d through the ruins of a once-populous village: stone walls
bordered the road for a mile or more, and back of them were the stone
foundations of native houses and _heiaus_ (temples). Pandanus trees,
with roots like stilts or props that lifted them two or three feet from
the ground, grew inside the deserted enclosures: long grass waved from
the chinks and crevices. It was a mournful reminder of the decay of the
Hawaiian race. Just beyond the ruined village a sluggish creek flowed
into the sea. At the mouth of the valley whence it issued stood two or
three native huts. A man wearing a malo was up on the roof of one,
thatching it with grass. Riding near, we hailed him and inquired about a
quicksand which lay just ahead and which we must cross. He told us to
avoid the _makai_ side and keep to the _mouka_ side. We followed his
directions, and crossed in safety. For all practical purposes there are
but two directions in the islands--_mouka_, meaning toward the
mountains, and _makai_, toward the sea.

We rode all the forenoon over a level strip of grassy open country
bordering the sea, with here and there a native hut near a clump of
cocoanuts or a taro-patch. Toward noon we passed fenced pastures in
which many horses were grazing, and came in sight of a picturesque
cottage near the shore. Miss G---- had told us that on the lawn in front
of this cottage were two curious old stone idols which had been
discovered in a fish-pond, and we rode up to the gate intending to ask
permission to enter and look at them. A Chinese servant let us in, and
the owner, an Englishman who lived here during part of the year, came
and showed us the idols, and then invited us inside his pretty cottage
and gave us a lunch of bread and butter and guava jelly and oranges. The
walls and ceilings were of native wood, of the kinds used in delicate
cabinet-work and were polished until they shone. The floor was covered
with fine straw matting, and around the room were ranged easy-chairs and
sofas of willow and rattan. In one corner stood a piano in an ebony
case, and on a koa-wood centre-table were a number of fine photographs
and works of art. Hanging baskets filled with blooming plants hung in
each window and in the veranda. Altogether, it was the prettiest
hermitage imaginable.

Riding along that afternoon through a country much like that we had
passed over in the morning, we heard from a native hut the sound of the
mournful Hawaiian wail, "Auea! auea!"