As we approached, the island changed its
character. There were lofty peaks, truly--grey and red, sun-
scorched and wind-bleached, glowing here and there with traces of
their fiery origin; but they were cleft by deep chasms and ravines
of cool shadow and entrancing green, and falling water streaked
their sides--a most welcome vision after eleven months of the desert
sea and the dusty browns of Australia and New Zealand. Nearer yet,
and the coast line came into sight, fringed by the feathery cocoanut
tree of the tropics, and marked by a long line of surf. The grand
promontory of Diamond Head, its fiery sides now softened by a haze
of green, terminated the wavy line of palms; then the Punchbowl, a
very perfect extinct crater, brilliant with every shade of red
volcanic ash, blazed against the green skirts of the mountains. We
were close to the coral reef before the cry, "There's Honolulu!"
made us aware of the proximity of the capital of the island kingdom,
and then, indeed, its existence had almost to be taken upon trust,
for besides the lovely wooden and grass huts, with deep verandahs,
which nestled under palms and bananas on soft green sward, margined
by the bright sea sand, only two church spires and a few grey roofs
appeared above the trees.
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