feet. It, and its spurs, slopes, and clusters of small craters form
East Maui. West Maui is composed mainly of the lofty picturesque
group of the Eeka mountains. A desert strip of land, not much above
high water mark, unites the twain, which form an island forty-eight
miles long and thirty broad, with an area of 620 square miles.

We left Maui in the afternoon, and spent the next six hours in
crossing the channel between it and Hawaii, but the short tropic day
did not allow us to see anything of the latter island but two snow-
capped domes uplifted above the clouds. I have been reading Jarves'
excellent book on the islands as industriously as possible, as well
as trying to get information from my fellow-passengers regarding the
region into which I have been so suddenly and unintentionally
projected. I really know nothing about Hawaii, or the size and
phenomena of the volcano to which we are bound, or the state of
society or of the native race, or of the relations existing between
it and the foreign population, or of the details of the
constitution. This ignorance is most oppressive, and I see that it
will not be easily enlightened, for among several intelligent
gentlemen who have been conversing with me, no two seem agreed on
any matter of fact.

From the hour of my landing I have observed the existence of two
parties of pro and anti missionary leanings, with views on all
island subjects in grotesque antagonism. So far, the former have
left the undoubted results of missionary effort here to speak for
themselves; and I am almost disposed, from the pertinacious
aggressiveness of the latter party, to think that it must be weak.
I have already been seized upon (a gentleman would write "button-
holed") by several persons, who, in their anxiety to be first in