The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-08-05

III III hitch have gathered In between
~ ia,.a sheets for the announcements OF
st,o,ed maintain vegetation. The
| story interests. but nothing can remove
Inc sense OF disappointment az the way
I'm which the expected grandeur OF the
volcanic spectacle sneaks under It's white
blanket But breakfast comes on and
there are bowls OF the oheio berries good
10 eat satisfactory 10 a PAGAN goddess
i'm a fire pif and satisfactory 10 a modern
giqhteeer In cooler surroundings. ike a
cranberrv erafted on a buckleberry bush.
como one saws the red size Of the one
and the sweetness Of the other.
Then the horses are brought around
from a line Of grsss-thatched nuts. which
prove to be stables for II Is three miles
to the mouth ~ the PIT OF hle TO The
Halema n. about Which scholars IN
the language may wrangie without end
as to whether II has apostrophes in its
spelling or not. and dependent on that
point whether the name means the house
Of ferns or the house everlasting The
journey f. fairly ont OF sight You 70
a hundred feet 10 the brink of the white
lake: al that jumping OF place you make
a vertical descent or 80 ieet, ana the
rest Of the distance Is 10 he ridden over
the lava crust of the crater Itself Be
fore you can begin 70 be nervous at the
prospect of cropping In the white depths
Of that vapor lake. for you doubt Peter
Lee since breakfast IS past and stil
there is nothing 10 see. q new problem
arises. The Volcano House stables have
but one sidesaddle. and that is already
occupied by an elderly lady who may not
be dislodged. Every other woman must
ride Hawaiian fashion. that is. man
fashion, astride or else must walk.
THE WRONG KIND.
How am 7 ever going 10 ride on that
kind Of saddle?' a woman asks. Must
] really ride astride? ! never can do II
IN the world"
But Peter Lees two buxom daughters
have heard that complaint many a time
before and they are used 20 IT,. one
has the stirrup ready and the other
stands by 10 attend 10 other little pro-
blems as 10 which there exists an I'M
expressed but none the less uncomfort-
able doubt You spring obviously into
the air and without your knowing exactly
how IL IS done those skirts are adjusted
satisfactorily although you do feel Ike
a collection o. bundles There IS stu
doubt as 10 your ability to make these
arrangements for yourself. for YOU learn
that at certain point far down in tho
depths Of the crater YOU have 10 leave
the horse. But the youngest Lee girl
hops into the saddle 10 show you how
fl is CHIe and whispers 90 YOU, Albert
knows how" whereat you look rather
douhtfully at the Hawaiian who is 10
guide the party.
Now you revise your ideas OF the vera
city OF Peter Lee and Of the grandeur
Of Kilauoa as well. While you have been
worrying over the introduction 10 horse
womanship after the Hawaiian fashion
the sun has brought fits beams 10 bear
on the vapOr lake. and II has vanished
except for a mist bank snuggled In the
shade under the eastern wall. No doubt
now 10 the volcano or its whereabouts.
You feel giddy when you see almost az
your feet a vast pit. 800 feet deep. tho
bottom Of which has fairly dropped out
from the most solid thing you know. the
time hOnored standard OF comparison for
soiditv the solid earth itself and
mountain Of rock. Some one recites the
statement OF the guide book that the
crater Is so many miles long and so
many miles wide, ana has depth Of 50
many feet on the lava focr. But what
meaning has all that; what does u
amount to2 Figures are am impcrtin-
ence In the presence Of nature operat-
ing in its grand method.
Down below there IN that abyss which
has sunk straight down from the noun
tain slope there may be a certain num-
Der Of square miles. But what Is
SQUARE mile 10 vou2 Who would reel or
a tape measure 10 make record Of the
magnifccnce ~ the fire and fury which
made that pit2 Mile after mile. n a tale
of miles be needed for the seeing of
mower I'm its infinite degree the eye sees
the cliffs square cut above the crater
floor square cut with the mountain
slope above which they DO not rise
single inch one cannot make too clear
fhat Impression Of "a vast dropping down;
there IS thrill Of fear that IT may drop
rrsn.f f.fN..
Black. green. red. these walls bound A
floor all black which from the distance
seems as level as "a floor of carpentry.
u is only when you get down to 10 that
you see how
A DILEMMA.
But before you see thar YOU have 70
face the getting down. only one path
exists through AN that sweep NJ prcCipice
a breakncck place of scramblnG in and
out in fearsome ziezags down n sheer
face Of rock They tell YOU that the
horse is surefooted that he has carried
blank hundreds Of people up and down
that trail. There are times when arith-
metic loses IT'S power tO console; this
Is one Of them. and you feel that your
own feet are surer on such ladder. and
disreearding that difficult matter of
mounting again on the other kind ~ sad
die YOU dismOunt and Ike the descent
afoot and If truth be told. letting your
self over certain stcepncsses with hand
clutch on the ohelo bushes which knot
their roots On every rock Granny. IL Is
only ON tine return trip hours later-and
perhaps just as Wei that 10 is so-that
YOU sec the wayside cross which marks
the death SPOT Of one fer whom that
scramble proved too much. the only
death recorded for Kilauea since the
heather days when Goddess Pele's In
candescout wrath sometimes refused 10
be appeased with her usual sacrifice
OF rcd hen and "a black pig and
bunch of ohcIo berries when she could
be pacinod only by something that gave
a despairng scream when ~ was tossed
into the fire lake in which Pele lived.
Cruel DAYS Of heathenl'm, il IS well
that they have passed a1 ay that koni-
olani made an end of Che last OF Kill
auea's "kapus.' we order things so much
better nowadays. Still YOU may happen
20 see the Hawaiian guide. Albert. as he
helps YOU down the slide. pick d tw.s
of ohelo and slip % into his pocket and
YOU may chance 20 see little sTrls
Of green floating down through the lot
air into the pit where Pele once lived
the Halema umau. and though Albert
walks almost thirty miles every SUNDAY
10 go To- church and sing nymns. Ncu
feel q stray wonder as 10 whether the
old gods are after all quite dead.
THE FLOOR OF THE CRATER
At last and out Of breath YOU have
scrambled down 10 the floor Of the era
ter. and with the assistance OF r rock
YOU find that the Lee girl was right wnen
She told YOU Albert knew how. Level