340 Sketch of the Life of Mr, David Douglas, 



" Honori had tlie people called together, by the sound of a 

 conch shell, blown by a little imp of a lad, perched on a block of 

 lava in front of the school house, when, as in the morning, he 

 *' lectured" on the third chapter of St. John." 



On Tuesday, the 28th January he again moves from Kapupala 

 upwards, for a sight of the highest peak of Mouna Roa. 



" Among my attendants was one singular looking personage, a 

 stripling, who carried a small packet of instruments, and trotted 

 away in a " cutty sark," of scanty longitude, the upper portion of 

 which had been once of white, and the lower of red flannel. 

 Honori brought up the rear, with a small telescope slung over his 

 shoulder, and an umbrella, which owing perhaps to his asthmatic 

 complaint, he never fails to carry with him, both in fair and foul 

 weather." 



" At eleven, a.m., we came to a small pool of fresh water, col- 

 lected in the lava, the temperature of which was 55° ; here my 

 people halted for a few minutes to smoke. The barometer stood 

 at 26 inches, the air 62°, and the dew point at SS*^. The wind 

 was from the south, with a gentle fanninp- breeze and a clear skv. 

 Hence the path turns north-west for a mile and a half, be- 

 coming a little steeper, till it leads to a beautiful circular 

 well, three feet deep, flowing in the lava, its banks fringed 

 with Strawberry vines, and shaded by an Acacia Tree 

 Grove. Here we ao-ain rested for half an hour. I would re- 

 commend to any Naturalists who may in future visit this 

 mountain, to have their canteens filled at the well just mentioned, 

 for my guide, trusting to one which existed in a cave further up, 

 and which he was unable to find, declined to provide himself 

 with this indispensable article at the lower well, and we were con- 

 sequently put to the greatest inconvenience. Among the brush 

 wood was a strong kind of raspberry bush, destitute of leaves ; 

 the fruit I am told is white. At 4 p. m. we arrived at a place 

 where the lava suddenly became rugged, and the brushwood low, 

 where we rested and chewed Sugar Cane, (of which we carried 

 a large supply), and where the guides were anxious to remain all 

 night. As this was not very desirable, since we had no water, I 

 proceeded for an hour longer, to what might be called the line of 

 Shrubs, and at two miles and a half further on, encamped for the 

 night. We collected some small stems of a heath-like plant, which 

 with the dried stalks of the same species of composite which I 

 observed on Mouna Kuah, afi'orded a tolerably good fire. The 



