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diff --git a/6750-0.txt b/6750-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..210dd0b --- /dev/null +++ b/6750-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12502 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 6750 *** +THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO. + +SIX MONTHS AMONG THE PALM GROVES, CORAL REEFS, AND VOLCANOES OF THE +SANDWICH ISLANDS. + +BY ISABELLA L. BIRD. + + + + "Summer isles of Eden lying + In dark purple spheres of sea." + + + + +To my sister, to whom these letters were originally written, they +are now affectionately dedicated. + + + +PREFACE. + +Within the last century the Hawaiian islands have been the topic of +various works of merit, and some explanation of the reasons which +have led me to enter upon the same subject are necessary. + +I was travelling for health, when circumstances induced me to land +on the group, and the benefit which I derived from the climate +tempted me to remain for nearly seven months. During that time the +necessity of leading a life of open air and exercise as a means of +recovery, led me to travel on horseback to and fro through the +islands, exploring the interior, ascending the highest mountains, +visiting the active volcanoes, and remote regions which are known to +few even of the residents, living among the natives, and otherwise +seeing Hawaiian life in all its phases. + +At the close of my visit, my Hawaiian friends urged me strongly to +publish my impressions and experiences, on the ground that the best +books already existing, besides being old, treat chiefly of +aboriginal customs and habits now extinct, and of the introduction +of Christianity and subsequent historical events. They also +represented that I had seen the islands more thoroughly than any +foreign visitor, and the volcano of Mauna Loa under specially +favourable circumstances, and that I had so completely lived the +island life, and acquainted myself with the existing state of the +country, as to be rather a kamaina {0} than a stranger, and that +consequently I should be able to write on Hawaii with a degree of +intimacy as well as freshness. My friends at home, who were +interested in my narratives, urged me to give them to a wider +circle, and my inclinations led me in the same direction, with a +sort of longing to make others share something of my own interest +and enjoyment. + +The letters which follow were written to a near relation, and often +hastily and under great difficulties of circumstance, but even with +these and other disadvantages, they appear to me the best form of +conveying my impressions in their original vividness. With the +exception of certain omissions and abridgments, they are printed as +they were written, and for such demerits as arise from this mode of +publication, I ask the kind indulgence of my readers. + ISABELLA L. BIRD. +January, 1875. + + + + +TRAVELS IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. + + + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. + +Canon Kingsley, in his charming book on the West Indies, says, "The +undoubted fact is known I find to few educated English people, that +the Coco palm, which produces coir rope, cocoanuts, and a hundred +other useful things, is not the same plant as the cacao bush which +produces chocolate, or anything like it. I am sorry to have to +insist upon this fact, but till Professor Huxley's dream and mine is +fulfilled, and our schools deign to teach, in the intervals of Greek +and Latin, some slight knowledge of this planet, and of those of its +productions which are most commonly in use, even this fact may need +to be re-stated more than once." + +There is no room for the supposition that the intelligence of Mr. +Kingsley's "educated English" acquaintance is below the average, and +I should be sorry to form an unworthy estimate of that of my own +circle, though I have several times met with the foregoing +confusion, as well as the following and other equally ill-informed +questions, one or two of which I reluctantly admit that I might have +been guilty of myself before I visited the Pacific: "Whereabouts +are the Sandwich Islands? They are not the same as the Fijis, are +they? Are they the same as Otaheite? Are the natives all +cannibals? What sort of idols do they worship? Are they as pretty +as the other South Sea Islands? Does the king wear clothes? Who do +they belong to? Does any one live on them but the savages? Will +anything grow on them? Are the people very savage?" etc. Their +geographical position is a great difficulty. I saw a gentleman of +very extensive information looking for them on the map in the +neighbourhood of Tristran d'Acunha; and the publishers of a high- +class periodical lately advertised, "Letters from the Sandwich +Islands" as "Letters from the South Sea Islands." In consequence of +these and similar interrogatories, which are not altogether +unreasonable, considering the imperfect teaching of physical +geography, the extent of this planet, the multitude of its +productions, and the enormous number of islands composing Polynesia, +Micronesia, and Melanesia, it is necessary to preface the following +letters with as many preliminary statements as shall serve to make +them intelligible. + +The Sandwich Islands do not form one of the South Sea groups, and +have no other connexion with them than certain affinities of race +and language. They constitute the only important group in the vast +North Pacific Ocean, in which they are so advantageously placed as +to be pretty nearly equidistant from California, Mexico, China, and +Japan. They are in the torrid zone, and extend from 18 degrees 50' +to 22 degrees 20' north latitude, and their longitude is from 154 +degrees 53' to 160 degrees 15' west from Greenwich. They were +discovered by Captain Cook in 1778. They are twelve in number, but +only eight are inhabited, and these vary in size from Hawaii, which +is 4000 square miles in extent, and 88 miles long by 73 broad, to +Kahoolawe, which is only 11 miles long and 8 broad. Their entire +superficial area is about 6,100 miles. They are to some extent +bounded by barrier reefs of coral, and have few safe harbours. +Their formation is altogether volcanic, and they possess the largest +perpetually active volcano and the largest extinct crater in the +world. They are very mountainous, and two mountain summits on +Hawaii are nearly 14,000 feet in height. Their climate for +salubrity and general equability is reputed the finest on earth. It +is almost absolutely equable, and a man may take his choice between +broiling all the year round on the sea level on the leeward side of +the islands at a temperature of 80 degrees, and enjoying the charms +of a fireside at an altitude where there is frost every night of the +year. There is no sickly season, and there are no diseases of +locality. The trade winds blow for nine months of the year, and on +the windward coasts there is an abundance of rain, and a perennial +luxuriance of vegetation. + +The Sandwich Islands are not the same as Otaheite nor as the Fijis, +from which they are distant about 4,000 miles, nor are their people +of the same race. The natives are not cannibals, and it is doubtful +if they ever were so. Their idols only exist in missionary museums. +They cast them away voluntarily in 1819, at the very time when +missionaries from America sent out to Christianize the group were on +their way round Cape Horn. The people are all clothed, and the +king, who is an educated gentleman, wears the European dress. The +official designation of the group is "Hawaiian Islands," and they +form an independent kingdom. + +The natives are not savages, most decidedly not. They are on the +whole a quiet, courteous, orderly, harmless, Christian community. +The native population has declined from 400,000 as estimated by +Captain Cook in 1778 to 49,000, according to the census of 1872. +There are about 5,000 foreign residents, who live on very friendly +terms with the natives, and are mostly subjects of Kalakaua, the +king of the group. + +The islands have a thoroughly civilized polity, and the Hawaiians +show a great aptitude for political organization. They constitute a +limited monarchy, and have a constitutional and hereditary king, a +parliament with an upper and lower house, a cabinet, a standing +army, a police force, a Supreme Court of Judicature, a most +efficient postal system, a Governor and Sheriff on each of the +larger islands, court officials, and court etiquette, a common +school system, custom houses, a civil list, taxes, a national debt, +and most of the other amenities and appliances of civilization. + +There is no State Church. The majority of the foreigners, as well +as of the natives, are Congregationalists. The missionaries +translated the Bible and other books into Hawaiian, taught the +natives to read and write, gave the princes and nobles a high class +education, induced the king and chiefs to renounce their oppressive +feudal rights, with legal advice framed a constitution which became +the law of the land, and obtained the recognition of the little +Polynesian kingdom as a member of the brotherhood of civilized +nations. + +With these few remarks I leave the subject of the volume to develop +itself in my letters. They have not had the advantage of revision +by any one familiar with the Sandwich Islands, and mistakes and +inaccuracies may consequently appear, on which, I hope that my +Hawaiian friends will not be very severe. In correcting them, I +have availed myself of the very valuable "History of the Hawaiian +Islands," by Mr. Jackson Jarves, Ellis' "Tour Round Hawaii," Mr. +Brigham's valuable monograph on "The Hawaiian Volcanoes," and sundry +reports presented to the legislature during its present session. I +have also to express my obligations to the Hon. E. Allen, Chief +Justice and Chancellor of the Hawaiian kingdom, Mr. Manley Hopkins, +author of "Hawaii," Dr. T. M. Coan, of New York, Professor W. +Alexander, Daniel Smith, Esq., and other friends at Honolulu, for +assistance most kindly rendered. + ISABELLA L. BIRD. + + + +LETTER I. + +STEAMER NEVADA, NORTH PACIFIC, January 19. + +A white, unwinking, scintillating sun blazed down upon Auckland, New +Zealand. Along the white glaring road from Onehunga, dusty trees +and calla lilies drooped with the heat. Dusty thickets sheltered +the cicada, whose triumphant din grated and rasped through the +palpitating atmosphere. In dusty enclosures, supposed to be +gardens, shrivelled geraniums scattered sparsely alone defied the +heat. Flags drooped in the stifling air. Men on the verge of +sunstroke plied their tasks mechanically, like automatons. Dogs, +with flabby and protruding tongues, hid themselves away under +archway shadows. The stones of the sidewalks and the brick of the +houses radiated a furnace heat. All nature was limp, dusty, +groaning, gasping. The day was the climax of a burning fortnight, +of heat, draught, and dust, of baked, cracked, dewless land, and +oily breezeless seas, of glaring days, passing through fierce fiery +sunsets into stifling nights. + +I only remained long enough in the capital to observe that it had a +look of having seen better days, and that its business streets had +an American impress, and, taking a boat at a wharf, in whose seams +the pitch was melting, I went off to the steamer Nevada, which was +anchored out in the bay, preferring to spend the night in her than +in the unbearable heat on shore. She belongs to the Webb line, an +independent mail adventure, now dying a natural death, undertaken by +the New Zealand Government, as much probably out of jealousy of +Victoria as anything else. She nearly foundered on her last voyage; +her passengers unanimously signed a protest against her unseaworthy +condition. She was condemned by the Government surveyor, and her +mails were sent to Melbourne. She has, however, been patched up for +this trip, and eight passengers, including myself, have trusted +ourselves to her. She is a huge paddle-steamer, of the old- +fashioned American type, deck above deck, balconies, a pilot-house +abaft the foremast, two monstrous walking beams, and two masts +which, possibly in case of need, might serve as jury masts. + +Huge, airy, perfectly comfortable as she is, not a passenger stepped +on board without breathing a more earnest prayer than usual that the +voyage might end propitiously. The very first evening statements +were whispered about to the effect that her state of disrepair is +such that she has not been to her own port for nine months, and has +been sailing for that time without a certificate; that her starboard +shaft is partially fractured, and that to reduce the strain upon it +the floats of her starboard wheel have been shortened five inches, +the strain being further reduced by giving her a decided list to +port; that her crank is "bandaged," that she is leaky; that her +mainmast is sprung, and that with only four hours' steaming many of +her boiler tubes, even some of those put in at Auckland, had already +given way. I cannot testify concerning the mainmast, though it +certainly does comport itself like no other mainmast I ever saw; but +the other statements and many more which might be added, are, I +believe, substantially correct. That the caulking of the deck was +in evil case we very soon had proof, for during heavy rain above, it +was a smart shower in the saloon and state rooms, keeping four +stewards employed with buckets and swabs, and compelling us to dine +in waterproofs and rubber shoes. + +In this dilapidated condition, when two days out from Auckland, we +encountered a revolving South Sea hurricane, succinctly entered in +the log of the day as "Encountered a very severe hurricane with a +very heavy sea." It began at eight in the morning, and never spent +its fury till nine at night, and the wind changed its direction +eleven times. The Nevada left Auckland two feet deeper in the water +than she ought to have been, and laboured heavily. Seas struck her +under the guards with a heavy, explosive thud, and she groaned and +strained as if she would part asunder. It was a long weird day. We +held no communication with each other, or with those who could form +any rational estimate of the probabilities of our destiny; no +officials appeared; the ordinary invariable routine of the steward +department was suspended without notice; the sounds were tremendous, +and a hot lurid obscurity filled the atmosphere. Soon after four +the clamour increased, and the shock of a sea blowing up a part of +the fore-guards made the groaning fabric reel and shiver throughout +her whole huge bulk. At that time, by common consent, we assembled +in the deck-house, which had windows looking in all directions, and +sat there for five hours. Very few words were spoken, and very +little fear was felt. We understood by intuition that if our crazy +engines failed at any moment to keep the ship's head to the sea, her +destruction would not occupy half-an-hour. It was all palpable. +There was nothing which the most experienced seaman could explain to +the merest novice. We hoped for the best, and there was no use in +speaking about the worst. Nor, indeed, was speech possible, unless +a human voice could have outshrieked the hurricane. + +In this deck-house the strainings, sunderings, and groanings were +hardly audible, or rather were overpowered by a sound which, in +thirteen months' experience of the sea in all weathers, I have never +heard, and hope never to hear again, unless in a staunch ship, one +loud, awful, undying shriek, mingled with a prolonged relentless +hiss. No gathering strength, no languid fainting into momentary +lulls, but one protracted gigantic scream. And this was not the +whistle of wind through cordage, but the actual sound of air +travelling with tremendous velocity, carrying with it minute +particles of water. Nor was the sea running mountains high, for the +hurricane kept it down. Indeed during those fierce hours no sea was +visible, for the whole surface was caught up and carried furiously +into the air, like snow-drift on the prairies, sibilant, relentless. +There was profound quiet on deck, the little life which existed +being concentrated near the bow, where the captain was either lashed +to the foremast, or in shelter in the pilot-house. Never a soul +appeared on deck, the force of the hurricane being such that for +four hours any man would have been carried off his feet. Through +the swift strange evening our hopes rested on the engine, and amidst +the uproar and din, and drifting spray, and shocks of pitiless seas, +there was a sublime repose in the spectacle of the huge walking +beams, alternately rising and falling, slowly, calmly, regularly, as +if the Nevada were on a holiday trip within the Golden Gate. At +eight in the evening we could hear each other speak, and a little +later, through the great masses of hissing drift we discerned black +water. At nine Captain Blethen appeared, smoking a cigar with +nonchalance, and told us that the hurricane had nearly boxed the +compass, and had been the most severe he had known for seventeen +years. This grand old man, nearly the oldest captain in the +Pacific, won our respect and confidence from the first, and his +quiet and masterly handling of this dilapidated old ship is beyond +all praise. + +When the strain of apprehension was mitigated, we became aware that +we had not had anything to eat since breakfast, a clean sweep having +been made, not only of the lunch, but of all the glass in the racks +above it; but all requests to the stewards were insufficient to +procure even biscuits, and at eleven we retired supperless to bed, +amidst a confusion of awful sounds, and were deprived of lights as +well as food. When we asked for food or light, and made weak +appeals on the ground of faintness, the one steward who seemed to +dawdle about for the sole purpose of making himself disagreeable, +always replied, "You can't get anything, the stewards are on duty." +We were not accustomed to recognize that stewards had any other duty +than that of feeding the passengers, but under the circumstances we +meekly acquiesced. We were allowed to know that a part of the +foreguards had been carried way, and that iron stanchions four +inches thick had been gnarled and twisted like candy sticks, and the +constant falling of the saloon casing of the mainmast, showed +something wrong there. A heavy clang, heard at intervals by day and +night, aroused some suspicions as to more serious damage, and these +were afterwards confirmed. As the wind fell the sea rose, and for +some hours realized every description I have read of the majesty and +magnitude of the rollers of the South Pacific. + +The day after the hurricane something went wrong with the engines, +and we were stationary for an hour. We all felt thankful that this +derangement which would have jeopardised or sacrificed sixty lives, +was then only a slight detention on a summer sea. + +Five days out from Auckland we entered the tropics with a +temperature of 80 degrees in the water, and 85 degrees in the air, +but as the light head airs blew the intense heat of our two smoke +stacks aft, we often endured a temperature of 110 degrees. There +were quiet, heavy tropical showers, and a general misty dampness, +and the Navigator Islands, with their rainbow-tinted coral forests, +their fringe of coco palms, and groves of banyan and breadfruit +trees, these sunniest isles of the bright South Seas, resolved +themselves into dark lumps looming through a drizzling mist. But +the showers and the dampness were confined to that region, and for +the last fortnight an unclouded tropical sun has blazed upon our +crawling ship. The boiler tubes are giving way at the rate of from +ten to twenty daily, the fracture in the shaft is extending, and so, +partially maimed, the old ship drags her 320 feet of length slowly +along. The captain is continually in the engine-room, and we know +when things are looking more unpropitious than usual by his coming +up puffing his cigar with unusual strength of determination. It has +been so far a very pleasant voyage. The moral, mental, and social +qualities of my fellow-passengers are of a high order, and since the +hurricane we have been rather like a family circle than a +miscellaneous accidental group. For some time our days went by in +reading aloud, working, chess, draughts and conversation, with two +hours at quoits in the afternoon for exercise; but four days ago the +only son of Mrs. Dexter, who is the only lady on board besides +myself, ruptured a blood vessel on the lungs, and lies in a most +critical state in the deck-house from which he has not been moved, +requiring most careful nursing, incessant fanning, and the attention +of two persons by day and night. Mrs. D. had previously won the +regard of everyone, and I had learned to look on her as a friend +from whom I should be grieved to part. The only hope for the young +man's life is that he should be landed at Honolulu, and she has +urged me so strongly to land with her there, where she will be a +complete stranger, that I have consented to do so, and consequently +shall see the Sandwich Islands. This severe illness has cast a +great gloom over our circle of six, and Mr. D. continues in a state +of so much exhaustion and peril that all our arrangements as to +occupation, recreation, and sleep, are made with reference to a +sick, and as we sometimes fear, a dying man, whose state is much +aggravated by the maltreatment and stupidity of a dilapidated Scotch +doctor, who must be at least eighty, and whose intellects are +obfuscated by years of whiskey drinking. Two of the gentlemen not +only show the utmost tenderness as nurses, but possess a skill and +experience which are invaluable. They never leave him by night, and +scarcely take needed rest even in the day, one or other of them +being always at hand to support him when faint, or raise him on his +pillows. + +It is not only that the Nevada is barely seaworthy, and has kept us +broiling in the tropics when we ought to have been at San Francisco, +but her fittings are so old. The mattresses bulge and burst, and +cockroaches creep in and out, the deck is so leaky that the water +squishes up under the saloon matting as we walk over it, the bread +swarms with minute ants, and we have to pick every piece over +because of weevils. Existence at night is an unequal fight with +rats and cockroaches, and at meals with the stewards for time to +eat. The stewards outnumber the passengers, and are the veriest +riff-raff I have seen on board ship. At meals, when the captain is +not below, their sole object is to hurry us from the table in order +that they may sit down to a protracted meal; they are insulting and +disobliging, and since illness has been on board, have shown a want +of common humanity which places them below the rest of their +species. The unconcealed hostility with which they regard us is a +marvellous contrast to the natural or purchasable civility or +servility which prevails on British steamers. It has its comic side +too, and we are content to laugh at it, and at all the other +oddities of this vaunted "Mail Line." + +Our most serious grievance was the length of time that we were kept +in the damp inter-island region of the Tropic of Capricorn. Early +breakfasts, cold plunge baths, and the perfect ventilation of our +cabins, only just kept us alive. We read, wrote, and talked like +automatons, and our voices sounded thin and far away. We decided +that heat was less felt in exercise, made up an afternoon quoit +party, and played unsheltered from the nearly vertical sun, on decks +so hot that we required thick boots for the protection of our feet, +but for three days were limp and faint, and hardly able to crawl +about or eat. The nights were insupportable. We used to lounge on +the bow, and retire late at night to our cabins, to fight the heat, +and scare rats and kill cockroaches with slippers, until driven by +the solar heat to rise again unrefreshed to wrestle through another +relentless day. We read the "Idylls of the King" and talked of +misty meres and reedy fens, of the cool north, with its purple +hills, leaping streams, and life-giving breezes, of long northern +winters, and ice and snow, but the realities of sultriness and damp +scared away our coolest imaginations. In this dismal region, when +about forty miles east of Tutuila, a beast popularly known as the +"Flying fox" {14} alighted on our rigging, and was eventually +captured as a prize for the zoological collection at San Francisco. +He is a most interesting animal, something like an exaggerated bat. +His wings are formed of a jet black membrane, and have a highly +polished claw at the extremity of each, and his feet consist of five +beautifully polished long black claws, with which he hangs on head +downwards. His body is about twice the size of that of a very large +rat, black and furry underneath, and with red foxy fur on his head +and back. His face is pointed, with a very black nose and prominent +black eyes, with a savage, remorseless expression. His wings, when +extended, measure forty-eight inches across, and his flying powers +are prodigious. He snapped like a dog at first, but is now quite +tame, and devours quantities of dried figs, the only diet he will +eat. + +We crossed the Equator in Long. 159 degrees 44', but in consequence +of the misty weather it was not till we reached Lat. 10 degrees 6' +N. that the Pole star, cold and pure, glistened far above the +horizon, and two hours later we saw the coruscating Pleiades, and +the starry belt of Orion, the blessed familiar constellations of +"auld lang syne," and a "breath of the cool north," the first I have +felt for five months, fanned the tropic night and the calm silvery +Pacific. From that time we have been indifferent to our crawling +pace, except for the sick man's sake. The days dawn in rose colour +and die in gold, and through their long hours a sea of delicious +blue shimmers beneath the sun, so soft, so blue, so dreamlike, an +ocean worthy of its name, the enchanted region of perpetual calm, +and an endless summer. Far off, for many an azure league, rims of +rock, fringed with the graceful coco palm, girdle still lagoons, and +are themselves encircled by coral reefs on which the ocean breaks +all the year in broad drifts of foam. Myriads of flying fish and a +few dolphins and Portuguese men-of-war flash or float through the +scarcely undulating water. But we look in vain for the "sails of +silk and ropes of sendal," which are alone appropriate to this +dream-world. The Pacific in this region is an indolent blue +expanse, pure and lonely, an almost untraversed sea. We revel in +these tropic days of transcendent glory, in the balmy breath which +just stirs the dreamy blue, in the brief, fierce crimson sunsets, in +the soft splendour of the nights, when the moon and stars hang like +lamps out of a lofty and distant vault, and in the pearly +crystalline dawns, when the sun rising through a veil of rose and +gold "rejoices as a giant to run his course," and brightens by no +"pale gradations" into the "perfect day." + + +P.S.--To-morrow morning we expect to sight land. In spite of minor +evils, our voyage has been a singularly pleasant one. The condition +of the ship and her machinery warrants the strongest condemnation, +but her discipline is admirable, and so are many of her regulations, +and we might have had a much more disagreeable voyage in a better +ship. Captain Blethen is beyond all praise, and so is the chief +engineer, whose duties are incessant and most harassing, owing to +the critical state of the engines. The Nevada now presents a +grotesque appearance, for within the last few hours she has received +such an added list to port that her starboard wheel looks nearly out +of the water. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER II. + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU, Jan. 26th. + +Yesterday morning at 6.30 I was aroused by the news that "The +Islands" were in sight. Oahu in the distance, a group of grey, +barren peaks rising verdureless out of the lonely sea, was not an +exception to the rule that the first sight of land is a +disappointment. Owing to the clear atmosphere, we seemed only five +miles off, but in reality we were twenty, and the land improved as +we neared it. It was the fiercest day we had had, the deck was +almost too hot to stand upon, the sea and sky were both +magnificently blue, and the unveiled sun turned every minute ripple +into a diamond flash. As we approached, the island changed its +character. There were lofty peaks, truly--grey and red, sun- +scorched and wind-bleached, glowing here and there with traces of +their fiery origin; but they were cleft by deep chasms and ravines +of cool shadow and entrancing green, and falling water streaked +their sides--a most welcome vision after eleven months of the desert +sea and the dusty browns of Australia and New Zealand. Nearer yet, +and the coast line came into sight, fringed by the feathery cocoanut +tree of the tropics, and marked by a long line of surf. The grand +promontory of Diamond Head, its fiery sides now softened by a haze +of green, terminated the wavy line of palms; then the Punchbowl, a +very perfect extinct crater, brilliant with every shade of red +volcanic ash, blazed against the green skirts of the mountains. We +were close to the coral reef before the cry, "There's Honolulu!" +made us aware of the proximity of the capital of the island kingdom, +and then, indeed, its existence had almost to be taken upon trust, +for besides the lovely wooden and grass huts, with deep verandahs, +which nestled under palms and bananas on soft green sward, margined +by the bright sea sand, only two church spires and a few grey roofs +appeared above the trees. + +We were just outside the reef, and near enough to hear that deep +sound of the surf which, through the ever serene summer years +girdles the Hawaiian Islands with perpetual thunder, before the +pilot glided alongside, bringing the news which Mark Twain had +prepared us to receive with interest, that "Prince Bill" had been +unanimously elected to the throne. The surf ran white and pure over +the environing coral reef, and as we passed through the narrow +channel, we almost saw the coral forests deep down under the +Nevada's keel; the coral fishers plied their graceful trade; canoes +with outriggers rode the combers, and glided with inconceivable +rapidity round our ship; amphibious brown beings sported in the +transparent waves; and within the reef lay a calm surface of water +of a wonderful blue, entered by a narrow, intricate passage of the +deepest indigo. And beyond the reef and beyond the blue, nestling +among cocoanut trees and bananas, umbrella trees and breadfruits, +oranges, mangoes, hibiscus, algaroba, and passion-flowers, almost +hidden in the deep, dense greenery, was Honolulu. Bright blossom of +a summer sea! Fair Paradise of the Pacific! + +Inside the reef the magnificent iron-clad California (the flag-ship) +and another huge American war vessel, the Benicia, are moored in +line with the British corvette Scout, within 200 yards of the shore; +and their boats were constantly passing and re-passing, among +countless canoes filled with natives. Two coasting schooners were +just leaving the harbour, and the inter-island steamer Kilauea, with +her deck crowded with natives, was just coming in. By noon the +great decrepit Nevada, which has no wharf at which she can lie in +sleepy New Zealand, was moored alongside a very respectable one in +this enterprising little Hawaiian capital. + +We looked down from the towering deck on a crowd of two or three +thousand people--whites, Kanakas, Chinamen--and hundreds of them at +once made their way on board, and streamed over the ship, talking, +laughing, and remarking upon us in a language which seemed without +backbone. Such rich brown men and women they were, with wavy, +shining black hair, large, brown, lustrous eyes, and rows of perfect +teeth like ivory. Everyone was smiling. The forms of the women +seem to be inclined towards obesity, but their drapery, which +consists of a sleeved garment which falls in ample and unconfined +folds from their shoulders to their feet, partly conceals this +defect, which is here regarded as a beauty. Some of these dresses +were black, but many of those worn by the younger women were of pure +white, crimson, yellow, scarlet, blue, or light green. The men +displayed their lithe, graceful figures to the best advantage in +white trousers and gay Garibaldi shirts. A few of the women wore +coloured handkerchiefs twined round their hair, but generally both +men and women wore straw hats, which the men set jauntily on one +side of their heads, and aggravated their appearance yet more by +bandana handkerchiefs of rich bright colours round their necks, +knotted loosely on the left side, with a grace to which, I think, no +Anglo-Saxon dandy could attain. Without an exception the men and +women wore wreaths and garlands of flowers, carmine, orange, or pure +white, twined round their hats, and thrown carelessly round their +necks, flowers unknown to me, but redolent of the tropics in +fragrance and colour. Many of the young beauties wore the gorgeous +blossom of the red hibiscus among their abundant, unconfined, black +hair, and many, besides the garlands, wore festoons of a sweet- +scented vine, or of an exquisitely beautiful fern, knotted behind +and hanging half-way down their dresses. These adornments of +natural flowers are most attractive. Chinamen, all alike, very +yellow, with almond-shaped eyes, youthful, hairless faces, long +pigtails, spotlessly clean clothes, and an expression of mingled +cunning and simplicity, "foreigners," half-whites, a few negroes, +and a very few dark-skinned Polynesians from the far-off South Seas, +made up the rest of the rainbow-tinted crowd. + +The "foreign" ladies, who were there in great numbers, generally +wore simple light prints or muslins, and white straw hats, and many +of them so far conformed to native custom as to wear natural flowers +round their hats and throats. But where were the hard, angular, +careworn, sallow, passionate faces of men and women, such as form +the majority of every crowd at home, as well as in America, and +Australia? The conditions of life must surely be easier here, and +people must have found rest from some of its burdensome +conventionalities. The foreign ladies, in their simple, tasteful, +fresh attire, innocent of the humpings and bunchings, the +monstrosities and deformities of ultra-fashionable bad taste, beamed +with cheerfulness, friendliness, and kindliness. Men and women +looked as easy, contented, and happy as if care never came near +them. I never saw such healthy, bright complexions as among the +women, or such "sparkling smiles," or such a diffusion of feminine +grace and graciousness anywhere. + +Outside this motley, genial, picturesque crowd about 200 saddled +horses were standing, each with the Mexican saddle, with its +lassoing horn in front, high peak behind, immense wooden stirrups, +with great leathern guards, silver or brass bosses, and coloured +saddle-cloths. The saddles were the only element of the picturesque +that these Hawaiian steeds possessed. They were sorry, lean, +undersized beasts, looking in general as if the emergencies of life +left them little time for eating or sleeping. They stood calmly in +the broiling sun, heavy-headed and heavy-hearted, with flabby ears +and pendulous lower lips, limp and rawboned, a doleful type of the +"creation which groaneth and travaileth in misery." All these +belonged to the natives, who are passionately fond of riding. Every +now and then a flower-wreathed Hawaiian woman, in her full radiant +garment, sprang on one of these animals astride, and dashed along +the road at full gallop, sitting on her horse as square and easy as +a hussar. In the crowd and outside of it, and everywhere, there +were piles of fruit for sale--oranges and guavas, strawberries, +papayas, bananas (green and golden), cocoanuts, and other rich, +fantastic productions of a prolific climate, where nature gives of +her wealth the whole year round. Strange fishes, strange in shape +and colour, crimson, blue, orange, rose, gold, such fishes as flash +like living light through the coral groves of these enchanted seas, +were there for sale, and coral divers were there with their +treasures--branch coral, as white as snow, each perfect specimen +weighing from eight to twenty pounds. But no one pushed his wares +for sale--we were at liberty to look and admire, and pass on +unmolested. No vexatious restrictions obstructed our landing. A +sum of two dollars for the support of the Queen's Hospital is levied +on each passenger, and the examination of ordinary luggage, if it +exists, is a mere form. From the demeanour of the crowd it was at +once apparent that the conditions of conquerors and conquered do not +exist. On the contrary, many of the foreigners there were subjects +of a Hawaiian king, a reversal of the ordinary relations between a +white and a coloured race which it is not easy yet to appreciate. + +Two of my fellow-passengers, who were going on to San Francisco, +were anxious that I should accompany them to the Pali, the great +excursion from Honolulu; and leaving Mr. M--- to make all +arrangements for the Dexters and myself, we hired a buggy, destitute +of any peculiarity but a native driver, who spoke nothing but +Hawaiian, and left the ship. This place is quite unique. It is +said that 15,000 people are buried away in these low-browed, shadowy +houses, under the glossy, dark-leaved trees, but except in one or +two streets of miscellaneous, old-fashioned looking stores, arranged +with a distinct leaning towards native tastes, it looks like a large +village, or rather like an aggregate of villages. As we drove +through the town we could only see our immediate surroundings, but +each had a new fascination. We drove along roads with over-arching +trees, through whose dense leafage the noon sunshine only trickled +in dancing, broken lights; umbrella trees, caoutchouc, bamboo, +mango, orange, breadfruit, candlenut, monkey pod, date and coco +palms, alligator pears, "prides" of Barbary, India, and Peru, and +huge-leaved, wide-spreading trees, exotics from the South Seas, many +of them rich in parasitic ferns, and others blazing with bright, +fantastic blossoms. The air was heavy with odours of gardenia, +tuberose, oleanders, roses, lilies, and the great white trumpet- +flower, and myriads of others whose names I do not know, and +verandahs were festooned with a gorgeous trailer with magenta +blossoms, passion-flowers, and a vine with masses of trumpet-shaped, +yellow, waxy flowers. The delicate tamarind and the feathery +algaroba intermingled their fragile grace with the dark, shiny +foliage of the South Sea exotics, and the deep red, solitary flowers +of the hibiscus rioted among dear familiar fuschias and geraniums, +which here attain the height and size of large rhododendrons. + +Few of the new trees surprised me more than the papaya. It is a +perfect gem of tropical vegetation. It has a soft, indented stem, +which runs up quite straight to a height of from 15 to 30 feet, and +is crowned by a profusion of large, deeply indented leaves, with +long foot-stalks, and among, as well as considerably below these, +are the flowers or the fruit, in all stages of development. This, +when ripe, is bright yellow, and the size of a musk melon. Clumps +of bananas, the first sight of which, like that of the palm, +constitutes a new experience, shaded the native houses with their +wonderful leaves, broad and deep green, from five to ten feet long. +The breadfruit is a superb tree, about 60 feet high, with deep +green, shining leaves, a foot broad, sharply and symmetrically cut, +worthy, from their exceeding beauty of form, to take the place of +the acanthus in architectural ornament, and throwing their pale +green fruit into delicate contrast. All these, with the exquisite +rose apple, with a deep red tinge in its young leaves, the fan palm, +the chirimoya, and numberless others, and the slender shafts of the +coco palms rising high above them, with their waving plumes and +perpetual fruitage, were a perfect festival of beauty. + +In the deep shade of this perennial greenery the people dwell. The +foreign houses show a very various individuality. The peculiarity +in which all seem to share is, that everything is decorated and +festooned with flowering trailers. It is often difficult to tell +what the architecture is, or what is house and what is vegetation; +for all angles, and lattices, and balustrades, and verandahs are +hidden by jessamine or passion-flowers, or the gorgeous flame-like +Bougainvillea. Many of the dwellings straggle over the ground +without an upper story, and have very deep verandahs, through which +I caught glimpses of cool, shady rooms, with matted floors. Some +look as if they had been transported from the old-fashioned villages +of the Connecticut Valley, with their clap-board fronts painted +white and jalousies painted green; but then the deep verandah in +which families lead an open-air life has been added, and the +chimneys have been omitted, and the New England severity and +angularity are toned down and draped out of sight by these festoons +of large-leaved, bright-blossomed, tropical climbing plants. +Besides the frame houses there are houses built of blocks of a +cream-coloured coral conglomerate laid in cement, of adobe, or large +sun-baked bricks, plastered; houses of grass and bamboo; houses on +the ground and houses raised on posts; but nothing looks prosaic, +commonplace, or mean, for the glow and luxuriance of the tropics +rest on all. Each house has a large garden or "yard," with lawns of +bright perennial greens and banks of blazing, many-tinted flowers, +and lines of Dracaena, and other foliage plants, with their great +purple or crimson leaves, and clumps of marvellous lilies, +gladiolas, ginger, and many plants unknown to me. Fences and walls +are altogether buried by passion-flowers, the night-blowing Cereus, +and the tropaeolum, mixed with geraniums, fuchsia, and jessamine, +which cluster and entangle over them in indescribable profusion. A +soft air moves through the upper branches, and the drip of water +from miniature fountains falls musically on the perfumed air. This +is midwinter! The summer, they say, is thermometrically hotter, but +practically cooler, because of the regular trades which set in in +April, but now, with the shaded thermometer at 80 degrees and the +sky without clouds, the heat is not oppressive. + +The mixture of the neat grass houses of the natives with the more +elaborate homes of the foreign residents has a very pleasant look. +The "aborigines" have not been crowded out of sight, or into a +special "quarter." We saw many groups of them sitting under the +trees outside their houses, each group with a mat in the centre, +with calabashes upon it containing poi, the national Hawaiian dish, +a fermented paste made from the root of the kalo, or arum +esculentum. As we emerged on the broad road which leads up the +Nuuanu Valley to the mountains, we saw many patches of this kalo, a +very handsome tropical plant, with large leaves of a bright tender +green. Each plant was growing on a small hillock, with water round +it. There were beautiful vegetable gardens also, in which Chinamen +raise for sale not only melons, pineapples, sweet potatoes, and +other edibles of hot climates, but the familiar fruits and +vegetables of the temperate zones. In patches of surpassing +neatness, there were strawberries, which are ripe here all the year, +peas, carrots, turnips, asparagus, lettuce, and celery. I saw no +other plants or trees which grow at home, but recognized as hardly +less familiar growths the Victorian Eucalyptus, which has not had +time to become gaunt and straggling, the Norfolk Island pine, which +grows superbly here, and the handsome Moreton Bay fig. But the +chief feature of this road is the number of residences; I had almost +written of pretentious residences, but the term would be a base +slander, as I have jumped to the conclusion that the twin +vulgarities of ostentation and pretence have no place here. But +certainly for a mile and a half or more there are many very +comfortable-looking dwellings, very attractive to the eye, with an +ease and imperturbable serenity of demeanour as if they had nothing +to fear from heat, cold, wind, or criticism. Their architecture is +absolutely unostentatious, and their one beauty is that they are +embowered among trailers, shadowed by superb exotics, and surrounded +by banks of flowers, while the stately cocoanut, the banana, and the +candlenut, the aborigines of Oahu, are nowhere displaced. One house +with extensive grounds, a perfect wilderness of vegetation, was +pointed out as the summer palace of Queen Emma, or Kaleleonalani, +widow of Kamehameha IV., who visited England a few years ago, and +the finest garden of all was that of a much respected Chinese +merchant, named Afong. Oahu, at least on this leeward side, is not +tropical looking, and all this tropical variety and luxuriance which +delight the eye result from foreign enthusiasm and love of beauty +and shade. + +When we ascended above the scattered dwellings and had passed the +tasteful mausoleum, with two tall Kahilis, {28} or feather plumes, +at the door of the tomb in which the last of the Kamehamehas +received Christian burial, the glossy, redundant, arborescent +vegetation ceased. At that height a shower of rain falls on nearly +every day in the year, and the result is a green sward which England +can hardly rival, a perfect sea of verdure, darkened in the valley +and more than half way up the hill sides by the foliage of the +yellow-blossomed and almost impenetrable hibiscus, brightened here +and there by the pea-green candlenut. Streamlets leap from crags +and ripple along the roadside, every rock and stone is hidden by +moist-looking ferns, as aerial and delicate as marabout feathers, +and when the windings of the valley and the projecting spurs of +mountains shut out all indications of Honolulu, in the cool green +loneliness one could image oneself in the temperate zones. The +peculiarity of the scenery is, that the hills, which rise to a +height of about 4,000 feet, are wall-like ridges of grey or coloured +rock, rising precipitously out of the trees and grass, and that +these walls are broken up into pinnacles and needles. At the Pali +(wall-like precipice), the summit of the ascent of 1,000 feet, we +left our buggy, and passing through a gash in the rock the +celebrated view burst on us with overwhelming effect. Immense +masses of black and ferruginous volcanic rock, hundreds of feet in +nearly perpendicular height, formed the pali on either side, and the +ridge extended northwards for many miles, presenting a lofty, abrupt +mass of grey rock broken into fantastic pinnacles, which seemed to +pierce the sky. A broad, umbrageous mass of green clothed the lower +buttresses, and fringed itself away in clusters of coco palms on a +garden-like stretch below, green with grass and sugar-cane, and +dotted with white houses, each with its palm and banana grove, and +varied by eminences which looked like long extinct tufa cones. +Beyond this enchanted region stretched the coral reef, with its +white wavy line of endless surf, and the broad blue Pacific, ruffled +by a breeze whose icy freshness chilled us where we stood. Narrow +streaks on the landscape, every now and then disappearing behind +intervening hills, indicated bridle tracks connected with a +frightfully steep and rough zigzag path cut out of the face of the +cliff on our right. I could not go down this on foot without a +sense of insecurity, but mounted natives driving loaded horses +descended with perfect impunity into the dreamland below. + +This pali is the scene of one of the historic tragedies of this +island. Kamehameha the Conqueror, who after fierce fighting and +much ruthless destruction of human life united the island +sovereignties in his own person, routed the forces of the King of +Oahu in the Nuuanu Valley, and drove them in hundreds up the +precipice, from which they leaped in despair and madness, and their +bones lie bleaching 800 feet below. + +The drive back here was delightful, from the wintry height, where I +must confess that we shivered, to the slumbrous calm of an endless +summer, the glorious tropical trees, the distant view of cool chasm- +like valleys, with Honolulu sleeping in perpetual shade, and the +still blue ocean, without a single sail to disturb its profound +solitude. Saturday afternoon is a gala-day here, and the broad road +was so thronged with brilliant equestrians, that I thought we should +be ridden over by the reckless laughing rout. There were hundreds +of native horsemen and horsewomen, many of them doubtless on the +dejected quadrupeds I saw at the wharf, but a judicious application +of long rowelled Mexican spurs, and a degree of emulation, caused +these animals to tear along at full gallop. The women seemed +perfectly at home in their gay, brass-bossed, high peaked saddles, +flying along astride, barefooted, with their orange and scarlet +riding dresses streaming on each side beyond their horses' tails, a +bright kaleidoscopic flash of bright eyes, white teeth, shining +hair, garlands of flowers and many-coloured dresses; while the men +were hardly less gay, with fresh flowers round their jaunty hats, +and the vermilion-coloured blossoms of the Ohia round their brown +throats. Sometimes a troop of twenty of these free-and-easy female +riders went by at a time, a graceful and exciting spectacle, with a +running accompaniment of vociferation and laughter. Among these we +met several of the Nevada's officers, riding in the stiff, wooden +style which Anglo-Saxons love, and a horde of jolly British sailors +from H.M.S. Scout, rushing helter skelter, colliding with everybody, +bestriding their horses as they would a topsail-yard, hanging on to +manes and lassoing horns, and enjoying themselves thoroughly. In +the shady tortuous streets we met hundreds more of native riders, +clashing at full gallop without fear of the police. Many of the +women were in flowing riding-dresses of pure white, over which their +unbound hair, and wreaths of carmine-tinted flowers fell most +picturesquely. + +All this time I had not seen our domicile, and when our drive ended +under the quivering shadow of large tamarind and algaroba trees, in +front of a long, stone, two-storied house with two deep verandahs +festooned with clematis and passion flowers, and a shady lawn in +front, I felt as if in this fairy land anything might be expected. + +This is the perfection of an hotel. Hospitality seems to take +possession of and appropriate one as soon as one enters its never- +closed door, which is on the lower verandah. There is a basement, +in which there are a good many bedrooms, the bar, and billiard-room. +This is entered from the garden, under two semicircular flights of +stairs which lead to the front entrance, a wide corridor conducting +to the back entrance. This is crossed by another running the whole +length, which opens into a very large many-windowed dining-room +which occupies the whole width of the hotel. On the same level +there is a large parlour, with French windows opening on the +verandah. Upstairs there are two similar corridors on which all the +bedrooms open, and each room has one or more French windows opening +on the verandah, with doors as well, made like German shutters, to +close instead of the windows, ensuring at once privacy and coolness. +The rooms are tastefully furnished with varnished pine with a strong +aromatic scent, and there are plenty of lounging-chairs on the +verandah, where people sit and receive their intimate friends. The +result of the construction of the hotel is that a breeze whispers +through it by day and night. + +Everywhere, only pleasant objects meet the eye. One can sit all day +on the back verandah, watching the play of light and colour on the +mountains and the deep blue green of the Nuuanu Valley, where +showers, sunshine, and rainbows make perpetual variety. The great +dining-room is delicious. It has no curtains, and its decorations +are cool and pale. Its windows look upon tropical trees in one +direction, and up to the cool mountains in the other. Piles of +bananas, guavas, limes, and oranges, decorate the tables at each +meal, and strange vegetables, fish, and fruits vary the otherwise +stereotyped American hotel fare. There are no female domestics. +The host is a German, the manager an American, the steward an +Hawaiian, and the servants are all Chinamen in spotless white linen, +with pigtails coiled round their heads, and an air of superabundant +good-nature. They know very little English, and make most absurd +mistakes, but they are cordial, smiling, and obliging, and look cool +and clean. The hotel seems the great public resort of Honolulu, the +centre of stir--club-house, exchange and drawing-room in one. Its +wide corridors and verandahs are lively with English and American +naval uniforms, several planters' families are here for the season; +and with health seekers from California, resident boarders, whaling +captains, tourists from the British Pacific Colonies, and a stream +of townspeople always percolating through the corridors and +verandahs, it seems as lively and free-and-easy as a place can be, +pervaded by the kindliness and bonhomie which form an important item +in my first impressions of the islands. The hotel was lately built +by government at a cost of $120,000, a sum which forms a +considerable part of that token of an advanced civilization, a +National Debt. The minister whose scheme it was seems to be +severely censured on account of it, but undoubtedly it brings +strangers and their money into the kingdom, who would have avoided +it had they been obliged as formerly to cast themselves on the +hospitality of the residents. The present proprietor has it rent- +free for a term of years, but I fear that it is not likely to prove +a successful speculation either for him or the government. I +dislike health resorts, and abhor this kind of life, but for those +who like both, I cannot imagine a more fascinating residence. The +charges are $15 a week, or $3 a day, but such a kindly, open-handed +system prevails that I am not conscious that I am paying anything! +This sum includes hot and cold plunge baths ad libitum, justly +regarded as a necessity in this climate. + +Dr. McGrew has hope that our invalid will rally in this healing, +equable atmosphere. Our kind fellow-passengers are here, and take +turns in watching and fanning him. Through the half-closed +jalousies we see breadfruit trees, delicate tamarinds and algarobas, +fan-palms, date-palms and bananas, and the deep blue Pacific gleams +here and there through the plumage of the cocoanut trees. A soft +breeze, scented with a slight aromatic odour, wanders in at every +opening, bringing with it, mellowed by distance, the hum and clatter +of the busy cicada. The nights are glorious, and so absolutely +still, that even the feathery foliage of the algaroba is at rest. +The stars seem to hang among the trees like lamps, and the crescent +moon gives more light than the full moon at home. The evening of +the day we landed, parties of officers and ladies mounted at the +door, and with much mirth disappeared on moonlight rides, and the +white robes of flower-crowned girls gleamed among the trees, as +groups of natives went by speaking a language which sounded more +like the rippling of water than human speech. Soft music came from +the ironclads in the harbour, and from the royal band at the king's +palace, and a rich fragrance of dewy blossoms filled the delicious +air. These are indeed the "isles of Eden," the "sun lands," musical +with beauty. They seem to welcome us to their enchanted shores. +Everything is new but nothing strange; for as I enjoyed the purple +night, I remembered that I had seen such islands in dreams in the +cold gray North. "How sweet," I thought it would be, thus to hear +far off, the low sweet murmur of the "sparkling brine," to rest, and + + "Ever to seem + Falling asleep in a half-dream." + +A half-dream only, for one would not wish to be quite asleep and +lose the consciousness of this delicious outer world. So I thought +one moment. The next I heard a droning, humming sound, which +certainly was not the surf upon the reef. It came nearer--there +could be no mistake. I felt a stab, and found myself the centre of +a swarm of droning, stabbing, malignant mosquitoes. No, even this +is not paradise! I am ashamed to say that on my first night in +Honolulu I sought an early refuge from this intolerable infliction, +in profound and prosaic sleep behind mosquito curtains. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER III. + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL, Jan. 28th. + +Sunday was a very pleasant day here. Church bells rang, and the +shady streets were filled with people in holiday dress. There are +two large native churches, the Kaumakapili, and the Kaiwaiaho, +usually called the stone church. The latter is an immense +substantial building, for the erection of which each Christian +native brought a block of rock-coral. There is a large Roman +Catholic church, the priests of which are said to have been somewhat +successful in proselytizing operations. The Reformed Catholic, or +English temporary cathedral, is a tasteful but very simple wooden +building, standing in pretty grounds, on which a very useful +institution for boarding and training native and half-white girls, +and the reception of white girls as day scholars, also stands. This +is in connection with Miss Sellon's Sisterhood at Devonport. +Another building, alongside the cathedral, is used for English +service in Hawaiian. There are two Congregational churches: the +old "Bethel," of which the Rev. S. C. Damon, known to all strangers, +and one of the oldest and most respected Honolulu residents, is the +minister; and the "Fort St. Church," which has a large and +influential congregation, and has been said to "run the government," +because its members compose the majority of the Cabinet. Lunalilo, +the present king, has cast in his lot with the Congregationalists, +but Queen Emma is an earnest member of the Anglican Church, and +attends the Liturgical Hawaiian Service in order to throw the weight +of her influence with the natives into the scale of that communion. +Her husband spent many of his later days in translating the Prayer- +Book. As is natural, most of the natives belong to the denomination +from which they or their fathers received the Christian faith, and +the majority of the foreigners are of the same persuasion. The New +England Puritan influence, with its rigid Sabbatarianism, though +considerably worn away, is still influential enough to produce a +general appearance of Sabbath observance. The stores are closed, +the church-going is very demonstrative, and the pleasure-seeking is +very unobtrusive. The wharves are profoundly quiet. + +I went twice to the English Cathedral, and was interested to see +there a lady in a nun's habit, with a number of brown girls, who was +pointed out to me as Sister Bertha, who has been working here +usefully for many years. The ritual is high. I am told that it is +above the desires and the comprehension of most of the island +episcopalians, but the zeal and disinterestedness of Bishop Willis +will, in time, I doubt not, win upon those who prize such qualities. +He called in the afternoon, and took me to his pretty, unpretending +residence up the Nuuanu Valley. He has a training and boarding +school there for native boys, some of whom were at church in the +morning as a surpliced choir. The bishop, his sister, the +schoolmaster, and fourteen boys take their meals together in a +refectory, the boys acting as servitors by turns. There is service +every morning at 6.30 in the private chapel attached to the house, +and also in the cathedral a little later. Early risers, so near the +equator, must get up by candlelight all the year round. + +This morning we joined our kind friends from the Nevada for the last +time at breakfast. I have noticed that there is often a centrifugal +force which acts upon passengers who have been long at sea together, +dispersing them on reaching port. Indeed, the temporary enforced +cohesion is often succeeded by violent repulsion. But in this +instance we deeply regret the dissolution of our pleasant +fraternity; the less so, however, that this wonderful climate has +produced a favourable change in Mr. D., who no longer requires the +hourly attention they have hitherto shown him. The mornings here, +dew-bathed and rose-flushed, are, if possible, more lovely than the +nights, and people are astir early to enjoy them. The American +consul and Mr. Damon called while we were sitting at our eight- +o'clock breakfast, from which I gather that formalities are +dispensed with. After spending the morning in hunting among the +stores for things which were essential for the invalid, I lunched in +the Nevada with Captain Blethen and our friends. + +Next to the advent of "national ships" (a euphemism for men-of-war), +the arrivals and departures of the New Zealand mail-steamers +constitute the great excitement of Honolulu, and the failures, +mishaps, and wonderful unpunctuality of this Webb line are highly +stimulating in a region where "nothing happens." The loungers were +saying that the Nevada's pumps were going for five days before we +arrived, and pointed out the clearness of the water which was +running from them at the wharf as an evidence that she was leaking +badly. {40} The crowd of natives was enormous, and the foreigners +were there in hundreds. She was loading with oranges and green +bananas up to the last moment,--those tasteless bananas which, out +of the tropics, misrepresent this most delicious and ambrosial +fruit. + +There was a far greater excitement for the natives, for King +Lunalilo was about to pay a state visit to the American flag-ship +California, and every available place along the wharves and roads +was crowded with kanakas anxious to see him. I should tell you that +the late king, being without heirs, ought to have nominated his +successor; but it is said that a sorceress, under whose influence he +was, persuaded him that his death would follow upon this act. When +he died, two months ago, leaving the succession unprovided for, the +duty of electing a sovereign, according to the constitution, +devolved upon the people through their representatives, and they +exercised it with a combination of order and enthusiasm which +reflects great credit on their civilization. They chose the highest +chief on the islands, Lunalilo (Above All), known among foreigners +as "Prince Bill," and at this time letters of congratulation are +pouring in upon him from his brethren, the sovereigns of Europe. + +The spectacular effect of a pageant here is greatly heightened by +the cloudless blue sky, and the wealth of light and colour. It was +very hot, almost too hot for sight-seeing, on the Nevada's bow. +Expectation among the lieges became tremendous and vociferous when +Admiral Pennock's sixteen-oared barge, with a handsome awning, +followed by two well-manned boats, swept across the strip of water +which lies between the ships and the shore. Outrigger canoes, with +garlanded men and women, were poised upon the motionless water or +darted gracefully round the ironclads, as gracefully to come to +rest. Then a stir and swaying of the crowd, and the American +Admiral was seen standing at the steps of an English barouche and +four, and an Hawaiian imitation of an English cheer rang out upon +the air. More cheering, more excitement, and I saw nothing else +till the Admiral's barge, containing the Admiral, and the king +dressed in a plain morning suit with a single decoration, swept past +the Nevada. The suite followed in the other boats,--brown men and +white, governors, ministers, and court dignitaries, in Windsor +uniforms, but with an added resplendency of plumes, epaulettes, and +gold lace. As soon as Lunalilo reached the California, the yards of +the three ships were manned, and amidst cheering which rent the air, +and the deafening thunder of a royal salute from sixty-three guns of +heavy calibre, the popular descendant of seventy generations of +sceptred savages stepped on board the flag-ship's deck. No higher +honours could have been paid to the Emperor "of all the Russias." I +have seen few sights more curious than that of the representative of +the American Republic standing bare-headed before a coloured man, +and the two mightiest empires on earth paying royal honours to a +Polynesian sovereign, whose little kingdom in the North Pacific is +known to many of us at home only as "the group of islands where +Captain Cook was killed." Ah! how lovely this Queen of Oceans is! +Blue, bright, balm-breathing, gentle in its supreme strength, +different both in motion and colour from the coarse "vexed +Atlantic!" + +STEAMER KILAUEA, Jan. 29th. + +I was turning homewards, enjoying the prospect of a quiet week in +Honolulu, when Mr. and Mrs. Damon seized upon me, and told me that a +lady friend of theirs, anxious for a companion, was going to the +volcano on Hawaii, that she was a most expert and intelligent +traveller, that the Kilauea would sail in two hours, that unless I +went now I should have no future opportunity during my limited stay +on the islands, that Mrs. Dexter was anxious for me to go, that they +would more than fill my place in my absence, that this was a golden +opportunity, that in short I MUST go, and they would drive me back +to the hotel to pack! The volcano is still a myth to me, and I +wanted to "read up" before going, and above all was grieved to leave +my friend, but she had already made some needful preparations, her +son with his feeble voice urged my going, the doctor said that there +was now no danger to be apprehended, and the Damons' kind urgency +left me so little choice, that by five I was with them on the wharf, +being introduced to my travelling companion, and to many of my +fellow-passengers. Such an unexpected move is very bewildering, and +it is too experimental, and too much of a leap in the dark to be +enjoyable at present. + +The wharf was one dense, well-compacted mass of natives taking leave +of their friends with much effusiveness, and the steamer's +encumbered deck was crowded with them, till there was hardly room to +move; men, women, children, dogs, cats, mats, calabashes of poi, +cocoanuts, bananas, dried fish, and every dusky individual of the +throng was wreathed and garlanded with odorous and brilliant +flowers. All were talking and laughing, and an immense amount of +gesticulation seems to emphasize and supplement speech. We steamed +through the reef in the brief red twilight, over the golden tropic +sea, keeping on the leeward side of the islands. Before it was +quite dark the sleeping arrangements were made, and the deck and +skylights were covered with mats and mattresses on which 170 natives +sat, slept, or smoked,--a motley, parti-coloured mass of humanity, +in the midst of which I recognized Bishop Willis in the usual +episcopal dress, lying on a mattress among the others, a prey to +discomfort and weariness! What would his episcopal brethren at home +think of such a hardship? + +There is a yellow-skinned, soft-voiced, fascinating Goa or Malay +steward on board, who with infinite goodwill attends to the comfort +of everybody. I was surprised when he asked me if I would like a +mattress on the skylight, or a berth below, and in unhesitating +ignorance replied severely, "Oh, below, of course, please," thinking +of a ladies' cabin, but when I went down to supper, my eyes were +enlightened. + +The Kilauea is a screw boat of 400 tons, most unprepossessing in +appearance, slow, but sure, and capable of bearing an infinite +amount of battering. It is jokingly said that her keel has rasped +off the branch coral round all the islands. Though there are many +inter-island schooners, she is the only sure mode of reaching the +windward islands in less than a week; and though at present I am +disposed to think rather slightingly of her, and to class her with +the New Zealand coasting craft, yet the residents are very proud of +her, and speak lovingly of her, and regard her as a blessed +deliverance from the horrors of beating to windward. She has a +shabby, obsolete look about her, like a second-rate coasting +collier, or an old American tow-boat. She looks ill-found, too; I +saw two essential pieces of tackle give way as they were hoisting +the main sail. {44} She has a small saloon with a double tier of +berths, besides transoms, which give accommodation on the level of +the lower berth. There is a stern cabin, which is a prolongation of +the saloon, and not in any way separated from it. There is no +ladies' cabin; but sex, race, and colour are included in a +promiscuous arrangement. + +Miss Karpe, my travelling companion, and two agreeable ladies, were +already in their berths very sick, but I did not get into mine +because a cockroach, looking as large as a mouse, occupied the +pillow, and a companion not much smaller was roaming over the quilt +without any definite purpose. I can't vouch for the accuracy of my +observation, but it seemed to me that these tremendous creatures +were dark red, with eyes like lobsters', and antennae two inches +long. They looked capable of carrying out the most dangerous and +inscrutable designs. I called the Malay steward; he smiled +mournfully, but spoke reassuringly, and pledged his word for their +innocuousness, but I never can believe that they are not the enemies +of man; and I lay down on the transom, not to sleep, however, for it +seemed essential to keep watch on the proceedings of these +formidable vermin. + +The grotesqueness of the arrangements of the berths and their +occupants grew on me during the night, and the climax was put upon +it when a gentleman coming down in the early morning asked me if I +knew that I was using the Governor of Maui's head for a footstool, +this portly native "Excellency" being in profound slumber on the +forward part of the transom. This diagram represents one side of +the saloon and the "happy family" of English, Chinamen, Hawaiians, +and Americans: + + Governor Lyman. Miss Karpe. Miss ---. + + Afong. Vacant. Miss ---. + + Governor Nahaolelua. Myself. An Hawaiian. + +I noticed, too, that there were very few trunks and portmanteaus, +but that the after end of the saloon was heaped with Mexican saddles +and saddlebags, which I learned too late were the essential gear of +every traveller on Hawaii. + +At five this morning we were at anchor in the roads of Lahaina, the +chief village on the mountainous island of Maui. This place is very +beautiful from the sea, for beyond the blue water and the foamy reef +the eye rests gratefully on a picturesque collection of low, one- +storied, thatched houses, many of frame, painted white; others of +grass, but all with deep, cool verandahs, half hidden among palms, +bananas, kukuis, breadfruit, and mangoes, dark groves against gentle +slopes behind, covered with sugar-cane of a bright pea-green. It is +but a narrow strip of land between the ocean and the red, flaring, +almost inaccessible, Maui hills, which here rise abruptly to a +height of 6,000 feet, pinnacled, chasmed, buttressed, and almost +verdureless, except in a few deep clefts, green and cool with ferns +and candlenut trees, and moist with falling water. Lahaina looked +intensely tropical in the roseflush of the early morning, a dream of +some bright southern isle, too surely to pass away. The sun blazed +down on shore, ship, and sea, glorifying all things through the +winter day. It was again ecstasy "to dream, and dream" under the +awning, fanned by the light sea-breeze, with the murmur of an +unknown musical tongue in one's ears, and the rich colouring and +graceful grouping of a tropical race around one. We called at +Maaleia, a neck of sandy, scorched, verdureless soil, and at +Ulupalakua, or rather at the furnace seven times heated, which is +the landing of the plantation of that name, on whose breezy slopes +cane refreshes the eye at a height of 2,000 feet above the sea. We +anchored at both places, and with what seemed to me a needless +amount of delay, discharged goods and natives, and natives, mats, +and calabashes were embarked. In addition to the essential mat and +calabash of poi, every native carried some pet, either dog or cat, +which was caressed, sung to, and talked to with extreme tenderness; +but there were hardly any children, and I noticed that where there +were any, the men took charge of them. There were very few fine, +manly dogs; the pets in greatest favour are obviously those odious +weak-eyed, pink-nosed Maltese terriers. + +The aspect of the sea was so completely lazy, that it was a fresh +surprise as each indolent undulation touched the shore that it had +latent vigour left to throw itself upwards into clouds of spray. We +looked through limpid water into cool depths where strange bright +fish darted through the submarine chapparal, but the coolness was +imaginary, for the water was at 80. degrees {47} The air above the +great black lava flood, which in prehistoric times had flowed into +the sea, and had ever since declined the kindly draping offices of +nature, vibrated in waves of heat. Even the imperishable cocoanut +trees, whose tall, bare, curved trunks rose from the lava or the +burnt red earth, were gaunt, tattered, and thirsty-looking, weary of +crying for moisture to the pitiless skies. At last the ceaseless +ripple of talk ceased, crew and passengers slept on the hot deck, +and no sounds were heard but the drowsy flap of the awning, and the +drowsier creak of the rudder, as the Kilauea swayed sleepily on the +lazy undulations. The flag drooped and fainted with heat. The +white sun blazed like a magnesium light on blue water, black lava, +and fiery soil, roasting, blinding, scintillating, and flushed the +red rocks of Maui into glory. It was a constant marvel that troops +of mounted natives, male and female, could gallop on the scorching +shore without being melted or shrivelled. It is all glorious, this +fierce bright glow of the Tropic of Cancer, yet it was a relief to +look up the great rolling featureless slopes above Ulupalakua to a +forest belt of perennial green, watered, they say, by perpetual +showers, and a little later to see a mountain summit uplifted into a +region of endless winter, above a steady cloud-bank as white as +snow. This mountain, Haleakala, the House of the Sun, is the +largest extinct volcano in the world, its terminal crater being +nineteen miles in circumference at a height of more than 10,000 +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 +imprinting their own views on the tabula rasa of a stranger's mind, +have exercised an unseemly overhaste in giving the conversation an +anti-missionary twist. They apparently desire to convey the +impression that the New England teachers, finding a people rejoicing +in the innocence and simplicity of Eden, taught them the knowledge +of evil, turned them into a nation of hypocrites, and with a strange +mingling of fanaticism and selfishness, afflicted them with many +woes calculated to accelerate their extinction, CLOTHING among +others. The animus appears strong and bitter. There are two +intelligent and highly educated ladies on board, daughters of +missionaries, and the candid and cautious tone in which they speak +on the same subject impresses me favourably. Mr. Damon introduced +me to a very handsome half white gentleman, a lawyer of ability, and +lately interpreter to the Legislature, Mr. Ragsdale, or, as he is +usually called, "Bill Ragsdale," a leading spirit among the natives. +His conversation was eloquent and poetic, though rather stilted, and +he has a good deal of French mannerism; but if he is a specimen of +native patriotic feeling, I think that the extinction of Hawaiian +nationality must be far off. I was amused with the attention that +he paid to his dress under very adverse circumstances. He has +appeared in three different suits, with light kid gloves to match, +all equally elegant, in two days. A Chinese gentleman, who is at +the same time a wealthy merchant at Honolulu, and a successful +planter on Hawaii, interests me, from the quiet keen intelligence of +his face, and the courtesy and dignity of his manner. I hear that +he possesses the respect of the whole community for his honour and +integrity. It is quite unlike an ordinary miscellaneous herd of +passengers. The tone is so cheerful, courteous, and friendly, and +people speak without introductions, and help to make the time pass +pleasantly to each other. + + + +HILO, HAWAII. + +The Kilauea is not a fast propeller, and as she lurched very much in +crossing the channel most of the passengers were sea-sick, a +casualty which did not impair their cheerfulness and good humour. +After dark we called at Kawaihae (pronounced To-wee-hye), on the +northwest of Hawaii, and then steamed through the channel to the +east or windward side. I was only too glad on the second night to +accept the offer of "a mattrass on the skylight," but between the +heavy rolling caused by the windward swell, and the natural +excitement on nearing the land of volcanoes and earthquakes, I could +not sleep, and no other person slept, for it was considered "a very +rough passage," though there was hardly a yachtsman's breeze. It +would do these Sybarites good to give them a short spell of the +howling horrors of the North or South Atlantic, an easterly +snowstorm off Sable Island, or a winter gale in the latitude of +Inaccessible Island! The night was cloudy, and so the glare from +Kilauea which is often seen far out at sea was not visible. + +When the sun rose amidst showers and rainbows (for this is the +showery season), I could hardly believe my eyes. Scenery, +vegetation, colour were all changed. The glowing red, the fiery +glare, the obtrusive lack of vegetation were all gone. There was a +magnificent coast-line of grey cliffs many hundred feet in height, +usually draped with green, but often black, caverned, and fantastic +at their bases. Into cracks and caverns the heavy waves surged with +a sound like artillery, sending their broad white sheets of foam +high up among the ferns and trailers, and drowning for a time the +endless baritone of the surf, which is never silent through the +summer years. Cascades in numbers took one impulsive leap from the +cliffs into the sea, or came thundering down clefts or "gulches," +which, widening at their extremities, opened on smooth green lawns, +each one of which has its grass house or houses, kalo patch, +bananas, and coco-palms, so close to the broad Pacific that its +spray often frittered itself away over their fan-like leaves. Above +the cliffs there were grassy uplands with park-like clumps of the +screw-pine, and candle-nut, and glades and dells of dazzling green, +bright with cataracts, opened up among the dark dense forests which +for some thousands of feet girdle Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, two vast +volcanic mountains, whose snowcapped summits gleamed here and there +above the clouds, at an altitude of nearly 14,000 feet. Creation +surely cannot exhibit a more brilliant green than that which clothes +windward Hawaii with perpetual spring. I have never seen such +verdure. In the final twenty-nine miles there are more than sixty +gulches, from 100 to 700 feet in depth, each with its cataracts, and +wild vagaries of tropical luxuriance. Native churches, frame-built +and painted white, are almost like mile-stones along the coast, far +too large and too many for the notoriously dwindling population. +Ten miles from Hilo we came in sight of the first sugar plantation, +with its patches of yet brighter green, its white boiling house and +tall chimney stack; then more churches, more plantations, more +gulches, more houses, and before ten we steamed into Byron's, or as +it is now called Hilo Bay. + +This is the paradise of Hawaii. What Honolulu attempts to be, Hilo +is without effort. Its crescent-shaped bay, said to be the most +beautiful in the Pacific, is a semi-circle of about two miles, with +its farther extremity formed by Cocoanut Island, a black lava islet +on which this palm attains great perfection, and beyond it again a +fringe of cocoanuts marks the deep indentations of the shore. From +this island to the north point of the bay, there is a band of golden +sand on which the roar of the surf sounded thunderous and drowsy as +it mingled with the music of living waters, the Waiakea and the +Wailuku, which after lashing the sides of the mountains which give +them birth, glide deep and fern-fringed into the ocean. Native +houses, half hidden by greenery, line the bay, and stud the heights +above the Wailuku, and near the landing some white frame houses and +three church spires above the wood denote the foreign element. Hilo +is unique. Its climate is humid, and the long repose which it has +enjoyed from rude volcanic upheavals has mingled a great depth of +vegetable mould with the decomposed lava. Rich soil, rain, heat, +sunshine, stimulate nature to supreme efforts, and there is a +luxuriant prodigality of vegetation which leaves nothing uncovered +but the golden margin of the sea, and even that above high-water- +mark is green with the Convolvulus maritimus. So dense is the wood +that Hilo is rather suggested than seen. It is only on shore that +one becomes aware of its bewildering variety of native and exotic +trees and shrubs. From the sea it looks one dense mass of greenery, +in which the bright foliage of the candle-nut relieves the glossy +dark green of the breadfruit--a maze of preposterous bananas, out of +which rise slender annulated trunks of palms giving their infinite +grace to the grove. And palms along the bay, almost among the surf, +toss their waving plumes in the sweet soft breeze, not "palms in +exile," but children of a blessed isle where "never wind blows +loudly." Above Hilo, broad lands sweeping up cloudwards, with their +sugar cane, kalo, melons, pine-apples, and banana groves suggest the +boundless liberality of Nature. Woods and waters, hill and valley +are all there, and from the region of an endless summer the eye +takes in the domain of an endless winter, where almost perpetual +snow crowns the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Mauna Kea from +Hilo has a shapely aspect, for its top is broken into peaks, said to +be the craters of extinct volcanoes, but my eyes seek the dome-like +curve of Mauna Loa with far deeper interest, for it is as yet an +unfinished mountain. It has a huge crater on its summit 800 feet in +depth, and a pit of unresting fire on its side; it throbs and +rumbles, and palpitates; it has sent forth floods of fire over all +this part of Hawaii, and at any moment it may be crowned with a +lonely light, showing that its tremendous forces are again in +activity. My imagination is already inflamed by hearing of marvels, +and I am beginning to think tropically. + +Canoes came off from the shore, dusky swimmers glided through the +water, youths, athletes, like the bronzes of the Naples Museum, rode +the waves on their surf-boards, brilliantly dressed riders galloped +along the sands and came trooping down the bridle-paths from all the +vicinity till a many-coloured tropical crowd had assembled at the +landing. Then a whaleboat came off, rowed by eight young men in +white linen suits and white straw hats, with wreaths of carmine- +coloured flowers round both hats and throats. They were singing a +glee in honour of Mr. Ragsdale, whom they sprang on deck to welcome. +Our crowd of native fellow-passengers, by some inscrutable process, +had re-arrayed themselves and blossomed into brilliancy. Hordes of +Hilo natives swarmed on deck, and it became a Babel of alohas, +kisses, hand-shakings, and reiterated welcomes. The glee singers +threw their beautiful garlands of roses and ohias over the foreign +passengers, and music, flowers, good-will and kindliness made us +welcome to these enchanted shores. We landed in a whaleboat, and +were hoisted up a rude pier which was crowded, for what the arrival +of the Australian mail-steamer is to Honolulu, the coming of the +Kilauea is to Hilo. I had not time to feel myself a stranger, there +were so many introductions, and so much friendliness. Mr. Coan and +Mr. Lyman, two of the most venerable of the few surviving +missionaries, were on the landing, and I was introduced to them and +many others. There is no hotel in Hilo. The residents receive +strangers, and Miss Karpe and I were soon installed in a large buff +frame-house, with two deep verandahs, the residence of Mr. +Severance, Sheriff of Hawaii. + +Unlike many other places, Hilo is more fascinating on closer +acquaintance, so fascinating that it is hard to write about it in +plain prose. Two narrow roads lead up from the sea to one as +narrow, running parallel with it. Further up the hill another runs +in the same direction. There are no conveyances, and outside the +village these narrow roads dwindle into bridle-paths, with just room +for one horse to pass another. The houses in which Mr. Coan, Mr. +Lyman, Dr. Wetmore (formerly of the Mission), and one or two others +live, have just enough suggestion of New England about them to +remind one of the dominant influence on these islands, but the +climate has idealized them, and clothed them with poetry and +antiquity. + +Of the three churches, the most prominent is the Roman Catholic +Church, a white frame building with two great towers; Mr. Coan's +native church with a spire comes next; and then the neat little +foreign church, also with a spire. The Romish Church is a rather +noisy neighbour, for its bells ring at unnatural hours, and doleful +strains of a band which cannot play either in time or tune proceed +from it. The court-house, a large buff painted frame-building with +two deep verandahs, standing on a well-kept lawn planted with exotic +trees, is the most imposing building in Hilo. All the foreigners +have carried out their individual tastes in their dwellings, and the +result is very agreeable, though in picturesqueness they must yield +the plain to the native houses, which whether of frame, or grass +plain or plaited, whether one or two storied, all have the deep +thatched roofs and verandahs plain or fantastically latticed, which +are so in harmony with the surroundings. These lattices and single +and double verandahs are gorgeous with trailers, and the general +warm brown tint of the houses contrasts pleasantly with the deep +green of the bananas which over-shadow them. There are living +waters everywhere. Each house seems to possess its pure bright +stream, which is arrested in bathing houses to be liberated among +kalo patches of the brightest green. Every verandah appears a +gathering place, and the bright holukus of the women, the gay shirts +and bandanas of the men, the brilliant wreaths of natural flowers +which adorn both, the hot-house temperature, the new trees and +flowers which demand attention, the strange rich odours, and the low +monotonous recitative which mourns through the groves make me feel +that I am in a new world. Ah, this is all Polynesian! This must be +the land to which the "timid-eyed" lotos-eaters came. There is a +strange fascination in the languid air, and it is strangely sweet +"to dream of fatherland" . . . + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER IV. + +HILO, HAWAII. + +I find that I can send another short letter before leaving for the +volcano. I cannot convey to you any idea of the greenness and +lavish luxuriance of this place, where everything flourishes, and +glorious trailers and parasitic ferns hide all unsightly objects out +of sight. It presents a bewildering maze of lilies, roses, +fuschias, clematis, begonias, convolvuli, the huge appalling looking +granadilla, the purple and yellow water lemons, also varieties of +passiflora, both with delicious edible fruit, custard apples, rose +apples, mangoes, mangostein guavas, bamboos, alligator pears, +oranges, tamarinds, papayas, bananas, breadfruit, magnolias, +geraniums, candle-nut, gardenias, dracaenas, eucalyptus, pandanus, +ohias, {59a} kamani trees, kalo, {59b} noni, {59c} and quantities of +other trees and flowers, of which I shall eventually learn the +names, patches of pine-apple, melons, and sugar-cane for children to +suck, kalo and sweet potatoes. + +In the vicinity of this and all other houses, Chili peppers, and a +ginger-plant with a drooping flower-stalk with a great number of +blossoms, which when not fully developed have a singular resemblance +to very pure porcelain tinted with pink at the extremities of the +buds, are to be seen growing in "yards," to use a most unfitting +Americanism. I don't know how to introduce you to some of the +things which delight my eyes here; but I must ask you to believe +that the specimens of tropical growths which we see in +conservatories at home are in general either misrepresentations, or +very feeble representations of these growths in their natural homes. +I don't allude to flowers, and especially not to orchids, but in +this instance very specially to bananas, coco-palms, and the +pandanus. For example, there is a specimen of the Pandanus +odoratissimus in the palm-house in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, +which is certainly a malignant caricature, with its long straggling +branches, and widely scattered tufts of poverty stricken foliage. +The bananas and plantains in that same palm-house represent only the +feeblest and poorest of their tribe. They require not only warmth +and moisture, but the generous sunshine of the tropics for their +development. In the same house the date and sugar-palms are +tolerable specimens, but the cocoa-nut trees are most truly "palms +in exile." + +I suppose that few people ever forget the first sight of a palm-tree +of any species. I vividly remember seeing one for the first time at +Malaga, but the coco-palm groves of the Pacific have a strangeness +and witchery of their own. As I write now I hear the moaning rustle +of the wind through their plume-like tops, and their long slender +stems, and crisp crown of leaves above the trees with shining +leafage which revel in damp, have a suggestion of Orientalism about +them. How do they come too, on every atoll or rock that raises its +head throughout this lonely ocean? They fringe the shores of these +islands. Wherever it is dry and fiercely hot, and the lava is black +and hard, and nothing else grows, or can grow, there they are, close +to the sea, sending their root-fibres seawards as if in search of +salt water. Their long, curved, wrinkled, perfectly cylindrical +stems, bulging near the ground like an apothecary's pestle, rise to +a height of from sixty to one hundred feet. These stems are never +straight, and in a grove lean and curve every way, and are +apparently capable of enduring any force of wind or earthquake. +They look as if they had never been young, and they show no signs of +growth, rearing their plumy tufts so far aloft, and casting their +shadows so far away, always supremely lonely, as though they +belonged to the heavens rather than the earth. Then, while all else +that grows is green they are yellowish. Their clusters of nuts in +all stages of growth are yellow, their fan-like leaves, which are +from twelve to twenty feet long, are yellow, and an amber light +pervades and surrounds them. They provide milk, oil, food, rope, +and matting, and each tree produces about one hundred nuts annually. + +The pandanus, or lauhala, is one of the most striking features of +the islands. Its funereal foliage droops in Hilo, and it was it +that I noticed all along the windward coast as having a most +striking peculiarity of aerial roots which the branches send down to +the ground, and which I now see have large cup-shaped spongioles. +These air-roots seem like props, and appear to vary in length from +three to twelve feet, according to the situation of the tree. There +is one variety I saw to-day, the "screw pine," which is really +dangerous if one approached it unguardedly. It is a whorled +pandanus, with long sword-shaped leaves, spirally arranged in three +rows, and hard, saw-toothed edges, very sharp. When unbranched as I +saw them, they resemble at a distance pine-apple plants thirty times +magnified. But the mournful looking trees along the coast and all +about Hilo are mostly the Pandanus odoratissimus, a spreading and +branching tree which grows fully twenty-five feet high, supports +itself among inaccessible rocks by its prop-like roots, and is one +of the first plants to appear on the newly-formed Pacific islands. +{62} Its foliage is singularly dense, although it is borne in tufts +of a quantity of long yucca-like leaves on the branches. The shape +of the tree is usually circular. The mournful look is caused by the +leaves taking a downward and very decided droop in the middle. At +present each tuft of leaves has in its centre an object like a green +pine-apple. This contains the seeds which are eatable, as is also +the fleshy part of the drupes. I find that it is from the seeds of +this tree and their coverings that the brilliant orange leis, or +garlands of the natives, are made. The soft white case of the +leaves and the terminal buds can also be eaten. The leaves are used +for thatching, and their tough longitudinal fibres for mats and +ropes. There is another kind, the Pandanus vacoa, the same as is +used for making sugar bags in Mauritius, but I have not seen it. + +One does not forget the first sight of a palm. I think the banana +comes next, and I see them in perfection here for the first time, as +those in Honolulu grow in "yards," and are tattered by the winds. +It transports me into the tropics in feeling, as I am already in +them in fact, and satisfies all my cravings for something which +shall represent and epitomize their luxuriance, as well as for +simplicity and grace in vegetable form. And here it is everywhere +with its shining shade, its smooth fat green stem, its crown of huge +curving leaves from four to ten feet long, and its heavy cluster of +a whorl of green or golden fruit, with a pendant purple cone of +undeveloped blossom below. It is of the tropics, tropical; a thing +of beauty, and gladness, and sunshine. It is indigenous here, and +wild, but never bears seeds, and is propagated solely by suckers, +which spring up when the parent plant has fruited, or by cuttings. +It bears seed, strange to say, only (so far as is known) in the +Andaman Islands, where, stranger still, it springs up as a second +growth wherever the forests are cleared. Go to the palm-house, find +the Musa sapientum, magnify it ten times, glorify it immeasurably, +and you will have a laggard idea of the banana groves of Hilo. + +The ground is carpeted with a grass of preternaturally vivid green +and rankness of growth, mixed with a handsome fern, with a caudex a +foot high, the Sadleria cyathoides, and another of exquisite beauty, +the Micropia tenuifolia, which are said to be the commonest ferns on +Hawaii. It looks Elysian. + +Hilo is a lively place for such a mere village; so many natives are +stirring about, and dashing along the narrow roads on horseback. +This is a large airy house, simple and tasteful, with pretty +engravings and water-colour drawings on the walls. There is a large +bath-house in the garden, into which a pure, cool stream has been +led, and the gurgle and music of many such streams fill the sweet, +soft air. There is a saying among sailors, "Follow a Pacific +shower, and it leads you to Hilo." Indeed I think they have a +rainfall of from thirteen to sixteen feet annually. These deep +verandahs are very pleasant, for they render window-blinds +unnecessary; so there is nothing of that dark stuffiness which makes +indoor life a trial in the closed, shadeless Australian houses. + +Miss Karpe, my travelling companion, is a lady of great energy, and +apparently an adept in the art of travelling. Undismayed by three +days of sea-sickness, and the prospect of the tremendous journey to +the volcano to-morrow, she extemporised a ride to the Anuenue Falls +on the Wailuku this afternoon, and I weakly accompanied her, a burly +policeman being our guide. The track is only a scramble among rocks +and holes, concealed by grass and ferns, and we had to cross a +stream, full of great holes, several times. The Fall itself is very +pretty, 110 feet in one descent, with a cavernous shrine behind the +water, filled with ferns. There were large ferns all round the +Fall, and a jungle of luxuriant tropical shrubs of many kinds. + +Three miles above this Fall there are the Pei-pei Falls, very +interesting geologically. The Wailuku River is the boundary between +the two great volcanoes, and its waters, it is supposed by learned +men, have often flowed over heated beds of basalt, with the result +of columnar formation radiating from the bottom of the stream. This +structure is sometimes beautifully exhibited in the form of Gothic +archways, through which the torrent pours into a basin, surrounded +by curved, broken, and half-sunk prisms, black and prominent amidst +the white foam of the Falls. In several places the river has just +pierced the beds of lava, and in one passes under a thick rock +bridge, several hundred feet wide. Often, where the water flows +over beds of dark grey basalt, masses of trachyte, closely +resembling syenite, have formed "potholes," and by mutual action +have been worn to pebbles. At Pei-pei there are three circular +pools, each about fifty feet in diameter, and separated by walls six +feet thick, in a bed of columnar basalt. {65} During freshets the +river sometimes rises thirty feet, and hides these pools, but during +the dry season the upper bed is bare, and after a succession of +cascades of various heights the stream pours into the first basin, +filling it with foam. From this there is no apparent outlet, but +leaves thrown in soon appear in the second basin, whose tranquillity +is only disturbed by a few bubbles. Between this and the third +there are two subterranean passages, and the water there leaps over +a fall about forty feet high, nearly covering a perfect Gothic arch +which is the entrance to a shallow cave. The scene is enclosed by +high and nearly perpendicular walls. {66} + +Near the Anuenue Fall we stopped at a native house, outside which a +woman, in a rose-coloured chemise, was stringing roses for a +necklace, while her husband pounded the kalo root on a board. His +only clothing was the malo, a narrow strip of cloth wound round the +loins, and passed between the legs. This was the only covering worn +by men before the introduction of Christianity. Females wore the +pau, a short petticoat made of tapa, which reached from the waist to +the knees. To our eyes, the brown skin produces nearly the effect +of clothing. + +Everything was new and interesting, but the ride was spoiled by my +insecure seat in my saddle, and the increased pain in my spine which +riding produced. Once in crossing a stream the horses have to make +a sort of downward jump from a rock, and I slipped round my horse's +neck. Indeed on the way back I felt that on the ground of health I +must give up the volcano, as I would never consent to be carried to +it, like Lady Franklin, in a litter. When we returned, Mr. +Severance suggested that it would be much better for me to follow +the Hawaiian fashion, and ride astride, and put his saddle on the +horse. It was only my strong desire to see the volcano which made +me consent to a mode of riding against which I have so strong a +prejudice, but the result of the experiment is that I shall visit +Kilauea thus or not at all. The native women all ride astride, on +ordinary occasions in the full sacks, or holukus, and on gala days +in the pau, the gay, winged dress which I described in writing from +Honolulu. A great many of the foreign ladies on Hawaii have adopted +the Mexican saddle also, for greater security to themselves and ease +to their horses, on the steep and perilous bridle-tracks, but they +wear full Turkish trowsers and jauntily-made dresses reaching to the +ankles. + +It appears that Hilo is free from the universally admitted nuisance +of morning calls. The hours are simple--eight o'clock breakfasts, +one o'clock dinners, six o'clock suppers. If people want anything +with you, they come at any hour of the day, but if they only wish to +be sociable, the early evening is the recognized time for "calling." +After supper, when the day's work is done, people take their +lanterns and visit each other, either in the verandahs or in the +cheerful parlours which open upon them. There are no door-bells, or +solemn announcements by servants of visitors' names, or "not-at- +homes." If people are in their parlours, it is presumed that they +receive their friends. Several pleasant people came in this +evening. They seem to take great interest in two ladies going to +the volcano without an escort, but no news has been received from it +lately, and I fear that it is not very active as no glare is visible +to-night. Mr. Thompson, the pastor of the small foreign +congregation here, called on me. He is a very agreeable, +accomplished man, and is acquainted with Dr. Holland and several of +my New England friends. He kindly brought his wife's riding-costume +for my trip to Kilauea. The Rev. Titus Coan, one of the first and +most successful missionaries to Hawaii, also called. He is a tall, +majestic-looking man, physically well fitted for the extraordinary +exertions he has undergone in mission work, and intellectually also, +I should think, for his face expresses great mental strength, and +nothing of the weakness of a sanguine enthusiast. He has admitted +about 12,000 persons into the Christian Church. He is the greatest +authority on volcanoes on the islands, and his enthusiastic manner +and illuminated countenance as he spoke of Kilauea, have raised my +expectations to the highest pitch. We are prepared for to-morrow, +having engaged a native named Upa, who boasts a little English, as +our guide. He provides three horses and himself for three days for +the sum of thirty dollars. