"
Mr. Green is going up well equipped with a tent, horses, a baggage
mule, and a servant, and is confident of being able to get a guide
and additional mules fifty miles from Hilo. I had to go to the
Union School examination where the Hilo world was gathered, but I
could think of nothing but the future; and I can hardly write sense,
the prospect of the next week is so exciting, and the time for
making preparations is so short. It is an adventurous trip anyhow,
and the sufferings which our predecessors have undergone, from
Commodore Wilkes downwards, make me anxious not to omit any
precaution. The distance which has to be travelled through an
uninhabited region, the height and total isolation of the summit,
the uncertainty as to the state of the crater, and the duration of
its activity, with the possibility of total failure owing to fog or
strong wind, combine to make our ascent an experimental trip.
The news of the project soon spread through the village, and as the
ascent has only once been performed by a woman, the kindly people
are profuse in offers of assistance, and in interest in the journey,
and every one is congratulating me on my good fortune in having Mr.
Green for my travelling companion.
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