90 



HA WAIT. 



[letter X. 



between abrupt walls of rock, among immense boulders into 

 deep abysses, and cast themselves over precipice after pre- 

 cipice into the ocean. Probably, many of these are the courses 

 of fire torrents, whose jagged masses of a-a have since been 

 worn smooth, and channelled into holes by the action of water. 

 A few are crossed on narrow bridges, but the majority are 

 forded, if that quiet conventional term can be applied to the 

 violent flounderings by which the horses bring one through. 

 The transparency deceives them, and however deep the water 

 is, they always try to lift their fore feet out of it, which gives 

 them a disagreeable rolling motion. Mr. Brigham in his 

 valuable monograph on the Hawaiian volcanoes quoted below,* 

 appears as much impressed with these gulches as I am. 



We lunched in one glorious valley, and Kaluna made drink- 

 ing cups which held fully a pint, out of the beautiful leaves of the 

 A rum esculentu?n. Towards afternoon turbid -looking clouds 

 lowered over the sea, and by the time we reached the worst 

 pali of all, the south side of Laupahoehoe, they burst on us in 

 torrents of rain accompanied by strong wind. This terrible 

 precipice takes one entirely by surprise. Kaluna, who rode 

 first, disappeared so suddenly that I thought he had gone 

 over. It is merely a dangerous broken ledge, and besides 

 that it looks as if there were only foothold for a goat, one is 

 dizzied by the sight of the foaming ocean immediately below, 

 and, when we actually reached the bottom, there was only a 

 narrow strip of shingle between the stupendous cliff and the 

 resounding surges, which came up as if bent on destruction. 

 The path by which we descended looked a mere thread on the 

 side of the precipice. I don't know what the word beetling 

 means, but if it means anything bad, I will certainly apply it to 

 that pali, 



A number of disastrous-looking native houses are clustered 



* "The road from Hilo to Laupahoehoe, a distance of thirty miles, runs 

 somewhat inland, and is one of the most remarkable in the world. 

 Ravines, 1,800 or 2,000 feet deep, and less than a mile wide, extend far up 

 the slopes of Mauna Kea. Streams, liable to sudden and tremendous 

 freshets, must be traversed on a path of indescribable steepness, winding 

 zig-zag up and down the beautifully wooded slopes or precipices, which are 

 ornamented with cascades of every conceivable form. Few strangers, 

 when they come to the worst precipices, dare to ride down, but such is the 

 nature of the rough steps, that a horse or mule will pass them with less 

 difficulty than a man on foot who is unused to climbing. No less than 

 sixty-five streams must be crossed in a distance of thirty miles." — Brigham 

 " On the Hawaiian Volcanoes," 



