoking like a spare-rib, until the master came,
when I took my seat and shivered until noon. The
intermission being one hour, I improved it to dry my
clothes, and went home at evening, charging my
schoolmate never to tell any one of this event. He
kept his promise until I came to the Hawaiian Isl-
ands, and then he told the story. This was another
lesson which I report with thanks to the Lord for
sparing my life, and as a warning to all children to
" Obey their parents in the Lord that their days may
be long."

But it is not necessary to enlarge on " the scenes

Work and Study.

of my childhood," though diversified, and very many
of them " dear to my heart."

Nor will I take time to tell all my childhood's faults ;
and as for its virtues, I have nothing of which to
boast.

When about thirteen I worked with my father on
the farm during the summer months, and attended
school in the winter. The next year I was a pupil in
a select school at the house of my honored and excel-
lent pastor, the Rev. Asa King. In this school I
spent two happy winters, while my summers were
passed on the farm, or in fishing on Long Island
Sound, or for shad in early spring in the Connecticut
River.

Not satisfied with my knowledge of English gram-
mar derived from Murray and unskilled teachers, I
had private lessons from a teacher fresh from a gram-
mar school in the city of New York, and under his
instructions gained a more satisfactory insight into
the construction of my mother tongue than from all
my winter's study in what seemed to me dry Murray.

I also read eagerly such worthy books as I was able
to buy or borrow ; few indeed, compared with the
overwhelming flood of literature of the present time.
I read history, rhetoric, astronomy, philosophy, logic,
and the standard poets. I joined an Academy in East
Guilford, now Madison, where I studied with delight
geometry, trigonometry, surveying, etc., under the

Life in Hawaii.

instruction of the Principal, an active graduate of
Yale College.

At the age of eighteen I was called to teach a
school in the town of Saybrook, and from this time
onward my winters were occupied in teaching in Say-
brook, Killingworth, and Guilford, until I left New
England for Western New York.

When the time came for me to enter the militia
ranks, according to the laws of the State, I enlisted in
a company of light artillery whose regiment had
been commanded by Col. Bray during the war of 1812-
15, and in which one of my brothers had served in
the garrison of my native town during that war.

In this company I was at once chosen sergeant, and
in about two years was promoted, receiving first the
commission of 2d Lieut., then that of 1st Lieut.

I had been dazzled, while a boy, with the tales of
military and naval exploits, with the flashing of sa-
bers, the waving of plumes, and with the beauty of
uniforms. It had been my delight to watch the evo-
lutions of cavalry, artillery, and militia regiments on
days of drill and of general review. I had seen the
proud war-ships of Britain driving the fishing-boats,
the sloops, schooners, brigs, barks, ships, all the float-
ing commerce of Long Island Sound, into our rivers,
lagoons, bays, creeks, and harbors. I had seen the
flashes and heard the thunder of their guns; had
been wakened at midnight by the alarm-bells of the

Asahel Nettleton.

town, and the quick fire of the garrison. I had heard
of Canada, of Buffalo, of the Northern and Southern
Lakes, of the Potomac, of Washington, of New
Orleans, and of the peace with its joyful celebrations,
and its thunder-notes of gladness rolling over the
land.

Afterward, when all this died out, and a more ration-
al, a calmer and purer peace spread over land and sea,
there came a change in my military feelings and as-
pirations.

While absent from my native town, a memorable
season of religious interest was awakened among all
classes in Killingworth.

The Rev, Asahel Nettleton, whose fame as an evan-
gelical preacher has spread over the land, was invited
to return to the place of his birth, to preach the Gos-
pel to his kindred and townsmen. He came, and the
" Power of the Highest " came with him. Our pas-
tor, Mr. King, was heart and soul with him. Sinai
thundered the law, and Calvary cried pardon to the
penitent. " The axe was laid at the root of the trees "
and the winnowing fan wa& seen in the hand of the
Eternal. Conversions multiplied. Profanity was
hushed. Revelry ceased. " Young men " became
" sober-minded. " The fiddle and the midnight dance
were superseded by the " Village Hymns," the " Songs
of Zion," the quiet sanctuary, and the tender, the
loving, and the happy prayer-meeting. All things be-

8 Life in Hawaii.

came new. I heard the fame of them, but was absent.
In childhood, tender and anxious religious thought
had often filled my eyes with tears, and my heart with
throbs. I had prayed under the shadows of rocks
and lone trees, but no man knew my spiritual wants or
met them. I regretted my absence from Killingworth
while my kind pastor and own beloved cousin were
thus leading thirsty souls to the Fountain of Life. I
returned just in. time to see no of my companions
and neighbors stand up in the sanctuary and confess
the Lord Jehovah to be their Lord and Saviour, and
pledge themselves to love, follow, and obey Him.

I was thoughtful and sober, but passed on much as
usual in the ordinary affairs of life.

In the spring of 1826, with a friend and my sister,
I left my native home in a private carriage, and went via
Middletown, Hartford, Stockbridge, Albany, and
Schenectady to Rochester, taking the Erie Canal at
Schenectady and leaving our friend to go on in the
carriage.

I had then four brothers in Western New York ; the
oldest, the Rev. George Coan, had received that sum-
mer a call from the Presbyterian church at Riga, in
Monroe County, to become its pastor. This call he ac-
cepted, and at the same time I was engaged to teach
the large school near the church. Here I often met
excellent pastors of the surrounding- churches, whose
preaching, religious conversation, and personal friend-

Fidelia Church. 9

ship awakened afresh the pious longings of my soul.
Most of these pastors are now in heaven, and I know
of but one who is still living, and now more than four-
score years old. His letters of love still come to me
fresh as the dews of Mount Zion.

During this summer of 1826 I often rode by a
school-house in a western district of Riga, and through
the windows I saw a face that beamed on me like
that of an angel. The image was deeply impressed,
and is still ineffaceable.

On inquiry, the young lady proved to be Miss
Fidelia Church, of Churchville. I often saw her sun-
lit face in the choir on the Sabbath, for she was a
sweet singer, but I did not make her acquaintance for
many months.

During the summer of 1827, after the close of my
winter-school, I opened a select-school in Riga, and
Fidelia applied for admittance. In this I rejoiced
greatly, for it gave me a good opportunity to mark
the character of her mind, which proved bright and
receptive, and to become acquainted with her moral
and social characteristics.

I was called again to teach the central school during
the winter of 1827-8, and though I had not yet united
with the visible Church, I was elected and urged to
become superintendent of the Sabbath-school, which
I reluctantly accepted under the firm resolve to spend
the remainder of my days, not in doubting and inac-

io Life in Hawaii.

tivity, but in doing what I could to bless my fellow
mortals, and to honor God. And in this resolution,
which formed an era in my life, I was greatly helped,
comforted, and established, so that duty done for
Christ was a sweet and joyous pleasure.

On the 2d day of March, 1828, I was received to
the fellowship of the Presbyterian church in Riga,
then under the pastoral care of my brother. Although
I had now publicly devoted myself to the service of
the Master, my profession was not yet chosen.

Soon after this union with the church, I visited Me-
dina, a young and promising village west of Albion,
in Orleans County, where one of my brothers was es-
tablished in mercantile business. As this brother
had long urged me to connect myself with him in his
business, I went to look into it and to consider his offer.
I spent the summer and winter with him. *

Here work for the Master opened before me. The
town was new, the inhabitants were from different
parts, and of various professions and religious opin-
ions. But notwithstanding this, there was much har-
mony in the village, so that, if a Methodist, a Baptist,
a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, or a Congregational
minister came along and was invited to preach, a large
portion of the people united harmoniously in listening
to the Gospel ; and when there was no clergyman, the
layman professors kept up Sabbath services in reading
sermons, and with exhortation and prayer. I was ap-

Choosing a Path. n

pointed Sunday-school superintendent, and this with
visiting the sick, attending funerals, and assisting the
brethren in religious services, opened just such a field
of labor as I needed.

As winter approached I was again pressed into
school-teaching, spending outside hours with my broth-
er in the store.

Still I had not chosen my life-work. Four paths lay
before me. My brother wished me to become his
partner in the mercantile business. A good physician
in Rochester, and several in other places, advised me
to become a physician, offering to teach me free of
charge. Some said I was made for a school teacher,
and many clergymen and Christian laymen urged me
to go into the Gospel ministry.

What should I do ? What could I do ? The sub-
ject pressed heavily upon my mind and heart. I said
. that teaching is pleasant in youth, but for life it would
not satisfy me. As for the medical profession, I was
not adapted to it, and I dared not make the trial.
But how of the sacred ministry? I felt utterly unfit
and unworthy — my natural talent, education, piety,
were all unequal to the exalted calling. As Moses,
Isaiah, and Jeremiah shrank from the offices of leg-
islator and prophet, so I from being an ambassador
of Christ, yet I was willing to work hard as a layman,
and even longed to go as a servant among the hea-
then, to help the honored missionaries. Thus my spirit

12 Life in Hawaii.

labored under a burden which none but God knew,
and to find relief, I decided to be an active and de-
voted layman ; to return to Connecticut, finish up my
business there, and then settle down to a mercantile
life in Medina.

In April, 1829, I left Medina for the East, and in
Bergen met, by agreement, an old and faithful friend,
the Rev. H. Halsey, who had been chosen by his
Presbytery a representative to the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church, which was to meet in
Philadelphia the coming May. With him I agreed to
visit Philadelphia, attend the sessions of the General
Assembly, and then go on to Connecticut. We took
the canal-boat at Rochester, and on the next day I
had a shake of ague, followed by a fever. We had no
doctor and no medicines, and I kept quiet, thinking to
brave it out.

On the next Saturday we reached Syracuse, my
ague shakes becoming more positive. We left the
boat and went to Onondaga Hollow, spending the
Sabbath and Monday with the Principal of an Acad-
emy, who was brother-in-law to Mr. Halsey. Here
the ague was heavy and I had little comfort.

On Tuesday we went on to Albany, and thence by
steamer to New York ; my chills and fever growing
all the while more and more intense. Here I gave up
going to Philadelphia, parting reluctantly with my
companion. Taking passage up the Sound, I went

The Decision. 13

to Madison, where I had friends. I was then so pros-
trated I could go no farther, and was laid at once on
a bed of weakness, from which I did not rise for four
months. A good physician and kind friends minis-
tered to me daily, but the disease held me fast until
I was wasted to a skeleton, so that I could not sit in
an easy-chair without fainting while my bed was being
made. This was a time for reflection.

When the cold winds of autumn came, the disease
relaxed, and I was taken carefully in an easy carriage
to my father's house, only seven miles distant. Here
I was ill until the last of October. I then rose
through the mercy of God, and was offered the school
where my cousin Nettleton and where all my broth-
ers and sisters had been taught their ABC.

During all that winter there was a cheering revival
in the town and in my school, and many of my pupils
were hopefully born again. This was the best year
of my life up to that time. It was the turning point,
the day of decision. It was the voice of God to me.
I could no longer doubt. I had purposed and the
Lord had disappointed. I had chosen, but He had
other work for me. I said, Lead me, Saviour. Tell
me where to go and what to do, and I will go and do.

On my return to Western New York I had a free
consultation with many ministerial friends, and all ad-
vised me to pursue a short course of preparatory study,
and enter Auburn Theological Seminary.

14 Life in Hawaii.

I had formed a pleasant acquaintance with the Rev.
Lewis Cheeseman, while he was pastor of a church in
Albion. He then seemed like a young Apollos, fer-
vid, eloquent, and impressive. He had now settled
in Byron and was preaching with great power and
success. He invited.me to study and labor with him,
as an interesting work of grace was in progress, not
only in Byron, but in Rochester and many other
towns of that region.

Accordingly I spent the summer of 1830 in his
family, studying and laboring in the revival ; some-
times meeting the Rev. Charles Finney.

In the autumn an earnest invitation came to me
from the Rev. David Page and the church in Knox-
ville, to come and labor there. I accepted the. invi-
tation, and spent the winter and spring in that place,
continuing my classical studies, and assisting the pas-
tor, and conducting evening meetings in surrounding
villages. The religious interest was widespread, the
meetings were full and solemn, consciences were ten-
der, and many were turned to the Lord.

On the first day of June, 183 1, I entered the mid-
dle class of Auburn Theological Seminary.

The faculty then consisted of the Rev. Doctors
Richards, Perrine, and Mills, all noble men and fine
scholars.

Here the months and seasons flowed pleasantly
along, and I was very happy in my studies, in the so-

Prison Work. 1 5

ciety of the students and in the instructions of the
professors. Every Sab.bath morning I went with
other students to teach the convicts in the Auburn
State Prison, numbering seven or eight hundred, and
for a year or more I had the office of Superintendent
of the prison Sunday-school. This work was very
interesting, as I had personal access to every class and
to every individual. Many confessed to deeds and
purposes of great depravity, and some professed a
radical change of heart. About 200 professed con-
version. A few of these I afterward met in Roches-
ter and Albany, of gentlemanly bearing, and in citi-
zen^ dress. I did not recognize the men whom I
had known in the convict's garb, until they gave me
their names. I was rejoiced to find them members of
Sunday-schools and churches, in good business, and
happily settled in life.

On the 17th of April, 1833, 1 was licensed to preach
the Gospel by the Presbytery of Cayuga County, at
a meeting in Auburn.

I was then invited to preach during the summer
vacation in one of the churches in Rochester, while
the pastor was absent as a delegate to the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

At the close of the vacation, as I was about to re-
turn to Auburn, the elders of the church in which I
had labored put the following paper into my hands :

1 6 Life in Hawaii.

Rochester, July 8, 1833.
Rev. Titus Coan :

Dear Sir : — In behalf of the First Free Presbyterian
Church and Congregation of Rochester, we present you this
testimonial of our entire satisfaction of your ministerial labors
among us during the absence of our beloved pastor, Rev. Luke
Lyons, who was called from us to attend the General Assem-
bly of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

You may rest assured that we shall remember you in our
prayers, and may the Lord abundantly reward you for your
labors of love among us, guide you by His counsel, and make
you eminently useful in promoting the Redeemer's Kingdom
in whatever situation you may be placed.

We are, dear sir, your friends and brethren in Christ our
Lord.

(Signed), A. W. Riley,
Elisha Ely,
' Nathan Lyman,
Manly G. Woodbury.

It was but a few days after my entrance upon my
last term at the Seminary, when a letter from the
Rev. Rufus Anderson, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M..
called me to Boston to be ordained, and to sail on a
mission of exploration to Patagonia, on which expe-
dition I embarked on the 16th of August, 1833. An
account of this trip may be found in my "Adventures
in Patagonia."

II.

Marriage — Embarkation for Hawaii — Santiago^
Callao, and Lima in 1835 — Arrival in Honolulu —
Passage to Hilo — Our New Home — First Labors.

ON returning from Patagonia I landed in New
London, Conn., May 7, 1834. During all
the long months of my absence in the Sou':h,
not a word had come to me from friends, nor had
any tidings from me reached the land of my birth.
There had been many fond recollections and tender
heart-longings, and quires of paper had been filled,
but no breath of heaven, no bird of the air had
wafted these yearnings, these burning thoughts from
North to South, and from South to North. Over
the Atlantic or the vast continent no answer had
come to anxious inquiries, no echo to calls of love.

But the perils of the sea and of the howling wilder-
ness of savages were now past, and I was in the land
of liberty, of light, and of Christian love.

I went to Boston and reported ; to Killingworth,
to surprise with joy my aged and mourning father;
and to Middlebury in Vermont to find the one whom
I had chosen, and who had waited patiently and with-

(17)

Life in Hawaii.

out change of object or of purpose, for seven long
years to welcome this glad day.

She was then teaching with the dear mother Cooke,-
in the Middlebury Female Seminary.

She went with me to her father's house in Church-
ville, where on the 3d of Nov., 1834, we were married
in the church on Monthly Concert evening. On Nov.
4th we left for Boston, visiting friends in New York
and Connecticut by the way.

On the 23d of November we received our instruc-
tions as missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, in Park
Street church, together with Miss Lydia Brown, Miss
Elizabeth Hitchcock, Mr. Henry Dimond and wife,
and Mr. and Mrs. Edwin O. Hall.

On the same occasion a company of twelve mission-
aries, destined to Southeastern Africa, received their
instructions. The house was packed and the occa-
sion was one of great interest.

On the 5th of December, 1834, we embarked on
board the merchant ship Hellespont, Capt. John
Henry, and bade farewell to Boston, to hundreds of
dear and precious friends, to our dear country, not ex-
pecting ever to see them again. On the 6th we awoke
and looked in vain for land. City, hills, mountains,
had sunk in the ocean, and nothing outside of the
dancing Hellespont was seen but the ethereal vault
and the boundless blue sea.

We plunged into the Gulf Stream and were han-

Fellow Missionaries. 19

died roughly by current and wind and foaming wave.
The wild winds howled, the clouds thickened and
darkened, and the tempest raged.

Our good ship labored, plunged, rose, trembled,
plunged and rose again amidst the foaming billows,
shaking off the feathery spray like a sea-lion, and
rushing along her watery way with grandeur. In the
night her shining pathway was all aglow with count-
less, sparkling brilliants. Our voyage soon became
pleasant. The weather was favorable, the captain at-
tentive and kind, the officers faithful, and the crew
obedient and respectful. Our seasickness vanished,
our skies brightened, and we were a happy family,
daily becoming better acquainted with each other.
Miss Brown was a maiden lady from New Hampshire,
of true devotion to the work of the Lord. She was
appointed to the Islands to teach the women of Ha-
waii domestic duties, such as carding, spinning, weav-
ing, etc., in connection with a civilizing Christianity.
Miss Hitchcock was also a maiden lady, well educated
and pious. One of her brothers was already an active
missionary on the Islands, and she was going out to
assist in teaching. She afterward married Mr. Ed-
mund H. Rogers, a missionary printer.

Mr. Dimond came as a book-binder. His good wife
was Miss Ann Anner, of New York City. Both of
them are now living. Mr. E. O. Hall was a printer
from Rochester, N. Y. He also found his wife in

20 Life in Hawaii.

New York City, a Miss Williams, a devoted lady.
Mrs. Hall died a few years ago.

This united circle held morning and evening devo-
tions, and our days were spent in reading, writing, and
social intercourse. On Sabbaths when the weather
was favorable we had preaching, at which service the
captain, officers, and crew were present.

But I need not detain the reader with a third voyage
in the Atlantic. Enough to say that we passed pleas-
antly along to the South, sinking the Northern con-
stellations one by one, and raising the Southern, see-
ing no Equatorial line, no Neptune, and no land until
the hills of Terra del Fuego lifted their snowy heads
upon us above the clouds. I had longed to see the
wild coast of Patagonia and the Falkland Islands,
where only a year before I had roamed with the sav-
age tribes, or found more comforts among the whalers
and sealers of those southern islets. But we passed
between the Continent and the Islands, descrying
neither.

My heart mourned for this land of Patagonia, a
land on which the shadows of death had always rested,
and where no day had yet dawned.

We passed through the Strait of Le Maire, and
with all sails set, in a balmy and bright summer day
sailed very near the dreaded Cape Horn.

Only a day after we had set our studding sails and
spread all our canvas, a stormy wind took us far

• The Voyage — Santiago. 21

toward the Southern Cross and the ice mountains of
the Antarctic. But in a few days, more favoring gales
hurried us Northward again, and on the 8th of March
the joyful sound of "land ho !" thrilled all on board,
and the lofty Cordillera chain stood out in grandeur
before us. It was Chili, and the city of Valparaiso
was in sight. We came into the roadstead, dropped
anchor, furled sails, congratulated one another, and
blessed the Lord for a safe passage thus far.

As the Hellespont was to remain in port about
twenty days, Mr. Dimond and I engaged a carriage
and driver, and made a trip to Santiago, the capital of
Chili, about 100 miles inland and near the foot-hills of
the Andes. Our ride was very exhilarating. This
city is one of the most beautiful in South America,
well watered from the mountain snows, and well
shaded with trees. On our way we passed over high
hills and broad plains. The roads over these hills
were wide and cut in zigzag lines, with ample terraces
or resting-places at the angles. On ascending one of
these lofty hills at early dawn, we descried the heads
of two men, recently severed, each nailed to a high
post at different places, and grinning ghastly upon us.
Our driver told us that these men were highway rob-
bers and murderers ; that they had, on going up this
hill, perpetrated the vilest of crimes, killed a husband
and his wife, with two children, stolen their baggage,
clothes, and horse, and thrown the dead bodies into

Library of

H* Church CollBgm o<

Hawaii

22 Life in Hawaii.

a deep ravine below ; and for these horrid crimes their
heads had been made beacons of warning to all who
passed along this road.

We left Valparaiso on the 27th of March, and an-
chored in the harbor of Callao, Peru, on the 6th of
April, 1835. Here we spent twenty-one days, giving
us opportunity of going on shore as often as we de-
sired, of visiting Lima, of attending the gorgeous cer-
emonies of Passion Week, of looking into the grand
Cathedral and their splendid churches, and of notic-
ing the monuments of art, and the scars of revolution
in that renowned, but often suffering, desecrated, and
vandalized city.

With the courteous Bishop of Lima, we went
through the Cathedral, he bowing and crossing him-
self as he passed by the various pictures and statues,
telling us of the guardian care of the different saints
over the city.

We left Callao on the 27th of April, saw the mount-
ains of Hawaii on the 5th of June, and on the 6th
landed in Honolulu. The Hawaiian mission was then
in session, and on the arrival of the Hellespont, the
mission appointed a committee of three to meet us
on board, while the meeting was adjourned, and a
large part of the members with wives and children
came down to the wharf to welcome us, and to escort,
us to the house of the Rev. Hiram Bingham. The
welcome was warm and warmly reciprocated, and the

A Month in Honolulu. 23

meeting was joyful. It seemed to us apostolical. We
regarded these veteran toilers with a feeling of ven-
eration. Some looked vigorous and strong, others
seemed pallid and wayworn. Here were the fathers
and mothers in Israel, and here the brothers and sis-
ters, with flocks of precious children. We rejoiced that
we were permitted to be numbered with this honored
and happy family. We all united in a hymn of praise
and thanksgiving to God, and then knelt in prayer.

The new reinforcement united in the daily meet-
ings of the mission until the closing of its sessions,
when we went forth to our appointed stations ; my
wife and I to Hilo, Hawaii, with Mr. and Mrs. Ly-
man.

We embarked at Honolulu, in the schooner Veloc-
ity, falsely so-called, on the 6th of July. The schooner
was small, a slow sailer, dirty, crowded with more
than one hundred passengers, mostly natives, and
badly managed. The captain was an Irishman given
to hard drinking.

We sailed from Honolulu on Monday. The sea
was rough and nearly all of the passengers were very
seasick. Our first port was Lahaina, eighty miles
from Honolulu, where ^ve were to land Mr. and Mrs.
Richards, Dr. and Mrs. Chapin, Mr. and Mrs. Spauld-
ing, and other families. On Wednesday morning the
captain announced that the land just ahead was Maui,
and that we should all land in about an hour at La-

24 Life in Hawaii.

haina, where we might rest a day, bathe, eat grapes
and watermelons, and be refreshed for the rest of the
voyage, about 150 miles further.

But the poor captain's eyes were dazed, and he had
lost his reckoning. We had gone about in the night
and we were back at Honolulu ! This fact came upon
us with a shock of agony. After such seasickness as
some of us had never before endured, the dreadful
thought came over us, " Shall we ever reach our
homes on this vessel and with this master? " Many of
us had tasted neither food nor water from Monday to
Wednesday, and all had lain crowded on a dirty deck,
exposed to wind, rain, and wave, and how could we
live to reach our destination ? But there was no alter-
native. We said go, and the dull Velocity went about
and headed again for Lahaina, where we landed passen-
gers, and on the 21st we saw the emerald beauty of
Hilo, and disembarked with joy and thanksgiving.
Hundreds of laughing natives thronged the beach,
seized our hands, gave us the hearty "Aloha" and
followed us up to the house of our good friends, Mr.
and Mrs. Lyman, who were with us to comfort and
inform us all the way.

The bay of Hilo is a beautiful, spacious, and safe
harbor. The outline of its beach is a crescent like
the moon in her first quarter. The beach is com*
posed of fine, volcanic sand, mixed with a little coral
and earth. On its eastern and western sides, and in

Hilo and Hilo Bay. 25

its center, it is divided by three streams of pure wa-
ter; it has a deep channel about half a mile wide,
near the western shore, sufficiently deep to admit the
largest ship that floats. Seaward it is protected by a
lava reef one mile from the shore. This reef was
formed by a lateral stream of lava, sent out at right
angles from a broad river of molten rocks that formed
our eastern coast. This reef is a grand barrier against
the swell of the ocean. Lord Byron, who visited
Hilo, when he brought home the corpses of King
Liholiho and his queen, gave the name of " Byron's
Bay " to this harbor, but that name is nearly obsolete.

The beach was once beautifully adorned with the
cocoa palm, whose lofty plumes waved and rustled
and glittered in the fresh sea-breeze. Beyond our
quiet bay the broad, blue ocean foams or sleeps, with
a surface sometimes shining like molten silver, tum-
bling in white foam, or gently throbbing as with the
pulsations of life.

Inland, from the shore to the bases of the mount-
ains, the whole landscape is " arrayed in living
green/' presenting a picture of inimitable beauty, so
varied in tint, so grooved with water channels, and so
sparkling with limpid streams and white foaming cas-
cades, as to charm the eye, and cause the beholder to
exclaim, "This is a scene of surpassing loveliness."

Behind all this in the background, tower the lofty,
snow-mantled mountains, Kea and Loa, out of one of
2

26 Life in Hawaii.

which rush volcanic fires. At the first sight we were
charmed with the beauty and the grandeur of the
scene, and we exclaimed, " Surely the lines are fallen
to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heri-
tage."

We were satisfied, yes more, we were delighted, with
our location, and to this day we bless the Lord that
He inclined the minds of the mission to assign us to
this field of labor. In this, as in all the past, we see
the guiding hand of Him who has promised to " direct
the steps " of all who " commit their way to Him."

Hilo had then but one framed house. It was a low,
two-story building in the style of a New England
farm-house, built and occupied by the Rev. Joseph
Goodrich, a good and faithful missionary of the A. B.
C. F. M.

Mr. Lyman's home, into which we were received,
was a small, stone house, with walls' laid up with mud,
and a thatched roof. Each family had but one room
about fifteen feet square.

Mr. Goodrich, with his family, left Hilo in Novem-
ber for the United States, not to return, and we were
advised to occupy his house, which with later addi-
tions and improvements has been our habitation ever
since.

Mr. Lyman soon built a comfortable house near us,
and the old stone-and-mud hut was devoted to a school-
room.

Work and Study, 2 J

By the advice of the Lymans, who had been two
years in Hilo, and whose experience and wise counsel
were of great use to us, we at once began teaching a
school of about a hundred almost naked boys and
girls, being ourselves pupils of a good man named
Barnabas, who patiently drilled us daily in the lan-
guage of his people. By reading, trying to talk, teach
and write, we crept along, without grammar or dic-
tionary, the mist lifting slowly before us, until at the
end of three months from our arrival, I went into the
pulpit with Mr. Lyman, and preached my first sermon
in the native language. Soon after, I made a tour with
him into Puna, one wing of our field, and then through
the district of Hilo, in an opposite direction. These
tours introduced me to the people for whom I was to
labor, and with whom I had a burning desire to com-
municate freely, and helped me greatly in acquiring
the language.

The General Meeting at Honolulu in June had ad-
vised Mr. Lyman and myself to establish a board-
ing-school for boys, leaving to us the question as to
which of us should be the principal of the school,
and which the traveling missionary.

He chose the school as his chief work, and I the
pastoral and preaching department. Our labors, how-
ever, were not separated for a long time, he preaching
always when I was absent on tours, and often when I
was at home ; we always worked in harmony. After

28 Life in Hawaii

a year or two, the school being enlarged and im-
portant, Mr. Lyman requested the mission to accept
his resignation of the joint pastorate of the church and
to appoint me as the sole pastor. This was done har-
moniously, and we have labored side by side until the
present day, mutually assisting, and rejoicing in the
success of all departments of the service.

Under the efficient care of Mr. and Mrs. Lyman the
school has been a great success. Its department of
manual labor is an important feature in the institu-
tion. It has given a very valuable physical training
to the boys, imparting to them skill and health,
and making the school nearly self-supporting. The
young men are well dressed, neat and manly in their ap-
pearance, and give evidence of an elevation above the
common masses around them. In all, the Seminary
has graduated about one thousand pupils. Many
of them are among the most useful members of so-
ciety, and some of them have become legislators,
judges, teachers, Christian ministers, foreign mission-
aries, etc.

Mr. Lyman, feeling obliged through declining
health to resign his office as Principal, the Rev. W.
B. Oleson was appointed in September, 1878, as his
successor.

III.

The Field— -The People — Hilo District — Crossing the
Torrents — Perils of a Canoe Voyage — Puna Dis-
trict.

THE field in which I was called to labor is a
belt of land extending by the coast-line ioo miles
on the north-east, east, and south-east shore of Ha-
waii, including the districts of Hilo and Puna, and a
part of Kau.

The inhabited belt is one to three miles wide, and
in a few places there were hamlets and scattering vil-
lages five to ten miles inland. Beyond this narrow
shore belt there is a zone of forest trees with a trop-
ical jungle from ten to twenty-five miles wide, almost
impenetrable by man or beast. Still higher is another
zone of open country girdling the bases of the mount-
ains, with a rough surface of hill, dale, ravine, scori-
aceous lava fields, rocky ridges, and plains and hills of
pasture land. Here wild goats, wild cattle, with hogs
and wild geese feed. Still higher up tower Mauna Kea
and Mauna Loa, nearly 14,000 feet above the sea,
the former being a pile of extinct craters, often crown-

(29)

30 Life in Hawaii.

ed with snow, and the latter a mountain of fire, where
for unknown ages earthquakes that rock the group
and convulse the ocean have been born, and where
volcanoes burst out with awful roar, and rush in fiery-
rivers down the mountain sides, across the open plains,
through the blazing forest jungle and into the sea.
All but the narrow shore belt is left to untamed bird
and beast, and to the wild winds and raging fires of
the mountains, except when bird-catchers, canoe-
makers, cattle-hunters, or volcano visitors are drawn
thither by their several interests from the shore.

The population of this shore belt was probably at
that time about 15,000 to 16,000, almost exclusively
natives. Very few foreigners had then come here to
live. Several missionaries had resided in Hilo for
short periods, but none had settled here permanently
except Mr. and Mrs. Lyman. Occasional tours had
been made through Hilo and Puna, and the Gospel had
been preached in most of the villages. Schools had
also been established through the districts and a good-
ly number could read and write. Some pupils were
in the elements of arithmetic, and many committed
lessons in the Scriptures to memory.

Forms of idolatry were kept out of sight, but super-
stition and ignorance, hypocrisy and most of the lower
vices prevailed. The people were all slaves to their
chiefs, and no man but a chief owned a foot of land,
a tree, a pig, a fowl, his wife, children, or himself. All

Hilo District. 31

belonged to his chief and could be taken at will, if anger
or covetousness or lust called for them. I have seen
families by the score turned out of their dwellings,
all their effects seized, and they sent off wailing, to
seek shelter and food where they could. " On the
side of the oppressor there was power, but the poor
man had no comforter."

HlLO, the northern wing of this field, is a district
including about thirty miles of its shore line. It is
covered with a deep rich soil, clothed with perennial
green of every shade, watered with the rain of heaven,
and grooved by about eighty water channels that run on
an angle of some three degrees, leaping over hundreds
of precipices of varied heights, from three or four feet
to 500, and plunging into the sea over a cliff rising in
height, from the sand beach of the town, to 700 or
800 feet along the northern coast-line.

For many years after our arrival there were no roads,
no bridges, and no horses in Hilo, and all my tours
were made on foot. These were three or four annually
through Hilo, and as many in Puna ; the time occu-
pied in making them was usually ten to twenty days
for each trip.

In passing through the district of Hilo, the weath-
er was sometimes fine and the rivers low, so that there
was little difficulty in traveling. The path was a sim-
ple trail, winding in a serpentine line, going down and
up precipices, some of which could only be descended

32 Life in Hawaii.

and ascended by grasping the shrubs and grasses, and
with no little weariness and difficulty and some dan-
ger.

But the streams were the most formidable obstacles.
In great rains, which often occurred on my tours, when
the winds rolled in the heavy clouds from the sea,
and massed them in dark banks on the side of the
mountain, the waters would fall in torrents at the
head of the streams and along their channels, and the
rush and the roar as the floods came down were like
the thunder of an army charging upon the foe.

I have sometimes sat on the high bank of a stream-
let, not more than fifteen to twenty feet wide, convers-
ing with natives in the bright sunshine, when suddenly
a portentous roaring, " Like the sound of many waters,
or like the noise of the sea when the waves thereof roar,"
fell upon my ears, and looking up-stream, I have seen
a column of turbid waters six feet deep coming down
like the flood from a broken mill-dam. The natives
would say to me, " Awiwi ! awiwi ! o paa oe i ka
wai " — " Quick ! quick ! or the waters will stop you."

Rushing down the bank I would cross over, dry-
shod, where in two minutes more there was no lon-
ger any passage for man or beast. But I rarely waited
for the rivers to run by. My appointments for preach-
ing were all sent forward in a line for thirty or sixty
miles, designating the day, and usually the hours,
when I would be at a given station, and by breaking

Foot- Touring. 3 3

one of these links the whole chain would be disturbed.
It therefore seemed important that every appointment
should be kept, whatever the inconvenience might be
to me. In traveling, my change of raiment was all
packed in one calabash, or large gourd, covered by
the half of another ; a little food was in a second cala-
bash. With these gourds one may travel indefinitely
in the heaviest rains while all is dry within. Faith-
ful natives carried my little supplies.

I had several ways of crossing the streams.

1st. When the waters were low, large rocks and
boulders, common in all the water-channels, were left
bare, so that with a stick or pole eight or ten feet
long, I leaped from rock to rock over the giddy
streams and crossed dry-shod : these same poles help-
ing me to climb up, and to let myself down steep
precipices, and to leap ditches six to eight feet wide.
2d. When the streams were not too deep and too
swift I waded them ; and 3d, when not too deep, but
too swift, I mounted upon the shoulders of a sturdy
aquatic native, holding on to his bushy hair, when he
moved carefully down the slippery bank of the river,
leaning up-stream against a current of ten knots, and
moving one foot at a time, sideways among the slimy
boulders in the bottom, and then bringing the other
foot carefully up. Thus slowly feeling his way across,
he would land me safe with a shout and a laugh on
the opposite bank. But this is a fearful way of cross-

34 Life in Hawaii.

ing, for the cataracts are so numerous, the waters so
rapid, and the uneven bottom so slippery, that the
danger of falling is imminent, and the recovery from
a fall often impossible, the current hurrying one swift-
ly over a precipice into certain destruction. Both
natives and foreigners have thus lost their lives in
these streams, and among them three of the members
of the Hilo church who have traveled and labored
and prayed with me.

I once crossed a full and powerful river in thi$ way,
not more than fifty feet above a cataract of 426 feet
in height, with a basin forty feet deep below, where
this little Niagara has thundered for ages. A mis-
sionary brother of another station seeing me landed
safely, and knowing that this crossing would save
about six miles of hard and muddy walking, followed
me on the shoulders of the same bold native that took
me over. But before he had reached the middle of
the rushing flood, he trembled and cried out with fear.
The bearer said, " Hush ! hush ! be still, or we perish
together." The brother still trembling, the native
with great difficulty managed to reach a rock in the
center of the river, and on this he seated his burden,
commanding him to be quiet and sit there until he
was cool (he was already drenched with rain and
river-spray), when he would take him off, which he did
in about ten minutes and landed him safely by my
side.

Crossing Torrents. 35

This mode of crossing the streams, however, was
too dangerous, and I soon abandoned it.

A fourth mode was for a sufficient number of strong
men to form a chain across the river. They made
a line, locking hands on the bank ; with heads bend-
ing up-stream entering the water carefully, and mov-
ing slowly until the head of the line reached good foot-
hold near the opposite bank. With my hands upon
the shoulders of the men I passed along this chain of
bones, sinews, and muscles and arrived in safety on
the other side.

The fifth and safest, and in fact the only possible
way to cross some of these rivers when swollen and
raging, was to throw a rope across the stream, and
fasten it to trees or rocks on either side ; grasping it
firmly with both hands, my feet thrown down-stream,
I drew myself along the line and gained the opposite
bank. This I sometimes did without removing shoes
or garments, then walked on to my next station, and
preached in wet clothes, continuing my travels and
labors until night ; when in dry wrappings I slept well,
and was all ready for work the next day.

I was once three hours in crossing one river. The
day was cold and rainy, and I was soaked before I
entered the stream. This was so wide at the only
possible crossing point, that we were unable to throw
a line across, even with a weight attached to the end
of it. The raging, roaring, and tossing of the waters

36 Life in Hawaii.

were fearful, and the sight of it made me shudder.
Kind natives collected on both banks by scores, with
ropes and courage to help. The fearful rapids, run-
ning probably twenty miles an hour, were before us.
Fifty feet below us was a fall of some twenty feet,
and about ioo yards further down was a thundering
cataract, where the river was compressed within a
narrow gorge with a clear plunge of about eighty feet.

Our natives tried all their skill and strength, but
could not throw the line across. At length a daring
man went up-stream close to a waterfall, took the
end of the rope in his teeth, mounted a rock, calcu-
lated his chances of escape from the cataracts be-
low, and leaped into the flood ; down, down he went
quivering and struggling till he reached the opposite
shore only a few feet above the fall, over which it
must have been a fatal plunge had he gone. But by
his temerity, which I should have forbidden, had I
known it in season, a passage was provided for me.

After years had passed, and a little had been done
toward making roads, I purchased a horse, and tried
to get him over these streams by swimming or haul-
ing him over with ropes. Twice when I attempted
to go over in the saddle, his foot caught between two
rocks in the middle of the stream, and horse and rider
were saved only by the energy and fidelity of the na-
tives.

Once in going up a steep precipice in a narrow pass

Canoe- Trips. 3 7

between a rocky height on one hand and a stream
close on the other, my horse fell over backward and
lay with his head down and his feet in the air, so
wedged and so wounded that he could never have
escaped from his position, had not a company of na-
tives for whom I sent came to the rescue and extri-
cated the poor, faithful animal from his rocky bed. I
escaped instant death by sliding out of the saddle
upon the narrow bank of the stream, before the back
of my horse struck between the rocks. He was so
hurt that I was obliged to leave him to recover.

In order to save time and escape the weariness of
the road and the dangers of the rivers, I sometimes
took a canoe at the end of my tours to return home
by the water. This trip required six to eight hours,
and was usually made in the night.

On three occasions my peril was great. One de-
scription will suffice for all ; for although the diffi-
culties and escapes were at different points along a
precipitous and lofty sea-wall, yet the causes of danger
were the same, viz. : stormy winds, raging billows, and
want of landing-places.

About midway between our starting-place and Hilo
harbor, we were met by a strong head-wind, with pour-
ing rain and tumultuous waves in a dark midnight.
We were half a mile from land, but could hear the
roar and see the flashing of the white surf as it dashed
against the rocky walls. We could not land, we could

38 Life in Hawaii

not sail, we could not row forward or backward, All
we could do was to keep the prow of the canoe to
the wind, and bail. Foaming seas dashed against our
frail cockleshell, pouring in buckets of brine. Thus
we lay about five hours, anxious as they " who watch
for the morning." At length it dawned ; we looked
through the misty twilight to the rock-bound shore
where " the. waves dashed high." A few doors of na-
tive huts opened and men crawled out. We called,
but no echo came. We made signals of distress. We
were seen and numbers came down to the cliffs and
gazed at us. We waved our garments for them to
come off to our help. They feared, they hesitated.
We were opposite the mouth of a roaring river, where
the foam of breakers dashed in wild fury. At last
four naked men came down from the cliff, plunged
into the sea, dived under one towering wave after an-
other, coming out to breathe between the great roll-
ing billows, and thus reached our canoe. Ordering
the crew to swim to the land, they took charge of the
canoe themselves because they knew the shore. Mean-
while men stood on the high bluffs with kapa cloth in
hand to signal to the boat-men when to strike for the
mouth of the river. They waited long and watched
the tossing waves as they rolled in and thundered
upon the shore, and when at last a less furious wave
came behind us, the shore men waved the signals and
cried out, " Hoi ! hoi ! " and as the waves lifted the

Picna District. 39

stern of our canoe, all the paddles struck the water,
while the steerer kept the canoe straight on her course,
and thus mounted on this crested wave as on an ocean
chariot, with the feathery foam flying around us, we
rode triumphantly into the mouth of the river, where
we were received with shouts of gladness by the
throng who had gathered to witness our escape.
Then two rows of strong men waded into the surf up
to their arm-pits to receive our canoe and bear it in
triumph to the shore.

Praising the Lord for His goodness, and thanking
the kind natives for their agency in delivering me, I
walked. the rest of the way home.

The district of Puna lies east and south of Hilo,
and its physical features are remarkably different
from those of the neighboring district.

Its shore line, including its bends and flexures, is more
than seventy miles in extent. For three miles inland
from the sea it is almost a dead level, with a surface of
pahoehoe or field lava, and a-a or scoriaceous lava, inter-
spersed with more or less rich volcanic soil and trop-
ical verdure, and sprinkled with sand-dunes and a few
cone and pit-craters. Throughout its length it is
marked with ancient lava streams, coming down from
Kilauea and entering the sea at different points along
the coast. These lava streams vary in width from
half a mile to two or three miles. From one to three
miles from the shore the land rises rapidly into the

40 Life in Hawaii.

great volcanic dome of Mauna Loa (Long Mountain).
The highlands are mostly covered with woods and
jungle, and scarred with rents, pits, and volcanic cones.
Everywhere the marks of terrible volcanic action are
visible. The whole district is so cavernous, so rent
with fissures, and so broken by fiery agencies, that
not a single stream of water keeps above-ground to
reach the sea. All the rain-fall is swallowed by the
10,000 crevices, and disappears, except the little that
is held in small pools and basins, waiting for evapora-
tion. The rains are abundant, and subterranean fount-
ains and streams are numerous, carrying the waters
down to the sea level, and filling caverns, and burst-
ing up along the shore in springs and rills, even far
out under the sea. Some of these waters are very-
cold, some tepid, and some stand at blood heat, fur-
nishing excellent warm baths. There are large caves
near the sea where we enter by dark and crooked pas-
sages, and bathe hy torchlight, far underground, in
deep and limpid water.

Puna has many beautiful groves of the cocoa-palm,
also breadfruit, pandanus, and ohia, and where there
is soil it produces under cultivation, besides common
vegetables, arrowroot, sugar-cane, coffee, cotton, or-
anges, citrons, limes, grapes, and other fruits. On the
highlands, grow wild strawberries, cape gooseberries,
and the ohelo, a delicious berry resembling our whor-
tleberry.

Outlying Villages. 41

On the shore line of the eastern part of Kau, ad-
joining Puna, were several villages, containing from
500 to 700 inhabitants, separated from the inhabited
central and western portions of the district by a desert
of unwatered lava about 1 5 miles wide, without a sin-
gle house or human being. These villages were occa-
sionally visited by the Rev. Mr. Forbes, then stationed
in South Kona ; but to reach them required a long,
weary walk over the fields of burning lava, and at his
request, I took them under my charge, thus extending
the shore line of my parish ten miles westward.

IV.

First Tours in Hilo and Puna — The Work of 1837-
38 — Spontaneous Church -building — The Great
Awakening — The Volcanic Wave — Pastoral Ex-
periences and Methods — The Ingathering.

I MADE my first tours of Hilo and Puna during
the latter part of my first half year on Hawaii.
In 1836 I had gained so much in the language as to
be able to converse, preach, and pray with comfort
and with apparent effect on my audiences.

On my arrival in Hilo, the number of church mem-
bers was twenty-three, all living in the town. A con-
siderable portion of our time was then devoted to the
schools. Mr. and Mrs. Lyman were heartily engaged
in the boys' boarding-school. Mrs. Coan was already
teaching a day-school of 140 children, and I a training-
school of 90 teachers to supply the schools of Hilo
and Puna.

Giving a vacation to my pupils, I set off Nov. 29,
1836, on a tour around the island. This was made
on foot, with the exception of a little sailing in a canoe
down the coast of Kona. My companions were two
or three natives, to act as guides and porters. On

reaching the western coast of Kau, I visited all the
(42)

The Hearers. 43

villages along the shore, preaching and exhorting
everywhere. The people came out, men, women, and
children, in crowds, and listened with great attention.
Here I preached three, four, and five times a day, and
had much personal conversation with the natives on
things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

On reaching the western boundaries of Puna, my
labors became more abundant. I had visited this peo-
ple before, and had noticed a hopeful interest in a
number of them. Now they rallied in masses, and
were eager to hear the Word. Many listened with
tears, and after the preaching, when I supposed they
would return to their homes and give me rest, they
remained and crowded around me so earnestly, that I
had no time to eat, and in places where I spent my
nights they filled the house to its entire capacity, leav-
ing scores outside who could not enter. All wanted
to hear more of the " Word of Life." At ten or elev-
en o'clock I would advise them to go home and to
sleep. Some would retire, but more remain until
midnight. At cock-crowing the house would be again
crowded, with as many more outside.

At one place before I reached the point where I was
to spend a Sabbath, there was a line of four villages
not more than half a mile apart. Every village beg-
ged for a sermon and for personal conversation. Com-
mencing at daylight I preached in three of them before
breakfast, at 10 A.M. When the meeting closed at

44 Life in Hawaii.

one village, most of the people ran on to the next,
and thus my congregation increased rapidly from
hour to hour. Many were " pricked in their hearts"
and were inquiring what they should do to be saved.

Sunday came and I was now in the most populous
part of Puna. Multitudes came out to hear the Gos-
pel. The blind were led ; the maimed, the aged and
decrepit, and many invalids were brought on the
backs of their friends. There was great joy and much
weeping in the assembly. Two days were spent in
this place, and ten sermons preached, while almost
all the intervals between the public services were
spent in personal conversation with the crowds which
pressed around me.

Many of the people who then wept and prayed
proved true converts to Christ; most of them have
died in the faith, and a few still live as steadfast wit-
nesses to the power of the Gospel.

Among these converts was the High Priest of the
volcano. He was more than six feet high and of
lofty bearing. He had been an idolater, a drunkard,
an adulterer, a robber, and a murderer. For their ka-
pas, for a pig or a fowl he had killed men on the road,
whenever they hesitated to yield to his demands.
But he became penitent, and appeared honest and
earnest in seeking the Lord.

His sister was more haughty and stubborn. She
was High Priestess of the volcano. She, too, was tall

Growing Interest, 45

and majestic in her bearing. For a long time she re-
fused to bow to the claims of the Gospel ; but at
length she yielded, confessed herself a sinner and un-
der the authority of a higher Power, and with her
brother became a docile member of the church.

During this tour of thirty days I examined twenty
schools with an aggregate of 1,200 pupils.

After my return, congregations at the center in-
creased in numbers and in interest. Meetings for
parents, for women, for church members, for children,
were frequent and full. Soon scores and hundreds
who had heard the Gospel in Kau, Puna, and Hilo,
came into the town to hear more. During all the
years of 1837-8, Hilo was crowded with strangers;
whole families and whole villages in the country were
left, with the exception of a few of the old people,
and in some instances even the aged and the feeble
were brought in on litters from a distance of thirty or
fifty miles. Little cabins studded the place like the
camps of an army, and we estimated that our popula-
tion was increased to 10,000 souls. Those who re-
mained some time, fished, and planted potatoes and
taro for food. Our great native house of worship, near-
ly 200 feet long, by about eighty-five feet wide, with a
lofty roof of thatch, was crowded almost to suffoca-
tion, while hundreds remained outside unable to en-
ter. This sea of faces, all hushed except when sig
and sobs burst out here and there, was a scene to

46 Life in Hawaii.

melt the heart. The word fell with power, and some-
times as the feeling deepened, the vast audience was
moved and swayed like a forest in a mighty wind.
The word became like the "fire and the hammer" of
the Almighty, and it pierced like a two-edged sword.
Hopeful converts were multiplied and " there was
great joy in the city."

