Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1885-07-04
THE HOUSE OF TIE SUIT.
BY LOUISA III. COFFIN.

TovBLIEsr Of all the Hawaiian Islands is
Esasn and fertile Maui, with It's cane plant
6kions and ootfee-groves, it's forest. with
their rich underground of ferns and wild
vines, and its waterfalls that hang like rib
IONS Of silver down too steep cliffs.
Out of this wealth of tropical verdure
rises the vast cone of an extinct volcano,
called by the natives the House of the Sun.
tts long slopes fill their eastern horizon, and
the sun, as he comes in sight above the rim
1 the crater, seems to emerge from It's
dspths. The mountain is covered with
sich verdure halfway up its sides Then
the vegetation becomes gradually thin and
spaxse, dwindles TO a few stunted shrubs
and at the top all is barren and desolate.
One morning, from village 1T the noun
sain's base, we looked toward its summit
end saw she cold gray heights flush with
the rose of dawn, then slowly brighten, and
UP from the mists Of the crater came the
sun, flooding with his radiance all the
ereen plains and the blue seas and casting
upon the mountain-slopes gigantic shadows
81 the white clouds that clung TO their
d6sA An hour later our little party of
Ave, three Of whom were ladies, rode
msrriiy out of the village, pnst it's clear,
ssashing streams, and under its blooming
oisaAdsss, and set our faces toward the
House Of the Sun. We were accompanied
y . natdys man, who acted as guide, and
. nAldvs boy, who led a pack nule, laden
vi1h e&Apksts and provisions. 1t was our
inteots0n 70 climb the mountain that day,
eeanp pear its summit, and behold the sun
issue from his house nSxs nsosnins. Ro-
sides the guide, only one OF our number
had made Uhe ascent before. This was the
Youngest of the party. a blooming girl Of
sixteen, who had ridden to the summit three
times, and who knew how to adapt herself
70 tho difficulties Of the journey. She wore
ON this occasion a skirt reaching barely to
her feet, and was seated upon a mans sad
dle--an equestrian fashion the other ladies
aftsrwapd resolved TO adopt ON similar
iouInsya
The road led upward at first, over gen
dc eiops, clothed with " whispering grass,
40 called from the sound it made when the
Wind passed through it; slirted the edge
q e&ne-fiol hedged with prickly pear
and wound along the rim of narrow little
valleys, whose steep sides were covered with
e0athery ferns and along whose bottoms
asax streams went rushing and flashing on
dhstr way toward the sea.
We looked backward, now and then,
saA s.w The view OF land and sea widen
tsneseA ~; ~ sssips Of yellow sand along
Ne beaaA IN villaSs enEowered In trees
No green slopss tie eane-Gslds, with their
feathesy white tasssls, the sea, blue a.
sapphiss, ssaohing TO the horizon; and the
6ead headland, Of West Maui dimly out
kned through tho hAss cf distance and the
spsay of waves dashing against their base.
The asesnt was % grsanal for tho arst few
mllae that ws hardly nottosd the upward
trend Of the path, ana began to think that
climbing 70 Me ean's House was not 40
gssaAs asst Of energy and endurance a. had
bssn ssprsasptsd 10 n. Before noon We
Ssaahee.ths eeods q Aoepatabls plantsY
snAtasslsA awhile on his broad, vine. .shadsd
vsrandaA, Tor rest and rsfreahmens; then
resuznsd Our journey toward the hand Of
and hide from our view the heights above ue
The air was cooler and clearer. The soft,
golden hase characteristic Of the atrnos-
Dheee at the sea.leyel had disappeared.
The vegetation was less luxuriant. Instead
Of tho palms and vines and flowers Of the
lowland, there were only few thiokets Of
sandAl-wood bushes and stunted koo trees,
thss 0lung to the red soil, washed into gull
heo here and there by mountain-torrents;
and . matted growth Of club-moss, wild
strawberry plants, and the ohsso. or native
cranberry.
The ascent became sleeper and tho path
rougher. We NO longer looked behind.us,
- the view spread out below; but chung to
the pommels Of eur saddle-, to keep from
clipping backward, and soaght to adjust
sa1ssives to the horses uneven gait. Scuds
of mint came driving toward us from the
saoud, and soon we entered the bank Of
v1por, that had loOkedso white and ethereal
tsan below. We found ourselves in fog
% Aenss chat We could see but a few yards
sAsad, and soon lost sight Of our guide,
then ef one another. and wandered about
disocnsolate and forlorn, calling through
40 mish. The guide came back, and re.
Stared ~ TO the path and 20 each other;
bas our painting horses choosing easier
wan wandered apart ega.ia and again.
ths paolr mule which had allowed itself
b b. S0d along meekly hitherto, now de.
vslDped tAe most sxasperauing qualities,
either rdfus,ng to stir or boiling off sud.
denly In tho wrong direction. There are
- sxpssssions Of profanity, no "swear
woida" In the Hawaiian language; but the
bov vhe led the mule applied to it various
sp)the1s u condemnation end reproaoh.
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