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER V. + +VOLCANO OF KILAUEA, Jan. 31. + +Bruised aching bones, strained muscles, and overwhelming fatigue, +render it hardly possible for me to undergo the physical labour of +writing, but in spirit I am so elated with the triumph of success, +and so thrilled by new sensations, that though I cannot communicate +the incommunicable, I want to write to you while the impression of +Kilauea is fresh, and by "the light that never was on sea or shore." + +By eight yesterday morning our preparations were finished, and Miss +Karpe, whose conversance with the details of travelling I envy, +mounted her horse on her own side-saddle, dressed in a short grey +waterproof, and a broad-brimmed Leghorn hat tied so tightly over her +ears with a green veil as to give it the look of a double spout. +The only pack her horse carried was a bundle of cloaks and shawls, +slung together with an umbrella on the horn of her saddle. Upa, who +was most picturesquely got up in the native style with garlands of +flowers round his hat and throat, carried our saddle-bags on the +peak of his saddle, a bag with bananas, bread, and a bottle of tea +on the horn, and a canteen of water round his waist. I had on my +coarse Australian hat which serves the double purpose of sunshade +and umbrella, Mrs. Thompson's riding costume, my great rusty New +Zealand boots, and my blanket strapped behind a very gaily +ornamented brass-bossed demi-pique Mexican saddle, which one of the +missionary's daughters had lent me. It has a horn in front, a low +peak behind, large wooden stirrups with leathern flaps the length of +the stirrup-leathers, to prevent the dress from coming in contact +with the horse, and strong guards of hide which hang over and below +the stirrup, and cover it and the foot up to the ancles, to prevent +the feet or boots from being torn in riding through the bush. Each +horse had four fathoms of tethering rope wound several times round +his neck. In such fashion must all travelling be done on Hawaii, +whether by ladies or gentlemen. + +Upa supplied the picturesque element, we the grotesque. The morning +was moist and unpropitious looking. As the greater part of the +thirty miles has to be travelled at a foot's-pace the guide took +advantage of the soft grassy track which leads out of Hilo, to go +off at full gallop, a proceeding which made me at once conscious of +the demerits of my novel way of riding. To guide the horse and to +clutch the horn of the saddle with both hands were clearly +incompatible, so I abandoned the first as being the least important. +Then my feet either slipped too far into the stirrups and were cut, +or they were jerked out; every corner was a new terror, for at each +I was nearly pitched off on one side, and when at last Upa stopped, +and my beast stopped without consulting my wishes, only a desperate +grasp of mane and tethering rope saved me from going over his head. +At this ridiculous moment we came upon a bevy of brown maidens +swimming in a lakelet by the roadside, who increased my confusion by +a chorus of laughter. How fervently I hoped that the track would +never admit of galloping again! + +Hilo fringes off with pretty native houses, kalo patches and mullet +ponds, and in about four miles the track, then formed of rough hard +lava, and not more than 24 inches wide, enters a forest of the +densest description, a burst of true tropical jungle. I could not +have imagined anything so perfectly beautiful, nature seemed to riot +in the production of wonderful forms, as if the moist hot-house air +encouraged her in lavish excesses. Such endless variety, such +depths of green, such an impassable and altogether inextricable maze +of forest trees, ferns, and lianas! There were palms, breadfruit +trees, ohias, eugenias, candle-nuts of immense size, Koa (acacia), +bananas, noni, bamboos, papayas (Carica papaya), guavas, ti trees +(Cordyline terminalis), treeferns, climbing ferns, parasitic ferns, +and ferns themselves the prey of parasites of their own species. +The lianas were there in profusion climbing over the highest trees, +and entangling them, with stems varying in size from those as thick +as a man's arm to those as slender as whipcord, binding all in an +impassable network, and hanging over our heads in rich festoons or +tendrils swaying in the breeze. There were trailers, i.e., +(Freycinetia scandens) with heavy knotted stems, as thick as a +frigate's stoutest hawser, coiling up to the tops of tall ohias with +tufted leaves like yuccas, and crimson spikes of gaudy blossom. The +shining festoons of the yam and the graceful trailers of the maile +(Alyxia Olivaeformis), a sweet scented vine, from which the natives +make garlands, and glossy leaved climbers hung from tree to tree, +and to brighten all, huge morning glories of a heavenly blue opened +a thousand blossoms to the sun as if to give a tenderer loveliness +to the forest. Here trees grow and fall, and nature covers them +where they lie with a new vegetation which altogether obliterates +their hasty decay. It is four miles of beautiful and inextricable +confusion, untrodden by human feet except on the narrow track. "Of +every tree in this garden thou mayest freely eat," and no serpent or +noxious thing trails its hideous form through this Eden. + +It was quite intoxicating, so new, wonderful, and solemn withal, +that I was sorry when we emerged from its shady depths upon a grove +of cocoanut trees and the glare of day. Two very poor-looking grass +huts, with a ragged patch of sugar-cane beside them, gave us an +excuse for half an hour's rest. An old woman in a red sack, much +tattooed, with thick short grey hair bristling on her head, sat on a +palm root, holding a nude brown child; a lean hideous old man, +dressed only in a malo, leaned against its stem, our horses with +their highly miscellaneous gear were tethered to a fern stump, and +Upa, the most picturesque of the party, served out tea. He and the +natives talked incessantly, and from the frequency with which the +words "wahine haole" (foreign woman) occurred, the subject of their +conversation was obvious. Upa has taken up the notion from +something Mr. S--- said, that I am a "high chief," and related to +Queen Victoria, and he was doubtlessly imposing this fable on the +people. In spite of their poverty and squalor, if squalor is a term +which can be applied to aught beneath these sunny skies, there was a +kindliness about them which they made us feel, and the aloha with +which they parted from us had a sweet friendly sound. + +From this grove we travelled as before in single file over an +immense expanse of lava of the kind called pahoehoe, or satin rock, +to distinguish it from the a-a, or jagged, rugged, impassable rock. +Savants all use these terms in the absence of any equally expressive +in English. The pahoehoe extends in the Hilo direction from hence +about twenty-three miles. It is the cooled and arrested torrent of +lava which in past ages has flowed towards Hilo from Kilauea. It +lies in hummocks, in coils, in rippled waves, in rivers, in huge +convolutions, in pools smooth and still, and in caverns which are +really bubbles. Hundreds of square miles of the island are made up +of this and nothing more. A very frequent aspect of pahoehoe is the +likeness on a magnificent scale of a thick coat of cream drawn in +wrinkling folds to the side of a milk-pan. This lava is all grey, +and the greater part of its surface is slightly roughened. Wherever +this is not the case the horses slip upon it as upon ice. + +Here I began to realize the universally igneous origin of Hawaii, as +I had not done among the finely disintegrated lava of Hilo. From +the hard black rocks which border the sea, to the loftiest mountain +dome or peak, every stone, atom of dust, and foot of fruitful or +barren soil bears the Plutonic mark. In fact, the island has been +raised heap on heap, ridge on ridge, mountain on mountain, to nearly +the height of Mont Blanc, by the same volcanic forces which are +still in operation here, and may still add at intervals to the +height of the blue dome of Mauna Loa, of which we caught occasional +glimpses above the clouds. Hawaii is actually at the present time +being built up from the ocean, and this great sea of pahoehoe is not +to be regarded as a vindictive eruption, bringing desolation on a +fertile region, but as an architectural and formative process. + +There is no water, except a few deposits of rain-water in holes, but +the moist air and incessant showers have aided nature to mantle this +frightful expanse with an abundant vegetation, principally ferns of +an exquisite green, the most conspicuous being the Sadleria, the +Gleichenia Hawaiiensis, a running wire-like fern, and the exquisite +Microlepia tenuifolia, dwarf guava, with its white flowers +resembling orange flowers in odour, and ohelos (Vaccinium +reticulatum), with their red and white berries, and a profusion of +small-leaved ohias (Metrosideros polymorpha), with their deep +crimson tasselled flowers, and their young shoots of bright crimson, +relieved the monotony of green. These crimson tassels deftly strung +on thread or fibres, are much used by the natives for their leis, or +garlands. The ti tree (Cordyline terminalis) which abounds also on +the lava, is most valuable. They cook their food wrapped up in its +leaves, the porous root when baked, has the taste and texture of +molasses candy, and when distilled yields a spirit, and the leaves +form wrappings for fish, hard poi, and other edibles. Occasionally +a clump of tufted coco-palms, or of the beautiful candle-nut rose +among the smaller growths. To our left a fringe of palms marked the +place where the lava and the ocean met, while, on our right, we were +seldom out of sight of the dense timber belt, with its fringe of +tree-ferns and bananas, which girdles Mauna Loa. + +The track, on the whole, is a perpetual upward scramble; for, though +the ascent is so gradual, that it is only by the increasing coolness +of the atmosphere that the increasing elevation is denoted, it is +really nearly 4,000 feet in thirty miles. Only strong, sure-footed, +well-shod horses can undertake this journey, for it is a constant +scramble over rocks, going up or down natural steps, or cautiously +treading along ledges. Most of the track is quite legible owing to +the vegetation having been worn off the lava, but the rock itself +hardly shows the slightest abrasion. + +Upa had indicated that we were to stop for rest at the "Half Way +House;" and, as I was hardly able to sit on my horse owing to +fatigue, I consoled myself by visions of a comfortable sofa and a +cup of tea. It was with real dismay that I found the reality to +consist of a grass hut, much out of repair, and which, bad as it +was, was locked. Upa said we had ridden so slowly that it would be +dark before we reached the volcano, and only allowed us to rest on +the grass for half-an-hour. He had frequently reiterated "Half Way +House, you wear spur;" and, on our remounting, he buckled on my foot +a heavy rusty Mexican spur, with jingling ornaments and rowels an +inch and a half long. These horses are so accustomed to be jogged +with these instruments that they won't move without them. The +prospect of five hours more riding looked rather black, for I was +much exhausted, and my shoulders and knee-joints were in severe +pain. Miss K.'s horse showed no other appreciation of a stick with +which she belaboured him than flourishes of his tail, so, for a +time, he was put in the middle, that Upa might add his more forcible +persuasions, and I rode first and succeeded in getting my lazy +animal into the priestly amble known at home as "a butter and eggs +trot," the favourite travelling pace, but this not suiting the +guide's notion of progress, he frequently rushed up behind with a +torrent of Hawaiian, emphasized by heavy thumps on my horse's back, +which so sorely jeopardised my seat on the animal, owing to his +resenting the interference by kicking, that I "dropped astern" for +the rest of the way, leaving Upa to belabour Miss K.'s steed for his +diversion. + +The country altered but little, only the variety of trees gave place +to the ohia alone, with its sombre foliage. There were neither +birds nor insects, and the only travellers we encountered in the +solitude compelled us to give them a wide berth, for they were a +drove of half wild random cattle, led by a lean bull of hideous +aspect, with crumpled horns. Two picturesque native vaccheros on +mules accompanied them, and my flagging spirits were raised by their +news that the volcano was quite active. The owner of these cattle +knows that he has 10,000 head, and may have a great many more. They +are shot for their hides by men who make shooting and skinning them +a profession, and, near settlements, the owners are thankful to get +two cents a pound for sirloin and rump-steaks. These, and great +herds which are actually wild and ownerless upon the mountains, are +a degenerate breed, with some of the worst peculiarities of the +Texas cattle, and are the descendants of those which Vancouver +placed on the islands and which were under Tabu for ten years. They +destroy the old trees by gnawing the bark, and render the growth of +young ones impossible. + +As it was getting dark we passed through a forest strip, where tree- +ferns from twelve to eighteen feet in height, and with fronds from +five to seven feet long, were the most attractive novelties. As we +emerged, "with one stride came the dark," a great darkness, a cloudy +night, with neither moon nor stars, and the track was further +obscured by a belt of ohias. There were five miles of this, and I +was so dead from fatigue and want of food, that I would willingly +have lain down in the bush in the rain. I most heartlessly wished +that Miss K. were tired too, for her voice, which seemed tireless as +she rode ahead in the dark, rasped upon my ears. I could only keep +on my saddle by leaning on the horn, and my clothes were soaked with +the heavy rain. "A dreadful ride," one and another had said, and I +then believed them. It seemed an awful solitude full of mystery. +Often, I only knew that my companions were ahead by the sparks +struck from their horse's shoes. + +It became a darkness which could be felt. + +"Is that possibly a pool of blood?" I thought in horror, as a rain +puddle glowed crimson on the track. Not that indeed! A glare +brighter and redder than that from any furnace suddenly lightened +the whole sky, and from that moment brightened our path. There sat +Miss K. under her dripping umbrella as provokingly erect as when she +left Hilo. There Upa jogged along, huddled up in his poncho, and +his canteen shone red. There the ohia trees were relieved blackly +against the sky. The scene started out from the darkness with the +suddenness of a revelation. We felt the pungency of sulphurous +fumes in the still night air. A sound as of the sea broke on our +ears, rising and falling as if breaking on the shore, but the ocean +was thirty miles away. The heavens became redder and brighter, and +when we reached the crater-house at eight, clouds of red vapour +mixed with flame were curling ceaselessly out of a huge invisible +pit of blackness, and Kilauea was in all its fiery glory. We had +reached the largest active volcano in the world, the "place of +everlasting burnings." + +Rarely was light more welcome than that which twinkled from under +the verandah of the lonely crater-house into the rainy night. The +hospitable landlord of this unique dwelling lifted me from my horse, +and carried me into a pleasant room thoroughly warmed by a large +wood fire, and I hastily retired to bed to spend much of the +bitterly cold night in watching the fiery vapours rolling up out of +the infinite darkness, and in dreading the descent into the crater. +The heavy clouds were crimson with the reflection, and soon after +midnight jets of flame of a most peculiar colour leapt fitfully into +the air, accompanied by a dull throbbing sound. + +This morning was wet and murky as many mornings are here, and the +view from the door was a blank up to ten o'clock, when the mist +rolled away and revealed the mystery of last night, the mighty +crater whose vast terminal wall is only a few yards from this house. +We think of a volcano as a cone. This is a different thing. The +abyss, which really is at a height of nearly 4,000 feet on the flank +of Mauna Loa, has the appearance of a great pit on a rolling plain. +But such a pit! It is nine miles in circumference, and its lowest +area, which not long ago fell about 300 feet, just as ice on a pond +falls when the water below it is withdrawn, covers six square miles. +The depth of the crater varies from 800 to 1,100 feet in different +years, according as the molten sea below is at flood or ebb. Signs +of volcanic activity are present more or less throughout its whole +depth, and for some distance round its margin, in the form of steam +cracks, jets of sulphurous vapour, blowing cones, accumulating +deposits of acicular crystals of sulphur, etc., and the pit itself +is constantly rent and shaken by earthquakes. Grand eruptions occur +at intervals with circumstances of indescribable terror and dignity, +but Kilauea does not limit its activity to these outbursts, but has +exhibited its marvellous phenomena through all known time in a lake +or lakes in the southern part of the crater three miles from this +side. + +This lake, the Hale-mau-mau, or House of Everlasting Fire of the +Hawaiian mythology, the abode of the dreaded goddess Pele, is +approachable with safety except during an eruption. The spectacle, +however, varies almost daily, and at times the level of the lava in +the pit within a pit is so low, and the suffocating gases are +evolved in such enormous quantities, that travellers are unable to +see anything. There had been no news from it for a week, and as +nothing was to be seen but a very faint bluish vapour hanging round +its margin, the prospect was not encouraging. + +When I have learned more about the Hawaiian volcanoes, I shall tell +you more of their phenomena, but tonight I shall only write to you +my first impressions of what we actually saw on this January 31st. +My highest expectations have been infinitely exceeded, and I can +hardly write soberly after such a spectacle, especially while +through the open door I see the fiery clouds of vapour from the pit +rolling up into a sky, glowing as if itself on fire. + +We were accompanied into the crater by a comical native guide, who +mimicked us constantly, our Hilo guide, who "makes up" a little +English, a native woman from Kona, who speaks imperfect English +poetically, and her brother who speaks none. I was conscious that +we foreign women with our stout staffs and grotesque dress looked +like caricatures, and the natives, who have a keen sense of the +ludicrous, did not conceal that they thought us so. + +The first descent down the terminal wall of the crater is very +precipitous, but it and the slope which extends to the second +descent are thickly covered with ohias, ohelos (a species of +whortleberry), sadlerias, polypodiums, silver grass, and a great +variety of bulbous plants many of which bore clusters of berries of +a brilliant turquoise blue. The "beyond" looked terrible. I could +not help clinging to these vestiges of the kindlier mood of nature +in which she sought to cover the horrors she had wrought. The next +descent is over rough blocks and ridges of broken lava, and appears +to form part of a break which extends irregularly round the whole +crater, and which probably marks a tremendous subsidence of its +floor. Here the last apparent vegetation was left behind, and the +familiar earth. We were in a new Plutonic region of blackness and +awful desolation, the accustomed sights and sounds of nature all +gone. Terraces, cliffs, lakes, ridges, rivers, mountain sides, +whirlpools, chasms of lava surrounded us, solid, black, and shining, +as if vitrified, or an ashen grey, stained yellow with sulphur here +and there, or white with alum. The lava was fissured and upheaved +everywhere by earthquakes, hot underneath, and emitting a hot +breath. + +After more than an hour of very difficult climbing we reached the +lowest level of the crater, pretty nearly a mile across, presenting +from above the appearance of a sea at rest, but on crossing it we +found it to be an expanse of waves and convolutions of ashy-coloured +lava, with huge cracks filled up with black iridescent rolls of +lava, only a few weeks old. Parts of it are very rough and ridgy, +jammed together like field ice, or compacted by rolls of lava which +may have swelled up from beneath, but the largest part of the area +presents the appearance of huge coiled hawsers, the ropy formation +of the lava rendering the illusion almost perfect. These are riven +by deep cracks which emit hot sulphurous vapours. Strange to say, +in one of these, deep down in that black and awful region, three +slender metamorphosed ferns were growing, three exquisite forms, the +fragile heralds of the great forest of vegetation, which probably in +coming years will clothe this pit with beauty. Truly they seemed to +speak of the love of God. On our right there was a precipitous +ledge, and a recent flow of lava had poured over it, cooling as it +fell into columnar shapes as symmetrical as those of Staffa. It +took us a full hour to cross this deep depression, and as long to +master a steep hot ascent of about 400 feet, formed by a recent +lava-flow from Hale-mau-mau into the basin. This lava hill is an +extraordinary sight--a flood of molten stone, solidifying as it ran +down the declivity, forming arrested waves, streams, eddies, +gigantic convolutions, forms of snakes, stems of trees, gnarled +roots, crooked water-pipes, all involved and contorted on a gigantic +scale, a wilderness of force and dread. Over one steeper place the +lava had run in a fiery cascade about 100 feet wide. Some had +reached the ground, some had been arrested midway, but all had taken +the aspect of stems of trees. In some of the crevices I picked up a +quantity of very curious filamentose lava, known as "Pele's hair." +It resembles coarse spun glass, and is of a greenish or yellowish- +brown colour. In many places the whole surface of the lava is +covered with this substance seen through a glazed medium. During +eruptions, when fire-fountains play to a great height, and drops of +lava are thrown in all directions, the wind spins them out in clear +green or yellow threads two or three feet long, which catch and +adhere to projecting points. + +As we ascended, the flow became hotter under our feet, as well as +more porous and glistening. It was so hot that a shower of rain +hissed as it fell upon it. The crust became increasingly insecure, +and necessitated our walking in single file with the guide in front, +to test the security of the footing. I fell through several times, +and always into holes full of sulphurous steam, so malignantly acid +that my strong dog-skin gloves were burned through as I raised +myself on my hands. + +We had followed a lava-flow for thirty miles up to the crater's +brink, and now we had toiled over recent lava for three hours, and +by all calculation were close to the pit, yet there was no smoke or +sign of fire, and I felt sure that the volcano had died out for once +for our especial disappointment. Indeed, I had been making up my +mind for disappointment since we left the crater-house, in +consequence of reading seven different accounts, in which language +was exhausted in describing Kilauea. + +Suddenly, just above, and in front of us, gory drops were tossed in +air, and springing forwards we stood on the brink of Hale-mau-mau, +which was about 35 feet below us. I think we all screamed, I know +we all wept, but we were speechless, for a new glory and terror had +been added to the earth. It is the most unutterable of wonderful +things. The words of common speech are quite useless. It is +unimaginable, indescribable, a sight to remember for ever, a sight +which at once took possession of every faculty of sense and soul, +removing one altogether out of the range of ordinary life. Here was +the real "bottomless pit"--the "fire which is not quenched"--"the +place of hell"--"the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone"-- +the "everlasting burnings"--the fiery sea whose waves are never +weary. There were groanings, rumblings, and detonations, rushings, +hissings, and splashings, and the crashing sound of breakers on the +coast, but it was the surging of fiery waves upon a fiery shore. +But what can I write! Such words as jets, fountains, waves, spray, +convey some idea of order and regularity, but here there was none. +The inner lake, while we stood there, formed a sort of crater within +itself, the whole lava sea rose about three feet, a blowing cone +about eight feet high was formed, it was never the same two minutes +together. And what we saw had no existence a month ago, and +probably will be changed in every essential feature a month hence. + +What we did see was one irregularly-shaped lake, possibly 500 feet +wide at its narrowest part and nearly half a mile at its broadest, +almost divided into two by a low bank of lava, which extended nearly +across it where it was narrowest, and which was raised visibly +before our eyes. The sides of the nearest part of the lake were +absolutely perpendicular, but nowhere more than 40 feet high; but +opposite to us on the far side of the larger lake they were bold and +craggy, and probably not less than 150 feet high. On one side there +was an expanse entirely occupied with blowing cones, and jets of +steam or vapour. The lake has been known to sink 400 feet, and a +month ago it overflowed its banks. The prominent object was fire in +motion, but the surface of the double lake was continually skinning +over for a second or two with a cooled crust of a lustrous grey- +white, like frosted silver, broken by jagged cracks of a bright +rose-colour. The movement was nearly always from the sides to the +centre, but the movement of the centre itself appeared independent +and always took a southerly direction. Before each outburst of +agitation there was much hissing and a throbbing internal roaring, +as of imprisoned gases. Now it seemed furious, demoniacal, as if no +power on earth could bind it, then playful and sportive, then for a +second languid, but only because it was accumulating fresh force. +On our arrival eleven fire fountains were playing joyously round the +lakes, and sometimes the six of the nearer lake ran together in the +centre to go wallowing down in one vortex, from which they +reappeared bulging upwards, till they formed a huge cone 30 feet +high, which plunged downwards in a whirlpool only to reappear in +exactly the previous number of fountains in different parts of the +lake, high leaping, raging, flinging themselves upwards. Sometimes +the whole lake, abandoning its usual centripetal motion, as if +impelled southwards, took the form of mighty waves, and surging +heavily against the partial barrier with a sound like the Pacific +surf, lashed, tore, covered it, and threw itself over it in clots of +living fire. It was all confusion, commotion, force, terror, glory, +majesty, mystery, and even beauty. And the colour! "Eye hath not +seen" it! Molten metal has not that crimson gleam, nor blood that +living light! Had I not seen this I should never have known that +such a colour was possible. + +The crust perpetually wrinkled, folded over, and cracked, and great +pieces were drawn downwards to be again thrown up on the crests of +waves. The eleven fountains of gory fire played the greater part of +the time, dancing round the lake with a strength of joyousness which +was absolute beauty. Indeed after the first half hour of terror had +gone by, the beauty of these jets made a profound impression upon +me, and the sight of them must always remain one of the most +fascinating recollections of my life. During three hours, the bank +of lava which almost divided the lakes rose considerably, owing to +the cooling of the spray as it dashed over it, and a cavern of +considerable size was formed within it, the roof of which was hung +with fiery stalactites, more than a foot long. Nearly the whole +time the surges of the further lake taking a southerly direction, +broke with a tremendous noise on the bold craggy cliffs which are +its southern boundary, throwing their gory spray to a height of +fully forty feet. At times an overhanging crag fell in, creating a +vast splash of fire and increased commotion. + +Almost close below us there was an intermittent jet of lava, which +kept cooling round what was possibly a blowhole forming a cone with +an open top, which when we first saw it was about six feet high on +its highest side, and about as many in diameter. Up this cone or +chimney heavy jets of lava were thrown every second or two, and +cooling as they fell over its edge, raised it rapidly before our +eyes. Its fiery interior, and the singular sound with which the +lava was vomited up, were very awful. There was no smoke rising +from the lake, only a faint blue vapour which the wind carried in +the opposite direction. The heat was excessive. We were obliged to +stand the whole time, and the soles of our boots were burned, and my +ear and one side of my face were blistered. Although there was no +smoke from the lake itself, there was an awful region to the +westward, of smoke and sound, and rolling clouds of steam and vapour +whose phenomena it was not safe to investigate, where the blowing +cones are, whose fires last night appeared stationary. We were able +to stand quite near the margin, and look down into the lake, as you +look into the sea from the deck of a ship, the only risk being that +the fractured ledge might give way. + +Before we came away, a new impulse seized the lava. The fire was +thrown to a great height; the fountains and jets all wallowed +together; new ones appeared, and danced joyously round the margin, +then converging towards the centre they merged into one glowing +mass, which upheaved itself pyramidally and disappeared with a vast +plunge. Then innumerable billows of fire dashed themselves into the +air, crashing and lashing, and the lake dividing itself recoiled on +either side, then hurling its fires together and rising as if by +upheaval from below, it surged over the temporary rim which it had +formed, passing downwards in a slow majestic flow, leaving the +central surface swaying and dashing in fruitless agony as if sent on +some errand it failed to accomplish. + +Farewell, I fear for ever, to the glorious Hale-mau-mau, the +grandest type of force that the earth holds! "Break, break, break," +on through the coming years, + + "No more by thee my steps shall be, + No more again for ever!" + +It seemed a dull trudge over the black and awful crater, and +strange, like half-forgotten sights of a world with which I had +ceased to have aught to do, were the dwarf tree-ferns, the lilies +with their turquoise clusters, the crimson myrtle blossoms, and all +the fair things which decked the precipice up which we slowly +dragged our stiff and painful limbs. Yet it was but the exchange of +a world of sublimity for a world of beauty, the "place of hell," for +the bright upper earth, with its endless summer, and its perennial +foliage, blossom, and fruitage. + +Since writing the above I have been looking over the "Volcano Book," +which contains the observations and impressions of people from all +parts of the world. Some of these are painstaking and valuable as +showing the extent and rapidity of the changes which take place in +the crater, but there is an immense quantity of flippant rubbish, +and would-be wit, in which "Madam Pele," invariably occurs, this +goddess, who was undoubtedly one of the grandest of heathen mythical +creations, being caricatured in pencil and pen and ink, under every +ludicrous aspect that can be conceived. Some of the entries are +brief and absurd, "Not much of a fizz," "a grand splutter," "Madam +Pele in the dumps," and so forth. These generally have English +signatures. The American wit is far racier, but depends mainly on +the profane use of certain passages of scripture, a species of wit +which is at once easy and disgusting. People are all particular in +giving the precise time of the departure from Hilo and arrival here, +"making good time" being a thing much admired on Hawaii, but few can +boast of more than three miles an hour. It is wonderful that people +can parade their snobbishness within sight of Hale-mau-mau. + +This inn is a unique and interesting place. Its existence is +strikingly precarious, for the whole region is in a state of +perpetual throb from earthquakes, and the sights and sounds are +gruesome and awful both by day and night. The surrounding country +steams and smokes from cracks and pits, and a smell of sulphur fills +the air. They cook their kalo in a steam apparatus of nature's own +work just behind the house, and every drop of water is from a +distillery similarly provided. The inn is a grass and bamboo house, +very beautifully constructed without nails. It is a longish +building with a steep roof divided inside by partitions which run up +to the height of the walls. There is no ceiling. The joists which +run across are concealed by wreaths of evergreens, from among which +peep out here and there stars on a blue ground. The door opens from +the verandah into a centre room with a large open brick fire place, +in which a wood fire is constantly burning, for at this altitude the +temperature is cool. Some chairs, two lounges, small tables, and +some books and pictures on the walls give a look of comfort, and +there is the reality of comfort in perfection. Our sleeping-place, +a neat room with a matted floor opens from this, and on the other +side there is a similar room, and a small eating-room with a grass +cookhouse beyond, from which an obliging old Chinaman who +persistently calls us "sir," brings our food. We have had for each +meal, tea, preserved milk, coffee, kalo, biscuits, butter, potatoes, +goats' flesh, and ohelos. The charge is five dollars a day, but +everything except the potatoes and ohelos has to be brought twenty +or thirty miles on mules' backs. It is a very pretty picturesque +house both within and without, and stands on a natural lawn of +brilliant but unpalatable grass, surrounded by a light fence covered +with a small trailing double rose. It is altogether a most magical +building in the heart of a formidable volcanic wilderness. Mr. +Gilman, our host, is a fine picturesque looking man, half Indian, +and speaks remarkably good English, but his wife, a very pretty +native woman, speaks none, and he attends to us entirely himself. + +A party of native travellers rainbound are here, and the native +women are sitting on the floor stringing flowers and berries for +leis. One very attractive-looking young woman, refined by +consumption, is lying on some blankets, and three native men are +smoking by the fire. Upa attempts conversation with us in broken +English, and the others laugh and talk incessantly. My inkstand, +pen, and small handwriting amuse them very much. Miss K., the +typical American travelling lady, who is encountered everywhere from +the Andes to the Pyramids, tireless, with an indomitable energy, +Spartan endurance, and a genius for attaining everything, and +myself, a limp, ragged, shoeless wretch, complete the group, and our +heaps of saddles, blankets, spurs, and gear tell of real travelling, +past and future. It is a most picturesque sight by the light of the +flickering fire, and the fire which is unquenchable burns without. + +About 300 yards off there is a sulphur steam vapour-bath, highly +recommended by the host as a panacea for the woeful aches, pains, +and stiffness produced by the six-mile scramble through the crater, +and I groaned and limped down to it: but it is a truly spasmodic +arrangement, singularly independent of human control, and I have not +the slightest doubt that the reason why Mr. Gilman obligingly +remained in the vicinity was, lest I should be scalded or blown to +atoms by a sudden freak of Kilauea, though I don't see that he was +capable of preventing either catastrophe! A slight grass shed has +been built over a sulphur steam crack, and within this there is a +deep box with a sliding lid and a hole for the throat, and the +victim is supposed to sit in this and be steamed. But on this +occasion the temperature was so high, that my hand, which I unwisely +experimented upon, was immediately peeled. In order not to wound +Mr. Gilman's feelings, which are evidently sensitive on the subject +of this irresponsible contrivance, I remained the prescribed time +within the shed, and then managed to limp a little less, and go with +him to what are called the Sulphur Banks, on which sulphurous vapour +is perpetually depositing the most exquisite acicular sulphur +crystals; these, as they aggregate, take entrancing forms, like the +featherwork produced by the "frost-fall" in Colorado, but, like it, +they perish with a touch, and can only be seen in the wonderful +laboratory where they are formed. + +In addition to the natives before mentioned, there is an old man +here who has been a bullock-hunter on Hawaii for forty years, and +knows the island thoroughly. In common with all the residents I +have seen, he takes an intense interest in volcanic phenomena, and +has just been giving us a thrilling account of the great eruption in +1868, when beautiful Hilo was threatened with destruction. Three +weeks ago, he says, a profound hush fell on Kilauea, and the summit +crater of Mauna Loa became active, and amidst throbbings, rumblings, +and earthquakes, broke into such magnificence that the light was +visible 100 miles at sea, a burning mountain 13,750 feet high! The +fires after two days died out as suddenly, and from here we can see +the great dome-like top, snow-capped under the stars, serene in an +eternal winter. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER VI. + +HILO, HAWAII, Feb. 3. + +My plans are quite overturned. I was to have ridden with the native +mail-carrier to the north of the island to take the steamer for +Honolulu, but there are freshets in the gulches on the road, making +the ride unsafe. There is no steamer from Hilo for three weeks, and +in the meantime Mr. and Mrs. S. have kindly consented to receive me +as a boarder; and I find the people, scenery, and life so charming, +that I only regret my detention on Mrs. Dexter's account. I am +already rested from the great volcano trip. + +We left Kilauea at seven in the morning of the 1st Feb. in a pouring +rain. The natives decorated us with leis of turquoise and coral +berries, and of crimson and yellow ohia blossoms. The saddles were +wet, the crater was blotted out by mist, water dripped from the +trees, we splashed through pools in the rocks, the horses plunged +into mud up to their knees, and the drip, drip, of vertical, +earnest, tepid, tropical rain accompanied us nearly to Hilo. Upa +and Miss K. held umbrellas the whole way, but I required both hands +for holding on to the horse whenever he chose to gallop. As soon as +we left the crater-house Upa started over the grass at full speed, +my horse of course followed, and my feet being jerked out of the +stirrups, I found myself ignominiously sitting on the animal's back +behind the saddle, and nearly slid over his tail, before, by skilful +efforts, I managed to scramble over the peak back again, when I held +on by horn and mane until the others stopped. Happily I was last, +and I don't think they saw me. Upa amused me very much on the way; +he insists that I am "a high chief." He said a good deal about +Queen Victoria, whose virtues seem well known here: "Good Queen +make good people," he said, "English very good!" He asked me how +many chiefs we had, and supposing him to mean hereditary peers, I +replied, over 500. "Too many, too many!" he answered emphatically-- +"too much chief eat up people!" He asked me if all people were good +in England, and I was sorry to tell him that this was very far from +being the case. He was incredulous, or seemed so out of flattery, +and said, "You good Queen, you Bible long time, you good!" I was +surprised to find how much he knew of European politics, of the +liberation of Italy, and the Franco-German war. He expressed a most +orthodox horror of the Pope, who, he said, he knew from his Bible +was the "Beast!" He said, "I bring band and serenade for good Queen +sake," but this has not come off yet. + +We straggled into Hilo just at dusk, thoroughly wet, jaded, and +satisfied, but half-starved, for the rain had converted that which +should have been our lunch into a brownish pulp of bread and +newspaper, and we had subsisted only on some half-ripe guavas. +After the black desolation of Kilauea, I realized more fully the +beauty of Hilo, as it appeared in the gloaming. The rain had +ceased, cool breezes rustled through the palm-groves and sighed +through the funereal foliage of the pandanus. Under thick canopies +of the glossy breadfruit and banana, groups of natives were twining +garlands of roses and ohia blossoms. The lights of happy foreign +homes flashed from under verandahs festooned with passion-flowers, +and the low chant, to me nearly intolerable, but which the natives +love, mingled with the ceaseless moaning of the surf and the sighing +of the breeze through the trees, and a heavy fragrance, unlike the +faint sweet odours of the north, filled the evening air. It was +delicious. + +I suffered intensely from pain and stiffness, and was induced to try +a true Hawaiian remedy, which is not only regarded as a cure for all +physical ills, but as the greatest of physical luxuries; i.e. lomi- +lomi. This is a compound of pinching, pounding, and squeezing, and +Moi Moi, the fine old Hawaiian nurse in this family, is an adept in +the art. She found out by instinct which were the most painful +muscles, and subjected them to a doubly severe pounding, laughing +heartily at my groans. However, I must admit that my arms and +shoulders were almost altogether relieved before the lomi-lomi was +finished. The first act of courtesy to a stranger in a native house +is this, and it is varied in many ways. Now and then the patient +lies face downwards, and children execute a sort of dance upon his +spine. {95} Formerly, the chiefs, when not engaged in active +pursuits, exacted lomi-lomi as a constant service from their +followers. + +A number of Hilo folk came in during the evening to inquire how we +had sped, and for news of the volcano. I think the proximity of +Kilauea gives sublimity to Hilo, and helps to lift conversation out +of common-place ruts. It is no far-off spectacle, but an immediate +source of wonder and apprehension, for it rocks the village with +earthquakes, and renders the construction of stone houses and +plastered ceilings impossible. It rolls vast tidal waves with +infinite destruction on the coast, and of late years its fiery +overflowings have twice threatened this paradise with annihilation. +Then there is the dead volcano of Mauna Loa, from whose resurrection +anything may be feared. Even last night a false rumour that a light +was to be seen on its summit brought everyone out, but it was only +an increased glare from the pit of Hale-mau-mau. It is most +interesting to be in a region of such splendid possibilities. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER VII. + +HILO, HAWAII. + +The white population here, which constitutes "society," is very +small. There are two venerable missionaries "Father Coan" and +"Father Lyman," the former pastor of a large native congregation, +which, though much shrunken, is not only self-sustaining, but +contributes $1200 a year to foreign missions, and the latter, though +very old and frail, the indefatigable head of an industrial school +for native young men. Their houses combine the trimness of New +England, with the luxuriance of the tropics; they are cool retreats, +embowered among breadfruit, tamarind, and bamboo, through whose +graceful leafage the blue waters of the bay are visible. +Innumerable exotics are domesticated round these fair homesteads. +Two of "Father Lyman's" sons are influential residents, one being +the Lieutenant-Governor of the island. Other sons of former +missionaries are settled here in business, and there are a few +strangers who have been attracted hither. Dr. Wetmore, formerly of +the mission, is a typical New Englander of the old orthodox school. +It is pleasant to see him brighten into almost youthful enthusiasm +on the subject of Hawaiian ferns. My host, a genial, social, +intelligent American, is sheriff of Hawaii, postmaster, etc., and +with his charming wife (a missionary's daughter), and some friends +who live with them, make their large house a centre of kindliness, +friendliness, and hospitality. Mr. Thompson, pastor of the foreign +church, is a man of very liberal culture, as well as wide +sympathies. The lady principal of the Government school is a +handsome, talented Vermont girl, and besides being an immense +favourite, well deserves her unusual and lucrative position. + +There are hardly any young ladies, and very few young men, but +plenty of rosy, blooming children, who run about barefoot all the +year. Besides the Hilo residents, there are some planters' families +within seven miles, who come in to sewing circles, church, etc. +There is a small class of reprobate white men who have ostracized +themselves by means of drink and bad morals, and are a curse to the +natives. The half whites, among whom "Bill Ragsdale" is the leading +spirit, are not numerous. Hilo has no carriage roads and no +carriages: every one must ride or travel in a litter. People are +very kind to each other. Horses, dresses, patterns, books, and +articles of domestic use, are lent and borrowed continually. The +smallness of the society and the close proximity are too much like a +ship. People know everything about the details of each other's +daily life, income, and expenditure, and the day's doings of each +member of the little circle are matters for conversation. Indeed, +were it not for the volcano and its doings, conversation might +degenerate into gossip. There is an immense deal of personal talk; +the wonder is that there is so little ill-nature. Not only is what +everybody does here common property, but the sayings, doings, +goings, comings, and purchases of every one in all the other islands +are common property also, made so by letters and oral communication. +It is all very amusing, and on the whole very kindly, and human +interests are always interesting; but it has its perilous side. +They are very kind to each other. There is no distress which is not +alleviated. There is no nurse, and in cases of sickness the ladies +take it by turns to wait on the sufferer by day and night for weeks, +and even months. Such inevitable mutual dependence of course +promotes friendliness. + +The foreigners live very simply. The eating-rooms are used solely +for eating, the "parlours" are always cheerful and tasteful, and the +bedrooms very pretty, adorned with all manner of knick-knacks made +by the ladies, who are indescribably deft with their fingers. Light +Manilla matting is used instead of carpets. A Chinese man-cook, who +leaves at seven in the evening, is the only servant, except in one +or two cases, where, as here, a native woman condescends to come in +during the day as a nurse. In the morning the ladies, in their +fresh pretty wrappers and ruffled white aprons, sweep and dust the +rooms, and I never saw women look more truly graceful and refined +than they do, when engaged in the plain prose of these domestic +duties. They make all their own dresses, and when any lady is busy +and wants a dress in a hurry, two or three of them meet and make it +for her. I never saw people live such easy pleasant lives. They +have such good health, for one thing, partly no doubt because their +domestic duties give them wholesome exercise without pressing upon +them. They have abounding leisure for reading, music, choir +practising, drawing, fern-printing, fancy work, picnics, riding +parties, and enjoy sociability thoroughly. They usually ride in +dainty bloomer costumes, even when they don't ride astride. All the +houses are pretty, and it takes little to make them so in this +climate. One novel fashion is to decorate the walls with festoons +of the beautiful fern Microlepia tenuifolia, which are renewed as +soon as they fade, and every room is adorned with a profusion of +bouquets, which are easily obtained where flowers bloom all the +year. Many of the residents possess valuable libraries, and these, +with cabinets of minerals, volcanic specimens, shells, and coral, +with weapons, calabashes, ornaments, and cloth of native +manufacture, almost furnish a room in themselves. Some of the +volcanic specimens and the coral are of almost inestimable value, as +well as of exquisite beauty. + +The gentlemen don't seem to have near so much occupation as the +ladies. There are two stores on the beach, and at these and at the +Court-house they aggregate, for lack of club-house and exchange. +Business is not here a synonym for hurry, and official duties are +light; so light, that in these morning hours I see the governor, the +sheriff, and the judge, with three other gentlemen, playing an +interminable croquet game on the Court-house lawn. They purvey +gossip for the ladies, and how much they invent, and how much they +only circulate can never be known! + +There is a large native population in the village, along the beach, +and on the heights above the Wailuku River. Frame houses with +lattices, and grass houses with deep verandahs, peep out everywhere +from among the mangoes and bananas. The governess of Hawaii, the +Princess Keelikalani, has a house on the beach shaded by a large +umbrella-tree and a magnificent clump of bamboos, 70 feet in height. +The native life with which one comes constantly in contact, is very +interesting. + +The men do whatever hard work is done in cultivating the kalo +patches and pounding the kalo. Thus kalo, the Arum esculentum, +forms the national diet. A Hawaiian could not exist without his +calabash of poi. The root is an object of the tenderest solicitude, +from the day it is planted until the hour when it is lovingly eaten. +The eating of poi seems a ceremony of profound meaning; it is like +the eating salt with an Arab, or a Masonic sign. The kalo root is +an ovate oblong, as bulky as a Californian beet, and it has large +leaves, shaped like a broad arrow, of a singularly bright green. +The best kinds grow entirely in water. The patch is embanked and +frequently inundated, and each plant grows on a small hillock of +puddled earth. The cutting from which it grows is simply the top of +the plant, with a little of the tuber. The men stand up to their +knees in water while cultivating the root. It is excellent when +boiled and sliced; but the preparation of poi is an elaborate +process. The roots are baked in an underground oven, and are then +laid on a slightly hollowed board, and beaten with a stone pestle. +It is hard work, and the men don't wear any clothes while engaged in +it. It is not a pleasant-looking operation. They often dip their +hands in a calabash of water to aid them in removing the sticky +mass, and they always look hot and tired. When it is removed from +the board into large calabashes, it is reduced to paste by the +addition of water, and set aside for two or three days to ferment. +When ready for use it is either lilac or pink, and tastes like sour +bookbinders' paste. Before water is added, when it is in its dry +state, it is called paiai, or hard food, and is then packed in ti +leaves in 20 lb. bundles for inland carriage, and is exported to the +Guano Islands. It is a prolific and nutritious plant. It is +estimated that forty square feet will support an Hawaiian for a +year. + +The melon and kalo patches represent a certain amount of spasmodic +industry, but in most other things the natives take no thought for +the morrow. Why should they indeed? For while they lie basking in +the sun, without care of theirs, the cocoanut, the breadfruit, the +yam, the guava, the banana, and the delicious papaya, which is a +compound of a ripe apricot with a Cantaloupe melon, grow and ripen +perpetually. Men and women are always amusing themselves, the men +with surf-bathing, the women with making leis--both sexes with +riding, gossiping, and singing. Every man and woman, almost every +child, has a horse. There is a perfect plague of badly bred, badly +developed, weedy looking animals. The beach and the pleasant lawn +above it are always covered with men and women riding at a gallop, +with bare feet, and stirrups tucked between the toes. To walk even +200 yards seems considered a degradation. The people meet outside +each others' houses all day long, and sit in picturesque groups on +their mats, singing, laughing, talking, and quizzing the haoles, as +if the primal curse had never fallen. Pleasant sights of out-door +cooking gregariously carried on greet one everywhere. This style of +cooking prevails all over Polynesia. A hole in the ground is lined +with stones, wood is burned within it, and when the rude oven has +been sufficiently heated, the pig, chicken, breadfruit, or kalo, +wrapped in ti leaves is put in, a little water is thrown on, and the +whole is covered up. It is a slow but sure process. + +Bright dresses, bright eyes, bright sunshine, music, dancing, a life +without care, and a climate without asperities, make up the sunny +side of native life as pictured at Hilo. But there are dark moral +shadows, the population is shrinking away, and rumours of leprosy +are afloat, so that some of these fair homes may be desolate ere +long. However many causes for regret exist, one must not forget +that only forty years ago the people inhabiting this strip of land +between the volcanic wilderness and the sea were a vicious, sensual, +shameless herd, that no man among them, except their chiefs, had any +rights, that they were harried and oppressed almost to death, and +had no consciousness of any moral obligations. Now, order and +external decorum at least, prevail. There is not a locked door in +Hilo, and nobody makes anybody else afraid. + +The people of Hawaii-nei are clothed and civilized in their habits; +they have equal rights; 6,500 of them have kuleanas or freeholds, +equable and enlightened laws are impartially administered; wrong and +oppression are unknown; they enjoy one of the best administered +governments in the world; education is universal, and the throne is +occupied by a liberal sovereign of their own race and election. + +Few of them speak English. Their language is so easy that most of +the foreigners acquire it readily. You know how stupid I am about +languages, yet I have already picked up the names of most common +things. There are only twelve letters, but some of these are made +to do double duty, as K is also T, and L is also R. The most +northern island of the group, Kauai, is as often pronounced as if it +began with a T, and Kalo is usually Taro. It is a very musical +language. Each syllable and word ends with a vowel, and there are +none of our rasping and sibilant consonants. In their soft +phraseology our hard rough surnames undergo a metamorphosis, as Fisk +into Filikina, Wilson into Wilikina. Each vowel is distinctly +pronounced, and usually with the Italian sound. The volcano is +pronounced as if spelt Keel-ah-wee-ah, and Kauai as if Kah-wye-ee. +The name Owhyhee for Hawaii had its origin in a mistake, for the +island was never anything but Hawaii, pronounced Hah-wye-ee, but +Captain Cook mistook the prefix O, which is the sign of the +nominative case, for a part of the word. Many of the names of +places, specially of those compounded with wai, water, are very +musical; Wailuku, "water of destruction;" Waialeale, "rippling +water;" Waioli, "singing water;" Waipio, "vanquished water;" +Kaiwaihae, "torn water." Mauna, "mountain," is a mere prefix, and +though always used in naming the two giants of the Pacific, Mauna +Kea, and Mauna Loa, is hardly ever applied to Hualalai, "the +offspring of the shining sun;" or to Haleakala on Maui, "the house +of the sun." + +I notice that the foreigners never use the English or botanical +names of trees or plants, but speak of ohias, ohelos, kukui (candle- +nut), lauhala (pandanus), pulu (tree fern), mamane, koa, etc. There +is one native word in such universal use that I already find I +cannot get on without it, pilikia. It means anything, from a +downright trouble to a slight difficulty or entanglement. "I'm in a +pilikia," or "very pilikia," or "pilikia!" A revolution would be "a +pilikia." The fact of the late king dying without naming a +successor was pre-eminently a pilikia, and it would be a serious +pilikia if a horse were to lose a shoe on the way to Kilauea. Hou- +hou, meaning "in a huff," I hear on all sides; and two words, makai, +signifying "on the sea-side," and mauka, "on the mountain side." +These terms are perfectly intelligible out of doors, but it is +puzzling when one is asked to sit on "the mauka side of the table." +The word aloha, in foreign use, has taken the place of every English +equivalent. It is a greeting, a farewell, thanks, love, goodwill. +Aloha looks at you from tidies and illuminations, it meets you on +the roads and at house-doors, it is conveyed to you in letters, the +air is full of it. "My aloha to you," "he sends you his aloha," +"they desire their aloha." It already represents to me all of +kindness and goodwill that language can express, and the convenience +of it as compared with other phrases is, that it means exactly what +the receiver understands it to mean, and consequently, in all cases +can be conveyed by a third person. There is no word for "thank +you." Maikai "good," is often useful in its place, and smiles +supply the rest. There are no words which express "gratitude" or +"chastity," or some others of the virtues; and they have no word for +"weather," that which we understand by "weather" being absolutely +unknown. + +Natives have no surnames. Our volcano guide is Upa, or Scissors, +but his wife and children are anything else. The late king was +Kamehameha, or the "lonely one." The father of the present king is +called Kanaina, but the king's name is Lunalilo, or "above all." +Nor does it appear that a man is always known by the same name, nor +that a name necessarily indicates the sex of its possessor. Thus, +in signing a paper the signature would be Hoapili kanaka, or Hoapili +wahine, according as the signer was man or woman. I remember that +in my first letter I fell into the vulgarism, initiated by the +whaling crews, of calling the natives Kanakas. This is universally +but very absurdly done, as Kanaka simply means man. If an Hawaiian +word is absolutely necessary, we might translate native and have +maole, pronounced maori, like that of the New Zealand aborigines. +Kanaka is to me decidedly objectionable, as conveying the idea of +canaille. + +I had written thus far when Mr. Severance came in to say that a +grand display of the national sport of surf-bathing was going on, +and a large party of us went down to the beach for two hours to +enjoy it. It is really a most exciting pastime, and in a rough sea +requires immense nerve. The surf-board is a tough plank shaped like +a coffin lid, about two feet broad, and from six to nine feet long, +well oiled and cared for. It is usually made of the erythrina, or +the breadfruit tree. The surf was very heavy and favourable, and +legions of natives were swimming and splashing in the sea, though +not more than forty had their Papa-he-nalu, or "wave sliding +boards," with them. The men, dressed only in malos, carrying their +boards under their arms, waded out from some rocks on which the sea +was breaking, and, pushing their boards before them, swam out to the +first line of breakers, and then diving down were seen no more till +they re-appeared as a number of black heads bobbing about like corks +in smooth water half a mile from shore. + +What they seek is a very high roller, on the top of which they leap +from behind, lying face downwards on their boards. As the wave +speeds on, and the bottom strikes the ground, the top breaks into a +huge comber. The swimmers but appeared posing themselves on its +highest edge by dexterous movements of their hands and feet, keeping +just at the top of the curl, but always apparently coming down hill +with a slanting motion. So they rode in majestically, always just +ahead of the breaker, carried shorewards by its mighty impulse at +the rate of forty miles an hour, yet seeming to have a volition of +their own, as the more daring riders knelt and even stood on their +surf-boards, waving their arms and uttering exultant cries. They +were always apparently on the verge of engulfment by the fierce +breaker whose towering white crest was ever above and just behind +them, but just as one expected to see them dashed to pieces, they +either waded quietly ashore, or sliding off their boards, dived +under the surf, taking advantage of the undertow, and were next seen +far out at sea, preparing for fresh exploits. + +The great art seems to be to mount the roller precisely at the right +time, and to keep exactly on its curl just before it breaks. Two or +three athletes, who stood erect on their boards as they swept +exultingly shorewards, were received with ringing cheers by the +crowd. Many of the less expert failed to throw themselves on the +crest, and slid back into smooth water, or were caught in the +combers which were fully ten feet high, and after being rolled over +and over, ignominiously disappeared amidst roars of laughter, and +shouts from the shore. At first I held my breath in terror, +thinking the creatures were smothered or dashed to pieces, and then +in a few seconds I saw the dark heads of the objects of my anxiety +bobbing about behind the rollers waiting for another chance. The +shore was thronged with spectators, and the presence of the elite of +Hilo stimulated the swimmers to wonderful exploits. + +These people are truly amphibious. Both sexes seem to swim by +nature, and the children riot in the waves from their infancy. They +dive apparently by a mere effort of the will. In the deep basin of +the Wailuku River, a little below the Falls, the maidens swim, +float, and dive with garlands of flowers round their heads and +throats. The more furious and agitated the water is, the greater +the excitement, and the love of these watery exploits is not +confined to the young. I saw great fat men with their hair streaked +with grey, balancing themselves on their narrow surf-boards, and +riding the surges shorewards with as much enjoyment as if they were +in their first youth. I enjoyed the afternoon thoroughly. + +Is it "always afternoon" here, I wonder? The sea was so blue, the +sunlight so soft, the air so sweet. There was no toil, clang, or +hurry. People were all holidaymaking (if that can be where there is +no work), and enjoying themselves, the surf-bathers in the sea, and +hundreds of gaily-dressed men and women galloping on the beach. It +was so serene and tropical. I sympathize with those who eat the +lotus, and remain for ever on such enchanted shores. + +I am gaining health daily, and almost live in the open air. I have +hired the native policeman's horse and saddle, and with a Macgregor +flannel riding costume, which my kind friends have made for me, and +a pair of jingling Mexican spurs am quite Hawaiianised. I ride +alone once or twice a day exploring the neighbourhood, finding some +new fern or flower daily, and abandon myself wholly to the +fascination of this new existence. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER VIII. + +ONOMEA, HAWAII. JUDGE AUSTIN'S. + +Mrs. A. has been ill for some time, and Mrs. S. her sister and +another friend "plotted" in a very "clandestine" manner that I +should come here for a few days in order to give her "a little +change of society," but I am quite sure that under this they only +veil a kind wish that I should see something of plantation life. +There is a plan, too, that I should take a five days' trip to a +remarkable valley called Waipio, but this is only a "castle in the +air." + +Mr. A. sent in for me a capital little lean rat of a horse which by +dint of spirit and activity managed to keep within sight of two +large horses, ridden by Mr. Thompson, and a very handsome young lady +riding "cavalier fashion," who convoyed me out. Borrowed saddle- +bags, and a couple of shingles for carrying ferns formed my outfit, +and were carried behind my saddle. It is a magnificent ride here. +The track crosses the deep, still, Wailuku River on a wooden bridge, +and then after winding up a steep hill, among native houses +fantastically situated, hangs on the verge of the lofty precipices +which descend perpendicularly to the sea, dips into tremendous +gulches, loses itself in the bright fern-fringed torrents which have +cleft their way down from the mountains, and at last emerges on the +delicious height on which this house is built. + +This coast looked beautiful from the deck of the Kilauea, but I am +now convinced that I have never seen anything so perfectly lovely as +it is when one is actually among its details. Onomea is 600 feet +high, and every yard of the ascent from Hilo brings one into a +fresher and purer air. One looks up the wooded, broken slopes to a +wild volcanic wilderness and the snowy peaks of Mauna Kea on one +side, and on the other down upon the calm blue Pacific, wrinkled by +the sweet trade-wind, till it blends in far-off loveliness with the +still, blue, sky; and heavy surges break on the reefs, and fritter +themselves away on the rocks, tossing their pure foam over ti and +lauhala trees, and the exquisite ferns and trailers which mantle the +cliffs down to the water's edge. Here a native house stands, with +passion-flowers clustering round its verandah, and the great +solitary red blossoms of the hibiscus flaming out from dark +surrounding leafage, and women in rose and green holukus, weaving +garlands, greet us with "Aloha" as we pass. Then we come upon a +whole cluster of grass houses under lauhalas and bananas. Then +there is the sugar plantation of Kaiwiki, with its patches of bright +green cane, its flumes crossing the track above our heads, bringing +the cane down from the upland cane-fields to the crushing-mill, and +the shifting, busy scenes of the sugar-boiling season. + +Then the track goes down with a great dip, along which we slip and +slide in the mud to a deep broad stream. This is a most picturesque +spot, the junction of two clear bright rivers, and a few native +houses and a Chinaman's store are grouped close by under some palms, +with the customary loungers on horseback, asking and receiving +nuhou, or news, at the doors. Our accustomed horses leaped into a +ferry-scow provided by Government, worked by a bearded female of +hideous aspect, and leaped out on the other side to climb a track +cut on the side of a precipice, which would be steep to mount on +one's own feet. There we met parties of natives, all flower- +wreathed, talking and singing, coming gaily down on their sure- +footed horses, saluting us with the invariable "Aloha." Every now +and then we passed native churches, with spires painted white, or a +native schoolhouse, or a group of scholars all ferns and flowers. +The greenness of the vegetation merits the term "dazzling." We +think England green, but its colour is poor and pale as compared +with that of tropical Hawaii. Palms, candlenuts, ohias, hibiscus, +were it not for their exceeding beauty, would almost pall upon one +from their abundance, and each gulch has its glorious entanglement +of breadfruit, the large-leaved ohia, or native apple, a species of +Eugenia (Eugenia Malaccensis), and the pandanus, with its aerial +roots, all looped together by large sky-blue convolvuli and the +running fern, and is marvellous with parasitic growths. + +The distracting beauty of this coast is what are called gulches-- +narrow deep ravines or gorges, from 100 to 2,000 feet in depth, each +with a series of cascades from 10 to 1,800 feet in height. I +dislike reducing their glories to the baldness of figures, but the +depth of these clefts (originally, probably, the seams caused by +fire torrents), cut and worn by the fierce streams fed by the snows +of Mauna Kea, and the rains of the forest belt, cannot otherwise be +expressed. The cascades are most truly beautiful, gleaming white +among the dark depths of foliage far away, and falling into deep +limpid basins, festooned and overhung with the richest and greenest +vegetation of this prolific climate, from the huge-leaved banana and +shining breadfruit to the most feathery of ferns and lycopodiums. +Each gulch opens on a velvet lawn close to the sea, and most of them +have space for a few grass houses, with cocoanut trees, bananas, and +kalo patches. There are sixty-nine of these extraordinary chasms +within a distance of thirty miles! + +I think we came through eleven, fording the streams in all but two. +The descent into some of them is quite alarming. You go down almost +standing in your stirrups, at a right angle with the horse's head, +and up, grasping his mane to prevent the saddle slipping. He goes +down like a goat, with his bare feet, looking cautiously at each +step, sometimes putting out a foot and withdrawing it again in +favour of better footing, and sometimes gathering his four feet +under him and sliding or jumping. The Mexican saddle has great +advantages on these tracks, which are nothing better than ledges cut +on the sides of precipices, for one goes up and down not only in +perfect security but without fatigue. I am beginning to hope that I +am not too old, as I feared I was, to learn a new mode of riding, +for my companions rode at full speed over places where I should have +picked my way carefully at a foot's pace; and my horse followed +them, galloping and stopping short at their pleasure, and I +successfully kept my seat, though not without occasional fears of an +ignominious downfall. I even wish that you could see me in my Rob +Roy riding dress, with leather belt and pouch, a lei of the orange +seeds of the pandanus round my throat, jingling Mexican spurs, blue +saddle blanket, and Rob Roy blanket strapped on behind the saddle! + +This place is grandly situated 600 feet above a deep cove, into +which two beautiful gulches of great size run, with heavy cascades, +finer than Foyers at its best, and a native village is picturesquely +situated between the two. The great white rollers, whiter by +contrast with the dark deep water, come into the gulch just where we +forded the river, and from the ford a passable road made for hauling +sugar ascends to the house. The air is something absolutely +delicious; and the murmur of the rollers and the deep boom of the +cascades are very soothing. There is little rise or fall in the +cadence of the surf anywhere on the windward coast, but one even +sound, loud or soft, like that made by a train in a tunnel. + +We were kindly welcomed, and were at once "made at home." Delicious +phrase! the full meaning of which I am learning on Hawaii, where, +though everything has the fascination of novelty, I have ceased to +feel myself a stranger. This is a roomy, rambling frame-house, with +a verandah, and the door, as is usual here, opens directly into the +sitting-room. The stair by which I go to my room suggests +possibilities, for it has been removed three inches from the wall by +an earthquake, which also brought down the tall chimney of the +boiling-house. Close by there are small pretty frame-houses for the +overseer, bookkeeper, sugar boiler, and machinist; a store, the +factory, a pretty native church near the edge of the cliff, and +quite a large native village below. It looks green and bright, and +the atmosphere is perfect, with the cool air coming down from the +mountains, and a soft breeze coming up from the blue dreamy ocean. +Behind the house the uplands slope away to the colossal Mauna Kea. +The actual, dense, impenetrable forest does not begin for a mile and +a half from the coast, and its broad dark belt, extending to a +height of 4,000 feet, and beautifully broken, throws out into +greater brightness the upward glades of grass and the fields of +sugar-cane. + +This is a very busy season, and as this is a large plantation there +is an appearance of great animation. There are five or six saddled +horses usually tethered below the house; and with overseers, white +and coloured, and natives riding at full gallop, and people coming +on all sorts of errands, the hum of the crushing-mill, the rush of +water in the flumes, and the grind of the waggons carrying cane, +there is no end of stir. + +The plantations in the Hilo district enjoy special advantages, for +by turning some of the innumerable mountain streams into flumes the +owners can bring a great part of their cane and all their wood for +fuel down to the mills without other expense than the original cost +of the woodwork. Mr. A. has 100 mules, but the greater part of +their work is ploughing and hauling the kegs of sugar down to the +cove, where in favourable weather they are put on board of a +schooner for Honolulu. This plantation employs 185 hands, native +and Chinese, and turns out 600 tons of sugar a year. The natives +are much liked as labourers, being docile and on the whole willing; +but native labour is hard to get, as the natives do not like to work +for a term unless obliged, and a pernicious system of "advances" is +practised. The labourers hire themselves to the planters, in the +case of natives usually for a year, by a contract which has to be +signed before a notary public. The wages are about eight dollars a +month with food, or eleven dollars without food, and the planters +supply houses and medical attendance. The Chinese are imported as +coolies, and usually contract to work for five years. As a matter +of policy no less than of humanity the "hands" are well treated; for +if a single instance of injustice were perpetrated on a plantation +the factory might stand still the next year, for hardly a native +would contract to serve again. + +The Chinese are quiet and industrious, but smoke opium, and are much +addicted to gaming. Many of them save money, and, when their turn +of service is over, set up stores, or grow vegetables for money. +Each man employed has his horse, and on Saturday the hands form +quite a cavalcade. Great tact, firmness, and knowledge of human +nature are required in the manager of a plantation. The natives are +at times disposed to shirk work without sufficient cause; the native +lunas, or overseers, are not always reasonable, the Chinamen and +natives do not always agree, and quarrels and entanglements arise, +and everything is referred to the decision of the manager, who, +besides all things else, must know the exact amount of work which +ought to be performed, both in the fields and factory, and see that +it is done. Mr. A. is a keen, shrewd man of business, kind without +being weak, and with an eye on every detail of his plantations. The +requirements are endless. It reminds me very much of plantation +life in Georgia in the old days of slavery. I never elsewhere heard +of so many headaches, sore hands, and other trifling ailments. It +is very amusing to see the attempts which the would-be invalids make +to lengthen their brief smiling faces into lugubriousness, and the +sudden relaxation into naturalness when they are allowed a holiday. +Mr. A. comes into the house constantly to consult his wife regarding +the treatment of different ailments. + +I have made a second tour through the factory, and am rather +disgusted with sugar making. "All's well that ends well," however, +and the delicate crystalline result makes one forget the initial +stages of the manufacture. The cane, stripped of its leaves, passes +from the flumes under the rollers of the crushing-mill, where it is +subjected to a pressure of five or six tons. One hundred pounds of +cane under this process yield up from sixty-five to seventy-five +pounds of juice. This juice passes, as a pale green cataract, into +a trough, which conducts it into a vat, where it is dosed with +quicklime to neutralize its acid, and is then run off into large +heated metal vessels. At this stage the smell is abominable, and +the turbid fluid, with a thick scum upon it, is simply disgusting. +After a preliminary heating and skimming it is passed off into iron +pans, several in a row, and boiled and skimmed, and ladled from one +to the other till it reaches the last, which is nearest to the fire, +and there it boils with the greatest violence, seething and foaming, +bringing all the remaining scum to the surface. After the +concentration has proceeded far enough, the action of the heat is +suspended, and the reddish-brown, oily-looking liquid is drawn into +the vacuum-pan till it is about a third full; the concentration is +completed by boiling the juice in vacuo at a temperature of 150 +degrees, and even lower. As the boiling proceeds, the sugar boiler +tests the contents of the pan by withdrawing a few drops, and +holding them up to the light on his finger; and, by certain minute +changes in their condition, he judges when it is time to add an +additional quantity. When the pan is full, the contents have +thickened into the consistency of thick gruel by the formation of +minute crystals, and are then allowed to descend into an heater, +where they are kept warm till they can be run into "forms" or tanks, +where they are allowed to granulate. The liquid, or molasses, which +remains after the first crystallization is returned to the vacuum +pan and reboiled, and this reboiling of the drainings is repeated +two or three times, with a gradually decreasing result in the +quality and quantity of the sugar. The last process, which is used +for getting rid of the treacle, is a most beautiful one. The mass +of sugar and treacle is put into what are called "centrifugal pans," +which are drums about three feet in diameter and two feet high, +which make about 1,000 revolutions a minute. These have false +interiors of wire gauze, and the mass is forced violently against +their sides by centrifugal action, and they let the treacle whirl +through, and retain the sugar crystals, which lie in a dry heap in +the centre. + +The cane is being flumed in with great rapidity, and the factory is +working till late at night. The cane from which the juice has been +expressed, called "trash," is dried and used as fuel for the furnace +which supplies the steam power. The sugar is packed in kegs, and a +cooper and carpenter, as well as other mechanics, are employed. + +Sugar is now the great interest of the islands. Christian missions +and whaling have had their day, and now people talk sugar. Hawaii +thrills to the news of a cent up or a cent down in the American +market. All the interests of the kingdom are threatened by this +one, which, because it is grievously depressed and staggers under a +heavy import duty in the American market, is now clamorous in some +quarters for "annexation," and in others for a "reciprocity treaty," +which last means the cession of the Pearl River lagoon on Oahu, with +its adjacent shores, to America, for a Pacific naval station. There +are 200,000 acres of productive soil on the islands, of which only a +fifteenth is under cultivation, and of this large area 150,000 is +said to be specially adapted for sugar culture. Herein is a +prospective Utopia, and people are always dreaming of the sugar- +growing capacities of the belt of rich disintegrated lava which +slopes upwards from the sea to the bases of the mountains. +Hitherto, sugar growing has been a very disastrous speculation, and +few of the planters at present do more than keep their heads above +water. + +Were labour plentiful and the duties removed, fortunes might be +made; for the soil yields on an average about three times as much as +that of the State of Louisiana. Two and a half tons to the acre is +a common yield, five tons, a frequent one, and instances are known +of the slowly matured cane of a high altitude yielding as much as +seven tons! The magnificent climate makes it a very easy crop to +grow. There is no brief harvest time with its rush, hurry, and +frantic demand for labour, nor frost to render necessary the hasty +cutting of an immature crop. The same number of hands is kept on +all the year round. The planters can plant pretty much when they +please, or not plant at all, for two or three years, the only +difference in the latter case being that the rattoons which spring +up after the cutting of the former crop are smaller in bulk. They +can cut when they please, whether the cane be tasselled or not, and +they can plant, cut, and grind at one time! + +It is a beautiful crop in any stage of growth, especially in the +tasselled stage. Every part of it is useful--the cane pre- +eminently--the leaves as food for horses and mules, and the tassels +for making hats. Here and elsewhere there is a plate of cut cane +always within reach, and the children chew it incessantly. I fear +you will be tired of sugar, but I find it more interesting than the +wool and mutton of Victoria and New Zealand, and it is a most +important item of the wealth of this toy kingdom, which last year +exported 16,995,402 lbs. of sugar and 192,105 gallons of molasses. +{121} With regard to molasses, the Government prohibits the +manufacture of rum, so the planters are deprived of a fruitful +source of profit. It is really difficult to tear myself from the +subject of sugar, for I see the cane waving in the sun while I +write, and hear the busy hum of the crushing-mill. