For twenty days after sailing from the Mexican coast, the steady
trade-wind drove the frigate merrily over the blue water, until one
evening we found ourselves, with wings furled and anchors down, within
shelter of the reefs and hills of the Bay of Hilo.
Near us nestled an enchanting little village, with straw huts and
cottages, half hidden beneath a perfect forest of flowers, banana, bread
fruit, and coffee trees, with here and there thick clusters of cocoanuts
shooting high in the air, like petals from the brilliant parterres at
their feet, waving rattling leaves and trunks in a very indolent and
graceful style peculiarly their own. Then the deep, velvety verdure
around gradually rose in green slopes, and receded far away in the
distance, until the scene was closed by the "twin giants of the
Pacific," Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Nearer, along the fertile shores were
white rills leaping into the sea, groups of natives upon the beach, and
the little bay alive with slender and reed-like canoes, skimming like a
breath over the water, the broad paddles flashing in the sun, tempting
tropical fruits, reposing dewily in leafy baskets, the natives
themselves gesticulating and chattering with amazing volubility, which
added to the bright, fresh, novel, and glorious scenery of the island,
made a pleasing contrast to the parched Sierras and Tierra Caliente of
Mexico.
The day subsequent to our arrival chanced to be Sunday, and, soon after
breakfast, we pulled on shore. There was no reason for disappointment in
a closer view of the village. The richest and densest tropical foliage
shaded, and almost impeded the pathways. Native huts, with bleached
thatching, and pretty cottages of the missionaries, were peeping from
amid the groves. Streams of pure water were murmuring in every
direction, and the cool trade-wind was blowing breezily through the
branches of the trees. Altogether, the effect was quite exhilarating.
Large numbers of copper-hued natives, dressed in their gayest colors,
were waiting to receive us, and, stepping on shore, I resigned myself
with great docility to the guidance of a stout person, who, tapping an
embroidered crown on the sleeve of his coat, with a short baton,
informed me, with an expressive nod, that he was _kaiko_--king's man--in
other words, a guardian of the peace.
A few minutes' walk brought us to an immense thatched building, which
was the native church. On entering, we were politely shown places, and I
was fortunate in getting a seat immediately fronting the preacher, and
facing the congregation. There were, at the lowest, a thousand present,
ranged on plain wooden benches, all over the vast earth floor of the
meeting-house, and crowds more were pouring in from the different
doorways: ancient matrons, in dazzling calico frocks, cut very high in
the neck, and very low at the heels, unconfined by belt or bodice,
wearing coal-scuttle bonnets--sometimes two--toppling very much in
front--giving a general idea of having been put on wrong end foremost:
young damsels attired in gaily-colored shawls and ribbons, their nether
limbs encased in a superabundance of hose, and strong brogan shoes:
venerable, gentlemanly _kanakas_, in tightly-fitting trousers,
unconscionably short-waisted coats, with swallow-tails: others again
saved from appearing in _puris naturalibis_ by the aid of a _tappa_, or
flimsy shirt, about the loins. But they were a sober, orderly
congregation, and with the exception of a little restlessness amid the
juveniles, all listened with marked attention to the discourse of their
pastor.
The Reverend Mr. Cohen preached to them, and seemed to adapt the sermon
to their comprehension; occasionally, however, interrupted by some
elderly person, when any obscure passage was not rendered sufficiently
clear, whereupon an explanation always followed, in the most urbane,
kindly manner.
The dialect is exquisitely soft and vowelly; and then the frequent
repetition of many words, from the want of copiousness, renders it
susceptible of being delivered with the most inconceivable rapidity. We
had singing at intervals during service by some fifty youths from the
Reverend Mr. Lyman's school. I judged it rather discordant, and although
the voices were not harsh, nor unmusical, there was yet neither taste
nor harmony in their efforts. After church, we visited the comfortable,
pleasant residences of the missionaries--they were surrounded by
well-cultivated gardens of taro, vegetables, and fruits. The inmates we
found pious, sensible, and excellent persons, who had devoted many years
among their heathen neighbors in philanthropic diffusions of the Gospel.
We had but a day or two to ramble about the village before an expedition
was planned to visit the volcano of Kilauea. We were indebted to the
good offices of Mr. Pitman for making all preparations for the journey.
Each was provided with a _kanaka_ as a sort of body-servant to take
charge of extra luggage and wardrobe, stowed in two huge calabashes,
with the half of other shells laid over the round orifices on top, which
effectually shielded their contents from the weather: they were then
slung by a net work of bark braid to each end of a short pole, like a
pair of scales, over the swarthy shoulders of our valets. There were
full half-a-dozen more fitted with the like contrivances filled with
edibles. All were sent off at daylight, while we remained to a
delightful breakfast of fresh water fatted mullets, new eggs, and
butter. Horses were then brought forward, and attended by a guide, we
moved in direction of the south end of the island. In an hour we had
lost sight of the ocean, left the pretty, "dim o'er arching groves" of
Hilo, and struck a narrow pathway over smooth undulating masses of
vitreous lava, just as it lay cooled from the lips of some remote
boiling crater, whose overlapping iron waves had flowed from the regions
above, whilst the rankest ferns and vegetation blocked the route,
creeping and extending as far as the eye could span up the gradual
slopes of the mountains. It was certainly a dull, uninteresting
landscape. We pushed our way through these green fibrous barriers, with
nothing to diversify the monotony, save the course through a dismal
forest of ragged trees, laced and covered with impenetrable thickets of
vines and parasitical plants, only relieved by the pale green of the
candle nut and mighty leaves of an occasional banana tree; meeting,
perhaps, at every dreary league with a filthy, ill-constructed native
hut, filled with yet filthier occupants. From nearly every habitation we
had a volunteer or two in our train, so that, in the afternoon, when we
reached what is called the half-way house, there were enough followers
for an Indian army.
