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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In Another Moment She And I Rolled Backwards Into Deep
Water, As If She Had Slipped From A Submerged Rock.
I saw her fore
feet pawing the air, and then only her head was above water.
I
struck her hard with my spurs, she snorted, clawed, made a desperate
struggle, regained her footing, got into shallow water, and landed
safely. It was a small but not an agreeable adventure.
We went on again, the track now really dangerous from denudation and
slipperiness. The rain came down, if possible, yet more heavily,
and coursed fiercely down each pali track. Hundreds of cascades
leapt from the cliffs, bringing down stones with a sharp rattling
sound. We crossed a bridge over one gulch, where the water was
thundering down in such volume that it seemed as if it must rend the
hard basalt of the palis. Then we reached the lofty top of the
great Hakalau gulch, the largest of all, with the double river, and
the ocean close to the ford. Mingling with the deep reverberations
of the surf, I heard the sharp crisp rush of a river, and of "a
river that has no bridge."
The dense foliage, and the exigencies of the steep track, which had
become very difficult, owing to the washing away of the soil,
prevented me from seeing anything till I got down. I found Deborah
speaking to a native, who was gesticulating very emphatically, and
pointing up the river. The roar was deafening, and the sight
terrific.
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