428 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Tiver, which nowhere through the canyon is more than three 

 hundred feet wide. Although not a breath of wind was safe 

 ring, we all noticed sudden changes in the temperature as from 

 time to time we passed through strata of air, now warm and 

 now twenty degrees cooler, which atmospheric phenomenon 

 we could not account for. A slight rustling from the top of 

 the cliff on our left suddenly attracted attention, some small 

 stones heginning to drop and splash in the water near us, pre- 

 saging perhaps grave disaster that might entomb us under the 

 mountain's huge weight ; but presently the practiced eye of 

 Mr. Scott, ' the third mate,' an experienced miner, moun- 

 taineer and surveyor, detected the cause of our alarm. It was 

 a mountain sheep, or 'big-horn,' looking down from the 

 dizzy height, and stamping his feet with no puny rage and 

 evident dissatisfaction at the strange creatures far below 

 Mm." 



This is the "Gate of the Mountains" of Lewis and Clarke; 

 and Mr. Roberts thought it more effectually gratified the 

 lover of what is grand in nature than even the frightful gorge 

 of the Yellowstone, where is much that is soft and pretty to 

 distract the eye from the raging flood three thousand feet 

 below, while the imposing desolation of the Missouri's canyon 

 is unrelieved. 



As one travels between Bozeman and Helena, or glances 

 eastward from the streets of the capital, his eye overlooks all 

 of this canyon region and then marks the course of the river, 

 but can never catch a glimpse of its buried waters. It is a 

 landscape of broad beauty, with the mighty landmark of the 

 Bear's Tooth as central figure. The foreground slopes gently 

 downward in miles of yellow undulations, with here and 

 there a bare reddishknoll and scattered lines of green willows, 

 where brooks meander, watering verdant patches of grain. 

 On the further side the plain swells upward into gray hills, 

 and behind them tower terraces and bluffs of larger build and 

 darker hue, standing out in front of the real mountains carved 

 in firmest outlines of ultra-marine, with few details of shape 

 or marks of light and shadow, crowned, far beyond, by the 

 coruscant gleam of snowy crests flashing like curved falchions 

 against the sombre background of the sky. Could any one 

 weary of such a picture ? 



Thus between black and red walls fiercely, and lazily through 

 sunny meadows, rippling over sand-bars and plunging down 

 rapids, intercepted by many a charming island, making the 

 acquaintance of scores of noble trees, drank of by elk and 

 deer and mountain sheep, its shallows full of beavers and 

 otters, its pools the home of trout and whitefish, its banks 

 haunted by strong-winged wild fowl, and nourishing rich 

 tracts of cultivable land along its branches, the noble stream 

 rushes onward to cast itself over the Great Falls. After a 

 long placid sleep between banks of rich prairie, where sunlight 

 enters, the river arouses itself, and, springing forward, drops 

 twenty-six feet vertically. Then the water pitches down a 

 long series of cascades and pours over a curving ledge, fifty 

 feet high, in one unbroken sheet, with vast uproar and ban- 

 ners of smoky, rainbow-lit spray. Extricating itself from the 

 turmoil of this leap, the river, churned and lashed into con- 

 tinuous foam, rolls swiftly down between abrupt and crowd- 

 ing banks, and with the whole tremendous power of its pent- 

 up current, precipitates itself down the rough steps of a broken 

 precipice, at one place ninety feet in height. The final descent 

 is a sublime spectacle, and the noise is like that of Niagara ; 

 but neither the gorge below, filled with the haste and waste 

 of waters, nor any of the accessory scenery approaches in 

 that just commingling of grandeur and beauty, the superb 

 landscape where Niagara's lithe flood, verdant as liquid mala- 

 chite, spins in its whirlpool and swings majestically down its 

 canyon into the bosom of Ontario. 



The country about these falls is one great dry, rolling plain, 

 covered with bunch grass, which pastures millions of buffaloes 

 and antelopes. The river cuts its way deeper and deeper into 

 this plain, descending 850 feet in half a dozen miles, leaving 

 abrupt cliffs of reddish Jurassic rock and bluish clay, through 

 which deeply cut ravines open down to the water. These 

 cliffs show boulders, protuberances and detached fragments, 

 ofteu wrought by the chisels of water and air into grotesque 

 similitudes of artificial objects. The soil is fertile, but the 

 severity and length of the winter make success iu agricul- 

 ture always uncertain. The climate is that of Quebec. 

