JUDGE AUSTIN'S.
Mrs. A. has been ill for some time, and Mrs. S. her sister and
another friend "plotted" in a very "clandestine" manner that I
should come here for a few days in order to give her "a little
change of society," but I am quite sure that under this they only
veil a kind wish that I should see something of plantation life.
There is a plan, too, that I should take a five days' trip to a
remarkable valley called Waipio, but this is only a "castle in the
air."
Mr. A. sent in for me a capital little lean rat of a horse which by
dint of spirit and activity managed to keep within sight of two
large horses, ridden by Mr. Thompson, and a very handsome young lady
riding "cavalier fashion," who convoyed me out. Borrowed saddle-
bags, and a couple of shingles for carrying ferns formed my outfit,
and were carried behind my saddle. It is a magnificent ride here.
The track crosses the deep, still, Wailuku River on a wooden bridge,
and then after winding up a steep hill, among native houses
fantastically situated, hangs on the verge of the lofty precipices
which descend perpendicularly to the sea, dips into tremendous
gulches, loses itself in the bright fern-fringed torrents which have
cleft their way down from the mountains, and at last emerges on the
delicious height on which this house is built.
This coast looked beautiful from the deck of the Kilauea, but I am
now convinced that I have never seen anything so perfectly lovely as
it is when one is actually among its details.
