We
went round by the Leper Island.
I landed at Maaleia, on the leeward side of the sandy isthmus which
unites East and West Maui, got a good horse, and, with Mr. G---,
rode across to the residence of "Father Alexander," at Wailuku, a
flourishing district of sugar plantations. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander
were among the early missionaries, and still live on the mission
premises. Several of their sons are settled on the island in the
sugar business, and it was to the Heiku plantation, fifteen miles
off, of which Mr. S. Alexander is manager, that I went on the
following day, still escorted by Mr. G---. Here we heard that
captains of schooners which had arrived from Hawaii, report that a
light is visible on the terminal crater of Mauna Loa, 14,000 feet
above the sea, that Kilauea, the flank crater, is unusually active,
and that several severe shocks of earthquake have been felt. This
is exciting news.
Behind Wailuku is the Iao valley, up which I rode with two island
friends, and spent a day of supreme, satisfied admiration. At Iao
people may throw away pen and pencil in equal despair. The trail
leads down a gorge dark with forest trees, and then opens out into
an amphitheatre, walled in by precipices, from three to six thousand
feet high, misty with a thousand waterfalls, plumed with kukuis, and
feathery with ferns.
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