HA W All AN G UIDE B OK. 43 



trouble, and no description, however graphic, can do it 

 justice. Perhaps the world affords no similar fifteen 

 miles of horseback travel, which, with so little compar- 

 ative effort, will elevate one so many thousand feet, and 

 there command at one glance such a vast area of bound- 

 less vision. On leaving Makawao, — and early in the 

 morning is the best time to start for the summit, — one 

 may take the narrow path alone as a good guide 

 until it reaches a point where it multiplies into number- 

 less cattle tracks ; there a sharp eye may make a bee 

 line to some prominent summit peak ; but it is quite as 

 well, and safer, to have a good guide familiar with the 

 way. It will also be well worth the trouble to take 

 blankets and such attendants as will make it comforta- 

 ble to remain all night, if the weather be favorable, to 

 view ten thousand feet of sunrise and sunset once in a 

 life-time. The trip and return can be made the same 

 day by starting as early as four o'clock in the morning. 



The absence of forests will strike the observer. In 

 some places young groves of koa, a species of acacia, 

 may be seen. Also the silvery foliage of kukui groves 

 in many ravines and gulches. The bulk of the timber 

 was probably consumed in those wanton days when the 

 forests were set on fire to discover sandal wood by its 

 burning fragrance. In July a complete circuit of 

 the mountain is covered with strawberries, and every 

 year bushels by the thousand wait in vain for pickers. 

 Ohelos, a strictly Hawaiian production, abound in their 

 season. This fruit resembles a cranberry, grows on a 

 shrub, and may be found of different species. They 

 are of a crimson color, and equal to American whortle- 

 berries in flavor and sweetness. Another wax berry, 



