Book contents
- Frontmatter
- List of Illustrations
- Errata
- Dedication
- PREFACE
- THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO
- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
- LETTER I
- LETTER II
- LETTER III
- LETTER IV
- LETTER V
- LETTER VI
- LETTER VII
- LETTER VIII
- LETTER IX
- LETTER X
- LETTER X.—(continued.)
- LETTER XI
- LETTER XII
- LETTER XIII
- LETTER XIV
- LETTER XV
- LETTER XVI
- LETTER XVII
- LETTER XVIII
- LETTER XIX
- LETTER XX
- LETTER XXI
- LETTER XXII
- LETTER XXIII
- LETTER XXIV
- LETTER XXV
- LETTER XXVI
- LETTER XXVII
- LETTER XXVIII
- LETTER XXIX
- LETTER XXIX.—Continued
- LETTER XXX
- A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS
- A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN HISTORY
- Plate section
- Frontmatter
- List of Illustrations
- Errata
- Dedication
- PREFACE
- THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO
- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
- LETTER I
- LETTER II
- LETTER III
- LETTER IV
- LETTER V
- LETTER VI
- LETTER VII
- LETTER VIII
- LETTER IX
- LETTER X
- LETTER X.—(continued.)
- LETTER XI
- LETTER XII
- LETTER XIII
- LETTER XIV
- LETTER XV
- LETTER XVI
- LETTER XVII
- LETTER XVIII
- LETTER XIX
- LETTER XX
- LETTER XXI
- LETTER XXII
- LETTER XXIII
- LETTER XXIV
- LETTER XXV
- LETTER XXVI
- LETTER XXVII
- LETTER XXVIII
- LETTER XXIX
- LETTER XXIX.—Continued
- LETTER XXX
- A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS
- A CHAPTER ON HAWAIIAN HISTORY
- Plate section
Summary
There is something fearful in the isolation of this valley, open at one end to the sea, and walled in on all others by palis or precipices, from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in height, over the easiest of which hangs the dizzy track, which after trailing over the country for sixty difficult miles, connects Waipio with the little world of Hilo. The evening is very sombre, and darkness comes on early between these high walls. I am in a native house in which not a word of English is spoken, and Deborah, among her own people, has returned with zest to the exclusive use of her own tongue. This is more solitary than solitude, and tired as I am with riding and roughing it, I must console myself with writing to you. The natives, after staring and giggling for some time, took this letter out of my hand, with many exclamations, which, Deborah tells me, are at the rapidity and minuteness of my writing. I told them the letter was to my sister, and they asked if I had your picture. They are delighted with it, and it is going round a large circle assembled without. They see very few foreign women here, and are surprised that I have not brought a foreign man with me.
There was quite a bustle of small preparations before we left Onomea. Deborah was much excited, and I was not less so, for it is such a complete novelty to take a five days' ride alone with natives.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Six Months among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich IslandsThe Hawaiian Archipelago, pp. 129 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011First published in: 1875