dren. Some of them I knew and they spoke to me,--although
that seemed strange, for I knew they were dead,--but nearly all were
strangers. They were all so happy! They seemed not to have a care;
nothing to trouble them. Joy was in every face, and happy laughter
and bright, loving words were on every tongue.

"I left that village and walked on to the next. I was not tired, for
it seemed no trouble to walk. It was the same there; thousands of
people, and every one so joyous and happy. Some of these I knew. I
spoke to a few people, then went on again. I seemed to be on my way
to the volcano,--to Pele's pit,--and could not stop, much as I wanted
to do so.

"All along the road were houses and people, where I had never known
any one to live. Every bit of good ground had many houses, and many,
many happy people on it. I felt so full of joy, too, that my heart
sang within me, and I was glad to be dead.

"In time I came to South Point, and there, too, was a great crowd
of people. The barren point was a great village, I was greeted with
happy _alohas_, then passed on. All through Kau it was the same, and
I felt happier every minute. At last I reached the volcano. There
were some people there, but not so many as at other places. They,
too, were happy like the others, but they said, 'You must go back to
your body. You are not to die yet.'

"I did not want to go back. I begged and prayed to be allowed to stay
with them, but they said, 'No, you must go back; and if you do not
go willingly, we will make you go.'

"I cried and tried to stay, but they drove me back, even beating me
when I stopped and would not go on. So I was driven over the road
I had come, back through all those happy people. They were still
joyous and happy, but when they saw that I was not allowed to stay,
they turned on me and helped drive me, too.

"Over the sixty miles I went, weeping, followed by those cruel people,
till I reached my home and stood by my body again. I looked at it and
hated it. Was that my body? What a horrid, loathsome thing it was to
me now, since I had seen so many beautiful, happy creatures! Must I go
and live in that thing again? No, I would not go into it; I rebelled
and cried for mercy.

"'You must go into it; we will make you!' said my tormentors. They
took me and pushed me head foremost into the big toe.

"I struggled and fought, but could not help myself. They pushed and
beat me again, when I tried for the last time to escape.