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER IX. + +ONOMEA, HAWAII. + +This is such a pleasant house and household, Mrs. A. is as bright as +though she were not an invalid, and her room, except at meals, is +the gathering-place of the family. The four boys are bright, +intelligent beings, out of doors, barefooted, all day, and with a +passion for horses, of which their father possesses about thirty. +The youngest, Ephy, is the brightest child for three years old that +I ever saw, but absolutely crazy about horses and mules. He talks +of little else, and is constantly asking me to draw horses on his +slate. He is a merry, audacious little creature, but came in this +evening quite subdued. The sun was setting gloriously behind the +forest-covered slopes, flooding the violet distances with a haze of +gold, and, in a low voice, he said, "I've seen God." + +There is the usual Chinese cook, who cooks and waits and looks good- +natured, and of course has his own horse, and his wife, a most +minute Chinese woman, comes in and attends to the rooms and to Mrs. +A., and sews and mends. She wears her native dress--a large, stiff, +flat cane hat, like a tray, fastened firmly on or to her head; a +scanty loose frock of blue denim down to her knees, wide trousers of +the same down to her ancles, and slippers. Her hair is knotted up; +she always wears silver armlets, and would not be seen without the +hat for anything. There is not a bell in this or any house on the +islands, and the bother of servants is hardly known, for the +Chinamen do their work like automatons, and disappear at sunset. In +a land where there are no carpets, no fires, no dust, no hot water +needed, no windows to open and shut--for they are always open--no +further service is really required. It is a simple arcadian life, +and people live more happily than any that I have seen elsewhere. +It is very cheerful to live among people whose faces are not soured +by the east wind, or wrinkled by the worrying effort to "keep up +appearances," which deceive nobody; who have no formal visiting, but +real sociability; who regard the light manual labour of domestic +life as a pleasure, not a thing to be ashamed of; who are contented +with their circumstances, and have leisure to be kind, cultured, and +agreeable; and who live so tastefully, though simply, that they can +at any time ask a passing stranger to occupy the simple guest +chamber, or share the simple meal, without any of the soul-harassing +preparations which often make the exercise of hospitality a thing of +terror to people in the same circumstances at home. + +People will ask you, "What is the food?" We have everywhere bread +and biscuit made of California flour, griddle cakes with molasses, +and often cracked wheat, butter not very good, sweet potatoes, +boiled kalo, Irish potatoes, and poi. I have not seen fish on any +table except at the Honolulu Hotel, or any meat but beef, which is +hard and dry as compared with ours. We have China or Japan tea, and +island coffee. Honolulu is the only place in which intoxicants are +allowed to be sold; and I have not seen beer, wine, or spirits in +any house. Bananas are an important article of diet, and sliced +guavas, eaten with milk and sugar, are very good. The cooking is +always done in detached cook houses, in and on American cooking +stoves. + +As to clothing. I wear my flannel riding dress for both riding and +walking, and a black silk at other times. The resident ladies wear +prints and silks, and the gentlemen black cloth or dark tweed suits. +Flannel is not required, neither are puggarees or white hats or +sunshades at any season. The changes of temperature are very +slight, and there is no chill when the sun goes down. The air is +always like balm; the rain is tepid and does not give cold; in +summer it may be three or four degrees warmer. Windows and doors +stand open the whole year. A blanket is agreeable at night, but not +absolutely necessary. It is a truly delightful climate and mode of +living, with such an abundance of air and sunshine. My health +improves daily, and I do not consider myself an invalid. + +Between working, reading aloud, talking, riding, and "loafing," I +have very little time for letter writing; but I must tell you of a +delightful fern-hunting expedition on the margin of the forest that +I took yesterday, accompanied by Mr. Thompson and the two elder +boys. We rode in the mauka direction, outside cane ready for +cutting, with silvery tassels gleaming in the sun, till we reached +the verge of the forest, where an old trail was nearly obliterated +by a trailing matted grass four feet high, and thousands of woody +ferns, which conceal streams, holes, and pitfalls. When further +riding was impossible, we tethered our horses and proceeded on foot. +We were then 1,500 feet above the sea by the aneroid barometer, and +the increased coolness was perceptible. The mercury is about four +degrees lower for each 1,000 feet of ascent--rather more than this +indeed on the windward side of the islands. The forest would be +quite impenetrable were it not for the remains of wood-hauling +trails, which, though grown up to the height of my shoulders, are +still passable. + +Underneath the green maze, invisible streams, deep down, made sweet +music, sweeter even than the gentle murmur of the cool breeze among +the trees. The forest on the volcano track, which I thought so +tropical and wonderful a short time ago, is nothing for beauty to +compare with this "garden of God." I wish I could describe it, but +cannot; and as you know only our pale, small-leaved trees, with +their uniform green, I cannot say that it is like this or that. The +first line of a hymn, "Oh, Paradise! oh, Paradise!" rings in my +brain, and the rustic exclamation we used to hear when we were +children, "Well, I never!" followed by innumerable notes of +admiration, seems to exhaust the whole vocabulary of wonderment. +The former cutting of some trees gives atmosphere, and the tumbled +nature of the ground shows everything to the best advantage. There +were openings over which huge candle-nuts, with their pea-green and +silver foliage, spread their giant arms, and the light played +through their branches on an infinite variety of ferns. There were +groves of bananas and plantains with shiny leaves 8 feet long, like +enormous hart's-tongue, the bright-leaved noni, the dark-leaved koa, +the mahogany of the Pacific; the great glossy-leaved Eugenia--a +forest tree as large as our largest elms; the small-leaved ohia, its +rose-crimson flowers making a glory in the forests, and its young +shoots of carmine red vying with the colouring of the New England +fall; and the strange lauhala hung its stiff drooping plumes, which +creak in the faintest breeze; and the superb breadfruit hung its +untempting fruit, and from spreading guavas we shook the ripe yellow +treasures, scooping out the inside, all juicy and crimson, to make +drinking cups of the rind; and there were trees that had surrendered +their own lives to a conquering army of vigorous parasites which had +clothed their skeletons with an unapproachable and indistinguishable +beauty, and over trees and parasites the tender tendrils of great +mauve morning glories trailed and wreathed themselves, and the +strong, strangling stems of the ie wound themselves round the tall +ohias, which supported their quaint yucca-like spikes of leaves +fifty feet from the ground. + +There were some superb plants of the glossy tropical-looking bird's- +nest fern, or Asplenium Nidus, which makes its home on the stems and +branches of trees, and brightens the forest with its great shining +fronds. I got a specimen from a koa tree. The plant had nine +fronds, each one measuring from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 7 inches in +length, and from 7 to 9 inches in breadth. There were some very +fine tree-ferns (Cibotium Chamissoi?), two of which being +accessible, we measured, and found them seventeen and twenty feet +high, their fronds eight feet long, and their stems four feet ten +inches in circumference three feet from the ground. They showed the +most various shades of green, from the dark tint of the mature +frond, to the pale pea green of those which were just uncurling +themselves. I managed to get up into a tree for the first time in +my life to secure specimens of two beautiful parasitic ferns +(Polypodium tamariscinum and P. Hymenophylloides?). I saw for the +first time, too, a lygodium and the large climbing potato-fern +(Polypodium spectrum), very like a yam in the distance, and the +Vittaria elongata, whose long grassy fronds adorn almost every tree. +The beautiful Microlepia tenuifolia abounded, and there were a few +plants of the loveliest fern I ever saw (Trichomanes meifolium), in +specimens of which I indulged sparingly, and almost grudgingly, for +it seemed unfitting that a form of such perfect beauty should be +mummied in a herbarium. There was one fern in profusion, with from +90 to 130 pair of pinnae on each frond; and the fronds, though often +exceeding five feet in length, were only two inches broad +(Nephrolepis pectinata). There were many prostrate trees, which +nature has entirely covered with choice ferns, specially the rough +stem of the tree-fern. I counted seventeen varieties on one trunk, +and on the whole obtained thirty-five specimens for my collection. + +The forest soon became completely impenetrable, the beautiful +Gleichenia Hawaiiensis forming an impassable network over all the +undergrowth. And, indeed, without this it would have been risky to +make further explorations, for often masses of wonderful matted +vegetation sustained us temporarily over streams six or eight feet +below, whose musical tinkle alone warned us of our peril. I shall +never again see anything so beautiful as this fringe of the +impassable timber belt. I enjoyed it more than anything I have yet +seen; it was intoxicating, my eyes were "satisfied with seeing." It +was a dream, a rapture, this maze of form and colour, this entangled +luxuriance, this bewildering beauty, through which we caught bright +glimpses of a heavenly sky above, while far away, below glade and +lawn, shimmered in surpassing loveliness the cool blue of the +Pacific. To me, with my hatred of reptiles and insects, it is not +the least among the charms of Hawaii, that these glorious +entanglements and cool damp depths of a redundant vegetation give +shelter to nothing of unseemly shape and venomous proboscis or fang. +Here, in cool, dreamy, sunny Onomea, there are no horrid, drumming, +stabbing, mosquitoes as at Honolulu, to remind me of what I forget +sometimes, that I am not in Eden. {128} + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER X. + +WAIPIO VALLEY, HAWAII. + +There is something fearful in the isolation of this valley, open at +one end to the sea, and walled in on all others by palis or +precipices, from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in height, over the easiest of +which hangs the dizzy track, which after trailing over the country +for sixty difficult miles, connects Waipio with the little world of +Hilo. The evening is very sombre, and darkness comes on early +between these high walls. I am in a native house in which not a +word of English is spoken, and Deborah, among her own people, has +returned with zest to the exclusive use of her own tongue. This is +more solitary than solitude, and tired as I am with riding and +roughing it, I must console myself with writing to you. The +natives, after staring and giggling for some time, took this letter +out of my hand, with many exclamations, which, Deborah tells me, are +at the rapidity and minuteness of my writing. I told them the +letter was to my sister, and they asked if I had your picture. They +are delighted with it, and it is going round a large circle +assembled without. They see very few foreign women here, and are +surprised that I have not brought a foreign man with me. + +There was quite a bustle of small preparations before we left +Onomea. Deborah was much excited, and I was not less so, for it is +such a complete novelty to take a five days' ride alone with +natives. D. is a very nice native girl of seventeen, who speaks +English tolerably, having been brought up by Mr. and Mrs. Austin. +She was lately married to a white man employed on the plantation. +Mr. A. most kindly lent me a favourite mule, but declined to state +that she would not kick, or buck, or turn obstinate, or lie down in +the water, all which performances are characteristic of mules. She +has, however, as he expected, behaved as the most righteous of her +species. Our equipment was a matter for some consideration, as I +had no waterproof; but eventually I wore my flannel riding dress, +and carried my plaid in front of the saddle. My saddle-bags, which +were behind, contained besides our changes of clothes, a jar of +Liebig's essence of beef, some potted beef, a tin of butter, a tin +of biscuits, a tin of sardines, a small loaf, and some roast yams. +Deborah looked very piquante in a bloomer dress of dark blue, with +masses of shining hair in natural ringlets falling over the collar, +mixing with her lei of red rose-buds. She rode a powerful horse, of +which she has much need, as this is the most severe road on horses +on Hawaii, and it takes a really good animal to come to Waipio and +go back to Hilo. + +We got away at seven in bright sunshine, and D.'s husband +accompanied us the first mile to see that our girths and gear were +all right. It was very slippery, but my mule deftly gathered her +feet under her, and slid when she could not walk. From Onomea to +the place where we expected to find the guide, we kept going up and +down the steep sides of ravines, and scrambling through torrents +till we reached a deep and most picturesque gulch, with a primitive +school-house at the bottom, and some grass-houses clustering under +palms and papayas, a valley scene of endless ease and perpetual +afternoon. Here we found that D.'s uncle, who was to have been our +guide, could not go, because his horse was not strong enough, but +her cousin volunteered his escort, and went away to catch his horse, +while we tethered ours and went into the school-house. + +This reminded me somewhat of the very poorest schools connected with +the Edinburgh Ladies' Highland School Association, but the teacher +had a remarkable paucity of clothing, and he seemed to have the +charge of his baby, which, much clothed, and indeed much muffled, +lay on the bench beside him. For there were benches, and a desk, +and even a blackboard and primers down in the deep wild gulch, where +the music of living waters, and the thunderous roll of the Pacific, +accompanied the children's tuneless voices as they sang an Hawaiian +hymn. I shall remember nothing of the scholars but rows of gleaming +white teeth, and splendid brown eyes. I thought both teacher and +children very apathetic. There were lamentably few, though the +pretty rigidly enforced law, which compels all children between the +ages of six and fifteen to attend school for forty weeks of the +year, had probably gathered together all the children of the +district. They all wore coloured chemises and leis of flowers. +Outside, some natives presented us with some ripe papayas. + +Mounting again, we were joined by two native women, who were +travelling the greater part of the way hither, and this made it more +cheerful for D. The elder one had nothing on her head but her wild +black hair, and she wore a black holuku, a lei of the orange seeds +of the pandanus, orange trousers and big spurs strapped on her bare +feet. A child of four, bundled up in a black poncho, rode on a +blanket behind the saddle, and was tied to the woman's waist, by an +orange shawl. The younger woman, who was very pretty, wore a +sailor's hat, leis of crimson ohia blossoms round her hat and +throat, a black holuku, a crimson poncho, and one spur, and held up +a green umbrella whenever it rained. + +We were shortly joined by Kaluna, the cousin, on an old, big, wall- +eyed, bare-tailed, raw-boned horse, whose wall-eyes contrived to +express mingled suspicion and fear, while a flabby, pendant, lower +lip, conveyed the impression of complete abjectness. He looked like +some human beings who would be vicious if they dared, but the vice +had been beaten out of him long ago, and only the fear remained. He +has a raw suppurating sore under the saddle, glueing the blanket to +his lean back, and crouches when he is mounted. Both legs on one +side look shorter than on the other, giving a crooked look to +himself and his rider, and his bare feet are worn thin as if he had +been on lava. I rode him for a mile yesterday, and when he +attempted a convulsive canter, with three short steps and a stumble +in it, his abbreviated off legs made me feel as if I were rolling +over on one side. Kaluna beats him the whole time with a heavy +stick; but except when he strikes him most barbarously about his +eyes and nose he only cringes, without quickening his pace. When I +rode him mercifully the true hound nature came out. The sufferings +of this wretched animal have been the great drawback on this +journey. I have now bribed Kaluna with as much as the horse is +worth to give him a month's rest, and long before that time I hope +the owl-hawks will be picking his bones. + +The horse has come before the rider, but Kaluna is no nonentity. He +is a very handsome youth of sixteen, with eyes which are remarkable, +even in this land of splendid eyes, a straight nose, a very fine +mouth, and beautiful teeth, a mass of wavy, almost curly hair, and a +complexion not so brown as to conceal the mantling of the bright +southern blood in his cheeks. His figure is lithe, athletic, and as +pliable as if he were an invertebrate animal, capable of unlimited +doublings up and contortions, to which his thin white shirt and blue +cotton trousers are no impediment. He is almost a complete savage; +his movements are impulsive and uncontrolled, and his handsome face +looks as if it belonged to a half-tamed creature out of the woods. +He talks loud, laughs incessantly, croons a monotonous chant, which +sounds almost as heathenish as tom-toms, throws himself out of his +saddle, hanging on by one foot, lingers behind to gather fruits, and +then comes tearing up, beating his horse over the ears and nose, +with a fearful yell and a prolonged sound like har-r-r-ouche, +striking my mule and threatening to overturn me as he passes me on +the narrow track. He is the most thoroughly careless and +irresponsible being I ever saw, reckless about the horses, reckless +about himself, without any manners or any obvious sense of right and +propriety. In his mouth this musical tongue becomes as harsh as the +speech of a cocatoo or parrot. His manner is familiar. He rides up +to me, pokes his head under my hat, and says, interrogatively, +"Cold!" by which I understand that the poor boy is shivering +himself. In eating he plunges his hand into my bowl of fowl, or +snatches half my biscuit. Yet I daresay he means well, and I am +thoroughly amused with him, except when he maltreats his horse. + +It is a very strange life going about with natives, whose ideas, as +shown by their habits, are, to say the least of it, very peculiar. +Deborah speaks English fairly, having been brought up by white +people, and is a very nice girl. But were she one of our own race I +should not suppose her to be more than eleven years old, and she +does not seem able to understand my ideas on any subject, though I +can be very much interested and amused with hearing hers. + +We had a perfect day until the middle of the afternoon. The +dimpling Pacific was never more than a mile from us as we kept the +narrow track in the long green grass; and on our left the blunt +snow-patched peaks of Mauna Kea rose from the girdle of forest, +looking so delusively near that I fancied a two-hours' climb would +take us to his lofty summit. The track for twenty-six miles is just +in and out of gulches, from 100 to 800 feet in depth, all opening on +the sea, which sweeps into them in three booming rollers. The +candle-nut or kukui (aleurites triloba) tree, which on the whole +predominates, has leaves of a rich deep green when mature, which +contrast beautifully with the flaky silvery look of the younger +foliage. Some of the shallower gulches are filled exclusively with +this tree, which in growing up to the light to within 100 feet of +the top, presents a mass and density of leafage quite unique, giving +the gulch the appearance as if billows of green had rolled in and +solidified there. Each gulch has some specialty of ferns and trees, +and in such a distance as sixty miles they vary considerably with +the variations of soil, climate, and temperature. But everywhere +the rocks, trees, and soil are covered and crowded with the most +exquisite ferns and mosses, from the great tree-fern, whose bright +fronds light up the darker foliage, to the lovely maiden-hair and +graceful selaginellas which are mirrored in pools of sparkling +water. Everywhere, too, the great blue morning glory opened to a +heaven not bluer than itself. + +The descent into the gulches is always solemn. You canter along a +bright breezy upland, and are suddenly arrested by a precipice, and +from the depths of a forest abyss a low plash or murmur rises, or a +deep bass sound, significant of water which must be crossed, and one +reluctantly leaves the upper air to plunge into heavy shadow, and +each experience increases one's apprehensions concerning the next. +Though in some gulches the kukui preponderates, in others the +lauhala whose aerial roots support it in otherwise impossible +positions, and in others the sombre ohia, yet there were some grand +clefts in which nature has mingled her treasures impartially, and +out of cool depths of ferns rose the feathery coco-palm, the +glorious breadfruit, with its green melon-like fruit, the large +ohia, ideal in its beauty,--the most gorgeous flowering tree I have +ever seen, with spikes of rose-crimson blossoms borne on the old +wood, blazing among its shining many-tinted leafage,--the tall +papaya with its fantastic crown, the profuse gigantic plantain, and +innumerable other trees, shrubs, and lianas, in the beauty and +bounteousness of an endless spring. Imagine my surprise on seeing +at the bottom of one gulch, a grove of good-sized, dark-leaved, very +handsome trees, with an abundance of smooth round green fruit upon +them, and on reaching them finding that they were orange trees, +their great size, far exceeding that of the largest at Valencia, +having prevented me from recognizing them earlier! In another, some +large shrubs with oval, shining, dark leaves, much crimped at the +edges, bright green berries along the stalks, and masses of pure +white flowers lying flat, like snow on evergreens, turned out to be +coffee! The guava with its obtuse smooth leaves, sweet white +blossoms on solitary axillary stalks, and yellow fruit was +universal. The novelty of the fruit, foliage, and vegetation is an +intense delight to me. I should like to see how the rigid aspect of +a coniferous tree, of which there is not one indigenous to the +islands, would look by contrast. We passed through a long thicket +of sumach, an exotic from North America, which still retains its old +habit of shedding its leaves, and its grey, wintry, desolate-looking +branches reminded me that there are less-favoured parts of the +world, and that you are among mist, cold, murk, slush, gales, +leaflessness, and all the dismal concomitants of an English winter. + +It is wonderful that people should have thought of crossing these +gulches on anything with four legs. Formerly, that is, within the +last thirty years, the precipices could only be ascended by climbing +with the utmost care, and descended by being lowered with ropes from +crag to crag, and from tree to tree, when hanging on by the hands +became impracticable to even the most experienced mountaineer. In +this last fashion Mr. Coan and Mr. Lyons were let down to preach the +gospel to the people of the then populous valleys. But within +recent years, narrow tracks, allowing one horse to pass another, +have been cut along the sides of these precipices, without any +windings to make them easier, and only deviating enough from the +perpendicular to allow of their descent by the sure-footed native- +born animals. Most of them are worn by water and animals' feet, +broken, rugged, jagged, with steps of rock sometimes three feet +high, produced by breakage here and there. Up and down these the +animals slip, jump, and scramble, some of them standing still until +severely spurred, or driven by some one from behind. Then there are +softer descents, slippery with damp, and perilous in heavy rains, +down which they slide dexterously, gathering all their legs under +them. On a few of these tracks a false step means death, but the +vegetation which clothes the pali below, blinds one to the risk. I +don't think anything would induce me to go up a swinging zigzag--up +a terrible pali opposite to me as I write, the sides of which are +quite undraped. + +All the gulches for the first twenty-four miles contain running +water. The great Hakalau gulch we crossed early yesterday, has a +river with a smooth bed as wide as the Thames at Eton. Some have +only small quiet streams, which pass gently through ferny grottoes. +Others have fierce strong torrents dashing between abrupt walls of +rock, among immense boulders into deep abysses, and cast themselves +over precipice after precipice into the ocean. Probably, many of +these are the courses of fire torrents, whose jagged masses of a-a +have since been worn smooth, and channelled into holes by the action +of water. A few are crossed on narrow bridges, but the majority are +forded, if that quiet conventional term can be applied to the +violent flounderings by which the horses bring one through. The +transparency deceives them, and however deep the water is, they +always try to lift their fore feet out of it, which gives them a +disagreeable rolling motion. (Mr. Brigham in his valuable monograph +on the Hawaiian volcanoes quoted below, {138} appears as much +impressed with these gulches as I am.) + +We lunched in one glorious valley, and Kaluna made drinking cups +which held fully a pint, out of the beautiful leaves of the Arum +esculentum. Towards afternoon turbid-looking clouds lowered over +the sea, and by the time we reached the worst pali of all, the south +side of Laupahoehoe, they burst on us in torrents of rain +accompanied by strong wind. This terrible precipice takes one +entirely by surprise. Kaluna, who rode first, disappeared so +suddenly that I thought he had gone over. It is merely a dangerous +broken ledge, and besides that it looks as if there were only +foothold for a goat, one is dizzied by the sight of the foaming +ocean immediately below, and, when we actually reached the bottom, +there was only a narrow strip of shingle between the stupendous +cliff and the resounding surges, which came up as if bent on +destruction. The path by which we descended looked a mere thread on +the side of the precipice. I don't know what the word beetling +means, but if it means anything bad, I will certainly apply it to +that pali. + +A number of disastrous-looking native houses are clustered under +some very tall palms in the open part of the gulch, but it is a most +wretched situation; the roar of the surf is deafening, the scanty +supply of water is brackish, there are rumours that leprosy is rife, +and the people are said to be the poorest on Hawaii. We were warned +that we could not spend a night comfortably there, so wet, tired, +and stiff, we rode on another six miles to the house of a native +called Bola-Bola, where we had been instructed to remain. The rain +was heavy and ceaseless, and the trail had become so slippery that +our progress was much retarded. It was a most unpropitious-looking +evening, and I began to feel the painful stiffness arising from +prolonged fatigue in saturated clothes. I indulged in various +imaginations as we rode up the long ascent leading to Bola-Bola's, +but this time they certainly were not of sofas and tea, and I never +aspired to anything beyond drying my clothes by a good fire, for at +Hilo some people had shrugged their shoulders, and others had +laughed mysteriously at the idea of our sleeping there, and some had +said it was one of the worst of native houses. + +A single glance was enough. It was a dilapidated frame-house, +altogether forlorn, standing unsheltered on a slope of the mountain, +with one or two yet more forlorn grass piggeries, which I supposed +might be the cook house, and eating-house near it. + +A prolonged har-r-r-rouche from Kaluna brought out a man with a +female horde behind him, all shuffling into clothes as we +approached, and we stiffly dismounted from the wet saddles in which +we had sat for ten hours, and stiffly hobbled up into the littered +verandah, the water dripping from our clothes, and squeezing out of +our boots at every step. Inside there was one room about 18 x 14 +feet, which looked as if the people had just arrived and had thrown +down their goods promiscuously. There were mats on the floor not +over clean, and half the room was littered and piled with mats +rolled up, boxes, bamboos, saddles, blankets, lassos, cocoanuts, +kalo roots, bananas, quilts, pans, calabashes, bundles of hard poi +in ti leaves, bones, cats, fowls, clothes. A frightful old woman, +looking like a relic of the old heathen days, with bristling grey +hair cut short, her body tattooed all over, and no clothing but a +ragged blanket huddled round her shoulders; a girl about twelve, +with torrents of shining hair, and a piece of bright green calico +thrown round her, and two very good-looking young women in rose- +coloured chemises, one of them holding a baby, were squatting and +lying on the mats, one over another, like a heap of savages. + +When the man found that we were going to stay all night he bestirred +himself, dragged some of the things to one side and put down a +shake-down of pulu (the silky covering of the fronds of one species +of tree-fern), with a sheet over it, and a gay quilt of orange and +red cotton. There was a thin printed muslin curtain to divide off +one half of the room, a usual arrangement in native houses. He then +helped to unsaddle the horses, and the confusion of the room was +increased by a heap of our wet saddles, blankets, and gear. All +this time the women lay on the floor and stared at us. + +Rheumatism seemed impending, for the air up there was chilly, and I +said to Deborah that I must make some change in my dress, and she +signed to Kaluna, who sprang at my soaked boots and pulled them off, +and my stockings too, with a savage alacrity which left it doubtful +for a moment whether he had not also pulled off my feet! I had no +means of making any further change except putting on a wrapper over +my wet clothes. + +Meanwhile the man killed and boiled a fowl, and boiled some sweet +potato, and when these untempting viands, and a calabash of poi were +put before us, we sat round them and eat; I with my knife, the +others with their fingers. There was some coffee in a dirty bowl. +The females had arranged a row of pillows on their mat, and all lay +face downwards, with their chins resting upon them, staring at us +with their great brown eyes, and talking and laughing incessantly. +They had low sensual faces, like some low order of animal. When our +meal was over, the man threw them the relics, and they soon picked +the bones clean. It surprised me that after such a badly served +meal the man brought a bowl of water for our hands, and something +intended for a towel. + +By this time it was dark, and a stone, deeply hollowed at the top, +was produced, containing beef fat and a piece of rag for a wick, +which burned with a strong flaring light. The women gathered +themselves up and sat round a large calabash of poi, conveying the +sour paste to their mouths with an inimitable twist of the fingers, +laying their heads back and closing their eyes with a look of animal +satisfaction. When they had eaten they lay down as before, with +their chins on their pillows, and again the row of great brown eyes +confronted me. Deborah, Kaluna, and the women talked incessantly in +loud shrill voices till Kaluna uttered the word auwe with a long +groaning intonation, apparently signifying weariness, divested +himself of his clothes and laid down on a mat alongside our shake- +down, upon which we let down the dividing curtain and wrapped +ourselves up as warmly as possible. + +I was uneasy about Deborah who had had a cough for some time, and +consequently took the outside place under the window which was +broken, and presently a large cat jumped through the hole and down +upon me, followed by another and another, till five wild cats had +effected an entrance, making me a stepping-stone to ulterior +proceedings. Had there been a sixth I think I could not have borne +the infliction quietly. Strips of jerked beef were hanging from the +rafters, and by the light which was still burning I watched the cats +climb up stealthily, seize on some of these, descend, and disappear +through the window, making me a stepping-stone as before, but with +all their craft they let some of the strips fall, which awoke +Deborah, and next I saw Kaluna's magnificent eyes peering at us +under the curtain. Then the natives got up, and smoked and eat more +poi at intervals, and talked, and Kaluna and Deborah quarrelled, +jokingly, about the time of night she told me, and the moon through +the rain-clouds occasionally gave us delusive hopes of dawn, and I +kept moving my place to get out of the drip from the roof, and so +the night passed. I was amused all the time, though I should have +preferred sleep to such nocturnal diversions. It was so new, and so +odd, to be the only white person among eleven natives in a lonely +house, and yet to be as secure from danger and annoyance as in our +own home. + +At last a pale dawn did appear, but the rain was still coming down +heavily, and our poor animals were standing dismally with their +heads down and their tails turned towards the wind. Yesterday +evening I took a change of clothes out of the damp saddle-bags, and +put them into what I hoped was a dry place, but they were soaked, +wetter even than those in which I had been sleeping, and my boots +and Deborah's were so stiff, that we gladly availed ourselves of +Kaluna's most willing services. The mode of washing was peculiar: +he held a calabash with about half-a-pint of water in it, while we +bathed our faces and hands, and all the natives looked on and +tittered. This was apparently his idea of politeness, for no +persuasion would induce him to put the bowl down on the mat, and +Deborah evidently thought it was proper respect. We had a +repetition of the same viands as the night before for breakfast, +and, as before, the women lay with their chins on their pillows and +stared at us. + +The rain ceased almost as soon as we started, and though it has not +been a bright day, it has been very pleasant. There are no large +gulches on to-day's journey. The track is mostly through long +grass, over undulating uplands, with park-like clumps of trees, and +thickets of guava and the exotic sumach. Different ferns, flowers, +and vegetation, with much less luxuriance and little water, denoted +a drier climate and a different soil. There are native churches at +distances of six or seven miles all the way from Hilo, but they seem +too large and too many for the scanty population. + +We moved on in single file at a jog-trot wherever the road admitted +of it, meeting mounted natives now and then, which led to a delay +for the exchange of nuhou; and twice we had to turn into the thicket +to avoid what here seems to be considered a danger. There are many +large herds of semi-wild bullocks on the mountains, branded cattle, +as distinguished from the wild or unbranded, and when they are +wanted for food, a number of experienced vaccheros on strong shod +horses go up, and drive forty or fifty of them down. We met such a +drove bound for Hilo, with one or two men in front and others at the +sides and behind, uttering loud shouts. The bullocks are nearly mad +with being hunted and driven, and at times rush like a living +tornado, tearing up the earth with their horns. As soon as the +galloping riders are seen and the crooked-horned beasts, you retire +behind a screen. There must be some tradition of some one having +been knocked down and hurt, for reckless as the natives are said to +be, they are careful about this, and we were warned several times by +travellers whom we met, that there were "bullocks ahead." The law +provides that the vaccheros shall station one of their number at the +head of a gulch to give notice when cattle are to pass through. + +We jogged on again till we met a native who told us that we were +quite close to our destination; but there were no signs of it, for +we were still on the lofty uplands, and the only prominent objects +were huge headlands confronting the sea. I got off to walk, as my +mule seemed footsore, but had not gone many yards when we came +suddenly to the verge of a pali, about 1,000 feet deep, with a +narrow fertile valley below, with a yet higher pali on the other +side, both abutting perpendicularly on the sea. I should think the +valley is not more than three miles long, and it is walled in by +high inaccessible mountains. It is in fact, a gulch on a vastly +enlarged scale. The prospect below us was very charming, a fertile +region perfectly level, protected from the sea by sandhills, watered +by a winding stream, and bright with fishponds, meadow lands, kalo +patches, orange and coffee groves, figs, breadfruit, and palms. +There were a number of grass-houses, and a native church with a +spire, and another up the valley testified to the energy and +aggressiveness of Rome. We saw all this from the moment we reached +the pali; and it enlarged, and the detail grew upon us with every +yard of the laborious descent of broken craggy track, which is the +only mode of access to the valley from the outer world. I got down +on foot with difficulty; a difficulty much increased by the long +rowels of my spurs, which caught on the rocks and entangled my +dress, the simple expedient of taking them off not having occurred +to me! + +A neat frame-house, with large stones between it and the river, was +our destination. It belongs to a native named Halemanu, a great man +in the district, for, besides being a member of the legislature, he +is deputy sheriff. He is a man of property, also; and though he +cannot speak a word of English, he is well educated in Hawaiian, and +writes an excellent hand. I brought a letter of introduction to him +from Mr. Severance, and we were at once received with every +hospitality, our horses cared for, and ourselves luxuriously lodged. +We walked up the valley before dark to get a view of a cascade, and +found supper ready on our return. This is such luxury after last +night. There is a very light bright sitting-room, with papered +walls, and manilla matting on the floor, a round centre table with +books and a photographic album upon it, two rocking-chairs, an +office-desk, another table and chairs, and a Canadian lounge. I +can't imagine in what way this furniture was brought here. Our +bedroom opens from this, and it actually has a four-post bedstead +with mosquito bars, a lounge and two chairs, and the floor is +covered with native matting. The washing apparatus is rather an +anomaly, for it consists of a basin and crash towel placed in the +verandah, in full view of fifteen people. The natives all bathe in +the river. + +Halemanu has a cook house and native cook, and an eating-room, where +I was surprised to find everything in foreign style--chairs, a table +with a snow white cover, and table napkins, knives, forks, and even +salt-cellars. I asked him to eat with us, and he used a knife and +fork quite correctly, never, for instance, putting the knife into +his mouth. I was amused to see him afterwards, sitting on a mat +among his family and dependants, helping himself to poi from a +calabash with his fingers. He gave us for supper delicious river +fish fried, boiled kalo, and Waipio coffee with boiled milk. + +It is very annoying only to be able to converse with this man +through an interpreter; and Deborah, as is natural, is rather +unwilling to be troubled to speak English, now that she is among her +own people. After supper we sat by candlelight in the parlour, and +he showed me his photograph album. At eight he took a large Bible, +put on glasses, and read a chapter in Hawaiian; after which he knelt +and prayed with profound reverence of manner and tone. Towards the +end I recognized the Hawaiian words for "Our Father." {148} Here in +Waipio there is something pathetic in the idea of this Fatherhood, +which is wider than the ties of kin and race. Even here not one is +a stranger, an alien, a foreigner! And this man, so civilized and +Christianized, only now in middle life, was, he said, "a big boy +when the first teachers came," and may very likely have witnessed +horrors in the heiau, or temple, close by, of which little is left +now. + +This bedroom is thoroughly comfortable. Kaluna wanted to sleep on +the lounge here, probably because he is afraid of akuas, or spirits, +but we have exiled him to a blanket on the parlour lounge. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER X.--(continued.) + +We were thoroughly rested this morning, and very glad of a fine day +for a visit to the great cascade which is rarely seen by foreigners. +My mule was slightly galled with the girth, and having a strong +fellow feeling with Elisha's servant, "Alas, master, for it was +borrowed!" I have bought for $20 a pretty, light, half-broken bay +mare, which I rode to-day and liked much. + +After breakfast, which was a repetition of last night's supper, we +three, with Halemanu's daughter as guide, left on horseback for the +waterfall, though the natives tried to dissuade us by saying that +stones came down, and it was dangerous; also that people could not +go in their clothes, there was so much wading. In deference to this +last opinion, D. rode without boots, and I without stockings. We +rode through the beautiful valley till we reached a deep gorge +turning off from it, which opens out into a nearly circular chasm +with walls 2,000 feet in height, where we tethered our horses. A +short time after leaving them, D. said, "She says we can't go +further in our clothes," but when the natives saw me plunge boldly +into the river in my riding dress, which is really not unlike a +fashionable Newport bathing suit, they thought better of it. It was +a thoroughly rough tramp, wading ten times through the river, which +was sometimes up to our knees, and sometimes to our waists, and +besides the fighting among slippery rocks in rushing water, we had +to crawl and slide up and down wet, mossy masses of dislodged rock, +to push with eyes shut through wet jungles of Indian shot, guava, +and a thorny vine, and sometimes to climb from tree to tree at a +considerable height. When, after an hour's fighting we arrived in +sight of the cascade, but not of the basin into which it falls, our +pretty guide declined to go further, saying that the wind was +rising, and that stones would fall and kill us, but being +incredulous on this point, I left them, and with great difficulty +and many bruises, got up the river to its exit from the basin, and +there, being unable to climb the rocks on either side, stood up to +my throat in the still tepid water till the scene became real to me. + +I do not care for any waterfall but Niagara, nor do I care in itself +for this one, for though its first leap is 200 feet and its second +1,600, it is so frittered away and dissipated in spray, owing to the +very magnitude of its descent, that there is no volume of water +within sight to create mass or sound. But no words can paint the +majesty of the surroundings, the caverned, precipitous walls of rock +coming down in one black plunge from the blue sky above to the dark +abyss of water below, the sullen shuddering sound with which pieces +of rock came hurtling down among the trees, the thin tinkle of the +water as it falls, the full rush of the river, the feathery growth +of ferns, gigantic below, but so diminished by the height above, as +only to show their presence by the green tinge upon the rocks, while +in addition to the gloom produced by the stupendous height of the +cliffs, there is a cool, green darkness of dense forest, and mighty +trees of strange tropical forms glass themselves in the black mirror +of the basin. For one moment a ray of sunshine turned the upper +part of the spray into a rainbow, and never to my eyes had the bow +of promise looked so heavenly as when it spanned the black, solemn, +tree-shadowed abyss, whose deep, still waters only catch a sunbeam +on five days of the year. + +I found the natives regaling themselves on papaya, and on live +fresh-water shrimps, which they find in great numbers in the river. +I remembered that white people at home calling themselves civilized, +eat live, or at least raw, oysters, but the sight of these active, +squirming shrimps struggling between the white teeth of my +associates was yet more repulsive. + +We finished our adventurous expedition with limbs much bruised, as +well as torn and scratched, and before we emerged from the chasm saw +a rock dislodged, which came crashing down not far from us, carrying +away an ohia. It is a gruesome and dowie den, but well worth a +visit. + +We mounted again, and rode as far as we could up the valley, fording +the river in deep water several times, and coming down the other +side. The coffee trees in full blossom were very beautiful, and +they, as well as the oranges, have escaped the blight which has +fallen upon both in other parts of the island. In addition to the +usual tropical productions, there were some very fine fig trees and +thickets of the castor-oil plant, a very handsome shrub, when, as +here, it grows to a height of from ten to twenty-two feet. The +natives, having been joined by some Waipio women, rode at full +gallop over all sorts of ground, and I enjoyed the speed of my mare +without any apprehension of being thrown off. We rode among most +extensive kalo plantations, and large artificial fish-ponds, in +which hundreds of gold-fish were gleaming, and came back by the sea +shore, green with the maritime convolvulus, and the smooth-bottomed +river, which the Waipio folk use as a road. Canoes glide along it, +brown-skinned men wade down it floating bundles of kalo after them, +and strings of laden horses and mules follow each other along its +still waters. I hear that in another and nearly unapproachable +valley, a river serves the same purpose. While we were riding up +it, a great gust lifted off its surface in fine spray, and almost +blew us from our horses. Hawaii has no hurricanes, but at some +hours of the day Waipio is subject to terrific gusts, which really +justify the people in their objection to visiting the cascade. Some +time ago, in one of these, this house was lifted up, carried twenty +feet, and deposited in its present position. + +Supper was ready for us--kalo, yams, spatchcock, poi, coffee, rolls, +and Oregon kippered salmon; and when I told Halemanu that the +spatchcock and salmon reminded me of home, he was quite pleased, and +said he would provide the same for breakfast to-morrow. + +The owner of the mare, which I have named "Bessie Twinker," had +willingly sold her to me, though I told him I could not pay him for +her until I reached Onomea. I do not know what had caused my credit +to suffer during my absence, but D., after talking long with him +this evening, said to me, "He says he can't let you have the horse, +because when you've taken it away, he thinks you will never send him +the money." I told her indignantly to tell him that English women +never cheated people, a broad and totally unsustainable assertion, +which had the effect of satisfying the poor fellow. + +After Halemanu, Deborah, Kaluna, and a number of natives had eaten +their poi, Halemanu brought in a very handsome silver candlestick, +and expressed a wish that Deborah should interpret for us. He asked +a great many sensible questions about England, specially about the +state of the poor, the extent of the franchise, and the influence of +religion. When he heard that I had spent some years in Scotland, he +said, "Do you know Mr. Wallace?" I was quite puzzled, and tried to +recall any man of that name who I had heard of as having visited +Hawaii, when a happy flash of comprehension made me aware of his +meaning, and I replied that I had seen his sword several times, but +that he died long before I knew Scotland, and indeed before I was +born; but that the Scotch held his memory in great veneration, and +were putting up a monument to him. But for the mistake as to dates, +he seemed to have the usual notions as to the exploits of Wallace. +He deplores most deeply the dwindling of his people, and his manner +became very sad about it. D. said, "He's very unhappy; he says, +soon there will be no more Kanakas." He told me that this beautiful +valley was once very populous, and even forty years ago, when Mr. +Ellis visited it, there were 1,300 people here. Now probably there +are not more than 200. + +Here was the Puhonua, or place of refuge for all this part of the +island. This, and the very complete one of Honaunau, on the other +side of Hawaii, were the Hawaiian "Cities of Refuge." Could any +tradition of the Mosaic ordinance on this subject have travelled +hither? These two sanctuaries were absolutely inviolable. The +gates stood perpetually open, and though the fugitive was liable to +be pursued to their very threshold, he had no sooner crossed it than +he was safe from king, chief, or avenger. These gates were wide, +and some faced the sea, and others the mountains. Hither the +murderer, the manslayer, the tabu-breaker fled, repaired to the +presence of the idol, and thanked it for aiding him to reach the +place of security. After a certain time the fugitives were allowed +to return to their families, and none dared to injure those to whom +the high gods had granted their protection. + +In time of war, tall spears from which white flags were unfurled, +were placed at each end of the enclosure, and until the proclamation +of peace invited the vanquished to enter. These flags were fixed a +short distance outside the walls, and no pursuing warrior, even in +the hot flush of victory, could pursue his routed foe one foot +beyond. Within was the sacred pale of pahu tabu, and anyone +attempting to strike his victim there would have been put to death +by the priests and their adherents. In war time the children, old +people, and many of the women of the neighbouring districts, were +received within the enclosure, where they awaited the issue of the +conflict in security, and were safe from violence in the event of +defeat. These puhonuas contain pieces of stone weighing from two to +three tons, raised six feet from the ground, and the walls, +narrowing gradually towards the top, are fifteen feet wide at the +base and twelve feet high. They are truly grand monuments of +humanity in the midst of the barbarous institutions of heathenism, +and it shows a considerable degree of enlightenment that even rebels +in arms and fugitives from invading armies were safe, if they +reached the sacred refuge, for the priests of Keawe knew no +distinctions of party. + +In dreadful contrast to this place of mercy, there were some very +large heiaus (or temples) here, on whose hideous altars eighty human +sacrifices are said to have been offered at one time. One of the +legends told me concerning this lovely valley is, that King Umi, +having vanquished the kings of the six divisions of Hawaii, was +sacrificing captives in one of these heiaus, when the voice of his +god, Kuahilo, was heard from the clouds, demanding more slaughter. +Fresh human blood streamed from the altars, but the insatiable demon +continued to call for more, till Umi had sacrificed all the captives +and all his own men but one, whom he at first refused to give up, as +he was a great favourite, but Kuahilo thundered from heaven, till +the favourite warrior was slain, and only the king and the +sacrificing priest remained. + +This valley of the "vanquished waters" abounds in legends. Some of +these are about a cruel monster, King Hooku, who lived here, and +whose memory, so far as he is remembered, is much execrated. It is +told of him that if a man were said to have a handsome head he sent +some of his warriors to behead him, and then hacked and otherwise +disfigured the face for a diversion. On one occasion he ordered a +man's arm to be cut off and brought to him, simply because it was +said to be more beautifully tattooed than his own. It is fifty-four +years since the last human sacrifice was exposed on the Waipio +altars, but there are several old people here who must have been at +least thirty when Hawaii threw off idolatry for ever. Halemanu has +again closed the evening with the simple worship of the true God. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XI. + +HILO, HAWAII. + +There is a rumour that the king is coming as the guest of Admiral +Pennock in the Benicia. If it turns out to be true, it will turn +our quiet life upside down. + +We met with fearful adventures in the swollen gulches between +Laupahoehoe and Onomea. It is difficult to begin my letter with the +plain prose of our departure from Waipio, which we accomplished on +the morning after I last wrote. On rising after a sound sleep, I +found that my potted beef, which I had carefully hung from a nail +the night before, had been almost carried away by small ants. These +ants swarm in every house on low altitudes. They assemble in +legions as if by magic, and by their orderly activity carry away all +that they do not devour, of all eatables which have not been placed +on tables which have rags dipped in a solution of corrosive +sublimate wound round their legs. + +We breakfasted by lamplight, and because I had said that some of the +viands reminded me of home, our kind host had provided them at that +early hour. He absolutely refused to be paid anything for the +accommodation of our party, and said he should be ashamed of himself +if he took anything from a lady travelling without a husband. + +It was such a perfect morning. The full moon hung over the +enclosing palis, gleaming on coffee and breadfruit groves, and on +the surface of the river, which was just quivering under a soft sea +breeze. The dew was heavy, smoke curled idly from native houses, +the east was flushing with the dawn, and the valley looked the +picture of perfect peace. A number of natives assembled to see us +start, and they all shook hands with us, exchanging alohas, and +presenting us with leis of roses and ohias. D. looked very pretty +with a red hibiscus blossom in her shining hair. You would have +been amused to see me shaking hands with men dressed only in malos, +or in the short blue shirt reaching to the waist, much worn by them +when at work. + +I rode my mare with some pride of proprietorship, and our baggage +for a time was packed on the mule, and we started up the tremendous +pali at the tail of a string of twenty mules and horses laden with +kalo. This was in the form of paiai, or hard food, which is +composed, as I think I mentioned before, of the root baked and +pounded, but without water. It is put up in bundles wrapped in ti +leaves, of from twenty to thirty pounds each, secured with cocoanut +fibre, in which state it will keep for months, and much of the large +quantity raised in Waipio is exported to the plantations, the Waimea +ranches, and the neighbouring districts. A square mile of kalo, it +is estimated, would feed 15,000 Hawaiians for a year. + +It was a beautiful view from the top of the pali. The white moon +was setting, the earliest sunlight was lighting up the dewy depths +of the lonely valley, reddening with a rich rose red the huge +headland which forms one of its sentinels; heavy snow had fallen +during the night on Mauna Kea, and his great ragged dome, snow- +covered down to the forests, was blushing like an Alpine peak at the +touch of the early sun. It ripened into a splendid joyous day, +which redeemed the sweeping uplands of Hamakua from the dreariness +which I had thought belonged to them. There was a fresh sea-breeze, +and the sun, though unclouded, was not too hot. We halted for an +early lunch at the clean grass-house we had stopped at before, and +later in the afternoon at that of the woman with whom we had ridden +from Hakalau, who received us very cordially, and regaled us with +poi and pork. + +In order to avoid the amenities of Bola Bola's we rode thirty-four +miles, and towards evening descended the tremendous steep, which +leads to the surf-deafened village of Laupahoehoe. Halemanu had +given me a note of introduction to a widow named Honolulu, which +Deborah said began thus, "As I know that you have the only clean +house in L," and on presenting it we were made very welcome. +Besides the widow, a very redundant beauty, there were her two +brothers and two male cousins, and all bestirred themselves in our +service, the men in killing and cooking the supper, and the woman in +preparing the beds. It was quite a large room, with doors at the +end and side, and fully a third was curtained off by a calico +curtain, with a gorgeous Cretonne pattern upon it. I was delighted +to see a four-post bed, with mosquito bars, and a clean pulu +mattrass, with a linen sheet over it, covered with a beautiful quilt +with a quaint arabesque pattern on a white ground running round it, +and a wreath of green leaves in the centre. The native women +exercise the utmost ingenuity in the patterns and colours of these +quilts. Some of them are quite works of art. The materials, which +are plain and printed cottons, cost about $8, and a complete quilt +is worth from $18 to $50. The widow took six small pillows, +daintily covered with silk, out of a chest, the uses of which were +not obvious, as two large pillows were already on the bed. It was +astonishing to see a native house so handsomely furnished in so poor +a place. The mats on the floor were numerous and very fine. There +were two tables, several chairs, a bureau with a swinging mirror +upon it, a basin, crash towels, a carafe and a kerosene lamp. It is +all very well to be able to rough it, and yet better to enjoy doing +so, but such luxuries add much to one's contentment after eleven +hours in the saddle. + +Honolulu wore a green chemise at first, but when supper was ready +she put a Macgregor tartan holuku over it. The men were very +active, and cooked the fowl in about the same time that it takes to +pluck one at home. They spread the finest mat I have seen in the +centre of the floor as a tablecloth, and put down on it bowls +containing the fowl and sweet potatoes, and the unfailing calabash +of poi. Tea, coffee and milk were not procurable, and as the water +is slimy and brackish, I offered a boy a dime to get me a cocoanut, +and presently eight great, misshapen things were rolled down at the +door. The outside is a smooth buff rind, underneath which is a +fibrous covering, enormously strong and about an inch thick, which +when stripped off reveals the nut as we see it, but of a very pale +colour. Those we opened were quite young, and each contained nearly +three tumblers of almost effervescent, very sweet, slightly +acidulated, perfectly limpid water, with a strong flavour of +cocoanut. It is a delicious beverage. The meat was so thin and +soft that it could have been spooned out like the white of an egg if +we had had any spoons. We all sat cross-legged round our meal, and +all Laupahoehoe crowded into the room and verandah with the most +persistent, unwinking, gimleting stare I ever saw. It was really +unpleasant, not only to hear a Babel of talking, of which, judging +from the constant repetition of the words wahine haole, I was the +subject, but to have to eat under the focussed stare of twenty pair +of eyes. My folding camp-knife appears an object of great interest, +and it was handed round, inside and outside the house. When I +retired about seven, the assemblage was still in full session. + +The stars were then bright, but when I woke the next morning a +strong breeze was blowing, the surf was roaring so loud as almost to +drown human voices, and rolling up in gigantic surges, and to judge +from appearances, the rain which was falling in torrents had been +falling for some hours. There was much buzzing among the natives +regarding our prospects for the day. I shall always think from +their tone and manner, and the frequent repetition of the names of +the three worst gulches, that the older men tried to dissuade us +from going; but Deborah, who was very anxious to be at home by +Sunday, said that the verdict was that if we started at once for our +ride of twenty-three miles we might reach Onomea before the freshet +came on. This might have been the case had it not been for Kaluna. +Not only was his horse worn out, but nothing would induce him to +lead the mule, and she went off on foraging expeditions continually, +which further detained us. Kaluna had grown quite polite in his +savage way. He always insisted on putting on and taking off my +boots, carried me once through the Waipio river, helped me to pack +the saddle-bags, and even offered to brush my hair! He frequently +brought me guavas on the road, saying, "eat," and often rode up, +saying interrogatively, "tired?" "cold?" D. told me that he was +very tired, and I was very sorry for him, for he was so thinly and +poorly dressed, and the natives are not strong enough to bear +exposure to cold as we can, and a temperature at 68 degrees is cold +to them. But he was quite incorrigible, and thrashed his horse to +the last. + +We breakfasted on fowl, poi, and cocoanut milk, in presence of even +a larger number of spectators than the night before, one of them a +very old man looking savagely picturesque, with a red blanket tied +round his waist, leaving his lean chest and arms, which were +elaborately tattooed, completely exposed. + +The mule had been slightly chafed by the gear, and in my anxiety +about a borrowed animal, of which Mr. Austin makes a great joke, I +put my saddle-bags on my own mare, in an evil hour, and not only +these, but some fine cocoanuts, tied up in a waterproof which had +long ago proved its worthlessness. It was a grotesquely miserable +picture. The house is not far from the beach, and the surf, beyond +which a heavy mist hung, was coming in with such a tremendous sound +that we had to shout at the top of our voices in order to be heard. +The sides of the great gulch rose like prison walls, cascades which +had no existence the previous night hurled themselves from the +summit of the cliffs directly into the sea, the rain, which fell in +sheets, not drops, covered the ground to the depth of two or three +inches, and dripped from the wretched, shivering horses, which stood +huddled together with their tails between their legs. My thin +flannel suit was wet through even before we mounted. I dispensed +with stockings, as I was told that wearing them in rain chills and +stiffens the limbs. D., about whom I was anxious, as well as about +the mule, had a really waterproof cloak, and I am glad to say has +quite lost the cough from which she suffered before our expedition. +She does not care about rain any more than I do. + +We soon reached the top of the worst and dizziest of all the palis, +and then splashed on mile after mile, down sliding banks, and along +rocky tracks, from which the soil had been completely carried, the +rain falling all the time. In some places several feet of soil had +been carried away, and we passed through water-rents, the sides of +which were as high as our horses' heads, where the ground had been +level a few days before. By noon the aspect of things became so bad +that I wished we had a white man with us, as I was uneasy about some +of the deepest gulches. When four hours' journey from Onomea, +Kaluna's horse broke down, and he left us to get another, and we +rode a mile out of our way to visit Deborah's grandparents. + +Her uncle carried us across some water to their cook-house, where, +happily, a kalo baking had just been accomplished, in a hole in the +ground, lined with stones, among which the embers were still warm. +In this very small hut, in which a man could hardly stand upright, +there were five men only dressed in malos, four women, two of them +very old, much tattooed, and huddled up in blankets, two children, +five pertinaciously sociable dogs, two cats, and heaps of things of +different kinds. They are a most gregarious people, always visiting +each other, and living in each other's houses, and so hospitable +that no Hawaiian, however poor, will refuse to share his last +mouthful of poi with a stranger of his own race. These people +looked very poor, but probably were not really so, as they had a +nice grass-house, with very fine mats, within a few yards. + +A man went out, cut off the head of a fowl, singed it in the flame, +cut it into pieces, put it into a pot to boil, and before our feet +were warm the bird was cooked, and we ate it out of the pot with +some baked kalo. D. took me out to see some mango trees, and a pond +filled with gold-fish, which she said had been hers when she was a +child. She seemed very fond of her relatives, among whom she looked +like a fairy princess; and I think they admired her very much, and +treated her with some deference. The object of our visit was to +procure a le of birds' feathers which they had been making for her, +and for which I am sure 300 birds must have been sacrificed. It was +a very beautiful as well as costly ornament, {165} and most +ingeniously packed for travelling by being laid at full length +within a slender cylinder of bamboo. + +We rode on again, somewhat unwillingly on my part, for though I +thought my apprehensions might be cowardly and ignorant, yet D. was +but a child, and had the attractive wilfulness of childhood, and she +was, I saw, determined to get back to her husband, and the devotion +and affection of the young wife were so pleasant to see, that I had +not the heart to offer serious opposition to her wishes, especially +as I knew that I might be exaggerating the possible peril. I +gathered, however, from what she said, that her people wanted us to +remain until Monday, especially as none of them could go with us, +their horses being at some distance. I thought it a sign of +difficulties ahead, that on one of the most frequented tracks in +Hawaii, we had not met a single traveller, though it was Saturday, a +special travelling day. + +We crossed one gulch in which the water was strong, and up to our +horses' bodies, and came upon the incorrigible Kaluna, who, instead +of catching his horse, was recounting his adventures to a circle of +natives, but promised to follow us soon. D. then said that the next +gulch was rather a bad one, and that we must not wait for Kaluna, +but ride fast, and try to get through it. When we reached the pali +above it, we heard the roaring of a torrent, and when we descended +to its brink it looked truly bad, but D. rode in, and I waited on +the margin. She got safely across, but when she was near the +opposite side her large horse plunged, slipped, and scrambled in a +most unpleasant way, and she screamed something to me which I could +not hear. Then I went in, and + + "At the first plunge the horse sank low, + And the water broke o'er the saddle bow:" + +but the brave animal struggled through, with the water up to the top +of her back, till she reached the place where D.'s horse had looked +so insecure. In another moment she and I rolled backwards into deep +water, as if she had slipped from a submerged rock. I saw her fore +feet pawing the air, and then only her head was above water. I +struck her hard with my spurs, she snorted, clawed, made a desperate +struggle, regained her footing, got into shallow water, and landed +safely. It was a small but not an agreeable adventure. + +We went on again, the track now really dangerous from denudation and +slipperiness. The rain came down, if possible, yet more heavily, +and coursed fiercely down each pali track. Hundreds of cascades +leapt from the cliffs, bringing down stones with a sharp rattling +sound. We crossed a bridge over one gulch, where the water was +thundering down in such volume that it seemed as if it must rend the +hard basalt of the palis. Then we reached the lofty top of the +great Hakalau gulch, the largest of all, with the double river, and +the ocean close to the ford. Mingling with the deep reverberations +of the surf, I heard the sharp crisp rush of a river, and of "a +river that has no bridge." + +The dense foliage, and the exigencies of the steep track, which had +become very difficult, owing to the washing away of the soil, +prevented me from seeing anything till I got down. I found Deborah +speaking to a native, who was gesticulating very emphatically, and +pointing up the river. The roar was deafening, and the sight +terrific. Where there were two shallow streams a week ago, with a +house and good-sized piece of ground above their confluence, there +was now one spinning, rushing, chafing, foaming river, twice as wide +as the Clyde at Glasgow, the land was submerged, and, if I remember +correctly, the house only stood above the flood. And, most fearful +to look upon, the ocean, in three huge breakers, had come quite in, +and its mountains of white surge looked fearfully near the only +possible crossing. I entreated D. not to go on. She said we could +not go back, that the last gulch was already impassable, that +between the two there was no house in which we could sleep, that the +river had a good bottom, that the man thought if our horses were +strong we could cross now, but not later, etc. In short, she +overbore all opposition, and plunged in, calling to me, "spur, spur, +all the time." + +Just as I went in, I took my knife and cut open the cloak which +contained the cocoanuts, one only remaining. Deborah's horse I knew +was strong, and shod, but my unshod and untried mare, what of her? +My soul and senses literally reeled among the dizzy horrors of the +wide, wild tide, but with an effort I regained sense and self- +possession, for we were in, and there was no turning. D., ahead, +screeched to me what I could not hear; she said afterwards it was +"spur, spur, and keep up the river;" the native was shrieking in +Hawaiian from the hinder shore, and waving to the right, but the +torrents of rain, the crash of the breakers, and the rush and hurry +of the river confused both sight and hearing. I saw D.'s great +horse carried off his legs, my mare, too, was swimming, and shortly +afterwards, between swimming, struggling, and floundering, we +reached what had been the junction of the two rivers, where there +was foothold, and the water was only up to the seat of the saddles. + +Remember, we were both sitting nearly up to our waists in water, and +it was only by screaming that our voices were heard above the din, +and to return or go on seemed equally perilous. Under these +critical circumstances the following colloquy took place, on my +side, with teeth chattering, and on hers, with a sudden +forgetfulness of English produced by her first sense of the imminent +danger we were in. + +Self.--"My mare is so tired, and so heavily weighted, we shall be +drowned, or I shall." + +Deborah (with more reason on her side).--"But can't go back, we no +stay here, water higher all minutes, spur horse, think we come +through." + +Self.--"But if we go on there is broader, deeper water between us +and the shore; your husband would not like you to run such a risk." + +Deborah.--"Think we get through, if horses give out, we let go; I +swim and save you." + +Even under these circumstances a gleam of the ludicrous shot through +me at the idea of this small fragile being bearing up my weight +among the breakers. I attempted to shift my saddle-bags upon her +powerful horse, but being full of water and under water, the attempt +failed, and as we spoke both our horses were carried off their +vantage ground into deep water. + +With wilder fury the river rushed by, its waters whirled dizzily, +and, in spite of spurring and lifting with the rein, the horses were +swept seawards. It was a very fearful sight. I saw Deborah's horse +spin round, and thought woefully of the possible fate of the bright +young wife, almost a bride; only the horses' heads and our own heads +and shoulders were above water; the surf was thundering on our left, +and we were drifting towards it "broadside on." When I saw the +young girl's face of horror I felt increased presence of mind, and +raising my voice to a shriek, and telling her to do as I did, I +lifted and turned my mare with the rein, so that her chest and not +her side should receive the force of the river, and the brave +animal, as if seeing what she should do, struck out desperately. It +was a horrible suspense. Were we stemming the torrent, or was it +sweeping us back that very short distance which lay between us and +the mountainous breakers? I constantly spurred my mare, guiding her +slightly to the left, the side grew nearer, and after exhausting +struggles, Deborah's horse touched ground, and her voice came +faintly towards me like a voice in a dream, still calling "Spur, +spur." My mare touched ground twice, and was carried off again +before she fairly got to land some yards nearer the sea than the +bridle track. + +When our tired horses were taking breath I felt as if my heart +stopped, and I trembled all over, for we had narrowly escaped death. +I then put our saddle-bags on Deborah's horse. It was one of the +worst and steepest of the palis that we had to ascend; but I can't +remember anything about the road except that we had to leap some +place which we could not cross otherwise. Deborah, then thoroughly +alive to a sense of risk, said that there was only one more bad +gulch to cross before we reached Onomea, but it was the most +dangerous of all, and we could not get across, she feared, but we +might go and look at it. I only remember the extreme solitude of +the region, and scrambling and sliding down a most precipitous pali, +hearing a roar like cataract upon cataract, and coming suddenly down +upon a sublime and picturesque scene, with only standing room, and +that knee-deep in water, between a savage torrent and the cliff. +This gulch, called the Scotchman's gulch, I am told, because a +Scotchman was drowned there, must be at its crossing three-quarters +of a mile inland, and three hundred feet above the sea. In going to +Waipio, on noticing the deep holes and enormous boulders, some of +them higher than a man on horseback, I had thought what a fearful +place it would be if it were ever full; but my imagination had not +reached the reality. One huge compressed impetuous torrent, leaping +in creamy foam, boiling in creamy eddies, rioting in deep black +chasms, roared and thundered over the whole in rapids of the most +tempestuous kind, leaping down to the ocean in three grand broad +cataracts, the nearest of them not more than forty feet from the +crossing. Imagine the Moriston at the Falls, four times as wide and +fifty times as furious, walled in by precipices, and with a +miniature Niagara above and below, and you have a feeble +illustration of it. + +Portions of two or three rocks only could be seen, and on one of +these, about twelve feet from the shore, a nude native, beautifully +tattooed, with a lasso in his hands, was standing nearly up to his +knees in foam; and about a third of the way from the other side, +another native in deeper water, steadying himself by a pole. A +young woman on horseback, whose near relative was dangerously ill at +Hilo, was jammed under the cliff, and the men were going to get her +across. Deborah, to my dismay, said that if she got safely over we +would go too, as these natives were very skilful. I asked if she +thought her husband would let her cross, and she said "No." I asked +her if she were frightened, and she said "Yes;" but she wished so to +get home, and her face was as pale as a brown face can be. I only +hope the man will prove worthy of her affectionate devotion. + +Here, though people say it is a most perilous gulch, I was not +afraid for her life or mine, with the amphibious natives to help us; +but I was sorely afraid of being bruised, and scarred, and of +breaking the horses' legs, and I said I would not cross, but would +sleep among the trees; but the tumult drowned our voices, though the +Hawaiians by screeching could make themselves understood. The +nearest man then approached the shore, put the lasso round the nose +of the woman's horse, and dragged it into the torrent; and it was +exciting to see a horse creeping from rock to rock in a cataract +with alarming possibilities in every direction. But beasts may well +be bold, as they have not "the foreknowledge of death." When the +nearest native had got the horse as far as he could, he threw the +lasso to the man who was steadying himself with the pole, and urged +the horse on. There was a deep chasm between the two into which the +animal fell, as he tried to leap from one rock to another. I saw +for a moment only a woman's head and shoulders, a horse's head, a +commotion of foam, a native tugging at the lasso, and then a violent +scramble on to a rock, and a plunging and floundering through deep +water to shore. + +Then Deborah said she would go, that her horse was a better and +stronger one; and the same process was repeated with the same slip +into the chasm, only with the variation that for a second she went +out of sight altogether. It was a terribly interesting and exciting +spectacle with sublime accompaniments. Though I had no fear of +absolute danger, yet my mare was tired, and I had made up my mind to +remain on that side till the flood abated; but I could not make the +natives understand that I wished to turn, and while I was screaming +"No, no," and trying to withdraw my stiffened limbs from the +stirrups, the noose was put round the mare's nose, and she went in. +It was horrible to know that into the chasm as the others went I too +must go, and in the mare went with a blind plunge. With violent +plunging and struggling she got her fore feet on the rock, but just +as she was jumping up to it altogether she slipped back snorting +into the hole, and the water went over my eyes. I struck her with +my spurs, the men screeched and shouted, the hinder man jumped in, +they both tugged at the lasso, and slipping and struggling, the +animal gained the rock, and plunged through deep water to shore, the +water covering that rock with a rush of foam, being fully two feet +deep. + +Kaluna came up just after we had crossed, undressed, made his +clothes into a bundle, and got over amphibiously, leaping, swimming, +and diving, looking like a water-god, with the horse and mule after +him. His dexterity was a beautiful sight; but on looking back I +wondered how human beings ever devised to cross such a flood. We +got over just in time. Some travellers who reached Laupahoehoe +shortly after we left, more experienced than we were, suffered a two +days' detention rather than incur a similar risk. Several mules and +horses, they say, have had their legs broken in crossing this gulch +by getting them fast between the rocks. + +Shortly after this, Deborah uttered a delighted exclamation, and her +pretty face lighted up, and I saw her husband spurring along the top +of the next pali, and he presently joined us, and I exchanged my +tired mare for his fresh, powerful horse. He knew that a freshet +was imminent, and believing that we should never leave Laupahoehoe, +he was setting off, provided with tackle for getting himself across, +intending to join us, and remain with us till the rivers fell. The +presence of a responsible white man seemed a rest at once. We had +several more gulches to cross, but none of them were dangerous; and +we rode the last seven miles at a great pace, though the mire and +water were often up to the horses' knees, and came up to Onomea at +full gallop, with spirit and strength enough for riding other twenty +miles. Dry clothing, hot baths, and good tea followed delightfully +upon our drowning ride. I remained over Sunday at Onomea, and +yesterday rode here with a native in heavy rain, and received a warm +welcome. Our adventures are a nine days' wonder, and every one says +that if we had had a white man or an experienced native with us, we +should never have been allowed to attempt the perilous ride. I feel +very thankful that we are living to tell of it, and that Deborah is +not only not worse but considerably better. E--- will expect some +reflections; but none were suggested at the time, and I will not now +invent what I ought to have thought and felt. + +Due honour must be given to the Mexican saddle. Had I been on a +side-saddle, and encumbered with a riding-habit, I should have been +drowned. I feel able now to ride anywhere and any distance upon it, +while Miss Karpe, who began by being much stronger than I was, has +never recovered from the volcano ride, and seems quite ill. + +Last night Kilauea must have been tremendously active. At ten P.M., +from the upper verandah, we saw the whole western sky fitfully +illuminated, and the glare reddened the snow which is lying on Mauna +Loa, an effect of fire on ice which can rarely be seen. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XII. + +HILO, February 22. + +My sojourn here is very pleasant, owing to the kindness and +sociability of the people. I think that so much culture and such a +variety of refined tastes can seldom be found in so small a +community. There have been pleasant little gatherings for sewing, +while some gentlemen read aloud, fern-printing in the verandah, +microscopic and musical evenings, little social luncheons, and on +Sunday evenings what is colloquially termed, "a sing," at this most +social house. One of the things I have specially enjoyed has been +spending an afternoon at the Rev. Titus Coan's. He is not only one +of the most venerable of the remaining missionaries, but such an +authority on the Hawaiian volcanoes as to entitle him to be +designated "the high-priest of Pele!" In his modest, quiet way he +told thrilling stories of the old missionary days. + +As you know, the islands cast off idolatry in 1819, but it was not +till 1835 that Mr. and Mrs. Coan arrived in Hilo, where Mr. and Mrs. +Lyman had been toiling for some time, and had produced a marked +change on the social condition of the people. Mr. C. was a fervid +speaker, and physically very robust, and when he had mastered the +language, he undertook much of the travelling and touring, and Mr. +Lyman took charge of the home mission station, and the boarding and +industrial school which he still indefatigably superintends. There +were 15,000 natives then in the district, and its extremes were 100 +miles apart. Portions of it could only be reached with peril to +limbs and even life. Horses were only regarded as wild animals in +those days, and Mr. C. traversed on foot the district I have just +returned from, not lazily riding down the gulch sides, but climbing, +or being let down by ropes from tree to tree, and from crag to crag. +In times of rain like last week, when it was impossible to ford the +rivers, he sometimes swam across, with a rope to prevent him from +being carried away, through others he rode on the broad shoulders of +a willing native, while a company of strong men locked hands and +stretched themselves across the torrent, between him and the +cataract, to prevent him from being carried over in case his bearer +should fall. This experience was often repeated three or four times +a day. His smallest weekly number of sermons was six or seven, and +the largest from twenty-five to thirty. He often travelled in +drowning rain, crossed dangerous streams, climbed slippery +precipices, and frequently preached in wind and rain with all his +garments saturated. On every occasion he received aid from the +natives, who were so kind and friendly, that when he used to sleep +in the woods at night, he hung his watch on a tree, knowing that it +was perfectly safe from pilfering or curious touch. Indeed the +Christian teachers seem to have been regarded as tabu. + +Before the end of that year, Mr. Coan had made the circuit of +Hawaii, a foot and canoe trip of 300 miles, in which he nearly +suffered canoe-wreck twice. In all, he has admitted into the +Christian church by baptism, 12,000 persons, besides 4000 infants. +He gave a most interesting account of one great baptism. The +greatest care was previously taken in selecting, teaching, watching, +and examining the candidates. Those from the distant villages came +and spent several months here for preliminary instruction. Many of +these were converts of two years' standing, a larger class had been +on the list for more than a year, and a smaller one for a lesser +period. The accepted candidates were announced by name several +weeks previously, and friends and enemies everywhere were called +upon to testify all that they knew about them. On the first Sunday +in July, 1838, 1705 persons, formerly heathens, were baptised. They +were seated close together on the earth-floor in rows, with just +space between for one to walk, and Mr. Lyman and Mr. Coan passing +through them, sprinkled every bowed head, after which Mr. C. +admitted the weeping hundreds into the fellowship of the Universal +Church by pronouncing the words, "I baptise you all in the Name of +the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." After this, +2400 converts received the Holy Communion. I give Mr. C.'s own +words concerning those who partook of it, "who truly and earnestly +repented of their sins, and steadfastly purposed to lead new lives." +"The old and decrepit, the lame, the blind, the maimed, the +withered, the paralytic, and those afflicted with divers diseases +and torments; those with eyes, noses, lips, and limbs consumed; with +features distorted, and figures depraved and loathsome: these came +hobbling upon their staves, or led and borne by others to the table +of the Lord. Among the throng you would have seen the hoary priest +of idolatry, with hands but recently washed from the blood of human +victims, together with thieves, adulterers, highway robbers, +murderers, and mothers whose hands reeked with the blood of their +own children. It seemed like one of the crowds the Saviour +gathered, and over which He pronounced the words of healing." + +Though the people cast off idolatry in 1819, before the arrival of +the missionaries, they were very indifferent to Christian teaching +until 1837, the year before the great baptism, when a great +religious stir began, and for four years affected all the islands. +I wish you could have heard Mr. C. and Mrs. Lyman tell of that +stirring time, when nearly all the large population of the Hilo and +Puna districts turned out to hear the Gospel, and how the young +people went up into the mountains and carried the news of the love +of God and the good life to come to the sick and old, who were +afterwards baptized, when often the only water which could be +obtained for the rite was that which dripped sparingly from the +roofs of caves. The Hawaiian notions of a future state, where any +existed, were peculiarly vague and dismal, and Mr. Ellis says that +the greater part of the people seemed to regard the tidings of ora +loa ia Jesu (endless life by Jesus) as the most joyful news they had +ever heard, "breaking upon them," to use their own phrase, "like +light in the morning." "Will my spirit never die, and can this poor +weak body live again?" an old chiefess exclaimed, and this delighted +surprise seemed the general feeling of the natives. From less +difficult distances the sick and lame were brought on litters and on +the backs of men, and the infirm often crawled to the trail by which +the missionary was to pass, that they might hear of this good news +which had come to Hawaii-nei. + +There were but these two preachers for the 15,000 people scattered +for 100 miles, who were all ravenous to hear, and could not wait for +the tardy modes of evangelization. "If we die," said they, "let us +die in the light." So this strange thing fell out, that whole +villages from miles away gathered to the mission station. Two- +thirds of the population of the district came in, and within the +radius of a mile the grass and banana houses clustered as thick as +they could stand. Beautiful Hilo in a short time swelled from a +population of 1000 to 10,000; and at any hour of the day or night +the sound of the conch shell brought together from 3000 to 6000 +worshippers. It was a vast camp-meeting which continued for two +years, but there was no disorder, and a decent quiet ruled +throughout the strangely extemporized city. A new morality, a new +social order, new notions on nearly all subjects, had to be +inculcated as well as a new religion. Mrs. C. and Mrs. L. daily +assembled the women and children, and taught them the habits and +industries of civilization, to attend to their persons, to braid +hats, and to wear and make clothes. + +During this time, on November 7, 1837, one of the striking phenomena +which make the islands remarkable occurred. The crescent sand- +beach, said to be the most beautiful in the Pacific, the fringe of +palms, the far-reaching groves behind, and the great ocean, slept in +summer calm, as they sleep to-day. Four sermons, as usual, had been +preached to audiences of 6000 people. There had been a funeral, the +natives say, though Mr. C. does not remember it, and his text had +been "Be ye also ready," and larger throngs than usual had followed +the preachers to their homes. The fatiguing day was over, the +natives were singing hymns in the still evening air, and Mr. C. "had +gathered his family for prayers" in the very room in which he told +me this story, when they were startled by "a sound as if a heavy +mountain had fallen on the beach." There was at once a fearful cry, +wailing, and indescribable confusion. The quiet ocean had risen in +a moment in a gigantic wave, which, rushing in with the speed of a +racehorse, and uplifting itself over the shore, swept everything +into promiscuous ruin; men, women, children, dogs, houses, food, +canoes, clothing, floated wildly on the flood, and hundreds of +people were struggling among the billows in the midst of their +earthly all. 