rainbow colour. Here the
world is a paradise; but its people, though harmless enough, are not
angels.

"Kilanea on Mauna Loa is the largest of the active volcanoes. Its
oval-shaped crater is nine miles in circumference and 6000 feet above
the level of the sea. Within this a lake of fire is for ever burning and
seething, moving and heaving to and fro in liquid waves of molten lava.
Imagine the tremendous, the awful sight. I was there in 1856 when it was
in a very active state and continued so for some years. At night the
spectacle was sublime beyond description. Herds of wild horses roam the
islands. There is a curious bat that flies by day. Many of the trees are
productive. The sugar-cane flourishes; the palm, banana, cocoanut and
_ti_. The natives bake and eat the roots of the latter and thatch their
huts with its leaves. The snow-clad hills are the most distinctive
feature, here and there rising in overpowering masses wreathed in
fantastic vapours. Above these the clear blue sky rises in brilliant
contrast and unbroken serenity. At sundown the white snow-tops flush a
rosy red. Wonderful creepers interlace the trees of the forest, so that
you walk under an endless magic roof of green, through which the sun at
mid-day penetrates only in delicate gleams and patches. Gorgeous
wild-flowers grow everywhere through the pathless woods. Birds of rare
plumage flash from bough to bough, chattering and calling, but soulless
in point of song. Everywhere one meets the pungent odour of wild fruit.
Here too I found orange and lemon-groves that almost rivalled those of
my Mediterranean home. You have heard of those wonderful trees with
their wealth of blossoms that live one day, changing colour three times
in the daylight hours: white in the morning, yellow at noon, red at
sundown--blushing their life away.

"The heat of the days was intense, but at sunset a cool breeze would
spring up, laden with the perfume of orange and lemon-groves. I mixed
freely with the natives, a curious, superstitious race.

"It was here that I first experienced the sensation of earthquakes. They
are common enough in these volcanic islands, and unless violent, excite
little attention. I had been travelling for two days. Suddenly I felt
the ground as it were slipping under my feet. The trees about us swayed,
the leaves rustled as though moved by a strong wind. In the air was a
brooding stillness. We were not far from a tremendous volcano. An
eruption was ev