Finding the place of our worship "too strait" for
the increasing multitudes, our people, of their own ac-
cord and without the knowledge of their teachers, went
up into the forest three to five miles, with axes, and with
ropes made of vines and bark of the hibiscus, cut down
trees of suitable size and length for posts, rafters, etc.,
and hauled them down through mud and jungle, and
over streams and hillocks to the town. Seeing a very
large heap of this timber, I inquired what this meant.
The reply was, "We will build a second house of wor-
ship so that the people may all be sheltered from sun
and rain on the Sabbath. And this is our thought ;
all of the people of Hilo shall meet in the larger house,
where you will preach to them in the morning, during
which time the people of Puna and Kau will meet for
prayer in the smaller house, and in the afternoon
these congregations shall exchange places, and you will
preach to the Puna and Kau people ; thus all will hear
the minister."

Several thousands, both men and women, took
hold of the work, and in about three weeks from the

The Congregations. 47

commencement of the hauling of the timber, the
house was finished and a joyful crowd of about 2,000
filled it on the Sabbath.

Neither of the houses had floors or seats. The
gpound was beaten hard and covered from week to
week with fresh grass.

When we wished to economize room, or seat the
greatest possible number, skilled men were employed
to arrange the people standing in compact rows as
tight as it was possible to crowd them, the men and
women being separated, and when the house was
thus filled with these compacted ranks, the word was
given them to sit down, which they did, a mass of
living humanity, such perhaps as was never seen ex-
cept on Hawaii.

During these years my tours through the extended
parish were not given up. Nearly every person left
in the villages came to the preaching stations. There
were places along the routes where there were no
houses near the trail, but where a few families were
living half a mile or more inland. In such places,
the few dwellers would come down to the path lead-
ing their blind, and carrying their sick and aged upon
their backs, and lay them down under a tree if there
was one near, or upon the naked rocks, that they might
hear of a Saviour. It was often affecting to see these
withered and trembling hands reached out to grasp
the hand of the teacher, and to hear the palsied, the

48 Life in Hawaii.

blind, and the lame begging him to stop awhile and
tell them the story of Jesus. These pleas could not
be resisted, for the thought would instantly arise,
" This may be the last time." And so it often was,
for on my next tour some of them had gone never
to return. It was a comforting thought that they
had been told of "the Lamb of God who taketh
away the sin of the world, " and to feel a sweet as-
surance from their tears of joy and eager reception of
the truth that they had found " Him of whom Moses
and the Prophets wrote."

Time swept on ; the work deepened and widened.
Thousands on thousands thronged the courts of the
Lord. All eastern and southern Hawaii was like a
sea in motion. Waimea, Hamakua, Kohala, Kona,
and the other islands of the group, were moved. Re-
porting and inquiring letters circulated from post to
post, and from island to island. One asked another,
" What do these things mean ? " and the reply was,
" What indeed ? " Some said that the Hawaiians
were a peculiar people, and very hypocritical, so de-
based in mind and heart that they could not receive
any true conception of the true God, or of spiritual
things; even their language was wanting in terms to
convey ideas of sacred truth; we must not hope for
evangelical conversions among them. But most of
the laborers redoubled their efforts, were earnest in
prayer, and worked on in faith. Everywhere the

Revival Interest. 49

trumpet of jubilee sounded long and loud, and "as
clouds and as doves to their windows," so ransomed
sinners flocked to Christ.

I had seen great and powerful awakenings under
the preaching of Nettleton and Finney, and like doc-
trines, prayers, and efforts seemed to produce like
fruits among this people.

My precious wife, whose soul was melted with love
and longings for the weeping natives, felt that to
doubt it was the work of the Spirit, was to grieve
the Holy Ghost and to provoke Him to depart
from us.

On some occasions there were physical demonstra-
tions which commanded attention. Among the serious
and anxious inquirers who came to our house by day
and by night, there were individuals who, while list-
ening to a very plain and kind conversation, would
begin to tremble and soon fall helpless to the floor.
At one time, when I was holding a series of outdoor
meetings in a populous part of Puna, a remarkable
manifestation of this kind occurred. A very large
concourse were seated on the grass, and I was stand-
ing in the center preaching " Repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus." Of a sudden, a
man who had been gazing with intense interest at the
preacher, burst out in a fervent prayer, with stream-
ing tears, saying: "Lord, have mercy on me; I am
dead in sin." His weeping was so loud, and his
3

5<D Life in Hawaii.

trembling so great, that the whole congregation was
moved as by a common sympathy. Many wept
aloud, and many commenced praying together. The
scene was such as I had never before witnessed. I
stood dumb in the midst of this weeping, wailing,
praying multitude, not being able to make myself
heard for about twenty minutes. When the noise
was hushed, I continued my address with words of
caution, lest they should feel that this kind of dem-
onstration atoned for their sins, and rendered them
acceptable before God. I assured them that all the
Lord required was godly sorrow for the past, present
faith in Christ, and henceforth faithful, filial, and cheer-
ful obedience. A calm came over the multitude, and
we felt that "the Lord was there."

A young man came once into our meeting to make
sport slyly. Trying to make the young men around
him laugh during prayer, he fell as senseless as a log
upon the ground and was carried out of the house.
It was some time before his consciousness could be re-
stored. He became sober, confessed his sins, and in
due time united with the church.

Similar manifestations were seen in other places,
but everywhere the people were warned against hy-
pocrisy, and against trusting in such demonstrations.
They were told that the Lord looks at the heart, and
that " repentance toward God and faith in the Lord
Jesus " were the unchangeable conditions of pardon

Volcanic Waves. 51

and salvation, and that their future lives of obedience
or of disobedience would prove or disprove their
spiritual life, as " The tree is known by its fruit."

But God visited the people in judgment as well as
in mercy. On the 7th of November, 1837, at the
hour of evening prayers, wTe were startled by a heavy
thud, and a sudden jar of the earth. The sound was
like the fall of some vast body upon the beach, and
in a few seconds a noise of mingled voices rising for
a mile along the shore thrilled us like the wail of
doom. Instantly this was followed by a like wail
from all the native houses around us. I immediately
ran down to the sea, where a scene of wild ruin was
spread out before me. The sea, moved by an unseen
hand, had all on a sudden risen in a gigantic wave, and
this wave, rushing in with the speed of a race-horse,
had fallen upon the shore, sweeping everything not
more than fifteen or twenty feet above high-water
mark into indiscriminate ruin. Houses, furniture, cala-
bashes, fuel, timber, canoes, food, clothing, every-
thing floated wild upon the flood. About two hun-
dred people, from the old man and woman of three-
score years and ten, to the new-born infant, stripped
of their earthly all, were struggling in the tumultu-
ous waves. So sudden and unexpected was the ca-
tastrophe, that the people along the shore were liter-
ally " eating and drinking/' and they " knew not,
until the flood came and swept them all away." The

52 Life in Hawaii.

harbor was full of strugglers calling for help, while
frantic parents and children, wives and husbands ran
to and fro along the beach, calling for their lost ones.
As wave after wave came in and retired, the strugglers
were brought near the shore, where the more vigor-
ous landed with desperate efforts and the weaker and
exhausted were carried back upon the retreating wave,
some to sink and rise no more till the noise of judg-
ment wakes them. Twelve individuals were picked
up while drifting out of the bay by the boats of the
Admiral Cockburn, an English whaler then in port.
For a time the captain of the ship feared the loss of
his vessel, but as the oscillating waves grew weaker
and weaker, he lowered all his boats and went in search
of those who were floating off upon the current. Had
this catastrophe occurred at midnight when all were
asleep, hundreds of lives would undoubtedly have
been lost. Through the great mercy of God, only
thirteen were drowned.

This event, falling as it did like a bolt of thunder
from a clear sky, greatly impressed the people. It
was as the voice of God speaking to them out of
heaven, " Be ye also ready."

Day after day we buried the dead, as they were
found washed up upon the beach, or thrown upon
the rocky shores far from the harbor. We fed, com-
forted, and clothed the living, and God brought light
out of darkness, joy out of grief, and life out of

The English Captain. 53

death. Our meetings were more and more crowded,
and hopeful converts were multiplied.

Even the English captain, who spent his nights in
our family, and his intelligent and courteous clerk, pro-
fessed to give themselves to the Lord while with us,
and both kneeling with us at the family altar, silently
united in our morning and evening devotions, or cheer-
fully led in prayer. The captain was a large and power-
ful man, bronzed by wind and wave and scorching sun.
He had been long upon the deep, had suffered ship-
wreck, had been unable to reach his London home for
more than three years, and had been given up as dead
by all his friends. Under this belief his wife had married
another, when he surprised her by his return, and she
gave him joy by returning to him. He gave us an in-
teresting account of his eventful life, and confessed
that he had enjoyed very few religious privileges and
had thought little of God or the salvation of his soul.
He now accepted the offer of life through Christ,
with the spirit of a little child.

On returning to the ship he immediately told his
officers and crew that he should drink no more in-
toxicants, swear no more, and chase whales no more
on the Lord's day, but, on the contrary, observe the
Sabbath and have religious services on that holy
day.

Though thousands professed to have passed from
death unto life during the years 1836-7, only a small

54 Life in Hawaii.

proportion of these had been received into the church.
The largest numbers were gathered in during 1838-9.
I had kept a faithful note-book in my pocket, and in
all my personal conversations with the people, by
night and by day, at home and in my oft-repeated
tours, I had noted down, unobserved, the names of in-
dividuals apparently sincere and true converts. Over
these persons I kept watch, though unconsciously to
themselves ; and thus their life and conversation were
made the subjects of vigilant observation. After the
lapse of three, six, nine, or twelve months, as the case
might be, selections were made from the list of names
for examination. Some were found to have gone back
to their old sins; others were stupid, or gave but
doubtful evidence of conversion, while many had stood
fast and run well. Most of those who seemed hope-
fully converted spent several months at the central
station before their union with the church. Here they
were watched oyer and instructed from week to week
and from day to day, with anxious and unceasing
care. They were sifted and re-sifted with scrutiny,
and with every effort to take the precious from the
vile. The church and the world, friends and enemies,
were called upon and solemnly charged to testify,
without concealment or palliation, if they knew aught
against any of the candidates.

From my pocket list of about three thousand, 1,705
were selected to be baptized and received to the com-

The Ingathering. 55

munion of the church on the first Sabbath of July,
1838. The selection was made, not because a thou-
sand and more of others were to be rejected, or that
a large proportion of them did not appear as well as
those received, but because the numbers were too
large for our faith, and might stagger the faith of oth-
ers. The admission of many was deferred for the
more full development of their character, while they
were to be watched over, guided, and fed as sheep of
the Great Shepherd.

The 1,705 persons selected had all been gathered at
the station some time before the day appointed for
their reception. They had been divided into classes,
according to the villages whence they came, and
put in charge of class leaders, who were instructed to
watch over and teach them.

The memorable morning came arrayed in glory. A
purer sky, a brighter sun, a serener atmosphere, a more
silvery sea, and a more brilliant and charming land-
scape could not be desired. The very heavens over
us and the earth around us seemed to smile. The
hour came ; during the time of preparation the house
was kept clear of all but the actors. With the roll
in hand, the leaders of the classes were called in with
their companies of candidates in the order of all the
villages; first of Hilo district, then of Tuna, and last
of Kau. From my roll the names in the fust class
were called one by one, and I saw each individual seat-

56 Life in Hawaii.

ed against the wall, and so of the second, and thus on
until the first row was formed. Thus, row after row
was extended the whole length of the house, leaving
spaces for one to pass between these lines. After every
name had been called, and every individual recognized
and seated, all the former members of the church were
called in and seated on the opposite side of the build-
ing, and the remaining space given to as many as could
be seated.

All being thus prepared, we had singing and prayer,
then a word of explanation on the rite of baptism,
with exhortation. After this with a basin of water,
I passed back and forth between the lines, sprink-
ling each individual until all were baptized. Standing
in the center of the congregation of the baptized, I pro-
nounced the words, " I baptize you all into the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. Amen."

The scene was one of solemn and tender interest,
surpassing anything of the kind I had ever witnessed.
All heads were bowed, and tears fell. All was hushed
except sobs and breathing.

The nature of the Lord's supper and the reasons for
its observance were then explained, and the bread and
cup distributed among the communicants.

This was a day long to be remembered. Its im-
pressions were deep, tender, and abiding ; and up to
the present time, the surviving veterans of that period

Results.

look back to it as the day of days in the history of
the Hilo church.

At this period the ecclesiastical year of the mission
began on the 1st of May. The reports of the church-
es were made up to the 30th of April, 1838. I find
in the records of Hilo church the

Number received during year ending April 30, 1838, 639

1839, 5,244

1840, 1,499
During the following decade ending in 1850, the num-
ber received was 2,348

And for the decade ending in i860, i>445

The whole number received on profession to 1880, . 12,113

" " " " by letter, 812

" " " dismissed, 3>546

" " " deceased, 8,190

" " " of marriages, 3,048

" " " of children baptized, 4,370

Those received from the district of Kau, when
there was no settled pastor there, were afterward
dismissed to the church which was organized and
placed under the care of the Rev. J. D. Paris.

In order to keep every member under my eye, and
to find ready access to each, I prepared a book ruled
thus:

1838.

July 1

Kapule

Waiakca .

Mar. 1841.

Abencra, Joane

bept. ::

1837.

Lonoakeawe

To Hana,
June, 1840

58 Life in Hawaii.

By simple signs males and females were distin-
guished. This is important here, because the same
name is often used interchangeably for the sexes.

For many years I always took this book with me
in my tours, and called the roll of the church mem-
bers in every village along the line. When any one
did not answer the roll-call, I made inquiry why.
If dead, I marked the date ; if sick, visited him or
her, if time would allow ; if absent .on duty, accepted
the fact ; if supposed to be doubting or backsliding,
sent for or visited him ; if gone to another part of the
island, or to another island, I inquired if the absence
would be short or perpetual, and noted the facts of
whatever kind.

Our young men often shipped for whaling voyages.
Noting these cases, I would watch for their return,
and then visit them, inquiring whether they chased
whales on the Lord's day, used intoxicantsi or violated
other Christian rules of morality ; and I dealt with
them as each case demanded.

Some church members removed to other districts
or islands without letters of dismissal. The names
of these I used to send to the pastors wrhither they
had gone/requesting them to look after these absent
ones, and receive them to their communion, report-
ing to me.

As hundreds of our people went from place to
place to visit friends or on business, to learn whither

Church Discipline. 59

they had gone, to follow them with letters, and to
see them properly cared for, became an important
but arduous labor. The Hawaiians are not nomads,
but they are fond of moving, and curiosity or the
call of friends leads very many of them to wander
over many parts of the group. During my annual
visits to Honolulu, on occasion of the General Meet-
ing of the Mission held there in May or June, I often
gave public notices in the churches that I would meet
any of my people who were there, at a given hour on
Sunday, and a company of fifty to a hundred would
assemble at the hour appointed.

Our Confession of Faith is the Bible, and each
individual in the Hilo church promises, with his hand
on the Sacred Book, to abstain from all that * is for-
bidden, and to obey all that is commanded therein.
We advise them to abstain from the use of tobacco,
ava (a narcotic root), and from all intoxicants. Like
all savages, they were almost to a man addicted to
the use of these articles, especially of tobacco, and
we supposed that it would be next to impossible to
persuade them to abandon these habits. But the
Lord came to our help. All over Hilo and Puna,
during that mighty work of the Spirit, multitudes
pulled up all their tobacco plants and cast them into
the sea or into pits, and thousands of pipes were
broken upon the rocks or burned, and thousands of
habitual smokers abandoned the habit at once and

60 Life in Hawaii.

forever. I have been surprised at the resolution and
self-denial of old men and women who had long in-
dulged in smoking, in thus breaking short off. Some,
however, went back to the old habit, and some used
the article secretly. I have never excommunicated
or suspended members for this indulgence, but have
taught them, by precept and example, a better way.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman, and nearly every missionary
brother and sister on the islands, were united with
me in this matter.

In all cases we found that those who would not
relinquish smoking were the more troublesome mem-
bers of the church, giving more doubtful evidence of
love to Christ, and oftener running into other excesses
which called for church discipline.

Mrs. Coan's School for Girls — Common Schools —
Medical Work — The Sailors' Church — Sunday
Work — Visits of Foreign Vessels — The U. S.
Exploring Expedition.

IN the year 1838, Mrs. Coan opened a boarding-
school for native girls. This was to be self-sup-
porting in part, but to receive such aid in labor,
food, kapas, mats, etc., as parents and friends chose
to render.

As soon as the plan was made known to the church
and people they rallied cheerfully, went into the
woods, hauled down timber by hand, and with great
promptness erected and thatched a comfortable build-
ing on our premises. A floor was laid over about one-
fourth of the building, on which was placed a table,
and a few chairs for the teacher and visitors.

On each side of the remaining three-fourths of the
house was a row of little open cells, partitioned from
each other by mats, and furnished with beds of straw
or dried grass, and with mats and kapas for coverings.
In the space between these rows of compartments was
a plain tabic, with seats, bowls, spoons, etc., for the
pupils. The number of little girls in the school was

(61)

62 Life in Hawaii.

twenty, their ages from seven to ten years. Arrange-
ments were made with the people living in and near
the town, that they should bring in weekly supplies
of food and fish for the girls. Taro, potatoes, ba-
nanas, and fish were then abundant and cheap, and
the people provided willingly. At length they set
apart a parcel of ground and appointed each monthly
concert day as a time when they would cultivate
that ground and thus supply the food necessary for
the school.

Little gifts of money were sometimes made by
strangers who came to Hilo, by officers of whale-
ships and men-of-war ; or a piece of print or brown
cotton was given, and thus the real wants of the
school were supplied. No application to the A. B.
C. F. M., or to any Board, or to an individual was
ever made for help. Mrs. Coan toiled faithfully
from day to day, in spite of pressing family cares,
teaching her charges the rudiments of necessary book
knowledge, and of singing, sewing, washing and iron-
ing, gardening, and other things. Most of the girls
became members of the Hilo church, and we had
hope that all were the children of God. The school
was sustained about eight years, and sent out a com-
pany of girls, who, for the most part, did honor to
their instructions, and who were distinguished among
their companions for neatness, skill, industry, and
piety. As domestic cares increased and her strength

Schools and Patients. 63

was weakened, the faithful teacher at length felt com-
pelled to give up her charge.

For a time I had the supervision of the common
schools, numbering not less than fifty, and containing
about 2,000 pupils. My duties were to furnish them
with books, slates, and pencils ; to visit them on
my tours, to attend their examinations, and make a
tabular record of numbers, readers, writers, etc. For
want of writing-paper or a full supply of slates, the
children would prepare square pieces of the green ba-
nana-leaf, and with a wooden style or slate-pencil
form letters and thus learn to write.

At the central station and on all my tours I was
thronged with the sick and afflicted multitudes, or
their friends, begging for remedies for almost all kinds
of diseases. So numerous were the applications for
medicines, and so varied and sad were the spectacles
of disease, that it became a task for the skill and the
whole time of a well-read and experienced physician.
I had a fair collection of medical books, and these
were consulted as much as was possible in connec-
tion with my other labors, but my regret was that I
could not visit the sick as I wished, or pay them the
attention they needed.

When at last, in 1849, a g°°d physician, Charles
H. Wetmore, was sent to our relief, my heart re-
joiced. I immediately resigned my medical functions,
turned over my medicine-chest and drugs to him,

64 Life in Hawaii.

and blessed the Lord that I was not doomed to wan-
der " forty years in the wilderness of powders and
pills." This kind and faithful doctor with his ex-
cellent wife have been our nearest neighbors ever
since their arrival.

I was also greatly relieved of the care of the com-
mon schools by Mr. and Mrs. Abner Wilcox, lay mis-
sionaries, who came to us as teachers and remained
in Hilo several years.

Previous to our arrival, when whale-ships and other
vessels were in the harbor of Hilo, the officers and
crews received kind attentions from the missionaries
at this station. The Reverends Joseph Goodrich, Jon-
athan Green, Sheldon Dibble, and D. B. Lyman, and
their wives, had entertained many of these sons of
the deep, given them reading-matter, and sought to
promote their spiritual interests.

We were at once ready to help in this important
work. Masters, officers, and sailors were made wel-
come to our house ; books and tracts were provided
for them to take to sea, and a religious service was
held for them every Sunday afternoon.

For many years this service was held in one of the
houses of the missionaries. Finally, we fitted up the
old stone-building, our first home, for a bethel, and
added a library of about 200 volumes, with peri-
odicals.

My regular services on the Sabbath were : a Sunday-

Foreign Vessels. 65

school at 9 A.M.; preaching at 10.30; at 12 M. a
meeting for inquirers ; at 1 P.M. preaching ; and at 3
P.M. preaching in English to seamen, and English-speak-
ing residents and visitors. When ships were in port
we often had a full house, and not a few hearers pro-
fessed a determination to forsake all sin and to live
godly lives. Of some we afterward learned, either
by their own letters or otherwise, that they had kept
their vows and united with Christian churches, and
that some had become ministers of the Gospel.

Several masters and officers gave up Sabbath
whaling, and instead held religious meetings with
their men on the Lord's day.

Very precious friendships were formed with many
of these seamen, which friendships continue to this
day. We have found noble specimens, not only of
generosity and fine natural talent among this class
of men, but also many choice Christians.

Not a few national ships have visited Hilo, from
the tender or schooner up to the sloop-of-war, the
frigate and the great seventy-four-gun line-of-bat-
tle ship, as the Collingwood and Ohio.

The largest of these ships represented the United
States of America, the next Great Britain, then France,
Russia, Germany, and Denmark. We have had more
than seventy -five of these war-ships of different
nationalities in our harbor, and of all classes of
vessels about 4,000. The approximate number of

66 Life in Hawaii.

seamen who have visited Hilo during our residence
here we put at 40,000.

In this labor for seamen I have been led to corre-
spond with the American Bible, Tract, Peace, Tem-
perance, and Seamen's Friend Societies, and have ob-
tained Bibles and tracts in the English, French, Ger-
man, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, and
Chinese languages ; which with many thousands of
tracts have been distributed among these vessels.
Some of this " bread cast upon the waters " has been
found again according to the promise.

In 1840, Charles Wilkes, commander of the United
States Exploring Expedition, arrived in Hilo bay
in the flag-ship Vinccnnes. Here with an admirable
corps of scientists he spent three months in ex-
plorations, measurements, observations, etc. Parties
of officers and scientific gentlemen were detailed to
visit different parts of the island, some to ascend the
mountains, and some to survey the shore, making col-
lections, drawings, and observations in all the branch-
es of the natural history of the Islands. The com-
mander called for 300 young and vigorous men to take
him, with the materials of a wooden house and all
the apparatus of a large observatory, with food, fuel,
water, beds, etc., to the summit of Mauna Loa, where
he and his attendants were to spend twenty or thirty
days in taking observations.

Other parties required large numbers of men to

The U. S. Exploring Expedition. 67

carry baggage, instruments, etc., and to act as guides
and assistants in making surveys and collecting a large
amount of specimens.

Parties of natives thus employed needed to be re-
cruited often on account of fatigue and exhaustion,
and for the lack of shoes and warm clothing to endure
the hard travel and the rains, cold, and snows of the
mountains. Some died of cold. It is supposed that
about one thousand of our strongest men were brought
into this service, and with small pay, during these
three months. Some parties of men were required to
travel and work on Sunday as on other days. All
this had a demoralizing effect upon the poor na-
tives. They had been accustomed to rest from all
physical toil, and to worship on the Lord's day. Our
congregations were much reduced in numbers. There
was no little murmuring among the people at this new
state of things, and for years the moral tone of the
church and community could not be fully restored to
its cheerful and normal state.

This was a trial of faith, and a fan to winnow the
church, but most of our Christians stood fast, and al-
though it checked the progress of the revival, the loss
to the church was less than might have been feared.

The visit of the expedition to Hilo afforded us an
opportunity to form an acquaintance with many
worthy gentlemen, several of whom we met again in the
United States in 1870-1. Among these we met and

Life in Hawaii.

received as a very welcome guest the then youthful
James D. Dana, one of the scientific corps, now so
distinguished in various departments of natural
science, and honored as a Christian philosopher. The
friendship then formed has been increased by years
and can never wane.

VI.

Mauna Loa — Kilauea — The Eruption of 1840 — The
River of Fire — // reaches the Sea at Nanawale—
Lava Chimneys — Destruction of a Village,

IT is widely known that the Hawaiian Islands are
all of volcanic origin. They are the summits of
mountains whose bases are far down in the sea. Their
structure is plutonic, and the marks of fire are every-
where visible. They are scarred with hundreds and
hundreds of pit and cone craters, most of which are
extinct.

Mauna Loa is a vast volcanic dome, subject to igne-
ous eruptions at any time, either from its extended
summit or sides. Prof. Dana estimates that " there
is enough rock material in Mauna Loa to make one
hundred and twenty-five Vesuviuses."* About mid-
way from its summit to the sea on the eastern flank
of the mountain and on a nearly level plain is Kilauea,
the largest known active crater in the world. The
brink of this crater is 4,440 feet above the sea level ;
its depth varies from 700 to 1,200 feet, and its longer

* Am, Journal of Science, May, 1859, p. 415.

(69)

jo Life in. Hawaii.

diameter is about three miles. Grand eruptions have
issued from it in past ages, covering hundreds of
square miles in different parts of Puna and Kau.

The first eruption from Kilauea which occurred
after my arrival in Hilo, began on the 30th of May,
1840. To my regret, I was then absent at the an-
nual General Meeting of this mission in Honolulu,
a meeting which I have always attended. I there-
fore record a portion of the facts as given by the
natives and foreigners who saw the eruption, adding
my own observations on a visit to the scene after my
return from Honolulu.

There had been no grand eruption from this crater
for the previous seventeen years, so that the lavas in
the crater had risen several hundred feet, and the
action had, at times, been terrific.

The volcano is thirty miles by road from Hilo, and
under favorable conditions of the atmosphere we
could see the splendid light by night, and the white
cloudy pillar of steam by day. It was reported that,
for several days before the outburst, the whole vast
floor of the crater was in a state of intense ebullition ;
the seething waves rolling, surging, and dashing
against the adamantine walls, and shaking down large
rocks into the fiery abyss below. It was even stated
that the heat was so intense, and the surges so in-
fernal, that travelers near the upper rim of the crater
left the path on account of the heat, and for fear of

A Subterranean Fire-Stream. 71

the falling of the precipice over which the trail lay,
and passed at a considerable distance from the crater.
Kilauea is about half in Puna and half in Kau, and
all travelers going from Kau to Hilo by the inland
' road pass the very brink of this crater.

The eruption was first noticed by the people of
Puna, who were living only twenty miles from it.
The light appeared at first like a highland jungle on
fire ; and so it was, for the fiery river found vent some
1,200 to 1,500 feet below the rim of Kilauea, and
flowing subterraneously in a N.E. direction, for about
four miles, marking its course by rending the super-
incumbent strata and throwing up light puffs of sul-
phurous steam, it broke ground in the bottom of a
wooded crater about 500 feet deep, consuming the
shrubs, vines, and grasses, and leaving a smouldering
mass instead.

The great stream forced its way underground in a
wild .and wooded region for two miles more, when it
again threw up a jet of fire and sulphur, covering
about an acre. At this point, a large amount of
brilliant sulphur crystals continued to be formed for
several years.

Only a little further on, and an old wooded cone
was rent with fissures several feet wide, and about .
half an acre of burning lava spouted up, consuming
the trees and jungle. This crevasse emitted scalding
vapor for twenty-five years.

J 2 Life in Hawaii

Onward went the burning river, deep underground,
some six miles more, when the earth was rent again
with an enormous fissure, and floods of devouring
fire were poured out, consuming the forest and spread-
ing over perhaps fifty acres. And still the passage
seaward was underground for about another six
miles, when it broke out in a terrific flood and rolled
and surged along henceforth upon the surface, con-
tracting to half a mile, or expanding to two miles in
width, and moving from half a mile to five miles an
hour, according to the angle of descent and the in-
equalities and obstructions of the surface, until it
poured over the perpendicular sea-wall, about thirty
feet high, in a sheet of burning fusion only a little
less than one mile wide.

This was on June 3, 1840. It reached the sea on
the fifth day after the light was first seen on the
highlands, and at the distance of only seventeen and
a half miles from Hilo. As this grand cataract of.
fire poured over the basaltic sea-wall, the sights and
sounds were said to be indescribable. Two mighty
antagonistic forces were in conflict. The sea boiled
and raged as with infernal fury, while the burning
flood continued to pour into the troubled waves by
night and by day for three weeks. Dense clouds of
steam rolled up heavenward, veiling sun and stars,
and so covering the lava flow that objects could not
be seen from one margin to the other. All commu-

The Lava Reaches the Sea. J$

nication between the northern and southern portions
of Puna was cut off for more than a month.

The waters of the sea were heated for twenty miles
along the coast, and multitudes of fishes were killed
by the heat and the sulphurous gases, and were seen
floating upon the waves.

During this flow, the sea-line along the whole
breadth of the fire-stream was pushed out many
yards by the solidified lavas, and three tufaceous
cones were raised in the water where ships could once
sail. They were formed of lava-sand made by the
shivering of the mineral flood coming in contact with
the sea, and standing in a line 200, 300, and 400 feet
above the water, with their bases deep down in the
sea. These dunes have been greatly reduced by the
waves thundering at their bases and the winds and
storms beating upon their summits. One of them,
indeed, is now entirely obliterated.

During this eruption most of the foreign residents
in Hilo, and hundreds of Hawaiians of Puna and Hi-
lo, visited the scene where the igneous river plunged
into the sea, and they described it as fearfully grand
and awe-inspiring.

Imagine the Mississippi converted into liquid fire
of the consistency of fused iron, and moving onward
sometimes rapidly, sometimes sluggishly ; now widen-
ing into a lake, and anon rushing through a narrow
gorge, breaking its way through mighty forests and
4

74 Life in Hawaii.

ancient solitudes, and you will get some idea of the
spectacle here exhibited.

When the eruption was at its height night was turn-
ed into day in all this region. The light rose and
spread like morning upon the mountains, and its glare
was seen on the opposite side of the island. It was
also visible for more than a hundred miles at sea ; and
at the distance of forty miles fine print could be read
at midnight.

The brilliancy of the light was said to be like a
blazing firmament, and the scene one of unrivaled
sublimity.

No lives were lost during this eruption. The
stream passed under and over an almost uninhabited
desert. A few small hamlets were consumed, arid a
few patches of taro, potatoes, and bananas were de-
stroyed, but the people walked off with their calabash-
es, kapas, and other chattels to seek shelter and food
elsewhere. During the eruption some of the people
of Puna spent much of their time in prayer and relig-
ious meetings, some fled in consternation; and others
wandered along the margin of the lava stream, at a
safe distance, marking with idle curiosity its progress,
while others still pursued their daily avocations with-
in a mile of the fiery river, as quietly as if nothing
strange had occurred. They ate, drank, bought, sold,
planted, builded, slept, and waked apparently indiffer-
ent to the roar of consuming forests, the sight of de-

The Lava Stream. 75

vouring fire, the startling detonations, the hissing of
escaping steam, the rending of gigantic rocks, the
raging and crashing of lava waves, and the bellowings,
the murmurings, the unearthly mutterings coming up
from the burning abyss. They went quietly on in sight
of the rain of ashes, sand, and fiery scintillations, gaz-
ing vacantly on the fearful and ever-varying appear-
ance of the atmosphere illuminated by the eruption,
the sudden rising of lofty pillars of flame, the upward
curling of ten thousand columns of smoke, and their
majestic gyrations in dingy, lurid, or parti-colored
clouds.

While the stream was flowing it might be approach-
ed within a few yards on the windward side, while at
the leeward no one could live within a great distance
on account of the smoke, the impregnation of the. at-
mosphere with pungent and deadly gases, and the
fiery showers that fell on all around, destroying all
vegetable life.

Sometimes the intense heat of the stream would
cause large boulders and rocks to explode with great
detonations, and sometimes lateral branches of the
stream would push out into some fissure, or work into
a subterranean gallery, until they met with some ob-
stacle, when the accumulating fusion with its heat, its
gases, and its pressure would lift up the superincum-
bent mass of rock into a dome, or, sundering it from
its surroundings, bear it off on its burning bosom like

J6 Life in Hawaii.

a raft upon the water. A foreigner told me that
while he was standing on a rocky hillock, some dis-
tance from the stream, gazing with rapt interest upon
its movements, he felt himself rising with the ground
on which he stood. Startled by the motion, he leaped
from the rock, when in a few minutes fire burst out
from the place where he had been.

On returning from Honolulu I soon started for Pu-
na, with arrangements to make as thorough explora-
tions and observations on this remarkable eruption as
my time would allow. I spent nearly two days on
the stream. It was solidified and mostly cooled, yet
hot and steaming in many places. I went up the
flow to where it burst out in volume and breadth
from its subterranean chambers and continued on the
surface to the sea, a distance of about twelve miles,
making the entire length of the stream about thirty
miles. In a letter published in the Missionary Herald
of July, 1841, I called it forty miles, but later meas-
urements have led me to correct this and some other
statements made on first sight.

I found the place of final outburst a scene where
terrific energy had been exerted. Yawning crevasses
were opened, the rocks were rent, and the forests
consumed; the molten flood had raged and swirled
and been thrown high into the air, and there had been
a display of titanic fury which must have been appal-
ling at the time of the outbreak.

The Lava in the Forest. J 7

In pursuing its course the stream sometimes
plunged into caverns and deep depressions, and some-
' times it struck hills which separated it into two chan-
nels, which uniting again after having passed the ob-
struction, left islands of varied sizes with trees scorch-
ed and blasted with the heat and gases.

Along the central line of the stream its depth could
not be measured accurately, for there was no trace of
tree or ancient rock or floor. All was a vast bed of
fresh, smouldering lava. On the margins, however,
where the strata were thinner, I was able to measure
with great accuracy. In passing through forests, while
the depth and heat of the middle of the stream con-
sumed everything, on the margins thousands of green
trees were cut down gradually by the fusion around
their trunks ; but this was done so slowly that the
surface of the stream solidified before the trees fell,
and on falling upon the hot and hardened crust, the
tops and limbs were only partly, consumed, but all
were charred, and the rows and heaps were so thick
and entangled as to form clievaux-dc-frise quite im-
passable in some places. But the numerous holes left
in the hot lava bed by the gradual reduction of the
trunks to ashes afforded the means of measuring the
depth of the flow. With a long pole I was enabled
to measure from a depth of five to twenty-five feet.
Some of these trunk-moulds were as smooth as the
calibre of a cannon. Some of the holes were still so

78 Life in Hawaii.

hot at the bottom as to set my pole on fire in one
minute.

I had seen fearful ragings and heard what seemed
the wails of infernal beings in the great crater of Ki-
lauea, but I had never before seen the amazing effects
of a great exterior eruption of lava, and I returned
from this weary exploration, after a missionary tour
through Puna, with a deepened sense of the terrible
dynamics of the fiery abyss over which we tread-
Since then, in crossing and re-crossing the wild
highlands of my parish I have found in the consumed
openings of forests a new class of volcanic monuments,
consisting in numerous stacks of lava chimneys stand-
ing apart on the floor of an ancient flow. These
chimneys measure from five to twenty-five feet in
height, and five to ten feet in diameter. I gazed at
them at first sight as the work of human art, not
knowing that they were cylindrical. On climbing
them I found that they were hollow, and that they
were as clearly tree moulds as the holes I had meas-
ured in the flow of 1840.

Then came the question, how were they formed ?
The solution soon came — that an ancient eruption had
passed through this forest at the height of many feet
above the present surface, the fiery river surrounding
large trees, but while it consumed all smaller growths,
the waves subsided to their present level before these
trunks were fully consumed, thus leaving partially.

Obdurate Villagers. 79

cooled envelopes of lava adhering to them. These
moulds or chimneys now stand as monuments of the
volcanic action of an unknown age.

Here I leave this subject for a while, purposing to
return to it.

In early years Hawaiian hospitality was generous,
and on my tours among the natives I found them
ready to provide liberally, according to their ability,
for me and the helpers who accompanied me. To
this good feeling there was one notable exception.
There was a small village about eighteen miles from
Hilo, where I had taken special pains to tame and
Christianize the people. They rarely provided even a
cup of cold water until I arrived and begged them to
go to a somewhat distant spring to fetch it ; and for this
I would have to wait two hours, perhaps, while parched
with thirst, burning with the heat of a midday sun,
and weary with walking over long miles of scorching
lava fields. On one occasion, returning from a circuit
tour of more than a hundred miles, I stopped at this
place and preached and conversed with the villagers.
I had been absent from home over two weeks and had
consumed all the food I had taken with me, except a
little stale biscuit. I had nothing for the two good
men, members of the Hilo church, who had traveled
all the distance with me. Evening closed in, and I
asked the occupants of the house and some of the
neighbors who had come in if they could not furnish

80 Life in Hawaii.

my two companions with a little food before they
slept. The answer was, " We have no food." " Per-
haps you can give them a potato, a kalo, a breadfruit,
or a cocoanut." They answered as before, " We have
nothing to eat, not even for ourselves." So, weary
and hungry, we lay down upon the mats for the night,
and when we were supposed to be asleep, we heard
the family under the cocoanut trees eating heartily,
and conversing in an undertone that we might not
hear them.

After years of kind instructions with the hope of
leading them to appreciate the love of God and the
value of a true Christianity, they remained the same
hardened beings. My patience and desire to lead
them to u the Lamb of God " continued ; but thinking
of what the_ Saviour said to His disciples about
" shaking off the dust of their feet," I resolved on a
trial, hoping to win them into a better way.

In a meeting when " the hearers but not the doers
of the word " were assembled, I said to them, "These
three years have I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree,
and find none. I will, therefore, leave you to reflect
on what you have heard from the Lord ; and, when-
ever you repent and desire to hear the Gospel again,
send for me and I will hasten to you with joy." But
they never sent. Time passed on and down came the
fiery torrent of which I have written, and covered the
village, consuming the cocoa-palm grove, the potato
and banana patches, with the thatched meeting-house

The Scourge. 8 1

and school-house, leaving nothing but a blackened
field of lava. The people took their little all and fled.

They settled 'near the borders of the lava stream,
and in the year 1853 the small-pox fell among them
(the only place in Puna where the disease went), and
a large part of them died. There was no physician
within eighteen miles, and the poor creatures knew
not what to do. Some bathed in the sea to cool the
burning heat, and perished, and some crawled out into
the jungle and there died, and were torn and partly
eaten by swine. They had fled from the devouring
fire only to meet, if possible, a more painful doom,
and it reminds one of the words of Jeremiah uttered
against the stubborn Moabites : " He that fleeth from
the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up
out of the pit shall be taken in the snare."

That the small-pox should find them and no one
else in Puna seems remarkable ; but these are the
facts. A number of these villagers were visiting
in Honolulu when the fearful disease raged there.
They thought to escape it by returning home, but
unknown to them the destroyer had already seized
them and they perished in their wild, secluded jungle.

I visited this scene of sorrow and desolation, gath-
ered the stricken remnant of the sufferers, spoke
words of condolence, and encouraged them to come
with their sins and sorrows to the Saviour. They
seemed subdued, welcomed their pastor, and were, I
trust, " saved yet so as by fire."
4*

VII.

More Church- Building — Commodore Jones's Visit —
Progress of Conversions — The Sacraments under
New Conditions.

OF church buildings we had at one time not less
than fifty, and of school-houses sixty or more.
These were all built by the free will of the people, act-
ing under no outward constraint. Some of these houses
would accommodate 1,000 persons, others 500, 300, and
150, according to the population for which they were
erected. They were, of course, built in native style,
on posts set in the ground, with rafters fastened with
cords, and the whole thatched with the leaf of the
pandanus, the sugar-cane, or dried grass. They were
frail, needing rethatching once in three to five years,
and rebuilding after about ten years. They were
usually well-kept, and with open doors and holes for
windows, they were light and airy.

In this list I do not include the great buildings at
Hilo.

A mighty wind having prostrated our large meet-
ing-house, we commenced, during the winter of 1 840-1,
to collect materials for our first framed building. All
the men who had axes went into the highland forest

to fell trees and hew timber. When a large number
(82)

Dragging Timber. 83

of pieces were ready, hundreds of willing men and
women, provided with ropes made of the bark of the
hibiscus, with light upper garments, and with leggins
of the Adam and Eve style, such as never feared mud
and water, went to bring down these timbers. Ar-
ranged by a captain in two lines, with drag-ropes in
hand, ready to obey the command of their chosen
leader, they stood waiting his order. At length comes
the command, " Grasp the ropes ; bow the head ; blis-
ter the hand ; go ; sweat ! " And away they rush,
through mud and jungle, over rocks and streams,
shouting merrily, and singing to measure. Then
comes the order, " Halt, drop drag-ropes, rest!" This
is repeated at longer or shorter intervals according to
the state of the ground.

I often went up to the woods, on foot of course,
and grasped the rope, and hauled with the rest to en-
courage and keep them in heart. We had no oxen
or horses in those days, for the days were primitive,
and the work was pioneer work. The trees, the jun-
gle, the mud, the streams, and the lava-fields were all
primordial.

When the materials were brought together, we em-
ployed a Chinese carpenter at a reasonable price, to
frame and raise the building, all his pay to be in
trade, for " the golden age" had not yet dawned on
Hawaii. The natives, men and women, soon covered
the rough frame with thatching. There was no floor

Life in Hawaii.

but the earth, and the only windows were holes about
three feet square left in the thatching on the sides
and ends. This was the first framed church edifice
built in Hilo, and in this building, capable of seating
about 2,000 people, we first welcomed Commodore Ap
Catesby Jones, of the frigate United States, with his
officers and brass band. The courteous commodore
and his chaplain consented to deliver each an address
of congratulation and encouragement to the people
for their ready acceptance of the Gospel, and for their
progress in Christian civilization. He alluded to a
former visit of his to Honolulu by order of the
United States Government, to investigate certain
complaints made by a class of foreign residents
against the American missionaries, stating that on a
patient and careful hearing of the parties, the mis-
sionaries came out triumphantly, and their abusers
were put to shame.

Our people at this time had never heard the music
of a brass band, and the commodore kindly gave
them a treat. After playing several sacred songs
which delighted the natives beyond all music they
had before heard, the band, at a signal from the com-
modore, struck up " Hail Columbia/' An electric
thrill rushed through the great congregation, and all
sprang to their feet in amazement and delight. Since
then they have become familiar with the music of the
United States', the English and French navies.

A Church Dedication. 8^

Perhaps the most perfect band we have heard in
Hilo was that of the Duke of Edinburgh, who visited
us in the steam frigate Galatea in 1869.

When our first framed church building became old
and dilapidated, we decided on replacing it with an
edifice of stone and mortar. But after a year's hard
toil in bringing stones on men's shoulders, and after
having dug a trench some six feet deep for the foun-
dations without coming to the bed-rock, we, by ami-
cable agreement, dismissed our mason and engaged
two carpenters.

The corner-stone was laid November 14, 1857,
and the building was dedicated on the 8th of April,
1859. The material was good, and the workman-
ship faithful and satisfactory. The whole cost was
$13,000.

It was then the finest church edifice on the islands.
On the day of the dedication, there was a debt on
the house of some $600, and it was our hope and
purpose to cancel the debt on that day. But the
day was stormy, the paths muddy, and the rivers
were without bridges. Things looked dark, but we
were happily surprised to see the people flocking in
from all points until the house was crowded to its
utmost capacity.

Prayers and a song of praise were offered, but we
had resolved, by the help of God, not to dedicate
the house until the debt was paid to the last far-

Life in Hawaii.

thing. So the people were called on by divisions, ac-
cording to their villages, to come forward with their
offerings ; and this was done with such promptness,
such order, and such quietness that we soon counted
and declared a contribution of over $800. When the
result was announced, a shout of joy went up to
heaven.

The debt was paid, the house was dedicated, $200
were left in the treasury, and the people went home
rejoicing and praising the Lord. On the 27th a con-
tribution of more than $400 was taken, making our
dedication offerings $1,239. Our treasury for the
meeting-house has never been empty, though we
have expended several thousand dollars more in pur-
chasing a large bell, in painting and repairing the
house, and in keeping it and the grounds neat and in
good condition.

It was an affecting scene to see the old and de-
crepit, the poor widow, and the droves of little chil-
dren come forward with their gifts which they had
been collecting and saving for months, and offering
them with such cheerful gladness to the Lord.

In 1868 an awful earthquake tore in pieces stone
walls and stone houses, and rent the earth in various
parts of Hilo, Puna, and Kau. Had we built accord-
ing to our original plan and agreement with the
mason, " our holy and beautiful house " would have
become a heap of rubbish, and our hearts would have

Bettered L ives. 8 7

sunk within us with sorrow. How true that "a man's
heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth' his
steps."

It was my habit to get all the help that could be
obtained from converts, and this was much. As the
company of disciples increased, " they went every-
where preaching the word." The Lord ordained
them, not man. In every hamlet and village there
were found some who were moved by the Holy
Ghost, and to whom the Spirit gave utterance ; and
it was joyfully true that " where the Spirit of the
Lord was, there was liberty/' not to dispute and
wrangle, not to speak vain and foolish things, not to
lie and deceive, but to utter the truth in love, with-
out the shackles of form and superstition, but with
the freedom granted by Christ.

How true the promise, " My people shall be willing
in the day of my power." Willing to give up their
sins, their enmity, their vile practices, their pipes,
their ava, and all their intoxicants ; to forgive and
be forgiven ; to return every man to the wife he had
abused, and every wife to the husband she had for-
saken ; to pay their old debts ; to labor with their
hands for the supply of their physical wants ; to see
that their children were in school, in religious meet-
ings ; to see that prisons were emptied and churches
filled, and that the poor, the sick, the blind, and the
lame were not forgotten ; to see that the call of love

88 Life in Hawaii.

and the offers of life were heard by all. The objects
called for laborers, and they were ready at call.
Sometimes ten, twenty, or forty men were sent out,
two and two, through all Puna and Hilo, into all
highways, hedges, jungles, and valleys, to " seek and
to save the lost," the sick, the ignorant, the stupid,
the timid, or the " remnant of the giants " in idolatry.
And they were drawn out by hundreds into the light
of the Gospel and the love of the Saviour. There
was no retreat among the hills or in the forests where
these helpers did not come, and no place where I
did not precede, accompany, or follow them. The
women also toiled earnestly for souls. They met,
prayed, read the commission of the Great Prince, and
went out two and two into all the villages, exhorting,
persuading, weeping, and praying, and their influence
was wonderful for good. They were taught by the
Word and the Spirit, and understood their work.
With these helpers every village became a guarded
citadel of the Lord, and there were few lurking-places
for the enemy, no da*rk passages by which he might
make approaches to the camp^ of the saints.

So far as we could learn, there was not a house or a
cabin in all these districts where the voice of morning
and evening prayer was not heard ; and in most places
Scripture lessons and hymns were rehearsed, and ef-
forts, often very rude and inartistic, were made to
sing the praises of God.

Prayers of Faith. 89

Previous to the great revival I had been pained at
the cold and formal prayers of the natives. All had
seemed mechanical and heartless, and in grief I had
said, " I do not feel satisfied with this praying, it seems
but a thoughtless and unfeeling rehearsal of a lesson/'
But when the Spirit fell upon the people, all this was
changed. Some of the most unlettered and weak be-
came mighty and prevailing wrestlers like the patriarch
Jacob. " The feeble among them were like David,
and the house of David as the angel of the Lord/'
They took God at His word, their faith was simple and
childlike, unspoiled by tradition or vain philosophy.
They went " boldly to the throne of grace," and yet
with eyes melted with tears, and hearts yearning with
love for souls.

Often have I seen a whole assembly moved to tears
and tenderness by the prayers and wrestlings of one
man. They plead the promises with no apparent
shadow of a doubt, and the answer often came speed-
ily. Is it not recorded for the assurance of faith that
" Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet
speaking I will hear " ? They were praying with melt-
ing fervor for the Spirit, and He came, sometimes like
the dew of Hermon or the gentle rain, and sometimes
" like a rushing mighty wind," filling the house with
sobbing and with outcries for mercy.

