the sunken plain, many of her followers and companions lost
courage and turned back: at the second, the rest earnestly entreated
her to desist from her dangerous enterprise, and forbear to tempt
the powerful gods of the fires. But she proceeded; and, on the very
verge of the crater, caused a hut to be constructed for herself and
people. Here she was assailed anew by their entreaties to return
home; and their assurances, that, if she persisted in violating the
dwellings of the goddess, she would draw on herself, and those with
her, certain destruction. Her answer was noble:--'I will descend
into the crater,' said she; 'and if I do not return safe, then
continue you to worship Peli; but, if I come back unhurt, you must
learn to adore the God who created Peli.' She accordingly went down
the steep and difficult side of the crater, accompanied by a
missionary, and by some whom love or duty induced to follow her.
Arrived at the bottom, she thrust a stick into the liquid lava, and
stirred the ashes of the burning lake. The charm of superstition was
at that moment broken. Those who had expected to see the goddess,
armed with flames and sulphurous smoke, burst forth and destroy the
daring heroine who thus braved her, in her very sanctuary, were
awe-struck when they saw the fire remain innocuous, and the flames
roll harmless, as though none were present. They acknowledged the
greatness of the God of Kapiolani; and from that time few indeed
have been the offerings, and little the reverence paid to the fires
of Peli."

CHARLES. "What delightful anecdotes concerning my island! but I have
one reserved for the conclusion, which illustrates the truth of the
assertion, that the women of the Sandwich Islands are superior to
the men in many exercises requiring skill, and also in their powers
of endurance. The latter quality may, I believe, be fairly adjudged
to the women of all countries. 'A man and his wife, both Christians,
were passengers in a schooner, which foundered at a considerable
distance from the land. All the natives on board promptly took
refuge in the sea; and the man in question, who had just celebrated
divine service in the ill-fated vessel, called his fellows (some of
them being converts as well as himself) around him, to offer up
another tribute of praise and supplication from the deep; exhorting
them, with a combination of courage and humility rarely equalled, to
worship God in that universal temple, under whose restle