The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-09-04

they well repaid me- though the plants
were not in bloom at the time much
to my disappointment / tramped on
until the dark was relieved again by
the moonlight, not feeling tired and
absolutely without desire to eat. FL
nally I forced myself to make a stop
and beneath the shelter of a rock
camped and set going my little stove
and made myself cup of cocoa. The
scene was ghostly and the silence OPP
pressive. There can be no words used
to convey the silence. 1t pervaded and
enveloped you. 1 could not eat any
solids but felt warmed by the hot
drink. 1t is most interesting to note
that while the temperature at the sum-
nit was forty-two, on the floor of the
crater it was even lower, the mercury
showing only thirty-nine degrees.
After a repacking my effects 1 tried to
to rest. The moon was bright and the
stars shining clearly. But it was i'm
possible to remain quiet. One found
oneself longing for the rustic of a leaf
or the chirp of a cricket. Lying down
resting on one elbow l found myself
peering into the darkness hoping that
something would come along or that
some sound, no matter what it might
be, would break the stiffness.
"At length it was impossible to re-
main quiet longer. I had a map from
the Territorial survey department and
had been instructed to keep away to
the southeast. So I took up my way
over the lava and cinder plain. 1t was
about o'clock and I walked for an
hour going over closer to the south
wall of the crater. But [ found soon
that there was no path and the way
was broken. 1 had been seeking cave
of which l had been told and could not
find it, so began to retrace my steps.
Again I laid down hut soon found the
silence unsupportable and again began
to walk. out of the darkness finally
there seemed to rise animals and upon
approaching I found them to be mules
tethered. 1 could not find any men
however and so haa to content myself
with fraternizing with a gray mule
which seemed to be anxious for COM
partnership and while shivering in the
cool air was ready to rub its head
against my shoulder. But / was rest
less and soon took to the path, only to
find that l had returned to my former
resting place, and that 1 might not be
lost again laid down.
after forcing myself to rest for a
half hour a form appeared on the crest
of a cinder pile ahead. I rose and
shouted that 1 was alone and perhaps
lost. The man started, stopped and
finally came forward. I told him who
I was and why 1 was there ard he
could speak only one word, water"
I had a canteen with more than a pint
of water in it and gave it to him. He
took the canteen and drank all without
stopping, Thus refreshed he told me
that he was the guide for party of
two men, whom he had brought up
from the Hama plantation, that his
tourists were then sheltered in a cave,
the one 1 had been seeking, while he
was out searching for water 1 went
to them, and there found Mr.. Waldron,
of Schaefer & Company and a friend,
who had left Hama in the morning early
and had had not a drop of water, it
then being half past twelve at night.
sat down in the cave with them and
found the temperature something like
den degrees higher. We sat there and
shiveringly talked at some length, the
men suffering from need of water, their
lips parched and threats dry.
AT length they could not stand it
longer and determined to try and reach
the water holes at which 1 had last
filed my eanteen, something like four
miles away where the water had col
lected in the holes in the lava They
insisted that I should come along.
Offering TO mount me and telling me
that it would be impossible for me to
make the trip down the Kaupo gap. as
the way was very pad. I had come so
far and was of no other mind than TO