Chapter 10. Kapoiolani

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_ CHAPTER TEN. KAPOIOLANI

After a long sleep, produced by weariness, Tom and the two boys dressed, and made their appearance before their hostess. They found an ample meal provided for them. She told them that her name was Kapoiolani, that she was the wife of one of the chief men of the island, who had gone away on a preaching tour with the missionary by whose means she and her husband had been taught the truth, and begged Tom and the boys to remain till their return. This they were very glad to do, as they still felt weary, and Bass complained of aches in all his limbs.

At every hour of the day people were coming in to receive instructions from Kapoiolani, who was evidently better acquainted with the truths of Christianity than her neighbours. She had for some time accepted the gospel, and showed the deepest earnestness and zeal in making it known to others.

"If people at home, who profess to be true Christians, were as anxious as this lady is to teach others, there would not be so many poor men and women who sink into their graves without ever having heard of the love of Christ for sinners," observed old Tom. "She puts many civilised people to shame."

"But in England there are regular ministers to do that sort of work," observed Harry.

"Every one who loves Christ is a regular minister, to my mind," answered Tom; "and is bound, when he can find the opportunity, to tell others that Christ died for them, and that His blood cleanseth from all sin."

"I hope that I may be able to find opportunities when I get home; though I don't think I shall be able to preach," said Harry.

"You must make opportunities," answered Tom. "You can preach in your life and daily conversation, in gently speaking a word to those among whom you mix. Souls are won to Christ as much by that as by preachers in their pulpits; and the only object of preaching is to win souls."

Two days passed by, when the chief, Kapoiolani's husband, returned, saying that the missionary had gone on with some other friend to a distant part of the island.

Naihi, the chief, seemed as zealous and earnest as his wife; and as he spoke more English than she could, he was able to give his guests a considerable amount of information about the island. He told them that the larger portion of the inhabitants were still heathens, and worshippers of their great goddess, Pele, whose abode, he said, they supposed was in the lofty volcano.

"There is need without delay to preach the gospel to them, for our people are rapidly passing away; and unless we hasten they may sink into their graves still ignorant heathens as they now are," he observed, in a solemn and sad tone.

Naihi, after remaining at home two days, again set off to join his friend the missionary.

Tom and the boys wished to accompany him, but he advised them to remain with his wife, telling them that the journey was fatiguing; and as they could not speak the language of the people, they could be of no use, whereas if they remained with Kapoiolani, they might assist her in acquiring a knowledge of English, which she was anxious to do, so that she might read books in that language. Harry was her chief instructor; and never was there a more attentive pupil. He was surprised at the rapidity with which she learned to read.

Some time had thus been spent, when there was a commotion in the village, and it was announced that a person of importance was approaching, no less than the high-priestess of Pele, if not Pele herself, as the heathen inhabitants asserted.

"She is an impostor, and I will prove her to be so!" exclaimed Kapoiolani, when she heard of it; and, attended by a band of Christians, she went out to meet the priestess.

A woman appeared descending from the hills, dressed in a fantastic way, with her robes scorched and partially consumed by fire. She was followed by a band of women and girls, dressed in the same manner. As she drew near, she shouted with a loud voice that she was come to warn the followers of the new faith to be prepared for the fearful punishment she was about to inflict on them for deserting their ancient gods.

"You are but a miserable woman, and a wretched impostor!" answered Kapoiolani, in an authoritative tone. "The worshippers of Jehovah are not to be frightened by your foolish threats."

On hearing this the pretended Pele became very indignant, and, drawing a document written on native cloth from her bosom, declared that it would prove her authority.

"It will prove that you yourself cannot write, but some one else has assisted you in your imposture, and that is all it will prove, foolish woman!" exclaimed Kapoiolani. "I have a book which announces that there are many false gods, among whom is the one you serve, but that there is only one true God, Jehovah, whom I serve. Let me advise you to throw away your idols, and to turn to Him, I know Pele can do me no harm, because Pele does not really exist, and to prove it I intend to ascend the mountain where you say she resides, and to eat the berries which you hold sacred to her, that when I come back, as I know I shall do, uninjured, my people may see their folly and turn to the true God. I advise you in the meantime to give up your follies, and to labour industriously for your support."

The pretended priestess and her followers appeared very indignant at this; but when Kapoiolani offered them food they gladly partook of it, the priestess of Pele herself joining in the feast. Kapoiolani pointed her out to her people, remarking, "If she were a goddess she would not require food; but see, she eats as greedily as any one."

The next morning Kapoiolani, who had long resolved to visit the volcano Kilauea, the supposed abode of Pele, was ready to set out. She sent word to her husband and the missionary of her intention, saying that it was necessary to do so at once, in order to convince the people of the imposture of the pretended priestess, and that they might understand that Jehovah was the only true God.

With this laudable object in view, she was ready to undergo the fatigue of the journey. She did not object to old Tom and the two boys attending her.

"My people," she said, "believe that any strangers approaching the crater will meet with certain destruction; your going will more easily convince them of their folly."

