Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-07-29
NO. 49, HONOLULU II /, SATURDAY, JULY 49, 1885,

|
plumes, as if to warn us against the delu-
sion of great expectations, for what fruit
we found was so hard that, hungry as even
we were, none of us preferred a fit of ndi-
| geston TO momentary pang OF quiokoned
| appetite. Why should we murmur one in
slant when at our feet poured crystal
! flood, foaming and sparkling in its own
liquid light, sweeter than any Mosello or
| Johannisberger, refreshing our woaried
| powers and stimulating us to renewed effort.
| The Doctor undertook to solaco and satisfy
! his inner man with a thimbeful, or so,
caught in the Ri half folded into the COM
mon travellers cup. But the President, as
one to the manor born, folded n wild taro
leaf into tho generous Hawaiian cup that
will hold pint or more. On and up we
pressed, now through u grove of kukui
trees; now out in The bed of tho brook un-
der the hot rays of tropical sun; now
skirtng the edge of the valley bottom un.
dear protecting canopy of rock; now
climbing over projecting aDglo of fallen
debris People may say what they please
of the educational advantages of life on a
New England farm, training the Judgment
to correct action amid the changing life
and work Of a Yankee farmers boy. Give
me tramp up Hawaiian valley, where
the unexpected always happens, and you
never can see where your path will lie one
minute ahead. Clambering along with en-
tire absence of all sounds of life, the leaves
falling with soft genteness, no note of
bird or hum of insect breaking the mouot-
ony, no living creature TO DO seen in the
stream, save tiny opu or crawish rs
still no n tyo kp1 viv oil Of
sudden became aware Of villaiuous stencil,
earrion Of some sort; but how could man
or beast meet their final destiny away up
here in this sepulchral lonesomeness ?
Peering through the ki bushes, we camo
suddenly upou an abandoned STILL There
WAS the pit for roasting the hi root, tho
stunted blackened logs charred in the fire,
gin bottle, an old sugar keg, shovels, pick
axe, axe, betokening an unexpected aband-
onment of the illegal enterprise. Was that
stencil from some man overcome by the
| fiery alcohol of the okolehao, and finding
his fate far away from home comforts I
We found no solution of the mystery as
we searched hitber and yon.
On we pushed again up this crack on
Maui's crested ridge, its steep sides rising
straight up 1900 feet from the bed of the
brook now bare Of all vegetation and red
with the iron of volcanic fires, or shelving
inward and heavy with lime or lchens.
| Sometimes hukui tree would lift its crown
of olive green leaves on its sturdy trunk
rooted i'll some crevice. But more often,
only ferns of coarser varieties covered with
their greenery the procipitous sides of the
! gorge, Its windings gave no glimpse Of
ocean, only changing light and shade, color
or curve, as We looked back and down.
At last, shout sgualled back from the
foremost of tho party that the waterfall
| was reached, for which we had toed and
tramped five mortal hours. Aud weird
sight it was. Down PERCEPTIONS wall of
basaltic rock at the head of the gorge,
plunged volume of water, broken into
spray as it left its channel at giddy height
above. AT first, only fieoks of silvery foam,
it looked like the bursting of the silky seed
pod Of the Asclipias; then, as if struck on
successive layers of the basaltic WALL it
seemed to double III upon itself, and poured
down at last like folds of vanilla cream
candy. Every one of these ribbon water
falls, that are the charm of our Hawaiian
valleys, has its own popularity of appear
auce, SO that each stands out in memorys
loveliness. The eastern side Of this chasm
was curved, and over its whole face the
spray from tho waterful had cast vail of
greenness, cool and sparkling. In the mass
Of verduro at the base, sparkled to the light
many a topaz or yellow diamond, that to
the touch vanished like the early dew.
But the General had como for ferns
that grow in this particular spot, and for
ferns he went The President and Pro-
fsssor quaifcd inspiring draughts of the
aerated water, cool and sweet, clear and
pure, as belts heavens own gift to thirsty
mortals. The Doctor dBew in his fill of
, admiring rapture, thankful for the mo-.
, mentary ecstasy of delight one such scene
affords, and resolved to perpetuato with his
: pen at once the gladness Of day that will
, ever have its white mark in his calendar.
All too soon the downward march was be-
gun, similar in detail to the story Of the as
/, cent, save that tho abraded ankles inter-
!. fered somewhat with the casping power oil
= the solo Of the foot; the ponderous feet
were quito as apt to plump into the water
as to stand plumb on tho verge Of slippery
!, rocks, overshadowing some deep, dark pool
4 And the difference between the energy 0i
4 hopeful ascent, and wearisome dropping
i down, down into the lower walks OF lif,
y was evident in tho Professors conviction
: that, after all, it did not mako much mat
r. ter which side you took to come down; yol
, were sure always to find that it was wors
! than the other. LAHAiNA.
i July %, 1882.