The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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They All Wore Coloured Chemises And Leis Of Flowers.
Outside, Some Natives Presented Us With Some Ripe Papayas.
Mounting again, we were joined by two native women, who were
travelling the greater part of the way hither,
And this made it more
cheerful for D. The elder one had nothing on her head but her wild
black hair, and she wore a black holuku, a lei of the orange seeds
of the pandanus, orange trousers and big spurs strapped on her bare
feet. A child of four, bundled up in a black poncho, rode on a
blanket behind the saddle, and was tied to the woman's waist, by an
orange shawl. The younger woman, who was very pretty, wore a
sailor's hat, leis of crimson ohia blossoms round her hat and
throat, a black holuku, a crimson poncho, and one spur, and held up
a green umbrella whenever it rained.
We were shortly joined by Kaluna, the cousin, on an old, big, wall-
eyed, bare-tailed, raw-boned horse, whose wall-eyes contrived to
express mingled suspicion and fear, while a flabby, pendant, lower
lip, conveyed the impression of complete abjectness. He looked like
some human beings who would be vicious if they dared, but the vice
had been beaten out of him long ago, and only the fear remained. He
has a raw suppurating sore under the saddle, glueing the blanket to
his lean back, and crouches when he is mounted. Both legs on one
side look shorter than on the other, giving a crooked look to
himself and his rider, and his bare feet are worn thin as if he had
been on lava.
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