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. His temper was so fierce and so uncurbed that no native +dared even to tread on his shadow. More than once he had killed a +man for the sake of food and clothes not worth fifty cents. He was +a thoroughly wicked savage. Curiosity attracted him into one of the +Hilo meetings, and the bad giant fell under the resistless, +mysterious influence which was metamorphosing thousands of +Hawaiians. "I have been deceived," he said, "I have deceived +others, I have lived in darkness, and did not know the true God. I +worshipped what was no God. I renounce it all. The true God has +come. He speaks. I bow down to Him. I wish to be His son." The +priestess, his sister, came soon afterwards, and they remained here +several months for instruction. They were then about seventy years +old, but they imbibed the New Testament spirit so thoroughly that +they became as gentle, loving, and quiet as little children. After +a long probationary period they were baptized, and after several +years of pious and lowly living, they passed gently and trustfully +away. + +The old church which was the scene of these earlier assemblages, +came down with a crash after a night of heavy rain, the large +timbers, which were planted in the moist earth after the fashion of +the country to support the framework, having become too rotten to +support the weight of the saturated thatch. Without a day's loss of +time the people began a new church. All were volunteers, some to +remove from the wreck of the old building such timbers as might +still be of service; some to quarry stone for a foundation, an +extravagance never before dreamed of by an islander; some to bring +sand in gourd-shells upon their heads, or laboriously gathered in +the folds of bark-cloth aprons; some to bring lime from the coral +reefs twenty feet under water; whilst the majority hurried to the +forest belt, miles away on the mountain side, to fell the +straightest and tallest trees. Then 50 or 100 men, (for in that day +horses and oxen were known only as wild beasts of the wilderness,) +attached hawsers to the butt ends of logs, and dragged them away +through bush and brake, through broken ground and river beds, till +they deposited them on the site of the new church. The wild, +monotonous chant, as the men hauled in the timber, lives in the +memories of the missionaries' children, who say that it seemed to +them as if the preparations for Solomon's temple could not have +exceeded the accumulations of the islanders! + +I think that the greater number of the converts of those four years +must have died ere this. In 1867 the old church at Hilo was divided +into seven congregations, six of them with native pastors. To meet +the wants of the widely-scattered people, fifteen churches have been +built, holding from 500 up to 1000. The present Hilo church, a very +pretty wooden one, cost about $14,000. All these have been erected +mainly by native money and labour. Probably the native Christians +on Hawaii are not much better or worse than Christian communities +elsewhere, but they do seem a singularly generous people. Besides +liberally sustaining their own clergy, the Hilo Christians have +contributed altogether $100,000 for religious purposes. Mr. Coan's +native congregation, sorely dwindled as it is, raises over $1200 +annually for foreign missions; and twelve of its members have gone +as missionaries to the islands of Southern Polynesia. + +Poor people! It would be unfair to judge of them as we may +legitimately be judged of, who inherit the influences of ten +centuries of Christianity. They have only just emerged from a +bloody and sensual heathenism, and to the instincts and volatility +of these dark Polynesian races, the restraining influences of the +Gospel are far more severe than to our cold, unimpulsive northern +natures. The greatest of their disadvantages has been that some of +the vilest of the whites who roamed the Pacific had settled on the +islands before the arrival of the Christian teachers, dragging the +people down to even lower depths of depravity than those of +heathenism, and that there are still resident foreigners who corrupt +and destroy them. + +I must tell you a story which the venerable Mrs. Lyman told me +yesterday. In 1825, five years after the first missionaries landed, +Kapiolani, a female alii of high rank, while living at Kaiwaaloa +(where Captain Cook was murdered), became a Christian. Grieving for +her people, most of whom still feared to anger Pele, she announced +that it was her intention to visit Kilauea, and dare the fearful +goddess to do her worst. Her husband and many others tried to +dissuade her, but she was resolute, and taking with her a large +retinue, she took a journey of one hundred miles, mostly on foot, +over the rugged lava, till she arrived near the crater. There a +priestess of Pele met her, threatened her with the displeasure of +the goddess if she persisted in her hostile errand, and prophesied +that she and her followers would perish miserably. Then, as now, +ohelo berries grew profusely round the terminal wall of Kilauea, and +there, as elsewhere, were sacred to Pele, no one daring to eat of +them till he had first offered some of them to the divinity. It was +usual on arriving at the crater to break a branch covered with +berries, and turning the face to the pit of fire, to throw half the +branch over the precipice, saying, "Pele, here are your ohelos. I +offer some to you, some I also eat," after which the natives partook +of them freely. Kapiolani gathered and eat them without this +formula, after which she and her company of eighty persons descended +to the black edge of Hale-mau-mau. There, in full view of the fiery +pit, she thus addressed her followers:--"Jehovah is my God. He +kindled these fires. I fear not Pele. If I perish by the anger of +Pele, then you may fear the power of Pele; but if I trust in +Jehovah, and he should save me from the wrath of Pele, when I break +through her tabus, then you must fear and serve the Lord Jehovah. +All the Gods of Hawaii are vain! Great is Jehovah's goodness in +sending teachers to turn us from these vanities to the living God +and the way of righteousness!" Then they sang a hymn. I can fancy +the strange procession winding its backward way over the cracked, +hot, lava sea, the robust belief of the princess hardly sustaining +the limping faith of her followers, whose fears would not be laid to +rest until they reached the crater's rim without any signs of the +pursuit of an avenging deity. It was more sublime than Elijah's +appeal on the soft, green slopes of Carmel, but the popular belief +in the Goddess of the Volcano survived this flagrant instance of her +incapacity, and only died out many years afterwards. + +Besides these interesting reminiscences, I have been hearing most +thrilling stories from Mrs. Lyman and Mr. Coan of volcanoes, +earthquakes, and tidal waves. Told by eye-witnesses, and on the +very spot where the incidents occurred, they make a profound, and, I +fear, an incommunicable impression. I look on these venerable +people as I should on people who had seen the Deluge, or the burial +of Pompeii, and wonder that they eat and dress and live like other +mortals! For they have felt the perpetual shudder of earthquakes, +and their eyes, which look so calm and kind, have seen the inflowing +of huge tidal waves, the dull red glow of lava streams, and the +leaping of fire cataracts into deep-lying pools, burning them dry in +a night time. There were years in which there was no day in which +the smoke of underground furnaces was out of their sight, or night +which was not lurid with flames. Once they traced a river of lava +burrowing its way 1500 feet below the surface, and saw it emerge, +break over a precipice, and fall hissing into the ocean. Once from +their highest mountain a pillar of fire 200 feet in diameter lifted +itself for three weeks 1000 feet into the air, making night day, for +a hundred miles round, and leaving as its monument a cone a mile in +circumference. We see a clothed and finished earth; they see the +building of an island, layer on layer, hill on hill, the naked and +deformed product of the melting, forging, and welding, which go on +perpetually in the crater of Kilauea. + +I could fill many sheets with what I have heard, but must content +myself with telling you very little. In 1855 the fourth recorded +eruption of Mauna Loa occurred. The lava flowed directly Hilo- +wards, and for several months, spreading through the dense forests +which belt the mountain, crept slowly shorewards, threatening this +beautiful portion of Hawaii with the fate of the Cities of the +Plain. Mr. C. made several visits to the eruption, and on each +return the simple people asked him how much longer it would last. +For five months they watched the inundation, which came a little +nearer every day. "Should they fly or not? Would their beautiful +homes become a waste of jagged lava and black sand, like the +neighbouring district of Puna, once as fair as Hilo?" Such +questions suggested themselves as they nightly watched the nearing +glare, till the fiery waves met with obstacles which piled them up +in hillocks, eight miles from Hilo, and the suspense was over. Only +gigantic causes can account for the gigantic phenomena of this lava- +flow. The eruption travelled forty miles in a straight line, or +sixty, including sinuosities. It was from one to three miles broad, +and from five to two hundred feet deep, according to the contours of +the mountain slopes over which it flowed. It lasted for thirteen +months, pouring out a torrent of lava which covered nearly 300 +square miles of land, and whose volume was estimated at thirty-eight +thousand millions of cubic feet! In 1859 lava fountains 400 feet in +height, and with a nearly equal diameter, played on the summit of +Mauna Loa. This eruption ran fifty miles to the sea in eight days, +but the flow lasted much longer, and added a new promontory to +Hawaii. + +These magnificent overflows, however threatening, had done little +damage to cultivated regions, and none to human life; and people +began to think that the volcano was reformed. But in 1868 terrors +occurred which are without precedent in island history. While Mrs. +L. was giving me the narrative in her graphic but simple way, and +the sweet wind rustled through the palms, and brought the rich scent +of the ginger plant into the shaded room, she seemed to be telling +me some weird tale of another world. On March 27, five years ago, a +series of earthquakes began, and became more startling from day to +day, until their succession became so rapid that "the island +quivered like the lid of a boiling pot nearly all the time between +the heavier shocks. The trembling was like that of a ship struck by +a heavy wave." Then the terminal crater of Mauna Loa (Mokuaweoweo) +sent up columns of smoke, steam, and red light, and it was shortly +seen that the southern slope of its dome had been rent, and that +four separate rivers of molten stone were pouring out of as many +rents, and were flowing down the mountain sides in diverging lines. +Suddenly the rivers were arrested, and the blue mountain dome +appeared against the still blue sky without an indication of fire, +steam, or smoke. Hilo was much agitated by the sudden lull. No one +was deceived into security, for it was certain that the strangely +pent-up fires must make themselves felt. + +The earthquakes became nearly continuous; scarcely an appreciable +interval occurred between them; "the throbbing, jerking, and +quivering motions grew more positive, intense, and sharp; they were +vertical, rotary, lateral, and undulating," producing nausea, +vertigo, and vomiting. Late in the afternoon of a lovely day, April +2, the climax came. "The crust of the earth rose and sank like the +sea in a storm." Rocks were rent, mountains fell, buildings and +their contents were shattered, trees swayed like reeds, animals were +scared, and ran about demented; men thought the judgment had come. +The earth opened in thousands of places, the roads in Hilo cracked +open, horses and their riders, and people afoot, were thrown +violently to the ground; "it seemed as if the rocky ribs of the +mountains, and the granite walls and pillars of the earth were +breaking up." At Kilauea the shocks were as frequent as the ticking +of a watch. In Kau, south of Hilo, they counted 300 shocks on this +direful day; and Mrs. L.'s son, who was in that district at the +time, says that the earth swayed to and fro, north and south, then +east and west, then round and round, up and down, in every +imaginable direction, everything crashing about them, "and the trees +thrashing as if torn by a strong rushing wind." He and others sat +on the ground bracing themselves with hands and feet to avoid being +rolled over. They saw an avalanche of red earth, which they +supposed to be lava, burst from the mountain side, throwing rocks +high into the air, swallowing up houses, trees, men, and animals; +and travelling three miles in as many minutes, burying a hamlet, +with thirty-one inhabitants and 500 head of cattle. The people of +the valleys fled to the mountains, which themselves were splitting +in all directions, and collecting on an elevated spot, with the +earth reeling under them, they spent the night of April 2 in prayer +and singing. Looking towards the shore, they saw it sink, and at +the same moment a wave, whose height was estimated at from forty to +sixty feet, hurled itself upon the coast, and receded five times, +destroying whole villages, and even strong stone houses, with a +touch, and engulfing for ever forty-six people who had lingered too +near the shore. + +Still the earthquakes continued, and still the volcano gave no sign. +The nerves of many people gave way in these fearful days. Some +tried to get away to Honolulu, others kept horses saddled on which +to fly, they knew not whither. The hourly question was, "What of +the volcano?" People put their ears to the quivering ground, and +heard, or thought they heard, the surgings of the imprisoned lava +sea rending its way among the ribs of the earth. + +Five days after the destructive earthquake of April 2, the ground +south of Hilo burst open with a crash and roar which at once +answered all questions concerning the volcano. The molten river, +after travelling underground for twenty miles, emerged through a +fissure two miles in length with a tremendous force and volume. It +was in a pleasant pastoral region, supposed to be at rest for ever, +at the top of a grass-covered plateau sprinkled with native and +foreign houses, and rich in herds of cattle. Four huge fountains +boiled up with terrific fury, throwing crimson lava, and rocks +weighing many tons, to a height of from 500 to 1000 feet. Mr. +Whitney, of Honolulu, who was near the spot, says:--"From these +great fountains to the sea flowed a rapid stream of red lava, +rolling, rushing, and tumbling, like a swollen river, bearing along +in its current large rocks that made the lava foam as it dashed down +the precipice and through the valley into the sea, surging and +roaring throughout its length like a cataract, with a power and fury +perfectly indescribable. It was nothing else than a RIVER OF FIRE +from 200 to 800 feet wide and twenty deep, with a SPEED VARYING FROM +TEN TO TWENTY-FIVE MILES AN HOUR!" This same intelligent observer +noticed as a peculiarity of the spouting that the lava was ejected +by a ROTARY MOTION, and in the air both lava and stones always +rotated TOWARDS THE SOUTH. At Kilauea I noticed that the lava was +ejected in a southerly direction. From the scene of these fire +fountains, whose united length was about a mile, the river in its +rush to the sea divided itself into four streams, between which it +shut up men and beasts. One stream hurried to the sea in four +hours, but the others took two days to travel ten miles. The +aggregate width was a mile and a half. Where it entered the sea it +extended the coast-line half a mile, but this worthless accession to +Hawaiian acreage was dearly purchased by the loss, for ages at +least, of 4000 acres of valuable pasture land, and a much larger +quantity of magnificent forest. The whole south-east shore of +Hawaii sank from four to six feet, which involved the destruction of +several hamlets and the beautiful fringe of cocoa-nut trees. Though +the region was very thinly peopled, 200 houses and 100 lives were +sacrificed in this week of horrors, and from the reeling mountains, +the uplifted ocean, and the fiery inundation, the terrified +survivors fled into Hilo, each with a tale of woe and loss. The +number of shocks of earthquake counted was 2000 in two weeks, an +average of 140 a day; but on the other side of the island the number +was incalculable. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XIII. + +HILO. HAWAII. February. + +The quiet, dreamy, afternoon existence of Hilo is disturbed. Two +days ago an official intimation was received that the American +Government had placed the U.S. ironclad "Benicia" at the disposal of +King Lunalilo for a cruise round Hawaii, and that he would arrive +here the following morning with Admiral Pennock and the U.S. +generals Scholfield and Alexander. + +Now this monarchy is no longer an old-time chieftaincy, made up of +calabashes and poi, feather-cloaks, kahilis, and a little fuss, but +has a civilized constitutional king, the equal of Queen Victoria, a +civil list, etc., and though Lunalilo comes here trying to be a +private individual and to rest from Hookupus, state entertainments, +and privy councils, he brings with him a royal chamberlain and an +adjutant-general in attendance. So the good people of Hilo have +been decorating their houses anew with ferns and flowers, furbishing +up their clothes, and holding mysterious consultations regarding +etiquette and entertainments, just as if royalty were about to drop +down in similar fashion on Bude or Tobermory. There were amusing +attempts to bring about a practical reconciliation between the free- +and-easiness of Republican notions and the respect due to a +sovereign who reigns by "the will of the people" as well as by "the +grace of God," but eventually the tact of the king made everything +go smoothly. + +At eight yesterday morning the "Benicia" anchored inside the reef, +and Hilo blossomed into a most striking display of bunting; the +Hawaiian colours, eight blue, red and white stripes, with the +English union in the corner, and the flaunting flag of America being +predominant. My heart warmed towards our own flag as the soft +breeze lifted its rich folds among the glories of the tropical +trees. Indeed, bunting to my mind never looked so well as when +floating and fainting among cocoa-nut palms and all the shining +greenery of Hilo, in the sunshine of a radiant morning. It was +bright and warm, but the cool bulk of Mauna Kea, literally covered +with snow, looked down as winter upon summer. Natives galloped in +from all quarters, brightly dressed, wreathed, and garlanded, +delighted in their hearts at the attention paid to their sovereign +by a great foreign power, though they had been very averse to this +journey, from a strange but prevalent idea that once on board a U.S. +ship the king would be kidnapped and conveyed to America. + +Lieut.-Governor Lyman and Mr. Severance, the sheriff, went out to +the "Benicia," and the king landed at ten o'clock, being "graciously +pleased" to accept the Governor's house as his residence during his +visit. The American officers, naval and military, were received by +the same loud, hospitable old whaling captain who entertained the +Duke of Edinburgh some years ago here, and to judge from the +hilarious sounds which came down the road from his house, they had +what they would call "a good time." I had seen Lunalilo in state at +Honolulu, but it was much more interesting to see him here, and this +royalty is interesting in itself, as a thing on sufferance, standing +between this helpless nationality and its absorption by America. +The king is a very fine-looking man of thirty-eight, tall, well +formed, broad-chested, with his head well set on his shoulders, and +his feet and hands small. His appearance is decidedly commanding +and aristocratic: he is certainly handsome even according to our +notions. He has a fine open brow, significant at once of brains and +straightforwardness, a straight proportionate nose, and a good +mouth. The slight tendency to Polynesian overfulness about his lips +is concealed by a well-shaped moustache. He wears whiskers cut in +the English fashion. His eyes are large, dark-brown of course, and +equally of course, he has a superb set of teeth. Owing to a slight +fulness of the lower eyelid, which Queen Emma also has, his eyes +have a singularly melancholy expression, very alien, I believe, to +his character. He is remarkably gentlemanly looking, and has the +grace of movement which seems usual with Hawaiians. When he landed +he wore a dark morning suit and a black felt hat. + +As soon as he stepped on shore, the natives, who were in crowds on +the beach, cheered, yelled, and waved their hats and handkerchiefs, +and then a procession was formed, or rather formed itself, to escort +him to the governor's house. A rabble of children ran in front, +then came the king, over whom the natives had thrown some beautiful +garlands of ohia and maile (Alyxia olivaeformis), with the governor +on one side and the sheriff on the other, the chamberlain and +adjutant-general walking behind. Then a native staggering under the +weight of an enormous Hawaiian flag, the Hilo band, with my friend +Upa beating the big drum, and an irregular rabble (i.e. unorganised +crowd) of men, women, and children, going at a trot to keep up with +the king's rapid strides. The crowd was unwilling to disperse even +when he entered the house, and he came out and made a short speech, +the gist of which was that he was delighted to see his native +subjects, and would hold a reception for them on the ensuing Monday, +when we shall see a most interesting sight, a native crowd gathered +from all Southern Hawaii for a hookupu, an old custom, signifying +the bringing of gift-offerings to a king or chief. + +In the afternoon Dr. Wetmore and I rode to the beautiful Puna woods +on a botanising excursion. We were galloping down to the beach +round a sharp corner, when we had to pull our horses almost on their +haunches to avoid knocking over the king, the American admiral, the +captain of the "Benicia," nine of their officers, and the two +generals. When I saw the politely veiled stare of the white men it +occurred to me that probably it was the first time that they had +seen a white woman riding cavalier fashion! We had a delicious +gallop over the sands to the Waiakea river, which we crossed, and +came upon one of the vast lava-flows of ages since, over which we +had to ride carefully, as the pahoehoe lies in rivers, coils, +tortuosities, and holes partially concealed by a luxuriant growth of +ferns and convolvuli. The country is thickly sprinkled with cocoa- +nuts and bread-fruit trees, which merge into the dense, dark, +glorious forest, which tenderly hides out of sight hideous broken +lava, on which one cannot venture six feet from the track without +the risk of breaking one's limbs. All these tropical forests are +absolutely impenetrable, except to axe and billhook, and after a +trail has been laboriously opened, it needs to be cut once or twice +a year, so rapid is the growth of vegetation. This one, through the +Puna woods, only admits of one person at a time. It was really +rapturously lovely. Through the trees we saw the soft steel-blue of +the summer sky: not a leaf stirred, not a bird sang, a hush had +fallen on insect life, the quiet was perfect, even the ring of our +horses' hoofs on the lava was a discord. There was a slight +coolness in the air and a fresh mossy smell. It only required some +suggestion of decay, and the rustle of a fallen leaf now and then, +to make it an exact reproduction of a fine day in our English +October. The forest was enlivened by many natives bound for Hilo, +driving horses loaded with cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, live fowls, poi +and kalo, while others with difficulty urged garlanded pigs in the +same direction, all as presents for the king. We brought back some +very scarce parasitic ferns. + + + +HILO, February 24. + +I rode over by myself to Onomea on Saturday to get a little rest +from the excitements of Hilo. A gentleman lent me a strong showy +mare to go out on, telling me that she was frisky and must be held +while I mounted; but before my feet were fairly in the stirrups, she +shook herself from the Chinaman who held her, and danced away. I +rode her five miles before she quieted down. She pranced, jumped, +danced, and fretted on the edge of precipices, was furious at the +scow and fords, and seemed demented with good spirits. Onomea +looked glorious, and its serenity was most refreshing. I rode into +Hilo the next day in time for morning service, and the mare, after a +good gallop, subsided into a staidness of demeanour befitting the +day. Just as I was leaving, they asked me to take the news to the +sheriff that a man had been killed a few hours before. He was +riding into Hilo with a child behind him, and they went over by no +means one of the worst of the palis. The man and horse were killed, +but the child was unhurt, and his wailing among the deep ferns +attracted the attention of passers-by to the disaster. The natives +ride over these dangerous palis so carelessly, and on such tired, +starved horses, that accidents are not infrequent. Hilo had never +looked so lovely to me as in the pure bright calm of this Sunday +morning. + +The verandahs of all the native houses were crowded with strangers, +who had come in to share in the jubilations attending the king's +visit. At the risk of emulating "Jenkins," or the "Court Newsman," +I must tell you that Lunalilo, who is by no means an habitual +churchgoer, attended Mr. Coan's native church in the morning, and +the foreign church at night, when the choir sang a very fine anthem. +I don't wish to write about his faults, which have doubtless been +rumoured in the English papers. It is hoped that his new +responsibilities will assist him to conquer them, else I fear he may +go the way of several of the Hawaiian kings. He has begun his reign +with marked good sense in selecting as his advisers confessedly the +best men in his kingdom, and all his public actions since his +election have shown both tact and good feeling. If sons, as is +often asserted, take their intellects from their mothers, he should +be decidedly superior, for his mother, Kekauluohi, a chieftainess of +the highest rank, and one of the queens of Kamehameha II., who died +in London, was in 1839 chosen for her abilities by Kamehameha III. +as his kuhina nui, or premier, an officer recognised under the old +system of Hawaiian government as second only in authority to the +king, and without whose signature even his act was not legal. As +Kaahumanu II. she continued to hold this important position until +her death in 1845. + +But the present king does not come of the direct line of the +Hawaiian kings, but of a far older family. His father is a +commoner, but Hawaiian rank is inherited through the mother. He +received a good English education at the school which the +missionaries established for the sons of chiefs, and was noted as a +very bright scholar, with an early developed taste for literature +and poetry. His disposition is said to be most amiable and genial, +and his affability endeared him especially to his own countrymen, by +whom he was called alii lokomaikai, "the kind chief." In spite of +his high rank, which gave him precedence of all others on the +islands, he was ignored by two previous governments, and often +complained that he was never allowed any opportunity of becoming +acquainted with public affairs, or of learning whether he possessed +any capacity for business. Thus, without experience, but with noble +and liberal instincts, and the highest and most patriotic +aspirations for the welfare and improvement of his "weak little +kingdom," he was unexpectedly called to the throne about three +months ago, amidst such an enthusiasm as had never before been +witnessed on Hawaii-nei, as the unanimous choice of the people. He +called on Mr. Coan the day of his arrival; and when the flute band +of Mr. Lyman's school serenaded him, he made the youths a kind +address, in which he said he had been taught as they were, and hoped +hereafter to profit by the instruction he had received. + +This has been a great day in Hilo. The old native custom of hookupu +was revived, and it has been a most interesting spectacle. I don't +think I ever enjoyed sight-seeing so much. The weather has been +splendid, which was most fortunate, for many of the natives came in +from distances of from sixty to eighty miles. From early daylight +they trooped in on their half broken steeds, and by ten o'clock +there were fully a thousand horses tethered on the grass by the sea. +Almost every house displayed flags, and the court-house, where the +reception was to take place, was most tastefully decorated. It is a +very pretty two-storied frame building, with deep double verandahs, +and stands on a large lawn of fine manienie grass, {199} with roads +on three sides. Long before ten, crowds had gathered outside the +low walls of the lawn, natives and foreigners galloped in all +directions, boats and canoes enlivened the bay, bands played, and +the foreigners, on this occasion rather a disregarded minority, +assembled in holiday dress in the upper verandah of the court-house. +Hawaiian flags on tall bamboos decorated the little gateways which +gave admission to the lawn, an enormous standard on the government +flagstaff could be seen for miles, and the stars and stripes waved +from the neighbouring plantations and from several houses in Hilo. +At ten punctually, Lunalilo, Governor Lyman, the sheriff of Hawaii, +the royal chamberlain, and the adjutant-general, walked up to the +court-house, and the king took his place, standing in the lower +verandah with his suite about him. All the foreigners were either +on the upper balcony, or on the stairs leading to it, on which, to +get the best possible view of the spectacle, I stood for three +mortal hours. The attendant gentlemen were well dressed, but wore +"shocking bad hats;" and the king wore a sort of shooting suit, a +short brown cut-away coat, an ash-coloured waistcoat and ash- +coloured trousers with a blue stripe. He stood bareheaded. He +dressed in this style in order that the natives might attend the +reception in every-day dress, and not run the risk of spoiling their +best clothes by Hilo torrents. The dress of the king and his +attendants was almost concealed by wreaths of ohia blossoms and +festoons of maile, some of them two yards long, which had been +thrown over them, and which bestowed a fantastic glamour on the +otherwise prosaic inelegance of their European dress. But indeed +the spectacle, as a whole, was altogether poetical, as it was an +ebullition of natural, national, human feeling, in which the heart +had the first place. I very soon ceased to notice the incongruous +elements, which were supplied chiefly by the Americans present. +There were Republicans by birth and nature, destitute of traditions +of loyalty or reverence for aught on earth; who bore on their faces +not only republicanism, but that quintessence of puritan +republicanism which hails from New England; and these were subjects +of a foreign king, nay, several of them office-holders who had taken +the oath of allegiance, and from whose lips "His Majesty, Your +Majesty," flowed far more copiously than from ours which are "to the +manner born." + +On the king's appearance, the cheering was tremendous,--regular +British cheering, well led, succeeded by that which is not British, +"three cheers and a tiger," but it was "Hi, hi, hi, hullah!" Every +hat was off, every handkerchief in air, tears in many eyes, +enthusiasm universal, for the people were come to welcome the king +of their choice; the prospective restorer of the Constitution +"trampled upon" by Kamehameha V., "the kind chief," who was making +them welcome to his presence after the fashion of their old feudal +lords. When the cheering had subsided, the eighty boys of +Missionary Lyman's School, who, dressed in white linen with crimson +leis, were grouped in a hollow square round the flagstaff, sang the +Hawaiian national anthem, the music of which is the same as ours. +More cheering and enthusiasm, and then the natives came through the +gate across the lawn, and up to the verandah where the king stood, +in one continuous procession, till 2400 Hawaiians had enjoyed one +moment of infinite and ever to be remembered satisfaction in the +royal presence. Every now and then the white, pale-eyed, +unpicturesque face of a foreigner passed by, but these were few, and +the foreign school children were received by themselves after Mr. +Lyman's boys. The Americans have introduced the villanous custom of +shaking hands at these receptions, borrowing it, I suppose, from a +presidential reception at Washington; and after the king had gone +through this ceremony with each native, the present was deposited in +front of the verandah, and the gratified giver took his place on the +grass. Not a man, woman, or child came empty handed. Every face +beamed with pride, wonder, and complacency, for here was a sovereign +for whom cannon roared, and yards were manned, of their own colour, +who called them his brethren. + +The variety of costume was infinite. All the women wore the native +dress, the sack or holuku, many of which were black, blue, green, or +bright rose colour, some were bright yellow, a few were pure white, +and others were a mixture of orange and scarlet. Some wore very +pretty hats made from cane-tops, and trimmed with hibiscus blossoms +or passion-flowers; others wore bright-coloured handkerchiefs, +knotted lightly round their flowing hair, or wreaths of the +Microlepia tenuifolia. Many had tied bandanas in a graceful knot +over the left shoulder. All wore two, three, four, or even six +beautiful leis, besides long festoons of the fragrant maile. Leis +of the crimson ohia blossoms were universal; but besides these there +were leis of small red and white double roses, pohas, {203} yellow +amaranth, sugar cane tassels like frosted silver, the orange +pandanus, the delicious gardenia, and a very few of orange blossoms, +and the great granadilla or passion-flower. Few if any of the women +wore shoes, and none of the children had anything on their heads. + +A string of 200 Chinamen passed by, "plantation hands," with boyish +faces, and cunning, almond-shaped eyes. They were dressed in loose +blue denim trousers with shirts of the same, fastening at the side +over them, their front hair closely shaven, and the rest gathered +into pigtails, which were wound several times round their heads. +These all deposited money in the adjutant-general's hand. The dress +of the Hawaiian men was more varied and singular than that of the +women, every kind of dress and undress, with leis of ohia and +garlands of maile covering all deficiencies. The poor things came +up with pathetic innocence, many of them with nothing on but an old +shirt, and cotton trousers rolled up to the knees. Some had red +shirts and blue trousers, others considered that a shirt was an +effective outer garment. Some wore highly ornamental, dandified +shirts, and trousers tucked into high, rusty, mud-covered boots. A +few young men were in white straw hats, white shirts, and white +trousers, with crimson leis round their hats and throats. Some had +diggers' scarves round their waists; but the most effective costume +was sported by a few old men, who had tied crash towels over their +shoulders. + +It was often amusing and pathetic at once to see them come up. +Obviously, when the critical moment arrived, they were as anxious to +do the right thing as a debutante is to back her train successfully +out of the royal presence at St. James's. Some were so agitated at +last as to require much coaching from the governor as to how to +present their gifts and shake hands. Some half dropped down on +their knees, others passionately and with tears kissed the king's +hand, or grasped it convulsively in both their own; while a few were +so embarrassed by the presents they were carrying that they had no +hands at all to shake, and the sovereign good-naturedly clapped them +on the shoulders. Some of them, in shaking hands, adroitly slipped +coins into the king's palm, so as to make sure that he received +their loving tribute. There had been a hui, or native meeting, +which had passed resolutions, afterwards presented to Lunalilo, +setting forth that whereas he received a great deal of money in +revenue from the haoles, they, his native people, would feel that he +did not love them if he would not receive from their own hands +contributions in silver for his support. So, in order not to wound +their feelings, he accepted these rather troublesome cash donations. + +One woman, sorely afflicted with quaking palsy, dragged herself +slowly along. One hand hung by her side helpless, and the other +grasped a live fowl so tightly that she could not loosen it to shake +hands, whereupon the king raised the helpless arm, which called +forth much cheering. There was one poor cripple who had only the +use of his arms. His knees were doubled under him, and he trailed +his body along the ground. He had dragged himself two miles "to lie +for a moment at the king's feet," and even his poor arms carried a +gift. He looked hardly like a human shape, as his desire was +realised; and, I doubt not, would have been content then and there +to die. There were ancient men, tattooed all over, who had passed +their first youth when the idols were cast away, and who remembered +the old days of tyranny when it was an offence, punishable with +death, for a man to let his shadow fall on the king; and when none +of "the swinish multitude" had any rights which they could sustain +against their chiefs. These came up bewildered, trembling, almost +falling on their knees, hardly daring to raise their eyes to the +king's kind, encouraging face, and bathed his hand with tears while +they kissed it. Numbers of little children were led up by their +parents; there were babies in arms, and younglings carried on +parents' backs, and the king stooped and shook hands with all, and +even pulled out the babies' hands from under their mufflings, and +the old people wept, and cheers rent the air. + +Next in interest to this procession of beaming faces, and the blaze +of colour, was the sight of the presents, and the ungrudging +generosity with which they were brought. Many of the women +presented live fowls tied by the legs, which were deposited, one +upon another, till they formed a fainting, palpitating heap under +the hot sun. Some of the men brought decorated hogs tied by one +leg, which squealed so persistently in the presence of royalty, that +they were removed to the rear. Hundreds carried nets of sweet +potatoes, eggs, and kalo, artistically arranged. Men staggered +along in couples with bamboos between them, supporting clusters of +bananas weighing nearly a hundredweight. Others brought yams, +cocoa-nuts, oranges, onions, pumpkins, early pineapples, and even +the great delicious granadilla, the fruit of the large passion- +flower. A few maidens presented the king with bouquets of choice +flowers, and costly leis of the yellow feathers of the Melithreptes +Pacifica. There were fully two tons of kalo and sweet potatoes in +front of the court house, hundreds of fowls, and piles of bananas, +eggs, and cocoa-nuts. The hookupu was a beautiful sight, all the +more so that not one of that radiant, loving, gift-offering throng +came in quest of office, or for any other thing that he could +obtain. It was just the old-time spirit of reverence for the man +who typifies rule, blended with the extreme of personal devotion to +the prince whom a united people had placed upon the throne. The +feeling was genuine and pathetic in its intensity. It is said that +the natives like their king better, because he was truly, "above +all," the last of a proud and imperious house, which, in virtue of a +pedigree of centuries, looked down upon the nobility of the +Kamehamehas. + +When the last gift was deposited, the lawn in front of the court- +house was one densely-packed, variegated mass of excited, buzzing +Hawaiians. While the king was taking a short rest, two ancient and +hideous females, who looked like heathen priestesses, chanted a +monotonous and heathenish-sounding chant or mele, in eulogy of some +ancient idolater. It just served to remind me that this attractive +crowd was but one generation removed from slaughter-loving gods and +human sacrifices. + +The king and his suite re-appeared in the upper balcony, where all +the foreigners were assembled, including the two venerable +missionaries and a French priest of benign aspect, and his +appearance was the signal for a fresh outburst of enthusiasm. +Advancing to the front, he made an extemporaneous speech, of which +the following is a literal translation:-- + +"To all present I tender my warmest aloha. This day, on which you +are gathered to pay your respects to me, I will remember to the day +of my death. (Cheers.) I am filled with love for you all, fellow- +citizens (makaainana), who have come here on this occasion, and for +all the people, because by your unanimous choice I have been made +your King, a young sovereign, to reign over you, and to fill the +very distinguished office which I now occupy. (Cheers.) You are +parents to me, and I will be your Father. (Tremendous cheering.) +Formerly, in the days of our departed ancestors, you were not +permitted to approach them; they and you were kept apart; but now we +meet and associate together. (Cheers.) I urge you all to persevere +in the right, to forsake the ignorant ways of the olden time. There +is but one God, whom it is our duty to obey. Let us forsake every +kind of idolatry. + +"In the year 1820 Rev. Messrs. Bingham, Thurston, and others came to +these Islands and proclaimed the Word of God. It is their teachings +which have enabled you to be what you are to-day. Now they have all +gone to that spirit land, and only Mrs. Thurston remains. We are +greatly indebted to them. (Cheers.) There are also among us here +(alluding to Revs. Coan and Lyman) old and grey-haired fathers, +whose examples we should endeavour to imitate, and obey their +teachings. + +"I am very glad to see the young men of the present time so well +instructed in knowledge--perhaps some of them are your children. +You must persevere in your search of wisdom and in habits of +morality. Do not be indolent. (Cheers.) Those who have striven +hard after knowledge and good character, are the ones who deserve +and shall receive places of trust hereafter under the government. + +"At the present time I have four foreigners as my ministerial +advisers. But if, among these young men now standing before me, and +under this flag, there are any who shall qualify themselves to fill +these positions, then I will select them to fill their places. +(Loud cheers.) Aloha to you all." + +His manner as a speaker was extremely good, with sufficient +gesticulation for the emphasis of particular points. The address +was frequently interrupted by applause, and when at its conclusion +he bowed gracefully to the crowd and said, "My aloha to you all," +the cheering and enthusiasm were absolutely unbounded. And so the +great hookupu ended, and the assemblage broke up into knots to +discuss the royal speech and the day's doings. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XIV. + +HILO. HAWAII. + +The king "signified his intention to honour Mr. and Mrs. Severance +with his company" on the evening of the day after the reception, and +this involved a regular party and supper. You can hardly imagine +the difficulties connected with "refreshments," where few, if any, +of the materials which we consider necessary for dishes suitable for +such occasions can be procured at the stores, and even milk and +butter are scarce commodities. I had won a reputation as a cook by +making a much appreciated Bengal curry, and an English "roly-poly" +pudding, and when I offered my services, Mrs. S. kindly accepted +them, and she and I, with the Chinese cook and a Chinese prisoner to +assist us, have been cooking for a day and a half. I wanted to make +a gigantic trifle, a dish not known here, and we hunted every store, +hoping to find almonds and raspberry jam among the "assorted +notions," but in vain; however, grated cocoa-nut supplied the place +of the first, and a kind friend sent a pot of the last. The +Chinamen were very diverting. The cook looked on, and laughed +constantly, and perhaps was a little jealous: at all events when he +thought we had spoilt some cakes in the oven, he capered into Mrs. +S.'s room, gesticulating, and exclaiming satirically, "Lu, Lu! cakes +so good, cakes so fine!" No intoxicants were to be used on the +occasion, Hilo notions being rigid on this subject; but I hope it +was not a crime that I clandestinely used two glasses of sherry, +without which my trifle would have been a failure. We worked hard, +and made trifle, sponge cake, pound cake, spiced cake, dozens of +cocoa-nut cakes and drops; custards, and sandwiches of potted meat, +and enjoyed our preparations so much that we found it hard to +exchange kitchen for social duties, and go to "Father Lyman," who +entertained the king and a number of Hilo folk in the evening. + +Their rooms, not very large, were quite full. When the king +entered, the company received him standing, and the flute band in +the verandah played the national anthem, and afterwards at intervals +during the evening sang some Hawaiian songs of the king's +composition. I was presented to him, and as he is very courteous to +strangers, he talked to me a good deal. He is a very gentlemanly, +courteous, unassuming man, hardly assuming enough in fact, and +apparently very intelligent and well read. I was exceedingly +pleased with him. He spoke a good deal of Queen Emma's reception in +England, and of her raptures with Venice, and some other cities of +the continent. He said he had the greatest desire to visit some +parts of Europe, Great Britain specially, because he thought that by +coming in contact with some of our leading statesmen, he might gain +a more accurate knowledge than he possessed of the principles of +constitutional government. He said he hoped that in two years +Hawaii-nei would be so settled as to allow of his travelling, and +that in the meantime he was studying French with a view to enjoying +the continent. + +He asked a great many questions regarding things at home, especially +concerning the limitation of the power of the Crown. He cannot +reconcile the theoretical right of the sovereign to choose his +advisers with his practically submitting to receive them from a +Parliamentary majority. He seemed to find a difficulty in +understanding that the sovereign's right to refuse his assent to a +Bill which had passed both Houses was by no means the same thing in +practice as the possession of a veto. He said that in his reading +of our constitutional history, the power of the sovereign seemed +almost absolute, while if he understood facts rightly, the throne +was more of an "ornament," or "figure-head," than a power at all. +He asked me if it was true that Republican feeling was spreading +very much in England, and if I thought that the monarchy would +survive the present sovereign, on whose prudence and exalted virtues +he seemed to think it rested. He said he thought his little kingdom +had aped the style of the great monarchies too much, and that he +should like to abolish a good many high sounding titles, sinecure +offices, the household troops, and some of the "imitation pomp" of +his court. He said he had never enjoyed anything so much since his +accession as the hookupu of the morning, and asked me what I thought +of it. I was glad to be able to answer truthfully that I had never +seen a state pageant or ceremonial that I had enjoyed half so much, +or that had impressed me so favourably. He has a very musical +voice, and a natural nobility and refinement of manner, with an +obvious tact and good feeling, rather, I should think, the result of +amiable and gentlemanly instincts than of training or consideration, +all which combine to make him interesting, altogether apart from his +position as a Polynesian sovereign. + +Where there are no servants, a party involves the hosts and their +friends in the bustle of personal preparation, but all worked with a +will, and by sunset the decorations were completed. All the Chinese +lamps in Hilo were hung in the front verandah, and seats were placed +in the front and side verandahs, on which the drawing-room opens by +four doors, so there was plenty of room, though there were thirty +people. The side verandah was enclosed by a drapery of flags, and +the whole was tastefully decorated with festoons and wreaths of +ferns. The king arrived early with his attendants, and was received +by the host and hostess, and like a perfectly civilized guest, he +handed Mrs. S. into the room. The great wish of the genial +entertainers was to prevent stiffness and give the king a really +social evening, so the "chair game," magical music, and a refined +kind of blind man's buff, better suited to the occasion, but less +"jolly" than the old riotous game, were shortly introduced. +Lunalilo only looked on at first, and then entered into the games +with a heartiness and zest which showed that he at least enjoyed the +evening. Supper was served at nine. Several nests of Japanese +tables had been borrowed, and these, dispersed about the room and +verandah, broke up the guests into little social knots. Three Hilo +ladies and I were the waitresses, and I was pleased to see that the +good things were thoroughly appreciated, and that the trifle was +universally popular. After supper there was a little dancing, and +as few of the Hilo people knew any dance correctly, it was very +amusing for the onlookers. There was a great deal of promenading in +the verandah, and a great deal of talking and merriment, which were +enjoyed by a crowd of natives who stood the whole evening outside +the garden fence. I don't think that any of the Hilo people are so +unhappy as to possess an evening dress, and the pretty morning +dresses of the ladies, and the thick boots, easy morning coats, and +black ties of the gentlemen, gave a jolly "break-down" look to the +affair, which would have been deemed inadmissible in less civilized +society. + +Some of my photographs of some of our eminent literary and +scientific men were lying on the table, and the king in looking at +them showed a surprising amount of knowledge of what they had +written or done, quite entitling him to unite in Stanley's +"Communion of Educated Men." I had previously asked him for his +signature for my autograph collection, and he said he had composed a +stanza for me which he thought I might like to have in addition. He +called with it on the following afternoon, apologising for his +dress, a short jacket and blue trowsers, stuffed into boots +plastered with mud up to the knees. I was surprised when he asked +me if the lines were correctly spelt, for he speaks English +remarkably well. They are simply a kind wish, unaffectedly +expressed. + + HILO. HAWAII, Feb. 26. + + "Wheresoe'er thou may'st roam, + Wheresoe'er thou mak'st thy home, + May God thy footsteps guide, + Watch o'er thee and provide. + This is my earnest prayer for thee, + Welcome, stranger, from over the sea." + LUNALILO R. + +It startles one sometimes to hear American vulgarisms uttered in his +harmonious tones. The American admiral and generals had just +arrived from the volcano, stiff, sore, bruised, jaded, "done," and +the king said, "I guess the Admiral's about used up." He is really +remarkably attractive, but I am sorry to observe a look of +irresolution about his mouth, indicative of a facility of +disposition capable of being turned to the worst account. I think +from what I have heard that the Hawaiian kings have fallen victims +rather to unscrupulous foreigners, than to their own bad instincts. + +My last day has been taken up with farewell visits, and I finish +this on board the "Kilauea." Miss Karpe and I had to ride two +miles, to a point at which it was possible to embark without risk, a +heavy surf having for three weeks rendered it impossible for loaded +boats to communicate with the shore at Hilo. My clothes were soaked +when we reached the rocks, and Upa, very wet, carried us into a wet +whale-boat, with water up to our ancles, which brought us over a +heavy sickening swell into this steamer, which is dirty as well as +wet. I told Upa to lead my mare, and ride his own horse, but the +last I saw of him was on the mare's back, racing a troop of natives +along the beach. {215} + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XV. + +WAIMEA. HAWAII. + +There is no limit to the oddities of the steam-ship "Kilauea." She +lay rolling on the Hilo swell for two hours, and two hours after we +sailed her machinery broke down, and we lay-to for five hours, in +what they here call a heavy gale and sea. It was a miserable night. +No privacy: the saloon both hot and wet, almost every one sick. I +lay in my berth in my soaked clothes watching the proceedings of a +gigantic cockroach, and listening, not without amusement, to the +awful groans of a Chinaman, and a "rough customer" from California, +who occupied the next berths. + +In the middle of the night the water came in great dashes through +the skylight upon the table, and soon the saloon was afloat to the +depth of from four to six inches. When the "Kilauea" rolled, and +the water splashed in simultaneously, we were treated to vigorous +"douches" in our berths, which soon saturated the pillows, +mattresses, and our clothing. One sea put out the lamp, and a +ship's lantern, making "darkness visible," was swung in its stead. +In an English ship there would have been a great fuss and a great +flying about of stewards, or pretence of mending matters, but when +the passengers shouted for our good steward, the serene creature +came in with a melancholy smile on his face, said nothing, but +quietly sat down on the transom, with his bare feet in the water, +contemplating it with a comic air of helplessness. Breakfast, of +course, could not be served, but a plate was put at one end of the +table for the silent old Scotch captain, who tucked up his feet and +sat with his oilskins and sou'-wester on, while the charming +steward, with trousers rolled up to his knees, waded about, +pacifying us by bringing us excellent curry as we sat on the edges +of our berths, and putting on a sweetly apologetic manner, as if +penitent for the gross misbehaviour of the ship. Such a man would +reconcile me to far greater discomfort than that of the "Kilauea." +I wonder if he is ever unamiable, or tired, or perturbed? + +The next day was fine, and we were all much on deck to dry our +clothes in the sun. The southern and leeward coasts of Hawaii as +far as Kawaaloa are not much more attractive than coal-fields. +Contrasted with the shining shores of Hilo, they are as dust and +ashes; long reaches of black lava and miles of clinkers marking the +courses of lava-flows, whose black desolation and deformity nature, +as yet, has done almost nothing to clothe. Cocoa-nut trees usually, +however, fringe the shore, but were it not for the wonderful colour +of the ocean, like liquid transparent turquoise, revealing the coral +forests shelving down into purple depths, and the exciting proximity +of sharks, it would have been wearisome. After leaving the bay +where Captain Cook met his death, we passed through a fleet of +twenty-seven canoes, each one hollowed out of the trunk of a single +tree, from fifteen to twenty-five feet long, about twenty inches +deep, hardly wide enough for a fat man, and high and pointed at both +ends. On one side there is an outrigger formed of two long bent +sticks, to the outer ends of which is bound a curved beam of light +wood, which skims along the surface of the water, rendering the +canoe secure from an upset on that side, while the weight of the +outrigger makes an upset on the other very unlikely. In calms they +are paddled, and shoot over the water with great rapidity, but +whenever there is any breeze a small sprit-sail is used. They are +said to be able to stand very rough water, but they are singularly +precarious and irresponsible looking contrivances, and for these, as +well as for all other seas, I should much prefer a staunch whale- +boat. We sailed for some hours along a lava coast, streamless, +rainless, verdureless, blazing under the fierce light of a tropical +sun, and some time after noon anchored in the scorching bay of +Kawaihae. + +A foreign store, a number of native houses, a great heiau, or +heathen temple on a height, a fringe of cocoa-nut palms, and a +background of blazing hills, flaring with varieties of red, hardly +toned down by any attempt at vegetation, a crystalline atmosphere +palpitating with heat, deep, rippleless, clear water, with coral +groves below, and a view of the three great Hawaiian mountains, are +the salient features of this outlet of Hawaiian commerce. But ah! +how soft and mild and blue the sky was, looking inland, where, for +the first time, I saw far aloft, above solid masses of white cloud, +sky hung, strangely uplifted, the great volcanic domes of Mauna Kea, +Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, looking as if they had all passed into an +endless repose. + +This bay, which affords excellent holding ground, and is screened by +highlands from the sudden and violent gusts of wind, called +"mumuku," which sweep down between the mountains with almost +irresistible fury, used to be a great place of call for whalers, who +purchased large quantities of "recruits" here; yams in the earlier +days, and more lately Irish potatoes, which flourish in the thirsty +soil. But whaling in the North Pacific seems to be nearly "played +out," and the arrival of a whaler is not a common occurrence. + +Shortly before we arrived I found that the sailing of the San +Francisco steamer is put off for a week, so I took advantage of a +kind invitation I received some time ago to visit Waimea, and go +from thence to Waimanu, a wonderful valley beyond Waipio, very +little visited by foreigners. A gentleman and lady rode up here +with me, and I got a horse on the beach with a native bullock saddle +on him, an uncouth contrivance of wood not covered with hide, and a +strong lassoing horn. The great wooden stirrups could not be +shortened, but I soon found myself able, in true savage fashion, to +gallop up and down hill without any. + +The chief object of interest on this ride is the great heiau, which +stands on a bare steep hill above the sea, not easy of access. It +was the last heathen temple built on Hawaii. On entering the huge +pile, which stood gaunt and desolate in the thin red air, the story +of the old bloody heathenism of the islands flashed upon my memory. +The entrance is by a narrow passage between two high walls, and it +was by this that the sacrificing priests dragged the human victims +into the presence of Tairi, a hideous wooden idol, crowned with a +helmet, and covered with red feathers, the favourite war-god of +Kamehameha the Great, by whom this temple was built, before he +proceeded to the conquest of Oahu. + +The shape is an irregular parallelogram, 224 feet long, and 100 +wide. At each end, and on the mauka side, the walls, which are very +solid and compact, though built of lava stones without mortar, are +twenty feet high, and twelve feet wide at the bottom, but narrow +gradually towards the top, where they are finished with a course of +smooth stones six feet broad. On the sea side, the wall, which has +been partly thrown down, was not more than six or seven feet high, +and there were paved platforms for the accommodation of the alii, or +chiefs, and the people in their orders. The upper terrace is +spacious, and paved with flat smooth stones which were brought from +a considerable distance, the greater part of the population of the +island having been employed on the building. At the south end there +was an inner court, where the principal idol stood, surrounded by a +number of inferior deities, for the Hawaiians had "gods many, and +lords many." Here also was the anu, a lofty frame of wickerwork, +shaped like an obelisk, hollow, and five feet square at its base. +Within this, the priest, who was the oracle of the god, stood, and +of him the king used to inquire concerning war or peace, or any +affair of national importance. It appears that the tones of the +oracular voice were more distinct than the meaning of the +utterances. However, the supposed answers were generally acted +upon. + +On the outside of this inner court was the lele, or altar, on which +human and other sacrifices were offered. On the day of the +dedication of the temple to Tairi, vast offerings of fruit, dogs, +and hogs were presented, and eleven human beings were immolated on +the altar. These victims were taken from among captives, or those +who had broken Tabu, or had rendered themselves obnoxious to the +chiefs, and were often blind, maimed, or crippled persons. +Sometimes they were dispatched at a distance with a stone or club, +and their bodies were dragged along the narrow passage up which I +walked shuddering; but oftener they were bound and taken alive into +the heiau to be slain in the outer court. The priests, in slaying +these sacrifices, were careful to mangle the bodies as little as +possible. From two to twenty were offered at once. They were laid +in a row with their faces downwards on the altar before the idol, to +whom they were presented in a kind of prayer by the priest, and, if +offerings of hogs were presented at the same time, these were piled +upon them, and the whole mass was left to putrify. + +The only dwellings within the heiau were those of the priests, and +the "sacred house" of the king, in which he resided during the +seasons of strict Tabu. A doleful place this heiau is, haunted not +only by the memories of almost unimaginable terrors, but by the sore +thought that generations of Hawaiians lived and died in the +unutterable darkness of this ignorant worship, passing in long +procession from these grim rites into the presence of the Father +whose infinite compassions they had never known. + +Every hundred feet of ascent from the rainless, fervid beach of +Kawaihae increased the freshness of the temperature, and rendered +exercise more delightful. From the fringe of palms along the coast +to the damp hills north of Waimea, a distance of ten miles, there is +not a tree or stream, though the scorched earth is deeply scored by +the rush of fierce temporary torrents. Hitherto, I have only +travelled over the green coast which faces the trade winds, where +clouds gather and shed their rains, and this desert, which occupies +a great part of leeward Hawaii, displeases me. It lies burning in +the fierce splendours of a zone, which, until now, I had forgotten +was the torrid zone, unwatered and unfruitful, red and desolate +under the sun. The island is here only twenty-two miles wide, and +strong winds sweep across it, whirling up its surface in great brown +clouds, so that the uplands in part appear a smoking plain, backed +by naked volcanic cones. No water, no grass, no ferns. Some +thornless thistles, a little brush of sapless-looking indigo, and +some species of compositae struggle for a doleful existence. There +is nothing tropical about it but the intense heat. The red soil +becomes suffused with a green tinge ten miles from the beach, and at +the summit of the ascent the desert blends with this beautiful +Waimea plain, one of the most marked features of Hawaii. The air +became damp and cool; miles of fine smooth green grass stretched out +before us; high hills, broken, pinnacled, wooded, and cleft with +deep ravines, rose on our left; we heard the clash and music of +falling water: to the north it was like the Munster Thal, to the +south altogether volcanic. The tropics had vanished. There were +frame houses sheltered from the winds by artificial screens of +mulberry trees, and from the incursions of cattle by rough walls of +lava stones five feet high; a mission and court house, a native +church, much too large for the shrunken population, and other +indications of an inhabited region. Except for the woods which +clothe the hills, the characteristic of the scenery is baldness. + +On clambering over the wall which surrounds my host's kraal of +dwellings, I heard in the dusk strange sweet voices crying rudely +and emphatically, "Who are you? What do you want?" and was relieved +to find that the somewhat inhospitable interrogation only proceeded +from two Australian magpies. Mr. S--- is a Tasmanian, married to a +young half-white lady: and her native mother and seven or eight +dark girls are here, besides a number of natives and Chinese, and +half Chinese, who are employed about the place. Sheep are the +source of my host's wealth. He has 25,000 at three stations on +Mauna Kea, and, at an altitude of 6000 feet they flourish, and are +free from some of the maladies to which they are liable elsewhere. +Though there are only three or four sheep owners on the islands, +they exported 288,526 lbs. of wool last year. {223} Mr. S--- has +also 1000 head of cattle and 50 horses. + +The industry of Waimea is cattle raising, and some feeble attempts +are being made to improve the degenerate island breed by the +importation of a few short-horn cows from New Zealand. These plains +afford magnificent pasturage as well as galloping ground. They are +a very great thoroughfare. The island, which is an equilateral +triangle, about 300 miles in "circuit," can only be crossed here. +Elsewhere, an impenetrable forest belt, and an impassable volcanic +wilderness, compel travellers to take the burning track of adamant +which snakes round the southern coast, when they are minded to go +from one side of Hawaii to the other. Waimea also has the singular +distinction of a road from the beach, which is traversed on great +occasions by two or three oxen and mule teams, and very rarely by a +more ambitious conveyance. There are few hours of day or night in +which the tremulous thud of shoeless horses galloping on grass is +not heard in Waimea. + +The altitude of this great table-land is 2500 feet, and the air is +never too hot, the temperature averaging 64 degrees Fahrenheit. +There is mist or rain on most days of the year for a short time, and +the mornings and evenings are clear and cool. The long sweeping +curves of the three great Hawaiian mountains spring from this level. +The huge bulk of Mauna Kea without shoulders or spurs, rises +directly from the Waimea level on the south to the altitude of +14,000 feet, and his base is thickly clustered with tufa-cones of a +bright red colour, from 300 to 1000 feet in height. Considerably +further back, indeed forty miles away, the smooth dome of Mauna Loa +appears very serene now, but only thirteen years ago the light was +so brilliant, from one of its tremendous eruptions, that here it was +possible to read a newspaper by it, and during its height candles +were unnecessary in the evenings! Nearer the coast, and about +thirty miles from here, is the less conspicuous dome of the dead +volcano of Hualalai. If all Hawaii, south of Waimea, were submerged +to a depth of 8000 feet, three nearly equi-distant, dome-shaped +volcanic islands would remain, the highest of which would have an +altitude of 6000 feet. To the south of these plains violent +volcanic action is everywhere apparent, not only in tufa cones, but +in tracts of ashes, scoriae, and volcanic sand. Near the centre +there are some very curious caves, possibly "lava bubbles," which +were used by the natives as places of sepulture. The Kohala hills, +picturesque, wooded, and abrupt, bound Waimea on the north, with +their exquisite grassy slopes, and bring down an abundance of water +to the plain, but owing to the lightness of the soil and the +evaporation produced by the tremendous winds, the moisture +disappears within two miles of the hills, and an area of rich soil, +ten miles by twelve, which, if irrigated, would be invaluable, is +nothing but a worthless dusty desert, perpetually encroaching on the +grass. As soon as the plains slope towards the east, the vegetation +of the tropics reappears, and the face of the country is densely +covered with a swampy and impenetrable bush hardly at all explored, +which shades the sources of the streams which fall into the Waipio +and Waimanu Valleys, and is supposed to contain water enough to +irrigate the Saharas of leeward Hawaii. + +The climate of the plain is most invigorating. If there were waggon +roads and obtainable comforts, Waimea, with its cool equable +temperature, might become the great health resort of invalids from +the Pacific coast. But Hawaii is not a place for the sick or old; +for, if people cannot ride on horseback, they can have neither +society nor change. Mr. Lyons, one of the most famous of the early +missionaries, still clings to this place, where he has worked for +forty years. He is an Hawaiian poet; and, besides translating some +of our best hymns, has composed enough to make up the greater part +of a bulky volume, which is said to be of great merit. He says that +the language lends itself very readily to rhythmical expression. He +was indefatigable in his youth, and was four times let down the pali +by ropes to preach in the Waimanu Valley. Neither he nor his wife +can mount a horse now, and it is very dreary for them, as the +population has receded and dwindled from about them. Their house is +made lively, however, by some bright little native girls, who board +with them, and receive an English and industrial education. + +The moral atmosphere of Waimea has never been a wholesome one. The +region was very early settled by a class of what may be truly termed +"mean whites," the "beach-combers" and riff-raff of the Pacific. +They lived infamous lives, and added their own to the indigenous +vices of the islands, turning the district into a perfect sink of +iniquity, in which they were known by such befitting aliases as +"Jake the Devil," etc. The coming of the missionaries, and the +settlement of moral, orderly whites on Hawaii, have slowly created a +public opinion averse to flagrant immorality, and the outrageous +license of former years would now meet with legal penalties. Many +of the old settlers are dead, and others have drifted to regions +beyond restraining influences, but still "the Waimea crowd" is not +considered up to the mark. Most of the present set of foreigners +are Englishmen who have married native women. It was in such +quarters as this that the great antagonistic influence to the +complete Christianization of the natives was created, and it is from +such suspicious sources that the aspersions on missionary work are +usually derived. + +Waimea has its own beauty--the grand breezy plain, the gigantic +sweep of the mountain curves, the incessant changes of colour, and +the morning view of Mauna Kea, with the pure snow on its ragged +dome, rose-flushed in the early sunlight. I don't agree with +Disraeli that "happiness is atmosphere;" yet constant sunshine, and +a climate which never threatens one with discomfort or ills, +certainly conduce to equable cheerfulness. + +I am quite interested with a native lady here, the first I have met +with who has been able to express her ideas in English. She is +extremely shrewd and intelligent, very satirical, and a great mimic. +She very cleverly burlesques the way in which white people express +their admiration of scenery, and, in fact, ridicules admiration of +scenery for itself. She evidently thinks us a sour, morose, +worrying, forlorn race. "We," she said, "are always happy; we never +grieve long about anything; when any one dies we break our hearts +for some days, and then we are happy again. We are happy all day +long, not like white people, happy one moment, gloomy another: +we've no cares, the days are too short. What are haoles always +unhappy about?" Perhaps she expresses the general feeling of her +careless, pleasure-loving, mirth-loving people, who, whatever +commands they disobey, fulfil the one, "Take no thought for the +morrow." The fabrication of the beautiful quilts I before wrote of +is a favourite occupation of native women, and they make all their +own and their husbands' clothes; but making leis, going into the +woods to collect materials for them, talking, riding, bathing, +visiting, and otherwise amusing themselves, take up the greater part +of their time. Perhaps if we white women always wore holukus of one +shape, we should have fewer gloomy moments! + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XVI. + +WAIMANU VALLEY. HAWAII. + +I am sitting at the door of a grass lodge, at the end of all things, +for no one can pass further by land than this huge lonely cleft. +About thirty natives are sitting about me, all staring, laughing, +and chattering, and I am the only white person in the region. We +have all had a meal, sitting round a large calabash of poi and a +fowl, which was killed in my honour, and roasted in one of their +stone ovens. I have forgotten my knife, and have had to help myself +after the primitive fashion of aborigines, not without some fear, +for some of them I am sure are in an advanced stage of leprosy. The +brown tattooed limbs of one man are stretched across the mat, the +others are sitting cross-legged, making lauhala leis. One man is +making fishing-lines of a beautifully white and marvellously +tenacious fibre, obtained from an Hawaiian "flax" plant (possibly +Urtica argentea), very different from the New Zealand Phormium +tenax. Nearly all the people of the valley are outside, having come +to see the wahine haole: only one white woman, and she a resident +of Hawaii, having been seen in Waimanu before. I am really alone, +miles of mountain and gulch lie between me and the nearest whites. +This is a wonderful place: a ravine about three miles long and +three-quarters of a mile wide, without an obvious means of ingress, +being walled in by precipices from 2000 to 4000 feet high. Five +cascades dive from the palis at its head, and unite to form a placid +river about up to a horse's body here, and deep enough for a horse +to swim in a little below. Dense forests of various shades of green +fill up the greater part of the valley, concealing the basins into +which the cascades leap, and the grey basalt of the palis is mostly +hidden by greenery. At the open end, two bald bluffs, one of them +2000 feet in height, confront the Pacific, and its loud booming surf +comes up to within one hundred yards of the house where I am +writing, but is banked off by a heaped-up barrier of colossal +shingle. + +Hot and silent, a sunset world of an endless afternoon, it seems a +palpable and living dream. And a few of these people, I understand, +have dreamed away their lives here, never having been beyond their +valley, at least by land. But it is a dream of ceaseless speech and +rippling laughter. They are the merriest people I have yet seen, +and doubtless their isolated life is dear to them. + +I wish I could sketch this most picturesque scene. In the verandah, +which is formed of mats, two handsome youths, and five women in +green, red, and orange chemises, all with leis of ferns round their +hair, are reclining on the ground. Outside of this there is a +pavement of large lava stones, and groups in all colours, wreathed +and garlanded, including some much disfigured old people, crouching +in red and yellow blankets, are sitting and lying there. Some are +fondling small dogs; and a number of large ones, with a whole tribe +of amicable cats, are picking bones. Surf-boards, paddles, saddles, +lassos, spurs, gear, and bundles of ti leaves are lying about. +Thirteen horses are tethered outside, some of which brought the +riders who escorted me triumphantly from the head of the valley. +The foreheads of the precipices opposite are reddening in the +sunset, and between them and me horses and children are constantly +swimming across the broad, still stream which divides the village +into two parts; and now and then a man in a malo, and children who +have come up the river swimming, with their clothes in one hand, +increase the assemblage. + +All are intently watching me, but are as kind and good-natured as +possible; and my guide from Waipio is discoursing to them about me. +He knows a little abrupt, disjointed, almost unintelligible English, +and comes up every now and then with an interrogation in his manner, +"Father? mother? married? watch? How came?" "You" appears beyond +his efforts. "Kilauea? Lunalilo?" Then he goes back and orates +rapidly, gesticulating emphatically. A very handsome, pleasant- +looking man, with a red sash round his waist, who, I understand from +signs, is the schoolmaster, emerged from the throng, and sat down +beside me; but his English appears limited to these words, "How +old?" When I told him by counting on my fingers he laughed +heartily, and said "Too old," and he told the others, and they all +laughed. I have photographs of Queen Victoria and Mr. Coan in my +writing-book, and when I exhibited them they crowded round me +clapping their hands, and screaming with delight when they +recognized Mr. Coan. The king's handwriting was then handed round +amidst reverent "ahs" and "ohs," or what sounded like them. This +letter was also passed round and examined lengthwise, sidewise, and +upside down. They shrieked with satirical laughter when I pressed +some fragile ferns in my blotting-book. The natives think it quite +idiotic in us to attach any value to withered leaves. My inkstand +with its double-spring lids has been a great amusement. Each one +opened both, and shut them again, and a chorus of "maikai, maikai," +(good) ran round the circle. They seem so simple and good that at +last I have trusted them with my watch, which excites unbounded +admiration, probably because of its small size. It is now on its +travels; but I am not the least anxious about it. A man pointed to +a hut some distance on the other side of the river, and appeared +interrogative, and on my replying affirmatively, he mounted a horse +and carried off the watch in the direction indicated. Mr. Ellis +came to this valley in a canoe, and he mentions that when he +preached, the natives, who seemed to be very indifferent to the +general truths of Christianity, became very deeply interested when +they heard of Ora loa ia Jesu (endless life by Jesus). While I was +up the valley the poor people made a wonderful bed of seven fine +mats, one over the other, on one side of the house, and screened it +off with a flaring muslin curtain; but on the other side there are +ten pillows in a row, so that I wonder how many are to occupy the +den during the night. I am now writing inside the house, with a +hollowed stone, with some beef fat and a wick in it, for a light, +and two youths seem delegated to attend upon me. One holds my ink, +and if I look up, the other rushes for something that I am supposed +to want. They insist on thinking that I am cold because my clothes +are wet, and have thrown over me several folds of tapa, made from +the inner bark of the wauti or cloth plant (Broussonetia +papyrifera). They brought me a kalo leaf containing a number of +living freshwater shrimps, and were quite surprised when I did not +eat them. + + + +WAIPIO, March 5th. + +It seems fully a week since I left Waimea yesterday morning, so many +new experiences have been crowded into the time. I will try to +sketch my expedition while my old friend Halemanu is preparing +dinner. The morning opened gloriously. The broad Waimea plains +were flooded with red and gold, and the snowy crest of Mauna Kea was +cloudless. We breakfasted by lamp light (the days of course are +short in this latitude), and were away before six. My host kindly +provided me with a very fine horse and some provisions in a leather +wallet, and with another white man and a native accompanied me as +far as this valley, where they had some business. The morning +deepened into gorgeousness. A blue mist hung in heavy folds round +the violet bases of the mountains, which rose white and sharp into +the rose-flushed sky; the dew lay blue and sparkling on the short +crisp grass; the air was absolutely pure, and with a suspicion of +frost in it. It was all very fair, and the horses enjoyed the +morning freshness, and danced and champed their bits as though they +disliked being reined in. We rode over level grass-covered ground, +till we reached the Hamakua bush, fringed with dead trees, and full +of ohias and immense fern trees, some of them with a double tier of +fronds, far larger and finer than any that I saw in New Zealand. +There are herds of wild goats, cattle, and pigs on the island, and +they roam throughout this region, trampling, grubbing, and rending, +grinding the bark of the old trees and eating up the young ones. +This ravaging is threatening at no distant date to destroy the +beauty and alter the climate of the mountainous region of Hawaii. +The cattle are a hideous breed--all bones, hide, and horns. + +We were at the top of the Waipio pali at eight, and our barefooted +horses, used to the soft pastures of Waimea, refused to carry us +down its rocky steep, so we had to walk. I admired this lonely +valley far more than before. It was full of infinite depths of +blue--blue smoke in lazy spirals curled upwards; it was eloquent in +a morning silence that I felt reluctant to break. Against its dewy +greenness the beach shone like coarse gold, and its slow silver +river lingered lovingly, as though loth to leave it, and be merged +in the reckless loud-tongued Pacific. Across the valley, the track +I was to take climbed up in thready zigzags, and disappeared round a +bold headland. It was worth a second visit just to get a glimpse of +such a vision of peace. + +Halemanu, with hospitable alacrity, soon made breakfast ready, after +which Mr. S., having arranged for my further journey, left me here, +and for the first time I found myself alone among natives ignorant +of English. For the Waimanu trip it is essential to have a horse +bred in the Waimanu Valley and used to its dizzy palis, and such a +horse was procured, and a handsome native, called Hananui, as guide. +We were away by ten, and galloped across the valley till we came to +the nearly perpendicular pali on the other side. The sight of this +air-hung trail from Halemanu's house has turned back several +travellers who were bent on the trip, but I had been told that it +was quite safe on a Waimanu horse; and keeping under my fears as +best I could, I let Hananui precede me, and began the ascent, which +is visible from here for an hour. The pali is as nearly +perpendicular as can be. Not a bush or fern, hardly a tuft of any +green thing, clothes its bare, scathed sides. It terminates +precipitously on the sea at a height of 2000 feet. Up this shelving +wall, something like a sheep track, from thirty to forty-six inches +broad, goes in great swinging zigzags, sometimes as broken steps of +rock breast high, at others as a smooth ledge with hardly foothold, +in three places carried away by heavy rains--altogether the most +frightful track that imagination can conceive. {235} It was most +unpleasant to see the guide's horse straining and scrambling, +looking every now and then as if about to fall over backwards. My +horse went up wisely and nobly, but slipping, jumping, scrambling, +and sending stones over the ledge, now and then hanging for a second +by his fore feet. The higher we went the narrower and worse it +grew. The girth was loose, so as not to impede the horse's +respiration, the broad cinch which usually passes under the body +having been fastened round his chest, and yet it was once or twice +necessary to run the risk of losing my balance by taking my left +foot out of the stirrup to press it against the horse's neck to +prevent it from being crushed, while my right hung over the +precipice. We came to a place where the path had been carried away, +leaving a declivity of loose sand and gravel. You can hardly +realize how difficult it was to dismount, when there was no margin +outside the horse. I somehow slid under him, being careful not to +turn the saddle, and getting hold of his hind leg, screwed myself +round carefully behind him. It was alarming to see these sure- +footed creatures struggle and slide in the deep gravel as though +they must go over, and not less so to find myself sliding, though I +was grasping my horse's tail. + +Between the summit and Waimanu, a distance of ten miles, there are +nine gulches, two of them about 900 feet deep, all very beautiful, +owing to the broken ground, the luxuriant vegetation, and the bright +streams, but the kona, or south wind, was blowing, bringing up the +hot breath of the equatorial belt, and the sun was perfectly +unclouded, so that the heat of the gorges was intense. They succeed +each other occasionally with very great rapidity. Between two of +the deepest and steepest there is a ridge not more than fifty yards +wide. + +Soon after noon we simultaneously stopped our horses. The Waimanu +Valley lay 2500 feet (it is said) below us, and the trail struck off +into space. It was a scene of loneliness to which Waipio seems the +world. In a second the eye took in the twenty grass lodges of its +inhabitants, the five cascades which dive into the dense forests of +its upper end, its river like a silver ribbon, and its meadows of +living green. In ten seconds a bird could have spanned the ravine +and feasted on its loveliness, but we could only tip over the dizzy +ridge that overhangs the valley, and laboriously descend into its +heat and silence. The track is as steep and broken as that which +goes up from hence, but not nearly so narrow, and without its +elements of terror, for kukuis, lauhalas, ohias, and ti trees, with +a lavish growth of ferns and trailers, grow luxuriantly in every +damp rift of rock, and screen from view the precipices of the pali. +The valley looks as if it could only be reached in a long day's +travel, so very far it is below, but the steepness of the track +makes it accessible in an hour from the summit. As we descended, +houses and a church which had looked like toys at first, dilated on +our sight, the silver ribbon became a stream, the specks on the +meadows turned into horses, the white wavy line on the Pacific beach +turned into a curling wave, and lower still, I saw people, who had +seen us coming down, hastily shuffling into clothes. + +There were four houses huddled between the pali and the river, and +six or eight, with a church and schoolhouse on the other side; and +between these and the ocean a steep narrow beach, composed of large +stones worn as round and smooth as cannon balls, on which the surf +roars the whole year round. The pali which walls in the valley on +the other side is inaccessible. The school children and a great +part of the population had assembled in front of the house which I +described before. There was a sort of dyke of rough lava stones +round it, difficult to climb, but the natives, though they are very +kind, did not, on this or any similar occasion, offer me any help, +which neglect, I suppose, arises from the fact that the native women +never need help, as they are as strong, fearless, and active as the +men, and rival them in swimming and other athletic sports. An old +man, clothed only with his dark skin, was pounding baked kalo for +poi, in front of the house; a woman with flowers in her hair, but +apparently not otherwise clothed, was wading up to her waist in the +river, pushing before her a light trumpet-shaped basket used for +catching shrimps, and the other women wore the usual bright-coloured +chemises. + +I wanted to make the most of the six hours of daylight left, and we +remounted our horses and rode for some distance up the river, which +is the highway of the valley, all the children swimming on our right +and left, each holding up a bundle of clothes with one hand, and two +canoes paddled behind us. The river is still and clear, with a +smooth bottom, but comes halfway up a horse's body, and riders take +their feet out of the stirrups, bring them to a level with the +saddle, lean slightly back, and hold them against the horse's neck. +Equestrians following this fashion, canoes gliding, children and +dogs swimming, were a most amusing picture. Several of the children +swim to and from school every day. I was anxious to get rid of this +voluntary escort, and we took a gallop over the soft springy grass +till we reached some very pretty grass houses, under the shade of +the most magnificent bread-fruit trees on Hawaii, loaded with fruit. +There were orange trees in blossom, and coffee trees with masses of +sweet white flowers lying among their flaky branches like snow, and +the unfailing cocoa-nut rising out of banana groves, and clusters of +gardenia smothering the red hibiscus. Here Hananui adopted a +showman's air; he made me feel as if I were one of Barnum's +placarded monsters. I had nothing to do but sit on my horse and be +stared at. I felt that my bleached face was unpleasing, that my +eyes and hair were faded, and that I had a great deal to answer for +in the way of colour and attire. From the way in which he asked me +unintelligible questions, I gathered that the people were +catechizing him about me, and that he was romancing largely at my +expense. They brought me some bananas and cocoa-nut milk, which +were most refreshing. + +Beyond the houses the valley became