HOLIDAYS IN HAWAII 



it reaches, it doubles upon itself. Altogether it is 

 the craziest vegetable growth I ever saw. Where 

 you can get it up off the ground and let it perform 

 its antics on a broad skeleton framework, it makes 

 a cover that no sunbeam can penetrate, and forms 

 a living roof to the most charming verandas — or 

 lanais, as they are called in the islands — that one 

 can wish to see. 



But I saw and heard one thing on this walk that 

 struck a different note: it was one of the native 

 birds, the Oahu thrush. The moment I heard it I 

 was reminded of our brown thrasher, though the 

 song, or whistle, was much finer and richer in tone 

 than that of our bird. The glimpse I got of the bird 

 showed it to be of about the size and shape of our 

 thrasher, but much brighter in color. It seems as 

 though the two species must have had a common 

 origin some time, somewhere. I was attracted by 

 no other native bird on this walk. In the valley be- 

 low we had seen and heard the Chinese workmen 

 going about their rice-fields making strange sounds 

 to drive away the rice-birds, a small, brown species 

 that has been introduced from India. 



When we reached the mountain-top, we found 

 it enveloped in fog and mist, and the scene was cold 

 and cheerless. We looked down through a screen of 

 foliage into a deep valley that seemed almost be- 

 neath us, and which is supposed to have been an 

 ancient crater. There, on the brink, the walkers had 



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