letter iv.] POT-HOLES ON THE WAILUKU. 



43 



with the result of columnar formation radiating from the bottom 

 of the stream. This structure is sometimes beautifully exhibited 

 in the form of Gothic archways, through which the torrent 

 pours into a basin, surrounded by curved, broken, and half-sunk 

 prisms, black and prominent amidst the white foam of the 

 Falls. In several places the river has just pierced the beds of 

 lava., and in one passes under a thick rock bridge, several 

 hundred feet wide. 



Near the Anuenue Fall we stopped at a native house, outside 

 which a woman, in a rose-coloured chemise, was stringing roses 

 for a necklace, while her husband pounded the kalo root on a 

 board. His only clothing was the malo, a narrow strip of cloth 

 wound round the loins, and passed between the legs. This was 

 the only covering worn by men before the introduction of 

 Christianity. Females wore the flau, a short petticoat made of 

 tapa, which reached from the waist to the knees. To our eyes, 

 the brown skin produces nearly the effect of clothing. 



Everything was new and interesting, but the ride was spoiled 

 by my insecure seat in my saddle, and the increased pain in my 

 spine which riding produced. In crossing one stream the horses 

 have to make a downward jump from a rock, and I slipped 

 round my horse's neck. Indeed on the way back I felt that on 

 the ground of health I must give up the volcano, as I would 

 never consent to be carried to it, like Lady Franklin, in a litter. 

 When we returned, Mr. Severance suggested that it would be 

 much better for me to follow the Hawaiian fashion, and ride 

 astride, and put his saddle on the horse. It was only my strong 

 desire to see the volcano which made me consent to a mode of 

 riding against which I have so strong a prejudice, but the result 

 of the experiment is that I shall visit Kilauea thus or not at all. 

 The native women all ride astride, on ordinary occasions in full 

 sacks, or holokus, and on gala days in the fiau, the gay, winged 

 dress which I described in writing from Honolulu. A great 

 many of the foreign ladies on Hawaii have adopted the 

 Mexican saddle also, for greater security to themselves and 

 ease to their horses, on the steep and perilous bridle-tracks, but 

 they wear full Turkish trousers and jauntily-made dresses 

 reaching to the ankles. 



It appears that Hilo is free from the universally admitted 

 nuisance of morning calls. The hours are simple — eight o'clock 

 breakfasts, one o'clock dinners, six o'clock suppers. If people 

 want anything with you, they come at any hour of the day, but 

 if they only wish to be sociable, the early evening is the recog- 