Controversies among Christians always sadden me.
Our warfare is against sin and Satan; and Heaven's

90 Life in Hawaii

" sacramental host " should never fall out by the way,
or spend an hour in their conflict with Hell in fighting
with one another.

Grasping and defending vital 'truths, and allowing
kind and courteous discussions of outward forms, the
whole Church of Christ should clasp hands and march
shoulder to shoulder against the common foe. The
many and different church organizations, with their
external rites, rules, and preferences, never offend me
where there is " the unity of the spirit in the bonds of
peace." All Christians are bound by the supreme law
of heaven to love one another, not to bite and devour,
nor to indulge in " envy and strife."

I believe in the beautiful rite of baptism, not as es-
sential to salvation, but as a sign and seal of faith in
Christ.

I believe that the mode and the amount of water
are indifferent, and that every thinking man is at
liberty to choose for himself so as to satisfy his own
conscience before God, whether by immersion, pouring,
or sprinkling ; nor do I believe that the Bible warrants
dogmatism, division, or non-communion on this sub-
ject. For myself I prefer sprinkling, not so much
from the many discussions I have heard, or the argu-
ments I have read on the subject, as from the facts in
my experience.

Granting that this rite is designed to be universal
as is the Gospel, Matt, xxviii. 19, I have often found

Some Necessities cf Baptism. 91

it impossible to baptize by immersion. I have found
in parts of Hawaii, one, two, and five miles from the
sea, and as far from any pool of water sufficient to im-
merse even the head, men, women, and children so
old or so sick that they could not be carried to any
water fountain to be immersed ; some ready to die,
and begging me with tears to baptize them and ad-
minister to them the emblems of the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus. They accepted Christ with good
evidence of faith and love, and welcomed His messen-
ger with tears of joy and gratitude.

And now let me ask with Peter, " Can any man for-
bid water that these should not be baptized ? "

Similar considerations apply to the communion of
.the Lord's supper. I have been in situations where
it seemed a duty and a privilege to administer this
sacrament, but could get neither bread nor wine. Of
course this led to reflection. Shall I omit the sacra-
ment ? Shall it be postponed for months, with the
probability that some of these aged and wasting forms
will be laid in the dust within a few days or weeks?
Which is of the greater importance, the ordinance or
the articles used to symbolize and call to remembrance
the death of the Lord Jesus? Do not the food we
eat and the water we drink sustain our mortal bodies,
and does not faith in the Saviour's broken body and
shed blood give life to our souls? The argument
seemed to me logical and conclusive. And on further

Life in Hawaii

reflection that the bread we now use differs from that
used when the ordinance was first instituted, and that
much of the wine of this age is a poisoned mixture,
the conclusion was further strengthened that neither
our bread nor our wine was essential to our accept-
able observance of the Lord's supper.

We use bread at the Hilo churches, and for the
cup a preparation without alcohol or any poisonous
drug ; but in making my distant tours we used the
food and drink which sustains the life of the people,
whether bread-fruit, taro, or potato, and water.

VIII.

Arrival of Catholic Missionaries — Admiral de Trome-
lin — Proselytism — Controversies with the Priests—-
Arrival of the Mormons — The Reformed Catholics
— Bishop Staley — Lord George Paulet.

THE pioneer Catholic missionaries arrived in 1827,
and were rejected by the rulers.
This company was led by Rev. John Alexius Au-
gustine Bachelot, who was commissioned by Pope Leo
XII. as " Apostolic Prefect of the Sandwich Islands."
They landed without permission and refused to de-
part, under the delusion that the Pope as the Vice-
gerent of Heaven had dominion over all earthly prin-
cipalities and powers, as if the earth were his foot-
stool. Then followed a long struggle, in which arro-
gance, intrigue, and duplicity were freely exercised,
and which conflict has continued until this day. One
step of aggression followed another until the power
of the French Government was invoked by the
priests, and in 1839 Captain Laplace, commander
of the French frigate V Arttmisc, appeared and
made charges and demands which, it was then sup-
posed, meant a seizure of the Islands. But the Lord
spared us.

(93;

94 Life in Hawaii

Failing in this attempt, the French sloop-of-war
Embuscadc, Captain Mallet, appeared in 1842 with
fresh charges and demands, threatening the king and
the life of the kingdom. Fortunately royal com-
missioners had been dispatched to England and
France with plenary powers to settle all difficulties
amicably with these Governments, especially with
the French. Of course Captain Mallet had nothing
to do, as the case had been appealed to the supreme
power.

In August, 1849, tne French frigate La Poursuu
vante, Admiral de Tromelin, came into Hilo with a
French bishop and consul on board, who made a
pleasant and polite call at our house. From here the
Admiral sailed for Honolulu, where he brought new
charges of grievances because the French priests and
the Catholic religion had been dishonored.

He went so far as to land his marines, and with
martial music and waving flag, enter the fort at Hon-
olulu, throw down the guns from the walls, fill up an
old well, break up a few calabashes, etc. The fort
had no garrison, the gates were wide open, and there
being no resistance, it is reported that the gallant
Admiral said to his officers and marines : " Let
us go on board ; they won't fight, and there is
no glory in this." I relate the story as it was told
me.

Rumors were afloat that the United States Com-

Catholic Proselytism. 95

missioner then in Honolulu had agreed, under the
earnest request of the King and nobles, to run up the
United States flag as a signal of a protectorate so soon
as a hostile gun was fired from the frigate. It is
supposed that the Admiral felt that he had gone too
far, and could not grasp the prize, and therefore with-
drew from the bloodless conflict, since which time .we
have had no more threatening from the French Gov-
ernment, but have had to meet what looks like Jesuit-
ical tactics on all sides.

I have here given only a hasty sketch of the intro-
duction ofCatholicism into these Islands, and for more
detailed information I will refer the reader to the
histories of the Rev. Hiram Bingham and James J.
Jarves, Esq. These histories were written mostly at
the times and place of the troubles, and they present
a fair and truthful statement of the facts. Mr. Bing-
ham's history also affords a very full and interesting
view of the mission of the A. B. C. F. M. from the
year 1820 to 1845.

Of this persistent aggression of the Catholics, Hilo
and Puna have had their full share. Priests were
early stationed in these and the adjoining districts,
and they at once took a bold and defiant stand.
These emissaries confronted me everywhere. I often
heard of them as having gone just before me on my
tours. They appointed meetings near by my ap-
pointments, and at the same hour; they even came

96 Life in Hawaii.

to my congregations in anger to command some of
their claimed neophytes to leave the house.

Everywhere they perplexed and vexed the simple
natives by telling our best and most tried Christians
that they were outside the true Church and on their
way to perdition. They taught the people that the
Protestants were all heretics and deceivers, that their
ordinations were invalid, their pretended marriages
adultery, and their teachings delusive.

They also appealed to the selfish and baser feelings
of the natives to carry their point, encouraging them
in the cultivation and use of tobacco, and assuring
them that if they would turn Catholics they would
never be called on to give to the priests, to assist
in building churches, to contribute at monthly con-
certs, or be taxed in any way to support religion.
Thus they gained weak followers. But when the
priests changed their policy and began to call on
their proselytes for help in building churches and
supporting their teachers, many of the natives saw
the duplicity and left them at once.

When a church member was under discipline or
had been suspended for notorious sins, he was often
sought and received into the Catholic chu-rch. Liars,
thieves, drunkards, adulterers, were flattered with
the belief that all would come out well with them
if they were only in the trite Cliurch !

This " daubing with untempered mortar,'* and cry-

Catholic Proselytism. 97

ing " Peace, peace, when there was no peace," was a
bold and impudent opposition to sound church dis-
cipline, encouraging delinquents to harden themselves
in sin. It became " a refuge of lies," a hiding-place
of transgressors, a snare to catch souls.

This determined and unrelenting attack of the
papal powers upon the church of Hilo and Puna
greatly increased the cares and labors of the pastor.
I delivered more than thirty public lectures on the
history, character, and predictions of the papacy, be-
sides continuous and unwearied private efforts with
those who were perplexed by the sophistry of the
priests. And I had the comfort of knowing that
many of my people became more than a match for
the priests in faith and argument.

A priest one day assailed one of the native Chris-
tians by asserting that all the American missionaries
came to the Islands to get money.

M Ah ! " said the native, " you believe that, do you ? "
" Most certainly," said the priest. " Well, your be-
lief is most marvelous. We Hawaiians think that
those who are in search of gold and silver avoid such
poor people as we are and go where money is plenty.
It is most strange that you should believe that Mr.
Bingham, Mr. Thurston, and others came here to get
money when there was no money in this country.
Do you think them such fools ? M

Another good old native was accosted one day
5

98 Life in Hawaii.

thus: "Are you one of Mr. Coan's disciples ?" to
which he replied, " I am one of the disciples of
Christ. " "What is the true Church?" asked the
priest. " Why do you priests cast the second com-
mandment out of your catechism?" In a flurry —
" The second commandment, the second command-
ment ! I was not talking about the second command-
ment. I asked you what is the true Church ? " Good
old Paul replied again : " And why do you cast the
second commandment out of your catechism ? "
" What, what ! what do you mean — I tell you I am
not talking about the second commandment, but
about the true Church" Steady to his point, Paul
coolly and emphatically repeated again, " Why do you
cast the second commandment out of your catechism ? "
Turning on his heels the Jesuit went off exclaiming,
" Paul, you are an old stubborn fool." But he never
assailed him again.

Another priest meeting Barnabas saluted him with
much politeness, and offering a little flattery, began
to express great desire that they both might escape
delusion and find the one and only way to heaven.
Then he began with the usual opening question:
" What is the true Church ? " Barnabas calmly re-
plied, " The true Church of God is composed of all
true believers who love and obey the Lord Jesus,
of every age and name and nation on earth and in
heaven. " This comprehensive truth began to ruffle

A Passage at Arms. 99

the priest, and he tried to parry the point of the
Spirit's sword by syllogistic logic, saying, "There
can be only one true Church. " Barnabas saw the
premises, and anticipating the reasoning and conclu-
sion, he cut the matter short. " I have answered
your question, and now, as you and I both have
enough to do, I bid you good-morning " — and as he
left the priest he heard him murmuring, " Poor de-
luded and stubborn heretic."

One of their most audacious acts remains to be re-
corded. I had once visited Mr. Paris, at Kau, on the
occasion of transferring those members of my church
from that district to the care of Mr. Paris.

On Monday I was returning toward Hilo. When
near the center of Kau, as I was passing a Catholic
church under the foot-hills of Mauria Loa, I was
stopped by about two hundred Catholics, headed by
a French priest, who challenged me then and there to
a debate. This was in a narrow pass along the road
which was so completely obstructed by the collected
Catholics as to prevent my passing on. The challenge
I respectfully declined, and as it was late in the after-
noon, and I had some eight or ten miles of rough
road to travel before I slept, I begged the mob to
open the road, and suffer me to pass peacefully on
my way. This the priest refused, commanding the
people to keep the passage blocked, and with lifted
hands and clenched fists, he declared that this Coan,

ioo Life in Hawaii.

this opposer of the Catholics, should never pass until
he had accepted the challenge for debate. Again
and again I calmly declined, and asked for a passage
through the crowd. The priest became furious and
his whole frame trembled with excitement, while the
people around him seemed fierce as wolves.

Not being able to proceed, I dismounted and tried
to elbow my way through, leading my horse. The
priest kept right before me, with hands quivering,
and voice roaring : " Who is the head of the Church ?
Who is the head of the Church ? " For a time I made
no reply, but quietly tried to work my way along, till
at last I spoke out in full and clear tones, " The Lord
Jesus Christ, He is the Head of the Church. " Im-
mediately the priest roared out at the top of his voice,
" That is a lie, Peter is the head of the Church. "

Several faithful natives were with me, watching
with intense interest the scene. When this assertion
of Peter's headship thundered from the priest, one
of the men named Sampson, a bold and powerful
man, could hold in no longer, and with the voice of a
giant, and the arm of Samson of old, he cried out,
" Clear the road, and let my teacher pass," and with
the word came the act ; with his strong arms he scat-
tered the mob to the right and left, and I followed
on through the passage thus opened. As I mounted
my horse and rode quietly on, the howling crowd
shouted : " He flees ! he flees ! He is a coward."

The Mormons in Hilo. 101

Some of the leaders of this mob afterward left the
Catholics, and repented with tears.

This priest, recognizing me upon the road one day
afterward, at once turned into the bushes, rather than
to meet me. I never met him again, and it was not
many months before the strong young man was dead.

Not many years after the introduction of the papal
priests came a drove of Mormon emissaries. These
spread themselves in squads all over the group like
the frogs of Egypt.

They made an early (Tescent upon Hilo. At first
they employed flattering words. They called at once
on me, asserted their divine commission, affirmed the
heavenly origin of their order, enlarged on the new
and sure revelations made to Joe Smith and his suc-
cessors, the prophets, and invited me to join them, as-
suring me that I would then see the full-orbed light
of truth, whereas I had only seen its faint dawn. " You
are a good man," said they, " and have done what you
could ; but we have come to tea^ch you the way of
God more perfectly, and if you will unite with us and
come into this new light, your people will all soon be
born again, i. e., be dipped in water, and then by the
laying on of hands they will receive the Holy Ghost,
and all the signs will follow." I asked, " What signs ? "
They replied, "Speaking with tongues, healing the
sick, and all miracles." I then said, l4 Let us Like up
the ' signs' in order, and see if you Mormons have

102 Life in Hawaii.

them. Can you cast out devils ? " " Yes." " But, if
testimony is true, many of your people, like other sin-
ners, act as if the devil were still in them. ' They
shall speak with tongues/ Can you do it?" " Oh,
yes, we can at Utah." " And why not here, where
you need the gift more ? And why do you ask for a
teacher of the native language ? Do you believe you
could handle poisonous serpents, and drink deadly
things with impunity ?" "We can heal the sick."
"And so can I. But do not Mormons die?" "Oh,
yes." " Can you raise the#dead ? " " The Mormons
at Salt Lake can do it." " Well, if you will go with
me to a fresh grave near by, and raise a dead body to
life, I will join you to-day." This silenced them on
miracles and signs. And when I produced my copy
of " The Book of Mormon," and showed them I knew
more than they about the doctrines of the faith to
which they were trying to make me a proselyte, they
wrere confounded, and went away despairing of my
becoming a convert.

But for years numbers of this deluded sect traveled
over these districts, using all their powers of persua-
sion, not excepting lying and deceit, to draw the peo-
ple after them. When once they succeeded in mak-
ing a disciple they would quarter themselves in his
house until he had cooked the last pig, goat, or fowl,
and until his taro, potatoes, and bananas were gone,
all the while boasting of their great love, and compar-

Mormon Tactics. 103

ing themselves with the American missionaries, who
they said came here to get salaries and to oppress the
people.

I met the Mormons often on my tours, and had
abundant evidence from repeated conversations, and
from the testimony of the most reliable members of
the church, of their ignorance, bigotry, impudence,
and guile.

Finding that they could not prevail by flattery, they
assumed a bold front, denounced the American mis-
sionaries as false pretenders, deceivers, and blind
guides, without baptism, without ordination, and with-
out credentials from heaven. One of their number
came into our congregation on a Sabbath, and when
I arose at the close of the service to dismiss the as-
sembly, the Mormon arose, and with a loud voice
gave notice that he would preach immediately. The
great congregation moved quietly toward the church
door, when he placed himself in the door-way to pre-
vent their egress, demanding in loud, boisterous lan-
guage that they all remain and hear " the true gospel"
Steadily the crowd moved to the door, and press-
ing the arrogant intruder aside, returned to their
homes.

Though numbers of low characters at first turned
after the Mormons, the sect soon ran out here, and
now they have neither church, or school, or meeting-
house in all Hilo and Tuna.

104 Life i7t Hawaii.

The entrance of Bishop Staley into the Hawaiiar
Islands with his corps of priests and sisters has gone
into history. Receiving the title of " Lord Bishop
of Honolulu," he contemplated the supplanting of the
American missionaries, the conversion of the foreign
residents and natives to his faith, and the establish-
ment of one grand Episcopal Diocese over all the isl-
ands of the group.

The whole scheme was planned, and he soon began
to move with his clergy for its execution.

Having established several stations in Hawaii and
other islands of the Archipelago, he came to Hilo with
one of his clergy.

Ignoring practically the church which had long been
established here under its present pastor, and all who
had labored to gather and to guide the flock, he walk-
ed boldly in as if by divine right, appointed his meet-
ings to preach in the English and Hawaiian languages,
and announced that he would at once establish two
congregations, one of Hawaiians, and one of English-
speaking residents.

In the further pursuance of his scheme, he appoint-
ed two boards of trustees or agents, one composed of
members of my church, and one of foreign residents.
These agents he instructed and empowered to open
subscriptions, collect funds, proselyte the people, and
make all necessary arrangements for buildings and for
gathering congregations. He then presented the

The Lord Bishop of Honolulu. 105

appointed curate of Hilo, and engaged board and lodg-
ing for him.

All this was done as if by royal authority, and with-
out condescending to confer with or. to know the in-
cumbent pastor and his associate laborers. The ar-
rangements having been completed, his lordship re-
turned to Honolulu, taking the curate-elect with him
to get his baggage, with the promise that he should
return immediately to exercise his priestly functions
for the cure of souls, and as the only authenticated
messenger of Heaven to the benighted and perishing
heathen of Hilo. They came, they saw, they went,
but they did not soon return.

It was found that there was one factor in the plot
which the shrewd bishop had overlooked, and that
was the will of the people of Hilo. They had some-
how imbibed the doctrine of " Free Agency," which
implies will and choice and personality.

The bishops theory was smooth and perfect, but
its practical execution was so clogged by friction that
it failed of success. Letters followed Bishop Staley
to Honolulu stating that neither of his boards had
secured a proselyte or a dollar, that his agents did not
act, and that all things were going on in the old way.
This was a damper surely, and it might be an extin-
guisher.

But the bishop rallied and appeared again in Hilo;
appointed meetings as before, and wished to know

106 Life in Hawaii.

the reasons far the inactivity of his Hilo agents. His
efforts were of no avail. The people could not see
what allegiance they owed to a lord and bishop cre-
ated in London, or why they should forsake their
" own and their fathers' friends/' to whom under God
they owed all they knew of civilization and of Chris-
tian truth.

The Reformed Catholics have never established a
church in Hilo, and it is not known that they have a
single convert here.

We wish to be liberal and to labor in loving har-
mony with all who love our Lord and Saviour, and who
pray heartily for His coming and kingdom, but we
pity all who are exclusive, and who vainly set them-
selves up as the only true Church.

During the year of 1843, the English corvette
Carysforty Lord George Paulet commanding, made
two visits to Hilo.

This young Briton had seized the reins of the
Hawaiian Government, hauled down the national
flag, dethroned the king, and established what he
called a Provisional Government. The country was
in confused agitation, and a dark cloud veiled our
political sky.

When he arrived he went in person to our prison,
commanding the keeper to open the doors, discharge
the prisoners, and give him the keys. The guilty
offenders and criminals feeling that their hour of

Lord George Paulet. 107

triumph had come, rushed out jubilant, and went
whither they desired.

Lord George soon called on us, and introduced
himself as the savior of the country. He was a
young, jolly, and sanguine man, of pleasant manners
and very sociable. He seemed at ease, yet self-con-
scious. " Well/' said he, " you are now under the
British flag; how do you like it?"

"Well, sir, we choose to be under the Hawaiian."

" No, no ! but the English Government is strong,
and your protection is sure." "True, but we desire
that this weak and small people should be free and
independent. It is a right which should not be
taken from them without just cause."

" Well, well, but you would rather be under the
flag of England than of France?" "That may be,
but we choose the flag of the country for which
we have labored." " You. could not live under the
Hawaiian flag. The French were determined to take
your islands as they took Tahiti. I knew it, and I
hastened hither before them and saved the country,
and you ought to thank me."

All this was spoken in great good humor and self-
satisfaction, and his lordship shook hands and bowed
a pleasant good-morning.

He returned to Honolulu, and our native police
went immediately in search of the prisoners he had
set free and returned them to the prisons. Hearing of

108 Life in Hawaii.

this, and that the same thing had occurred in La
haina, he hastened back with all canvas spread, land-
ed with body-guard and side arms, went to the prison
and opened again its doors, setting the inmates free.
He then inquired for the native judge who had coun-
termanded his orders by returning the prisoners to
jail, and hastened in person to his house, as the na-
tives said, " piha i ka huhu" filled with wrath.

But the wide-awake judge having had a hint of his
coming, and not caring to end his judgeship in prison,
stole out at the back door and could not be found.

The commander, to hold the fort, organized a police
mostly of foreigners of a certain class, some of whom
had, I think, seen the inside of a prison, and others
who might be fair candidates for such a place, and
giving them strict orders to see that his commands
were executed, he left Hilo for the second and last
time. Our new police were greatly magnified by
their office, and were somewhat haughty and imperi-
ous during their brief authority.

Lord George appointed his officers, civil and mili-
tary, over all the Islands, enlisted and drilled soldiers
among the natives and foreigners, and taught them
rebellion against their lawful sovereign.

After five months of " torment," the time of the
reign of the locusts in the Apocalypse, the flag-ship
of the good Admiral Thomas arrived in Honolulu.
The English flag was removed from all its staves, the

The Liberation. 109

Hawaiian was raised in all our ports, and the com-
mander of the proud Carysfort was ordered to salute
the royal signal he had dishonored. To this day it-
waves and flutters over an independent kingdom, and
the Carysfort with her lordly commander has been
seen no more in our waters.

IX.

Isolation of the Mission Families — Sufferings on the
Inter- 1 stand Voyages — Their Dangers — Parting
with our Children — School Discussions and Festi-
vals— Native Preachers — Cheerful Givers — Changes

and Improvements.

•

IN the early years of the mission, the trials of sepa-
ration were often severe. Hawaii was not only
far from all the outer world, but* our islands were
separated one from another by wide and windy chan-
nels, with no regular and safe packets, and no postal
arrangements, or regular means of communication.

Add to this, many parts of the islands were so
broken by ravines, by precipices, and dangerous
streams, and so widely sundered by broad tracts of
lava, without house, or pool of water to refresh the
weary and thirsty traveler, and without roads withal,
that social intercourse was impossible without great
toil and suffering.

As to beloved friends and kindred in the far-off
fatherland, it seemed like an age before we could
speak to them and receive answers.

I think it was eighteen months before we received

answers to our first letters sent from Hilo to the

(no)

Island Remoteness. ill

United States, a period long enough for revolutions
among the nations as well as in families.

All our flour, rice, sugar, molasses, and many other
articles of food, with clothing, furniture, medicines,
etc., came in sailing vessels around Cape Horn, a
voyage of four to six months, so that our news be-
came old and our provisions stale before they reached
us, while our stationery might be exhausted, our
medicines expended, our flour mouldy and full of
worms, before the new supplies arrived. Many a
time have we been obliged to break up our barrel of
hardened flour with an axe, or chisel and mallet.

But after all our inter-island communication was
often our more severe trial. A few old schooners,
leaky and slow, mostly owned by native chiefs,
floated about, sometimes lying becalmed under the
lee of an island for a whole week, in a burning sun,
with sails lazily flapping, boom swinging from side to
side, and gaff mournfully squeaking aloft.

These vessels were usually officered and manned
by indolent and unskilful natives, who made dis-
patch, cleanliness, safety, and comfort no factors in a
voyage. They would often be four and even six
weeks in making a trip from Honolulu to Hilo and
back, a total distance of some 600 miles. They knew
nothing of the motto, " Time is money.'* So long as
they were supplied with fish and poi, all was well.
They would sometimes lash the helm while they went

H2 Life in Hawaii.

to eat, then lie down and sleep. We have often
found our vessel in thi's condition at midnight, cap-
tain and all hands fast asleep, and the schooner left to
the control of wind and wave, and without a lamp
burning on board. In addition some vessels were
without a single boat for help in the hour of peril.

The cabins being small and filthy, the missionaries
slept on deck, each family providing its own food and
blankets, and all exposed to wind, heat, storm, and
drenching waves which often broke upon the deck.
Upon a schooner of forty to sixty tons, there might
be one hundred natives with their dogs and pigs,
stoutly contesting deck-space with them ; and often
fifty members of missionary families, parents and
children together. These were the families on Molo-
kai and Maui, with, in many cases, those of the several
stations on Hawaii. The crowd was distressing, and
the sickness and suffering can never be told. Mothers
with four or five children, including a tender nursling,
would lie miserably during the hot days under a burn-
ing sun, and by night in the rain, or wet with the dash-
ing waves, pallid and wan, with children crying for
food, or retching with seasickness. I have seen some
of these frail women with their pale children brought
to land, exhausted, upon the backs of natives, carried
to their homes on litters, and laid upon couches to
be nourished till their strength returned.

Does any one ask why these delicate mothers left
their homes to suffer thus nigh unto death ?

Sorrowful Voyages. 113

The answer is this. For the isolated mission fami-
lies to visit one another at will, was out of the ques-
tion. Once a year, provision such as described was
made to bring all together in Honolulu, in what was
styled " General Meeting." So strong was the social
and Christian instinct, that nearly every parent and
child would brave the dangers and submit to the
sufferings of these terrible passages, rather than deny
the intense heart-longings for personal intercourse
with their fellow-laborers "in the kingdom and pa-
tience of Jesus Christ. "

We all went with our households and were received
cordially by our dear brethren and sisters in Honolu-
lu, where in consultation on the things pertaining to
the mission work, in prayer and praise and in social
intercourse, we usually spent three or four weeks.
Daily meetings were often held with the children, when
with united endeavors we sought to lead them to
Him who has said: "Suffer little children to come
unto me." And many of those little ones dated their
deepest religious impressions from those meetings.

Through the providential care of Him who was
with us, no lives were lost in all these dangerous
voyages of the early members of the mission. Two
of these leaky, ill-managed vessels were, as we
suppose, sunk in the night while attempting to cross
the channel from Maui to Hawaii, with about two
hundred natives on board, eighty of whom were my

U4 Life in Hawaii.

church members. Not a spar, not a box nor a bucket
from these vessels has been seen from that day to this.

It is probable that the helm was lashed, and that
captain and all hands were asleep when a squall struck
the sails, capsized the vessel, and all were plunged
without warning into the dark abyss of waters.

On one of these lost vessels my second daughter
had engaged passage to return from Honolulu to Hilo,
in company with our neighbor, Judge Austin, and
his wife and children. By a sudden impulse and just
before the embarkation, the party changed their minds
and took passage on another schooner bound to the
western coast of Hawaii, where they were safely land-
ed, making their way thence to Hilo by land, a dis-
tance of about seventy-five miles. Had they taken
the ill-fated schooner, we should never have seen our
daughter and our neighbors again on earth.

Another trial of painful character has been borne
by the missionaries in the sending of their tender
offspring away from their island home to the father-
land. Surrounded by the low and vulgar throng
of early mission days, with no good schools, and
loaded with cares and labors for the native race,
most of the missionaries have felt it a duty to their
children to seek for them an asylum in a land of
schools and churches and Christian civilization. The
struggle of parting has sometimes been agonizing
on both sides. Often the child would plead piteously

The Severing of Families. 115

to be suffered to remain, while at the same time the
mothers heart yearned over her darling one ; but a
stern sense of duty nerved her to the sacrifice, and
with a last kiss of farewell she would commit her
son or daughter to the care of the ship-master, and
turn away with a crushed heart to spend sleepless
hours in prayers and tears.

Ah ! how many of these mothers remember these
heart-struggles with a melting agony, and how many
of . those scalding tears the Father of Mercies has
known, with the prayers that wrung them out !

Our two elder children remained at their island
home until they reached an age when the thought
of separation was less cruel. They then made the
voyage around Cape Horn under the kind care of
Capt. James Willis and his excellent wife.

Later, our second daughter and son were sent to
the United States under favorable circumstances. Our
youngest son has returned, and lives near the old
homestead.

Once or twice a year the school teachers and lead-
ing members of the church were called together in
Hilo for the discussion of important questions, and
for prayer.

This assembly numbered one hundred, and often
more. They came as delegates or representatives from
all the villages, either as volunteers or as chosen by
the people. When assembled for deliberation a scribe

n6 Life in Hawaii.

was elected, and a book of records kept, in which min-
utes of all important acts were entered. The duration of
such meetings varied from three days to a week, accord-
ing to the importance and interest of the discussions.

These representatives we call Lunas, overseers.
None of them were ordained as deacons or elders, but
their office work was much like that of class-leaders
in the Methodist church. They reported the state of
the schools and of the church members. A list of
overtures was prepared, embracing topics for consid-
eration on a great variety of subjects pertaining to
" The life that now is and to that which is to come."
The meetings were often pervaded with a delightful
spirit of tenderness and Christian harmony. Prayers
were fervent, and there were exhibitions of native elo-
quence which were marvelous.

These were excellent occasions for the pastor to in-
struct the leading minds of his flock, not only in the
rules of order pertaining to deliberative bodies, but in
the duties of parental, filial, fraternal, matrimonial,
social, economical, civil, and spiritual life. The range
of subjects was wide, but simple and practical, and the
fruits were apparent. Many beside the delegates came
in, day after day, to these meetings, both of men and
women.

These were sometimes local and sometimes general.
When the schools of the two districts assembled at
the central station, I think we have had two thou-

School Festivals. 117

sand in the exhibition. Usually the schools would be
dressed in uniforms, each choosing for itself the color
which their tastes dictated. All floated flags and ban-
ners of a tasteful style, and all marched to music, vo-
cal or instrumental, and often prepared by themselves
or their teachers. Some made flutes of the bamboo,
and some composed sweet songs with simple but
pleasing music.

Their marchings and simple evolutions, with songs
and fluttering flags, attracted the attention of all, and
many came out to witness the gala picture.

The marching over, the children were arranged
under a broad canopy of green branches, where hymns
were sung, addresses made, prayers offered, and then
all partook of an ample feast. Young and old alike
were jubilant.

As numbers of our young and active men desired
more full and specific instruction in the doctrines of
the Bible and the duties of life than they gained in
our common exercises, I received about twenty into
a class for daily instruction in systematic theology,
Scripture exegesis, sermonizing, etc.

This school was kept up in convenient terms for
several years. It was not designed to make pastors,
but to train a class of more intelligent woikers than
the common people. Some of these have since be-
come preachers and pastors at home, and some have
gone to labor in heathen lands.

1 1 8 Life in Hawaii.

The whole number of preachers and missionaries
who have gone out from the Hilo church and board-
ing-school is : on foreign missions twelve, with their
wives ; in the home field, nineteen, or thirty-one min-
isters in all.

From the beginning, the Hawaiian churches were
taught the duty and the pleasure of giving to the
needy. All the missionaries inculcated this doctrine,
so that it became one of the essential fruits of their
faith. They were not only taught to provide for
themselves and their households, but also to " labor
with their hand that they might have to give to him
that tecketh."

They received these instructions cheerfully, and the
stranger, the friendless, the sick, the unfortunate, and
all in distress are cared for, and there is less physical
suffering from hunger and want in this than in most
countries in Christendom.

All this is, of course, favored by the mildness of
the climate, but the disposition and the habit of help-
ing those who need are almost universal in these
islands.

For long years after the arrival of the pioneer mis-
sionaries, the people had no silver and gold, but they
had food and kapas and hands and hearts to help.
They gave as they could of their substance ; a little
arrowroot, dried fish or vegetables, a stick of fire-
wood, or a kapa. In 1840, the Wilkes Expedition

Cheerful Givers. 119

came, and brought silver dollars ; for want of small
change, Capt. Wilkes ordered a large amount of Mex-
ican dollars to be cut into halves and quarters. The
natives have since fully learned the use of coined
money.

It has been my habit to preach on some branch of
Christian kindness on the first Sabbath in every month,
and the monthly concert prayer-meeting has always
been kept up in Hilo. The people have been taught
that " it is better to give than to receive/* and that
" the Lord loveth a cheerful giver." They have given
freely for the missions in Micronesia, and hundreds of
dollars have already come back to our mission treasury
from those recently savage islands, so that our natives
think they see a literal fulfillment of the blessed
promise, " Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou
shalt find it after many days."

They see also that although the Hilo church has
given more than one hundred thousand dollars for
the kingdom of God, that they have a " hundred-fold "
more now than when they began.

Indolent and vicious foreigners have often express-
ed great pity for our poor natives because they had
been trained by "the cruel and covetous missionaries "
to give for the objects of benevolence ; but it has now
and then appeared that some of these tender-hearted
strangers would not scruple to eat the natives' fish and
fowl and poi without pay, or to drive a hard bargain

120 Life in Hawaii.

with them in trade, or to refuse to pay an honest debt.
Even Catholic priests professed to pity the Hawaiians
because of the heavy burdens laid upon them by their
teachers ! And the Mormon apostles told our people
that the Lord " hated and abhorred our New Moons."

As our monthly concerts occurred on the first Sun-
day of every month, the natives called them " Mahina
hou," which literally means new moon, or new month ;
the word " mahina," moon, being their name for
month, or the division of time marked by the moon.
This wicked and deceitful catch of the Mormons upon
the term for monthly concert so troubled and stag-
gered my people that I went through my whole field,
expounding in every village the first chapter of Isaiah,
and the troubled minds were relieved and reestab-
lished.

The contributions for benevolence have been given
with great apparent cheerfulness, as if in thorough un-
derstanding that " the Lord loveth a cheerful giver."

Our custom has been to have the donors come for-
ward and deposit their offerings upon the table in front
of the pulpit, and there has been an animation and en-
thusiasm on such occasions most grateful to the pas-
tor's heart to witness. I have seen mothers bringing
their babes in their arms, or leading their toddling
children, that these little ones might deposit a coin
upon the table. If at first the child clung to the shin-
ing silver as to a plaything, the mother would shake

The Monthly Contribution. 121

the baby's hand to make it let go its hold, and ear-
nestly persevere in her efforts to teach the tender ones
the act of giving before they knew the purpose. There
have been instances where the dying have left with
wife or husband their contribution to be brought for-
ward at the monthly concert after their death. Such
facts make a touching impression.

From our small beginnings of four or five dollars a
month, we increased gradually, till the amount has
sometimes been two hundred a month. Before our
church was divided our collections amounted yearly
to several thousands, and in one case were as high
as six thousand ; and even after we had set off six
churches from the mother church, we have collected
over five thousand dollars from the remaining church.

Our people are now greatly diminished by death,
and by being drawn away to the numerous plantations
of the islands, upon ranches, into various industries
with foreigners, and by hundreds into Honolulu, and
on board vessels, and yet our monthly collections av-
erage more than one hundred dollars.

These contributions have been widely distributed
in the United States and in other parts ; while many
thousands of dollars have gone to sustain our mis-
sions in the Marquesas Islands and in Micronesia.

We have also given liberally to sustain our home-
work— church building, Christian education, relief of
the poor, and other objects.
6

122

Life in Hawaii

When we arrived in Hilo there was but one framed
house. There were no streets, no bridges, no gardens
and only a few foreign trees.

Now our town is laid out in streets all named, and
with every dwelling-house numbered. The town is
adorned with beautiful shade and fruit trees, with gar-
dens and shrubbery, vines, and a great variety of
flowers. The scene is like a tropical Paradise. We
have read of

" Sweet fields arrayed in living green,"

and here they are spread out before us even on this
side of Jordan.

We have foliage of every shade of green, all inter-
mingled ; the plumes of the lofty cocoa and royal
palms waving, and the leaves of the mango, the bread-
fruit, the alligator-pear, the rose apple, the tamarind,
the loquot, the plum, the pride of India, the eucalyp-
tus, and trailing and climbing vines, with many-tinted
flowers, all glistening and fluttering in the bright sun
and the soft breezes of our tropical abode.

Formerly all our streams were crossed as best they
might be, or suffered to run and roar, to sparkle and
foam, to leap their precipices, and to plunge undis-
turbed into the sea. Over these brooks and rivers, in
town, and through the district of Hilo, more than fifty
bridges have been built, some of them costing four
thousand dollars.

Sugar Culture. 123

Once our fertile soil produced very little except
kalo and the sweet potato, with a few indigenous fruits ;
now fruits and vegetables have increased ten-fold
in variety and value. But the great staple product of
the district is sugar.

During our residence here there have been erected
seventeen sugar mills with their feeding plantations,
whose total value would probably be more than one
million of dollars, and whose products might be more
than two millions.

If our Government would take hold earnestly of
road-making, with the aid of private enterprise, the
value of Hilo soil and of our industries might be in-
creased more than four-fold in as many years.

Sailing along the emerald coast of Hilo, one sees
the smoke-stacks of the sugar mills, the fields of wav-
ing canes almost touching one another, and the little
white villages attached to each plantation, lending the
charm of beauty and variety to the scenery.

The mercantile and mechanical business of our town
is greatly increased by these plantations. Mechanical
shops are abundant ; and so are shops of various char-
acter, many of which are owned by Chinamen.

But the plantations do not replenish our town with
Hawaiians ; on the contrary, while foreigners of many
nationalities, especially the Chinese, are increasing,
our native population is perishing, or mixing its blood
with that of foreign races.

124 Life in Hawaii.

Another great change is, that the people are, or
may be if they will, all freeholders. The Bill of
Rights given by Kamehameha III., followed by a
liberal constitution, and by a code of laws, gave to
every man the right to himself, to his family, to hold
land in fee simple, and to the avails of his own skill
and industry. This was what no common Hawaiian
had ever enjoyed before ; and so great was the
change that a large class of the natives could not
believe it to be true. Many thought it to be a ruse
to tempt them to build better houses, fence the
lands, plant trees, and make such improvements in
cultivation as should enrich the chiefs, who were the
hereditary' owners of the soil, while to the old ten-
ants no profit would accrue. The parcels of land
on which the people were living were granted to them
by a royal commission on certain easy conditions.

Lands were also put into market at nominal prices,
so that every man might obtain a piece if he would.
I have known thousands of acres sold for twenty-five
cents, other thousands for twelve and a half ' cents,
and still others for six and a quarter cents an acre.
These lands were, of course, at considerable distances
from towns and harbors. But even rich lands near
Hilo and other ports sold at one, two, or three dollars
per acre.

Thus the people were encouraged to become land-
owners, to build permanent dwellings, and to im

The New and the Old Government. 125

prove their homesteads with fences, trees, and a bet-
ter cultivation. Gradually many came to believe in
the new order of things and to improve the golden
opportunity, but others doubted and suffered it to
pass unimproved. Those who accepted or bought
land now find its value increased ten, and, in some
cases, a hundred fold.

The organizing of a constitutional government
under a limited monarchy with its several depart-
ments, legislative, executive, and judicial, and the
admission of the common people to take part in the
enactment and execution of laws, and the right of
trial by jury, produced a vast and sudden change
throughout the kingdom ; and to this day it is an
open question whether there was not too much lib-
erty granted to the people before they had been
sufficiently trained to appreciate and to use it. It
may be doubted whether universal suffrage and trial
by jury has been a benefit to the country.

The old rule of the chiefs was liable to great op-
pression and abuse, but where the irresponsible chief
was thoughtful and righteous, justice was administered
promptly and often wisely, without the interference
of quibbling pettifoggers and unscrupulous lawyers.

On one occasion when Dr. Judd and his family
were our guests, he hired men to take them by land
to the western side of the island, where they were to
embark for Honolulu. There were about twelve men

126 Life in Hawaii.

thus positively engaged, with wages specified and
accepted. The hour for departure came ; the men
were all present ; the party, with baggage, all ready ;
and then the natives struck for double pay !

I said to the Doctor, " Go straight to our chief
woman," who, like Deborah of old, was our judge
and sole ruler. He went. . Her posse comitatus were
on the ground in twenty minutes, and the strikers
were found guilty and put to hard work in one hour
without counsel of lawyer or the aid of a jury.

At another time, a rabble becoming angry at some
sailors who landed in the boat of a whale-ship, seized
the boat and were carrying it inland as an act of
reprisal. Old Opiopio called out her posse of strong
arms, seized the men with the boat, put them all in
prison, and returned the boat to the ship. Such
prompt acts of justice struck the people with awe,
and led them to reverence " the powers that be."

These are noble exceptions ; but we now have a
large set of intriguing lawyers who teach their clients
to lie and to bribe witnesses, so that often " justice
falls in the streets," the most guilty escape unpun-
ished, and the innocent suffer.

Still there is no going back, nor do we wish it ; for
in spite of all the eddies and swirls, the back-sets and
snags, the stream of civilization flows onward, and,
with good pilots and skillful navigators, we trust the
ship of state will be saved from wreck.

Hawaiian Kings — The Kamehamehas — Lunalilo —
Kalakaua, the Reigning King — The Foreign Church
in Hilo — Organization of Native Churches under
Native Pastors.

TRADITION and history alike tell us of Kame-
hameha L, the Caesar of Hawaii, the iron-framed
warrior, the first legislator, and the first law-giver of
the Hawaiian race. We are told how he warred and
conquered, and how he united all the islands and all
the petty principalities under one chief. There are
men still living who have seen this stern old king.
He died in 1819.

Liholiho, styled Kamehameha II., was the reigning
sovereign when the first band of missionaries arrived
in 1820. With his queen he visited England, where
both died, their remains being returned to Honolulu
in the British ship Blonde, commanded by Lord
Byron, the cousin of the poet. Kamehameha III.,
son of Kamehameha I., was on the Hawaiian throne
when I arrived at the Islands, having been proclaimed
not long before.

He was then a young and mild prince, greatly
honored and loved by the whole nation. The natives

(127)

128 Life in Hawaii.

loved to style him " The Good King." Bad men,
both foreigners and natives, beguiled him into some
unworthy habits ; but his disposition was kind and
amiable, and he was the king who gave to the people
a liberal constitution with all its attendant blessings.

During the great awakening which spread over the
Islands in 1837 and onward, he was greatly impressed
with the importance of spiritual things. He was not
only an attendant on divine service on the Lord's
day,, but he was often in the prayer-meetings, appa-
rently an earnest seeker after truth. He was also
willing to listen to wise counsels; and during his
reign his Government enacted a law forbidding the
introduction and sale of intoxicating liquors in this
kingdom. The nation became a great temperance
society, with the king at its head ; and it was reported
that he said he would rather die than drink another
glass of liquor.

During his year of abstinence he seemed like a
new man. He was awake to all the interests of his
kingdom, visited the different islands, addressed large
assemblies, and greatly increased the love and homage
of his people.

His visits to Hilo were like a benediction ; the
people flocked around him as they would around a
father, and he seemed like a father to them. He
visited our families, dined and supped with us, and
gave us free opportunities to converse with him, not

Kamehameha III 129

only on the interests of his kingdom, but also on his
own spiritual interests and his personal relations to
God and to the eternal future. He has gone with me
into an upper chamber where we conversed together
as brothers and knelt in humble prayer before the
mercy-seat of the King Eternal. On one occasion,
when he attended our Sabbath service, I preached
from Jer. xxiii. 24, " Can any hide himself in secret
places that I shall not see him ? saith the Lord."
The doctrine of God's omnipresence and omniscience
was the subject.

The king seemed one of the most earnest hearers
in the congregation, often bowing his head in assent
to what was said. For months he seemed nearly
ready to unite with the visible church, and his true
friends rejoiced over him.

But the spoiler came. He that " goeth about as a
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," was lying
in wait for him. The French came with their fire and
thunder, threatening his crown and kingdom if the
prohibition law on intoxicants was not repealed ; and
the British lion was ready to stand by the French eagle.

The king was called a fool for coming under the
influence of Protestant missionaries. He was, as
report said, advised to assert his royal prerogative of
independence, and urged to drink with his official and
distinguished friends. The poor man, through fear
and flattery, yielded, and his doom from that hour

130 Life in Hawaii.

was sealed. The old thirst was rekindled within him.
A despair of reformation seemed to come over him ;
the fiery dragon held hirn fast. He continued to
yield to his appetite and to the solicitations of his
false friends, and died December 15, 1854, in his forty-
first year. On the same day Prince Alexander Liho-
liho, his adopted son, was proclaimed king, under the
style of Kamehameha IV.

This young king was the youngest of three sons
of Kekuanaoa and the high chiefess of the Kameha-
meha family. Kekuanaoa was one of nature's noble-
men. He was not of the royal family, but he was of
kingly bearing ; tall, well formed, and courteous in
manners. He was Governor of Oahu and Generalis-
simo of the royal troops. He was also a consistent
member of the mission church in Honolulu. For
his splendid physique, his noble bearing, and his
mental and moral qualities, Kinau, who was daughter
of Kamehameha I. and sister of Kamehameha III.,
chose him for her husband.

Alexander Liholiho in stature and bearing some-
what resembled his noble father. His reign was
short but peaceful, and to some extent prosperous.
He visited Hilo occasionally, and our social in-
tercourse with him and his intelligent queen, Em-
ma, was pleasant.

Up to this time all the kings were in the habit of
inviting the missionaries and their families to an

Kamehameha IV. and V. 131

annual reception at the palace during the season of
the general meeting in Honolulu.

Kamehameha IV. was a fair scholar in English
literature, and he spoke and wrote the English lan-
guage with ease and correctness, having enjoyed the
advantages of an excellent training in the Royal
School and Boarding Seminary under the charge of
Mr. and Mrs. Amos Cooke, of the American Mission,
and having also had the benefit of foreign travel with
his brother Lot, under the care of Dr. Judd.

He was succeeded by this older and only surviv-
ing brother, who came to the throne as Kameha-
meha V.

Lot was a stern man, with an iron will, and a de-
termination to rule his kingdom himself. He at
once refused to take oath under the liberal constitu-
tion of 1852, that had been drawn up by our excellent
Chief-Justice, William L. Lee. He called a conven-
tion of delegates from all the islands, and instructed
them to frame a new constitution ; and while they
lingered and debated, and declared that they had no
power to annul or amend the former constitution,
because it had provided that all changes and amend-
ments should come from a regular legislative body,
he dissolved the convention on the 13th August,
1864, and declared that he would give them a con-
stitution by his own royal authority. This he did on
the 1 2th August, and the people, though complaining,

132 Life in Hawaii.

submitted, as the high officers of the realm had
bowed to his behest and took oath under this,
as pronounced by high authority, unconstitutional
constitution. The king was " master of the situ-
ation."

This king, so far as I know, had no concern in
matters of religion, and did not attend any church.
He spent his Sundays as he pleased, either in busi-
ness, in sleeping, fishing, or in other recreations.

He visited Hilo occasionally, but never, I think, to
call out his people and address them as a father on
any subject affecting their present or future interests.
I have known him to come to Hilo with his fishing-
tackle, spend a season here, and then pass on to
Puna, where it was reported he had his nets drawn on
Sunday, and, on his return, he entered our town
with his animals loaded with nets and other luggage,
and his train of attendants, during the time of serv-
ice on the Lord's day.

At length he died, and was called before the high
tribunal of the King of kings. With him ended the
famous dynasty of the Kamehamehas.

Our sixth king, Lunalilo, was the son of a high
chiefess. His father did not belong to the family of
chiefs by blood ; but descent by the maternal line
ennobles in Hawaii.

On the death of Kamehameha V., without nomi-
nating a successor, Lunalilo sent out a proclamation

King Lunalilo. 133

over all the islands offering himself as the rightful
heir to the throne, and calling on all the legalized
voters to meet in their respective places and ballot
for him. This was done promptly ; and on the first
day of January, 1873, he was elected by 12,000 votes.
On the eighth of that month his election was con-
firmed by the Legislature then in session, and on the
ninth he was proclaimed king.

This popular election introduced a new feature
into our government.

Lunalilo was a bright, cheerful, and favorite prince.
He had the habit of using liquors freely, but the
people loved him for his wit when under the influ-
ence of intoxicants, and for his kindness and good
sense when he was sober. He appointed good men
for his cabinet ministers and for his privy coun-
selors. He was pleased with the upright, and always
took their side in argument.

He soon visited Hilo, where he was received with
acclamation. He appointed a meeting for all, and
men, women, and children came in crowds shouting
with joy, " Ko makou alii keia," " This is our king"
alluding to the fact that the people had elected him,
a privilege never before awarded them. After a good
speech to old and young, he shook hands with all the
hundreds present, stooping down to the little ones
and smiling upon them so kindly that he won all
hearts. We conversed with him freely, and he took

134 Life in Hawaii.

no offense when urged to abstain from all intoxicants.
Had he resisted the evil counsels of boon companions
and his own appetites, he might still have been our
king, to the joy of all. But 'his reign was shorter
than that of any who had gone before him. He died
on the 3d of February, 1874, having occupied the
throne a little less than thirteen months.

