tracted by a collection of persons near the path along which I was passing. On approaching them, I saw in the midst a small mat covered with several thicknesses of tapa or native cloth, on the top of which were placed two very large leaves, of a plant called by the natives api-(arum costatum.) These seemed to have been prepared for the occasion with much care, each being nicely divided through the stem, half the length of the leaf, and one placed exactly over the other. They were firmly held by a man kneeling at one end of the mat, while the sorcerer kneeling at the other, and holding two of the divided stems in each hand, muttered his prayers over them. A few of the persons present, besides those immediately engaged in the ceremonies, were solemnly and intently occupied in the subject before them; but the greater number seemed disposed to make sport of it, and turned to me with the exclamations, "ino, pupuka, debelo"-" wicked, foolish, devilish." On inquiring what was meant by it, they answered, that some one had stolen the tobacco-pipe of the man holding the leaves, and that the sorcerer was discovering the thief, and praying him to death. When reproved for their superstition and wickedness, they became evidently confused, and some unlucky movement of the leaves being made, the principal performer said the effect was destroyed, and ceased praying, apparently in a fit of vexation. There is no superstition perhaps more general and deep-rooted in the minds of this people, than the belief that certain persons have the power, by prayers and incantations, to destroy the lives of others; and many, doubtless, have become victims to their credence in this device of darkness. A person who has fallen under the displeasure of one of these "kanaka anana," or sorcerers, is told that his power is exercised over him, and that he will die. He himself believes in the efficacy of that power-thinks perhaps that he has known many instances of it. Anxiety is awakened; his mind becomes filled with pictures of death; he cannot sleep; his spirits sink; his appetite fails; and the effects of his imaginary fears become the real causes of the evil he deprecates. Finding his health and strength affected by these natural but unperceived causes, he considers his fate inevitable; refuses all nourishment, as unnecessary and unavailing; pines, languishes, and dies beneath the influences of his own ignorance and superstition. The less enlightened of the people think no one dies a natural death, and resolve every instance of mortality into the effects of this pule anana, prayer of sorcery, some other incantation of a similar kind, or into the equally insidious influence of secret poison. Of the power of this superstition we had a proof in a native of our own household. A thief was put to flight from our yard one day while we were at dinner; this lad joined in the chase, and seized the culprit, but lost his hold by the tearing of his kihei, or outer garment. The thief was greatly exasperated; and immediately engaged a sorcerer to pray the boy to death. Information of this reached the lad in the course of the afternoon; and we soon perceived him to be troubled by the intelligence, though he attempted with us to ridicule the superstition. 66 The next morning he did not make his appearance with the other boys: and upon inquiry from them, they said he was sick. We asked the nature of his sickness; to which they replied—" mai no i ka pule anana paha”—that he was sick from the prayer of sorcery perhaps." We found him lying in one corner of his house, pale with fear, and trembling like an aspen leaf, and discovered that he had not slept during the night we were satisfied that the whole arose from terror; and compelled him, notwithstanding his declarations that he was too sick, to come from his retreat— diverted his mind-set him at work-and before noon he was as full of life and spirits as ever— laughed at his fears, and began to defy the power of the pule anana! 'The whole race are subject, from ignorance and superstition, to a bondage of terror. Not only do the eclipse and the earthquake-the burstings of a thunderbolt, and the eruptions of a volcano -fill them with apprehension and dismay; but to them, the darkness of the night is the covert of demons going about, "seeking whom they may devour;" and the least unusual sound that breaks upon its silence, is interpreted into the prowlings of spirits ready to destroy. As the wind has sighed through the tops of the cocoa-nut tree in the silence of the night, or the sounds of the surf, breaking on the reef, have bellowed along the shore, I have seen fears gathering on the faces of the natives of our household, while with troubled and inquisitive look, and half suppressed breath, they have exclaimed, "He akua!-He akua aore maitai !"—" a godan evil god!”—and the simple and plaintive notes of an Eolian harp, fixed in a window of the Mission House at Oahu, had such an effect on the mind of an islander belonging to the establishmentalthough the cause of the sounds had been explained to him-that it was necessary to remove the instrument, because he could not sleep! CHAPTER XI. RECOLLECTIONS OF HOME. Mission House, Lahaina, March 1, 1824. There has not been a period, my dear Msince H―― and myself left America, when the privilege of writing to those we love-of making known to them the particulars of our situation, and of imparting the thoughts and feelings of our hearts-has appeared more precious than the present, when, from the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Richards, at Oahu, we are left entirely alone on one of the specks of desolation that constitute this solitary group. The want of all society, except that of our own little family, predisposes in an unusual degree to frequent recollections of home: and we have never perhaps thought more, spoken more, and felt more, concerning yourself and family, and the many other objects of our warm remembrance, than at the passing time. The weather, too, to-day, is of a character to recall to our minds scenes in which we have often had a part, when a gloomy sky and driving storm have shut us within the walls of our houses; and by interrupting the ordinary engagements without doors, have made us, in an especial manner, dependent on the family circle and fireside, for our pleasure and amusement. Indeed, the present aspect of every thing without, is one principal reason why I have taken up my pen; it is so totally different from all we have witnessed, except in one or two instances, since we arrived at the Islands, that it is more worthy of notice than any thing that is just now taking place. Instead of my own language, however, I will make use of a few lines from a "Sea Sketch," which occurs to my mind. They are highly descriptive of the actual state of things around us, and will convey, I think, a correct and lively image of the scene, "Dark and portentous clouds o'erhang the sea, The wild waves curl their bleak and foamy heads- : |