Our halting place was a well-built thatched dwelling, planted on a
little mound of lava, and fenced in by a living hedge of _ti_, whose
bare stems rose four feet from the ground, and then branched out in
spreading leaves, like plumes. Inside the building was a raised
platform, running the entire length of the room, resembling the pleasant
structures used as beds by soldiers in guard-rooms. Clean mats and
pillows were strewn upon it, and the remaining space of the apartment
was plentifully provided with tables, chairs, and crockery; the whole
being especially _tabooed_, and guarded by a native chief for the
accommodation of tourists. It was situated in the midst of a little
hamlet of huts, and on leaving the precincts of our domicile, to take a
general survey of the country, we found ourselves stormed, as it were,
by troops of tawny kanakas, and loosely-attired _wyheenees_--young
ladies,--who had called to have a chat with the _houri-man-a-wars_. They
were quite sociable, squatted beside us on lava ridges, laughed and
chatted, took the cigars from our teeth, blew a whiff themselves, passed
them around the circle, returning them again to the original puffers,
which being interspersed with pokes and pinches, they made themselves
very friendly and at home. Our staid chaplain, too, became well-nigh
captivated, before they were made to comprehend that he was a
_mikonaree_! then these dusky nymphs became mute as mice, and very
demure in his presence.
The rain came on presently, and we sought shelter, took a nap, and at
sunset sat down to dinner. Apart from sundry palatable dishes prepared
by our own major-domo, there was a _luau_ turkey, after the Sandwich
mode of cooking, which, as I witnessed, I shall here take the liberty of
describing the process.
It was a large gobbler, who, upon being knocked down by a billet of
wood, was stripped of his plumes, cleaned, dressed, and stuffed with a
green, cabbage-looking vegetable, called _luau_; then carefully swathed
like a mummy in damp banana leaves, he was laid on a native oven of
red-hot stones, all covered thickly over with more leaves, until there
was not a chink or cranny for the escape of heat or steam. How long he
remained undergoing this operation I do not exactly remember, but on
sitting down to table, he was ushered in, on a huge platter, in his
green winding-sheets, and after removing the outer coatings, he
presented a whitish, parboiled appearance, half-drowned in a pulpy mass
of _luau_; and fell to pieces at the first touch: he was steamed to
death. I experimented on him, and truthfully declare he had not a taste
of the turkey flavor, and we thought it the worst possible use he could
have been put to; albeit the vegetable was delicious, and made amends
for the tasteless gobbler.
Early the next morning we arose, breakfasted and mounted; the route was
over the same swelling hillocks and mounds of lava, the view bounded far
and near by the same dense growth of ferns, and a dull, unbroken
solitude reigned around--uninterrupted by chirping of birds, or even the
wheetling of lizards or crickets. Slowly we ambled along--the weather
was lowering and gloomy; there was not a trickling rill of water,
nothing but dull sky above, and lava, always lava below!
My horse, too, was a monster of his species--never shall I forget that
brute; had he been provided with a cocoanut column on each leg, by way
of stilts, he could not have come down harder--ugh! at every other step
on coming to some narrow crevice of the rocks, he would raise his fore
hoofs, and let himself fall, at it were, with a jar that made my jaws
rattle like cracking walnuts with my teeth; it makes me shudder even at
this late day to think of it. I tried to coax him into a gallop with
lash, spur and pen-knife, that he might break his neck, and gratify my
revenge! but no! it was his maiden visit to the crater, and so far as a
letter of future recommendation, he was resolved never to go again.
We journeyed on during seven tedious hours--the great dome-like mountain
of Mauna Loa appearing even to recede as we approached--its smooth, oval
base and sides sloping so easily from the frosted summit as to induce
the belief of the practicability of a coach and horses going up, without
let or hindrance. Almost imperceptibly we had attained an elevation of
four thousand feet, when we came upon a broad plain, extending nearly
twenty miles to the base and flanks of Mauna Loa. Shortly after, a few
light wreaths of steam were blown from the rocky crevices around, and in
a moment we stood on the brink of Kilauea!
"For certain on the brink
I found me of the lamentable vale
The dread abyss that joins a thundrous sound."
