HA WAIIAN G U1DE B OK. 



101 



range of hills, where the ancient chiefs battled for 

 supremacy, and where one bold warrior, the last of his 

 defeated clan, made a frightful leap from a beetling 

 crag into the river and thus made his escape. 



Leaving Lihue, and proceeding northward towards 

 Hanalei, two roads present almost equal claims to the 

 rider. The one along the sea is by way of Honomaulu 

 river to the mouth of Wailua river, where a shallow 

 harbor separates it from the ocean. Here the surf 

 often breaks heavily, shifting the sands and thus ford- 

 ing becomes dangerous. The other road, which is per- 

 haps the pleasanter, lies inland over a plain to Wailua 

 river above 



THE FALLS. 



The road here descends from the high plain to a low 

 marshy flat near the sea, with here and there banks of 

 sand, and dense groves of hau trees. A ferry of fifty 

 yards takes horse and rider over for five cents. Wailua 

 river, seven miles from Lihue, is the deepest on the 

 islands, being twenty fathoms not far from its mouth. 

 ISTo one should fail to ascend this stream in a canoe, as 

 its rich, wild palisades and tropical scenery ure worth 

 seeing. The falls are magnificent after a heavy rain. 

 Approaching them from above, without warning, an 

 abyss of 180 feet opens its wonders to the eye. Black 

 and emerald rocks, beautiful ferns, fleecy foam and 

 silver gleamings among* leafy trees combine with the 

 roar and mist in unrivaled beauty and grandeur. The 

 breadth of the fall is fifty feet, and at low water it pours 

 its larger sheet on one side ; the other is so thin as to 

 make each drop seem to fall by itself. But when the 

 winter rains set in, the banks are full, and crossing 

 9* 



