86 



HA WAIL 



[letter X. 



together all the children of the district. They all wore coloured 

 chemises and fas of flowers. Outside, some natives presented 

 us with some x\pz papayas. 



Mounting again, we were joined by two native women, who 

 were travelling the greater part of the way hither, and this 

 made it more cheerful for D. The elder one had nothing on 

 her head but her wild black hair, and she wore a black holoku, 

 a fa' of the orange seeds of the pandanus, orange trousers and 

 big spurs strapped on her bare feet. A child of four, bundled 

 up in a black poncho, rode on a blanket behind the saddle, 

 and was tied to the woman's waist, by an orange shawl. The 

 younger woman, who was very pretty, wore a sailor's hat, fas 

 of crimson ohia blossoms round her hat and throat, a black 

 holoku, a crimson poncho, and one spur, and held up a green 

 umbrella whenever it rained. 



_ We were shortly joined by Kaluna, the cousin, on an old, 

 big, wall-eyed, bare-tailed, raw-boned horse, whose wall-eyes 

 contrived to express mingled suspicion and fear, while a flabby, 

 pendant, lower lip, conveyed the impression of complete abject- 

 ness. He looked like some human beings who would be 

 vicious if they dared, but the vice had been beaten out of him 

 long ago, and only the fear remained. He has a raw suppu- 

 rating sore under the saddle, glueing the blanket to his lean 

 back, and crouches when he is mounted. Both legs on one 

 side look shorter than on the other, giving a crooked look to 

 himself and his rider, and his bare feet are worn thin as if he 

 had been on lava. I rode him for a mile yesterday, and when 

 he attempted a convulsive canter, with three short steps and a 

 stumble in it, his abbreviated off-legs made me feel as if I were 

 rolling over on one side. Kaluna beats him the whole time 

 with a heavy stick ; but except when he strikes him most bar- 

 barously about his eyes and nose, he only cringes, without 

 quickening his pace. When I rode him mercifully the true 

 hound nature came out. The sufferings of this wretched animal 

 have been the great drawback on this journey. I have now 

 bribed Kaluna with as much as the horse is worth to give him 

 a month's rest, and long before that time I hope the owl-hawks 

 will be picking his bones. 



The horse has come before the rider, but Kaluna is no non- 

 entity. He is a very handsome youth of sixteen, with eyes 

 which are remarkable, even in this land of splendid eyes, a 

 straight nose, a very fine mouth, and beautiful teeth, a mass of 

 wavy, almost curly hair, and a complexion not so brown as to 