David Kalakaua, our seventh and present king, was
born in Honolulu on the 16th of November, 1836, and
elected on the 12th of February, 1874. His parents
were both chiefs of an ancient line. The family
often spent a good deal of time in Hilo, and the
mother died here. His queen, Kapiolani, was brought
up in Hilo from childhood. Kalakaua is intelligent,
having excellent command of the English language,
and having also had the advantages of an unusually
interesting tour around the world. We believe that
he desires to rule well and see his little -kingdom
prosper and progress.

The reigns of our kings since Kamehameha I. have
been short, and the cause is apparent. Little did I
think when we came to these islands that I should
live to see four kings buried and a fifth upon the
throne. How striking the admonition in the 146th
Psalm : " Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son
of man in whom is no help. His breath goeth
forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day
his thoughts perish. "

The Foreign Church in Hzlo. 135

I have said something in regard to evangelical
labors for seamen and for our English-speaking resi-
dents.

It was resolved at length to organize a church and
seek a pastor for this class of our inhabitants ; and on
the 9th of February, 1868, a church was organized
with fourteen foreign members. On the 26th of
July the building was dedicated, and on this occasion
the Lord's supper was administered, and three candi-
dates were admitted to fellowship. The edifice will
seat about one hundred and fifty. It is neat, and
well kept within and without. Standing near the
larger native church, it shines like a gem amidst our
green foliage.

A call was sent to the Rev. Frank Thompson, who,
having arrived with his wife early in 1869, was in-
stalled on the 15th of May of that year. Upon the
resignation of Mr. Thompson, after a pastorate of a
little more than five years, the Rev. A. O. Forbes, son
of the late missionary, Cochran Forbes, was settled
over this church, where he labored faithfully until he
resigned to accept the secretaryship of the Hawaiian
Evangelical Association.

The foreign church, though small and not wealthy,
is active and generous. They pay a salary of $1,200
or $1,400, furnishing a parsonage to the pastor, and
they give generous sums for missionary purposes and
for other Christian and philanthropic objects.

136 Life in Hawaii.

During the year 1863 the Rev. Dr. Anderson, then
corresponding secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., visited
the Hawaiian Islands with a view of conferring with
the missionaries on the subject of putting most of
the churches under the care of native pastors.
He urged the plan earnestly, and a full discussion
followed. Some of the missionaries favored the new
departure at once, others doubted its wisdom, and
others still were willing to see the plan commenced
on a small scale, and to watch its operations. Each
pastor and church determined the time and man-
ner for themselves. And so the experiment began.

At length I began a movement in that direction,
and on the 1 6th of October, 1864, the first church
was set off from the mother church, and a native was
ordained and installed over it. Not long after, on
Oct. 14, 1866, I organized another church in the
district of Hilo, and a third in 1868; and pastors were
ordained over them.

One was organized in Puna in 1868, and two more
in 1869, so that there were now six churches set off
from the old one. All these were provided with good
and neat houses of worship under my direction, and
with church bells. Most of these churches had one,
two, or three chapels, or smaller meeting-houses,
which served as places of meetings on secular days,
and on Sabbaths near evening. For a great many
years the natives were accustomed to hold morning

Native Hawaiian Pastors. 137

prayer-meetings, and they might be seen assembling
at early dawn every day in the week.

The original cost of these churches and chapels,
with that of keeping them in repair and furnishing
them with bells, would amount to about $10,000, and
that of the central church and its chapels would be
about $20,000.

The number of church members dismissed to organ-
ize the six new churches was in all 2,604.

They have had ten pastors. Of these, five are dead,
two have been called to other places, one has resigned
on account of age and infirmities, and two only re-
main at their posts. This would be nearly the
record of our Hawaiian pastors over the whole group.
They waste away rapidly by disease and death, and
they change places often. Some wear out ; some fall
into sin ; and some engage in other callings. A
goodly number run well, being steadfast in the faith,
diligent workers, and patient withal.

We are often asked how our native preachers wear,
and whether we were not hasty in making them co-
ordinate pastors with the missionaries. These ques-
tions may be answered differently by different ob-
servers. Some, perhaps many, of our number think
it would have been better to have waited longer
before giving them the full power of ordained pastors,
that while they should have been trained to work
with the missionaries, as they had been, with the

138 Life in Hawaii.

most happy results, they should not have been so
soon put upon a parity with them.

While subordinate, they are more docile and re-
spectful ; when on a parity, they sometimes show a
disposition to be assuming and discourteous, an
effect occasionally seen elsewhere in men on a sudden
elevation.

The native ministers now outnumber us more than
five to one, and when we meet in our evangelical asso-
ciations they know, of course, their numerical power,
and it requires great wisdom on the part of the foreign
members to secure that influence which is necessary
to good order and to harmonious action. In our
Association for Eastern Hawaii we have never as
yet had any difficulties of a serious kind, and yet we
are liable to them, especially when some self-conceited
stranger comes in as a disturbing element.

A Democratic or a Republican Government can
never be strong, and pure, and permanent unless the
people who create it and hold the power are intelligent
and moral. " And the same law holds true in church
polity. From our point of view we think that we see
clearly how the Episcopal and the Catholic church
governments originated, as a matter of necessity, in
the midst of peoples who were ignorant, unstable, .
and not to be trusted with responsible power. I do
not find in the Bible, or in the wisdom of all commen-
tators and expositors of the sacred Scriptures, any

Our Churches Undenominational. 139

definite and fixed rules of church polity, but rather
the elements of many.

Congregationalism is excellent where all or most of
the members of a church are intelligent and virtuous,
or where men know how to govern themselves and
their children.

The Presbyterian government is strong, and when
exercised wisely and in meekness it is good.

Prelacy might seem necessary in certain states of
society, and the right of choice can hardly be dis-
puted by wise, candid, and liberal minds.

Our Hawaiian churches are not called Episcopal,
Presbyterian, or Congregational, or by any other
name than that of the Great Head, the Shepherd
and Bishop of souls. We call them Christian churches.

Compensations — Social Pleasures — Some of our Guests
and Visitors.

FROM the almost entire absence of civilized so-
ciety, we have now come to enjoy the fellow-
ship of a community of families and individuals equal,
on an average, in intelligence, morality, and refine-
ment, to any with which I am acquainted. In addi-
tion to the three mission families who have been
longest on the g'round, there is around us a little
community of families of missionary descendants of
the first and second generations. The number of
cultivated and scientific visitors from other parts
of the world is also increasing.

When in 1835 we were stationed at Hilo, a good
brother missionary wept and condoled with us be-
cause of our banishment from civilized society, our
communication with friends so slow and uncertain.
But we believed our destination was ordered of the
Lord. The feeling of joy with which we first hailed
the sight of its beautiful harbor, its fields of living

green, its shining hills, has never left us. And while
(140)

Visits of Sailors. 141

we have tilled our garden, saying, Let its moral beauty
outshine its physical, and " its righteousness go forth
as brightness, and its salvation as a lamp that burn-
etii," we have found our life full of compensations.

I do not now regret a sojourn in " that great and
howling wilderness " of Patagonia, or my perils on
the sea and in the rivers; my painful travels on foot
over thousands of miles, or my hungerings and thirst-
ings in cold and heat, nor any suffering that the Lord
has laid upon me in His service. They all seem light
and momentary now, and there is full compensation
in the joy the Master has granted me.

I have spoken of the visits of seamen to this port,
and of the religious efforts in their behalf. Their
coming often added to our social comforts. The very
sight of the stars and stripes at their masthead, the
snowy canvas, or the weather-beaten and tempest-
torn sails, was pleasant. Many of the masters brought
cultivated and pious wives, and from time to time
they, with their little children, would be left with
us for months while the ships were absent on their
cruises in the north, the south-east, and west. Not
a few sailors* boys and girls have been born in Hilo,
and several have been born in our house. We have
formed near and lasting friendships with many of
these visitors. We have nursed sick sailors under
our roof, and sent them home healed, so far as we
could judge by their conduct and profession, in soul

142 Life in Hawaii.

and body. We have buried the remains of seamen
in the soil of Hilo, attended to their secular affairs,
and written to parents and friends by their request ;
we have found out the wandering sons of senators,
clergymen, and men of wealth and distinction, as well
as of the poor and lowly, and received the tearful
thanks of parents, comrades, and friends.

The dust of a wild young English physician lies in
our cemetery. He was the son of a clergyman, and
his mother, sisters, and brothers were all Christians,
while he wandered, like the poor prodigal, into realms
unknown to his mourning friends. He was shy of
the missionaries, but in his wildness the hand of the
Lord arrested him. He fell from a horse and received
a mortal injury. In his misery he sent for me ; he
knew his wound was fatal, and he felt that he must
be forever lost. When I pointed him to the Lamb of
God and spoke to him of the blood which cleanseth
from all sin, he exclaimed, " Can it be possible that is
for me — that I can be saved ?" He came at last to
trust, his despair fled, and in three days he died in
peace on the very day he had set for his departure
from earth. We buried him with tears, and thanks-
giving to Him who "giveth us the victory." There
was printed on the slab that marks the repose of his
mortal part this stanza from one of his own poets :

" By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed,
By foreign hands thy clay-cold limbs composed,

Judge William L. Lee. 143

By foreign hands thy humble grave's adorned ;
By strangers honored and by strangers mourned/'

A tender and grateful answer was received to the
letter written to his parents.

We had, at different times, not less than five pro-
fessed physicians who offered their services to our
public. But one after another four of them died, and
the fifth left the country, and shortly after, he also
died. All these were intemperate, and some of them
were bitter haters of the missionaries and opposers
of the work of the Lord. The career of four of them
was very short, and their deaths were sudden and ad-
monitory.

Our great volcano has attracted many hundreds of
visitors, and they have come from nearly all the
nations under heaven. Many have been distinguished
scientists. Statesmen and foreign officials of almost
every rank have looked in upon us, and our inter-
course has been most precious with the many Chris-
tians that we have been permitted to entertain.

Chief-Justice William L. Lee, chancellor of the
kingdom, spent many days with us. Coming from the
United States in 1846, he was a leader in our govern-
ment until his death in 1857. His chief labors were the
drafting of the Constitution of 1852, the civil and penal
codes, and his arduous and gratuitous services as Pres-
ident of the Land Commission, which abolished feu-
dalism, and gave each native his land in fee simple. A

144 Life in Hawaii.

man of high ability, integrity, and of charming personal
character, his name can never be forgotten in Hawaii.

Prof. C. S. Lyman, of Yale College, was our guest
for three months, and his scientific tastes and acquire-
ments, and his mechanical skill, made his visit es-
pecially interesting. We used to say that with a
jack-knife, a file, and a gimlet he could make any-
thing. An excellent sun-dial, a complicated rain-
gauge, with a clock attachment, a self-opening and
closing valve, and a scale that marked the day, the
hour, and the moment of rain-fall, with the exact
amount of water, and a bookcase of koa wood for my
study,- were some of the proofs of his skill. He made,
also, one of the best surveys of Kilauea crater that I
have ever seen.

He once accompanied me along the shores and over
the highlands of my missionary field, sharing with me
my simple fare and my rocky beds, and cheering me
with his delightfully genial companionship.

How vividly I remember one incident in our tour!
We were returning from Puna over the highlands
where, for fifteen miles, there were no inhabitants.
Our trail lay through forest and jungle and open
fields of wild grasses and rushes. We heard that
about midway between the shore and an inland vil-
lage there was a small grass hut built by bird-catch-
ers, but now abandoned. We struck for that, and
reached it a little before sundown. We entered with

A Trip with Professor Lyman. 145

our two native burden-bearers, and congratulated our-
selves on having found a shelter for the coming cold
and rainy night. In less time than I can write the
story we began to jump and stamp and dance.
What is the matter? we exclaimed, and looking down
upon our legs we saw them sprinkled thick with fleas,
those terrible back-biters that never talk. We order-
ed a hasty march and went on at double-quick
through busli and brake, scattering our actively blood-
thirsty foes by the way. After a mile's walk we
skirted a forest, and here, sheltered from the wind, we
halted and began our works of defence from the com-
ing rain and cold. Without axe or saw we broke off
limbs of trees and made a little booth, which we cov-
ered with grass and leaves, and then prepared wood
for a fire.

Alas ! we had no matches, no lamp, no candle.
What next ? — One of our natives took his pole, which
they call the attaino-yoke, on which they carry burdens,
and by hard and rapid friction with another dry stick
he soon raised smoke, and fire followed. At nine
P.M. it was a roaring fire at which we dried ourselves,
and when we had eaten our scanty supper, and offer-
ed up thanks to the Lord, we lay down to sleep — or
not to sleep — as the case might be.

Long after this Mr. Wm. T. Brigham, of Boston,
spent a season with us, and went the same rounds
with me. On this occasion we visited a pulu station
7

146 Life in Hawaii

upon the highlands, and in a deep forest. Here were
about thirty, or forty men and women employed in
gathering this soft, silky fern-down for upholstery, and
here, ten miles from Kilauea, we saw the natives cook
their food over hot steam cracks without fuel. Near
the volcano this is frequently done.

The widowed Lady Franklin was our guest for a
while. The patient, hopeful, and earnest woman
was then (1861) in search of her husband, Sir John
Franklin. It was sad to see her hopes blasted.

An honored officer of the British army in India
once spent a week with us. He came an entire
stranger, but by his great intelligence, his urbanity,
his noble figure, and his gentlemanly address, he made
an indelible impression upon us. And this impression
was deepened by such a frank and affecting tale of
his life as filled us with interest in his behalf. His
mind was in such a state that his appetite and his
sleep often departed from him. He occupied an
upper room in our house with a door opening upon
a veranda, which afforded a good and quiet prom-
enade. Often during many hours of the night we
could hear his foot-falls as he paced to and fro
through the still watches. He was always with us at
our morning and evening hours of devotion, and he
seemed to enter earnestly into these exercises.

At length he could no longer restrain his feelings,
and begged that we would hear his tale of sorrow.

A Heavy-Burdened Guest. 147

He began, saying: " I was once a happy man, but now
I am miserable. I had a very dear friend, a fellow
officer in the army, and I loved him as my own soul.
On a certain occasion, and through a misunderstand-
ing, an altercation took place between us, and he
hastily gave me a challenge. I, under a false sense of
honor, as hastily accepted. We met, and my bullet
pierced his heart. I saw him stagger, and ran to
hold him up. His warm blood spurted over me.
He said, faintly, * You have killed me.' He gasped,
and was dead. I laid him down ; the sight of his pale,
ghastly face filled me with horror. That image
haunts me everywhere. It comes to me in my
dreams. It stares at me in my waking hours ; it
haunts me like a ghost ; it follows me like my
shadow; and I am miserable. I have attended
church, have read my Bible through and through,
to find something on which to hang a hope. I have
read sermons and systems of theology ; I have wept
and prayed, but no comfort comes to me. In spite
of all my prayers, and tears, and struggles for pardon
and peace, the ghost of my murdered friend haunts
me. It wakes me at midnight, it confronts me by
day, and what can I do? Is there any hope for such
a blood-stained sinner as I am ? "

His plaintive story struck us dumb for a while ;
our hearts were melted with sympathy; but presently
we blessed the gracious Lord for this opportunity.

148 Life in Hawaii.

We saw his difficulty, that he was filled with " the
sorrow of the world which worketh death." He had
labored in agony to save himself, and the cloud
of despair grew thicker arid darker over him. I at
once pointed him to " The Lamb of God who taketh
away the sins of the world." "Yes," said he, " but
can Jesus forgive my sin? It seems too great to be
forgiven." I assured him that "the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses from all sin" and that Isaiah had told
us long ago, that if we would but listen to our God,
" though our sins be as scarlet they should be white
as snow, and though red as crimson they should be
as wool." And that Jesus "will in no wise cast out "
one penitent sinner that comes to Him. It was his
duty, and it was an infinite privilege to believe and
accept pardon and peace as a free gift of God, while
it was an insult to God to doubt His call and His
promises ; this " treading underfoot the blood of
the Son of God " would be a greater and a more
fatal sin than to have shed the blood of his friend.
He accepted the offer of salvation, and rejoiced in
hope. He found, to his joy, that there is "a blood
which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel,"
or the blood of his murdered companion.

After he left us he remained some time in Hono-
lulu, and we there met him again on our annual visit,
just before he embarked to return to India.

We have heard from him several times since, and

Admirals DuPont and Pearson. 149

learned that he had been promoted in the army and
in civil life, and that he was happy. He was, I
think, six feet four inches tall, weighing some 225
pounds, well formed, a man of great physical power,
of superior strength of intellect, and excellent execu-
tive ability. With a heart and conscience of tender
sensibilities, he was "bold as a lion" in all he felt to
be right, but he quailed before what he believed to
be wrong.

We have not only enjoyed the privilege of enter-
taining men of rank, but also men of low estate, for
poor and friendless strangers came to our distant
shores as well as the rich and the noble, and we feel
it to be no less, and often a greater, privilege to care
for the neglected and needy than for the honorable.
The lessons of Christ are plain, practical, and personal.
"/ was hungry and ye gave me meat," " When thou
makest a feasts call the poor," " Remember the
stranger" and "Be careful to remember the poor."
And we have sometimes entertained angels unawares.

I should like to speak of many more of those
whose acquaintance we have made, and who have
been our guests in our Hilo home; as Admiral S. F.
DuPont, the gallant officer, the accomplished gen-
tleman and the sincere Christian, whose dearly-cher-
ished friendship we enjoyed until the day of his
death ; or of Admiral Pearson, who with his wife and
daughter spent a season in our family. On our visit

150 Life in Hawaii.

to the United .States in 1870 both Mrs. DuPont and
Mrs. Pearson spared no pains to see us in their homes.

But time would fail me to speak of the visits of
the venerable Dr. Anderson and his wife, of Boston ;
the gifted Dr. Boyd and his estimable wife, of Ge-
neva, with whom we held sweet converse ; the
" Friends " Wheeler, of London ; Joel and Hannah
Bean, of Iowa; President Moore, of Earlham College,
through whom we have been brought into Christian
fellowship with many of his denomination ; of Dr.
Thompson, of Detroit, who in his advanced years
came to look upon this distant missionary field, and
was almost enamored with the beauties of Hilo ; of
the Rev. Mr. Hallock, who with glowing heart went
back to tell his people of what he had seen in these
isles of the sea ; and of many others whose visits of
Christian love and fellowship were cheering and
refreshing in this far-off land.

If these brief seasons of communion on earth are
so sweet, what will the reunion of kindred spirits be
in the eternal world where love forever reigns ?

Of one other guest I would speak somewhat more
fully, for from our humble abode she went up to the
palace of the King in heaven. In the midst of ear-
nest missionary work with her husband, the Rev. J. D.
Paris, located on the southern shores of Hawaii, she
was stricken down with consumption. They came to
our house and were our guests until she died ; and

Mrs. J.D. Paris. 151

here on the borders of the unseen world, while she
still lingered, she spoke words of such triumphant
faith that I would transcribe them anew.

Wh?n told that no one thought it probable that
she would recover, she was silent for several minutes ;
then calling her husband to her bedside, she said :
" Do not be anxious about me ; I commit all to the
Lord, to live or to die. I have had a strong desire
to be spared for your sake and that of our little ones.
I have hoped that I might live to see the image of
Christ impressed upon their hearts. They will need
a mother's care, a mother's watchfulness ; but let
His will, not mine, be done. He has always been
good to me, infinitely better than I deserve. Let us
leave all with Him ; His time is best."

To the question how she felt in regard to her
spiritual state, she replied : " I have no distressing
fears. I know that I love the Saviour and that He
loves me. I sometimes shrink from the thought of
death and the cold grave ; but when I look beyond
all is calm, all is peace."

Hearing one speak of " the dark valley and shadow
of death," she asked, " What does that mean ? I do
not understand it. I look upon death very differently.
Jesus will come and take the soul to Himself. It
will be released from its house of clay and wafted to
immortal glory. The valley does not look dark to
mc now, perhaps it may ; but I think it will not be

152

Life in Hawaii.

dark to me anywhere if my Saviour is with me, and
He will never, no, never leave me."

One night when her end was near, she urged her
husband to seek rest. He objected, as her hands
were cold and her pulse feeble and irregular, and he
feared she would swoon away and awake no more.

"You ought not to say so," she replied. " It would
be a blessed end to swoon away into the arms of my
Saviour and awake in His image. Do not be afraid.
If Jesus should take me away from your side without
a struggle or a groan, would you grieve ? "

On another occasion, when Mr. Paris read

" On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,"

and spoke of Bunyan's river of death, remarking that
she now stood on the verge of this river, she replied :
" I do not like that view of death. Our blessed
Saviour has told us that He will come again for His
own and receive them to Himself. I love to believe
His words and to commit myself to Him. If He
takes me to Himself death is swallowed up in victory.
What are all the dark valleys and rivers if Jesus is
with us?"

I said, " Do you see your way clear?"
" Yes," she answered promptly, " it is all clear ;
there is no cloud, no darkness ; all is light up to the
heavenly hills."

Morning was breaking upon the mountains of

A Peaceful End. 153

Hawaii, while a morning of unending brightness was
dawning on her soul. Her mortal powers gently gave
way ; " the silver cord was loosed," and she quietly
left us in our tears for the bosom of her Saviour.

XII.

Seedling Missions — Hawaii sends out Missionaries —
Need of a Missionary Packet — The Three i l Morn-
ing Stars "

IN the prosecution of our work on the Hawaiian
Islands, an active missionary spirit was developed
in great strength. This was of course one of the
legitimate fruits of a faithfully preached and truly
accepted Gospel.

We sent a mission to the Marquesas Islands, which
for years we conducted under great disadvantages.
We had no packet to communicate with that group,
but were obliged to charter small and uncomfortable
vessels, at high prices, to carry out our missionaries
with their supplies and to send out our annual dele-
gates to look after and encourage them.

Then as our funds and men increased we thought
that the Marquesan field was too small for our ener-
gies, and the idea sprang up in the minds of some
of our brethren that we might " lengthenour cords "
by exploring among the numerous islands to the west,
and establishing a mission in Micronesia in conjunc-
tion with the American Board.
(154)

The "Morning Star" No. i. 155

This thought ripened into action, and American
and Hawaiian missionaries were sent out. Still we
had no vessel at command and were obliged to look
to others to supply this want. Hence arose the
thought of securing the needed packet.

I proposed that we should request the Board to
call on the children of the United States to contribute
in shares of ten cents for such a vessel, and that her
name be The Day Star. This was agreed to, and
the mission appointed me to write to the Board at
Boston on the subject.

The proposal met with favor, with only one amend-
ment, viz., that the name should be The Morning
Star. The call on the children to take shares in this
enterprise was popular, and it spread over many
States. The needed sum was raised, and the Morning
Star (No. 1) was built, manned, and provided. In due
time she sailed from Boston with the prayers and
benedictions of a multitude and with the old song,

" Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye waters, roll/'

On the 24th of April, 1857, having braved the bil-
lows of the Atlantic, swept round the stormy Cape
Horn, and sped half way over the Pacific, the beauti-
ful schooner reached Honolulu. Thence she sailed
for the Marquesas Islands with supplies ; and on her
return, early in July, she appeared off the entrance of

156 Life in Hawaii.

Hilo harbor, dressed in all her white sails with her
flag fluttering in the breeze and with her star shining
in the center.

Hilo was jubilant. We had heard of her sailing,
had counted on her time, and had been watching for
her arrival. Arrangements had been made to give
her a hearty welcome. Parents and children came
hasting in from all quarters, winding over the hills
and along their footpaths and filling our streets.

Captain Moore came on shore with his officers and
passengers, and was met by the well-dressed and dec-
orated children in double file, bearing a flag prepared
for the occasion. With songs of welcome they were
waited upon to the great church, which was soon
filled to its entire capacity. Prayers were offered,
hymns and an original ode to the Star were sung, ad-
dresses made, and all went off with a hearty good-
will. We were happy on this occasion to welcome
the Rev. Hiram Bingham, Jr., with his young wife,
bound to Micronesia, and little knowing what suffer-
ings awaited them in those dark and distant islands.

Afterward the natives were invited on board the
vessel, and as our children had given freely for the
vessel, they inspected her with many expressions of
admiration and delight, feeling their importance as
joint owners of the beautiful packet. The people,
old and young, brought liberal gifts of fruits and veg-
etables, fishes and fowls.

The "Morning Star" No. 2. 157

The Star remained two days and then sailed for
Honolulu with the good wishes of all Hilo.

This packet, after years of service in the Pacific,
was sold for a merchant vessel, fitted out and left the
islands for China, but has never been heard from since
her departure.

The Morning Star No. 2 was built by the funds
received from the sale of the old one, supplemented by
further gifts from the children. She was a larger, bet-
ter built, and more convenient boat than the first and
did good service. But her end came all too soon.
After a successful cruise among the islands of Micro-
nesia, and on leaving the little islet of Kusaie, or
Strong's Island, when all seemed propitious, she
drifted upon the rocks and was broken in pieces. All
on board escaped to the land to wait an opportunity
to return to their homes.

This event seemed sad, and some of us have not
ceased to think that we need, and ought to have,
steam as an auxiliary motor to help our packet in
calms, in adverse currents, and when in danger on
entering and leaving dangerous harbors. All the
important secular interests of the world employ
steam and other discoveries and improvements in all
the departments of science, art, and industry. We
harness the lightning to our cars ; our thoughts flash
under deep oceans, over towering mountains, and
through mid-air. The business of this world dial-

158 Life in Hawaii.

lenges all the forces of nature to its aid, and why
should the Gospel move so slowly ? Why should the
angel that flies through the midst of heaven with the
Gospel message move with clipped wings ? The
artillery of war moves on swift wheels to shake the
nations and pour out human blood, while the old sails
flap, and the lazy boom squeaks mournfully in the
doldrums, as our vessels are driven hither and thither
by the squalls and storms of capes that obstruct their
way to the lost tribes of men. If the Lord will, I
hope to hear the whistle of a missionary steamer in
our waters before I go hence.

Two Stars have set in the West, and here comes
the Morning Star No. 3, fairer and brighter than
those which have disappeared, well built, larger and
better than the other two.

The insurance money on No. 2, with another lift
from the children, had soon brought her keel into the
waters, raised her well-shaped spars, set up her stand-
ing, and arrayed her running rigging, clothed her with
a white cloud of canvas, and run up her beautiful flag
to wave in the breezes of heaven. Well furnished,
with a well-appointed crew, with an excellent captain
and good officers, she is now (1880) on her tenth
voyage to Micronesia, taking out supplies to the
laborers in that widening field, and a reinforcement,
long waited for, for the Gilbert Islands.

XIII.

The Marquesas Islands — Early English and French
Missions — The Hawaiians Send a Mission to Them
— My Visit in i860 — The Marques an Tabu System.

THE Marquesas Archipelago consists of thirteen
islands, only six of which are inhabited, viz :
Nuuhiva, Uahuna, Uapou, Hivaoa, Tahuata, and
Fatuiva. Seven are small islets or rocky piles of little
importance.

The group is divided into two chains, trending
N. W. and S. E., between the latitudes 70 50' and io°
30/ south, and longitude 1380 30' and 1400 50' west.

The windward group was discovered ki 1595 by
Mendana de Neyra, the commander of a Spanish
squadron bound from Peru to colonize the Solomon
Islands during the reign of Philip II. of Spain, and
was named Las Marquesas de Mendoza in honor of
the Viceroy of Peru.

The leeward islands, though but a short distance
off, were not discovered until 1791, nearly 200 years
later, when they were seen by Capt. Ingraham, of
Boston, and named Washington Islands. But the

(159)

160 Life in Hawaii.

term Marquesas now embraces both groups, as it
properly should, the inhabitants being one in lan-
guage, manners, and race.

The origin of the group, like that of the Hawaiian,
is distinctly igneous. All the islands give evidence
of having been raised up from the depths of the
ocean by volcanic fires. The surface is mountainous
and exceedingly broken. The coasts rise from the
water like walls. Deep gorges, lofty promontories,
bold bluffs, serrated ridges, perpendicular Buttresses,
sea-walls plunging thousands of feet into the sea,
turrets, towers, cones pointed and truncated, rocky
minarets, needles, spires, with confused masses of
rocks, scoria, tufa, and other volcanic products,
testify to the terrific rage of Plutonic agencies in
unknown ages past. Many of the ridges are so
precipitous and lofty that they can not be crossed
by man. And many of the rocky ribs come down
laterally from the lofty spine, or dividing ridge, on an
angle of 300, and form submarine and subaerial but-
tresses, leaving no passage except in canoes. The
lowest of these inhabited islands reaches a height of
2,430 feet above the level of the sea, and the highest,
of 4,130 Most of them have fertile valleys half a mile
to three miles deep, and from one-tenth of a mile to
a mile wide, with rills of pure water falling from the
high inland cliffs, and rippling along rocky and shaded
beds to the ocean.

The Marquesans. 161

The valleys are also rilled with luxuriant shrubs,
vines, and magnificent trees.

The inhabitants are of the Polynesian race, and
their language was originally the same as that of the
Hawaiian and Society Islands, Cook's Islands, New
Zealand, and other islands of the Polynesian archi-
pelagoes.

They are more bold, independent, fierce, and blood-
thirsty than most of their neighbors, and they have
always been cannibals of the most savage kind.
The men are large, well-formed, and powerful, and
many of the women do not lack in physical beauty.
They dress very little, and mostly in bark tapa, like
the ancient Hawaiians. They live in small thatched
houses, and feed on cocoanuts, breadfruits, and fish.

They were once numerous, but the introduction of
foreigners and foreign diseases have wasted them so
that they have been reduced more than two-thirds.

In 1797 the English ship Duff took Messrs. Crook
and Harris to the Marquesas as missionaries. The
natives were fierce-looking and savage, and Mr. Harris
preferred to return in the same vessel to Tahiti. Mr.
Crook remained alone at the island of Tahuata about
six months. He then went to Nuuhiva, where he
lived six months more, and then returned in a whale-
ship to England, hoping to come back to the Mar-
quesas with a reinforcement of missionaries. Event-
ually, however, he joined the mission at Tahiti.

1 62 Life in Hawaii.

In 1 82 1 two natives of the Society Islands were
sent as missionaries to the Marquesas, but fearing the
savages, they soon returned; In 1825 Mr. Crook
revisited the Islands, leaving two Society Island
Christians at Tahuata. These also soon returned,
and were succeeded by others who remained but a
short time.

In 1 83 1 Mr. Darling, an English missionary of
Tahiti, visited the group and left native teachers at
Fatuiva and Tahuata. These, like their predecessors,
had no success and returned.

At length the Hawaiian mission took up the sub-
ject of evangelizing the cannibals of Marquesas. The
first step was to send a delegation thither to examine
the situation ; and, in 1833, Messrs. Armstrong, Alex-
ander, and Parker, with their wives, went to Taiohae,
Nuuhiva, to labor for the good of the savages. But
their situation was so uncomfortable, and the circum-
stances of the ladies and children so distressing, not
to say dangerous, that they all returned after eight
months to the Hawaiian Islands, which' were even
then a paradise compared with the Marquesas.

In 1834 Mr. Stallworthy and Mr. and Mrs. Rodger-
son, of the London Missionary Society, arrived from
England, and in company with Mr. Darling, of Tahiti,
commenced labors at Tahuata. After one year Mr.
Darling left, and in 1837 Mr. and Mrs. Rodgerson
sailed for Tahiti, Mr. Stallworthy remaining alone

Early Missions to the Marquesans. 163

until August, 1839, when he was joined by the Rev.
R„ Thompson. But these two did not continue long,
and the London Missionary Society, after repeated
and earnest efforts for the occupation of the field,
abandoned it without success.

The history of these efforts to tame the Marquesan
cannibals is remarkable and the failure sad. For
more than forty years company after company of de-
voted men and heroic women toiled and prayed for
that stubborn race, and gave up in despair. And the
history of these tribes is unique among the Polynesian
family.

And now come the efforts of the Roman Catholics
among the Marquesans. In August, 1838, Du Petit
Thouars, commander of the French frigate Venus,
brought two priests and one layman to Tahuata, and
in 1839 these were followed by six priests and one
layman.

In May, 1842, Admiral Thouars took forcible pos-
session of the Islands, and the priests have occupied
them at several stations ever since.

In 1853 the Hawaiian Board of Missions sent out
its first band of missionaries to those shores, and
these have been reinforced from time to time, and
have been visited and encouraged by delegates of
our Board.

Our first station was at Om'oa, on the island
of Fatuiva, the south-east island of the group.

164 Life in Hawaii.

Afterward stations were taken on all the inhabited
islands except Nuuhiva, where our American mission-
aries labored in 1833. As a delegate, I have been per-
mitted to visit this Mission twice, and have seen
every island and every station of the group.

My first visit was in i860. We sailed from Hilo,
March 17, in the Morning Star No. 1, under com-
mand of Captain J. Brown, and anchored in Vaitahu,
or Resolution Bay, Tahuata, April 11. This bay
forms a quiet and safe harbor on the leeward side of
the island. It is half a mile wide and half a mile
deep, walled on the right and left by lofty and rugged
precipices some 2,000 feet high, with a beach of lava,
sand, and shingle. From the shore a narrow and
rough valley, one-eighth of a mile wide and one mile
long, extends inland until it ends in a bold precipice
some 2,500 feet high, rising on an angle of 450 to 500.
The island, like the rest of the group, is a great heap
of scoria, tufa, cinders, and basaltic lavas, bristling
with jagged points, traversed with sharp and angular
ridges, and rent with deep and awful chasms. The
valley is fertile, and well filled with the breadfruit,
cocoa-palm, pandanus, hibiscus, and other trees and
shrubbery. The orange, lemon, lime, vi, and guava
have been introduced.

The number of inhabitants upon Tahuata at the time
of my visit was only 154, though it had once been
several hundreds. We had one Hawaiian missionary

My First Visit to the Marquesans. 165

with his wife in this valley, and they were laboring
patiently in a small school, but with little encourage-
ment. The people seemed hardened against Chris-
tianity, and no wonder, for in 1842 the French took
possession of this bay, after having crushed the
natives. They fortified the little rookery at great
expense, and only to abandon it after seeing their
mistake. They built a strong fortress upon a high
bluff commanding the settlement and harbor, and
mounted cannon on a high precipice on the right
ridge of the valley to enfilade the village. They also
built a house for a governor, a chapel, an armory, a
bakery, etc. ; but when I was there, all was a scene
of dilapidation and ruin. The garrison and most of
the guns were removed ; a priest only remained.

But small and unimportant as this island is, the
French did not conquer it without loss of blood and
treasure, On one attack, Captain Edouard Michel
Halley, commander of a French corvette, was killed,
with six of his marines, by the natives. All landed
in martial order, formed a line, as reported to me, on
the beach, and with drums beating, flags waving,
fifes piping, and with bugle blast the line moved for-
ward up the valley in full confidence of subduing the
dark savages at a single blow. But as they advanced
among the trees and jungle, on the right and on
the left, from this bush and that, from behind tree
and rock, and from overlooking cliffs came the shots

1 66 Life in Hawaii.

of an ambushed enemy. The deadly missives whizzed
and struck. Six of the marines were killed, and
also the captain. When the men saw their com-
mander fall, they were struck with consternation and
retreated to the ship.

The remains of the fallen sailors were carried up
near the head of the valley and buried. With the
Hawaiian missionary and Captain Brown, I visited
the cemetery. It is an area of about one-quarter of
an acre, surrounded by a plastered wall, and full of
bushes. Beside the tomb of the captain lie the
remains of the marines, covered with slabs of basalt.
We found the slabs tilted and sinking into the earth,
and the surrounding walls falling. Dilapidation is
setting its seal upon all these graves, and after sad
reflections on the fate of the gallant heroes, we " left
them alone in their glory."

Why should the professed disciples of the " Prince
of Peace " endeavor to propagate the Christian re-
ligion by the use of fire and sword ? And why do
men who call themselves " priests of the Most High
God " call in the aid of weapons, and go and come
and live under the cover of cannon? Did the Captain
of our salvation teach His disciples such doctrines ?

From Vaitahu we went to Hivaoa or La Dominica.
The missionary at this station was the Rev. Samuel
Kauwealoha, a native of Hilo, and a member of the
Hilo church. He came out in his boat, boarding us five

The Hivaoa Mission. -167

or six miles from the shore, and gave us a most hearty-
welcome. We landed on a beautiful beach of white
sand, and walked half a mile through a charming
grove of tropical trees, along the margin of a crystal
brook. This runs through the whole length of the
valley, which is one mile in length and one-fourth of
a mile wide, enclosed on three sides with lofty and
steep hills, and opening to the sea in front. It is a
paradise of natural loveliness, charmed forever with
the music of its rippling stream.

We found Mr. Kauwealoha living in a substantial
stone house, 25 by 44 feet, with walls ten feet high,
a cellar, floor, glazed windows, and thatched roof,
and all built by himself. He dived for the coral,
burnt it into lime, hewed the blocks of basalt, made
the mortar, and did all the work of the carpenter
and mason. Here, amidst the shade of lofty trees,
he was living with his devoted wife, teaching the
children to read and write, and preaching " Christ
our Life" to 149 savages; and here, under the shad-
ow of a towering tree, I spent one of the happiest
Sabbaths of my life. The almost naked and tattooed
savages came out and sat quietly in semicircles under
the tree, with the bright-eyed little children in front,
all seeming to love their teacher, and to welcome the
stranger, to whom they listened, Kauwealoha inter-
preting. When service was over, they came forward
with outstretched hands and glistening eyes and gave

1 68 Life in Hawaii.

me their Kaoha, the same as the Hawaiian Aloha,
"love and greeting."

One service was held at sunrise in the house ; the
next service under the tree, at 10 A.M., when sixty
were present. We had also a Sunday-school, where
the pupils recited the Lord's prayer and the ten
commandments, with some other lessons, in tones
and inflections of voice which were soft and melo-
dious.

At 1 1 A.M. Captain Brown and his mate, Captain
Golett, a good Christian man, who had commanded
many a ship, came on shore with the crew of the
Morning Star, and we had service in English. At
4 P.M. another service was held with the natives, mak-
ing four for the day, beside much time spent in con-
versation with those of the islanders who lingered
around and seemed tame and docile.

The wilder savages would come up now and then
to the outer side of our circle, half concealed among
the trees, gaze at us with their keen black eyes, talk
and laugh among themselves, strike fire and smoke
their pipes, and then retreat a little into the bushes
and lie down to sleep. Some were armed with mus-
kets and spears, or bayonets fastened to poles. The
men were naked, except the maro. The women wore
a light drapery made from the paper-mulberry.

Wars had raged in this valley, but after the ar-
rival of the missionary, there had been quiet for

Savage Fighting. 1 69

a longer time than usual. ' It had been nearly a
universal fact that the inhabitants of no two val-
leys had lived in harmony. . Every valley had its
chief who was constantly watching the people of the
valleys on either side of him. These were separated
only by narrow and high ridges, upon the jagged crest
of which enemies would lie in ambush in the night.
As soon as the morning dawned they watched the
huts below and fired upon the first one who came out
of doors.

Even in this little Eden-like valley there were
two hostile clans, one at the head of it and the other
near the shore. These watched each other, as the
tiger of the jungle watches his prey, and when oppor-
tunity offered they killed and ate one another. It was
hoped that the presence of our missionary would pre-
vent all further hostilities. Our hopes were vain. Be-
fore my second visit to the Marquesas, a fiendish
quarrel arose among the cannibals; Kauwealoha's
fine house was plundered and torn down, and he with
his heroic wife fled the valley never to return. Thus
the savages extinguished the rays of light which had
begun to dawn upon them.

On Monday, April 16th, we took our energetic
friend, Kauwealoha, on board the Star, as my com-
panion, guide, and interpreter, and sailed for the
island of Fatuiva. At Omoa, its largest and most
populous valley, was the resident missionary, J. W.
8

170 Life in Hawaii

Kaivi. It was at this station that our pioneer mis-
sionaries were first landed, and here they labored to-
gether for a long time before they separated to oc-
cupy other islands. The fruits of these concen-
trated labors are seen in the greater tameness of the
people, especially of the children.

On landing, I found myself surrounded with merry
and bright-eyed boys and girls, all shouting in glee,
" Kaoha, kaoha, ka mikiona " — Love, love, to the
missionary. Many struggled to get hold of my
hands to lead me to the house, and to please as
many as possible, I offered a finger to one and an-
other. Thus I was led by ten laughing children,
while others caught hold of my arms, and elbows,
and of the skirts of my coat, shouting kaoha, until
we entered the house of Kaivi. Surely, thought I,
here is material for a Christian civilization, and with
wise and faithful training, these boys and girls may be-
come kind and good men and women, and never kill
and eat one another. I have not seen brighter or
sweeter looking children than these on the Hawaiian
Islands.

Not the children only, but many of the adults
rallied around and filled the house, while scores re-
mained outside for want of room within. My heart
was touched by the scene, it was so different from that
on Vaitahu, when powder and iron hail had driven
the people of the valley to madness.

Onto a Valley. 171

The valley of Omoa is three miles deep and, in
some places, one mile wide, with five lateral branches
half a mile or more deep, and like Hanatetuua, it
is walled with towering precipices on both sides and
in the rear, filled with magnificent trees, breadfruit,
cocoanut, palm, candlenut, hibiscus, pandanus, banana,
South Sea Island chestnut, orange, and others. The
soil is of great richness. A fine stream of water,
which runs the whole length of the valley, furnishes
an excellent place for watering ships.

The day after our arrival, Kaivi, Kauwealoha,
Timothy, one of my Hilo church members who ac-
companied me, and myself, took a stroll of four hours
up the valley, and we were more and more delighted
with its beauty and fertility. But we were every-
where pained with the marks of savage idolatry and
cannibalism. The number and nature of the tabus
were shocking. We saw tabu houses, tabu trees, tabu
hogs, tabu tombs, tabu places for offering human
sacrifices, and tabu theaters or places for lascivious
dances, where with midnight drums and infernal howl-
ings the most obscene orgies were performed. These
theaters are oblong spaces of 100 or 200 feet in length,
and fifty feet in breadth, cleared, leveled, and some-
times paved with slabs of basalt, and enclosed with
a wall four to eight feet high and as many wide. On
this broad parapet, or wall, the men are crowded to
witness the lascivious dances in the space below, while

172 Life in Hawaii.

the masses of women are kept outside of the en-
closure.

Kauwealoha told me that he had sometimes stolen
visits to these places of lust and blood and human
sacrifices, and found them strewed with human bones,
the remains of men who had been slaughtered, roasted,
and eaten in part, and in part offered to the gods.
These and scores of other tabus have their histories
of cruelty and horror which I can not here find time
and space to explain. But what was uttered by a
prophet of old is still true : " The dark places of the
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."

At an examination of the school of Omoa which
we attended, forty boys and girls were present, and
were examined in reading, writing, geography, arith-
metic, and Scripture recitations. Some of the pupils
read and wrote well, and many gave evidence of
bright and active minds. I spoke to parents and
children on the salvation through Christ and on the
value of education. In the evening the little church
of six members, together with the missionary Kaivi
and his wife, and three from the Morning Star, par-
took of the Lord's supper. Here were some of the
first-fruits of the Gospel among the Marquesans.
There sat the tall and dignified Natua, now baptized
Abraham, with his quiet wife Rebecca. Abraham
was a chief and a man of influence, and we hoped he
might be the leader of many faithful disciples. The

The Cannibals of Omoa. i j$

other members were Eve, a very aged woman, Joseph,
Solomon and his wife Elizabeth.

All these had eaten human flesh, and drank the
blood of their enemies. They were now sitting at
the feet of Jesus, and in their right minds, eating and
drinking the emblems of that body which was broken,
and that blood which was shed for man. It was a
precious season, and one which may be remembered
with joy during eternal ages.

But notwithstanding the success which has attend-
ed the Gospel and the school at Omoa, the large
heathen party are still bloodthirsty cannibals, and
always at war with the people in Hanavave, a valley
five miles distant. The watchful belligerents kill and
cook one another, whenever they can do it secretly..
Only a short time before our visit a robber came
within ten yards of the missionary's house to kill a
woman who was alone in her hut. Kaivi and his
wife heard the rustle of the dry fallen leaves and
went out softly under cover of shrubs and descried the
assassin, and began to throw stones, when he ran,
and the woman was taken into Kaivi's house for pro-
tection. On another dark night a blind woman was
sleeping alone, her husband having gone on board of a
vessel, when a cannibal with a long knife entered the
house to dispatch her; but before the bloody d<
done, a large dog seized the monster, and in the struggle
the neighbors were aroused, and the invader fled up

174 Life in Hawaii.

a steep precipice and escaped to his own place on the
other side of the ridge.

A spy also came to Omoa professing great love for
the people and hatred for those of his own valley.
So insinuating was he, that the Omoans were de-
ceived, and adopted him as a friend. He became a
favorite with parents and children, and after some
days he invited two boys to go with him upon the
ridge dividing them from Hanavave, where they
would find ripe berries. The boys went cheerfully,
and when they had ascended high and were out of sight
of the people below, he drew a large knife, seized one
of the lads, and severed his head from his body.
The other boy fled for his life down the hill and gave
the alarm, but the assassin went on and down to his
valley with the bloody trophy in his hand.

We visited the hostile Hanavave in two of the
ship's boats, as the distance is only five miles, and
the sea smooth. The natives of Omoa were afraid to
go with us, lest they should be killed, but our Hawaiian
missionaries are safe and free to travel where they
please, so Kaivi went with us.

The sail along the lofty sea-wall was delightful,
and the white. foaming streamlets rushing down deep
and precipitous gorges, or leaping from a height of
1,500 feet, presented a scene of exquisite beauty.

Our missionaries in this valley are the Rev. Lot
Kuaihelani and his wife. We examined a school of

Hanavave Valley. 175

twelve boys and girls under the care of Mrs. K., who
taught them to read, write, and sing. Then after a
season of prayer and exhortation with the people who
came together, we took a stroll through the valley.
It was a scene of charming loveliness, but most of the
people looked wild and savage.

Bare-legged soldiers were strutting about with old
muskets, rusty swords, and bayonets fastened on
poles, and all seemed to feel as important as imperial
guards. Near the center of the valley we found a
military captain with a squad of soldiers engaged on
a zigzag fortification of stone six feet high, four feet
thick, and nearly half a mile long, pierced with loop-
holes for muskets. I asked the stern man in com-
mand, why they fortified with so much labor and
zeal. He replied, " To protect my people. " " But
suppose you make peace with your enemies and live
quietly ?" "I can't ; they come in the night, and lie
in their canoes behind the rocks, and when we rise in
the morning they fire at us, and their bullets whiz
and strike our trees and houses, and kill our men
and women." "Yes, and you try to kill them.,,
" That's right; we good, they bad. You go talk with
our enemies in Omoa." " I have been there and told
them to love their enemies and stop fighting, and
they say yes if you will stop." He replied, " They
are bloody liars ; they will come to kill us, and I must
defend my people/1 And then lifting up his foot, he

176 Life in Hawaii.

showed me a scar where a bullet had gone through
his leg. Another came and turned his naked body to
me, asking me to look at his shoulder-blade which
had been pierced by a bullet, and then feel the ball
lodged just within the skin of his breast. I examined
and found it so. I said to him, " Let me cut that
bullet out, it can easily be done." " No, no," said
he, " I will always carry that bullet in my breast. It
makes me strong to fight ! "

Only three weeks before our arrival, there was a
sea-fight between three double canoes of Hanavave
valley and three whale-boats of Omoa. One man of
the canoe party was shot through the body, and the
canoes made a hasty retreat.

We returned to the Star, and the next day sailed
for Puamau, on the northern side of Hivaoa. This
is the station of Rev. James Kekela and his good
wife Naomi.

Puamau is a large valley, with 500 inhabitants.
With Kekela and Kauwealoha, I went all over it to
its head, two miles inland, where it terminates in an
abrupt precipice 2,000 feet high. We passed over
hill and vale; and through forest and open spaces,
and saw the houses and large numbers of people and
many bright-eyed children.

