The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
- Page 166 of 466 - First - Home
Imagine The Moriston At The Falls, Four Times As Wide And
Fifty Times As Furious, Walled In By Precipices, And With A
Miniature Niagara Above And Below, And You Have A Feeble
Illustration Of It.
Portions of two or three rocks only could be seen, and on one of
these, about twelve feet from
The shore, a nude native, beautifully
tattooed, with a lasso in his hands, was standing nearly up to his
knees in foam; and about a third of the way from the other side,
another native in deeper water, steadying himself by a pole. A
young woman on horseback, whose near relative was dangerously ill at
Hilo, was jammed under the cliff, and the men were going to get her
across. Deborah, to my dismay, said that if she got safely over we
would go too, as these natives were very skilful. I asked if she
thought her husband would let her cross, and she said "No." I asked
her if she were frightened, and she said "Yes;" but she wished so to
get home, and her face was as pale as a brown face can be. I only
hope the man will prove worthy of her affectionate devotion.
Here, though people say it is a most perilous gulch, I was not
afraid for her life or mine, with the amphibious natives to help us;
but I was sorely afraid of being bruised, and scarred, and of
breaking the horses' legs, and I said I would not cross, but would
sleep among the trees; but the tumult drowned our voices, though the
Hawaiians by screeching could make themselves understood.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 166 of 466
Words from 45642 to 45913
of 127766