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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