We visited the tabu houses and grounds, and in a
forest of lofty trees we saw their great Heiau, or
place of feasting, dancing, and of offering human

Stone Images at Puarnau. 177

sacrifices. Walled terraces were built up of large
stones, and with great labor, and a paved floor was
prepared for dancers, who with naked, oiled bodies,
adorned with feathers and fantastic ornaments, keep
up the most obscene orgies all night till daybreak.

On these terraces stood several stone images of
enormous size, in the form of men and women.
Some had fallen, some were mutilated, but one stood
perfect in gigantic proportions. This figure was nine
feet high and three feet six inches in diameter, with
head, eyes, mouth, neck, breast, trunk, and upper and
lower limbs. The base of the stone was planted
deep in the ground. It was made in ancient times,
and brought half a mile from the quarry to this place.
Probably it would weigh ten tons. The natives have
been offered one hundred dollars to remove it to a
ship, but the present generation know of no mechanical
power to do it.

It was to this place of infernal rites that Mr.
Whalon, first officer of the American whale -ship
Congress, was brought in 1864, bound hand and foot
for slaughter, and to be devoured by savages.

A Peruvian vessel had stolen men from Hivaoa,
and the people were waiting for an opportunity to
revenge the deed. Mr. Whalon went on shore to
trade for pigs, fowls, etc., and the natives, under the
pretence of hunting pigs, decoyed him into the
woods, where, at a concerted signal, large numbers
8*

178 Life in Hawaii.

of men had been collected. Mr. Whalon was seized,
bound, stripped of his clothing, and taken to this
heiau to be cooked and eaten. This was in the after-
noon. The savages then began to torment him,
bending his thumbs and fingers backward, pulling his
nose and ears, and brandishing their hatchets and
knives close to his head. Kekela, our missionary,
was then absent, but a German, hearing of the affair,
went to the place and begged the savages to release
their victim. This, with ferocious grins, they refused
to do, saying that they relished human flesh, and
they were now to feast on a white man. On the
return of Kekela the following morning, he hastened
to the scene of action, and begged for the life of the
poor man. But the savages were inexorable, unless
for a ransom. They demanded Kekela's boat and all
his oars. It is said that a chief of another clan ob-
jected to the boat being taken from him, as they
were often accommodated with it on going on board
ships.

Finally an exchange was effected among the con-
tending cannibals, and for a gun and various other
articles Mr. Whalon was released. The missionary
took him to his house, and with his intelligent wife
showed him the greatest kindness and attention.

The ship, on account of this tragic event, had gone
out to sea, keeping at a safe distance from land until
the mate was brought on board with great rejoicing.

A Fighting Congregation. 179

Mr. Lincoln was then President of the United
States. Hearing of this deed of Mr. Kekela and his
helpers, he sent out the value of five hundred dollars,
with a letter of congratulation, as a reward for the
prompt and successful action which saved an Amer-
ican citizen from death at the hands of Marquesan
cannibals.

Kekela had only twenty-six pupils in all, and those
were very irregular in their attendance. We spent a
Sabbath at Puamau, and I preached to fifty people
inside of the house, while numbers were standing or
walking outside, some looking in at the windows,
some pacing to and fro, talking, laughing, or lying
down, getting up, lighting pipes and smoking. Old
warriors, fantastically decorated with feathers and
sharks* teeth, and carrying axes, hatchets, spears, old
muskets and rusty swords, and whalers* harpoons,
scouted around us among the trees, with their sharp,
black eyes glaring upon us, and anon disappearing in
the thicket.

In the afternoon I preached to an assembly of one
hundred, who sat quietly before me under a large
tree. Boys meanwhile were climbing trees around
us, swinging upon the branches and chattering like
monkeys, and noisy children were gamboling upon
the ground. Guns were often fired during the day ;
the ring of the tapa-beatef was heard from the hut
fishing canoes were scattered over the bay, and the

180 Life in Hawaii.

multitudes went on with their work or sport as on
other days. There was no Sunday.

Near Kekela's house there is a Catholic station ;
but it was painful to hear that the priests do little
to create respect for the Lord's day in the minds of
the people.

Several individuals appeared interested in religious
instructions, and we believe that faith and love and
patient labor will not be lost upon this benighted
people. But they are a hard race, bold, independent,
and defiant. The longer I remained, the more deeply
I was impressed with the depravity into which they
are sunk. In theft, in licentiousness, in guile, they
are unrivaled ; in revenge they are implacable.
They know no mercy, and their selfishness is un-
mixed.

Their government, so far as they have any, is feu-
dal. Every valley has its chief; some have twenty
or thirty chiefs ; and feuds, robberies, wars, and
bloodshed are the normal condition of the people.
Scarcely a clan can live in peace with its neighbors.
There are no laws to forbid or to punish crime
Every man must be his own protector and avenger.
If his wife is ravished, his house burned, his property
stolen, he has no appeal but to his own arm, his own
weapon, and the red vengeance which boils in his
i heart. If he is a weak man, he keeps a close mouth,
lest a lance or a bullet pierce his heart. His only

Marquesan Fashions. 181

redress is to watch his opportunity and do as he has
been done by.

Among the men, tattooing, which is a long and
painful process, is nearly universal. Their faces and
bodies are so nearly covered with grotesque figures
that they appear almost as black as Africans.

The shaving of their heads is equally grotesque and
fantastic. Some shave only the crown, or one side ;
some leave a small tuft of hair on the apex only;
others shave a zone quite around the center of the
head, and others still shave several such belts.

Were it not for these artificial disfigurations, the
Marquesan physique would be fine. The males are
tall, and well formed, and dwarfishness and obesity
are very uncommon with them. But at Puamau we
saw one monstrous exception, a man with a full-sized
head and body, with legs only one foot four inches
long, and arms but one foot long. The limbs were
of ordinary thickness.

In the valley of Hanahi, Mr. James Bicknell, son of
one of the English missionaries of the Society Islands,
was stationed by his own request. Capt. Brown
hearing that there was no safe harbor here, sent Mr.
Bicknell's supplies in a boat, in which I took passage.
This is a new station, with a population of only ninety
souls, but there is a populous valley on each side of
it. There was no school here, but Mr. Bicknell has
one convert, whom he has baptized. The valley is

1 82 Life in Hawaii.

small, rocky, not well watered, and less inviting than
the others that I visited.

In 1859 a little boy was roasted alive in Hanahi as
a sacrifice to the gods, and I was shown the place
where this horrid deed was done.

The romantic little valley of Hanatita, on the north
side of Hivaoa, is occupied by the Rev. A. Kaukau
and wife, Hawaiian missionaries.

All the missionaries of the three islands met in
this place to hold a convention. There were eight
in all, with most of their wives and several dele-
gates, representing 3,000 Marquesans and reporting
34 church members, 221 pupils, 76 readers, 40 writers,
67 in the outlines of geography, and 104 in arithmetic.
The chief woman of Kauwealoha's station labored
over the lofty ridges on foot with her 24 girls to
attend this convention and examination. As all
canoes and boats are rigidly taboo to the women,
they have no other way to leave their valley except
to climb the rugged steeps, or swim around the cliffs
and headlands, resting now and then by clinging to
some jutting crag or rock along the sea-walls.

These twenty-four bright-eyed girls were neatly
robed in a profusion of thin white tapa, worn loosely
and tied in a large knot on the shoulder. Their hair
was gathered into a crown on the top of the head, and
confined by bands and nets of tapa so thin and deli-
cate as to resemble gauze. Many of them wore deli-

A Hard Climb. 183

cate ear and wrist ornaments made by the natives.
This picture looked like the dawn of civilization, and
was in delightful contrast with most of the scenes I
had witnessed in the group. After the examination .of
Kaukau's school of nine girls, we went on with the
business of the convention, spending five days in de-
liberations and discussions on a great variety of prac-
tical questions, interspersed with frequent prayers.
The meetings grew in interest from day to day, and
the parting scene was touching. Every member of
the convention offered prayer, and there was not a
dry eye in the company.

Learning that a landing could be effected at Hete-
ani, on the south side of the island, where Paul Kapo-
haku, " Paul the Rock," had been stationed, our cap-
tain agreed to return the missionaries to Fatuhiva,
and then sail round the eastern end of Hivaoa, and
lie off and on opposite Heteani, while I with Mr. Bick-
nell, Kapohaku, and his wife, should climb the heights
of the mountain, some 3,500 feet, to visit that lone
station where he would send in his boat to receive
me on board.

Early the next morning, May 1st, taking one of the
ridges which led to the summit of the mountain, we
commenced our toilsome ascent, sometimes on an
angle of io°, and at other places of 300 to 400. Our
path led up steep and sharp ridges, down which oil
either hand we looked into depths of 500 or 1,000 feet

1 84

Life in Hawaii

below. I measured the breadth of the spur or rib on
which we ascended ; it was two feet and four inches
wide in one part of the way ; in another it was only
one foot in width, with awful gorges on either side.
Mr. Darwin, describing a similar climb which he took
in the island of Tahiti, says : " I did not cease to
wonder at these ravines and precipices ; when viewing
the country from one of the knife-edged ridges, the
point of support was so small that the effect was
nearly the same as it must be from a balloon. " The
extraordinary sharpness of these ridges and abruptness
of these mountain slopes may be accounted for by
the absence of violent storms in these groups, and
more especially by the fact that there is never any
frost to disintegrate these sharp ridges and fine-drawn
peaks.

After two hours of exhausting toil and heat we
stood on the dividing ridge of the island. The sum-
mit was a level plateau about half a mile broad, and
covered in most part with a dense jungle of ferns,
hibiscus and other trees and shrubs. Here we were
shown the fighting grounds of the clans from the
north, where they met those of the southern valleys,
and engaged in deadly conflict with spears, clubs,
and stones. Many of the abraded stones brought up
from the shore were still seen scattered over the
battle-field.

The scene from this height was grand in the ex-

Descent to Heteani. 185

treme. At our feet lay the broad Pacific, shining
like molten silver, and from this elevation showing no
ripple. Around us was a vast panorama of cones,
ridges, spurs, and valleys. Hills heaped on hills, and
spires bristling among spires, the whole appeared as
if a sea of molten rocks, while raging, tossing, and
spouting in angry billows, had been suddenly solidified
by an omnipotent power. It was a wild assemblage of
hills and ridges, of gulfs and chasms, of towers and
precipices.

Our descent on the south side of the island occu-
pied three and a half hours, and was even more diffi-
cult than the ascent, on account of the roughness of
the trail. Over many steep declivities we had to
let ourselves down over the rocks with the utmost
caution ; one false step would have plunged us into
certain destruction. But we arrived at the shore
safe and weary at 4 P.M.

We found the people of Heteani cordial, and our
labors there were as at other places. Nowhere did
we meet a more enthusiastic " kaoha! " But in all the
valleys on this side of the island cannibalism is fear-
ful. Paul showed me the place where he had wit-
nessed the cooking and eating of human flesh by the
heathen party, and he had no power to prevent it.
He also told me shuddering stories of the fightings,
the murders, and the fearful cannibalism which pre-
vailed all around him.

1 86 Life in Hawaii,

On the morning of the 3d of May, the good Morn-
ing Star came into the offing, and the boat landed
and took me on board.

Sailing down the smooth channel, three miles wide,
which separates Hivaoa from Tahuata, we looked into
all the valleys as we opened them, until we rounded
the bluffs of Tahuata. On the 4th we were off the
mouth of the spacious harbor Taiohai, the principal
harbor of Nuuhiva. This bay is about two miles
deep, half a mile wide at the entrance, between two
grand headlands, and expanding to a mile in breadth
as we came to the center. Its shore is a beautiful
crescent of sand, interrupted here and there with
shingle and boulders.

The French, on seizing this island, fortified the
harbor at great expense, and for many years kept up
a strong garrison on the land with ships in the har-
bor. They built a large arsenal, a house for a gover-
nor, a cathedral for a bishop. We looked into the
fort, and upon the shore battery cut into the rock,
called on the bishop and the governor, saw all the
public buildings, and rambled over the town. We
also found the house where our missionary brethren,
Armstrong, Alexander, and Parker, with their fami-
lies, sojourned for eight months in 1833. But we
found no war-vessels and ho garrison except half a
dozen gensd'armes. The shore battery was dis-
mantled, the fort and other public works in a state

Taiohai — The Tabu. 187

of dilapidation, and the folly of making war on
savages as a means of civilizing and Christianizing
them was apparent.

We also visited the grounds where the gallant
Captain Porter of the United States ship Essex
pitched his tents in 181 3, indulging his crew in those
pleasures which were but the prelude to the day of
slaughter which soon fell upon them in Valparaiso.
The steep and lofty precipice was also shown us up
which his marines were made to drag his cannon to
thunder terror and death upon the poor Marquesans
in an adjoining valley.

The tabu system, in the Marquesas Islands as in
other parts of Polynesia, is ancient, complex, and
deeply rooted in the social and religious polity of the
people. A few. notes upon it may interest the stu-
dent of the subject. The following are forms of the
tabu :

Toua, war. — When the men go to war it is tabu for
the women to go out of doors to bathe, to attend
to their toilet, or to eat more than is necessary to
sustain life. The god of this tabu is Fit.

Fae Pue, house of prayer. — This house is built and
dedicated to the god Hiniti by a feast, at which
swine's flesh and other food are offered to the god.
No woman can ever enter this house, and no man ex-
cept those who are invited to the dedication feast.
After the dedication X\\c fac pitc is closed, signals are

1 88 Life in Hawaii

placed upon it, and it is never again entered. I saw
many of these houses.

Teke, circumcision. — This must be done in a new
or sacred house, dedicated to the god Nukukoko.

Wauupoo, shaving the head. — This must be done
in the sacred house, and no one must ever step on a
lock of the hair.

Utatapu, the hula or dance. — The actresses undergo
long previous training, during which time their per-
sons are sacred to the gods.

Taint, tattooing. — During this long and painful
process the subject is shut up in a house with the
operator, and may not be seen by his friends until he
is healed. This often requires months.

Boring the Ears. — The subject and the operator
are closely confined in- a sacred house, where offer-
ings of food, fish, hogs, etc., are made to the gods.

Tabu Food. — Poi pounded by a man is strictly ta-
bu to women ; not so vice versa. Bananas, cocoanuts,
squid, skipjack, and many other articles, must not be
eaten by men and women together^ though each may
eat cocoanuts from separate trees. Food planted,
cooked, or pounded by a child may not be eaten by
the mother.

Tabu Places. — Houses standing on posts, and all
raised structures, as platforms and seats around hula
or other public places, and stone structures for the
pounding of poiy are tabu to women.

Marquesan Tabus. i8g

All roads and paths made by men are tabu to
women.

Places of human sacrifice are tabu to all but priests.
We could not get consent to visit one.

Charnel houses are tabu to all but friends.

Miscellaneous tabus. — Mats may never be carried
or handled by men, though they sleep on them.

When a man is in the cabin or hold of a vessel, it
is tabu for a woman to be on deck. So of all other
superposition. On board the Morning Star we had
some droll scenes resulting from this tabu.

The heads of all males are tabu. One day I igno-
rantly laid my hand on the head of a man who sat on
the ground beside me. He instantly started, shook
his head, brushed off my hand, looked wild, and ran
off as if his hair had been lighted with a lucifer
match. I saw him no more. Seeing us laugh with
incredulity at their faces, another man crawled up to
my feet, took my hand and laid it on his head. Most
of the Marquesans observe this tabu, though some
are brave enough to despise it.

Canoes are strictly tabu to women. They never
sail in them, nor dare they touch them. This is a
cruel tabu. If a woman wishes to visit a ship, she
must swim to it. If she have wares to sell, as pigs,
bananas, fowls, etc., she must swim them off to the
vessel. All the women that came on board the
Moriiing Star swam from the shore. If she wishes

19c Life in Hawaii.

to visit friends on another island, she can never do
it ; if to go to another valley, she must climb rugged
mountains and struggle over ridges where her life is
in danger ; or if the way by land be quite impassable,
as is often the case, she must swim around bluffs and
along the rugged shores until she reaches some point
or crag where she can hold on and rest ; pursuing her
way, endangered by sharks and by the surf, until she
makes her port, or perishes in the attempt.

It will be seen from the above, that the subjection
and servitude of women are a principal feature of the
tabu.

Returning on board the Star, we bore away around
the western side of Nuuhiva, looking into all the val-
leys and dells as they opened one after another to our
view. Among others, we passed the famed valley of
Taipi (Typee), the scene of Herman Melville's narra-
tive drawn from the life. Bearing away for Hawaii,
we dropped anchor in Hilo on the 16th of May,
having been absent just two months.

On this visit to the Marquesas I gathered, from
the reports of the missionaries at their general con-
vention, the following statistics :

The whole number of pupils, more or less, under

their instruction, 221

Whole number of readers, 76

" " of writers, 40

" " in rudiments of geography, ... 68

" " in mental arithmetic, 125

Some Results. 191

Whole number of church members, 34

" " of the population to whom they

had access, 2,800

These results, though on a small scale, seemed
encouraging, compared with the long, repeated, and
unfruitful efforts which had been made before, and
there seemed hope that, by patience and persever-
ance, many of these savages might be tamed, and
the diabolical and bloody rites which had been prac-
ticed from time immemorial be utterly abolished.

The laws enacted and enforced by the French
governors in the Marquesas have checked murders
and cannibalism wherever they could be brought to
bear upon the guilty. And some of the governors
have been liberal in their sentiments, and willing that
the savages should be tamed and Christianized by
any who would undertake the self-denying task.

XIV.

Second Visit to the Marquesas — The Paumotu Archi-
pelago— Arrival at Uapou — An Escape by Two
Fathoms — Nuuhiva — Hivaoa — Kekela's Ti ials —
Savage Seducers — A Wild Audience,

ON the 3d of April, 1867, I embarked again, on
board the Morning Star No. 2, to revisit
our Marquesan mission. The Star was commanded
by the Rev. Hiram Bingham, Jr., who had brought
her out from Boston, and who was still her cap-
tain. My associate delegate was Rev. B. W. Par-
ker, and we had for fellow-passengers Mrs. Bingham
and Mr. Parker's daughter, and a daughter of our
missionary Kekela.

We also had on board the body of Joseph Tiietai,
one of the first converts of Omoa, who had died at
Honolulu while on a visit there.

In 1865 Mr. Bicknell left the Marquesas and re-
turned to Oahu, bringing with him seventeen Mar-
quesans, male and female, in order to train them on
the Hawaiian Islands, and then return them to teach

their people. Of these seventeen, nine died within
(192)

Second Voyage to the Marquesas. 193

two years, and the eight who survived were anxious
to return to their old homes. We therefore took
them on board. They were all baptized before they
left Oahu, Mr. Bicknell recommending them as con-
verts to Christianity. On our eighth day from Hilo,
Meto, the wife of one of the returning Marquesans,
died after a sickness of several weeks, professing her
faith in Jesus. At four P.M. the corpse, having been
prepared for burial, the Morning Star, as she was
rushing along at the rate of nine knots an hour, was
hove to, and lay quietly on the bosom of the deep, as
if conscious of the power, and listening to the voice
of Him who " rules the raging of the sea." All hands
were assembled in the cabin, and appropriate services
were held, when the remains of the poor woman were
committed to the deep, to be seen no more until
" the sea shall give up her dead."

It was a solemn scene, and the first of the kind
I had ever witnessed. All the attendant circum-
stances of committing a fellow-being to a lone grave
in the deep and dark waters of a vast ocean com-
bined to impress us with the worth of man. The
winds, the waves, the inanimate ship, and all sur-
rounding objects, seemed to pause, and, with rational
beings, to bow in silent reverence before Him whose
high behest remands our bodies to the grave and calls
our spirits before His bar.

Sleep, Meto, in thy cold and silent tomb, and let
9

194 Life in Hawaii.

the waves of mid-ocean roll over thee ! They shall
not disturb thy quiet slumbers until the voice of the
archangel calls thee from thy long repose. Thou wast
once blind, and a savage, but " the day-spring from on
high " dawned upon thee ere thou wast called away,
and we have hope for thee that thou wilt appear a
shining angel among the joyous throng who have
been redeemed from among all nations and kindreds
and peoples and tongues.

On the 2 1st of April we made the Paumotu Archi-
pelago, a group of about one hundred atolls, or coral
reefs, enclosing lagoons. This group lies between
the Marquesas and the Society Islands. Their name,
Paumotu, signifies " all islands." Those that we
sighted were Taroa and Taputa, in lat. 140 22' south,
and Ion. 1440 58/ west. We sailed within two miles
of the shore, and saw the beautiful islets resting like
swans upon the smooth water, while the rippling
wavelets lapped the white beach, and the palm and
emerald shrubbery adorned the coral ring.

Different islands of this archipelago were discovered
by different navigators and at various times: by Qui-
nos, in 1606; Maire and Schouter, in 1616; Roggewein,
in 1722 ; Byron, in 1765 ; Wallis and Carteret, in 1767 ;
Cook, in 1769, 1773, and 1774; Bougainville, in 1763;
Boenecheo, in 1772 and 1774; Edwards, in 1791 ;
Bligh, in 1792; Wilson, in 1797; Turnbull, in 1803.
Later and more careful observations have been made

Arrival at Uapou. 195

on this beautiful group by Kotzebue, in 18 16; Bel-
lingshausen, in 1819; Duperry, in 1823; Beechey, in
1826; Fitzroy, in 1835 ; and Wilkes, in 1841. Wilkes
estimated the population at 10,000. The people were
represented as in a semi-savage state. The islands
are all of coral formation, and were built up by that
silent and wonder-working architect, the so-called
coral insect.

Our view of these islands, garlanded with green,
and shining under a tropical sky, was enchanting,
but the moral picture was dark. Why are these
thousands of immortal beings left to perish in igno-
rance, poverty, and paganism ?

The Star went about and stood off from the shore,
and in a short time these beautiful gems of the Pa-
cific, with their white beaches, their silvery lagoons,
and their emerald chaplets sunk below the horizon
and disappeared, and we bade adieu to the charming
sight with a sigh.

Our first anchorage at the Marquesas Islands was
on the 28th of April, in the bay of Hakahekau, island
of Uapou. The Rev. Samuel Kauwealoha, whom we
left in i860 in his beautiful valley and nice stone
house at Hivaoa, and who, as before reported, was
driven out by savage war, had come with his wife
and a few Marquesan friends to this island, which had
not been occupied before by our missionaries.

Before we had anchored he came on board the

196 Life in Hawaii.

Star, and in an ecstasy of delight, welcomed us to
his simple home. He piloted our vessel into the har-
bor, where she was anchored. We sat down to din-
ner after prayers and thanksgiving, supposing that all
was well. On rising and going on deck, Capt. Bing-
ham perceived that the Star had dragged her anchor.
The current was strong, and the wind was blowing
in squalls from one side of the bay to the other.
Every strong gust caused the anchor to drag, and we
were going slowly but surely toward a jagged and rock-
bound shore. All hands were called, a kedge was
carried out from the bows and planted in the bay, to
check the drag ; but anchor, kedge, and schooner were
all moving at every gust toward the shore, on which
the vessel must, if not arrested, be smashed like a
cockle-shell.

A line was coiled into the boat, with one end fast-
ened to the capstan, and with this the men in the
boat struggled for an hour or more against the wind
and current, before they could reach the opposite
shore. At last they gained it when the stern of the
vessel was only about two fathoms from the frowning
rocks, on which the surf dashed high and fearfully.
They made the line fast to the rocks on shore,
and men at the capstan began to turn, slowly and
carefully at first, fearing that the line would part,
which would have resulted in sure and swift de-
struction to our beautiful Morning Star. But she

A Narrow Escape. 197

began to move slowly to the windward, and our
hearts beat with hope and joy at every foot gained.
At length she was moored by a hawser to the rocks
on the windward shore of the harbor and our agony
was over. It was near night, and the natives on
shore had waited in vain to welcome us, and to at-
tend divine service, it being Sunday ; several, how-
ever, came off in their light canoes to help us. The
tact and great strength of Kauwealoha, and the help
of his boat and crew, were of great service to us ;
indeed without this help our escape might have been
impossible.

At evening we went on shore and held service in
the missionary's house. On the next day we explored
and admired the beautiful valley of Hakahekau. It
is three miles long and one-fourth of a mile wide,
with a limpid brook babbling through its whole
length. The whole valley is crowded with magnifi-
cent trees, evergreen vines, and shrubbery.

The mountains, hills, ridges, spurs, domes, and
lofty cones of this island are very grand. Within a
vast amphitheatre of rugged hills which send down
their spurs to the shore, buttressed by lofty precipices,
are eight remarkable columns, two hundred to three
hundred feet high, and fifty to one hundred feet in
diameter, rising in solitary grandeur, and standing
against the sky. They give the island the appearance
of a castellated fortress, and are landmarks which may

198 Life in Hawaii

be seen far at sea, marking the bay. The fantastic
mountain forms in the Marquesas Islands are amazing.

The population in 1853 was supposed to be 1,000
but ten years later the small-pox carried off most of
the people, so that only 300 remain, and this luxuriant
valley is nearly depopulated. Not a house remains in
the upper part, and only five or six are clustered along
the shore. Thousands of ripe cocoa-nuts and bread-
fruits fall to the ground and rot, for want of hands to
gather and mouths to eat them. Solitude and silence
reign in the old heiaus, and on the grounds where
midnight fires once burned, where human sacrifices
were offered, where the lascivious dance and the wild
orgies of heathen souls made the groves resound,
where the shouts of the warrior were heard, where
the hulahirfa drum beat during the livelong night,
and where dark savage forms move like ghosts
amidst the spectral gloom. Those baleful fires are
extinguished, and the voice of revelry is hushed in
death. But, alas ! darkness still broods over the few
who remain on this island. We will, however, hope
and pray for brighter days.

Leaving Uapou, we crossed the channel twenty-
two miles and anchored in Taiohai, Nuuhiva. We
had heard that the French government in Tahiti was
displeased because Mr. Bicknell had taken a number
of Marquesans to Oahu, without first asking leave. Our
mission at this time was to explain to the governor

Taipi {Typee) Valley. 199

that the Marquesans had been taken to Honolulu
only to be instructed, and the explanation satisfied
his excellency.

On the 30th of April we sailed from Uapou to
Nuuhiva, twenty-two miles due north. At Taiohai,
or Port Anna Maria, the principal harbor of the island,
we took a French pilot, Mr. Bruno, who brought us
to anchor at 5 P.M. Taiohai is a noble bay and safe
harbor, some two miles deep and one mile wide, but
narrower at the entrance. The views in this bay are
enchanting. The peaks of the island rise to the
height of 3,860 feet. Almost every pinnacle is car-
peted with grass and mosses, or festooned with vines ;
even on the perpendicular walls of the precipices a
tapestry of shrubs and verdure hangs. This is the
harbor where Capt. Porter, of the Essex, reveled in
18 1 3. From this bay, in 1842, the gifted Herman
Melville, with his friend Toby, absconded to the hills,
and made his devious and toilsome way to the Taipi
valley, from which, in spite of its paradise-like beauty
and its bewitching enchantments, he was but too glad
to escape. I saw the valley he threaded, the cane-brake
through which he struggled, the ridge he bestrode,
the jungle where he concealed himself, and the tower-
ing summit over which he passed. Melville lost his
reckoning of distances as well as his track. The en-
chanted valley of Taipi, Melville's " Typee," is only
four hours' climb by the trail from Taiohai ; and from

200 Life in Hawaii.

ancient times there has been a well-known trail from
the head of one valley to the other. This of course
the young fugitive did not find. The distance is not
over five miles, and the Marquesans walk it, or rather
climb it, in three or four hours. The valley of Hapa,
(Mr. Melville's Happar) lies between Taipi and
Taiohae, and is only two or three hours' walk from
the latter. These three valleys are all on the south
side of the island, and adjoin each other. During all
his four months of romantic captivity, the gifted
author of " Typee " and "Omoo" was only four or
five miles distant from the harbor whence he had fled.
We called on the bishop, who received us polite-
ly, and entered into free conversation with us, and
with two English gentlemen, residents, we visited the
French nunnery. The Lady Superior received us
with great urbanity, and introduced us to the two
Sisters. The Superior was a large woman, of fair
complexion and dignified bearing. All of the ladies
were ideals of scrupulous neatness in their attire.
Their institution was inclosed with a high wall of ba-
salt, in which two buildings of thatch, some sixty feet
each, were erected, with school-rooms, dormitories,
kitchen, and chapel. The grounds were ample and
well kept, and there was an air of neatness about the
whole establishment. The number of girls was re-
ported to us as sixty, ranging in ages from four to
fifteen years. They are taught to read and write, to

The Island of Uahuna. 201

sew and embroider, and to gather breadfruits, cocoa-
nuts, etc., and to cook their own food. The expenses
of this institution are borne by the French Govern-
ment, and the annual estimate is $120 for each girl.

The island of Uahuna is thirty miles east of
Nuuhiva. Here, on the 3d of May, our mission-
aries, Laioha and his wife, welcomed us to their
thatched cottage, and the people were called to-
gether by the sound of the horn. Donning their
light tapas, they came streaming in from all the jun-
gle trails of the valley, bringing their children for ex-
amination. Boys, girls, and adults gathered around
us with beaming faces, grasping our hands and salut-
ing us with their melodious " Kaoha." Thirty-two
pupils were examined, after which we held religious
services, and celebrated the Lord's supper as was our
habit at the various stations. We then returned to
the Star, taking with us Laioha, and Jose, a Peruvian
whom I had baptized at Puamau in i860, when he
took the name of David.

The history of this David Jose after his baptism
was interesting. Desiring to labor for Christ, he went
of his own accord in 1863 to Hooumi, a valley adjoin-
ing Taipi, on Nuuhiva, where he labored earnestly
and without pay to convert the people to Christ,
working with his own hands to supply his bodily
wants. He collected thirty pupils, who were greatly
attached to him, and for whom he had high hopes.
9*

202

Life in Hawaii.

Soon the small-pox struck the people with the blast
of death. Consternation seized the multitude, and
leaving friends and relatives to their fate, many fled
to the mountains or wherever else they might hope
for shelter. And faithful David had forty cases un-
der his care with no one to help him. Of these,
twenty died, and he buried them all with his own
hands. He labored on until 1866, when the French
sold the valleys of Hooumi, Taipi, and Hapa, adjoin-
ing one another, to a company who ordered David to
leave.

Again we crossed the channel to the valley of Ha-
namenu, on the island of Hivaoa. Here we landed
the six surviving Marquesans, brought from Honolu-
lu, who belonged to this place. On landing, there
was a rush to the shore and a great wailing. Fathers,
mothers, brothers, and sisters wailed fearfully for
their kindred who had died on Oahu. Soon, however,
were heard the thuds of the falling breadfruits, and
the squealing of pigs, and a great feast was prepared
in a short time.

Mr. Bicknell had made Hanamenu one of his sta-
tions, and had labored earnestly with the people.
Kekela also, and Kauwealoha had visited this beauti-
ful valley, and many of the people seemed tamed. A
Marquesan catechist was stationed here, and taking
the old hopeful converts, and those just returned from
Oahu, we were requested to organize a church at this

A Discouraged Missionary. 203

station. This was done, and Kekela was chosen pas-
tor for this church of ten members, seven men and
three women.

On our way from Taiohai to Puamau we had heard
of savage war in this valley, and had been warned
to approach it carefully. Kauwealoha and others ad-
vised us not to land until Kekela came on board to
report, as the only safe landing-place had been in the
hands of savages hostile to the friends of Kekela. So
we kept off and on, outside. At length two boats
came out of the harbor ; one steering westward soon
disappeared, and Kekela came alongside in the other,
informing us that the westward-bound boat was the
last of a large fleet of war canoes returning to their
own valleys. Kekela leaped on board with tears, and
was surprised to find his daughter, who came passen-
ger with us, weeping on his neck.

He told us that the war had just ended, that the
last .fighting had been three days before, that the peo-
ple who for months had been hidden in caves and in
fastnesses, were now crawling out, and that the canni-
bal chief who had been so eager to eat Mr. Whalon
was shot dead on the previous Sunday. So the door
was opened to us, and just in time for our entrance.

Kekela seemed discouraged. The war had demoral-
ized his people. He had no church, his school was
broken up, his congregation dispersed, his pigs and
potatoes were stolen, his mules and donkey killed and

204 Life in Hawaii.

eaten, and one of his out-houses burned ; bullets had
struck his house, and several nocturnal attempts had
been made to burn his large stone dwelling,- and this
had been saved only by vigilant night - watching.
After doing what we could to calm and encourage
the peace party, we took Kekela and wife with four
children and sailed for Atuona, a station on the south
side of Hivaoa, and occupied by Mr. Hopuku and
wife.

We examined a school, organized a church of five
members, found an interesting people and good work-
ing missionary and his wife, and left the valley, im-
pressed with the great romantic beauty of its natural
scenery and its luxuriant growth of tropic trees, and
with a hope in its moral advancement. We sailed the
same evening for Omoa, Fatuiva, where we were to
carry the remains of Joseph Tiietai, one of their chiefs
and an early convert to Christianity. Here again we
had been warned to approach the bay with caution,
because it had been reported that the people were
greatly exasperated at the death of this chief, and of
a- number of others of the valley, in Oahu. The Star
was kept out at a good distance from land to watch the
movements on shore, for it was said that armed boats
and canoes would come out to take her. Soon, how-
ever, Kaivi's boat was alongside, bringing good old
Abraham, a brother of Joseph, and several others.
By them we were assured that it was safe to land, as

Visit to Omoa. 205

they had succeeded in quieting and reassuring the
people, who had been very angry and threatening.

The remains of the chief were taken on shore and
received by his friends with loud wailings. All the
night after the funeral exercises were held, the most
fearful wailings were kept up, especially by his sister.
Men and women tore their hair, and cut themselves
with sharp bamboos till they were smeared with blood.

The next day, May 12, being Sunday, we sat up
until midnight to converse with the people who came
in, to examine candidates for the church, and Mr.
Hapuku for ordination. On the morrow the ordina-
tion took place ; seventeen candidates were baptized
and received to the church on profession of faith, and
one by letter. Ten had been received before, making
the whole number gathered into this church twenty-
eight. Of these four had died. The Lord's supper
was then administered to about forty communicants,
representing seven nationalities.

The decrepit Eve Hipahipa of fourscore years was
brought in in the arms of friends. She clasped our
hands in both of hers, and with tears and a fervent
kaoha laid them on the top of her head as if to ask a
benediction.

At the general meeting held in this place, where
the Star remained five days, it was resolved that Mr.
Kekela endeavor at once to establish a boarding-
school for boys, and Mr. Kauwealoha one for girls, at

206 Life in Hawaii.

their respective stations. The Omoa school was
examined. It had gained since our former visit fifteen
pupils and sixteen readers.

On Friday, May 17th, there was a rush and roar of
the savages, and we were startled by loud shouts
coming down the valley. On looking out I saw a
large company of tattooed savages carrying a canoe to
the sea. It was covered with a broad platform of
bamboo, on which was erected a small round house
covered with mats. In the canoe were a live pig, a
dog, and a cock, and breadfruit, cocoanuts, pot, etc.
The canoe was ornamented with trappings, and rigged
with a mast, a sprit, and a sail of kapa. Naked swim-
mers, with much noisy demonstration, launched this
singularly equipped craft, and pushed it out, through
a roaring surf, into the open sea. There the swim-
mers left it, and returned to the shore. The canoe,
left to the tide, drifted slowly out of the bay. But
the wind not being favorable, it struck on the north-
ern headland of the harbor, advancing upon the rocks
and then receding; borne, like a ram, by the rush
and the retreat of the surf. Seeing the danger it was
in, a native ran to the point and shoved off the strug-
gling craft, when, the wind filling its sail, it headed
out seaward, moved off, and disappeared.

I had a long talk with Teiiheitofe, a high chief,
about the ceremonial of this canoe. He said that it
was a last offering to their god, Kauakamikihei, on

Sad and Fruitless Errand. 207

the death of the prophetess or sorceress, and that this
sacrifice propitiated the god, expiated their sins,
and closed the koina, or tabu, which had then lasted
six weeks. During this koina " all servile work and
vain recreations are by law forbidden."

While the Star was at Omoa, I revisited Hana-
vave on a sad and fruitless errand. The wife of one
of our missionaries had been enticed by two young
savages, brothers, and she was living with them
among the trees up the valley. Although warned of
danger, as these seducers were desperate, I was deter-
mined to seek for her, and beg her to go with me to
the Star and to her husband and children. I found
her forlorn and desiring to return ; but she said she
feared her seducers, as they would surely kill her be-
fore they would let her go. While we talked, the
young savages came in, armed with sheath-knives, and
took seats so as to look her full in the face, keeping
their, keen eyes fixed on her. She dared not. speak
again. Through an interpreter I labored with them,
but they were relentless, and their prey was fast. I
left them with a heavy heart, wishing that some
power might release her from their grasp. Poor
woman ! she died in misery not long after.

It is sad to relate that the wife of Kaivi of Tahuata
came to a similar end.

The Star returned to the stations of Hapuku and
Kekela to land these brethren, and at Puamau, it

208 Life in Hawaii.

being Sabbath morning, Mr. Parker and I went on
shore to attend service, while the Star remained out-
side. We were happily surprised to find more than
a hundred collected under some large trees to hear
the Gospel. It was a wild group. Just from the
war, many of the men were still armed with their
formidable weapons. Before service, Kekela's house
was jammed full of men, women, and children, filling
every room with their grotesque figures and the odors
of their pipes. They were like the frogs of Egypt ;
no place was sacred.

We had much talk with groups and individuals.
One old warrior, Meakaiahu, heavily tattooed, held
quite an earnest debate with me. When I spoke to him
on the beauty of peace, and said that we should love
our enemies, he answered, " No, no ; we should hate our
enemies and kill them." When I urged the example
and teachings of Christ, he shook his head, and said,
" What if I love my enemy and he shoot me ?"

I urged and illustrated the reciprocal law of love,
and how it begets love. He seemed to feel the truth,
and began to yield. He said, " I have killed five
men ; I have a bullet in my body, but I will listen to
you and fight no more."

He then requested me to talk with his chief and
persuade him to give up fighting. He took my hand,
pressed it hard, looked up into my face from under a
great leaf which screened his eyes, and said with em-

A Marquesas Disputant. 209

phasis, "Kaoha oe" " love to thee/* Holding on to
my hand, he led me through a crowd of steaming
natives to his chief, a tall, old man named Moahau,
introduced me to him, and watched our conversation
with eager interest. The old chief was friendly, but
witty and skeptical. When urged to abandon his
former habits and become a' Christian, he replied : "I
am too old to change my life ; let the children go
with the missionaries ; it is too late for us old folks."

When told that Jesus loved all ; that He died for
the old and the young; that He would take all who
obeyed Him to heaven, where there is no hunger, no
sickness, no war, no bullets or barbed spears, or
death, he replfed, with a twinkle of the eye : " That
will be a good place for cowards and lazy folks who
are afraid to fight and too lazy to climb breadfruit
and cocoanut trees." This shrewd wit excited a laugh
in the listening crowd. But order was soon restored,
and taking the old man's hand in one of mine, and
the warrior's in the other, I begged them to unite on
the side of the Prince of Peace, and to use their in-
fluence to prevent wars, cannibalism, and idolatry, and
to cheer and help their good teachers, Kekela and
Naomi. The old man yielded and said : " I will stand
by my friend, the warrior, and by Kekela ; and now
let us go out and hear you talk to us under the trees."

The horn sounded and the people flocked together,
and for an hour, while Mr. Parker and myself ad-

210 Life in Hawaii.

dressed them, the attention was unusually marked.
When we prorfbunced the services ended, the old
chieftains shouted out : " No ! no ! We are not weary.
We want to stay and talk with you." To this call
there was a hearty response from all, and we remained
until near sundown, while hands were raised from all
parts of the group, and voices called out, " Come here,
come to me, come and talk to us." The scene was
marvelous, and we felt that the Lord was there.

Kekela, who had been greatly depressed and had
well-nigh given up all hope, was wonderfully en-
couraged. He proposed a meeting in the evening
and the communion of the Lord's supper, saying: "I
have seven candidates for the church of long stand-
ing, but the war and the confusion had so dishearten-
ed me, that I was on the point of giving all up as lost."

The seven were examined, approved, and baptized,
and with those who had been baptized five to seven
years before, making ten in all, we commemorated
the death of our Lord. It was a precious season, " a
night long to be remembered."

The French have made several wholesome laws for
the islands, forbidding wars, murder, cannibalism,
sorcery, etc., on the leeward, or northwest islands, in-
cluding Nuuhiva, Uapou, and Uahuna. These laws
were beginning to take effect.

We had to carry back Laioha and Kauwealoha,
who had been with us all the time among the islands

Decline of the Marquesan Mission. 2 1 1

as guide, interpreter, and companion, to their stations.
When this was done, we offered thanksgivings to
God for our safe and prosperous voyage ; and then,
with all sails set, the prow of our good vessel was
turned to the northwest, and we left the Marquesas,
where we had spent twenty-three days. We anchored
at Hilo on June 6, 1867.

The number added to the Marquesan churches dur-
ing this visit of the Star was forty-eight. The whole
number from the beginning was sixty-two.

In closing the history of my visits to this group, I
can not forbear expressing regrets that the mission
has been so depleted. In September, 1880, we had
only three laborers with their wives in that field.
The broad opening to the west, the call for laborers,
for funds, and for the services of our missionary
packet, have led many of the friends of missions on
our islands to feel that we can not afford to send out
reinforcements to the Marquesas, or to spare the
Morning Star to make an annual or biennial trip
with a delegate to that group, and so out of ten
stations which we once occupied, only three remain
with teachers.

The commencement of our work there was auspi-
cious, and its progress and fruits were encouraging,
more so than of the mission to the Society Islands,
or to China, or to many other parts of the world.

But as it is said in Scripture, "The destruction of

212 Life in Hawaii.

the poor is his poverty," so we must say of our
work. And this is the wail over all the earth, — want
of laborers to gather the harvest, and want of material
means to give strength, courage, and due success to
the weary toilers in the field. Our three missionaries
in the Marquesas are doing what they can, and there
is still encouragement that war, idolatry, and cannibal-
ism would soon cease, could we but continue the Gos-
pel work among that people.

XV.

Visit to the United States — Salt Lake — Chicago —
Washington City — Brooklyn — Old Killingworth —
Changes in the Homestead — Passing Away —Return
to Hilo— Death of Mrs. Coan.

AFTER an absence of more than thirty-five years
from the United States, we were persuaded by
the kind solicitations of friends, and by a repeated in-
vitation from the American Board, to return for a visit.
The health of Mrs. Coan being precarious, and no med-
ical skill at the Islands affording relief, it seemed the
more desirable to go.

We arrived at San Francisco May 5, 1870. Spend-
ing fourteen days in California, we took an Eastern
train, spent a Sabbath at Salt Lake City, saw the
Prophet and several of his apostles, met several
of the Mormon missionaries whom we had seen in
Hilo, attended service in the great tabernacle, heard
much bold assertion without proof, and witnessed a
singular observance of the Lord's supper, the elements
being distributed by laughing boys, while a speaker

was haranguing the audience without making a single

(213)

214 Life in Hawaii.

allusion to the death of Christ, or to the ordinance
which commemorated that event. We also saw the
foundation of the great temple, which a bold de-
claimer said was a literal fulfillment of the prophecy
of Isaiah ii. 2: that " the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the top of the mount-
ains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all na-
tions rhall flow unto it."

The speaker affirmed that this prediction was now
fulfilled before the eyes of the Mormons, and all the
people shouted Amen,

We spent a little time in Iowa, and arrived in,
Chicago June 1st. Here I was called to- labor more
abundantly, and here we met many warm friends,
and two sons of our esteemed associates Mr. and
Mrs. D. B. Lyman ; one of them a physician of
prominence, the other a lawyer. In this marvel-
ous city we spent two weeks, and then came east-
ward. In all, we visited more than twenty States
and Territories, everywhere finding multitudes of
Christian friends ; many of whom we had seen be-
fore, and many more whom we had not seen in the
flesh, but who were fathers and mothers, brothers and
sisters and friends in Christ Jesus.

We found our country broad, fertile, populous, and
wealthy. It had extended from ocean to ocean ; its
villages, towns, and cities had multiplied, and its
population increased beyond a parallel in history. Its

The States Revisited. 215

schools, its colleges, its churches, and its humane and
benevolent institutions had multiplied marvelously.
Its railroads formed a web-work over all the land,
and its telegraphic wires were quivering through the
atmosphere. Its progress in' science, in art, in dis-
covery, in intelligence, in invention, in wealth, and in
Christianity, seemed to make it the pride of all lands.

And yet the scars of war were everywhere. The
empty sleeves, the crutches, the trunks without a leg,
the sightless eyes, the disfigured faces, were marks of
the ghastly wounds of war. And then the dead of
Gettysburg, Arlington Heights, and other silent heca-
tombs, the youth, the strength of the country ; the
millions that sleep in dust to be numbered no more
among the sons, the fathers, the husbands, the citi-
zens of our beloved land !

But our country needed this fiery chastisement,
and it will be better in the end if so be that the
North and South understand and profit by the lesson.

Our social intercourse, not only with personal
friends and old acquaintances, but with a multitude
of new-formed friends, was precious and endearing.
It would be a great gratification to mention names,
were it possible, and to record our tribute of grati-
tude and thanks to God for the many kind and Chris-
tian attentions shown us everywhere— attentions that
left impressions on our hearts which time and space
can not eradicate.

216 Life in Hawaii.

My opportunities to meet Christian conventions
and associations, Sabbath-schools, Monday meetings
of clergymen, meetings of benevolent societies, of
working-women, etc., were numerous and exhilarat-
ing ; and one thing which charmed me, if possible,
more than any other, was the fact that partition-walls
were gradually giving way between different evangel-
ical denominations.

I was glad to be invited by brethren of various
denominations to speak in their assemblies of the
love of God and of His wonderful work among the
heathen tribes of the Pacific. More than once I was
in the pulpit and on the platform with beloved
ministers of the Episcopal Church. Tn Monday
morning meetings of pastors for prayers and con-
sultation, I met Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists,
Congregationalists, and many others, and my tongue
longed to sing with David : " Behold how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity."

My talks in large and smaller assemblies during
the eleven months we were in the States num-
bered two hundred and thirty-nine.

Assuredly the Lord has commanded the blessing
to rest on all such unions of heart among His people.
There need be no harm in the varied organization
of Christian workers. There may be a beauty and an
increased efficiency in it, as there is in the organization

Visit in Washington. 2 1 7

of armies, or other corps of officers or laborers, if
only there be harmony of heart, " the unity of spirit
in the bonds of peace."

, One of our happiest weeks was spent in the city of
Washington. Every day was full of interest. We
looked in upon our institutions, legislative, civil,
literary, benevolent, and religious, and were cheered
to see so much of good sense, philanthropy, and
earnest piety modifying and refining life in the me-
tropolis of the Union.

We visited the Howard University, in company
with its President, and attended one of its commence-
ments in a crowded church in the city. The exer-
cises did honor to the faculty and the speakers, and
the large and cultivated assembly, in which were seen
many if not most of the clergy of the city, with num-
bers of the Senators and Representatives of the
nation, manifested a lively interest in all the cer-
emonies of the occasion. Several of the students
were graduated with honors. The speeches of the
colored students were good, and that of one of
the darkest in his class was not only sensible, but
brilliant.

I need not speak of our visits by invitation to
theological and female seminaries — Andover, Brad-
ford, Vassar, Union, Auburn, and Princeton, and jof
our great enjoyment on these occasions.

The meeting of the American Board for 1870
10

2t8 Life in Hawaii.

was held in Brooklyn, and for the first time we had
the privilege of attending this annual gathering.

Here we met missionaries and men of distinction
from the Orient and the Occident, from every conti-
nent, and from many an island of the globe. Never
shall I forget that great congregation of glowing
faces and earnest listeners. I have seen larger and
more compact assemblies on Hawaii, but they were
less responsive. This was like a sea of shining silver.
It was mind and soul looking out of its windows;
it was intelligence, culture, piety, beaming like sun-
light from human faces.