a jungle of Indian shot (Canna +indica), eight or nine feet high, guavas and ohias, with an +entangled undergrowth of ferns rather difficult to penetrate, and +soon Hananui, whose soul was hankering after the delights of +society, stopped, saying, "Lios (horses) no go." "We'll try," I +replied, and rode on first. He sat on his horse laughing +immoderately, and then followed me. I see that in travelling with +natives it is essential to have a definite plan of action in one's +own mind, and to verge on self-assertion in carrying it out. We +fought our way a little further, and then he went out of sight +altogether in the jungle, his horse having floundered up to his +girths in soft ground, on which we dismounted and tethered the +horses. H. had never been any further, and as I failed to make him +understand that I desired to visit the home of the five cascades, I +had to reverse our positions and act as guide. We crept along the +side of a torrent among exquisite trees, moss, and ferns, till we +came to a place where it divided. There were three horses tethered +there, some wearing apparel lying on the rocks, and some human +footprints along one of the streams, which decided me in favour of +the other. H. remonstrated by signs, as doubtless he espied an +opportunity for much gossip in the other direction, but on my +appearing persistent, he again laughed and followed me. + +From this point it was one perfect, rapturous, intoxicating, supreme +vision of beauty, and I felt, as I now believe, that at last I had +reached a scene on which foreign eyes had never looked. The glories +of the tropical forest closed us in with their depth, colour, and +redundancy. Here the operations of nature are rapid and decisive. +A rainfall of eleven feet in a year and a hothouse temperature force +every plant into ceaseless activity, and make short work of decay. +Leafage, blossom, fruitage, are simultaneous and perennial. The +river, about as broad as the Cam at Cambridge, leaped along, clear +like amber, pausing to rest awhile in deep bright pools, where fish +were sporting above the golden sand, a laughing, sparkling, rushing, +terrorless stream, "without mysteries or agonies," broken by rocks, +green with mosses and fragile ferns, and in whose unchilled waters, +not more than three feet deep, wading was both safe and pleasant. +It was not possible to creep along its margin, the forest was so +dense and tangled, so we waded the whole way, and wherever the water +ran fiercely my unshod guide helped me. One varied, glorious maze +of vegetation came down to it, and every green thing leant lovingly +towards it, or stooped to touch it, and over its whole magic length +was arched and interlaced the magnificent large-leaved ohia, whose +millions of spikes of rose-crimson blossoms lit up the whole arcade, +and the light of the afternoon sun slanted and trickled through +them, dancing in the mirthful water, turning its far-down sands to +gold, and brightening the many-shaded greens of candlenut and +breadfruit. It shone on majestic fern-trees, on the fragile +Polypodium tamariscinum, which clung tremblingly to the branches of +the ohia, on the beautiful lygodium, which adorned the uncouth trunk +of the breadfruit; on shining banana leaves and glossy trailing +yams; on gigantic lianas, which, climbing to the tops of the largest +trees, descended in vast festoons, passing from tree to tree, and +interlacing the forest with a living network; and on lycopodiums of +every kind, from those which wrapped the rocks in feathery green to +others hardly distinguishable from ferns. But there were twilight +depths too, where no sunlight penetrated the leafy gloom, damp and +cool: dreamy shades, in which the music of the water was all too +sweet, and the loveliness too entrancing, creating that sadness, +hardly "akin to pain," which is latent in all intense enjoyment. +Here and there a tree had fallen across the river, from which grew +upwards and trailed downwards, fairy-like, semi-transparent mosses +and ferns, all glittering with moisture and sunshine, and now and +then a scarlet tropic bird heightened the effect by the flash of his +plumage. + +After an hour of wading we emerged into broad sunny daylight at the +home of the five cascades, which fall from a semicircular precipice +into three basins. It is not, however, possible to pass from one to +the other. This great gulf is a grand sight, with its dark deep +basin from which it seemed so far to look up to the heavenly blue, +and the water falling calmly and unhurriedly, amidst innumerable +rainbows, from a height of 3000 feet. The sides were draped with +ferns flourishing under the spray, and at the base the rock was very +deeply caverned. I enjoyed a delicious bath, relying on sun and +wind to dry my clothes, and then reluctantly waded down the river. +At its confluence with another stream, still arched by ohias, a man +and two women appeared rising out of the water, like a vision of the +elder world in the days of Fauns, and Naiads, and Hamadryads. The +water was up to their waists, and leis of ohia blossoms and ferns, +and masses of unbound hair fantastically wreathed with moss, fell +over their faultless forms, and their rich brown skin gleamed in the +slant sunshine. They were catching shrimps with trumpet-shaped +baskets, perhaps rather a prosaic occupation. They joined us, and +we waded down together to the place where they had left their +horses. The women slipped into their holukus, and the man insisted +on my riding his barebacked horse to the place where we had left our +own, and then we all galloped over the soft grass. + +Waimanu had turned out to meet us about thirty people on horseback, +all of whom shook hands with me, and some of them threw over me +garlands of ohia, pandanus, and hibiscus. Where our cavalcade +entered the river, a number of children and dogs and three canoes +awaited us, and thus escorted I returned triumphantly to the house. +The procession on the river of paddling canoes, swimming children, +and dogs, and more than thirty riders, with their feet tucked up +round their horses' necks, all escorting a "pale face," was +grotesque and enchanting, and I revelled in this lapse into +savagery, and enjoyed heartily the kindliness and goodwill of this +unsophisticated people. + +When darkness spread over the valley, clear voices ascended in a +weird recitative, the room filled up with people, pipes circulated +freely, poi was again produced, and calabashes of cocoa-nut milk. +The meles were long, and I crept within my curtain and lay down, but +the drowsiness which legitimately came over me after riding thirty +miles and wading two, was broken in upon by two monstrous +cockroaches really as large as mice, with fierce-looking antennae +and prominent eyes, both of which mounted guard on my pillow. On +rising to drive them away, I found to my dismay that they were but +the leaders of a host, which only made a temporary retreat, rustling +over the mat and dried grass with the crisp tread of mice, and +scaring away sleep for some hours. Worse than these were the +mosquitoes, also an imported nuisance, which stabbed and stung +without any preliminary droning; and the heat was worse still, for +thirteen human beings were lying on the floor and the door was shut. +Had I known that two of these were lepers, I should have felt far +from comfortable. As it was, I got up soon after midnight, and +cautiously stepping among the sleeping forms, went out of doors. +Everything favoured reflection, but I think the topics to which my +mind most frequently reverted were my own absolute security--a lone +white woman among "savages," and the civilizing influence which +Christianity has exercised, so that even in this isolated valley, +gouged out of a mountainous coast, there was nothing disagreeable or +improper to be seen. The night was very still, but the sea was +moaning; the river rippled very gently as it brushed past the reeds; +there was a hardly perceptible vibration in the atmosphere, which +suggested falling water and quivering leaves; and the air was full +of a heavy, drowsy fragrance, the breath of orange flowers, perhaps, +and of the night-blowing Cereus, which had opened its ivory urn to +the moon. I should have liked to stay out all night in the vague, +delicious moonlight, but the dew was heavy, and moreover I had not +any boots on, so I reluctantly returned to the grass house, which +was stifling with heat and smells of cocoa-nut oil, tobacco, and the +rancid smoke from beef fat. + +Before sunrise this morning my horse was saddled, and a number of +natives had assembled. Hananui had disappeared, but the man who +lent me his bare-backed horse yesterday was ready to act as guide. +My boots could not then be found, so I adopted the native fashion of +riding with bare feet. We again rode up the river in that slow and +solemn fashion in which horses walk in water, galloped over a +stretch of grass, crossed a bright stream several times, and then +entered a dense jungle of Indian shot, plantains, and sadlerias, +with breadfruit, kukui, and ohia rising out of it. There were +thousands of plantains, a fruit resembling the banana, but that it +requires cooking. The Indian shot, the yellow-blossomed variety, +was of a gigantic size. Its hard, black seeds put into a bladder +furnish the chic-chac, which in many places is used as an +accompaniment to the utterly abominable and heathenish tom-tom. +Here guavas as large as oranges and as yellow as lemons ripened and +fell unheeded. Sometimes deep down we heard the rush of water, and +Paalau got down and groped for it on his hands and knees; sometimes +we heard a noise as of hippopotami, but nothing could be seen but +the tips of ears, as a herd of happy, unbroken horses, scared by our +approach, crashed away through the jungle. Clear rapid streams, +fern-fringed, sometimes offered us a few yards of highway, but the +jungle ever grew more dense, the forest trees larger, the lianas +more tangled, the streams more sunk and rocky, and though the horses +shut their eyes and boldly pushed through the tangle, we were fairly +foiled when within half a mile from the head of the valley. I +thoroughly appreciated the unsightly leather guards which are here +used to cover the stirrups and feet, as without them I could not +have ridden ten yards. We were so hemmed in that it was difficult +to dismount, but I bound some wild kalo leaves round my feet, and +managed to get over some broken rock to a knoll, from which I +obtained a superb view of the wonderful cleft. Palis 3000 feet in +height walled in its head with a complete inaccessibility. It lay +in cool dewy shadow till the sudden sun flushed its precipices with +pink, and a broad bar of light revealed the great chasm in which it +terminates, while far off its portals opened upon the red eastern +sky. This little lonely world had become so very dear to me, that I +found it hard to leave it. + +There was some stir near the sea, for a man was about to build a +grass house, and they were preparing a stone pavement for it. +Thirty people sat on the ground in a line from the beach, and passed +stones from hand to hand, as men pass buckets at a fire. It seemed +a very attractive occupation, and I could hardly get Hananui to +leave it. The natives are most gregarious and social in their +habits. They assemble together for everything that has to be made +or done, and their occupations and amusements are shared by both +sexes. In old days it is said that a king of Hawaii assembled most +of the adults of the then populous island, and formed a human chain +three miles long to pass up stones for the building of the great +Heiau in Kona. It is said that this valley had 2000 inhabitants +forty years ago, but they have dwindled to 117. The former estimate +is probably not an excessive one, for nearly the whole valley is +suitable for the culture of kalo, and a square mile of kalo will +feed 15,000 natives for a year. + +Two women were shrimping in the river, the children were swimming to +school, blue smoke curled up into the still air, kalo was baking +among the stones, and a group of women sat sewing and making leis on +the ground. The Waimanu day had begun; and it was odd to think that +through the long summer years days dawned like this, and that the +people of the valley grew grey and old in shrimping and sewing and +kalo baking. All Waimanu shook hands with me, the kindly "Aloha" +filled the air, and the women threw garlands over us both. I could +hardly induce my host to accept a dollar and a half for my +entertainment. From the dizzy summit of the pali, where the sun was +high and hot, I looked my last on the dark, cool valley, slumbering +in an endless calm, the deepest, greenest, quaintest cleft on all +the island. + +The sun was fierce and bright, the ocean had a metallic glint, the +hot breath of the kona was scorching. My hands, swollen from +mosquito bites, could not be stuffed into my gloves, and inflamed +under the sun, and my wet boots baked and stiffened on my feet. +Hananui plaited a crown of leaves for my hot head, which I found a +great relief. I was still minded to linger, for one side of each +glorious gulch was cool with shadow and dripping with dew. The blue +morning glories were yet unwilted, rivulets dropped down into ferny +grottoes and lingered there, rose ohia blossoms lighted shady +places, orange flowers gleamed like stars amidst the dense leafage, +and the crimped-leaved coffee shrubs were white with their mimic +snow. It was my last tropical dream, and I was rudely roused by +finding myself on the unsightly verge of the great bluff on the +north side of this valley, which plunges to the sea with an +uncompromising perpendicular dip of 2000 feet, and carries on its +dizzy brow a shelving trail not more than two feet wide! + +I felt that I must go back and live and die in Waimanu rather than +descend that scathed steep, and being stupid with terror flung +myself from my horse, forgetting that it was much safer to trust to +his four feet than to my two, and to an animal without "nerves," +dizziness, or "the fore-knowledge of death," than to my palsied, +cowardly self. I had intended to go into details of the horrible +descent, but the "pilikia" is over now, and Halemanu claps me on the +shoulder with an approving smile, ejaculating, "Maikai, maikai" +(good). Besides, my returning senses inform me that I have not +tasted food since yesterday, and some delicious river fishes are +smoking on the table. . . . . + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XVII. + +STR. KILAUEA. + +. . . I have been spending the day at Lahaina on Maui, on my way +from Kawaihae to Honolulu. Lahaina is thoroughly beautiful and +tropical looking, with its white latticed houses peeping out from +under coco palms, breadfruit, candlenut, tamarinds, mangoes, +bananas, and oranges, with the brilliant green of a narrow strip of +sugar-cane for a background, and above, the flushed mountains of +Eeka, riven here and there by cool green chasms, rise to a height of +6000 feet. Beautiful Lahaina! It is an oasis in a dazzling desert, +straggling for nearly two miles along the shore, but compressed into +a width of half a mile. It was a great missionary centre, as well +as a great whaling station, but the whalers have deserted it, and +missions are represented now only by the seminary of Lahainaluna on +the hillside. An old palace, the remains of a fort, a custom-house, +and a native church are the most conspicuous buildings. The stores +and dwellings of the foreign residents are scattered along the +shore, and the light frame house, with its green verandah, buried +amid gorgeous exotics and shaded by candlenut and breadfruit, looks +as seemly and in keeping as in far-off Massachusetts, under hickory +and elm. The grass houses of the natives cluster along the waters' +edge, or in lanes dark with mangoes and bananas, and fragrant with +gardenia fringing the cane-fields. These, with adobe houses and +walls, the flush of the soil, the gaudy dresses of the natives, the +masses of brilliant exotics, the intense blue of the sea, and the +dry blaze of the tropical heat, give a decided individuality to the +capital of Maui. The heat of Lahaina is a dry, robust, bracing, +joyous heat. The mercury stood at 80 degrees, the usual temperature +of the "flare" or sea level on the leeward side of the islands; but +I strolled through the cane-fields and along the glaring beach +without suffering the least inconvenience from the sun, and found +the unusual precaution of a white umbrella perfectly needless. + +The beach is formed of pure white broken coral; the sea is blue with +the calm, pure blue of turquoise, but crystalline in its purity, and +breaks for ever over the environing coral reef with a low deep +music. Blue water stretched to the far horizon, the sky was blazing +blue, the leafage was almost dazzling to the eye, the mountainous +island of Molokai floated like a great blue morning glory on the yet +bluer sea; a sweet, soft breeze rustled through the palms, lazy +ripples plashed lightly on the sand; humanity basked, flower-clad, +in sunny indolence; everything was redundant, fervid, beautiful. +How can I make you realize the glorious, bountiful, sun-steeped +tropics under our cold grey skies, and amidst our pale, monotonous, +lustreless greens? + +Yet Molokai is only enchanting in the distance, for its blue petals +enfold 400 lepers doomed to endless isolation, and 300 more are +shortly to be weeded out and sent thither. In to-day's paper +appeared the painful notice, "All lepers are required to report +themselves to the Government health officer within fourteen days +from this date for inspection, and final banishment to Molokai." It +is hoped that leprosy may be "stamped out" by these stringent +measures, but the leprous taint must be strong in many families, and +the social, gregarious natives smoke each other's pipes and wear +each other's clothes, and either from fatalism or ignorance have +disregarded all precautions regarding this woful disease; and now +that measures are being taken for the isolation of lepers, they are +concealing them under mats and in caves and woods. This forlorn +malady, called here Chinese leprosy, in the cases that I have seen, +confers nothing of the white, scaly look attributed to Syrian +leprosy; but the face is red, puffed, bloated, and shining, and the +eyes glazed, and I am told that in its advanced stage the swollen +limbs decay and drop off. It is a fresh item of the infinite curse +which has come upon this race, and with Molokai in sight the +Hesperides vanished, and I ceased to believe that the Fortunate +Islands exist here or elsewhere on this weary earth. + +My destination was the industrial training and boarding school for +girls, taught and superintended by two English ladies of Miss +Sellon's sisterhood, Sisters Mary Clara and Phoebe; and I found it +buried under the shade of the finest candlenut trees I have yet +seen. A rude wooden cross in front is a touching and fitting emblem +of the Saviour, for whom these pious women have sacrificed friends, +sympathy, and the social intercourse and amenities which are within +daily reach of our workers at home. The large house, which is +either plastered stone or adobe, contains the dormitories, visitors' +room, and oratory, and three houses at the back, all densely shaded, +are used as schoolroom, cook-house, laundry, and refectory. There +is a playground under some fine tamarind trees, and an adobe wall +encloses, without secluding, the whole. The visitors' room is about +twelve feet by eight feet, very bare, with a deal table and three +chairs in it, but it was vacant, and I crossed to the large, shady, +airy schoolroom, where I found the senior sister engaged in +teaching, while the junior was busy in the cook-house. These ladies +in eight years have never left Lahaina. Other people may think it +necessary to leave its broiling heat and seek health and recreation +on the mountains, but their work has left them no leisure, and their +zeal no desire, for a holiday. A very solid, careful English +education is given here, as well as a thorough training in all +housewifely arts, and in the more important matters of modest dress +and deportment, and propriety in language. There are thirty-seven +boarders, native and half-native, and mixed native and Chinese, +between the ages of four and eighteen. They provide their own +clothes, beds, and bedding, and I think pay forty dollars a year. +The capitation grant from Government for two years was 2325 dollars. +Sister Phoebe was my cicerone, and I owe her one of the pleasantest +days I have spent on the islands. The elder Sister is in middle +life, but though fragile-looking, has a pure complexion and a lovely +countenance; the younger is scarcely middle-aged, one of the +brightest, bonniest, sweetest-looking women I ever saw, with fun +dancing in her eyes and round the corners of her mouth; yet the +regnant expression on both faces was serenity, as though they had +attained to "the love which looketh kindly, and the wisdom which +looketh soberly on all things." + +I never saw such a mirthful-looking set of girls. Some were cooking +the dinner, some ironing, others reading English aloud; but each +occupation seemed a pastime, and whenever they spoke to the Sisters +they clung about them as if they were their mothers. I heard them +read the Bible and an historical lesson, as well as play on a piano +and sing, and they wrote some very difficult passages from dictation +without any errors, and in a flowing, legible handwriting that I am +disposed to envy. Their accent and intonation were pleasing, and +there was a briskness and emulation about their style of answering +questions, rarely found in country schools with us, significant of +intelligence and good teaching. All but the younger girls spoke +English as fluently as Hawaiian. I cannot convey a notion of the +blitheness and independence of manner of these children. To say +that they were free and easy would be wrong; it was rather the +manner of very frolicsome daughters to very indulgent mothers or +aunts. It was a family manner rather than a school manner, and the +rule is obviously one of love. The Sisters are very wise in +adapting their discipline to the native character and circumstances. +The rigidity which is customary in similar institutions at home +would be out of place, as well as fatal here, and would ultimately +lead to a rebound of a most injurious description. Strict obedience +is of course required, but the rules are few and lenient, and there +is no more pressure of discipline than in a well-ordered family. +The native amusements generally are objectionable, but Hawaiians are +a dancing people, and will dance, or else indulge in less innocent +pastimes; so the Sisters have taught them various English dances, +and I never saw anything prettier or more graceful than their style +of dancing. There is no uniform dress. The girls wear pretty print +frocks, made in the English style, and several of them wore the +hibiscus in their shining hair. Some of the older girls were +beautiful in face as well as graceful in figure, but there was a +snaky undulation about their movements which I never saw among +Europeans. All looked bubbling over with fun and frolic, and there +was a refinement and intelligence about their expression which +contrasted favourably with that of the ordinary female face on the +islands. + +There are two dormitories, excellently ventilated, with a four-post +bed, with mosquito-bars, for each girl, and the beds were covered +with those brilliant-coloured quilts in which the natives delight, +and in which they exercise considerable ingenuity as well as +individuality of taste. One Sister sleeps in each dormitory, and +these highly-educated and refined women have no place of retirement +except a very plain oratory; and having taken the vow of poverty, +they have of course no possessions, none of the books, pictures, and +knick-knacks wherewith others adorn their surroundings. Their whole +lives, with the exception of the time passed in the oratory, are +spent with the girls, and in visiting the afflicted at their homes, +and this through eight blazing years, with the mercury always at 80 +degrees! + +The Hawaiian women have no notions of virtue as we understand it, +and if there is to be any future for this race it must come through +a higher morality. Consequently the removal of these girls from +evil and impure surroundings, the placing them under the happiest +influences in favour of purity and goodness, the forming and +fostering of industrious and housewifely habits, and the raising +them in their occupations and amusements above those which are +natural to their race, are in themselves a noble, and in some +degree, a hopeful work, but it admits of neither pause nor +relaxation. Those who carry it on are truly "the lowest in the +meanest task," for they have undertaken not only the superintendence +of menial work (so called), but the work itself, in teaching by +example and instruction the womanly industries of home. They have +no society, until lately no regular Liturgical worship, and of +necessity a very infrequent celebration of the Holy Communion; and +they have undergone the trial which arose very naturally out of the +ecclesiastical relations of the American missionaries, of being +regarded as enemies, or at least dangerous interlopers, by the +excellent men who had long resided on the islands as Christian +teachers, and with whose views on such matters as dress and +recreation their own are somewhat at variance. In the first +instance, the habit they wore, their designations, the presence of +Miss Sellon, the fame of whose Ritualistic tendencies had reached +the islands, and their manifest connection with a section of the +English Church which is regarded here with peculiar disfavour, +roused a strongly antagonistic feeling regarding their work and the +drift of their religious teaching. They are not connected with what +is known at home as the "Honolulu Mission." {256} + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XVIII. + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU. March 20th. + +Oahu, with its grey pinnacles, its deep valleys, its cool chasms, +its ruddy headlands, and volcanic cones, all clothed in green by the +recent rains, looked unspeakably lovely as we landed by sunrise in a +rose-flushed atmosphere, and Honolulu, shady, dew-bathed, and +brilliant with flowers, deserved its name, "The Paradise of the +Pacific." The hotel is pleasant, and Mrs. D.'s presence makes it +sweet and homelike; but in a very few days I have lost much of the +health I gained on Hawaii, and the "Rolling Moses" and the Rocky +Mountains can hardly come too soon. For Honolulu is truly a +metropolis, gay, hospitable, and restless, and this hotel +centralizes the restlessness. Visiting begins at breakfast time, +when it ends I know not, and receiving and making visits, court +festivities, entertainments given by the commissioners of the great +powers, riding parties, picnics, verandah parties, "sociables," and +luncheon and evening parties on board the ships of war, succeed each +other with frightful rapidity. This is all on the surface, but +beneath and better than this is a kindness which leaves no stranger +to a sense of loneliness, no want uncared for, and no sorrow +unalleviated. This, more than its beauty and its glorious climate, +makes Honolulu "Paradise" for the many who arrive here sick and +friendless. I notice that the people are very intimate with each +other, and generally address each other by their Christian names. +Very many are the descendants of the clerical and secular members of +the mission, and these, besides being naturally intimate, are +further drawn and held together by a society called "The Cousins' +Society," the objects of which are admirable. The people take an +intense interest in each other, and love each other unusually. +Possibly they may hate each other as cordially when occasion offers. +It is a charming town, and the society is delightful. I wish I were +well enough to enjoy it. + +For people in the early stages of consumption this climate is +perfect, owing to its equability, as also for bronchial affections. +Unlike the health resorts of the Mediterranean, Algeria, Madeira, +and Florida, where great summer heats or an unhealthy season compel +half-cured invalids to depart in the spring, to return the next +winter with fresh colds to begin the half-cure process again, people +can live here until they are completely cured, as the climate is +never unhealthy, and never too hot. Though the regular trades, +which blow for nine months of the year, have not yet set in, and the +mercury stands at 80 degrees, there is no sultriness: a tremulous +sea-breeze and a mountain breeze fan the town, and the purple +nights, when the stars hang out like lamps, and the moon gives a +light which is almost golden, are cool and delicious. Roughly +computed, the annual mean temperature is 75 degrees 55', with a +divergence in either direction of only 7 degrees 55'. As a general +rule the temperature is cooler by four degrees for every thousand +feet of altitude, so that people can choose their climate to suit +themselves without leaving the islands. + +I am gradually learning a little of the topography of this island +and of Honolulu, but the last is very intricate. The appearance of +Oahu from the sea is deceptive. It looks hardly larger than Arran, +but it is really forty-six miles long by twenty-five broad, and is +530 square miles in extent. Diamond Hill, or Leahi, is the most +prominent object south of the town, beyond the palm groves of +Waikiki. It is red and arid, except when, as now, it is verdure- +tinged by recent rains. Its height is 760 feet, and its crater +nearly as deep, but its cone is rapidly diminishing. Some years +ago, when the enormous quantity of thirty-six inches of rain fell in +one week, the degradation of both exterior and interior was +something incredible, and the same process is being carried on +slowly or rapidly at all times. The Punchbowl, immediately behind +Honolulu, is a crater of the same kind, but of yet more brilliant +colouring: so red is it indeed, that one might suppose that its +fires had but just died out. In 1786 an observer noted it as being +composed of high peaks; but atmospheric influences have reduced it +to the appearance of a single wasting tufa cone, similar to those +which stud the northern slopes of Mauna Kea. There are a number of +shore craters on the island, and six groups of tufa cones, but from +the disintegration of the lava, and the great depth of the soil in +many places, it is supposed that volcanic action ceased earlier than +on Maui or Hawaii. The shores are mostly fringed with coral reefs, +often half a mile in width, composed of cemented coral fragments, +shells, sand, and a growing species of zoophyte. The ancient reefs +are elevated thirty, forty, and even 100 feet in some places, +forming barriers which have changed lagoons into solid ground. +Honolulu was a bay or lagoon, protected from the sea by a coral reef +a mile wide; but the elevation of this reef twenty-five feet has +furnished a site for the capital, by converting the bay into a low +but beautifully situated plain. + +The mountainous range behind is a rocky wall with outlying ridges, +valleys of great size cutting the mountain to its core on either +side, until the culminating peaks of Waiolani and Konahuanui, 4000 +feet above the sea, seem as if rent in twain to form the Nuuanu +Valley. The windward side of this range is fertile, and is dotted +over with rice and sugar plantations, but the leeward side has not a +trace of the redundancy of the tropics, and this very barrenness +gives a unique charm to the exotic beauty of Honolulu. + +To me it is daily a fresh pleasure to stroll along the shady streets +and revel among palms and bananas, to see clusters of the granadilla +and night-blowing cereus mixed with the double blue pea, tumbling +over walls and fences, while the vermilion flowers of the Erythrina +umbrosa, like spikes of red coral, and the flaring magenta +Bougainvillea (which is not a flower at all, but an audacious freak +of terminal leaves) light up the shade, and the purple-leaved +Dracaena which we grow in pots for dinner-table ornament, is as +common as a weed. + +Besides this hotel, and the handsome but exaggerated and +inappropriate Government buildings not yet finished, there are few +"imposing edifices" here. The tasteful but temporary English +Cathedral, the Kaiwaiaho Church, diminished once to suit a dwindled +population, but already too large again; the prison, a clean, roomy +building, empty in the daytime, because the convicts are sent out to +labour on roads and public works; the Queen's Hospital for Curables, +for which Queen Emma and her husband became mendicants in Honolulu; +the Court House, a staring, unshaded building; and the Iolani +Palace, almost exhaust the category. Of this last, little can be +said, except that it is appropriate and proportioned to a kingdom of +56,000 souls, which is more than can be said of the income of the +king, the salaries of the ministers, and some other things. It +stands in pleasure-grounds of about an acre in extent, with a fine +avenue running through them, and is approached by a flight of steps +which leads to a tolerably spacious hall, decorated in the European +style. Portraits of Louis Philippe and his queen, presented by +themselves, and of the late Admiral Thomas, adorn the walls. The +Hawaiians have a profound respect for this officer's memory, as it +was through him that the sovereignty of the islands was promptly +restored to the native rulers, after the infamous affair of its +cession to England, as represented by Lord George Paulet. There are +also some ornamental vases and miniature copies of some of +Thorwaldsen's works. The throne-room takes up the left wing of the +palace. This unfortunately resembles a rather dreary drawing-room +in London or New York, and has no distinctive features except a +decorated chair, which is the Hawaiian throne. There is an Hawaiian +crown also, neither grand nor costly, but this I have not seen. At +present the palace is only used for state receptions and +entertainments, for the king is living at his private residence of +Haemoeipio, not far off. + +Miss W. kindly introduced me to Queen Emma, or Kaleleonalani, the +widowed queen of Kamehameha IV., whom you will remember as having +visited England a few years ago, when she received great attention. +She has one-fourth of English blood in her veins, but her complexion +is fully as dark as if she were of unmixed Hawaiian descent, and her +features, though refined by education and circumstances, are also +Hawaiian; but she is a very pretty, as well as a very graceful +woman. She was brought up by Dr. Rooke, an English physician here, +and though educated at the American school for the children of +chiefs, is very English in her leanings and sympathies, an attached +member of the English Church, and an ardent supporter of the +"Honolulu Mission." Socially she is very popular, and her exceeding +kindness and benevolence, with her strongly national feeling as an +Hawaiian, make her much beloved by the natives. + +The winter palace, as her town house is called, is a large shady +abode, like an old-fashioned New England house externally, but with +two deep verandahs, and the entrance is on the upper one. The lower +floor seemed given up to attendants and offices, and a native woman +was ironing clothes under a tree. Upstairs, the house is like a +tasteful English country house, with a pleasant English look, as if +its furniture and ornaments had been gradually accumulating during a +series of years, and possessed individual histories and +reminiscences, rather than as if they had been ordered together as +"plenishings" from stores. Indeed, it is the most English-looking +house I have seen since I left home, except Bishopscourt at +Melbourne. If there were a bell I did not see it; and we did not +ring, for the queen received us at the door of the drawing-room, +which was open. I had seen her before in European dress, driving a +pair of showy black horses in a stylish English phaeton; but on this +occasion she was not receiving visitors formally, and was indulging +in wearing the native holuku, and her black wavy hair was left to +its own devices. She is rather below the middle height, very young- +looking for her age, which is thirty-seven, and very graceful in her +movements. Her manner is indeed very fascinating from a combination +of unconscious dignity with ladylike simplicity. Her expression is +sweet and gentle, with the same look of sadness about her eyes that +the king has, but she has a brightness and archness of expression +which give a great charm to her appearance. She has sorrowed much: +first, for the death, at the age of four, of her only child, the +Prince of Hawaii, who when dying was baptized into the English +Church by the name of Albert Edward, Queen Victoria and the Prince +of Wales being his sponsors; and secondly, for the premature death +of her husband, to whom she was much attached. She speaks English +beautifully, only hesitating now and then for the most correct form +of expression. She spoke a good deal and with great pleasure of +England; and described Venice and the emotions it excited in her so +admirably, that I should like to have heard her describe all Europe. + +A few days afterwards I went to a garden party at her house. It was +a very pretty sight, and the "everybody" of Honolulu was there to +the number of 250. I must describe it for the benefit of ----, who +persists in thinking that coloured royalty must necessarily be +grotesque. People arrived shortly before sunset, and were received +by Queen Emma, who sat on the lawn, with her attendants about her, +very simply dressed in black silk. The king, at whose entrance the +band played the national anthem, stood on another lawn, where +presentations were made by the chamberlain; and those who were +already acquainted with him had an opportunity for a few minutes' +conversation. He was dressed in a very well-made black morning +suit, and wore the ribbon and star of the Austrian order of Francis +Joseph. His simplicity was atoned for by the superlative splendour +of his suite; the governor of Oahu, and the high chief Kalakaua, who +was a rival candidate for the throne, being conspicuously +resplendent. The basis of the costume appeared to be the Windsor +uniform, but it was smothered with epaulettes, cordons, and lace; +and each dignitary has a uniform peculiar to his office, so that the +display of gold lace was prodigious. The chiefs are so raised above +the common people in height, size, and general nobility of aspect, +that many have supposed them to be of a different race; and the alii +who represented the dwindled order that night were certainly superb +enough in appearance to justify the supposition. Beside their +splendour and stateliness, the forty officers of the English and +American war-ships, though all in full-dress uniform, looked +decidedly insignificant; and I doubt not that the natives who were +assembled outside the garden railings in crowds were not behind me +in making invidious comparisons. + +Chairs and benches were placed under the beautiful trees, and people +grouped themselves on these, and promenaded, flirted, talked +politics and gossip, or listened to the royal band, which played at +intervals, and played well. The dress of the ladies, whether white +or coloured, was both pretty and appropriate. Most of the younger +women were in white, and wore natural flowers in their hair; and +many of the elder ladies wore black or coloured silks, with lace and +trains. There were several beautiful leis of the gardenia, which +filled all the garden with their delicious odour. Tea and ices were +handed round on Sevres china by footmen and pages in appropriate +liveries. What a wonderful leap from calabashes and poi, malos and +paus, to this correct and tasteful civilization! As soon as the +brief amber twilight of the tropics was over, the garden was +suddenly illuminated by myriads of Chinese lanterns, and the effect +was bewitching. The upper suite of rooms was thrown open for those +who preferred dancing under cover; but I think that the greater part +of the assemblage chose the shady walks and purple night. Supper +was served at eleven, and the party broke up soon afterwards; but I +must confess that, charming as it was, I left before eight, for +society makes heavier demands on any strength than the rough open- +air life of Hawaii. + +The dwindling of the race is a most pathetic subject. Here is a +sovereign chosen amidst an outburst of popular enthusiasm, with a +cabinet, a legislature, and a costly and elaborate governing +machinery, sufficient in Yankee phrase to "run" an empire of several +millions, and here are only 49,000 native Hawaiians; and if the +decrease be not arrested, in a quarter of a century there will not +be an Hawaiian to govern. The chiefs, or alii, are a nearly extinct +order; and, with a few exceptions, those who remain are childless. +In riding through Hawaii I came everywhere upon traces of a once +numerous population, where the hill slopes are now only a wilderness +of guava scrub, and upon churches and school-houses all too large, +while in some hamlets the voices of young children were altogether +wanting. This nation, with its elaborate governmental machinery, +its churches and institutions, has to me the mournful aspect of a +shrivelled and wizened old man dressed in clothing much too big, the +garments of his once athletic and vigorous youth. Nor can I divest +myself of the idea that the laughing, flower-clad hordes of riders +who make the town gay with their presence, are but like butterflies +fluttering out their short lives in the sunshine, + + ". . . a wreck and residue, + Whose only business is to perish." + +The statistics on this subject are perfectly appalling. If we +reduce Captain Cook's estimate of the native population by one- +fourth, it was 300,000 in 1779. In 1872 it was only 49,000. The +first official census was in 1832, when the native population was +130,000. This makes the decrease 80,000 in forty years, or at the +rate of 2000 a year, and fixes the period for the final extinction +of the race in 1897, if that rate were to continue. It is a pity, +for many reasons, that it is dying out. It has shown a singular +aptitude for politics and civilization, and it would have been +interesting to watch the development of a strictly Polynesian +monarchy starting under passably fair conditions. Whites have +conveyed to these shores slow but infallible destruction on the one +hand, and on the other the knowledge of the life that is to come; +and the rival influences of blessing and cursing have now been fifty +years at work, producing results with which most reading people are +familiar. + +I have not heard the subject spoken of, but I should think that the +decrease in the population must cause the burden of taxation to +press heavily on that which remains. Kings, cabinet ministers, an +army, a police, a national debt, a supreme court, and common +schools, are costly luxuries or necessaries. The civil list is +ludicrously out of proportion to the resources of the islands, and +the heads of the four departments--Foreign Relations, Interior, +Finance, and Law(Attorney-General)--receive $5,000 a year each! +Expenses and salaries have been increasing for the last thirty +years. For schools alone every man between twenty-one and sixty +pays a tax of two dollars annually, and there is an additional +general tax for the same purpose. I suppose that there is not a +better educated country in the world. Education is compulsory; and +besides the primary schools, there are a number of academies, all +under Government supervision, and there are 324 teachers, or one for +every twenty-seven children. There is a Board of Education, and +Kamakau, its president, reported to the last biennial session of the +legislature that out of 8931 children between the ages of six and +fifteen, 8287 were actually attending school! Among other direct +taxes, every quadruped that can be called a horse, above two years +old, pays a dollar a year, and every dog a dollar and a half. Does +not all this sound painfully civilized? If the influence of the +tropics has betrayed me into rhapsody and ecstacy in earlier +letters, these dry details will turn the scale in favour of prosaic +sobriety! + +I have said little about Honolulu, except of its tropical beauty. +It does not look as if it had "seen better days." Its wharves are +well cared for, and its streets and roads are very clean. The +retail stores are generally to be found in two long streets which +run inland, and in a splay street which crosses both. The upper +storekeepers, with a few exceptions, are Americans, but one street +is nearly given up to Chinamen's stores, and one of the wealthiest +and most honourable merchants in the town is a Chinaman. There is +an ice factory, and icecream is included in the daily bill of fare +here, and iced water is supplied without limit, but lately the +machinery has only worked in spasms, and the absence of ice is +regarded as a local calamity, though the water supplied from the +waterworks is both cool and pure. There are two good photographers +and two booksellers. I don't think that plateglass fronts are yet +to be seen. Many of the storekeepers employ native "assistants;" +but the natives show little aptitude for mercantile affairs, or +indeed for the "splendid science" of money-making generally, and in +this respect contrast with the Chinamen, who, having come here as +Coolies, have contrived to secure a large share of the small traffic +of the islands. Most things are expensive, but they are good. I +have seen little of such decided rubbish as is to be found in the +cheap stores of London and Edinburgh, except in tawdry artificial +flowers. Good black silks are to be bought, and are as essential to +the equipment of a lady as at home. Saddles are to be had at most +of the stores, from the elaborate Mexican and Californian saddle, +worth from 30 to 50 dollars, to a worthless imitation of the English +saddle, dear at five. Boots and shoes, perhaps because in this +climate they are a mere luxury, are frightfully dear, and so are +books, writing paper, and stationery generally; a sheet of Bristol +board, which we buy at home for 6d., being half a dollar here. But +it is quite a pleasure to make purchases in the stores. There is so +much cordiality and courtesy that, as at this hotel, the bill +recedes into the background, and the purchaser feels the indebted +party. + +The money is extremely puzzling. These islands, like California, +have repudiated greenbacks, and the only paper currency is a small +number of treasury notes for large amounts. The coin in circulation +is gold and silver, but gold is scarce, which is an incovenience to +people who have to carry a large amount of money about with them. +The coinage is nominally that of the United States, but the dollars +are Mexican, or French 5 franc pieces, and people speak of "rials," +which have no existence here, and of "bits," a Californian slang +term for 12.5 cents, a coin which to my knowledge does not exist +anywhere. A dime, or 10 cents, is the lowest coin I have seen, and +copper is not in circulation. An envelope, a penny bottle of ink, a +pencil, a spool of thread, cost 10 cents each; postage-stamps cost 2 +cents each for inter-island postage, but one must buy five of them, +and dimes slip away quickly and imperceptibly. There is a loss on +English money, as half-a-crown only passes for a half-dollar, +sixpence for a dime, and so forth; indeed, the average loss seems to +be about twopence in the shilling. + +There are four newspapers: the Honolulu Gazette, the Pacific +Commercial Advertiser, Ka Nupepa Kuokoa (the "Independent Press"), +and a lately started spasmodic sheet, partly in English and partly +in Hawaiian, the Nuhou (News). {270} The two first are moral and +respectable, but indulge in the American sins of personalities and +mutual vituperation. The Nuhou is scurrilous and diverting, and +appears "run" with a special object, which I have not as yet +succeeded in unravelling from its pungent but not always +intelligible pages. I think perhaps the writing in each paper has +something of the American tendency to hysteria and convulsions, +though these maladies are mild as compared with the "real thing" in +the Alta California, which is largely taken here. Besides these +there are monthly sheets called The Friend, the oldest paper in the +Pacific, edited by good "Father Damon," and the Church Messenger, +edited by Bishop Willis, partly devotional and partly devoted to the +Honolulu Mission. All our popular American and English literature +is read here, and I have hardly seen a table without "Scribner's" or +"Harper's Monthly" or "Good Words." + +I have lived far too much in America to feel myself a stranger +where, as here, American influence and customs are dominant; but the +English who are in Honolulu just now, in transitu from New Zealand, +complain bitterly of its "Yankeeism," and are very far from being at +home, and I doubt not that Mr. M---, whom you will see, will not +confirm my favourable description. It is quite true that the +islands are Americanized, and with the exception of the Finance +Minister, who is a Scotchman, Americans "run" the Government and +fill the Chief Justiceship and other high offices of State. It is, +however, perfectly fair, for Americans have civilized and +Christianized Hawaii-nei, and we have done little except make an +unjust and afterwards disavowed seizure of the islands. + +On looking over this letter I find it an olla podrida of tropical +glories, royal festivities, finance matters, and odds and ends in +general. I dare say you will find it dull after my letters from +Hawaii, but there are others who will prefer its prosaic details to +Kilauea and Waimanu; and I confess that, amidst the general +lusciousness of tropical life, I myself enjoy the dryness and +tartness of statistics, and hard uncoloured facts. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XIX. + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU. + +My latest news of you is five months old, and though I have not the +slightest expectation that I shall hear from you, I go up to the +roof to look out for the "Rolling Moses" with more impatience and +anxiety than those whose business journeys are being delayed by her +non-arrival. If such an unlikely thing were to happen as that she +were to bring a letter, I should be much tempted to stay five months +longer on the islands rather than try the climate of Colorado, for I +have come to feel at home, people are so very genial, and suggest so +many plans for my future enjoyment, the islands in their physical +and social aspects are so novel and interesting, and the climate is +unrivalled and restorative. + +Honolulu has not yet lost the charm of novelty for me. I am never +satiated with its exotic beauties, and the sight of a kaleidoscopic +whirl of native riders is always fascinating. The passion for +riding, in a people who only learned equitation in the last +generation, is most curious. It is very curious, too, to see women +incessantly enjoying and amusing themselves in riding, swimming, and +making leis. They have few home ties in the shape of children, and +I fear make them fewer still by neglecting them for the sake of +riding and frolic, and man seems rather the help-meet than the +"oppressor" of woman; though I believe that the women have abandoned +that right of choosing their husbands, which, it is said, that they +exercised in the old days. Used to the down-trodden look and +harrassed care-worn faces of the over-worked women of the same class +at home, and in the colonies, the laughing, careless faces of the +Hawaiian women have the effect upon me of a perpetual marvel. But +the expression generally has little of the courteousness, innocence, +and childishness of the negro physiognomy. The Hawaiians are a +handsome people, scornful and sarcastic-looking even with their +mirthfulness; and those who know them say that they are always +quizzing and mimicking the haoles, and that they give everyone a +nickname, founded on some personal peculiarity. + +The women are free from our tasteless perversity as to colour and +ornament, and have an instinct of the becoming. At first the +holuku, which is only a full, yoke nightgown, is not attractive, but +I admire it heartily now, and the sagacity of those who devised it. +It conceals awkwardness, and befits grace of movement; it is fit for +the climate, is equally adapted for walking and riding, and has that +general appropriateness which is desirable in costume. The women +have a most peculiar walk, with a swinging motion from the hip at +each step, in which the shoulder sympathises. I never saw anything +at all like it. It has neither the delicate shuffle of the +Frenchwoman, the robust, decided jerk of the Englishwoman, the +stately glide of the Spaniard, or the stealthiness of the squaw; and +I should know a Hawaiian woman by it in any part of the world. A +majestic wahine with small, bare feet, a grand, swinging, deliberate +gait, hibiscus blossoms in her flowing hair, and a le of yellow +flowers falling over her holuku, marching through these streets, has +a tragic grandeur of appearance, which makes the diminutive, fair- +skinned haole, tottering along hesitatingly in high-heeled shoes, +look grotesque by comparison. + +On Saturday, our kind host took Mrs. D. and myself to the market, +where we saw the natives in all their glory. The women, in squads +of a dozen at a time, their Pa-us streaming behind them, were +cantering up and down the streets, and men and women were thronging +into the market-place; a brilliant, laughing, joking crowd, their +jaunty hats trimmed with fresh flowers, and leis of the crimson ohia +and orange lauhala falling over their costumes, which were white, +green, black, scarlet, blue, and every other colour that can be dyed +or imagined. The market is a straggling, open space, with a number +of shabby stalls partially surrounding it, but really we could not +see the place for the people. There must have been 2000 there. + +Some of the stalls were piled up with wonderful fish, crimson, +green, rose, blue, opaline--fish that have spent their lives in +coral groves under the warm, bright water. Some of them had +wonderful shapes too, and there was one that riveted my attention +and fascinated me. It was, I thought at first, a heap, composed of +a dog fish, some limpets, and a multitude of water snakes, and other +abominable forms; but my eyes slowly informed me of the fact, which +I took in reluctantly and with extreme disgust, that the whole +formed one living monster, a revolting compound of a large paunch +with eyes, and a multitude of nervy, snaky, out-reaching, twining, +grasping, tentacular arms, several feet in length, I should think, +if extended, but then lying in a crowded undulating heap; the +creature was dying, and the iridescence was passing over what seemed +to be its body in waves of colour, such as glorify the last hour of +the dolphin. But not the colours of the rainbow could glorify this +hideous, abominable form, which ought to be left to riot in ocean +depths, with its loathsome kindred. You have read "Les Travailleurs +du Mer," and can imagine with what feelings I looked upon a living +Devil-fish! The monster is much esteemed by the natives as an +article of food, and indeed is generally relished. I have seen it +on foreign tables, salted, under the name of squid. {276} + +We passed on to beautiful creatures, the kihi-kihi, or sea-cock, +with alternate black and yellow transverse bands on his body; the +hinalea, like a glorified mullet, with bright green, longitudinal +bands on a dark shining head, a purple body of different shades, and +a blue spotted tail with a yellow tip. The Ohua too, a pink scaled +fish, shaped like a trout; the opukai, beautifully striped and +mottled; the mullet and flying fish as common here as mackerel at +home; the hala, a fine pink-fleshed fish, the albicore, the bonita, +the manini striped black and white, and many others. There was an +abundance of opilu or limpets, also the pipi, a small oyster found +among the coral; the ula, as large as a clawless lobster, but more +beautiful and variegated; and turtles which were cheap and +plentiful. Then there were purple-spiked sea urchins, black-spiked +sea eggs or wana, and ina or eggs without spikes, and many other +curiosities of the bright Pacific. It was odd to see the pearly +teeth of a native meeting in some bright-coloured fish, while the +tail hung out of his mouth, for they eat fish raw, and some of them +were obviously at the height of epicurean enjoyment. Seaweed and +fresh-water weed are much relished by Hawaiians, and there were four +or five kinds for sale, all included in the term limu. Some of this +was baked, and put up in balls weighing one pound each. There were +packages of baked fish, and dried fish, and of many other things +which looked uncleanly and disgusting; but no matter what the +package was, the leaf of the Ti tree was invariably the wrapping, +tied round with sennet, the coarse fibre obtained from the husk of +the cocoa-nut. Fish, here, averages about ten cents per pound, and +is dearer than meat; but in many parts of the islands it is cheap +and abundant. + +There is a ferment going on in this kingdom, mainly got up by the +sugar planters and the interests dependent on them, and two +political lectures have lately been given in the large hall of the +hotel in advocacy of their views; one, on annexation, by Mr. +Phillips, who has something of the oratorical gift of his cousin, +Wendell Phillips; and the other, on a reciprocity treaty, by Mr. +Carter. Both were crowded by ladies and gentlemen, and the first +was most enthusiastically received. Mrs. D. and I usually spend our +evenings in writing and working in the verandah, or in each other's +rooms; but I have become so interested in the affairs of this little +state, that in spite of the mosquitos, I attended both lectures, but +was not warmed into sympathy with the views of either speaker. + +I daresay that some of my friends here would quarrel with my +conclusions, but I will briefly give the data on which they are +based. The census of 1872 gives the native population at 49,044 +souls; of whom, 700 are lepers; and it is DECREASING at the rate of +from 1,200 to 2,000 a year, while the excess of native males over +females on the islands is 3,216. The foreign population is 5,366, +and it is INCREASING at the rate of 200 a year; and the number of +half-castes of all nations has INCREASED at the rate of 140 a year. +The Chinese, who came here originally as plantation coolies, +outnumber all the other nationalities together, excluding the +Americans; but the Americans constitute the ruling and the monied +class. Sugar is the reigning interest on the islands, and it is +almost entirely in American hands. It is burdened here by the +difficulty of procuring labour, and at San Francisco by a heavy +import duty. There are thirty-five plantations on the islands, and +there is room for fifty more. The profit, as it is, is hardly worth +mentioning, and few of the planters do more than keep their heads +above water. Plantations which cost $50,000 have been sold for +$15,000; and others, which cost $150,000 have been sold for $40,000. +If the islands were annexed, and the duty taken off, many of these +struggling planters would clear $50,000 a year and upwards. So, no +wonder that Mr. Phillips's lecture was received with enthusiastic +plaudits. It focussed all the clamour I have heard on Hawaii and +elsewhere, exalted the "almighty dollar," and was savoury with the +odour of coming prosperity. But he went far, very far; he has +aroused a cry among the natives "Hawaii for the Hawaiians," which, +very likely, may breed mischief; for I am very sure that this brief +civilization has not quenched the "red fire" of race; and his hint +regarding the judicious disposal of the king in the event of +annexation, was felt by many of the more sober whites to be highly +impolitic. + +The reciprocity treaty, very lucidly advocated by Mr. Carter, and +which means the cession of a lagoon with a portion of circumjacent +territory on this island, to the United States, for a Pacific naval +station, meets with more general favour as a safer measure; but the +natives are indisposed to bribe the great Republic to remit the +sugar duties by the surrender of a square inch of Hawaiian soil; +and, from a British point of view, I heartily sympathise with them. +Foreign, i.e. American, feeling is running high upon the subject. +People say that things are so bad that something must be done, and +it remains to be seen whether natives or foreigners can exercise the +strongest pressure on the king. I was unfavourably impressed in +both lectures by the way in which the natives and their interests +were quietly ignored, or as quietly subordinated to the sugar +interest. + +It is never safe to forecast destiny; yet it seems most probable +that sooner or later in this century, the closing catastrophe must +come. The more thoughtful among the natives acquiesce helplessly +and patiently in their advancing fate; but the less intelligent, as +I had some opportunity of hearing at Hilo, are becoming restive and +irritable, and may drift into something worse if the knowledge of +the annexationist views of the foreigners is diffused among them. +Things are preparing for change, and I think that the Americans will +be wise in their generation if they let them ripen for many years to +come. Lunalilo has a broken constitution, and probably will not +live long. Kalakaua will probably succeed him, and "after him the +deluge," unless he leaves a suitable successor, for there are no +more chiefs with pre-eminent claims to the throne. The feeling +among the people is changing, the feudal instinct is disappearing, +the old despotic line of the Kamehamehas is extinct; and king-making +by paper ballots, introduced a few months ago, is an approximation +to president-making, with the canvassing, stumping, and wrangling, +incidental to such a contested election. Annexation, or peaceful +absorption, is the "manifest destiny" of the islands, with the +probable result lately most wittily prophesied by Mark Twain in the +New York Tribune, but it is impious and impolitic to hasten it. +Much as I like America, I shrink from the day when her universal +political corruption and her unrivalled political immorality shall +be naturalised on Hawaii-nei. . . . Sunday evening. The "Rolling +Moses" is in, and Sabbatic quiet has given place to general +excitement. People thought they heard her steaming in at 4 a.m., +and got up in great agitation. Her guns fired during morning +service, and I doubt whether I or any other person heard another +word of the sermon. The first batch of letters for the hotel came, +but none for me; the second, none for me; and I had gone to my room +in cold despair, when some one tossed a large package in at my +verandah door, and to my infinite joy I found that one of my benign +fellow-passengers in the Nevada, had taken the responsibility of +getting my letters at San Francisco and forwarding them here. I +don't know how to be grateful enough to the good man. With such +late and good news, everything seems bright; and I have at once +decided to take the first schooner for the leeward group, and remain +four months longer on the islands. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XX. + +KOLOA, KAUAI, March 23rd. + +I am spending a few days on some quaint old mission premises, and +the "guest house," where I am lodged, is a dobe house, with walls +two feet thick, and a very thick grass roof comes down six feet all +round to shade the windows. It is itself shaded by date palms and +algarobas, and is surrounded by hibiscus, oleanders, and the datura +arborea(?), which at night fill the air with sweetness. I am the +only guest, and the solitude of the guest house in which I am +writing is most refreshing to tired nerves. There is not a sound +but the rustling of trees. + +The first event to record is that the trade winds have set in, and +though they may yet yield once or twice to the kona, they will soon +be firmly established for nine months. They are not soft airs as I +supposed, but riotous, rollicking breezes, which keep up a constant +clamour, blowing the trees about, slamming doors, taking liberties +with papers, making themselves heard and felt everywhere, flecking +the blue Pacific with foam, lowering the mercury three degrees, +bringing new health and vigour with them,--wholesome, cheery, +frolicsome north-easters. They brought me here from Oahu in +eighteen hours, for which I thank them heartily. + +You will think me a Sybarite for howling about those eighteen hours +of running to leeward, when the residents of Kauai, if they have to +go to Honolulu in the intervals between the quarterly trips of the +Kilauea, have to spend from three to nine days in beating to +windward. These inter-island voyages of extreme detention, rolling +on a lazy swell in tropical heat, or beating for days against the +strong trades without shelter from the sun, and without anything +that could be called accommodation, were among the inevitable +hardships to which the missionaries' wives and children were exposed +in every migration for nearly forty years. + +When I reached the wharf at Honolulu the sight of the Jenny, the +small sixty-ton schooner by which I was to travel, nearly made me +give up this pleasant plan, so small she looked, and so cumbered +with natives and their accompaniments of mats, dogs, and calabashes +of poi. But she is clean, and as sweet as a boat can be which +carries through the tropics cattle, hides, sugar, and molasses. She +is very low in the water, her deck is the real "fisherman's walk, +two steps and overboard;" and on this occasion was occupied solely +by natives. The Attorney General and Mrs. Judd were to have been my +fellow voyagers, but my disappointment at their non-appearance was +considerably mitigated by the fact that there was not stowage room +for more than one white passenger! Mrs. Dexter pitied me heartily, +for it made her quite ill to look down the cabin hatch; but I +convinced her that no inconveniences are legitimate subjects for +sympathy which are endured in the pursuit of pleasure. There was +just room on deck for me to sit on a box, and the obliging, +gentlemanly master, who, with his son and myself, were the only +whites on board, sat on the taffrail. + +The Jenny spread her white duck sails, glided gracefully away from +the wharf, and bounded through the coral reef; the red sunlight +faded, the stars came out, the Honolulu light went down in the +distance, and in two hours the little craft was out of sight of land +on the broad, crisp Pacific. It was so chilly, that after admiring +as long as I could, I dived into the cabin, a mere den, with a +table, and a berth on each side, in one of which I lay down, and the +other was alternately occupied by the captain and his son. But +limited as I thought it, boards have been placed across on some +occasions, and eleven whites have been packed into a space six feet +by eight! The heat and suffocation were nearly intolerable, the +black flies swarming, the mosquitos countless and vicious, the fleas +agile beyond anything, and the cockroaches gigantic. Some of the +finer cargo was in the cabin, and large rats, only too visible by +the light of a swinging lamp, were assailing it, and one with a +portentous tail ran over my berth more than once, producing a +stampede among the cockroaches each time. I have seldom spent a +more miserable night, though there was the extreme satisfaction of +knowing that every inch of canvas was drawing. + +Towards morning the short jerking motion of a ship close hauled, +made me know that we were standing in for the land, and at daylight +we anchored in Koloa Roads. The view is a pleasant one. The rains +have been abundant, and the land, which here rises rather gradually +from the sea, is dotted with houses, abounds in signs of +cultivation, and then spreads up into a rolling country between +precipitous ranges of mountains. The hills look something like +those of Oahu, but their wonderful greenness denotes a cooler +climate and more copious rains, also their slopes and valleys are +densely wooded, and Kauai obviously has its characteristic features, +one of which must certainly be a superabundance of that most +unsightly cactus, the prickly pear, to which the motto nemo me +impune lacessit most literally applies. + +I had not time to tell you before that this trip to Kauai was +hastily arranged for me by several of my Honolulu friends, some of +whom gave me letters of introduction, while others wrote forewarning +their friends of my arrival. I am often reminded of Hazael's +question, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" +There is no inn or boarding house on the island, and I had hitherto +believed that I could not be concussed into following the usual +custom whereby a traveller throws himself on the hospitality of the +residents. Yet, under the influence of Honolulu persuasions, I am +doing this very thing, but with an amount of mauvaise honte and +trepidation, which I will not voluntarily undergo again. + +My first introduction was to Mrs. Smith, wife of a secular member of +the Mission, and it requested her to find means of forwarding me a +distance of twenty-three miles. Her son was at the landing with a +buggy, a most unpleasant index of the existence of carriage roads, +and brought me here; and Mrs. Smith most courteously met me at the +door. When I presented my letter I felt like a thief detected in a +first offence, but I was at once made welcome, and my kind hosts +insist on my remaining with them for some days. Their house is a +pretty old-fashioned looking tropical dwelling, much shaded by +exotics, and the parlour is homelike with new books. There are two +sons and two daughters at home, all, as well as their parents, +interesting themselves assiduously in the welfare of the natives. +Six bright-looking native girls are receiving an industrial training +in the house. Yesterday being Sunday, the young people taught a +Sunday school twice, besides attending the native church, an act of +respect to Divine service in Hawaiian which always has an influence +on the native attendance. + +We have had some beautiful rides in the neighbourhood. It is a +wild, lonely, picturesque coast, and the Pacific moans along it, +casting itself on it in heavy surges, with a singularly dreary +sound. There are some very fine specimens of the phenomena called +"blow-holes" on the shore, not like the "spouting cave" at Iona, +however. We spent a long time in watching the action of one, though +not the finest. At half tide this "spouting horn" throws up a +column of water over sixty feet in height from a very small orifice, +and the effect of the compressed air rushing through a crevice near +it, sometimes with groans and shrieks, and at others with a hollow +roar like the warning fog-horn on a coast, is magnificent, when, as +to-day, there is a heavy swell on the coast. + +Kauai is much out of the island world, owing to the infrequent +visits of the Kilauea, but really it is only twelve hours by steam +from the capital. Strangers visit it seldom, as it has no active +volcano like Hawaii, or colossal crater like Maui, or anything +sensational of any kind. It is called the "Garden Island," and has +no great wastes of black lava and red ash like its neighbours. It +is queerly shaped, almost circular, with a diameter of from twenty- +eight to thirty miles, and its area is about 500 square miles. +Waialeale, its highest mountain, is 4,800 feet high, but little is +known of it, for it is swampy and dangerous, and a part of it is a +forest-covered and little explored tableland, terminating on the sea +in a range of perpendicular precipices 2,000 feet in depth, so steep +it is said, that a wild cat could not get round them. Owing to +these, and the virtual inaccessibility of a large region behind +them, no one can travel round the island by land, and small as it +is, very little seems to be known of portions of its area. + +Kauai has apparently two centres of formation, and its mountains are +thickly dotted with craters. The age and density of the vegetation +within and without those in this Koloa district, indicate a very +long cessation from volcanic action. It is truly an oddly contrived +island. An elevated rolling region, park-like, liberally ornamented +with clumps of ohia, lauhala, hau, (hibiscus) and koa, and +intersected with gullies full of large eugenias, lies outside the +mountain spurs behind Koloa. It is only the tropical trees, +specially the lauhala or "screw pine," the whimsical shapes of +outlying ridges, which now and then lie like the leaves in a book, +and the strange forms of extinct craters, which distinguish it from +some of our most beautiful park scenery, such as Windsor Great Park +or Belvoir. It is a soft tranquil beauty, and a tolerable road +which owes little enough to art, increases the likeness to the sweet +home scenery of England. In this part of the island the ground +seems devoid of stones, and the grass is as fine and smooth as a +race course. + +The latest traces of volcanic action are found here. From the Koloa +Ridge to, and into the sea, a barren uneven surface of pahoehoe +extends, often bulged up in immense bubbles, some of which have +partially burst, leaving caverns, one of which, near the shore, is +paved with the ancient coral reef! + +The valleys of Kauai are long, and widen to the sea, and their dark +rich soil is often ten feet deep. On the windward side the rivers +are very numerous and picturesque. Between the strong winds and the +lightness of the soil, I should think that like some parts of the +Highlands, "it would take a shower every day." The leeward side, +quite close to the sea, is flushed and nearly barren, but there is +very little of this desert region. Kauai is less legible in its +formation than the other islands. Its mountains, from their +impenetrable forests, dangerous breaks, and swampiness, are +difficult of access, and its ridges are said to be more utterly +irregular, its lavas more decomposed, and its natural sections more +completely smothered under a profuse vegetation than those of any +other island in the tropical Pacific. Geologists suppose, from the +degradation of its ridges, and the absence of any recent volcanic +products, that it is the oldest of the group, but so far as I have +read, none of them venture to conjecture how many ages it has taken +to convert its hard basalt into the rich soil which now sustains +trees of enormous size. If this theory be correct, the volcanoes +must have gone on dying out from west to east, from north to south, +till only Kilauea remains, and its energies appear to be declining. +The central mountain of this island is built of a heavy ferruginous +basalt, but the shore ridges contain less iron, are more porous, and +vary in their structure from a compact phonolite, to a ponderous +basalt. + +The population of Kauai is a widely scattered one of 4,900, and as +it is an out of the world region the people are probably better, and +less sophisticated. They are accounted rustics, or "pagans," in the +classical sense, elsewhere. Horses are good and very cheap, and the +natives of both sexes are most expert riders. Among their feats, +are picking up small coins from the ground while going at full +gallop, or while riding at the same speed wringing off the heads of +unfortunate fowls, whose bodies are buried in the earth. + +There are very few foreigners, and they appear on the whole a good +set, and very friendly among each other. Many of them are actively +interested in promoting the improvement of the natives, but it is +uphill work, and ill-rewarded, at least on earth. The four sugar +plantations employ a good deal of Chinese labour, and I fear that +the Chinamen are stealthily tempting the Hawaiians to smoke opium. + +All the world over, however far behind aborigines are in the useful +arts, they exercise a singular ingenuity in devising means for +intoxicating and stupifying themselves. On these islands +distillation is illegal, and a foreigner is liable to conviction and +punishment for giving spirits to a native Hawaiian, yet the natives +contrive to distil very intoxicating drinks, specially from the root +of the ti tree, and as the spirit is unrectified it is both fiery +and unwholesome. Licences to sell spirits are confined to the +capital. In spite of the notoriously bad effect of alcohol in the +tropics, people drink hard, and the number of deaths which can be +distinctly traced to spirit drinking is quite startling. + +The prohibition on selling liquor to natives is the subject of +incessant discussions and "interpellations" in the national +legislature. Probably all the natives agree in regarding it as a +badge of the "inferiority of colour;" but I have been told generally +that the most intelligent and thoughtful among them are in favour of +its continuance, on the ground that if additional facilities for +drinking were afforded, the decrease in the population would be +accelerated. In the printed "Parliamentary Proceedings," I see that +petitions are constantly presented praying that the distillation of +spirits may be declared free, while a few are in favour of "total +prohibition." Another prayer is "that Hawaiians may have the same +privileges as white people in buying and drinking spirituous +liquors." + +A bill to repeal the invidious distinction was brought into the +legislature not long since; but the influence of the descendants of +the missionaries and of an influential part of the white community +is so strongly against spirit drinking, as well as against the sale +of drink to the natives, that the law remains on the Statute-book. + +The tone in which it was discussed is well indicated by the language +of Kalakaua, the present king's rival: "The restrictions imposed by +this law do the people no good, but rather harm; for instead of +inculcating the principles of honour, they teach them to steal +behind the bar, the stable, and the closet, where they may be +sheltered from the eyes of the law. The heavy licence imposed on +the liquor dealers, and the prohibition against selling to the +natives are an infringement of our civil rights, binding not only +the purchaser but the dealer against acquiring and possessing +property. Then, Mr. President, I ask, where lies virtue, where lies +justice? Not in those that bind the liberty of this people, by +refusing them the privilege that they now crave, of drinking +spirituous liquors without restriction. Will you by persisting that +this law remain in force make us a nation of hypocrites? or will you +repeal it, that honour and virtue may for once be yours, O Hawaii." +A committee of the Assembly, in reporting on the question of the +prohibition of the sale of intoxicants to anybody, through its +chairman, Mr. Carter, stated, "Experience teaches that such +prohibition could not be enforced without a strong public sentiment +to indorse it, and such a sentiment does not prevail in this +community, as is evidenced by the fact that the sale of intoxicating +drinks to natives is largely practised in defiance of law and the +executive, and that the manufacture of intoxicating drinks, though +prohibited, is carried on in every district of the kingdom." So the +question which is rising in every country ruled or colonised by +Anglo-Saxons, is also agitated here with very strong feeling on both +sides. + +I was led to this digression by seeing, for the first time, some +very fine plants of the Piper methysticum. This is awa, truly a +"plant of renown" throughout Polynesia. Strange tales are told of +it. It is said to produce profound sleep, with visions more +enchanting than those of opium or hasheesh, and that its repetition, +instead of being deleterious, is harmless and even wholesome. Its +sale is prohibited, except on the production of evidence that it has +been prescribed as a drug. Nevertheless no law on the islands is so +grossly violated. It is easy to GIVE it, and easy to grow it, or +dig it up in the woods, so that, in spite of the legal restrictions, +it is used to an enormous extent. It was proposed absolutely to +prohibit the sale of it, though the sum paid for the licence is no +inconsiderable item in the revenue of a kingdom, which, like many +others, is experiencing the difficulty of "making both ends meet;" +but the committee which sat upon the subject reported "that such +prohibition is not practicable, unless its growth and cultivation +are prevented. So long as public sentiment permits the open +violation of the existing laws regulating its sale without rebuke, +so long will it be of little use to attempt prohibition." One +cannot be a day on the islands without hearing wonderful stories +about awa; and its use is defended by some who are strongly opposed +to the use as well as abuse of intoxicants. People who like "The +Earl and the Doctor" delight themselves in the strongly sensuous +element which pervades Polynesian life, delight themselves too, in +contemplating the preparation and results of the awa beverage; but +both are to me extremely disgusting, and I cannot believe that a +drink, which stupifies the senses, and deprives a human being of the +power to exercise reason and will, is anything but hurtful to the +moral nature. + +While passing the Navigator group, one of my fellow-passengers, who +had been for some time in Tutuila, described the preparation of awa +poetically, the root "being masticated by the pearly teeth of dusky +flower-clad maidens;" but I was an accidental witness of a nocturnal +"awa drinking" on Hawaii, and saw nothing but very plain prose. I +feel as if I must approach the subject mysteriously. I had no time +to tell you of the circumstance when it occurred, when also I was +completely ignorant that it was an illegal affair; and, now with a +sort of "guilty knowledge" I tremble to relate what I saw, and to +divulge that though I could not touch the beverage, I tasted the +root, which has an acrid pungent taste, something like horse-radish, +with an aromatic flavour in addition, and I can imagine that the +acquired taste for it must, like other acquired tastes, be perfectly +irresistible, even without the additional gratification of the +results which follow its exercise. + +In the particular instance which I saw, two girls who were not +beautiful, and an old man who would have been hideous but for a set +of sound regular teeth, were sitting on the ground masticating the +awa root, the process being contemplated with extreme interest by a +number of adults. When, by careful chewing, they had reduced the +root to a pulpy consistence, they tossed it into a large calabash, +and relieved their mouths of superfluous saliva before preparing a +fresh mouthful. This went on till a considerable quantity was +provided, and then water was added, and the mass was kneaded and +stirred with the hands till it looked like soap suds. It was then +strained; and after more water had been added it was poured into +cocoa-nut calabashes, and handed round. Its appearance eventually +was like weak, frothy coffee and milk. The appearance of purely +animal gratification on the faces of those who drank it, instead of +being poetic, was of the low gross earth. Heads thrown back, lips +parted with a feeble sensual smile, eyes hazy and unfocussed, arms +folded on the breast, and the mental faculties numbed and sliding +out of reach. + +Those who drink it pass through the stage of idiocy into a deep +sleep, which it is said can be reproduced once without an extra +dose, by bathing in cold water. Confirmed awa drinkers might be +mistaken for lepers, for they are covered with whitish scales, and +have inflamed eyes and a leathery skin, for the epidermis is +thickened and whitened, and eventually peels off. The habit has +been adopted by not a few whites, specially on Hawaii, though, of +course, to a certain extent clandestinely. Awa is taken also as a +medicine, and was supposed to be a certain cure for corpulence. + +The root and base of the stem are the parts used, and it is best +when these are fresh. It seems to exercise a powerful fascination, +and to be loved and glorified as whisky is in Scotland, and wine in +southern Europe. In some of the other islands of Polynesia, on +festive occasions, when the chewed root is placed in the calabash, +and the water is poured on, the whole assemblage sings appropriate +songs in its praise; and this is kept up until the decoction has +been strained to its dregs. But here, as the using it as a beverage +is an illicit process, a great mystery attends it. It is said that +awa drinking is again on the increase, and with the illicit +distillation of unwholesome spirits, and the illicit sale of +imported spirits and the opium smoking, the consumption of +stimulants and narcotics on the islands is very considerable. {295} + +To turn from drink to climate. It is strange that with such a heavy +rainfall, dwellings built on the ground and never dried by fires +should be so perfectly free from damp as they are. On seeing the +houses here and in Honolulu, buried away in dense foliage, my first +thought was, "how lovely in summer, but how unendurably damp in +winter," forgetting that I arrived in the nominal winter, and that +it is really summer all the year. Lest you should think that I am +perversely exaggerating the charms of the climate, I copy a sentence +from a speech made by Kamehameha IV., at the opening of an Hawaiian +agricultural society:-- + +"Who ever heard of winter on our shores? Where among us shall we +find the numberless drawbacks which, in less favoured countries, the +labourer has to contend with? They have no place in our beautiful +group, which rests like a water lily on the swelling bosom of the +Pacific. The heaven is tranquil above our heads, and the sun keeps +his jealous eye upon us every day, while his rays are so tempered +that they never wither prematurely what they have warmed into life." +{296} The kindness of my hosts is quite overwhelming. They will +not hear of my buying a horse, but insist on my taking away with me +the one which I have been riding since I came, the best I have +ridden on the islands, surefooted, fast, easy, and ambitious. I +have complete sympathy with the passion which the natives have for +riding. Horses are abundant and cheap on Kauai: a fairly good one +can be bought for $20. I think every child possesses one. Indeed +the horses seem to outnumber the people. + +The eight native girls who are being trained and educated here as a +"family school" have their horses, and go out to ride as English +children go for a romp into a play-ground. Yesterday Mrs. S. said, +"Now, girls, get the horses," and soon two little creatures of eight +and ten came galloping up on two spirited animals. They had not +only caught and bridled them, but had put on the complicated Mexican +saddles as securely as if men had done it; and I got a lesson from +them in making the Mexican knot with the thong which secures the +cinch, which will make me independent henceforward. + +These children can all speak English, and their remarks are most +original and amusing. They have not a particle of respect of +manner, as we understand it, but seem very docile. They are naive +and fascinating in their manners, and the most joyous children I +ever saw. When they are not at their lessons, or household +occupations, they are dancing on stilts, acting plays of their own +invention, riding or bathing, and they laugh all day long. Mrs. S. +has trained nearly seventy since she has been here. If there were +nothing else they see family life in a pure and happy form, which +must in itself be a moral training, and by dint of untiring +watchfulness they are kept aloof from the corrupt native +associations. Indeed they are not allowed to have any intercourse +with natives, for, according to one of the missionaries who has +spent many years on the islands: "None know or can conceive without +personal observation the nameless taint that pervades the whole +garrulous talk and gregarious life of all heathen peoples, and above +which our poor Hawaiian friends have not yet risen." Of this +universal impurity of speech every one speaks in the strongest +terms, and careful white parents not only seclude their children in +early years from unrestrained intercourse with the natives, but +prevent them from acquiring the Hawaiian tongue. In this respect +the training of native girls involves a degree of patient +watchfulness which must at times press heavily on those who +undertake it, as the carefulness of years might fail of its result, +if it were intermitted for one afternoon. