PEDESTRIANS IN A STORM. 99 though the general exhibitions, at that period, were far more beautiful, and less obscured by smoke, than during this visit. Early on Thursday morning, our encampment was in the bustle of preparation for a return to the bay and breakfast was finished, and our long procession formed, by half past six o'clock. The weather did not promise much in our favor. The clouds were low and scudding-every thing wore rather a gloomy aspect and we had scarce accomplished three miles, before it began to rain; and in a short time, we found ourselves in a perfect storm. There was no alternative, however, but as rapid a march as possible. With stiffened and swollen limbs and feet, shoes very much the worse for service already performed, stores nearly expended, a driving rain in our faces, and a walk of twenty miles to accomplish before we could reach a shelter, we did not feel much disposed to be facetious; and formed rather a silent and wo-begone procession, compared with the buoyancy, with which we had hurried over the same ground, two days before. Each one seemed to think, that the sooner he brought his own precious body under cover, the better; and we made short work, to the résidence of Kinai, the petty chieftain of Ora. We were there by 12 o'clock; and found his establishment tenfold more welcome than before. All of us were drenched with rain, and in a state greatly to relish the luxury of a large fire, and a change of clothes, which our portmanteaus still fortunately afforded. We should have remained here all night, had there been no rain; 100 ARRIVAL AT THE BAY. and therefore, the storm instead of being an annoyance, rather added to the cheerfulness of our spirits, when screened from its power. We were off early again in the morning; and after a very fatiguing walk, from the wetness of the path, and the excessively bad state in which we found the road through the wood, reached Maaro's about An express had been sent ahead, with information of our approach, and a request for a boat to be in waiting for us-so that we were safely on board the Vincennes in time for a dinner, for which we had long felt well-set appetites. Thus, dear H noon. you have the outline of a second excursion to the habitation of PELE. LETTER V. CASCADE OF THE RAINBOW. U. S. Ship Vincennes, Byron's Bay, WE were to have sailed for Oahu, at 4 o'clock this morning; but before our anchors were up, the land breeze died away, and it became necessary to drop them again. All hands were kept on board till after dinner, in the hope that we might still be able to get out of the harbor: but then, there being little prospect of this for the day, Captain Finch allowed a party to go on shore, to be recalled in case of a change RAMBLE ALONG THE WAIRUKU. 101 of wind, by the firing of a gun, and the hoisting of a flag at the foremast head. I did not regret the detention. There is one object worthy of notice, in the vicinity of the bay, which I had not previously an opportunity of visiting-a waterfall in the Wairuku, two or three miles above its mouth, called by the natives, "ke Wai Anue nue," "the Cascade of the Rainbow," from the beautiful exhibition of that phenomenon, on the spray created by it, whenever the sun is unshaded. Mr. Goodrich had dined with us; and became the guide to this spot of a party, consisting of Lieutenant Stribling, Midshipmen Irving, Smith, Rowan, Maury, Taylor, Anthony, and myself. We landed at the mouth of the Wairuku, on the wild rocks forming its precipitous banks. This place has been a favorite resort of our gentlemen; and the untiring feats of the islanders, in throwing themselves from some of the highest of the adjoining cliffs-thirty, forty, and fifty feet-into the basins below, and in gliding down the falls above the watering-place, at the seeming hazard of being dashed to death, have daily afforded them great amusement. The path to the curiosity we intended visiting, led us along the top of the high banks and precipices edging the ravine, through which the Wairuku-by a gradually descending and winding course-rumbles and foams over its rocky bed, from the mountains fifteen or twenty miles inland, to the bay. A bright and beautiful afternoon, after a clouded and dull morning, added to the unexpected pleasure of another ramble over these verdant and truly charming VOL. II. 10 102 CIRCUMSTANCES OF shores, and the gratifying thought of leaving nothing of interest in the immediate neighborhood unseen, imparted great vivacity to our company. I scarce know when I have more enjoyed the freshness of the land, the beauty of grass and flower, the twittering of the birds, and the babblings of the mountain stream, with varied other sources of delight both to the eye and to the ear, connected with the landscape around, than on this occasion. When a mile on our way, we heard the pouring of a waterfall; and soon came in sight of one, extending like a mill-dam, in an unbroken ledge across the stream. It is some sixteen or twenty feet in height, and very similar in its general character, to one or two of the most admired sections of the range of cascades, forming the falls of the Canada creek, at Trenton in the state of New York. In many places the bed of the river is deep-apparently unfathomable; and at such parts especially, the embankments are bold and abrupt-forty, sixty, and a hundred feet high-and generally perpendicular. One of the loftiest and most precipitous, just below the cascade to which we were going, was regarded by us with particular interest, as designating the scene of one of those tragic casualties, which, unhappily, have thrown a melancholy, though perhaps not unprofitable association, over two or three of the most celebrated resorts, of a similar kind, in our own country. Not long since, a young female, with some of her companions, strolled up the banks of the river, to gather flowers for the wreaths worn as orna A FATAL CASUALTY. 103 ments of the head and neck. On reaching this spot, a splendid cluster of the crimson blossoms of the ohia leihua-a species of eugenia-caught her eye, on the branch of a tree hanging over the precipice. Poising herself against a limb which she thought secure, she stretched her hand after the flower; when-in the act of seizing it-her support suddenly gave way, and she was plunged to instant death, in the whirling eddies of the gulf below! The young tree, flourishing gaily in the splendor of its dark green foliage and rich blossoms, still marks the fatal locality; and, as long as it remains, will doubtless recall to the islanders, the doom of the youthful victim of vanity. The principal object of our ramble surpassed, in novelty and beauty, every anticipation. It is decidedly superior, in the variety of its points of interest, to any other of the kind I have ever seen. It is also strikingly unique. The projection of water is one hundred and ten feet in height; and the offset, causing it, in the view had of it from below, strictly a natural bridge, spanning the basin, into which the water is poured, in one broad arch, resting on either side upon massive abutments of basaltic rock. The arch, however, instead of being open entirely through, is the entrance of a deep recess or cavern, into the darkness and gloom of which the sight can scarce pene trate. The basin beneath-a perfect circle of some hundred yards diameter is as placid as a lake, except where the stream plunges into it from above, and completely walled in, save at a single narrow outlet, |