I have seen Mauna Kea veiled with the mantle of
night, and casting its gigantic shadow of darkness
upon us. Again I have seen it when the first rays
of the rising sun began to gild its summit. Watch-
ing it for a little while, the light poured down its
rocky sides, chasing the night before it, until the
mighty pile stood out clothed in burnished gold, and
shining like a monarch arrayed in robes of glory.

And when I gazed upon that platform in Brook-
lyn, and cast my eyes upon the great assembly which
filled the house, I said in my heart, "When will
Polynesia and Micronesia display such a gathering
of wisdom, piety, and moral power ? A brighter than
a>natural sun begins to illume the darkness of those
lands, chasing away the night of ages ; but when will
the full-orbed Sun of Righteousness ascend to the

The Old Home Revisited. 219

zenith and pour a flood of light and glory over all
our benighted islands ?" And then I. reflected that
even these lights of the Christian churches were yet
to flicker as distant tapers before the coming glories of
Zion, as predicted in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah.

Our visit to Killingworth, my native town, was full
of interest. Tender memories of childhood and youth
often drew tears. * Sixty-nine years had swept along
the flood of time since my eyes first saw the light of
day, and forty-four since I had left the home where I
was born and nourished. The homestead where my
father taught his boys to plow and harrow, to plant
and hoe, to sow and reap, to cradle and bind, to mow
and rake, and pitch and gather into the barn the
winter's feed for cattle, was there. The orchard,
where we children gathered apples and other fruits,
was there ; but many of the choice trees were gone,
and the great sugar-maple and the nut-bearing trees
where we had contested with the squirrel for our
winter stores had disappeared. The cottage, where
eight children had been reared, and where, as years
passed on, we gathered at our annual thanksgivings,
was desolate and silent, and no living voice came
up from lawn and meadow and field which once
echoed with the shout and merry laughter of child-
hood. The cool waters of the well were unruffled,
and the sweep and " the old oaken bucket " were no
more. The "Cranberry Brook" sung and babbled

220 Life in Hawaii.

amidst the alders and witch-hazels, but with no re*
sponse from eager, gleesome anglers and bathers.
Birds built their nests and sang and reared their
broods without disturbance.

The old school-house, with its broad fire-place,
and its benches of slabs ; the round side-down, with
rough wooden legs and lacking supports for the chil-
dren's backs, were replaced by a convenient room,
with stove, and easy seats, and other improvements.
The barn-like meeting-house, with its high galleries
and lofty sounding-board, and the little foot-stoves
which comforted the mothers, while the fathers sat
chilled on bleak, wintry Sundays, had disappeared, and
a new building was in its stead. I went to it ; there
was a new pastor, and the congregation was mostly
new. Here and there a white-crowned head in the
assembly revealed a schoolmate or a friend and com-
panion of my youthful days. Ah, memories how ten-
der, how dear, how deathless ! I went to the ceme-
tery, where friends once near to me had been gathered
one by one, and where each of the departed ones
slept alone unconscious of his proximity to the dust
of his dearest earthly friend. On the marble I read
the sober epitaph of father, mother, sister, neighbor,
and friend. Stones in other grave-yards already
marked the resting-places of all my brothers save
one, and he has since that time departed.

Thankful for one more view of my boyhood's

Fidelia Church Coan. 221

home, with chastened reflections I turned from it for
the last time.

On our return to Hilo we met a cordial welcome
from all, and the church and people were in a pros-
perous state. But a heavy shadow darkened over our
home. The dear one who had been its light and joy
for thirty-six years was growing feebler day by day,
and the signs of her departure could not be mistaken.

Calmly she began to set her house in order, to
be ready to welcome the coming messenger. She
assured us of her unshaken faith in Christ, and pre-
pared farewell suggestions for the dear ones she was
soon to leave.

On Sunday, Sept. 29, 1872, the faithful spirit took
its flight upward. Her sojourn on the earth was
three-score and two years ; her life above is " where
eternal ages roll."

There were tender and solemn funeral services in
our church on Monday, but the day was stormy, and
it was not till the following morning that the dust of
our beloved one was laid to rest in the cemetery on
Prospect Hill, where hers was the first grave. On the
marble that marks the spot, these words are inscribed :

" ' Faithful unto death,'
Crowned with life."

The cemetery is in a beautiful place; the tower-
ing mountains are upon the west and south. East

222 Life in Hawaii

and north stretches the ocean, and a glorious emerald
landscape is on every side. The soft breezes that
rustle the leaves, and the- murmurs of the distant
surf, do not wake the sleeping form that awaits the
behest of Him who is " the Resurrection and the
Life." The soul unfettered, unchained, has drawn
nearer than they to the throne.

The dear one was an extensive and eclectic reader,
a clear and logical thinker. Her mind and heart were
well prepared to take an active part in the literary and
religious discussions and activities of the age, but she
freely chose the life of a missionary to the heathen.
To me she was a peerless helper. Her self-denial
was marvelous. The same self-abnegation which led
her to say to me, in answer to the question, " Shall
I go to Patagonia?" " My dear, you must go ! " con-
trolled her whole life. She never objected to my going
on my most severe or perilous expeditions along
the shores or on the mountains of Hawaii ; or held
me back when duty called me to the Marquesas
Islands. When I expostulated with her against re-
maining alone in the house, as she sometimes did,
she would answer, " I am not afraid."

To her tender love, her faithful care, Her wise
counsels, her efficient help, and her blameless life, I
owe under God the chief part of my happiness, and
of my usefulness if I have had any, as a laborer in
the Master's vineyard.

XVI.

Notes on the Stations — Hawaii — Governor Kuakini —
Maui — Crater of Hale-a-ka-la — Molokai — The
Leper Settlement — Oahu — Kauai — The State of the
Church.

A FEW notes on other parts of the Hawaiian
Islands may not be irrelevant in this narrative.

The great awakening of which I have written so
fully was felt in a greater or less degree over all the
islands of the group, and the ingatherings into all
the churches, from the beginning to the present day,
have been more than 70,000. My visits to the differ-
ent islands and stations, my fraternal communion
with the faithful laborers, and the cordial interest I
have found among many thousands of Hawaiians
in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, have
been " as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that
descended upon the mountains of Zion " to my soul.

On the north of Hawaii I have met my earnest

brother Lyons, full of poetic fire ; have passed several

limes through Hamakua, once a populous district of

his field, and have seen the gathering thousands in

(223)

224 Life in Hawaii.

their places of worship. I have visited at his cool
and elevated station in Waimea, surrounded like Je-
rusalem by mountains, having Mauna Kea on the
east, Mauna Loa on the south-east, Hualalai on the
south, and the mountains of Kohala on the north,
and all these towering heights in full view. In the
midst of this amphitheater of hills stood his great
stone church, where 1,000 or 2,000 natives would
assemble on special occasions to hear the Gospel, to
worship the Lord, and to unite in happy festivals.

During one of my visits at Waimea I was pros-
trated by fever, and for two Sundays was unable to
occupy the pulpit ; the only time, according to my
recollection, that I have been prevented by sickness
from going to the sanctuary of the Lord since I
came to these islands.

On one occasion I went with Mr. Lyons over the
northern hills to Kohala, the most northerly district
of our Islands, once a part of his parish, where we
spent a week in religious services, and where we saw
many penitents asking the way to Zion. And I have
visited this field again, since the arrival of its present
faithful and successful occupant, the Rev. Elias Bond,
and rejoiced in all its fruit-bearing prosperity.

I have descended into the deep and grand valley
of Waipio, filled like a bee-hive with human beings,
garmented in the living green of its vegetation, shining
with its running streams, with its silvery cascade leap-

Glimpses of the Island. 225

ing from a precipice 1,500 feet in height, and thunder-
ing forever in the deep basin below.

I have stood on the very summit of Mauna Kea,
14,000 feet above my Hilo home, and looked down
upon the three neighboring mountains, over the great
valley of Waimea, upon the green fields and shining
bay of Hilo, and right opposite upon the calm waters
of Kawaihae, and over and beyond the thirty miles'
channel upon the sleeping mountain of Maui, and the
quiet heights of Lanai and Kahoolawe.

On the coast at £awaihae I have seen and meas-
ured the last great heiau, or heathen temple, of the
renowned Kamehameha I., where human sacrifices
were offered to the gods that can not save or destroy.
I have also visited other heathen temples in Kona,
Puna, Hilo, on Molokai and in other places. In the
forest under the shadow of Mauna Kea, I have seen
the bullock-pit where the dead body of the dis-
tinguished Scotch naturalist, Douglass, was found un-
der painfully suspicious circumstances, that led many
to believe that he had been murdered for his money.
A mystery hangs over the event which we are unable
to explain.

Leaving Northern Hawaii, let us glance at the
western coast. Here lies the extended and once
populous district of Kona, sheltered from the trade
winds by the great mountains, with a smooth and
glassy sea lapping its shores, with many a quiet
10*

226 Life in Hawaii.

boat-landing in little bays and coves along its coast ;
and with the deep and safe harbor Kaawaloa, near
the center of the coast-line. On the Kaawaloa side of
this bay is the place where Capt. Cook fell under the
blows of the enraged Hawaiians. On the south, or
Kealakeakua side of the bay, we see the little heiau
built for Opukahaia, or Obookaia, and the cocoa-palm
which his young hands planted, before he was taken
to the United States.

A few miles south of this bay we find, perhaps, the
largest and most renowned idol temple in this group,
with a house and yard attached called " Hale a Ke-
awe " — House of Keawe. This house was once filled
with grim idols, and in this heiau the most obscene
and bloody rites were observed. It was also called
Ptaihonua, meaning place of refuge, and resembled,
in some of its features and uses, the old Hebrew
cities of refuge. No place on the Islands was con-
sidered more sacred and awful than this. Life and
death hung on the wills of the kings and priests who
worshiped in this temple. When I first visited the
place, many of the old idols remained, some stand-
ing within, others on the outside, in front of the
house, as guardians and to blast the lawless wight
whose temerity led him to approach the habitation of
the gods. These idols were blackened and blear, and
ready to depart like frightened ghosts, and I under-
stand that they have all disappeared, as was long ago

Father Thurston — Governor Kuakini. 227

predicted by Isaiah, "The idols He shall utterly
abolish. "

At Kailua, with my now sainted companion, I
visited the venerable father and mother Thurston in
the days of their strength, and also the good and
kind-hearted Artemas Bishop, and our hearts burned
with love and veneration for those devoted servants
of the Lord Jesus. Mr. Thurston was a man of great
power, both physical and spiritual. He wielded a
battle-axe, and yet he was meek and modest to a
fault. He was often invited and advised to visit the
United States before his earthly course was finished,
and we have heard that he replied, " No, I had rather
die than to return to the fatherland." His good
wife was a " mother in Israel," full of wisdom and
grace.

In Kailua one would see the gigantic chief Kuakini,
or John Adams. His weight was near four hundred
pounds. He was governor and lord of all Hawaii,
with an iron will, fearing neither man nor monarch,
proud to call out a thousand men to build a cause-
way, or a dam for enclosing fish, to cut sandal-wood
in the mountains, or to build a large church edifice.
A member of the Kailua church, he often visited
Hilo, and he sat ill his arm-chair, under shelter, to
superintend the building of the vast native church
in the days of Mr. Goodrich. He loved power and
flattery, and, like Jehu, " he took no heed to walk in

228 Life in Hawaii,

the law of the Lord with all his heart. " He some-
times refused to obey his king, saying that on Hawaii
his power was supreme. He was somewhat oppres-
sive of the people. For example ; he would occa-
sionally make the tour of the whole island, sending
messengers before to command the natives to build
him large houses at all places where he would spend
a night or a day or two, and also to prepare large
quantities of fish, fowls, pigs, eggs, poi, potatoes, etc.,
against his arrival. When he swept around the
island his attendants would number two or three
score of men, women, and children, all to be fed by
the people where he lodged. In some favorable place
he would sometimes encamp for a month, consuming
almost all the eatables within a radius of two or three
miles. He loved money; and when his pastor ad-
vised his people not to plant tobacco and awa, he
would say to those on his own lands : " Listen to
your teacher; do what I tell you. I tell you to plant
tobacco/'

I had testimony that he would sometimes purchase
a barrel of rum or whisky, put it in a secret place,
and order appointed agents to sell it out for two
dollars a bottle secretly. Some of these acts came to
the knowledge of his pastor, Mr. Thurston, at whose
kind and faithful efforts to reform him the Governor
took offense, and retorted with abusive language.
Finally, he was suspended from the church, and in this

Brothers in the Field. 229

state he remained for a long time, when he fell ill
and died.

I was in Kailua, and visited him on his death-bed,
conversing and praying with him, with his consent.
His mind was dark and gloomy, and he said : " I am
a great sinner, and I do not think the Lord will care
for me or save me." There we leave him, thankful
for all the good he did, and sorrowful that his light
did not shine brighter.

At Kealakeakua we visited our good friends, the
Rev. C. Forbes and his wife, and here we rejoiced in
the good work of the Lord. As in Kailua, the people
were numerous, and the Sabbath congregations large.
All things looked promising at this station, and our
fellowship with the teachers and the people was of
the most happy character. Mr. and Mrs. Van Duzee
were assistants in missionary work. And after all
had left, the Rev. J. D. Paris, whose first station was
in Kau, was located there, and labored in that field
for many years.

Kau was only seventy miles from Hilo, and he was
our nearest neighbor. Here I have visited frequently,
meeting at different times the various mission families
who succeeded one another as vacancies in the field
occurred through removal or death. The Rev. Messrs.
Paris, Hunt, Kinney, Gulick, Shipman, and Poguc,
with their wives, have all been laborers in this district.

In the six districts or counties of Hawaii the native

230 Life in Hawaii.

population has greatly decreased, and of the numer-
ous missionaries of the American Board who have
occupied the several stations, none remain except at
Kohala, Waimea, and Hilo. We who still hold on
are soon to pass away, leaving the churches in the
hands of Hawaiian pastors.

As I have visited the churches and missionaries on
the other islands of the group, and felt a deep interest
in the pastors and the people, I will give a brief
sketch of most of them.

Lahaina, the capital of Maui, was once full of
natives. The large stone church, with galleries, was
full on every Lord's day, morning and afternoon, and
the things of the kingdom of God seemed prominent
in the minds of the people. The beloved Mr. and
Mrs. Richards were highly esteemed, and their doors
and hearts were ever open to their missionary breth-
ren and sisters who landed feeble and faint from the
sluggish Hawaiian craft on their way down from
Hawaii to attend the annual meeting in Honolulu or
on their return voyage. What relief, what comfort,
what cheer we all found in the hospitality of this
half-way station ! It was like an oasis in the desert,
and a fountain of cold water amidst burning sands.
Here our children gamboled under the waving palms
and the spreading hau-trees, eating delicious grapes
and cocoanuts, while the parents conversed on themes
of paramount interest.

Lahaina and Lahainaluna. 231

We have met here not only the patriarch Richards,
but the active seaman's chaplain, Spaulding, the faith-
ful Dr. Alonzo Chapin, and the hospitable brother
and sister Baldwin, he being the last missionary pas-
tor of that church. There were several distinguished
native Christians in this place with whom we held
pleasant intercourse. Well do we remember the
good and noble Governor Hoopili and his wife. They
were the soul of kindness and Christian friendship.
Whenever we approached their neatly-kept dwelling,
their doors were opened at once with a warm welcome,
and with outstretched hands and benignant smiles
they would call out, "Aloha! komo mai" — love to
you ! come in !

But most of those with whom we took sweet coun-
sel in Lahaina, have long since gone the -way of all
the earth ; the population of the town has decreased,
and the place has become a cane-field, with a crush-
ing-mill and boiling-house in the center of the village,
a large amount of sugar being made there. A native
pastor has charge of the church.

Lahainaluna, or Upper Lahaina, is about two
miles back of Lahaina, and elevated several hundred
feet above it. This is the seat of our Hawaiian
College, established, and for many years sustained,
by the American Hoard. It was designed as a train-
ing-school of high grade for preparing young men for
teachers, preachers, and for the occupation of the

232 Life in Hawaii.

more important stations in the nation. This school
was in operation when we arrived at the Islands,
under the care and instruction of the Revs. Lorrin
Andrews, E. W. Clark, and Sheldon Dibble. All these
brethren and their wives are dead. The institution
has been transferred to the Hawaiian Government,
and a large number of teachers has been employed
there since the first corps removed.

In early years we usually paid an annual visit to
this seminary, on our way to or from Honolulu.
These visits were always refreshing, on account of
the height, coolness, and grand scenery of the sta-
tion, the cordial welcome of the teachers, and the
profound interest we felt in the prosperity of the
school.

The views from Lahaihaluna are beautiful and sub-
lime. Inland rise the serrated mountains, and the
deep valleys of West Maui ; in front are the placid
roadstead and shining channel separating Maui from
Lanai ; the latter name signifying veranda or porch,
and so called because it stands like a portico di-
rectly in front of Maui. To the right we look across
a channel some twelve miles wide, separating Maui
from Molokai. This channel is often disturbed by
strong trade winds which lash the waters into white
foam, rendering the passage for boats difficult and
sometimes dangerous.

We have been several times at Hana, a station on

The Hana Station. 233

the eastern shore of East Maui, and looking directly
across the wide Hawaiian channel upon Kohala. It is
a beautiful and. romantic little place, but very difficult
of access. On one side are numerous and deep
gulches, with rapid streams of water, often dangerous
to cross. On the other side there are extended fields
of sun-heated lavas, without water or human habita-
tions.

This station was once occupied by the Revs. D. T.
Conde and Eliphalet Whittlesey. On our way to
Honolulu our vessel has stopped at this place to take
the missionaries there to the General Meeting, giving
us an opportunity to spend a Sunday and to meet
the natives.

Once we found these isolated laborers destitute of
almost all edibles except arrow-root and milk. In
spite of their regrets, we spent a very happy day
notwithstanding this lack of provisions. We ate and
were satisfied, and we rejoiced in the privilege of
Christian fellowship with these self-denying teachers.
It is now a long time since these families returned to
the United States.

The Rev. Sereno Bishop, only son of the missionary
Artemas Bishop, labored there for a while with his
devoted Christian wife, but subsequently assumed the
charge of the institution at Lahainaluna. Hana is
now occupied by a native pastor, and is greatly re-
duced in population.

234 Life in Hawaii.

VVailuku on Maui is an important missionary sta-
tion. This field, like many others, was once teeming
with thousands of natives. Its romantic valleys,
its lofty precipices, its sparkling rills, and its perennial
verdure on the one side, and, on the other, its broad
plains, its sand dunes, its emerald foot-hills, and the
towering mountain, Haleakala, with the blue ocean
on the left, make it a spectacle of beauty, of variety,
and of grandeur not often surpassed.

This station was once occupied by the devoted
Miss Ogden and the Rev. J. S. Green, who conducted
a large and flourishing boarding-school for Hawaiian
girls. This was afterward sorrowfully abandoned for
lack of funds.

We have visited Wailuku when the beloved brother
and sister Clark, and the energetic Armstrong and
his wife, were toiling here with success ; and we have
been the guests of our honored brother and sister
Alexander, still living and laboring for the Master
in this important field. The Greens, the Clarks, Miss
Ogden, and Dr. Armstrong have all gone, and those
who remain will only " a little longer wait." Two
native pastors are settled here over small congrega-
tions, and there is also an English-speaking church
for the foreign residents.

This district is now full of agricultural energy.
Vast fields of sugar-cane wave where weeds grew
before; crushing -mills groan, boiling -trains steam,

East Maui. 235

smoke-stacks puff, centrifugals buzz, and ship -loads
of sugar are produced in and around Wailuku.
Extended and expensive ditches bring water from the
mountains of East Maui, converting vast fields of dry
and hot sand into rich and productive soil ; the tele-
phone, the telegraph, and the railroad are there, and
the material improvements multiply. All would be
matters of rejoicing and congratulation could we but
report equal progress in moral and spiritual power.

On the highlands of East Maui stands the Makawao
Female Seminary, an important institution, conducted
by Miss Helen Carpenter, a lady of great skill and
devotion in this necessary work. A few years ago
I attended the annual examination of this seminary,
and spent a week as a guest of the principal. I was
exceedingly interested in the appearance of the pupils,
and in the remarkable skill and tact of the teacher.
All the instruction is in the English language, and it.
was delightful to see the acquisitions of the scholars
in the various studies they had pursued.

During this visit at Makawao we made up a party
to ascend to the summit crater of Haleakala — " House
of the Sun," the distance from this point being about
thirteen miles, with a bridle-path for horses all the
way. Notwithstanding many previous visits to Maui,
I had never before indulged myself with a trip to this
monster of craters. We had a delightful ride over
hills and swales, and through fields of strawberries

236 Life in Hawaii.

and ohelos. About midway of the distance we rested
for a short time under shade trees near a lovely rill of
cool limpid water, a beautiful spot which has since
been selected by the Alexanders, as an invigorating
retreat from the heat and dust of Wailuku and Haiku,
and which they have named Olinda.

We arrived at the summit about 3 P.M. We were
now 10,217 feet above sea-level, and yet the sun was
hot and the mercury high. In eight hours the ther-
mometer had fallen forty degrees, and the cold was
intense. Our guide and some of the party had col-
lected such scanty fuel as could be found, and we
made ourselves as comfortable as was possible for the
night, around the fire that was kindled, and under
shelter of an overhanging rock. In the morning the
ground was whitened with frost, and water was frozen.

The view of this vast cauldron needs to be repeated
and continued for a long time, in order to get a full
and clear impression of its magnitude. It has been
estimated that the circumference on the outer rim is
thirty miles, and the depth 1,800 feet. The floor
of this amphitheater is studded with sixteen cones,
four to six hundred feet high, composed of scoria
and cinders, appearing from the upper rim like small
sand dunes dropped from a dumping-car.

The eastern rim of the crater is broken down as
low as its floor, furnishing a broad passage for the
molten flood to the sea. This river of fire, some three

Haleakala Crater. 237

miles wide, must have been a terrific spectacle, as it
rushed in raging billows from the mouth of the cra-
ter and hurried down the mountain-side and into the
ocean.

It is supposed that this crater is the largest and
deepest on our planet, and more nearly resembles
some of the yawning craters of the moon. Time was
when the raging fires on this mountain must have
surpassed in grandeur and brilliancy any that have
been anywhere seen by later generations. For ages
these lurid fires have been extinct, and from time im-
memorial silence has reigned over the sleeping hill.
Can geology, can all human science tell us when these
fires were kindled ? how long they raged and roared ?
and when they were extinguished ? Was it before or
after the Prophet Isaiah uttered, in sublime language,
a description of the Tophet near Jerusalem? " For

Tophet is ordained of old He hath made it

deep and large : the pile thereof is fire and much
wood ; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brim-
stone doth kindle it."

But another scene, if less grand, yet more beautiful,
awaited us. As the sun descended lower and lower in
the west, the fleecy clouds came drifting in from the
sea, and, massing around the bases of East and West
Maui, covered all the seas, and bays, and channels in
every direction, leaving only the tops of Hawaii,
Maui, and Lanai visible. The upper surface of these

238 Life in Hawaii.

clouds was fleecy white, and appeared like a vast sea
of eider-down. We stood above the clouds in bright
sunshine, but we saw no water and no land in any
direction, except the summits of the mountains gilded
in the setting sun. We gazed upon the scene below
us with intense interest. As the sun went lower and
lower, his rays began to dance, and play, and sparkle
upon this vast sea of snowy whiteness, in lambent
beauty, and as he dipped into the fleecy bed a
flood of glowing scintillations flashed over the whole
surface, the prismatic tints twinkling, dancing, gleam-
ing, and quivering in inimitable beauty. A scene
unique indeed, and unexcelled by anything of the
kind I had seen from the heights of Chili or of
Hawaii.

Then the night came on, and the clouds rested like
a pall over land and sea, while in the clear heavens
above us the bright constellations sparkled as on a
winter's night in the far-away home-land.

In 1836 I visited the island of Molokai, which at
that time was occupied by the earnest and laborious
missionaries, the Rev. H. R. Hitchcock and his wife.
Congregations and schools were large, and the people
seemed to come readily under the influence and lead-
ing of their teachers. The Revs. Lowell Smith,
Samuel G. Dwight, A. O. Forbes, and Mr. Bethuel
Munn have all labored on this island, but now for
years past no American missionary has resided there.

The Leper Settlement. 239

Molokai is strongly marked with palis, or precipices,
and at the base of one 3,000 feet high, lie the Kalau-
papa plains, stretching seaward, and having no other
communication than by sea with the outside world.
Thither more than a thousand of our poor suffering
people have been carried during the last decade and
a half, to linger through a living death until the fear-
ful leprosy brings them to the grave. Our sanitary
laws are relentless, and in the case of this disease
they doom husbands and wives, parents and children,
brothers and sisters to lifelong separation.

The scenes upon our wharves when a company of
lepers is being embarked for transportation to their
settlement are often agonizing.

The present number in the settlement is about
700, among whom are many of our well-educated
Christians and some of the native pastors. A phy-
sician and medicines, a church edifice and chaplain
are provided by a kindly Government; friends are
allowed to communicate with their banished kindred,
and all that thoughtful kindness can do to ameliorate
the miseries of those forlorn beings is done.

Oahu is better known to the reading world than
any of the other Hawaiian Islands. Thousands of
strangers have visited Honolulu ; it is the capital of
the kingdom, and has a population of about 15,000.
When I first saw it, on the 6th of June, 1835, it was
anything but an inviting place. The streets were

240 Life in Hawaii.

narrow, irregular, and dirty, the houses mostly small ■
and thatched with grass, some being built of adobes,
or sun-dried mud-bricks, and others on posts set in
the ground. Only a few stone or framed houses
were then seen, and these were mostly owned by
foreign residents and native chiefs. Hardly a green
tree or shrub was seen within the limits of the town.
On its western flank, a small creek came down the
valley called Nuuanu, furnishing muddy water for
the taro ponds, and bathing and washing places for a
multitude of natives with their pigs, ducks, and dogs.
At several points removed from the stream, shallow
wells had been dug six to ten feet deep, where hard
and brackish water was found, but this water satisfied
none but Hawaiians.

Along the shore in sandy and marshy places the
cocoa-palm flourished with rushes, hibiscus, and pan-
danus growths ; but over the extended plain, some
three miles in length and about one mile in breadth,
there was little but an arid desert of burning coral
sand and detritus from the rocky hills, the reflection
from which was scorching.

But times, and scenes, and scenery are changed.
Industry, civilization, and science have made this
scorched desert blossom as the rose. The organiza-
tion of a good government, the increase of revenues,
the introduction of capital, with brain power and
muscular energy, have made Honolulu a place of re

Honolulu. 241

markable beauty. Large reservoirs have been con-
structed high up the valleys, pipes have been laid all
over the city, and spouting hydrants cool the air and
refresh the trees, plants, and flowers of a thousand
yards and gardens. Viewed from the sea as one en-
ters the harbor, or from one of the hills that guard it
in the rear, the town is a picture of enchanting loveli-
ness. It is a tropical paradise, glowing in perennial
beauty.

And, to add to the richness of the soil, the value
of products and the charm of the scenery-, artesian
wells are beginning to throw up their pure jets and
to pour out their limpid streams to cheer the plains
around.

Honolulu also has an improved and excellent har-
bor, in which are often seen the waving flags of nearly
all civilized nations, with five or six home steamers,
and an inter-island fleet of which so young and so
small a nation need not be ashamed. Its wharves,
its esplanade, its custom-house, its palace, its fine
Government house and other public buildings, offer
a surprising contrast to what we saw forty years ago.
It has two large Hawaiian churches, a seamen's
bethel where many thousands of the sons of the deep
have heard the sound of the Gospel, first from the
lips of the Rev. Mr. Diell, and now for some forty
years from Dr. Damon. There is also the nourishing
Fort Street church, under the care of the Rev. Wal-
11

242 Life in Hazvaii.

ter Frear, where the Gospel is preached faithfully to
an intelligent audience. Just across the street is the
Catholic cathedral with its bishop, and not far from
this an English Reformed Catholic church with its
bishop and priests.

The city is provided with schools of various grades,
and its literary, social, and benevolent associations are
numerous and active.

The Hawaiian Board of Home and Foreign Mis-
sions has its seat in Honolulu, with a yearly income
of more than $30,000, to be appropriated to the sev-
eral branches of Christian work under its care.

It may be doubted whether any city in Christen-
dom of equal size has a larger proportion of intelli-
gent Christian workers, who give more of their sub-
stance in the cause of beneficence, than the foreign
residents of Honolulu.

The first native church in this city was organized
under the pastoral care of the Rev. Hiram Bingham,
who came to the Islands in 1 820. In 1 836 his congrega-
tion, which sometimes numbered 4,000, were worship-
ing in a thatched house that covered an area of 12,348
square feet ; this afterward gave place to the stone
church, which stands as one of the landmarks of the
city. The plan of the building was made by Mr.
Bingham, and most of the materials for it were col-
lected under his supervision. The massive walls were
raised to a considerable height, when he was called

Churches in the Capital. 243

to return to the fatherland on account of the failing
health of his beloved wife. Both husband and wife
died in the United States, leaving behind them exam-
ples of rare devotion and blessed memories.

The Rev. R. Armstrong became the successor of
Mr. Bingham, until called to be Minister of Education
for the Hawaiian kingdom, when the Rev. E. W.
Clark assumed the pastorate until he left for the
United States. In 1863, the present incumbent, Rev.
H. H. Parker, was ordained and installed the fourth
pastor of this church.

The second Hawaiian church in Honolulu was or-
ganized many years ago under the pastoral charge of
the Rev. Lowell Smith, and since his resignation, it
has been successively under the care of the Rev. A. O.
Forbes, and of two native pastors.

Near the large stone church is the flourishing Ka-
waiahao Female Seminary. Its germ was a small
family school, under the care of the Rev. L. H.
Gulick and wife. Miss Lydia Bingham, principal of
the Ohio Female College near Cincinnati, was called
to take the charge of this school. Under her patient
energy and tact, with the help of her assistants, it pros-
pered greatly, and became a success. When Miss
Bingham came to Hilo, the seminary was com-
mitted to the charge of her sister, whose earnest
labors for seven years in a task that is heavy and ex-
hausting so reduced her strength, that in June, i>

244 Life in Hawaii.

she was obliged to resign her post. It is now oc-
cupied by Miss Helen Norton, a graduate of South
Hadley.

At Punahou, about two miles east of Honolulu,
stands a quiet little institution called Oahu College.
The location is beautiful, healthy, and convenient.
The buildings stand just at the opening of an en-
chanting valley, and near a spring of cool crystal
water ; there are lofty and verdant hills in the back-
ground, and the broad waters of the Pacific in front.
The land was once owned by the Rev. H. Bingham,
and was given by him to this institution.

The foundations of the Punahou school were laid
with the prayers and benedictions of all the fathers
and mothers of the mission, and of its friends and
patrons. For years it was devoted exclusively to the
children of the missionaries ; but as foreign residents
and their children increased, the accommodations
were enlarged and the doors opened to others. The
college has grown and been greatly prospered. It
has had many graduates, who have done honor to
their professors, to themselves, and to the cause of
science and Christianity. It needs and deserves en-
dowments. We doubt not it would receive generous
and efficient aid from American benefactors, could
they come near enough to feel its wants and appre-
ciate its merits.

The missionary out-stations on Oahu were but

Out- Stations on Oaku. 245

three, viz : Ewa, Waialua, and Kaneohe. I used to
visit these places when large congregations assembled
to be instructed by their pastors ; but the population
has decreased, the churches are diminished, and the
remnants of these once prosperous flocks, now under
the care of native pastors, show but little of their
former life.

At Waialua there was established, by the Rev. O.
H. Gulick, a boarding-school for Hawaiian girls. On
his removal as a missionary to Japan, the institution
obtained as an efficient principal the daughter of the
Rev. J. S. Green (Miss Mary Green), under whose care
the school still flourishes.

Mr. Parker and I once went as delegates of our
mission around Oahu, visiting every station, going
much from house to house, teaching, exhorting, and
praying in families, in fields, and by the wayside, and
holding meetings in school-houses, churches, and
private dwellings, and endeavoring to reach all with
the life-giving Word. It was a laborious but interest-
ing tour. In some villages we found many ignorant,
stupid, and misled people. Some were Romanists,
some Mormons, and others without any creed, or
faith, or hope. Like brutes they were living, and
like brutes dying.

We met many confident Romanists, some with
their catechism and rosary, and with full assurance
that they were on the direct road to Paradise, and

246 Life in Hawaii

that all who differed from them were bound to perdi-
tion. I asked some of them if they read the Bible,
and they answered "Yes," showing me their little
catechism, with more prayers to Mary than to God.
I asked one who claimed to be a teacher how many
commandments there were in the Decalogue. He
answered " Ten " ; but on going through with them
in order, I found that he omitted the second, and di-
vided the tenth into two parts to make good the
number.

The island of Kauai is separated from Oahu by a
channel some seventy-five miles wide. It is 8,000
feet high and nearly circular, being thirty miles long
and twenty-eight wide. It is a lovely and fertile
island, and some of its mountain and valley scenery
is exquisitely beautiful. Although of igneous origin,
yet the degradation caused by time, by winds and
water, gives the island the appearance of a more
ancient formation than that of the other islands of
the group. Its cones and hills are rounded by at-
trition, and its pit craters are so nearly filled by
alluvial deposits that they are far less distinctly
marked than those of Maui and Hawaii.

Historic geology tells us that the Islands were
probably formed in a successive order, commencing
with Kauai in the north-west and continuing in a
south-east direction to Hawaii, which is still in the
hands of the Founder, and unfinished.

A Glimpse of Kauai. 247

Kauai was very early occupied as a mission field,
and the Whitneys, Gulicks, Lafons, Doles, Wilcoxes,
Johnsons, and Rices have been faithful laborers there;
but all have left the scenes of time or engaged in
other pursuits ; and the good Dr. and Mrs. J. W.
Smith and Mrs. Rice alone remain of the mission
band.

As this island was somewhat remote and out of the
track of my annual voyagings to Honolulu, and in
former years could be reached only by schooners that
were liable to make slow passages, I never felt that I
had the time to visit it until in 1874. An opportunity
then offering to make the circuit-trip in a steamer, I
enjoyed the privilege of spending one night with the
hospitable family of Dr. Smith, and of touching at a
few points, where I found the beauty and luxuriance
of the island equal to their fame.

Much capital has been invested there in sugar plan-
tations, and the skill and industry of those who have
enlisted in this enterprise have produced crops worth
millions of dollars. The island has a considerable
proportion of arable land, its flora is luxuriant, and
its vegetation covers the island even to the highest
hill-tops.

This rapid glance at the different islands is
mainly to mention a few facts respecting the
transformations in this so recently heathen archi-
pelago. Over all the group the changes, physical

248 Life in Hawaii,

and moral, are wonderful. Everywhere schools and
churches abound ; knowledge and wealth increase ;
commerce is active ; more than a hundred thousand
acres of our soil wave with crops ; the noise of arti-
sans is heard ; our smelting-furnaces glow at mid-
night ; and day and night the steam-whistle echoes
among our hills. Our climate, our scenery, our peace
and security, are privileges that are hardly rivalled in
any land, and all that we need to secure permanent
peace and prosperity, with ever advancing progress,
is thankfulness to the Giver, and a faith devoted to
all that is pure.

The amount given by the churches of the United
States for evangelic work here must have been, from
the beginning, about one million and a half dollars,
and the number of laborers sustained, in whole or in
part, by appropriations of the American Board, has
been one hundred and seventy.

At the present time there are only four foreign
pastors for the twenty native churches of Hawaii ; on
Maui, Molokai, and Lanai there are nineteen native
churches with no foreign pastors ; on Oahu there are
eleven native churches and but one foreign pastor;
on Kauai six native churches and no foreign pastor,
making in all, fifty-six Hawaiian churches with only
five foreign pastors.

Many of the fathers and mothers of the mission
have finished their course and gone home ; their dust

The Close of Mission Work in Hawaii. 249

sleeps in this land of their adoption, or in the land of
their birth. Some were recalled, some entered the
Government service, and some of those who were
still at their posts, earnest and active, were advised to
resign. Then the Board, feeling that its work as a
Board was virtually accomplished here, ceased to con-
sider this a mission field, and, entering upon a new
policy, sent out no more reinforcements, and urged
the installation of native pastors over churches that
had been gathered and fed with tender care by the
faithful shepherds of the flock.

Some of our thoughtful brethren feared that a ret-
rograde movement would come with such a change ;
others reasoned that where the Word and the Spirit
converted the heathen, the same regenerating power
would provide among those converts, suitable men to
act as pastors and teachers. But our native converts
were as children, and up to this day many of them
need milk rather than strong meat. They are weak,
fickle, and easily turned from the way. Intelligent
and patient adherence to a work which calls for
watchfulness and continuous care, and a deep and
conscientious feeling of responsibility, can not be
found or soon developed among a primitive race
like the Polynesians. China, Japan, and India have
their old civilization with its literature, their men
of keen intellect, capable of heading and guiding
enterprises of importance ; men of reasoning and
11*

250 Life in Hawaii.

thinking minds, who when convinced of the truth
and importance of the Christian religion, and per-
suaded to receive it as a rule of life, are soon prepared
to become leaders and teachers of others.

It is not so with the Polynesians. Prematurely to
leave them to teach, guide, and govern themselves
in the concerns of the soul, may be more disastrous
arid more fatal than to leave babes to take care of
themselves while the parents withdraw. The Word
and Spirit of the Lord have, in the missionaries, pro-
vided agents for the conversion of the savages, and in
these missionaries God has provided " nursing fathers
and nursing mothers " for these infant churches. To
my mind the only practical question in regard to our
Pacific Islands churches is, when may they be wisely
and safely left to the care of pastors from among
themselves, or in other words, when does this child
come to his majority?

Nearly all of our native pastors have been slack in
church discipline, indiscriminate in receiving to church
communion, and remiss in looking after wandering
members, so that our church statistics are in so con-
fused a state as to be past remedy. Out of more
than 70,000 who* have been received to the churches,
our last report returns only 7,459, or about one in ten
of those received. Is our case so much like the ten
lepers healed by Christ, of whom only one " returned
to give glory to God " ? Or are the shepherds in

State of the Hawaiian Churches. 251

fault? Do we come under the searching rebuke of
the prophet : " My sheep wandered through all the
mountains, and upon every high hill : yea my flock
was scattered upon all the face of the earth and none
did seek after them"?

But it is right to add that the present low state of
the Hawaiian churches must not all be laid at the
door of the pastors. These are times of trial on ac-
count of material prosperity. There is an opportuni-
ty to gain money and luxuries, and the world seems
to be in most men's hearts, so that we are all passing
through a struggle and a strait.

We hope for a brighter day. There has been a re-
newed effort to train up a class of young men for the
ministry, who will, we trust, be better qualified for
the office than many of their predecessors have been.
To accomplish this, and at the earnest request of our
Evangelical Association, the American Board has se-
lected and sent to our aid the Rev. C. M. Hyde, D.D.,
a minister and pastor of ripe experience, to become
president of our North Pacific Missionary Institute
in Honolulu.

In this institute he has been laboring, with several
assistants, with a wise and earnest zeal, for about three
years, during which time the school has been gaining
steadily in reputation.

XVII.

The Hawaiian Character — Its Amiability — Island
Hospitality — Patience, Docility — Indolence, Lack of
Economy, Fickleness — Want of Independence — Un~
truthfulness — Decrease of the Population.

THAT the Hawaiians are amiable and gentle in
disposition is, I think, admitted by all candid
observers who are well acquainted with them. They
are not excessively vindictive, but easily pacified
when offended. In this trait they excel most of the
other Polynesian tribes, especially the Marquesans
and the New Zealanders.

They are naturally generous and hospitable. Of old,
they welcomed the weary and hungry traveler to
their huts, sheltered and fed him to the best of their
ability, and without charge. And this generous hos-
pitality was extended to all without respect to nation-
ality, color, wealth, or rank. Wherever night fell
upon the traveler, he found shelter and welcome in
the nearest cabin. I speak of them as they were.
Our civilization has greatly, if not happily, modified
their natural habits in this respect.

They are docile. Few, if any, of the races of men
(252)

Some Hawaiian Traits. 253

would believe with such simple faith, or, i.f I may so
call it, credulity. This trait, though it exposes them
to deceitful wiles, also disposes them to listen to cor-
rect and useful teachings. Until wicked and infidel
foreigners came among them, a Hawaiian could
hardly be found who would deny the existence and
character of the true God, or the truth of the Bible
revelation. But they are too ready to receive false
teachings as well as true, to be beguiled by fallacious
arguments, and attracted by false leaders. This is
why so many accept the old or the modern error.

As a rule they are patient under sufferings, losses,
and poverty. Sometimes we look upon them as
stolid and without brain or heart. I have seen
many lingering and wasting away under a painful
disease, and die with little or no emotion or regret.
It would seem as if their indifference to life were a
reason why they succumb so easily to disease.

They are superstitious, of course. What savage
or barbarous race is not ? And we might be
amazed, were the facts published, at the amount of
foolish and false signs, relics of heathenish supersti-
tions, which still exist among enlightened nations.
Many natives believe in ghosts, incantations, demons,
and the power to take the life of one's enemy by
prayer {pule anaand)) but I think that these su-
perstitions are yielding faster than in lVl'JSt other
countries.

254 Life in Hawaii

They are naturally indolent. This has been fos-
tered into a national trait by circumstances. A warm
climate does not require energy in labor. A perpetual
summer gives no occasion to lay up stores for a fruit-
less winter. A native's wants are few. These satisfied,
why labor ? To him it would be like beating the air
or felling the forest without motive. When a want is
felt, he will work for it as earnestly as other men.
Civilization has increased their wants, and their
houses and horses and clothing, their boats and car-
riages and money have come of labor.

But they lack economy. This is true, personally,
socially, and politically. They lack the gift of order
and frugality ; and this applies to time, to talent,
to industry, and to the use of property of every kind.
As a rule, they know not how to " gather up the
fragments, that nothing be lost." It is now easy
for natives to get money ; even the children, if they
will work, can earn from twenty-five cents to fifty
cents a day, while the wages of laboring men are from
one dollar to three dollars a day, according to their
skill and fidelity ; but few of them know how to keep
or use money wisely. And so it is of houses, furni-
ture, tools, clothing, horses, lands, etc. Such things
are lost or ruined by neglect, or slip out of their
hands to pay unwise d^bts. They gather and scatter;
few accumulate for permanent use. We teach them
industry, economy, frugality, and generosity; but

Hawaiian Cha7igea.bleness. 255

their progress in these virtues is slow. They are like
children, needing wise parents or guardians.

They are changeable, or, it may be said, fickle.
They love variety ; they often take new names. In
cases where divorce is pending, the lawyer sometimes
sends to the pastor who married the couple for a
certificate of marriage, that given at the time of
the ceremony having been lost, and perhaps the long
search for their names in the marriage records is all
in vain, when, at last, it is ascertained that they are
now known by different names. Some build comfort-
able houses at the cost of all they have, and in a
little while leave them desolate, and remove to other
districts or islands. To seek after and to find them
in their frequent removals is often like searching for
lost sheep upon the mountains. Some take letters
of dismission to another church, and return without
delivering them. Some go without letters, not in-
tending to stay away, but never return ; and when the
name is changed, as well as the place of residence, it
adds a heavy burden to the pastor's care in looking
after his church members. About five hundred of
the members of the Hilo church are now absent in
different places.

They are amorous. Climate, lack of education, want
of full employment of mind and body on matters of
superior importance, and the seductions of vile men
from foreign lands, endanger the morality, the piety.

256 Life in Hawaii.

and the life of this infant race. With the examples
of the rich, and of men of office and rank, the temp-
tations of gold acting upon yielding natures, how can
a pure morality and virtue be preserved among a
people like the Hawaiians ? Some of our laws are
so framed by unprincipled men as to offer a pre-
mium to licentiousness, and even wholesome laws are
so nearly a dead-letter for want of execution, that
the villain is oftener protected in sin than punished.
What can be done when vice is bold and shameless,
and only virtue blushes ?

They are followers, not leaders. Few, if any, of
them are able to head any important secular enter-
prise. In agriculture, commerce, the mechanic arts,
education, traffic, and in all things which require
clear thought, sound judgment, tact, patience, and
a deep sense of responsibility, they are deficient.
Hence they are mostly servants or subordinates.
The Chinaman goes ahead of them in all business
matters. If a Hawaiian holds office, the office is a
sinecure, and its duties are usually committed to
foreign clerks.

Naturally they are untruthful. They go astray as
soon as they are born, speaking lies. This is a severe
charge, but it is a trait probably in all savage races.
To lie under slight provocation is to a native as
natural and as easy as to breathe. The fact is patent,
and it is one of the traits in the Hawaiian character

Faults of the Native Character. 257

which costs us the greatest pain, and the most earnest
and persistent labor, to eradicate. The sin seems like
an instinct ; but by " eternal vigilance " it gradually
gives way, and is succeeded by better habits. The
Hawaiian begins to build a house which should be
done in two weeks, and it may not be completed in six
or twelve months ; it will then be years before it is
supplied with doorsteps. The servant tells you the
flour or the potatoes are all gone, and you find several
pounds remaining. Or he pronounces the work as-
signed him as " all done," when it is only two-thirds
done. One informs you that all the people in a given
village are drunk. You make farther inquiries and
find only two out of fifty who have fallen. The
washerwoman must have the same wages when she
washes for the family that is reduced to half its
numbers, as when it was full. Their character is
not rounded and fully developed in anything. The
Hawaiian is an unfinished man.

Their piety is of course imperfect. Their easy and
susceptible natures, their impulsive and fickle traits,
need great care and faithful watching. But we have
seen many cases that have become steadfast in faith
and fidelity — broken out of the " Rock M by the ham-
mer, and formed into symmetry and beauty by the
chisel of the Almighty. I believe that thousands
have been converted, and that many thousands are
in heaven. And if bad men would let the Hawaiians

258 Life in Hawaii

alone for one or two generations, the land would be
filled with an enlightened and godly nation.

What is the cause of the decrease in the popula-
tion ? This is an old question, and its answers have
been various, sometimes vague, and seldom satisfac-
tory. This is not surprising, as some of the causes
are occult and complex. Tradition informs us that
long before the arrival of the missionaries, a pesti-
lence like a plague swept off multitudes. Foreigners
introduced a vile disease, of which many died, and
the blood of many was poisoned. Inherited diseases
weakened many others. The too rapid change of
national habits especially produced barrenness. Un-
guarded and early habits of children were highly in-
jurious. There were many Magdalens who came to
the Saviour after the introduction of the Gospel, and
were made whole in spirit, and prepared for a higher
and purer life, while their bodies were deeply marked
with the scars of sin. But to this day the artful wiles
of a certain class of foreign visitors and residents have
not ceased to ensnare and ruin many.

Ignorance of the laws of physical life was universal
among the natives, and the missionaries have labored
hard and continuously from the beginning to en-
lighten the people on this subject. In my ministry
among the thousands of Hilo and Puna, I have wit-
nessed not only scores who have died in early life
from the effects of bad habits, but also hundreds

The Decay of the Population. 259

whose days have been shortened from sheer igno-
rance of physiogical law.

It may be surprising to some to be told, that the
sudden and great changes brought on by civilization
check the population. The changes in dress, in food,
in dwellings, and in the occupations of life, often bring
on consumption, fevers, and other diseases which al-
most decimate a community. Natives that once
lived almost as nude as the brutes, and were yet
hardy, because adapted to their surroundings, often
succumb to new habits of life. Instead of wearing
the maro and the loose bark tapa, they often put on
two pairs of pantaloons over a thick woolen shirt,
with tight boots, and a thick coat or heavy overall,
and thus appear in church or in a public gathering,
panting with heat and wet with perspiration. On
returning to their homes they doff all but a shirt or
maro, and sit or lie down and fall asleep in the coolest
place to be found, rising with a cold and a cough
which may end in disease and the grave. Even the
civilized houses of some prove charnel houses, for in-
stead of ventilating them wisely, they often close
every door and window of a small and close room, lie
down, cover their head with a woolen blanket, and
thus sleep all night, the air growing more and more
impure.

