For one moment a ray of sunshine turned the upper
part of the spray into a rainbow, and never to my eyes had the bow
of promise looked so heavenly as when it spanned the black, solemn,
tree-shadowed abyss, whose deep, still waters only catch a sunbeam
on five days of the year.
I found the natives regaling themselves on papaya, and on live
fresh-water shrimps, which they find in great numbers in the river.
I remembered that white people at home calling themselves civilized,
eat live, or at least raw, oysters, but the sight of these active,
squirming shrimps struggling between the white teeth of my
associates was yet more repulsive.
We finished our adventurous expedition with limbs much bruised, as
well as torn and scratched, and before we emerged from the chasm saw
a rock dislodged, which came crashing down not far from us, carrying
away an ohia. It is a gruesome and dowie den, but well worth a
visit.
We mounted again, and rode as far as we could up the valley, fording
the river in deep water several times, and coming down the other
side. The coffee trees in full blossom were very beautiful, and
they, as well as the oranges, have escaped the blight which has
fallen upon both in other parts of the island.
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