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXI. + +MAKAUELI, KAUAI. + +After my letters from Hawaii, and their narratives of volcanoes, +freshets, and out of the world valleys, you will think my present +letters dull, so I must begin this one pleasantly, by telling you +that though I have no stirring adventures to relate, I am enjoying +myself and improving again in health, and that the people are +hospitable, genial, and cultivated, and that Kauai, though +altogether different from Hawaii, has an extreme beauty altogether +its own, which wins one's love, though it does not startle one into +admiration like that of the Hawaiian gulches. Is it because that, +though the magic of novelty is over it, there is a perpetual +undercurrent of home resemblance? The dash of its musical waters +might be in Cumberland; its swelling uplands, with their clumps of +trees, might be in Kent; and then again, steep, broken, wooded +ridges, with glades of grass, suggest the Val Moutiers; and broader +sweeps of mountain outline, the finest scenery of the Alleghanies. + +But yet the very things which have a certain tenderness of +familiarity, are in a foreign setting. The great expanse of restful +sea, so faintly blue all day, and so faintly red in the late +afternoon, is like no other ocean in its unutterable peace; and this +joyous, riotous trade-wind, which rustles the trees all day, and +falls asleep at night, and cools the air, seems to come from some +widely different laboratory than that in which our vicious east +winds, and damp west winds, and piercing north winds, and +suffocating south winds are concocted. Here one cannot ride "into +the teeth of a north-easter," for such the trade-wind really is, +without feeling at once invigorated, and wrapped in an atmosphere of +balm. It is not here so tropical looking as in Hawaii, and though +there are not the frightful volcanic wildernesses which make a +thirsty solitude in the centre of that island, neither are there +those bursts of tropical luxuriance which make every gulch an +epitome of Paradise: I really cannot define the difference, for +here, as there, palms glass themselves in still waters, bananas +flourish, and the forests are green with ferns. + +We took three days for our journey of twenty-three miles from Koloa, +the we, consisting of Mrs. ---, the widow of an early missionary +teacher, venerable in years and character, a native boy of ten years +old, her squire, a second Kaluna, without Kaluna's good qualities, +and myself. Mrs. --- is not a bold horsewoman, and preferred to +keep to a foot's pace, which fretted my ambitious animal, whose +innocent antics alarmed her in turn. We only rode seven miles the +first day, through a park-like region, very like Western Wisconsin, +and just like what I expected and failed to find in New Zealand. +Grass-land much tumbled about, the turf very fine and green, dotted +over with clumps and single trees, with picturesque, rocky hills, +deeply cleft by water-courses were on our right, and on our left the +green slopes blended with the flushed, stony soil near the sea, on +which indigo and various compositae are the chief vegetation. It +was hot, but among the hills on our right, cool clouds were coming +down in frequent showers, and the white foam of cascades gleamed +among the ohias, whose dark foliage at a distance has almost the +look of pine woods. + +Our first halting place was one of the prettiest places I ever saw, +a buff frame-house, with a deep verandah festooned with passion +flowers, two or three guest houses also bright with trailers, +scattered about under the trees near it, a pretty garden, a +background of grey rocky hills cool with woods and ravines, and over +all the vicinity, that air of exquisite trimness which is +artificially produced in England, but is natural here. + +Kaluna the Second soon showed symptoms of being troublesome. The +native servants were away, and he was dull, and for that I pitied +him. He asked leave to go back to Koloa for a "sleeping tapa," +which was refused, and either out of spite or carelessness, instead +of fastening the horses into the pasture, he let them go, and the +following morning when we were ready for our journey they were lost. +Then he borrowed a horse, and late in the afternoon returned with +the four animals, who were all white with foam and dust, and this +escapade detained us another night. Subsequently, after disobeying +orders, he lost his horse, which was a borrowed one, deserted his +mistress, and absconded! + +The slopes over which we travelled were red, hot, and stony, cleft +in one place however, by a green, fertile valley, full of rice and +kalo patches, and native houses, with a broad river, the Hanapepe, +flowing quietly down the middle, which we forded near the sea, where +it was half-way up my horse's sides. After plodding all day over +stony soil in the changeless sunshine, as the shadows lengthened, we +turned directly up towards the mountains and began a two hours +ascent. It was delicious. They were so cool, so green, so varied, +their grey pinnacles so splintered, their precipices so abrupt, +their ravines so dark and deep, and their lower slopes covered with +the greenest and finest grass; then dark ohias rose singly, then in +twos and threes, and finally mixed in dense forest masses, with the +pea-green of the kukui. + +It became yet lovelier as the track wound through deep wooded +ravines, or snaked along the narrow tops of spine-like ridges; the +air became cooler, damper, and more like elixir, till at a height of +1500 feet we came upon Makaueli, ideally situated upon an unequalled +natural plateau, a house of patriarchal size for the islands, with a +verandah festooned with roses, fuchsias, the water lemon, and other +passion flowers, and with a large guest-house attached. It stands +on a natural lawn, with abrupt slopes, sprinkled with orange trees +burdened with fruit, ohias, and hibiscus. From the back verandah +the forest-covered mountains rise, and in front a deep ravine widens +to the grassy slopes below and the lonely Pacific,--as I write, a +golden sea, on which the island of Niihau, eighteen miles distant, +floats like an amethyst. + +The solitude is perfect. Except the "quarters" at the back, I think +there is not a house, native or foreign, within six miles, though +there are several hundred natives on the property. Birds sing in +the morning, and the trees rustle throughout the day; but in the +cool evenings the air is perfectly still, and the trickle of a +stream is the only sound. + +The house has the striking novelty of a chimney, and there is a fire +all day long in the dining-room. + +I must now say a little about my hosts and try to give you some idea +of them. I heard their history from Mr. Damon, and thought it too +strange to be altogether true until it was confirmed by themselves. +{303} The venerable lady at the head of the house emigrated from +Scotland to New Zealand many years ago, where her husband was +unfortunately drowned, and she being left to bring up a large +family, and manage a large property, was equally successful with +both. Her great ambition was to keep her family together, something +on the old patriarchal system; and when her children grew up, and it +seemed as if even their very extensive New Zealand property was not +large enough for them, she sold it, and embarking her family and +moveable possessions on board a clipper-ship, owned and commanded by +one of her sons-in-law, they sailed through the Pacific in search of +a home where they could remain together. + +They were strongly tempted by Tahiti, but some reasons having +decided them against it, they sailed northwards and put into +Honolulu. Mr. Damon, who was seaman's chaplain, on going down to +the wharf one day, was surprised to find their trim barque, with +this immense family party on board, with a beautiful and brilliant +old lady at its head, books, pictures, work, and all that could add +refinement to a floating home, about them, and cattle and sheep of +valuable breeds in pens on deck. They then sailed for British +Columbia, but were much disappointed with it, and in three months +they re-appeared at Honolulu, much at a loss regarding their future +prospects. + +The island of Niihau was then for sale, and in a very short time +they purchased it of Kamehameha V. for a ridiculously low price, and +taking their wooden houses with them, established themselves for +seven years. It is truly isolated, both by a heavy surf and a +disagreeable sea-passage, and they afterwards bought this beautiful +and extensive property, made a road, and built the house. Only the +second son and his wife live now on Niihau, where they are the only +white residents among 350 natives. It has an area of 70,000 acres, +and could sustain a far larger number of sheep than the 20,000 now +upon it. It is said that the transfer of the island involved some +hardships, owing to a number of the natives having neglected to +legalise their claims to their kuleanas, but the present possessors +have made themselves thoroughly acquainted with the language, and +take the warmest interest in the island population. Niihau is +famous for its very fine mats, and for necklaces of shells six yards +long, as well as for the extreme beauty and variety of the shells +which are found there. + +The household here consists first and foremost of its head, Mrs. --- +, a lady of the old Scotch type, very talented, bright, humorous, +charming, with a definite character which impresses its force upon +everybody; beautiful in her old age, disdaining that servile +conformity to prevailing fashion which makes many old people at once +ugly and contemptible: speaking English with a slight, old- +fashioned, refined Scotch accent, which gives naivete to everything +she says, up to the latest novelty in theology and politics: +devoted to her children and grandchildren, the life of the family, +and though upwards of seventy, the first to rise, and the last to +retire in the house. She was away when I came, but some days +afterwards rode up on horseback, in a large drawn silk bonnet, which +she rarely lays aside, as light in her figure and step as a young +girl, looking as if she had walked out of an old picture, or one of +Dean Ramsay's books. + +Then there are her eldest son, a bachelor, two widowed daughters +with six children between them, three of whom are grown up young +men, and a tutor, a young Prussian officer, who was on Maximilian's +staff up to the time of the Queretaro disaster, and is still +suffering from Mexican barbarities. The remaining daughter is +married to a Norwegian gentleman, who owns and resides on the next +property. So the family is together, and the property is large +enough to give scope to the grandchildren as they require it. + +They are thoroughly Hawaiianised. The young people all speak +Hawaiian as easily as English, and the three young men, who are +superb young fellows, about six feet high, not only emulate the +natives in feats of horsemanship, such as throwing the lasso, and +picking up a coin while going at full gallop, but are surf-board +riders, an art which it has been said to be impossible for +foreigners to acquire. + +The natives on Niihau and in this part of Kauai, call Mrs. --- +"Mama." Their rent seems to consist in giving one or more days' +service in a month, so it is a revival of the old feudality. In +order to patronise native labour, my hosts dispense with a Chinese, +and employ a native cook, and native women come in and profess to do +some of the housework, but it is a very troublesome arrangement, and +ends in the ladies doing all the finer cooking, and superintending +the coarser, setting the table, trimming the lamps, cutting out and +"fixing" all the needlework, besides planning the indoor and outdoor +work which the natives are supposed to do. Having related their +proficiency in domestic duties, I must add that they are splendid +horsewomen, one of them an excellent shot, and the other has enough +practical knowledge of seamanship, as well as navigation, to enable +her to take a ship round the world! It is a busy life, owing to the +large number of natives daily employed, and the necessity of looking +after the native lunas, or overseers. Dr. Smith at Koloa, twenty- +two miles off, is the only doctor on the island, and the natives +resort to this house in great numbers for advice and medicine in +their many ailments. It is much such a life as people lead at +Raasay, Applecross, or some other remote Highland place, only that +people who come to visit here, unless they ride twenty-two miles, +must come to the coast in the Jenny instead of being conveyed by one +of David Hutcheson's luxurious steamers. If the Clansman were "put +on," probably the great house would not contain the strangers who +would arrive! + +We were sitting in the library one morning when Mr. M., of Timaru, +N.Z., rode up with an introduction, and was of course cordially +welcomed. He goes on to England, where you will doubtless cross- +question him concerning my statements. During his visit a large +party of us made a delightful expedition to the Hanapepe Falls, one +of the "lions" of Kauai. It is often considered too "rough" for +ladies, and when Mrs. --- and I said we were going, I saw Mr. M. +look as if he thought we should be a dependent nuisance; I was +amused afterwards with his surprise at Mrs. ---'s courageous +horsemanship, and at his obvious confusion as to whether he should +help us, which question he wisely decided in the negative. + +If "happiness is atmosphere," we were surely happy. The day was +brilliant, and as cool as early June at home, but the sweet, joyous +trade-wind could not be brewed elsewhere than on the Pacific. The +scenery was glorious, and mountains, trees, frolicsome water, and +scarlet birds, all rioted as if in conscious happiness. Existence +was a luxury, and reckless riding a mere outcome of the animal +spirits of horses and riders, and the thud of the shoeless feet as +the horses galloped over the soft grass was sweeter than music. I +could hardly hold my horse at all, and down hills as steep as the +east side of Arthur's Seat, over knife-like ridges too narrow for +two to ride abreast, and along side-tracks only a foot wide, we rode +at full gallop, till we pulled up at the top of a descent of 2,000 +feet with a broad, rapid river at its feet, emerging from between +colossal walls of rock to girdle a natural lawn of the bright +manienie grass. There had been a "drive" of horses, and numbers of +these, with their picturesque saddles, were picketed there, while +their yet more picturesque, scarlet-shirted riders lounged in the +sun. + +It was a difficult two hours' ride from thence to the Falls, worthy +of Hawaii, and since my adventures in the Hilo gulches I cannot +cross running water without feeling an amount of nervousness which I +can conceal, but cannot reason myself out of. In going and +returning, we forded the broad, rugged river twenty-six times, +always in water up to my horse's girths, and the bottom was so rocky +and full of holes, and the torrent so impetuous, that the animals +floundered badly and evidently disliked the whole affair. Once it +had been possible to ride along the edge, but the river had torn +away what there was of margin in a freshet, so that we had to cross +perpetually, to attain the rough, boulder-strewn strips which lay +between the cliffs and itself. Sometimes we rode over roundish +boulders like those on the top of Ben Cruachan, or like those of the +landing at Iona, and most of those under the rush of the bright +foaming water were covered with a silky green weed, on which the +horses slipped alarmingly. My companions always took the lead, and +by the time that each of their horses had struggled, slipped, and +floundered in and out of holes, and breasted and leapt up steep +banks, I was ready to echo Mr. M.'s exclamation regarding Mrs. ---, +"I never saw such riding; I never saw ladies with such nerve." I +certainly never saw people encounter such difficulties for the sake +of scenery. Generally, a fall would be regarded as practically +inaccessible which could only be approached in such a way. + +I will not inflict another description of similar scenery upon you, +but this, though perhaps exceeding all others in beauty, is not only +a type, perhaps the finest type, of a species of canon very common +on these islands, but is also so interesting geologically that you +must tolerate a very few words upon it. + +The valley for two or three miles from the sea is nearly level, very +fertile, and walled in by palis 250 feet high, much grooved +vertically, and presenting fine layers of conglomerate and grey +basalt; and the Hanapepe winds quietly through the region which it +fertilises, a stream several hundred feet wide, with a soft, smooth +bottom. But four miles inland the bed becomes rugged and +declivitous, and the mountain walls close in, forming a most +magnificent canon from 1,000 to 2,500 feet deep. Other canons of +nearly equal beauty descend to swell the Hanapepe with their clear, +cool, tributaries, and there are "meetings of the waters" worthier +of verse than those of Avoca. The walls are broken and highly +fantastic, narrowing here, receding there, their strangely-arched +recesses festooned with the feathery trichomanes, their clustering +columns and broken buttresses suggesting some old-world minster, and +their stately tiers of columnar basalt rising one above another in +barren grey into the far-off blue sky. The river in carving out the +gorge so grandly has most energetically removed all rubbish, and +even the tributaries of the lateral canons do not accumulate any +"wash" in the main bed. The walls as a rule rise clear from the +stream, which, besides its lateral tributaries, receives other +contributions in the form of waterfalls, which hurl themselves into +it from the cliffs in one leap. + +After ascending it for four miles all further progress was barred by +a pali which curves round from the right, and closes the chasm with +a perpendicular wall, over which the Hanapepe precipitates itself +from a height of 326 feet, forming the Koula Falls. At the summit +is a very fine entablature of curved columnar basalt, resembling the +clam shell cave at Staffa, and two high, sharp, and impending peaks +on the other side form a stately gateway for a stream which enters +from another and broader valley; but it is but one among many small +cascades, which round the arc of the falls flash out in foam among +the dark foliage, and contribute their tiny warble to the diapason +of the waterfall. It rewards one well for penetrating the deep gash +which has been made into the earth. It seemed so very far away from +all buzzing, frivolous, or vexing things, in the cool, dark abyss +into which only the noon-day sun penetrates. All beautiful things +which love damp; all exquisite, tender ferns and mosses; all shade- +loving parasites flourish there in perennial beauty. And high above +in the sunshine, the pea-green candle-nut struggles with the dark +ohia for precarious roothold on rocky ledges, and dense masses of +Eugenia, aflame with crimson flowers, and bananas, and all the leafy +wealth born of heat and damp fill up the clefts which fissure the +pali. Every now and then some scarlet tropic bird flashed across +the shadow, but it was a very lifeless and a very silent scene. The +arches, buttresses, and columns suggest a temple, and the deep tone +of the fall is as organ music. It is all beauty, solemnity, and +worship. + +It was sad to leave it and to think how very few eyes can ever feast +themselves on its beauty. We came back again into gladness and +sunshine, and to the vulgar necessity of eating, which the natives +ministered to by presenting us with a substantial meal of stewed +fowls and sweet potatoes at the nearest shanty. There must have +been something intoxicating in the air, for we rode wildly and +recklessly, galloping down steep hills (which on principle I object +to), and putting our horses to their utmost speed. Mine ran off +with me several times, and once nearly upset Mr. M.'s horse, as he +probably will tell you. + +The natives annoy me everywhere by their inhumanity to their horses. +To-day I became an object of derision to them for hunting for sow- +thistles, and bringing back a large bundle of them to my excellent +animal. They starve their horses from mere carelessness or +laziness, spur them mercilessly, when the jaded, famished things +almost drop from exhaustion, ride them with great sores under the +saddles, and with their bodies deeply cut with the rough girths; and +though horses are not regarded as more essential in any part of the +world, they neglect and maltreat them in every way, and laugh +scornfully if one shows any consideration for them. Except for +short shopping distances in Honolulu, I have never seen a native man +or woman walking. They think walking a degradation, and I have seen +men take the trouble to mount horses to go 100 yards. + +I have no time to tell you of a three days' expedition which five of +us made into the heart of the nearer mountainous district, attended +by some mounted natives. Mr. K., from whose house we started, has +the finest mango grove on the islands. It is a fine foliaged tree, +but is everywhere covered with a black blight, which gives the +groves the appearance of being in mourning, as the tough, glutinous +film covers all the older leaves. The mango is an exotic fruit, and +people think a great deal of it, and send boxes of mangoes as +presents to their friends. It is yellow, with a reddish bloom, +something like a magnum bonum plum, three times magnified. The only +way of eating it in comfort is to have a tub of water beside you. +It should be eaten in private by any one who wants to retain the +admiration of his friends. It has an immense stone, and a +disproportionately small pulp. I think it tastes strongly of +turpentine at first, but this is a heresy. + +Beyond Waielva and its mango groves there is a very curious sand +bank about 60 feet high, formed by wind and currents, and of a +steep, uniform angle from top to bottom. It is very coarse sand, +composed of shells, coral, and lava. When two handfuls are slapped +together, a sound like the barking of a dog ensues, hence its name, +the Barking Sands. It is a common amusement with strangers to slide +their horses down the steep incline, which produces a sound like +subterranean thunder, which terrifies unaccustomed animals. Besides +this phenomenon, the mirage is often seen on the dry, hot soil, and +so perfectly, too, that strangers have been known to attempt to ride +round the large lake which they saw before them. + +Pleasant as our mountain trip was, both in itself, and as a specimen +of the way in which foreigners recreate themselves on the islands, I +was glad to get back to the broad Waimea, on which long shadows of +palms reposed themselves in the slant sunshine, and in the short red +twilight to arrive at this breezy height, and be welcomed by a +blazing fire. + +Mrs. ---, in speaking of the mode of living here, was telling me +that on a recent visit to England she felt depressed the whole time +by what appeared to her "the scarcity" in the country. I never knew +the meaning of the Old Testament blessing of "plenty" and "bread to +the full" till I was in abundant Victoria, and it is much the same +here. At home we know nothing of this, which was one of the +chiefest of the blessings promised in the Old Testament. Its +GENIALISING effect is very obvious. A man feels more practically +independent, I think, when he can say to all his friends, "Drop in +to dinner whenever you like," than if he possessed the franchise six +times over; and people can indulge in hospitality and exercise the +franchise, too, here, for meat is only twopence a pound, and bananas +can be got for the gathering. The ever-increasing cost of food with +us makes free-hearted hospitality an impossibility, and withers up +all those kindly instincts which find expression in housing and +feeding both friends and strangers. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXII. + +LIHUE. KAUAI. + +I rode from Makaueli to Dr. Smith's, at Koloa, with two native +attendants, a luna to sustain my dignity, and an inferior native to +carry my carpet-bag. Horses are ridden with curb-bits here, and I +had only brought a light snaffle, and my horse ran away with me +again on the road, and when he stopped at last, these men rode +alongside of me, mimicking me, throwing themselves back with their +feet forwards, tugging at their bridles, and shrieking with +laughter, exclaiming Maikai! Maikai! (good). + +I remained several days at Koloa, and would gladly have accepted the +hospitable invitation to stay as many weeks, but for a cowardly +objection to "beating to windward" in the Jenny. The scenery in the +Koloa woods is exquisitely beautiful. Such supreme beauty produces +on me some of the effects which fine music has upon those who have +an exquisite sense of it. It speaks in a language of its own, like +music, and is equally untranslatable. + +One day, the girls asked me to go with them to the forests and +return by moonlight, but they only spoke of them as the haunts of +ferns, because they supposed that I should think nothing of them +after the forests of Australia and New Zealand! They were not like +the tropical woods of Hawaii, and owe more to the exceeding +picturesqueness of the natural scenery. Hawaii is all domes and +humps, Kauai all peaks and sierras. There were deep ravines, along +which bright fern-shrouded streams brawled among wild bananas, +overarched by Eugenias, with their gory blossoms: walls of peaks, +and broken precipices, grey ridges rising out of the blue forest +gloom, high mountains with mists wreathing their spiky summits, for +a background: gleams of a distant silver sea: and the nearer many- +tinted woods were not matted together in jungle fashion, but +festooned and adorned with numberless lianas, and even the prostrate +trunks of fallen trees took on new beauty from the exquisite ferns +which covered them. Long cathedral aisles stretched away in far-off +vistas, and so perfect at times was the Gothic illusion, that I +found myself listening for anthems and the roll of organs. So cool +and moist it was, and triumphantly redundant in vagaries of form and +greenery, it was a forest of forests, and it became a necessity to +return the next day, and the next; and I think if I had remained at +Koloa I should have been returning still. + +This place is outside the beauty, among cane-fields, and is much +swept by the trade winds. Mr. Rice, my host, is the son of an +esteemed missionary, and he and his wife take a deep interest in the +natives. When he brought her here as a bride a few months ago, the +natives were so delighted that he had married an island lady who +could speak Hawaiian, that they gave them an ahaaina, or native +feast, on a grand scale. The food was cooked in Polynesian style, +by being wrapped up in greens called luau, and baked underground. +There were two bullocks, nineteen hogs, a hundred fowls, any +quantity of poi and fruit, and innumerable native dishes. Five +hundred natives, profusely decorated with leis of flowers and maile, +were there, and each brought a gift for the bride. After the feast +they chaunted meles in praise of Mr. Rice, and Mrs. Rice played to +them on her piano, an instrument which they had not seen before, and +sang songs to them in Hawaiian. Mr. and Mrs. R. teach in and +superintend a native Sunday-school, and have enlisted twenty native +teachers, and in order to keep up the interest and promote cordial +feeling, they and the other teachers meet once a month for a regular +teachers' meeting, taking the houses in rotation. Refreshments are +served afterwards, and they say that nothing can be more agreeable +than the good feeling at the meetings, and the tact and graceful +hospitality which prevail at the subsequent entertainments. + +The Hawaiians are a most pleasant people to foreigners, but many of +their ways are altogether aggravating. Unlike the Chinamen, they +seldom do a thing right twice. In my experience, they have almost +never saddled and bridled my horse quite correctly. Either a strap +has been left unbuckled, or the blanket has been wrinkled under the +saddle. They are too easy to care much about anything. If any +serious loss arises to themselves or others through their +carelessness, they shrug their shoulders, and say, "What does it +matter?" Any trouble is just a pilikia. They can't help it. If +they lose your horse from neglecting to tether it, they only laugh +when they find you are wanting to proceed on your journey. Time, +they think, is nothing to any one. "What's the use of being in a +hurry?" Their neglect of their children, a cause from which a large +proportion of the few born perish, is a part of this universal +carelessness. The crime of infanticide, which formerly prevailed to +a horrible extent, has long been extinct; but the love of pleasure +and the dislike of trouble which partially actuated it, are +apparently still stronger among the women than the maternal +instinct, and they do not take the trouble necessary to rear their +infants. They give their children away, too, to a great extent, and +I have heard of instances in which children have been so passed from +hand to hand, that they are quite ignorant of their real parents. +It is an odd caprice in some cases, that women who have given away +their own children are passionately attached to those whom they have +received as presents, but I have nowhere seen such tenderness +lavished upon infants as upon the pet dogs that the women carry +about with them. Though they are so deficient in adhesiveness to +family ties, that wives seek other husbands, and even children +desert their parents for adoptive homes, the tie of race is +intensely strong, and they are remarkably affectionate to each +other, sharing with each other food, clothing, and all that they +possess. There are no paupers among them but the lunatics and the +lepers, and vagrancy is unknown. Happily on these sunny shores no +man or woman can be tempted into sin by want. + +With all their faults, and their intolerable carelessness, all the +foreigners like them, partly from the absolute security which they +enjoy among them. They are so thoroughly good-natured, mirthful, +and friendly, and so ready to enter heart and soul into all haole +diversions, that the islands would be dreary indeed if the dwindling +race became extinct. + +Among the many misfortunes of the islands, it has been a fortunate +thing that the missionaries' families have turned out so well, and +that there is no ground for the common reproach that good men's sons +turn out reprobates. + +The Americans show their usual practical sagacity in missionary +matters. In 1853, when these islands were nominally Christianised, +and a native ministry consisting of fifty-six pastors had been +established, the American Board of Missions, which had expended +during thirty-five years nine hundred and three thousand dollars in +Christianising the group, and had sent out 149 male and female +missionaries, resolved that it should not receive any further aid +either in men or money. + +In the early days, the King and chiefs had bestowed lands upon the +Mission, on which substantial mission premises had been erected, and +on withdrawing from the islands, the Board wisely made over these +lands to the Mission families as freehold property. The result has +been that, instead of a universal migration of the young people to +America, numbers of them have been attached to Hawaiian soil. The +establishment at an early date of Punahou College, at which for a +small sum both boys and girls receive a first-class English +education, also contributed to retain them on the islands, and +numbers of the young men entered into sugar-growing, cattle-raising, +storekeeping, and other businesses here. At Honolulu and Hilo a +large proportion of the residents of the upper class are +missionaries' children; most of the respectable foreigners on Kauai +are either belonging to, or intimately connected with, the Mission +families; and they are profusely scattered through Maui and Hawaii +in various capacities, and are bound to each other by ties of +extreme intimacy and friendliness, as well as by marriage and +affinity. This "clan" has given society what it much wants--a sound +moral core, and in spite of all disadvantageous influences, has +successfully upheld a public opinion in favour of religion and +virtue. The members of it possess the moral backbone of New +England, and its solid good qualities, a thorough knowledge of the +language and habits of the natives, a hereditary interest in them, a +solid education, and in many cases much general culture. + +In former letters I have mentioned Mr. Coan and Mr. Lyons as +missionaries. I must correct this, as there have been no actual +missionaries on the islands for twenty years. When the Board +withdrew its support, many of the missionaries returned to America; +some, especially the secular members, went into other positions on +the group, while the two first-mentioned and two or three besides, +remained as pastors of native congregations. + +I venture to think that the Board has been premature in transferring +the islands to a native pastorate at such a very early stage of +their Christianity. Such a pastorate must be too feeble to uphold a +robust Christian standard. As an adjunct it would be essential to +the stability of native Christianity, but it is not possible that it +can be trusted as the sole depository of doctrine and discipline, +and even were it all it ought to be, it would lack the power to +repress the lax morality which is ruining the nation. Probably each +year will render the overhaste of this course more apparent, and it +is likely that some other mode of upholding pure Christianity will +have to be adopted, when the venerable men who now sustain and guide +the native pastors by their influence shall have been gathered to +their rest. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXIII. + +LIHUE. KAUAI, April 17. + +Before leaving Kauai I must tell you of a solitary expedition I have +just made to the lovely valley of Hanalei. It was only a three days +"frolic," but an essentially "good time." Mr. Rice provided me with +a horse and a very pleasing native guide. I did not leave till two +in the afternoon, as I only intended to ride fifteen miles, and, as +the custom is, ask for a night's lodging at a settler's house. +However, as I drew near Mr. B.'s ranch, I felt my false courage +oozing out of the tips of my fingers, and as I rode up to the door, +certain obnoxious colonial words, such as "sundowners," and +"bummers," occurred to me, and I felt myself a "sundowner" when the +host came out and asked me to dismount. He said he was sorry his +wife was away, but he would do his best for me in her absence, and +took me down to a room where a very rough-looking man was tenderly +nursing a baby a year old, which was badly burned or scalded, and +which began to cry violently at my entrance, and required the united +efforts of the two bereaved men to pacify it. They had the charge +of it between them. I took it while they went to make some tea, and +it kicked, roared, and fought until they came back. By that time I +had prepared a neat little speech, saying that I was not the least +tired, and would only trouble them for a glass of water; and, having +covered my cowardice successfully, I went on, having been urged by +the hospitable ranchman to be sure to stay for the night at his +father-in-law's house, a few miles further on. I saw that the +wishes of the native went in the same direction, but after my one +experience I assured myself that I had not the necessary nerve for +this species of mendicancy, and went on as fast as the horse could +gallop wherever the ground admitted of it, the scenery becoming more +magnificent as the dark, frowning mountains of Hanalei loomed +through the gathering twilight. + +But they were fifteen miles off, and on the way we came to a broad, +beautiful ravine, through which a broad, deep river glided into the +breakers. I had received some warnings about this, but it was +supposed that we could cross in a ferry scow, of which, however, I +only found the bones. The guide and the people at the ferryman's +house talked long without result, but eventually, by many signs, I +contrived to get them to take me over in a crazy punt, half full of +water, and the horses swam across. Before we reached the top of the +ravine, the last redness of twilight had died from off the +melancholy ocean, the black forms of mountains looked huge in the +darkness, and the wind sighed so eerily through the creaking +lauhalas, as to add much to the effect. It became so very dark that +I could only just see my horse's ears, and we found ourselves +occasionally in odd predicaments, such as getting into crevices, or +dipping off from steep banks; and it was in dense darkness that we +arrived above what appeared to be a valley with twinkling lights, +lying at the foot of a precipice, and walled in on all sides but one +by lofty mountains. It was rather queer, diving over the wooded +pali on a narrow track, with nothing in sight but the white jacket +of the native, who had already indicated that he was at the end of +his resources regarding the way, but just as a river gleamed +alarmingly through the gloom, a horseman on a powerful horse brushed +through the wood, and on being challenged in Hawaiian replied in +educated English, and very politely turned with me, and escorted me +over a disagreeable ferry in a scow without rails, and to my +destination, two miles beyond. + +Yesterday, when I left, the morning was brilliant, and after +ascending the pali, I stayed for some time on an eminence which +commands the valley, presented by Mr. Wyllie to Lady Franklin, in +compliment to her admiration of its loveliness. Hanalei has been +likened by some to Paradise, and by others to the Vale of Caschmir. +Everyone who sees it raves about it. "See Hanalei and die," is the +feeling of the islanders, and certainly I was not disappointed, nor +should I be with Paradise itself were it even a shade less fair! It +has every element of beauty, and in the bright sunshine, with the +dark shadows on the mountains, the waterfalls streaking their wooded +sides, the river rushing under kukuis and ohias, and then lingering +lovingly amidst living greenery, it looked as if the curse had never +lighted there. + +Its mouth, where it opens on the Pacific, is from two to three miles +wide, but the boundary mountains gradually approach each other, so +that five miles from the sea a narrow gorge of wonderful beauty +alone remains. The crystal Hanalei flows placidly to the sea for +the last three or four miles, tired by its impetuous rush from the +mountains, and mirrors on its breast hundreds of acres of cane, +growing on a plantation formerly belonging to Mr. Wyllie, an +enterprising Ayrshire man, and one of the ablest and most +disinterested foreigners who ever administered Hawaiian affairs. +Westward of the valley there is a region of mountains, slashed by +deep ravines. The upper ridges are densely timbered, and many of +the ohias have a circumference of twenty-five feet, three feet from +the ground. It was sad to turn away for ever from the loveliness of +Hanalei, even though by taking another route, which involved a ride +of forty miles, I passed through and in view of, most entrancing +picturesqueness. Indeed, for mere loveliness, I think that part of +Kauai exceeds anything that I have seen. + +The atmosphere and scenery were so glorious that it was possible to +think of nothing all day, but just allow oneself passively to drink +in sensations of exquisite pleasure. I wish all the hard-worked +people at home, who lead joyless lives in sunless alleys, could just +have one such day, and enjoy it as I did, that they might know how +fair God's earth is, and how far fairer His Paradise must be, if +even from this we cannot conceive "of the things which He hath +prepared for them that love Him." I never before felt so sad for +those whose lives are passed amidst unpropitious surroundings, or so +thankful for my own capacity of enjoying nature. + +Just as we were coming up out of a deep river, a native riding about +six feet from me was caught in a quicksand. He jumped off, but the +horse sank half way up its body. I wanted to stay and see it +extricated, for its struggles only sank it deeper, but the natives +shrugged their shoulders, and said in Hawaiian, "only a horse," and +something they always say when anything happens, equivalent to +"What's the odds?" It was a joyously-exciting day, and I was +galloping down a grass hill at a pace which I should not have +assumed had white people been with me, when a native rode up to me +and said twice over, "maikai! paniola," and laughed heartily. When +my native came up, he pointed to me and again said "paniola;" and +afterwards we were joined by two women, to whom my guide spoke of me +as paniola; and on coming to the top of a hill they put their horses +into a gallop, and we all rode down at a tremendous, and, as I +should once have thought, a break-neck speed, when one of the women +patted me on the shoulder, exclaiming, "maikai! maikai! paniola." I +thought they said "spaniola," taking me for a Spaniard, but on +reaching Lihue, and asking the meaning of the word, Mrs. Rice said, +"Oh, lassoing cattle, and all that kind of thing." I was disposed +to accept the inference as a compliment; but when I told Mrs. R. +that the word had been applied to myself, she laughed very much, and +said she would have toned down its meaning had she known that! + +We rode through forests lighted up by crimson flowers, through +mountain valleys greener than Alpine meadows, descended steep palis, +and forded deep, strong rivers, pausing at the beautiful Wailua +Falls, which leap in a broad sheet of foam and a heavy body of water +into a dark basin, walled in by cliffs so hard that even the ferns +and mosses which revel in damp, fail to find roothold in the naked +rock. Both above and below, this river passes through a majestic +canon, and its neighbourhood abounds in small cones, some with +crateriform cavities at the top, some broken down, and others, +apparently of great age, wooded to their summits. A singular ridge, +called Mauna Kalalea, runs along this part of the island, +picturesque beyond anything, and, from its abruptness and peculiar +formation, it deceives the eye into judging it to be as high as the +gigantic domes of Hawaii. Its peaks are needle-like, or else blunt +projections of columnar basalt, rising ofttimes as terraces. At a +beautiful village called Anahola the ridge terminates abruptly, and +its highest portion is so thin that a large patch of sky can be seen +through a hole which has been worn in it. + +I reached Lihue by daylight, having established my reputation as a +paniola by riding forty miles in 7.5 hours, "very good time" for the +islands. I hope to return here in August, as my hospitable friends +will not allow me to leave on any other condition. The kindness I +have received on Kauai is quite overwhelming, and I shall remember +its refined and virtuous homes as long as its loveliness and +delicious climate. + + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL. HONOLULU. April 23rd. + +I have nothing new to add. Mr. Dexter is so far recovered that I +fear I shall not find my friends here on my return. People are in +the usual fever about the mail, and I must close this. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXIV. + +ULUPALAKUA. MAUI. May 12th. + +It is three weeks since I left the Hawaiian Hotel and its green mist +of algarobas, but my pleasant visits in this island do not furnish +much that will interest you. There was great excitement on the +wharf at Honolulu the evening I left. It was crowded with natives, +the king's band was playing, old hags were chanting meles, and +several of the royal family, and of the "upper ten thousand" were +there, taking leave of the Governess of Hawaii, the Princess +Keelikolani, the late king's half-sister. The throng and excitement +were so great, that we were outside the reef before I got a good +view of this lady, the largest and the richest woman on the islands. +Her size and appearance are most unfortunate, but she is said to be +good and kind. She was dressed in a very common black holuku, with +a red bandana round her throat, round which she wore a le of immense +oleanders, as well as round her hair, which was cut short. She had +a large retinue, and her female attendants all wore leis of +oleander. They spread very fine mats on the deck, under pulu beds, +covered with gorgeous quilts, on which the Princess and her suite +slept, and in the morning the beds were removed, breakfast was +spread on the mats, and she, some of her attendants, and two or +three white men who received invitations, sat on the deck round it. +It was a far less attractive meal than that which the serene steward +served below. The calabashes, which contained the pale pink poi, +were of highly polished kou wood, but there were no foreign +refinements. The other dishes were several kinds of raw fish, dried +devil-fish, boiled kalo, sweet potatoes, bananas, and cocoa-nut +milk. + +I had a very uncomfortable night on a mattress on the deck, which +was overcrowded with natives, and some of the native women and two +foreigners had got a whiskey bottle, and behaved disgracefully. We +went round by the Leper Island. + +I landed at Maaleia, on the leeward side of the sandy isthmus which +unites East and West Maui, got a good horse, and, with Mr. G---, +rode across to the residence of "Father Alexander," at Wailuku, a +flourishing district of sugar plantations. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander +were among the early missionaries, and still live on the mission +premises. Several of their sons are settled on the island in the +sugar business, and it was to the Heiku plantation, fifteen miles +off, of which Mr. S. Alexander is manager, that I went on the +following day, still escorted by Mr. G---. Here we heard that +captains of schooners which had arrived from Hawaii, report that a +light is visible on the terminal crater of Mauna Loa, 14,000 feet +above the sea, that Kilauea, the flank crater, is unusually active, +and that several severe shocks of earthquake have been felt. This +is exciting news. + +Behind Wailuku is the Iao valley, up which I rode with two island +friends, and spent a day of supreme, satisfied admiration. At Iao +people may throw away pen and pencil in equal despair. The trail +leads down a gorge dark with forest trees, and then opens out into +an amphitheatre, walled in by precipices, from three to six thousand +feet high, misty with a thousand waterfalls, plumed with kukuis, and +feathery with ferns. A green-clad needle of stone, one thousand +feet in height, the last refuge of an army routed when the Wailuku +(waters of destruction) ran red with blood, keeps guard over the +valley. Other needles there are; and mimic ruins of bastions and +ramparts and towers came and passed mysteriously: and the shining +fronts of turrets gleamed through trailing mists, changing into +drifting visions of things that came and went, in sunshine and +shadow, mountains raising battered peaks into a cloudless sky, green +crags moist with ferns, and mists of water that could not fall, but +frittered themselves away on slopes of maiden-hair, and depths of +forest and ferns through which bright streams warble through the +summer years. Clouds boiling up from below drifted at times across +the mountain fronts, or lay like snow masses in the unsunned chasms: +and over the grey crags and piled up pinnacles, and glorified green +of the marvellous vision, lay a veil of thin blue haze, steeping the +whole in a serenity which seemed hardly to belong to earth. + +The track from Wailuku to Heiku is over a Sahara in miniature, a +dreary expanse of sand and shifting sandhills, with a dismal growth +in some places of thornless thistles and indigo, and a tremendous +surf thunders on the margin. Trackless, glaring, choking, a guide +is absolutely necessary to a stranger, for the footprints or wheel- +marks of one moment are obliterated the next. I crossed the isthmus +three times, and the third time was quite as incapable of shaping my +course across it as the first, and though I had recklessly declined +a guide, was only too thankful for the one who was forced upon me. +It is a hateful ride, yet anything so hideous and aggressively +odious is a salutary experience in a land of so much beauty. Sand, +sand, sand! Sand-hills, smooth and red; sand plains, rippled, +whites and glaring; sand drifts shifting; sand clouds whirling; sand +in your eyes, nose, and mouth; sand stinging your face like pin +points; sand hiding even your horse's ears; sand rippling like +waves, hissing like spin-drift, malignant, venomous! You can only +open one eye at a time for a wink at where you are going. Looking +down upon it from Heiku, you can see nothing all day but the dense +brown clouds of a perpetual sand-storm. + +My charming hostess and her husband made Heiku so fascinating, that +I only quitted it hoping to return. The object which usually +attracts strangers to Maui is the great dead volcano of Haleakala, +"The house of the sun," and I was fortunate in all the circumstances +of my ascent. My host at Heiku provided me with a horse and native +attendant, and I rode over the evening before to the house of his +brother, Mr. J. Alexander, who accompanied me, and his intelligent +and cultured society was one of the pleasures of the day. + +People usually go up in the afternoon, camp near the summit, light a +fire, are devoured by fleas, roast and freeze alternately till +morning, and get up to see the grand spectacle of the sunrise, but I +think our plan preferable, of leaving at two in the morning. The +moon had set. It was densely dark, and it was raining on one side +of the road, though quite fine on the other. By the lamplight which +streamed from our early breakfast table, I only saw wet mules and +horses, laden with gear for a mountain ascent, a trim little +Japanese, who darted about helping, my native, who was picturesquely +dressed in a Mexican poncho, Mr. Alexander, who wore something which +made him unrecognisable; and myself, a tatterdemalion figure, +wearing a much-worn green topcoat of his over my riding suit, and a +tartan shawl arranged so as to fall nearly to my feet. Then we went +forth into the darkness. The road soon degenerated into a wood +road, then into a bridle track, then into a mere trail ascending all +the way; and at dawn, when the rain was over, we found ourselves +more than half-way up the mountain, amidst rocks, scoriae, tussocks, +ohelos, a few common compositae, and a few coarse ferns and woody +plants, which became coarser and scantier the higher we went up, but +never wholly ceased; for, at the very summit, 10,200 feet high, +there are some tufts of grass, and stunted specimens of a common +asplenium in clefts. Many people suffer from mountain sickness on +this ascent, but I suffered from nothing but the excruciating cold, +which benumbed my limbs and penetrated to my bones; and though I +dismounted several times and tried to walk, uphill exercise was +impossible in the rarefied air. The atmosphere was but one degree +below the freezing-point, but at that height, a brisk breeze on +soaked clothes was scarcely bearable. + +The sunrise turned the densely packed clouds below into great rosy +masses, which broke now and then, showing a vivid blue sea, and +patches of velvety green. At seven, after toiling over a last steep +bit, among scoriae, and some very scanty and unlovely vegetation, we +reached what was said to be the summit, where a ragged wall of rock +shut out the forward view. Dismounting on some cinders, we stepped +into a gap, and from thence looked down into the most gigantic +crater on the earth. I confess that with the living fires of +Kilauea in my memory, I was at first disappointed with the deadness +of a volcano of whose activity there are no traditions extant. +Though during the hours which followed, its majesty and wonderment +grew upon me, yet a careful study of the admirable map of the +crater, a comparison of the heights of the very considerable cones +which are buried within it, and the attempt to realize the figures +which represent its circumference, area, and depth, not only give a +far better idea of it than any verbal description, but impress its +singular sublimity and magnitude upon one far more forcibly than a +single visit to the actual crater. + +I mentioned in one of my first letters that East Maui, that part of +the island which lies east of the isthmus of perpetual dust-storms, +consists of a mountain dome 10,000 feet in height, with a monstrous +base. Its slopes are very regular, varying from eight to ten +degrees. Its lava-beds differ from those of Kauai and Oahu in being +lighter in colour, less cellular, and more impervious to water. The +windward side of the mountain is gashed and slashed by streams, +which in their violence have excavated large pot-holes, which serve +as reservoirs, and it is covered to a height of over 2000 feet by a +luxuriant growth of timber. On the leeward side, several black and +very fresh-looking streams of lava run into the sea, and the whole +coast for some height above the shore shows most vigorous volcanic +action. Elsewhere the rock is red and broken, and lateral cones +abound near the base. + +The ascent from Makawao, though it is over rather a desolate tract +of land, has in its lower stages such a dismal growth of pining koa +and spurious sandal-wood, and in its upper ones so much ohelo scrub, +with grass and common aspleniums quite up to the top, that as one +sits lazily on one's sure-footed horse, the fact that one is +ascending a huge volcano is not forced upon one by any overmastering +sterility and nakedness. Somehow, one expects to pass through some +ulterior stage of blackness up to the summit. It is no such thing; +and the great surprise of Haleakala to me was, that when according +to calculation there should have been a summit, an abyss of vast +dimensions opened below. The mountain top has been in fact blown +off, and one is totally powerless to imagine what the forces must +have been which rent it asunder. + +The crater was clear of fog and clouds, and lighted in every part by +the risen sun. The whole, with its contents, can be seen at a +single glance, though its girdling precipices are nineteen miles in +extent. Its huge, irregular floor is 2000 feet below; New York +might be hidden away within it, with abundant room to spare; and +more than one of the numerous subsidiary cones which uplift +themselves solitary or in clusters through the area, attain the +height of Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh. On the north and east are the +Koolau and Kaupo Gaps, as deep as the crater, through which oceans +of lava found their way to the sea. It looks as if the volcanic +forces, content with rending the mountain top in twain, had then +passed into an endless repose. + +The crater appears to be composed of a hard grey clinkstone, much +fissured; but lower down the mountain, the rock is softer, and has a +bluish tinge. The internal cones are of very regular shape, and +most of them look as if their fires had only just gone out, with +their sides fiercely red, and their central cavities lined with +layers of black ash. They are all composed of cinders of light +specific gravity, and much of the ash is tinged with the hydrated +oxide of iron. Very few of the usual volcanic products are present. +{335} Small quantities of sulphur, in a very impure form, exist +here and there, but there are no sulphur or steam-cracks, or hot +springs on any part of the mountain. With its cold ashes and dead +force, it is a most tremendous spectacle of the power of fire. + +Some previous travellers had generously left some faggots on the +summit, and we made a large fire for warmth, and I rolled my blanket +round me, and sat with my feet among the hot embers, but all to no +purpose. The wind was strong and keen, and the fierce splendour of +the tropic sun conveyed no heat. Mr. A. went away investigating, +the native rolled himself in his poncho and fell asleep by the fire, +and I divided the time between glimpses into the awful desolation of +the crater, snatched between the icy gusts of wind, and the +enjoyment of the wonderful cloud scenery which to everybody is a +great charm of the view from Haleakala. The day was perfect; for +first we had an inimitable view of the crater and all that could be +seen from the mountain-top, and then an equally inimitable view of +Cloudland. There was the gaunt, hideous, desolate abyss, with its +fiery cones, its rivers and surges of black lava and grey ash, +crossing and mingling all over the area, mixed with splotches of +colour and coils of satin rock, its walls dark and frowning, +everywhere riven and splintered, and clouds perpetually drifting in +through the great gaps, and filling up the whole crater with white +swirling masses, which in a few minutes melted away in the sunshine, +leaving it all as sharply definite as before. Before noon clouds +surrounded the whole mountain, not in the vague flocculent, +meaningless masses one usually sees, but in Arctic oceans, where +lofty icebergs, floes and pack, lay piled on each other, glistening +with the frost of a Polar winter; then alps on alps, and peaks of +well remembered ranges gleaming above glaciers, and the semblance of +forests in deep ravines loaded with new fallen snow. Snow-drifts, +avalanches, oceans held in bondage of eternal ice, and all this +massed together, shifting, breaking, glistering, filling up the +broad channel which divides Maui from Hawaii, and far away above the +lonely masses, rose, in turquoise blue, like distant islands, the +lofty Hawaiian domes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, with snow on Mauna +Kea yet more dazzling than the clouds. There never was a stranger +contrast than between the hideous desolation of the crater below, +and those blue and jewelled summits rising above the shifting +clouds. + +After some time the scene shifted, and through glacial rifts +appeared as in a dream the Eeka mountains which enfold the Iao +valley, broad fields of cane 8000 feet below, the flushed palm- +fringed coast, and the deep blue sea sleeping in perpetual calm. +But according to the well-known fraud which isolated altitudes +perpetrate upon the eye, it appeared as if we were looking up at our +landscape, not down; and no effort of the eye or imagination would +put things at their proper levels. + +But gradually the clouds massed themselves, the familiar earth +disappeared, and we were "pinnacled in mid-heaven" in unutterable +isolation, blank forgotten units, in a white, wonderful, illuminated +world, without permanence or solidity. Our voices sounded thin in +the upper air. The keen, incisive wind that swept the summit, had +no kinship with the soft breezes which were rustling the tasselled +cane in the green fields of earth which had lately gleamed through +the drift. It was a new world and without sympathy, a solitude +which could be felt. Was it nearer God, I wonder, because so far +from man and his little works and ways? At least they seemed little +there, in presence of the tokens of a catastrophe which had not only +blown off a mountain top, and scattered it over the island, but had +disembowelled the mountain itself to a depth of 2000 feet. + +Soon after noon we began to descend; and in a hollow of the +mountain, not far from the ragged edge of the crater, then filled up +with billows of cloud, we came upon what we were searching for; not, +however, one or two, but thousands of silverswords, their cold, +frosted silver gleam making the hill-side look like winter or +moonlight. They can be preserved in their beauty by putting them +under a glass shade, but it must be of monstrous dimensions, as the +finer plants measure 2 ft. by 18 in. without the flower stalk. They +exactly resemble the finest work in frosted silver, the curve of +their globular mass of leaves is perfect; and one thinks of them +rather as the base of an epergne for an imperial table, or as a +prize at Ascot or Goodwood, than as anything organic. A particular +altitude and temperature appear essential to them, and they are not +found straggling above or below a given line. + +We reached Makawao very tired, soon after dark, to be heartily +congratulated on our successful ascent, and bearing no worse traces +of it than lobster-coloured faces, badly blistered. + +After accepting sundry hospitalities I rode over here, skirting the +mountain at a height of 2000 feet, a most tedious ride, only +enlivened by the blaze of nasturtiums in some of the shallow +gulches. It is very pretty here, and I wish all invalids could +revel in the sweet changeless air. The name signifies "ripe bread- +fruit of the gods." The plantation is 2000 feet above the sea, and +is one of the finest on the islands; and owing to the slow maturity +of the cane at so great a height, the yield is from five to six tons +an acre. Water is very scarce; all that is used in the boiling- +house and elsewhere has been carefully led into concrete tanks for +storage, and even the walks in the proprietor's beautiful garden are +laid with cement for the same purpose. He has planted many thousand +Australian eucalyptus trees on the hillside in the hope of procuring +a larger rainfall, so that the neighbourhood has quite an exotic +appearance. + +The coast is black and volcanic-looking below, jutting into the sea +in naked lava promontories, which nature has done nothing to drape. +Concerning a river of specially black lava, which runs into the sea +to the south of this house, the following legend is told:-- + +"A withered old woman stopped to ask food and hospitality at the +house of a dweller on this promontory, noted for his penuriousness. +His kalo patches flourished, cocoa-nuts and bananas shaded his hut, +nature was lavish of her wealth all round him. But the withered hag +was sent away unfed, and as she turned her back on the man she said, +'I will return to-morrow.' + +"This was Pele, the goddess of the volcano, and she kept her word, +and came back the next day in earthquakes and thunderings, rent the +mountain, and blotted out every trace of the man and his dwelling +with a flood of fire." + + +Maui is very "foreign" and civilised, and although it has a native +population of over 12,000, the natives are much crowded on +plantations, and one encounters little of native life. There is a +large society composed of planters' and merchants' families, and the +residents are profuse in their hospitality. It is not infrequently +taken undue advantage of, and I have heard of planters compelled to +feign excuses for leaving their houses, in order to get rid of +unintroduced and obnoxious visitors, who have quartered themselves +on them for weeks at a time. It is wonderful that their patient +hospitality is not worn out, even though, as they say, they +sometimes "entertain angels unawares." + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXV. + +KALAIEHA. HAWAII. + +My departure from Ulupalakua illustrates some of the uncertainties +of island travelling. On Monday night my things were packed, and my +trunk sent off to the landing; but at five on Tuesday, Mr. Whipple +came to my door to say that the Kilauea was not in Lahaina roads, +and was probably laid up for repairs. I was much disappointed, for +the mild climate had disagreed with me, and I was longing for the +roystering winds and unconventional life of windward Hawaii, and +there was not another steamer for three weeks. + +However, some time afterwards, I was unpacking, and in the midst of +a floor littered with ferns, photographs, books, and clothes, when +Mrs. W. rushed in to say that the steamer was just reaching the +landing below, and that there was scarcely the barest hope of +catching her. Hopeless as the case seemed, we crushed most of my +things promiscuously into a carpet bag, Mr. W. rode off with it, a +horse was imperfectly saddled for me, and I mounted him, with my +bag, straps, spurs, and a package of ferns in one hand, and my plaid +over the saddle, while Mrs. W. stuffed the rest of my possessions +into a clothes bag, and the Chinaman ran away frantically to catch a +horse on which to ride down with them. + +I galloped off after Mr. W., though people called to me that I could +not catch the boat, and that my horse would fall on the steep broken +descent. My saddle slipped over his neck, but he still sped down +the hill with the rapid "racking" movement of a Narraganset pacer. +First a new veil blew away, next my plaid was missing, then I passed +my trunk on the ox-cart which should have been at the landing; but +still though the heat was fierce, and the glare from the black lava +blinding, I dashed heedlessly down, and in twenty minutes had ridden +three miles down a descent of 2,000 feet, to find the Kilauea +puffing and smoking with her anchor up; but I was in time, for her +friendly clerk, knowing that I was coming, detained the scow. You +will not wonder at my desperation when I tell you that half-way +down, a person called to me, "Mauna Loa is in action!" + +While I was slipping off the saddle and bridle, Mr. W. arrived with +the carpet-bag, yet more over-heated and shaking with exertion than +I was, then the Chinaman with a bag of oddments, next a native who +had picked up my plaid and ferns on the road, and another with my +trunk, which he had rescued from the ox-cart; so I only lost my veil +and two brushes, which are irreplaceable here. + +The quiet of the nine hours' trip in the Kilauea restored my +equanimity, and prepared me to enjoy the delicious evening which +followed. The silver waters of Kawaihae Bay reflected the full +moon, the three great mountains of Hawaii were cloudless as I had +not before seen them, all the asperity of the leeward shore was +softened into beauty, and the long shadows of bending palms were as +still and perfect as the palms themselves. But there was a new +sight above the silver water, for the huge dome of Mauna Loa, forty +miles away, was burning red and fitfully. A horse and servant +awaited me, and we were soon clattering over the hard sand by the +shining sea, and up the ascent which leads to the windy table-lands +of Waimea. The air was like new life. At a height of 500 feet we +met the first whiff of the trades, the atmosphere grew cooler and +cooler, the night-wind fresher, the moonlight whiter; wider the +sweeping uplands, redder the light of the burning mountain, till I +wrapped my plaid about me, but still was chilled to the bone, and +when the four hours' ride was over, soon after midnight, my limbs +were stiff with tropical cold. And this, within 20 degrees of the +equator, and only 2,500 feet above the fiery sea-shore, with its +temperature of 80 degrees, where Sydney Smith would certainly have +desired to "take off his flesh, and sit in his bones!" + +I delight in Hawaii more than ever, with its unconventional life, +great upland sweeps, unexplored forests, riotous breezes, and +general atmosphere of freedom, airiness, and expansion. As I find +that a lady can travel alone with perfect safety, I have many +projects in view, but whatever I do or plan to do, I find my eyes +always turning to the light on the top of Mauna Loa. I know that +the ascent is not feasible for me, and that so far as I am concerned +the mystery must remain unsolved; but that glory, nearly 14,000 feet +aloft, rising, falling, "a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of +fire by night," uplifted in its awful loneliness above all human +interests, has an intolerable fascination. As the twilight deepens, +the light intensifies, and often as I watch it in the night, it +seems to flare up and take the form of a fiery palm-tree. No one +has ascended the mountain since the activity began a month ago; but +the fire is believed to be in "the old traditional crater of +Mokuaweoweo, in a region rarely visited by man." + +A few days ago I was so fortunate as to make the acquaintance of Mr. +W. L. Green (now Minister of The Interior), an English resident in +Honolulu, a gentleman of wide scientific and literary culture, one +of whose objects in visiting Hawaii is the investigation of certain +volcanic phenomena. He asked me to make the ascent of Mauna Kea +with him, and we have satisfactorily accomplished it to-day. + +The interior of the island, in which we have spent the last two +days, is totally different, not only from the luxuriant windward +slopes, but from the fiery leeward margin. The altitude of the +central plateau is from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, there is not a single +native dwelling on it, or even a trail across it, it is totally +destitute of water, and sustains only a miserable scrub of mamane, +stunted ohias, pukeawe, ohelos, a few compositae, and some of the +hardiest ferns. The transient residents of this sheep station, and +those of another on Hualalai, thirty miles off, are the only human +inhabitants of a region as large as Kent. Wild goats, wild geese +(Bernicla sandvicensis), and the Melithreptes Pacifica, constitute +its chief population. These geese are web-footed, though water does +not exist. They build their nests in the grass, and lay two or +three white eggs. + +Our track from Waimea lay for the first few miles over light soil, +destitute of any vegetation, across dry glaring rocky beds of +streams, and round the bases of numerous tufa cones, from 200 to +1500 feet in height, with steep smooth sides, composed of a very red +ash. We crossed a flank of Mauna Kea at a height of 6000 feet, and +a short descent brought us out upon this vast tableland, which lies +between the bulbous domes of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, the +loneliest, saddest, dreariest expanse I ever saw. + +The air was clear and the sun bright, yet nothing softened into +beauty this formless desert of volcanic sand, stones, and lava, on +which tufts of grass and a harsh scrub war with wind and drought for +a loveless existence. Yet, such is the effect of atmosphere, that +Mauna Loa, utterly destitute of vegetation, and with his sides +scored and stained by the black lava-flows of ages, looked like a +sapphire streaked with lapis lazuli. Nearly blinded by scuds of +sand, we rode for hours through the volcanic wilderness; always the +same rigid mamane, (Sophora Chrysophylla?) the same withered grass, +and the same thornless thistles, through which the strong wind swept +with a desolate screech. + +The trail, which dips 1000 feet, again ascends, the country becomes +very wild, there are ancient craters of great height densely wooded, +wooded ravines, the great bulk of Mauna Kea with his ragged crest +towers above tumbled rocky regions, which look as if nature, +disgusted with her work, had broken it to pieces in a passion; there +are living and dead trees, a steep elevation, and below, a broad +river of most jagged and uneven a-a. The afternoon fog, which +serves instead of rain, rolled up in dense masses, through which we +heard the plaintive bleating of sheep, and among blasted trees and +distorted rocks we came upon Kalaieha. + +I have described the "foreign residences" elsewhere. Here is one of +another type, in which a wealthy sheep-owner's son, married to a +very pretty native woman, leads for some months in the year from +choice, a life so rough, that most people would think it a hardship +to lead it from necessity. There are two apartments, a loft and a +"lean-to." The hospitable owners gave me their sleeping-room, which +was divided from the "living-room" by a canvass partition. This +last has a rude stone chimney split by an earthquake, holding fire +enough to roast an ox. Round it the floor is paved with great rough +stones. A fire of logs, fully three feet high, was burning, but +there was a faulty draught, and it emitted a stinging smoke. I +looked for something to sit upon, but there was nothing but a high +bench, or chopping-block, and a fixed seat in the corner of the +wall. The rest of the furniture consisted of a small table, some +pots, a frying-pan, a tin dish and plates, a dipper, and some tin +pannikins. Four or five rifles and "shot-guns," and a piece of raw +meat, were hanging against the wall. A tin bowl was brought to me +for washing, which served the same purpose for every one. The oil +was exhausted, so recourse was had to the native expedient of a jar +of beef fat with a wick in it. + +We were most hospitably received, but the native wife, as is usually +the case, was too shy to eat with us or even to appear at all. Our +host is a superb young man, very frank and prepossessing looking, a +thorough mountaineer, most expert with the lasso and in hunting wild +cattle. The "station" consists of a wool shed, a low grass hut, a +hut with one side gone, a bell-tent, and the more substantial cabin +in which we are lodged. Several saddled horses were tethered +outside, and some natives were shearing sheep, but the fog shut out +whatever else there might be of an outer world. Every now and then +a native came in and sat on the floor to warm himself, but there +were no mats as in native houses. It was intolerably cold. I +singed my clothes by sitting in the chimney, but could not warm +myself. A fowl was stewed native fashion, and some rice was boiled, +and we had sheep's milk and some ice cold water, the drip, I think, +from a neighbouring cave, as running and standing water are unknown. + +There are 9000 sheep here, but they require hardly any attendance +except at shearing time, and dogs are not used in herding them. +Indeed, labour is much dispensed with, as the sheep are shorn +unwashed, a great contrast to the elaborate washings of the flocks +of the Australian Riverina. They come down at night of their own +sagacity, in close converging columns, sleep on the gravel about the +station, and in the early morning betake themselves to their feeding +grounds on the mountain. + +Mauna Kea, and the forests which skirt his base, are the resort of +thousands of wild cattle, and there are many men nearly as wild, who +live half savage lives in the woods, gaining their living by +lassoing and shooting these animals for their skins. Wild black +swine also abound. + +The mist as usual disappeared at night, leaving a sky wonderful with +stars, which burned blue and pale against the furnace glare on the +top of Mauna Loa, to which we are comparatively near. I woke at +three from the hopeless cold, and before five went out with Mr. +Green to explore the adjacent lava. The atmosphere was perfectly +pure, and suffused with rose-colour, not a cloud-fleece hung round +the mountain tops, hoar-frost whitened the ground, the pure white +smoke of the volcano rose into the reddening sky, and the air was +elixir. It has been said and written that there are no steam-cracks +or similar traces of volcanic action on Mauna Kea, but in several +fissures I noticed ferns growing belonging to an altitude 4000 feet +lower, and on putting my arm down, found a heat which compelled me +to withdraw it, and as the sun rose these cracks steamed in all +directions. There are caves full of ferns, lava bubbles in reality, +crust over crust, each from twelve to eighteen inches thick, rolls +of lava cooled in coils, and hideous a-a streams on which it is +impossible to walk two yards without the risk of breaking one's +limbs or cutting one's boots to pieces. + +While we breakfasted a young man in rags, without shoes or +stockings, but with the accent and address of a gentleman, came in, +a man of good family and education in England, but who had "gone to +the bad out here," and had joined a gang of bullock-catchers. Why +do people persist in sending "ne'er-do-weels" to such regions +without a definite occupation? It is certain ruin. + +I will not weary you with the details of our mountain ascent. Our +host provided ourselves and the native servant with three strong +bullock-horses, and accompanied us himself. The first climb is +through deep volcanic sand slashed by deep clefts, showing bands of +red and black ash. We saw no birds, but twice started a rout of +wild black hogs, and once came upon a wild bull of large size with +some cows and a calf, all so tired with tramping over the lava that +they only managed to keep just out of our way. They usually keep +near the mountain top in the daytime for fear of the hunters, and +come down at night to feed. About 11,000 were shot and lassoed last +year. Mr. S--- says that they don't need any water but that of the +dew-drenched grass, and that horses reared on the mountains refuse +to drink, and are scared by the sight of pools or running streams. +Unlike horses I saw at Waikiki, which shut their eyes and plunged +their heads into water up to their ears, in search of a saltish weed +which grows in the lagoons. + +The actual forest, which is principally koa, ceases at a height of +about 6000 feet, but a deplorable vegetation beginning with mamane +scrub, and ending with withered wormwood and tufts of coarse grass, +straggles up 3000 feet higher, and a scaly orange lichen is found in +rare pitches at a height of 11,000 feet. + +The side of Mauna Kea towards Waimea is precipitous and +inaccessible, but to our powerful mountain horses the ascent from +Kalaieha presented no difficulty. + +We rode on hour after hour in intense cold, till we reached a height +where the last stain of lichen disappeared, and the desolation was +complete and oppressive. This area of tufa cones, dark and grey +basalt, clinkers, scoriae, fine ash, and ferruginous basalt, is +something gigantic. We were three hours in ascending through it, +and the eye could at no time take in its limit, for the mountain +which from any point of view below appears as a well defined dome +with a ragged top, has at the summit the aspect of a ridge, or +rather a number of ridges, with between 20 and 30 definite peaks, +varying in height from 900 to 1400 feet. Among these cones are +large plains of clinkers and fine gravel, but no lava-streams, and +at a height of 12,000 feet the sides of some of the valleys are +filled up with snow, of a purity so immaculate and a brilliancy so +intense as the fierce light of the tropical sun beat upon it, that I +feared snow-blindness. We ascended one of the smaller cones which +was about 900 feet high, and found it contained a crater of nearly +the same depth, with a very even slope, and lined entirely with red +ash, which at the bottom became so bright and fiery-looking that it +looked as if the fires, which have not burned for ages, had only +died out that morning. + +After riding steadily for six hours, our horses, snorting and +panting, and plunging up to their knees in fine volcanic ash, and +halting, trembling and exhausted, every few feet, carried us up the +great tufa cone which crowns the summit of this vast fire-flushed, +fire-created mountain, and we dismounted in deep snow on the crest +of the highest peak in the Pacific, 13,953 feet above the sea. This +summit is a group of six red tufa cones, with very little apparent +difference in their altitude, and with deep valleys filled with red +ash between them. The terminal cone on which we were has no cavity, +but most of those forming the group, as well as the thirty which I +counted around and below us, are truncated cones with craters +within, and with outer slopes, whose estimated angle is about 30 +degrees. On these slopes the snow lay heavily. In coming up we had +had a superb view of Mauna Loa, but before we reached the top, the +clouds had congregated, and lay in glistening masses all round the +mountain about half-way up, shutting out the smiling earth, and +leaving us alone with the view of the sublime desolation of the +volcano. + +We only remained an hour on the top, and came down by a very +circuitous route, which took us round numerous cones, and over miles +of clinkers varying in size from a ton to a few ounces, and past a +lake the edges of which were frozen, and which in itself is a +curiosity, as no other part of the mountain "holds water." Not far +off is a cave, a lava-bubble, in which the natives used to live when +they came up here to quarry a very hard adjacent phonolite for their +axes and other tools. While the others poked about, I was glad to +make it a refuge from the piercing wind. Hundreds of unfinished +axes lie round the cave entrance, and there is quite a large mound +of unfinished chips. + +This is a very interesting spot to Hawaiian antiquaries. They +argue, from the amount of the chippings, that this mass of phonolite +was quarried for ages by countless generations of men, and that the +mountain top must have been upheaved, and the island inhabited, in a +very remote past. The stones have not been worked since Captain +Cook's day; yet there is not a weather-stain upon them, and the air +is so dry and rarified that meat will keep fresh for three months. +I found a mass of crystals of the greenish volcanic glass, called +olivine, imbedded in a piece of phonolite which looked as blue and +fresh as if only quarried yesterday. + +We travelled for miles through ashes and scoriae, and then descended +into a dense afternoon fog; but Mr. S. is a practised mountaineer, +and never faltered for a moment, and our horses made such good speed +that late in the afternoon we were able to warm ourselves by a +gallop, which brought us in here ravenous for supper before dark, +having ridden for thirteen hours. I hope I have made it clear that +the top of this dead volcano, whether cones or ravines, is deep soft +ashes and sand. + +To-morrow morning I intend to ride the thirty miles to Waimea with +two native women, and the next day to go off on my adventurous +expedition to Hilo, for which I have bought for $45 a big, strong, +heavy horse, which I have named Kahele. He has the poking head and +unmistakable gait of a bullock horse, but is said to be "a good +traveller." + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXVI. + +"MY CAMP," HAWAIIAN SLOPES. May 21. + +This is the height of enjoyment in travelling. I have just encamped +under a lauhala tree, with my saddle inverted for a pillow, my horse +tied by a long lariat to a guava bush, my gear, saddle-bags, and +rations for two days lying about, and my saddle blanket drying in +the sun. Overhead the sun blazes, and casts no shadow; a few fleecy +clouds hover near him, and far below, the great expanse of the +Pacific gleams in a deeper blue than the sky. Far above, towers the +rugged and snow-patched, but no longer mysterious dome of Mauna Loa; +while everywhere, ravines, woods, waterfalls, and stretches of lawn- +like grass delight the eye. All green that I have ever seen, of +English lawns in June, or Alpine valleys, seems poor and colourless +as compared with the dazzling green of this sixty-five miles. It is +a joyous green, a glory. Whenever I look up from my writing, I ask, +Was there ever such green? Was there ever such sunshine? Was there +ever such an atmosphere? Was there ever such an adventure? And +Nature--for I have no other companion, and wish for none--answers, +"No." The novelty is that I am alone, my conveyance my own horse; +no luggage to look after, for it is all in my saddle-bags; no guide +to bother, hurry, or hinder me; and with knowledge enough of the +country to stop when and where I please. A native guide, besides +being a considerable expense, is a great nuisance; and as the trail +is easy to find, and the rivers are low, I resolved for once to +taste the delights of perfect independence! This is a blessed +country, for a lady can travel everywhere in absolute security. + +My goal is the volcano of Kilauea, with various diverging +expeditions, involving a ride of about 350 miles; but my health has +so wonderfully improved, that it is easier to me now to ride forty +miles in a day than ten some months ago. + +You have no idea of the preparations required for such a ride, and +the importance which "littles" assume. Food for two days had to be +taken, and all superfluous weight to be discarded, as every pound +tells on a horse on a hard journey. My saddle-bags contain, besides +"Sunday clothes," dress for any "gaieties" which Hilo may offer; but +I circumscribed my stock of clothes as much as possible, having +fallen into the rough-and-ready practice of washing them at night, +and putting them on unironed in the morning. I carry besides, a +canvas bag on the horn of my saddle, containing two days' provender, +and a knife, horse-shoe nails, glycerine, thread, twine, leather +thongs, with other little et ceteras, the lack of which might prove +troublesome, a thermometer and aneroid in a leather case, and a +plaid. I have discarded, owing to their weight, all the well-meant +luxuries which were bestowed upon me, such as drinking cups, flasks, +etnas, sandwich cases, knife cases, spoons, pocket mirrors, etc. +The inside of a watchcase makes a sufficient mirror, and I make a +cup from a kalo leaf. All cases are a mistake,--at least I think +so, as I contemplate my light equipment with complacency. + +Yesterday's dawn was the reddest I have seen on the mountains, and +the day was all the dawn promised. A three-mile gallop down the +dewy grass, and slackened speed through the bush, brought me once +again to the breezy slopes of Hamakua, and the trail I travelled in +February, with Deborah and Kaluna. Though as green then as now, it +was the rainy season, a carnival of rain and mud. Somehow the +summer does make a difference, even in a land without a winter. The +temperature was perfect. It was dreamily lovely. No song of birds, +or busy hum of insects, accompanied the rustle of the lauhala leaves +and the low murmur of the surf. But there is no hot sleep of noon +here--the delicious trades keep the air always wakeful. + +When the gentleman who guided me through the bush left me on the +side of a pali, I discovered that Kahele, though strong, gentle, and +sure-footed, possesses the odious fault known as balking, and +expressed his aversion to ascend the other side in a most +unmistakable manner. He swung round, put his head down, and no +amount of spurring could get him to do anything but turn round and +round, till the gentleman, who had left me, returned, beat him with +a stick, and threw stones at him, till he got him started again. + +I have tried coaxing him, but without result, and have had prolonged +fights with him in nearly every gulch, and on the worst pali of all +he refused for some time to breast a step, scrambled round and round +in a most dangerous place, and slipped his hind legs quite over the +edge before I could get him on. + +His sociability too is ridiculously annoying. Whenever he sees +natives in the distance, he neighs, points his ears, holds up his +heavy head, quickens his pace, and as soon as we meet them, swings +round and joins them, and can only be extricated after a pitched +battle. On a narrow bridge I met Kaluna on a good horse, improved +in manners, appearance, and English, and at first he must have +thought that I was singularly pleased to see him, by my turning +round and joining him at once; but presently, seeing the true state +of the case, he belaboured Kahele with a heavy stick. The animal is +very gentle, and companionable, and I dislike to spur him; besides, +he seems insensible to it; so the last time I tried Rarey's plan, +and bringing his head quite round, twisted the bridle round the horn +of the saddle, so that he had to turn round and round for my +pleasure, rather than to indulge his own temper, a process which +will, I hope, conquer him mercifully. + +But in consequence of these battles, and a halt which I made, as +now, for no other purpose than to enjoy my felicitous circumstances, +the sun was sinking in a mist of gold behind Mauna Loa long before I +reached the end of my day's journey. It was extremely lovely. A +heavy dew was falling, odours of Eden rose from the earth, colours +glowed in the sky, and the dewiest and richest green was all round. +It was eerie, but delightful. There were several gulches to cross +after the sun had set, and a silence, which was almost audible, +reigned in their leafy solitudes. It was quite dark when I reached +the trail which dips over the great pali of Laupahoehoe, 700 feet in +height; but I found myself riding carelessly down what I hardly +dared to go up, carefully and in company, four months before. But +whatever improvement time has made in my health and nerves, it has +made none in this wretched zoophyte village. + +Leading Kahele, I groped about till I found the house of the widow +Honolulu, with whom I had lodged before, and presently all the +natives assembled to stare at me. After rubbing my horse and +feeding him on a large bundle of ti leaves that I had secured on the +road, I took my own meal as a spectacle. Two old crones seized on +my ankles, murmuring lomi, lomi, and subjected them to the native +process of shampooing. They had unrestrained curiosity as to the +beginning and end of my journey. I said "Waimea, Hamakua," when +they all chorused, "Maikai;" for a ride of forty miles was not bad +for a wahine haole. I said, "Wai, lio," (water for the horse), when +they signified that there was only some brackish stuff unfit for +drinking. + +In spite of the garrulous assemblage, I was asleep before eight, and +never woke till I found myself in a blaze of sunshine this morning, +and in perfect solitude. I got myself some breakfast, and then +looked about the village for some inhabitants, but found none, +except an unhappy Portuguese with one leg, and an old man who looked +like a leper, to whom I said, "Ko" (cane) "lio" (horse), exhibiting +a rial at the same time, on which he cut me a large bundle, and I +sat on a stone and watched Kahele as he munched it for an hour and a +half. + +It was very hot and serene down there between those palis 700 and +800 feet high. The huts of the village were all shut, and not a +creature stirred. The palms above my head looked is if they had +always been old, and there was no movement among their golden +plumes. The sea itself rolled shorewards more silently and lazily +than usual. An old dog slept in the sunshine, and whenever I moved, +by a great effort, opened one eye. The man who cut the cane fell +asleep on the grass. Kahele ate as slowly as if he had resolved to +try my patience, and be revenged on me for my conquest of him +yesterday, and his heavy munching was the only vital sound. I got +up and walked about to assure myself that I was awake, saddled and +bridled the horse, and mounted the great southward pali, thankful to +reach the breeze and the upper air in full possession of my +faculties, after the torpor and paralysis of the valley below. + +Never were waters so bright or stretches of upland lawns so joyous +as to-day, or the forest entanglements so entrancing. The beautiful +Eugenia malaccensis is now in full blossom, and its stems and +branches are blazing in all the gulches, with bunches of rose- +crimson stamens borne on short spikelets. + + +HILO. HAWAII, May 24th. + +Once more I am in dear beautiful Hilo. Death entered my Hawaiian +"home" lately, and took "Baby Bell" away, and I miss her sweet +angel-presence at every turn; but otherwise there are no changes, +and I am very happy to be under the roof of these dear friends +again, and indeed each tree, flower, and fern in Hilo is a friend. +I would not even wish the straggling Pride of India, and over- +abundant lantana, away from this fairest of the island Edens. I +wish I could transport you here this moment from our sour easterly +skies to this endless summer and endless sunshine, and shimmer of a +peaceful sea, and an atmosphere whose influences are all cheering. +Though from 13 to 16 feet of rain fall here in the year the air is +not damp. Wet clothes hung up in the verandah even during rain, dry +rapidly, and a substance so sensitive to damp as botanical paper +does not mildew. + +I met Deborah on horseback near Onomea, and she told me that the +Austins were expecting me, and so I spent three days very pleasantly +with them on my way here. + I.L.B. + + +That old Kilauea has just come in, and has brought the English mail, +and a United States mail, an event which sets Hilo agog. Then for a +few hours its still, drowsy life becomes galvanized, and people +really persuade themselves that they have something to do, and all +the foreigners write letters hastily, or add postscripts to those +already written, and lose the mail, and rush down frantically to the +beach to send their late letters by favour of the obliging purser. +The mail to-day was an event to me, as it has brought your long- +looked-for letters. + + + +LETTER XXVII. + +HILO. June 1. + +Mr. and Mrs. Severance and I have just returned from a three-days' +expedition to Puna in the south of Hawaii, and I preferred their +agreeable company even to solitude! My sociable Kahele was also +pleased, and consequently behaved very well. We were compelled to +ride for twenty-three miles in single file, owing to the extreme +narrowness of the lava track, which has been literally hammered down +in some places to make it passable even for shod horses. We were a +party of four, and