 (To 1)6 Continued.') 



K 



For Forest and Stream and Eod and Gun. 

 AMONG THE PACIFIC ISLES. 



OUR good ship, bound from Boston to the Sandwich 

 Islands, passed througb the Straits of Lemaire, and one 

 fine morning in February (midsummer in the southern hemis- 

 phere) arrived off Cape Horn. Few old navigators get such 

 a fair view of this storm-breeding promontory as we had that 

 flay. The weather was comfortably warm, the air clear, and a 

 gentle, four-knot breeze blowing from the north-east. All sail 

 was set to main top-gallant studding sail, and all hands, in- 

 cluding some forty pnssengcrs, were on deck. As we gazed 

 on the famous and dreaded rock two miles distant, it was 

 bard to realize that many vessels had buffeted the tremendous 

 seas for fifty and sixty clays in the vain endeavor to round the 

 Horn. 



But three days after we had a fair sample of the treacherous 

 weather of this much vexed region, where the gales and the 

 billows of two grand oceans seem perpetually contending for 

 the mastery. The morning and afternoon had been moderate. 

 The long table in the cabin had been set for supper , the sky- 

 lights and companion-way were open ; the steward was just 

 about ringing the bell, when suddenly, as if a lion had sprung 

 from ambush, a tremendous wave broke on pur quarter, flood- 

 ed the deck, and poured down the sky-lights and compan- 

 ion-way. Such a wreck and ruin! Such a mixture of apple- 

 sauce and children, of women and tea (externally applied), 

 salt water, salt beef, wet men, fragile dishes and hard tack, 

 butter and boots, I never have beheld ! To all this rumpus 

 below add the fierce shouts of the officers on deck, the fran- 

 tic efforts of the whole crew-, steward and cook: included, to 

 shorten sail, the shrill scream of the wind and the loud flap- 

 ping of the canvas and you will have some idea of the dire 

 coofu3ion which took the place of our quiet tea. In less than 

 half an bom- we were under bare poles with a piece of tar- 

 paulin about a yard square triced up in the mizzen rigging. 

 There was no swell. The wind blew a hurricane from the 

 north-west, smoothing down the sua, which was perfectly 

 White to leeward and for a mile or so to windward. There 



the sky and ocean seemed to-be cut in two. Beyond that line 

 the sky and water were of a dense blue back, indistinguish- 

 able one from the other. This region of murky gloom ad- 

 vanced rapidly toward us. All at once the captain exclaimed 

 with a tone "of horror: "Look! It is a water-spout, close 

 aboard 1 We are lost!" And there it was, straight abeam, 

 roariDg like Niagara, and coming like a race- 

 horse, bearing with it that black pall as clearly cut 

 as a curtain. The panic which ensued I have never seen 

 equaled either on the battlefield or when bumping on a coral 

 reef off the dangerous coast of Lower California. The cap- 

 tain lost his wits ; the crew, some of them, actually fell down 

 on their knees and prayed. Women fainted, children 

 shrieked in ignorant sympathy, and strong men turned pale. 

 But before the prayer could be finished — before the lady who 

 had fainted at the top of the companion-way had slipped to 

 the bottom, the danger was over. I happened to be stand- 

 ing by the man at the wheel when the alarm was raised, 

 and partly througb ignorance and partly from panic imitation 

 of him, merely stared at the roaring, raging, seething mon- 

 ster. In an instant, the twisting column had driven past our 

 stern, apparently not twenty feet from it, and before we had 

 recovered ourselves appeared long, black, serpent-like, 

 reaching to the clouds,%riles to_leeward and ahead of us, off 

 our port bow. 



"If our spanker. boom had touched it, there wouldn't have 

 been a piece of this ship left as big as a chip," said the man 

 at the wheel. We two had the best view of the spout, and 

 both were sure that it was not complete at the time it passed 

 our stern. Though the column of water was much higher 

 than our masts it did not then join a similar nucleus from 

 above. It was probably in the last stages of formation. 



