A HAWAIIAN FEAST. 379 pairs of shoes in as many days. On returning to a place of repose, it was some time before even my sleep became a source of invigoration. I was highly gratified with what I had accomplished, but nothing would have induced me to reattempt it. In concluding this chapter, I have only to add, that if there is a devotee in the world who is looking to the genius of human creeds for consolation, and is passing through a sea of penance to secure it, let him once climb this enormous volcanic cone, and if his sense of fatigue does not enlighten him as to the accursed impositions of his spiritual tyrants, nothing ever will. CHAPTER XXX. JOURNEY TO WAI-PIO. Forests of Acacia.-Gigantic Ferns.-Swamps.-An Instance of native Cruelty.-Valley of Wai-pio.-Descent.-Primitive Character of the Inhabitants.—Explorations.—Cascades.—A Bullock carried over the Falls.-Fastidiousness of native Appetite.-Population. -Agriculture.—Curious Instance of Cupidity.—Real Changes.— Scenes at an Evening Repast. THE journey from Hanipoi to Wai-pio is one of the most interesting and difficult of any over the Sandwich group. The "rainy season" was over, but its departure did not preclude the coming of frequent and fertilizing showers. My guide and myself were wet to our boots. The nearer we approached Wai-pio, the more embarrassing was the condition of the roads. The horses sunk up to the skirts of their saddles in soft mud, and sometimes it cost hours of patient toil before they could again set their feet on terra firma. Our But, in spite of mud and rain, the scenery was grand. route lay directly through immense forests of koa (Acacia falcata), the strong limbs and forks of which were profusely adorned with creepers of various sizes, pending in a perpendicular line from the lofty foliage down to the floor of the for est. Parasites and Epiphytes, of the most delicate species, clung to many of these huge koa-trees with as much gentleness and dependence as Desdemona" clung to the Venitian "Moor." 66 But the most stately objects which bordered our pathway, or occupied the remoter regions of these woods, were gigantic tree-ferns (Cibotium chamissonis). Many of them ranged from twenty to seventy feet in height, and the foliage of the most perfect of them, as it waved in the balmy winds, had a close resemblance to that of the Oriental palm-tree. From this noble fern the natives gather a soft, silky substance, that much resembles the best merino wool. This they call pulu, and it is used for stuffing beds and pillows. To the left of the path lay treacherous and impassable swamps. In endeavoring to effect a nearer journey to Waipio, many a native, when he supposed he was passing over solid ground, has suddenly disappeared and been seen no more. While following the path through this forest region, my attention was attracted toward a prostrate bullock. It needed but a single glance to convince me that his brutal owners had overloaded him, and goaded him through the sea of mud I had just crossed with an unbroken neck. In all probability, he was but a year old; but the poor creature lay there in the agonies of death. Although the mud was still up to my horse's knees, I dismounted, and, with the assistance of my native guide, endeavored to assist the prostrate brute to his feet. But it was all in vain. My guide filled his old palm-leaf hat with water, and gave to him, but with no effect. There is something in the agony of a dying camel, as he breathes his last in the wide solitudes of the Sahara, that can not fail to touch the deepest sympathies of a beholder, and there was something in the long sighs of that poor bullock that touched mine. His very eyes, because his tongue was dumb, were eloquent in their agony, and he turned them upon me with imploring glances. Feeling persuaded that I should do him an act of mercy, I terminated his sufferings with a pistol shot. DESCENT INTO THE VALLEY. 383 The Valley of Wai-pio may justly be termed the Eden of the Hawaiian Islands. Long before I saw it, I had heard it frequently spoken of in terms of the warmest admiration, and had prepared my mind for something beyond the usual character of the scenery so profusely scattered over the group. On reaching the brink of the tremendous bank by which its southern limit was bounded, the scene was truly magnificent. The bed of the valley reposed at a depth of two thousand feet below. The dwellings of the natives dwindled away nearly to the size of ant-hills. The numerous herds of cattle which were quietly grazing in the everlasting pastures were hardly discernible. On the opposite bank-much higher than the one on which I stood-glittering cascades, broken in thirty abrupt falls, were tumbling from rock to rock, half sportively, half angrily. The centre of the valley was enlivened with two crystal rivers, winding their tortuous path to meet the foaming surge that broke on the fair sand-beach at its mouth. There was something about that valley so lovely and undisturbed, that it pictured to the imagination the paradise in which the first man wandered with the first woman. It seemed to belong to another world, or to be a portion of this into which sorrow and death had never entered. The descent into this lovely valley is comparatively easy. The tourist may assume a sitting posture, and slide down the smooth grassy bank for rods in succession. If he finds himself gliding too rapidly, he may arrest his speed by an occasional clutch at a pandanus-tree, or a strong fern. In twenty minutes he will find himself at the foot of the lofty spur, where he may lave his heated limbs in the quiet stream that glides gently past. On reaching the bed of the valley, and entering a native house, I was much impressed with the primitive character of the inhabitants. The arrival of a "haolé" (foreigner) was, as usual, the signal for a numerous gathering of curious natives. For a time the doors-there were no windowswere so crowded, that it was impossible to procure a breath of atmosphere. Observing that I was a good deal heated from |