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BURYING PLACE OF ANCIENT KINGS.

ple residing at the distance of from two to four miles from the beach, in the midst of their plantations, who seemed to enjoy an abundance of provisions seldom possessed by those on the sea-shore. They returned about noon.

Finding ourselves in want of cooking utensils, and a little tea and sugar, which, in order to lighten our baggage, we had left at Kairua, and perceiving our stock of medicines nearly expended, it was thought best that one of our number should return for them. Mr. Thurston accordingly left Honaunau in the canoe, at 2 P. M., and reached Kairua about sunset. He returned about 3 the next morning, with most of the articles we needed.

23d. The last night was a restless one to us all, on account of the swarms of vermin that infested our lodgings. Mr. Ellis not yet well enough to proceed.

Another day's detention afforded us time for the more minute examination of whatever was interesting in the neighbourhood, and the more ample developement of the object of our visit to the unenlightened people of the village: and those were the occupations of the day.

Honaunau, we found, was formerly a place of considerable importance, having been the frequent residence of the kings of Hawaii, for several successive generations.

The monuments of the ancient idolatry, with which this place abounds, were, from some cause unknown to us, spared, amidst the general destruction of the idols, &c. that followed the abolition of the aitabu, in the summer of 1819.

The principal object, that attracted our attention, was the hare o Keave (house of Keave,) a sacred depository of the bones of departed kings and princes, probably erected as a depository for the bones of the king whose name it bears, and who' reigned in Hawaii, about eight generations back. It is a compact building, 24 feet by 16, constructed with the most durable timber, and thatched with ti

THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE BONES OF KEAVE AND OTHER ANCIENT KINGS OF HAWAIL

are deposited, with their idols standing around. Boston: Published by Crocker & Brewster. New York: John P.Haven.

BURYING PLACE OF ANCIENT KINGS.

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leaves, standing on a bed of lava, which runs out a considerable distance into the sea. It is surrounded by a strong fence, or paling, leaving an area in the front and at each end, about twenty-four feet wide, paved with smooth fragments of lava laid down with considerable skill. Several rudely carved male and female images of wood were placed on the outside of the enclosure; some on low pedestals, under the shade of an adjacent tree; others on high posts, on the jutting rocks that hung over the edge of the water. A number stood on the fence at unequal distances all around; but the principal assemblage of these frightful representatives of their former deities, was at the south-east end of the enclosed space, where, forming a semicircle, twelve of them stood in grim array, as if perpetual guardians of "the mighty dead" reposing in the house adjoining. A pile of stones was neatly laid up in the form of a crescent, about three feet wide, and two feet higher than the pavement, and in this pile the images were fixed. They stood on small pedestals three or four feet high, though some were placed on pillars eight or ten feet in height, and curiously carved. The principal idol stood in the centre, the others on either hand, the most powerful being placed nearest to him. He was not so large as some of the others, but was distinguished by the variety and superior carving of his body, and especially of his head. Once they had evidently been clothed, but now they appeared in the most indigent nakedness. A few tattered shreds

round the neck of one that stood on the left hand side of the door, rotted by the rain, and bleached by the sun, were all that remained of numerous and gaudy habiliments, with which their votaries had formerly arrayed them.

A large pile of broken calabashes and cocoanutshells lay in the centre, and a considerable heap of dried and partly rotten wreaths of flowers, branches of shrubs and bushes, and fragments of tapa, (the accumulated offerings of former days,) formed an un

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sightly mound immediately before each of the images. The horrid stare of these idols, the tattered garments upon some of them, and the heaps of rotting offerings before them, seemed to us no improper emblems of the system they were designed to support; distinguished alike by its cruelty, folly, and wretchedness.

We endeavoured to gain admission to the inside of the house, but were told it was tabu roa, (strictly prohibited,) and that nothing but a direct order from the king, or Karaimoku, could open the door. However, by pushing one of the boards across the door way, a little on one side, we looked in and saw many large images, some of wood very much carved, others of red feathers, with widely distended mouths, large rows of sharks teeth, and glaring pearl-shell eyes. We also saw several bundles of human bones, cleaned, carefully tied up, and placed in different parts of the house, together with some rich shawls and other valuable articles, probably worn by those, to whom the bones belonged, as the wearing apparel, and other personal property of the chiefs, is generally buried with them.

When we had gratified our curiosity, and Mr. Ellis had taken a drawing of the building, we proceeded to examine other remarkable objects of the place.

Adjoining the Hare o Keave, to the southward, we found a pahu tabu (sacred inclosure) of considerable extent; and were informed by our guide, that it was one of the pohonuas of Hawaii, of which we had so often heard the chiefs and others speak. There are only two on the island, the one, which we were then examining, and another at Waipio, on the north-east part of the island, in the district of Kohala.

These Puhonuas were the Hawaiian Cities of refuge, and afforded an inviolable sanctuary to the guilty fugitive, who, when flying from the avenging spear, was so favoured as to enter their precincts.