Sometimes we rode over roundish
boulders like those on the top of Ben Cruachan, or like those of the
landing at Iona, and most of those under the rush of the bright
foaming water were covered with a silky green weed, on which the
horses slipped alarmingly. My companions always took the lead, and
by the time that each of their horses had struggled, slipped, and
floundered in and out of holes, and breasted and leapt up steep
banks, I was ready to echo Mr. M.'s exclamation regarding Mrs. ---,
"I never saw such riding; I never saw ladies with such nerve." I
certainly never saw people encounter such difficulties for the sake
of scenery. Generally, a fall would be regarded as practically
inaccessible which could only be approached in such a way.
I will not inflict another description of similar scenery upon you,
but this, though perhaps exceeding all others in beauty, is not only
a type, perhaps the finest type, of a species of canon very common
on these islands, but is also so interesting geologically that you
must tolerate a very few words upon it.
The valley for two or three miles from the sea is nearly level, very
fertile, and walled in by palis 250 feet high, much grooved
vertically, and presenting fine layers of conglomerate and grey
basalt; and the Hanapepe winds quietly through the region which it
fertilises, a stream several hundred feet wide, with a soft, smooth
bottom.
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