190 HA WAIT. [letter xx. 



Towards morning the short jerking motion of a ship close 

 hauled, made me know that we were standing in for the land, 

 and at daylight we anchored in Koloa Roads. The view is a 

 pleasant one. The rains have been abundant, and the land, 

 which here rises rather gradually from the sea, is dotted with 

 houses, abounds in signs of cultivation, and then spreads up 

 into a rolling country between precipitous ranges of mountains. 

 The hills look something like those of Oahu, but their wonder- 

 ful greenness denotes a cooler climate and more copious rains, 

 also their slopes and valleys are densely wooded, and Kauai 

 obviously has its characteristic features, one of which must 

 certainly be a superabundance of that most unsightly cactus, 

 the prickly pear, to which the motto nemo me impane lacessit 

 most literally applies. 



I had not time to tell you before that this trip to Kauai was 

 hastily arranged for me by several of my Honolulu friends, 

 some of whom gave me letters of introduction, while others 

 wrote forewarning their friends of my arrival. I am often re- 

 minded of Hazael's question, " Is thy servant a clog that he 

 should do this thing?" There is no inn or boarding house on 

 the island, and I had hitherto believed that I could not be con- 

 cussed into following the usual custom whereby a traveller 

 throws himself on the hospitality of the residents. Yet, under 

 the influence of Honolulu persuasions, I am doing this very 

 thing, but with an amount of mauvaise honte and trepidation, 

 which I will not voluntarily undergo again. 



My first introduction was to Mrs. Smith, wife of a secular 

 member of the Mission, and it requested her to find means of 

 forwarding me a distance of twenty-three miles. Her son was 

 at the landing with a buggy, a most unpleasant index of the 

 existence of carriage roads, and brought me here ; and Mrs. 

 Smith most courteously met me at the door. When I pre- 

 sented my letter I felt like a thief detected in a first offence, 

 but I was at once made welcome, and my kind hosts insist on 

 my remaining with them for some days. Their house is a 

 pretty old-fashioned looking tropical dwelling, much shaded by 

 exotics, and the parlour is homelike with new books. There 

 are two sons and two daughters at home, all, as well as their 

 parents, interesting themselves assiduously in the welfare of 

 the natives. Six bright-looking native girls are receiving an 

 industrial training in the house. Yesterday being Sunday, the 

 young people taught a Sunday school twice, besides attend- 

 ing the native church, an act of respect to Divine service 



