We generated a 0.3-mm-diameter DC, hollow-cathode helium discharge in a gas pressure range of 10-80 kPa. In discharge plasmas, we measured position-dependent laser absorption spectra for helium 2(3)S(1)-2(3)P(0) transition with a spatial resolution of 55 mu m. From the results of the analysis of the measured spectra using Voigt functions and including both the Doppler and collision broadening, we produced two-dimensional maps of the metastable 2(3)S(1) atomic densities and gas temperatures of the plasmas. We found that, at all pressures, the gas temperatures were approximately uniform in space with values in the range of 400-1500 K and the 2(3)S(1) atomic densities were similar to 10(19)m(-3). We also found that the two-dimensional density distribution profiles became ring-shaped at high gas pressures, which is qualitatively consistent with the two-dimensional fluid simulation results. (c) 2018 The Japan Society of Applied Physics