My thin
flannel suit was wet through even before we mounted. I dispensed
with stockings, as I was told that wearing them in rain chills and
stiffens the limbs. D., about whom I was anxious, as well as about
the mule, had a really waterproof cloak, and I am glad to say has
quite lost the cough from which she suffered before our expedition.
She does not care about rain any more than I do.
We soon reached the top of the worst and dizziest of all the palis,
and then splashed on mile after mile, down sliding banks, and along
rocky tracks, from which the soil had been completely carried, the
rain falling all the time. In some places several feet of soil had
been carried away, and we passed through water-rents, the sides of
which were as high as our horses' heads, where the ground had been
level a few days before. By noon the aspect of things became so bad
that I wished we had a white man with us, as I was uneasy about some
of the deepest gulches. When four hours' journey from Onomea,
Kaluna's horse broke down, and he left us to get another, and we
rode a mile out of our way to visit Deborah's grandparents.
Her uncle carried us across some water to their cook-house, where,
happily, a kalo baking had just been accomplished, in a hole in the
ground, lined with stones, among which the embers were still warm.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200