In calms they
are paddled, and shoot over the water with great rapidity, but
whenever there is any breeze a small sprit-sail is used. They are
said to be able to stand very rough water, but they are singularly
precarious and irresponsible looking contrivances, and for these, as
well as for all other seas, I should much prefer a staunch whale-
boat. We sailed for some hours along a lava coast, streamless,
rainless, verdureless, blazing under the fierce light of a tropical
sun, and some time after noon anchored in the scorching bay of
Kawaihae.
A foreign store, a number of native houses, a great heiau, or
heathen temple on a height, a fringe of cocoa-nut palms, and a
background of blazing hills, flaring with varieties of red, hardly
toned down by any attempt at vegetation, a crystalline atmosphere
palpitating with heat, deep, rippleless, clear water, with coral
groves below, and a view of the three great Hawaiian mountains, are
the salient features of this outlet of Hawaiian commerce. But ah!
how soft and mild and blue the sky was, looking inland, where, for
the first time, I saw far aloft, above solid masses of white cloud,
sky hung, strangely uplifted, the great volcanic domes of Mauna Kea,
Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, looking as if they had all passed into an
endless repose.
Pages:
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265