In 1848 a fearful epidemic of the measles carried off
10,000 of our people, a tenth of the whole population.

260 Life in Hawaii,

Five years later, the small-pox took 3,000 more. These
were days of darkness and sorrow. The natives were
strangers to these diseases ; physicians were few, and
lived mostly in Honolulu. The natives had no reme-
dies for these burning plagues, no wise and faithful
nurses, and no food suited to their condition. Tor-
mented with heat and thirst, they plunged by scores
and hundreds into the nearest water, salt or fresh,
they could find, and the eruption being suppressed,
they died in a few hours. The scene was awful. The
Government did what it could in its inexperience,
and missionaries and all benevolent foreigners lent a
helping hand to those in distress around them. But
the masses of the people were beyond their reach ;
and the angel of death moved on by night and by day,
amidst the groans and dying agonies of households
and villages. The fiery darts of the destroyer flew
thick over all the land, and there was no effective
shield to protect the multitudes from their poisoned
barbs.

And now, for many years, that persistent, unrelent-
ing plague, the leprosy, has been poisoning the blood
and lowering the vitality of thousands of our people.
We have a humane government, a competent board
of health, and wholesome sanitary regulations, and
yet the plague is not stayed. Notwithstanding a
crowded leper settlement on Molokai, there are hun-
dreds dying inch by inch, scattered all over the Isl-

The Leprosy. 261

ands, some of them hiding from the public eye, some
concealed by friends, and some not yet pronounced
upon by physicians. The leper question is one of the
gravest before the nation.

Thus the decrease of the Hawaiians goes on slowly,
surely, irresistibly. They are not an exceptional case ;
many other races originally savage have melted away
and disappeared before the unrelenting march of
civilization.

XVIII.

Kilauea — Changes in the Crater — Attempt to Measure
the Heat of its Lavas — Phenomena in Times of Great
Activity — Visitors in the Domains of Pele.

THE volcano of Kilauea is always in action. Its
lake of lava and brimstone rolls and surges
from age to age.

Sometimes these fires are sluggish, and one might
feel safe in pitching his tent upon the floor of the
crater. Again the ponderous masses of hardened
lava, in appearance like vast coal-beds, are broken up
by the surging floods below, and tossed hither and
thither, while the great bellows of Jehovah blows
upon these hills and cones and ridges of solidified
rocks, and melts them down into seas and lakes and
streams of liquid fire.

As the great volcano is within the limits of my

parish, and as my missionary trail flanks it on three

sides, I may have observed it a hundred times; but

never twice in the same state.

Its outer wall remains nearly the same from age
(262)

Varying Action in Kilauea. 263

to age, but all within the vast cauldron undergoes
changes. I have visited it when there was but one
small pool of fusion visible, and at another time I
have counted eighty fires in the bottom of the crater.
Sometimes I have seen what is called Halemaumau,
or South Lake, enlarged to a circuit of three miles,
and raging as if filled with infernal demons, and again
domed over with a solid roof, excepting a single
aperture of about twenty feet in diameter at the
apex, which served as a vent to the steam and gases.
On my next visit I would find this dome broken in,
and the great sea of fiery billows, of near a mile in
diameter, rolling below.

On one occasion, when there with a party of friends,
we found the door of entrance to the floor of the
crater closed against us. A flood of burning fusion,
covering some fifty acres, had burst out at the lower
end of the path, shutting out all visitors, so that we
spent the day and night upon the upper rim of the
abyss.

On another occasion I found the great South Lake
filled to the brim, and pouring out in two deep and
broad canals at nearly opposite points of the lake.
The lava followed these crescent fissures of fifty or
more feet deep and wide until they came within
half a mile of meeting under the northern wall of
the crater, thus nearly enclosing an area of about
two miles in length and a mile and a half in breadth.

264 Life in Hawaii.

A pyrometer, sent out by Professor J. D. Dana,
was put into my hands to measure the heat of melted
lava. I had taken it with me twice to the crater
unsuccessfully, the fusion being too deep in the lake
to be reached. I had also sent it up by others, with
instructions, hoping to get it inserted; but failing, I
went up again with my friend, Dr. Lafon. We de-
scended the crater and traveled south about two
miles, when a vast mound like a truncated cone rose
before us. Not recognizing this elevation, I said to
my companion, " TKis is a new feature in the crater ;
I have not seen it before. It is about where the lake
used to be ; but let us pass over it, and we shall prob-
ably find the lake on the other side." With the in-
strument in hand, we began to ascend the elevation
on an angle of about twenty degrees. When half-
way up, there came over a splash of burning fusion,
which fell near our feet. Our hair was electrified,
and we retreated in haste. Going to a little distance,
we mounted an extinct cone which overlooked the
eminence we had left, when, lo ! to our amazement,
it was the great South Lake of fire, no longer, as often,
one to two hundred feet below us, but risen to a level
of about twenty-five feet above the surrounding plain,
and contained by a circular dam of cooled lava some
three miles in circumference. The scene was awful.
Over all that high and extended surface the fiery bil-
lows were surging and dashing with infernal seething

The Lost Pyrometer. 265

and mutterings and hissings. The whole surface was
in ebullition, and now and then large blisters, many feet
in length, viscous films, of the consistency of glu-
tinous matter, would rise in gigantic bubbles created
by the lifting gases, and then burst and disappear.

We were struck with amazement ; and the question
was, Shall we again venture near that awful furnace ?
We could frequently see the lava flood spilling over
the rim like a boiling cauldron, and what if the en-
circling dam should burst and pour its deluge of fiery
ruin over all the surrounding area ! But unwilling to
fail in our experiment we came down from the cone,
and carefully, and with eyes agaze, began to ascend
the wall ; again and again we were driven back by
the splashes of red-hot lava. We persevered, and
watching and dodging the spittings, I was at last
able to reach so near the top of the dam as to thrust
the pyrometer through the thin part of the upper
rim, when out burst a gory stream of lava, and
we ran down to wait the time for withdrawing the
instrument. The shaft of the pyrometer was about
four feet long, with a socket into which I had firmly
fastened a ten-foot pole. When at last we grasped
the pole and pulled, the strength of four strong arms
could not dislodge the pyrometer. We pulled and
pulled until the pole was wrenched from the socket.
The instrument was fast beyond recovery, and with
keen regret we left it in the hardened lava.
12

266 Life in Hawaii.

We turned to retreat from the crater, and before we
had reached the upper rim, we looked back and saw
that awful lake emptying itself at two points, one of
which appeared to be in the very place where we had
stood only half an hour before. The whole southern
portion of the crater was a sea of liquid fire, covering,
as I estimated, about two square miles, with a proba-
ble depth of three feet.

This circular dam which enclosed the elevated lava-
lake was formed gradually by successive overflowings
upon the rim, depositing stratum upon stratum, until
the solidified layers had raised the dam some twenty-
five feet ; when the lateral pressure became so great
as to burst the barrier and give vent to this terrific
flood.

I have heard great avalanches of rocks fall from
the outer walls of the crater some eight hundred feet
into the dread abyss below with thundering uproar.
At the distance of two miles I have heard the sough-
ing and sighing of the lava waves, and upon the
surface of that awful lake I have seen as it were
gory" forms leaping up with shrieks, as if struggling
to escape their doom, and again plunging and disap-
pearing beneath the burning billows. To stand upon
the margin of this lake of fire and brimstone, to listen
to its infernal sounds, the rolling, surging, tossing,
dashing, and spouting of its furious waves ; to wit-
ness its restless throbbings, its gyrations, its fierce

The House ofPele. 267

ebullitions, its writhing, and its fearful throes as if in
anguish, and to feel the hot flushes of its sulphurous
breath, is to give one sensations which no human
language can express.

Sometimes an indurated film, two to four inches
thick, will form over all the central part of the lake,
while its periphery is a circle of boiling lava, spout-
ing, leaping, and dancing as if in merry gambols. All
at once the scene changes, the central portion begins
to swell and rise into a grayish dome, until it bursts
like a gigantic bubble, and out rushes a sea of crim-
son fusion, which pours down to the surrounding
wall with an awful seething and roaring, striking
this mural barrier with fury, and with such force
that its sanguinary jets are thrown back like a re-
pulsed charge upon a battle-field, or tossed into the
air fifty to a hundred feet high, to fall upon the up-
per rim of the pit in a hail-storm of fire.

This makes the filamentous vitrifaction called
" Pele's hair." The sudden sundering of the fusion
into thousands of particles, by the force that thus
ejects the igneous masses upward, and their separa-
tion when in this fused state, spins out vitreous threads
like spun glass. These threads are light, and when
taken up by brisk winds, arc often kept floating and
gyrating in the atmosphere, until they conic into a
calmer stratum of air; when they fall over the sur-
rounding regions, sometimes in masses in quiet and

268 Life in Hawaii.

sheltered places. They are sometimes carried a hun-
dred miles, as is proved by their dropping on ships
at sea. This " hair " takes the color of the lava of
which it is formed. Some of it is a dark gray, some
auburn, or it may be yellow, or red, or of a brick
color.

Another mode of action in this lake is to encrust
nearly all the surface with the hardened covering,
while active boiling is kept up at the margin on one
side only. When this ebullition becomes intense, the
fusion rises on that side, while the other side is quiet.
After a little, this agitated lava will rise and fall over
upon the crust, pressing or breaking it down, and
rolling in a fiery wave across the lake, and thus cover-
ing its whole surface with an intense boiling and surg-
ing, so fierce and so hot that the spectator withdraws
from the insufferable heat to a cooler and safer
position.

To be struck with this heat in its intensity, is to be
death-struck, and to inhale a full draught of this sul-
phurous acid gas in its strength would be to extinguish
life. All visitors must keep on the windward side of
the laka and avoid all currents of hot steam and gases.

Some visitors are too daring. Others are too
timid. I have known several gentlemen who have
ventured into places of peril, and escaped death as by
a miracle ; and I have known one at least so timid as
to turn back to Hilo as soon as he saw smoke and

Visitors to Kilauea. 269

steam, and smelt sulphur, though he was still more
than a mile distant from the volcano.

And I have seen ladies tremble and almost faint on
going down into the crater while yet a full mile from
any visible fire. One who was in my charge was so
terrified that no assurance of safety and no effort to
persuade could move her. She sat down upon a rock
a mile from Halemaumau, and would not move until
we led her out of the crater. Others, though trans-
fixed and awe-struck at first, become so fearless that
they play with the pools and little rills of lava, dipping
up specimens of it to take away. In order to carry
it conveniently, one lady put a specimen which had
hardened, but not yet cooled, into her handkerchief,
when, instead" of remaining, it burnt through and fell
at her feet.

XIX.

Eruptions from Mauna Loa — The Eruption of '1843
— A Visit to it — Danger on the Mountain — A Per-
ilous Journey and a Narrow Escape.

DURING the night of January 10, 1843, a bril-
liant light was seen near the summit of Mauna
Loa. In a short time a fiery stream was rushing
rapidly down the mountain in a northerly direction
toward Mauna Kea.

On the nth, vast columns of steam and smoke
arose from the crater. After a few days the orifice
on the top of the mountain ceased to eject its burn-
ing masses, and the action appeared more vivid upon
the slope of the mountain, until the lava reached the
valley below, and struck the foot-hills of Mauna
Kea.

The Rev. J. D. Paris and his family were our guests

at the time, and, our good wives consenting, we

prepared to go up to the flow, which shone with a

strong glare in the valley between the mountains, and

had the appearance of turning toward Hilo. Neither

of us had ascended Mauna Loa before, and we started
(270)

The Summit Eruption of 1843. 27x

with great enthusiasm. Taking a guide and men to
carry our food and sleeping-cloaks, we followed the
bed of a mountain stream which empties into the
bay of Hilo. The pathway was rocky and full of
cascades from ten to 150 feet in height ; but the water
was low at this time, and by wading, leaping from
rock to rock, and crossing and recrossing the stream
from ten to twenty times in a mile, and taking advan-
tage of parts of its margins which were dry, we made
good progress, sleeping two nights in the forests on
its banks, and coming out of the woods into an open,
rolling country on the third day. This is a region
where thousands of wild cattle roam.

A little before night of this day, we came directly
abreast of a stream of liquid fire half a mile wide,
and bending its course toward Hilo. Passing along
the front of this slowly-moving flood, we flanked an-
other of about the same width, flowing quietly to the
west toward Waimea ; while far up on the side of
the mountain we saw another stream moving toward
Kona. This higher stream was a lateral branch of
the main trunk, and this trunk was again divided at
the base of Mauna Kea. As these lower branches
were pushing slowly along upon level ground, and
as the feeding flood had ceased to come down upon
the surface from the terminal vent, but flowed in a
subterranean duct or ducts, most of the How was solid-
ified above, and we could see the flowing lava only in

272 Life in Hawaii.

a belt of a few rods wide across the ends of the
streams, and at several points upon the side of the
mountain.

Having satisfied ourselves with the day's labors, we
set about preparing our camp for the night. Besides
our guide and burden-bearers, a number of natives
had begged the privilege of going with us. Select-
ing an 'old wooded crater, about two hundred yards
from the lava stream, and elevated some sixty feet
above it, we prepared a booth of shrubs and leaves,
collected fuel, made a rousing fire, ate our supper,
made arrangements for the morrow, and lay down for
the night.

But before our eyes were closed by sleep, a dense
cloud settled down upon us, covering all the wide up-
lands between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. We were
now at an elevation of about 8,000 feet above the
ocean level, and the air was cold. Soon the vivid
lightning began to flash from the clouds that covered
us, instantly followed by crashing peals of rattling
thunder. We found that we were in a sea of elec-
tricity, and that the full-charged clouds rested on the
ground. It was a flash and a crash simultaneously ;
the blaze and the roar were nearly coincident. The
very heavens seemed ablaze ; the hills and trees drop-
ping their veil of darkness as if engaged in a fairy
dance, while the thunder roared and reverberated
among the mountains.

A Tempest on Mauna Loa. 273

I had never before seen a tempest of equal grandeur.
But the danger was imminent. The storm continued
without intermission until near morning, and a great
rain fell. The sun rose, and the mountains on both
sides of us were crowned with glory. A heavy fall
of pure snow covered their summits. Looking down
from our lofty watch-tower toward Hilo, we saw the
clouds that had blazed around us during the night
rolled down and massed along the shore, hiding the
sea from our sight, the upper surface shining with
light, and alive with dancing and quivering rays.
We could also see the flashes of lightning dart among
the clouds, followed in measured time by the boom-
ing thunder. The scene was of equal grandeur with
that of the past night, but without its danger. We
were in bright sunshine, thousands of feet above the
clouds, while the coast and bay of Hilo were shroud-
ed ; and, for the first time in years, a great storm of
hail fell upon the northern part of the district.

But to the hills ! to the hills ! was the summons of
the morning. Onward and upward was our motto.
We each selected a man who volunteered to go with
us to the summit. From our point of view we could
trace the stream in all its windings from its source to
its fiery terminus before us. The surface was all
hardened except the fused belt of some 200 feet wide
at the lower end of the flow, pushing slowly out from
under its indurated cover. Above this the whole
12*

274 Life in Hawaii,

flow was a shining pahoehoe, or field lava, steaming in
light puffs from a thousand cracks and holes.

We set out at sunrise with our two native guides,
carrying a little food, a small supply of water in a
gourd, and our camp-cloaks. We flanked the fresh
lava stream some part of the way; crossed it oc-
casionally, and walked directly upon it for many
miles, making as straight a course as possible. Much
of the way we were obliged to walk over fields and
ridges, and down into gorges of aa, or clinker lava,
as sharp and jagged as slag around an iron furnace.

The work was so severe that our men fell be-
hind, and we were forced to halt often and encourage
them to hasten up. At length, weary of this linger-
ing pace, we hurried on, leaving them to follow as
well as they could, but before noon we lost sight of
them, and saw them no more until our return to
camp. Taking with them all our supplies, they had
turned back to enjoy rest and shelter with their com-
panions who remained behind.

We passed over hills and through valleys ; saw
steaming cones and heard their hissings. We came
to openings through the crust of twenty to fifty feet
in diameter, out of which issued scalding gases, and
in looking down these steaming vents, we saw the
stream of incandescent lava rushing along a vitrified
duct with awful speed, some fifty feet below us. Still
pressing up the mountain, we saw through other

A Perilous Victory. 275

openings this rushing stream as it hurried down its
covered channel to spread itself out on the plains be-
low. We threw large stones into these openings, and
saw them strike the lava river, on whose burning
bosom they passed out of sight instantly, before
sinking into the flood. Far off to the right we heard
the crashing and roaring of the lava-roof as it fell into
the channel below made by the draining of the
stream.

Noon passed, and the summit was not reached.
" Hills peeped o'er hills," and we were weary. We
came to the snow. One, two, and three P.M. made
us anxious. We counted the hours, half hours,
and minutes, while we plodded some five miles in
the snow. We had no food, no wrappers for the
night, and no shelter. Our condition was now not
only one of suffering, but one of peril. Our strength
began to fail. But to fail of the object before us
when just within our grasp ! Could we bear the dis-
appointment ?

We fixed 3:30 P.M. as the latest moment before we
must turn our faces down the mountain. To remain
later where we were was death. At the last moment
we came to the yawning fissures where the crimson
flood had first poured out. The rents were terribly
jagged, showing the fearful rage of the fires as they
burst forth from their caverns into the midnight
darkness.

276 Life in Hawaii.

We had seen the object of our quest, and now life
depended on our speedy return.

Full twenty-five miles of rugged lava, without
guide or trail, lay before us. We had tasted no food
nor a drop of water since daylight.

We knelt a moment, and " looked to the hills
whence cometh help/' and then began the descent.
We ran, we stumbled and fell ; we rose and ran again
amidst scoria and rocks, up and down, until at sunset
we reached the point where we had stood at noon.
Far off among the foot-hills of Mauna Kea,. in the
north, we could descry the green cone where our
camp was pitched.

Night came on apace. The moon was a little past
her first quarter, and her mild light never appeared
so precious to us as now. Down, down, we ran, fall-
ing amidst the scoriaceous masses, scaling ridges and
plunging into rugged ravines, tearing our shoes and
garments, and drawing blood from our hands, faces,
and feet. Once in about a mile we allowed ourselves a
few seconds only to rest. To sit down fifteen minutes
would stiffen us with cold, and to fall asleep in our
exhausted condition would be to wake no more on
earth.

As we grew weaker and weaker, our falls were more
frequent, until we could hardly rise or lift a foot from
the ground. More than once, when one of us fell,
he would say to his companion, " I can not rise again,

Retreating for Life. 277

but must give up." The other would reply,
" Brother, you must get up," and extending his weary
hand, and with encouraging voice he would aid the
f lien one to rise. Thus we alternated in falling and
rising ; while our progress became slower and slower.
When about half-way down the descent, we saw
clouds rolling up from the sea, and our anxiety
was intense lest such a storm as we had felt the
preceding night should fall upon us. The clouds
covered the moon and stars, and darkened all the
volcanic lights of those breathing -holes, which by
night shone like lamps on a hill-side. Our camp-hill,
and the flood of lava near it, were covered with the
cloud, and " darkness which was felt " came over us.
It now seemed as if all was over. But thanks to
God the veil was removed, the stars reappeared,
and we ceased to wander as we had done under
the shadow of the cloud. We had left the snow and
the colder heights far behind, and now we felt that
we were saved. When within half a mile of camp
our natives heard our call, and two came out with
torches to meet us. We came in like wounded
soldiers who had been battling above the clouds,
limping and bleeding. We threw ourselves prostrate
upon the ground, and called for water and food, and
did not rise until near noon of the next ddy.

Our providential escape filled us with too much
gratitude to allow us to chide severely the guides

278 Life in Hawaii.

who had deserted us, and whom we found with the
rest of the party, full-fed and happy.

This expedition taught us useful lessons. One of
them was never to attempt another enterprise of this
kind without completer arrangements for its success.
We learned practically the truth, that " Two are bet-
ter than one, for if they fall, the one will lift up his
fellow, but woe to him who is alone when he falleth.,,

When about to leave our mountain camp, our
chief guide, a wild-bird catcher and bullock hunter
of the highlands, came to me with a sober and
thoughtful countenance, and after a little hesitation
said : " Mr. Coan, we have guided you up the mount-
ain for so much, and now how much will you give us
to guide you back?" Looking him square in the
face, I replied, " You need not go down, you can stay
up here if you like.,> The fellow was dumfound-
ed and stood speechless. His companions, who had
gathered around him hoping to share in the double
price for services, burst out into a laugh, and called
him an ass. He submitted, took up his burden, and
gave me no more trouble. But all the way down his
comrades kept up the joke until he accepted the title
and said : " Yes, I am a jackass."

We reached home after three days of hobbling on
lame feet, but thankful to Him who guides the wan-
derer.

XX.

Eruptions of Mauna Loa — The Eruption of 1852 —
The Fire-Fountain — A Visit to it — Alone on the
Mountain — Sights on Mauna Loa.

MY account of the eruption of Mauna Loa in
February, 1852, was originally published in
The American Journal of Science and Arts (Septem-
ber, 1852). It is here reproduced with slight correc-
tions from later observations. I visited the locality
three times ; first while the lava fountain was playing
a thousand feet high, and twice since the crater had
cooled.

It was a little before daybreak on the 17th of Feb-
ruary, 1852, that we saw through our window a
beacon light resting on the apex of Mauna Loa. At
first we supposed it to be a planet just setting. In a
few minutes we were undeceived by the increasing
brilliancy of the light, and by a grand outburst of a
fiery column which shot high into the air, sending
down a wonderful sheen of light, which illuminated
our fields and flashed through our windows. Imme-
diately a fuming river came rushing down the side of
the mountain at the apparent rate of fifteen to twenty

(279)

280 Life in Hawaii.

miles an hour. This summit eruption was vivid and
vigorous for forty hours, and I was preparing to visit
the scene, when all at once the valves closed, and all
signs of the eruption disappeared ; accordingly I
ceased my preparations to ascend the mountain.

On the 20th, the eruption broke out laterally, about
4,000 feet below the summit, and at a point facing
Hilo ; from this aperture a brilliant column of fire
shot up to a height of 700 feet, by angular measure-
ment, with a diameter of from 100 to 300 feet. This
lava fountain was sustained without intermission for
twenty days and nights, during which time it built
up a crater one mile in circumference, lacking one
chain, and 400 feet high. It also sent down a river of
liquid fire more than forty miles long, which came
within ten miles of Hilo.

The roar of this great furnace was heard along the
shores of Hilo, and the earth quivered with its rage,
while all the district was so lighted up that we could
see to read at any hour of the night when the sky was
not clouded. The smoke and steam rose in a vast
column like a pillar of cloud by day, and at night it
was illuminated with glowing brilliants, raising the
pillar of fire thousands of feet in appearance. When
it reached a stratum of atmosphere of its own spe-
cific gravity, it moved off like the tail of a comet, or
spread out laterally, avast canopy of illuminated gases.
The winds from the mountain brought down smoke,

Through the Wilderness. 281

cinders, " Pele's hair," and gases, scattering the light
products over houses and gardens, streets and fields,
or bearing them far out to sea, dropped them upon
the decks of vessels approaching our coast.

The light of the eruption was seen more than one
hundred miles at sea, and sailors told us that
when they first saw the light flaming on the moun-
tain they exclaimed, " Look there, the moon is
rising in the west ! " Much of the time our atmos-
phere was murky, and the veiled sun looked as if in
an eclipse.

On Monday, the 23d of February, Dr. Wetmore
and myself, taking with us four natives as assistants,
set out for the mountain. One of these natives was
familiar with the woods and wilds, having been a
bird-catcher, a canoe-digger, and a wild-cattle hunter
in those high regions. His name was Kekai, " Salt
Sea."

We passed our first night in the skirt of the forest,
having taken with us long knives, an old sword, clubs,
and hatchets, purposing to cut and beat our way
through the jungle in as straight a line as possible
toward the fiery pillar. On Tuesday we rose fresh
and earnest, and pressed through the ferns and vines,
and through the tangled thicket, and over, under, and
around gigantic trees, which lay thick in some places,
cutting and beating as we went, our progress being
sometimes half a mile, sometimes one, and again two

282 Lifet7i Hawaii.

miles an hour. At night we bivouacked in the ancient
forest, hearing the distant roar of the volcano and
seeing the glare of the igneous river, which had
already passed us, cutting its way through the wood
a few miles distant on our left.

On Wednesday Dr. Wetmore decided to return to
Hilo, apprehensive that the stream might reach the
sea before we could return from the crater, and that
our families might need his presence. Taking one of
the men, he hastened back to the village, while I
pressed on.

Sleeping once more in the forest, we emerged on
Thursday upon the high, open lava fields, but plunged
into a dense fog darker and more dreary than the
thicket itself. We were admonished not to journey
far, as more than one man had been lost in these be-
wildering fogs, and wandering farther and farther from
the way had left his bones to bleach in the desert ;
we therefore encamped for the fourth time. A little
before sunset the fog rolled off, and Mauna Kea and
Mauna Loa both stood out in grand relief ; the for-
mer robed in a fleecy mantle almost to its base, and
the latter belching out floods of fire. All night long
we could see the glowing fires and listen to the awful
roar twenty miles away.

We left our mountain eyrie on the 27th, deter-
mined, if possible, to reach the seat of action that
day. The scoriaceous hills and ridges, the plains

Alone with the Lava Fountain. 283

and gorges bristled with the sharp and jagged aa,
and our ascent was rough and difficult. We mounted
ridges where the pillar of fire shone strongly upon
us, and we plunged down deep dells and steep ravines
where our horizon was only a few feet distant, the
attraction increasing as the square of the distance
decreased.

At noon we came upon the confines of a tract of
naked scoriae so intolerably sharp and jagged that
our baggage-men could not pass it. Here I ordered
a halt ; stationed the two carriers, gave an extra pair
of strong shoes to the guide, gave him my wrapper
and blanket, put a few crackers and boiled eggs into
my pocket, took my compass and staff, and said to
Mr. Salt Sea, " Now go ahead, and let us warm our-
selves to-night by that fire yonder." But I soon
found that my guide needed a leader ; he lagged be-
hind, and I waited for him to come up, but fearing
we should not reach the point before night I pressed
forward alone, with an interest that mocked all ob-
stacles.

At half-past three P.M. I reached the awful crater,
and stood alone in the light of its fires. It was a
moment of unutterable interest. I was 10,000 feet
above the sea, in a vast solitude untrodden by the
foot of man or beast, amidst a silence unbroken by
any living voice. The Eternal God alone spoke.
His presence was attested as in the " devouring fire

284 Life in Hawaii.

on the top of Sinai." I was blinded by the insuffer-
able brightness, almost petrified by the sublimity of
the scene.

The heat was so intense that I could not ap-
proach the pillar within forty or fifty yards, even on
the windward side, and in the snowy breezes coming
down from the mountain near four thousand feet
above. On the leeward side the steam, the hot cin-
ders, ashes, and burning pumice forbade approach
within a mile or more.

I stood amazed before this roaring furnace. I felt
the flashing heat and the jar of the earth ; I heard
the subterranean thunders, and the poetry of the
sacred Word came into my thoughts : " He look-
eth on the earth, and it trembleth ; He toucheth
the hills, and they smoke ; the mountains quake at
Him, and the hills melt ; He uttered His voice, the
earth melted ; the hills melted like wax at the pres-
ence of the Lord."

Here indeed the hills smoked and the earth melted,
and I saw its gushings from the awful throat of the
crater burning with intense white heat. I saw the
vast column of melted rocks mounting higher and
still higher, while dazzling volleys and coruscations
shot out like flaming meteors in every direction, ex-
ploding all the way up the ascending column of 1,000
feet with the sharp rattle of infantry fire in battle.
There were unutterable sounds as the fierce fountain

An Anxious Moment. 285

sent up the seething fusion to its utmost height ; it
came down in parabolic curves, crashing like a storm
of fiery hail in conflict with the continuous ascending
volume, a thousand tons of the descending mass
falling back into the burning throat of the crater,
where another thousand were struggling for vent.

For an hour I stood entranced ; then there came to
me the startling thought that I was alone. Where
was my companion ? I looked down the mountain, but
there was no motion and no voice. The vast fields
and valleys of dreary scoria lay slumbering before
me ; the sun was about to disappear behind the lofty
snow-robed mountain in the rear. What if my guide
had gone back ! Remembering my former experi-
ence in 1843, onry about five miles from this place, I
could not be otherwise than anxious. Minutes
seemed as hours while I watched for his coming,
when lo ! there is motion upon the rough aa about a
mile below me : a straw hat peers up on a ridge and
again disappears in a gorge, like a boat in the trough
of the sea. Then at length " Salt Sea " stood forth
a life-sized figure in full view. Weary but faithful he
was toiling upward. If ever my heart leaped for
joy, it was then. As he came within speaking
distance, he raised both his hands high above his
head and shouted: " Kupaianaha ! kupaianaha i keia
hana mana a ke Akua mana loa ! " — Wonderful,
wonderful is this mighty work of Almighty God.

286 Life in Hawaii.

Could I help embracing the old man and praising
the Lord ?

We chose our station for the night within about
two hundred feet of the crater and watched its
pyrotechnics, and heard its mutterings, its detona-
tions, and its crashing thunder until morning. Oc-
casionally our eyelids became heavy, but before we
were fairly asleep some new and rousing demon-
stration would bring us to our feet and excite the
most intense interest. In addition to the marvelous
sounds, the kaleidoscopic views of the playing col-
umn were so rapid and so brilliant that we could
hardly turn our eyes for a moment from it. The fu-
sion when issuing from the mouth of the crater was
white-hot, but as it rose through the air its tints un-
derwent continuous changes: it became a light red,
then a deeper shade, then a glossy gray, and in
patches a shining black, but these tints and shades
with many others were intermingled, and as every
particle was in motion the picture was splendid be-
yond the power of description. Thousands and
millions of tons of sparkling lava were pouring
from the rim of the crater, while the cone was ris-
ing rapidly, and spreading out at the base. From
the lower side of this cone a large fissure opened,
through which the molten flood was issuing and rush-
ing down the mountain, burning its way through the
forest. No tongue, no pen, no pencil can portray

A Wild Bull's Challenge. 287

the beauty, the grandeur, the terrible sublimity of
the scenes of this memorable night.

Morning came, we offered our prayers, ate our
breakfast, and descended the mountain with regrets.
Rejoining the men whom we had left the preceding
day, we retraced our steps to Hilo, and reached home
in health and safety, though not without an experi-
ence it may be interesting to relate. In the upper
skirts of the forest in a narrow pass we were con-
fronted by a magnificent wild bull. Coming suddenly
upon a small herd in this defile, the cows and smaller
cattle fled and were soon out of sight ; not so the
bull ; he wheeled and faced us boldly, covering the
retreat of the cows and calves, and bidding us defi-
ance. As he stood with head proudly erect, we
estimated the tips^ of his splendid horns to be eight
feet from the ground.

We were challenged by this mountain sentinel to
stand, and stand we did. We were unwilling to
retreat ; to deploy to the right or left seemed im-
possible. We held a council, feeling that " discretion
was the better part of valor." The bull was armed
with ugly horns ; we were unarmed. He stood and
we stood. Our guide, an old mountaineer, advised us
to arm ourselves with stones, and directed that when
he hurled his missile and shouted, we should i\n the
same. We all hurled and yelled at once. The proud
monarch snorted, shook his head, turned slowly on

288 Life in Hawaii.

his heels, retreated a few paces, and then suddenly
wheeled right-about and again held the passage.
We hurled another volley and shouted. The Bashan
bull wheeled slowly round, walked about a rod, and
a second time turned and faced us, bidding defiance.
We feared a charge, but as we had pushed our
Goliath back some feet, we let go a third volley, and
this decided the conflict. He turned, but he neither
ran nor trotted ; he maintained his dignity and re-
treated deliberately, while we waited for his highness
to disappear, without attempting to disarm him or
make him a prisoner. It was a compromise which
we accepted thankfully. We breathed easier and
moved on with lighter steps.

This splendid eruption of 1852 was in blast only
twenty days.

XXI.

The Eruption 0/1855 — A Climb to the Source — Mount-
ain Hardships — Visits to Lozver Parts of the Lava
Stream — Hilo threatened with Destruction — Liquid-
ity of the Hawaiian Lavas — Are the Lava- Streams
fed from their Sources only?

THE great eruption of 1855-56 continued fifteen
months and the disgorgement of lava exceeded
by millions of tons that of any other eruption we
have seen. •

It was first observed on the evening of the nth of
August, 1855, shining like Sirius at a small point
near the summit of Mauna Loa. This radiant point
expanded rapidly, and in a short time the glow was
like that of the rising sun. Soon a deluge of liquid
fire rushed down the mountain-side in the direction
of our town.

Day after day, and night after night, we could
trace this stream until it entered the deep forest,
when the scene by day would often be made beauti-
ful by the vast clouds of white vapor rolling up in
wreaths from the boiling streams and water-basins be-
13 (289)

290 Life in Hawaii.

low. In the night-time the spectacle was one of un-
rivaled sublimity. The broad and deep river of lava,
moving resistlessly on through the festooned forest
trees, would first scorch the low plants and fallen
timber of the jungle, until they took fire, when sud-
denly a roaring flame would burst forth, covering
perhaps a square mile, and rushing up the hanging
vines to the tree tops, leaping in lambent flashes
from tree to tree, would make the light so gorgeous
that for the time being night was turned into day.

These brilliant scenes were long continued, and all
Hilo watched the progress of the stream with increas-
ing interest.
' On the 2d of October, in company with a friend
and several natives, I set off to visit this approaching
torrent of lava. As the jungle through which it was
burning its pathway was too dense to be penetrated,
we chose for our track the bed of the Wailuku river,
the channel in which Mr. Paris and I went up to the
eruption of 1843. We slept three nights in the great
forest on the banks of the river, and the fourth night
in a cave on the outskirts of the forest. Early in the
morning of October 6th we emerged and came to
the margin of the lava stream in the open plain. We
had flanked it at the distance of some two miles on
our left, and its terminus was about ten miles below
us on its way to Hilo. Where we first struck it, we es-
timated the breadth to be about three miles, but twice

The Eruption of 1855. 291

that width in places where the country was level, and
where it could easily expand. The surface was solidi-
fied, and so nearly cool that we took it for our high-
way. And highway indeed it was, for it was raised
in some places twenty, fifty, and a hundred feet above
the old floor on which it came down. In some places
the walking was comfortable, and in others all was
confusion thrice confounded. Ridges, cones, bluffs,
hills, crevasses, aa, swirls, twistings, precipices, and
all shapes congealed, were there. No fire yet.
Little puffs of white steam were coming up from
unknown depths below. Far down the mountain
terrible fires were gleaming, cutting down a mighty
forest and licking up rivers of water. High above
us raged a glowing furnace, and under our very feet
a burning flood was rushing with an unknown com-
mission, perhaps to consume all Hilo, to choke our
beautiful harbor, .to drive out our people, and leave
this gem of the Pacific a heap of ruin. Thoughts of
what might be could not be silenced ; like ghosts
from the buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum,
they haunted our path.

Onward we went ; the ascent grew steeper. We
were startled ; a yawning fissure was before us — hot,
sulphurous gases were rushing up — the sullen swash
of liquid lava was heard. We took the windward side
of the opening, approached carefully, and with awe
we saw the swift river of fire some fifty feet below

292 Life in Hawaii.

us, rushing at white heat, and with such fearful speed
that we stood amazed. The great tunnel in which
this fiery flow swept down -was a vitrified duct appa-
rently as smooth as glass, and the speed, though it
could not be measured, I estimated to be forty miles
an hour. Leaving this opening, we pressed forward,
and once in about one or two miles we found other
rents from thirty to two hundred feet in length, down
which we looked, and saw the lava-torrent hurrying
toward the sea.

These openings in the mountain were vents, or
breathing holes for the discharge of the burning
gases, and thus perhaps prevented earthquakes and
terrific explosions. They were longitudinal, reveal-
ing the fiery channel at the depth of fifty to a hun-
dred feet below, and exposing a sight to appall the
stoutest heart. To fall into one of these orifices
would be instant death. From 10 A.M. we were walk-
ing in the midst of steam and smoke and heat which
were almost stifling. Valve after valve opened as we
ascended, out of which issued fire, smoke, and brim-
Stone, and to avoid suffocation, we were obliged to
keep on the windward side, watching every change of
the wind. Sometimes hot whirlwinds would swreep
along loaded with deadly gases, and threatening the
unwary traveler.

In one place we saw the burning river uncovered
for nearly 500 feet, and dashing down a declivity of

The Covered Lava-Ctcrrent. 293

about twenty degrees, leaping precipices in a mad
rage which was indescribable. Standing at the lower
end of this opening we could look up, not only along
the line of fire, but also thirty -feet or more into the
mouth of the tunnel out of which it issued, and see
the fiery cataract leaping over a cliff some fifteen
feet high, with a sullen roar which was terrific, while
the arched roof of this tunnel, some forty feet above
the stream, and the walls on each side of the open
space were hung with glowing stalactites, tinged with
fiery sulphates and festooned with immense quanti-
ties of filamentous glass. At the upper end of this
opening we cast in stones of considerable size, and
when they struck the surface of the rushing current,
they were swept from our sight with a speed that
blurred their form, and with a force that was amazing.
Amidst clouds of steam and the smell of gases,
jagged fissures opening all along the track and won-
ders of force arresting our attention, we still ascend-
ed, until at 1 P.M., October 6th, we reached the ter-
minal crater. This was Saturday and the fifth day of
our journey, and we were a little weary, but we set
ourselves at once to examine this point where the
first red light of August nth had been seen, and
whence the amazing flood of melted minerals had
been poured out to startle all eastern Hawaii. From
this summit elevation, for six miles down the side of
the mountain we found a series of crevasses of a

294 Life in Hawaii.

similar character, but no rounded or well-defined
crater. This upper cleft was wide, some 500 feet
long, and indescribably jagged. It had vomited out
floods of lava which now lay in bristling heaps form-
ing a scoriaceous wall 100 feet high on each side of
the opening. These walls were so rough, so steep,
and in such a shattered state, that it was very diffi-
cult to surmount them, but by care and effort we
gained the giddy crest of the one on the windward
side and gazed down into the Plutonic throat of the
mountain. No fire could be seen. Blue and white
steam with the smell of sulphur came curling up
from unknown depths below, while the fearful throat
that had so lately belched out such floods of fiery
ruin was nearly choked with its own debris. The
action had ceased ; the fountain, no longer able to
throw out its burning stream from this high orifice,
had subsided, probably a thousand feet, and found
vent at the lower point where we had seen the flow
in our ascent.

We were now more than 12,000 feet above our
home, and sitting on the lip of this mountain mor-
tar, we could meditate on its recent thunder, and
seem to see the belching of its fire and smoke and
brimstone, while its stony hail lay heaped around us.
What a battle-field of infinite forces in these realms
of thunder and lightning, of stormy winds and hail
and snow, of rending earthquakes and devouring fires !

Sttnday on the Lava. 295

The source of this eruption is about midway be-
tween those of 1843 and 1852, and these three igne-
ous rivers ran in parallel lines about five miles apart.
This eruption was also only a few miles north of
Mokuaweoweo, the great summit crater, whose deep
cauldron has so often boiled with intense heat, and
whose brilliant fires have thrown a sheen of glory
over the firmament and lighted all eastern Hawaii.
Mokuaweoweo is probably the great chimney or shaft
which reaches the abyss of liquid lava below, and
which furnishes the materials for all the lateral out-
bursts of Mauna Loa, except for those of Kilauea,
which are independent eruptions.

It was evening before our explorations of the
surrounding scenery closed, and the next day was
Sunday. Unfortunately our guides had failed to
supply our gourds with water. We had passed pool
after pool, and had charged our natives to be sure
and fill the gourds in time, but they as often answer-
ed that there was plenty of water further on. In
this they were mistaken, and we reached our desti-
nation with only one quart of water for four persons.
But we agreed to spend the Lord's day and offer our
sacrifices of prayer and praise on this high altar.

It was cold and dreary, and our bed was hard and
rough lava, but raising a low wall of lava blocks, as
protection against the piercing night winds, we en-
dured cold and thirst until Monday morning, having

296 Life in Hawaii.

no fuel — we were above vegetation — and only one-
half -pint of water each from Saturday until the
afternoon of Monday.

In itself we would not have deemed it wrong to go
down the mountain on the Sabbath, but as our na-
tives are slow to discriminate and reason on points of
religion, and as multitudes in all parts of the islands
would be sure to hear that the teacher who had so
often dissuaded them from unnecessary labor on the
Lord's day had himself been traveling on that day,
it was prudent to give them no occasion to stumble
on this point. I have never regretted the self-denial.

October 8th we marched rapidly down to find water.
On our way we passed the famous cone of one mile
in circumference formed in 1852, and around the base
of this cone we found patches of white frost. So
painful was our thirst that we lay down and lapped
the frozen vapor. A little before noon we came to a
spring of pure, cold water, and here we sat and drank
abundantly. At evening we reached Kilauea, a dis-
tance of thirty-five miles from our morning position.
Here we rested, explored, etc., and on Thursday we
reached Hilo, well rewarded for the journey. It was
all the way on foot, the whole distance being over
100 miles.

On our return we found all Hilo in a state of
anxious suspense, and eager to hear what we had
seen and what were the probabilities that the erup-

Second Visit to the Lava- Stream. 297

tion would reach the town. The light of the blazing
forest was evidently drawing nearer and nearer daily,
but no one had as yet penetrated the dense thicket
of ferns and bramble and of tangled vines and fallen
trees. A few native bird-hunters had gone up some
distance into the forest, and climbed lofty trees to
prospect, and had reported the locality of the lower
end of the stream. I resolved to pierce the jungle
if possible, and on the 22d set off early in the
morning with an English gentleman who had offered
to accompany me, and with one of the natives who
had seen the fire from the tree-top. Upon entering
the woods we soon took the channel of a water-
course south of the Wailuku, and wading, leaping
from rock to rock, and crossing and recrossing a hun-
dred times to work our way along the margin, we
advanced at the rate of about two miles an hour.

Early in the day a cold and dreary rain set in, and
continued all that day and night. What with wading
and the falling rain, we were thoroughly soaked.
But action kept up our warmth, and we pressed on
that we might reach the fire before dark. Several
times in the afternoon our faithful guide climbed
trees in order to descry the fire, and to determine its
course and distance. The day declined, and we be-
gan to fear that we should be left to spend a dark
and cheerless night in the forest without light or fire.
At length, however, there was a welcome shout from

13*

298 Life in Hawaii.

the last tree climbed : " I see the fire ! it is on our
right, two miles distant. " We turned at right angles
to our previous course, left the water-channel, and
began to cut and beat our way through the thicket
under a fresh inspiration. At a little before sundown
we reached the lava river, two miles, perhaps, above
its terminus. When within a few rods of it, and we
saw its glaring light flashing upon us through the
jungle, my companion, who had never seen such a
sight, was startled, and inquired earnestly if we were
not in danger, and if the forest would not soon all be
on fire and consume us.

The place where we stood commanded a scene of
surpassing interest. We estimated the flow to be two
miles wide, and our view of it to extend about ten
miles, giving it some twenty square miles of area.
Perhaps three-fourths of the surface was solidified,
but hundreds or thousands of pools, and active fount-
ains and streams of lava boiled and glittered and
spouted, presenting a scene of marvelous brilliancy
and beauty.

The margin where we stood was hardened, but red-
hot ; open pools were within a few rods of us, and
cracks revealed the moving fusion below. In order
to warm ourselves, and partially to dry our soaked
garments, we stood as near the fire as we could bear
it, on a little knoll under a large tree about six feet
from the margin and as many feet above the stream.

The Lava- Stream in the Forest. 299

Here we prepared our supper, hanging a small tea-
kettle over the red-hot lava on a pole, and toasting our
ham and bread on a spit. Rain fell during most of the
night, and we could not lie down ; so, supporting our
backs against the trunk of a tree, we watched the mar-
velous scene until morning. The river of devouring fire
was moving slowly on toward Hilo, partly under cover
of its own hardened crust, and partly open to our sight.
Near the center of the flow was an open river, some
half a mile wide, forming a central channel of lava,
deeper and more active than the rest, while lateral
branches gushed out on both sides, and boiling- lakes
and spouting jets abounded.

Two miles below us, along the whole front of the
stream, a fiery edge, like the front of a war-column,
was consuming the jungle, and leaving the giant trees
standing in the burning flood to be brought down
and consumed in their turn. All night long we
watched this process. Trees of seventy feet in height
and three or four feet in diameter were not felled in
an hour, but were gradually gnawed off by the contin-
uous action of the igneous stream. A large number
of these trees fell, and we were often startled by
their crashing thunder, and amazed at their heavy
fall and plunge into the destroying .current. Here
they would lie until they took fire, and then startling
explosions would sometimes occur, and the livid

300 Life in Hawaii

flames would rush and roar while these Titans of
the forest were consumed.

The more rapidly-flowing lava often submerged the
trunks and branches of trees, and during the consum-
ing process the surface of the flood would be covered
with thousands of little points of purple and blue
flame of the burning gases coming up from below.

Great changes took place during the night. The
mountain furnace was in full blast, and millions of
cubic feet of lava were rushing down in the pyro-
ducts to replenish this river and to push it onward to
the sea. The surface of the stream before us was
constantly heaving and changing under the force of
these fiery dynamics. Large fields of the solidified
crust would break up like ice on a great river in
spring-time, and melt. There were detonations at
various points, and the uplifting and cracking of the
crust would call our attention from one point to an-
other, while we noted that the whole surface of the
flow seemed to be rising like a river in a freshet.
The hot and hardened lava near us, where we had
warmed our feet, dried our clothes, and cooked our
supper, had been melted, and a superincumbent
stratum of liquid fire had raised it nearly six feet, so
that its surface was nearly on a level with our hillock.
Lateral streams, like skirmishers, were being pushed
out, new fountains were opening, and vertical jets
were leaping and dancing before us like ghosts in

Driven Out by the Fire, 301

flame. A tree fell within a few yards of us ; and
finally we heard the crackling of the brambles just
on our left — a small stream of lava, like a fiery ser-
pent, was creeping along behind us, while the rising
stream on our right was about to go over the bank,
and thus we were threatened to be surrounded by a
ring of fire.

It was nearly daylight, and the rain and cold con-
tinued, but the call to retreat was imperative. We
withdrew to the rear. In about ten minutes more
our nest was covered with a fiery flood, our shelter-
ing tree stood in the midst of it, and the flames were
running up its clinging vines and leaping among its
branches.

I had determined to find, if possible, some place
where we could cross over the lava-stream and go
down to Hilo on the other, or north side. Working
our way along the southern margin, and searching for
some point where it should be so nearly crusted over
that by zigzagging we might reach the opposite side,
we at length ventured, my companion and our guide
following me closely. We made a serpentine track,
winding up and down, and often diverging from our
course to avoid open pools and streams. But the
hardened surface was swelling and heaving around us
by the upheaving pressure of the lava below, and
valves were continually opening, out of which the
molten flood gushed and flowed on every side.

302 Life in Hawaii.

Not a square rod could be found on all this wide
expanse where the glowing fusion could not be seen
under our feet through holes and cracks in the
crust on which we were walking. After venturing
some thirty rods upon this sea of fire, we saw just
before us an open channel of seething lava, some
three hundred feet wide, and whose extreme length
above and below we could not see or measure. Of
course there was no alternative but to beat a retreat,
and we worked our way back to the place whence we
started.

To many it may seem strange that any one should
venture into such a place ; but to a person familiar with
the movements of these igneous masses, the danger
is not alarming. Fused rock is heavy and of great
consistency, and when left quiet for a time under the
atmosphere its surface stiffens and congeals, so that
I have often walked on a flow that had been liquid
only five hours before. We returned to Hilo to
report.

