ng the hymn and
repeating it just as if he was reading it, that one would never imagine
he was blind.

We shook hands with four or five hundred natives that day, saying
"aloha," which means "love to you," "good-will," and is their common
salutation. They crowded around us, and sometimes two would get hold of
my hand at once. A hand would come over a shoulder, another under an
elbow, and round unheard-of corners, all expressing joy and friendship.

But we must hear the rest of Honolulu to-morrow.

VII.

Honolulu continued.

The first great event of the week was a dinner-party at Mr. Wyllie's,
the minister of foreign affairs. He is a Scotchman, and wore his
official badges: a broad blue band crossing his vest, with the royal
coat of arms fastening it together on the hip just below the waist of
his dress-coat; also a star on his breast, and two long streamers of
crape hanging from his left arm in memory of the young Prince of Hawaii
who died last year.

At either end of the dining-hall hung three banners from a
standard,--his Scottish manorial flags, I presume; they gave a showy
look to the room. On the center of the table was a magnificent standard
of silver with a lovely bouquet of flowers. When the dessert was brought
in, this was replaced by a branching standard filled with fruit, more
elegant still. After the dessert, came a rich and chaste drinking-bowl
of silver lined with gold, from which each was desired to sip a little
wine to the health of Lady Franklin, who had once been his guest, and
who presented him the cup.

In the evening, about a dozen young people took a moonlight walk up
Punchbowl, the extinct volcano just back of Honolulu. It is apparently a
round cone, about five or six hundred feet high. The side we ascended
was steep, ragged, and rocky; but the view of Honolulu from that
elevation is very fine. The taro patches were of a deep green, the coral
reefs in the harbor snowy white. The town with its thatched houses lay
quiet beneath us, while old Diamond Head loomed up in solitary and
barren grandeur in the distance. We had some fine singing from members
of the party, and the air was so clear and the night so still that it
was heard at a long distance.

"_Taro patches_, aunty? What are they?"

Taro is a vegetable somewhat resembling the calla-lily, the roots of
which are good for food.

There are two kinds of it,--wet and dry. The wet is grown under water.
Square beds are made, two o