Physiognomy of the Islands in the Pacific, 219 



Hanapepe Valley, Kauai. — We reached its inclosing walls, about 

 four miles from the sea, where the sloping plain of the coast was 

 just losing its smooth undulating surface, and changing into the 

 broken and wooded declivities of the interior. The valley, which 

 had been a channel through the grassy plain, a few hundred feet in 

 depth, was becoming a narrow defile through the mountains. A 

 strip of land lay below, between the rocky walls, covered with deep 

 green garden-like patches of tare, through which a small stream was 

 hastening on to the sea. 



We found a place of descent, and, three hundred feet down, reached 

 the banks of the stream, along which we pursued our course. The 

 mountains, as we proceeded; closed rapidly upon us, and we were soon 

 in a narrow gorge between walls one thousand feet in height, and 

 with a mere line of sky over head. The stream dashed along by us, 

 now on this side of the green strip of land, and then on that, occa- 

 sionally compelling us to climb up and climb among the crevices of 

 the walls to avoid its waters, where too deep or rapid to be conveni- 

 ently forded. Its bed was often rocky, but there was no slope of 

 debris at the base of the walls on either side, and in the greater part 

 of the distance it was bordered by plantations of tare. The style of 

 mountain architecture, observed on the island of Oahu, was exhibited 

 in this shaded defile, on a still grander scale. The mural surfaces 

 enclosing it had been wrought, in some places, into a series of semi- 

 circular alcoves or recesses, which extended to the distant summits over- 

 head ; more commonly, the walls were formed of a series of semicircular 

 columns of vast size, collected together like the clustered shafts of a 

 Gothic structure, and terminating several hundred feet above, in low 

 conical summits. Although the sides were erect, or nearly so, there 

 was a profuse decoration of vines and flowers, ferns and shrubbery ; 

 and, where more inclined, forests covered densely the slopes. 



These peculiar architectural features proceed from the wear of 

 rills of waters, streaming down the bold sides of the gorge ; they 

 channel the surface, leaving the intermediate parts prominent. The 

 rock is uniformly stratified, and the layers consist of gray basalt or 

 basaltic lava, alternating with basaltic conglomerate. 



Cascades were frequently met with ; at one place, a dozen were 

 playing around us at the same time, pouring down the high walls, 

 appearing and disappearing, at intervals, amid the foliage, some in 

 white foamy threads, and others in parted strands imperfectly con- 

 cealing the black surface of rock beneath. 



A rough ramble of four miles brought us to the falls of the Ha- 

 napepe. The precipice, sweeping around with a curve, abruptly 

 closed the defile, and all further progress was therefore intercepted. 

 We were in an amphitheatre of surpassing grandeur, to which the 

 long defile, with its fluted or Gothic walls, decorated with leaves and 

 flowers and living cascades, seemed a fit porch or entrance way. 

 The sides around were lofty, and the profuse vegetation was almost 



