264 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
of semicircular alcoves or recesses, which extended to the distant 
summits over head : more commonly, they were formed of a series of 
semicircular columns of vast size, collected together like the clustered 
shafts of a Gothic structure, and terminating several hundred feet 
above, in low conical summits; and though the sides were erect or 
nearly so, there was a profuse decoration of vines and flowers, ferns 
and shrubbery; and where more inclined, forests covered densely 
the slopes, which were greatly enriched by the intermingling of a 
species of tree, with massy grayish-green foliage. ‘The architectural 
features proceed from the wear of rills of water, streaming down the 
bold sides of the gorge. ‘They channel the surface, leaving the inter- 
mediate parts prominent. The rock is uniformly stratified, and the 
layers consist of gray basalt, alternating with basaltic conglomerate. 
Cascades were frequently met with; at one place, a dozen were 
playing around us at the same time, pouring down the high walls, 
appearing and disappearing, at intervals, amid the foliage, some in 
white, foamy threads, and others in parted strands imperfectly con- 
cealing the black surface of rock beneath. 
A rough ramble of four miles brought us to the falls of the Hana- 
pepe. The lofty precipice, sweeping around with a curve, abruptly 
closed the defile, and all farther progress was therefore intercepted. 
We were in an amphitheatre of surpassing grandeur, to which the 
long defile, with its fluted or Gothic walls, decorated with leaves 
and flowers and living cascades, seemed a fit porch or entrance-way. 
The sides around were lofty, and the profuse vegetation was almost 
as varied in its tints of green as in its forms. On the left stood apart 
from the walls an inclined columnar peak or leaning tower, overhang- 
ing the valley. Its abrupt sides were bare, excepting some tufts of 
ferns and mosses, while the top was crowned with a clump of bushes. 
To complete the decorations of the place,—from a gorge on the right, 
in the verdant mountains above, where the basaltic rocks stood out in 
curved ascending columns on either side, as ifabout to meet in a Gothic 
arch, a stream leaped the precipice and fell in dripping foam to the 
depths below; where, gathering its strength again, it went on its 
shaded way down the gorge. 
The few particulars which have here been stated, illustrate many 
scenes on the Pacific islands, exhibiting faithfully the features of nu- 
merous valleys. The only peculiarity worthy of mention is this,—that 
the gorge terminated without becoming the rocky bed of a rapidly de- 
