3° 



HA WAIL 



[LETTER III. 



and the Damons' kind urgency left me so little choice, that by 

 five I was with them on the wharf, being introduced to my 

 travelling companion, and to many of my fellow-passengers. 

 Such an unexpected move is very bewildering, and it is too 

 experimental, and too much of a leap in the dark to be enjoy- 

 able at present. 



The wharf was one dense, well-compacted mass of natives 

 taking leave of their friends with much effusiveness, and the 

 steamer's deck was crowded with them, till there was hardly 

 room to move; men, women, children, dogs, cats, mats, cala- 

 bashes of fioi, cocoanuts, bananas, dried fish, and every dusky 

 individual of the throng was wreathed and garlanded with 

 odorous and brilliant flowers. All were talking and laughing, 

 and an immense amount of gesticulation seems to emphasise 

 and supplement speech. We steamed through the reef in the 

 brief, red twilight, over the golden tropic sea, keeping on the 

 leeward side of the islands. Before it was quite dark the sleep- 

 ing arrangements were made, and the deck and skylights were 

 covered with mats and mattresses on which 170 natives sat, 

 slept, or smoked, — a motley, parti-coloured mass of humanity, 

 in the midst of which I recognized Bishop Willis in the usual 

 episcopal dress, lying on a mattress among the others, a prey to 

 discomfort and weariness ! What would his episcopal brethren 

 at home think of such a hardship ? 



There is a yellow-skinned, soft-voiced, fascinating Goa or 

 Malay steward on board, who with infinite goodwill attends to 

 the comfort of everybody. I was surprised when he asked me 

 if I would like a mattress on the skylight, or a berth below, and 

 in unhesitating ignorance replied severely, " Oh, below, of 

 course, please," thinking of a ladies' cabin, but when I went 

 down to supper my eyes were enlightened. 



The Kilauea is a propeller of 400 tons, most unprepossess- 

 ing in appearance, slow, but sure, and capable of bearing an 

 infinite amount of battering. It is jokingly said that her keel 

 has rasped off the branch coral round all the islands. Though 

 there are many inter-island schooners, she is the only sure mode 

 of reaching the windward islands in less than a week ; and 

 though at present I am disposed to think rather slightingly of 

 her, and to class her with the New Zealand coasting craft, yet 

 the residents are very proud of her, and speak lovingly of her, 

 and regard her as a blessed deliverance from the horrors of 

 beating to windward. She has a shabby, obsolete look about 

 her, like a second-rate coasting collier, or an old American 



