98 HAWAII. [letter x. 



wind was rising and that stones would fall and kill us ; but 

 being incredulous on this point, I left them, and with great 

 difficulty and many bruises, got up the river to its exit from the 

 basin, and there, being unable to climb the rocks on either 

 side, stood up to my throat in the still, tepid water till the 

 scene became real to me. 



I do not care for any waterfall but Niagara, nor do I care in 

 itself for this one, for though its first leap is 200 feet and its 

 second 1,600, it is so frittered away and dissipated in spray, 

 owing to the very magnitude of its descent, that there is no 

 volume of water within sight to create mass or sound. But no 

 words can paint the majesty of the surroundings, the caverned, 

 precipitous walls of rock coming down in one black plunge 

 from the blue sky above to the dark abyss of water below, the 

 sullen, shuddering sound with which pieces of rock came 

 hurtling down among the trees, the thin tinkle of the water as 

 it falls, the full rush of the river, the feathery growth of ferns, 

 gigantic below, but so diminished by the height above, as only 

 to show their presence by the green tinge upon the rocks, while 

 in addition to the gloom produced by the stupendous height 

 of the cliffs, there is a cool, green darkness of dense forest, and 

 mighty trees of strange tropical forms glass themselves in the 

 black mirror of the basin. For one moment a ray of sunshine 

 turned the upper part of the spray into a rainbow, and never 

 to my eyes had the bow of promise looked so heavenly as 

 when it spanned the black, solemn, tree-shadowed abyss, whose 

 deep, still waters only catch a sunbeam on five days of the 

 year. 



I found the natives regaling themselves on papaya, and on 

 live fresh-water shrimps, which they find in great numbers in 

 the river. I remembered that white people at home, calling 

 themselves civilized, eat live, or at least raw, oysters, but the 

 sight of these active, squirming shrimps struggling between the 

 white teeth of my associates was yet more repulsive. 



We finished our adventurous expedition with limbs much 

 bruised, as well as torn and scratched, and before we emerged 

 from the chasm saw a rock dislodged, which came crashing 

 down not far from us, carrying away an ohia. It is a gruesome 

 and dowie den, but well worth a visit. 



We mounted again, and rode as far as we could up the 

 valley, fording the river in deep water several times, and coming 

 down the other side. The coffee trees in full blossom were 

 very beautiful, and they, as well as the oranges, have escaped 



