2 4 4 



HAWAII. 



[letter XXVII. 



put into it is transformed. The rocks, broken timber, and old 

 cocoa-nuts which lie below it, are a frosted blue ; the dusky- 

 skins of natives are changed to alabaster; and as my com- 

 panion, in a light print holoku, swam to and fro, her feet and 

 hands became like polished marble tinged with blue, and her 

 dress floated through the water as if woven of blue light. 

 Everything about this spring is far more striking and beautiful 

 than the colour in the Blue Grotto. It is heaven in the 

 water, a jewelled floor of marvels, "a sea of glass/' " like unto 

 sapphire," a type, perhaps, of that on which the blessed stand 

 before the throne of God. Above, the feathery palms rose into 

 the crystalline blue, and made an amber light below, and all 

 fair and lovely things were mirrored in the wonderful waters. 

 The specific gravity must be much greater that that of ordinary 

 water, for it did not seem possible to sink, or even be thoroughly 

 immersed in it. The mercury in the air was 79 , but on coming 

 out of the water we felt quite chilly. 



I like Puna. It is like nothing else, but something about it 

 made us feel as if we were dwelling in a castle of indolence. I 

 developed a capacity for doing nothing, which horrified me, and 

 except when we energised ourselves to go to the hot spring, my 

 companions and I were content to dream in the verandah, and 

 watch the lengthening shadows, and drink cocoa-nut milk, till 

 the abrupt exit of the sun startled us, and we saw the young 

 moon carrying the old one tenderly, and a fitful glare 60 miles 

 away, where the solemn fires of Mauna Loa are burning at a 

 height of nearly 14,000 feet. 



Hilo. 



There are many "littles," but few "mickles" here. It is 

 among the last that two foreign gentlemen have successfully 

 accomplished the ascent of Mauna Loa, and the mystery of its 

 fires is solved. I write " successfully," as they went up and , 

 down in safety, but they were involved in a series of pilikias : 

 girths, stirrup-leathers, and cruppers slipping and breaking, and 

 their sufferings on the summit from cold and mountain sickness 

 appear to have been nearly incapacitating. Although much 

 excited, they are collected enough to pronounce it " the most 

 sublime sight ever seen." They, as well as several natives who 

 have passed by Kilauea, report it as in full activity, which 

 bears against the assertion that the flank crater becomes quiet 

 when the summit crater is active. 



