Some were dashed on the shore, some were saved by
friends who hurried to their aid, some were carried out to sea by
the retiring water, and some stout swimmers sank exhausted; yet the
loss of life was not nearly so great as it would have been among a
less amphibious people. Mr. C. described the roaring of the ocean,
the cries of distress, the shrieks of the perishing, the frantic
rush of hundreds to the shore, and the desolation of the whole
neighbourhood of the beach, as forming a scene of the most thrilling
and awful interest.
You will remember that I wrote from Kilauea regarding the terror
which the Goddess of the Crater inspired, and her high-priest was
necessarily a very awful personage. The particular high-priest of
whom Mr. Coan told me was six feet five inches in height, and his
sister, who was co-ordinate with him in authority, had a scarcely
inferior altitude. His chief business was to keep Pele appeased.
He lived on the shore, but often went up to Kilauea with sacrifices.
If a human victim were needed, he had only to point to a native, and
the unfortunate wretch was at once strangled. He was not only the
embodiment of heathen piety, but of heathen crime. Robbery was his
pastime.
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