We were on the rim of a mighty, depressed circus, walled about without a
break, by precipitous masses of brown and reddish basaltic rocks, and
looking down hundreds of feet, aye, more than a thousand! we beheld with
a bird's-eye glance, a vast frozen black lake, once a huge sea of
fire--now a congealed surface of lava, where you may place Paris,
reserve a nook for New York, and not be pushed for space either!
After infinite toil and peril, we clambered down the steep face of the
wall by a broken pathway, and with some misgivings, planted our feet on
the crunched, crowded and broken slabs of lava, with the ashes
_crickling_ beneath the tread, very like crisp snow, and all closely
resembling a frozen estuary, where the tide had fallen and left the ice
very much shattered and uneven. Yet there was no danger--walk miles and
miles in every direction--take care you don't step into those
unfathomable cracks and splits, for the longest and strongest arm ever
moulded could not save you from this the pit of Pluto!
Three miles from the point of descent, near the opposite shore of the
gulf, is still another large and deep crater, which probably plays the
safety-valve to the whole island. It is generally in a state of great
bubble and contention, but now was quiet, and only favored us
occasionally with a few uneasy sputterings, as if the vestal devil below
wished to have it understood, that he had not entirely gone out or shut
up the shop, but was more busily occupied poking the fires of Hecla or
Stromboli.
My companions were hunting over the broken slabs of vitreous lava for
bits of specimens, of a sort of glassy fibre, called Pele's hair, after
the heathenish superintendent of the realms: I was seated on a frowning
black ledge, near unto what resembled a long range of four story granite
warehouses, the day following a conflagration--resting my wearied limbs
and determining mentally in which direction I should run to escape, in
case the black, frothy cauldron should happen to boil over, or how I
should feel boiling in it; when my reverie was disturbed by a Caliban of
the calibashes, the color of a burnt brick, who was capering around in a
pair of primitive pattens, formed of rushes bound to his feet, as if the
lava was warmer and sharper than agreeable: pointing with his chin to
the mouth of the breathing crater, _aramai_, said he,--come
here--beckoning me to approach nearer, to make an impression with a
dollar in the molten mass, at the risk of my coins and singed fingers.
"_Aramai_ yourself, with that kettle of cold water," quoth I, quaffing a
sip to his infernal majesty's health and spirits. "I didn't come all the
way here to see simmering lava, and get my nose and toes scorched for
the trouble; believe me, fiery Pluto! those pleasurable sensations I've
enjoyed many a time and oft, years ago; but could you give us a
downright good ague with an earthquake, by way of a novelty, I should
consider my education completed, and make no further call upon your
generosity." Notwithstanding my invocation, the mountain remained firm
and apathetic, and becoming heartily disgusted, I forthwith turned my
back on Kilauea.
Our guide on this volcanic excursion rejoiced in the epithet of Barnes,
and I beg leave to endorse him for any other tourist. Mr. B., in our
ignorance, assured us that gentlemen ever indulged in strong waters
before descending, after inspecting the crater, "sweetening the very
edge of doom," as it were, and also upon mounting upward; suggesting
that the guide was treated in like manner, and as an invariable rule,
all ullages were confided to his care. Mr. B. also gratified us with
many remarkable narratives concerning the native population.
We had a dreadfully fatiguing ascent to the upper regions, somewhat
alleviated by the kind services of the calibash men, who butted us up
the most difficult steeps with their heads, when, after gasping an hour
from exhaustion, our appetites returned with renewed vigor, and we made
another meal on _luau_ turkeys. We were, moreover, comfortably housed,
and fortunately, for towards nightfall, the wind arose from the great
Mauna Loa and drove the light chilling rain in loud gusts and meanings
over the plain. During the night we heard the muttering throes of the
volcano, and at intervals in the darkness, a bright sheet of fire would
leap up from the black abyss, so intensely vivid as to paint a brilliant
_flame-bow_ in the thick mist that crept along the crater's sides. There
was a perfume of sulphur and nitre, that seemed to spring from the very
floor of our habitation, but far too fagged out to heed it, we were
soon wrapt in forgetfulness, or what was better, good warm cloaks and
serapas.
The day broke cold and stormy, so we huddled on flannel shirts, and paid
a hasty visit to some enormous sulphur banks that were steaming actively
near the verge of the crater. Beautifully colored crystals were
profusely found on the fissures of wide steam cracks and yawning chasms;
then there were fearful dark holes, like chimneys, as indeed they were,
evolving strong puffs of sulphur, that kept flurrying and eddying
around, and when a whiff chanced to take one in the nose or mouth, it
quite gave a choking taste of Uncle Nicholas's abode.
We regarded the whole affair as a special providence intended for the
Hawaiians, who are all, more or less--men, women and children--afflicted
with the itch, and if they could only be induced to give the steam a
fair trial, there could be no skepticism upon the beneficial results
that would ensue.
This was all there was to be seen or wondered at--returning to the straw
hut, we ate more _luau_ turkeys--sent _kanakas_ and calibashes ahead,
and then got on the beasts once more on our return route. We shortly bid
adieu to the drizzling rain hanging above Kilauea, for a clearer
atmosphere. The same night we had more turkeys and more sleep at the
half-way house, and the following evening reached Hilo.