Still the eruption made steady progress toward the
town, felling the forest, filling up ravines and depres-
sions, and licking up the streams and basins of water
in its way. It reached the banks of the Wailuku, and
lateral arms were thrown out into the river. Again I
visited the scene of action. Several ship-masters and
other gentlemen wished to join me, and my two
daughters begged that they also might go. The dis-

The Advance of the Lava. 303

tance had been lessened to about fifteen miles, and
after patient toil over rocky precipices and wearisome
obstructions, we reached the flow before nightfall. A
furious line of lava marked the lower end of the
stream, gushing out at white heat from under the
crust that covered it for miles above. This igneous
stream had fallen into a stream of water, and the
conflict between the elements was fierce.. The water
boiled with raging fury, but the fire prevailed, send-
ing up spiral columns of steam and filling the chan-
nel. To those to whom the sight was new, it was
overwhelming.

Near the margin of the flow we found a lava oven,
red-hot, but not fused, and near this, on account of
the cold, we made our lodging for the night. In the
morning we retraced our steps to Hilo.

When the advancing stream was within ten miles
of the shore, I pushed through the woods again,
accompanied by one native, to the lower line of the
flow. Here we found an advanced stream which had
fallen into a dry wady, and was coming rapidly down
to a precipice of some seventy feet, over which it
continued to pour from 2 P.M. until 10 A.M. of the
next day. My guide and I took seats upon the rocky
roof of a cavern in the center of the channel, some
distance below the lava cataract. Here we had a
grand front view of the scene during the whole night.
The fusion was divided by rocks into two streams,

304 Life in Hawaii.

and these descended in continuous sheets through the
night — where we were there was no night — filling up
the deep basin below, and changing the nearly per-
pendicular precipice into an inclined plane of about
four degrees angle. This great cavity being filled,
the lava began to flow down the channel where we had
established our observatory. The channel was full of
boulders and very rough, so that we sat undisturbed
for some time ; but when the fusion began to enter
the cavern on whose roof we were perched, and we
heard subterranean thuds, we were admonished to
seek other quarters.

As the weeks went on, I made several other visits
to this lava stream — eight, I think, in all — marking its
rate of progress and its varied phenomena, and con-
cluding, with many others, that its entrance into our
town and harbor was only a question of time, unless
the blast of the awful furnace on the mountain
should cease.

As the flood of consuming fire came nearer and
nearer, the anxiety in Hilo became intense. Its ap-
proach was the great subject of conversation. In the
streets, in the shops, and in our homes, the one ques-
tion was, " What of the volcano ? " Watchers were
out keeping vigils during the livelong night. Mer-
chants began to pack their goods, and people looked
out for boats and other conveyances, and for places
of refuge to escape the impending ruin. Every

Alarm in Hilo. 305

house near the lower skirt of the forest was evacuated,
and all the furniture and animals removed to places
of safety. Our inland streams were choked, and the
river which waters our town and supplies ships was
as black as ink, and emitted an offensive odor. The
juices of vines, and the ashes of thousands of acres of
burnt forests containing charred leaves and wood
came into these streams, and the smell of pyroligne-
ous acid was strong. By day the smoke went up like
the smoke of Sodom. By night the flames arose and
spread out on high like a burning firmament. We
thought we could calculate very nearly the day when
Hilo would be on fire, when our beautiful harbor
would be a pit of boiling fury, to be choked with
volcanic products and abandoned forever. What
could we do ?

The devouring enemy was within seven miles of
us, his fiery lines extending two miles in width. Al-
ready had it descended on its devastated track fifty
or sixty miles, persistently overcoming every obstacle ;
the little distance remaining was all open, and no hu-
man power could set up any barriers, or arrest the
on-coming destroyer.

All knew what we could not do. Some one said :
" We can pray "; and I have never seen more rever-
ent audiences than those that assembled on our day
of fasting and prayer. No vain mirth, no scoffing,
no skepticism then. Native and foreigner alike felt it

06 Life in Hawaii.

was well to pray to Him who kindled the fire, that
He would quench it.

On the 1 2th of February, only a few days after
this, a party of fifty or sixty foreigners was made up
to visit the eruption, then about six miles from the
town. A United States frigate with her commodore
was in our harbor, and seven or eight whale-ships.
Visitors were also here from Honolulu, and eight
wives of ship-masters were boarders in the town. It
was a great muster ; the cavalcade of ladies and gen-
tlemen included the commodore and his suite, law-
yers, judges, sheriff, merchants, ship-masters, etc.

A way had been opened for horses through the
thicket by natives hired for the occasion, so that we
might ride nearly to the margin of the flow.

The morning on which we started was radiant with
beauty ; and as we advanced, natives, catching the
inspiration, turned out in troops, and it was supposed
a hundred joined us.

We met in an opening in the forest, some distance
from the main stream, but opposite an active flow
of lava that had shot ahead down the channel of a
rivulet. A number of the company desired to see the
main flow in its breadth, and with these I proposed to
advance two or three miles, while those who remained
were to follow a trail which the natives would open,
and prepare a camp near the margin of the stream.
We returned about sunset and found the camp de-

A Pleasure Party Demoralized. 307

moralized. The party had pursued the trail as direct-
ed, but at sight of the glowing fires which were rush-
ing down in volume had taken fright, turned back
on their track and fled deeper into the forest.

The commodore retreated at discretion, ordered
his horse hastily, vaulted into the saddle, and taking
one or two of his officers sped down the hill, out of
the wroods, over the rocks and through streams and
mud, never halting until he had reached the shore.

The frightened ladies and children wandered here
and there, bewildered in the forest, and it was mid-
night before the stragglers were all brought into
camp. Most of them were then so terrified that they
could not be persuaded to approach nearer to the
burning river ; but those who were reassured and
ventured to join the party of observation were well
repaid. Through the energy of a ship-master, a
fine topsail canvas tent had been set up on a high
bank of the water-channel overlooking a deep basin,
into which a cascade was falling from a height of thirty-
nine feet, and our position commanded the channel
for half a mile. The fiery stream, perhaps seventy*-
five feet wide, filled the whole channel and drove the
boiling water before it, burning the bushes and vines
and ferns along the banks as it approached the
fall. Down plunged the molten lava, moving like a
serpent into the depths of the basin, covering the
whole surface with enormous bubbles. A dense steam

308 Life in Hawaii.

which rolled upward in convolving clouds of fleecy
whiteness floated away upon the wind. Sometimes
the glare of the fire would so fall upon the cloud of
vapor as to produce the appearance of flame mingled
with blood, and again the quivering and dancing of
countless prismatic colors. By break of day there was
not a drop of water left in this basin ; the space was
filled with smouldering lavas, and the precipice, which
had reared itself at an angle of 8o°, was converted into
a gently sloping plane. A large slab of lava crust was
tilted, and stood as a monument of the accomplished
work ; the flow ceased, a little red-hot lava was seen
amidst the smouldering heaps of rocky coal, and from
that day the fearful flood did not come another foot
toward Hilo.

This was six months after the commencement of
the eruption on the mountain. Above this pool,
where the action ceased so suddenly, was the broad
river of one to two miles wide which supplied the
flow ; and this also ceased to move toward Hilo, at
the same time leaving a breastwork of indurated lava
some twenty-five feet high across the whole terminus
of the stream.

But what is most marvelous, confounding our
geology, is the fact that for nine months longer,
or until November, 1856, after the arrest of the
flow toward our town, the great terminal furnace
on Mauna Loa was in full blast, sending down

The Course of the Lava- Flow. 309

billions of cubic feet of molten rock in covered
channels, and depositing it near the lower end of
the stream, but without pushing beyond its breast-
works. This lava gushed out laterally along the mar-
gins of the stream, or burst up vertically, rending
the crust, throwing it about in wild confusion, or
heaping it into cones and ridges a hundred feet
high, as monuments of its fury. I have mounted
some of these cones, finding them cracked from base
to top in fissures six to eight feet apart, but so firm
that I could walk to their summits and look down in
the seams on the right and left, and see the red-hot
lava glow like burning coals in a coal-pit, sending out
deadly blasts of acid gases.

At many points for miles above the terminus,
pools, lakes, and streams of liquid fire were scattered
over the square miles of aa and immense fields of pa-
hoehoe, boiling, seething, and flowing during the nine
months that followed February 13th. During all this
time the water of the Wailuku was so discolored,
and so offensive in taste and smell, that ships refused
it, and it was disused by the residents — and in some
of the lovely woodland rills the water became black
like ink.

During this eruption Prof. J. D. Dana wrote to me
requesting that I would ascertain on how great an
angle of descent lavas would flow without breaking,
as some scientists affirmed that a continuous stream

3io Life in Hawaii.

could not flow down an angle of more than five de-
grees. I took pains to measure accurately on one of
my excursions, and found lava flowing continuously
on declivities of from one to ninety degrees. I also
noted that our Hawaiian volcanoes send out streams
of such perfect fusion that they will run like oil down
any angle, and even cleave like paste to an inward
curve of the rock and form a thin veneering upon it.

Another question arose : Can a lava stream flow
for many miles longitudinally upon the surface, with-
out being fed by vents or fissures from below? Of
course no one will dispute the fact that fusion pour-
ing down a steep mountain-side will rush for miles
with such rapidity that it can not cool in its descent
so as to stop its progress. But can it push for-
ward over broad fields of almost level surface ? I
have answered this question thus : 1st, On ascending
the mountain to view an eruption I see no evidence
of deep fractures until we are more than two-thirds
the way to the summit.

2d. Where there is an opening extending down to the
fiery abyss below, there will, I think, always be a col-
umn of mineral smoke ascending to mark the spot, so
long as action continues. This is true of Kilauea, and
it is also true of all the eruptions I have observed. We
see continuous volumes of smoke ascending from the
terminal crater on Mauna Loa, and others near the
terminus of the stream where the fusion is gushing

The Supply of Lava Streams. 3 1 1

out from under its hardened surface. The smoke at
the fountain is mineral, while that below is from
vegetable matter. These two kinds of smoke are
distinguishable by the smell ; and the mineral smoke
is nowhere continuously emitted along the line of the
lava-stream, however extended that may be ; it is
characteristic of the lava-source.

3d. I have often surveyed, for distances of five to
twenty miles, the ground upon which eruptions were
approaching, and have seen the burning floods come
on, covering to-day the ground on which I traveled
yesterday, and consuming the hut where I slept.
Their manner of progress is so familiar to me that it
is difficult to see how I can be mistaken in thinking
that our longest lava-streams maintain themselves
wholly from the source, and are not fed from fissures
beneath their course.

This eruption of 1855-6 gave us an example of
the. law of compensation. Repeated efforts had been
made to open a road for horses through the great
central forest of Hawaii. It is probably a moderate
estimate to say that ten thousand days of native labor
had been expended on the enterprise. But the road
was abandoned long ago, after having been carried
about ten miles from the shore, and in a few years it
was covered with jungle. This eruption consumed the
forest to within a mile of the lower skirt of it an
bridle-path has been made to the (low, and upon this

312 Life in Hawaii.

hardened stream animals have been taken through an
opened passage to Waimea and Kohala. With proper
effort a convenient road might be made upon this
lava-field, so as to shorten greatly the distance to the
western side of the island.

As before mentioned, surface lava exposed to the
atmosphere crusts over before running very far, unless
it is moving with great velocity, as down steep de-
scents. This process of refrigeration so protects the
liquid below that it flows onward at white-heat, it
may be, until obstructed, when it gushes out on the
margins, or bursts up vertically. On plains where the
movement is slow the obstructions are more numer-
ous and*the force required to overcome them is less ;
this accounts for the lateral spreadings, the upliftings
and the thousand irregularities which diversify the
ever-changing surface of the lava-flow.

XXII.

The Eruption of 1868 from Kilauea — The March
and April Earthquakes — Land-Slips — Destruction
of Life and Property — The Lava- Stream Bursts
from Underground — The Volcanic Waves of A ugust,
1868, and of May, 1877.

ROM time immemorial earthquakes have been
common on Hawaii. We have felt the jar of
thousands. Most of these shocks have been harmless.
A few have broken a little crockery, cracked plastering,
and thrown down stone walls.

But on the 27th of March, 1868, a series of
remarkable earthquakes commenced. Kilauea was
unusually full and in vehement action. Day after
day from March 27th and onward, shocks were frequent,
and growing more and more earnest. At 4 P.M.,
April 2d, a terrific shock rent the ground, sending
consternation through all Hilo, Puna, and Kau. lit
some places fissures of great length, breadth, and
depth were opened. Rocks of twenty to fifty tons
were sent thundering down from the walls of Kilauea,
and massive, boulders were torn from hill-sides and
14 (3i3)

314 Life in Hawaii.

sent crashing down upon the plains and valleys be-
low. Stone houses were rent and ruined, and stone
walls sent flying in every direction. Horses and
men were thrown to the ground ; houses tilted from
their foundations ; furniture, hardware, crockery,
books and bottles, and all things movable in houses
were dashed hither and thither, as of no account. It
seemed as if the ribs and the pillars of the earth were
being shattered.

I was sitting, as at the present moment, at my
study-table, when a fearful jerk startled me, and be-
fore I could arise, a jar still more terrible caused me
to rush for the stairs, and while going down, such a
crash shook the house that I supposed the roof had
fallen.

Going out of doors, I found my wife standing at a
distance from the house, watching with an intense
gaze its swaying and trembling, while the ground rose
and sank like waves, and there was no place stable
where hand or foot could rest.

When the shocks intermitted a little, I went up-
stairs to witness a scene of wild confusion. A large
bookcase, seven feet high by four wide, with glass
doors, and filled with books, lay prostrate on the floor
near where I had been sitting, with the glass broken
into a thousand pieces.

My study-table, eight feet long, and loaded with
large volumes, was thrown out from the wall into the

The Hill- Tops Shaken Off. 3 1 5

center of the room, with one leg broken square off,
and the books and papers scattered on the floor.
Another bookcase, fastened to the wall, was rent from
its fastenings and thrown out near the table, and
three of the sleepers which supported the floor were
broken by the fall of the case.

The shaking continued all night, and most or all of
the Hilo people spent the night out of doors, fearing
to remain in their houses. Some said they counted a
thousand shocks before morning, and so rapid were
these shocks, that the earth seemed to be in a con-
tinuous quiver, like a ship in a battle.

But the heaviest blows fell on Kau, the district lying
south of us on the other side of Kilauea. There the
earth was rent in a thousand places, and along the
foot-hills of Mauna Loa a number of land-slips were
shaken off from steep places, and thrown down with
soil, boulders, and trees. In one place a slide of half
a mile in width was started on a steep inclined plane,
till, coming to a precipice of some 700 feet, on an
angle of about seventy degrees, the vast avalanche,
mixing with the waters of a running stream and
several springs, was pitched down this precipice, re-
ceiving such fearful momentum as to carry it three
miles in as many minutes. Ten houses, with thirty-
one souls and five hundred head of cattle were buried
instantly, and not one of them has been recovered.

I measured this avalanche and found it just three

1 6 Life in Hawaii.

miles long, one-half a mile wide at the head, and of a
supposed average depth of twenty feet.

At the same time the sea rose twenty feet along
the southern shore of the island, and in Kau 108
houses were destroyed and forty-six people drowned,
making a loss of 118 houses and seventy-seven lives
in that district, during this one hour. Many houses
were also destroyed in Puna, but no lives were lost.
During this awful hour the coast of Puna and Kau,
for the distance of seventy-five miles, subsided seven
feet on the average, submerging a line of small
villages all along the shore. One of my rough stone
meeting-houses in Puna, where we once had a congre-
gation of 500 to 1,000, was swept away with the in-
flux of the sea, and its walls are now under water.
Fortunately there was but one stone building in Hilo,
our prison ; that fell immediately. Had our coast been
studded with cities built of stone and brick, the de-
struction of life and property would have been terrific.

This terrible earthquake was evidently caused by
the subterraneous flow of the lavas from Kilauea, for
the bottom of the crater sank rapidly hundreds of
feet, as ice goes down when the water beneath it is
drawn off. The course and the terminus of this flow
were indicated by fissures, steam, and spouting of
lava-jets along the whole line from Kilauea to Ka-
huku in Western Kau, a distance of forty miles, and
I have found foldings and faults in several places.

The Outbursting of the Lava. 317

During these days of subterranean passage, the
earth was in a remarkable state of unrest ; shocks
were frequent, and it was asserted by trustworthy
witnesses that, in several places, the ragings of the
subterranean river were heard by listeners who put
their ears to the ground.

On the 7th of April the lava burst out from the
ground in Kahuku, nine miles from the sea, and flowed
rapidly down to the shore. The place of outbreak
was in a wood on one of the foot-hills of Mauna Loa.
Travellers bound to Hilo came up to this flow on the
west side, and were not able to cross it, but were
obliged to return to Kona and come via Waimea, a
circuit of one hundred and seventy miles. A fissure
of a mile long was opened for the disgorgement of
this igneous river, and from the whole length of this
orifice the lava rushed up with intense vehemence,
spouting jets one hundred to two hundred feet high,
burning the forest and spreading out a mile wide.
The rending, the raging, the swirling of this stream
were terrific, awakening awe in all the beholders.

Flowing seaward, it came to a high precipice which
ran some seven miles toward the shore, varying in
height from two hundred to seven hundred feet, and
separating a high fertile plain, of a deep and rich soil
on the left or eastern side, from a wide field of pah
hoe hundreds of feet below on the right or western side.

Before the flow reached this precipice it sent out

Life in Hawaii.

three lateral streams upon the grassy plain above,
which ran a few miles, and ceased without reaching
the sea. But the larger portion of the igneous river,
or its main trunk, moved in a nearly straight line
toward the shore, pouring over the upper end of the
precipice upon the plain below, and dividing into
two streams which ran parallel to each other, some
hundred feet apart, until they plunged into the sea.
These streams flowed four days, causing the waves to
boil with great violence, and raising two large tufa
cones in the water at their termini. They formed a
long, narrow island, on which they enclosed thirty
head of cattle, which were thus surrounded before
they were aware of their danger, and it was ten days
before the lava was hard enough to allow them to be
taken out of their prison. During this time they had
no water, and were almost maddened by the smoke
and heat. Several cattle were also surrounded on
the upper grassy plain, where they were lying down
to ruminate or to sleep.

The owner of the ranch, with his wife and a large
family of children, was living in a pleasant house sur-
rounded by a wall, with a fine garden of trees and
plants, near the center of this beautiful grassy plain,
and while sleeping at night, unconscious of danger,
one of these lateral streams came creeping softly and
silently like a serpent toward them, until within
twenty yards of the house, when a sudden spout of

Shut In by the Lava. 319

lava aroused them and all fled with frightened precip-
itation, taking neither " purse or scrip," but leaving
all to the devouring fire. The lady was so overwhelm-
ed with terror that had it not been for her husband
on one side and another gentleman on the other, she
must have fallen and perished in the lava.

The family, crossing a small ravine, rested a few
moments on a hill near by. In ten minutes after
crossing the ravine it was filled with liquid fire. Their
escape was marvelous. In a few minutes the house
was wrapped in flames, the garden was consumed, and
all the premises were covered with a burning sea.

A little farther down this green lawn was the hut
of a native Hawaiian. As the fiery flood came
within fifty feet of it, it suddenly parted, one arm
sweeping around one side of the house and the other
around the opposite side, and uniting again left the
building on a small plat of ground, of some three-quar-
ters of an acre, surrounded by a wall of fusion. In
this house five souls were imprisoned ten days with
no power to escape. All their food and water were
exhausted. Small fingers of lava often came under
the house ; it was a little grass hut, and they were
obliged to beat out the fire with clubs and stamp it
with their feet.

Piles of burning scoria were heaped around this
house, as high as the caves, and in sonic places within
ten feet of it. I afterward visited this house, and

320 Life in Hawaii.

found its inmates alive and rejoicing in their deliver-
ance.

A little further on, and this lava stream came near
the ruins of a stone church, which had been shaken
down by the earthquake of April 2d. The walls were
a heap of ruins, and the roof and timbers were piled
upon the stones. Again the flood opened to the right
and left, swept close to the debris of the church, and
united again below, leaving all unconsumed.

The same earthquake demolished a large stone
church in Waiohinu, the central and most important
mission-station in Kau, and so rent the house of the
pastor, the Rev. John F. Pogue, that he, with his
family, fled to the hills, and soon after left the district
to return no more. Other homes also were left deso-
late, the terrified inmates seeking abodes elsewhere.

On the 14th of August, 1868, a remarkable rise and
fall of the sea commenced in our harbor, and con-
tinued for three days. The oscillation, or the influx
and efflux of the waves occupied only ten minutes,
and the rise and fall of the water was only three to
four feet. What rendered this motion of the water
remarkable was its long continuance, and the short
intervals of the rise and fall with no apparent cause.

Another volcanic wave fell upon Hilo on the morn-
ing of the 10th of May, 1877. From a letter written
by my wife" I copy the following extracts descriptive

* Mrs. L. B. Coan.

Another Volcanic Wave. 321

of the event: "A chilly, cheerless night shuts down
upon a day that has had no parallel in kind in
my previous experiences. I was just rousing from
quiet slumbers this morning, not long after five, when
heavy knocking at our door hastened me to it. There
stood Kanuku, almost wild with excitement, and so
breathless she could hardly give form to the words
she poured forth ; but I gathered their substance. A
volcanic wave had swept in upon the shore ; houses
were going down, and people were hurrying mauka
(inland) with what of earthly goods they could carry.

" We hastened to the beach. People on foot and
on horseback were hurrying in all directions ; men
with chests and trunks on their backs, women with
bundles of bedding and clothing under which they
staggered, grandmothers with three or four year
old children on their shoulders, and mothers with
little babes, all in quest of safety and a place to
lodge their burdens. Arrived at the foot of our
street what a sight we beheld ! Houses were lifted
off their under-pinning and removed a fathom or
more — some had tumbled in sad confusion and lay
prone in the little ponds that remained of the sea in
various depressed places. Riders at breakneck speed
from Waiakea brought word of still more complete
ruin there; the bridge, they said, was gone.

"We walked on toward the Wailama, Then a
shout, and we looked back to see the waves rising

14*

322 Life in Hawaii.

and surging landward, so we dared not linger, but
turned on our track, for a better chance of escape
should the sea again overpass its bounds.

" People wading in water where their homes had
stood half an hour before, gathering up goods soaked
by the brine, and begrimed with mud, men in wet
garments who had had to swim for their lives, and
women with terror in their faces caught up the re-
frain of a death-wail that reached our ears from the
region of Kanae's place, and the word flew from lip
to lip that old Kaipo was missing. Asleep, with
Kanae's babe pillowed near her when the wave came
upon them, she had wakened, and hastening out of
the house found herself in deep water. Holding the
little one above her head, she had courage and
strength to keep it safe till the mother swam for it,
and then, no one knows how, the old woman was
swept out to sea, and hours after, the body was
found at Honori.

" About nine o'clock, the rain which had come in in-
frequent light flurries before, began to pour in earnest,
and has fallen in such pitiless inclemency through the
day, that it has added to the discomforts of the poor,
homeless wanderers, and to the general gloom that
hangs over our little town.

" Mr. Coan has been out much of the time here and
there with words of sympathy and comfort. Rebec-
ca Nakuina told me the natives said they were safe

Havoc in Hilo Bay. 323

wherever he was. One poor old man came to our
door and asked in most pathetic tones if it was true
that Mr. Coan had said that at noon there would be
another and heavier wave, and went away comforted
when assured that he had not.

"A large barque at anchor in our harbor was
tossed about most marvelously at the very mercy
of every efflux and reflux wave. For hours she
writhed under this restless tossing, one moment
pointing her prow toward Puna, and the next in the
opposite direction, running back and forth the full
length of her cable, like a weavers shuttle, some-
times careening so far that we feared the next mo-
ment to see her on her beam ends, and then strug-
gling to right herself, and for a little recovering her
usual position, only to repeat these movements.

" May nth. The birds sang and the sun shone this
morning, as if there were no sorrow here. But it was
a great blessing that the day was fair ; the sunshine
was needed for heart-warmth and for drying what of
clothing and household effects had been collected
from the mud and slime in which they were found.

" We went over the same ground on the nearest
beach that we visited yesterday, only to realize more
fully the wild havoc that had been made.

" What shall I say of what we saw on the other side
of the bay! If I tell you that Mr. Coan was bewil-
dered, seeing no familiar object by which to get his

324 Life in Hawaii.

bearings, so that he exclaimed : ' Where are we ! ' you
will understand something of what destruction must
have gone on there. But unseen it can not be real-
ized, the dreariness and desolation of a little region
that was so late one of Hilo's prettiest suburbs. Not
a house standing on all that frontage. Waiakea
bridge had been carried a hundred rods or more
from its abutments. Even the little church had
been set back some two hundred feet, tolling its bell
as it went, while the lunas house that before nestled
under the shade of the pride of India trees on the
grassy bank had borne it company, and fallen into
shapeless ruin at the very side of the almost unin-
jured church.

" At this spot the people began to gather about us,
so sorrowful in their homelessness, that their voices
and ours choked as we exchanged ' alohas/ Some
of them led the way to a hut, too small to be a shel-
ter, but under whose low roof we found a mother sit-
ting by the corpse of her little one that the waters
had not spared to her. Close on one side, an old
man lay groaning with the pain of fractured ribs and
a broken leg, and on the other side, a heap of some-
thing, I could hardly tell what at first, lifted a bat-
tered head to tell us how he had been thrown upon
the rocks and they had bruised his skull.

" An Englishman's escape from death seems won-
derful. We visited him and found him suffering

Losses of Life and Property. 325

greatly, but able between groans and gaspings for
breath to tell us something of his experience.

u i I got caught, sir,' he said. ' I should have escaped
if I hadn't gone back after my money; when I came
down-stairs the roller had hit the house, and before I
could get out of the door, the house had fallen upon
me. I was dreadfully bruised, and you see, sir, as the
wave took the house inland, it kept surging about
with me in it, and getting new knocks all the while/
* And what of the money — was it saved ? ' ' Oh, no.
sir, it all went, six hundred dollars. It was all I had,
and I am stripped now and I'm past working, sev-
enty-seven years old.' Kneeling by the poor man,
Mr. Coan offered an earnest prayer. We left him
feeling that he was very likely past working much
longer.

" Five lives have been lost ; twenty persons are more
or less injured. Forty-four dwellings are demolished,
and one hundred and sixty-three people left home-
less, their means of procuring sustenance snatched
from them. Had the wave fallen in the darkness of
the night, many more must have perished. Daylight
revealed the almost silent approach of the danger, and
most had time to flee. I am thankful, if it must hap-
pen, that this has occurred before our going down to
Honolulu, so that Mr. Coan is among his people to
comfort and direct them. Only a few Sabbaths a
he preached a sermon on laying Up treasure where

326 Life in Hawaii,

thieves could not break through and steal. Who
thought then of this thief? ','

Deep sympathy was awakened in our whole com-
munity for those who suffered by this calamity. Food,
clothing, blankets, were given in abundance. The
report of the disaster spread over the islands, and help
came from every quarter. His Excellency John
Dominis, Governor of Oahu, and Her Royal High-
ness Lydia Dominis, the king's sister, were commis-
sioned to come to our aid with the donations from
Honolulu. A judicious distribution of money, cloth-
ing, lumber, etc., was made among the people, and
thus encouraged they went cheerfully to work, and in
a few months most of the losses were repaired ; better
houses were built, and the sufferers seemed more pros-
perous than before.

They now annually commemorate the 10th of May
by a religious festival and a thanksgiving offering to
the treasury of the Lord.

XXIII.

The Eruption of 1 880-1881 — Hilo Threatened as
Never Before — A Day of Public Prayer — Visitors
to the Lava-Flozv — It Approaches within a Mile of
the Shore — Hope Abandoned — After Nine Months
the Action Suddenly Abates — The Deliverance —
The Mechanism of a Great Lava- Flow — An Idola-
ter Dislodged — Conclusion.

ON the 5th of November, 1880, our latest erup-
tion from Mauna Loa broke out at a point
some 12,000 feet above sea-level, and a few miles
north of the' great terminal crater, Mokua-weo-weo.
The glare was intense, and was seen at great dis-'
tances. Brilliant jets of lava were thrown high in the
air, and a pillar of blazing gases mounted thousands
of feet skyward, spreading out into a canopy of san-
guinary light which resembled, though upon a larger
scale, the so-called " pine-tree appendage " formed over
Vesuvius during its eruptions by the vertical column of
vapors with its great horizontal cloud.

Meanwhile a raging river of lava, about three-
fourths of a mile wide and from fifteen to thirty feet
deep, rushed down the north-east flank of the

328 Life in Hawaii,

dome, and ran some thirty miles to the base of Mau-
na Kea. This stream was composed mostly of aa or
scoria. Its terminus was visited and well described
by our townsman, David Hitchcock, Esq. This flow
hardened and ceased ; but a stream of pahoehoe or
field lava was now sent off to the south-east, toward
Kilauea. The roaring furnace on Mauna Loa re-
mained in full blast. Down came a third river of
lava, in several channels, flowing in the direction of
Hilo. This divided itself in places and reunited, leav-
ing islands in the forest. This stream crossed the flow
of 1855-56, followed its south-east margin, and fell
into our great upland forest in a column from one to
two miles wide. There was the sound as of a con-
tinuous cannonading as the lava moved on, rocks ex-
ploding under the heat, and gases shattering their
way from confinement. We could hear the explo-
sions in Hilo ; it was like the noise of battle. Day
and night the ancient forest was ablaze, and the scene
was vivid beyond description. By the 25th of March
the lava was within seven miles of Hilo, and steadily
advancing. Until this time we had hoped that Hilo
would not be threatened. But the stream pursued
its way. By the 1st of June it was within five miles
of us, and its advance, though slow, was persistent.
It had now descended nearly fifty miles from its
source, and the action on Mauna Loa was unabated.
The outlook was fearful ; a day of public humiliation

The Eruption of 1 880-81. 329

and prayer was observed, as during the eruption of
1855. But still the lava moved onward, heading
straight for Hilo. One arm of the stream was now
easily accessible on its northern margin, and two more
were moving in the deep jungle so far to the south
that visitors had not the time or patience to penetrate
to them. It now began to appear that should these
streams unite no trace of Hilo, or of Hilo harbor, would
remain. Some of our people were calm ; others were
horror-stricken. Some packed up their goods and sent
them to Honolulu or elsewhere, and some abandoned
their houses.

Visitors to the stream were now frequent ; and the
crater on Mauna Loa was reached, on a third attempt,
by the Rev. Mr. Baker, of Hilo. Were I twenty
years younger, I should have been on the mountain-
top also, but my time to climb such rugged heights
is past.

The northerly wing of the stream now hardened,
clogging the channel in which the lava was taking its
way toward the center of our town. But this check
gave additional power to the south-east wing, so that
on the 26th of June, a fierce stream broke out from
the great lava pond and came rushing down the rocky
channel of a stream with terrific force and uproar, ex-
ploding rocks and driving off the waters. Hilo was
in trouble. We were now in immediate clanger. The
lava, confined in the water-channel of from fifty to a

33<D Life in Hawaii.

hundred feet wide, advanced so rapidly that by the
30th of June it was not more than two and a half
miles from us, threatening to strike Volcano Street
about a quarter of a mile from Church Street, .on
which I live, and to fall into our harbor about mid-
way of the beach. The stream was fearfully active,
and the danger was now close upon us. From the
town we could walk up to the living lava in forty
minutes, and back again in thirty. A hundred peo-
ple would sometimes visit it in a day. Its roar, on
coming down the rough and rocky bed of the ravine,
was like that of our Wailuku River during a freshet,
but a deeper and grander sound. Explosions and de-
tonations were frequent ; I counted ten in a minute.
The glare of it by night was terrific. The daily prog-
ress of the flow was now from one hundred to five
hundred feet.

When I visited the stream on the 18th of July, I
saw a scerte like this : Troops of boys and girls, young
men and women, were watching the flow. They
plunged poles into the viscid lava as it urged itself
slowly onward ; drawing out small lumps of the ad-
hering fusion, they moulded it, before it had time to
cool, into various forms at will. They made cups,
canes, vases, tubes, and other articles out of this mol-
ten clay, and these they sold to visitors and strangers
at from twenty-five cents to a dollar or more for a
specimen. All went away with fresh spoils from the

The Lava within Half a Mile of Hilo. 331

spoiler. An artist was there, who had taken sketches
in oil ; and the photographer has been upon the spot.
Our town was now crowded with visitors from all
parts of the. Islands, from our Princess Regent, sister
of the king, then absent, to the least of his subjects.
Many spent entire nights upon the banks of the lava
river.

Just in front of one of its branches a stone wall
five feet high was built, in hope of protecting the
great Waiakea sugar-mill, for which this arm of the
flow was heading. It was not a broad or heavy arm,
but it was followed up by a column of fusion which
no engineering could turn aside. This small advance
stream came within a yard or two of the wall, paused
there, and fell asleep in its shadow. At a single point
the viscid mass, about two feet deep, struck the wall.
There it rested a little, until, being supplied with fresh
lava from behind, it heaped itself up against the bar-
rier, poured over it, and then stiffened and solidified.
It now hangs there, a sheet of vitreous drapery, mark-
ing the limit of the flow in that direction. Judge
Severance dug a moat around the Hilo prison, with
an embankment seven or eight feet high, hoping to
avert the necessity of a general jail-delivery ; but any
considerable body of lava of course defies every ob-
struction. We made no preparations, however, for
quitting our house.

The flood came on until all agreed that in two or

332 Life in Hawaii.

three days more it would be pouring into our beauti-
ful bay. On the ioth of August it was but one mile
from the sea, and half a mile from Hilo town. On
that day, nine months and five days from the outburst-
ing of the great eruption, when hope had perished in
nearly every heart, the action began to abate. The
raging flood, the steam, the smoke, the noise of the
flow were checked ; and in a day or two the great red
dragon lay stiffened and harmless upon the borders of
our village. The relief was unspeakable.

On the 13th of August I visited the flow for the
fifth time, and felt radiating heat, but saw no more
liquid lava. But the great pall of the eruption lay
upon the land for fifty miles. I estimate that the
lava-stream covered a hundred square miles of mount-
ain, forest, and farm, land, to an average depth of
twenty-five feet — enough to cover the State of Con-
necticut to a depth of six inches. No exact measure-
ments, however, have yet been made.

I may add a word upon the curious process by which
this lava flow, like others, has made its way over so
great a distance from its source. The average slope
of Mauna Loa is seven degrees ; but this is made up
of secondary slopes, varying from one to twenty de- .
grees. As the lava first rushes down the steeper incli-
nations it flows uncovered ; but its surface soon hard-
ens, forming a firm, thick crust like ice on a river, and
under this crust the torrent runs highly fluid, and retain-

How the Lava- Stream Makes Progress. $$$

ing nearly all of its heat. In this pyroduct, if I may
so call it, the lava stream may pour down the mountain-
side for a year or more, flowing unseen, except where
openings in the roof of its. covered way reveal it.

When the molten river reaches the more level
highlands at the base of the mountain, it moves more
slowly, and sometimes spreads out into lakes of miles
in diameter. The surface of it soon hardens ; the
lavas below are sealed within a rigid crust that con-
fines them on every side. Their onward progress is
thus checked for hours or days. But as the tremen-
dous pressure of the stream behind increases, the
crust is rent, and the liquid lava bursts out and gush-
es forward or laterally for a hundred, five hundred,
or a thousand feet or more, as the case may be. The
surface of this extruded mass cools and stiffens in
turn, again confining the living lava; then, with the
pressure from behind, there is a fresh rupture in the
confining shell. While the lava is held in check
as I have described, the uninitiated visitor will pro-
nounce the flow to have ceased. But it is only accu-
mulating its forces. The lava presses down from the
source, until suddenly the hardened crust is ruptured
with a crash, the lava moves forward again, and a
new joint is added to the covered way. Thus over-
coming all obstacles, the fusion is kept under cover,
and moves forward or laterally in its own ducts for
an indefinite distance. It may How at white heat in

334 Life in Hawaii.

this way for thirty or forty miles and reach the sea
at a distance of more than fifty miles from the mount-
ain source.

By virtue of this pressure from behind, and of its
own viscidity, the lava may even be propelled up-hill
for a certain distance, if the outbursting rush of lava
be directed upon an upward slope. The lava thus
grades, its own path as it goes seaward.

Five or six miles inland from our town there nes-
tled, some twenty years ago, a quiet hamlet. There
was a school-house in. the place; and the land pro-
duced taro, potatoes, bananas, and other fruit-trees.
The scenery was of enchanting beauty. But the pop-
ulation passed away; and of late years only one
house remained on this lovely spot. Its occupant
was reputed an inveterate heathen. He belonged to
the ancient class of native physicians or medicine-
men. When the burning flood struck the forest be-
hind his house, he is said to have hoisted his flag in
front of the slowly advancing lava, and to have for-
bidden it, in the name of the ancient gods of his race,
to pass that flag. But onward came the flood, regard-
less of the edict. From time to time the heathen
docto.r was compelled to remove his flag to the rear,
planting it nearer and nearer to his house ; and at
last the lava expelled him arid his friends, and rolled
over' house, garden, and field, leaving a grisly pile of
black lava over all. One circumstance in the case

Conclusion. 335

was curious. The lava stream surrounded a single
kalo-plant, growing on an islet of eighteen inches in
diameter, and on another one twice as broad, a single
banana plant. They have survived the heat and are
growing finely, the only green things left in the gar-
den from which the idolater was driven.

It is time to bring these imperfect sketches to a
close. The foregoing pages have been written among
interruptions and anxieties, but they make some par-
tial record of a life preserved by its Giver in many
scenes of danger and crowned with many blessings.
And among its chief blessings I would recognize God's
goodness in granting me precious partners in my life-
work. My second marriage, October- 13, 1873, was
to Miss Lydia Bingham, daughter of the Rev. Hiram
Bingham. This faithful helpmeet is the strength
and support of my age. But for her suggestions,
and her patient labors in copying the manuscript of
this volume, I should not have undertaken, at my
time of life, the task of writing it.

As I lay aside the pen, our anxieties have passed
away. If again, while I remain, the rocks should
melt and flow down at the presence of the Lord,
again we "will look unto the hills whence our help
cometh."

Hilo, i$th August, 1881.

INDEX.

Adams, John ... 227

Agriculture, Hawaiian, 123,

231, 234, 248
Alexander, William P. .162, 186

Andrews, Lorrin 232

Anderson, Rufus. .' 136

Armstrong, Richard, 162,

186, 234, 243

Atuona Valley 204

Auburn Seminary 13

Austin, Judge 114

Bachelot, John Alexius.. 93

Baker, Mr 329

Baldwin, Dwight 231

Baptism in Puna 90

Bicknell, James, 181, 183,

192, 198, 202

Bingham, Hiram. . .95, 242, 244

Jr 192

Bishop, Artemas and Sereno 233

Bond, Elias 224

Brown, J 164, 168

Lydia 19

Byron, Lord George Anson. 25

Callao, visit to . . 22

Canoe, the sacrificial 206

voyages in Hawaii. ... 37

Carpenter, Helen 235

1 ' Carysfort, " visit of ... . 106-109
Catholic missionaries, 93,

95-101, 120
Catholics in the Marquesas

reformed 104-106

in, Afonzo 231

Cheeseman, Lewis 1 \

Chicago, visit to 214

Children of missionaries.... \\\
Chinese in I lawaii

Church-building 82

Church organization 90

Churches, the Hawaiian,

22:, 24$

Clark, E. W 232, 234, 243

Coan, Fidelia Church.. 9, 18, 61

Coan, Gaylord 1

Coan, Titus : parentage and
childhood, 1-5 ; youth, 6-
9 ; studies for the ministry,
13 ; prison work, 15 ; trip
to Patagonia, 16 ; marri-
age, embarkation for Ha-
waii, 18 ; arrival in Hono-
lulu, 22 ; in Hilo, 24 ; foot-
tours, 31, 42 ; canoe voy-
aging* 37 i schools, 63,
115 ; patients, 63 ; Sunday
work, 64 ; labored with by
Mormons, 101 ; organized
churches under native pas-
tors, 136 ; first visit to the
Marquesas Islands, 164 ;
second visit, 192 ; visits to
various parts of the Ha-
waiian Islands, 223 ; visit
to the eruption of 1840,
76 ; of 1852, 281 ; of 1S55-
56, 290, 297, 302, 304, 300 ,
of 1880-81, 330 ; on the
angle of descent of flow-
ing lavas, 310 ; visit to the
United Stales 213

Colossal images, Marquesas

\ Daniel T

I a\\(\ Man
Crossing the torrents 33

I) \.\lo\, S. C 2}l

Dana, James D., 68 ; quoted.
(337)

338

Index.

Darling, M., in Tahuata. . . . 162

Darwin, Charles, quoted... . 184

Decrease of population. 121, 258

Dibble, Sheldon, 64, 232

Diell, S. C 241

Dimond, Henry 19

Diseases, epidemic, 81, 198,

202, 239, 259-261

Disputant, a Marquesan. . . . 209

Dole, Daniel 247

Dominis, John and Lydia... 326

Douglass, David 225

DuPont, Samuel Francis. . . 149

^-i^ht, S. G 238

Earthquakes of 1868... 86, 313

" Embuscade," visit of 94

Epidemic diseases, 81, 198,

202, 239, 259-261
Eruption of 1840, 70 ; of
1843, 270 ; of 1852, 279 ;
of 1855-56, 289 ; of 1868,

313 ; of 1880-81 327

Ewa station 245

Fatuiva. . 169

Finney, Charles 14, 49

Forbes, A. O 238, 243

Cochran 42, 229

Franklin, Lady 146

Frear, Walter . . 242

French in the Marquesas,

163, 165, 191, 200, 202, 210

" Galatea," visit of the 85

General meetings 27, 59

Golett, Captain 168

Goodrich, Joseph 26, 64

Green, Jonathan 64, 234

Gulick, L. H 243

O. H 245

Peter G 229

Halley, Edouard Michel. 165

Plana station 232

Hanahi Valley 181

Hanatita Valley.. . .• 182

Hanavave Valley. . 173-178, 207
Hawaiian character, 79, 250, 252.

government, old and

new 30, 124-126

Hawaiian mission, work of

closed 249

pastors 136-13S

population diminishing

121, 258

Hakahekau Bay 195

Haleakala crater 235

Hall, Edwin 0 19

Hanamenu Valley 202

Heteani Valley 185

High-priest of the volcano. . 44
Hilo, village and district dis-
cribed, 24, 31 ; churches
of, 42, 55, 135, 139 ; their
trials, 67, 97 ; buildings,
82 ; contributions, 85, 118- '
121 ; statistics of, 57 ;
methods, 87 ; boarding-
school, 27 ; girls' school,
61 ; volcanic waves at Hi-
lo 51, 316, 320

Hitchcock, David 328

E. M 19

H. R 238

Hivaoa Island 202, 204

Honolulu 22, 239

House of Keawe 226

Hopuku 204, 205

Hapa (" Happar ") Valley. . 200

Hoopili 231

Hunt, T. D 229

Hyde, CM 251

Images, stone, at Puamau. 177

Jarves, J. J., history by... . 59

Johnson, Edward 247

Jones, Ap Catesby 84

Jose, David . , 201

Judd, G. P 125

Kaivi 170

Kalakaua, King.. , 134

Kamehameha 1 127

II. (Liholiho) 127

III. (Kauikeaouli) 124,

127-130
IV. (Alexander Liholi-
ho) 130

V. (Lot) 131

Kaneohe station 245

Index.

339

Kapohaku Paul 183

Kauai 246

Kaukau, A 182

Kauwealoha, 169, 171, 195,

202, 205, 210

Kekai 281

Kekela, James, 176, 178,

202, 205, 207-210

Kekuanaoa 130

Kilauea compared with Ve-
suvius,. 69 ; action in, 263,
295 ; eruption of 1840,
70 ; of 1868, 313 ; visitors

'to 269

Killingworth revisited. ..... 219

Kinau .... 130

King, Asa 5, 7

Kinney, Henry 229

Kuaihelani 174

Kuakini 227

Lafon, Thomas 247, 264

Lahaina 230

Lahainaluna 231

Laioha 201

Land-slips in Kau 315

Laplace's visit 93

" La Poursuivante," visit of. 94
Lava chimneys, 78; streams,
how supplied, 310; angles
of descent in flowing, 309;
Hilo threatened by, 328 ;
mechanism of their pro-
gress 312, 332

Lee, William L 131, 143

Lepers, settlement of on Mo-

lokai 239, 260

Lima, visit to 22

Lincoln, President, sends a

gift to Kekela 179

Lunalilo, King 132-134

Lyman, Chester S

David H., 23-28, 30, 60, 64

Lyons, Lorenzo 224

MALLET, Captain ()4

Marquesas Islands de-
Bcrib

to, [5 1, [6] I'm ; iis de-
cline, 211; fighting of the
clans, 165, 169, 173; feu-

dal government in, 180 ;
tattooing, 181; physique of
the Marquesans, 181 ; ta-
bu system, 187 ; ancient
stone images in, 177 ;
scenery of, 183, 197; offer-
ing of the sacrificial canoe. 206

Mauna Kea 225

Loa, average slope of

332 ; eruption of, 1843,
270; of 1852, 279 ; of 1855-

56, 289; of 18S0-81 327

Measles, epidemic of 259

Meeting of the American

Board for 1870 217

Melville, Herman.. 190, 199, 200

Meto, death of 193

Mineral smoke 310

Missionaries' children 114

Mokuaweoweo crater 295

Molokai. 238

Leper settlement on. . . 239

Mormons. . . 101-103, 120, 213
11 Morning Stars," the three,

155, 158, 196

Morse, Captain 156

Mountain climb in the Mar-
quesas 183

Munn, Bethuel 230

Nettleton, Asahel, 1, 7,

13, 49

Tamza 1

Norton, Helen 244

Nuuhiva Island 170, 199

Ogden, Maria 314

Oleson, W. B 26

Olinda 236

Omoa Valley, 163, 169, 174, 204

Paris, John D., 57, 150, 220/270
. Benjamin VY..

Paulet, Lord (it

Paumotu Aivhi,"

>n, Admiral

Pele'a hair

340

Index.

Population, Hawaiian, di-
minishing 121, 258

Porter, Joseph 187, 199

Puamau Valley, 176, 179,

207-210
Puna district described, 39 ;
a trip in, with Prof. Ly-
man 144

Punahou school 244

Pyrometer, the lost . . 264

Reformed Catholics.. . 104-106

Resolution Bay 164

Revival of 1836-37. . . .43-51, 59

Rice, W. H.. 147

Richards, William 230

Road across Hawaii, at-
tempted 311

Rodgersons, the, in Tahuata 162
Rogers, Edmund H 19

Sacraments, how dispensed 90

Salt Lake City visited 213

Santiago, visit to 21

Shipman, W. C 229

Small-pox in Hawaii 81

in the Marquesas Isl-
ands 198, 202

Smoke, mineral 310

Smith, J. W 247

Smith, Lowell 238, 243

Spaulding, Ephraim 231

Staley, Bishop 104

Stall worthy, M., in Tahuata. 162
Statues, colossal, in the

Marquesas Islands T77

Streams in Hilo, crossing

the 33

Sugar culture, 123, 231, 234, 248

Tabu system in Hawaii. . .

— — in the Marquesas 187

Taiohai Bay. 186, 189

Taipi ("Typee") Valley,.

190, 199, 201

Thompson, Frank 135

Thouars, Du Petit 163

Thunderstorm on Mauna

Loa 272

Thurston, Asa 227

Tromelin, Admiral de 94

" Typee" (Taipi) Valley, 190,

199, 201

Uahuna Island 201

Uapou Island 195

United States Exploring
Expedition 66

Valparaiso, visit to 21

Vaitahu Bay 164

Van Duzee, William S. . . . . 229

Visit to the United States.. . 212

Visitors to Kilauea 269

Volcanic chimneys 78

Volcanic eruptions, 70, 270,

279, 289, 313, 327

Volcanic waves 51, 316, 320

Voyaging in the Hawaiian
Islands 23, 111-114

Waialua station 245

Wailuku 234

Waimea, visits to 224

Waipio Valley 224

Washington City, visit to. . . 217

Wetmore, Charles H 63, 281

Whalon, mate, escapes the

cannibals 177

Whitney, Samuel 247

Whittlesey, Eliphalet 233

Wilcox, Abner 64, 247

Wild bull confronted, the. . . 287
Wilkes, Charles 66, 195

7o_r*iM

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Full text of "Life in Hawaii : an autobiographic sketch of mission life and labors, 1835-1881"

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