We dined thirteen miles from the bay, under a large candle tree, on a bed of brake, collected and spread by a party of people who had been waiting by the wayside to see the "alii nui mai Perekania mai," the great chief from Britain. About two miles farther we came to the houses erected for our lodgings the first night. Thinking it, however, too early to lie for the day, after witnessing a dance performed by a company from the neighboring settlements, we hastened on, intending to sleep at the next houses, ten miles distant; but night overtaking us before we reached them, just as darkness set in we turned aside a few rods to the ruins of two huts, the sticks only of which remaining. The natives, however, soon covered them with fern, the leaves of the Kukui, &c., a quantity of which they also spread upon the ground, before spreading the mats which were to be our beds. Our arrival and encampment produced quite a picturesque and lively scene; for the islanders, who are not fond of such forced marches as we had made during the day, were more anxious for repose than ourselves, and proceeded with great alacrity to make preparations for the night. The darkness, as it gathered round us, rendered more gloomy by a heavily clouded sky, made the novelty of our situation still more striking. Behind the huts, in the distance, an uplifted torch of the blazing kukuinut here and there indistinctly revealed the figures and costume of many, spreading their couches under the bushes in the open air; the more curious of our dusky companions, both male and female, meanwhile[66] pressing in numbers round our circle, as if anxious to "catch the manners living as they rose." A large fire of brush wood, at some distance in front, exhibited the objects of the foreground in still stronger lights and shadows. Groups of both sexes, and all ages, were seated or standing round the fire, wrapped up from the chillness of the evening air, in their large kiheis or mantles, of white, black, green, yellow, and red. Some smoking, some throwing in, and others snatching from the embers, a fish or potato, or other article of food; some giving a loud halloo, in answer to the call of a straggler just arriving; others wholly taken up with the proceedings of the sailors cooking our suppers, and all chattering with the volubility of so many magpies. By daylight the next morning we were on the road again. At nine o'clock we passed the last houses put up for our accommodation on the way; and at eleven o'clock had arrived within three miles of the object of our curiosity. For the last hour the scenery had become more interesting; our path was skirted, occasionally, with groves and clusters of trees, and fringed with a greater variety of vegetation. Here also the smoke from the volcano was first discovered, settling in light fleecy clouds to the southwest.