Kapoiolani performed her journey on foot, as there were at that time no horses in the island, and she objected to be carried by her people. She was attended by a number of persons, with baskets of provisions, who were to proceed to the foot of the mountain, while she, with a select band, proposed mounting to the summit.

The country through which they passed was wild and savage in the extreme. In some places they had to penetrate through thick woods, in others over wide fields of lava.

After many days' journey the base of the mountain was reached. Resting for the night, the next morning at daybreak Kapoiolani and her attendants, aided by long poles, commenced the ascent. Some carried provisions and others materials for building a hut for the accommodation of the chieftainess.

It was past noon before the edge of the crater was reached, near which grew the bushes bearing the supposed sacred berries. It seemed surprising that any vegetation could be produced on such a spot.

They now stood on the edge of a vast basin upwards of seven miles in circuit and nearly a thousand feet deep. At the bottom was a level floor two miles in length, in the centre of which was a vast lake of liquid lava, out of which rose numerous cones sending forth jets of smoke.

Harry had not imagined the existence of so wild and terrible a scene, and he was not surprised that the ignorant inhabitants should have believed it the abode of a goddess delighting in fire and heat.

Kapoiolani told him that at times the lake which they saw below them rose up high above the cones, filling the whole space within a hundred feet of the edge with a sea of liquid lava, and that it occasionally burst its way through the edges, carrying destruction in its course, towards the ocean, while at other times new cones arose in the side of the mountain, through which the lava burst its way, flowing down in all directions.

Having plucked some of the berries, Kapoiolani ate them, and desired her attendants to do the same.

"Now watch the lake!" she exclaimed, extending her hand towards it. "Does it rise because we few poor mortals have eaten the fruit which God allows to grow here? No!" she said, lifting her hand, and pointing towards heaven. "He who lives there, the great Jehovah, has ordained that these things should be, for a wise purpose. There is no such person as Pele, whom, in their ignorance, our fathers have worshipped. You now understand, my friends, that we have nothing therefore to fear."

While some of her attendants were building the hut, Kapoiolani, with old Tom and the boys, and a few other persons, descended the side of the crater, where it sloped sufficiently to enable them to make their way.

The scene around was wild and sombre in the extreme. Mighty cliffs of jet black rock were on every side, with the lake of shining lava below them, though relieved by the blue sky overhead, to which Kapoiolani looked up and pointed.

"There!" she said, "above us is the glorious heaven, which is to be the future home of believers; below, the dark pit, the dwelling-place of those who reject the Lord of light and love."

On regaining the edge of the crater, they saw several persons approaching, among whom, to Kapoiolani's great satisfaction, was the missionary, accompanied by her husband.

The people who followed her, as soon as they saw them, set up a loud shout of joy; for many of them till then had fully believed that their chieftainess would have been destroyed by the vengeance of Pele.

The missionary now offered up a prayer, and having addressed the people, a hymn was sung.

The party remained on the summit of the mountain during the night. The early portion of it was passed by Tom and the boys seated round the fire with the missionary, who told them that they would find little difficulty in returning to Honolulu, where they would soon, probably, find a ship sailing for England.

While they were speaking they were aroused by a brighter light than usual, and on going to the edge of the crater they perceived that the numerous cones, in the centre were now in violent action, some emitting flame, which darted upwards to a height of fifty and a hundred feet, while boiling lava flowed down the sides of others into the lake, out of which they arose like so many islands.

Kapoiolani came out of the hut to witness the scene. She remained calm as before, and quieted the fears of her attendants by observing--

"I know in whom I trust. Even should the lava continue flowing, many days must elapse before the crater is full, and long before it is so we shall be in safety. Pele has nothing to do with it."

Having watched the eruption for some time, Kapoiolani and her female attendants returned to their hut, while the rest of the party gathered round their camp fires to spend the remainder of the night.

After breakfast, having plucked more of the berries and again descended the crater, they proceeded down the mountain.

On reaching the camp where the chief body of her attendants had remained, she addressed them, and urged them from henceforth to dismiss all thoughts of the pretended Pele, and other false deities, from their minds, and to trust alone to Jehovah, the only true God, and His Son Jesus Christ, whom He had sent into the world to die instead of them, and to reconcile them, His outcast children, to Himself. With one voice the people shouted out, "There is no such being as Pele; Jehovah is the only true God; we will serve Him!"

The news of the pious and heroic Kapoiolani's visit to the mountain of Pele was carried through the island; and the people from henceforth acknowledged that they had been foolishly frightened by believing in a being who had no existence, and were everywhere ready to listen to the addresses either of the missionaries or of their own chiefs who had turned from idols.

It is a remarkable circumstance that in the Sandwich Islands the chiefs set the example of overturning their idols, and were generally the first to accept the truth.

After visiting several places on the coast, Kapoiolani and her attendants, accompanied by Tom and the boys, returned to her village. _

Read next: Chapter 11. Happy Re-Unions

Read previous: Chapter 9. Saved And Wrecked

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