a very fat policeman on a very fat horse brought +up the rear. + +At some distance from Hilo there is a glorious burst of tropical +forest, and then the track passes into green grass dotted over with +clumps of the pandanus and the beautiful eugenia. In that hot dry +district the fruit was already ripe, and we quenched our thirst with +it. The "native apple," as it is called, is of such a brilliant +crimson colour as to be hardly less beautiful than the flowers. The +rind is very thin, and the inside is white, juicy, and very slightly +acidulated. We were always near the sea, and the surf kept bursting +up behind the trees in great snowy drifts, and every opening gave us +a glimpse of deep blue water. The coast the whole way is composed +of great blocks of very hard black lava, more or less elevated, upon +which the surges break in perpetual thunder. + +Suddenly the verdure ceased, and we emerged upon a hideous scene, +one of the many lava flows from Kilauea, an irregular branching +stream, about a mile broad. It is suggestive of fearful work on the +part of nature, for here the volcano has not created but destroyed. +The black tumbled sea mocked the bright sunshine, all tossed, +jagged, spiked, twirled, thrown heap on heap, broken, rifted, +upheaved in great masses, burrowing in ravines of its own making, +full of broken bubble caves, and torn by a-a streams. Close to the +track crystals of olivine lie in great profusion, and in a few of +the crevices there are young plants of a fern which everywhere has +the audacity to act as the herald of vegetation. + +Beyond this desert the country is different in its features from the +rest of the island, a green smiling land of Beulah, varied by lines +of craters covered within and without with vegetation. For thirty +miles the track passes under the deep shade of coco palms, of which +Puna is the true home; and from under their feathery shadow, and +from amidst the dark leafage of the breadfruit, gleamed the rose- +crimson apples of the eugenia, and the golden balls of the guava. I +have not before seen this exquisite palm to advantage, for those +which fringe the coast have, as compared with these, a look of +tattered, sombre, harassed antiquity. Here they stood in thousands, +young as well as old, their fronds gigantic, their stems curving +every way, and the golden light, which is peculiar to them, toned +into a golden green. They were loaded with fruit in all stages, +indeed it is produced in such abundance that thousands of nuts lie +unheeded on the ground. Animals, including dogs and cats, revel in +the meat, and in the scarcity of good water the milk is a useful +substitute. + +Late in the afternoon we reached our destination, a comfortable +frame house, on one of those fine natural lawns in which Hawaii +abounds. A shower at seven each morning keeps Puna always green. +Our kind host, a German, married to a native woman, served our meals +in a house made of grass and bamboo; but the wife and children, as +is usual in these cases, never appeared at table, and contented +themselves with contemplating us at a great distance. + +The next afternoon we rode to one of the natural curiosities of +Puna, which gave me intense pleasure. It lies at the base of a cone +crowned with a heiau and a clump of coco palms. Passing among +bread-fruit and guavas into a palm grove of exquisite beauty, we +came suddenly upon a lofty wooded cliff of hard basaltic rock, with +ferns growing out of every crevice in its ragged but perpendicular +sides. At its feet is a cleft about 60 feet long, 16 wide, and 18 +deep, full of water at a temperature of 90 degrees. This has an +absolute transparency of a singular kind, and perpetrates wonderful +optical illusions. Every thing put into it is transformed. The +rocks, broken timber, and old cocoa nuts which lie below it, are a +frosted blue; the dusky skins of natives are changed to alabaster; +and as my companion, in a light print holuku, swam to and fro, her +feet and hands became like polished marble tinged with blue, and her +dress floated through the water as if woven of blue light. +Everything about this spring is far more striking and beautiful than +the colour in the blue grotto of Capri. It is heaven in the water, +a jewelled floor of marvels, "a sea of glass," "like unto sapphire," +a type, perhaps, of that on which the blessed stand before the +throne of God. Above, the feathery palms rose into the crystalline +blue, and made an amber light below, and all fair and lovely things +were mirrored in the wonderful waters. The specific gravity must be +much greater than that of ordinary water, for it did not seem +possible to sink, or even be thoroughly immersed in it. The mercury +in the air was 79 degrees, but on coming out of the water we felt +quite chilly. + +I like Puna. It is like nothing else, but something about it made +us feel as if we were dwelling in a castle of indolence. I +developed a capacity for doing nothing, which horrified me, and +except when we energised ourselves to go to the hot spring, my +companions and I were content to dream in the verandah, and watch +the lengthening shadows, and drink cocoa-nut milk, till the abrupt +exit of the sun startled us, and we saw the young moon carrying the +old one tenderly, and a fitful glare 60 miles away, where the solemn +fires of Mauna Loa are burning at a height of nearly 14,000 feet. + + +HILO. + +There are many "littles," but few "mickles" here. It is among the +last that two foreign gentlemen have successfully accomplished the +ascent of Mauna Loa, and the mystery of its fires is solved. I +write "successfully," as they went up and down in safety, but they +were involved in a series of pilikias: girths, stirrup-leathers, +and cruppers slipping and breaking, and their sufferings on the +summit from cold and mountain sickness appear to have been nearly +incapacitating. Although much excited, they are collected enough to +pronounce it "the most sublime sight ever seen." They, as well as +several natives who have passed by Kilauea, report it as in full +activity, which bears against the assertion that the flank crater +becomes quiet when the summit crater is active. + +Another and sadder "mickle" has been the departure of ten lepers for +Molokai. The Kilauea, with the Marshal, and Mr. Wilder who embodies +the Board of Health, has just left the bay, taking away forty lepers +on this cruise; and the relations of those who have been taken from +Hilo are still howling on the beach. When one hears the wailing, +and sees the temporary agony of the separated relatives, one longs +for "the days of the Son of Man," and that his healing touch, as of +old in Galilee, might cleanse these unfortunates. Nine of the +lepers were sent on board from the temporary pest-house, but their +case, though deeply commiserated, has been overshadowed by that of +the talented half-white, "Bill Ragsdale," whom I mentioned in one of +my earlier letters, and who is certainly the most "notorious" man in +Hilo. He has a remarkable gift of eloquence, both in English and +Hawaiian: a combination of pathos, invective, and sarcasm; and his +manner, though theatrical, is considered perfect by his native +admirers. His moral character, however, has been very low, which +makes the outburst of feeling at his fate the more remarkable. + +Yesterday, he wrote a letter to Sheriff Severance, giving himself up +as a leper to be dealt with by the law, expressing himself as ready +to be expatriated to-day, but requesting that he might not be put +into the leper-house, and that he might go on board the steamer +alone. The fact of his giving himself up excited much sympathy, as, +in his case, the signs of the malady are hardly apparent, and he +might have escaped suspicion for some time. + +He was riding about all this morning, taking leave of people, and of +the pleasant Hilo lanes, which he will never see again, and just as +the steamer was weighing anchor, walked down to the shore as +carefully dressed as usual, decorated with leis of ohia and +gardenia, and escorted by nearly the whole native population. On my +first landing here, the glee club, singing and flower-clad, went out +to meet him; now tears and sobs accompanied him, and his countrymen +and women clung to him, kissing him, to the last moment, whilst all +the foreigners shook hands as they offered him their good wishes. +He made a short speech in native, urging quiet submission to the +stringent measures which government is taking in order to stamp out +leprosy, and then said a few words in English. His last words, as +he stepped into the boat, were to all: "Aloha, may God bless you, +my brothers," and then the whale boat took him the first stage +towards his living grave. He took a horse, a Bible, and some legal +books with him; and, doubtless, in consideration of the prominent +positions he has filled, specially that of interpreter to the +Legislature, unusual indulgence will be granted to him. + +At the weekly prayer meeting held this evening in the foreign +church, the medical officer gave a very pathetic account of his +interview with him this morning, in which he had feelingly requested +the prayers of the church. It was with unusual fervour afterwards +that prayer was offered, not for him only, but for "all those who, +living, have this day been consigned to the oblivion of the grave, +and for the five hundred of our fellow-subjects now suffering on +Molokai." A noble instance of devotion has just been given by +Father Damiens, a Belgian priest, who has gone to spend his life +amidst the hideous scenes, and the sickness and death of the ghastly +valley of Kalawao. + I.L.B. + + + +A CHAPTER ON THE LEPER SETTLEMENT ON MOLOKAI. + +In 1865, the Hawaiian Legislature, recognizing the disastrous fact +that leprosy is at once contagious and incurable, passed an act to +prevent its spread, and eventually the Board of Health established a +leper settlement on the island of Molokai for the isolation of +lepers. In carrying out the painful task of weeding out and exiling +the sufferers, the officials employed met with unusual difficulties; +and the general foreign community was not itself aware of the +importance of making an attempt to "stamp out" the disease, until +the beginning of Lunalilo's reign, when the apparently rapid spread +of leprosy, and sundry rumours that others than natives were +affected by it, excited general alarm, and not unreasonably, for +medical science, after protracted investigation, knows less of +leprosy than of cholera. Nor are medical men wholly agreed as to +the manner in which infection is communicated; and, as the white +residents on the islands associate very freely and intimately with +the natives, eating poi out of their calabashes, and sleeping in +their houses and on their mats, there was just cause for uneasiness. + +The natives themselves have been, and still are, perfectly reckless +about the risk of contagion, and although the family instinct among +them is singularly weak, the gregarious or social instinct is +singularly strong, and it has been found impossible to induce them +to give up smoking the pipes, wearing the clothes, and sleeping on +the mats of lepers, which three things are universally regarded by +medical men as undoubted sources of infection. At the beginning of +1873, it was estimated that nearly 400 lepers were scattered up and +down the islands, living among their families and friends, and the +healthy associated with them in complete apathy or fatalism. +However bloated the face and glazed the eyes, or however swollen or +decayed the limbs were, the persons so afflicted appeared neither to +scare nor disgust their friends, and, therefore, Hawaii has +absolutely needed the coercive segregation of these living foci of +disease. When the search for lepers was made, the natives hid their +friends away under mats, and in forests and caves, till the peril of +separation was over, and if they sought medical advice, they +rejected foreign educated aid in favour of the highly paid services +of Chinese and native quacks, who professed to work a cure by means +of loathsome ointments and decoctions, and abominable broths worthy +of the witches' cauldron. + +However, as the year passed on, lepers were "informed against," and +it became the painful duty of the sheriffs of the islands, on the +statement of a doctor that any individual was truly a leper, to +commit him for life to Molokai. Some, whose swollen faces and +glassy goggle eyes left no room for hope of escape, gave themselves +up; and few, who, like Mr. Ragsdale, might have remained among their +fellows almost without suspicion, surrendered themselves in a way +which reflects much credit upon them. Mr. Park, the Marshal, and +Mr. Wilder, of the Board of Health, went round the islands +repeatedly in the Kilauea, and performed the painful duty of +collecting the victims, with true sympathy and kindness. The woe of +those who were taken, the dismal wailings of those who were left, +and the agonised partings, when friends and relatives clung to the +swollen limbs and kissed the glistering bloated faces of those who +were exiled from them for ever, I shall never forget. + +There were no individual distinctions made among the sufferers. +Queen Emma's cousin, a man of property, and Mr. Ragsdale, the most +influential lawyer among the half-whites, shared the same doom as +poor Upa, the volcano guide, and stricken Chinamen and labourers +from the plantations. Before the search slackened, between three +and four hundred men, women, and children were gathered out from +among their families, and placed on Molokai. + +Between 1866 and April 1874, eleven hundred and forty-five lepers, +five hundred and sixty of whom were sent from Kahili in the spring +of 1872, have arrived on Molokai, of which number four hundred and +forty-two have died, the majority of the deaths having occurred +since the beginning of Lunalilo's reign, when the work of +segregation was undertaken in earnest. At the present time the +number on the island is 703, including 22 children. These +unfortunates are necessarily pauperised, and the small Hawaiian +kingdom finds itself much burdened by their support. The strain on +the national resources is very great, and it is not surprising that +officials called upon to meet such a sad emergency should be +assailed in all quarters of the globe by sentimental criticism and +misstatements regarding the provision made for the lepers on +Molokai. Most of these are unfounded, and the members of the Board +of Health deserve great credit both for their humanity and for their +prompt and careful attention to the complaints made by the +sufferers. + +At present the two obvious blots on the system are, the insufficient +house accommodation, involving a herding together which is repulsive +to foreign, though not to native, ideas; and the absence of a +resident physician to prescribe for the ailments from which leprosy +is no exemption. Molokai, the island of exile, is Molokai aina +pali, "the land of precipices," in the old native meles, and its +walls of rock rise perpendicularly from the sea to a height varying +from 1000 to 2500 feet, in extreme grandeur and picturesqueness, and +are slashed, as on Hawaii, by gulches opening out on natural lawns +on the sea level. The place chosen for the centralization and +segregation of leprosy is a most singular plain of about 20,000 +acres, hemmed in between the sea and a precipice 2000 feet high, +passable only where a zigzag bridle track swings over its face, so +narrow and difficult that it has been found impossible to get cattle +down over it, so that the leper settlement below has depended for +its supplies of fresh meat upon vessels. The settlement is +accessible also by a very difficult landing at Kalaupapa on the +windward side of Molokai. + +Three miles inland from Kalaupapa is the leper village of Kalawao, +which may safely be pronounced one of the most horrible spots on all +the earth; a home of hideous disease and slow coming death, with +which science in despair has ceased to grapple; a community of +doomed beings, socially dead, "whose only business is to perish;" +wifeless husbands, husbandless wives, children without parents, and +parents without children; men and women who have "no more a portion +for ever in anything that is done under the sun," condemned to watch +the repulsive steps by which each of their doomed fellows passes +down to a loathsome death, knowing that by the same they too must +pass. + +A small stone church near the landing, and another at Kalawao, tell +of the extraordinary devotion of a Catholic priest, who, with every +prospect of advancement in his Church, and with youth, culture, and +refinement to hold him back from the sacrifice, is in this hideous +valley, a self exiled man, for Christ's sake. It was singular to +hear the burst of spontaneous admiration which his act elicited. No +unworthy motives were suggested, all envious speech was hushed; it +was almost forgotten by the most rigid Protestants that Father +Damiens, who has literally followed the example of Christ by "laying +down his life for the brethren," is a Romish priest, and an +intuition, higher than all reasoning, hastened to number him with +"the noble army of martyrs." + +In Kalawao are placed not only the greater number of the lepers, but +the hospital buildings. Most of the victims are of the poorer +classes and live in brown huts; but two of rank, Mrs. Napela and the +Hon. P. Y. Kaeo, Queen Emma's cousin, have neat wooden cottages on +the way from the landing, with every comfort which their means can +provide for them. The hospital buildings are about twelve in +number, well and airily situated on a height; they are built of wood +thoroughly whitewashed, and are enclosed by a fence. Although it is +hoped that a leper hospital is not to be a permanent institution of +the kingdom, the soft green grass of the enclosure has been +liberally planted with algaroba trees, which in a year or two will +form a goodly shade, and water has been brought in from a distance +at considerable expense, so that an abundant supply is always at +hand. The lepers are dying fast, and the number of advanced cases +in the hospital averages forty. In the centre of the hospital +square there are the office buildings, including the dispensary, +which is well supplied with medicines, so that in the absence of a +doctor, common ailments may be treated by an intelligent English +leper. The superintendent's office, where the accounts and +statistics of the settlement are kept, and where the leper governor +holds his leper court, and the post-office, are also within the +enclosure; but the true governor and law-giver is Death. + +When Mr. Ragsdale left Hilo as a leper, the course he was likely to +take on Molokai could not be accurately forecasted; and it was felt +that the presence in the leper community of a man of his gift of +eloquence and influence might either be an invaluable assistance to +the government, or else a serious embarrassment. In every position +he had hitherto occupied, he had acquired and retained a remarkable +notoriety; and no stranger could visit the islands without hearing +of poor "Bill Ragsdale's" gifts, and the grievous failings by which +they were accompanied. + +Hitherto the hopes of his well wishers have been fulfilled, and the +government has found in him a most energetic as well as prudent +agent. "It is better to be first in Britain than second in Rome;" +and probably this unfortunate man, superintendent of the leper +settlement, and popularly known as "Governor Ragsdale," has found a +nobler scope for his ambition among his doomed brethren than in any +previous position. His remarkable power of influencing his +countrymen is at present used for their well being; and though his +authority is practically almost absolute, owing to the isolation of +the community, and its position almost outside the operation of law, +he has hitherto used it with good faith and moderation. He is +nominally assisted in his duties by a committee of twenty chosen +from among the lepers themselves; but from his superior education +and native mental ascendancy, all immediate matters in the +settlement are decided by his judgment alone. + +The rations of food are ample and of good quality, and +notwithstanding the increase in the number of lepers, and the +difficulty of communication, there has not been any authenticated +case of want. Each leper receives weekly 21 lbs. of paiai, and from +5 to 6 of beef, and when these fail to be landed, 9 lbs. of rice, 1 +lb. of sugar, and 4 lbs. of salmon. Soap and clothing are also +supplied; but, for all beyond these necessaries, the lepers are +dependent on their own industry, if they are able to exercise it, +and the kindness of their friends. Coffee, tobacco, pipes, extra +clothing, knives, toys, books, pictures, working implements and +materials, have all been possessed by them in happier days; and +though packages of such things have been sent by the charitable for +distribution by Father Damiens, it is not possible for island +benevolence fully to meet an emergency and needs so disproportionate +to the population and resources of the kingdom. Besides the two +Catholic churches, there are a Protestant chapel, with a pastor, +himself a leper, who is a regularly ordained minister of the +Hawaiian Board, and two school-houses, where the twenty-two children +of the settlement receive instruction in Hawaiian from a leper +teacher. There is a store, too, where those who are assisted by +their friends can purchase small luxuries, which are sold at just +such an advance on cost as is sufficient to clear the expense of +freight. The taste for ornament has not died out in either sex, and +women are to be seen in Kalawao, hideous and bloated beyond +description, decorated with leis of flowers, and looking for +admiration out of their glazed and goggle eyes. + +King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani have paid a visit to the +settlement, and were received with hearty alohas, and the music of a +leper band. The king made a short address to the lepers, the +substance of which was "that his heart was grieved with the +necessity which had separated these, his subjects, from their homes +and families, a necessity which they themselves recognised and +acquiesced in, and it should be the earnest desire of himself and +his government to render their condition in exile as comfortable as +possible." While he spoke, though it is supposed that a merciful +apathy attends upon leprosy, his hideous audience showed signs of +deep feeling, and many shed tears at his thoughtfulness in coming to +visit those, who, to use their own touching expression, were +"already in the grave." + +The account which follows is from the pen of a gentleman who +accompanied the king, and visited the hospital on the same occasion, +in company with two members of the Board of Health. + +"As our party stepped on shore, we found the lepers assembled to the +number of two or three hundred--there are 697 all told in the +settlement--for they had heard in advance of our coming, and our +ears were greeted with the sound of lively music. This proceeded +from the 'band,' consisting of a drum, a fife, and two flutes, +rather skilfully played upon by four young lads, whose visages were +horribly marked and disfigured with leprosy. The sprightly airs +with which these poor creatures welcomed the arrival of the party, +sounded strangely incongruous and out of place, and grated harshly +upon our feelings. And then as we proceeded up the beach, and the +crowd gathered about us, eager and anxious for a recognition or a +kind word of greeting--oh, the repulsive and sickening libels and +distorted caricatures of the human face divine upon which we looked! +And as they evidently read the ill-concealed aversion in our +countenances, they withdrew the half-proffered hand, and slunk back +with hanging heads. They felt again that they were lepers, the +outcasts of society, and must not contaminate us with their touch. +A few cheerful words of inquiry from the physician, Dr. Trousseau, +addressed to individuals as to their particular cases, broke the +embarrassment of this first meeting, and soon the crowd were +chatting and laughing just like any other crowd of thoughtless +Hawaiians, and with but few exceptions, these unfortunate exiles +showed no signs of the settled melancholy that would naturally be +looked for from people so hopelessly situated. Very happy were they +when spoken to, and quite ready to answer any questions. We saw +numbers whom we had known in years past, and who, having +disappeared, we had thought dead. One we had known as a +Representative, and a very intelligent one, too, in the Legislature +of 1868. On greeting him as an old-time acquaintance, he observed, +'Yes, we meet again--in this living grave!' He is a man of no +little consideration among the people, being entrusted by the Board +of Health with the care of the store which is kept here for the sale +of such goods as the people require. All do not appear to be lepers +who are leprous. We saw numbers who might pass along our streets +any day without being suspected of the taint. They had it, however, +in one way or another. Sometimes on the extremities only, eating +away the flesh and rotting the bones of the hands or feet; and +sometimes only appearing in black and indurated spots on the skin, +noticed only on a somewhat close examination. This last sort is +said to be the worst, as being most surely fatal and easiest +transmitted. We saw women who had the disease in this stage, +walking about, whom it was difficult to believe were lepers. + +"If our sensibilities were shocked at the sight of the crowd of +lepers we had met at the beach, walking about in physical strength +and activity, how shall we describe our sensations in looking upon +these loathsome creatures in the hospital, in whom it was indeed +hard to recognise anything human? The rooms were cleanly kept and +well ventilated, but the atmosphere within was pervaded with the +sickening odour of the grave. At each end, squatted or lying prone +on their respective mats or mattresses, were the yet breathing +corpses of lepers in the last stages of various forms of the +disease, who glanced inquisitively at us for a moment out of their +ghoul-like eyes--those who were not already beyond seeing--and then +withdrew within their dreadful selves. Was there ever a more +pitiful sight? + +"In one room we saw a sight that will ever remain fixed indelibly on +the tablets of memory. A little blue-eyed, flaxen haired child, +apparently three or four years old, a half-caste, that looked up at +us with an expression of timorous longing to be caressed and loved; +but alas, in its glassy eyes and transparent cheeks were the +unmistakable signs of the curse--the sin of the parents visited upon +the child! + +"In another room was one--a mass of rotting flesh, with but little +semblance of humanity remaining--who was dying, and whose breath +came hurried and obstructed. A few hours at most, and his troubles +would be over, and his happy release arrive. There had been +fourteen deaths in the settlement during the previous fortnight. On +the day of our visit there were fifty-eight inmates of the +hospital." + +Though the lifting of the veil of mystery which hangs over the death +valley of Molokai discloses some of the most woeful features of the +curse, it is a relief to know the worst, and that the poor leprous +outcasts in their "living grave" are not outside the pale of +humanity and a judicious philanthropy. All that can be done for +them is to encourage their remaining capacities for industry, and to +smooth, as far as is possible, the journey of death. The Hawaiian +Government is doing its best to "stamp out" the disease, and to +provide for the comfort of those who are isolated; and, with the +limited means at its disposal, has acted with an efficiency and +humanity worthy of the foremost of civilised countries. + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + +HILO. June 2nd. + +Often since I finished my last letter has Hazael's reply to Elisha +occurred to me, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this +thing?" For in answer to people who have said, "I hope nothing will +induce you to attempt the ascent of Mauna Loa," I always said, "Oh, +dear, no! I should never dream of it;" or, "Nothing would persuade +me to think of it!" + +This morning early, Mr. Green came in, on his way to Kilauea, to +which I was to accompany him, and on my casually remarking that I +envied him his further journey, he at once asked me to join him, and +I joyfully accepted the invitation! For, indeed, my heart has been +secretly set on going, and I have had to repeat to myself fifty +times a day, "no, I must not think of it, for it is impossible." + +Mr. Green is going up well equipped with a tent, horses, a baggage +mule, and a servant, and is confident of being able to get a guide +and additional mules fifty miles from Hilo. I had to go to the +Union School examination where the Hilo world was gathered, but I +could think of nothing but the future; and I can hardly write sense, +the prospect of the next week is so exciting, and the time for +making preparations is so short. It is an adventurous trip anyhow, +and the sufferings which our predecessors have undergone, from +Commodore Wilkes downwards, make me anxious not to omit any +precaution. The distance which has to be travelled through an +uninhabited region, the height and total isolation of the summit, +the uncertainty as to the state of the crater, and the duration of +its activity, with the possibility of total failure owing to fog or +strong wind, combine to make our ascent an experimental trip. + +The news of the project soon spread through the village, and as the +ascent has only once been performed by a woman, the kindly people +are profuse in offers of assistance, and in interest in the journey, +and every one is congratulating me on my good fortune in having Mr. +Green for my travelling companion. I have hunted all the beach +stores through for such essentials as will pack into small compass, +and every one said "So you are going to 'the mountain;' I hope +you'll have a good time;" or, "I hope you'll have the luck to get +up." + +Among the friends of my hosts all sorts of useful articles were +produced, a camp kettle, a camping blanket, a huge Mexican poncho, a +cardigan, capacious saddlebags, etc. Nor was Kahele forgotten, for +the last contribution was a bag of oats! The greatest difficulty +was about warm clothing, for in this perfect climate, woollen +underclothing is not necessary as in many tropical countries, but it +is absolutely essential on yonder mountain, and till late in the +afternoon the best intentions and the most energetic rummaging in +old trunks failed to produce it. At last Mrs. ---, wife of an old +Scotch settler, bestowed upon me the invaluable loan of a stout +flannel shirt, and a pair of venerable worsted stockings, much +darned, knitted in Fifeshire a quarter of a century ago. When she +brought them, the excellent lady exclaimed, "Oh, what some people +will do!" with an obvious personal reference. + +She tells us that her husband, who owns the ranch on the mountain at +which we are to stay the last night, has been obliged to forbid any +of his natives going up as guides, and that she fears we shall not +get a guide, as the native who went up with Mr. Whyte suffered so +dreadfully from mountain sickness, that they were obliged to help +him down, and he declares that he will not go up again. Mr. Whyte +tells us that he suffered himself from vomiting and vertigo for +fourteen hours, and severely from thirst also, as the water froze in +their canteens; but I am almost well now, and as my capacity for +"roughing it" has been severely tested, I hope to "get on" much +better. A party made the ascent nine months ago, and the members of +it also suffered severely, but I see no reason why cautious people, +who look well to their gear and clothing, and are prudent with +regard to taking exercise at the top, should suffer anything worse +than the inconveniences which are inseparable from nocturnal cold at +a high elevation. + +My preparations are completed to-night, the last good wishes have +been spoken, and we intend to leave early tomorrow morning. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXIX. {381} + +CRATER HOUSE, KILAUEA. June 4th. + +Once more I write with the splendours of the quenchless fires in +sight, and the usual world seems twilight and commonplace by the +fierce glare of Halemaumau, and the fitful glare of the other and +loftier flame, which is burning ten thousand feet higher in lonely +Mokua-weo-weo. + +Mr. Green and I left Hilo soon after daylight this morning, and made +about "the worst time" ever made on the route. We jogged on slowly +and silently for thirty miles in Indian file, through bursts of +tropical beauty, over an ocean of fern-clad pahoehoe, the air hot +and stagnant, the horses lazy and indifferent, till I was awoke from +the kind of cautious doze into which one falls on a sure-footed +horse, by a decided coolness in the atmosphere, and Kahele breaking +into a lumbering gallop, which he kept up till we reached this +house, where, in spite of the exercise, we are glad to get close to +a large wood fire. Although we are shivering, the mercury is 57 +degrees, but in this warm and equable climate, one's sensations are +not significant of the height of the thermometer. + +It is very fascinating to be here on the crater's edge, and to look +across its deep three miles of blackness to the clouds of red light +which Halemaumau is sending up, but altogether exciting to watch the +lofty curve of Mauna Loa upheave itself against the moon, while far +and faint, we see, or think we see, that solemn light, which ever +since my landing at Kawaihae has been so mysteriously attractive. +It is three days off yet. Perhaps its spasmodic fires will die out, +and we shall find only blackness. Perhaps anything, except our +seeing it as it ought to be seen! The practical difficulty about a +guide increases, and Mr. Gilman cannot help us to solve it. And if +it be so cold at 4000 feet, what will it be at 14,000? + + +KILAUEA. June 5th. + +I have no room in my thoughts for anything but volcanoes, and it +will be so for some days to come. We have been all day in the +crater, in fact, I left Mr. Green and his native there, and came up +with the guide, sore, stiff, bruised, cut, singed, grimy, with my +thick gloves shrivelled off by the touch of sulphurous acid, and my +boots nearly burned off. But what are cuts, bruises, fatigue, and +singed eyelashes, in comparison with the awful sublimities I have +witnessed to-day? The activity of Kilauea on Jan. 31 was as child's +play to its activity to-day: as a display of fireworks compared to +the conflagration of a metropolis. THEN, the sense of awe gave way +speedily to that of admiration of the dancing fire fountains of a +fiery lake; NOW, it was all terror, horror, and sublimity, +blackness, suffocating gases, scorching heat, crashings, surgings, +detonations; half seen fires, hideous, tortured, wallowing waves. I +feel as if the terrors of Kilauea would haunt me all my life, and be +the Nemesis of weak and tired hours. + +We left early, and descended the terminal wall, still as before, +green with ferns, ohias, and sandalwood, and bright with clusters of +turquoise berries, and the red fruit and waxy blossoms of the ohelo. +The lowest depression of the crater, which I described before as a +level fissured sea of iridescent lava, has been apparently partially +flooded by a recent overflow from Halemaumau, and the same agency +has filled up the larger rifts with great shining rolls of black +lava, obnoxiously like boa-constrictors in a state of repletion. In +crossing this central area for the second time, with a mind less +distracted by the novelty of the surroundings, I observed +considerable deposits of remarkably impure sulphur, as well as +sulphates of lime and alum in the larger fissures. The presence of +moisture was always apparent in connexion with these formations. +The solidified surges and convolutions in which the lava lies, the +latter sometimes so beautifully formed as to look like coils of wire +rope, are truly wonderful. Within the cracks there are +extraordinary coloured growths, orange, grey, buff, like mineral +lichens, but very hard and brittle. + +The recent lava flow by which Halemaumau has considerably heightened +its walls, has raised the hill by which you ascend to the brink of +the pit to a height of fully five hundred feet from the basin, and +this elevation is at present much more fiery and precarious than the +former one. It is dead, but not cold, lets one through into cracks +hot with corrosive acid, rings hollow everywhere, and its steep +acclivities lie in waves, streams, coils, twists, and tortuosities +of all kinds, the surface glazed and smoothish, and with a metallic +lustre. + +Somehow, I expected to find Kilauea as I had left it in January, +though the volumes of dense white smoke which are now rolling up +from it might have indicated a change; but after the toilsome, +breathless climbing of the awful lava hill, with the crust becoming +more brittle, and the footing hotter at each step, instead of +laughing fire fountains tossing themselves in gory splendour above +the rim, there was a hot, sulphurous, mephitic chaos, covering, who +knows what, of horror? + +So far as we could judge, the level of the lake had sunk to about 80 +feet below the margin, and the lately formed precipice was +overhanging it considerably. About seven feet back from the edge of +the ledge, there was a fissure about eighteen inches wide, emitting +heavy fumes of sulphurous acid gas. Our visit seemed in vain, for +on the risky verge of this crack we could only get momentary +glimpses of wallowing fire, glaring lurid through dense masses of +furious smoke which were rolling themselves round in the abyss as if +driven by a hurricane. + +After failing to get a better standpoint, we suffered so much from +the gases, that we coasted the north, till we reached the south +lake, one with the other on my former visit, but now separated by a +solid lava barrier about three hundred feet broad, and eighty high. +Here there was comparatively little smoke, and the whole mass of +contained lava was ebullient and incandescent, its level marked the +whole way round by a shelf or rim of molten lava, which adhered to +the side, as ice often adheres to the margin of rapids, when the +rest of the water is liberated and in motion. There was very little +centripetal action apparent. Though the mass was violently agitated +it always took a southerly direction, and dashed itself with fearful +violence against some lofty, undermined cliffs which formed its +southern limit. The whole region vibrated with the shock of the +fiery surges. To stand there was "to snatch a fearful joy," out of +a pain and terror which were unendurable. For two or three minutes +we kept going to the edge, seeing the spectacle as with a flash, +through half closed eyes, and going back again; but a few trials, in +which throats, nostrils, and eyes were irritated to torture by the +acid gases, convinced us that it was unsafe to attempt to remain by +the lake, as the pain and gasping for breath which followed each +inhalation, threatened serious consequences. + +With regard to the north lake we were more fortunate, and more +persevering, and I regard the three hours we spent by it as +containing some of the most solemn, as well as most fascinating, +experiences of my life. The aspect of the volcano had altogether +changed within four months. At present there are two lakes +surrounded by precipices about eighty feet high. Owing to the smoke +and confusion, it is most difficult to estimate their size even +approximately, but I think that the diameter of the two cannot be +less than a fifth of a mile. + +Within the pit or lake by which we spent the morning, there were no +fiery fountains, or regular plashings of fiery waves playing in +indescribable beauty in a faint blue atmosphere, but lurid, gory, +molten, raging, sulphurous, tormented masses of matter, half seen +through masses as restless, of lurid smoke. Here, the violent +action appeared centripetal, but with a southward tendency. +Apparently, huge bulging masses of a lurid-coloured lava were +wallowing the whole time one over another in a central whirlpool, +which occasionally flung up a wave of fire thirty or forty feet. +The greatest intensity of action was always preceded by a dull +throbbing roar, as if the imprisoned gases were seeking the vent +which was afforded them by the upward bulging of the wave and its +bursting into spray. The colour of the lava which appeared to be +thrown upwards from great depths, was more fiery and less gory than +that nearer the surface. Now and then, through rifts in the smoke +we saw a convergence of the whole molten mass into the centre, which +rose wallowing and convulsed to a considerable height. The awful +sublimity of what we did see, was enhanced by the knowledge that it +was only a thousandth part of what we did not see, mere momentary +glimpses of a terror and fearfulness which otherwise could not have +been borne. + +A ledge, only three or four feet wide, hung over the lake, and +between that and the comparative terra firma of the older lava, +there was a fissure of unknown depth, emitting hot blasts of +pernicious gases. The guide would not venture on the outside ledge, +but Mr. Green, in his scientific zeal, crossed the crack, telling me +not to follow him, but presently, in his absorption with what he +saw, called to me to come, and I jumped across, and this remained +our perilous standpoint. {388} + +Burned, singed, stifled, blinded, only able to stand on one foot at +a time, jumping back across the fissure every two or three minutes +to escape an unendurable whiff of heat and sulphurous stench, or +when splitting sounds below threatened the disruption of the ledge: +lured as often back by the fascination of the horrors below; so we +spent three hours. + +There was every circumstance of awfulness to make the impression of +the sight indelible. Sometimes dense volumes of smoke hid +everything, and yet, upwards, from out "their sulphurous canopy" +fearful sounds rose, crashings, thunderings, detonations, and we +never knew then whether the spray of some hugely uplifted wave might +not dash up to where we stood. At other times the smoke partially +lifting, but still swirling in strong eddies, revealed a central +whirlpool of fire, wallowing at unknown depths, to which the lava, +from all parts of the lake, slid centrewards and downwards as into a +vortex, where it mingled its waves with indescribable noise and +fury, and then, breaking upwards, dashed itself to a great height in +fierce, gory, gouts and clots, while hell itself seemed opening at +our feet. At times, again, bits of the lake skinned over with a +skin of a wonderful silvery, satiny sheen, to be immediately +devoured; and as the lurid billows broke, they were mingled with +misplaced patches as if of bright moonlight. Always changing, +always suggesting force which nothing could repel, agony +indescribable, mystery inscrutable, terror unutterable, a thing of +eternal dread, revealed only in glimpses! + +It is natural to think that St. John the Evangelist, in some Patmos +vision, was transported to the brink of this "bottomless pit," and +found in its blackness and turbulence of agony the fittest emblems +of those tortures of remorse and memory, which we may well believe +are the quenchless flames of the region of self-chosen exile from +goodness and from God. As natural, too, that all Scripture phrases +which typify the place of woe should recur to one with the force of +a new interpretation, "Who can dwell with the everlasting burnings?" +"The smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever," "The place +of hell," "The bottomless pit," "The vengeance of eternal fire," "A +lake of fire burning with brimstone." No sight can be so fearful as +this glimpse into the interior of the earth, where fires are for +ever wallowing with purposeless force and aimless agony. + +Beyond the lake there is a horrible region in which dense volumes of +smoke proceed from the upper ground, with loud bellowings and +detonations, and we took our perilous way in that direction, over +very hot lava which gave way constantly. It is near this that the +steady fires are situated which are visible from this house at +night. We came first upon a solitary "blowing cone," beyond which +there was a group of three or four, but it is not from these that +the smoke proceeds, but from the extensive area beyond them, covered +with smoke and steam cracks, and smoking banks, which are probably +formed of sulphur deposits. I only visited the solitary cone, for +the footing was so precarious, the sight so fearful, and the +ebullitions of gases so dangerous, that I did not dare to go near +the others, and never wish to look upon their like again. + +The one I saw was of beehive shape, about twelve feet high, hollow +inside, and its walls were about two feet thick. A part of its +imperfect top was blown off, and a piece of its side blown out, and +the side rent gave one a frightful view of its interior, with the +risk of having lava spat at one at intervals. The name "Blowing +Cone" is an apt one, if the theory of their construction be correct. +It is supposed that when the surface of the lava cools rapidly owing +to enfeebled action below, the gases force their way upwards through +small vents, which then serve as "blow holes" for the imprisoned +fluid beneath. This, rapidly cooling as it is ejected, forms a ring +on the surface of the crust, which, growing upwards by accretion, +forms a chimney, eventually nearly or quite closed at the top, so as +to form a cone. In this case the cone is about eighty feet above +the present level of the lake, and fully one hundred yards distant +from its present verge. + +The whole of the inside was red and molten, full of knobs, and great +fiery stalactites. Jets of lava at a white heat were thrown up +constantly, and frequently the rent in the side spat out lava in +clots, which cooled rapidly, and looked like drops of bottle green +glass. The glimpses I got of the interior were necessarily brief +and intermittent. The blast or roar which came up from below was +more than deafening; it was stunning: and accompanied with heavy +subterranean rumblings and detonations. The chimney, so far as I +could see, opened out gradually downwards to a great width, and +appeared to be about forty feet deep; and at its base there was an +abyss of lashing, tumbling, restless fire, emitting an ominous +surging sound, and breaking upwards with a fury which threatened to +blow the cone and the crust on which it stands, into the air. + +The heat was intense, and the stinging sulphurous gases which were +given forth in large quantities, most poisonous. The group of cones +west of this one, was visited by Mr. Green; but he found it +impossible to make any further explorations. He has seen nearly all +the recent volcanic phenomena, but says that these cones present the +most "infernal" appearance he has ever witnessed. We returned for a +last look at Halemaumau, but the smoke was so dense, and the sulphur +fumes so stifling, that, as in a fearful dream, we only heard the +thunder of its hidden surges. I write thunder, and one speaks of +the lashing of its waves; but these are words pertaining to the +familiar earth, and have no place in connection with Kilauea. The +breaking lava has a voice all its own, full of compressed fury. Its +sound, motion, and aspect are all infernal. Hellish, is the only +fitting term. + +We are dwelling on a cooled crust all over Southern Hawaii, the +whole region is recent lava, and between this and the sea there are +several distinct lines of craters thirty miles long, all of which at +some time or other have vomited forth the innumerable lava streams +which streak the whole country in the districts of Kau, Puna, and +Hilo. In fact, Hawaii is a great slag. There is something very +solemn in the position of this crater-house: with smoke and steam +coming out of every pore of the ground, and in front the huge +crater, which to-night lights all the sky. My second visit has +produced a far deeper impression even than the first, and one of awe +and terror solely. + +Kilauea is altogether different from the European volcanoes which +send lava and stones into the air in fierce sudden spasms, and then +subside into harmlessness. Ever changing, never resting, the force +which stirs it never weakening, raging for ever with tossing and +strength like the ocean: its labours unfinished and possibly never +to be finished, its very unexpectedness adds to its sublimity and +terror, for until you reach the terminal wall of the crater, it +looks by daylight but a smoking pit in the midst of a dreary stretch +of waste land. + +Last night I thought the Southern Cross out of place; to-night it +seems essential, as Calvary over against Sinai. For Halemaumau +involuntarily typifies the wrath which shall consume all evil: and +the constellation, pale against its lurid light, the great love and +yearning of the Father, "who spared not His own Son but delivered +Him up for us all," that, "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ +shall all be made alive." + + +AINEPO, HAWAII, June 5th. + +We had a great fright last evening. We had been engaging mules, and +talking over our plans with our half-Indian host, when he opened the +door and exclaimed, "There's no light on Mauna Loa; the fire's gone +out." We rushed out, and though the night was clear and frosty, the +mountain curve rose against the sky without the accustomed wavering +glow upon it. "I'm afraid you'll have your trouble for nothing," +Mr. Gilman unsympathisingly remarked; "anyhow, its awfully cold up +there," and rubbing his hands, reseated himself at the fire. Mr. G. +and I stayed out till we were half-frozen, and I persuaded myself +and him that there was a redder tinge than the moonlight above the +summit, but the mountain has given no sign all day, so that I fear +that I "evolved" the light out of my "inner consciousness." + +Mr. Gilman was eloquent on the misfortunes of our predecessors, lent +me a pair of woollen socks to put on over my gloves, told me +privately that if anyone could succeed in getting a guide it would +be Mr. Green, and dispatched us at eight this morning with a lurking +smile at our "fool's errand," thinly veiled by warm wishes for our +success. Mr. Reid has two ranches on the mountain, seven miles +distant from each other, and was expected every hour at the crater- +house on his way to Hilo, but it was not known from which he was +coming, and as it appeared that our last hope of getting a guide lay +in securing his good will, Mr. G., his servant, and packmule took +the lower trail, and I, with a native, a string of mules, and a +pack-horse, the upper. Our plans for intercepting the good man were +well laid and successful, but turned out resultless. + +This has been an irresistibly comical day, and it is just as well to +have something amusing interjected between the sublimities of +Kilauea, and whatever to-morrow may bring forth. When our +cavalcades separated, I followed the guide on a blind trail into the +little-known regions on the skirts of Mauna Loa. We only travelled +two miles an hour, and the mules kept getting up rows, kicking, and +entangling their legs in the lariats, and one peculiarly malign +animal dealt poor Kahele a gratuitous kick on his nose, making it +bleed. + +It is strange, unique country, without any beauty. The seaward view +is over a great stretch of apparent table-land, spotted with +craters, and split by cracks emitting smoke or steam. The whole +region is black with streams of spiked and jagged lava, meandering +over it, with charred stumps of trees rising out of them. + +The trail, if such it could be called, wound among koa and +sandalwood trees occasionally, but habitually we picked our way over +waves, coils, and hummocks of pahoehoe surrounded by volcanic sand, +and with only a few tufts of grass, abortive ohelos, and vigorous +sow thistles (much relished by Kahele) growing in their crevices. +Horrid cracks, 50 or 60 feet wide, probably made by earthquakes, +abounded, and a black chasm of most infernal aspect dogged us on the +left. It was all scrambling up and down. Sometimes there was long, +ugly grass, a brownish green, coarse and tufty, for a mile or more. +Sometimes clumps of wintry-looking, dead trees, sometimes clumps of +attenuated living ones; but nothing to please the eye. We saw +neither man nor beast the whole way, except a wild bull, which, +tearing down the mountain side, crossed the trail just in front of +us, causing a stampede among the mules, and it was fully an hour +before they were all caught again. + +The only other incident was an earthquake, the most severe, the men +here tell me, that has been experienced for two years. One is +prepared for any caprices on the part of the earth here, yet when +there was a fearful internal throbbing and rumbling, and the trees +and grass swayed rapidly, and great rocks and masses of soil were +dislodged, and bounded down the hillside, and the earth reeled, and +my poor horse staggered and stopped short; far from rising to the +magnitude of the occasion, I thought I was attacked with vertigo, +and grasped the horn of my saddle to save myself from falling. +After a moment of profound stillness, there was again a subterranean +sound like a train in a tunnel, and the earth reeled again with such +violence that I felt as if the horse and myself had gone over. Poor +K. was nervous for some time afterwards. The motion was as violent +as that of a large ship in a mid-Atlantic storm. There were four +minor shocks within half an hour afterwards. + +After crawling along for seven hours, and for the last two in a +dripping fog, so dense that I had to keep within kicking range of +the mules for fear of being lost, we heard the lowing of domestic +cattle, and came to a place where felled trees, very difficult for +the horses to cross, were lying. Then a rude boundary wall +appeared, inside of which was a small, poor-looking grass house, +consisting of one partially-divided room, with a small, ruinous- +looking cook-house, a shed, and an unfinished frame house. It +looked, and is, a disconsolate conclusion of a wet day's ride. I +rode into the corral, and found two or three very rough-looking +whites and half-whites standing, and addressing one of them, I found +he was Mr. Reid's manager there. I asked if they could give me a +night's lodging, which seemed a diverting notion to them; and they +said they could give me the rough accommodation they had, but it was +hard even for them, till the new house was put up. They brought me +into this very rough shelter, a draughty grass room, with a bench, +table, and one chair in it. Two men came in, but not the native +wife and family, and sat down to a calabash of poi and some strips +of dried beef, food so coarse, that they apologised for not offering +it to me. They said they had sent to the lower ranch for some +flour, and in the meantime they gave me some milk in a broken bowl, +their "nearest approach to a tumbler," they said. I was almost +starving, for all our food was on the pack-mule. This is the place +where we had been told that we could obtain tea, flour, beef, and +fowls! + +By some fatality my pen, ink, and knitting were on the pack-mule; it +was very cold, the afternoon fog closed us in, and darkness came on +prematurely, so that I felt a most absurd sense of ennui, and went +over to the cook-house, where I found Gandle cooking, and his native +wife with a heap of children and dogs lying round the stove. I +joined them till my clothes were dry, on which the man, who in spite +of his rough exterior, was really friendly and hospitable, remarked +that he saw I was "one of the sort who knew how to take people as I +found them." + +This regular afternoon mist which sets in at a certain altitude, +blotting out the sun and sky, and bringing the horizon within a few +yards, makes me certain after all that the mists of rainless Eden +were a phenomenon, the loss of which is not to be regretted. + +Still the afternoon hung on, and I went back to the house feeling +that the most desirable event which the future could produce would +be--a meal. Now and then the men came in and talked for a while, +and as the darkness and cold intensified, they brought in an +arrangement extemporised out of what looked like a battered tin +bath, half full of earth, with some lighted faggots at the top, +which gave out a little warmth and much stinging smoke. Actual, +undoubted, night came on without Mr. Green, of whose failure I felt +certain, and without food, and being blinded by the smoke, I rolled +myself in a blanket and fell asleep on the bench, only to wake in a +great fright, believing that the volcano house was burning over my +head, and that a venerable missionary was taking advantage of the +confusion to rob my saddle-bags, which in truth one of the men was +moving out of harm's way, having piled up the fire two feet high. + +Presently a number of voices outside shouted Haole! and Mr. Green +came in shaking the water from his waterproof, with the welcome +words, "Everything's settled for to-morrow." Mr. Reid threw cold +water on the ascent, and could give no help; and Mr. G. being thus +left to himself, after a great deal of trouble, has engaged as guide +an active young goat-hunter, who, though he has never been to the +top of the mountain, knows other parts of it so well that he is sure +he can take us up. Mr. G. also brings an additional mule and pack- +horse, so that our equipment is complete, except in the matter of +cruppers, which we have been obliged to make for ourselves out of +goats' hair rope, and old stockings. If Mr. G. has an eye for the +picturesque, he must have been gratified as he came in from the fog +and darkness into the grass room, with the flaring fire in the +middle, the rifles gleaming on the wall, the two men in very rough +clothing, and myself huddled up in a blanket sitting on the floor, +where my friend was very glad to join us. + +Mr. Green has brought nothing but tea from Kapapala, but Gandle has +made some excellent rolls, besides feasting us on stewed fowl, +dough-nuts, and milk! Little comfort is promised for to-night, as +Gandle says with a twinkle of kindly malice in his eye, that we +shall not "get a wink of sleep, for the place swarms with fleas." +They are a great pest of the colder regions of the islands, and like +all other nuisances, are said to have been imported! Gandle and the +other man have entertained us with the misfortunes of our +predecessors, on which they seem to gloat with ill-omened +satisfaction. + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXIX.--Continued. + +KAPAPALA, June 8th. + +The fleas at Ainepo quite fulfilled Mr. Gandle's prognostications, +and I was glad when the cold stars went out one by one, and a red, +cloudless dawn broke over the mountain, accompanied by a heavy dew +and a morning mist, which soon rolled itself up into rosy folds and +disappeared, and there was a legitimate excuse for getting up. Our +host provided us with flour, sugar, and dough-nuts, and a hot +breakfast, and our expedition, comprising two natives who knew not a +word of English, Mr. G. who does not know very much more Hawaiian +than I do, and myself, started at seven. We had four superb mules, +and two good pack-horses, a large tent, and a plentiful supply of +camping blankets. I put on all my own warm clothes, as well as most +of those which had been lent to me, which gave me the squat, padded, +look of a puffin or Esquimaux, but all, and more were needed long +before we reached the top. The mules were beyond all praise. They +went up the most severe ascent I have ever seen, climbing steadily +for nine hours, without a touch of the spur, and after twenty-four +hours of cold, thirst, and hunger, came down again as actively as +cats. The pack-horses too were very good, but from the comparative +clumsiness with which they move their feet they were very severely +cut. + +We went off, as usual, in single file, the guide first, and Mr. G. +last. The track was passably legible for some time, and wound +through long grass, and small koa trees, mixed with stunted ohias +and a few common ferns. Half these koa trees are dead, and all, +both living and dead, have their branches covered with a long hairy +lichen, nearly white, making the dead forest in the slight mist look +like a wood in England when covered with rime on a fine winter +morning. The koa tree has a peculiarity of bearing two distinct +species of leaves on the same twig, one like a curved willow leaf, +the other that of an acacia. + +After two hours ascent we camped on the verge of the timber line, +and fed our animals, while the two natives hewed firewood, and +loaded the spare pack-horse with it. The sky was by that time +cloudless, and the atmosphere brilliant, and both remained so until +we reached the same place twenty-eight hours later, so that the +weather favoured us in every respect, for there is "weather" on the +mountain, rains, fogs, and wind storms. The grass only grows +sparsely in tufts above this place, and though vegetation exists up +to a height of 10,000 feet on this side, it consists, for the most +part, of grey lichens, a little withered grass, and a hardy +asplenium. + +At this spot the real business of the ascent begins, and we +tightened our girths, distributed the baggage as fairly as possible, +and made all secure before remounting. + +We soon entered on vast uplands of pahoehoe which ground away the +animals' feet, a horrid waste, extending upwards for 7000 feet. For +miles and miles, above and around, great billowy masses, tossed and +twisted into an infinity of fantastic shapes, arrest and weary the +eye, lava in all its forms, from a compact phonolite, to the +lightest pumice stone, the mere froth of the volcano, exceeding in +wildness and confusion the most extravagant nightmare ever inflicted +on man. Recollect the vastness of this mountain. The whole south +of this large island, down to, and below the water's edge, is +composed of its slopes. Its height is nearly three miles, its base +is 180 miles in circumference, so that Wales might be packed away +within it, leaving room to spare. Yet its whole huge bulk, above a +height of about 8000 feet, is one frightful desert, at once the +creation and the prey of the mightiest force on earth. + +Struggling, slipping, tumbling, jumping, ledge after ledge was +surmounted, but still, upheaved against the glittering sky, rose new +difficulties to be overcome. Immense bubbles have risen from the +confused masses, and bursting, have yawned apart. Swift-running +streams of more recent lava have cleft straight furrows through the +older congealed surface. Massive flows have fallen in, exposing +caverned depths of jagged outlines. Earthquakes have riven the +mountain, splitting its sides and opening deep crevasses, which must +be leapt or circumvented. Horrid streams of a-a have to be +cautiously skirted, which after rushing remorselessly over the +kindlier lava have heaped rugged pinnacles of brown scoriae into +impassable walls. Winding round the bases of tossed up, fissured +hummocks of pahoehoe, leaping from one broken hummock to another, +clambering up acclivities so steep that the pack-horse rolled +backwards once, and my cat-like mule fell twice, moving cautiously +over crusts which rang hollow to the tread; stepping over deep +cracks, which, perhaps, led down to the burning fathomless sea, +traversing hilly lakes ruptured by earthquakes, and split in cooling +into a thousand fissures, painfully toiling up the sides of mounds +of scoriae frothed with pumice-stone, and again for miles +surmounting rolling surfaces of billowy ropy lava--so passed the +long day, under the tropic sun, and the deep blue sky. + +Towards afternoon, clouds heaped themselves in brilliant snowy +masses, all radiance and beauty to us, all fog and gloom below, +girdling the whole mountain, and interposing their glittering screen +between us and the dark timber belt, the black smoking shores of +Kau, and the blue shimmer of the Pacific. From that time, for +twenty-four hours, the lower world, and "works and ways of busy men" +were entirely shut out, and we were alone with this trackless and +inanimate region of horror. + +For the first time our guide hesitated as to the right track, for +the faint suspicion of white smoke, which had kept alive our hope +that the fire was still burning, had ceased to be visible. We +called a halt while he reconnoitred, tried to eat some food, found +that our pulses were beating 100 a minute, bathed our heads, +specially our temples, with snow, as we had been advised to do by +the oldest mountaineer on Hawaii, and heaped on yet more clothing. +In fact, I tied a double woollen scarf over all my face but my eyes, +and put on a French soldier's overcoat, with cape and hood, which +Mr. Green had brought in case of emergency. The cold had become +intense. We had not wasted words at any time, and on remounting, +preserved as profound a silence as if we were on a forlorn hope, +even the natives intermitting their ceaseless gabble. + +Upwards still, in the cold bright air, coating the edges of deep +cracks, climbing endless terraces, the mules panting heavily, our +breath coming as if from excoriated lungs,--so we surmounted the +highest ledge. But on reaching the apparent summit we were to all +appearance as far from the faint smoke as ever, for this magnificent +dome, whose base is sixty miles in diameter, is crowned by a ghastly +volcanic table-land, creviced, riven, and ashy, twenty-four miles in +circumference. A table-land, indeed, of dark grey lava, blotched by +outbursts, and torn by streams of brown a-a, full of hideous +crevasses and fearful shapes, as if a hundred waves of lava had +rolled themselves one on another, and had congealed in confused +heaps, and been tortured in all directions by the mighty power which +had upheaved the whole. + + + +Our guide took us a little wrong once, but soon recovered himself +with much sagacity. "Wrong" on Mauna Loa means being arrested by an +impassable a-a stream, and our last predecessors had nearly been +stopped by getting into one in which they suffered severely. + +These a-a streams are very deep, and when in a state of fusion move +along in a mass 20 feet high sometimes, with very solid walls. +Professor Alexander, of Honolulu, supposes them to be from the +beginning less fluid than pahoehoe, and that they advance very +slowly, being full of solid points, or centres of cooling: that a- +a, in fact, grains like sugar. Its hardness is indescribable. It +is an aggregate of upright, rugged, adamantine points, and at a +distance, a river of it looks like a dark brown Mer de Glace. + +At half-past four we reached the edge of an a-a stream, about as +wide as the Ouse at Huntingdon Bridge, and it was obvious that +somehow or other we must cross it: indeed, I know not if it be +possible to reach the crater without passing through one or another +of these obstacles. I should have liked to have left the animals +there, but it was represented as impossible to proceed on foot, and +though this was a decided misrepresentation, Mr. Green plunged in. +I had resolved that he should never have any bother in consequence +of his kindness in taking me with him, and, indeed, everyone had +enough to do in taking care of himself and his own beast, but I +never found it harder to repress a cry for help. Not that I was in +the least danger, but there was every risk of the beautiful mule +being much hurt, or breaking her legs. The fear shown by the +animals was pathetic; they shrank back, cowered, trembled, breathed +hard and heavily, and stumbled and plunged painfully. It was +sickening to see their terror and suffering, the struggling and +slipping into cracks, the blood and torture. The mules with their +small legs and wonderful agility were more frightened than hurt, but +the horses were splashed with blood up to their knees, and their +poor eyes looked piteous. + +We were then, as we knew, close to the edge of the crater, but the +faint smoke wreath had disappeared, and there was nothing but the +westering sun hanging like a ball over the black horizon of the +desolate summit. We rode as far as a deep fissure filled with +frozen snow, with a ledge beyond, threw ourselves from our mules, +jumped the fissure, and more than 800 feet below yawned the +inaccessible blackness and horror of the crater of Mokuaweoweo, six +miles in circumference, and 11,000 feet long by 8,000 wide. The +mystery was solved, for at one end of the crater, in a deep gorge of +its own, above the level of the rest of the area, there was the +lonely fire, the reflection of which, for six weeks, has been seen +for 100 miles. + +Nearly opposite us, a thing of beauty, a perfect fountain of pure +yellow fire, unlike the gory gleam of Kilauea, was regularly playing +in several united but independent jets, throwing up its glorious +incandescence, to a height, as we afterwards ascertained, of from +150 to 300 feet, and attaining at one time 600! You cannot imagine +such a beautiful sight. The sunset gold was not purer than the +living fire. The distance which we were from it, divested it of the +inevitable horrors which surround it. It was all beauty. For the +last two miles of the ascent, we had heard a distant vibrating roar: +there, at the crater's edge, it was a glorious sound, the roar of an +ocean at dispeace, mingled with the hollow murmur of surf echoing in +sea caves, booming on, rising and falling, like the thunder music of +windward Hawaii. + +We sat on the ledge outside the fissure for some time, and Mr. Green +actually proposed to pitch the tent there, but I dissuaded him, on +the ground that an earthquake might send the whole thing tumbling +into the crater; nor was this a whimsical objection, for during the +night there were two such falls, and after breakfast, another quite +near us. + +We had travelled for two days under a strong impression that the +fires had died out, so you can imagine the sort of stupor of +satisfaction with which we feasted on the glorious certainty. Yes, +it was glorious, that far-off fire-fountain, and the lurid cracks in +the slow-moving, black-crusted flood, which passed calmly down from +the higher level to the grand area of the crater. + +This area, over two miles long, and a mile and a half wide, with +precipitous sides 800 feet deep, and a broad second shelf about 300 +feet below the one we occupied, at that time appeared a dark grey, +tolerably level lake, with great black blotches, and yellow and +white stains, the whole much fissured. No steam or smoke proceeded +from any part of the level surface, and it had the unnaturally dead +look which follows the action of fire. A ledge, or false beach, +which must mark a once higher level of the lava, skirts the lake, at +an elevation of thirty feet probably, and this fringed the area with +various signs of present volcanic action, steaming sulphur banks, +and heavy jets of smoke. The other side, above the crater, has a +ridgy broken look, giving the false impression of a mountainous +region beyond. At this time the luminous fountain, and the red +cracks in the river of lava which proceeded from it, were the only +fires visible in the great area of blackness. In former days people +have descended to the floor of the crater, but owing to the breaking +away of the accessible part of the precipice, a descent now is not +feasible, though I doubt not that a man might even now get down, if +he went up with suitable tackle, and sufficient assistance. + +The one disappointment was that this extraordinary fire-fountain was +not only 800 feet below us, but nearly three-quarters of a mile from +us, and that it was impossible to get any nearer to it. Those who +have made the ascent before have found themselves obliged either to +camp on the very spot we occupied, or a little below it. + +The natives pitched the tent as near to the crater as was safe, with +one pole in a crack, and the other in the great fissure, which was +filled to within three feet of the top with snow and ice. As the +opening of the tent was on the crater side, we could not get in or +out without going down into this crevasse. The tent walls were held +down with stones to make it as snug as possible, but snug is a word +of the lower earth, and has no meaning on that frozen mountain top. +The natural floor was of rough slabs of lava, laid partly edgewise, +so that a newly macadamised road would have been as soft a bed. The +natives spread the horse blankets over it, and I arranged the +camping blankets, made my own part of the tent as comfortable as +possible by putting my inverted saddle down for a pillow, put on my +last reserve of warm clothing, took the food out of the saddle bags, +and then felt how impossible it was to exert myself in the rarified +air, or even to upbraid Mr. Green for having forgotten the tea, of +which I had reminded him as often as was consistent with politeness! + +This discovery was not made till after we had boiled the kettle, and +my dismay was softened by remembering that as water boils up there +at 187 degrees, our tea would have been worthless. In spite of my +objection to stimulants, and in defiance of the law against giving +liquor to natives, I made a great tin of brandy toddy, of which all +partook, along with tinned salmon and dough-nuts. Then the men +piled faggots on the fire and began their everlasting chatter, and +Mr. Green and I, huddled up in blankets, sat on the outer ledge in +solemn silence, to devote ourselves to the volcano. + +The sun was just setting: the tooth-like peaks of Mauna Kea, cold +and snow slashed, which were blushing red, the next minute turned +ghastly against a chilly sky, and with the disappearance of the sun +it became severely cold; yet we were able to remain there till 9.30, +the first people to whom such a thing has been possible, so +supremely favoured were we by the absence of wind. + +When the sun had set, and the brief red glow of the tropics had +vanished, a new world came into being, and wonder after wonder +flashed forth from the previously lifeless crater. Everywhere +through its vast expanse appeared glints of fire--fires bright and +steady, burning in rows like blast furnaces; fires lone and +isolated, unwinking like planets, or twinkling like stars; rows of +little fires marking the margin of the lowest level of the crater; +fire molten in deep crevasses; fire in wavy lines; fire, calm, +stationary, and restful: an incandescent lake two miles in length +beneath a deceptive crust of darkness, and whose depth one dare not +fathom even in thought. Broad in the glare, giving light enough to +read by at a distance of three-quarters of a mile, making the moon +look as blue as an ordinary English sky, its golden gleam changed to +a vivid rose colour, lighting up the whole of the vast precipices of +that part of the crater with a rosy red, bringing out every detail +here, throwing cliffs and heights into huge black masses there, +rising, falling, never intermitting, leaping in lofty jets with +glorious shapes like wheatsheaves, coruscating, reddening, the most +glorious thing beneath the moon was the fire-fountain of +Mokuaweoweo. + +By day the cooled crust of the lake had looked black and even sooty, +with a fountain of molten gold playing upwards from it; by night it +was all incandescent, with black blotches of cooled scum upon it, +which were perpetually being devoured. The centre of the lake was +at a white heat, and waves of white hot lava appeared to be +wallowing there as in a whirlpool, and from this centre the fountain +rose, solid at its base, which is estimated at 150 feet in diameter, +but thinning and frittering as it rose high into the air, and +falling from the great altitude to which it attained, in fiery +spray, which made a very distinct clatter on the fiery surface +below. When one jet was about half high, another rose so as to keep +up the action without intermission; and in the lower part of the +fountain two subsidiary curved jets of great volume continually +crossed each other. So, "alone in its glory," perennial, self-born, +springing up in sparkling light, the fire-fountain played on as the +hours went by. + +From the nearer margin of this incandescent lake there was a mighty +but deliberate overflow, a "silent tide" of fire, passing to the +lower level, glowing under and amidst its crust, with the brightness +of metal passing from a furnace. In the bank of partially cooled +and crusted lava which appears to support the lake, there were rifts +showing the molten lava within. In one place heavy white vapour +blew off in powerful jets from the edge of the lake, and elsewhere +there were frequent jets and ebullitions of the same, but there was +not a trace of vapour over the burning lake itself. The crusted +large area, with its blowing cones, blotches and rifts of fire, was +nearly all visible, and from the thickness and quietness of the +crust it was obvious that the ocean of lava below was comparatively +at rest, but a dark precipice concealed a part of the glowing and +highly agitated lake, adding another mystery to its sublimity. + +It is probable that the whole interior of this huge dome is fluid, +for the eruptions from this summit crater do not proceed from its +filling up and running over, but from the mountain sides being +unable to bear the enormous pressure; when they give way, high or +low, and bursting, allow the fiery contents to escape. So, in 1855, +the mountain side split open, and the lava gushed forth for thirteen +months in a stream which ran for 60 miles, and flooded Hawaii for +300 square miles. {411} + +From the camping ground, immense cracks parallel with the crater, +extend for some distance, and the whole of the compact grey stone of +the summit is much fissured. These cracks, like the one by which +our tent was pitched, contain water resting on ice. It shows the +extreme difference of climate on the two sides of Hawaii, that while +vegetation straggles up to a height of 10,000 feet on the windward +side in a few miserable blasted forms, it absolutely ceases at a +height of 7,000 feet on the leeward. + +It was too cold to sit up all night; so by the "fire light" I wrote +the enclosed note to you with fingers nearly freezing on the pen, +and climbed into the tent. + +It is possible that tent life in the East, or in the Rocky +Mountains, with beds, tables, travelling knick-knacks of all +descriptions, and servants who study their master's whims, may be +very charming; but my experience of it having been of the make-shift +and non-luxurious kind, is not delectable. A wooden saddle, without +stuffing, made a very fair pillow; but the ridges of the lava were +severe. I could not spare enough blankets to soften them, and one +particularly intractable point persisted in making itself felt. I +crowded on everything attainable, two pairs of gloves, with Mr. +Gilman's socks over them, and a thick plaid muffled up my face. Mr. +Green and the natives, buried in blankets, occupied the other part +of the tent. The phrase, "sleeping on the brink of a volcano," was +literally true, for I fell asleep, and fear I might have been +prosaic enough to sleep all night, had it not been for fleas which +had come up in the camping blankets. When I woke, it was light +enough to see that the three muffled figures were all asleep, +instead of spending the night in shiverings and vertigo, as it +appears that others have done. Doubtless the bathing of our heads +several times with snow and ice-water had been beneficial. + +Circumstances were singular. It was a strange thing to sleep on a +lava-bed at a height of nearly 14,000 feet, far away from the +nearest dwelling, "in a region," as Mr. Jarves says, "rarely visited +by man," hearing all the time the roar, clash, and thunder of the +mightiest volcano in the world. It seemed all a wild dream, as that +majestic sound moved on. There were two loud reports, followed by a +prolonged crash, occasioned by parts of the crater walls giving way; +vibrating rumblings, as if of earthquakes; and then a louder surging +of the fiery ocean, and a series of most imposing detonations. +Creeping over the sleeping forms, which never stirred even though I +had to kneel upon one of the natives while I untied the flap of the +tent, I crept cautiously into the crevasse in which the snow-water +was then hard frozen, and out upon the projecting ledge. The four +hours in which we had previously watched the volcano had passed like +one; but the lonely hours which followed might have been two minutes +or a year, for time was obliterated. + +Coldly the Pole-star shivered above the frozen summit, and a blue +moon, nearly full, withdrew her faded light into infinite space. +The Southern Cross had set. Two peaks below the Pole-star, sharply +defined against the sky, were the only signs of any other world than +the world of fire and mystery around. It was light, broadly, +vividly light; the sun himself, one would have thought, might look +pale beside it. But such a light! The silver index of my +thermometer, which had fallen to 23 degrees Fahrenheit, was ruby +red; that of the aneroid, which gave the height at 13,803 feet (an +error of 43 feet in excess), was the same. The white duck of the +tent was rosy, and all the crater walls and the dull-grey ridges +which lie around were a vivid rose red. + +All Hawaii was sleeping. Our Hilo friends looked out the last +thing; saw the glare, and probably wondered how we were "getting +on," high up among the stars. Mine were the only mortal eyes which +saw what is perhaps the grandest spectacle on earth. Once or twice +I felt so overwhelmed by the very sublimity of the loneliness, that +I turned to the six animals, which stood shivering in the north +wind, without any consciousness than that of cold, hunger, and +thirst. It was some relief even to pity them, for pity was at least +a human feeling, and a momentary rest from the thrill of the new +sensations inspired by the circumstances. The moon herself looked a +wan unfamiliar thing--not the same moon which floods the palm and +mango groves of Hilo with light and tenderness. And those palm and +mango groves, and lighted homes, and seas, and ships, and cities, +and faces of friends, and all familiar things, and the day before, +and the years before, were as things in dreams, coming up out of a +vanished past. And would there ever be another day, and would the +earth ever be young and green again, and would men buy and sell and +strive for gold, and should I ever with a human voice tell living +human beings of the things of this midnight? How far it was from +all the world, uplifted above love, hate, and storms of passion, and +war, and wreck of thrones, and dissonant clash of human thought, +serene in the eternal solitudes! + +Things had changed, as they change hourly in craters. The previous +loud detonations were probably connected with the evolutions of some +"blowing cones," which were now very fierce, and throwing up lava at +the comparatively dead end of the crater. Lone stars of fire broke +out frequently through the blackened crust. The molten river, +flowing from the incandescent lake, had advanced and broadened +considerably. That lake itself, whose diameter has been estimated +at 800 feet, was rose-red and self-illuminated, and the increased +noise was owing to the increased force of the fire-fountain, which +was playing regularly at a height of 300 feet, with the cross +fountains, like wheat-sheaves, at its lower part. These cross- +fountains were the colour of a mixture of blood and fire, and the +lower part of the perpendicular jets was the same; but as they rose +and thinned, this colour passed into a vivid rose-red, and the spray +and splashes were as rubies and flame mingled. For ever falling in +fiery masses and fiery foam: accompanied by a thunder-music of its +own: companioned only by the solemn stars: exhibiting no other +token of its glories to man than the reflection of its fires on mist +and smoke; it burns for the Creator's eye alone. No foot of mortal +can approach it. + +Hours passed as I watched the indescribable glories of the fire- +fountain, its beauty of form, and its radiant reflection on the +precipices, eight hundred feet high, which wall it in, and listened +to its surges beating, and the ebb and flow of its thunder-music. +Then a change occurred. The jets, which for long had been playing +at a height of 300 feet, suddenly became quite low, and for a few +seconds appeared as cones of fire wallowing in a sea of light; then +with a roar like the sound of gathering waters, nearly the whole +surface of the lake was lifted up by the action of some powerful +internal force, and rose three times with its whole radiant mass, in +one glorious, upward burst, to a height, as estimated by the +surrounding cliffs, of six hundred feet, while the earth trembled, +and the moon and stars withdrew abashed into far-off space. After +this the fire-fountain played as before. The cold had become +intense, 11 degrees of frost; and I crept back into the tent; those +words occurring to me with a new meaning, "dwelling in the light +which no man can approach unto." + +We remained in the tent till the sun had slightly warmed the air, +and then attempted to prepare breakfast by the fire; but no one +could eat anything, and the native from Waimea complained of severe +headache, which shortly became agonizing, and he lay on the ground +moaning, and completely prostrated by mountain sickness. I felt +extreme lassitude, and exhaustion followed the slightest effort; but +the use of snow to the head produced great relief. The water in our +canteens was hard frozen, and the keenness of the cold aggravated +the uncomfortable symptoms which accompany pulses at 110 degrees. +The native guide was the only person capable of work, so we were +late in getting off, and rode four and a half hours to the camping +ground, only stopping once to tighten our girths. Not a rope, +strap, or buckle, or any of our gear gave way, and though I rode +without a crupper, the breeching of a pack mule's saddle kept mine +steady. + +The descent, to the riders, is far more trying than the ascent, +owing to the continued stretch of very steep declivity for eight +thousand feet; but our mules never tripped, and came into Ainepo as +if they had not travelled at all. The horses were terribly cut, +both again in the a-a stream, and on the descent. It was sickening +to follow them, for at first they left fragments of hide and hair on +the rocks, then flesh, and when there was no more hide or flesh to +come off their poor heels and fetlocks, blood dripped on every rock, +and if they stood still for a few moments, every hoof left a little +puddle of gore. We had all the enjoyment and they all the misery. +I was much exhausted when we reached the camping-ground, but soon +revived under the influence of food; but the poor native, who was +really very ill, abandoned himself to wretchedness, and has only +recovered to-day. + +The belt of cloud which was all radiance above, was all drizzling +fog below, and we reached Ainepo in a regular Scotch mist. The +ranchman seemed rather grumpy at our successful ascent, which +involved the failure of all their prophecies, and, indeed, we were +thoroughly unsatisfactory travellers, arriving fresh and complacent, +with neither adventures nor disasters to gladden people's hearts. +We started for this ranch seven miles further, soon after dark, and +arrived before nine, after the most successful ascent of Mauna Loa +ever made. + +Without being a Sybarite, I certainly do prefer a comfortable pulu +bed to one of ridgy lava, and the fire which blazes on this broad +hearth to the camp-fire on the frozen top of the volcano. The +worthy ranchman expected us, and has treated us very sumptuously, +and even Kahele is being regaled on Chinese sorghum. The Sunday's +rest, too, is a luxury, which I wonder that travellers can ever +forego. If one is always on the move, even very vivid impressions +are hunted out of the memory by the last new thing. Though I am not +unduly tired, even had it not been Sunday, I should have liked a day +in which to recall and arrange my memories of Mauna Loa before the +forty-eight miles' ride to Hilo. + +This afternoon, we were sitting under the verandah talking volcanic +talk, when there was a loud rumbling, and a severe shock of +earthquake, and I have been twice interrupted in writing this letter +by other shocks, in which all the frame-work of the house has yawned +and closed again. They say that four years ago, at the time of the +great "mud flow" which is close by, this house was moved several +feet by an earthquake, and that all the cattle walls which surround +it were thrown down. The ranchman tells us that on January 7th and +8th, 1873, there was a sudden and tremendous outburst of Mauna Loa. +The ground, he says, throbbed and quivered for twenty miles; a +tremendous roaring, like that of a blast furnace, was heard for the +same distance, and clouds of black smoke trailed out over the sea +for thirty miles. + +We have dismissed our guide with encomiums. His charge was $10; but +Mr. Green would not allow me to share that, or any part of the +expense, or pay anything, but $6 for my own mule. The guide is a +goat-hunter, and the chase is very curiously pursued. The hunter +catches sight of a flock of goats, and hunts them up the mountain, +till, agile and fleet of foot as they are, he actually tires them +out, and gets close enough to them to cut their throats for the sake +of their skins. If I understand rightly, this young man has +captured as many as seventy in a day. + + +CRATER HOUSE, KILAUEA. June 9th. + +This morning Mr. Green left for Kona, and I for Kilauea; the +ranchman's native wife and her sister riding with me for several +miles to put me on the right track. Kahele's sociable instincts are +so strong, that, before they left me, I dismounted, blindfolded him, +and led him round and round several times, a process which so +successfully confused his intellects, that he started off in this +direction with more alacrity than usual. They certainly put me on a +track which could not be mistaken, for it was a narrow, straight +path, cut and hammered through a broad horrible a-a stream, whose +jagged spikes were the height of the horse. But beyond this lie ten +miles of pahoehoe, the lava-flows of ages, with only now and then +the vestige of a trail. + +Except the perilous crossing of the Hilo gulches in February, this +is the most difficult ride I have had--eerie and impressive in every +way. The loneliness was absolute. For several hours I saw no trace +of human beings, except the very rare print of a shod horse's hoof. +It is a region for ever "desolate and without inhabitant," +trackless, waterless, silent, as if it had passed into the +passionless calm of lunar solitudes. It is composed of rough +hummocks