Since this providential escape I have never been at a loss to 

 account for vessels "missing," as they are classified by the 

 insurance companies. Off Cape Hatteras I have" seen scores 

 of waterspouts at once on the edge of the gulf stream. 

 Imagine a vessel running into one of these in the night — 

 what would there be left to tell the story ? 



Off Cape Horn we caught a few albatross with a book and 

 line. Next time I go I shall take a stout rod and reel, and 

 try what sport these huge birds will give to the scientific 

 angler. After putting the customary collar and message on 

 them w T e let them loose. As we ran into the trade winds 

 and warmer latitudes of the Pacific, dolphins began to appear. 

 The ordinary tackle of the sailor — line books and white rag — 

 was all w r e had, but the sport afforded great fun to the voy- 

 agers w-eary of the sea. I should think that with a good bass 

 rig the dolphins might give as much sport as the bluefish. 1 

 was not much impressed with the iridescent colors of the ex- 

 piring dolphin. The ordinary scup is far more beautiful in 

 his death agony. 



One day it fell calm and I had my first view of the shark. 

 The mate called my attention to two fins some distance 

 astern, and soon all the passengers were on deck to witness 

 the capture of these monsters. By throwing overboard a few 

 fragments of bait, three were soon enticed under the stern. 

 The mate tried first with the harpoon, and succeeded in cut- 

 ting the smallest one in two. The other two immediately re- 

 tired with him to unknown depths, whether to nurse or to 

 eat him I cannot say. At any rate, they soon reappeared 

 without him. The large shark-hook and chain, baited with 

 pork, was then let down over the stern. To see the leisurely, 

 gluttonous, self-confident manner with which the rascal 

 turned over and swallowed the mass would nerve a saint's 

 arm with hatred. The mate lanced and killed him in the 

 water, being rather particular about his decks. It was an- 

 nounced that we should have some shark for supper, and the 

 officers and old sea-goers among the passengers occupied most 

 of the afternoon in praising to the ladies the flesh of the 

 shark, and relating many instances of money, jewels, and 

 other valuables found inside these voracious fisnes. 



When we gathered at the supper table there was quite a 

 buzz of pent-up excitment among the ladies and young peo- 

 ple. The boiled shark was duly served, when, "Oh! my!" 

 exclaimed a lovely girl of eighteen, and picked out a Spanish 

 quarter from her piece of shark. The coin was passed around 

 and inspected, and many a conjecture made as to where the 

 shark got it. As the combined imaginations wove a roman- 

 tic tale of a shipwrecked Spanish galleon, freighted with 

 lira very, beauty and booty, the old sea-goers exchanged fur- 

 tive suiiles. Meanwhile, every morsel of that boiled shark 

 was chewed fiue and carefully swallowed by eager treasure- 

 setkers. Not long after 1 overheard the mate saying to old 



Captain B , the oracle of the cabin : " Waal, if that 



warn't wuth a quarter, I waant ter know." If the reader has 

 never eaten boiled fresh shark, I will tell him how it tastes. 

 Suspiciously like boiled salt cod, long soaked. 



It was some mouths after this that on a fine autumn morn- 

 ing, King Kaineluuncba's royal yacht, a fast and commodious 

 Boston built schooner, slowty fanned out from the harbor of 

 Honolulu. We were a party of a dozen ladies and gentle- 

 men, who had chartered the yacht from her august and dUsky 

 owner for a trip to Hawaii and the famous volcano of Kilauca. 

 The crew were natives, but the captain was a full blooded 

 Yankee. The view of the island of Oahn from seaward is 

 loveiy r , especially to those who have made a long Voyage 

 around Cape Horn from the states. The town nestles on ttie 

 shore at the northern end of a long, flat plain. In the back 

 ground t he eye ma y trace the road leading up the beautiful 

 Nuanu Yalky, past villas and cottages toward the almost un- 

 known and uninhabited regions in the centre and eastern 

 parts of the island. To the right of the Nuanu Valley rises 

 the cone of an extinct volcano whose oval, grass grown crater 

 has given it the name of the "Punch Bowl." At the ex- 

 tremity of the plain a bold, high cape projects into the sea, 

 fringed at its base with cocoanut groves, called Diamond 

 Head, the land-mark for vessels bound to Honolulu. 



