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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Our
Host Provided Ourselves And The Native Servant With Three Strong
Bullock-Horses, And Accompanied Us Himself.
The first climb is
through deep volcanic sand slashed by deep clefts, showing bands of
red and black ash.
We saw no birds, but twice started a rout of
wild black hogs, and once came upon a wild bull of large size with
some cows and a calf, all so tired with tramping over the lava that
they only managed to keep just out of our way. They usually keep
near the mountain top in the daytime for fear of the hunters, and
come down at night to feed. About 11,000 were shot and lassoed last
year. Mr. S - - says that they don't need any water but that of the
dew-drenched grass, and that horses reared on the mountains refuse
to drink, and are scared by the sight of pools or running streams.
Unlike horses I saw at Waikiki, which shut their eyes and plunged
their heads into water up to their ears, in search of a saltish weed
which grows in the lagoons.
The actual forest, which is principally koa, ceases at a height of
about 6000 feet, but a deplorable vegetation beginning with mamane
scrub, and ending with withered wormwood and tufts of coarse grass,
straggles up 3000 feet higher, and a scaly orange lichen is found in
rare pitches at a height of 11,000 feet.
The side of Mauna Kea towards Waimea is precipitous and
inaccessible, but to our powerful mountain horses the ascent from
Kalaieha presented no difficulty.
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