XETTER V. ] 



THE CRATER-HOUSE. 



57 



Farewell, I fear for ever, to the glorious Hale-mau-mau, the 

 grandest type of force that the earth holds ! " Break, break, 

 break," on through the coming years, 



" No more by thee my steps shall be, 

 No more again for ever ! " 



It seemed a dull trudge over the black and awful crater, and 

 strange, like half-forgotten sights of a world with which I had 

 ceased to have aught to do, were the dwarf tree-ferns, the lilies 

 with their turquoise clusters, the crimson myrtle blossoms, and 

 all the fair things which decked the precipice up which we 

 slowly dragged our stiff and painful limbs. Yet it was but the 

 exchange of a world of sublimity for a world of beauty, the 

 "place of hell," for the bright upper earth, with its endless 

 summer, and its perennial foliage, blossom, and fruitage. 



Since writing the above I have been looking over the 

 " Volcano Book," which contains the observations and impres- 

 sions of people from all parts of the world. Some of these are 

 painstaking and valuable as showing the extent and rapidity of 

 the changes which take place in the crater, but there is an 

 immense quantity of flippant rubbish, and would-be wit, in 

 which "Madam Pele," invariably occurs, this goddess, who 

 was undoubtedly one of the grandest of heathen mythical 

 creations, being caricatured in pencil and pen and ink, under 

 every ludicrous aspect that can be conceived. Some of the 

 entries are brief and absurd, " Not much of a fizz," " a grand 

 splutter," " Madam Pele m the dumps," and so forth. These 

 generally have English signatures. The American wit is far 

 racier, but depends mainly on the profane use of certain 

 passages of scripture, a species of wit which is at once easy and 

 disgusting. People are all particular in giving the precise 

 time of the departure from Hilo and arrival here, "making 

 good time " being a thing much admired on Hawaii, but few can 

 boast of more than three miles an hour. It is wonderful that 

 people can parade their snobbishness within sight of Hale- 

 mau-mau. 



This inn is a unique and interesting place. Its existence is 

 strikingly precarious, for the whole region is in a state of per- 

 petual throb from earthquakes, and the sights and sounds are 

 gruesome and awful both by day and night. The surrounding 

 country steams and smokes from cracks and pits, and a smell 

 of sulphur fills the air. They cook their kalo in a steam appa- 