As we glided through the channel between the reefs we 

 gazed with admiration on the natives— men, women and 

 children — disporting themselves among the breakers with the 

 fearlessness and fun characteristic of the Kanakas. As we 

 lflfjfc Diamond Head astern the wind died away and left the 

 Kamehamcha HI, at the mercy of the provoking swell which 

 runs between Oahn and Mani. If anything will bring on sea- 

 sickness, that cross swell will. I can only compare it to a 

 mixture of the British Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar 

 after a westerly gale has given way to an easterly breeze. It 

 has the viciousness of the former and the length and depth of 

 the latter. But we were proof against its power, with one or 

 two except ions. 



The next morning we were running along with a lively 

 breeze past Mani and Molokai enjoying to the lull the poetry 

 of motion in a tropical sea. And here let me contirm all that 

 has been written by voyagers like Cook, and |omancers like 

 Herman .Melville as to the fascination aud delight of pleasure 

 sailing and exploration in the tropical pacts of Pol 

 Content yourself with what nature furnishes on a grand scale. 



but do not look at the doings or condition of the native man 

 and his companions. Hideous poultry, wretched dogs and a 

 decaying race of human beings will repel you in disgust. 



I long for the day to come "when the Pacific coast of the 

 United States will have a fleet of yachts like that of the New 

 York Squadron, when this ocean shall _ become a favorite 

 ciuieing ground, and when some enthusiastic and intelligent 

 author shall fully describe and amply illustrate the beauties 

 of the island worid. No new field for the artist or the 

 litterateur is fairer or more enticing. As wc ran in under 

 the lee of Hawaii a dead calm set iu before we could make 

 Hilo, our destined port. The coast of Hawaii here rises 

 almost perpendicular and is'of the peculiar blue-green of the 

 Pacific, a shade unknown on our Atlantic coast, but of which, 

 one is reminded off the Mediterranean shore of Spain. Directly 

 abeam of us we could trace the silvery thread of a cascade falling 

 from the brink of a. precipice into a tiny nook on the shore. 

 We were assured that this fall was nearly 1,000 feet high, and 

 that the valley was only accessible by canoes from the sea. 

 Romance also pictured a small colony of natives there in un- 

 disturbed and native innocence, a la Typce and Osuoo. I 

 used to believe that sort of nonsense. Now I have adopted 

 the faith that all savages are dirty, beastly and cruel. In the 

 background of the interior the land rose and faded dimly blue' 

 toward the enormous peaks of Mouna Loa and Mouna Kea, 

 each nearly 14,000 feet high. 



The next morning we were at anchor off Hilo and soon 

 conveyed ashore to enjoy "the kind hospitality of Dr. Coan, 

 the resident missionary. Pending the preparations for a start 

 the next morning we took a stroll to the falls of the Wailuku 

 River. This is, or rather was, a considerable torrent, which, 

 pent up by precipices to the width of six feet, falls in a solid 

 round sheet about twenty feet into a deep basin below and 

 thence into the sea. The whole configuration of the country haa 

 probably changed ere now many times, owing to the earth- 

 quakes and volcanic eruptions. The river may still exist and 

 it may not. If you ever visit Hawaii you must not expect to 

 find the places visited to correspond with the descriptions 

 you have read. 



The cascade presented a lively scene, such as, I venture to 3ay, 

 none of the great eontinents has ever presented. Natives 

 of all ages and sexes were tumbling, gliding, rolling, diving 

 from the river above over the falls down into the basin below. 

 The compressed stream made So impenetrable a column of 

 water, as it rushed over the ledge, that the heaviest man was 

 carried on its surface like a chip over the brink into the rag- 

 ing, foaming caldron below. There he would disappear 

 and emerge laughing and joyous from the stream a dozen or 

 twenty yards below. There was a constant succession of 

 these adventurous bathers, all merrily vieing with each other 

 to get back first to the top of the fall. It reminded me very 

 vividly of New- England boys "coasting" down hill in winter, 

 and could be fairly called its converse or complement, as the 

 swimmers came rushing down at railway speed, some head 

 first, some feet first, some sitting down and others arm in 

 arm. 



