awaii, raising also
several hills of two hundred feet in height near the shore. Three
subsequent eruptions occurred from this mountain, a few years
intervening between them, the latest of which was in 1868. Were it not
for this and other volcanic vents in the group, these islands in
mid-ocean would doubtless be suddenly swallowed up by some great
convulsion of the restless subterranean forces.

Some portions of the coast of Hawaii are indented by large and curious
caves, which are the homes of thousands of sea-birds; but very little is
known about them, as they have never been explored. It is natural,
considering its active volcanoes, that earthquakes should be more common
on this island than upon any other of the group. The population lives
almost entirely near the coast; but where this people first came from
not even cunning scientists pretend to know.

Leprosy is still prevalent among the natives, the victims of which
dreadful disease are promptly isolated upon the island of Molokai, where
there are now about a thousand sufferers confined. The island is in
formation so mountainous that the natives call it _Kaaina pali_,--a land
of precipices. Some portions can only be reached by water, and that in
fair weather, the mountains being impassable. That portion occupied by
the unfortunate lepers is a plain naturally cut off from the rest of the
island by the pali of Kalae. Fully realizing the necessities of their
case these people submit to their isolation without a murmur, and seem,
as we were informed, comparatively content. A ration of five pounds of
meat and twenty pounds of vegetables is issued to each person weekly,
besides which they have garden-plats that they cultivate for such
fruits, vegetables, and flowers as they choose. The supply of food
furnished to them gratuitously is so much better than any Hawaiian gets
under ordinary circumstances, that many persons are actually willing to
make themselves lepers and be taken into this death-stricken community,
in order to share its abundant provisions. There is here a little church
wherein all the lepers congregate on Sundays, to listen to the preaching
of a leper minister, and a day-school where the leper children are
taught by a native schoolmaster afflicted with the same disease. We
heard of a Roman Catholic priest who has devoted his life to these poor
unfortunate outcasts, and who lives with them to comfort and aid them in
their trials, though he is not himself a