234 



HA WAIL 



[letter XXV. 



whitened the ground, the pure, white smoke of the volcano rose i 

 into the reddening sky, and the air was elixir. It has been I 

 said and written that there are no steam-cracks or similar traces 

 of volcanic action on Mauna Kea, but in several fissures I ! 

 noticed ferns growing belonging to an altitude 4000 feet lower, 1 

 and on putting my arm down, found a heat which compelled 

 me to withdraw it, and as the sun rose these cracks I 

 steamed in all directions. There are caves full of ferns, lava : 

 bubbles in reality, crust over crust, each from twelve to : 

 eighteen inches thick, rolls of lava cooled in coils, and hideous ! 

 a-a streams on which it is impossible to walk two yards with- • 

 out the risk of breaking one's limbs or cutting one's boots to : 

 pieces. 



I will not weary you with the details of our mountain ascent , 

 Our host provided ourselves and the native servant with three ! 

 strong bullock-horses, and accompanied us himself. The first ! 

 climb is through deep volcanic sand slashed by deep clefts, , 

 showing bands of red and black ash. We saw no birds, but 

 twice started a rout of wild black hogs, and once came upon a 1 

 wild bull of large size with some cows and a calf, all so tired ! 

 with tramping over the lava that they only managed to keep 1 

 just out of our way. They usually keep near the mountain top 1 

 in the daytime for, fear of the hunters, and come down at 

 night to feed. About 11,000 were shot and lassoed last ; 



year. Mr. S says that they don't need any water but 



that of the dew-drenched grass, and that horses reared on j 

 the mountains refuse to drink, and are scared by the sight 

 of pools or running streams. Unlike horses I saw at 

 Waikiki, which shut their eyes and plunged their heads into 1 

 water up to their ears, in search of a saltish weed which grows 

 in the lagoons. 



The actual forest, which is principally koa, ceases at a height j 

 of about 6000 feet, but a deplorable vegetation beginning 

 with mamane scrub, and ending with withered wormwood and 

 tufts of coarse grass, straggles up 3000 feet higher, and a 

 scaly orange lichen is found in rare patches at a height ot 

 j 1,000 feet. 



The side of Mauna Kea towards Waimea is precipitous and 

 inaccessible, but to our powerful mountain horses the ascent 

 from Kalaieha presented no difficulty. 



We rode on hour after hour in intense cold, till we reached 

 a height where the last stain of lichen disappeared, and the ' 

 desolation was complete and oppressive. This area of tufa 



