out half-way to the foot, a part of the
carriage broke. We all dismounted and took a lunch, then, with some
leather, Mr. Paris bound up the broken place firmly, and we went on our
way rejoicing that no worse thing had befallen us; for we were far away
from any house, and had still half of our journey to perform, and this
being the only carriage on that part of the island, no native knew how
to repair it. On reaching the sea-shore, we passed through a grove of
cocoa-nut trees. Here we drank some delicious cocoa-nut milk, and quite
a group of natives gathered about us, and shook hands. The Hawaiians as
a race are very fond of shaking hands. As the shake of the hand, saying
"aloha," love to you, was often our only mode of expressing our
interest, we were very particular to do it.

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF KILAUEA.--Page 95.]

[Illustration: PAHOIHOI.--Page 129.]

After leaving the grove, the path lay between two stone walls, so near
together that it seemed impossible for the carriage to go through. Our
native friends said among themselves "_pilikia!_" trouble; for there was
no other road for the carriage. But the carriage did pass, the wheels
just grazing the stones. How glad we were, and the natives exclaimed,
"_maikai!_" good.

We saw a great deal of rough hard lava, called "pahoihoi," and prickly
pear-trees grew in abundance. They were large, ugly plants. Grandma gave
me one of their flowers which looks like a cactus-blossom. I had on a
heavy buckskin glove, and this was filled with small barbed thorns,
which, before I knew it, had worked through into my hand, as I held the
rein. They caused no little pain, but were so small and colorless that
you could not see them. In some places the people use the prickly pear
as hedges, which are unsightly but very strong. We often saw the
century-plant while on the islands, which, it has been said, blooms only
once in one hundred years; but in fact it blossoms at least once in
twenty-five years. The stalk of the flower grows very rapidly. Some of
these stalks are twenty or thirty feet high. I examined one which seemed
to be casting its blossoms; they looked like small bulbs just sprouting.
If these are planted, they will grow, and this is the way the plant is
propagated.

We were amused at the excitement of many of the natives about the
carriage. A great number of them had never seen one before. Whole
families turned out, men, women, and children, just as people in our own