I think
from what I have heard that the Hawaiian kings have fallen victims
rather to unscrupulous foreigners, than to their own bad instincts.
My last day has been taken up with farewell visits, and I finish
this on board the "Kilauea." Miss Karpe and I had to ride two
miles, to a point at which it was possible to embark without risk, a
heavy surf having for three weeks rendered it impossible for loaded
boats to communicate with the shore at Hilo. My clothes were soaked
when we reached the rocks, and Upa, very wet, carried us into a wet
whale-boat, with water up to our ancles, which brought us over a
heavy sickening swell into this steamer, which is dirty as well as
wet. I told Upa to lead my mare, and ride his own horse, but the
last I saw of him was on the mare's back, racing a troop of natives
along the beach. {215}
I.L.B.
LETTER XV.
WAIMEA. HAWAII.
There is no limit to the oddities of the steam-ship "Kilauea." She
lay rolling on the Hilo swell for two hours, and two hours after we
sailed her machinery broke down, and we lay-to for five hours, in
what they here call a heavy gale and sea. It was a miserable night.
No privacy: the saloon both hot and wet, almost every one sick.
Pages:
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262