112 



HAWAII. 



[LETTER XI, 



which the animal fell, as he tried to leap from one rock to 

 another. I saw for a moment only a woman's head and 

 shoulders, a horse's head, a commotion of foam, a native 

 tugging at the lasso, and then a violent scramble on to a rock, 

 and a plunging and floundering through deep water to shore. 



Then Deborah said she would go, that her horse was a better 

 and stronger one ; and the same process was repeated with the 

 same slip into the chasm, only with the variation that for a 

 second she went out of sight altogether. It was a terribly 

 interesting and exciting spectacle with sublime accompaniments. 

 Though I had no fear of absolute danger, yet my mare was 

 tired, and I had made up my mind to remain on that side till 

 the flood abated ; but I could not make the natives understand 

 that I wished to turn, and while I was screaming " No, no," 

 and trying to withdraw my stiffened limbs from the stirrups, 

 the noose was put round the mare's nose, and she went in. It 

 was horrible to know that into the chasm as the others went 

 I too must go, and in the mare went with a blind plunge. 

 With violent plunging and struggling she got her fore feet on 

 the rock, but just as she was jumping up to it altogether she 

 slipped back snorting into the hole, and the water went over 

 my eyes. I struck her with my spurs, the men screeched and 

 shouted, the hinder man jumped in, they both tugged at the 

 lasso, and slipping and struggling, the animal gained the rock, 

 and plunged through deep water to shore, the water covering 

 that rock with a rush of foam, being fully two feet deep. 



Kaluna came up just after we had crossed, undressed, made 

 his clothes into a bundle, and got over amphibiously, leaping, 

 swimming, and diving, looking like a water-god, with the horse 

 and mule after him. His dexterity was a beautiful sight ; but 

 on looking back I wondered how human beings ever devised 

 to cross such a flood. We got over just in time. Some 

 travellers who reached Laupahoehoe shortly after we left, more 

 experienced than we were, suffered a two days' detention rather 

 than incur a similar risk. Several mules and horses, they say, 

 have had their legs broken in crossing this gulch by getting 

 them fast between the rocks. 



Shortly after this, Deborah uttered a delighted exclamation, 

 and her pretty face lighted up, and I saw her husband spurring 

 along the top of the next pali, and he presently joined us, and 

 I exchanged my tired mare for his fresh, powerful horse. He 

 knew that a freshet was imminent, and believing that we should 

 never leave Laupahoehoe, he was setting off, provided with 



