2 3 8 



HA WAIL 



[letter xxvi. 



expeditions, involving a ride of about 350 miles; but my health 

 has so wonderfully improved, that it is easier to me now to ridel 

 forty miles in a day than ten some months ago. 



You have no idea of the preparations required for such a 

 ride, and the importance which " littles " assume. Food for 

 two days had to be taken, and all superfluous weight to be dis- 

 carded, as every pound tells on a horse on a hard journey. My 

 saddle-bags contain, besides " Sunday clothes," dress for any 

 "gaieties" which Hilo may offer; but I circumscribed my 

 stock of clothes as much as possible, having fallen into the 

 rough-and-ready practice of washing them at night, and putting 

 them on unironed in the morning. I carry besides, a canvas 

 bag on the horn of my saddle, containing two days' provender, 

 and a knife, horse-shoe nails, glycerine, thread, twine, leather 

 thongs, with other little et ceteras, the lack of which might 

 prove troublesome, a thermometer and aneroid in a leather 

 case, and a plaid. I have discarded, owing to their weight, all 

 the well-meant luxuries which were bestowed upon me, such as 

 drinking cups, flasks, etnas, sandwich cases, knife cases, spoons, 

 pocket mirrors, &c. The inside of a watchcase makes a suffi- 

 cient mirror, and I make a cup from a kalo leaf. All cases are 

 a mistake, — at least I think so, as I contemplate my light 

 equipment with complacency. 



Yesterday's dawn was the reddest I have seen on the moun- 

 tains, and the day was all the dawn promised. A three-mile 

 gallop down the dewy grass, and slackened speed through the 

 bush, brought me once again to the breezy slopes of Hamakua, 

 and the trail I travelled in February, with Deborah and Kaluna. 

 Though as green then as now, it was the rainy season, a carnival 

 of rain and mud. Somehow the summer does make a differ- 

 ence, even in a land without a winter. The temperature was 

 perfect. It was dreamily lovely. No song of birds, or busy 

 hum of insects, accompanied the rustle of the lauhala leaves 

 and the low murmur of the surf. But there is no hot sleep 

 of noon here — the delicious trades keep the air always 

 wakeful. 



When the gentleman who guided me through the bush left 

 me on the side of a pali ) I discovered that Kahele, though 

 strong, gentle, and sure-footed, possesses the odious fault known 

 as balking, and expressed his aversion to ascend the other side 

 in a most unmistakable manner. He swung round, put his 

 head down, and no amount of spurring could get him to do 

 anything but turn round and round, till the gentleman, who had 



