The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-11-18
Letters from Hawaii--No. IL.
rrRoM U TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT

streams, suggesting dismal thoughts Of the road TO be
traversed Tomorrow. All through the night we hre
aware Of its dreary monotone, and in our dreams hght
the foods and sound the depths Of all the pools that We
know are accommodating between as and sixteen
miles-distant Onomea. However. we intend TO
enjoy the comforts that VIC have, and let the morrow
take care OF itself
Waking, we find it raining still after breakfast
it still rains, and we mount our hoki in a binding
storm that threatens to hold out all day. Our beast
is an excellent one to JoiioD any other, but a poor
one to lead, and we therefore engage the services Of
.4minas boy to pilot US along. We find the streams
no higher than we thought they would be, aud 30
tracking along the muddy road and fording the
many swift torrents that cross our way, We reach the
shore at Laupahoehoe and rest a few minutes. The
people we meet here report the streams as rising,
but as none Of them have acquired this knowledge
by to-day's experience, we push ON. Soon after
leaving there we reach a ravine through which "a
stream is tearing madly, with sufficient depth ami
volume of water to forbid our plunging In to reach
the other side. A short distance above the usual
ford is a ruined bridge stretching crafty across the
torrent. 1t slants to one side, has n broken back
and its Hoor planking is broken through in a half
dozen places. Venturing upon il on foot and Alone
we find that it does not sink or shake badly beneath
u wight III ~ SSANSNih6 NV hH
flooring we cautiously lead our BOYS horse across.
and returning, drive the hoki over. IT'S done. We
are over, and cheered by the reflection that this gnIcli
is the worst to be met with, We splash ON our wet
way, and quickly reach the valley Of
MAULUA.
Here, much to our disgust we find the ford inn
passable. Our boys horse tries it, and goes in for II
swim. 'Twont do yet awhile, and as the rain has
ceased to fall, we conclude to wait awhile and see IL
the water will not soon subside.
While some food is being prepared, we hunt up an
old native hard at work under n shed making canoes.
If one sees a native padding around in the still
water of any Of our bays, he may possibly admire
the light, graceful, odd-looking canoe, but would
hardly imagine the amount Of toll expended upon it
before completion. In the one that the old fellow we
are watching is finishing, there are seven different
kinds of wood, each one the best that can be used In
the place where it belongs. The parts requiring
fastening together are dashed neatly with native
sinnett, and for each place there is n particular kind
of braid made. OF course this is not new TO you, but
the high water throws us back on our surroundings
and we write Of what we see. Not all that comes
into view mark you, for there are some things seen
in these out of the way places that have been care
fully ignored in the past, aud it does not come within
our province to state them now. We merely make n
private memorandum for future use.
Find here a register Of births and deaths com
menced in 49,, and extending 10 the present time.
IIOInl IL VIC Duh NhuN NhNl1 INV wi lNth III
that time and ffty-six deaths. The Oldest person IL
eighty-four, the average duration Of life is thirty
seven years. OF the eleven born four are female, of
the deaths thirty-two. The average Of life amongst
the females has been thirty-one years. There prob
ably exists no good reason why these figures should
not be taken as n basis from which 10 calculate the
probable existence OF the Hawaiians as n nation. The
districts represented in the record are lonomainoa
1868 and Maulua for the next three years. The
probabilities are that as fair "a proportion Of the
deaths have been registered MS could be expected.
The greatest number Of deaths occurred in 'G6 Q6)
the smallest in 10 (2) 1864 numbers the most
births (6).
After waiting about two hours, we concluded that
the water had subsidized sufficiently 10 allow us 10
cross, and 80 we try il again. My boy with his
horse Grained TO just such coutingences) gets over
all right, but we notice that ut one little point where
the strong current is compressed between two huge
boulders, the horse is almost swept away by the
swift deep stream. We try it, and upon reaching the
same place our usually sure-footed hoki loses his
balance and down stream we go Not far, for an
other boulder catches us and in the eddy that il forms
the half-frantic mule touches bottom again. As we
stand here up to the saddle in the yellow wafer, Y. G.
gazes sadly at his fast disappearing umbrella that the
rude waves have torn from his grasp, (6rst turning IL
inside out) and are now bearing of to the sea near at
hand. The first thought that flashes through our
brain is-how very wet then with the help Of two or
three kanakas we scramble out, and once more plod
along; come to a fine bridge thrown over a raging tor
rent, get a glimpse of a splendid fall just below IL, and
then work along over the muddy road, (made still
worse in places by fresh attempts to mend it), and
finally reach a little the toughest crossing we have
seen yet. Picking our way carefully down the rough
steep hillside, we find the water running like a mill
race sharply round q projecting bluff, and through
this we are expected to plunge 10 attain to the other
side.
Putting the hoki at il, the sagacious animal, whose
nerves have been shaken by it's late experience,
positively refuses TO bulge. Our thoughts imme-
diately revert to a house that we saw AS we came
along on the hill behind US, and we yield 10 tho
h~ospitable entreaties Of the occupnnt(who with his
familvh has cOme down 10 see us try 10 GROSSLY turn back
and finding it TO be A o'clock, make up our minds to
pass the night here. Finding here a 50 pearl of great
price," a native who can speak English. Since
parting with my friend the S. NJ. yesterday morning,
1 have bad TO air my Hawaiian much to the distraction
Of the individuals ~practiced upon, and as my efforts
have generally ended in getting just the thing. or
information that / didn't want, il IL "A relief 90 be
able to s~traighten things out, and start fresh again
tomorrow. Supper is furnished, and MS down our
unwilling throat the sole constituent Of our evening
meal, the frsky shrimp, did crawl, we were reminded
foreibly Of that reference Of SOlomoD's 10 The sweet
ening power of hunger shrimps as n relish are
good, as a meal they are a failure-at least such is
our opinion after devouring some hundreds. The
supper is the best that our host can provide however,
and the apologies with which he overwbelms ,us
incline us 10 eat even more than we wish. The sight
of that family consisting Of two dogs, two stout
bucks, one old man and woman. (nenbers on suf-
ference) one wife. and four children, gathered to-
gether after we had finished our shrimps, was worth
such q days travel as we had, 10 see. In the hut
squatted around a dirty calabash half full Of Shiny
poi, hanked by small heaps Of shriups, were the
two bucks and the old man bnsily engaged In cram
ming themselves. Clustered in the doorway were
the two dogs and four children. snappers up Of un-
considered tri6es (viz.- live shrimps travelling their
way) while outside. under the i0n0i, the two women
conversed over a smoky little fire fed by fragments
from a ruined hut near Mt hand. Their meal being
finished, the bucks stretched themselves out at full
length, and grunted and pulled and snorted, while
the old man fed the dogs and children, after
which the old woman cleared away the fragments.
and Il have no doubt) heartily enjoyed her supper.
Giving the native who understood English 10 under
stand that the %efiuyia native 70 the hut would suffice
US for the night without any further addition 10 IL,
and punching a hole through the side of our sleeping
place near our head, we had a ten-hour sleep, from
which we awoke on Saturday morning 10 find the
rain d~issipated and the streams passable. I say
passable because we did manage to reach
oNoMEA
At ] p. NJ, after six hours travel over ten miles Of
road. Stopping TO take dinner At Judge AS, we
found him busted in preparations for taking of his