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Sierra Club Bulletin 



when, in descending, the mule's ears got on a level with the hoofs of 

 his front feet, and there was a drop of several hundred feet beyond 

 the outer edge of the trail, the instinct of self-preservation took most 

 of the humor out of the situation. The up-grades did not seem quite 

 so full of sinister possibilities, for the chance of staying on the trail 

 seemed better in sliding off a mule's back to rearward than when 

 tobogganing down through the gap between his ears. 



These gulches are like nothing I have ever seen anywhere else. 

 Torrential rains have cut them out of the flanks of the great lava 

 mountain, and their abruptness is such that one has to cross two or 

 three in every mile of distance. At the bottom there usually is a tor- 

 rent which has to be forded, and the mouth of the gorge invariably 

 debouches sharply into the sea, forming a miniature cove. As the 

 surf pounds into these little coves it rolls the rounded rocks and peb- 

 bles along the shelving bottom with an indescribable muffled roar 

 like distant thunder. The head of one of these gorges was enclosed 

 by a crescent of Yosemite-like walls from which a dozen waterfalls 

 were pouring. Their sources were in clouds that swirled above them, 

 constantly dissipating in rain and as constantly renewed by con- 

 densation from the moisture-laden trade-winds. At the ocean end of 

 the gorge a river of considerable volume poured into a sea-cove sur- 

 rounded by verdure-clad cliffs. Such coves are the native fisher- 

 man's paradise. There at opportune times one may find some brown 

 Apollo standing like a statue, with his cast-net poised, intently 

 watching the surface of the heaving sea. When by signs, which no 

 one but a Hawaiian seems able to recognize, he judges that his 

 quarry is within reach, out flies the net and he is not often disap- 

 pointed in his haul. 



The vegetation, also, of this region testifies to the ease with which 

 human life may be supported here amid idyllic surroundings. Little 

 groves of Puhala {Pandanus odoratissimus) were constantly en- 

 countered along the trail. The male and female trees grow sepa- 

 rately, and the flowers of the former, called Hinano Hala by the 

 natives, are very fragrant. They make handsome mats and hats out 

 of the leaves, while the extremely hard and exquisitely beautiful 

 wood is used for many purposes. A little banana-grove and taro- 

 patch always was an indication of a native hut hidden somewhere 

 under tropical foliage. The refreshing pale-yellow fruit of the lemon 

 guava could be picked from horseback everywhere along the trail. 



