Our place to sit or recline was arranged between the canoes, by laying
down boards and covering them with mats, making quite a comfortable
floor for us to sit upon, and in the centre of this the mast was raised
and fastened.
As in the case of the single canoe, boards were fastened at the ends,
with mats lying over them to keep out the water, making a deck to the
canoe, while a small place was left in the centre of both canoes for
some of the natives to sit, and, if necessary, bail out water.
We left the four native Elders on the island, and brought away one with
us, who was released from his mission to return to Maui. His name was
Kailihune.
Our return passage was rough a good part of the distance, as we had a
good stiff breeze about two-thirds of the way across. Then the wind
died out; but we prayed to the Lord for more wind, and our prayers were
answered. We were between six and seven hours in making the passage.
We traveled around the island, and visited the famous volcano, the
largest in the world. Its name is Kilauea.
Our party had swelled, including whites and natives, to about twenty in
number. In addition to Brother Allred, there were of our party Elder
Thomas Karren, who lived at Lehi, Utah Co., but who is now deceased;
Elder James Keeler, who has lately returned from another mission to the
islands, and who now resides on the Sevier; and Elder Egerton Snider,
who has since died.
Brother James Lawson, of this city, was also with our party, but having
seen the volcano, he did not ascend with us. We had to go on foot, as
we had no money to hire animals.
The Sandwich Islanders entertained a singular idea about the manner
in which their islands came into being. Their belief was that the
islands were brought forth, and that Papa, a woman whom they worshiped
as a goddess, was the mother of them. The first-born, they think, was
Hawaii, the nearest island to this continent, and the last born Kauai
and Niihau. This Papa had a sister, they say, whose name was Pele. They
worshiped her as a goddess, and even when we were there many still
believed in her. They say she first lived at Kauai and from there
removed from one island to another until she took up her residence at
Hawaii. They believed that her place of residence was the pit of the
active volcano, and that there, all the spirits of good chiefs and men
went to dwell. The bad ones went, they believed, to a place of darkness
in the centre of the earth, over which a god called Milu reigned.
In former days the people threw the bones of some of their dead
relatives into the volcano. They had the idea that if Pele was pleased
with the sacrifice, she would consume the bones, and the spirit of the
dead person would be permitted to return and be a familiar spirit to
them, and be as one of the family. If the sacrifice was not acceptable,
the bones were thrown out of the volcano.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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