Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 207, 3 June 1891 — A ROMANCE. THE PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC, OR THE DEVIL'S KULEANA. [ARTICLE]

A ROMANCE.

THE PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC, OR THE DEVIL'S KULEANA.

(CONTINUED.) Decaying vegetation and the filth dropped by the hui>dreds of paek animals add to the dis£usting natūre of the compound. Through this mixture our Japanese excursionists were driven. They eoukl not get mueh of t*ne view of the Paradise of the Paeilie because of the rain and the high eane on each:side; but what they did see was not what they had expected when they had started from their homes to enjoy a pienie in Bowowee. Distance lendsenchantment but it requires a commercial imagination to make Bowowee the. Paradise of the Pacific. For a long time they trudged siow!y along j lifting their feet laboriously out of _clinpng mud st eaeh step. Then looking ahead they noticed that at a point some rods in advance the line of toiliQg. travelers disappear as if swallowed up by tho earth. Approaching they bvheld a inunense cleft or crevice, abreak in the continuity of the country, a great notch as isf a elean slice had been carved oul of the body of the island. It seemed a quarter of a mile wide, and deep —away down» dawn» two thous*nd foet or more, a dinv aby9s to look into. The sides were clothed *rith a feathery growth of ferns and 00 casit>nal 6hrubs> and steep,-Hso that anv man or anima) falling over would . have little ehanee of Ftopping short of the rocky bottom, Ptrown with great, smoath s round boulders, dry and bare, like moiistrous eggs« among whieh a thin stream of water wound its way ai* nmet invisible from the edge of the country. I The road i led sla*:tins down } ! lonking like aigrav s«ar on tho face | of the grecn wall. l>own this 9teei> ; and nurr«w ! }u\th the Japanc*e

nia<le thelr w®y, over ftHpjiery rocks. and ihiui At the bottom tbey fo«r»d grassy flat »very pretty to se<\ wilh. itB slender jgraceful cocoanut tre€s?,' and two or tfaree natives houses surronnded with hannana plants. fit,mgsHrrg; linp —fiic?d pagt, waded the stream and begnti, tfa&' ascent of the other side. They began to find the heat oj$hj8sivw. j The rain had ceased to fall and the |ini1uencc of the sun \v«s felt ! thr<&igh a thin laypr of misty clotid. j A snltry, encrvating heat per- ' vaded the saturated aimosptifrc. When the excursionifets puffing land stea»xiing emerged from the gulch lhēy*""s5efōrTrifiem nthftr 1onfrMfmgh\of 'ii'n'ah , winding away between the green | banks of \veed thafc bordered the ; eane fieīds. Again the long eolumn churned up afresh the vile ! raixtare that lay stagnar»t in the I way. īt seemed endless. But agaiu they eame unexpectediy upon a deep gulch very like the other, bnt | perhans. deeper, * and down whieh | the carved-6ut path took a zig zag course. Down they went, slipping and grasping franticallv at the < over-hanging vegetation. It was surprising to see how the polieemen's little, scrawny herses slid down with their four iegs braced and how thcy climbed the opposite asceiit, clanibering up over the wet stones. frequently on their knees v but never quite falling. . When after increciible labor they reached the geaeral level of the wuntry oiily the everlasting vista: of swamp aad thui mud was before them. Faza was dragging heavily on Nyama's arra. Ile a stout young iellow and tramped bravely on. They must reach some plaee. lt \vas impossible to rest in the raud and rain. Three or four guar*is eonld be heard shouting anil swearing. at the ! f?tragglerB in the rear. It really began to seen that they eouM go no furfcher; they \vere exhausted by the heat and *exertion. Still thev dragged their weary feet through the dcep elime, thinkirg they could walk no iuHhe?, but still m.*ving. Minute by minule another hour pagsetl while the wivtched dnpes trailed along. Xlien agaiii they eame to a guk-h wider and deeper than either oi the others, so wide and so deep that it seemed as if they were looking from a i moimtain into the sea. The sea entere<l this great cleft and rnnnmg in as into a funnel dashed with a great booming pnrt against the brok«n lava rocks, that m the couree oi long time had been wom snto ourious top-hoavy forms. Abovo the cove was a lovely litfcle meiulow of fresh green, and grouped aroa»d* Jt and eaeh h;df hidden in its individual Valls of foliage» were half-a doKen pretty whtte cottages. Into tliis enchanted vale o«r tra\*ellers desrended. It wase«ftier godown. They crossed the ope» ground and the cottages« looking himgrily at the great bunches of lmiannas and the iieee bending under the weight of green mangoes looking * as if they wera on with long stringe:. Turning $p they cross(Kl where the salt water i#et thj& emall stream from the gulch, where tl»e «treaniand t)ie ee* Fee~€t&wad btck iUMl turth meesseutly niglit a»d day for ever. " On the other side the p*th start«i! np the precipice, steep as a stairw$y, and di$appearing »waytfp toward thet aenilh. The$e at tk bottoia oi the «scent a liiUe groap of bedragsrled aml exh«uua|ed me» aad wouien had dro*>ped dowa. under the shade t>f a Hibimis tree. Nyama aiid l>'aca sank down on the thiick mīi mat of wet Onoe dowa it @eehied impo?sible to move again. But tne oia« jority tnuige*l on stoktUly. M k true that tlie Janaiiew» are eturdtyet and imipI i!ĪdeMgahle race on earth7 In their own eonntry they perform leal» of »t reiifith and endoraa<t> ihat appe*rin~ j cre*lible to those wh« have ne\>er sneu | \vhat toey end\ire. It mav iiot a leal to wnlk ten IhiI iiixier ttn» m» Ku ropeaa ctmUl' luivesKudiu Rm.mwt of the?iamiv did.' aiul even manarc«i t»> Inake a iVw joke* aliont it heing « Hoaioawan piomo as thev HW pas»t tl« littta gronp of ti»\M-e«t unf.uinnates« (To HeOoiUinueO.)