LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



was on Monday, and while the gentlemen, with your 

 sister, were absent, Mrs. Merritt and I were carried two 

 miles out from Wailuku to the loveliest home we 

 have seen yet. There we were till the party joined 

 us, dined together, and at 10.30 the carriages came 

 that took us seven miles to the landing-place for the 

 steamer. But I must say a word more about the 

 pleasant ladies and charming children with whom our 

 day was passed. Nowhere have we seen such a wealth 

 of flowers. One rose tree in full bloom had a trunk 

 as large as my arm ! We enjoyed our day very much, 

 more than we did waiting in the carriages on the 

 wharf (the horses were taken out) until about three o'clock 

 A.M. The steamer was late, and it is never possible to 

 count upon its promptness. Moreover, the King was on 

 board of her till she made her last stop at Lahaina. But 

 he was sent for and taken back in another vessel, so that 

 we were not honored (?) by his company. All these ves- 

 sels lie out far from the wharf, and the clamber up the 

 ship's sides, especially in a heavy sea, is not pleasant. 

 We have done it, however, many times. It was a tedious 

 trip in a heavily rolling vessel, even to those not suffering, 

 and very hard on some of our friends. We had a great 

 pleasure in receiving from Mr. Emerson the home letters. 

 I had supposed they must wait for daylight for a reading, 

 but lo ! an electric light in our stateroom made that easy. 

 ' We went on board our steamer early Tuesday A.M., 

 and were landed, very weary, at Hilo at 6 A.M. on 

 Wednesday. There again friends were watching for us, 

 and we were taken to the home of Mrs. Severance, of 

 whom Miss Bird says so much. . . . Hilo was the 

 former home of dear Mr. Coan, ' the emerald bower ' of 

 which he wrote so glowingly. It is very pretty, embow- 

 ered in green, and along the shore are seen the cocoanut 

 trees so distinctive in every tropical picture. . . . 



From Hilo was another horseback trip, while I drove 

 with Mrs. Severance and Mrs. Merritt about Hilo. It 

 was warm there again, and mosquitoes drove me, too, 

 under shelter once more. At Maui we had fine air and 

 no torments. 



Mr. Emerson and Mr. Bishop came from Honolulu 

 to join us, also Dr. Whitney and wife and two children. 

 Finally we moved on from Hilo with a party of twelve. 



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