November 24, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



289 



orange and fern ! And now, without frost to interrupt 

 their progress, the nasturtiums have filled in, from edge 

 to edge, this untrodden vale ; the mass of vines is from 

 twenty to fifty feet in depth and extends as far as vision 

 reaches. 



Tired Lizard proves to be chief chatterer; he is small, 

 alert, shows white teeth, rides backward and stops at 

 times to braid his horse's mane. My other companions, 

 of the common stolid type, I remember now, only by 

 their legs, so long that the two men seemed to stand over 

 their small horses and could walk at option without dis- 

 mounting. 



Ferns abound here and we may fancy their existence to 

 be most joyous; knowing their right to the soil, sure that 

 they are loved in all the land, for their beautiful life is 

 not essential to the cruel worship of any evil god, they 

 fill every nook or hang above us infested by big spiders. 

 A loquacious Ophioglossum pendulum, embraced and fes- 

 tooned by a graceful piori (Smilax Sandwichiensis), attracts 

 attention. But, without separate enumeration, we are 

 aware of Blechnia Sadeleria cyatheoides, Davallia repens, 

 with varieties of nephrodium, asplenium and pteris. 



Gradually quitting firm land, our horses stumble at 

 times, and sink to their chests in the mud; the weeds top- 

 ple and Jlatten where a mountain stream gurgles; on one 

 side lies a treacherous quicksand into which bullocks may 

 sink and perish. Here we repeatedly dismount to cut 

 the vines and roots which wind about the legs of the tired 



Vittaria elongata, Hawaii. 



horses. Ever pushing aside the thicket as we force our 

 way, we are drenched by the water-laden branches of the 

 tall shrubs; a dash, as if from a dipper, is thrown from 

 tree or skirmishing cloudlet until our clothes drip as if 

 we had waded through a river. "Tis a sanatarium 

 quite controlled by hydropathy. Warmth and reeking 

 moisture are omnipresent; a height which in other lands 

 would be the realm of snow attracts here only mists ever 

 condensing into shower, and clarified by rainbow-sun- 

 shine. Under these conditions an enormous fernery is 

 created where growths which could nowhere else ma- 

 ture revel undisturbed, unless the rarely veering wind 

 stir for a moment the habitual quietude. Here the light 

 clouds hesitate, touching the treetojis, the soft wind bears 

 no aroma but that of the mountain dews, earthy, evanes- 

 cent, soothing. It is, indeed, the heart of the marvelously 

 beautiful region to which we have aspii-ed. 



Ferns, where their life has full sway, inuade earth and 



air alike. Gleichenias travel, emulating the banyan and 

 throwing out rootlets wherever their stalks touch the 

 ground. Such as are parasites climb over one another, 

 surmount the vast undergrowths, sway from tall trees and 

 profit by their larger outlook — plagiarists and sycophants 

 at very heart — to steal almost indiscriminately from the 

 thousand forms outspread below. Again quitting their 

 highest points of observation, charmed by the varied 

 shapes which grow beneath, clinging and swinging down- 

 ward, these marauders now steal the prettiest forms they 

 spy. Polypodium spectrum outlines an oak leaf, Pteris de- 

 cipiens miniatures the eaf of the rock maple, Polypodium 

 tamariscum resembles the tamarind leaf, Vittaria elongata 

 is indistinguishable from grass. Like the recognized 

 imitation, or resemblance, on the part of certain birds, in- 

 sects and many animals, of the leaves and trunks of the 

 trees near which they dwell, these fern-counterfeiters 

 often confuse the naturalist. The glass only detects fern- 

 ship in many of the jjretty parodists, revealing, on edge 

 or surface of the leaves, their fine spores. Detection is 

 often difificult (particularly in the case of Polypodium 

 spectrum) except during the brief period of fruitage. 



Tethering the horses, the natives now begin to place 

 between thin pieces of wood the ferns we find. All will 

 be fastened firmly together while the specimens are still 

 fresh, before we go down the mountain. To collect ferns 

 is to search, to shout, to be hungry, to wallow, to climb 

 into far, wild places, until certain shy lives are, as it were, 

 pressed into the service of science, receiving in captivity 

 Latin names. 



Polypodiums which, on the volcano, develop to fruitage 

 in a few days, but are stunted, in the hot lava cracks, to 

 a height of three or four inches, here exhibit long and 

 graceful fronds. We find Polypodium pellucidum, P. 

 pseudogrammaticus, and P. hymenophylloides, natives 

 only at these islands. Pteris decora and Naratia Doug- 

 lassi grow here only. The "Fanny fern" appears to be a 

 hymenophyllum.* These, with many others, are found. 

 An Asplenium enatum supports numerous young plants 

 of its own variety which have enrooted themselves on the 

 stems and leaves of the parent fern. 



Wandering along the edge of the pali we see, on the 

 low trees, charming pink shells. There are many vari- 

 eties of these land-shells ia the forests of the tropics, and 

 a collection has been made and catalogued from Oahu 

 Maui and Hawaii. ' 



The precipice drops, not very abruptly, about four hun- 

 dred feet. Half way down, a great tree has fallen. Some- 

 what piteous and helpless the tree appears, devoured and 

 ornamented by orchids, selaginellas, lycopodiums and 

 pendant mosses, while every notch and gnarled limb sup- 

 ports parasitic ferns; among them are seen Trichomanes 

 parvulum and the microscopically small Hj'menophyllum 

 lanceolatum, a pulpy mass with delicate projecting leaf- 

 lets. 



A giant pulu, the tree fern (Cibotium Chamissoi from 

 which the natives gather the silky material with which 

 they fill theii- beds), — this vi^'orous growth has forced up- 

 ward an immense mass of earth upon which nestles the 

 birdsnest fern (Asplenium nidus avis, throwing its vast 

 leaves about as if to invite auks or phcenix to establish a 

 nest here in Pele's service. It is now that Liza,rd wishes 

 he could discover the secret cave of Umi, a great warrior 

 said to be btu-ied beneath this pali. 



We look upward, seeking the little white rag which has 

 been tied upon one of the horses for a beacon. A deluge 

 of rain is pouring upon it from Pele's terrible forehead, 

 signal for scramble, remounting and retreat. 



Thus we saw her fair garden when the goddess was not 

 at home ; her soft cloud swept in and Pele's pali is but a 

 memory, so intangible I could believe it a di-eam, were it 

 not for my album. 