The next day at dawn we set forth on mule-back and- 

 horseback for the volcano, distant about forty miles, attend- 

 ed by a train of natives as guides and carriers. The first 

 night was passed at the half-way bouse or hut, which had a 

 thatched roof, three sides and a front doorway, occupying 

 the whole front ; no door. Toward afternoon, as we careful- 

 ly picked our way over the black, desolate lava plain, 8,000 

 feet above the sea, now looking down carefully to avoid the, 

 air, fire, boiling water, steam and sulphur holes, anon glanc- 

 ing up in wonder at the stupendous snow-capped dome of 

 Mouna Loa, we were abruptly stopped. We had readied the 

 edge of the great crater. No separate, descriptions of Kilanea 

 can ever be alike, and only the greatest of artist's pen or 

 brush can do justice to its grandeur. In simple words, 

 therefore, let me call it a great hole, thirteen miles in ci 

 ference, and from 1,200 To 1,500 feet deep, punched in the 

 middle of a vast plain, In the southwt stein part was, at that 

 time, a lake nearly half a mile in diameter, of liquid lava. 

 About half way down to the crust of black lava which made 

 the precarious and evershil'tiug bottom like a surface of 

 black ice, there ran a well-defined line around the perpendicu- 

 lar side walls. This. marked the point to which the crui 

 been uplifted previous to the last eruption. Just think of the 

 enormous amount of white, hot, running lava that, must have 

 been emptied out of this huge pot, and what desolation it must 

 have wrought on its way to the sea. A mass thirteen miles 

 around, and from 500 to 000 feet deep, was to be accounted 

 for. 



We passed two davs here. The view at night was more im- 

 pressive than all the Jetex of Napoleon in Paris— weird 

 tastic, horrible, yet fearfully fascinating. By day we descend- 

 ed to the bottom aud trudged over to the lake. Thost 

 have seen in iron foundries a pot of white hot metal will 

 please imagine a pool of it, half a mile long, spurting 

 hundred feet and more into the air, with reports like cannon, 

 Commencing white, turning red and then black, and falling 

 back solid ('"so quickly does lava ceo]) into the boiling, ex- 

 ploding, raging pit below. If seems as if Milton must have 

 seen Kil I 



As we cautiously picked our way back over holes and 

 cracks and thin lava crust, we realized the danger of the ex- 

 cursion. A native always goes before, Bounding the way 

 with a pole, and often deviating from a direct course to avoid 

 tumbling through the thin and brittle covering which 

 separates us from the fire below. 



What a sight it would be to look at the whole vast crater 

 in fierce activity from the top of Mouna Loa, (3,000 feet 

 above. Will mortal man ever behold it ? 



One day sufficed for the journey back to Hilo, and now 

 for my shark. 



As we lay becalmed off Hilo next day one of the gentlemen 

 must needs go in swimming. He bad not seen any sharks, and 

 he did not believe there were any. Iu he plunged, and paddled 

 about for a few- momenta He had regained the deck not a 

 minute before Mr. Shark put in an appearance, with a wicked 

 and hungry eye. This brought the ladies on deck and the 

 si i ark hook out of its locker, in as little time as it takes to 

 tell it, so intent on business were afl parties, the monster was 

 hooked, a bowline slipped over his tail, and he bo 

 aboard. As he struck the deck the bowline slacked and came 

 off, and the hook dropped out of his mouth. The cook aim- 

 ed a terrific blow- at the monster with his ax, missed aud 

 planted it solidly in the deck, while the shark knocked him 

 flat and ten feet away. Such a scrambling is seldom seen. All 

 hands made for the rigging' aud the ladies for the cabin. That 

 shark fairlv captured the schooner, and held possession for. 

 awhile. At last he was tempted to try to chew up a 

 of wood, and during this process was knocked on thi 

 Nobody cared to eat him, : 

 walking-stick, and » ; 

 ed. H. D J. 



