MORE WANDERINGS AND WORK 215 



"Why," he asked, "are you importing all that lime ? " 



" Because," replied his host, with evident contempt 

 at his ignorance — " because we use it in great quanti- 

 ties on the plantation." 



" Yes, I know," said Agassiz; "but why don't you 

 make it?" 



" Make it ! How can I ? " exclaimed the planter. 



" All this rock about here is pure limestone ; you have 

 only to burn it," Agassiz answered. 



" My God ! " said his host, "and I Ve been import- 

 ing it for years." 



Wailuku, Maui, Feb. 14, 1885. 

 "When you get this you will know I am back again 

 in Honolulu, where I shall spend the rest of my avail- 

 able time studying the coral reefs. I have enjoyed this 

 past week very much, riding round the different plant- 

 ations, seeing the mountains. Some of the scenery here 

 is indeed beautiful and many of the gulches must be 

 far more beautiful than anything in the Yosemite Val- 

 ley. I made the ascent of Haleakala — the extinct vol- 

 cano of this island — very successfully, and after having 

 seen the active one on Hawaii you can realize what this 

 one must have been when active. The crater is about 

 thirty miles in circumference, filled with lesser cones and 

 vents on an immense plateau — which is desolation it- 

 self, sunk about two thousand feet below the edge. The 

 view from the top is one I shall long remember, so 

 totally different from anything else I have ever seen. 

 You are ten thousand feet above the line of the sea and 

 can see the horizon towering all round, so that you feel 

 as if you were in the bottom of a saucer, trying to look 

 over the rim. 



