mbarks, and, like a flight
of locusts, they descend on the opposite coast. We see flames ascending
from spots where lately stood smiling villages. A few days pass, and
the army returns victorious with numerous captives. Some are forthwith
offered up to the war-god, others are kept to be sacrificed on a future
occasion. A great chief dies of his wounds, and several victims are
offered at his tomb, while, as a sign of grief, his relations and
followers knock out their front teeth, and fix them in a tree in his
morai. His people also appear to have gone mad, committing every
species of abomination, and we hear that many people lose their lives on
the occasion.

The Sandwich Islanders have many more idols than those of which I have
spoken. There is Mooaru, or the shark god, whose temple stands on
almost every point or headland. To him the fishermen offer, on landing,
the first fish they have caught that day--for they imagine that he it is
who drives the fish to their shores. But the greatest of all their
gods, or, at all events, the most feared, is Pele, the goddess of the
volcano. She resides on the summit of Mona Roa, and descends in fire
and flames to punish her enemies below. She has many priestesses, who
appear in the villages with singed garments and marks of fire on their
persons, to demand tribute from the inhabitants to avert her vengeance.
I do not hear of one of their idols who has a mild or beneficent
disposition. All the sacrifices offered are simply to avert their
vengeance. The people have no love nor veneration for their idols, and
they believe that their idols' chief pleasure is in tormenting and
punishing them.

One of the most remarkable objects I have met with in the Sandwich
Islands is what may properly be called a city of refuge. It is a sort
of morai, surrounded by strong walls, with an entrance on each side. In
the interior are temples and numerous houses, in which the priests and
occasional occupants reside. Here, whatever crime a fugitive may have
committed, if he can reach it he is safe. A victorious enemy in pursuit
of foes will come up to the gates, but if the vanquished have entered
they are safe. During an invasion of the territory, therefore, all the
women and children are sent in here, where they may remain in security.
There are several such places of refuge in the islands.

The taboo system is also very curious. The priests govern chiefly in
this matter. They settle w