of pahoehoe, rising out of a sandy desert. Only stunted +ohias, loaded with crimson tufts, raise themselves out of cracks: +twisted, tortured growths, bearing their bright blossoms under +protest, driven unwillingly to be gay by a fiery soil and a fiery +sun. To the left, there was the high, dark wall of an a-a stream; +further yet, a tremendous volcanic fissure, at times the bed of a +fiery river, and above this the towering dome of Mauna Loa, a +brilliant cobalt blue, lined and shaded with indigo where +innumerable lava streams had seamed his portentous sides: his whole +beauty the effect of atmosphere, on an object in itself hideous. +Ahead and to the right were rolling miles of a pahoehoe sea, bounded +by the unseen Pacific 3,000 feet below, with countless craters, +fissures emitting vapour, and all other concomitants of volcanic +action; bounded to the north by the vast crater of Kilauea. On all +this deadly region the sun poured his tropic light and heat from one +of the bluest skies I ever saw. + +The direction given me on leaving Kapapala was, that after the +natives left me I was to keep a certain crater on the south-east +till I saw the smoke of Kilauea; but there were many craters. +Horses cross the sand and hummocks as nearly as possible on a bee +line; but the lava rarely indicates that anything has passed over +it, and this morning a strong breeze had rippled the sand, +completely obliterating the hoof-marks of the last traveller, and at +times I feared that losing myself, as many others have done, I +should go mad with thirst. I examined the sand narrowly for hoof- +marks, and every now and then found one, but always had the +disappointment of finding that it was made by an unshod horse, +therefore not a ridden one. Finding eyesight useless, I dismounted +often, and felt with my finger along the rolling lava for the +slightest marks of abrasion, which might show that shod animals had +passed that way, got up into an ohia to look out for the smoke of +Kilauea, and after three hours came out upon what I here learn is +the old track, disused because of the insecurity of the ground. + +It runs quite close to the edge of the crater, there 1,000 feet in +depth, and gives a magnificent view of the whole area, with the pit +and the blowing cones. But the region through which the trail led +was rather an alarming one, being hollow and porous, all cracks and +fissures, nefariously concealed by scrub and ferns. I found a +place, as I thought, free from risk, and gave Kahele a feed of oats +on my plaid, but before he had finished them there was a rumbling +and vibration, and he went into the ground above his knees, so +snatching up the plaid and jumping on him I galloped away, convinced +that that crack was following me! However, either the crack thought +better of it, or Kahele travelled faster, for in another half-hour I +arrived where the whole region steams, smokes, and fumes with +sulphur, and was kindly welcomed here by Mr. Gilman, where he and +the old Chinaman appear to be alone. + +After a seven hours' ride the quiet and the log fire are very +pleasant, and the host is a most intelligent and sympathising +listener. It is a solemn night, for the earth quakes, and the sound +of Halemaumau is like the surging of the sea. + + +HILO. June 11th. + +Once more I am among palm and mango grove, and friendly faces, and +sounds of softer surges than those of Kilauea. I had a dreary ride +yesterday, as the rain was incessant, and I saw neither man, bird, +or beast the whole way. Kahele was so heavily loaded that I rode +the thirty miles at a foot's pace, and he became so tired that I had +to walk. + +It has been a splendid week, with every circumstance favourable, +nothing sordid or worrying to disturb the impressions received, +kindness and goodwill everywhere, a travelling companion whose +consideration, endurance, and calmness were beyond all praise, and +at the end the cordial welcomes of my Hawaiian "home." + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXX. {422} + +RIDGE HOUSE, KONA, HAWAII. June 12. + +I landed in Kealakakua Bay on a black lava block, on which tradition +says that Captain Cook fell, struck with his death-wound, a century +ago. The morning sun was flaming above the walls of lava 1,000 feet +in height which curve round the dark bay, the green deep water +rolled shorewards in lazy undulations, canoes piled full of +pineapples poised themselves on the swell, ancient cocopalms glassed +themselves in still waters--it was hot, silent, tropical. + +The disturbance which made the bay famous is known to every +schoolboy; how the great explorer, long supposed by the natives to +be their vanished god Lono, betrayed his earthly lineage by groaning +when he was wounded, and was then dispatched outright. A cocoanut +stump, faced by a sheet of copper recording the circumstance, is the +great circumnavigator's monument. A few miles beyond, is the +enclosure of Haunaunau, the City of Refuge for western Hawaii. In +this district there is a lava road ascribed to Umi, a legendary +king, who is said to have lived 500 years ago. It is very perfect, +well defined on both sides with kerb-stones, and greatly resembles +the chariot ways in Pompeii. Near it are several structures formed +of four stones, three being set upright, and the fourth forming the +roof. In a northerly direction is the place where Liholiho, the +king who died in England, excited by drink and the persuasions of +Kaahumanu, broke tabu, and made an end of the superstitions of +heathenism. Not far off is the battle field on which the adherents +of the idols rallied their forces against the iconoclasts, and were +miserably and finally defeated. Recent lava streams have descended +on each side of the bay, and from the bare black rock of the landing +a flow may be traced up the steep ascent as far as a precipice, over +which it falls in waves and twists, a cataract of stone. A late +lava river passed through the magnificent forest on the southerly +slope, and the impressions of the stems of coco and fan palms are +stamped clearly on the smooth rock. The rainfall in Kona is heavy, +but there is no standing water, and only one stream in a distance of +100 miles. + +This district is famous for oranges, coffee, pineapples, and +silence. A flaming palm-fringed shore with a prolific strip of +table land 1,500 feet above it, a dense timber belt eight miles in +breadth, and a volcano smoking somewhere between that and the +heavens, and glaring through the trees at night, are the salient +points of Kona if anything about it be salient. It is a region +where falls not + + ". . . Hail or any snow, + Or ever wind blows loudly." + +Wind indeed, is a thing unknown. The scarcely audible whisper of +soft airs through the trees morning and evening, rain drops falling +gently, and the murmur of drowsy surges far below, alone break the +stillness. No ripple ever disturbs the great expanse of ocean which +gleams through the still, thick trees. Rose in the sweet cool +morning, gold in the sweet cool evening, but always dreaming; and +white sails come and go, no larger than a butterfly's wing on the +horizon, of ships drifting on ocean currents, dreaming too! Nothing +surely can ever happen here: it is so dumb and quiet, and people +speak in hushed thin voices, and move as in a lethargy, dreaming +too! No heat, cold, or wind, nothing emphasised or italicised, it +is truly a region of endless afternoons, "a land where all things +always seem the same." Life is dead, and existence is a languid +swoon. + +This is the only regular boarding house on Hawaii. The company is +accidental and promiscuous. The conversation consists of +speculations, varied and repeated with the hours, as to the arrivals +and departures of the Honolulu schooners Uilama and Prince, who they +will bring, who they will take, and how long their respective +passages will be. A certain amount of local gossip is also hashed +up at each meal, and every stranger who has travelled through Hawaii +for the last ten years is picked to pieces and worn threadbare, and +his purse, weight, entertainers, and habits are thoroughly +canvassed. On whatever subject the conversation begins it always +ends in dollars; but even that most stimulating of all topics only +arouses a languid interest among my fellow dreamers. I spend most +of my time in riding in the forests, or along the bridle path which +trails along the height, among grass and frame-houses, almost +smothered by trees and trailers. + +Many of these are inhabited by white men, who, having drifted to +these shores, have married native women, and are rearing a dusky +race, of children who speak the maternal tongue only, and grow up +with native habits. Some of these men came for health, others +landed from whalers, but of all it is true that infatuated by the +ease and lusciousness of this languid region, + + "They sat them down upon the yellow sand, + Between the sun and moon upon the shore; + And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, + . . . . ; but evermore + Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar, + Weary the wandering fields of barren foam. + Then some one said, "We will return no more." + +They have enough and more, and a life free from toil, but the +obvious tendency of these marriages is to sink the white man to the +level of native feelings and habits. + +There are two or three educated residents, and there is a small +English church with daily service, conducted by a resident +clergyman. + +The beauty of this part of Kona is wonderful. The interminable +forest is richer and greener than anything I have yet seen, but +penetrable only by narrow tracks which have been made for hauling +timber. The trees are so dense, and so matted together with +trailers, that no ray of noon-day sun brightens the moist tangle of +exquisite mosses and ferns which covers the ground. Yams with their +burnished leaves, and the Polypodium spectrum, wind round every tree +stem, and the heavy ie, which here attains gigantic proportions, +links the tops of the tallest trees together by its stout knotted +coils. Hothouse flowers grow in rank profusion round every house, +and tea-roses, fuchsias, geraniums fifteen feet high, Nile lilies, +Chinese lantern plants, begonias, lantanas, hibiscus, passion- +flowers, Cape jasmine, the hoya, the tuberose, the beautiful but +overpoweringly sweet ginger plant, and a hundred others: while the +whole district is overrun with the Datura brugmansia (?) here an +arborescent shrub fourteen feet high, bearing seventy great trumpet- +shaped white blossoms at a time, which at night vie with those of +the night-blowing Cereus in filling the air with odours. + +Pineapples and melons grow like weeds among the grass, and +everything that is good for food flourishes. Nothing can keep under +the redundancy of nature in Kona; everything is profuse, fervid, +passionate, vivified and pervaded by sunshine. The earth is +restless in her productiveness, and forces up her hothouse growth +perpetually, so that the miracle of Jonah's gourd is almost repeated +nightly. All decay is hurried out of sight, and through the glowing +year flowers blossom and fruits ripen; ferns are always uncurling +their young fronds and bananas unfolding their great shining leaves, +and spring blends her everlasting youth and promise with the +fulfilment and maturity of summer. + + "Never comes the trader, never floats a European flag, + Slides the bird o'er lustrous woodland, swings the trailer from +the crag: + Droops the heavy-blossom'd bower, hangs the heavy-fruited tree-- + Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea." + + +HUALALAI. July 28th. + +I very soon left the languid life of Kona for this sheep station, +6000 feet high on the desolate slope of the dead volcano of +Hualalai, ("offspring of the shining sun,") on the invitation of its +hospitable owner, who said if I "could eat his rough fare, and live +his rough life, his house and horses were at my disposal." He is +married to a very attractive native woman who eats at his table, but +does not know a word of English, but they are both away at a wool- +shed eight miles off, shearing sheep. + +This house is in the great volcanic wilderness of which I wrote from +Kalaieha, a desert of drouth and barrenness. There is no permanent +track, and on the occasions when I have ridden up here alone, the +directions given me have been to steer for an ox bone, and from that +to a dwarf ohia. There is no coming or going; it is seventeen miles +from the nearest settlement, and looks across a desert valley to +Mauna Loa. Woody trailers, harsh hard grass in tufts, the Asplenium +trichomanes in rifts, the Pellea ternifolia in sand, and some ohia +and mamane scrub in hollow places sheltered from the wind, all hard, +crisp, unlovely growths, contrast with the lavish greenery below. A +brisk cool wind blows all day; every afternoon a dense fog brings +the horizon within 200 feet, but it clears off with frost at dark, +and the flames of the volcano light the whole southern sky. + +My companions are an amiable rheumatic native woman, and a crone who +must have lived a century, much shrivelled and tattooed, and nearly +childish. She talks to herself in weird tones, stretches her lean +limbs by the fire most of the day, and in common with most of the +old people has a prejudice against clothes, and prefers huddling +herself up in a blanket to wearing the ordinary dress of her sex. +There is also a dog, but he does not understand English, and for +some time I have not spoken any but Hawaiian words. I have plenty +to do, and find this a very satisfactory life. + +I came up to within eight miles of this house with a laughing, +holiday-making rout of twelve natives, who rode madly along the +narrow forest trail at full gallop, up and down the hills, through +mire and over stones, leaping over the trunks of prostrate trees, +and stooping under branches with loud laughter, challenging me to +reckless races over difficult ground, and when they found that the +wahine haole was not to be thrown from her horse they patted me +approvingly, and crowned me with leis of maile. I became acquainted +with some of these at Kilauea in the winter, and since I came to +Kona they have been very kind to me. + +I thoroughly like living among them, taking meals with them on their +mats, and eating "two fingered" poi as if I had been used to it all +my life. Their mirthfulness and kindliness are most winning; their +horses, food, clothes, and time are all bestowed on one so freely, +and one lives amongst them with a most restful sense of absolute +security. They have many faults, but living alone among them in +their houses as I have done so often on Hawaii, I have never seen or +encountered a disagreeable thing. But the more I see of them the +more impressed I am with their carelessness and love of pleasure, +their lack of ambition and a sense of responsibility, and the time +which they spend in doing nothing but talking and singing as they +bask in the sun, though spasmodically and under excitement they are +capable of tremendous exertions in canoeing, surf-riding, and +lassoing cattle. + +While down below I joined three natives for the purpose of seeing +this last sport. They all rode shod horses, and had lassoes of ox +hide attached to the horns of their saddles. I sat for an hour on +horseback on a rocky hill while they hunted the woods; then I heard +the deep voices of bulls, and a great burst of cattle appeared, with +hunters in pursuit, but the herd vanished over a dip of the hill +side, and the natives joined me. By this time I wished myself +safely at home, partly because my unshod horse was not fit for +galloping over lava and rough ground, and I asked the men where I +should stay to be out of danger. The leader replied, "Oh, just keep +close behind me!" I had thought of some safe view-point, not of +galloping on an unshod horse with a ruck of half maddened cattle, +but it was the safest plan, and there was no time to be lost, for as +we rode slowly down, we sighted the herd dodging across the open to +regain the shelter of the wood, and much on the alert. + +Putting our horses into a gallop we dashed down the hill till we +were close up with the chase; then another tremendous gallop, and a +brief wild rush, the grass shaking with the surge of cattle and +horses. There was much whirling of tails and tearing up of the +earth--a lasso spun three or four times round the head of the native +who rode in front of me, and almost simultaneously a fine red +bullock lay prostrate on the earth, nearly strangled, with his +foreleg noosed to his throat. The other natives dismounted, and put +two lassoes round his horns, slipping the first into the same +position, and vaulted into their saddles before he was on his legs. + +He got up, shook himself, put his head down, and made a mad blind +rush, but his captors were too dexterous for him, and in that and +each succeeding rush he was foiled. As he tore wildly from side to +side, the natives dodged under the lasso, slipping it over their +heads, and swung themselves over their saddles, hanging in one +stirrup, to aid their trained horses to steady themselves as the +bullock tugged violently against them. He was escorted thus for a +mile, his strength failing with each useless effort, his tongue +hanging out, blood and foam dropping from his mouth and nostrils, +his flanks covered with foam and sweat, till blind and staggering, +he was led to a tree, where he was at once stabbed, and two hours +afterwards a part of him was served at table. The natives were +surprised that I avoided seeing his death, as the native women +greatly enjoy such a spectacle. This mode of killing an animal +while heated and terrified, doubtless accounts for the dark colour +and hardness of Hawaiian beef. + +Numbers of the natives are expert with the lasso, and besides +capturing with it wild and half wild cattle, they catch horses with +it, and since I came here my host caught a sheep with it, singling +out the one he wished to kill, from the rest of the galloping flock +with an unerring aim. It takes a whole ox hide cut into strips to +make a good lasso. + +One of my native friends tells me that a native man who attended on +me in one of my earlier expeditions has since been "prayed to +death." One often hears this phrase, and it appears that the +superstition which it represents has by no means died out. There +are persons who are believed to have the lives of others in their +hands, and their services are procured by offerings of white fowls, +brown hogs, and awa, as well as money, by any one who has a grudge +against another. Several other instances have been told me of +persons who have actually died under the influence of the terror and +despair produced by being told that the kahuna was "praying them to +death." I cannot learn whether these over-efficacious prayers are +supposed to be addressed to the true God, or to the ancient Hawaiian +divinities. The natives are very superstitious, and the late king, +who was both educated and intelligent, was much under the dominion +of a sorceress. + +I have made the ascent of Hualalai twice from here, the first time +guided by my host and hostess, and the second time rather +adventurously alone. Forests of koa, sandal-wood, and ohia, with an +undergrowth of raspberries and ferns clothe its base, the fragrant +maile, and the graceful sarsaparilla vine, with its clustered coral- +coloured buds, nearly smother many of the trees, and in several +places the heavy ie forms the semblance of triumphal arches over the +track. This forest terminates abruptly on the great volcanic +wilderness, with its starved growth of unsightly scrub. But +Hualalai, though 10,000 feet in height, is covered with Pteris +aquilina, mamane, coarse bunch grass, and pukeave to its very +summit, which is crowned by a small, solitary, blossoming ohia. + +For two hours before reaching the top, the way lies over countless +flows and beds of lava, much disintegrated, and almost entirely of +the kind called pahoehoe. Countless pit craters extend over the +whole mountain, all of them covered outside, and a few inside, with +scraggy vegetation. The edges are often very ragged and +picturesque. The depth varies from 300 to 700 feet, and the +diameter from 700 to 1,200. The walls of some are of a smooth grey +stone, the bottoms flat, and very deep in sand, but others resemble +the tufa cones of Mauna Kea. They are so crowded together in some +places as to be divided only by a ridge so narrow that two mules can +scarcely walk abreast upon it. The mountain was split by an +earthquake in 1868, and a great fissure, with much treacherous +ground about it, extends for some distance across it. It is very +striking from every point of view on this side, being a complete +wilderness of craters, and over 150 lateral cones have been counted. + +The object of my second ascent was to visit one of the grandest of +the summit craters, which we had not reached previously owing to +fog. This crater is bordered by a narrow and very fantastic ridge +of rock, in or on which there is a mound about 60 feet high, formed +of fragments of black, orange, blue, red, and golden lava, with a +cavity or blow-hole in the centre, estimated by Brigham as having a +diameter of 25 feet, and a depth of 1800. The interior is dark +brown, much grooved horizontally, and as smooth and regular as if +turned. There are no steam cracks or signs of heat anywhere. +Superb caves or lava-bubbles abound at a height of 6000 feet. These +are moist with ferns, and the drip from their roofs is the water +supply of this porous region. + +Hualalai, owing to the vegetation sparsely sprinkled over it, looks +as if it had been quiet for ages, but it has only slept since 1801, +when there was a tremendous eruption from it, which flooded several +villages, destroyed many plantations and fishponds, filled up a deep +bay 20 miles in extent, and formed the present coast. The terrified +inhabitants threw living hogs into the stream, and tried to +propitiate the anger of the gods by more costly offerings, but +without effect, till King Kamehameha, attended by a large retinue of +priests and chiefs, cut off some of his hair, which was considered +sacred, and threw it into the torrent, which in two days ceased to +run. This circumstance gave him a greatly increased ascendancy, +from his supposed influence with the deities of the volcanoes. + +I have explored the country pretty thoroughly for many miles round, +but have not seen anything striking, except the remains of an +immense heiau in the centre of the desert tableland, said to have +been built in a day by the compulsory labour of 25,000 people: a +lonely white man who lives among the lava, and believes he has +discovered the secret of perpetual motion: and the lava-flow from +Mauna Loa, which reached the sea 40 miles from its exit from the +mountain. + +I was riding through the brushwood with a native, and not able to +see two yards in any direction, when emerging from the thick scrub, +we came upon the torrent of 1859 within six feet of us, a huge, +straggling, coal-black river, broken up into streams in our +vicinity, but on the whole, presenting an iridescent uphill expanse +a mile wide. We had reached one of the divergent streams to which +it had been said after its downward course of 9000 feet, "Hitherto +shalt thou come and no further," while the main body had pursued its +course to the ocean. Whatever force impelled it had ceased to act, +and the last towering wave of fire had halted just there, and lies a +black arrested surge 10 feet high, with tender ferns at its feet, +and a scarcely singed ohia bending over it. The flow, so far as we +scrambled up it, is heaped in great surges of a fierce black, +fiercely reflecting the torrid sun, cracked, and stained yellow and +white, and its broad glistening surface forms an awful pathway to +the dome-like crest of Mauna Loa, now throbbing with internal fires, +and crowned with a white smoke wreath, that betokens the action of +the same forces which produced this gigantic inundation. Close to +us the main river had parted above and united below a small mamane +tree with bracken under its shadow, and there are several oases of +the same kind. + +I have twice been down to the larger world of the wool-shed, when +tired of strips of dried mutton and my own society. The hospitality +there is as great as the accommodation is small. The first time, I +slept on the floor of the shed with some native women who were up +there, and was kept awake all night by the magnificence of the light +on the volcano. The second time, several of us slept in a small, +dark grass-wigwam, only intended as a temporary shelter, the +lowliest dwelling in every sense of the word that I ever occupied. +That evening was the finest I have seen on the islands; there was a +less abrupt transition from day to night, and the three great +mountains and the desert were etherealised and glorified by a +lingering rose and violet light. When darkness came on, our great +camp fire was hardly redder than the glare from the volcano, and its +leaping flames illuminated as motley a group as you would wish to +see; the native shearers, who, after shearing eighty sheep each in a +day, washed, and changed their clothes before eating; a negro +goatherd with a native wife and swarthy children, two native women, +my host and myself, all engaged in the rough cooking befitting the +region, toasting strips of jerked mutton on sticks, broiling wild +bullock on the coals, baking kalo under ground, and rolls in a rough +stone oven, and all speaking that base mixture of English and +Hawaiian which is current coin here. The meal was not less rude +than the cookery. We ate it on the floor of the wigwam, with an old +tin, with some fat in it, for a lamp, and a bit of rope for a wick, +which kept tumbling into the fat and leaving us in darkness. + +The next day I came up here alone, driving a pack-horse, and with a +hind-quarter of sheep tied to my saddle. It is really difficult to +find the way over this desert, though I have been several times +across. When a breeze ripples the sand between the lava hummocks, +the footprints are obliterated, and there are few landmarks except +the "ox bone" and the "small ohia." It is a strange life up here on +the mountain side, but I like it, and never yearn after +civilization. The one drawback is my ignorance of the language, +which not only places me sometimes in grotesque difficulties, but +deprives me of much interest. I don't know what day it is, or how +long I have been here, and quite understand how possible it would be +to fall into an indolent and aimless life, in which time is of no +account. + + +THE RECTORY, KONA. August 1st. + +I left Hualalai yesterday morning, and dined with my kind host and +hostess in the wigwam. It was the last taste of the wild Hawaiian +life I have learned to love so well, the last meal on a mat, the +last exercise of skill in eating "two-fingered" poi. I took leave +gratefully of those who had been so truly kind to me, and with the +friendly aloha from kindly lips in my ears, regretfully left the +purple desert in which I have lived so serenely, and plunged into +the forest gloom. Half way down, I met a string of my native +acquaintances, who, as the courteous custom is, threw over me leis +of maile and roses, and since I arrived here, others have called to +wish me goodbye, bringing presents of figs, cocoa-nuts and bananas. + +This is one of the stations of the "Honolulu Mission," and Mr. +Davies, the clergyman, has, besides Sunday and daily services, a +day-school for boys and girls. The Sunday attendance at church, so +far as I have seen, consists of three adults, though the white +population within four miles is considerable, and at another station +on Maui, the congregation was composed solely of the family of a +planter. Clerical reinforcements are expected from England shortly; +but from what I have seen and heard everywhere, I do not think that +the coming clergy, even if inspired by the same devotion and +disinterestedness as Bishop Willis, will make any sensible progress +among the people. + +In truth, I believe that the "Honolulu Mission," from the first, has +been a mistake. As such, strictly speaking, there is no room for +it, for all the natives are nominal Christians, and are connected +more or less with the Congregational denomination. To attempt to +proselytize them to the English Church, or to unsettle their +religious relations in any way, would, on the whole, be a hopeless, +as well as an invidious task, and would not improbably result in +driving some among them into the greater apparent unity of the +Church of Rome. Those who believe in the oneness of the invisible +church, and that all who hold "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," +are within the pale of salvation, may well hesitate before expending +energy, men, money, and time on proselytizing efforts. + +Among the whites who have sunk into the mire of an indolent and +godless, if not an openly immoral life, there is an undoubted field +for Evangelistic effort; but it is very doubtful, I think, whether +this class can be reached by services which appeal to higher culture +and instincts than it possesses, and, indeed, generally, the island +Episcopalians are not in sympathy with the "symbolism" and "high +ritual" which from the first have been outstanding features of this +"mission." The education of the young in the principles of the +Prayer Book is aimed at by the Bishop and his coadjutors, but in +spite of zeal and devotion, I doubt whether the English Church on +these islands can ever be anything but a pining and sickly exotic. + +Kona looks supremely beautiful, a languid dream of all fair things. +Yet truly my heart warms to nothing so much as to a row of fat +English cabbages which grow in the rectory garden, with a +complacent, self-asserting John Bullism about them. It is best to +leave the islands now. I love them better every day, and dreams of +Fatherland are growing fainter in this perfumed air and under this +glittering sky. A little longer, and I too should say, like all who +have made their homes here under the deep banana shade,-- + + "We will return no more, + . . . . our island home + Is far beyond the wave, we will no longer roam." + I.L.B. + + + +LETTER XXXI. + +HAWAIIAN HOTEL, HONOLULU. August 6th. + +My fate is lying at the wharf in the shape of the Pacific Mail +Steamer Costa Rica, and soon to me Hawaii-nei will be but a dream. +"Summer isles of Eden!" My heart warms towards them as I leave +them, for they have been more like home than any part of the world +since I left England. The moonlight is trickling through misty +algarobas, and feathery tamarinds and palms, and shines on glossy +leaves of breadfruit and citron; a cool breeze brings in at my open +doors the perfumed air and the soft murmur of the restful sea, and +this beautiful Honolulu, whose lights are twinkling through the +purple night, is at last, as it was at first, Paradise in the +Pacific, a bright blossom of a summer sea. + +I shall be in the Rocky Mountains before you receive my hastily- +written reply to your proposal to come out here for a year, but I +will add a few reasons against it, in addition to the one which I +gave regarding the benefit which I now hope to derive from a change +to a more stimulating climate. The strongest of all is, that if we +were to stay here for a year, we should just sit down "between the +sun and moon upon the shore," and forget "our island home," and be +content to fall "asleep in a half dream," and "return no more!" + +Of course you will have gathered from my letters that there are very +many advantages here. Indeed, the mosquitoes of the leeward coast, +to whose attacks one becomes inured in a few months, are the only +physical drawback. The open-air life is most conducive to health, +and the climate is absolutely perfect, owing to its equability and +purity. Whether the steady heat of Honolulu, the languid airs of +Hilo, the balmy breezes of Onomea, the cool bluster of Waimea, or +the odorous stillness of Kona, it is always the same. The grim +gloom of our anomalous winters, the harsh malignant winds of our +springs, and the dismal rains and overpowering heats of our summers, +have no counterpart in the endless spring-time of Hawaii. + +Existence here is unclogged and easy, a small income goes a long +way, and the simplicity, refinement, kindliness, and sociability of +the foreign residents, render society very pleasant. The life here +is truer, simpler, kinder, and happier than ours. The relation +between the foreign and native population is a kindly and happy one, +and the natives, in spite of their faults, are a most friendly and +pleasant people to live among. With a knowledge of their easily- +acquired language, they would be a ceaseless source of interest, and +every white resident can have the satisfaction of helping them in +their frequent distresses and illnesses. + +The sense of security is a very special charm, and one enjoys it as +well in lonely native houses, and solitary days and nights of +travelling, as in the foreign homes, which are never locked +throughout the year. There are no burglarious instincts to dread, +and there is no such thing as "a broken sleep of fear beneath the +stars." The person and property of a white man are everywhere +secure, and a white woman is sure of unvarying respect and kindness. + +There are no inevitable hardships. The necessaries, and even the +luxuries of civilization can be obtained everywhere, and postal +communication with America is now regular and rapid. + +When I began this letter, a long procession of counterbalancing +disadvantages passed through my mind, but they become "beautifully +less" as I set them down in black and white. If I put gossip first, +it is because I seriously think that it is the canker of the foreign +society on the islands. Its extent and universality are grotesque +and amusing to a stranger, but to live in it, and share in it, and +learn to enjoy it, would be both lowering and hurtful, and you can +hardly be long here without being drawn into its vortex. By GOSSIP +I don't mean scandal or malignant misrepresentations, or reports of +petty strifes, intrigues, and jealousies, such as are common in all +cliques and communities, but nuhou, mere tattle, the perpetual +talking about people, and the picking to tatters of every item of +personal detail, whether gathered from fact or imagination. + +A great deal of this is certainly harmless, and in some measure +arises from the intimate friendly relations which exist between the +scattered families, but over-indulgence in it destroys the privacy +of individual existence, and is deteriorating in more ways than one. +From the north of Kauai to the south of Hawaii, everybody knows +every other body's affairs, income, expenditure, sales, purchases, +debts, furniture, clothing, comings, goings, borrowings, lendings, +letters, correspondents, and every thing else: and when there is +nothing new to relate on any one of these prolific subjects, +supposed intentions afford abundant matter for speculation. All +gossip is focussed here, being imported from every other district, +and re-exported, with additions and embellishments, by every inter- +island mail. The ingenuity with which nuhou is circulated is worthy +of a better cause. + +Some disadvantages arise from the presence on the islands of +heterogeneous and ill-assorted nationalities. The Americans, of +course, predominate, and even those who are Hawaiian born, have, as +elsewhere, a strongly national feeling. The far smaller English +community hangs together in a somewhat cliquish fashion, and +possibly cherishes a latent grudge against the Americans for their +paramount influence in island affairs. The German residents, as +everywhere, are cliquish too. Then, since the establishment of the +Honolulu Mission, church feeling has run rather high, and here, as +elsewhere, has a socially divisive tendency. Then there are drink +and anti-drink, pro and anti-missionary, and pro and anti- +reciprocity-treaty parties, and various other local naggings of no +interest to you. + +The civilization is exotic, and owing to various circumstances, the +government and constitution are too experimental and provisional in +their nature, and possess too few elements of permanence to engross +the profound interest of the foreign residents, although for reasons +of policy they are well inclined to sustain a barbaric throne. In +spite of a king and court, and titles and officials without number, +and uniforms stiff with gold lace, and Royal dinner parties with +menus printed on white silk, Americans, Republicans in feeling, +really "run" the government, and in state affairs there is a taint +of that combination of obsequious and flippant vulgarity, which none +deplore more deeply than the best among the Americans themselves. + +It is a decided misfortune to a community to be divided in its +national leanings, and to have no great fusing interests within or +without itself, such as those which knit vigorous Victoria to the +mother country, or distant Oregon to the heart of the Republic at +Washington. Except sugar and dollars, one rarely hears any subject +spoken about with general interest. The downfall of an +administration in England, or any important piece of national +legislation, arouses almost no interest in American society here, +and the English are ostentatiously apathetic regarding any piece of +intelligence specially absorbing to Americans. The papers pick up +every piece of gossip which drifts about the islands, and snarl with +much wordiness over local matters, but crowd into a small space the +movements which affect the masses of mankind, and in the absence of +a telegraph one hardly feels the beat of the pulses of the larger +world. Those intellectual movements of the West which might provoke +discussion and conversation are not cordially entered into, partly +owing to the difference in theological beliefs, and partly from an +indolence born of the climate, and the lack of mental stimulus. + +After all, the gossip and the absence of large interests shared in +common, are the only specialities which can be alleged against +Hawaii, and I have never seen people among whom I should so well +like to live. The ladies are most charming; essentially womanly, +and fulfil all domestic and social duties in a way worthy of +imitation everywhere. The kindness and hospitality, too, are +unbounded, and these cover "a multitude of sins." + +There are very few strangers here now. It is the "dead season." I +have met with none except Mr. Nordhoff, who is writing on the +islands for Harper's Monthly, and his charming wife and children. +She is a most expert horsewoman, and has adopted the Mexican saddle +even in Honolulu, where few foreign ladies ride "cavalier fashion." + +My friends all urge me to write on Hawaii, on the ground that I have +seen the islands and lived the island life so thoroughly; but +possibly they expect more indiscriminate praise than I could +conscientiously bestow! + +Honolulu is in the midst of the epidemic of letter writing which +sets in on the arrival of the steamer from "the coast," and people +walk and drive as if they really had business on hand: and the +farewell visits to be made and received, the pleasant presence of +Mr. Thompson, and Mr. and Mrs. Severance, of Hilo, and the hasty +doing of things which have been left to the last, make me a sharer +in the spasmodic bustle, which, were it permanent, would +metamorphose this dreamy, bowery, tropical capital. The undeserved +and unexpected kindness shown me here, as everywhere on these +islands, renders my last impressions even more delightful than any +first. The people are as genial as their own sunny skies, and in +more frigid regions I shall never sigh for the last without longing +for the first. . . . . + +up to here +S.S. COSTA RICA. August 7th. + +We sailed for San Francisco early this afternoon. Everything looked +the same as when I landed in January, except that many of the then +strange faces among the radiant crowd are now the faces of friends, +that I know nearly everyone by sight, and that the pathos of +farewell blended with every look and word. The air still rang with +laughter and alohas, and the rippling music of the Hawaiian tongue; +bananas and pineapples were still piled in fragrant heaps; the +drifts of surf rolled in, as then, over the barrier reef, canoes +with outriggers still poised themselves on the blue water; the coral +divers still plied their graceful trade, and the lazy ripples still +flashed in light along the palm-fringed shore. The head-ropes were +let go, we steamed through the violet channel into the broad +Pacific, Lunalilo, who came out so far with Chief Justice Allen, +returned to the shore, and when his kindly aloha was spoken, the +last link with the islands was severed, and half an hour later +Honolulu was out of sight. . . . . + +. . . . The breeze is freshening, and the Costa Rica's head lies +nearly due north. The sun is sinking, and on the far horizon the +summit peaks of Oahu gleam like amethysts on a golden sea. Farewell +for ever, my bright tropic dream! Aloha nui to Hawaii-nei! + I.L.B. + + + +A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS. + +A few facts concerning the Hawaiian islands may serve to supplement +the deficiencies of the foregoing letters. The group is an +hereditary and constitutional monarchy. There is a house of nobles +appointed by the Crown, which consists of twenty members. The House +of Representatives consists of not less than twenty-four, or more +than forty members elected biennially. The Legislature fixes the +number, and apportions the same. The Houses sit together, and +constitute the Legislative Assembly. The property qualification for +a representative is, real estate worth $500, or an annual income of +$250 from property, and that for an elector is an annual income of +$75. The Legislators are paid, and the expense of a session is +about $15,000. There are three cabinet ministers appointed by the +Crown, of the Interior, Finance, and Foreign Affairs respectively, +and an Attorney-General, who may be regarded as a minister of +justice. There is a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and two +associate justices, and there are circuit and district judges on all +the larger islands, as well as sheriffs, prisons, and police. There +is a standing army of sixty men, mainly for the purposes of guard +duty, and rendering assistance to the police. + +The question of "how to make ends meet" sorely exercises the little +kingdom. All sorts of improvements involving a largely increased +outlay are continually urged, while at the same time the burden of +taxation presses increasingly heavily, and there is a constant +clamour for the removal of some of the most lucrative imposts. +Indeed, the Hawaiian dog, with his tax and his "tag," is seldom out +of the Legislative Assembly. + +What may be termed the per capita taxes are, an annual poll tax of +one dollar levied on each male inhabitant between the ages of +seventeen and sixty, an annual road tax of two dollars upon all +persons between seventeen and fifty, and an annual school tax of two +dollars upon all persons between twenty-one and sixty. There is a +direct tax upon property of .5 per cent. upon its valuation, and +specific taxes of a dollar on every horse above two years old, and a +dollar and a half on each dog. Of the $206,000 raised by internal +taxes during the last biennial period, the horses paid $50,000, the +mules $6,000, and the dogs $19,000! + +The indirect taxation in the shape of customs' duties amounted to +$350,000 in the same period. The poor Hawaiian does not know the +blessing of a "Free Breakfast Table." + +The islands are large importers. The value of imported goods paying +duties was $1,437,000 in 1873, on which the Hawaiian Treasury +received $198,000 as customs' duties. Twenty-five thousand dollars' +worth of ale, porter, and light wines, and thirty thousand dollars' +worth of spirits, show that the foreign population of 6,000 is more +than sufficiently bibulous. The Chinamen, about 2,000 in number, +are, or ought to be, responsible for $13,000 worth of opium; and the +$34,000 worth of tobacco and cigars is doubtless distributed pretty +equally over all the nationalities. Twenty-one thousand gallons of +spirits were imported in 1873. The licences to sell spirits brought +$18,000 dollars into the treasury in the last biennial period, but +those for the sale of awa and opium brought in $55,000 during the +same time. These licences are confined to Honolulu. + +There are two interesting items of customs receipts, a sum of $924, +the proceeds of a per capita tax of two dollars levied on passengers +landing on the islands, for the support of the Queen's Hospital, and +a sum of $1,477, the proceeds of a tax levied on seamen for the +support of the Marine Hospital. There is a sum of $700 for +passports, as no Hawaiian or stranger can leave the kingdom without +an official permit. + +There are 58 vessels registered under the Hawaiian flag, of which 40 +are coasters, and 18 engaged in foreign freighting and whaling. + +The value of domestic exports in 1873 was $1,725,507. Among these +are bananas, pineapples, pulu, cocoanuts, oranges, limes, sandal- +wood, tamarinds, betel leaves, shark's fins, paiai, whale oil, sperm +oil, cocoanut oil, and whalebone. Among other commodities there was +exported, of coffee 262,000 lbs., of fungus 57,000lbs., of pea nuts +58,000 lbs., of cotton 8,000 lb., of rice 941,000 lbs., of paddy +507,000 lbs., of hides 20,000 packages, of goat skins 66,000, of +horns 13,000, and of tallow 609,000 lbs. + +The expense of "keeping things going" on the islands for the two +years ending March 1st, 1874, amounted to $1,193,276, but this +included the funeral expenses of two kings, as well as of two extra +sessions of the Legislature, which amounted to $42,000. The +decrease in the revenue for the same period amounted to $45,000. +The items of Hawaiian expenditure were as follows:-- + +For Civil List. $47,689.73 + " Permanent Settlements, Queen Emma. 12,000.00 + " Legislature and Privy Council. 15,288.50 + " Extra Legislative Expenses. 19,011.87 + " Department of the Judiciary. 72,245.64 + " " of Foreign Affairs and War. 78,145.85 + " " of the Interior. 389,009.08 + " " of Finance. 202,117.05 + " " of the Attorney-General 97,097.00 + " Bureau of Public Instruction. 89,432.40 + " Miscellaneous Expenditures. 170,474.67 + +The balance on hand in the Treasury, +March 31st, 1874. 764.57 + + ------------- + + $1,193,276.36 + +That, under the head Finance, includes the interest on borrowed +money. The funded national debt is $340,000. Of this sum a portion +bears no stated interest, only such as may arise from the very +dubious profits of the Hawaiian hotel. The interest charges are 12 +per cent. on $25,000, and 9 per cent. on $272,000. The estimates +for the present biennial period involve a large increase of debt. +The present financial position of the kingdom is, an increasing +expenditure and a decreasing revenue. + +The statistics of the Judiciary Department for the last two years +present a few features of interest. There were 4,000 convictions +out of 5,764 cases brought before the courts, equal to a fourteenth +part of the population. The total number of offences in the +category is 125. Of these some are decidedly local. Thus, for +"furnishing intoxicating liquors to Hawaiians" 92 persons were +punished; for "exhibition of Hula," 10; for "selling awa without +licence," 12; for "selling opium without licence," 24. It is not +surprising to those who know the habits of the people, that the +convictions for violations of the marriage tie, though greatly +diminished, should reach the number of 384, while under the head +"Deserting Husbands and Wives," 67 convictions are recorded. For +"practising medicine without a licence," 56 persons were punished; +for "furious riding," 197; for "cruelty to animals," 37; for +"gaming," 121; for "gross cheating," 32; for "violating the +Sabbath," 61. We must remember that the returns include foreigners +and Chinamen, or else the reputation for "harmlessness" which +Hawaiians possess would suffer seriously when we read that within +the last two years there were 178 convictions for "assault," 248 for +"assault and battery," 12 for "assaults with dangerous weapons," 49 +for "affray," 674 for "drunkenness," 87 for "disturbing quiet of the +night," and 13 for "murder." Yet the number of criminal cases has +largely diminished, and taking civil and criminal together, there +has been a decrease of 656 for the last biennial period, as compared +with that immediately preceding it. + +The administration of justice is confessedly one of the most +efficient departments of Hawaiian affairs. Chief Justice Allen, +both as a lawyer and a gentleman, is worthy to fill the highest +position in his native country (America), and the Associate +Justices, as well as the native and foreign judges throughout the +islands, are highly esteemed for honour and uprightness. I never +heard an uttered suspicion of venality or unfairness against anyone +of them, and apparently the Judiciary Department of Hawaii deserves +the same confidence which we repose in our own. + +The Educational System has been carefully modelled, and is carried +out with tolerable efficiency. Eighty-seven per cent. of the whole +school population are actually at school, and the inspector of +schools states that a person who cannot read and write is rarely met +with. Each common school is graded into two, three, or four +classes, according to the intelligence and proficiency of the +pupils, and the curriculum of study is as follows:-- + +CLASS I.--Reading, mental and written arithmetic, geography, +penmanship, and composition. + +CLASS II.--Reading, mental arithmetic, geography, penmanship. + +CLASS III.--Reading, first principles of arithmetic, penmanship. + +CLASS IV.--Primer, use of slate and pencil. + +The youngest children are not classified until they can put letters +together in syllables. + +Vocal music is taught wherever competent teachers are found. + +The total sum expended on education, including the grants to +"family" and other schools, is about $40,000 a year. {453} + +It has been remarked that the rising race of Hawaiians has an +increased contempt for industry in the form of manual labour, and it +is proposed by the Board of Education that such labour shall be made +a part of common school education, so that on both girls and boys a +desire to provide for their own wants in an honest way shall be +officially inculcated. There is a Government Reformatory School, +and industrial and family schools for both girls and boys are +scattered over the islands. The supply of literature in the +vernacular is meagre, and few of the natives have any intelligent +comprehension of English. + +The group has an area of about 4,000,000 acres, of which about +200,000 may be regarded as arable, and 150,000 as specially adapted +for the culture of sugar-cane. Sugar, the great staple production, +gives employment in its cultivation and manufacture to nearly 4,000 +hands. Only a fifteenth part of the estimated arable area is under +cultivation. Over 6,000 natives are returned as the possessors of +Kuleanas or freeholds, but many of these are heavily mortgaged. +Many of the larger lands are held on lease from the crown or chiefs, +and there are difficulties attending the purchase of small +properties. + +Almost all the roots and fruits of the torrid and temperate zones +can be grown upon the islands, and the banana, kalo, yam, sweet +potato, cocoanut, breadfruit, arrowroot, sugar-cane, strawberry, +raspberry, whortleberry, and native apple, are said to be +indigenous. + +The indigenous fauna is small, consisting only of hogs, dogs, rats, +and an anomalous bat which flies by day: There are few insects, +except such as have been imported, and these, which consist of +centipedes, scorpions, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and fleas, are +happily confined to certain localities, and the two first have left +most of their venom behind them. A small lizard is abundant, but +snakes, toads, and frogs have not yet effected a landing. + +The ornithology of the islands is scanty. Domestic fowls are +supposed to be indigenous. Wild geese are numerous among the +mountains of Hawaii, and plovers, snipe, and wild ducks, are found +on all the islands. A handsome owl, called the owl-hawk, is common. +There is a paroquet with purple feathers, another with scarlet, a +woodpecker with variegated plumage of red, green, and yellow, and a +small black bird with a single yellow feather under each wing. +There are few singing birds, but one of the few has as sweet a note +as that of the English thrush. There are very few varieties of +moths and butterflies. + +The flora of the Hawaiian Islands is far scantier than that of the +South Sea groups, and cannot compare with that of many other +tropical as well as temperate regions. But all the islands are rich +in cryptogamous plants, of which there is an almost infinite +variety. + +Hawaii is still in process of construction, and is subject to +volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tidal waves. Hurricanes are +unknown, and thunderstorms are rare and light. + +Under favourable circumstances of moisture, the soil is most +prolific, and "patch cultivation" in glens and ravines, as well as +on mountain sides, produces astonishing results. A Kalo patch of +forty square feet will support a man for a year. An acre of +favourably situated land will grow a thousand stems of bananas, +which will produce annually ten tons of fruit. The sweet potato +flourishes on the most unpromising lava, where soil can hardly be +said to exist, and in good localities produces 200 barrels to the +acre. On dry light soils the Irish potato grows anyhow and +anywhere, with no other trouble than that of planting the sets. +Most vegetable dyes, drugs, and spices can be raised. Forty diverse +fruits present an overflowing cornucopia. The esculents of the +temperate zones flourish. The coffee bush produces from three to +five pounds of berries the third year after planting. The average +yield of sugar is two and a half tons to the acre. Pineapples grow +like weeds in some districts, and water melons are almost a drug. +The bamboo is known to grow sixteen inches in a day. Wherever there +is a sufficient rainfall, the earth teems with plenty. + +Yet the Hawaiian Islands can hardly be regarded as a field for +emigration, though nature is lavish, and the climate the most +delicious and salubrious in the world. Farming, as we understand +it, is unknown. The dearth of insectivorous birds seriously affects +the cultivation of a soil naturally bounteous to excess. The narrow +gorges in which terraced "patch cultivation," is so successful, +offer no temptations to a man with the world before him. The larger +areas require labour, and labour is not to be had. Though wheat and +other cereals mature, attacks of weevil prevent their storage, and +all the grain and flour consumed are imported from California. + +Cacao, cinnamon, and allspice, are subject to an apparently +ineradicable blight. The blight which has attacked the coffee shrub +is so severe, that the larger plantations have been dug up, and +coffee is now raised by patch culture, mainly among the guava scrub +which fringes the forests. Oranges suffer from blight also, and +some of the finest groves have been cut down. Cotton suffers from +the ravages of a caterpillar. The mulberry tree, which, from its +rapid growth, would be invaluable to silk growers, is covered with a +black and white blight. Sheep are at present successful, but in +some localities the spread of a pestilent "oat-burr" is depreciating +the value of their wool. The forests, which are essential to the +well-being of the islands, are disappearing in some quarters, owing +to the attacks of a grub, as well as the ravages of cattle. + +Cocoanuts, bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, kalo, and breadfruit, the +staple food of the native population, are free from blight, and so +are potatoes and rice. Beef cattle can be raised for almost +nothing, and in some districts beef can be bought for the cent or +two per pound which pays for the cutting up of the carcase. Every +one can live abundantly, and without the "sweat of the brow," but +few can make money, owing to the various forms of blight, the +scarcity of labour, and the lack of a profitable market. + +There is little healthy activity in any department of business. The +whaling fleet has deserted the islands. A general pilikia prevails. +Settlements are disappearing, valley lands are falling out of +cultivation, Hilo grass and guava scrub are burying the traces of a +former population. The natives are rapidly diminishing, {457} the +old industries are abandoned, and the inherent immorality of the +race, the great outstanding cause of its decay, still resists the +influence of Christian teaching and example. + +An exotic civilization is having a fair trial on the Hawaiian +Islands. With the exception of the serious maladies introduced by +foreigners in the early days, and the disastrous moral influence +exercised by worthless whites, they have suffered none of the wrongs +usually inflicted on the feebler by the stronger race. The rights +of the natives were in the first instance carefully secured to them, +and have since been protected by equal laws, righteously +administered. The Hawaiians have been aided towards independence in +political matters, and the foreigners, who framed the laws and +constitution, and have directed Hawaiian affairs, such as Richards, +Lee, Judd, Allen, and Wyllie, were men above reproach; and +missionary influence, of all others the most friendly to the +natives, has predominated for fifty years. + +The effects of missionary labour have been scarcely touched upon in +the foregoing letters, and here, in preference to giving any opinion +of my own, I quote from Mr. R. H. Dana, an Episcopalian, and a +barrister of the highest standing in America, well known in this +country by his writings, who sums up his investigations on the +Sandwich Islands in the following dispassionate words: + +"It is no small thing to say of the missionaries of the American +Board, that in less than forty years they have taught this whole +people to read and to write, to cipher and to sew. They have given +them an alphabet, grammar, and dictionary; preserved their language +from extinction; given it a literature, and translated into it the +Bible, and works of devotion, science, and entertainment, etc. They +have established schools, reared up native teachers, and so pressed +their work, that now the proportion of inhabitants who can read and +write is greater than in New England. And whereas they found these +islanders a nation of half-naked savages, living in the surf and on +the sand, eating raw fish, fighting among themselves, tyrannized +over by feudal chiefs, and abandoned to sensuality, they now see +them decently clothed, recognizing the law of marriage, knowing +something of accounts, going to school and public worship more +regularly than the people do at home, and the more elevated of them +taking part in conducting the affairs of the constitutional monarchy +under which they live, holding seats on the judicial bench and in +the legislative chambers, and filling posts in the local +magistracies." + +If space permitted, the testimony of "Mark Twain," given in +"Roughing It," might be added to the above, and the remaining +missionaries may well point to the visible results of their labours, +with the one word Circumspice! + + + +A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN HISTORY. + +In the pre-historic days of Hawaii, for 500 years, as the bards +sing, before Captain Cook landed, and indeed for some years +afterwards, each island had its king, chiefs, and internal +dissensions; and incessant wars, with a reckless waste of human +life, kept the whole group in turmoil. Chaotic and legendary as +early Hawaiian history is, there is enough to show that there must +have been regularly organized communities on the islands for a very +long period, with a civilization and polity which, though utterly +unworthy of Christianity, were enlightened and advanced for +Polynesian heathenism. + +The kingly office was hereditary, and the king's power absolute. On +the different islands the kings and chiefs who together constituted +a privileged class, admitted the priesthood to some portion of their +privileges, probably with the view of enslaving the people more +completely through the agency of religion, and held the lower +classes in absolute subserviency by the most rigorous of feudal +systems, which included hana poalima, or forced labour, and the +tabu, well known throughout Polynesia. + +A very interesting history begins with Kamehameha the Great, the +Conqueror, or the Terrible; the "Napoleon of the Pacific," as he has +been called. He united an overmastering ambition to a singular gift +of ruling, and without education, training, or the help of a single +political precedent to guide him, animated not only by the lust of +conquest, but by the desire to create a nationality, he subjugated +every thing that his canoes could reach, and fused a rabble of +savages and chieftaincies into a united nation, every individual of +which to this day inherits something of the patriotism of the +Conqueror. + +His wars were by no means puny either in proportions or slaughter, +as, for instance, when he meditated the conquest of Kauai, his +expedition included seven thousand picked warriors, twenty-one +schooners, forty swivels, six mortars, and an abundance of +ammunition! His victories are celebrated in countless meles or +unwritten songs, which are said to be marked by real poetic feeling +and simplicity, and to resemble the Ossianic poems in majesty and +melancholy. He founded the dynasty which for seventy years has +stood as firmly, and exercised its functions for the welfare of the +people on the whole as efficiently, as any other government. + +The king was forty-five years old when, having "no more worlds to +conquer," he devoted himself to the consolidation of his kingdom. +He placed governors on each island, directly responsible to himself, +who nominated chiefs of districts, heads of villages, and all petty +officers; and tax-gatherers, who, for lack of the art of writing, +kept their accounts by a method in use in the English exchequer in +ancient times. He appointed a council of chiefs, with whom he +advised on important matters, and a council of "wise men" who +assisted him in framing laws, and in regulating concerns of minor +importance. In all matters of national importance, the governors +and high chiefs of the islands met with the sovereign in +consultations. These were conducted with great privacy, and the +results were promulgated through the islands by heralds whose office +was hereditary. + +Kamehameha enacted statutes against theft, murder, and oppression, +and though he wielded oppressive and despotic authority himself, his +people enjoyed a golden age as compared with those that were past. +The king, governors, and chiefs constituted the magistracy, and +there was an appeal from both chiefs and governors to the king. It +was usual for both parties to be heard face to face in the enclosure +in front of the house of the king or governor, no lawyers were +employed, and every man advocated his own cause, sitting cross- +legged before the judges. Swiftness and decision characterized the +redress of grievances and the administration of justice. Kamehameha +reduced the feudal tenure of land, which had heretofore been the +theory, into absolute practice, claiming for the crown the sole +ownership of the land, and dividing it among his followers on the +conditions of tribute and military service. The common people were +attached to the soil and transferred with it. A chief might +nominate his wife, or son, or any other person to succeed him in his +possessions, but at his death they reverted to the king, whose order +was required before the testamentary wish became of any value. +There were some wise regulations generally applicable, concerning +the planting of cocoanut trees, and a law that the water should be +conducted over every plantation twice a week in general, and once a +week during the dry season. This king constructed immense fish- +ponds on the sea coast, and devoted himself to commerce with such +success that in one year he exported $400,000 of sandalwood (felled +and shipped at the cost of much suffering to the common people), and +on finding that a large proportion of the profit had been dissipated +by harbour dues at Canton, he took up the idea and established +harbour dues at Honolulu. + +From Vancouver Kamehameha learned of the grandeur and power of +Christian nations; and in the idea that his people might grow great +through Christianity, he asked him, in 1794, that Christian teachers +might be sent from England. This request, if ever presented, was +disregarded, as was another made by Captain Turnbull in 1803, and +this exceptionally great Polynesian died the year before the light +of the Gospel shone on Hawaiian shores. + +Some persons, it does not appear whether they were English or +American, attempted his conversion; but the astute savage, after +listening to their eloquent statements of the power of faith, +pressed on them as a crucial test to throw themselves from the top +of an adjacent precipice, making his reception of their religion +contingent on their arrival unhurt at its base. He built large +heiaus, amongst others the one at Kawaihae, at the dedication of +which to his favourite war god eleven human sacrifices were offered. +To the end he remained devoted to the state religion, and the last +instances of capital punishment for breaking tabu, a thraldom deeply +interwoven with the religious system, occurred in the last year of +his reign, when one man was put to death for putting on a chief's +girdle, another for eating of a tabooed dish, and a third for +leaving a house under tabu, and entering one which was not so. + +His last prayers were to his great red-feathered god Kukailimoku, +and priests bringing idols crowded round him in his dying agony. +His last words were "Move on in my good way and"-- In the death- +room the high chiefs consulted, and one, to testify his great grief, +proposed to eat the body raw, but was overruled by the majority. So +the flesh was separated from the bones, and they were tied up in +tapa, and concealed so effectually that they have never since been +found. A holocaust of three hundred dogs gave splendour to his +obsequies. "These are our gods whom I worship," he had said to +Kotzebue, while showing him one of the temples. "Whether I do right +or wrong I do not know, but I follow my faith, which cannot be +wicked, as it commands me never to do wrong." + +Kamehameha the Great died in 1819, and his son Liholiho, who loved +whisky and pleasure, was peaceably crowned king in his room, and by +his name. He, with the powerful aid of the Queen Dowager Kaahumanu, +abolished tabu, and his subjects cast away their idols, and fell +into indifferent scepticism, the high priest Hewahewa being the +first to light the iconoclastic torch, having previously given his +opinion that there was only one great akua or spirit in lani, the +heavens. This Kamehameha II. was the king who with his queen, died +of measles in London in 1824, after which the Blonde frigate was +sent to restore their bodies with much ceremony to Hawaiian soil. + +Kamehameha III., a minor, another son of the Conqueror, succeeded, +and reigned for thirty years, dividing the lands among the nobles +and the people, and conferring upon his kingdom an equable +constitution. The law officially abolishing idolatry was confirmed +by him, and while complete religious toleration otherwise was +granted, the Christian faith was established in these words:--"The +religion of the Lord Jesus Christ shall continue to be the +established national religion of the Hawaiian Islands." His words +on July 31st, 1843, when the English colours, wrongfully hoisted, +were lowered in favour of the Hawaiian flag, are the national +motto:--"The life of the land is established in righteousness." In +his reign Hawaiian independence was recognised by Great Britain, +France, and America. His Premier for some time was Mr. Wyllie, who +with a rare devotion and disinterestedness devoted his life and a +large fortune to his adopted country. + +Kamehameha IV., a grandson of the Conqueror, succeeded him in 1854. +He was a patriotic prince, and strove hard to advance the +civilization of his people, and to arrest their decrease by +reformatory and sanitary measures. He was the most accomplished +prince of his line, and his death in 1863, soon after that of his +only child, the Prince of Hawaii, was very deeply regretted. His +widow, Queen Kaleleonalani, or Emma, visited England after his +death. + +He was succeeded by his brother, a man of a very different stamp, +who was buried on January 11, 1873, after a partial outbreak of the +orgies wherewith the natives disgraced themselves after the death of +a chief in the old heathen days. It is rare to meet with two people +successively who hold the same opinion of Kamehameha V. He was +evidently a man of some talent and strong will, intensely patriotic, +and determined not to be a merely ornamental figure-head of a +government administered by foreigners in his name. He ardently +desired the encouragement of foreign immigration, and the opening of +a free market in America for Hawaiian produce. He ruled, as well as +reigned, and though he abrogated the constitution of 1852, and +introduced several features of absolutism into the government, on +the whole he seems to have done well by his people. He is said to +have been regal and dignified, to have worked hard, to have written +correct state papers, and to have been capable of the deportment of +an educated Christian gentleman, but to have reimbursed himself for +this subservience to conventionality by occasionally retiring to an +undignified residence on the sea-shore, where he transformed himself +into the likeness of one of his half-clad heathen ancestors, debased +himself by whisky, and revelled in the hula-hula. He is said also +to have been so far under the empire of the old superstitions, as to +consult an ancient witch on affairs of importance. + +He died amidst the rejoicings incident to his birthday, and on the +next day "lay in state in the throne-room of the palace, while his +ministers, his staff, and the chiefs of the realm kept watch over +him, and sombre kahilis waving at his head, beat a rude and silent +dead-march for the crowds of people, subjects and aliens, who +continuously filed through the apartment, for a curious farewell +glance at the last of the Kamehamehas." + +His death closed the first era of Hawaiian history, and the orderly +succession of one recognised dynasty. No successor to the throne +had been proclaimed, and the king left no nearer kin than the +Princess Keelikolani, his half-sister, a lady not in the line of +regal descent. + +Under these novel circumstances, it devolved upon the Legislative +Assembly to elect by ballot "some native Alii of the kingdom as +successor to the throne." The candidates were the High Chief +Kalakaua, the present King, and Prince Lunalilo, the late King, but +the "Well-Beloved," as Lunalilo was called, was elected unanimously, +amidst an outburst of popular enthusiasm. + +From his high resolves and generous instincts much was expected, and +the unhappy failing, to which, after the most painful struggles, he +succumbed, on the solicitation of some bad or thoughtless +foreigners, if it lessened him aught in the public esteem, abated +nothing of the wonderful love that was felt for him. + +He died, after a lingering illness, on February 3, 1874. Although +the event had been expected for some time, its announcement was +received with profound sorrow by the whole community, while the +native subjects of the deceased sovereign, according to ancient +custom, expressed their feelings in loud wailing, which echoed +mournfully through the still, red air of early daylight. On the +following evening the body was placed on a shrouded bier, and was +escorted in solemn procession by the government officials and the +late king's staff, to the Iolani Palace, there to lie in state. It +was a cloudless moonlight; not a leaf stirred or bird sang, and the +crowd, consisting of several thousands, opened to the right and left +to let the dismal death-train pass, in a stillness which was only +broken by the solemn tramp of the bearers. + +The next day the corpse lay in state, in all the splendour that the +islands could bestow, dressed in the clothes the king wore when he +took the oath of office, and resting on the royal robe of yellow +feathers, a fathom square. {468} Between eight and ten thousand +persons passed through the palace during the morning, and foreigners +as well as natives wept tears of genuine grief; while in the palace +grounds the wailing knew no intermission, and many of the natives +spent hours in reciting kanakaus in honour of the deceased. At +midnight the king's remains were placed in a coffin, his aged +father, His Highness Kanaina, who was broken-hearted for his loss, +standing by. When the body was raised from the feather robe, he +ordered that it should be wrapped in it, and thus be deposited in +its resting place. "He is the last of our race," he said; "it +belongs to him." The natives in attendance turned pale at this +command, for the robe was the property of Kekauluohi, the dead +king's mother, and had descended to her from her kingly ancestors. + +Averse through his life to useless parade and display, Lunalilo left +directions for a simple funeral, and that none of the old heathenish +observances should ensue upon his death. So, amidst unbounded +grief, he was carried to the grave with hymns and anthems, and the +hopes of Hawaii were buried with him. + +He died without naming a successor, and thus for the second time +within fourteen months, a king came to be elected by ballot. + +The proceedings at the election of Lunalilo were marked by an order, +regularity, and peaceableness which reflected extreme credit on the +civilization of the Hawaiians, but in the subsequent period the +temper of the people had considerably changed, and they had been +affected by influences to which some allusions were made in Letter +XIX. + +In politics, Lunalilo's views were essentially democratic, and he +showed an almost undue deference to the will of the people, giving +them a year's practical experience of democracy which they will +never forget. + +An antagonism to the foreign residents, or rather to their political +influence, had grown rapidly. Some of the Americans had been unwise +in their language, and the discussion on the proposed cession of +Pearl River increased the popular discontent, and the jealousy of +foreign interference in island affairs. "America gave us the +light," said a native pastor, in a sermon which was reported over +the islands, "but now that we have the light, we should be left to +use it for ourselves." This sentence represented the bulk of the +national feeling, which, if partially unenlightened, is intensely, +passionately, almost fanatically patriotic. + +The biennial election of delegates to the Legislative Assembly +occurred shortly before Lunalilo's death, and the rallying-cry, +"Hawaii for the Hawaiians," was used with such effect that the most +respectable foreign candidates, even in the capital, had not a +chance of success, and for the first time in Hawaiian constitutional +history, a house was elected, consisting, with one exception, of +natives. Immediately on the king's death, Kalakaua, who was +understood to represent the foreign interest as well as the policy +indicated by the popular rallying-cry, and Queen Emma, came forward +as candidates; the walls were placarded with addresses, mass +meetings were held, canvassers were busy night and day, promises +impossible of fulfilment were made, and for eight days the Hawaiian +capital presented those scenes of excitement, wrangling, and mutual +misrepresentation which we associate with popular elections +elsewhere, and everywhere. + +The day of election came, and thirty-nine votes were given for +Kalakaua, and six for Emma. On the announcement of this result, a +hoarse, indignant roar, mingled with cheers from the crowd without, +was heard within the Assembly chamber, and on the committee +appointed to convey to Kalakaua the news of his election, attempting +to take their seats in a carriage, they were driven back, maimed and +bleeding, into the Courthouse; the carriage was torn to pieces, and +the spokes of the wheels were distributed as weapons among the +rioters. The "gentle children of the sun" were seen under a new +aspect; they became furious, the latent savagery came out, the doors +of the Hall of Assembly were battered in, the windows were shattered +with clubs and volleys of stones, nine of the representatives, who +were known to have voted for Kalakaua, were severely injured; the +chairs, tables, and furnishings of the rooms were broken up and +thrown out of the windows, along with valuable public and private +documents; kerosene was demanded to fire the buildings; the police +remained neutral, and conflagration and murder would have followed, +had not the ministers dispatched an urgent request for assistance to +the United States' ships of war, Portsmouth and Tuscarora, and +H.B.M. ship Tenedos, which was promptly met by the landing of such a +force of sailors and marines as dispersed the rioters. + +Seventy arrests were made, the foreign marines held possession of +the Courthouse, Palace, and Government offices, Kalakaua took the +oath of office in private; the Representatives, with bandaged heads, +and arms in slings, limped, and in some instances were supported, to +their desks, to be liberated from their duties by the king in +person, and in ten days the joint protectorate was withdrawn. + +Those who know the natives best were taken by surprise, and are +compelled to recognise that a restive, half-sullen, half-defiant +spirit is abroad among them, and that the task of governing them may +not be the easy thing which it has been since the days of Kamehameha +the Great. Nor do the foreign residents, especially the Americans, +feel so safe as formerly, without the presence of a man-of-war in +the harbour, since the people of Oahu have so unexpectedly developed +one of the prominent arts of civilized democracy, cruel, reckless, +and unreasoning mobbing. + +Of King Kalakaua, who began his reign under such unfortunate +auspices, little at present can be said. Island affairs have not +settled down into their old quietude, and party spirit, arising out +of the election, has not died out among the natives. The king chose +his advisers wisely, and made a concession to native feeling by +appointing a native named Nahaolelua to a seat in the cabinet as +Minister of Finance, but his first arrangement was upset, and a good +deal of confusion has subsequently prevailed. + +The Queen, Kapiolani, is a Hawaiian lady of high character and +extreme amiability, and both King and Queen have been exemplary in +their domestic relations. + +Kalakaua's first act was to proclaim his brother, Prince Leleiohoku, +his successor, investing him at the same time with the title, "His +Royal Highness," and his second was to reorganize the military +service, with the view of making it an efficient and well- +disciplined force. + +There is something melancholy in the fact that this small Pacific +kingdom has to fall back upon the old world resource of a standing +army, as large, in proportion to its population, as that of the +German Empire. + +Those readers who have become interested in the Sandwich Islands +through the foregoing Letters, will join me in the earnest wish that +this people, which has advanced from heathenism and barbarism to +Christianity and civilization in the short space of a single +generation, may enjoy peace and prosperity under King Kalakaua, that +the extinction which threatens the nation may be averted, and that +under a gracious Divine Providence, Hawaii may still remain the +inheritance of the Hawaiians. + + + +NOTES. + + +{0} A native word used to signify an old resident. + +{14} A Frugiferous bat. + +{28} The kahili is shaped like an enormous bottle brush. The fines +are sometimes twenty feet high, with handles twelve or fifteen feet +long, covered with tortoiseshell and whale tooth ivory. The upper +part is formed of a cylinder of wicker work about a foot in +diameter, on which red, black, and yellow feathers are fastened. +These insignia are carried in procession instead of banners, and +used to be fixed in the ground near the temporary residence of the +king or chiefs. At the funeral of the late king seventy-six large +and small kahilis were carried by the retainers of chief families. + +{40} A week after her sailing, this unlucky ship put back with some +mysterious ailment, and on her final arrival at San Francisco, her +condition was found to be such that it was a marvel that she had +made the passage at all. + +{44} Dear old craft! I would not change her now for the finest +palace which floats on the Hudson, or the trimmest of the +Hutchesons' beautiful West Highland fleet. + +{47} This temperature is, of course, in shallow water. The United +States surveying vessel, Tuscarora, lately left San Diego, +California, shaping a straight course for Honolulu, and found a +nearly uniform temperature of from 33 degrees to 34 degrees +Fahrenheit at all depths below 1100 fathoms. The following table +gives a good idea of the temperature of ocean water in this region +of the Pacific:-- + +100 . . 64 degrees 7 +200 . . 48 degrees 7 +300 . . 42 degrees 4 +400 . . 40 degrees 4 +500 . . 39 degrees 4 +600 . . 38 degrees 6 +700 . . 38 degrees 3 +800 . . 37 degrees 5 +900 . . 36 degrees 6 +1000 . . 35 degrees 6 +1200 . . 35 degrees 4 +3054 . . 33 degrees 2 + +The Tuscarora found the extraordinary depth of 3023 fathoms at a +distance of only 43 miles from Molokai. + +{59a} Metrosideros Polymorpha. + +{59b} Colocasia antiquorum (arum esculentum). + +{59c} Morinda Citrifolia. + +{62} I have since learned that it is the same as the Kaldera bush of +Southern India, and that the powerful fragrance of its flowers is +the subject of continual allusions in Sanskrit poetry under the name +of Ketaka, and that oil impregnated with its odour is highly prized +as a perfume in India. The Hawaiians also used it to give a +delicious scent to the Tapa made for their chiefs from the inner +bark of the paper mulberry. + +{65} See Brigham, on the "Hawaiian Volcanoes." + +{66} In explorations some months later, I found nearly similar +phenomena, in two other of the streams on the windward side of +Hawaii. + +{95} "Reef Rovings." + +{121} In 1873 the export of sugar reached a total of upwards of +23,000,000 lbs. + +{128} NOTE.--Throughout these letters the botanical names given are +only those which are current on the Islands. Those specimens of +ferns which survived the rough usage which befel them, are to be +seen in the Herbarium of the Botanical Garden at Oxford, and have +been named and classified by my cousin, Professor Lawson. + +{138} "The road from Hilo to Laupahoehoe, a distance of thirty +miles, runs somewhat inland, and is one of the most remarkable in +the world. Ravines, 1,800 or 2,000 feet deep, and less than a mile +wide, extend far up the slopes of Mauna Kea. Streams, liable to +sudden and tremendous freshets, must be traversed on a path of +indescribable steepness, winding zig-zag up and down the +beautifully-wooded slopes or precipices, which are ornamented with +cascades of every conceivable form. Few strangers, when they come +to the worst precipices, dare to ride down, but such is the nature +of the rough steps, that a horse or mule will pass them with less +difficulty than a man on foot who is unused to climbing. No less +than sixty-five streams must be crossed in a distance of thirty +miles."--Brigham "On the Hawaiian Volcanoes." + +{148} The Lord's Prayer in Hawaiian runs thus:--E ko mako Makua i- +loko o ka Lani, e hoanoia Kou Inoa E hiki mai Kou auhuni e malamaia +Kou Makemake ma ka-nei honua e like me ia i malamaia ma ka Lani e +haawi mai i a makau i ai no keia la e kala mai i ko makou +lawehalaana me makou e kala nei i ka poe i lawehala mai i a makou +mai alakai i a makou i ka hoowalewaleia mai ata e hookapele i a +makou mai ka ino no ka mea Nou ke Aupuni a me ka Mana a me ka +hoonaniia a mau loa 'ku. Amene. + +{165} A small bird, Melithreptes Pacifica, inhabits the mountainous +regions of Hawaii, and has under each wing a single feather, one +inch long, of a bright canary yellow. The birds are caught by means +of a viscid substance smeared on poles. Formerly they were strictly +tabu. It is of these feathers that the mamo or war-cloak of +Kamehameha I., now used on state occasions by the Hawaiian kings, is +composed. This priceless mantle is four feet long, eleven and a +half feet wide at the bottom, and its formation occupied nine +successive reigns. It is one of the costliest of royal ornaments, +if the labour spent upon it is estimated, and the feathers of which +it is made have been valued at a dollar and a half for five. + +{199} Cynodon Dactylon (?) + +{203} Physalis Peruviana. + +{215} This was almost his last exploit. A few days later the +sheriff had the painful duty of committing him as a leper to the +leper settlement on Molokai. He was a leading spirit among the Hilo +natives, and his joyous nature will be missed by everyone. He has +left a wife and some beautiful children, who, it is feared, will +eventually share his fate. + +{223} In 1873 the export of wool had increased to 329,507 lbs. + +{235} The Inspector of Schools has since told me that there is a +track as bad, if not worse, in the Hana district on Maui. + +{256} It gives me pleasure to add that the Sisters have lived down +this very natural distrust, and that in a subsequent residence of +five months on the islands, I never heard but one opinion, and that +of the most favourable kind, regarding the Lahaina School, and the +excellence and wisdom of the manner in which it is conducted. I +have been told by many who on most points are quite out of sympathy +with the Sisters, not only that their work is recognized as a most +valuable agency, but that their influence has come to be regarded as +among the chiefest of the blessings of Lahaina. + +{270} The Nuhou has since expired. + +{276} This monster is a cephalopod of the order Dibranchiata, and +has eight flexible arms, each crowded with 120 pair of suckers, and +two longer feelers about six feet in length, differing considerably +from the others in form. + +{295} According to the revenue returns for the biennial period +ending March 31, 1874, the revenue derived from awa was over $9000, +and that from opium over $46,000. + +{296} The following paragraph from Dr. Rupert Anderson's sober- +minded book on the Sandwich Islands fully bears out the king's +remarks: "The islands all lie within the range of the trade winds, +which blow with great regularity nine months of the year, and on the +leeward side, where their course is obstructed by mountains, there +are regular land and sea breezes. The weather at all seasons is +delightful, the sky usually cloudless, the atmosphere clear and +bracing. Nothing can exceed the soft brilliancy of the moonlight +nights. Thunderstorms are rare and light in their nature. +Hurricanes are unknown. The general temperature is the nearest in +the world to that point regarded by physiologists as most conducive +to health and longevity. By ascending the mountains any desirable +degree of temperature may be obtained." + +{303} These circumstances are well-known throughout the islands, and +with the omission of some personal details, there is nothing which +may not be known by a larger public. + +{335} According to Mr. Brigham, the products of the Hawaiian +volcanoes are: native sulphur, pyrites, salt, sal ammoniac, +hydrochloric acid, haematite, sulphurous acid, sulphuric acid, +quartz, crystals, palagonite, feldspar, chrysolite, Thompsonite, +gypsum, solfatarite, copperas, nitre, arragonite, Labradorite, +limonite. + +{381} I venture to present this journal letter just as it was +written, trusting that the interest which attaches to volcanic +regions, will carry the reader through the minuteness and +multiplicity of the details. + +{388} Since then, the Austins of Onomea were standing on a similar +ledge, when a sound as of a surge striking below, made them jump +back hastily, and in another moment the projection split off, and +was engulfed in the fiery lake. + +{411} Since white men have inhabited the islands, there have been +ten recorded eruptions from the craters of Mauna Loa, and one from +Hualalai. + +{422} Several letters are omitted here, as they contain repetitions +of journeys and circumstances which have been amply detailed before. +I went to the Kona district for a few days only, intending to return +to friends on Kauai and Maui; but owing to an alteration in the +sailings of the Kilauea, was detained there for a month, and +afterwards, owing to uncertainties connected with the San Francisco +steamers, was obliged to leave the Islands abruptly, after a +residence of nearly seven months. + +{453} The schools of the kingdom are as follows:-- + + Number + Schools. Boys. Girls. Total. + +Common Schools 196 3193 2329 5522 +Government Boarding Schools 3 185 -- 185 +Government Haw.-Eng. Day Schools 5 415 246 661 +Subsidized Boarding Schools 10 168 191 359 +Subsidized Day Schools 9 201 210 411 +Independent Boarding Schools 3 14 62 76 +Independent Day Schools 16 287 254 541 + ------------------------------- +- +Total 242 4463 3292 7755 + +{457} The population by the last census, taken in 1872, is as +follows:-- + +Total number of natives in 1872 49,044 + " " half-castes in 1872 2,487 + " " Chinese in 1872 1,938 + " " Americans in 1872 889 + " " Hawaiians born of foreign parents, 1872 849 + " " Britons in 1872 619 + " " Portuguese in 1872 395 + " " Germans in 1872 224 + " " French in 1872 88 + " " other foreigners in 1872 364 + ------ +Total population in 1872 56,897 + + -------------------------- + +Total number of natives, including half-castes, in 1866 58,765 + " " " " " in 1872 51,531 + ------ +Decrease since 1866 7,234 + +The excess of males over females is 6,403 souls. + + AREA AND POPULATION OF EACH ISLAND. + + Acres. Height Population + in feet. in 1872. + +Hawaii 2,500,000 13,953 16,001 +Maui 400,000 10,200 12,334 +Oahu 350,000 3,800 20,671 +Kauai 350,000 4,800 4,961 +Molokai 200,000 2,800 2,349 +Lanai 100,000 2,400 348 +Niihau 70,000 800 233 +Kahoolawe 30,000 400 - + ------- +Total 56,897 + +{468} Only one robe like this remains, that which is spread over the +throne at the opening of Parliament. The one buried with Lunalilo +could not be reproduced for one hundred thousand dollars. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 6750 *** |