LETTER V. 



Our Equipment for the Volcano — Riding " cavalier fashion " — Upa — The 

 Volcano Road — Light in the Darkness — The Crater of Kilauea — The 

 House of Pele — The Crater House. 



Volcano of Kilauea, Jan. psf. 



Bruised aching bones, strained muscles, and overwhelming 

 fatigue, render it hardly possible for me to undergo the physical 

 labour of writing, but in spirit I am so elated with success, and 

 so thrilled by new sensations, that though I cannot communi- 

 cate the incommunicable, I want to write to you while the 

 impression of Kilauea is fresh, and by "the light that never 

 was on sea or shore." 



By eight yesterday morning our preparations were finished, 

 and Miss Karpe, whose conversance with the details of travel- 

 ling I envy, mounted her horse on her own side-saddle, dressed 

 in a short grey waterproof, and a broad-brimmed Leghorn hat 

 tied so tightly over her ears with a green veil as to give it the 

 look of a double spout. The only pack her horse carried was 

 a bundle of cloaks and shawls, slung together with an umbrella 

 on the horn of her saddle. Upa, who was most picturesquely 

 got up in the native style with garlands of flowers round- his hat 

 and throat, carried our saddle-bags on the peak of his saddle, 

 a bag with bananas, bread, and a bottle of tea on the horn, 

 and a canteen of water round his waist. I had on my coarse 

 Australian hat which serves the double purpose of sunshade and 

 umbrella, Mrs. Thompson's riding costume, my great rusty New 

 Zealand boots, and my blanket strapped behind a very gaily 

 ornamented, brass-bossed, demi-pique Mexican saddle, which 

 one of the missionary's daughters has lent me. It has a horn 

 in front, a low peak behind, large wooden stirrups with leathern 

 flaps the length of the stirrup-leathers, to prevent the dress from 

 coming in contact with the horse, and strong guards of hide 

 which hang over and below the stirrup, and cover it and the 

 foot up to the ankles, to prevent the feet or boots from being 

 torn in riding through the bush. Each horse had four fathoms 

 of tethering rope wound several times round his neck. In such 

 fashion must all travelling be done on Hawaii, whether by 

 ladies or gentlemen. 



