ee sides, the oblong area formed by the walls
being open on the west; from that side there was a descent by three
regular terraces or very broad steps.[105] This brief account confirms
the inference which I have drawn from the more detailed description of
Ellis, as to the terraced structure of some Hawaiian temples.

[105] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp.
226 _sq._

In the mountains of Hawaii, at a height of about five thousand feet
above the sea, Commodore Wilkes saw the ruins of an ancient temple of
the god Kaili (Tairi), round about which stood eight small pyramids
built of compact blocks of lava laid without cement. These pyramids were
said to have been erected at the command of Umi, an ancient king, to
commemorate his conquests. They seem to have measured each some ten or
twelve feet square. The temple which they surrounded was about
ninety-two feet long by seventy-two feet wide; the outer walls were
about seven feet high and as many thick. Internally the edifice was
divided by partition walls three feet high. The building was said to
have been formerly covered with idols, of which no traces remained at
the time of Wilkes's visit.[106]

[106] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iv. 99 _sq._, with the plate.

Often, apparently, a Hawaiian temple consisted of little more than a
walled or palisaded enclosure containing a number of rudely carved
images and a place of sacrifice in the form of a platform raised on
poles. Such a temple is described by the Russian navigator Lisiansky.
The images in it were grouped and arranged so as to form a sort of
semicircle. The chief priest of the temple informed the Russians "that
the fifteen statues wrapped in cloth represented the gods of war; the
two to the right of the place of sacrifice, the gods of spring; those on
the opposite side, the guardians of autumn; and that the altar was
dedicated to the god of joy, before which the islanders dance and sing
on festivals appointed by their religion." With regard to the temples in
general, Lisiansky observes that they "were by no means calculated to
excite in the mind of a stranger religious veneration. They are suffered
to remain in so neglected and filthy a condition, that, were it not for
the statues, they might be taken rather for hog-sties than places of
worship."[107]

[107] U. Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 105-107. He says (p. 106)
that the temple was "called by the natives _Heavoo_, not
_Morai